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Chapter Six:
Family Reunion

Xena
sat cross-legged on the floor in her room facing the door. She was
dressed in a thin white tunic, designed to be opened at her
shoulders, and additionally belted at her waist. So, it could be
easily put down without her being completely exposed. There were
sturdy leather cuffs at her wrists that soon would be fastened
together during the court session. Her eyes were closed and she
rather unsuccessfully tried to meditate. Her thoughts constantly
kept drifting back to things past, things she really wasn’t
eager to think about now. So instead she concentrated on last night
when Melosa once again had sent her to the healer’s hut
instead of restraining her to her bed or the detention hut as some
of the guests had demanded.

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“c72″>She’d spent the night holding Gabrielle’s
body in her arms, studying every detail in her beloved’s
peaceful face, painfully aware of the fact that this could easily
be the last night they ever would spend together. Her mind kept on
wandering to other nights she lay wide awake while Gabrielle was
sleeping peacefully, especially to one night – a night
following the day the Conqueror had opened her library to the
children of the palace.

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x x x
x x x x x x x

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“c72″>FLASHBACK:

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Xena
dropped in the comfortable chair behind her desk where more than
two scores of scrolls were awaiting her attention. Having spent all
afternoon and the better part of the evening listening to the
numerous complaints brought before her, she wasn’t in the
mood to read the tax reports and supply lists in front of her. And
though she had missed Gabrielle’s calming presence, she
couldn’t really blame her for preferring the company of the
palace’s children to boring court sessions.

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Especially
after the incident with the blonde-haired woman's father who
really could count his blessings for leaving the palace unharmed.
Xena would have killed him for what he had done to her young lover,
for what she had had to live through because of him but Gabrielle
had stilled her hand, and he left “c72″>Corinth with all limbs
still attached. At first, the green-eyed woman didn’t speak
about it but Xena knew that she was deeply shaken and more
vulnerable than ever.

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Xena
surrounded her with care and tenderness and love to make her
beloved forget the hateful words, and slowly the smile returned to
her face and her eyes once again were sparkling with
life.