From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
           [some sex in this, some violence; nothing particularly graphic]   
      
                                   Xena: Roman Gladiator   
      
                                       Chapter Seven   
      
                                   Gabrielle and Marsa   
      
      
   Gabrielle hurried back to the quarters of the female slaves. She had no   
   problem making her way through the maze of corridors. Her years of traveling   
   with Xena had trained her, given her an instinctive ability to backtrack any   
   route after traveling it only once. She immediately sought out Phaedra.   
      
   "I see you are back. And how was your time with Domina?"   
      
   "It – it was fine, for her. She –  is a very sexually demanding woman."   
      
   Phaedra nodded knowingly. What Gabrielle experienced had happened to almost   
   all of them at one time or another.   
      
   "Yes, she does like her women, and her men, and sometimes with them   
   together."   
      
   "But there is something I am confused about – when I first got there, she   
   smelled my hair and told me to tell you that I should bathe in lavender   
   scented soap, yet when I left she said it was to be jasmine. I don't know   
   which one to use."   
      
   Phaedra smiled. "It doesn't matter. If she told you to bathe in rose petals   
   and hurry back to her, she would insist she said sandalwood. You cannot win   
   with her. You just have to take the beating that comes with 'disobeying' her   
   and live with it."   
      
   Gabrielle was trying to understand such capriciousness when she remembered   
   the other thing that was bothering her: "Right after I left Domina, I was   
   accosted by Marsa. She threatened me saying she was Domina's favorite and   
   left me with the impression she might say something untrue about me to   
   Domina."   
      
   "Marsa has been with Domina since she was brought here when she was four or   
   five years old. Domina never had children and took to Marsa right away. She   
   is almost like a daughter in some ways. Domina never lets her forget she is   
   a slave, yet Marsa always has her ear. You would do well to avoid her."   
      
   "I hope I can."   
      
   "But for now, I have been told guests are coming in three days for a special   
   competition in our arena, very special guests, and we are to scrub   
   everything – walls, floors, columns, and the baths. Fresh fruits and   
   vegetables are being delivered as well as butchered deer, lamb, pigs and   
   fowl, all for the feast before and after the games. So there is much to be   
   done. Find Antea, she will tell you what help she needs."   
      
   So Gabrielle and Antea began scrubbing the walls and floors near the front   
   entrance, which always seemed to have a coating of dust and grime. They   
   scrubbed with pumice dust, water and rags. As daylight began to ebb, torches   
   were lit so they could continue to clean – torches that left soot on the   
   ceiling, which would have to be scrubbed off the next day.   
      
   It was late, near mid-night when Phaedra sent word all labors were to cease   
   so as to not disturb Dominus and Domina's sleep. They all returned to the   
   slave quarters. While she was washing out the rags to dry to be used the   
   next day, Gabrielle felt someone watching her, and turning around quickly   
   she was surprised to see a child - a young girl about six years old. She had   
   darker skin than anyone there that Gabrielle had seen, with dark curly hair   
   and full lips.   
      
   Gabrielle squatted down, smiled and said, "Hi, there. Who are you?"   
      
   When the girl didn't answer, Gabrielle then said," My name is Gabrielle. I'm   
   new here."   
      
   Again there was no response. There was a noise across the room and Gabrielle   
   looked to see what it was but when she looked back, the girl was gone.   
      
   Gabrielle sought out Antea and asked her who she was. At first Antea seemed   
   reluctant to say anything, then she took Gabrielle off to the corner of the   
   room and quietly said,  "Her name is Tia."   
      
   "Where is her mother? I haven't seen any dark-skinned women here. Or was her   
   father the dark one?"   
      
   "No, it was her mother. Her name was Aseneth. She was from a land even   
   farther south than where the pharaohs rule."   
      
   Gabrielle nodded, encouraging her to continue.   
      
   "Now, you understand, what I tell you is only rumor and gossip, things that   
   are whispered in the night."   
      
   Gabrielle nodded again.   
      
   "It was said that Aseneth and a guard called Sulla fell in love and in time   
   she became pregnant. Well, as everyone knows, guards and slaves are   
   forbidden to consort with each other, other than the whores Dominus   
   provides. So in order to hide this fact, Aseneth began to entice Dominus –   
   exposing her buttocks and breasts at opportune times. And since Dominus's   
   sexual appetite is well known, he soon took her, many times. And when her   
   pregnancy became evident, almost everyone, including Dominus, believed the   
   child was his."   
      
   "You said almost everyone."   
      
   "Yes, everyone but Domina."   
      
   "Why didn't she believe it was his?"   
      
   "Because she and Dominus have been married many years and she has never been   
   with child. And Dominus has had his way with many slave girls, so many, yet   
   none had gotten pregnant. Only Aseneth. And now Tia is motherless because of   
   Aseneth's 'accident.' One night not a quarter year after Tia's birth, she   
   fell in the bath, hit her head, more than once somehow, and drowned. She was   
   not found until the next day."   
      
   "And you think it was Domina who did this?"   
      
   "As I said, only rumor. But now we must sleep. Tomorrow will be a busier day   
   than today. We all have much to do."   
      
   "I had no idea such – deception and scheming went on here."   
      
   Antea put one hand on Gabrielle's cheek and smiled a sad smile. "My dear,   
   you have no idea of the things that go on within these walls."   
      
   And as Antea had promised, things began to get frantic. Lucretia seemed to   
   be everywhere, chastising, berating, and using a leather belt to lash any   
   and every slave for perceived slowness or ineptness or lack of motivation.   
   Everything had to be just right for the twenty or so guests Batiatus had   
   invited. They had to ready the bed chambers and anterooms, the baths had to   
   be spotlessly clean, as well as the walls, and the floors, and the columns,   
   and the soot-covered ceilings. The tapestry-sized rugs had to be beaten   
   dust-free and stains scrubbed out. The copper goblets, trays, and pitchers   
   had to be polished to a golden mirror finish. And more, so much more.   
      
   More than once Gabrielle rushed back to the well to replenish the water   
   buckets with clean water. So many times she made a wrong turn in her haste   
   and found herself in an unfamiliar part of the villa. After several wrong   
   turns trying to find her way back, she heard an odd noise, almost as if   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)