Chilapa smiled. "Hey, don't let us
interrupt you two. The gods knows that both of you needed
that."

Lila began to giggle. "I don't know
Chilapa, I think Xena needed it more. Every time she got a little
bit.." she paused to find the right word, "frustrated, we
trainees had to work harder." She showed Chilapa a few
bruises. "But I'm getting real good with the
staff."

Gabrielle cocked her eyebrow at Xena. Chilapa
looked over at Lila. "Looks like someone is in trouble,"
and the two Amazons rolled with laughter. It was then that Xena
turned to them and quirked her eyebrow. They quickly stopped
laughing.

"Your Queen needs a break, so tell the
council that she will be unavailable for the rest of the
day."

Chilapa folded her arms across her chest.
"And what are we suppose to do? The Queen has to be here for
treaty discussions."

"Yes, but she doesn't have to be here
to talk about bonding ceremonies and traditions." Lila eyes
danced with glee as she thought about the possibilities.

Gabrielle saw the look in her sister's
eyes, and she knew it could only mean trouble. "Maybe I should
stay."

"No, that's okay Gabrielle.
Lila's right, we do need to get started on that anyway. The
Queen's bonding ceremony and festivals are suppose to be the
biggest celebrations in the life of the village."

Xena looked over at her two friends. "Did
you say festivals?"

"Oh yes. See I've been reading up on
this stuff." Lila started to count off along her fingers.
"Let's see, there's the party to celebrate
Artemis' blessing upon your relationship, the party for each of
you before you get married, the official celebration to announce
your engagement, the ceremony itself and the three day celebration
after the ceremony." Lila looked up and saw the couple
missing. "Hey, where did they go?"

Chilapa smiled. "You know how Xena feels
about festivals. She's probably going back to the hut and
trying to convince Gabrielle to elope."

"That would be breaking
protocol."

"Most definitely."

"Xena remind me to tell Lila to stop
taking her studies so seriously."

Xena chuckled as she grabbed her lover's
hand. "So which of the numerous tests are you going to have me
go through in order to prove myself worthy?"

"That is not my decision, but the
council's. But it should be a dozy, especially with Lila
helping out."

"She's helping?" The Warrior
Princess quirked her eyebrow. "Oh, that just great. I can see
it now, she will have me going after the Golden Fleece or a feather
from Cupid's wings."