Feeling a little rejected and disheartened, Aphrodite finally realized what Gabrielle was telling her. "Okay, if that’s the way you want it. So what advice do you want from me?"

"How…?  I mean, I don’t… That is…."

"She wants to know what kind of goddess she is. She wants a title of some kind. So she’ll know what kind of temple she needs." Xena interrupted, spitting out a cherry pit.

"That’s it, basically. Except for the part about wanting a temple! I mean, you’re the Goddess of Love. Ares is the God of War. All of you have, had, titles. You all specialized. But me, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be. What do I tell people when they ask me who I am?"

"Golly, that’s a toughie. When we were born, we — just knew what we were destined to do.  By the way, how DID you become a goddess?"

After Gabrielle had explained about the spiked wine, Aphrodite said, "I don’t know what to tell you. I wish I did, but I guess even we gods have our limitations. I suppose this means you want your old clothes back, huh?"

"Yes. As beautiful as these are…."

And with another wave, Gabrielle was once again wearing her own, ordinary clothes.

"One other thing," Gabrielle said as the thought came to her. "Why is it that every time I use one of my powers, a different color appears?"

"Like what?"

"Well, when I made the dust here disappear in a small tornado, it was pale green. And when I saved a village from a stampede, a yellow curtain dug up a trench. And when I had the dirt go back into the trench, it was with a pink mist or something."

"Show me," Aphrodite said, perplexed.

Gabrielle looked around and then pointed her hand at the food-laden table and a bluish-green vapor left her fingers, went under the table and it was lifted off the floor. Then as the vapor dissipated, the table slowly settled back down.

Gabrielle looked questioningly at Aphrodite.

"Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that before," Aphrodite said, impressed. "I don’t know what to tell you, Gabrielle. You’ve got powers, but they’re not the powers of the Olympic gods. Are you immortal?"