AN: Hello friends! Another fic for you. A small one this time, nothing major, just a cute little fluffy thought I've had in my head for a while. Not my best, but I hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Xena.
Even still, two weeks after they had left Melitia, all Gabrielle wanted to do was dance.
She'd been making due so far- the roads her and Xena traveled weren't well known, and even Xena had been relaxing, the normal tension that kept her stiff on top of Argo gone as they walked along the unused paths. Which meant, instead of having to keep all senses trained outwards for potential enemies and attacks, Gabrielle had been able to turn her attention towards other things- towards the unrelenting melody of the birds, the steady beat of Argo's hoofs, and the strange tempo she felt inside of her urging her to dance.
Which she had been, as much as she could while walking, strange little sways and jumps and half-twirls that made up the dance, just letting her body flow with the natural music she found around her. It wasn't pretty, not at all, nothing like what she and Xena had managed to put on with the kids of Melitia, but still. It was fun, and when she laid down at night, the overwhelming desire to just move didn't keep her from her sleep. That much, anyway.
Plus, it annoyed Xena, and considering Gabrielle was still miffed about the weeks Xena had dragged her through bogs and mires to go find Argo, she figured it was a bit of payback.
"Every time I almost figure it out," Xena grumbled to her over their nightly fire, throwing the bones from their meal into the flames, "you change the song on me. Sometimes you're slow with wide, sweeping movements, and I can almost hear the music, until you go and turn up the beat so I can't follow. It's annoying."
"And having feet I still can't walk on without shoes is also annoying, Xena," Gabrielle teased, though only in part. Even after over a month since the skin rot had been cured, leaving her pink and healthy instead of green and scabby, with only a few light scars to show where the damage had been, her feet were still quite a bit of a mess, having had it the worst of all of her. The skin tender and sore, things were fine when she wore her shoes, especially since the cobbler had added the layer of metal to keep out what pure leather couldn't. But whenever she removed her shoes, the air would set her feet to prickling, the still healing skin reminding her of the trials she had had to deal with in their search for Argo.
It had been because of her feet, needing to stay dry so her skin could properly heal, that had taken them into the desert and close to Melitia in the first place. A good decision, in the end, since they had been able to help break the city's ban on dancing and music, but still, only a decision they had reached because Xena had dragged them for weeks through bogs and marshes for 'short cuts' instead of taking the longer, dryer way to Argo's valley.
"How are they doing," Xena asked after a moment, the guilt clear in her voice as she glanced over, trying to see Gabrielle's feet in the flickering light of the flames. "Are your feet any better?"
"They're getting there," Gabrielle reassured her, lifting her feet slightly so Xena could see. Shortly after they had set up camp, Gabrielle had removed her shoes, wincing as the cool night's air met the still tender skin. Quickly covering them in the salve the herbalist from Joxer's village had given her to stop the stinging, and by keeping them well wrapped when she didn't have her shoes on, Gabrielle had been avoiding most of the pain of healing. It was all an annoyance, but it would be worth it when her feet were healed.
"I really am sorry, Gabrielle," Xena said softly, looking down at the fire before her. "I should have taken the longer route. I was just-"
"You were desperate to get Argo back," Gabrielle said understandingly, throwing a twig at the warrior to get her attention. When Xena looked up, Gabrielle smiled a real, true smile that she couldn't help but return. "I get it, Xena, I really do. It's nice to have Argo back, and if we hadn't taken the shortcuts, then we probably wouldn't have been able to be there to help those villagers fend off the Scythians. All things considered, my feet are an annoyance, nothing more. It's okay."
For a few long moments the two of them sat in silence, Xena continuing to tend to the fire while Gabrielle rubbed at her feet, adjusting the bandages so they settled properly. She'd have to stay off them for the next few hours, until the salve had fully absorbed, leaving her very little to do besides talk and write.
Something Xena knew. So when the warrior jumped to her feet and held out her hand to Gabrielle, the bard just gave her that look, and shook her head.
"Dance with me, Gabrielle."
"Xena, my feet. I-"
"You don't have to do anything, Gabrielle," Xena promised, kneeling before her and taking her hand. Raising her hand to her lips, Xena placed a gentle kiss against her knuckles, flashing her that charming, dashing smile she only reserved for when she wanted something. "I've been watching you dance for weeks now. So dance with me. It won't hurt your feet, I promise."
Sighing, shaking her head with a small smile as Xena's grew wider, Gabrielle held out her other hand for Xena to take and help her up.
Xena, instead, stood herself before bending over, wrapping her arms easily around Gabrielle's waist. Straightening up, she laughed when Gabrielle's arms wrapped around her neck, the tips of Gabrielle's feet barely touching the tops of Xena's shoes. Holding her bard close to her, Xena slowly began to sway, humming a soft song to dance to.
"I feel like a child," Gabrielle laughed, though not in protest- instead she laid her head on Xena's shoulder, tightening her grip around Xena's neck to hold herself closer to her warrior. "Like when I was a little girl, and Father would pick me up to dance at festivals."
"Your father, dancing," Xena asked, teasingly, as she turned her head to place a small kiss against Gabrielle's cheek. Burying her face into Gabrielle's hair, Xena sighed contentedly, just glad to have the blonde woman in her arms. "That's a sight I'd love to see."
"After the last Harvest Festival, he swore that the next time he'd dance would be at mine or Lila's weddings. So until one of those happen, you're out of luck."
Xena opened her mouth to say something- something smart, if she knew herself, that would earn her a smack on the arm from the bard- but quickly changed her mind, instead just tightening her hold on Gabrielle. "Not too out of luck," Xena said, chuckling softly. "I have you to dance with until then."
"I feel bad," Gabrielle admitted, wiggling her toes slightly so they brushed against Xena's shins. "You're the one doing all of the work."
"I'm happy to do it," Xena replied, moving out from the fire so she could twirl them, catching Gabrielle off guard and forcing a peel of laughter from her. Going back to humming her song, Xena just smiled as she continued to sway them around the camp, her feet following the moves of a dance she had learned as a teenager, only half remembered but perfect for the moment.
"One of these days," Gabrielle sighed, turning her head to place a quick kiss against the shoulder she had been resting on, "you're going to have to teach me how to dance. Really dance, I mean, not the mess I've been playing with while we've been traveling."
"Tell you what," Xena said, coming to a stop by Gabrielle's bedroll, one arm leaving the bard's waist to slide under her knees, shifting Gabrielle into a bridal hold. Kneeling, Xena slid her out of her arms and onto the furs, careful of her feet. When Gabrielle was settled, Xena once again took her hand, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "When your feet are better and you can walk around without your shoes again, I'll teach you everything I know about dancing. I have many skills," she reminded Gabrielle with a wink and a smirk as Gabrielle giggled, "meaning I know a lot about it."
"Promise?" It wasn't a question Gabrielle needed to ask- Xena hadn't broken a promise to her in a very, very long time, and the chances were she wouldn't anytime soon.
"Promise." Leaning in to give Gabrielle a short, sweet kiss, Xena returned to her side of the fire, picking up her sword as she went to sharpen it. "Go to sleep, Gabrielle," Xena said, a teasing lit in her words. "We have a lot of traveling to do tomorrow, meaning you'll have a lot of road to dance down."
"Hopefully this overwhelming urge to dance goes away soon," Gabrielle grumbled as she rearranged herself on her bedroll, her eyes already starting to droop. Just the mention of their travels had her exhausted and ready for bed, though her mind wanted to continue the discussion. "Maybe after you teach me."
"Maybe it will," Xena said. "Now sleep."
It didn't long before the bard was out, her breathing deep and even as Morpheus and Hypnos drew her deeper into their realms.
For the next few weeks she continued to dance during the day, swaying her hips and twisting her arms in some rhythm to the music she heard inside her head. She tried to sing it a couple of times, so Xena would have some sort of context to her moves, but each time she failed- the music was like the stories she had in her mind, present but unwilling to be shared before its time. It was waiting for the perfect moment, that exact second, that its birth into the world would create the most beauty for the beholders.
So for weeks she danced as they walked the down the road to that unheard song, wrapping and tending to her feet when they finally stopped to make camp. Until, finally, instead of immediately flopping to her bed to tend to her toes, Gabrielle kicked off her shoes, her fully healed feet wiggling happily in the grass, and held out her hand for Xena to take, smiling at the warrior's confused look.
"I've wanted to dance all day," Gabrielle admitted that first night- and in fact she hadn't, something Xena realized then. Instead she had walked normally for the first time since they had left Melitia, her stroll steady instead of strumming along with the music. "But only if it was with you. Dance with me, Xena?"
Xena just smiled and took Gabrielle's hand, pulling her so they were chest to chest, her arms wrapped around Gabrielle's waist while Gabrielle's lifted to her neck. Leaning down to give her a quick, sweet kiss, Xena took a step back, leading them into a dance as, finally, Gabrielle began to softly sing the song that had kept her company throughout the days she had danced.
A different dance each night, some more successful than others as Xena slowly began teaching Gabrielle the finer points of each, but a dance that left them in each other's arms, swaying to the gentle music that led them.