Dinner was generally a convivial affair in Gabrielle's home. To a lot of folks her father appeared very stern, but in fact he was a gentle and affectionate, if private man, who loved his wife and daughters deeply. Tonight though, the usually talkative Gabrielle sat in awed silence, for the first time barely noticing her mother's excellent cooking. She didn't even realise she was eating her favourite, nutbread, until she was half way through her second slice. She was too busy listening to Xena. The Commander was filling her parents in on the latest news from Corinth and Athens, and of the tentative peace treaty she was forming with Pompey and Crassus of Rome. She knew the villagers would want to hear too so she was memorising every word the warrior spoke. After dinner Hecuba and Lila went to do the dishes and Herodotus invited Xena to move into the more comfortable sitting room, offering his chair by the fire and a glass of fortified wine.

"I need to go see Melanthus, I won't be gone long, I hope you'll excuse me." When Xena nodded, smiling, he turned to Gabrielle. "Gabrielle, why don't you tell Xena one of your stories while I'm gone?" He smiled proudly "I may be biased but she's quite the storyteller!" Gabrielle gulped. Normally there was nothing she loved doing more in the evenings than telling stories, either at home to an audience of just her sister, or down at the inn when her father decided that the crowd wasn't too rowdy. But suddenly the startling blue eyes of the Commander were looking straight into hers, and Gabrielle's mouth went dry.

"Oh! Um… well I'd love to… but I'm sure Xena is tired after the fight and all…" she stammered.

"Nonsense… I'd love to hear a story." The warrior smiled, showing beautifully even white teeth.

"Great! Then I'll leave you to it." Herodotus accorded Xena a half-bow of respect, and strode out of the house, letting Hecuba and Lila know where he was going, and leaving Gabrielle alone with Xena. She rummaged frantically through her seemingly blank mind, and finally came up with a story she hoped the warrior would like. She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and began.

"I tell the tale of Tantalos and Erytheia…" within moments, Gabrielle became fully involved in the story, a comedy about a pair of unlikely lovers. It was a light hearted story, and contained a generous dose of misunderstandings, blunders, and general mayhem. To the redhead's intense delight, Xena seemed to be genuinely enjoying the tale, listening attentively, and chuckling in all the right places. Gabrielle was so caught up in the story, and watching the warrior's every reaction, that she barely noticed her Father had arrived home, or that her sister had finished the dishes and joined them in the sitting room. As her story wound to its happy conclusion with the hapless pair living happily ever after, Xena smiled warmly and applauded. Gabrielle felt like she would burst with happiness. Herodotus walked over and ruffled his daughter's hair affectionately, then wrapping his arm around her shoulders to convey his approval.

"Well, biased or not, you're right about her storytelling." Xena said, inclining her head towards Herodotus. Gabrielle blushed fiercely, but also smiled.

"She dreams of becoming a travelling bard." As usual, Herodotus's tone was one of mild amusement at what he considered a fanciful notion his child would eventually grow out of.

"She'll be a good one." Gabrielle felt her insides warm with pleasure at the Commander's words. Herodotus frowned slightly.

"Oh I'm not sure I like the idea of her wandering around the country on her own. Your army has done a wonderful job of keeping the peace Xena, but they can't be everywhere. If you hadn't turned up today like as not the men of this village would have been slaughtered and our women shipped off to the Gods know where." He shook his head. "It's just not safe for a young girl out there on her own." For a moment Xena looked as if she had something else to say, but the moment passed and she merely nodded.

"I understand." Xena drained the last mouthful of her wine and stood up just as Hecuba entered the room.

"Xena, I thought you might like a bath. We have a tub in the washhouse out the back here. Gabrielle can help you with anything you need, and when you've finished I'd like to check those wounds again. They cleaned up nicely but I still think that one on your leg may need stitching." Xena glanced down at the wound, showing through the slice in her leather pants. It had indeed opened up slightly when she had risen to her feet, but it wasn't bleeding very much.

"I'm sure it will be fine, I've had much worse than that before. But if you're handy with a needle, these pants could do with a quick repair job. If you wouldn't mind." Xena said, fingering the edge of the cleanly sliced leather.

"I can do that while you bathe if you like." Gabrielle piped up. Her sister snorted.

"You? Sewing? You'd be more likely to stitch the foot holes closed." Lila couldn't resist teasing her older sister. They had both inherited their mother's cooking talent but beyond that Lila was by far the more domestic of the two. To be fair her assessment of Gabrielle's sewing skills was fairly accurate, if a trifle exaggerated. Gabrielle glared at her, blushing furiously, though she was already wondering why she had made the impulsive offer in the first place.

"Lila don't tease your sister." Hecuba scolded gently as she herded Xena out to the bathhouse. Gabrielle followed, but didn't repeat her offer. Secretly she was relieved when Hecuba took Xena's trousers into the house to sponge off the blood and repair them herself, knowing that although she wouldn't have ruined them, her mother's stitching was far neater and the repair would be nearly invisible. Gabrielle found it impossible not to stare as the dark-haired woman tied up her long black hair to keep it dry, then stripped off the rest of her clothing. Her figure was incredible, long and lean, with every muscle clearly defined, but somehow they were smoother than the muscles that fighting men develop. Gabrielle felt her mouth go dry again as she watched the warrior lower herself into the warm water with a contented sigh. The warrior's eyes closed as she lay back against the side of the tub. Gabrielle watched her nervously, worried that the tired woman might fall asleep and drown if left alone. She swallowed, trying to moisten her dry mouth and throat, puzzled as it wasn't warm enough in the bathhouse to have dried her out like that.

"Um, Xena, would you like me to scrub your back for you?" Now why were her cheeks flushing? Maybe it was warmer in here than she thought.

"Mmmm, that would be lovely." Xena sounded sleepy and Gabrielle was glad she had spoken when she did. She was very sure she didn't have the strength to lift the tall woman out if she slipped under the water. Gabrielle dipped and soaped a sponge as Xena sat up, resting her elbows on her knees to give the redhead room to get at her back. The warrior took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh as Gabrielle began soaping her back, scrubbing with just enough pressure. She could feel the muscles relaxing under her hands as she worked. "So what other stories do you know?" Xena asked after a minute or two of silence.

"You want to hear another one?" Gabrielle grinned in surprised delight.

"I'd love to." Xena replied. So Gabrielle began another story. This one was another romantic story, but more serious and fitting the quiet atmosphere of the bathhouse. Gabrielle moved onto Xena's arms, carefully avoiding getting soap in the shallow cut on the left one. The redhead couldn't help noticing the fine lines of scars that decorated the older woman's body, a testament to the hazards of fighting for a living. Her words and movements fell into a matching rhythm, pausing only to ask for access to the next available body part. She gently but firmly cleaned the warrior's entire body, blushingly avoiding only a few areas. The warrior smiled in mild amusement as she calmly took the proffered sponge and tended to those areas herself. As Gabrielle's tale wound to it's finale the warrior ducked back into the water to rinse off, then stepped out of the tub, accepting the towel Gabrielle had ready for her. "My thanks." Xena said, inclining her head gracefully as she wrapped the towel around herself. "For both the entertainment and the bath. I can't remember the last time I was so well tended to. It's not a luxury I get very often. I may just have to take you with me."

"Really?" Gabrielle asked eagerly. Xena chuckled at the display of girlish enthusiasm, but then her face grew serious.

"Somehow I doubt your father would approve. He made it pretty clear he doesn't want you travelling." Gabrielle told herself she was imagining the regret in the Commander's tone. Still, the idea of travelling with this fascinating woman was too good for her to dismiss that easily.

"He doesn't want me travelling alone… but if I was with other people, say an army…" Gabrielle let the sentence trail off, not wanting to appear too eager. This may be her one chance to get out of Potidaea. Xena's face clouded.

"It's not an easy life Gabrielle. Being in an army isn't anywhere near as romantic as your stories probably make it out to be." Xena finished drying herself off and pulled on a clean shift from the saddlebag she had brought in with her.

"I know that Xena… but I want to get out of this town. I want to see some of the world before I'm expected to settle down and get married and raise a family. There's a whole world out there and I've only seen this tiny part of it. I know all these stories about far off places, but how can I even begin to describe them if I've never really seen them?" Gabrielle hung the towel over a rail to dry, smoothing it out as she stared into an imagined distance.

"You're really serious about becoming a bard aren't you?" There was no longer any amusement in the warrior's voice. Gabrielle nodded, meeting the blue eyed gaze.

"Yes I am. I was meant for more than this Xena." She gestured around her, meaning more than the bathhouse but the farm, the small, quiet town, the unadventurous people. She was grateful that the tall woman at least took her seriously and wasn't laughing at her like her sister, or dismissing it as a silly dream like her father.

"I can't go against your father's wishes Gabrielle." Xena began, a note of resignation in her voice.

"I know…" Gabrielle interrupted her. "Xena I love my father dearly. He's a good man and well respected. But he's a simple farmer, with no desire to see anything beyond the next town where he goes once a year to sell whatever harvest we don't need." She sighed deeply. "He loves me but he doesn't understand me at all."

"Talk to him." Xena said simply. "If he agrees to let you come with me, then you can. But it has to be you that persuades him. I may command the entire Grecian army, but in this house, even I have to obey your father's wishes where you're concerned. If he says no you will have to abide by that. Maybe once you're married you can…" she stopped at Gabrielle's snort.

"You haven't met the man I'm betrothed to have you? He's even less adventurous than my father." She rolled her eyes. "All right…" she said as Xena was about to speak again. "I'll talk to father, and if he says no, then I'll stay here, and get married and raise a brood of screaming brats and spend the rest of my days dreaming about what could have been." Gabrielle said, putting on her best air of tragedy, then grinning at the snort of laughter from the warrior. "But that won't happen, you'll see. I can be very persuasive when I put my mind to it."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Xena drawled in a very dry tone. Gabrielle chuckled.

"Come on Commander, lets go in and let Mom look at your cuts, then I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Gabrielle hefted the warrior's saddlebag and opened the door.

"Lead on, bard…" Gabrielle felt another blush creep up her face, but smiled at the title.