"Ares traded me something," Xena sighed at last, giving Gabrielle's back a shove as the blond had teased her endlessly about keeping something in all morning.

One full day had passed since Gabrielle's story of her past, and the capacity for Gabrielle to share had been on Xena's mind ever since. She wanted to share, too.

The moment Gabrielle heard the sincerity of Xena's thoughts, Gabrielle turned and stared: "Ares?"

"Yeah, I don't have some big story like you tell, but ... let's just say my brother didn't pass from disease."

Gabrielle had been eating from a small loaf of bread that fell to the ground when she heard Xena's confession. "I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Xena ... that's awful. How young was he?"

Xena stopped on her tired callused feet in order to answer the question: "Four."

"Gods! Four?! ... Xena ... What happened?"

"He was killed," Xena replied glumly, having had a substantial amount of time to deal with that reality. She tossed a look down to Gabrielles bread loaf, and furrowed her brows. "Gabrielle ... please tell me you tossed the loaf you traded earlier."

"Xena ... your brother! Gods, I didn't know."

"It's okay, Gabrielle. I know you had no idea. I've been dealing with it for a long time now, and I'd like to tell you about him, but ... you DID pitch that loaf like I asked you to, right? This is a different loaf ...?"

"What is your obsession with a loaf of bread?" Gabrielle teased, bending to pick up the portion that was left to dust it off. "I don't do everything you say, you know."

Before Gabrielle could bring the bread to her mouth, Xena grabbed her wrist, and crooked an eyebrow to look at her - a look that quickly turned from glare to smirk.

"Gabrielle ... let go."

"You first," Gabrielle smirked back, jokingly.

"Look, as much as I'd like to see you a little looser around the edges, with the amount you've already eaten, any more and you might be really sick."

Gabrielle grew serious as she glanced back to the bread. "What are you talking about?"

"Henbane."

"Henbane like ... crazy henbane? ... Oh gods ..."

"The one and only," Xena chuckled, watching Gabrielle throw the bread off the path to slap her face from both sides.

"Oh gods! I've done henbane before by accident at a gathering when I was younger ... oh gods, Xena ... I really lose it ..."

Xena couldn't help but smile - her mind taken completely from the sorrow she'd felt only moments ago. She crossed her arms and watched the sight before her.

"Tie me up! Please - I'm begging you. You have no idea what I'll do - I won't even have any idea what I'll do!"

"This is more talkative than I've ever seen you already," Xena laughed infectiously, pulling a very real smile from her smaller companion.

"Yeah, I can see you're entertained, but I seriously need your help. I am a lunatic on this stuff, and I've never had this much. Please ..." Gabrielle started, pulled back by the strap of her top to feel a very strong hand around her arm. It was a hold of protective affection, and Gabrielle stilled to the feeling of Xena's knuckles under the thick strap of her suede top.

"I'll take care of you," Xena said earnestly, gathering all of her attention. "I promise."

With that promise came some very nervous pacing and promises of an eventful evening as Xena rolled her eyes and assured Gabrielle she was over-exaggerating.

It wasn't until Xena had to chase after Gabrielle just an hour later in the hot afternoon sun that Xena began to realize that Gabrielle might not have over-exaggerated after all.

First was a frantic leaping run that had Gabrielle rolling down a hill just in view of a busy city. Next was a stumbled, dizzy hop into a shop where Xena lost sight of Gabrielle only for a moment or two.

Once Xena caught up with Gabrielle, she couldn't hold back an amused grin with the conversation she overheard. Xena was able to catch her breath as she listened on from a few paces back.

"It's like you know ... what I'm talking about," Gabrielle whispered, eyes squinted as she stared at a bottle of salve for wounds.

The healer arched a very wrinkled brow, and limped his way over to the young woman making a scene in his shop. "Do you have the dinars for that?"

"Don't worry - she doesn't need it," Xena interrupted, stepping aside Gabrielle to see big green eyes staring up at her.

"Ooh ... it's you ..."

Xena glanced between the healer and Gabrielle a few times before slipping the bottle from Gabrielle's unsteady hands to set it back onto the counter. "Yeah, it's me alright. Now it's time to go back up the hill. Back to the horses. Do you think you can manage that?"

Gabrielle went to spin away from her, but Xena quickly caught her arm, laughing at the effort.

"Gabrielle ... I can't have you running away from me all day. Just tell me where you wanna go, and I'll take you there."

While Xena hadn't meant it to sound like such an open invitation, a blush crept into her cheeks with the smile that lighted Gabrielle's face. There was a strangely innocent expression looking up at Xena with a very certain hint of sensuality.

"... Anywhere?"

Xena was completely silenced as she read into Gabrielle's eyes. Her lips were hot with opportunity, but no words could escape.

While Xena was frozen with the shock of the moment, Gabrielle's mind had moved onto the next idea - she wanted to sail a ship on the grass just past all the fuzzy tree clouds.

Gabrielle was off before Xena had the time to blink and chase after her.

It took the entire afternoon for Gabrielle's mentality to calm somewhat, but when it finally did, Xena established her exhaustion. She sighed as Gabrielle's exhaustion caught up with her, too - stumbling back and tripping over her own two feet to stare up at the tall, dark beauty standing there before her.

Off the side of the path, Gabrielle sat leaning back on her hands with a look of awe in her eyes and a piercing smile on her lips: "You ... are ... beautiful!"

"Uh huh ..." Xena mumbled awkwardly, unsure of how to handle the confession. "And you ... are drugged."

She helped Gabrielle back to her feet, chuckling when Gabrielle fell onto her due to the imbalanced nature of her state.

"I should not ... be doing this ..." Gabrielle slurred, putting her hands quite obviously on the straps of Xena's leather attire to feel the skin aside the material. As much as Gabrielle wanted her hands to wander, something inside of her kept them rather still and respectful.

"Doing what exactly?" Xena asked, using every sliver of willpower to keep from smiling outright at the sensation of those wonderfully thick fingers touching her collarbone. It was a piece of her own body that Xena had always felt was rather feminine, and there Gabrielle stood - stroking it in her inebriated state.

Gabrielle slid down to the ground with fatigue where she dropped quite accidentally between Xena's legs. Xena laughed and moved herself to see that Gabrielle had gone unconscious, joking only to herself: "Not exactly what I thought you'd do ..."

Xena rolled Gabrielle onto her back and lifted the lids of her companion's eyes to check her vital signs as she listened to her breathing and concluded that Gabrielle's body had simply succumb to the exhaustion of the day.

Keeping true to her word, Xena lifted Gabrielle and walked her to the nearest blacksmith where she sat the tired blond against a post while she had her breastplate re-touched. It was a fantastically unnatural sight to see Gabrielle making such a fool of herself, but it was certainly refreshing. Most often, Gabrielle was wound so tightly that Xena wondered how Gabrielle moved without combusting. Even with all of the chasing she did after Gabrielle, the day was worthwhile to see the woman so carefree and imaginative in all of her lovely chaos. Moments had been sewn together that Xena would never forget. She smirked as she thought back to Gabrielle's squirming around in her sea of grass. That image had a powerful draw.

"Just this part?" the blacksmith asked, not bothering to ask why Xena had plunked an unconscious woman there to wait with her. "That's all you need?"

"That's it," Xena smiled with hands on her hips.

With an hour or so to pass, Xena turned back to her travelling companion, and beamed anew. She admired the mess of Gabrielle's hair and the languid movements of her chest with each inhale. The soft chest gleamed with the moisture of her fatigue - a sheet of sweat covering Gabrielle from head-to-toe that only accentuated her attractive assets. Xena found herself staring so obviously a passing customer stood at her side and enjoyed the same view.

When Xena noticed the onlooker at her side, she scowled at him. When that didn't work, she shoved him.

"What? Is she yours?!" he barked aggressively, leaving Xena with fists on her hips and attitude to spare.

"As a matter of fact ... yes."

"She doesn't belong to you," the man laughed, standing up tall to impress upon Xena that he held a few inches of height advantage.

At that empty threat, Xena confronted the man face-to-face - unaware that Gabrielle had woken at the sound of the man's irritating laughter.

Xena stared at the man for one long second, and then stabbed her fingers into his neck to watch him drop to her knees. Crouching next to him, Xena spoke loudly enough so she wouldn't have to repeat herself: "She belong to me alright. And you know, the last guy to try and take what's mine ...? His head is still bobbing down a river somewhere. So you wanna beat it, or should I leave you here to die?"

Gabrielle still felt that her head was swimming - she felt drunk - but knew what she'd heard. She also knew Xena was a woman with a dark past, but she had spent enough time with her to know she was making that up. Gabrielle smiled at the thought that Xena would go so far out of her way to protect a friend. More than a friend, Gabrielle echoed to herself.

Just as Gabrielle was trying to focus on the scene before her again, Xena jabbed her fingers into the man's neck again, and he stumbled away in a hurry. Just as hurriedly, Gabrielle shut her eyes again. She focused on rested breathing, and keeping her body still.

"You keep staring at her like that, and you'll have all the men for miles giving you trouble," the blacksmith yelled out.

At that, Gabrielle couldn't help but smirk, finally venturing to open her eyes to see Xena grinning back down at her.

"I knew you were listening," Xena sang tenderly, offering a hand down to Gabrielle to have the woman bashfully accept.

"Didn't mean to listen in ..."

"Are you wondering who I think I am that I'm claiming I own you, or are you happy I protected you while you were out?"

"Can it be both?" Gabrielle grinned, accidentally giving away her inebriation with the tells of her body.

"Happy wonderment?" Xena teased, waving off to the blacksmith as she put her hands on Gabrielle's shoulders from behind and started her toward a place to eat. "Happily wonder all you like."

Xena felt herself happily wondering how she could be so lucky as to have a bond with a woman like Gabrielle. The smaller shoulders that warmed to her touch gave Xena a warmth of her own she could neither deny nor ignore. Seeing as her hands enjoyed their position, she didn't attempt to remove them, either.

"You know, I CAN walk," Gabrielle chuckled, referencing the way Xena guided her around by her shoulders. However, at the loosening pressure on her shoulders, Gabrielle was quick to amend the teasing: "Not that I know where we're going ..."

"There's a little place up ahead," Xena whispered, having tugged Gabrielle's back to her chest in the mischievous way she had done before - guiding her.

"I ... I hate it when you do that," Gabrielle whispered back, holding her breath so as not to moan.

Of course, Xena knew why she hated it - Gabrielle's most vulnerable spot was her neck. When Xena whispered down onto it, Gabrielle went weak. It had happened by absolute accident one morning, and ever since then, Xena found herself playing on that piece of knowledge at the most unusual moments.

It took Xena a moment to wipe the grin off her face, and to give Gabrielle a good push away from her.

"Sorry ... my mistake."

Once they had reached the place and pushed inside, Gabrielle was hesitant to find a table. She turned back to Xena with sincere worry in her eyes: "I ... I have the urge to make a complete fool of myself ... We need to leave."

"What's your urge? Skip around while singing Solstice songs?" Xena smiled, folding her arms to ascertain the degree of sincerity in Gabrielle's eyes.

"No - like ... dance. In front of all these people. My head is spinning. Just get me outta here."

Xena wasted no time in ushering Gabrielle out of the establishment to walk aside her friend back toward where their horses were awaiting their return. She glanced over at Gabrielle who was having trouble walking, and felt safer given their distance from the crowds. When they had reached their horses, Xena and Gabrielle let their exhaustion find them comfortable patches of grass to rest on, just at the top of the hill.

"Hey Gabrielle ...? What gives you an urge to dance?"

Gabrielle felt a looseness flush through her as she lowered herself to the ground - only to try and exhale it away. "Nothing ... I don't know ... I really love to dance ... and this drug ... has very strange effects ..."

"Look, you know I won't hurt you. I just wanna know because ... I care about you, Gabrielle. I care, and I wonder about you," Xena shared, eyes smiling brightly in the otherwise faded light of the day. "Will you tell me?"

Xena's care and curiosity about Gabrielle had found a quiet place between them, where it was welcome and appreciated.

"I'm a good dancer," Gabrielle admitted at last with a wide and knowing smile. "And I am NOT saying it to tease you."

Neither woman addressed what that implied.

Gabrielle carried on: "But I'm good ... I think I have a good rhythm ... you know?"

"I do," Xena whispered, looking out to the well-crafted buildings just off from the sloping hill where they sat. She took a deep breath in, listening as Gabrielle offered her self-aware confessions.

"I'm flexible and passionate about movement and ... well, some women just like to be admired, I guess."

Xena's lips tightened into a smirk, not daring to meet Gabrielle's eyes. "And I take it ... you're one of those women."

"Unfortunately," Gabrielle chuckled to herself, relaxing as the henbane coursed through her less vigorously but with so astounding an effect that Gabrielle desired to roll over on top of Xena to SHOW her just what she meant. She shook her head at that notion, and the sharp shivers it gave her.

"Hungry?" Xena asked softly, slapping her hand on Gabrielle's back to signify nothing had changed between them. There were no complications, but the bond remained.

"Xena? ... I know I'm still a little ... off. But will you tell me about your brother?"

When Xena saw the usual sincerity behind Gabrielle's eyes, she dropped her eyes and sat up with curling shoulders. "I don't like talking about it ..."

"You said something about Ares," Gabrielle asked just as quietly as Xena had asked her questions many times before. "Did he ... have something to do with-"

"No. No, he didn't. He made me an offer. He ... loves me."

Gabrielle's heart sank as she thought to Xena's words.

When Xena turned her head to her friend's silence, her heart raced. Could Gabrielle be jealous from mistaken understanding? Could Gabrielle feel just as strongly for her?

"Do you still love him? ..."

Xena studied Gabrielle for a long moment before deciding to answer with perfect honesty: "I don't love him. Not anymore."

Gabrielle lifted her head to see Xena had been watching her. "... But you did once?

"Yeah. When I was young and foolish. And horrible."

Gabrielle looked down again as Xena continued explaining, reminded of Xena's tale-worthy dark past.

"When I was still some nobody, grieving over my brother and praying for revenge ... Ares came to me, and made me a trade. It was my soul for all of the attributes I have now ... the god-like strength ... to storm through my enemies. We fell in love."

Gabrielle couldn't think of anything to say, so Xena took a deep breath in and continued.

"It feels more like a curse now ..."

"Xena ... your soul? ... What does that mean?"

"Once I pass, I won't be anywhere but in Ares' possession. Forever I guess." With Xena's last thought spoken aloud, she hurtled a pebble over the grass, and tightened her arms around her legs. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

"Wait a minute ... Xena ...? Since when? ... I don't understand."

"Probably the henbane," Xena smiled sadly, with no light behind her eyes. Even as she was turned toward the setting sun, Gabrielle could see the sadness in her eyes.

"Xena ... you know I care about you, don't you?"

"Yeah. I know."

"So ... what if I told you I was in the same position? You wouldn't even be a little agitated?"

Xena laughed, unexpectedly, and pressed her rough fingers against her closed eyelids to take a moment to herself. When her arms balanced on her knees, she tossed a look over to Gabrielle. "Sorry ... this has had a strange effect on me all my life."

"How young were you? - I have so many questions."

"I can't answer them all. I wasn't a child, let's just say. Old enough to make my own decisions."

"Old enough to condemn yourself to a lifetime of misery?"

Gabrielle's question hung in the air, and Xena exhaled. "He loves me. He wouldn't try to hurt me."

"Just accidentally, then?"

As the comments had been meant to support Xena, they were welcome at first, but as Gabrielle's quips cut a little deeper, Xena stood to her full height. "Listen, Gabrielle ... I don't want to talk about this. I know you're tired, and-"

"Couldn't you just trade back? You don't need to be as strong as you are, Xena. You don't need to have all the attributes he gave to you."

"I already thought of that, and it doesn't work that way. Now PLEASE. Can we stop talking about this? It gets me really ... I get lost, thinking about it sometimes."

"Of course you do," Gabrielle answered immediately, getting to her feet aside the infamous warrior. She wondered what she could do to help her closest friend, gathering an idea as Xena muttered something about catching a meal, and left.

Xena went about catching their food with minimal difficulty, and was back cleaning their dinner in the river when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Losing her balance for a moment, Xena's foot slipped, but she spun just as quickly to see Gabrielle standing there behind her.

"Gods, Gabrielle ... you're the only one who can do that to me!"

"Neat trick, huh?"

"Cut it out," Xena smirked, enjoying the trait and irritated by it all at once. She went back to cleaning their meal once she'd settled enough for the task, speaking over her shoulder. "Came down here to scare me? And just after I shared my hardest moments with you. You can really cut a girl down to size ..."

"No," Gabrielle smiled, rolling her eyes. She instinctively played with a strand of Xena's hair before returning both hands to her own hips, tightening her stance. "Xena ... I don't know what to do."

"You always know what to do, Gabrielle."

"Don't be silly," Gabrielle chastised a little too heavily for the moment. "Sorry ... I just ... I can't take the thought that you're hurting so terribly inside, Xena. I can't take the thought of you never being able to show yourself what you can truly be. That retribution exists. That there is a place for you in the afterlife ... not as some Queen of War or whatever Ares wants of you."

"You're ... the best ... person I've ever been close to ... aside from my brother."

"And you're the best person I've been close to since Ephiny."

Xena smiled at the honour in that comparison, giddy to herself until she felt both of Gabrielle's smaller hands on her shoulders. Her heart raced quite accidentally at that moment.

"Xena ... I would do just about anything to ensure your happiness."

It was the closest confession of love Xena could have imagined. She smiled anew at the sentiment, nodding as she returned the thought: "Me too, Gabrielle."

"How long have we known each other? ... And yet here we are ... this is chaos, I think."

It's love. Xena bit back her immediate response, and tapped her hand over one of Gabrielle's. She didn't know what to say, but before she could try cloaking the silence with words, Gabrielle pulled her hand away and started back to their site to see to the horses.

Xena was close behind.

They ate that evening in relative silence, and went to bed just as the sun was setting. It had been an exhausting day, and as morning peeled its way back into the milky sky, Xena stirred into wakefulness.

She always awoke rather silently - peering over to Gabrielle only to smile at the woman's ability to sleep through the lighting sky. Gabrielle always looked so peaceful in her sleep she looked oblivious to the harsh features of humankind. Xena preferred to allow herself to think such things in the early morning hours, fantasizing a simpler life for the two of them. She wondered what Gabrielle might have been like had she grown up in her village without all of her hardship. She wondered with an enjoyable grin what Gabrielle might have been like without the ability or muscle mass she possessed. Xena moaned quietly to herself at the thought of Gabrielle surrendering to her in some physical way - pretending her naivety for the sake of a game ...

When Xena heard Gabrielle tossing onto her side, she opened her eyes and banished all alluring thoughts for the day. She stretched, started to pack their things, and was ready at her horse when Gabrielle finally rubbed her eyes to the new day.

"What do you say we move on from here?" Xena smiled, chuckling when Gabrielle turned onto her stomach and covered her face from the harsh light of the sun. It took Xena two seconds to step over to Gabrielle and pull the furs from her grumpy form. "Aww, a little tired are we?"

"No," Gabrielle groaned, giving Xena a much simpler smile and a more tender nature. She chuckled as she replaced the furs where they had laid, over Gabrielle's exposed legs and arms.

"Hey, Gabrielle?"

"Go away," Gabrielle grumbled - still half-asleep.

"Gabrielle, I'm sorry," Xena smirked, enjoying in Gabrielle's grouchy moods when at all other hours of the day, Gabrielle was completely rational and put-together. "Hey, I thought we could do a little shopping after we rest another town over. What do you say?"

"Shop?" Gabrielle asked, her voice crackling with her body functioning nearly asleep at about a quarter of its capacity. And yet up jolted Gabrielle to her elbows, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Yeah, whaddya say?" Xena smiled, her smile only widening as Gabrielle showed hers in sincerity.

"Okay ... I'm up. I'm up."

Gabrielle's idea came to fruition as she watched Xena toying with an old commemoration to the God of War on an old woman's table. She watched quietly as Xena observed the sculpture meant to emulate all of the attraction of Ares himself.

Xena watched the item carefully, catching the errors and the meaning behind the piece with minimal interest. Instead, she felt a deep sadness overwhelm her that often meant Ares wasn't far off. When he sensed Xena was in need of his persuasions, he liked to appear.

Sure enough, as Xena rounded another merchant't table, she felt a presence among her. She stopped and waited while Ares snapped himself into sight just behind a vacant bench. He stepped into view as Xena rolled her eyes and looked down to another object of interest.

"Not today, Ares."

"Oh? When then, Xena? Tomorrow?"

"It's been a hard few days. Can't you tell when a woman needs her space?"

"Oh I can tell a lot about you, Xena ... and-"

"Save it, Ares. I can't deal with your games right now." Xena interrupted, pressing a shawl against Ares chest as a way of physically distancing herself while remaining somewhat passive in the act. She gave a gentle push, as if signifying she wasn't capable of more. "Just ... not today."

Pushing the God of War item to the back of the articles once again, Gabrielle marched her way over to Ares before he could disappear himself.

Ares was admiring Xena's wandering over at another section of the market when a shorter, fuming blond hurried her way over to him. Immediately, Ares was put off.

"Uh. You. What are you doing here?"

Gabrielle waited until she stood directly in front of Ares, and looked up at him with both hands on her hips. "You and I have something to arrange."

"Easy there, little girl-"

"I'm no little girl, and this is no time for teasing," Gabrielle said as calmly as she could manage. "I don't know what you did to make your trade with Xena ... but I want you to make it again. Turn things back."

"She doesn't want them turned back."

"She sure as Tartarus doesn't want to live with YOU for all eternity!"

"She sure as Tartarus wouldn't want to live some pitiful, average life here with YOU either! What do you even care? Beat it, villager."

Gabrielle's eyes fumed with anger, but there was a settled rage that found a comforting home just behind the sharp green of her irises. She inhaled and released her breath as she kept eye contact with Ares.

"You know very well my station in life."

"What? As Xena's sidekick?" Xena snickered with both arms crossed - satisfied with his tease.

Despite her anger, however, a smile found Gabrielle's lips with the notion of the term. Was that what people would think of her? Why didn't she mind? "Well then so be it."

"Let me get this right. You'd rather be a helper to a blood-hungry warlord than the Queen of some group of self-respecting women?" Ares asked, laughing for a beat, and then staring down at Gabrielle again. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

"I don't kid. Now take back the trade with Xena or suffer my wrath."

"I don't suffer wrath," Ares grinned unashamedly, "I'm a god."

Gabrielle took one long stride with her chest nearly touching the God of War's - unafraid. Through clenched teeth, Gabrielle threatened him with the words that slipped so easily from her lips it was as if she had planned them out.

"I made you disappear once, and that was BEFORE I was angry."

Despite his greater efforts, Ares took a small step back from the intimidating blond who had surprised him more than he could have imagined. Quickly, he stepped back into place, and scowled. Ares wasn't intimidated by anyone. When she had made him disappear, he hadn't worried or wondered about his mortality. He pushed his chest out with a false bravado to respond, but before he could speak, he heard a very familiar voice from behind Gabrielle.

"What did I say about playing with the God of War, Gabrielle?"

They both turned, and Gabrielle dipped her chin in shame while Ares's scowl was renewed.

"Tense moment. Thought I'd intervene," Xena smiled, despite her concerns about the image Gabrielle and Ares had made with the looks of battle among their features. "Hope nobody minds my being here."

With the presence of a more levelled head, Gabrielle backed off and pivoted around to leave some distance between herself and Ares. Ares dropped his arms, and shrugged at Xena with a lustful look that was unmistakeable: "Come to kiss and make up?" His lusty grin had Xena grinning for reasons of her own

Xena raised a brow to the anger behind Gabrielle's expression, and teasing: "I don't know if she's up for it."

The comment rightfully collected Gabrielle's attention.

Xena and Gabrielle had never spoken about kissing one another - it was a topic left unsaid until it was brought up in jest. The tension mounted in the moment between the three of them until Ares's voice ripped through it with an angry bellow loud and strong enough as a deity that the ground shook.

"Enough!"

Xena and Gabrielle braced themselves while the ground stilled and Ares continued.

"I will not be made to look foolish," Ares barked, raging against the petite blond warrior at his side. He seethed of his anger, breathing in the air as if to create a wind by the force of his breath.

Xena quickly intervened, as she always did when others were troubled with Ares, and walked up to him with a captivating look behind her eyes. Her rough index finger played just under his chin as her eyes met his. "Listen ... nothing's changed. Nothing has changed, so you don't need to get upset ... alright?"

Mesmerised as he so often was by Xena, Ares lust was renewed and he grabbed her wrist just to hold there, in his grasp. All out of words, he didn't even glance back to Gabrielle before snapping himself away.

It was a scene to discuss once the God of War had vanished, but instead of accuse or ask anything of Gabrielle, Xena took a few steps over to the agitated woman, and opened her hands to Gabrielle.

"Gabrielle ...?"

Without a word, Gabrielle stepped into her arms to be held. She sighed against the breastplate she had come to know, and kept a little closer, pressing her cheek to Xena's chest. A warm smile grew onto her lips as she felt her bond to Xena grow a little stronger. It felt as though each day that were true, pressing her hands a little harder against Xena's back - keeping them together.

Xena smiled with her chin on the crown of Gabrielle's head, closing her eyes to the connection between them. She had never felt as interested in and as simply affectionate for another person. No matter how her path unwound, she knew in that moment that she could never veer far from Gabrielle's.

Ares's words echoed in Gabrielle's mind: Xena's sidekick. She wanted to laugh at the notion that she should heed to another's battling prowess in such a way, but kept her tight smile when the idea warmed her heart. Fighting at Xena's side for the good - the right thing to do. It sounded perfect. Xena had changed somewhat in their time together. As strangely dark as Xena's humor would be, Gabrielle loved that about her. As vulnerable and uncertain as Xena could be inside, she could reveal it all with one glance. Gabrielle stood there for a long few minutes as she came to terms with just how strongly she felt for Xena. Through the silence of their closeness, she realized what Xena meant to her: she loved Xena - in whichever way her mind would allow, she loved her.

"Promise me you won't do that again," Xena asked quietly, blinking her eyes open to see a number of strangers watching them from far off. She smiled and pulled Gabrielle from her to look into the infectious sincerity in Gabrielle's eyes. "He's a god, Gabrielle ... He's dangerous."

Gabrielle grinned and teased Xena in a most uncharacteristic way: "I don't believe we've met. I'm Gabrielle, Queen of the Amazons."

Xena laughed at the imitating quirk of Gabrielle's brow. She pulled Gabrielle in to her side as she started her way out to the merchant tables again. "Okay, I get it. I know who I'm talking to ... I just ... I know how dangerous he can be. I've protected others from him before."

Gabrielle sighed, and gave Xena a friendly shove in jest. "Yeah yeah. Excuse me while I try to forget the way you touched a so-called enemy."

Yanked back with a hand around her wrist, Gabrielle nearly stumbled to her feet.

"It was for you," Xena answered seriously, releasing the wrist when the moment had become sincere again. "I would do more if it were necessary."

Gabrielle found the logic difficult to follow, but felt that she would do more for Xena that she would like to admit. She sighed, looked up at her companion, and finally nodded. "I'll try not to bait him out again, okay? ... I give you my word."

"Again?" Xena asked, leaving Gabrielle to roll her eyes and gesture to the tables of items.

"Shopping. You promised me we could shop. Now are you a woman of your word ... or what?"

The two women had stepped so closely in all of their teasing that the moment took on a sensual nature as it often did with their eyes locked and their bodies close.

Just as naturally, they did what they could to diminish the true feelings that sat quietly just below the surface.

Xena ruffled Gabrielle's hair and took off to a table of weaponry. Gabrielle fixed her hair with pretended frustration, and took off after Xena only to tease and joke their way back to the place they felt most comfortable - a caring friendship with stronger feelings pushed from the air between them.

They had a light afternoon together, finally coming across a young woman lost on the path. With hair darker and hips more slender than Gabrielle's, the woman still managed to remind Xena of her companion in younger years.

"I ... just don't know which way to a friend," the young woman insisted, obviously on her own for the first time. "Do you think you could help me?"

The girl reminded Gabrielle very much of herself with her past naivety, and Gabrielle could only smile: "Of course. Which way are you headed? Further west?"

"Yeah, just a few days' walk, I think."

Xena smiled at the part of Gabrielle that reached out so endlessly to those in need, admiring the glow of a woman working from her heart.

Gabrielle looked up to the sky, and then back down to the young woman - likely ten years her junior. "Not a problem. Xena and I were headed that way anyway."

"Oh, we were ...?" Xena smirked, enjoying the way Gabrielle could drag her along. She spoke into her fist as her knuckles rested against her lower lip. "Hmm."

"Yeah, we can start up that way," Gabrielle answered without noting the humor in her companion's voice.

Xena chuckled as she followed the two women down the path - both horses' reins safely in the grip of her free hand. She made a point of keeping her eyes from staring to the woman she could never fully shake from her mind as Gabrielle's stride changed with the incline.

"That's a common mistake," Gabrielle said to the girl as they all moved with the direction of the light breeze, talking with her hands and an inflection to her tone at the idea of helping a lost girl in need.

Xena dutifully guided the horses for Gabrielle while the young woman glanced back from time-to-time to admire the strong and dark warrior woman following behind.

Xena raised a brow as the girl turned back from Gabrielle to admire her for the third time, thinking the two women more similar than Gabrielle had spotted herself.

As the young woman returned her attention to the blond at her side, Xena muttered quietly under her breath: "Well, this should be interesting ..."