Chapter 12: Reminders

**xena's letter is not in this chapter, it will be in the next. It takes a while to travel you know XD j/k, the real reason is it didn't fit into the chapter as neatly as I wanted. You get a general idea of what is in it though.**

Gabrielle rounded the dining hall, admiring the feast offered tonight. "Dates, figs, fish, fish, oh and did I mention, fish? I can't believe I'm saying this but, what I wouldn't do for a nice rabbit right about now." Gabrielle mumbled to herself. She took a seat next Leona, who she had just finished sparring with this morning. She bumped Leona with her elbow, shoving the tall instructor and making her swallow in surprise, bumping her cup of ale.

"Hi there Primus!" Gabrielle chuckled.

"Gabrielle," Leona sighed, "Why do you insist on abusing me every chance you get."

Gabrielle smiled with a twinkle in her eye, "payback, I guess" she answered with a smirk. Gabrielle enjoyed this playful friendship with the primus, it partly reminded her of her banter with Xena.

Leona chuckled at the blond. Despite desiring to hate the woman, she just couldn't. Try as she might, the woman was just too likable over the time they had gotten to know each other and work together. If anything, Leona suspected it was probably Xena who was the reason that Gabrielle had been put in the line of fire of the roman army. She could not imagine such a person being the source of a conflict that wasn't warranted. Bomani joined the two of them at the table. He dropped his tray to the table.

"Nice moves today, to the both of you. Our troops will be finely trained by the ingenuity the both of you demonstrate in your sparring." Bomani complimented.

Leona laughed, "Yeah my favorite part is when Gabrielle caught me off guard by jabbing at the pressure point near my groin." Leona answered.

"It was an accident!" Gabrielle blushed in extreme embarrassment. "I had got a bit of sand in my eye when that gust of wind came by, and when I went to strike, you must have moved." the bard explained, mortified. Bomani and Leona laughed loudly, calling attention to their table.

"You two better watch your tongue before I tie them." the bard threatened.

"Well wouldn't want that to happen, otherwise you'll have to deal with more tongue tied twits." Bomani answered pointing to a mess of soldiers rushing through their meal.

As Bomani spoke, a woman and a toddler entered the dining hall. The toddler struggled to keep up with his mother's steps. He had a huge smile on while hopping along. Bomani quickly stood up to greet the two, ushering them to their table.

"This is my wife, Carina and my son Adji. I will be going home early today to spend some time fishing and picnicking at the river with them." Bomani remarked.

"Carina this is Leona and Gabrielle, the two best fighters in Egypt, besides me of course." Bomani grinned. Carina shook hands with the two women.

"So I get to meet the infamous women in my husband's life." Carina remarked. Bomani chuckled with a glint of humor in his eyes.

Adji ran toward Gabrielle and clutched at her leg and tugged at her skirt.

"Hard to resist isn't she." Leona gestured with a jumping brow.

"Ha- ha-ha, very funny!" Gabrielle said sarcastically.

"I met Adji in the infirmary when he got the whooping cough." Gabrielle said while the boy beamed happily at her.

"Oh! That's right, I knew you looked familiar, you are the healer that tells wonderful stories too." Carina gushed. "So, when you are not saving lives, you're putting them in the infirmary?" Carina commented teasingly.

"I guess you could say that." the blond responded with a proud beaming smile.

"Gaviel!" Adji shouted to get her attention, hoping to get a quick hug from the healer. She looked down at the dark haired child with iridescent blue eyes. At that moment, she was brought back to a memory of a similar set of blue eyes gazing into hers when she had jumped into the pit with Hope. The forlorn look was burned into her memory. She never had seen such a look from Xena, since she hid her emotions well. She couldn't help but wonder if her not returning had elicited the same look. Gabrielle felt guilty that her life was going so well. She wasn't supposed to be happy without her soul mate, was she? She lifted Adji to her hip and proceeded to entertain the toddler.

"My! You have grown!" she exaggerated, eliciting a bright smile from the child. The smile only served to bring up another reminder. This time a memory of Eve sitting on the bed rolls between her and Xena, giggling at the Xena doll she had made for her. 'Gods I miss Eve, and I'm missing out on everything.' the bard thought sighing to herself. Leona observed the introspective and sad look on the bard's face.

"Are you alright?" Leona asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, yeah, I- just – was remembering someone." the blond sighed.


"Are you going to Egypt Xena?" Cyrene asked her daughter as they sat washing clothes at the river. Eve crawled around inspecting the soft flat rocks that populated the river bed. She lifted a rock for a taste, but Xena caught her hand, removed the rock, and sat her up instead.

"I thought about it Mom. I thought maybe I should storm in there, take her, sweep her off her feet and kiss her senseless. As great as that sounds to me, I decided a different approach might be more effective." Xena explained.

"Like what?" Cyrene queried.

"The letter I sent to Amun to deliver to her is more to help me gather information. I also put to words the wrong I had done to her." the warrior added.

"So you sent an apology?" Cyrene clarified.

"Basically." Xena smiled. "Oh, and a reminder of how miserable I am without her. I even wrote her a poem." Xena replied. Cyrene palmed her face in slight annoyance, letting out a deep sigh.

"Mom! It wasn't too bad, if I do say so myself." the warrior smiled.

"It needs to be a different process to win her. Too many times I've gone in with swords a blazing, taking what I want and demanding no less. I can't do that to Gabrielle, she's deserves more than that. I want her to know that she isn't a conquest to me, she is my everything." Xena justified.

"That, and you are a chicken!" Cyrene burst into a laugh.

Xena adopted a hurt expression and then a scathing look, "Trust me on this Mom. Though I have to remind you that you are very lucky that you are my Mom- for that comment." She glared at her mother, before Cyrene took a wet shift and threw it at Xena's face. A splat and loud laughter soon followed.


Xena gripped the staff in her hands, ensuring to make it feel like an extension of herself. She launched into a blinding display of staff work. Whizzing sounds accompanied each twist and turn of the staff. Her muscles burned in response to the activity, pulsing with each turn of the wrist. She somersaulted mid swing, propelling herself and making a deadly airborne weapon. She landed with a thump on the ground and a satisfying grunt.

"Not bad." she commented to herself. Truth be told, the other reason why she didn't go rushing off to Egypt was Xena wanted to get in her pre-baby shape to wow the bard. She pinched at the minor flab at her stomach. She wanted to give herself as much advantage in appealing to the bard as possible. Getting in shape would give her more confidence to make a move. She vowed to double her drills and running to speed up the process.

The hairs on the back of her neck tickled her and she turned to her unwelcome intruder.

"Ares, I know you are there." Xena grumbled. A flash of sparks scattered before her, as Ares appeared in front of her.

"So- Gabrielle, the irritating peace lover, left you?" Ares questioned. He didn't bother to hide the delight from his countenance or his voice.

"It's only temporary." She answered.

"That's not what I heard." the war god baited. The war god took the opportunity to impose a viewing portal immediately before them. The portal crackled and buzzed until a moving image appeared before her. In the picture was Gabrielle holding a young boy with black hair and blue eyes. If that had been all she had seen, she would have thanked the god for the short glimpse. Unfortunately to her disdain, standing with a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder was a tall impressive woman with bronze skin and toned muscles. The woman's eyes shined in endearment and admiration, looking at the bard. Xena's fists tightened at the sight.

"Get out of my sight Ares." Xena growled through gritted teeth. Ares laughed in a chuckle that would rival a hyena's as he took his portal with him and disappeared into the night.


Gabrielle returned to the training grounds after the meal. After demonstration of the many skills learned from Xena and the Amazons, Leona and Bomani had enlisted her help for combat instruction. She was happy to oblige, since it gave her something to burn some indulgences and frustration on her days off. Unfortunately, a lot of the sparring seemed to give her adrenaline and intoxication with admiring of the tenuous, well defined bodies. She stood with her hand on her hip admiring Leona's in particular. The woman was an impressive showcase of a woman. Gabrielle admired her womanly curves, and her well toned muscles displayed it in an even more flattering manner. Leona, upon catching the bards look, graced the bard with a sexy wink.

'Well, although Xena was the first, it seems she isn't the last woman I am to find myself attracted to.' Gabrielle thought to herself as she watched the primus sparring with another soldier. A faint hint of butterflies in her stomach appearing from the shared wink. 'I guess if I'm not going back to Xena, maybe it's time I stop pining over her. Since I crashed and burned on that one, maybe it's time to start to explore my options.'

She was interrupted out of her thoughts as a soldier came running into the training ground.

"Primus! Gabrielle!" The soldier yelled. "Come quickly to the infirmary! Primus Bomani and his family were caught in an ambush on their way home and they are severely injured."

Leona and Gabrielle rushed after the soldier who led the way toward the family. Gabrielle sent a thought in prayer hoping that the young child Adji had not been injured in the fray.

To be continued in Chapter 13

**Author's note: Thank you so much for reading and leaving reviews. Good and Bad reviews welcomed :). How else will I know if I am drawing this out too much XD. Besides I love it when my IM client goes blinky blinky! I'm like a child at Christmas :)**