Chapter 3:

Xena leaned back on her haunches, deep in thought for a moment before reaching for the pouch that she had set down by the make shift bed. She rummaged around for the item she was looking for.

"Poison? How could she have been poisoned?" Gabrielle asked, concern on her face as she watched the woman curl tighter into herself, muscles tensing in a battle they could not see. Xena shrugged her shoulders and moved quickly to the other side of the woman so she was facing her again. She pressed a small dried yellowish curl of root against the taut line of the woman's lips.

"Valekah root for the pain, it should relax you enough to speak more easily." Ankh opened her lips and nodded. Her eyes still shut and body wrapped in on itself. "Gabrielle, will you stay? I'm going to make her a detoxifying tea. Sorry, it looks like your stew will have to wait a bit." Xena gave Gabrielle a lopsided grin before picking up the pot and heading back towards the fire.

"I can whip up something else." Gabrielle replied then looked down at the woman. Despite how tightly the eyes were shut, she could see tears leaking out.

"Don't worry, Xena knows what she's doing, you'll be feeling better in no time. There was this time, we were traveling through a war zone..." Gabrielle did what she knew how to do best and launched into a story, knowing that just the sound of another voice chattering might help the woman. She told stories to please herself as well, stories that showed Xena's gentler side, the healer in her. Gabrielle talked while watching Xena's graceful efficiency as she prepared the tea.

Despite the bolts of pain that kept ripping through her body, Ankh could heard the bard's love for the warrior.

Gabrielle began to rub the cords of muscle that stood in stark relief against the woman's spine, already launching into her next story. When she told these stories, everything else seemed to fade away. It was like being in Illusia, right before they left. When she still felt like Xena could always be there to protest her. What neither one of them realized was that she couldn't save her from herself. Whether it was the valekah root or the gentle touch of the bard, Ankh did not know, but the pain slowly began to recede.

Gabrielle smiled as the woman visibly relaxed. Ankh uncurled and rolled back onto her back, rolling onto Gabrielle's knees before the bard had a chance to scoot off the blanket. Ankh's breathing was becoming deeper, steadier.

Gabrielle blushed slightly at the naked woman lying before her, her eyes drawn to the intricate scar that curved it's way up her sternum and flared just beneath her collarbone.

"You wonder about the scar?" Ankh spoke, her voice a hoarse whisper, her eyes still closed.

"Oh, uhm, no...I was...Well, I didn't mean to look. But, well, it's very detailed." Gabrielle stammered. Ankh opened her eyes and gave a remarkable radiant half smile to the bard. Her smile lighting up those eyes that were drawing Gabrielle in again.

"You are a storyteller then, Gab - Gabrielle." She asked, rolling the 'r' and extending the 'i' slightly. Gabrielle breathed a sigh of relief at the question, tearing her gaze away to look back at Xena, "Oh, yea. Let me tell you about the time we were on our way to see an old friend of Xena's who..." She turned back to the sound of Ankh making a small noise in time to see the woman's eyes close again.

"Are you OK?" Gabrielle leaned over, pulling the blanket back over the woman's form. Ankh opened one eye as she felt the blanket settling over her. "Fine, just not sure how long the Valerkah root will keep this at bay." She managed a small grin. "Oh, don't worry, Xena will have that tea done in no time. She knows what she's doing." Gabrielle chattered on, the feeling of discomfort lessening.

Ankh didn't know that she had drifted off until she started at the soft touch on her shoulder. She saw Xena leaning over her with a mug of foul smelling tea.

"Thank you" she whispered, lifting her eyes to look up at Xena.

Xena met her gaze calmly as she asked, "Why do you think you've been poisoned? How?"

"The scratches on my face, and the blood on my lips." Ankh gave a wry laugh, "Let's just say a kiss is not always just a kiss." Ankh marveled at the crystalline blue of the warrior's eyes, she turned back to find Gabrielle still sitting beside her and looked at the equally vibrant green of the younger woman's. "It isn't meant to be fatal it seems. Some of this detoxifying tea, lots and lots of water and a good steam should help clear it out of your system a bit quicker." Xena said, wondering if the pang she felt at the look Gabrielle gave their patient was justified or not. Every time she looked into the stranger's eyes, there was that disconcerting ripple in the shadowed part of her soul.

"Gods, she is exotic." Gabrielle marveled, as she met the woman's appreciative gaze, then turned towards the woman who had captured her heart. The woman who she had chosen to walk this path with. The warrior did not see the look in the bard's eyes as she busied herself with her small pouches of herbs.

Ankh leaned up on one elbow and sipped at the hot liquid. She grimaced at the bitter taste. Xena finished with her herbs and dried powders, moving to sit on a nearby tree stump. Gabrielle let her hand brush against the warrior's ever so lightly before heading towards the saddlebags to see what she could find for food.

Ankh turned back to Xena and nodded her agreement to the diagnoses about the poison drowsily, feeling the effects of the valerkah root. "Wasn't it just like Aillia?" She thought to herself as her eyes lidded shut.