Chapter Two
The rabbit roasting on the make shift spit sputtered from the grease dripping out of the meat, making sharp hissing sounds as it dropped into the flame. Xena busied herself sharpening her sword as was her habit each night while Gabrielle concentrated on writing a poem onto one of her scrolls. This was quiet time for them, a time of peaceful reflection and relaxation.
"Xena?"
"Hmmmm?"
"What do you think of this?"
"Aw, Gabrielle, you know how I am with poetry."
"Yeah, I know, but just listen, ok?"
"Go ahead."
Xena resigned herself to giving in and complying with the bard's wishes. She would listen to her poem. She knew protesting would only make Gabrielle more insistent until finally her good friend would stalk away in comical fury. The bard had been hard at work for quite a while on this particular piece and she felt that she at least owed her the attention of listening. Xena put down her sharpening stone and rested her head on top of her hands which still held the sword's hilt. She focused her sky blue eyes attentively on the face of Gabrielle who stood up and solemnly began to recite:
"Falling leaves of gold and red
Softly hit the ground
Piling up to make my bed
So I can sleep real sound."
Xena stared at Gabrielle trying to keep her mouth tightly shut. Her eyes bulged and her arms tightly gripped the handle of her sword. Finally, unable to keep up her false pretense any longer, her body began to shake and she snorted rudely. Suddenly, she broke out into loud, rollicking laughter.
"Ooooh ha ha ha ha!!!! Aaaahhh!! You are so funny Gabrielle! Hee hee hee hee hee!!!"
"And what, may I ask, is so funny about my poem?"
Gabrielle was furious! How dare her best friend laugh at something she worked so hard to write?
"Ahh ha ha ha, 'piling up to make my bed so I can sleep real sound'? Ummmm. Hey Gabrielle, why don't ya go sleep on a rock, it might make ya think a little better!"
"Oh yeah? Think you can do any better, Miss Warrior Princess?"
"Ooooh noooo not me I'm not the poet, you are."
Gabrielle was very hurt by Xena's reaction. She had previously written many stories about her warrior friend which had always been well received by the various audiences she had been fortunate enough to entertain. Now she was trying write poetry with rhyme, something that she didn't quite have the hang of yet. The stories had been written easily, but the poetry had not and she was giving all of her bardly effort to trying to properly weave the beautiful words that expressed what was in her heart.
"It's not easy making words rhyme and still make sense, you know!"
"Let me try"
"Huh? What the....."
"I can fix it......if you want me to."
A tiny light glowed in the darkness of the tree that Gabrielle still sat under. It fluttered down from the branch and landed gracefully on top of the bard's scroll.
"Namora!"
"Yep, in person!"
"You came back!"
"I never left."
"No?"
"Nope, after I flew away I decided that maybe you two were all right after all and so I decided to stick around and watch you to see what I could find out."
"You've been spying on us!!"
"Yup!"
The fairy's tiny eyes danced merrily as her deception was revealed.
"Hey, you light up too! I guess what they say about fairies is true then."
"Yes Gabrielle, we do light up, as long as you believe." Namora winked impishly at the bard. "Shall I try to rewrite your poem?"
"Sure Namora, go ahead. Do that rhyme thing like you did before."
Gabrielle winked back at the pixie good naturedly. Namora smiled broadly and turned her attention to the task at hand.
"Now, let me see what you wrote, you know writing rhyme *is* one of the talents we fairies have."
She shot Gabrielle another tiny wink.
"Hmmm.....let's see. First line's ok, Hmmm......."
She stood upon the written words perusing the scroll. Namora placed a tiny finger up against her cheek, resting her elbow against her chest. Her lips moved in silent formation while she read the words and her face screwed up in a look of intense concentration. Finally she began to dance across the parchment speaking enthusiastically.
"Ok, your first line is very good. Now for the rest.
Falling leaves of gold and red
Line the ground in grace
Brilliant layers make a bed
To rest from hectic pace
Well? What do ya think?"
Namora studied the faces of her two new friends. What she saw pleased her very much, for the admiration they had for her talent was clearly evident by their awe struck expressions.
"Wow! How did you do that so quickly. It took me hours to write my version!"
"It's just a natural talent we little people have."
Namora felt great. She had redeemed herself and restored her dignity which she felt she had lost in a most embarrassing way when her magic failed earlier that day. Now they could all be friends, she thought. She really *did* like these two in spite of their rocky start, and wanted to get to know them better. It had been a long time since she had any company and she craved friendship and good conversation.
"So......what do you two do for fun?"
"We have great adventures, I've written about many of them."
"Yeah? I'd love to read some of them sometime."
"I'll do better than that. If you share our dinner, I'll tell you about them while we eat."
"Wellllll I don't eat meat, it's a fairy thing ya know, but let me just get a few of those blueberries off of that bush over there and that will be my dinner."
So as the three sat around the fire enjoying their meal, Gabrielle began the saga of her vast experiences while traveling with Xena, the Warrior Princess. She spun many tales of their great adventures together, some funny and some sad, and some just ordinary daily occurrences. She told of their good friend, Joxer, who always made them laugh and she told of their enemy Callisto who was the epitome of evil. She explained how Ares the god of war had tried to make Xena his champion of death and how by the goodness of the great Hercules, Xena had seen the error of her ways and had started down the path of good. The bard even mentioned how in the beginning of her friendship with the Warrior Princess, Xena had considered her a nuisance, an irritating blonde who never stopped talking and really got on her nerves. At this point in the recount Namora had looked at Xena in extreme sympathy, her eyes having that merry 'I know exactly how you felt' look in them. The bard continued the tales until late into the night as the glowing embers of the fire slowly faded and finally went cold.
"Well, it certainly sounds as though you two lead an interesting life."
"Yes we do, and we wouldn't have it any other way."
As she said this, the warrior Amazon smiled kindly at her new friend. Then she and Gabrielle spread out their bedrolls and prepared to turn in for the night. Exhausted, Namora yawned and extended her arms upward, stretching her tired muscles. Feeling drowsiness creep upon her, she slid in between the bard's parchment papers and closed her eyes contentedly, feeling the comfort of friendship for the first time in many days.
******************************************************************The rising sun began to make its daily climb leaving a trail of swirling pink and purple streaks in it's wake. As if they had received a signal, the birds of the forest began their morning song and the creatures who lived there awoke and began their daily ritual of maintaining their existence. Once again the humid heat began to skulk into the morning air foretelling the arrival of another scorching day. A darkly clad figure spied on the sleeping forms nearby. She had been there since the morning was still dark as night. A twisted smile formed on her beautiful lips and her eyes danced in psychotic delight. Cocking her head slightly, she placed a dainty forefinger into the side of her mouth in between her sparkling white teeth and bit down on it gently while contemplating her plan of attack. Then she suddenly sprang into action back flipping rapidly toward the sleeping women making only the slightest of sounds. Although asleep, Xena sensed the imminent danger and awoke quickly jumping to her feet. She then grasped her sword immediately ready to meet the leather clad woman in battle. As Callisto turned over for the last time she reached behind her and drew her blade, aiming it menacingly at the Warrior Princess. The two enemies faced each other, neither taking her eyes off of the other.
"Hello Xena. Oooh, nice hair."
"You like it? You should try it sometime, it's all the rage among warrior princesses, you know."
"Oh, aren't you the witty one this fine sultry morning. My, my what a cozy little campsite you have here. Just look at the darling little irritating brat sleeping just like an angel. Don't you ever get bothered by her snoring?"
"Nope! It's like music to my ears."
"Music? Well I do hope you like the music of sword against sword!"
Callisto lunged toward the Warrior Princess using two hands to slice the tip of her sword across the midsection of her opponent but Xena quickly jumped back a step avoiding the deadly blade. Then she smoothly brought her own sword up striking Callisto's. Using the force of all of her body weight she pushed Callisto backward onto the ground, but the blonde warrior recovered rapidly, jumping off of the grass and drop kicking Xena to the stomach. Suddenly, Callisto felt a heavy blow to her back which knocked her off balance slightly, causing her to drop her sword. But it was not enough, for as she went down she reached out with her legs and wrapped them around the legs of Gabrielle bringing the bard down heavily to the ground.
"Uh, uh, uh sweet Gabrielle, naughty, naughty. It's not nice to strike someone from behind their back."
"Yeah? Well, I'm not feeling too nice today, Callisto. You woke me up from a really great dream, not to mention the fact that you're making me sweat rivers way too early in the morning!"
The Amazon Princess tried to use her stick to effect a frontal attack but the rod was stopped in midair as Callisto caught it between her hands. Gabrielle's strength was no match for the blonde demon who used the bard's own weapon against her to toss her sideways. Suddenly she found herself rolling across the ground, all the while being scraped and bumped by rocks protruding from the surface.
"Forgetting someone?"
Callisto sprang to her feet and spun around facing Xena with a look of pure malevolence.
"Oh Xena, I could *never* forget you, my precious sweet."
"C'mon Callisto, let's get this over with! It's much too hot to be playing kiddie games with you!"
Namora watched the violent scene play out from underneath the scroll where she had slept so peacefully only moments before. Who was this evil person? Was this the Callisto that Gabrielle had told her of just last night? No matter, she reasoned, whoever she was, she was doing harm to her new friends and Namora felt that it was her duty to help. Bravely she crept out of her hiding place and flew silently to one of the lower branches of the tree where she could view the action better. Concentrating as hard as she could she once again extended her tiny arms toward the sky, palms exposed. She closed her eyes, tilted her head upward and began to recite.
"Demon Warrior, hair so light
Cease all motion in this fight
No longer shall you battle strong
Approach the ground when ends this song"
Xena charged toward the psychotic Amazon at full speed, leaping off of the hard dirt and kicking out at Callisto with her feet. Expecting to make contact, she succeeded instead in connecting with nothing but thin air and then landed on her backside with a heavy thud.
"Uuhh! Huh? Where did she go?"
Holding her side which had been bruised as a result of her encounter with Callisto, Gabrielle limped slowly over to her best friend. Callisto was gone, vanished into thin air! The bard pushed a strand of sweat soaked hair out of her eye.
"How did that happen? One minute she was here and the next she disappeared!"
"I guess I'm responsible."
"You, Namora?"
"Yes, I-I was only trying to help."
Xena walked over to the tree branch where her tiny friend sat glumly holding her head in her tiny hands. Clearly she was upset about something.
"Why so sad, sprite?"
"I didn't mean to do it."
"Didn't mean to do what?"
"Make that happen to her."
"You mean you made Callisto disappear? You used your magic again, huh? Well, that's ok, but where did she disappear to?"
"She's still here."
The Warrior Princess turned around in a three hundred sixty degree motion scanning the surrounding area for a glimpse of her mortal enemy.
"Ok, you've got me. If she's still here, where is she?"