WIP Amnesty Day

[cdybedahl]

Or, random snippets from stuff I'll almost certainly never finish.

Eveningstar

She'd sat like this before. It had been back in Greece, not far from where she and Xena had been washed ashore after their visit to Illusia. Their mended bond was still fresh, still new and fragile. They'd walked around each other like they tried to walk on eggshells without breaking them, both of them dead set on not annoying the other. It had been a strange time, tense yet happy. She'd had Xena back, and a raw and dark void inside her had begun to heal.

That night, they'd made camp as usual. Xena'd killed a rabbit, and it was slowly turning into stew over the campfire. She'd sat looking out the sea, the familiar rhythmic rasping of Xena sharpening her sword a balm for her soul.

It'd been a few moments before she'd realised that the sharpening sounds had ceased. Before she'd had time to worry, to turn around and check, she'd felt her lover sit down behind her. Xena's legs had stretched out on each side of her, and her arms had embraced her.

"A sailor once told me," Xena had said, "that gulls are the souls of those who never found their true love while they lived. That's why their cries sound so sad."

She'd run her hand down Xena's calf, as always admiring the rock-solid muscle under the smooth and warm skin.

"Do they ever find their mates?" she'd asked.

"No," Xena had answered. "Very few are lucky enough to do that. That's why there are so many gulls." Her hot breath had caressed the side of Gabrielle's neck, shortly followed by soft and eager lips.

Legends

There came a strange noise from the village's center square, and out of a halo of light stepped the hero and his helpers. First came Blake himself, tall and with eyes like lightning. After him came Avon the Dark, Vila the Clever, Gan the Strong and Cally Who Spoke Without Words. Blake looked at the assembled villagers, and they quivered under his gaze. But then a smile broke out on his face.

"Friends, we have come to help you," he said, and the hearts of the villagers filled with joy.

"Have you come to set us free?" asked a small boy, his gaunt face old beyond his years. Blake shook his head.

"No, my boy," he said, "we have not."

And there was a great murmur among the people. If not to free them, why had he come?

"No, I have not come to give you your freedom," he went on. "I have come to give you something far greater than that. I have come to teach you to break free by yourselves."

"We are too weak to fight," said a villager.

"I will teach you strength," said Gan.

"We are a simple people, and now only the land," said a villager.

"I will give you the wisdom of fox and hare," said Vila.

"We are not used to hurting others," said a villager.

"I will show you how," said Avon, and it was as if a chill fell upon them.

"We are few, and they are many," said a villager.

"I will help you gather forces," said Blake.

"Our hands and hearts are no match for their machines," said a villager.

"I will teach you the ways of the mind," said Cally, and though not a word left her mouth everyone heard her as if she were standing next to them and speaking in their ear.

And thus the Hero came to the people of Innitor and vowed to help them.

The Warrior's Long Shadow

(An AU story that assumes that Xena stayed dead after "The Quest")

"They almost worship you," Ephiny said.

She lay on her side in front of the roaring fire, a mug of mulled wine within easy reach. Gabrielle sat in a large chair covered with thick pelts in front of her, staring at the fire. The reddish-gold light from the flames played in her hair. Just as the light from the fire in the inn's common room had done earlier, when she held the local group of her subjects spellbound with stories. Stories of Xena, of course. The tall, dark, dead warrior was never far from the queen's thoughts. "Some do worship you," she went on. "I met a girl in the western part of our land who thought that you were Artemis herself, come down to us in disguise to lead the Amazon nation to greatness."

She turned over on her back, stretched out a hand to caress Gabrielle's calf. "She would do anything you told her to. Absolutely anything at all. At the moment, she and her sisters are killing brigands. Of course, since you asked all Amazons to do that. But just change your mind, and you'd have an army to conquer with."

That finally got a reaction. "You know that's not what I want."

"Oh, I know. Most of them out there know it too. They know all about your plans for a large nation, joined together for mutual benefit, proteced by us and all that. As far as I can tell, most of them think it's crazy enough that it actually might work."

She started to slowly undo the laces on her leather top. "And there's not a single one of them who wouldn't love to crawl into bed with their beautiful queen."

Gabrielle smiled, a crooked and wan little smile. "Maybe I should let them, occasionally," she said. "That one who met us when we arrived, Erlice? She seemed eager enough."

"I'd kill her," Ephiny said.

"No you wouldn't. You'd want to, but you'd know that if you did I'd be terribly disappointed and sad with you. And you don't want that."

She was right, of course. Rather than adm it as much, Ephiny started to kiss her way up her queen's leg. Later, some time after they'd stumbled half-undressed into bed, Gabrielle cried out Xena's name in passion.