Wellspring of Wishes

CHAPTER ONE

From her position at Argo's side, Gabrielle studied the landscape and thought back over their most recent adventure, working out all the details in her mind carefully so she'd be able to write later. Xena watched their surroundings, always alert for signs of trouble.

Taking a deep breath, the bard felt herself fill with wonder that she was here at all. Only a pair of moons had passed since she and Xena were reunited in life, following the terrifying and confusing days apart, she in a strange hospice and Xena desperately searching through all the levels of Hades and the heights of Olympus. Gabrielle blew up across her own face and brushed damp bangs off her forehead. "For a spring day, it's awfully hot."

Xena nodded. "Wanna ride for a bit?" She looked up at the sky. "We'll get rain by tonight." The warrior's chest rumbled with a chuckle. Gabrielle's small hands rubbed against her stomach as the laugh subsided.

Glancing up at her companion, Gabrielle watched the slim nose crinkle as Xena arched an eyebrow. Midnight black bangs were also damp against the warrior's forehead. Knowing Xena wouldn't stop for herself, Gabrielle decided to suggest it first. "Could we stop early? Hunt up a nice spring for a bath?"

Xena looked down from her survey of the surrounding forest. She quirked a smile. "Cool but not cold?" She offered the bard her left hand. Grasping it, Gabrielle threw her leg over Argo's rump, snuggling against Xena's back. "Coming up."

"How close?"

Xena raised her nose, and nudged the golden mare with a knee. Argo made a sound part snort and part whinny and ambled off to the right. "Argo seems to think there's something just over the next rise." Gabrielle could feel the rumble of another chuckle in the warrior's chest as she wrapped her arms around Xena's waist.

Xena thought about how little time they'd been together, and hoped that the quiet they had experienced the last few weeks would continue long enough for them to get reacquainted. At that moment, Argo pushed through the last tangle of trees, and stopped, dancing in place at the edge of a placid spring.

Gabrielle couldn't take her eyes from the sparkling blue surface of rock spring or the lush green foliage surrounding the pool, shielding it from the forest beyond. It made the whole place seem a world in itself, leagues away from anyone or any place. The bard turned to Xena as she slid off Argo's back and hugged her tightly. "You are my hero. That's beautiful! I was wishing for something just like this!" Gabrielle stepped down to the water's edge, to sit down and untie her boots. "Look at the sparkling on the surface. Like diamonds. Wow."

Xena turned back to unsaddle Argo, listening as Gabrielle continued to sing the praises of the small spring. There was a deep sigh as the bard slipped bare feet in, testing the temperature. Xena smiled, looking over her shoulder briefly. She hoped they were close enough to the volcanic source that the water was still slightly warm. The water bubbled around the bard's feet.

"Gods, Xena. My wish came true."

"Cool, but not cold? Hey, I said I'd deliver."

Gabrielle laughed; Xena turned back to study her companion. Her blonde hair, dampened a bit by perspiration on such a warm day, glowed in the sunlight, a burst of warm flame amid the lush green surrounding the pool.

"Are you coming?" Gabrielle called out, invitation clearly in her soft silky voice.

Xena smiled and removed the mare's saddle and the blankets then patting her rump, she suggested, "G'wan." Argo offered a rumbling neigh and trotted off to the edge of the clearing, near both water and grass, a feast fit for a horse.

Gabrielle slipped out of the rest of her clothing, setting the linen things atop her travel bag. Rotating her head she felt the muscles loosen in her shoulders with an audible pop. She slid into the water and dunked her head. Coming up for air and wiping back the wet hair from her face, she found broad, powerful and soft hands on her shoulders and turned into Xena's arms.

The warrior's water-slick hands slid over the curve of the bard's buttocks. There was a slight edge of nerves as they each contemplated renewing their relationship after such a long separation. "Need a rub?" Gabrielle's hands drifted down across Xena's bare arms in reply.

Blue and green eyes smiled into one another for a long moment. Falling into the warrior's heart through the pair of luminous sky blue eyes, Gabrielle raised up onto her toes and tilted her chin up.

With Xena's velvet tongue tasting her lips, Gabrielle succumbed to her lover's constantly moving hands. The warrior's sinuous fingers untied knots and relieved pinched nerves, and stoked a passion that always lurked beneath the surface for both of them. Gabrielle's soreness evaporated like the perspiration on her forehead with every stroke. The two women sank to their knees in the pool, hands running over each other.

"Xena," Gabrielle breathed out on a sigh. The bard looked up and noticed a small rabbit hopping up to the edge of the spring. A deer nearby seemed alertly waiting for the two women to move away, cowering in the bushes. The animals around them made Gabrielle a bit self-conscious.

"Gods, I missed you, Gabrielle." Xena laved her tongue over the pulse point on the bard's throat.

Trying to divert herself, Gabrielle turned to talk. "Did you have a pet as a child?" She was appalled at the question, knowing this really wasn't the time or place for it, but now that it was out, she realized she was eager for the warrior's answer. Xena growled a mingled expression of frustration and desire. "Well?"

"Where did that come from? I thought we were getting... reacquainted here."

Gabrielle ran a soft hand over the warrior's bare breast with a languorous touch. "I want to learn more about you."

Xena rolled her lips in amusement. "You already know everything that's in my heart, Gabrielle."

"I want to know everything about you." The bard leaned back in the warrior's embrace and gently ran her hands up both of Xena's arms.

"Okay..." Xena dragged out the acquiescent word on a sigh. "Pets, hmmm? Would it surprise you if I said I had a cat?"

"A what?" Gabrielle sat up and studied her partner, if the warrior was serious. There was a faint smile, and the warrior glanced aside. By the gods, she was serious. "What? An Egyptian short hair, a Persian, or... "

"A lynx. Big, gray striped lynx... Paws as big as my waist. I could put my head in her mouth and she'd just sit there. We'd go hunting..."

Gabrielle smiled. "A cat, huh?" She rubbed Xena's arms as she turned around and settled her back once again against the warrior's chest, stroking her wet hands up and down the warrior's arms. "I'd have figured you for a dog person. What was her name?" Gabrielle immediately had a flash of the active Xena miniaturized and running through the hills around Amphipolis with the big cat at her heels. The sleek power of the animal portended the coming power of the young girl loping alongside.

"Nah, dogs slobber too much." She shrugged and nuzzled the bard's nape. "Her name was Nike. Did you have any pets?"

"Yes." She sighed as her skin began to tingle, demanding other attentions from the warrior, who slid a hand over her torso, tempting nipples to attention and causing taut stomach muscles to ripple. "A mouse, two ducks and a rabbit."

"And a horse," reminded Xena, her voice low and soothing. "Can't forget Tympani."

Gabrielle's eyes opened and she met Xena's eyes. "And Tympani," she said, feeling the warrior's smile etching away at the pain of her childhood pony's passing. Some things you just never forget. A favored pet's passing, a first kiss... She leaned and soothed her lips over the warrior's... a first love, with a twinge she remembered Perdicas... and the terrified cries of a woman left behind when you jumped off a ledge. She reached up to wipe at her eyes when she felt tears swell.

Xena intercepted the hand and instead caressed her right palm over the bard's cheek, wiping away the wetness with gentle fingers. She bent her head to capture the bard's full warm, wet lips for another kiss. Gabrielle's hands slid over the warrior's chest feeling the increase in her lover's heartbeat, answered by her own racing pulse.

The two women abandoned conversation, connecting once again on a deeper level that needed no words. Cool water steamed away from warm bodies. Flexing her arms, Xena hoisted Gabrielle out of the rock spring and laid her down on a bed of thick lichen. "We have a lot of memories to make up for," she whispered into Gabrielle's left ear.

Holding herself over the bard, Xena watched the water sluice off the lithe compact body. She dipped her head and licked at the water pooling in the tiny belly button.

Gabrielle squirmed and groaned, caught between intense passion and an urge to giggle. The girlishness she thought she'd lost swamped her, making her breathless. "I love making memories with you," Gabrielle whispered, pulling up the warrior's shoulder, reveling in the silky feel of the warrior's muscles rippling under skin smoother than a baby's bottom.

She rubbed her hands over the curve of Xena's hips, up along the underside of firm breasts and tickling over erect nipples. Locking gazes with the brunette, she stroked tenderly over the smooth skin of the warrior's throat and face before gently massaging her fingers into Xena's hair.

Gabrielle's heart pounded furiously. Moved by Xena's heaving body and deep shuddering breaths as she tried to remain calm, the bard decided not to let the warrior slow down. She sat up and draped her body so their pelvises rocked together. With a light touch, Gabrielle ran her hands appreciatively over the warrior's stomach. "I've missed this," she murmured. "Touching you. Having you hold me." The warrior's big hands slid over her body, bringing warmth and love to her body in the cooling evening air.

The warrior pulled back to regroup, taking a deep breath. Giving in she closed her eyes, and absorbed feel of her bard's hands on her body. Her eyes glittered with moisture. She ran her fingers up the bard's sides and into the soft thickness of her hair. "Gods, Gabrielle." Locking her gaze with the younger woman's, she pulled the bard's head down against her cheek. Gabrielle accepted the warm tears, nuzzled Xena's cheeks and closed each of her crystal blue eyes with a gentle kiss. She slid her own hands down between their bodies and found the warrior's heated center with questing fingers.

Xena's hands never stilled. She was enthralled with just the act of touching Gabrielle's skin, following the strokes with her eyes as she caressed everywhere she could reach. "I've been waiting to hold you... it seemed like forever." Xena's voice broke as heightened sensation repeatedly pushed her hips from the earth.

Gabrielle smiled, riding the warrior's thrashing body and keeping her fingers against the pulsating nub. Xena cried out, reaching for something to stabilize herself. Nearest at hand was the bard, and with ferocity, the warrior grasped Gabrielle's shoulders and pulled their bodies flush together. The younger woman kissed Xena's throat, where her pulse fluttered out of control, soothing and savoring the warrior's loss of control.

Gradually Xena quieted, and Gabrielle rested her head against the slender shoulder. Without her armor and burnished by moonlight in the nude, Xena's tanned body glistened with sweat. "Xena, I'm so glad we're together," she whispered.

The warrior leisurely brushed her hand over where their bodies touched. "So'm I," she sighed.

Dusk settled over them, stripping away the heat of the day. The bard coaxed the tall muscular brunette back into the water and loved Xena under the moonlight. Sweet sounds of surrender fell to the ears of her loving bard. Sinking into sparkling green eyes Xena did the only thing she could when Gabrielle touched her... share the bone-deep pleasure. She slid her hands between their bodies. The roughened pads of her fingers heightened the sensuality of every brushing touch against the bard's hardened nub. Gabrielle's hips jumped. Xena's breath trapped against the bard's throat below her left ear. "Gabrielle."

The darkness kept the bard from using her eyes to sense the changes and tempo of Xena's passion, so her other senses filled in the picture. She took a deep breath, inhaling the musk odor of Xena's wetness and slid her body down over the warrior's stomach. The warrior's breathy moans filled her ears, and the slick sweat of the warrior dampened her everywhere their bodies touched.

Gabrielle's stomach, legs, knees and breasts all brushed softly skin to skin with Xena. She kissed muscles that jumped at her touch. The spring gurgled and the moonrise dappled the water's surface as well as their wet skin. Her light skin contrasted against Xena's cinnamon colored. She licked the inside of Xena's elbow and smiled when the warrior jumped. Tastes like cinnamon too,Gabrielle thought as she tasted the smooth skin again, I'd forgotten. She felt a lump form in her throat and pushed away the thoughts. They were together now, forever, and that was all that mattered.

She slid herself down further along Xena's muscular length, only to feel the warrior tug her shoulder. Lifting her head, Gabrielle smiled at the warrior's widened pupils. She brushed her fingers over Xena's luminous white teeth biting her lower lip. Wordlessly they positioned themselves for mutual pleasure. The bard leaned back to meet Xena's eyes and the smile the warrior offered melted her all over again, a flood of warmth pooling between her thighs.

The warrior's hands and mouth found the bard's center. Gabrielle could feel their pulses race in tandem when Xena's thumb pressed against her center. She rested her head against the warrior's inner thigh, inhaling deeply. She filled her lungs with Xena's musk scent. She heard and felt the warrior's flexing muscles as she maintained that tight hold on her control which let her hold herself aloof from passion's crashing edge long enough for Gabrielle to find hers first. Instead Gabrielle felt this night, their first back in each other's arms, deserved perfection. She closed her eyes and lightly applied her tongue to exploring Xena's center, making a wish they'd find fulfillment together.

Their passion ebbed and flowed with the swirling current of the spring. Muscles flexed, heaved and contracted. Xena's climax, head thrown back, throat open and a cry of pleasure ascending to the heavens, came as Gabrielle gave over helplessly to the wave herself, drowning in sensation. Xena clasped the bard tightly around a thigh, and then turned around to press their sweating bodies close.

Xena listened as the bard's breathing caressed the hollow between her breasts. She tenderly stroked the lithe woman's back as the bard drifted to sleep. Argo's neigh caught her attention and she shifted from their comfortable nestling to sit up, waking Gabrielle. "Argo's hungry."

Opening her eyes to the beautiful sight of smiling blue and the touch of soft kisses, Gabrielle heard at last from her stomach, which growled, making both women giggle. "Me too." She eyed the spring. "I wish a spring had fish. But," she sighed. "It doesn't." Standing, she bent over and retrieved her tunic and skirt. Strapping both into place and covering herself, she grinned at the sensuous pout on Xena's lips. Gabrielle added. "I'll find us some roots and things for soup."

Xena stood and Gabrielle watched her partner stretch luxuriously. Gabrielle's breath caught in her throat. The warrior's burnished body caught the moonlight and the effect resembled a copper statue the bard had seen once on a pedestal in Thebes. Sleek, powerful muscles rippled and bunched, bringing hot pulsing life to the still night. "Gods, you are beautiful," she breathed.

"What?" Xena dropped her arms and smoothed out the line of her shoulders. She pulled on her leather gambeson, adjusting the leather shoulder strap until it lay smoothly against the edge of her collarbone's join with her shoulder. The bard's eyes were still fixed on her when she finished. She looked down at herself and obviously did not see what the bard saw. "I'm just me. Big, bad warrior ... More leather than linen, and ... cleaner than usual, thanks to the bath." There was a wicked smile playing at the corner of her full lips when she looked back up at the bard.

Gabrielle smiled, then sighed. I wish you'd see how beautiful you are, Xena. The vision of the warrior, the last time they had talked before Gabrielle made her fateful decision, had been the only comfort for the bard who had been lost to the warrior for nearly a full moon... What was Xena to her? When they were together there were all sorts of sparks. When they were apart it was like she was half-dead, half her soul gone missing. A soulmate, Gabrielle decided with a smile. Xena was her soulmate. Reverently she pressed her palm to the middle of Xena's chest. Then she moved away to the edge of the clearing. "I'll be right back."

After tying her damp hair back in a leather thong, Xena filled the nosebag from their supplies and settled it over Argo's ears. She pulled a stiff brush through the mare's hide in brisk circles, lifting loose hairs, and bringing a healthy glow to the golden coat. Xena then pulled a comb through the mare's mane and tail. She was surprised to find herself humming a familiar, but old, child's song. She tried a few more bars, and tried to remember the words. She wondered if Gabrielle had ever heard it.

The spring suddenly gurgled with a large flow of bubbles. Argo's head shot up in surprise. Xena soothed the mare with a few strokes against her neck. "Shh, I'll go take a look."

The warrior strode over to the pool and tracked the small bubbles. She reached under the surface and closed her fist around ... a large fish? Looking at the squirming meal, Xena's brow furrowed. Freshwater springs don't have fish.

The bubbles stopped and the surface became placid once again. Looking past the fish for a moment, Xena noted her reflection shining back at her. She hadn't been in front of a reflecting glass in a long time, and the smooth faced, high cheek-boned smiling woman looking back surprised her. Her eyes reflected back as blue as the water itself. Setting the fish aside, she brushed her fingers over her brow.

Where was the vicious warlord? Was this the woman she might have been had battle not become part of her life? It was like having the Fates revisiting her alternatives on her. She glanced around half-expecting to see the slight trio clad in their deep robes. Seeing nothing she looked back at her image. Her eyes held a note of innocence, unspoiled even ... beautiful?

Feeling a impulse, not unlike being six and wanting to run after her father on his horse, Xena sat down at the edge of the water and kicked her feet in the cool depths feeling laughter bubble up and free. Suddenly she loved Gabrielle with an intensity that took her breath away. She looked over her shoulder. Gods, I wish Gabrielle was back.

The water gurgled as she pulled her toes from it.

"Taking another dip?" Gabrielle appeared at the edge of the clearing carrying a tied off cloth. Xena looked over and caught her breath at the soft light that seemed to both surround and emanate from the bard. Gabrielle ducked her head at the continued stare. "Found berry bushes and a hillock of wild carrots." She pulled something from her pocket and tossed it at Xena who caught it easily.

Reluctantly Xena took her eyes from the bard and studied the catch. "And apple trees, I see."

"Yep." Gabrielle settled at the side of the pool with Xena.

"Hmmm," Xena murmured and studied Gabrielle's face as she bit into perhaps the juiciest apple she'd had in quite a while. The tart sweetness filled her mouth and she grinned while chewing. It brought back another flash of a memory. At four, sitting on the ground in front of her family's inn, biting into an apple and wiping the juice from her chin. Nearby, the men practiced and the women pulled crops in from the field.

Gabrielle was entranced by the effusion of emotions across the usually stoic warrior's face. "You're smiling."

"Just remembering the last apple I had."

Gabrielle's brow knitted in confusion. "We get them pretty often at the village markets."

Xena smiled and hugged Gabrielle with her right arm. "No, this one's special." She kissed the blonde's hair. "It brought back my childhood."

Seeing the glow in Xena's face, Gabrielle touched the red fruit. "All that from an apple." She looked up at Xena. "Can I have a bite too?"

Xena put the apple into Gabrielle's hand and closed her own around the bard's lovingly. She guided the fruit to her lover's mouth and watched as the blonde's straight white teeth sank in. "I found a fish to round out our meal," she said, mentally tasting the apple again when the bard's mouth and throat move around the apple chunk. She found the whole experience heightening her senses, keying her for more. She ran her hand over the bard's bare leg suggestively.

Gabrielle watched Xena's eyes fill with luminous desire. "Um." She put the apple back in Xena's hand. "Fish?"

Xena nodded and showed the large perch. "Yep, bubbles in the spring drew my attention."

Gabrielle smiled, laying her hand over the warrior's larger one and leaned close. "Trust you to find fish in a fishless spring."

Breathing against the bard's bangs, Xena quirked an amused smile. "Do you want it for dinner or not?"

"Oh, I'll take it." Gabrielle inhaled the apple scent on the warrior's breath, kissing the corner of her mouth. Reluctantly, she pulled herself from the warrior's hands. Gabrielle cleaned, dressed, and wrapped the fish with spices. She chunked the carrots with a small knife and dropped them into a pan. Adding a little water from the spring, she set it over the fire. She buried the wrapped fish in the fire itself, and the two women sat back to monitor their meal.

Xena leaned back against a tree stump, long legs stretched out in front of her. Gabrielle settled herself in the crook of the warrior's left shoulder, legs out as well. "Nice night," Xena murmured, as Gabrielle rested against the swell of her breast.

Gabrielle heard a bird sound she hadn't heard before. "What was that?"

Xena sat up and listened as the call came again. Her body tensed. "Cormorant." Xena stood and pulled Gabrielle up with her.

"Cormorants are native to here, aren't they?"

"Nope. That's why someone would use it as a territorial alert." Seeing nothing on the paths into the clearing, she scanned the trees and noticed tan muscles and mask-covered faces. "Up, Gabrielle!" She put her hands over her head and added, "Amazons."

Flustered, Gabrielle too, put her hands over her head in the Amazon sign of peace. "When did we enter Amazon territory?"

"Probably earlier today."

"I didn't see any markers."

"Neither did I." Gabrielle looked in surprise at Xena, but then the two women could speak no further as the Amazons in question dropped on ropes all around them.

Chapter 2