The Bard was working diligently on her scroll. The Warrior glanced up from
across the clearing where she was cleaning her leathers. Her faced was softened to
a look of amused affection. The Bard had been dry for a long time. Now she finally
had an inspiration and she was working very hard. She looked so cute to the warrior
when she wrote, her eyes glued to the scroll, her tongue sticking out, Xena liked seeing
this side of her friend.

They had finally had some breathing space they were three days away from
Poteidaia and they wanted to take their time so they could feel more relaxed when
they see Lila, Eve and Sarah. They really needed to recuperate from everything that
happened in North Africa. They had set up camp and changed into their sleep
shifts. Gabrielle had been struck by her muse, so she sat down got out one of her empty
scrolls and started to scribble.

Xena was so very glad that her best friend was touching that part of herself again.
Gabrielle needed this creative outlet. She was going to suggest a swim but decided to
forgo that to let her friend write again.

"Xena how would you describe the sand in the desert?" Gabrielle suddenly
looked up asking her friend inquiringly.

Xena looked up and smirked, "I'd say ....The sand in the desert."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "You have no imagination, Xena."

"Yes, I do, It just doesn't run toward describing sand. What exactly are you
writing about?"

"I am writing a poem about the desert. And I need a pretty phrase other then
the sand in the desert. Can you think of one?"

Xena's face became a comically thoughtful one. She paused for affect for a
whole minute and then smiled brightly and said, "Nope."

Gabrielle threw one of her discarded scrolls at her friend and said, "Your
hopeless!"

Xena caught the scroll in mid air and arched an eyebrow, "Yep."

Gabrielle chuckled and shook her head as she went back to work on her
poem. Xena smiled and went back to cleaning her leathers. She was so happy
inwardly smiling brightly that, 'She's becoming herself again. I've been so worried
about her. It's so good to see her smile and laugh and write.'

Xena had been very worried about Gabrielle; She had been acting strangely
ever since they had discovered the fate of her parents. Then with that accidental
death of that boy she was obsessing about her every movement.

Xena glanced over at her friend, once again at work on her scroll; 'I think
she is at last free of the grip this thing had on her soul. She has accepted that it was
an accident.' Xena just wished she could have prevented the accident. For a while
there her best friend wanted to die to somehow pay for the death of the innocent.
Xena had been scared to death for the last two weeks, everytime they encountered
danger Gabrielle seemed to take unnecessary risks.

Since they came back home it seemed to be better though. Maybe because she
was about to see their family or maybe because she realized it was a hazard of the life
they lead. Whatever it was the bard was back to being herself again and she seemed to
be at peace with their life. Gabrielle wasn't going to keep throwing herself into the fire
pit all the time and for that Xena was very grateful.

The End