Important Note: You will enjoy this story particularly if you enjoy reading about two women making love. If it's illegal for you to read about that, don't read the story

Okay: This is a slightly kinky erotic fairy tale. And a hurt/comfort story. And a first time story.

Didja like it? MiladyCo@aol.com

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in the village of Poteidaia, there lived a young woman named Gabrielle. She was a rather unusual woman in many ways. Though she had been born with eleven toes and it was rumored but never proven that she had the gift of prophesy, it was not these things, nor even her striking beauty, that set her so far apart from the rest of the townsfolk. It was more the qualities she possessed, from her curiosity to her generosity, her sensitivity to her outspokenness, her desire to actually leave the village and have a different sort of life, that made her stand out from the rest of the farmers and farmer's wives and future farmers and farmer's wives that made up the village of Poteidaia.

Gabrielle was eighteen, so she should have been married by the time she made that fateful trip and never gone at all, but that was another uncommon thing about Gabrielle. Her desire to settle down was negligible at best, and she'd never shown any interest in a man as far as anyone could remember. But be that as it may, it had been market day in the next village and Gabrielle had taken products and produce from Poteidaia with her in a wagon to sell and trade for her fellow villagers. Of course, she enjoyed this job because it got her out of town for the day. However, it is safe to say that this particular voyage did not go as planned for Gabrielle.

The afternoon's trading went well for her in the neighboring village of Nonamia, and it was dark by the time she hitched the horse to the wagon and set out for home. Gabrielle and the horse had made this journey so many times that she felt free to let her mind wander as they moved along the road toward Poteidaia. She was so completely lost in thought that she did not notice the storm as it gathered, and by the time she did, she was on the section of the road that bordered on the edge of the ravine. The wagon was too much for the wet dirt road beneath her, and it gave out even as she recognized her predicament. "Oh crap!" were the last words she uttered before plummeting over the crumbling edge and down into the ravine.

Gabrielle's body lay in an uncomfortable and unconscious pile in the 2 inches of river that flowed over the sand and tiny rocks that made up the floor of the ravine. Lightning cracked in the sky and lit her up brightly. In the darkness immediately following the flash a figure moved stealthily from one grouping of bushes to another, waiting for the next flash and the darkness after it, and finally coming to a stop in the bushes next to Gabrielle. It waited there, watching her carefully for any sign of movement. None came. It reached out and poked her gently and there was no response. The figure sat and observed some more, appeared to sniff Gabrielle's scent from the air, then picked her up gently and slung her over what suddenly proved to be it's shoulder. It was very tall and sleek and very black in the shadow as it crept down the ravine a ways with it's cargo and suddenly disappeared.

The entrance to the cave was undetectable. Inside there was a fire, and a pile of leaves next to which was a strange collection of broken arrows and pieces of clothing, jewelry, dirty flasks and a horse shoe. There were drawings on the walls of trees and animals and the sun shining down on them. The creature, by firelight clearly a human female, naked and painted with a thin, dry layer of mud, laid Gabrielle down on the leaves on her back and stared at her some more. She moved closer to her and brushed her hair out of her face, watching her chest for breathing. Satisfied that there was breathing, the tall, dark woman sat and stared at Gabrielle. After a few moments she got up and left the cave. She crept back along the bottom of the ravine to the site of the wagon's crash, and examined the various items lying around in the rain. Though there was no more lightning, the moon was bright and full and the woman, having found what she was looking for, crept back into shadow. Just past the hidden cave the ravine widened to show the woods, and then the river. The woman submerged the copper bowl she had found and carried it carefully back to the cave, not spilling a drop.

Gabrielle lay where she had left her on the pile of leaves, and the woman squatted next to her. She lifted Gabrielle's head and managed to pour some water into her mouth. The woman was startled when Gabrielle coughed, and stood up to step back from her, but she did not awaken, so she knelt back down at Gabrielle's side. She lowered her head to Gabrielle's and slowly began licking the blood from her face. There was a gash above her left eye and the woman gently ran her tongue over it again and again until it was clean. Then she moved to the scrape that ran down her left cheek and along the edge of her mouth. It was just then that Gabrielle awoke. She opened her eyes directly into the deep blue eyes of the mud-covered woman who was licking her lips and she screamed, grabbing the woman's arm in her surprise. The woman jumped back but not far enough; Gabrielle's grip on her arm stopped her from getting away.

"Hi," said Gabrielle, "I'm sorry. I was just surprised. Where are we?"

The woman looked at her, and at her hand on her arm.

No response.

"Who are you?"Gabrielle asked.

Nothing happened. The woman just kept staring at her.

"Do you understand me?" Gabrielle asked.

The woman moved her other arm slowly and reached out for the bowl of water, which she handed to Gabrielle. Gabrielle smelled it and asked, "Water?" No answer. She let go of the woman's arm and drank.

"Okay do you speak at all?" she tried the few words she knew in Latin to no avail. "Fine. Well, I'm Gabrielle. I think my ankle is broken and a couple of my ribs and maybe my wrist...I'm not in the best shape."

Gabrielle and the woman stared at each other.

"I didn't thank you for bringing me here. Wherever here is. But thank you."

Gabrielle noticed that the bowl she was drinking from was one from her wagon. She spoke and made the best gestures she could think of for "This belongs to me, please go get any other of my things that you can find." The woman watched Gabrielle's hands carefully and left the cave.

Gabrielle closed her eyes and fell asleep. Soon after the woman returned to the cave, her arms full of baskets and sacks and various items. They were all wet and she put them near the fire. Gabrielle was asleep so the woman went back to cleaning her. Tiny cuts all over her arms and neck, soothed by her soft hot tongue. Gabrielle felt herself coming into consciousness again to the feeling of the woman's tongue on her neck.

"You're just a big cat, aren't you?" Gabrielle whispered. She lifted one arm and put it over her eyes and she lay there as the woman continued to lick the blood from her neck and shoulder. "You know, if I had the energy I'd wet a piece of cloth and show you an easier way to do this, but your way just feels so good."

Gabrielle contemplated her sanity. By now her parents were worried that she hadn't returned. If people came looking for her they would never find her; the woman was smart so she knew they were well-hidden. Gabrielle contemplated her understanding of the word "smart" for a while, relaxing under the woman's tongue, and thought that the use of a verbal language didn't necessarily define intelligence. The woman was licking the scrapes on her hip and Gabrielle gasped involuntarily from the sensation and propped herself up on her elbows to look down her body at the woman. The stunning blue eyes caught hers.

"You're more than just a big cat, aren't you?" she whispered. She gestured for the woman to pass some of her things; a pot and a sack of potatoes and onions. She cut the vegetables and began to cook them with some spices. The woman breathed the smell in deeply, looked at Gabrielle with a new yet still unreadable expression, and went outside again. Gabrielle took this time to rip off pieces of the sack that held the vegetables and wrap her ankle and her wrist. The woman returned with a dead rabbit.

"Wow," said Gabrielle, smiling, "Thanks, smart cat." She prepared the rabbit and added it to the pot with some water and put the lid on it. She gestured to the woman to come sit by her, and she did. Gabrielle dipped a piece of the sack in water and raised it slowly to the woman's face and gently ran it along her cheek, cleaning away the mud. The woman just looked into her eyes and allowed her to clean her face.

"You're beautiful," said Gabrielle once she was done, "Whatever happened to you? I wish you could tell me who you are." She reached her hand up and caressed the side of the woman's face, and the woman mimicked her gesture. They both smiled. "This is just too strange."

Gabrielle took the wet material and began washing the blood off the cuts on her legs with it. The woman grabbed it out of her hand and looked at her sharply. She dipped it in the bowl of water and gently touched it to Gabrielle's thigh.

"This way you don't have to taste the blood," said Gabrielle, "I mean, unless of course you enjoy that. You probably do, don't you, smart cat?"

The woman finished washing Gabrielle's legs by the time dinner was ready. "It's hot," Gabrielle explained, handing the woman a spoon and showing her how to use it. They ate.

"I don't even know how long I've been here. We've gotta be in the ravine. That makes sense, right?" Gabrielle looked around the cave as if for the first time and realized, "You live here, don't you? This is your home." Gabrielle thought the paintings on the walls were wonderful and explained that to the woman with gestures telling of how she wanted to touch and hold them; the woman understood expression of pleasure through touch, and she smiled. They ate the stew and watched each other.

"I'm so tired. I hope you're not insulted if I sleep for a while?" Gabrielle giggled and the woman smiled at her. Gabrielle shook her head and lay back down on the bed of leaves and slept.

For a long time the woman sat and watched her. As the night wore on it grew colder and Gabrielle's guardian noticed her charge was shivering, close to the fire as she was. The woman lay down with her body pressed against Gabrielle's, her right leg and part of her torso on top of our innocent hero. She held her tight and relaxed as she felt Gabrielle get warmer. The rhythm of their breathing was in sync by the time Gabrielle woke up. She felt the woman's breath against her neck and her pubic hair pressed against her thigh. It sent shivers through her and the woman held her more tightly.

"Who are you and why do you make me feel this way?" Gabrielle whispered. The woman licked her neck, then added her lips and her teeth. Gabrielle moaned and slipped her hand around the back of the woman's neck. "Gods, please! I wish there was some way you could ohhhhh--" the woman's hand was on her left breast, and her thumb passed over Gabrielle's nipple again and again. The woman moved her face away from Gabrielle's neck and looked into her eyes with an indecipherable expression. She lowered her face and rubbed her cheek against Gabrielle's in rhythm with her hand on her breast. Gabrielle kissed her cheek shyly, then their mouths met, and soon they were kissing each other passionately. The woman's tongue was in her mouth and in moments Gabrielle had her answer. The woman placed her hands on either side of Gabrielle's head and kissed her with such gentle, fiery passion as Gabrielle had never imagined. She tangled her hands in the woman's hair as she felt her climb on top of her, putting most of her weight on the leg she gently slipped between her thighs. Gabrielle was wet with desire and she knew the woman could smell it. She arched her back as the woman wrapped her arm around her and pulled her up into kiss after kiss after kiss. Her lips were so soft and so expressive, Gabrielle almost wanted to cry from the sweetness of it. The woman continued the kisses as she brought Gabrielle's hands to rest on the ground above her head, and she held them there, fingers intertwined with her own. Slowly she began to move her hips, and Gabrielle pressed up against her, bending her leg so it pressed against the woman's own wetness. It was slow and sensuous, like their kissing, and it seemed to go on forever.

"Oh, Gods, woman!" Gabrielle cried, "You are incredible. I have never--" and the woman was kissing her again. She let go of her hands and let her own slide down Gabrielle's arms to her breasts, and her mouth was at Gabrielle's neck again, sucking. Gabrielle's hands moved to the woman's bottom and she squeezed hard, pressing herself up against her, increasing the speed of their thrusts. The woman was breathing hard and she slipped her arms under Gabrielle's back and wrapped her hands around Gabrielle's shoulders from below. The woman groaned above her, into the kiss, and Gabrielle could tell how close she was. The woman's thrusts were powerful and steady and kept them both on the edge longer than Gabrielle thought she could possibly endure. Suddenly they felt the edge slip away from them and they pressed their bodies against each other with carnal abandon, aroused beyond the ability to think. They came together, Gabrielle crying out and the woman falling forward onto her body. They lay like that, holding each other tightly, their breathing loud in the close cave.

Gabrielle felt the woman's jaw moving against her neck and then she heard her whisper, "I love you too."

"What?!" asked Gabrielle, pushing the woman back by her shoulders until she could look into her eyes. There was something different there now.

"I was under...a spell," she panted, "Aphrodite...didn't like the way I treated...people who...loved me...So she changed me...and only someone's love...could bring me back."

"What's your name?" Gabrielle asked. Love. Now there was a plausible explanation.

"Xena."

"Xena Destroyer of Nations Xena?"

"Yeah. That's me," she said, "Sorry." She smiled down at Gabrielle and kissed her. Her kisses felt the same as they had before; intoxicating. Xena pulled back again and looked into Gabrielle's eyes. "What's your name?"

"Gabrielle."

"That's a beautiful name. Gabrielle, I don't know how long I've been here. All my memories are strange. What did she do to me?"

"I don't know," said Gabrielle gently, still holding Xena's body tight on top of her own. "I guess I thought of you as kind of a smart cat."

"A smart cat? Wonderful. And you loved me?"

"I guess so, huh?"

"What about now?"

"Even more. A talking cat!"

"Beautiful and funny. Why are we covered in mud?"

"Camouflage. But more importantly, you were in the process of licking my entire body," Gabrielle explained.

"How far had I gotten?" Xena asked.

"There were a number of areas you had yet to explore."

"Really?" Xena asked, snuggling her face into Gabrielle's neck and licking behind her ear. Soon they were kissing and this time I would give them their privacy.

It has been rumored that there are those who doubt the power of the great Aphrodite, Goddess of Love. If only they were to witness this extraordinary scene! And no, before you ask, I did not cause Gabrielle's wagon to crash though I'll admit I'd been watching her, thinking maybe she was the one. I amaze even myself sometimes. But there is no one for me to boast to, certainly not the folks in Poteidaia who think dear Gabrielle is odd enough as it is. But perhaps there is a moral here someplace, give me a second to think...Perhaps it is best summed up thusly; more pleasantly go the lives of they who truly believe in love.

Bodacious waves at Naxos. Peace out.