The Solution to a Problem

"Xena?"

"Yes, Gabrielle?" Xena watched the firelight dance in the bright blade of her sword as she ran the whetstone up its glittering length, each measured stroke polishing nicks and cuts from the keen lethality of its edge.

A nervous hand touched her leg, then skittered away. "I...!"

Xena waited patiently, listening with a small smile touching her lips as her young companion tossed this way and that, her voluminous skirt and blouse rustling familiarly against the the soft fur of their bedroll.

The hand returned, tightening around the muscle of Xena's thigh with hearfelt intensity. "I want you to take my virginity!"

Only the long years dedicated to rigorous training and the strict conditioning of a warrior to rival one of Ares' own stopped Xena splitting her thumb open on the edge of her sword. The whetstone stilled, the nonsensical words tumbling endlessly inside the Warrior Princess's skull. "What?"

"It's just..." The hand let go, gesturing expressively with each word. "Well, you see, I've been thinking, what with what happened with the Titans and all... And then before, everything with Morpheus, I doubt it helped!" The hand slapped helplessly against Xena's thigh, thumb strokings her bare skin almost unconsciously. "Please, Xena. I can't do this anymore. I can't be responsible for almost destroying the world again!"

"Gabrielle..." Xena turned to face her young companion. A mistake. Gabrielle was gazing up up her, her hair a golden halo in the light of their campfire, her eyes, now blue, now green, earnest and pleading. "What happened with the Titans was not your fault." She found her hand coming up to cup the soft curve of Gabrielle's cheek. "You are perfect as you are. No one should make you feel that you have to change something about yourself that you don't want to."

"Well, that's kind of you to say. I'm flattered that you think I'm perfect..." Gabrielle's voice trailed off, her gaze wandering from Xena's face into the bushes and shadows surrounding the campsite, clearly distracted by the thought. Xena's shoulders relaxed, brushing aside what some might have called disappointment as the tension unwound between the two of them. Gabrielle's eyes snapped back to Xena's with a fierceness only the innocent can muster. "It's just there are so many rituals out there that can only be performed by a virgin! What happens the next time we stumble upon some crazed cult, a frenzied madness for their dark god burning in their pants? At least give a girl a fighting chance of telling them 'no, thanks'."

"I guess, I hadn't thoughta that..."

Gabrielle sat up straight, bouncing up and down a little with badly concealed excitement. "So, you'll do it?"

"I guess I will?" It would make the girl less of a target in the future.

Gabrielle squealed, then flopped back onto the bedroll, making a great fuss of arranging her skirts and her limbs into place. She settled into a supine position, eyes squeezed tightly shut, stiff as a training dummy.

Xena laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing myself for your advances like the women at home always used to say! Well, not Alessa-the-Village-Tramp but..." Gabrielle cleared her throat, patting at her blouse and skirt. "A young lady is meant to lie back, wait for her suitor to sate himself and..."

Xena smirked. "Only if you're doing it wrong."

Gabrielle gasped. A flush worked its way across her pale skin. Her chest heaved, breasts pushing against the thin fabric of her bodice. Xena leaned down and kissed her, body moving before her brain had a chance to intervene. Better this way, Xena told herself. Better to make this special for her. She pulled back, lips tingling.

She cleared her throat, trying to ignore how pink Gabrielle's lips were. How they quivered. "Ready?"

"Yes! Yes!" Gabrielle fumbled at her clothes, bunching the hem of her skirt up around her waist. She tore at the knot of her loincloth, baring herself to the night sky.

"Good." Xena rested a hand on the young woman's knee, noting the muscles developing beneath the pale village skin. She skimmed her fingers up the inside of Gabrielle's thigh, stopping just short of the golden hair at the crux of her legs before retreating. "Tell me if you want me to stop."

Xena waited until Gabrielle nodded vigorously. Her hands were clutched at her chest, her eyes screwed shut. She was panting, her mouth wet and pliant. Xena swallowed. Her fingers traced a path to Gabrielle's center, slipping through the fine, blonde hairs. She was slick and hot with arousal. Gabrielle moaned, thrusting herself against Xena's fingers. Xena refused to be drawn, rubbing firm circles over the intimate regions of her companion's flesh, coaxing more and more blood into the hypersensitive nerves. Who was she thinking about behind those tightly shut eyes? The wide-eyed priestling who wanted to revolutionize the world with the power of the Titans? The 'dull, stupid' fiance she had left behind in Potadaea? Xena swirled her fingers around the glistening pearl at Gabrielle's center, watching her shiver and quake with need.

Remembering the object of this exercise, she sought out Gabrielle's opening. She teased the girl with just the tip of her finger, smiling as Gabrielle mewled and squirmed, her golden hair arrayed in a fan around her head, her hands clutching and massaging her own breasts through her blouse. Xena thrust a strong finger into Gabrielle, penetrating her virginity. Gabrielle cried out, voice sweet with ecstasy, opening the pale vulnerability of her legs wide for the moon and the stars, for the Warrior Princess to take her fill. Xena pumped in and out, pushing a second finger into Gabrielle's tight heat, curling them up to rub the secret spot within her to unlock her bliss. Gabrielle's eyes rolled back, a loud groan springing from her lips, a sacred prayer to Aphrodite ringing into the night. Xena stilled, engraving the image of Gabrielle undone by ecstasy into the most secret depths of her mind for all eternity.

Then the younger woman collapsed, boneless and sweating to the bedroll. Xena withdrew her fingers, putting a surreptitious inch of distance between them as she schooled her features.

Gabrielle blew out an explosive breath. "Boy! That is not what the older women prepared me for!" She smiled at Xena, her face radiant with a post-coital glow.

"Well." Xena cleared her throat. "I'm glad I could be of service."

Gabrielle laughed. "Yeah, me too!"

Xena smiled, not answering.

"Thanks, Xena. I know it probably doesn't mean much to you but I really appreciate you doing this for me."

Xena stood. "You need to get some sleep if we're to reach Thebes by tomorrow evening." She pulled Gabrielle's skirt down past her knees, her still-damp fingers hanging limply by her side. "Who knows? We may even get to sleep in a proper inn tomorrow night."

"That'd be nice." Gabrielle shifted, finding a more comfortable sleeping position. "I wouldn't mind the chance to practice my storytelling in front of an actual crowd."

Xena smiled. The air was thick with the scent of forbidden fruit. "I'm just going to go check on the horse."

Gabrielle nodded. She was already yawning sleepily.

Xena turned to go. Gabrielle's voice stopped her.

"Xena? Night."

"Good night, Gabrielle." She fled the circle of the campfire, seeking safety in the shadows.

*****

I wrote this instead of working on Part 11! I wasn't feeling well and this was quick!