“c1″> 

“c3″> 

Chapter Four:
Preparations

Dawn
now was near enough not to startle the guards, and so Melosa
decided to go for a run with Xena. Solari, the captain of the royal
guard, gave her a hard time when she first included the slave in
this part of her drills but finally she gave in. Her captain still
was limping from the sword thrust in her left thigh she’d
received during the battle, so she wasn’t able to follow them
herself, but she at least tried to monitor their steps by making
sure to have members of the royal guard posted throughout the trail
on a more or less regular basis. Melosa changed into her running
leathers and opened the door to Xena’s
room.

“c3″> 

Two
candlemarks later before going off to her own duties Melosa revoked
the order not to interact with the other women and assigned Xena to
sort through all the stuff Najara left in the hut and to bundle up
the personal belongings of Thania.

“c3″> 

As
every morning Xena brought a breakfast tray to the healer’s
hut and set about to exercise Gabrielle’s limbs. She
didn’t want the muscles to wane away from lack of use, so she
made her to contract them as far as possible, even the right leg
which reduced the blonde woman to tears every time but it had to be
done.

“c3″> 

“c3″>"You’re doing fine, Gab. Just one more time,
yeah, that’s it. Good, now go back to sleep. You look tired.
Didn’t you take the sleeping tea Anara prepared for
you?"

“c3″> 

“c3″>"It’s all right, Xena. I drank the tea but
Thania was having nightmares. Perhaps you should give her some of
this stuff too."

“c3″> 

“c3″>"Sorry, baby, but I can’t. The nightmares are
one of the ways her mind is dealing with what happened to her. If
we stop them now she never will be able to live a normal life
again. It will help if you try to talk to her or better get her to
talk."

“c3″> 

The
sudden undeniable fear crossing Gabrielle’s eyes made her to
turn her head away. Xena’s hand gently steadied her chin.
“Talk to me, love.”

“c3″> 

"I
can’t get my mind off what happened to her, Xe. She’s
just a kid. No one should hurt a child like this; no one should
ever hurt a child. What does one gain by doing such things, by
abusing and ill-treating and humiliating." There now were
tears in the beautiful sea green eyes, and Xena lovingly held her
tight. "It hurts to think about it, Xe, and
I…."