“c1″> 

“c1″> 

Chapter Two:
The Journey

“c1″>"From this day on Gabrielle only was on her own
when the General was out practising with the army or the First
Order, together they attended council meetings and court sessions
and Gabrielle was able to convince the General more than once to
change a decision for the better. It simply was impossible not to
like her; her smile is utterly disarming and her voice reminds of
the gentle lapping of water at the border of a small lake. She
conquered the whole palace in a matter of days but only some of
them knew of the price she paid every night for her sunny
demeanour. The nightmares seemed to get stronger as time went by,
sometimes she was screaming at the top of her lungs without ever
waking up. The General began to spend the better part of the night
sitting by her bedside and holding her hand thus trying to hold the
dreams in check. The nightly vigils though began to take their
toll. She was injured during a sparring session and now Gabrielle
didn’t leave her bedroom. And she learned about the
General’s nightmares that also could be held at bay by a
simple touch of her hand. So they decided to sleep together, and
there were no more bad dreams for either of
them."

“c1″> 

“c1″>"So they became lovers?!"

“c1″> 

“c1″>"No, “c1″>Cyrene, not right away. I
don’t know exactly when they became lovers but it was at
least one and a half moon after their first night in the
General’s bed."

“c1″> 

“c1″>"Why does a soldier, even a trusted one as you
obviously are, know so much about the private life of his
commanding officer, Palemon?"

“c1″> 

"The
private rooms of the General are guarded by the First Order,
Cyrene class=”c1″>. We’re only human, we talk about the things we
see and hear. The General is more than capable of taking care of
herself but we had to make sure that all the courtiers and nobles
kept out of her way. Unfortunately, to ensure her privacy from the
rest of the palace she lost some of it to us. I don’t think
she ever cared about our presence, at least not until Gabrielle
captured her, heart, soul, and body."

“c1″> 

“c1″> 

x x x x
x x x x x x

“c1″> 

“c1″> 

“c1″>FLASHBACK:

“c1″> 

Xena
never had been fond of sleeping, even as a child she didn’t
like to stay in bed after sunrise, not even in winter. After the
battle with Cortese, after the death of her beloved younger
brother, sleeping for her soon turned into another word for having
nightmares. She closed her eyes and barely a candlemark later she
once again was wide awake, her covers drenched in sweat, her
mind’s eye still seeing the dead blood stained body of her
brother. Physical exhaustion was the only way to control the
dreams. Only after a full day of fighting, riding or drilling was
her body too worn out to react on her mind’s commands, and
the dreams didn’t disturb her slumber. After Caesar, her
heart was totally dead, and she didn’t dream any longer but
as the years went by the nightmares returned,
slowly.