Gabrielle, Goddess of Love

"Oh, Xena, don’t you just love the spring time? Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and the air is so clean and fresh!"

"And winter is over and my feet have finally warmed up."

"Is that all Spring means to you?  Warm feet? What about all the new life we’re seeing? What about all the animals beginning their courtship — rabbits and birds and deer?"

"Yeah, there are all those lean, stringy deer that need fattening up before they’re fit to eat."

Gabrielle looked at Xena, not quite sure if she was kidding and trying to see if she could get a rise out of her. Or was she serious, and not at all touched by the newly awakened glory of Spring?

"And there are the all those colds people get this time of year — enough to keep you busy well into summer," Xena added.

"You can be just be that way! But I intend to enjoy every single day."

"Well, we should break camp. There’s a town a half day from here and I’d like to visit market place there."

"Since when did you like shopping?"

"Since I heard a weapons merchant set up a booth there, with some of the finest blades in this part of the land."

As the continued on their way to the next town, Gabrielle kept up her commentary about the wonders of Spring, and Xena continued to mock her.

As the entered the outskirts of the village, Gabrielle could sense only a few of its inhabitants who needed her skills.

The first was an old woman, long widowed, and bitter about having to do everything her dead husband used to do.  Her bitterness kept her from taking care of herself as she should, and she was complained about one illness after another.

And even after Gabrielle cured her arthritis, her sprained ankle, her headache, and her sneezing fits, the woman still found something to gripe about.

"The least she could have done was to say thanks," Xena said as they left the woman’s hut.

"She’s just sad, and lonely."

"If you say so."

The next was an infant a few months old. He was suffering from anemia and a slight allergy to his mother’s milk.