Sunday, September 8, 2013

Poet's


Poet's
This was inspired by a chat with a very special friend. 
I hope she recognizes it.



     Gabrielle leaned back against the rock and listened
to the sounds of celebration going on all around her.
This had been just the excuse that she and Xena
needed to return to the amazon homeland, to rekindle
relationships with old friends and, hopefully, begin
new ones.
     At first, it had been only she and Xena sitting by
the fire, talking about family-of birth and choice, about
wishes for the future and about significant firsts.
Gabrielle had noticed how the port was loosening the
normally closed mouthed warrior's lips and she wasn't
about to let this opportunity pass.
     "Xena?"
     "Hm?"  Xena answered, looking over the rim of her
cup.
     "Do you remember your first?"
     "My first what?"
     "You know," Gabrielle said as she gestured with
her hand.  "Your first encounter...sexually."
     Before Xena could answer, Ephiny and Taladegas
walked over to the fire, obviously well into their own
cups of favorite liquid refreshment, and sat
cross-legged on the ground.
     "Couldn't help but overhear, Gabrielle.  How  bout
it, Xena?  Do you remember your first?"  Ephiny took
another drink.
     "You mean I wasn't your first?  I'm crushed,"
Taladegas teased, tossing a wink in Gabrielle's
direction.
     Xena sat quietly for a long time before answering.
The passage of time had done nothing to dull the
memories of that brief moment in time and, truth be
told, she was not sure whether she was ready to share
that much of herself with her friends.
     Granted, each woman held a special place in her
heart, Ephiny was her equal, her advisor in the matters
of battle and strategy.  Taladegas was her...her what?
Taladegas enjoyed physical encounters just for the
sake of pleasure, no attachments, no promises and
there were times when that was exactly what Xena
needed.  Gabrielle was, in the beginning, a source of
amusement and irritation, an innocent who needed
taking care of, a tag along, but now?  Now, the child
had become a woman and that woman was capturing
more and more of the warrior's elusive heart.  Was she
ready to share this with Gabrielle?  Was Gabrielle
ready to hear it?
     "I remember," was all Xena could manage to say.
     "Would you tell me?"  Gabrielle asked the question
as if she were the only one sitting there.  For Xena,
that was enough.
     "I was fifteen and about to discover that I didn't
know as much about life as I thought.  My mother
believed I had a talent for singing.  She said I had a
voice that was surely a gift from the Gods and after a
while, I began to believe her.  One day, she asked me
if I would like to go to Athens and study with the
masters at the collegium.  The thought of leaving
home scared me witless but I didn't want to disappoint
her, so I agreed."  Xena struggled with the memory of
her mother and hoped to hide that fact by taking a
comforting drink.  "Most of the other students were
older than I was and I felt very awkward.  I was already
large, for my age, so most of the others believed I was
older, more experienced, than I was and it usually
caused me a great deal of embarrassment.
     Eventually, one of the older students took me under
her wing and became my mentor.  She showed me
around, told me who was who, which teachers to ask
for and which to avoid.  I could share everything with
her, my fears, my hopes, my dreams-my voice; I didn't
hold anything back.
     She was a poet and I can remember sitting in her
room, just the two of us, and being swept away by her
words.  One night, after a particularly grueling
rehearsal, I went to her room.  My instructor had
drawn and quartered me in front of every other student
in the auditorium and I wanted to die.  I knew that she
would know exactly what to say to make me feel
better.  I even remember some of the words to the
poem she recited for me that night."  Xena paused and
looked around the circle.  Gabrielle nodded her
encouragement and the warrior continued.  "I think it
went something like this,




          My gentle Mountain Lark;
          Trembling within my grasp.




          Trust not the ears;
          trust, instead, the songbird's heart
          lest you miss the poet's words
          taken from the poet's lips by
          Zephyrus and his gentle winds;
          sent to soothe and ease
          the pain that dwells within
          her gentle Mountain Lark.."




Xena took another drink.  "We spent every spare
moment, after that, together.  She took me places,
emotionally, physically, that I had never been to
before and have not since.  She could set my body on
fire and make love to me with nothing more than her
words.
     When I sang, I would look into her eyes and I could
feel my soul laid bare, my emotions melding with
every note and little pieces of all that I was, all that I
could be, were scattered to the winds.  It exhausted me
but I couldn't have stopped even if I had wanted to,
which I didn't, not ever.
     I suppose it was a good thing that we did spend so
much time together because three months later, she
received her apprentice papers and was gone.  I've
never seen her since."  Xena finished her story and
stared into the fire.
     "That's it?"  Taladegas asked, unaware of the deadly
look coming from Gabrielle.  "Not what I expected."
     "Just what did you expect?"
     "I dunno, Ephiny, but that wasn't it.  Too much
mushy stuff."
     "You're drunk."
     "Not that drunk," Taladegas teased.
     Ephiny stood up and grabbed Taladegas by the
front of her shirt.  "Pardon us.  I think I'll take this one
home and put her to bed."
     "Oh goodie."
     "Alone."
     "Spoil sport."
     "Good night.  See you in the morning."  Ephiny put
one of Taladegas' arms around her shoulder and
practically carried the inebriated amazon towards her
hut. 
     Gabrielle watched her friends disappear into the
still celebrating crowd before she refocused her
attention on Xena.  It had taken a lot of courage for
Xena to tell her story the way she did, Gabrielle knew
that and she could also tell that Taladegas' insensitive
reaction had hurt Xena.
     "I'm sorry," she finally said.
     "For what?"
     "For what Tal said."
     Xena looked in the direction that the intoxicated
pair had disappeared in and shook her head.  "I don't
care what Tal thinks, or Ephiny for that matter, but I
do care what you think."
     Gabrielle walked around the fire and knelt down in
front of Xena.  She looked into blue eyes and caught
the warrior's face when she tried to look away.  "I
thought it was beautiful.  Is that why you don't sing
now?"
     "Yes," Xena whispered.  "It still hurts.  The first
always does."
     "How many other first have there been for you?"
     "None."
     "Why?"
     "I still remember."
     "And what if someone asked you to be their first?
What if that someone was fully aware of the risks and
wasn't afraid to take it?  What if they accepted you
exactly the way you are, knew you as well as anyone
could and they still loved you?"
     "I don't know.  No one has ever asked before."
     "Never?"
     Xena shook her head.  She was afraid her voice
would betray her if she tried to speak.
     "Xena, I'm asking now, would you be my first?"
     The warrior explored Gabrielle's face with gentle
fingertips, framed it with seasoned hands and pulled
the bard into a kiss, encircling her with strong arms,
pressing her against a battle-hardened chest.  The soft
moan escaped her chest before she could stop it and 
Xena felt a lone tear fall away from her cheek to be lost
in the gentle breeze.  She had never felt so free.




     "I just love the equinox, don't you?"  Taladegas
asked while standing next to Ephiny on top of the
makeshift stage, enjoying a bird's eye view of two dear
friends.
     "It's my favorite."  Ephiny answered as they turned
away from the new lovers by the fire.  "Come on, let's
go see what else we can stir up."
     Taladegas put her arm around Ephiny's shoulder.  "I
have an idea, and it's a good one."
     "Is it?" Ephiny grinned.  "It wouldn't happen to
involve some oil and oh, say, grapes, maybe?"
     Taladegas snatched a bowl of grapes from a passing
tray and hid them behind her back.  "Sure, and I even
managed to save the last of the warm chocolate sauce
from this afternoon's feast.  Never know when you
might need it, oh, guess what?  Marne's been
experimenting with a new gelatin formula."
     "No!"
     "Yes, and it's even thinner than the last, AND...she
figured out how to make the sides stick together."
     "Sss," Ephiny sucked in her breath.  "Tal, you're
wicked."
     "Ain't I just...."
    



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