Gabrielle stood up from preparing the fish that Xena had caught earlier in the nearby stream and walked over to the saddlebags that were resting alongside the sleeping furs that had been laid out in the small but well organised camp. She opened the flap of one and delved into its depths to retrieve a small packet. She sniffed at it, nodding to herself and then returned to the almost-ready-to-cook fish. Opening the packet she looked inside and frowned before upending it and sprinkling the last of its contents onto the fish.

"Xena," she began, "in the morning I'll pop back into the village. We've run out of those herbs that go really well with fish and I'm sure that they will have some there I can buy."

Xena's rhythmical stroking of the oil stone along the edge of her sword paused and she glanced up to look at her friend from her seat on a large rock. "I've got to repair one of Argo's bridle links in the morning but once that's done we can go." She resumed dressing her sword's blade, expecting that would conclude the planning for the morning.

"No problem," Gabrielle replied, putting a few final touches to the fish. "I can do that while you're sorting out the bridle. There's no point in both of us trailing back there."

The metallic scraping stopped again but Xena didn't look up straight away. She stared, unfocussed at the blade in her hands for several long moments. Eventually she said, in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "No! I don't want you going back there alone."

It was Gabrielle's turn to stop what she was doing. Her gaze lifted from the fish and she looked into the fire in front of her. "Why not?" Her voice carried more than a hint of challenge in its tone.

Xena paused another moment before replying. "Some of those villagers weren't too friendly. They might blame you for causing the damage to their property by annoying the Titans."

Gabrielle turned to look at her. "Oh come on Xena," she said. "Where did you get that idea from? It seemed to me that most of them were just really pleased that we had turned the Titans back to stone before anyone got hurt."

Xena looked up to meet Gabrielle's challenging gaze. "I don't want to take any chances. We'll go together." She resumed her sword sharpening again, the discussion at an end.

"That's ridiculous. All the people I saw were decent folk and really quite friendly, they were just frightened. I'm quite capable of going back there to buy some herbs on my own."

Xena's sharpening didn't break its steady rhythm this time. "I said, we'll go together Gabrielle."

Gabrielle stood and paced the three strides to far edge of their camp. She stopped and stared into the woods in front of her. Her shoulders were tense and her hands bunched into fists. She whirled and faced Xena, her face slightly flushed in the glow from the campfire. "Why don't you have any trust in me Xena?" Her voice was strained and loud with barely suppressed anger. "You treat me like a child, you don't take anything I say or can do seriously. You just have no respect for me at all." She stopped, breathing deeply, staring defiantly into Xena's eyes.

Xena stopped again and put her sword and stone onto the ground beside her. She expelled an exasperated sigh and looked up to meet Gabrielle's eyes, saying in a voice carrying a little more irritation than she intended. "Look, if this is about what happened in the temple, then I'm sorry, I..."

"NO! This isn't about what happened in the temple...well not specifically. This is about how you treat me. I'm starting to feel like I can't take a visit to the bushes without your permission and having you standing guard."

Xena's patience snapped. "Listen Gabrielle, there are lots of dangers out here and you don't know the half of them. You're young and you don't have any experience of dealing with them."

Gabrielle put her fists onto her hips. "Xena, I'm seventeen summers for crying out loud."

"Yes, 'only' seventeen and this is the first time you've been anywhere other than Potaedia, more or less. It's my responsibility to look after you and make sure you're safe, so let me make the decisions."

Gabrielle's anger was not assuaged. "I thought we were friends, Xena, I don't want another parent." She snapped.

Xena had her mouth open about to issue another retort, but at that she stopped, her mouth closing abruptly with an audible click of teeth. The muscles around her jaw clenched and released as she stared unblinking at Gabrielle. Her next words were spoken so quietly Gabrielle had to listen carefully to hear them over the crackling of the fire. "Perhaps you should return home then, to your real parents." Her gaze stayed locked on Gabrielle's face.

It was Gabrielle's turn to stop, her anger washed away in an instant by a sudden panic. "Is that what you want?" She said eventually in an equally quiet voice.

Xena read the fear in Gabrielle's face having experienced it on the faces of many of her adversaries over the years. Instantly she regretted her words threatening to send her friend home, but not being able to call them back she wracked her brain for what to say next, conscious of the fact that, if she wasn't careful the argument could rapidly spiral out of control and she would lose the only true friend she had had for almost longer than she could remember. "I just don't want you to get hurt, Gabrielle. It..." She stopped, her eyes dropping to look at Gabrielle's feet, unable to say the words that would betray and confirm the feelings she knew were growing inside her heart.

Gabrielle swallowed the lump that had lodged in her throat, her heart pounding inside her chest. "So, you do want me to go home." A statement, not a question. Tears welled up and spilled copiously down her cheeks as her eyes closed.

Xena's gaze snapped back up to Gabrielle's face, her vision confirming what her ears had told her, her heart melting unexpectedly. "No! No, I don't want you to leave... to go home. I just don't want you getting hurt, that's all."

Gabrielle's heart jumped as she heard the warmth in Xena's voice and the meaning of the words sank in through her scattered thoughts. She opened her eyes to see... something in Xena's eyes. Sorrow? Hurt? Fear? Feeling encouraged that she wasn't going to be sent away she took a deep breath and walked slowly towards Xena, a small smile adding an extra light to her eyes, already glinting from the fire's light reflecting off unshed tears.

Xena stood stock still as the distance between them reduced to nothing and Gabrielle wrapped her arms around Xena's waist as she pressed herself up against her taller companion. Xena raised her own arms placing them tentatively and gently around Gabrielle's back. Gabrielle squeezed gently before releasing her and stepping back half a pace, looking up into Xena's slightly confused blue eyes. "Thank you." She said.

Xena released the breath she hadn't realised that she had been holding and gazed back into gentle green eyes, taking stock of what had been said during the argument. It dawned on her suddenly that the young girl who had latched on to her a few moons ago had seemingly grown up. She wryly acknowledged to herself that it had been quite some time since anyone had shouted at her so vociferously, and probably even longer since anyone who had done so had remained standing afterwards. She took a breath and gave a small smile of resignation. "You're right, Gabrielle, I'm sorry. I'm used to just making things happen and, if something is bothering me, I just make it so that it doesn't bother me any more. I know I can't... I shouldn't do that with you."

Gabrielle blinked, wondering what had gone on behind those beautiful eyes that had resulted in Xena giving in and accepting her argument. She stopped herself as her arm moved without her conscious thought, realising that she was about to caress Xena's cheek. She cleared her throat before blurting out the first thing that sprang into her mind to cover up her awkwardness. "Shall we get that fish cooked, I'm starving."

Xena noticed the small arm movement and the sudden change of subject covering something up. A small frown created a crease in her forehead just above her nose. "Mmm, okay." She said after a moment, one corner of her mouth twitching with an amused smile.

Gabrielle returned to the fish to place it on the fire, her eyes quickly going unfocussed as she delved deep into her thoughts and feelings.

Xena took a deep breath and visibly relaxed. She sat back down on her rock and retrieved her sword and stone, the rhythmic scraping providing a backdrop to Xena's own musings on what had just occurred.