“c1″> 

At this
moment, the door opened and Xena entered the room with the Queen.
Gabrielle tried to sit up to greet her.

“c1″> 

“c1″>"Stay put, Gab. Moving now is a really bad
idea." Xena knelt next to the bed, taking the blonde
woman’s hand in her own, her commanding voice now as soft as
drops of summer rain. "I’m so happy to see your
beautiful eyes again. I’ll tell you what happened.
What’s the last thing you remember?"

“c1″> 

"I
was hit by a spear. I went to the ground and I could see the blue
sky above. There were the sounds of the battle and I could smell
the blood. Did you know it smells like sweetened copper? And then
there was pain all over. That’s all."

“c1″> 

“c1″>"The battle was at its end when the spear took you
down. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you. There was
poison on their arrows and spearheads. You still are a little
feverish because of this but it won’t do you any harm. Your
shoulder now is healing fine. But… One of them killed a horse
and it collapsed almost on top of you. Your right arm is broken at
the wrist and a second time halfway up to the elbow. There are also
three cracked ribs and many bruises. That’s why it’s
hard for you to breathe. There won’t be any problems with
this either but the horse shattered your right leg. No, baby,
it’s all right. It will get as good as new. I promise. But to
do so you will need a lot of patience. It’s not to be moved
or strained in any way for the next moon at
least."

“c1″> 

Xena
saw the strain in the face of her lover when a wave of fierce pain
raged through her body. "I’m sorry, Gab, from now on
there will always be some kind of painkiller available for you. I
don’t want you to hurt but the less you’ll take the
faster your bones will knit together."

“c1″> 

She now
planted a gentle kiss on each of the green eyes. It was then that
Gabrielle saw the slave collar, and the loving sparkle in them
turned to an angry glow pushing aside even the pain. "How dare
you touch me with such a thing on? You promised I wouldn’t be
reminded of these years any more. You lied to
me."

“c1″> 

The
furious woman tried to turn her head away but found her eyes locked
in the saddened blue ones less than a foot away from her. "I
want you to be safe and happy, Gabrielle. I never intended to hurt
you but you were injured because of me. I’ll do anything to
make sure you’re safe and cared for. The slave collar has
nothing to do with your past but for me it was
necessary."