Kindred Spirit Lodge Presents
Like Old Times
by Mistress Ikarias
February 3rd, 2002
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Early in the morning, Ikarias went into the dining area to grab something to break her fast when she saw Xena layering up a huge tray. Several slices of veal leftover from the supper last night, accompanied two roast chickens, apples, figs, dates, cheese, half-a dozen rolls of hot nutbread, honey, boiled eggs, smoked bream and two empty mugs. The Warrior Princess lost one mug as she reached for a pitcher of tea. Ikarias caught the earthenware, saving it from certain doom.
Two brilliant blue eyes looked back towards their room and Ikarias laughed as she grabbed a third mug for herself. "I take it your bard is feeling MUCH better?"
"She hardly ate for the past couple of weeks with the fever. I just want to make sure something tempts her appetite."
"Here's your beef broth," the assistant cook came out with a covered pot and placed it on a table. She put a couple of bowls by it, then went back into the kitchen.
"I'll bring that, you have spoons?" The half-dragon asked.
"Yeah, and the sharp things too." The two laden warriors carefully negotiated the assorted tables and chairs of the main room. Xena asked, "Where do I know you from? There are not too many women with scales. Aside from the Pythoness."
"Ikarias, and we had quite a time at the Bountiful Doe." She managed to get the door open to let the dark-haired woman enter first.
"Breakfast, Brie," Xena announced, setting the tray on the corner table by the bed.
A blonde head poked out from under the covers and sea-green eyes took in the sights and smells. "But what are you going to eat, Xena?"
A familiar sly smile came over the warrior princess' face, then she turned to Ikarias, "Ah my manners, Ikarias Half-Dragon, Gabrielle."
"Oh, I've read every scroll I could find by the Amazon Bard, and a few I had to um, liberate." Khena grinned as she set the tureen down next to the platter. She ladled out some into a bowl and handed it to the lovely scribe.
"Oh, do have some breakfast. I love hearing from my fans. Where do you two know each other? And why do you look like the cat that fell into the cream, Xena?"
"Before we were together, I wasn't exactly a Vestal Virgin." Xena took up an apple and slowly peeled it with her boot knife.
"Tell all," the little blonde sipped at the broth then took a bite of nutbread. "Expiring minds want to know. Besides I've got empty scrolls to fill."
"She had a complementary pass to the best little cathouse in Pahrische during one of Lady Muen's annual 'Enlightenment' events. Didn't you beat Hercules' record with his fifty daughters of King Whatisname? Turning a hundred girls in to women overnight?"
"Xena!" Gabrielle swallowed the mouthful of broth the wrong way but recovered quickly. "That's impossible, I mean you'd need to--um--you'd have to. oh my, Sweet Mother of Zeus. You didn't!"
"Oh, but I did." The dark woman looked pointedly at her wife. She slipped her tongue into the groove she'd cut into the apple, and slid it back and forth. No one said a word until the warrior princess herself spoke, "You look rather flushed, Brie. Is your fever coming back? You should rest and get your strength back, my love." Xena teased the girl.
"Ah no, I'm fine, I'm hungry." She tore off a chicken leg and took a hunk of cheese as well, "Complementary?"
"Oh, it was great for business. Afterwards all the girls wanted 'Xena was here' tattooed on their inner thighs." Ikarias laughed. "Lady Muen even mounted that whip over the arch in the great hall, though it kept getting stolen."
"You didn't do a half-bad job yourself Half-Dragon. I may have had the notoriety but 'for the best piece of tail, try one with a scale' seems to sound awfully familiar."
This time Ikarias coughed on a date. She shook her finger at the smug expression the dark woman wore. "Not quite. Didn't I tie you one for one until there was only that last girl left?"
"True, you had quite the waiting list to try out the friction from your jade side. You had a lot of repeats."
"What are you talking about jade friction?"
"May I?" The half-dragon looked to Xena, "In a purely platonic exercise."
"Go ahead, I haven't killed anybody before breakfast since, a week ago? Hold out your hand, Brie."
The blonde looked at both women and shook her head. She popped the last bit of chicken into her mouth and held that hand palm up. Khena lightly drew a scaled forefinger backwards over it. Gabrielle shivered as she took a second cup of broth. "Oh my." Her eyes lit up and she shook her head.
Ikarias stepped back and took a sip of her tea. "Going against the grain of the scales, as it were, especially a sensitive area--"
"Made you very popular," Xena grinned as she took a slice of veal.
"Mmmm well, didn't you make yourself a toy with a similar configuration? You carved a piece of wood and used some type of tanned crocodile skin to get the same scaled effect?" Ikarias asked.
"Murph!" Came from the bard's lips as broth went flying. "You made Snicky based on--"
Xena blushed, "No--I--"
"You still have it? She named it?" The half-dragon was in stitches, "Snicky?" She stood holding her sides, tears running down her face. "The scourge of maidens everywhere is called Snicky?"
The warrior princess finally burst out laughing, "Only because 'Xena' was taken!"
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The End - 'Like Old Times' - by Ikarias
Continue to - ''The Dragon & The Alicat'