Chapter One

It was hot, so hot that the searing heat which rose up from the ground created
shimmering ripples in the dry acrid air.The sun blazed overhead; not one
current of wind blew to break the stillness. The steamy, wet humidity hung about
the two weary women, close and liquid. Just the simple act of walking caused
sticky perspiration to trickle uncomfortably down their tired bodies. Their clothes
clung to them unmercifully, soaked through to the damp skin underneath.

"Xena, can we *please* go sit down under those trees for a while? I can't take this
anymore!" The young bard shot her good friend a pathetic look.

"Oh, all right, Gabrielle. We can rest for a while. It certainly is hot today. Too
hot!"

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! The gods are being kind today!" The
bard looked towards the heavens gratefully.

"You know Gabrielle, you are just *too* dramatic."

The two princesses, Amazon and warrior left the dusty dirt road and headed
toward some near-by shade trees. "Well, this is better, but not much."

Gabrielle sank down wearily, propped her back up against the large, rough tree
trunk and put her hands behind her head in a vain attempt to cool off. She
watched lethargically as Xena tied Argo's rein to one of the thick branches.
The warrior removed several things from the saddlebags, handing one, a full goat
skin, to the bard who tipped it to her lips and squeezed, drinking greedily.

"Hey! Leave some for me!"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry."

The Amazon princess passed the water to her thirsty friend. In exchange, Xena
gave Gabrielle one of her scroll parchments.

"You want me to write?"

"Ha ha ha. Gabrielle, you are so funny sometimes. No. I want to show you a trick
I learned many years ago when Iwas in China. It will help to cool you off. Now
watch me. If you hold the parchment from the side and wave it back andforth in
front of your face like this you may feel better. It's not much of a breeze but it
should help a little."

Xena smiled affectionately at her overheated friend. Gabrielle shook the
make-shift fan back and forth furiously. "No, no! Not like that, a bit slower will
work much better." The Warrior Princess demonstrated the technique. Gabrielle
watched intently and then mimicked her best friend.

"Ahhhhh. Yes, this is much better. Now let me show *you* a trick." She picked
up the leather thong which had held her parchment roll together, pulled back her
long reddish blonde hair into a tight pony tail and tied it with the leather strip.

"Why don't you tie up your hair too, Xena?"
"Nah."
"Why not?"
"Bad for my image."

The bard put her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and scanned the
surrounding area. "Nobody here now. You're image is safe. C'mon, I promise. I
won't laugh!"

After considering her increasing discomfort caused by the muggy temperature,
the Warrior Princess began to fumble with the leather thong. Each time she tied it
a few strands of her long, dark hair would escape from the knot. She became
increasingly annoyed with herself for being unable to perform this simple task.
Gabrielle could see the frustration building up in her friend. 'She can defeat an
army, but she can't tie her hair up in a simple knot' the bard thought with
amusement. Realizing that Xena had missed out on some of the more feminine
pleasures in life, Gabrielle took pity on her and stood up.

"Here, let me do it. Obviously, you haven't had much practice at this. I guess
Warrior Princesses don't care much about how their hair looks!"

"Very funny, Gabrielle."

"Yeah, that's me, Gabrielle the comedian. There, all done." Xena reached up,
feeling the strands of hair which were smoothly tucked into the tightly wound
knot.

"How do I look?" Her eyes danced coquettishly.

"Gaaawgus, daahling, simply divoooon. Hee hee!!" The two women giggled
merrily like two little girls playing dress up for the first time.

Gabrielle returned to her comfortable position lounging against the tree and
Xena joined her, sitting down heavily next to her friend. The heat had taken it's
toll on her too. All of a sudden Xena jumped up rubbing the side of her thigh.

"Ouch!!"
"Hey! You big klutz! Watch out! You almost sat on me!!!"
The Warrior Princess looked around for the source of the tiny voice, but there
was nobody else present.

"Gabrielle?"
"Yeah, I heard it too."

Gently massaging her stinging thigh, Xena's gaze drifted down toward the
ground. She stared, transfixed by the incredible site before her. For there stood a
tiny lady, no bigger than her ring finger. She wore a delicate tunic of thewhitest
silk, and her pale skin contrasted against her shortly cropped ebony colored hair.
The lilliputian sized creature fluttered up to eye level, using her gossamer wings to
ride the air. Hovering in front of the Warrior Princess' nose she looked at her,
with fury sparking from her tiny violet colored irises. Her little arms were crossed
tightly and she appeared to be tapping her bare toes in mid air. In her pint-sized
hand she held a long, thin pointy splinter of dry wood.

"You big lug! You almost crushed me to death!"

"I-I'm sorry. Xena's eyes began to cross as she stared at the tiny creature.

"Who are you?"
"Namora."
"Namora? You're kinda short, ya know."
"Yeah, duh, I'm a fairy!"
"Um....pleased to meet you. I've never met one of you, uh, little people before."
"Well, you almost made this one a little *flat* person, you big oaf!"
"Gee Namora, all ya had to do was holler. I would have found you. Ya didn't
have to stab me with that splinter. Oooohthat smarts."

As the Warrior Princess bent down and examined the resulting red spot, caused
by the splinter prick, Gabrielle studiedthe diminutive pixie with great interest.
She stood up and slowly approached her. Bending closer to get a better look, she
realized that the vindictive creature was preparing for another sneak attack
against her best friend. Quickly, she reached out and snatched her out of the air,
holding her tightly. Only Namora's head could be seen popping up from
the bard's fist. Namora struggled inside of Gabrielle's hand pushing and
prodding her fingers and kicking the inside of herpalm with her minuscule feet.

"Oh no you don't. You're not gonna get a second chance you little dwarf harpie
from Hades!"

"Sooo, you think you're tough just cause you're bigger than me, huh? You're
just lucky I lost my magic wand or elseI'd......."

"Now wait just a minute. Calm down you little wood sprite. *You're* the one who
started this. We were just minding our own business, trying to cool off and *you*, you
start yappin' at us! How did we know you were here, you're so small we didn't
even see ya! I oughta squash your little......"

"Gabrielle!"

Namora and the bard both snapped their heads around in the direction of that
distinctive voice.
"Put her down."
"Why? She's just gonna start trouble again."
"I said put her down."
"Oh, okay."

Reluctantly, Gabrielle set the fairy gently down on a nearby tree branch. Namora
shook herself, smoothing her clothes back down and straightening her wings.
Then, she defiantly stuck her tongue out at the bard. When she turned aroundto
face front she found herself staring into Xena's steel blue eyes. Caught by
surprise, Namora was struck by the auraof true leadership radiated by the
Warrior Princess. For just a moment, this noble lady reminded her very much
of someone from her past. Another commander who she admired, respected and
considered a great friend. Someone she missed very much. Almost by habit, she
waited to hear what the dark haired woman had to say.

"Now, it seems we all got started off on the wrong foot here. Let's start this again.
I'm Xena, and this is my friend Gabrielle. Nice to meet you Namora."

Xena elbowed Gabrielle in the ribs. "Hey! Oh all right. Nice to meet you, Sprite."

The clearly apparent sarcasm in the bard's voice shattered the nostalgic memory,
and Namora snapped back to reality. "Yeah, yeah nice to meet you too and all of
that." The pixie's eyes rolled around in her head clearly showing her displeasure
at this utter waste of nonsense.

"Well, gotta go. See ya."

She began to flap her wings and rose several inches from the branch when
suddenly she was halted in mid air. The fairyturned around to see what had
stopped her take-off. The muscular thumb and forefinger of the Warrior
Princess held herwings tightly as if she were a butterfly attempting escape.

"Where ya going? Ya just got here?"
"Now what?"
"Why don't you stay awhile?"
"Naah."
"Why not?"
"Gotta run!"
"Got someplace special to go?"
"Nope."
"Then why not stick around for a while?"
"Can't."
"Boy you sure don't say much do ya?"
"Nope."
"Well, gee, you are a fairy right?"
"Yup."
"Well do something fairy-like."
"Like what?"
"How about making a pond for us to jump into so we can cool off?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
'Told ya, no magic wand."
"So?"
"Can't do it without my wand. Those are the rules."
"Give it a shot anyway.......please?"

Xena looked at the little sprite imploringly. Her eyes betrayed her fatigue and the
tiny beads of sweat on her nose were an all too obvious indication of her
discomfort. Namora felt sorry for the warrior. She knew how hot it was. She
herself was feeling a bit woozy from the combination of the blazing sun and thick
humidity. She reasoned that the twoAmazons were in fact nice people and that it
was the acrid heat that had caused the sarcastic retorts from the smaller one.She
relented.

"Ok, I'll give it a try. No promises though."

Namora raised her tiny arms straight out in front of her and closed her eyes. She
began to go into a trance, head lolling back and forth and rocking ever so slightly.

"Mermaid nymph of aqua sea
Hear me now, please grant my plea
Conjure up a liquid pool
To soothe our forms and make us cool."

The tiny creature then quickly raised her hands up and tilted her face toward the
sky. She held that position for amoment and still maintaining it, she opened up
one eye for a quick peek. Xena and Gabrielle were holding their handsover their
mouths trying to control their laughter. But Namora could see the merriment in
their eyes.

"Hey! What's so funny?"

Unable to control her emotions any longer, Gabrielle erupted into hearty
laughter. She pointed to a spot on the ground immediately in front of the shade
tree. Namora looked down at the ground and froze. Her embarrassment was
clearly evident as slowly her ivory colored face turned a shade of bright pink. For
there stood the result of her magic, a puddle no bigger than a large bowl. She
glared at the two women in anger.

"Told you it wouldn't work right. There's a reason for having rules, ya know!
See ya!" The winged sprite shot up into the air and flew away in a flurry of fury.

"Aw Gabrielle, why did ya do that? You got the poor little thing all upset."
"Sorry, just couldn't help myself." Gabrielle was still giggling.

"Oh well, the sun will be setting soon. We might as well camp here for the night."