“Honey, I’m not angry with you, we’re not angry with you,” the warrior added as she glanced at Gabrielle for confirmation.
“That’s right, we aren’t mad at you.” The blonde supported her soulmate’s words.
“It’s just that, well, you have to be careful, honey. You can’t go and do that with a man without thinking things through.
Ya see, there are um, consequences; things that can happen to you that neither your mother nor I want you to have to go
through.” The dark haired woman explained then quickly added, “There are diseases to consider and there is pregnancy
as well. Ari, I just don’t feel you’re ready for any of this. By the gods, honey, you’re much too young to have to worry
about taking care of a baby.”
The minute Xena spoke the words; a look of confusion masked the girl’s face. Seeing that expression, the warrior
frowned as a sigh escaped her. With an almost pleading expression, the warrior asked Ari, “Honey, do you know how
babies come about?”
Gabrielle felt a heat cross her cheeks as she caught her lover’s glance. They remained silent, as Ari’s brows furrowed
upward, and her gaze fell to her hands. As a tinge of red crossed her cheeks, their daughter looked up with a frown on
her face.
“D-Do you mean l-like Selani?” The girl asked meekly, her speech slow and controlled.
“Yes, exactly! Do you know how Selani was conceived?” Gabrielle spoke softly as she took the girls hand in hers. After
a moment of thought, Ari looked from her then turned to Xena.
“I-I overheard t-that S-Sara was… s-she went t-to M-Madador in a place called N-North Africa and g-got him there,”
Ari answered as she looked at them both, hoping that she had answered their question correctly. In that instant, Xena
released a string of low expletives against Alti.
The Amazon sighed as she remembered how Ari felt about her moon time. When she combined the two together,
Gabrielle suddenly realized the scope of the girl’s naiveté. As she at last understood this, the blonde felt the tears in her
eyes as she shook her head. “Oh, you poor baby, you don’t know! You don’t know at all, do you?” She whispered as
she clasped Ari’s hand in both of hers.
The beating that Ari had anticipated for her mistake had not taken place. Even after her time with her mothers, it still
surprised her that they had not taken her to task for all of the errors that she had made. Yet a part of her was relieved
each time she realized that neither her birth mother nor Gabrielle would resort to hitting, or beating her. But at times like
this, she sometimes wondered if it would have been easier to simply be beaten and have the whole incident finished instead
of feeling the profound disappointment from her two mothers.
She sat silently before Xena and Gabrielle and their words registered in her troubled thoughts. She had only done what
she thought she was told to do while at the same time making certain that she did not lose herself once more. Although
she understood her own reasoning, explaining it to her mothers was hard to do. Rather than try to explain, she watched
their expressions intently. When she saw redness come over Xena’s face, she arched a brow as she wondered what had
caused her mother to flush. Before Ari could begin to contemplate it, her warrior mother stood up abruptly and began to
pace the length of the room.
“You see… Ari, it’s like this,” Xena began as she paced a moment, then returned to sitting in front of her daughter. The
warrior smiled as she tried to keep her voice soft. “Ari, when a man and woman get together…”
“They usually love each other first, Ari,” Gabrielle interrupted.
“Yes… yes, of course, thank you honey. Your mother is absolutely right, Ari, there is normally love involved. Now,
when a man and a woman who are in love decide to…”
Again Gabrielle interrupted. “But love doesn’t only mean that you can only fall in love with a man. Honey, your mother
and I love each other deeply too, however, we don’t have to worry about a child being conceived from our love,” her
soulmate added with a shy smile as she gazed at Xena.
“Of course, that’s right,” Xena agreed with an almost bashful grin as she turned away from her lover. “So, if you were to
find out later, say… twenty or thirty years from now, that you…”
“Xena!” Gabrielle’s voice grew sharp as she cast her spouse a glare.
“All right, say… ten… no? Okay… five or… okay, maybe less than five years from now…” Xena kept lowering the age
as she saw the disapproval from her mate. “Okay, honey, if later on sometime, when you’re old enough to understand
what love is, and it happens to be with a woman, OR a man, because either gender is fine, honey, then that is when you,
umm, you, uh, share yourself in that way, see?” Ari watched with interest as her mother turned a deep shade of red. The
color started at the top of Xena’s hairline and moved down her face, to her ears and all the way down her neck.
“Ahem. But, if you should decide that it’s a man who you want to be with, when you become um, sexual with him, as you
were doing w-with Virgil,” She gritted her teeth, then smiled sickly as her fingers bunched into a fist before she continued
in a calmer voice that only thinly masked her anger. “Then the possibility exists that a child can be conceived, you
understand?” The whiteness of her teeth offset the blush over her face.
Ari’s brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to understand her mother’s words. Before she even said anything, Xena
sighed, as she seemed to steel herself for more.
“Honey, when a man becomes… ummmm… well, as he’s excited and he… you know, when he releases his, um…
oboy…” Xena sighed as she shook her head, then turned a pleading look to her lover. “Gabrielle, you know, you can feel
free to jump in at any time!”
“Sweetheart, it has to do with your moon time. Remember I told you how special it is, that it’s not a curse?” Gabrielle
smiled as she leaned forward. Her voice was soft and melodic as she jumped into the explanation. “Honey, your monthly
blood cycle means that you are given the gift of bearing children. When you have… umm… you know, sex, with a man,
then the… umm…” the blonde stammered as she lowered her eyes. Her lighter complexion turned an even deeper shade
of red than Xena’s had.
“Ari honey, when the man releases his seed, it is planted in the woman,” Xena jumped back in, apparently ready to fill in
the rest of the story. “So when his, uh, seed is planted, then the woman’s body conceives a child, and her monthly cycle
ends for nine months while the child grows inside of her! Yes, I know honey, it’s a bit disturbing when you think about it
like this,” the warrior princess chuckled when she saw Ari’s face screw up in disgust. “But trust me, honey, it’s the most
beautiful thing when it happens.
“So, you see, Ari? Your moon time has a lot to do with whether you can conceive a child or not, which is why it’s a gift,”
Gabrielle added with an understanding smile at her soulmate.
Xena cleared her throat. “Yes, honey, and that’s why you have to be careful. If you… ummm, share yourself in that way,
then your chances are greater that you may conceive a child, and if you’re not careful, you could catch a nasty disease that
might prevent you from ever having children at all, or worse…” The warrior’s voice was filled with more confidence as her
voice deepened to convey the seriousness of the worst things that could happen, beyond diseases.
“But, Xena, remember Dahak?” the smaller woman interrupted then turned to Ari. “Sweetheart, I had a child once, a little
girl named Hope. I conceived her in Britannia while your mother was fighting Khrafstar. You see, honey, the evil god
Dahak had me trapped in a fiery flame, and as I was unconscious, he, the god I mean, planted his seed in me without us
having a physical relationship!” Her mother explained, but before Ari could even begin assimilating this strange
information, Gabrielle became animated. She snapped her fingers and looked at the warrior sharply, “And Xena, we can’
t forget about Eve!”
