Chapter 11

You Want a Piece of Me?

Gabrielle awoke to find Tala nestled into the crook of her left shoulder, one leg thrown over both of hers and Tala's left arm over her stomach, the hand cupping her right breast through her shirt. She deftly plucked the hand from her breast and attempted to slide out from underneath the larger woman without waking her, but Tala's eyes snapped open. Gabrielle finished her extrication with a little less finesse, since she didn't have to worry about disturbing Tala's sleep anymore, and stood to retrieve a set of clean clothes.

She dressed and Tala followed suit, grinning at her the whole time. Gabrielle thought it should have been a little unnerving, but instead it caused Gabrielle to smile in response. They finished dressing and Gabrielle escorted Tala back to the Dining Hall for breakfast.

On the way, a couple was rough housing with each other and the man accidentally bumped into Tala, knocking her to the ground. Tala leapt to her feet and started for the man. Gabrielle put a restraining hand on her upper arm to get Tala's attention.

She gestured to the man, David, and clasped her hands together. "Friend," she promised.

Tala clasped her own hands together and then ripped them violently apart. "No friend," she insisted.

She moved forward again, but Gabrielle stepped in front of her and pressed her palm to the middle of Tala's chest. "No," Gabrielle ordered.

Tala stared at her, then backed down. "Him no you fight me," she stated.

Gabrielle tried to decipher the sentence. David spoke up. "I think she expects you to fight in my place. But that's all right, I could take her."

Gabrielle shook her head. "Go on, go have breakfast," she absentmindedly told the couple. She watched Tala for a moment and then came to a decision. "You fight me?" she asked.

Tala nodded in satisfaction and followed Gabrielle to the Warrior's drilling field. They squared off against one another. Word had spread quickly, when the two had been spotted heading for the drilling field, and a crowd swiftly gathered to watch the two circle each other.

Gregory came running up. "Wait!" he yelled. "What the hell is going on here?"

"It's all right, Gregory," Gabrielle assured him, not taking her eyes off the other woman.

"Like hell it is!" Gregory bellowed.

Tala stopped circling with Gabrielle and yelled at Gregory in her own language. She pointed at herself, then at Gabrielle. Gregory started to come forward to physically stop the fight. Gabrielle spun to face him and literally stood toe to toe with the tall man.

"Back off," she growled. Her voice was low and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He quite meekly took several paces back and stood with the rest of the crowd.

Gabrielle turned around to face Tala again. They circled a few more times, but then Tala lunged for her. Gabrielle lightly jumped to the side and tripped her as she went by. Tala stumbled to the ground, then rolled with her momentum and easily got back to her feet.

"You're good," Gabrielle complimented.

Tala nodded and smiled, then lunged again. This time, Gabrielle planted a foot in her stomach and then spun to perform a back kick with her other foot. As she continued to spin from the back kick, Gabrielle landed a turning kick to Tala's shoulder with the first foot.

Tala stumbled to the side and looked confused. She lunged again and Gabrielle performed a jump front snap kick to her chin. Tala went down, unconscious. The crowd cheered for their Chief, but Gabrielle was yelling for Claudia, even as she knelt down to check on Tala. She opened Tala's mouth to check her teeth and made sure she hadn't bitten off the tip of her tongue when her jaw had snapped shut. It was fine.

Claudia arrived several minutes later and Tala was carried to the Healer's hut.

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Tala woke to find Gabrielle sitting next to her, watching her. She smiled and tried to sit up. Gabrielle put a hand on her chest and pushed her back down.

"Rest," Gabrielle gently ordered.

"Gabrielle good fighter," Tala proclaimed.

"Yeah, I am," agreed Gabrielle.

"Teach Tala," she requested.

"Maybe later," Gabrielle hedged.

"Now," Tala demanded.

"No," she refused.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"You're worse than a two-year-old," Gabrielle grinned, in spite of herself.

"Teach Tala good fighter," she requested again.

"You already are a good fighter," Gabrielle assured her.

"Tala good. Gabrielle good good," Tala reasoned.

"Rest now. Teach later," Gabrielle promised.

"Yes." Tala relaxed her body, but didn't close her eyes. She just grinned her triumph up at Gabrielle.

"Listen, I have to go take care of something. Will you be all right here?"

Tala frowned and started to sit up again. "Tala go where Gabrielle go," she insisted.

Gabrielle pushed her back down. "No. You stay here and rest for a little while longer." Tala continued to struggle. "Or I won't teach you to be a better fighter," Gabrielle threatened.

Tala stopped struggling and lay back down, a serious pout darkening her features.

"That's better. Now, I'll be back in just a little bit," Gabrielle said, and left the Healer's hut.

She headed directly for the Main Hall. She found Gregory and Tristan in the Council room and they both immediately started yelling at her. Gabrielle held her hands up for silence and let her anger show clearly in her facial expression and body posture. The two men fell silent.

Gabrielle pointed at Gregory first. "I had everything under control. I am a black belt and she has never had any training in fighting whatsoever, except probably grappling. I knew, as long as I didn't let her get a hold on me, I would be fine. Next time, trust me," she said.

She was angry, but Gregory could also see the hurt in her eyes at the lack of confidence Gregory had shown in her.

"And next time, don't force me into an open confrontation with you in front of half the town. It undermines their faith in both of us; me, because of your lack of faith in my decisions, and you, because I had to call your competency into question. What kind of message do you think it sent when I had to order you to back down? Everyone saw me basically saying you were making a bad call and I was calling you on the carpet for it. I really hated that, damn it. Don't make me do that again," Gabrielle finished.

Gregory didn't reply. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

Tristan defended the First Warrior. "He was only trying to protect you. As leader of New Gaia, you shouldn't be taking chances with your life, no matter how confident you feel."

"It wasn't to the death," Gabrielle defended, losing some of her ire.

"You don't know that," Tristan disagreed.

"Tala wouldn't kill me," Gabrielle said, the conviction in her voice catching Tristan's attention.

He stopped the short pacing he'd begun during Gregory's dressing down and stood still, watching her for a few moments. "What's going on between you two? The entire village knows Tala spent the night at your hut." Tristan watched Gabrielle's cheeks pink, then her eyes flared in annoyance.

"First off, that's none of your business, secondly, nothing happened, and thirdly, when I was at Tala's village I stayed in Tala's hut. I just assumed it was a 'leaders stick together' kind of thing." She shook her head and waved away any further explanation. A subject change was definitely in order.

"I think because she's the leader of her tribe, we have a really good opportunity here for opening up the lines of communication between our two peoples. She's really catching on quick to speaking English and I think I'm starting to get a good grasp of her language as well. Do you realize all the things we could learn from her people? Not to mention the help we could give to them." Gabrielle noticed the almost mirthful stares she was receiving from her two Firsts. "Well, I should get back to check on Tala. I'll see you guys later." She quickly left the Main Hall.

Tristan and Gregory turned to stare at each other with knowing smiles.