Disclaimer: The characters of Xena, Gabrielle, and Cyrene are the property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. This is just a work of fan fiction and not intended to infringe on the copyright of " Xena: Warrior Princess".

The characters Little Xena and Little Gabrielle were used with permission of Lúcia da Ascenção deNóbrega lunobrega@sol.com.br. If you have not seen her drawings or cartoon connection on The Australian Xena Information Page http://ausxip.com/index2.html , I recommend it!

The reindeer are not mine… The just belong to the children, big and small, the world over and Senticles/Santa Claus gets to take care of them for us!

The story is mine. December 24/25, 2000

Violence: None

Subtext: Sorry not in this one. This story is for my niece and is suitable for all ages.

Authors notes: I just wanted to say thank you to Lúcia for providing me with a wonderful image that I can share with a very special Little Gabrielle, my Niece Nicole! Betas, you folks are the best.

This story was written LIVE for the Bard’s Village as a special Holiday Gift. The picture that was used to inspire this was the Sleigh that Lúcia wrote up for MaryD’s AXIP What’s New Page.

Betas… You ladies are the best.

I’d love to hearing from you. Please feel free to send me your comments good or bad. ricesue@mediaone.net

A Little Xena and Little Gabrielle story

By Susan A. Rice

It was Solstice Eve when suddenly Little Xena heard a strange sound on the rooftop. She jumped out of her bed and looked out the window but could not see anything. She crossed over to her best friend’s bed and woke her up.

"Gabby, come on wake up. I heard something," said Little Xena.

Little Gabrielle opened her green eyes and looked at her friend. "What’s wrong Xena?"

"Come on, Gabby, I heard something. We need to go find out who is invading the Inn on Solstice Eve," replied Little Xena.

Slowly getting out of bed, Little Gabrielle yawned and rubbed her eyes. She walked over to the end of the bed and pulled on her new outfit that Cyrene had made for her. It was a red outfit with fur fringe and a funny cap with a snowball on the end.

Little Xena had a similar outfit and her mother said it would keep them extra warm during these cold days.

Once both girls were dressed in their red and white outfits, they slowly opened the door of Little Xena’s bedroom. Quietly they snuck out of the room and down the stairs.

There, standing over by the tree, was a man in a big red suit with a snowy white beard.

The girls watched him as he slowly lowered a large pack off his back and opened it. He started taking things out of the bag and putting them below the tree.

Little Gabrielle grabbed Little Xena’s hand and said, "Senticles! It’s Senticles!"

Little Xena smiled at her friend and said, "Yah, but how did he get here?"

The junior bard looked at her friend and stated, "He rides in a sleigh. I know the story. He has eight deer that pull it for him. They can fly, Xena!"

Little Xena regarded her young friend and smiled. "Gabby, I’m sure they are really fast, but fly? Only Cupid and Pegasus can fly."

"No, really," stated the little blond, "They can fly! They go all around the known world helping Senticles deliver the packages to all the boys and girls."

Looking at her friend, Little Xena just smiled and shook her head.

Then, out the window, Little Xena could see a red sleigh sitting outside the Inn. "Come on Gabby, let’s check this out."

The two little girls snuck past Senticles and out the front door.

They smiled at the sight before them. There was a beautiful red sleigh, with eight tiny reindeer all in shiny harnesses standing there. As the girls moved closer, they could see several large bags in the sleigh. The reindeer turned to look at their young visitors as they approached the sleigh.

The girls climbed up into the sleigh and looked around. Xena grabbed the reins and said, "Giddy up."

The reindeer did not move.

Little Gabrielle laughed at her friend and said, "That’s not how you get then to fly."

"Well," replied Little Xena, "If you’re so smart, you try it."

Looking at her friend, Little Gabrielle took the reins and said, "Sure, us junior bards have to know how to do this stuff right?"

"Right," replied the warrior in training.

"Little Xena, I don’t remember all their names. I know that you have to say all of the names in order to get the reindeer to fly," said the little bard.

Little Gabrielle yelled out their names... then she said, "Dash away, dash away all!"

Suddenly the reindeer started to prance and the sleigh started moving forward. The girls held on tight as the sleigh began picking up speed.

"Gabby, turn them. They're heading for the cliff!" yelled Little Xena.

Little Gabrielle pulled back on the reins as hard as she could, but instead of stopping, the reindeer just started to run faster and faster. The cliff was approaching fast.

Both girls closed their eyes and let out a scream as the reindeer leapt into the air.

Slowly, they opened their eyes and looked out at the world below them. They could see all of Amphipolis from up here.

"Ooooo, pretty," said Little Gabrielle.

Little Xena looked at her friend and smiled. "Can you make them go faster, Gabby?"

Little Gabrielle said, "I can try."

She shook the reins and clucked like she saw her friend do with Little Argo. The reindeer responded immediately. They started to move faster and the wind went whipping by.

The girls started laughing and enjoyed the ride. Little Gabrielle discovered that if she wanted them to go left or right that she just needed to tug the reins a little and the reindeer would respond immediately.

They flew the sleigh across the night sky and passed the moon on the way.

Little Xena looked at her friend and knew that this was just too much fun and did not want to go home. However, it was getting late and she was sure that Senticles would want his sleigh back soon.

"Gabby, we need to go back to the inn."

"Aww… I don’t wanna. This is so much fun," said Gabby.

"I know it is, but Senticles has lots if houses to visit. You wouldn’t want him to miss any of the children would you?" asked Little Xena.

Little Gabrielle looked at her friend with sad eyes. "No Little Xena, It’s time to go back."

Carefully steering the sleigh, Little Gabrielle returned to the inn. There was just one problem that the little blond had yet to figure out… How to land this thing?

*****

Senticles was standing outside the Inn’s doors looking up at the girls. He smiled at the sight of the girls in his sleigh, but he had a busy night ahead of him and he knew that these little ones should be in bed.

He also knew that these youngsters might be just the help he needed this year to deliver the presents to all the boys and girls. He watched as the sleigh came closer and noticed a slight problem. The reindeer were coming in way to high for a landing.

The girls were trying to get the reindeer to drop lower but as hard as the tried, they could not get them to go down.

"Uh oh," said Little Gabrielle. "We are going to hit the top of the Inn!"

Little Xena grabbed the reins and pulled back on them and yelled "Whoa!"

Suddenly they came to a stop, right on the roof of the Inn!

Little Gabrielle looked at Little Xena and asked, "So how do we get down?"

"I’m working on it," replied the startled warrior.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! That was the best flying I’ve seen in a long time," said Senticles as he climbed up onto the roof. (Bet you never knew how such a big man could move so fast!)

The friends looked up at Senticles and started to climb out of the sleigh.

"Not so fast little ones. I have lots of gifts to deliver this night and I could use a couple of warriors to help me out. What do you say, want to help out old Senticles deliver presents to all the boys and girls?"

The girls looked at Senticles and then at each other. With a mighty, "AIAIAIAIA!" Little Xena flipped back into the Sleigh.

Little Gabrielle ran across the snowy rooftop and scrambled back into the front of the sleigh. She grabbed the reins and said, "READY!"

So, it was, on this night, two little girls helped Senticles deliver presents to all the children of the world.

The End.

Well actually not the end… Little Gabrielle discovered that Cookies and Milk were left in every home. She was happy to give the Stomach Monster a tasty treat for being so quiet as they visited the homes of all the children of the known world.

One more very important thing… Now Senticles knew his Reindeer could land on rooftops so he would not have to always climb onto the roofs to go down the Chimney.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

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