At last, sensing the light beginning to fade, the
warrior signalled for the others to follow as she turned off the
trail and made for a stand of firs which all but hid a cleft in the
rocky hillside. To the women's delight, the cleft proved to be
the mouth of a cave. Xena dismounted, but Jaièl hesitated.

"Wait," said the princess, wearily
dismounting herself and approaching the warrior. "It's
occupied."

"What?" said Xena, exasperated.

"It's occupied," repeated the princess,
closing her eyes. "There's a … cat of some kind. A big
one." The princess opened her eyes and started to walk towards
the cave opening. Xena grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey," said the warrior. "If there is
some kind of big cat in there, you need to wait here. Let me check
it out. If I find anything in there, I'll deal with
it."

"You mean kill it," said Jaièl.

"Yeah," said Xena, raising one eyebrow.
"You got a problem with that? Or would you prefer being
breakfast? Or riding for another couple of hours to find another
campsite?"

"Killing it isn't necessary," said
Jaièl, softly.

"Oh, no? Why not?" asked the warrior,
crossing her arms over her armour-clad chest.

"One of Jaièl's talents is the ability
to communicate with all other beings – even other species,"
said Aradia, dismounting. "She can forge a rapport with the
creature, move it further back in the cave, and keep it deeply
asleep there – and we'll be safe."

"Tremendous,' said the Warrior Princess,
rolling her eyes. "And I thought I had many skills!"

"Xena," said Gabrielle, placing a hand on
her friend's arm. "I've read about this. Let her try –
if it doesn't work, you can always kill the cat."

Xena shrugged, and waved an arm towards the cave.
"Be my guest, Your Highness," she said.

Feeling very awkward, Jaièl entered the cave and
found the sleeping leopard. She approached, entering into a rapport
with the beautiful creature, insinuating herself and the others
into its dreams. Then she "spoke" to the leopard, and it
arose, still deep in sleep, and walked to the back of the cave
before lying down again. Jaièl knew that it would sleep deeply
through the night, lying unseen in the shadows of the deepest
recesses of the cave.

She emerged, smiling and motioned for her
companions to enter. The cave was very large, tunnelling deep into
the mountain – big enough to bring the horses in. The horses,
however had other ideas, and shied away from the smell of the
predator. What do you know? thought the warrior.
There is something in there – or there
was…. Xena's mare, Argo, stood
firm, refusing to enter the cave. Smiling at Xena, Jaièl
approached, rubbing Argo's velvety nose and whispering to her.
To Xena's amazement, the mare nuzzled Jaièl for a moment,
then tossed her head in what Xena could swear was a nod, whinnied
to the others and led them inside the cave.