"Been reading my mind, have you?"

"No, Xena. That’s something I’d never do. I definitely believe everyone deserves the privacy of their own thoughts. That would be like me following you into the bushes while you — take care of business."

"You certainly wouldn’t want to do THAT."

"I’m sure I wouldn’t. But as I was saying, reading someone’s thoughts is one thing, but emotions, they’re something else!"

"What do you mean?"

"When it comes to emotions, you might as well be standing up and yelling to the world how you feel. They are just so strong there is no way I could ever block them out, unless I really, really tried. But it’s not just you, it’s everybody."

"So you know what I’m feeling all the time?"

"All the time. But getting back to reading your mind. When I sense how angry you get sometimes, I think I’d just as soon not know what you’re thinking."

"You’re right, it’s pretty bad stuff sometimes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Gabrielle and Milkspot were riding along the narrow trail of the forest they were traveling through, Gabrielle noticed that Xena wasn’t with her. "Did she say she was going on ahead? Or is she going to catch up later?" she thought to herself. "I wish I could remember."

As Gabrielle rode on, once in a  while she’d call ahead, then behind, but there was no answer from Xena.  After perhaps half a day’s riding, the trail widened into a clearing. Across from the clearing was the opening of a cave. "I wonder if Xena went inside," Gabrielle thought. "She must have let Argo run loose while she’s browsing."

Dismounting from Milkspot, Gabrielle walked to the entrance of the cave. As she stepped inside, she saw that there was enough light coming in for her to see a good ways down the passageway. Slowly she made her way deeper into the cave. Eventually she came to a large room with passages leading off in several directions. As she crossed the room, she thought she heard a noise behind her. "Xena! Is that you!" she asked, a little too loud. Then there was another noise to the right of her. "Xena?"  Then a noise to the left. Then behind her again. As she spun around, the noises seemed to be coming from behind her. Then they became louder, as if they were coming closer.