Xena had barely settled in for the night when she heard Argo and
Milkspot, Gabrielle's horse, becoming restless and agitated –
someone was coming. Xena slowly drew her sword. Now she heard
footsteps -  two, maybe three people.

As she rose to her feet, they approached the campfire – a man, a
woman and a small child, all shabbily dressed. "We saw
your campfire," the man said nervously. "We hoped you
wouldn't mind if we warmed ourselves for a while. Then
we'll be moving on."

"Don‘t mind at all," Xena replied, and began to
add more logs. "That was some storm, huh? You folks must
really want to get where you're going in a hurry to be
traveling at night."

The man just nodded. No one spoke for a while. Then Xena noticed
the child, a boy about 6 years old, was staring at the plate of
uneaten fish next to Gabrielle.

"How about something to eat?" she asked.
"It's only fish, but it's not too bad."

The man and woman looked at each other as if they didn't
know whether they should accept the food, so Xena reached over,
picked up the plate and divided the fish among them.

"What about you friend?" the woman asked.

"She's had enough," Xena replied.

Watching the three travelers as they ate, it was obvious to Xena
that they hadn't eaten for quite a while. She rummaged around
in her saddlebag and brought out the last of the cheese and gave it
to them, which was also quickly devoured.

"Lots of fish in the lake," Xena said. "If you
want to spend the night here, I can fry up a mess of them for you
in the morning."

"Are you sure? We don't want to be any
trouble."

"It's no trouble. Besides, I'd like the
company."

The man and the woman both glanced over at Gabrielle, who had
not moved or spoken the entire time, but neither said
anything. Xena gave them dry blankets and once again settled
down for the night.

The next morning Xena was up at first light, and by the time the
others had awakened, she had caught, cleaned, and was about to fry
up a half dozen large trout.  Xena took one for herself, put
one next to Gabrielle, and gave the rest to the three
travelers.

"By the way, my name's Xena. And that's Gabrielle.
She's doesn't feel too well, so you'll have to excuse
her if she's not very sociable."