FADE IN

A bright, sunny day. The edge of a wood. A river is visible at some distance, with a village on the other bank. A young man in his twenties, tall and handsome, with blue eyes and russet hair, comes riding out of the woods on a speckled gray horse. He stops, raises his hand to his eyes and stares hesitantly at the village, as if pondering whether to go there or not.

There is a familiar flash of golden light, and Aphrodite appears next to him. Smiling, she puts a hand on the bridle of his horse.

APHRODITE:
     Well? Cold feet?

YOUNG MAN (nervously):
     Are you sure she's going to be there?

APHRODITE (beaming):
     Listen, I'm a goddess, I know what I'm talking about. (Playfully punches his leg) I'm telling you--they got to this village last night. Go on, this could be your chance!

YOUNG MAN (softly):
     Are you going to make her fall in love with me?

APHRODITE (makes a face and shakes her golden curls):
     No can do, hon. It's not going to work that way. It's gotta happen all by itself.

YOUNG MAN (hesitates):
     It just...doesn't seem fair to the girl.

APHRODITE (shrugs):
     Who said life was fair? Go on... (gives him a mischievous look) Unless, of course, you want to stay the way you are...

With a sigh, the young man takes off toward the village.

APHRODITE (looks after him with a bright smile):
     Yesssss!

She vanishes into the air in a shower of golden sparks.

CUT TO

A dimly lit, nearly empty dining room in the village inn. Xena, Gabrielle and Darion, the little boy Gabrielle adopted in "The Bonds We Choose," are sitting at a table, with Xena across from Gabrielle and Darion. As the camera moves in, Gabrielle's voice can be heard, the words still indistinguishable. She is obviously telling Darion a story while he is listening raptly and Xena is eating from a bowl, occasionally giving Gabrielle impatient looks.

GABRIELLE:
     ...and then, I looked up and saw three na-- (she stumbles and looks hesitantly at Darion) ...na--

DARION (helpfully):
     Neighbors?

GABRIELLE:
     Uhhh...

DARION:
     Nails?

GABRIELLE (brightly):
     I saw three girls who looked exactly like me, singing and dancing. It turned out that Joxer--

XENA (interrupts with a mischievous look at Gabrielle):
     Aren't you going to tell Darion what the three Gabrielles were wearing?

GABRIELLE (blushes and gives Xena an angry look):
     Xena!

DARION (curiously):
     What were they wearing, Gabrielle?

GABRIELLE (sputters, scrambling for something to say):
     Uhh...they were...

DARION:
     Something you didn't like?

GABRIELLE (finally regains speech):
     Wearing--really ugly hats.

Darion laughs and Xena chuckles.

DARION:
     So, what did you do?

GABRIELLE:
     I really hated looking at me in such an ugly hat. So I wrote some more in the scroll and sent them to the caves.

The door opens, and the young man from the previous scene comes in. He walks past Xena and Gabrielle and sits down a couple of tables behind them. The innkeeper, a paunchy balding middle-aged man, approaches him while in the background, Gabrielle continues to tell the story.

YOUNG MAN:
     A steak, please. Make it rare.

INNKEEPER:
     Wine?

YOUNG MAN (hesitates for a moment):
     Water.

The innkeeper walks off and shouts "One steak, rare" to someone in the kitchen, then comes back with a pitcher of water and pours some into a cup.

YOUNG MAN (looks around and sees Xena, Gabrielle and Darion):
     Tell me, who are those people over there?

INNKEEPER:
     Over there? (proudly, pointing at Xena) That's Xena, Warrior Princess.

YOUNG MAN (flinches):
      Princess?

INNKEEPER (nods):
     That's what they call her.

He walks off. The young man gulps down the water, then rises and goes toward Xena and Gabrielle's table as Gabrielle's voice fades in again.

GABRIELLE:
     ...and it turned out that Joxer had sold the scabbard with the scroll inside it!

Darion laughs. Gabrielle stops as the young man approaches and looks up at him.

YOUNG MAN (rather timidly, to Xena):
     You're Xena?

XENA (looks up from her bowl):
     Who wants to know?

YOUNG MAN:
     My name is Cyril. (coughs, obviously nervous) Tell me, please--are you a princess?

XENA (chuckles and shakes her head):
     No, people just call me that. (gives Cyril a wry look) Why? Looking to meet a princess?

The camera pulls back to show the door opening. A young woman in a modest blue dress, with dark hair tied in a ponytail, comes in carrying a bouquet of field flowers.

CYRIL (uncomfortably):
     I...really can't say that I am. Sorry to have bothered you.

He turns around and starts to walk toward the bar.

GABRIELLE (looks after him and shrugs):
     That was strange. (turning back to Darion) So--where was I?

The camera follows Cyril and Gabrielle's voice fades into the background once again.

Walking with his head down, Cyril collides with the young woman. She gives a little cry of surprise and drops the flowers.

CYRIL:
     Oh, I'm sorry--

Cyril and the young woman bend down simultaneously to pick up the flowers and butt heads. They stand up and laugh, the flowers still on the floor. Then they start to bend down again, at the same time.

CYRIL:
     Please--let me.

He bends down, picks up the flowers and hands them to the young woman. They stare at each other, smiling.

CYRIL:
     I hope they're not crumpled too badly. Are these for someone?

YOUNG WOMAN (shakes her head):
     No, I just picked them for myself. The meadows around here are so beautiful--

They continue to stare at each other.

CYRIL:
     Here-- (motions toward his table) --would you like to sit down?

The young woman nods and sits down at the table with him, putting down the flowers.

CYRIL and YOUNG WOMAN (speak simultaneously):
     Are you-- (They laugh and pose, then start simultaneously again) You first. (They laugh again and pause.)

YOUNG WOMAN:
     Are you far away from home?

CYRIL (sighs):
     Actually, I don't have a real home.

YOUNG WOMAN (nods wistfully):
     Sometimes I feel like I don't, either... But what about your family?

CYRIL (looks slightly lost for words for a moment):
     My mother's dead and I--never actually knew my father.

YOUNG WOMAN (sympathetic):
     Oh. My mother died when I was just a baby, and my father--he's so busy, I feel like I barely know him sometimes...

CYRIL:
     But you must have lots of friends. I mean--you seem like the kind of person everyone would like.

YOUNG WOMAN (smiles):
     You're funny. (off his startled look) I mean in a good way.

CYRIL:
     What about you--are you far away from home?

YOUNG WOMAN:
     Pretty far. I live in Salonae.

CYRIL (gives her an odd look):
     I've heard the king's daughter is passing through the village--are you traveling with her by any chance?

YOUNG WOMAN (smiles):
     What if I am the princess?

CYRIL (taken aback):
     Please don't say that--not even as a joke. Let's talk about something else.

The camera pulls away from Cyril and the young woman as their voices fade, moving in on Xena, Gabrielle and Darion again. Xena has finished eating and is darting impatient looks at Gabrielle and Darion.

GABRIELLE:
     And once we got Xena to come back, she figured out right away how to undo the powers of the scroll and put everything back in its place. All I had to do was write down exactly what was happening. Then--

XENA (interrupts briskly):
     Then, Theodorus and his army attacked, I kicked their a- (looks at Darion and catches herself) butts, Gabrielle wrote it all down, the scroll lost its power, Ares and Aphrodite got their powers back, and--

GABRIELLE:
      Xena! I was telling the story my way.

XENA:
     If you keep telling it your way, you two will finish dinner by the time they start serving breakfast.

GABRIELLE:
     It wasn't just any battle, Xena. You fought an army with a wagonload of fish!

XENA (shrugs):
     Food can be a deadly weapon. Someday you should tell him about Joxer's radish stew.

DARION (claps and laughs):
     Joxer! I want to hear about Joxer.

XENA (gives Gabrielle an exasperated look):
     Strange case of hero worship...

GABRIELLE (slyly):
     Well, Xena, it's not as if I haven't told him a lot of stories about you, too...

XENA:
     Hmph...

She glares at Gabrielle with an annoyance that is part mock but part real. Meanwhile, Gabrielle has turned her eyes to Cyril and the young woman, who are engrossed in conversation, bending closer toward each other. She looks at them, smiling.

XENA:
     What are you staring at?

The camera starts moving away again, zooming in on Cyril and the young woman just as the innkeeper brings the plate with his steak.

INNKEEPER:
     Your dinner, sir.

YOUNG WOMAN (laughs):
     You really like your meat rare, don't you?

CYRIL (embarrassed):
     Uh...yes, I do.

YOUNG WOMAN:
     So do I. It's amazing how we seem to like the same things...

CYRIL:
     Has anyone told you that you're incredibly pretty when you laugh?

YOUNG WOMAN (laughs):
     No...actually, no one's ever spoken to me the way you do. Do you always say exactly what you think?

CYRIL:
     Yes, I suppose so.

YOUNG WOMAN:
     What are you thinking right now? (He blushes and looks down) Come on.

CYRIL (quietly, lifting his eyes):
     That I would really like to kiss you.

The young woman laughs and leans toward him, taking his hand.

The doors of the inn swing open and two richly dressed people, an elderly man and a young woman, rush in.

MAN:
     There you are!

The young woman and Cyril turn toward them.

WOMAN:
     Your royal highness!

A close-up on the horrified look on Cyril's face.

YOUNG WOMAN:
     Polemos! Eliante! This is my--friend. (To Cyril) It's so funny, I don't even know your name. (sighs) Yes, I'm Princess Ariadne. Don't look so upset. Look, I did try to tell you I was the princess but you didn't want to hear it. I just wanted you to give me a chance.

The camera pans quickly to Xena and Gabrielle, who are staring at the scene unfolding before them while Darion is busy twirling his wooden chakram.

Cyril leaps to his feet, yanking his hand out of Ariadne's.

ARIADNE (imploringly):
     Please don't be mad! Do you think we can't be together because I'm a princess and you're just a common man? Nonsense! My father will understand--

CYRIL:
     Good-bye, Ariadne...I'm sorry! (He rushes toward the door, muttering as he runs past Xena and Gabrielle) Aphrodite, I'm sorry...but I can't go through with this!

Xena and Gabrielle exchange quick looks.

GABRIELLE:
     Aphrodite?

Ariadne tries to rush after Cyril but Polemos and Eliante grab her arms.

ELIANTE:
     No, your highness, don't!

ARIADNE (shouts):
     Stop! Come back!

Cyril runs out and disappears. In shock and distress, Ariadne sinks back on the chair as we:

FADE OUT

END OF TEASER