3. Dreamworker

Gabrielle wants Xena to teach her sword fighting, imagining that it will help her survive without requiring her to kill. Xena instead emphasizes running, deception and talking her way out of danger. Their disagreement attracts the attention of the mystics of Morpheus, who abduct Gabrielle because she has never taken a human life.

The priest Manus tells Gabrielle that she must survive a series of challenges to become the god's bride. Xena learns the truth from Elkton, a blind former mystic: the tests are meant to make her kill, after which she will be sacrificed.

Elkton guides Xena into the Dreamscape Passage, a dangerous journey through her own mind that can bring her directly to the temple. Apparitions of people killed by her army urge her to repeat the violence. She refuses and gradually recognizes that the visions are using her memories against her.

Gabrielle uses Xena's practical advice to survive without directly killing her opponents. She deceives warriors into fighting one another and talks her way through another test. Xena reaches her in a dream and warns her to keep stalling.

As Manus prepares a final challenge with no apparent nonlethal escape, Xena confronts a dark double of herself. She cannot simply deny that part of her past: it helped make her the warrior capable of rescuing Gabrielle. Accepting that she can acknowledge the darkness without surrendering control lets her break through.

Xena reaches the temple before Gabrielle is forced to kill. Together they defeat the guards and subdue Manus. Elkton is restored as the mystics' leader and regains his sight, while Manus is placed in a dreamscape of his own.

Afterward Gabrielle is less eager to learn the sword. Xena also gains something unexpected: an offer of friendship from people who know her past and still welcome her.