Plot summary
A dying messenger reaches Xena with a request from the person he calls the Weak One. After fighting off his pursuers, Xena tells Gabrielle that she must travel to Chin and kill the Green Dragon. Gabrielle insists on accompanying her, prompting Xena to explain an old debt.
In flashbacks, Xena and Borias seek power and wealth among the great houses of Chin. Borias tries to negotiate with Ming Tzu, while Xena's aggression repeatedly threatens his plans. The ruler Lao Ma also approaches them on behalf of her sick husband. Jealous of her influence over Borias, Xena attacks her and is effortlessly defeated.
Xena then kidnaps Ming Tzu's young son, Ming T'ien, hoping to demand a ransom and force a more favorable bargain. Borias betrays her to Ming Tzu instead. She is taken away in a cage and released to be hunted by dogs for sport.
Lao Ma intervenes during the hunt. Despite Xena's earlier attempt to kill her, she recognizes the possibility of greatness in her and offers protection. She takes Xena into her palace, beginning the bond that explains Xena's present determination to repay her.
Gabrielle is disturbed both by the cruelty of Xena's past and by her willingness to commit another killing. She refuses to continue supporting the mission. Xena proceeds alone and enters the Green Dragon's room, preparing to stab the figure in the bed.
The person beneath the covers is Gabrielle. She has come ahead to prevent the murder, believing that she is saving Xena from herself. Before Xena can respond, soldiers surround them and the adult Ming T'ien enters, revealing that Gabrielle's intervention has delivered Xena into a trap.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, The Debt. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.