Plot summary
Draco and the Amazon Amoria are about to fight over Terpsichore's golden lyre when Xena intervenes. She replaces the battle with a musical competition in Melodia, drawing performers and spectators from the surrounding region.
The gathering brings personal tensions as well as music. Cyrene learns that Xena is pregnant and tries to find her a husband, but Xena rejects the assumption that she needs one to raise her child. Joxer's flamboyant brother Jace arrives to perform, and Joxer is embarrassed by him. Amoria pursues Joxer, while Gabrielle is irritated by the attention.
Draco remains magically infatuated with Gabrielle. After she again refuses his marriage proposal, he decides that he would rather kill her than accept the rejection. He locks her into a dancer's cage and suspends it above the stage as his performance begins.
Fire rises beneath the cage, and Draco prepares to cut the rope. Xena interrupts with her own musical challenge. The performance turns into a fight as Draco's musicians take up weapons. Gabrielle escapes into the audience, which carries her away from the immediate danger.
Joxer protects Jace during the battle, choosing his brother's safety over his embarrassment. Xena saves Gabrielle from Draco's sword and defeats him while the struggle continues across the crowd.
The audience awards Xena the lyre even though she was not formally competing. Rather than claim it for herself or give it to either faction, she leaves it in Melodia for everyone to enjoy. The gathering ends with a shared celebration instead of the fight for ownership that began it.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.