Trascrizione in inglese dei dialoghi dell'episodio:

A friend in need I

Episodio: n. 21

Sesta serie

(si ringrazia Xenamedia e Cristina Creek)

Gabrielle: "Looking out at the cosmos makes you think about where we are, where we've been, where we're going now."Xena: "Yeah, and like the bigger now. I mean, Gabrielle, what are we gonna do? Wander around Greece our whole lives looking for trouble? Why don't we go away? Far away? What do ya say?"
Gabrielle: "I can't believe you're awake, much less listening to me."Xena: "Let's go south to the land of the Pharaohs. I hear they're in need of a girl with a chakram."
Gabrielle: "You know that there's somebody out there."
Xena: "Yeah, he's been trying to find us the past half-hour."
[Un uomo giovane inciampa fuori dagli alberi nell'accampamento delle ragazze.]
Gabrielle: "Are you alright?"
Kenji: "Ah, yes. Thank you."
Gabrielle: [viene quasi colpita dal nuovo arrivato] "Whoa!"
Kenji: "Are you Xena?"
Xena: "Who's asking?"
Kenji: "A messenger, sent by Akemi."
Xena: "Akemi? You saw Akemi?"
Kenji: "Several weeks ago. I was journeying with another monk through a forest near the town of Higuchi. It started to rain. And we sought shelter at a teahouse..."
[I due monaci entrano nella casa del tè. Tre giovani e belle donne sono inginocchiate al centro della stanza.]
Monk: "Kenji, not even you could be frightened of this."
[Il compagno di Kenji sta facendo un bagno intimo con due gheishe.]
Kenji: [legge il poema di Akemi mentre lei suona uno strumento a corde] "Your shuji has great dignity and beauty."
Kenji: "I am blessed with a certainty about what it means to be a monk, but my companion was not as steadfast in his resolve..."
[Mentre il compagno di Kenji fa il bagno con le due donne, iniziano a sentirsi dei tuoni. Una delle due donne solleva il piede e fa tintinnare un monile attaccato alla sua caviglia e un essere inizia a muoversi rapidamente tra gli alberi diretto verso la casa del tè.]
Akemi: [Avvertendo il pericolo.] "You must leave... now."
[Quando Kenji fugge, una testa enorme irrompe attraverso il muro della casa del tè, seguita dal corpo di un uomo. Lui congela il compagno di Kenji e poi inala il suo spirito.]
Akemi: "I know you're a good man. In the teahouse, I felt the compassion in your heart. Don't fear me."
Kenji: "Who... who was that demon?"
Akemi: "The Lord of the Dark Land. He's preparing an army to wage war in Higuchi and slowly, the populace. Honorable monk... [Gli da una spada da samurai.] I beg you to do what must be done to stop him enslaving the souls of that city."
Kenji: "But I'm no swordsman."
Akemi: "There's one in the west, far beyond the setting sun."
Kenji: "A samurai? A priest? A god?"
Akemi: "No, a warrior princess."


Kenji: "Xena, you must save Higuchi from destruction."
Gabrielle: "The Land of the Rising Sun. That's beyond Chin. I didn't know you were there, Xena.
Xena: "Yes, I was there... I was there."
Xena: "Gabrielle, this is not going to be the trip that I promised you, but if Akemi calls, I must go."
Gabrielle: "Wherever you go, I am by your side."
Xena: "I knew you'd say that."

[Navigando verso il Giappone, Kenji insegna a Gabrielle come si usa una spada da samurai.]
Kenji: "The way of the sword is the most ancient of the warrior's art. With practice, the samurai develops the sacred virtues of bravery, self-discipline, and honor. A samurai would rather die a warrior, than live as a coward."
Gabrielle: "This Akemi who sent for Xena, what do you know about her?"Kenji: "She was forced by Yodoshi, the Lord of the Dark Land, to seduce souls into his grasp. She's very beautiful, and she's a ghost."Gabrielle: "She's a--"Xena: "Gabrielle, before we reach Jappa, I should tell you everything that happened there last time."
Xena: "Many years ago, Borias told me about a young girl who was kidnapped by a Chinese warlord. She'd been taken hostage from a mighty island, even further east than Ch'in. Being the kind of person I was then, the challenge of finding a new land to plunder was just too much for me. I had to meet her..."
Xena: "So, her daddy's rich, you say?"
Borias: "And powerful. He should pay well for the return of his sweet daughter."
Kao: "Come. Akemi, meet-- "Akemi: "Xena, the warrior princess."Xena: "You know me?"Akemi: "Oh, yes. I've heard that you're afraid of nothing. Kao here, he's afraid of many things."
Borias: "This girl has spirit."
Kao: "This girl deserves to die, speaking like that in front of my guests."
Akemi: "You won't kill me. Xena won't let you. Because in her heart, she knows that she will soon love me."
Borias: "Xena loves no one."
Akemi: "I'll be your student, Xena. You'll take me with you. You'll teach me everything you know."
Kao: "I have a few lessons for you!" [Afferra Akemi.]
Xena: "Here, fifty pieces of gold. It's the best offer you'll get for her."
Kao: "I do what I want with my property. I say this isn't a good day to trade."
Xena: "Is it a good day to die?"
Akemi: [A Kao.] "It's unhealthy to negotiate with this one. I'd take the gold."
Kao: "Guards!"
[Xena e Borias deviano facilmente l'attacco delle guardie.]
Xena: "I've shut off the flow of blood to your brain. You got ten... nine... eight... ah, forget it."
Borias: [Al morente Kao.] "I would have taken the gold."

[Xena, Borias e Akemi salpano per il Giappone.]
Xena: "You know, Borias, I have a dream, a dream of conquering every land between here and Britannia."Borias: "Xena, you're always looking for green pastures to rape and pillage."Xena: "Yep, and maybe there's more in this than just the ransom, huh? I mean, with her father as an ally, I could get a nice toehold on that island."
Borias: "What makes you so sure she'll lead you to Daddy?"
Xena: "Ah, she wouldn't lie to me. She worships her teacher. [Al divertito Borias.] What's so funny?"
Borias: "Xena, you couldn't teach a dog to bark."
Xena: [Fischia.] "Akemi! Come here. I wanna show you something."
Akemi: "You're wrong. Xena will be a great teacher... I'm ready."
Xena: "Alright, if someone's comin' at ya with a right/left combination, this is what I want ya to do. You feint back, twist in the direction of the blow, and then deliver a vicious jumping, spinning back-kick. Alright?"
Akemi: "Right, so, that's right, a left, a feint, uh, a jumping, swinging..."
Xena: "...jumping, spinning back-kick. Alright, now, I'll be a bad guy. [Dà un calcio ad Akemi colpendola nel petto.] Lesson one, trust no one."
Borias: [Xena e Akemi remano verso l'isola.] "Remember, Xena, I get 10 % of the ransom. Good luck, teacher."

Xena: [Cammina in una foresta innevata.] "Come on, Akemi, keep up."
Akemi: "My ribs are still a little sore."
Xena: "Well, next time we'll start with something a little simpler, like listening. Listen to that."
Akemi: "To what?"
Xena: "To life and death. Every sound, every movement, is a message. A wagon just crossed a creek up ahead. A deer grazing nearby."
Akemi: "When you listen to the Kami like that, you must be at peace."
Xena: "The Kami? What's that?"
Akemi: "The Kami are the powers behind all nature. They make the sun shine, the grass grow. They brought you to me."
Xena: "No, no, no. When I listen like that, I'm at war. Every sound is a possible warning of an enemy approaching."
Akemi: "I believe that one day, Xena, the Kami will help you know peace. And I would be honored if you would accept this." [Prende una pergamena con una scritta in giapponese.]Xena: "Oh, uh... it's really... pretty."
Akemi: "It's our scripts. When my people are overcome with a feeling that needs to be preserved we write verse."
Xena: "Oh, yeah? Like what feeling?"
Akemi: "Love."
Xena: "Love?"
Akemi: "'Yesterday, the moon took lodging on my sleeve. Today, I have hope for even the brokenhearted stars.'"
Gabrielle: "So beautiful. To write something like that, she must have loved you very much. What's wrong?"Xena: "The truth is, Gabrielle, she broke my heart."

Gabrielle: "She broke your heart? I don't understand."Xena: "For a while, I didn't understand myself... When I traveled with Akemi to her island for the ransom, I was to learn that my heart was seeking something else..."
Xena: [Raggiunge una casa abbandonata.] "I thought I was taking you to your father."
Akemi: "His castle's in the north. We came here first to visit my grandfather. He died here many years ago."
Xena: "Are you telling me that we have walked days in the wrong direction to see a dead guy?"
Akemi: "We must visit my grandfather to seek his blessing. He's dead, but I can still speak to him."
Xena: "All your talk about moons up your sleeve, you were playing me for a fool. I ought to just..." [Solleva la sua spada per colpire Akemi.]Akemi: [Scosta i suoi capelli mostrando il collo, sfidando Xena a colpirla.] "You hear the Kami through the sounds of nature. In the same way, I hear sounds that are silent to you."
Akemi: "My grandfather says that you are a wise and appropriate teacher and he feels your sword is not good enough."
Xena: "There's a string of widows from here to Greece that say different."
Akemi: "Compared to a Katana all other swords are toys."
Xena: "Well, then, get me one of those."
Akemi: "The great Katana lies near here, but you must know, in our country women are forbidden to own Katana."
Xena: "Well, they're just gonna have to get used to it, aren't they?"

Akemi: "Sensei, I come bearing a challenge. My master wishes to fight you for possession of the Katana, forged from the purest ore of the Hakiman temple."
Sensei: "Your master must be a mighty samurai."
Xena: [Entra.] "Oh, no, I'm just a girl in search of a really good sword."Sensei: "A woman?! A foreigner! Challenging us for the sacred Katana?! This is a great insolence!"Xena: "Well, I guess you're gonna have to teach me a lesson, hm?"
Xena: [Sensei colpisce con la sua spada la lama di quella di Xena, rompendola.] "Ooh, gimme, gimme."
[Xena combatte contro Sensei e i suoi uomini.]
Xena: "Yeah. Grandpa was right. Now, this is a sword."

Akemi: "'In a flurry of snow, two breaths of wind unite and become as one, and then disappear into each other.'"
Xena: "Listen, Akemi, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, I really love this sword, and you're a nice kid, but I just came for the ransom."
Akemi: "I don't believe that. What do you hear now?"
Xena: "Snow falling on cedars. No, your heart beating harder than normal."
Akemi: "You're a master of war, yet you know no words to speak of love. And then you go and save my life. There's no greater gift of love a teacher can give a student than that. I have another gift I must ask of you. I saw what you did to kill that coward, Kao."
Xena: "It's a sacred trust."
Akemi: "I would be honored beyond words if you'd teach me that."
Xena: "Alright."
Gabrielle: "You knew her for a few weeks and you taught her the pinch? Xena, in all the time--"
Captain: "Higuchi is under siege, and there's no place to dock. I'm turning back."
Xena: "What?! Gabrielle, I've got to go ashore."
Gabrielle: "I'm with you."
Xena: "I knew you'd say that." [Entrambe si tuffano dalla nave e nuotano verso la città.]

Yodoshi: [Entra nella casa del tè e trova Akemi tranquillissima.] "The katana, you sent it to the foreign whore... thank you. She's traveling to the city of Higuchi, which my army right now is destroying. My gerneral awaits her, and when he captures her and my katana... she'll lose her head to the sting of its blade. So, thank you... daughter."

Xena: "Firebombs."
Gabrielle: "They're going to burn Higuchi to the ground."
Xena: [Vede un serbatoio dell'acqua dall'altra parte della città in fiamme.] "We've gotta release the water from the tower. Gabrielle, what would you do?"Gabrielle: "I saw these acrobats. They used-- "Xena: "Show me, Gabrielle."
Gabrielle: "Grab on!" [Xena e Gabrielle si attaccano ad una corda e dondolano in giro, rimbalzano su una tenda e atterrano su un tetto.]
Xena: "Alright. What's next?"
Gabrielle: "This way!" [Gabrielle sale su una scala sospesa, Xena salta dall'altro lato e catapulta Gabrielle a metà strada dall'altra parte della città.]
Gabrielle: "Whoa! Xena! Go for the ladder!" [Fa delle incredibili acrobazie in volo e, con un'altra scala, le due guerriere raggiungono il serbatoio.]
[Una volta al serbatoio, Xena usa la sua spada per creare un foro. L'acqua esce e spegne l'incendio.]
Samurai: [Guardando in groppa al suo cavallo.] "A wise general knows when a fight is lost, but I think we will meet again... soon."
Paesani: "Yeah! We've won! We've won!"Gabrielle: "Higuchi is saved."Xena: "Not quite the way I would have done it, Gabrielle, but it sure worked."

Gabrielle: "You know, Xena, I still don't understand. You taught Akemi the pinch. Did she ever use it?"
Xena: "Yes, unfortunately, she did... After a many days' walk, we reached her father's fortress …"
[Nella casa di suo padre, Akemi entra con la maschera della morte che le nasconde il volto.]
Yodoshi: "Akemi?"
Xena: "Akemi, what are you doing?"
Akemi: [Usa il "tocco" su suo padre.] "You have 30 seconds to live. My brothers, my sisters, my mother, my gentle grandparents, I avenge all your deaths at the hands of this monster. Father..."
Xena: "Father?"
Akemi: "...I pray you suffer in death the way your family suffered in life."
Akemi: "It was my duty. He had to die."
Xena: "I don't care about that. What about the ransom? Where's my money?!"
Akemi: [Inginocchiata nella neve.] "Forgive me, Xena."Xena: "I don't suppose there's any inheritance in this!"
Akemi: "I have one last thing to ask of you. Restore my honor. The sacred katana."
Xena: "You want me to cut off... that's why you wanted me to take the katana."
Akemi: "After that is done, take my ashes and place them in the family shrine in the town of Higuchi."
Xena: "No, no. No, I'm not going to! [Akemi si trafigge.] Akemi..."
Akemi: "I pray you will. 'The snow melts. Flowers fade. And I pass, as all things do.'"
Xena: "You..."
Akemi: "'But time and love, they go on.' Restore my honor, Xena." [Xena la decapita.]
Gabrielle: "How will you feel when you come face-to-face with Akemi's ghost?"
Harukata: "Better question is how will Xena feel face-to-face with the ghosts of the people she killed at Higuchi?"
Xena: "What?"
Gabrielle: "Who are you?"
Harukata: "My family name is Harukata."
Kenji: "But he's know as the Killer of Ghosts."
Gabrielle: "Xena saved your city."
Harukata: "This time. But that does nothing to atone for what happened when last she was here."
Gabrielle: "What's he talking about?"
Xena: "I was fulfilling Akemi's dying wish to place her ashes at the family shrine here in Higuchi. Word got out that I was honoring the ashes of a girl who had killed her father. The townsfolk felt that I would be defiling her graveyard. They banded together to stop me. I tried to ignore them, but they came after me."
[Xena, molto ubriaca, barcolla attraverso la città tenendo l'urna stretta a sè. La gente del villaggio inizia a colpirla con dei sassi e l'urna contenente le ceneri di Akemi viene distrutta. Mentre le ceneri vengono portate via dal vento, Xena si arrabbia abbastanza per mandare in fiamme alcuni tipi.]
Harukata: "The wind took the fire from house to house. Forty Thousand of my townsfolk perished in the flames!"
Xena: "No, it's not possible."
Harukata: "That is only the beginning!"
Kenji: "Akemi told me that after she killed her father, Yodoshi's spirit was so full of evil even the underworld would not allow him to enter. He became Lord Yodoshi, the Eater of Souls. The forty thousand lost spirits were at his mercy. Now he holds them inside him, enslaved."
Xena: "Then I am guilty of a greater evil than I ever thought possible."
Gabrielle: "Xena, it was a horrible accident."
Xena: "No. No, I must put things right."
Xena: [Guarda il paesaggio dalle mura della città.] "Can you hear them?"Gabrielle: "I thought I heard a horse before."Xena: "Listen not just to the sounds, but to what's behind the sounds."
Gabrielle: [Sente il rumore dei soldati.] "How many are there?"Xena: "At least three armies are gathering. The general that we met at the water tower was right, we will meet again, and soon."Gabrielle: "I'll warn the others."
Xena: "Ghost Killer, I know that you think of me as your enemy, but you must believe this. My spirit aches for the torment I've caused."Harukata: "We both want the same thing to release those souls."
Xena: "You've devoted your life to killing Yodoshi. Why is it that you have never succeeded?"
Harukata: "I have the power to slay, but it is impossible for me to get close enough to use my blade."
Xena: "Why?"
Harukata: "Because I am mortal. Only another ghost can trap a spirit as mighty as Yodoshi."

Xena: "Akemi, I know what I must do, but I'm afraid that this day, what's done may not be undone."
Gabrielle: "Xena, the militia is prepared. Why aren't you ready?"Xena: "Gabrielle, come here. Come here. Give me your hands. Alright... [Mette le dita di Gabrielle sulla sua gola.] Here. Feel the surge of blood under the skin. Now, just behind-- "Gabrielle: "Xena, you don't have to do this. I understand why you would never want to teach me the pinch."Xena: "No. No, today more than ever, I want you to know what I know. Please." [Con le dita di Gabrielle, usa il "tocco" su sè stessa.]Gabrielle: "Why are you doing this?"Xena: "Gabrielle, if I only had 30 seconds to live, this is how I'd want to live them, looking into your eyes."Gabrielle: "Stop this. Stop it."Xena: "Always remember I love you." [Annulla il "tocco".]Gabrielle: "Why would you teach me this right now? I don't understand!"Xena: "There's nothing to understand. I just wanted you to know everything I know."Harukata: [Entra.] "Are you ready?"Xena: "Let's go. We got a battle to win."

Kenji: "Wouldn't it be better if we stayed with Xena?"Gabrielle: "Xena wants us to lead a contingent to the east plain. She said a group of Yodoshi's archers are gathering there."
[Xena guarda Gabrielle camminare tra la foschia diretta verso la zona ad est. Poi si gira e cammina andando incontro al suo destino.]