TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

Surprise!  Xena walks into her mom's tavern and gets a birthday greeting intended for Gabrielle -who isn't arriving until the next day.  At the tavern, we find Cyrene (Xena's mom), Lila (Gabby's sister), Minya, Joxer, Autolycus, and some suspicious blonde.  After Xena heads to bed, she hears a crashing noise.  She runs to the window to see someone outside, runs into Cyrene's room to find her mother missing, and then breaks into another room to find said mysterious blonde dead with a knife in her chest!  Soon enough, Discord (the goddess of retribution) is in the room giving Xena an ultimatum to "cough up the killer" by sunrise.  Discord leaves before everyone else enters the scene and the Clue references start flying around.  We learn that the victim was a bounty hunter.  At first, Xena suspects Cyrene.  We learn that the woman's name was Ravenica -and she was out to kill Xena!  Upon going through her belongings, the gang finds rocks in a small pouch.  Hm?  We also learn (from Minya) that Ravenica would catch her bounties by cutting their horse's tendons!  As they head back to the scene of the crime, Joxer secretly snatches a piece of parchment, smells it, seems to recognize it, and then tucks it away.  "Ravenica has been murdered and someone here is responsible," declares Xena.  Suddenly, Gabrielle runs into the room shouting something about trouble.  (Surprise....)  Soon, after believing the killer to be Cyrene, Auto tries to leave but is zapped across the room by Discord.  "I should have known Xena wouldn't have the guts to turn in her own mom."  Xena deflects Discord's arrow with her chakram and persuades her to give her until sunrise to be sure.  Then, Gabby finds diamonds that had spilled out of Auto's bag!  "Okay, I'm a thief!  Hey, there's news!" And Xena notices that he wasn't the only one to go through her stuff; there is a scent of lavender and a missing scroll.  Next, they discover a nasty rash on Ravenica's neck.  They also find an inky bump on her head.  Hm?  At last, Minya confesses that the knife belongs to her -but she still claims innocence.  Xena reveals that Ravenica was dead before she was stabbed!  "I killed Ravenica," confesses Gabrielle!  (She put Joxer's gravy recipe in her waterbag with the intent of slowing her down with the "trots.")  Enter Discord!  However, Xena finds that the waterbag is still full.  Unfortunately, Discord is tired of all this and moves the deadline.  Xena then gets a confession out of Joxer -during which he nearly lets slip his love for Gabrielle.  Ravenica had mistaken Joxer for Jett -and Jett was the face on the missing bounty scroll that Joxer stole.  Then, Autolycus admits to knowing Ravenica.  He didn't just steal her diamonds, he was trying to stop her from "cashing in" on Xena.  So, Discord comes for Auto!  Xena manages to convince her that Ares wouldn't be pleased if she got the wrong person and let someone else "escape retribution."  Now Discord declares that she'll take them all if the killer isn't found by her next visit.  Next, Minya and Lila explain their part in the night's events.  Minya had given Lila her knife to let Lila set Ravenica's horse loose.  But, when she got caught, Minya made a diversion in Ravenica's room.  Suddenly, as the gang is coming to no conclusion fast, Discord reappears.  A fight!  Xena sees some chandelier swinging action and stops the fight.  "I know who did it!"  She then explains how Argo kicked Ravenica and sent the knife flying through the air and into her chest.  "The first hit from the chandelier knocked her down and the second one killed her."  But Discord can't take Argo for acting in self-defense.  Gabby concludes that everyone behaved out of love.  Happy birthday!