ANGEL: You should dress that. Your wound.

JHIERA: Why are you doing this? I thought vampires were killers.

ANGEL: They are. I was cursed by gypsies.

JHIERA: Cursed to help people?

ANGEL: Yeah. Gypsies they have a strange sense of...humor. (He lays a napkin and some bandages on the chair between them and takes a step back. She takes one of the bandages and applies it to her wound) Want to tell me what's going on?

JHIERA: The girl is a runaway. I was trying to help her escape from our homeland. If you hadn't...

ANGEL: If I hadn't helped you, you'd both be with them right now.

JHIERA: Perhaps.

ANGEL: Why was the girl running away?

JHIERA: She was going to be unmade.

ANGEL: They were gonna kill her?

JHIERA: In a fashion. You wouldn't understand.

ANGEL: Try me.

JHIERA: In Oden Tal, what you call personality-- our passions-- those impulses sit in an area of the body we call the Ko.

(shows him her spine ridges)

ANGEL: And your pursuers they want to take this from you?

JHIERA: From the women, yes. When the females come of age, Ko controls our physical and sexual power. It even signals when we are aroused and have met desirable mates. But when it's removed...

ANGEL: You're more easily controlled.

JHIERA: We marry who they command, serve without questioning. We leave behind dreaming.

ANGEL: But you escaped.

JHIERA: I was the first. (proud) I am Jhiera. Jhiera of Oden Tal. My family rules the dimension.

ANGEL: I'm guessing the royal family isn't loving the portal-jumping, refugee-aiding duties you've assigned yourself.

JHIERA: They tell people I'm dead. But the women know. Here, we have a name. We have a chance to become, but it is difficult. When the Ko first matures the girls can't manage it--our physical energy. We come to your world in a fever.

ANGEL: (getting hot under the collar, affected by her ko) That's why--the ice.

JHIERA: Yes. When I first arrived, alone, I thought I would die from the heat under my skin. (her ridges glow red. Angel's sweating, being drawn in) And your people--the men? Some respond to the Ko involuntarily. They tried to force themselves...it wasn't safe for me, until I found the frozen water. As long as I could stay cool...the worst of it passed in a few months time. Then I started to learn to control my power.

ANGEL: Like last night, when you burned me.

JHIERA: I *intended* to hurt you. I thought you were my enemy.

ANGEL: What about the guard? Who burned him?

JHIERA: He tried to touch one of my girls. It was his own fault.

ANGEL: From what you're saying he probably didn't mean to hurt her.

JHIERA: And the girl couldn't help killing him! It was an accident.

ANGEL: What about the other four guys who died the same way in the last year? Your girls kill them, too?

JHIERA: How do you know about this? Have you been...

ANGEL: No, I haven't been following you. But you incinerate a few guys someone's gonna start asking questions. I understand what you're trying to do; and I'll help you if I can. But you can't go around hurting men in my world.

JHIERA: I am the daughter to a King, sir. A king who promised happiness and a better life for everyone. I didn't denounce him and escape for my good alone. I did it to see his promise come true for all the women of Oden Tal. If a few have to die to protect my people...

ANGEL: They're *my* people who are dying; and it's *my* promise to protect them.

JHIERA: Then tell them to stay out of my way.

(Jhiera starts to walk out.)

ANGEL: Wait.

(Jhiera holds her left hand inches away from his chest. It is glowing a fiery red. She is breathing hard. She leans her head against him for a moment then moves back, lowers her hand, and straightens up.)

JHIERA: And you, too. I don't need your help.

(She leaves Angel standing there and walks out).

• Angel's Mission
• Angel, Angelus & The Curse

written by: David Greenwalt and Marti Noxon; Original transcript by anonymous. Edited & formatted for this site by M'lyn. Checked against source by M'lyn and myself.. Full transcript at:
http://www.buffyworld.com/angel/season1/transcripts/13_tran.shtml