KAMIR - An impressive collection, Mr. Millay.
 

 
SHANDRA - Let me guess... Academic, artist, or just another wealthy collector?

[Shandra offers her hand. She exudes charm, intellect, a mature sexuality. Richie is intrigued.]

RICHIE - None of the above. Interested amateur.

MacLEOD - Careful. She's the one who shanghaied me into giving those seminars.

SHANDRA - [to MacLeod] Persuaded, please.

[Richie does a doubletake.]

RICHIE - You're that professor?
 

 
SHANDRA - [follows MacLeod's gaze to Kamir] You know that man?

MacLEOD - [distracted] You made the guest list.

SHANDRA - He wasn't on it.
 

 
KAMIR - Her maker was truly inspired.
 

 
KAMIR - ...as if stealing a culture was nothing.
 

 
SHANDRA - You're a generation too late. Sorry.

KAMIR - You don't lose a thousand years of culture like changing a shirt, Miss Devane... your soul belongs to India. And it is Kali who will judge you.

SHANDRA - [stands] Enough of this.
 

 
SHANDRA - Not at all. [pointed] Kamir and I were just agreeing to disagree.

KAMIR - For now. [beat] Namaste.

[He bows, but his tone is clear: it's not over. He leaves.]
 

 
KAMIR - [beat] And so are our gods.
 

 
KAMIR - India has nothing but time. [a smile] When you are ready, she will be waiting for you.

[He's magnetic, convincing, and Richie is drawn to him.]
 

 
MacLEOD - I like the humility, Kamir. It's a nice touch.

KAMIR - Perhaps there is something you can show me?

[He bows, overplaying the modest Indian. MacLeod smiles, picks up another stick.]

MacLEOD - I doubt that.
 

 
KAMIR - Europeans tried to "understand" us for centuries. They stole a piece here, a piece there... [beat] We lose enough, we lose ourselves.
 

 
KAMIR - [intense] More than you think. She's alive, MacLeod, a part of India herself. [beat] You saw us before British rule. If anyone can see us with Indian eyes, you can. Will you help me?

[And OFF MacLeod's look, as it falls on the ornately worked silver filigree of the TEA URN as we -- TRANSITION TO:]
 

[An opening in a pass, the mountains rising around them. MacLeod, Ramsey and Alice rest on a swath of grass, eating a packed lunch, their horses grazing nearby. Ramsey is rattling on as he sips from a silver flask.]

RAMSEY - From what I've seen -- barbarity, heathen practices -- They need us here, MacLeod.

MacLEOD - Why? To bring them all the glorious benefits of the Empire?

[The irony is lost on Ramsey.]

RAMSEY - Exactly. Get rid of all these Nabobs, give them solid British Government. British structure and order.

MacLEOD - Aye. Without understanding a damn thing.

RAMSEY - [stubbornly] They'll thank us in the end. It's our responsibility as Englishmen.

MacLEOD - It's greed. You're like flies, landing on the back of an elephant.

RAMSEY - [bristling] Lord Clive is hardly a fly.
 

 
RAMSEY - They're vegetarians.
 

[Sumptuous, ornate, walls hung with silks, ceiling with glittering chandeliers. Servants carrying trays of food bow low as MacLeod ascends the stairs, Ramsey at his heels.]

RAMSEY - There'll be hell to pay over this! What the devil were you thinking of!

MacLEOD - Saving a life.

RAMSEY - An Indian life! I will not be responsible for your actions.

MacLEOD - Never thought you would be.

[Ramsey catches him at the top of the stairs, grabs his arm.]

RAMSEY - What am I supposed to tell the Prince?

[MacLeod stares at the hand, until Ramsey removes it.]

MacLEOD - Whatever you like.

[There's a sound from the end of the hall -- VASHTI is being led from a door by the servant Parmjeet. She's wearing a bright new sari, and looks even more beautiful. MacLeod can't take his eyes off her.]

RAMSEY - She's your problem now.
 

 
VASHTI - [beat] He was my husband.
 

 
VASHTI - What do you know of right?
 

 
VASHTI - I cannot return to my home, my family...
 

 
ALICE - I've seen the way you look at her!
 

 
ALICE - Not like that... that creature... she's barely human!
 

 
KAMIR - ...And giving a lesson to all those who would destroy us.
 

 
KAMIR - Indeed. You shall be released.
 

 
KAMIR - [beat] You are not fit to judge me.
 

[MacLeod sits, piecing together the remaining shards of a broken URN, eyes set on some invisible point in the distance. Richie paces nearby, upset by what he's learned.]

RICHIE - I don't get it, Mac. I mean, the guy's deep. Listening to him, I felt like I was talking to some kind of priest.

MacLEOD - You were.

RICHIE - Maybe he didn't have a choice.

MacLEOD - He had a choice. He made it.

RICHIE - You said yourself this Millay guy was a dirtbag.

MacLEOD - [a look, shortly] You think that's reason to kill?

RICHIE - [stubbornly] In his eyes. Guys like Millay just raped his country. [beat] If Kamir has different beliefs than we do, does that make him evil?

[MacLeod raises a piece from the URN, looks at it.]

MacLEOD - No. That doesn't.

RICHIE - So what're you going to do?

[MacLeod is silent a BEAT. Looking at the piece of the urn... then he places it in place, and OFF his look--]

[MacLeod sits, piecing together the remaining shards of a broken URN, eyes set on some invisible point in the distance. Richie paces nearby, upset by what he's learned.]

RICHIE - I don't get it, Mac. I mean, the guy's deep. Listening to him, I felt like I was talking to some kind of priest.

MacLEOD - He's a priest. He's just not the kind that takes confession.

RICHIE - Now you're telling me he's a murderer.

MacLEOD - That's right.

RICHIE - This guy Millay was a sleeze. Even you thought so. Maybe he deserved it.

MacLEOD - He was no threat to Kamir. The Kali was already gone. There was no reason to kill him.

RICHIE - Kamir thought there was.

MacLEOD - He believes he lives under a different set of rules. Rules that give him the right to kill.

RICHIE - Maybe it does.

MacLEOD - No, Richie, it doesn't work like that. In the twelfth century, they cut off a man's hand for stealing a loaf of bread. In the fifteenth, they burned you at the stake for saying the world was round. It was the law then, Richie, people believed in it, but it was still wrong.

RICHIE - But according to them, they were right.

MacLEOD - [beat] Sometimes, you're smarter than you look.

RICHIE - And this kid never went to college.

MacLEOD - You're right. It is according to me. We all have our own judgment about what's right and wrong.

RICHIE - So Kamir made a different call than you. Does that make him evil?

MacLEOD - No, it doesn't.

RICHIE - He's trying to save his culture. The Kali's a piece of bronze to us, but to him it's India. It's everything he loves.

MacLEOD - I know.

RICHIE - So what're you going to do?

[MacLeod is silent a BEAT. Looking at the piece of the urn... then he places it in place, and OFF his look--]
 

 
KAMIR - Ease your mind, Sahib. Whatever happens, it was meant to be. [He picks up a succulent fruit.] The road offers many pleasures.
 

 
KAMIR - I will make further inquiries.
 

 
[He's looking at her directly. She looks away, attracted but fighting it, confused.]

VASHTI - I shouldn't have come. I don't belong in the palace... [beat] I don't know where I belong.

MacLEOD - I do. [He puts out his hand to her, open, waiting.] I'll walk you back.

[She looks into his eyes -- slowly reaches for him. As their hands clasp--]
 

 
VASHTI - ...To move toward perfection?
 

[CLOSE - THE KALI STATUE - the wild eyes, protruding tongue.]

SHANDRA - [O.S.] Look at her. Sixteen hundred years old, and you'd swear she was alive. I could look at her forever. [beat] You know any museum would kill to have her.

MacLEOD - I know.

[REVERSE - SHANDRA facing the statue, as a few nearby STUDENTS take notes or sketch other artifacts. She turns back to face MacLeod.]

SHANDRA - So why are you putting me through the wringer again? We'll never learn the truth from Millay.

MacLEOD - No. [beat] But I’m sure you can think of other reasons.

[She throws up her hands in a fending-off gesture.]

SHANDRA - Oh, no. No no no... you think I don't know what you're trying to pull?

MacLEOD - [innocently] What am I trying to pull?

SHANDRA - A guilt trip. [beat] My duty as an Indian, the sacredness of the piece... forget it. I already got an earful from Kamir. [beat] Sorry, Duncan, but I worked too hard bring her here. Guilt won't cut it.

MacLEOD - What about prestige? [off her look] Think of the goodwill you'd gain. You'd be a hero.

SHANDRA - By returning the Kali? I'd be an idiot.

MacLEOD - Call a news conference, you and Kamir. Donate it to the museum in Calcutta. [tempting] It's great P.R. for the school, Shandra. You'd be on the cutting edge.

SHANDRA - And you've been taking those Scientology tapes home.

MacLEOD - [the capper] It definitely beats the alternative.

[BEAT. She gives him a wary look.]

SHANDRA - What alternative?

MacLEOD - [casually] Word gets out. A sacred object, denied to its rightful heirs... possibly stolen in the first place. [beat] There's better ways to put the University on the map.

[He gives her a bland smile. She can't believe it.]

SHANDRA - Duncan MacLeod, you are blackmailing me.

MacLEOD - Guilt wasn't working. [beat] And whatever it cost, it's less than I'll donate to your museum. What do you say?

[Another bland smile. He's got her coming and going, and she knows it. She gives him a rueful smile.]

SHANDRA - Hey. I always wanted to be on the cutting edge.

MacLEOD - You're doing the right thing.

[He takes her arm. They move off.]

SHANDRA - Sure. Tell me again why we're friends.

MacLEOD - Must be because I'm Irish.

SHANDRA - You're not Irish.

MacLEOD - [with a smile] Then it must be because you're Irish.
 

 
KAMIR - [beat] As you say. I have nothing more to do here.

[He takes the Kali carefully, bows slightly, and moves to the door. And OFF MacLeod's face, watching him--]
 

 
KAMIR - It is why Vashti gave her life. She knew that.
 

 
KAMIR - She could not deny what she was. Any more than you and I.
 

 
KAMIR - In truth, she was never yours to have. [gently] She was India's.