"What did you do to her?" Aeryn shouted over her shoulder. She took cover down a side alley. Crichton came skidding in behind her.

"Nothing, I swear," John said. A couple of stray laser shots came ripping by. "At least I don't think I did anything."

Aeryn glared knowingly at John. "You find trouble faster than any frelling alien..." She activated her com. "D'Argo, tell me you're close. We have trouble." There was no reply but static. "They're blocking the transmitter." Aeryn turned to examine the alley she'd backed them down.

"Dead end, unless you think we can scale these walls." John patted the slick gray surface and shook his head.

Aeryn powered up her gun and hoisted it up against her shoulder. "Tell me what exactly this 'nothing' was that happened back there."

John sighed and shook his head. "I was walking along, minding my own business, when this pale green woman thrusts a flyer of some kind at me. I took it and walked off. I'd noticed her trying to hand it out to other people walking along, but she was having a hard time giving them out. I didn't think anything of it," John said. "Then I caught up with you, and she came after us shooting."

"What's a flyer? It sounds like an airship. But why would someone hand you one? Aeryn asked. She gave John a thoroughly puzzled look.

"No, paper, flimsy stuff, with information written on it," John said. He offered a bronze shiny sheet to Aeryn as proof. "See, nothing to shoot someone over."

Aeryn squinted at the written symbols in John's hand. "It's a back water dialect, but I think I get the gist of it." Aeryn said. "Good news, I suppose. They aren't going to kill you. By accepting this, you agreed to join their Queen's tent of lovers."

John gave Aeryn a long incredulous look. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Kid you? What is that supposed to mean?" Aeryn shot John an annoyed look. "Just hold up the hand you took the flier with," Aeryn said. An intricate bronze symbol stained his hand. "You are the property of her Majesty." John rubbed at the symbol but it didn't smear or fade.

"This is just peachy." The green skinned alien came around the corned slowly. She placed her weapon on the ground and waited until Aeryn lowered her gun slightly. John tossed the bronze paper at the woman. "I don't know who you are or why you're out recruiting men for your Queen but this has been a simple mistake. I'm flattered really. But I'm not even from around here, and I won't be staying so I can't join the harem, sorry," John said.

"You made your choice by accepting the contract. You can't change your mind now," the woman said. She brushed short feathery green hair back revealing clear amber eyes.

"That is not a acceptable answer," Aeryn said. She hoisted her gun a little higher. "Our ship doesn't abandon crewmates."

"Then you will be upset to hear that we have detained you shipmate, the Luxan," the green woman said. She gave them a moment to digest that information. "He will be released after your audience with her Majesty." She smiled knowingly. "In all honesty, I wouldn't worry. Queen Acacia hasn't approved an addition to her lover's tent in three hundred cycles. I doubt she's going to start today. You are just required to present yourself for inspection and be dismissed."

John glanced sideways at Aeryn. "Oh, well that's different then, I guess."

The green woman smiled broadly. John's sarcasm didn't phase her. "You may call me Eilat. How should I introduce you to the Queen?"

"John Crichton." He frowned and shook his head. "What happens if the Queen breaks with tradition and decides to add me to her Lover's Tent?"

"Then the contract you made is legal and binding. You would be required to remain in the Lover's Tent for the remainder of the Queen's or your natural life, which ever ends first," Eilat said.

"Nope, I don't think I can go with that arrangement," John said with a grimace.

"We'll take it," Aeryn said. John gave her a desperate look. "Think about it Crichton, what are the odds? This will be over within a few minutes."

Eilat grinned and motioned for John and Aeryn to follow her. "That was an insult," John muttered. He rubbed at the persistent marking on his hand. "Sure hope you're right though, Aeryn."

"I feel stupid," John said. A team of beautiful young green women had been dutifully cleaning, oiling, and perfuming him for over an hour. He was dressed in form fitting black leather-like pants and nothing else. "Do I look like Fabio?"

"Fabby who?" Aeryn asked. Eilat had offered her the royal treatment as well but Aeryn had passed. It looked too frelling uncomfortable. Besides, it wasn't her thing. She found herself staring at John's oiled chest. Every time she realized what she was doing color rose in her cheeks. "Aren't you going to put on some clothes?" Aeryn asked in annoyance.

"If these ladies would return mine, I'd oblige you," John said. "But they made off with my pants an hour ago, as if you didn't notice."

Eilat rushed into the preparation chamber. "It's time. Are you ready?" she asked.

John shrugged and headed for the door. "Let's get this over with." Aeryn followed a step behind and hoped silently that her gamble paid off. It would be a whole lot harder to break John out of here than it would have been to get away from Eilat in the alley. They reached a long well lit white room and waited at the threshold.

"Princess Eilat and her submission to her Majesty's Lover's Tent, John Crichton," a deep male voice announced. Eilat jerked her head a little and John followed her in. He glanced back at Aeryn and smiled.

Aeryn felt a twinge in her stomach. Don't smile like that in there, she wanted to shout, and don't stand so straight, and stick out your stomach.

John did as Eilat had instructed him and stared at the floor until instructed otherwise. The absurdity of the situation threatened to overwhelm him and he couldn't keep a grin off his face.

"Does something about your situation amuse you, John Crichton?" a deep melodious voice asked. John hadn't actually been given permission to look up or speak so he shook his head. "You will answer me when I ask you a question and you will look at me when you speak to me," the woman commanded in a bored voice.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty," John said. He raised his eyes and got his first good look at Queen Acacia. She was tall and thin with the same delicate green coloring of Eilat, but her hair flowed down around her waist in a carelessly graceful way that reminded him of the weeping willows of his home. Huge amber eyes were the only clue that hinted at her age. They held his gaze and he couldn't look away. They were the eyes of an immortal.

"I have been observing you, John Crichton, since the moment you accepted the contract from my daughter. And I must say, I'm intrigued. Why is it that you do not wish a place in my Tent of Lovers?" The Queen rose and descended her tall platform to stand on the same level with John. "It is an easy life. Some would even call it a joyful life."

John tried but was physically unable to break eye contact with the Queen. "Your Majesty, I already have a home, two of them actually. I don't need another," John said. The uncanny feeling that she peered into his soul left him trembling.

The Queen finally released John by looking away over into the hallway, where Aeryn waited and listened. It was all John could do, not to collapse with relief when she released his will. "Do you love her, the woman with whom you travel? I smell it on you. That is why you would chose your other life over what I could offer you." The Queen seemed to have satisfied herself. "I suppose I should make a decision now." The Queen stood in front of John and ran her long thin hands over his shoulders and across his chest. "I think..." She walked slowly around John. "Yes, I think I'll keep you."

"What?" John said.

"Mother?" Eilat whispered.

Aeryn shook her head. "Oh frell." The doors to the throne room slid shut swiftly and silently. Aeryn strode forward and hit the doors uselessly. "Oh frell."

"Eilat, please escort John Crichton to his new home," the Queen commanded.

"Wait," John said. He brushed his hands back through his short hair. "You don't understand, I didn't know what I was getting into, or I never would have taken the sheet. It's not that you aren't lovely in an exotic way, but..." She leveled her gaze on him again and he stopped mid-sentence. She lifted his right hand and traced the mark, which proclaimed him hers carefully with her finger, over and over again. For a moment, John didn't care how or why he was there. For only a moment, he was filled with a searing white-hot joy. It left him speechless and weak. When she dropped his hand, he fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath.

"My dear, a challenge is the ultimate answer to boredom. You love another. If I can make you wish to stay here and love me, then I win. If I can't, you win." The Queen crouched low and caressed John's face. "I don't lose, John Crichton."

Eilat pulled John up by his arm and smiled weakly at her mother. "I will take him away mother." John stumbled along behind Eilat mutely. She pulled him into a cavernously large room, covered in mirrors and flooded with light. Eilat shut the door tightly and grimaced at Crichton.

"Hasn't had a new lover in 300 years? In and out and free as you please?" John said a little hysterically. "I think you misjudged this one Eilat."

"I feel quite bad about this. I know I took advantage of the fact that you were from off world. None of our citizens are interested in the dishonor of being refused by the Queen. I have to find at least one candidate every cycle. It is my duty. I would lose favor with my mother if I failed..."

"If you're looking for sympathy, I'm the wrong man to be inviting to the pity party," John snapped. He looked around the room at the garish mirrors and intricate flooring. He covered his face. "This is my room? Somehow, I don't think Dad would be proud."

"I should introduce you to the rest of the men," Eilat said quietly. "You are by far their junior and will be expected to show them the utmost respect."

"Of course, want to get in good with the other studs. Bring 'em on," John said. The hysterical edge to his voice was becoming more pronounced.

"They're really quite nice, but they're practically as bored as mother, so they may try some mind games with you. Take nothing for granted," Eilat warned. She led John across a corridor and into a less garish room. Five very different looking versions of Eilat's species lounged around the room. "As you can see, since mother stopped adding to her Lovers, the tent has died down to these five."

The first, a dominantly red male, stood and inclined his head to John. "I am Ziyad." He indicated the two men next to him, yellow and purple respectively. "This is Laevigata and Shumardaii." They waved at John distractedly without looking away from an odd game or some sort. The last two men didn't respond to John at all. Their coloring was faded and widely varied liked old tie-died T-shirts. "Ivo and Oren don't respond to stimuli like they used to. They're in their decline," Ziyad said. "I have been waiting for another male of a younger age to bond with. Time will flow down the swift river for a change. A hundred cycles will pass like only a moment."

John coughed. "I thought the Queen hadn't added anyone to this little enclave in three hundred years."

"That's correct," Ziyad.said. "I was the last."

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but humans like me, last maybe eighty or ninety cycles at best." John said. He grimaced at Eilat. "Oh well, I guess that means I probably won't outlive Queen Acacia."

One of the faded men laughed. "If Acacia wants you, she'll make sure you don't die."

"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked. None of the men would meet his gaze, Eilat even turned away. "This just my luck. I come in search of food cubes and end up in a bad sci-fi version of a prison movie."

"Frell, frell, frelling, frell!" Aeryn cursed as she waited for D'Argo to be released. This was all her fault. She and John should have made a break for it and come to rescue D'Argo. They had a chance of cracking this prison facility, but the fortress John was in? "I wouldn't want lay siege to that place with the entire Pleisar Regiment at my back," she whispered to herself. But she knew, impossible as it seemed now, she would do her very best to infiltrate that very installation with only D'Argo, Zhaan, and Chiana to back her up. "Finally," she sighed after spotting the Luxan being led down a corridor toward her.

"Aeryn, do you have any idea why I was arrested at the space port by order of the Queen?" D'Argo growled.

"Yes, Crichton got himself into trouble," Aeryn said.

"By Hezmanah, if he has insulted another Sharazadian trader..." D'Argo spat.

"You're not going to believe this, but he was claimed as a royal concubine, and I haven't a clue how we're going to get him out of it," Aeryn said.

D'Argo paused and smirked. "Does he want to be gotten out of it?"

Aeryn's face was deadly serious. "This is not a joke. Of course he wants out of it. I was there, and he did not want that woman."

D'Argo nodded. "I understand. I'll save levity until we have him safely aboard Moya." The Luxan nodded to himself, he understood possessiveness and insecurity in young, untested love. Aeryn couldn't see it in herself yet, but the rest of the uncharted territories could see it plastered on her face.

A young man strode up to them. "Are you Aeryn Sun?" He asked.

"Yes, I am," she replied. "What do you want?"

"My sister, Eilat, sent a message for you." He handed a sealed envelope to Aeryn, and melted back into the flow of the crowd.

"Who is Eilat?" D'Argo growled suspiciously.

"She's the one who trapped Crichton into this mess. According to this, she'd like to help get him out of it," Aeryn said.

"And what does she propose?" D'Argo asked.

"A meeting, tonight, three arns from now," Aeryn said. "I'm going. You take the supplies back to Moya. I'll meet you back here after the rendezvous."

"I don't like the idea of you going alone," D'Argo said.

"They're going to be getting pretty hungry on Moya by tonight, and I'm supposed to go to this meeting alone anyway. I was a Peace Keeper. I can take care of myself."

"Fine," D'Argo growled.

"No, no, no, I don't wear clothes that buckle in that many places. And if you could find a shirt maybe, that would be nice. I met the other men. They had shirts," John said. He waited but got no response from the young women who had spiffed him up earlier and were trying to repeat the job. "I can handle this myself." They blithely ignored his protests and he couldn't bring himself to manhandle them. A quiet clap from the entranceway sent the serving girls to their knees. Queen Acacia stood in the doorway, with a half-smile on her face. John knew he should be bow with the rest of the servers if he were going to be polite. At the very least he should look down until given leave to talk to her majesty, but John was through being polite. Look where that had gotten him.

"You don't find my choice in apparel to your liking, John Crichton?" she asked. "Follow me and I will allow you to choose your own attire."

"If it's all the same, I'd rather wait and let someone else show me," John said. He crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly.

"Are you afraid to be alone with me? How charming. We will have fun." Her smile broadened. "I would rather not force you to come, but I will if you refuse again. Spirit is fine, don't try my patience with impertinence," Acacia said.

John could remember how easily she had frozen him in the audience chamber. He had little doubt that she could exert her will over him if she so desired. "Fine lead on, your Majesty."

"No, you will call me Acacia, always," she said. She offered John her arm. John swallowed his pride and took the proffered arm. "Was that so very hard?"

"If you knew me at all, you wouldn't have to ask. But you don't know me. I'm some random alien, whose life you've taken away. You've lived for hundreds of years and I might be an interesting interlude to break up the monotony of your existence, but that wasn't the sole purpose of my life until today. Pardon me if I'm a little bitter at losing everything I loved and called home, to be your diversion," John said.

They walked on in silence until they reached a long room filled with a thousand cuts of clothes. But Acacia didn't release John's arm. "You may be angry and bitter and a little scared right now, but I must remind you, John Crichton, I never lose. And I have claimed you as mine."

Eilat paced across the terrace where she had plotted to meet Aeryn Sun. She prayed quietly that her mother wasn't having her watched. This meeting would look very bad if she were. Eilat was so focused on her own problems that she almost missed Aeryn slipping out of the shadows, to join her. "Aeryn, you came."

"Of course I came. I have to find a way to rescue my shipmate, thanks to you," Aeryn said. "If you really want to help, I'd like to hear about it."

Eilat nodded. "I want to help, more than anything. It will mean losing my mother's favor, but it is a dishonor I can live with."

"Wonderful, tell me you have a plan," Aeryn said.

"Whatever we do, it must be tonight, before she beds him," Eilat said. "Love with Acacia is like a drug. It could be very painful to leave after he has experienced it." Eilat wrung her hands and gave Aeryn a long look. "I will bring him to the Space Port tonight, as soon as I possibly can. You and your people will have to leave immediately."

Aeryn nodded slowly. "Are you confident that you can do this?"

"I am. Go in peace Aeryn Sun."

John paced back and forth in his room. Acacia had finally agreed on the outfit he was wearing, a loose flowing black shirt, tucked into fitted soft brown pants, with matching brown boots. John kept his eyes tightly shut as he paced, he couldn't stand the hundreds of marching images of himself in the mirrors around the room.

He had to find a way out of this. He needed to be thinking about escape, but all he could envision in his mind was Aeryn. He could remember his last glimpse of her, before the doors had slammed sealing the throne room. She had been surprised, angry, and maybe scared. Acacia had claimed he loved Aeryn. Did he? I didn't really matter. How the frell would he ever get out of this mess? John stopped pacing and turned to face one of the mirrors. He let his anger and frustration out in one hard punch that shattered the mirror and rained glass and blood onto the floor.

One of the servers rushed into his room after the crash. At the sight of the blood, she squealed and ran out. John carefully extended his hand and flinched, less from the pain than from the sight of his own blood. After staring for a few moments, he sighed. "That was real productive, John." He heard the door slide open as the Queen arrived.

"Productive? You think so?" Acacia snapped. She motioned and two servers came in and swept away the glass. Another server deposited bandages and a water basin inside the room. "Sit now, so your wounds can be tended." John took a deep breath and stuck his chin out, but he complied and sat in the floor next to the basin of water. "You may leave us," Acacia ordered.

"Shouldn't you let one of your servers do this, it's a bloody mess," John said. He cradled his hand protectively as if he didn't want her to touch it.

"I will tend to the wound. You will give it to me," Acacia ordered.

"Pick your battles," John muttered. He offered her his hand and looked away as she picked the glass out of his flesh. After several minutes of sharp pain, John realized she had stopped cleaning and was simply holding his bloody hand. "Finished?"

"No, I have only just begun," Acacia said. She started tracing her mark on his hand and then she traced the cuts on his knuckles until her hands and arms were red with his blood. "You chose to begin tonight in violence, but I will show you joy and peace." John wouldn't look at her he just kept shaking his head. "If you'll let me, John. Will you let me?"

John shut his eyes; it was so hard to concentrate with her tracing her fingers over his hand and up his arm. It felt like the nerves in his hand were running a straight route and to his brain and shorting out all higher functions. Acacia leaned close and claimed his mouth in a full deep kiss. John was disoriented. He didn't know where he was or what was happening. When the kiss began he was confused for a moment, and then his mind said "Aeryn". It had to be Aeryn.

Acacia pulled back, a frown creasing her brow. "I can taste her in your mind. You have to open your eyes. See that it is me who gives you the joy you will feel. Open your eyes John."

Slowly he complied. His mind felt as if it were full of lead, opening his eyes was torture. "Acacia? Where's Aeryn? She was here, wasn't she?" John mumbled.

"No dear, it's only me," Acacia replied. She pushed John down onto his back and began tracing over his face and down his jaw.

"Queen Acacia," a gruff voice said from the doorway. "My Queen, your daughter, Eilat, sent me to fetch you to her urgently."

Acacia relinquished John's lips. She rubbed her thumb over his lips in farewell and stood up. "If this isn't important, Eilat will be sorry." Only a moment after the door shut behind Queen Acacia, one of the mirrors slid back and Eilat stepped out. She turned her attention to John. He was lying spread-eagled on the floor, with a blissful expression on his face, but he was still fully clothed. "You are one lucky man, John Crichton," Eilat said and she pulled him to his feet. "Are we ready to go home?"

John grinned at her. "Aw sure, why not," he said.

Zhaan crossed her hands carefully in her lap and watched Aeryn and D'Argo pace restlessly. It was a gift from the Goddess that they didn't collide with one another. She said a prayer for peace and patience. Then she resumed praying for the safety of her friend, John.

"D'Argo, look out, we have a couple of drunks bearing down hard this way," Aeryn warned.

D'Argo nodded. "I see them." He patted his qualta blade. "We will reroute them." The two drunks stumbled to a stop only a few feet away. Aeryn remained back in the shadows. If D'Argo didn't intimidate them into moving on, she would be an unpleasant surprise for anyone who tried to make trouble. One of the drunks stood straighter and tossed back her hood.

"Is Aeryn Sun here?" Eilat asked.

Aeryn moved out of the shadows and joined D'Argo. "Eilat?" Aeryn asked. She strode forward and lifted the hood off the man leaning on Eilat.

John laughed, looked up, and giggled. "Hi."

"I'm afraid he's a little disoriented," Eilat said. "John, go with Aeryn."

Aeryn frowned. "Is he going to be okay? What happened?"

"Don't worry. Nothing happened. He'll be a little weary with some head pain tomorrow, and he probably won't remember much of today. Mother moved faster than I expected. I was almost too late," Eilat said. Aeryn transferred John's weight from Eilat's shoulder to her own. D'Argo took the other side and they half-carried him the rest of the way to the transport.

Zhaan stayed behind and bowed to Eilat. "I thank you on behalf of John and the crew of Moya. We are in your debt."

"Just get out of here while you can. Acacia won't give you a lot of time to get out off world," Eilat said. She pulled her hood back up and turned back toward her home.

Aeryn was leaning over John fastening him into a seat. John opened his eyes and smiled. He was dreaming again. Aeryn's face was hovering near, and he just did what came naturally. He leaned froward, grabbed her head with his free hand, and kissed her until his tonsils rattled.

Aeryn didn't say anything after she pulled away from the kiss. It had felt good, besides he wouldn't remember it anyway. Aeryn bit her lip and denied that she could possibly want him to remember.

Eilat's heart fell when the royal guards stopped her at the entrance to the palace. She put up no resistance as they escorted her to her mother's audience chamber.

"I'm disappointed and proud at the same time," Acacia said. "Finally, you showed some backbone." Acacia wander down to face her daughter. She placed her hands on either side of Eilat's face. "I wish you'd chosen a different issue over which to get independent."

Eilat looked up at her mother and shook her head. "I took advantage of his ignorance. It was dishonorable. I had to set things right."

"You stood against your Queen, your mother," Acacia said. "I disinherit you. I banish you. Leave this city now or face the consequences." She kissed daughter's cheeks.

Eilat stared up at her mother, at what thousands of years of absolute power had made her and she wished, if only for a moment that she was fleeing this planet with John Crichton and his friends, but the moment passed. This was her home. She could wait until her mother forgave her. "Thank you Mother. I will go with peace and love in my heart." She bowed low and walked away from her home. Queen Acacia remounted her throne.

"Send Kana and Xylia to me," Acacia ordered. Two young women entered the audience chamber moments later. The first and tallest was the mirror image of her mother. The second was smaller with a blue cast to her skin instead of the pure green. "Children of my heart, your sister, Eilat, has fallen from my grace. I must choose a new princess and heir, but I find I can't." Acacia descended to the taller girl and kissed her cheek. "You Kana, are the strongest of my remaining children. But you have no heart for the people. Yours would be a hard rein, with revolution and death." Acacia tilted the next child's face up. "You Xylia have the heart of the people but lack the strength to protect them from their enemies." Acacia walked back and gazed solemnly at her daughters. "I propose a quest, during which you will grow and find new strength." Acacia looked away from her daughters, and a cruel smile spread over her face. "Whichever, of you can rectify you sister's crime, will receive the throne. So I command it, so it shall be."

"Mother, what was Eilat's crime?" Xylia asked timidly.

Acacia smiled indulgently at her baby daughter. "She freed one of my lovers and helped him leave the planet," Acacia said.

"That was stupid. Won't he just waste away and die?" Kana asked.

"I never actually bedded him. I tasted... but there was no time. Consequently, there is nothing to tie him to me but the mark on his hand," Acacia said.

Kana dropped down to her knees and bowed low. "I will retrieve your property, Mother, and collect the prize you so generously offer."

Xylia sank down next to her sister. "I will seek your property with every resource at my disposal. Thank you Mother, for this opportunity."

The End