Over the next week, Daniel established a routine for himself and stuck to it so he would not start brooding. The plan worked pretty well but he did not get as much work done as he would have liked. The reason for that was that suddenly he had a full social calendar. There were gatherings at the University he was invited to, gatherings in the city, and of course there were parties in the palace that he couldn't seem to avoid. These people were, after all, his hosts, and it would have been rude to refuse every invitation. Still, he wished that there were less of them. Sometimes he was so tired that he would fall into bed and sleep like a dead thing until well into the next morning. As a result, his work began to suffer and he would come back from a social engagement to some work that he'd left undone. After a while he figured out that he could still think about his current project and jot his observations down in a tiny notebook and put the finishing touches on his work once he got back to his room. It wasn't a perfect system, but at least it kept him up with his work and allowed him to sleep at night.

If it weren't for his periodic visits from the SGC and Lyssa, he'd have lost it. SG-1 would come periodically in between missions and bring him newspapers, magazines, books, and the latest SGC gossip. The best thing they brought him was, of course, their company. Seeing Jack, Sam, and Teal'c reminded him that there was a world outside of the parties and his books.

"So, how's it going?' Jack asked on their first visit.

"Since you guys have been gone I've attended three meetings and two social gatherings at the University, four tea parties at various places in town, three musical evenings, and five separate parties here at the palace. In between those I spend most of my time jotting things down and trying to get my work done. Sometimes Lyssa takes pity on me and gets me out of a party—I still don't know how she does it—and she helps me with my work. She's pretty good at doing research and keeping track of papers."

"Are those usual skills for a princess?" Jack asked.

"I've no idea," Daniel said as he thought about it. "I don't really know. I guess during the course of her studies she kind of learned how to do stuff like that. I mean, think about it: the whole planet values learning. There are plenty of people who are bound to know how to do those things."

"What are the parties like?" Sam asked eagerly. "C'mon, Daniel. Details!"

Daniel groaned. "I guess you want me to break them down for you and tell you what happened and who was there and what they were wearing and what was served for dinner, right?"

Sam grinned and nodded. "Exactly! Don't leave me hanging!"

Daniel smiled and shook his head. "I haven't really noticed any details other than they're hot and crowded and noisy and I can hardly wait for them to end."

"Oh, come on!" Sam said, disappointed. "You had to notice more than that!"

"A lot of politics," Daniel admitted. "A lot of handshakes and smiling. Not much more."

Sam sighed. "I think next time I'm going to attend one of the parties myself and take a camera."

"I'd gladly trade places," Daniel offered. "You can go to a party and I can go back to work."

Sam threw a pillow at him. The four of them were in his room, which was one of the few places where he could count on not being disturbed by anyone. If he were anywhere else in the palace he could count on at least five different people wanting to talk with him, and more were not unexpected. As long as he was in his room and the door was closed, he was left alone.

"Seriously," Jack said as the laughter subsided. "How is it really going?"

Daniel understood. "I'm not certain. I can't help but have the feeling that there's more to my being here than we're seeing."

Sam flopped into a chair. "I was afraid of that. Janet hasn't figured out much about this virus you have despite all that reading material Shea was good enough to give her, so it's not clear when we're going to get you out of here."

Teal'c looked thoughtful. "Have you seen anything new to support your suspicions, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don't know, Teal'c. Nothing different ever happens, so I can't really say that anything's changed. I'm on another planet, so I can't say that the people's behavior is wrong when it might just be different. I guess it's just a gut feeling."

"Well, we've got an invitation out of nowhere that asks specifically for you, then we've got people who are crazy mad to meet you, and then we've got someone in your room in the middle of the night cutting a skin sample out of your arm…"

"But that was all explained," Daniel protested.

"How fully?" Jack countered. "I'm pretty sure they may have left something—or several somethings—out, Daniel. People have done that to us before."

"I know," Daniel told him. "It's just that we can't suspect everybody of doing that, Jack."

Jack gave him a look but said nothing further about it. "Just keep your eyes and ears open, okay? I'll feel better if you do."

"Sure thing," Daniel promised.

He saw them back to the Gate the next morning with Lyssa tagging along, chatting happily with Sam. Daniel had a feeling that she'd never gotten to have actual girl friends before and she was taking full advantage of Sam's friendly nature. Also, having Lyssa chat with her gave Sam all the gossip and description of parties that she wanted, so they both won in the situation. Once his friends had returned to Earth he and Lyssa headed back to the palace.

"I can't wait until she comes again," Lyssa said wistfully. "We didn't get a chance to talk very much."

Daniel remembered how they had talked when Sam had arrived, through dinner, that morning at breakfast, and then during their walk back to the Gate and fought down a smile. "You like talking with Sam?"

"She's fun!" Lyssa said, confirming his suspicions. "And she's willing to talk with me like I'm a normal person, like I'm just Lyssa. Very few people are willing to do that."

"Is being Daughter to the Rulers an important job?" Daniel asked. He'd asked several people but none of them had given him very clear explanations just what Lyssa's position was. He had a feeling he could ask her and hear the truth without any prevarications.

"It is," she admitted. "I will be the one to take over for Mother and Father once I come of age."

"How close are you to that?" She seemed only a few years younger than he was, so what was of age on this planet?

"Next year. Thirty-four is considered the age at which one is able to take the throne since by that time one has completed several years of special study," she said. "Also, thirty-four is a number with much mathematical significance to us."

"How so?" Daniel asked. He knew it was part of the Fibonacci sequence--the same sequence used to encode his invitation--but beyond that he didn't know much about numbers.

"It is the smallest number with the property that it and its neighbors have the same number of divisors," she told him. "Also, it represents the sum of the decades you've lived. It represents stability and maturity. One and two decades are three, and one more is four. Thirty-four. See?"

"I do see," Daniel admitted, smiling. "I'd had no idea that math was this important."

"Mostly it is. You now know how old I am; may I ask how old you are?"

Daniel fought down a smile. "I just turned thirty-four."

She saw the humor in the situation immediately and fought down a chuckle. "I see. Is thirty-four an important age in your society?"

"Not really," Daniel said. "Fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, and twenty-one are really the important ages in early life."

"Why?"

"One of our cultures in America feel fifteen is the age when one is an adult, especially when the person is a young woman. In the larger culture, sixteen is the year you can begin to drive a car, which is regarded as something like a rite of passage. Eighteen is the year you're legally considered an adult and you can take part in politics and vote. Twenty-one is the age you can drink alcohol."

She laughed. "Is alcohol so important then?"

"To some, it is," he confessed. "Especially to kids who can't wait to try alcohol."

When SG-1 or staff from the SGC did not visit, Daniel had other visitors. Teachers and Learned Ones from the University came to talk to him about his planet--he described it only in the most general terms--and to seek his opinion on lectures he'd attended. Other times people brought him books to read or they came just to see how he was. Martiis sometimes came and he brought things that Daniel came to appreciate: magazines and newspapers. He was always glad to find other planets that had such a driving need for news.

Whenever he didn't have visitors he diverted himself with his work and with prowling the enormous library. The Rulers had invited him to wander the palace at his will, so he took them at their word and wandered, sketching down the architecture. The building was interesting: It was built in a style that resembled Japanese architecture with a dash of Morrocan flair thrown in. The whole effect was calming and very pleasing and once he devoted a final afternoon sketching one of the open galleries. When the time came for him to leave he would have quite a lot of material assembled on the University and its world.

He returned from one such sketching venture to find his room crowded with several people and a great deal of...things. The scene was controlled chaos being conducted by a twitchy beanpole of a man with an over-the-top attitude and hands that could not stay still, flying about as if they had minds of their own. Daniel gaped for a moment before rallying his wits. He had to find out what was going on. "Um, hello," he said, approaching the man. "May I ask what you're doing in my room?"

"There you are!" the man said brightly. "I just sent someone out to look for you! Now that you're here, we can start, isn't that perfect! I'm going to need you over here," he said, grabbing Daniel by his shoulders and physically maneuvering him into place. "Good! Now, you go ahead and take off your shirt."

Daniel stared at him. Was this some sort of ritual that no one had thought to warn him about? His mind could come up with any number of unpleasant possibilities and he began to feel very, very nervous. "Um, why?"

The man looked at him as if he were daft. "So you can be measured, of course!"

Daniel stared around the room, trying to find some sort of visible clue so he would know what this guy meant. "For what?"

The man made an exasperated sound and snatched a large book off a nearby table. Inside it were designer's sketches showing outfit after outfit of clothes. "For clothing, of course. I have been asked by the Rulers to assemble a proper wardrobe for you. You can't keep wearing the few outfits you have."

Daniel thought about the wardrobe and dresser full of clothes and wondered what a well-stocked wardrobe would be like if his present one wasn't it. "I have plenty of clothes," Daniel tried to point out.

"Nonsense!" the man said. "Now, you just trust yourself in my hands, Learned One. When I am finished with you, you won't recognize yourself and you can say to everyone 'Narys made this.'"

For the next several hours, Daniel endured being measured, having swatches of fabric held up against him to check color suitability for his complexion by Narys' many assistants, and listening to Narys extol the virtues of this type of fabric, that color, this line, those trims, this style, and enough sartorial details that could swamp any fashionista. Also, the fact that he was standing half-naked in front of this guy who clearly found guys appealing (and called him as cute as bewysh, whatever that was) did not do much for his state of mind. It wasn't until Narys mentioned Thelan, his partner in work and life who would assemble the clothes, that Daniel felt himself relax.

"All finished," Narys said grandly, handing Daniel his shirt. "Not to worry, though, you will have clothes as soon as the first are done, and that will be by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you'll just have to make do, all right?"

"All right, and thank you for going through so much trouble for me," Daniel said, grateful to be set free from Narys' clutches.

"Oh, not at all," Narys assured him, beaming brightly. "I can't wait to assemble a spring wardrobe for you, Learned One. I'll see you soon!"

Once Narys and all his paraphenalia and assistants were gone Daniel straightened his shirt, pulled on some shoes (Narys had also measured his feet) and went to find Lyssa. Hopefully she would be able to convince her parents that new clothes weren't really necessary. He checked all the places he usually found her before heading to her room. He'd only wallked her there once or twice, and he hoped that she would be there now. He knocked on the door and a maid opened it, looking surprised to see him. "It is Learned One Daniel Jackson, my lady," she said, escorting Daniel into the room beyond.

Lyssa looked up from several papers and breathed what had to be a sigh of relief. "Hello, Daniel. How are you?"

"Oh, just fine, but I've had a visitor for a couple hours now. Are you familiar with Narys?"

Lyssa put a hand over her mouth to hide a smile. "Oh, dear. You poor thing! Was he there to assemble a proper wardrobe for you?"

"Those were his words exactly," Daniel confirmed. "He said that the Rulers had asked him to do it."

Lyssa shook her head and sighed, this time in annoyance. "I told them you felt you didn't need any more clothes, but they wouldn't listen. Besides, Narys is their personal friend and he was practically salivating to get his hands on you so you could be measured and he could start sketching. He designs all of our clothes and I suppose Mother and Father felt you should receive the same attention since you're our guest."

"Is there any way to stop him?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Not if he's already started sketching."

"Darn."

Lyssa nodded and set some papers aside. "Daniel, would you like to go for a walk with me? I've been inside all day and I'm going mad without light and fresh air."

Daniel felt the tension in his body marginally relax. "That would be great."

He and Lyssa walked outside in the gardens, chatting about nothing in particular until dinner time. Since this was one of those rare nights when neither one of them had a social engagement Daniel invited her back to his room for a meal and perhaps a game of chess. He'd taught her the Earth version of the game and she loved it, so she pounced on his offer before he could think to take it back or decide that there was something else she'd rather do. They played not one game but four, and they accompanied the games with a good bit of wine that tasted ambrosial. Lyssa left around midnight insisting she was perfectly fine and Daniel got himself to bed, hoping that neither one of them would have a hangover in the morning.

He didn't see Lyssa until lunch, and from the dark shadows under her eyes and her tired but elated expression, she was enjoying what had to be a hangover. She looked a little bleary and Daniel took her aside after the meal to see if she was all right.

"I'm fabulous!" she assured him. "It was a lot of fun being that drunk!"

"And you don't mind having a hangover?"

She thought about it. "Well, I'm not going to make it into a habit, but it is fun to get a little tipsy and laugh at how silly you're being. Don't worry, I'm just fine. Could we do it again sometime soon?"

Daniel had to fight down laughter. Oh, the Rulers were going to be so mad at him for corrupting their daughter! He was still chuckling about it later that afternoon as he headed toward the Gate to greet his friends for their scheduled visit.