It felt like forever since I'd been in a place like this. It was overwhelming. Bright lights and booming bass. In its own way, it felt like war. And, just like in war, any one of the bright lights could be from the muzzle of a gun with a bullet that had Beau's name on it. If the threat was as real as the Queen—I kept on reminding myself to call her Windfra—said it was, this was not a safe place for the Prince.

I needed to talk to Windfra about this. An entire team of soldiers couldn't keep Beau safe if somebody wanted to target him here.

But I would do my best.

I allowed Beau to get a few feet in front of me, as we’d discussed. He was dressed in bright colors, with a neon yellow cape that struck me as particularly tacky. In almost every sense, it was a poor choice. It was hideously ugly and made him easy for a potential assassin to target, but it was good from at least one perspective, I could keep a fair amount of distance without losing sight of him.

Navigating the crowd was another story. Beau slid through the crowd like a snake, forming his own trail, and before I knew it, he was thirty feet in front of me. I pushed through the crowd, which would give way and then tighten around me, with men and women dancing right up against me.

One dancer slid up behind me. "Hey, muscles," he said. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Appreciated," I said. "But I'm on duty."

"I'll suck you off right here if you want."

What? I must not have heard him correctly. "No thank you," I said. "On duty."

"I get it," he said. "No problem."

A woman curled up by me. "Excuse me. May I feel your arm?"

"No," I said.

"Maybe next time," she moved along. It was like Cheryl had told me on the plane. They were direct here. If they wanted something, they asked. Part of me flirted with liking the idea. I wished I could be like that, not a care in the world. Ask for what I wanted and not worry that they might say no.

I kept my eye on Beau, trying to narrow the distance between us. Two men approached me.

"Excuse me, sir, I was wondering…"

"Get lost," the second said. "I saw him first."

The first one shoved the second. The crowd backed up and gave them some distance.

"I don't appreciate that, Gary," the second said.

"I don't appreciate you always going after the guys I want."

"I saw him first."

"Fuck off, Walter."

It looked like a fight was about to break out. I stepped forward to stop it, but a hand pulled me back. "You're going to want to let them settle this themselves."

It was Cheryl's hand.

"Just watch," she looked on at the two men, with a notebook in her hand. She pulled a pencil out of the spiral binding and began taking notes.

Gary and Walter leaned towards each other, fighting stances, neither moving at first. In an instance, Gary made a move. It looked like a head butt at the same time as a head lock, with Gary pushing his head forward and his arm around Walter's neck, but the heads didn't bounce back. They stayed there, their mouths locked.

"Are they...kissing?" I asked.

"They are," Cheryl said.

Walter's hands pulled Gary's head closer to his and then down to his back. They released.

"He's mine," Walter said.

"I want him," Gary said. "You're not going to win this one."

They kissed again, even more passionately than before. Their hands moved all over each other's bodies and the crowd cheered, hooting and hollering. The two men fell to the floor and lifted each other's shirts off.

I had a strange feeling, watching them. Like I was intruding on something personal and, yet, I couldn't look away. I forced myself to glance up and see how Beau was doing but quickly became distracted by the two men.

They were struggling with each other. Walter moved down on Gary's body, but Gary pushed him up and rolled around so he could be on top. Gary then moved his mouth onto Walter's chest.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"They're trying to perform oral sex on each other. It's really hard to argue with someone when they have your penis in their mouth," Cheryl said. "Or so I'm told."

They slid over each other, a thin layer of sweat covering each of them.

"It seems sort of like they aren't okay with it," I said. "Like it's not fully…"

"Consensual?" Cheryl asked.

"Right," I looked past the two men and saw Beau, in his bright neon cape, dancing up ahead. He was safely within view.

"Either one of them could end this any time they want. There are universal safe-words here. If either one says 'mothballs,' this whole thing will stop immediately."

"They'll both stop if one of them says 'mothballs'?"

"Every time," Cheryl said. "Have you ever been in a fight?"

"Sure," I said.

"Think back on it. Was there anything you could have said to have stopped the fight? Or, put another way, was there anything the other person could have said to stop the fight?"

I didn't think so. "We stopped when other people pulled us away from each other."

"Consent is very important in Aldonia. The laws are both open-ended and specific. You can do whatever you want to whoever you want, so long as it's consensual."

"That's it?" I asked.

"It's a little more complicated than that. Special laws are put in place to protect minors, for instance, but for adults, as long as there's consent, there's not really a problem."

"Couldn't people just lie, then?"

"What do you mean?"

I looked over at Gary and Walter. Walter had gotten Gary's belt off, but Gary was on top, holding his weight against Walter's shoulders. "If I ask you to punch me, and then you punch me, couldn't I just say I never gave consent?"

Cheryl nodded. "You're thinking like an American, not an Aldonian. Have you ever loaned anything to a friend?"

"Of course."

There was a loud scream from the crowd as Gary pulled down Walter's pants. Walter pushed Gary off him. They stood up, facing each other, Walter's pants around his ankles, both of them shirtless.

"What kept you from accusing your friend of stealing?"

"He's my friend."

"Aldonians think of everyone as their friends. They don't want to hurt anybody. They don't want to send people to jail. But someone who violates consent is liable to hurt somebody, and that's why it's against the law and that's why, even though they don't want to, they sometimes put people into correctional facilities and rehabilitation centers."

Gary dove forward onto Walter's legs, taking him down. They both paused.

"Did I hurt you?" Gary asked.

"I'm fine," Walter said.

Then they continued. Gary pulled down Walter's pants and underwear in one fell swoop, took his penis in his hand, and wrapped his mouth around it. Walter stopped struggling, leaned his head back, and sighed.

"That's very interesting," I said. I saw Beau moving a bit further away from me. I'd probably already let him get too far. "I have my job to do."

Cheryl nodded. "Nice running into you," she said. "And, by the way, open offer still stands. Any time you want to give me a call."

I gave her a thumbs up and stepped over Gary and Walter. Gary lifted his head up, "Hey, where are you going?" he asked.

"Not interested," I said.

I heard Walter ask, "Why are you stopping?" as I walked away.