The Muse ( episode ) A mysterious woman helps Jake write a novel ; Lwaxana Troi , pregnant with a son , asks Odo to help her escape her husband . Summary . Teaser . Jake Sisko is standing on the upper level of the Promenade watching passengers disembark a transport and trying to come up with character ideas based on what he sees . An alien female comes out of the airlock and catches the eye of Jake before walking away . Odo walks into his office to find Lwaxana Troi crying because she ' s pregnant . Act One . Lwaxana Troi is pregnant with a male child and her husband , Jeyal , is a Tavnian . The problem , as Odo finds out , is that Tavnian children are raised by the parent that is the same sex as the child , never to be seen by the other parent until reaching the age of sixteen . Lwaxana wants to be a part of her child ' s life , and Jeyal said that would be possible , but apparently he changed his mind when he found out she was pregnant with a boy . Lwaxana has come to Odo for help , but Odo is reluctant . Later , in the Replimat , Jake is working on a story when the alien woman he saw coming out of the airlock sits down next to him and starts talking . Her name is Onaya and it turns out she has a thing for artist s . Onaya talks about how she knew Tavor Kell , a famous Cardassian architect and how she helped him to " stop censoring himself " . Jake becomes interested and she joins him at his table . She reveals to Jake that she can teach him exercises to help bring out his creativity and help him be remembered as an artist ; Jake is intrigued as he seems to have a case of writer ' s block and hesitantly admits that he wants to be remembered . They agree to meet later . Act Two . Back in his quarters , Jake is working on a story when his father , Benjamin Sisko , shows up asking if he ' s packed for the trip he has planned with his father and Kasidy to the Bajoran outback . Jake says he doesn ' t want to go because he really needs to focus on this story , and his father understands – although his father doesn ' t know about Onaya . In Quark ' s , Lwaxana is depressed and is telling Worf , Dax , and Kira how she feels like a prisoner in her own home . Being a telepath , Lwaxana ' s mood seems to be affecting the moods of all those around her . Quark asks Odo to get rid of her , and Odo abides , taking her on a walk . When the two arrive at Odo ' s quarters , Lwaxana tells Odo her food replicator is broken and asks if she can come in and use his . Odo agrees , but finds out it was just an excuse for her to spend more time with him . Exhausted , Lwaxana sits down on Odo ' s floor ( since he doesn ' t have any furniture ) and falls asleep in Odo ' s arms . Odo graciously transforms one of his arms into a blanket and the other into a pillow – he doesn ' t seem to mind the situation at all . Jake arrives at Onaya ' s quarters , where he feels a little uncomfortable . Onaya assures him there is nothing to worry about – he ' s there to work . Onaya gives Jake the pen of the famous writer Revalus , and tells Jake to start writing – on paper . Jake says he ' s never used paper before , but Onaya tells him to write the first line , and then urges him to just keep writing . Onaya starts to bring out Jake ' s creativity while simultaneously draining his life little by little . Act Three . The next morning , Lwaxana and Odo are playing a game of hide and seek . Odo takes on the shape of an object in the room , and Lwaxana tries to guess what or where he is . Their fun is cut short when Odo is informed that Jeyal , Lwaxana ' s husband , has arrived on the station . Odo has Jeyal brought to his security office where he informs him that Lwaxana has no intentions of giving up her child to him . Odo then reveals a loophole in Tavnian law which states the male child is the property of the mother ' s husband and not the child ' s father . When Lwaxana has her baby , Jeyal will no longer be her husband because Odo plans to marry Lwaxana in a legal Tavnian ceremony . This will end her marriage to Jeyal and allow her to keep the baby . Odo and Lwaxana will remain married for a few months to satisfy Tavnian law and then get a divorce . The only problem is that Odo will have to convince Jeyal that he really wants to marry Lwaxana for the marriage to be valid . Jake is still busy writing his latest story , and Onaya is still slowly drawing out his creativity and draining his life . Jake comments that he can hardly keep up with the flood of ideas he ' s having . Suddenly , Jake has a minor nose bleed . Onaya tells Jake he should rest , but Jake is too determined to stop now and keeps on writing . Act Four . Odo arranges a surprise wedding with Lwaxana where he must convince Jeyal and all those present that his love for Lwaxana is true . Otherwise , someone can challenge the validity of the marriage if they doubt the groom ' s sincerity – and Jeyal will be one tough critic . The ceremony proceeds , and Odo delivers his speech which sounds superficial . Jeyal calls it a pale declaration of love , but Odo becomes more genuine and talks of how Lwaxana accepted him for who he was and how that changed him . Jeyal accepts the ceremony , and Odo and Lwaxana are married according to Tavnian law . The child is safe . Jake is still writing and appears very tired . Onaya again tells Jake he needs to stop , but he refuses . Onaya forces Jake to stop by taking his pen and tells Jake his writing will be even better if he is well rested . Jake agrees and starts to head home , but decides to stop at the Replimat for a drink . He orders an orange juice , but collapses before he can sit down . In the infirmary , Dr . Bashir informs Sisko , who is back from his trip , that Jake ' s brain has been stimulated and his cerebral cortex was on the verge of synaptic collapse . Dr . Bashir assures Sisko that Jake will be all right , but he needs to remain in a neural stabilization field for a while . Jake regains consciousness just long enough to say , " " Onaya , where is she ? " " and Sisko begins looking for Onaya . During the night , Onaya materializes from an energy cloud in the infirmary and knocks out the nurse on duty . She wakes Jake up and tells him it ' s time to finish what he started and takes him to a Jefferies tube junction near the reactor core . Act Five . Jake is again determined to keep writing and gets another nose bleed while Onaya drains his life more quickly . O ' Brien scans the infirmary and finds traces of psionic energy and informs Odo to tell his search teams to modify their tricorder s to search for psionic energy . Dr . Bashir tells him they need to hurry because psionic residue decays within minutes . Sisko picks up a psionic energy trace and finds Onaya and Jake . Sisko , armed with a phaser , tells Onaya to get away from Jake and asks what she is . Onaya reveals that she unlocks the potential of artists and , in the process , kills them but gives them immortality through their art . The energy and life she drains from her victims helps her survive . Onaya turns into an energy cloud and flies off into space . Back in the security office , Lwaxana informs Odo that she ' s going back to Betazed and that she ' s imposed on Odo long enough . Odo tries to convince her to stay , but she ' s afraid the marriage would fail if she stayed because of their differing feelings for each other . She truly loves him , and she would want him to feel the same passion . But she knows that while he enjoys her company , he just wants someone to take care of ; he doesn ' t really love her . He asks if that isn ' t enough , but she says in time she would come to resent the unevenness of their relationship . She has decided to return to her home world and eventually end the marriage so the two can remain friends . She tells him , " Goodbye , husband . " Understanding , he replies , " Goodbye . . . wife . " Later , after Jake has recovered , Sisko reads his story and tells him he has a good start on a novel , which he has titled " Anslem " , but the spelling is terrible . Jake agrees , but doesn ' t feel it ' s really his work . Sisko reminds him that they were his words – Onaya just helped bring them out . Memorable quotes . " " In a Tavnian wedding the groom must stand before the bride and tell her why he wants to marry her . And then , in front of his family and friends , he must proclaim his love for her and convince her to accept him as her husband . " " " " I trust I can count on you to accept me even if I just stand there and read last week ' s criminal activity report . " " " " I can spot a creative soul a galaxy away . " " " " Ahem . " " " " Odo , would you like to join the party ? " " " " Actually , I have some free time , and was wondering if you would like to take a walk ? " " " " I would . . . " " " " Before I met her , my world was . . . a much smaller place . I kept to myself , I didn ' t need anyone else , and I took pride in that . The truth is , I was ashamed of what I was , afraid that if people saw how truly different I was , they would recoil from me . Lwaxana saw how different I was . . . and she didn ' t recoil . She wanted to see more . For the first time in my life , someone wanted me as I was . And that changed me forever . The day I met her is the day I stopped being alone . And I want her to be part of my life from this day on . " " " " Someone once said , ' Life is a search to find the peace that you once had when you were safe inside your mother . " ' " " " I didn ' t have a mother . " " " " Don ' t worry , it ' s alright . You ' ll find your peace . " " " " The dialogue is sharp , the story ' s involving , the characters are real . . . the spelling is terrible ! " " Links and references . References . 47 references ; Alpha Quadrant ; annulment ; Bajoran outback ; Bolian ; Camelot ; candle ; canvas ; capillary ; Cardassian ; cerebral cortex ; Deep Space 9 ; Earth ; exile ; Ferengi ; First Minister ; foramen magnum ; Gavaline tea ; holosuite ; Indian ; ; King Arthur ; matchmaker ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; monk ; paint brush ; Pennington School ; Promenade ; Quark ' s ; qui ' lari ; Rasiinian ; Revalus ; Shakaar Edon ; spelling ; Tarbolde ; Tavnian ; ; tricorder ; ; ; Umani sector ; visceral writing ; Vulcan ; " Xhosa " ;