（外文电子版资料）Babylon_5-Story-Genius_Loci.docVIP

Genius Loci, by J. Michael Straczynski, Amazing Stories Winter 2000 “I can assure you, without hesitation, that I was in no way trying to seduce your chieftain’s mate.” G’Kar said this with complete sincerity and a tone of casual friendliness that seemed utterly oblivious to the pair of meaty fists wrapped around his throat. The Kurlin bodyguard assigned by its government to prevent indiscretions by the royal Kurla family – a family noted for a history of indiscretions so varied that they left native historians breathless and shaking – had seen G’Kar’s hand on the knee (third knee from the left, to be precise) of the Kural Enfal (what humans would call a princess) and responded accordingly. In G’Kar’s defense, Lyta thought, the incident was indeed an accident. Oh, he had placed his hand there deliberately; that much was certain even without scanning his thoughts as it happened. But at the time he did it, he didn’t think it was her knee. Lyta decided it was almost good to see G’Kar back to his womanizing – femalizing? Alienizing? – ways. Since leaving Babylon 5 six weeks earlier, the tall Narn who had gone from warrior to priest to political figure to leader in self-imposed exile had begun to enjoy himself for the first time in years. Unfortunately, seducing females of any race and getting into fights about it seemed to be the Narn idea of enjoying oneself. Why knew they were so Human in that respect? Lyta thought just as G’Kar was thrown past her, colliding head-on with the wall. For a Human, it would have been a devastating blow; for Narns, with their leather-tough and spotted outer skin, and their resilient, almost catlike bone structure, such an impact could almost count as foreplay. But Lyta knew they didn’t have time for this. One of the things they desperately did not want was to draw attention to themselves. Although G’Kar might not be recognized for who he was this far from home, Lyta – with her bright red hair and distinctive, aquiline features, a