The Ferengi have an instrument called an OoPok. It's a bit like a zither. As a human, I'll probably never be taken seriously as an OoPok musician, but it won't be for lack of trying. I follow all of the traditions of my craft religiously, even if it isn't immediately obvious why every one is important. Why do we whisper the seventh rule of acquisition into the sounding board? Why do we remind the bow how cheaply it might be replaced? Who knows? But I'm sure that my diligence will pay off someday.
At only nineteen, I am known as the greatest human Oopok player ever. Before long their cultural ministry invites me to play on Ferenginar. Of course, as a human woman I'm afforded freedoms that the native females don't enjoy. No one suggests I should go naked. In fact, the capital city is very cosmopolitan and there are a lot of different intelligent species doing business there.
Native females still don't leave the house that often. The few I see are usually modern, liberated types that dress like males. When you see a naked female she's usually with a male escort.
A famous native composer named Lok offers to let me stay at his palace for the duration of the tour for 10% less than what a comparable hotel would charge. Lok tells me that his wife is a hoo-mon like me so they have plenty of Earth food. I'm glad to hear that as I'm not fond of live worms.
I arrive at the front door and meet the family. Lok introduces his children from a previous marriage, and his wife, an athletic, thirty-something Italian woman named Katerina. She's naked. I pretend not to be shocked. We eat an excellent dinner and retire to the garden, where in the midst of a steady downpour we discuss who was the best Ragtime Composer of all time. Lok says Scott Joplin, but Katerina prefers Storek. I say Storek is more clever and inventive, but Joplin is more fun. All the time I'm getting signals from Katerina that she'd like to have sex with me. She keeps touching me affectionately and making slightly off-color jokes and cleverly veiled propositions. Her husband seems oblivious. He excuses himself and goes to bed early, leaving me alone with Katerina.
I finally have the chance to ask her why Lok doesn't let her wear clothes. She should let him know that human women don't let themselves be treated as if they were property. She says it isn't like that at all. Lok respects her right to self determination and she goes naked out of respect for the traditions of her adopted homeland.
