Plot summary
Lwaxana Troi returns to Deep Space Nine seeking Odo's protection. She is pregnant with a son and on the run from her Tavnian husband, Jeyal. He wants to take the baby, upon birth, away from Lwaxana to be raised in an all-male environment. Lwaxana does not want to be separated from her child.
Odo discovers that, according to the specific wording of Tavnian law, the son belongs to the mother's husband, not necessarily the actual father. He proposes that Lwaxana divorce Jeyal and marry Odo, so that Jeyal cannot claim her child. This scheme is complicated when Jeyal invites himself to the marriage ceremony. The Tavnian marriage ceremony requires that all present be convinced of the legitimacy of the feelings of the couple, meaning that Odo will have to convince Jeyal that he is truly in love with Lwaxana in order for the marriage to be legitimate. The plan works; Odo and Lwaxana are married and Jeyal leaves the station.
Meanwhile, Jake Sisko spots an alluring woman arriving on the station. She finds him and invites him to her quarters. Jake backs out of a 3-day trip with his father, Captain Benjamin Sisko, in order to stay on the station and meet with the woman, Onaya. That evening, Jake meets with her and she helps him write by stimulating certain areas of his brain. However, it appears she is also taking something away from Jake.
Jake meets with her several times working on an ambitious novel. His father returns to the station and eventually finds Jake with Onaya and prevents her from killing his son. Onaya justifies her actions by saying that she allows artists to "live forever" through brilliant work that she helps them produce, while she is nourished by the artists' brain energy. When Captain Sisko tries firing his phaser at her, she is unaffected and disappears from the station as a ball of energy.
While Jake is recovering, his father has read the pages that he wrote under the influence of Onaya, and tells Jake he has the beginnings of a good novel. Jake responds that he does not feel that the words were his own. Benjamin assures him that Onaya had only helped him draw out what was already there.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Muse (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.