I've been sitting on this rec for a month now, hoping I could come up with enough Sports Night recs to have a theme week.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's going to happen (though I'm still willing to give it a shot if anyone's willing to point me in the direction of some really long SN fic -- I know there's at least one long story I read once and can't find again...), so here you go!

(Note: this rec was written long before the Control Issues rec -- the horse?  She is even deader.)

Title: The Hart and the Lion by Cita Powers (NC-17)
Fandom: Sports Night
Pairing: Dan/Casey
Categories: Harlequin AU, slave!fic, h/c, angst
Length: Really!Epic (~170,000 words)
Warnings: rape

Author on LJ: n/a?
Website: n/a?

Review:
Daniel, son of a wealthy chieftain of a desert tribe, buys northerner Casey as a slave. They proceed to have the most grand, elaborate adventure ever seen in fanfic, galavanting all over the desert (and beyond!), bucking social and religious conventions, and getting caught up in a war or two. I'd tell you more, but I'm afraid I'd spoil you. Suffice to say that this is written well enough that it could be published, except for the vast amounts of gay sex and the fact that it's sort of based on Sports Night characters.

I spent a lot of time thinking before writing this rec, because generally I don't like slave!fic and yet this fic and The Seduction of the Desert Prince seems to indicate that I have a secret desert slave!fic kink. After careful consideration, I came to this conclusion: while I can't see myself ever agreeing with slavery as an acceptable social choice, I can read and enjoy desert slave!fic because it presents slavery in a practical, realistic (and in some instances, surprisingly historically accurate) manner.

In many Native American tribes (and I suspect this is true for most nomadic tribes), slavery was the common solution to dealing with prisoners of war. As a result, *anyone* could end up a slave, just by losing a battle. In such cases, slaves were treated like unpaid servants: they were treated decently and had similar rights to others in the tribe. When you think about it, that makes sense: what is the point of treating people so badly that they revolt and/or are so injured or ill that they can't work? Such ill treatment only makes sense if you believe slaves are less human than you are (which is a much more modern concept and, I suspect, closely tied to the idea of *selling* slaves). Such beliefs weren't common in tribal slaves -- in fact, most slaves became full members of the tribe after a set period of time (usually a few years).

Wow. Sorry about that. I have been thinking about this a *lot*. In any case, the above dissertation generally applies to this story in that the slaves are treated in a practical, humane manner (consistent with societal expectations defined within the story, though I'm pretty sure Cita totally made up the whole 'sexual' aspect of slavery in Muslim culture). More importantly, and more interestingly, there is a role reversal about halfway through that I really like, and which shows just how precarious a person's position can be when day to day life is a struggle to survive.

Fair warning: there's not much of Sports Night in this fic aside from the character's names and some of the pairings. Despite that, this is a beautifully rendered, well-written story with an engrossing plot and a truly epic feel. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a Harlequin story with high adventure and sweeping romance.

The Hart and the Lion: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5