The life of Ambassador Sarek's family was changed forever the day he arrived home from a diplomatic mission with a ragtag slave in tow. Now slavery was illegal on Vulcan and Sarek considered it a cruel and barbaric practice, but he had been given the unkempt young human male as a show of gratitude and he had been unable to refuse without causing a ruckus, so he reluctantly took the gaunt, shackled, silent captive home with him. Perhaps Amanda could advise him of a suitable course of action and provide clean apparel and nourishment for the obviously underfed person.
Spock had just concluded a study on the life cycle of the Andorian common moth when her father returned home with the unkempt individual in tow. She heard an odd clanking noise and ventured into the entry room to find her father removing a set of manacles from a lean, wary looking man. He had shaggy light brown hair that almost reached his shoulders and a scraggly beard. She caught a glimpse of thick eyebrows and a flash of eerily blue eyes under the dirty hair.
"Can you speak, human?" Her father inquired, removing the shackles from his legs so the slave stood unbound before him. "Yes, master," answered the man dully. It sounded like he had been trained thoroughly and Spock felt curious as to who he was.
"You have no master now, my son," corrected Sarek. "You are our guest. Slavery is abhorrent to Surak's disciples and I and my family adhere to them closely. You shall not be ill-treated here."
Amanda entered the room, and gasped at the sight of the guest, who appeared to sway on his feet before she caught his arm and guided him to a chair. "Oh, the poor man looks starving, Sarek! Is he the one you called me about?" "You are Correct on both counts, my wife," replied the Ambassador. "This is indeed the former slave given to me."
"What's your name, honey?" Amanda asked the young man, who was looking around curiously, and less timidly. "Jim Kirk," came the surprisingly deep and smooth voice that didn't sound quite so dull now. "Nice to meet you Jim," Amanda greeted kindly, "I am Amanda, Sarek's wife, and this is our daughter, Spock. Welcome to Vulcan."
Jim's eyes found Spock when Amanda introduced them and she was conscious of the bright blue gaze observing her curiously. He even reached up an arm and shoved his hair out of his face to see better. He would be rather handsome when properly groomed, she thought. "Thanks," Jim said gratefully, in response to Amanda. "I haven't been free since I was fifteen. I can't believe you're just going to let me go; I almost won't know what to do with myself."
"Well, the first thing is to feed you," Amanda said decidedly. "Spock, would you bring our guest some Plomeek soup? We'll start him on something light."
"Yes, Mother, I will prepare it momentarily." Spock quickly made her way to the kitchen area, thinking soberly about what years in slavery would have done to Jim. It was hard to estimate his age, given his current condition, but he appeared to be in his twenties. What kind of acts had he been forced to perform as a slave? Hard Labor? Sexual services? Had he been beaten? The thoughts made her ill and she hurried to fix the soup and take it to Jim.
He accepted it gratefully and began to eat hungrily, hands shaking as he brought the spoon to his mouth.
"This is really good," he said once he'd finished. "It's been awhile since I've been allowed to eat more than a bite or two of anything."
Spock refilled his bowl twice before he felt satiated for the moment. "It seems illogical to give you insufficient nutrition if they wanted you to give them efficient labor," she commented.
"You're right, Spock," Jim said, looking at her again. "But greed and stinginess overrule logic in the slavery business."
There was a weariness in his eyes that made Spock wonder again about the atrocities this young man had endured.
"Well, well," Amanda said briskly, swallowing the protective motherly anger inside of her at what he had been through. "Questions can wait until you've cleaned up, Jim. I'm sure you're more than ready to get out of those filthy clothes."
"Yes, I am, ma'am," Jim admitted. "I shouldn't like to stink up your nice house anymore." Amanda laughed. "Don't worry about that, Jim. Is there anyone you'd us like to notify of your whereabouts? Family, perhaps?"
He shook his head, expression faltering again. "My mom's dead and my stepdad was the one who sold me in the first place. I have no clue if my brother is still alive." There went that weary look again.
At a look from her mother, Spock slipped downstairs to ready the most comfortable guest bedroom available while Amanda showed Jim to the sonic shower. Humans often couldn't tolerate the heat on Vulcan, even indoors, so they had specially climate controlled guest quarters for such occasions.
Jim apparently went straight to bed after his shower, because she didn't see their new "acquisition" until the next morning.
