This is the second out-take from my trilogy "The Prince" to be read together with Chapter 12 of "The Prince: Ascension"
The Prince: Sarek's Story
"Time Heals All Wounds"
Vulcan's sun had burned him and his skin was raw to the touch.
He had walked in the desert for seven days and seven nights, barefoot and alone- his resplendent robes long shed on this solo sojourn.
He'd frozen in the coldness of the night, only to be stalked by Lematya by day- waiting for him to fall victim to the desert's rays.
And still- he walked on.
Even when he felt he could not go further- still, he walked on.
He walked until his feet were bloody and broken. Yet still- he walked on.
He walked until he could do so no more.
And wished for death to take him.
But death would not come. His last waking thought, was of the haurok circling high in the sky, diving and swooping as if to mark its next meal. And his world went black.
II
He awoke from his delirium to find himself prostrate on a stone slab- naked with the sap of the hla'meth covering his body. He was in a cave- the only illumination was that of the flame surrounding the fire pit in the corner, as the reds and oranges bounced off the stone walls- allowing the shadows of the flame to lap in the glow of his body as they jumped and danced on the walls.
He was beginning to wonder how he had come to this place when the figure of a priestess entered.
Sarek knew enough to remain silent as the woman knelt beside him with a bowl of water. Using an a'cith, she absorbed the liquid and poured it onto his battered frame- allowing the water to run its course, and rinse away the sap coating.
The pain was great as the sap clung to his skin and seeped into the torn flesh- and though he struggled to maintain his silence, his body trembled under the touch.
The Priestess raised her hand to his temple and breathed words into his mind- Thee has come for death- it is not found here. Instead there is life- and thy spirit shall be healed.
As the words faded from his mind Sarek once again faded from consciousness, only this time it was not blackness he saw- but whiteness that he welcomed as the light faded away…
III
Upon his second awakening, he found himself clothed in a simple sheath that covered him from neck to foot.
It was reminiscent of what the farmers and laborers wore and Sarek realized at that moment where he was.
Stepping down from his stone bed, he made his way outside of the cave- to be confronted with the megaliths of ancient warriors standing with their backs towards the sheared and weathered rocks of the Kunel-Travek Mountains. Before him lay the fabled Stairs of Ascension where only those who had achieved pure logic could tread- and upon them, the place where his ancestor Surak had lain his passions bare and adopted the logic so ingrained into their species.
So overcome was he, that he began to move forward blindly- through no conscious thought of his own but through the pull of the sacred place. His feet moved of their own volition and he could not stop until he had ascended to that place of reverence and fallen to his knees…
His emotional controls were so degraded that he cried and howled like the Lematya as his own grief for his actions overtook him and he rent his clothes in the physical agony that he had brought upon his own flesh and seed.
He screamed into the Vulcan forge- the sound of one with a thousand years of regrets…
IV
He had become lost in his screams and screamed until he could no longer make the sound and all fell quiet around him.
He was still bowed before the altar- that place where Surak had conquered his passions and declared his logic- and he was not coherent or aware of the approach of the elders and priestesses.
He was weak from release and felt the arms lift his limp body up and place him upon said altar.
He was barely coherent but through his haze saw them bow around him and heard through his daze the ancient chant of Surak...May there be peace within your soul as your passion seals you so should your logic temper you and harmony be your guide…
Sarek felt his body- not his physical one but his spiritual self- begin to levitate from the place where he lay and soon he was looking down into his own face- worn and weather beaten. Defeated, and far removed from its once-proud and indomitable visage.
The man who stared back at him was broken- and he realized- he did not want to be that man.
And as soon as it began- it was over. And the day faded away- and darkness was once again upon the face of the deep.
V
When he awoke again, he felt new life within him. A new energy. Free from the personal demons that had haunted him for years. Sarek had learned the meaning of full control. Of what it truly felt like- not only to hide one's passions, but to fully control them.
He found the place where logic and love exists side-by-side, and in it a peace he had never before in life known.
He was a new creature. Born of the turmoil and the struggle and the pain of years of searching for that peace which he had now found.
And now- it was time to return home. To begin to rebuild what had been torn asunder and to restore and rebuild his family.
"Dif-tor heh smusma, Sarek, son of Skon, son of Solkar, descendent of Surak."
He began his journey home across the desert expanse…his own greeting whispering on the winds of the forge- though there was no one left to hear him.
"Sochya eh dif."
VI
Though he had reconciled within himself, he could not transfer that peace to his adun'a. They lived together, yet apart during the first year of his return. They would be bond mates in public, but she was as distant and as cold to him as the nights he'd spent in the desert. A part of him understood that peace would come in its own time.
And so he maintained his distance. There for her constantly- but he would not approach her until her anger had run its course.
He understood the human need to grieve- understood it now more acutely than he ever had, and he knew that in time she would either leave- or something would change.
For she had lost a child that fateful day, and he a son.
He would listen during their conversations and hear her laughter- a sound that his ears craved yet rarely heard. Through others he learned of his only child's successes – the holovids and ambassadorial news his only source, and what little he could glean from the monthly calls that never included him. He swelled with familiar pride and yet could not express such when none would be welcomed in his own home. And still he lived with the realization that he had driven his child away.
It was many years before he could reconcile with Amanda, and it was true that time and nothing but that would heal the wounds he'd spent a lifetime inflicting upon his family.
VII
She had eventually forgiven him- only when he found he could no longer remain silent and she had shouted- screamed at him even. She had railed against him and beat him with her fists and he had bore the brunt of her fury until she could no longer scream at him anymore, and he had held her close to him as she cried- cried for them. For him. For their family and for the lost innocence of a youth he had forbid his child to experience, and for the things he had put them through. And they had sank together to the floor of this old home- grand in it's space and scope yet so empty from the years of sadness and turmoil these silent walls had bore witness too. And he had lowered his mental shields to her- absorbing her pain- feeling what she had felt all this time and reaching, understanding for the first time ever of what it meant to be a human alone in an alien world and to have no one- not even one's bond mate to understand.
He felt her loneliness, her sadness, her pain and her anger more acutely than he'd ever experienced such emotions and he wondered at the strength of such a small woman who had held such things away from him and he implored her- then and there- to never hold back. To never shield such things from him.
But in the end…only time…and time itself…healed the wounds that were self-inflicted.
Vulcan Words:
Haurok- a bird (Vulcan version of a vulture in this use)
Hla-meth- an herb (one with healing properties in this use)
A'cith- a cloth/sponge
Kunel-Travek- quite literally means "Mountain Range" but in this instance is the name of the range