A/N: These are shorts relating to my other story, 'Cultural Complications,' centring about Spock and Sorvik. It was received better than I'd hoped, and I sort of love the pairing, sooo... Also, thanks to all reviewers of that for your input, its always good to hear opinions. :)

Disclaimer; I do not own Star Trek, nor any of its people, places, items, ideas, bleh bleh bleh...

Notes; This one is before the marriage, when Sarek and Amanda were choosing Spock's mate. It's a little silly, though the next chapter will be more serious. Sorvik only plays a small part in this one, I'm afraid, but the next is all Spock and Sorvik.

"I don't know if I like this - why do we have to arrange a marriage at all?" Amanda asked for the fourth time. "Spock might not even go through pon far…"

"That is true," Sarek said, patiently. "He may also merely go through it less frequently; his human heritage could make it come more frequently. His Time may be more or less powerful than is usual, or the same as any full-blooded Vulcan. We have no way of knowing. Will you risk his life with unlikely hopes?"

"If he hasn't gone through it by now - "

"Some go through their first Time as late as fifty-six," Sarek pointed out, "though it might be rare. I do not understand your reluctance."

"The whole business with T'Pring hasn't exactly reassured me, no, sorry. And now we're looking for a male - "

"We know for certain he can not have children," Sarek said, as he had already explained several times. "It is highly unlikely another clan would allow him one of their daughters, and that is logical. I do not understand your reaction."

"I just - I don't want him to have a husband. What if he doesn't like Spock, like T'Pring? And you know he'll likely belong to the other, if his pon far isn't coming."

"First, T'Pring did not choose to go with Stonn simply because she did not 'like' Spock. Nor do I see how the sex of Spock's spouse would affect that matter."

"It's just…" Amanda seemed to search for words. "Oh, never mind." Sarek raised an eyebrow. "But I don't believe what T'Pring said, you know. That harpy hated him for his human blood, I'd swear it."

"She shamed her clan," Sarek said simply. "She is without logic. It can only be beneficial to us that she denied him, then."

"Well, fair enough. I never liked her anyway, you know."

"You met her only once - when she was seven."

"So?"

Sarek shook his head slightly. Amanda continued. "Well, I know one thing - I'm not letting Spock be matched up with the highest bidder this time."

"Highest bidder?"

"I don't care what family his mate will be from," she said, firmly. Sarek's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "We are going to meet all the prospective mates, and then decide which his best for him."

"Without taking Houses into account?" Sarek asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yes."

"Occupation?"

"Doesn't matter, as long as he has a job."

"Wealth?"

She flicked her fingers. "I don't want him to be someone totally without money or occupation, I'll admit, it's good to know my son won't have trouble in that area, even excluding the clan's wealth - but it really doesn't matter."

"T'Pau will not like this."

"And Spock would not like to be married to some xenophobic bastard."

"I assure you there are very few Vulcans conceived out of wedlock, and the odds that Spock would be paired with one, much less a xenophobic -"

"You know that's not what I meant, stop it. Look, we're interviewing them, that's final."

Technically, by Vulcan law, it was up to Sarek to decide on his son's mate. But the logical Vulcan knew better than to go against a protective Terran mother, and this one in particular.

"Yes, wife."

Amanda apparently did some judging of each of the potentials by appearance alone, which Sarek found somewhat illogical, so he was forced to watch out a window with her as the candidates would come up the long path to their home.

"No," Amanda said immediately as she saw the first candidate. "No, no, no, no, no. No way is he marrying my baby."

"Spock is - "

"I know he's not a child, but he is compared to that. My god, that man has to be two hundred!"

"One-hundred ninety seven."

"I don't care. He's grey, he's walking with a cane, and he's… no."

"Age should not be a factor when there are so few options - "

"No. Just… no. Someone younger. Much younger. Look, look at it logically, please - no point in giving Spock a mate that will probably die within a few decades anyway, right?"

And, frankly, the thought of her little boy having to mate with that wheezing carcass -

Shudder.

But, really… She had no issue with couples with great age differences… but for one thing those she approved of were generally for love. She was not going to subject her son to an unwanted marriage with a senior-citizen.

"He is from a very respectable family…"

Sarek trailed off at Amanda's glare. "What did I say about that?" She hissed.

"…"

"That's what I thought."

Sarek was somewhat baffled by his wife's ferocity with this subject. Usually she was a quiet, even-tempered thing, strong in her way but impeccably polite and respecting of Vulcan customs. Today, however, she was showing a rather rare fierceness. There was no reasoning with her when she got like this; he had learned the best thing to do was to just go along with it.

Her manner changed to polite and charming as the old Vulcan entered, still slightly puzzled with the fact that he was being interviewed instead of just receiving a marriage request but taking it in stride. He answered a few questions, really of no worth, and was bid away. He seemed to take it as just human illogic, not realizing he had already been taken from the list.

"I don't like that one," Amanda said immediately as the next came. "He looks nasty."

Sarek looked at the approaching figure skeptically. He was about the same size as Spock, not very dissimilar in features, and his face was totally blank.

Nasty?

He entered. Amanda smiled politely despite her stated misgivings, opening her mouth -

"If I may," the Vulcan interrupted. "I do not see the purpose, Ambassador Sarek, in indulging this illogical human 'interview'."

It was Sarek he was addressing, but it was not he who answered. "Oh?" Amanda asked. "You have a problem with humans?" Not waiting for an answer; "How do you intend to treat my half human son, if you're to bond with him?"

A quirked eyebrow. "His needs will, of course, be provided for."

Her eyes narrowed at the cool answer. "And you don't care about the human blood?"

"He is a member of the clan of Surak," the Vulcan dismissed. "Any such alliance outweighs such negative factors."

"Get out that door before I punch you."

Sarek did agree that they should not consider the one who had killed two previous mates in pon-far-gone-awry. Most of the rest he really didn't even have to evaluate. Amanda seemed to find something wrong with each of them. Two he somewhat agreed with, after comtemplation;

"Sarek, his last mate went mysteriously missing, totally unexplained, and I don't like the look of him. I don't care if he probably just went missing! You don't know, do you? No, I don't care what Clan he's from, haven't I said that? And I don't think the alliance will last long anyway if our son is murdered by his bondmate, so…"

"Absolutely not. You know how that family is about Starfleet - what do you mean that's good? No it's not! You really want him to be forced to quit?" (Amanda threw a minor fit at this and yelled at the surprised Sarek for several minutes.)

Some of her choices he did not understand at all.

"He looked shifty. It was his eyes. Cross-eyed? Well, I still don't like him. He seemed… arrogant."

"Did he smell to you?"

"He looked stalker-ish. I don't how, he just did. No."

"He had a moustache. A little Hitler moustache. Moustaches are signs of evil."

(Sarek; "…")

One of the most illogical, besides the last; "He doesn't seem intelligent. Spock needs intelligent."

(Sarek might not have contested that if she hadn't said that before speaking with the Vulcan, though after he was forced to admit that it seemed she was correct - how did she do it?)

"No. He's… large. And I'm not so sure of his attitude. I don't like that. Don't tell me I'm illogical, I don't want to risk having Spock that much weaker than his mate… I don't care if that makes sense or not, it's not happening."

It was the last reason that had Sarek sure she would dismiss the next candidate, Sorvik, a tall, broad Vulcan who was easily stronger then their son. Indeed, she said as much as he approached, as she had with the one before. As always, however, she greeted him politely enough as he entered.

"Alright, Sorvik. You're - forty nine? So you had a mate before this, I'm assuming?" Sorvik confirmed this. "Alright, what happened to him?"

"He was killed in an incident in the market - accidentally stabbed."

Amanda nodded, gave the customary Vulcan response to a loss, but paused to eye him closely. Nothing about his face seemed to change, exactly, but it seemed like he somehow emitted sorrow. Interested; "What did he do?"

"He was a musician."

"Oh? Do you like music?"

"I… find it agreeable." He seemed somewhat puzzled at the question. Her lips twitched slightly at that.

"Alright, do you - "

"If I may," Sorvik interrupted. Amanda raised her own eyebrow, nodding. "I feel obliged to inform you that I am… not so sure of the wisdom of a bond between myself and your son."

"Because he's human?"

He looked a little surprised. "No. I… still grieve my late bondmate. I do not know if this shall effect him adversely through the bond. I would not have him experience any discomfort due to my - emotions."

Amanda's eyes glittered with something odd, and Sarek felt a strange sense of anticipation, watching her. "From my understanding of the bonds, he will be quite unharmed, and he is a strong telepath; if he truly wanted to he could shield himself from you." A pause. "What's your position?"

"I am a junior ambassador in the Diplomatic Corps."

"Really?" Sorvik looked somewhat alarmed at the question, obviously not sure how to respond.

"I am not lying," he said, somewhat baffled.

"Sorry, human thing," Amanda assured hastily. "…Tell me a bit about yourself."

Sarek was quite certain what her decision would be before he left. She turned to him, triumphant, totally forgetting her initial thoughts on the Vulcan.

"That one."

He accepted this - Sorvik came from a good family, had a respectable position, and was a close enough age for the difference to be negligible to the long-lived Vulcans. It was a good match. Still, he did not quite understand why she had picked him.

Amanda had her own reasons, totally unrelated to those of her husband. Those details might be nice perks, but the main reason was emotion. He had cared for his mate, had admitted to caring for his mate, and had shown concern for a Vulcan he had not yet met.

He was, really, the only logical choice.

Spock -

A spouse has been selected for you. He is a member of the House of Styvrel. The marriage will take place in four weeks. You will return to Vulcan as soon as is possible to familiarize yourself with him before the ceremony, as you will undoubtedly be returning to duty afterward. You will be expected to comport yourself with the dignity befitting a Son of Surak.

Your mother also would like me to assure you that he is a more than appropriate choice. I concur that he had somehow met her standards, which were both rigorous and illogically baffling.

S.

*No offense intended to people with little Hitler moustaches. *grins* Married to a Vulcan or not, you can't expect Amanda to really be that logical, can you?

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