Disclaimer: I don't own trek. This is for fun not profit.
Rating: PG
A/N: Written in response to the September-October Word Prompt Challenge at The Delphic Expanse. The Prompt: Leaves
T'Pol shivered as a cool breeze blew off the bay, causing leaves to fall from the trees and flutter gently to the ground. She had been to many worlds, but she had never experienced an autumn like this one, so different from her home planet. However, the crisp air and the smell of spiced apples and tree sap was far more endurable than the indoor stench of human bodies. The V'Shar agent in charge of her training visit had advised her to use a nasal numbing agent, but she had rejected the idea in favor of attempting to become accustomed to the smell. After only twenty minutes, she had had to leave the cafe where she had situated herself to study humans, talking a walk in the park adjacent to Golden Gate Bridge.
Wisely, she had put on Vulcan thermal garments beneath the human clothing she had been given. She looked down at herself, still finding the clothing - a wool skirt, leggings and a sweater - strange. The wardrobe mistress at the compound had told her this ensemble was typical of a university-aged student. The mistress had also tied a scarf around T'Pol's ears in such a way that her long hair still hung over her shoulders, and she had given T'Pol a bag containing books, paper notebooks and writing instruments she said would be carried by a human student.
T'Pol breathed in and out as she walked along the path. She noticed several human males trying to get her attention as she passed, one by smiling and another winked at her. A third spoke the words "Hey, baby." She recognized this as pre-mating behavior, and she was grateful that her people had evolved away from such practices. She thought briefly of attempting to smile in return, but she feared her smile was not yet perfected and would give her away. Besides that, she did not want to encourage the males.
As she walked toward a lake, she passed a group of human children at play. They had broken into teams and one team was attempting to carry a ball across an imaginary goal line without being restrained by the other. She had learned about this game at the compound, though she had been shown a video of an adult version. These children were not using physical violence but rather light touches during game play.
Despite the fact that the children were enjoying themselves, T'Pol soon found the game tedious. She turned her attention to a tree that she found curious. She approached and examined its leaves. As she did so, the children's oval-shaped ball fell at her feet, bumping into her black boots.
She leaned over and picked up the ball. A human boy, blond and fair skinned, ran towards her.
"Thanks, Miss," he drawled in an accent she recognized as not native to this part of Earth.
"You're welcome, young man," she replied, and he looked at her strangely as she handed him the ball.
She wondered if her response had been too formal. She expected the boy to leave, but he didn't. He stared at her, then he grinned at her. Yet, because of the boy's age, she did not find him an irritation. Moreover, he seemed more polite than the grown men.
"This tree," she asked suddenly, "It's a maple tree. It's not native to the West Coast of North America, is it?"
The boy looked up at the tree. T'Pol noticed he had striking blue eyes. She had never seen such eyes on a person, though she had met many humans.
"Nah," he said, "Nothin's native to this park. Everything was planted. That's what our tour guide said. My science class is here visiting Starfleet Headquarters. My dad wants me to be an engineer - but I wanna be a Starship Captain - so I'm gonna come to school here. Do you like it? School here, I mean."
She paused.
"It is agreeable, yes," she replied, telling herself that in a way, she was in school. Her V'Shar training was a kind of school, and one of the lessons was never lie if the truth would do.
The boy looked at her, and again she suspected her answer was not precisely appropriate. She also sensed a mental sharpness in this child that was unusual for a human.
"I'm gonna get back to my game. Thanks, Miss," he said as he broke into a run.
She watched him rejoin his classmates, and then she continued on her walk. She was strangely confident that the boy would have, if he had stayed in her presence, realized who - or rather - what she was. This impressed her. She had not met many likable humans, but some of them were fascinating.