Synopsis:

Chronologically, Awakening begins in the year 2276 after the V'Ger Incident and nearly a decade before the events of the return of Khan Noonien Singh in late 2285. The entirety of it takes place within the span of one day, and is told through the various viewpoints of each character. Awakening is written as a foundation for future stories, establishing character history and personal perspective.

This story relates Saavik's early experiences and impressions after being rescued by Spock on Hellguard in 2274 at age ten. After nearly a year on Dantria IV, Saavik is taken to Vulcan to live with his parents as her legal guardians. Spock is forced by duty to leave her behind as he continues to serve aboard the Enterprise. Saavik's story is told in tandem with Spock 's through his long distance relationship with her from space.

Through personal memories of struggle from each of their pasts, a new shared history will unfold. Both of them will be trying to make sense of their lives; Saavik to her adjustment into civilized Vulcan society and Spock as he adjusts to dealing with his parents and protégé, finding himself at odds with strict cultural traditions that still bear grim recollections. Interactions on board the Enterprise are also explored, and it becomes apparent that even old friends can get on each other's nerves.

Notes for Reference:

** While not entirely necessary, it may be helpful if you are familiar with The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes and Unspoken Truths by Margaret Wander Bonnano. You may wish to look to these novels first as reference to Spock discovering Saavik with aid of the Symmetry.**

References will span from The Original Series, The Animated Series and The Motion Picture with hints to future events in the prime timeline. Review and comments are greatly appreciated. Also, I am by no means fluent in Vuhlkansu, but I do my very best to be correct in grammar and spelling. Finally, please do not post whole or parts of this story anywhere else on the web without my consent. Thanks for reading!

Paramount, CBS and its affiliates own Star Trek and all related characters; I'm just pleased to borrow them for a while without making a cent.

Awakening

Nam-tor wak vah yut s'vesht na'fa'wak hehe pla'rak. I'wak mesukh-yut t'on.

Time is a path from the past to the future and back again. The present is the crossroads of both.

- An excerpt from Surak's Analects

Chapter 1: Dreams of Stars

Darkness enveloped her as the stars watched, uncaring sentinels as they were. Although in this moment it was eerily quiet, the parched air still and windless, she knew instinctually this was not time to drink in the peaceful silence, to drift off into sleep as she desperately wanted.

She was being stalked.

Even in the relative wasteland of her surroundings, there was sparse life and it rarely remained hidden or quiet for long, especially at night after the harsh sun had set and the air cooled to more tolerable temperatures. Here, everything was deadly, starving and wild. Comfort or safety were not words that she comprehended.

Carefully, she directed her attention to this new threat, sniffing the air for a clue to who or what intruded on her territory. Her body tensed, and her first thought was to flee but she knew that she must find restraint. She closed her tired eyes to concentrate, to will the rock she clutched to tell the secrets of her adversary. Sometimes, if she tried, she could seem to feel other beings if they were close enough, to gauge if their intentions were benign or deadly. Perhaps this was a reason why she survived when so many of the others had succumbed, but she never thought critically of this reflex herself. The only truth she understood was that there were two states: survival or death.

Dark eyes blinked open, to the stars, to the great infinite expanse above. Her hands bled with the force of her grip on the jagged cliff wall, and she hurt from straining to crane her neck. Ignoring the pain, she continued to use all her senses. A thin layer of sticky green blood began to dry around the hilt of her only possession, a tiny dagger. Many times this battered metal shard had stood between her and llaihr, the great darkness.

Abruptly aware, she knew intrinsically that this was no friend that approached her. It continued shadowing her above in the cliffs.

In the stillness, a pebble dislodged and clattered down the embankment, landing a few feet from the outcropping she clung to. The sudden disturbance startled her, and she hoped that the slight sound of her audible gasp was not enough for her quarry to detect her. Grimy fingers ritualistically stroked the edge of her blade as she channeled her fear into aggression, readied herself to attack and kill. There was no choice, no empathy, no right or wrong. Only raw instinct guided her in a continuous fight to survive or die in agony trying.

So intent was she on the threat from above, she didn't notice that someone else had approached her position. She heard the faint whirring murmur of a tricorder servo as it passively scanned her location, verifying an existence that until now had been undocumented, unknown. Her fear gripped her with the newfound knowledge that she not only had one, but two potential threats to contend with.

Hhakh ri-fainusu! Zaprah!

She tried to concentrate on the new danger and sent her mind and will out into the waste, allowing her curiosity to reign despite the acute sense of dread which this unknown element presented her.

It was in this instance that her adversary from above chose to strike-

- And the sudden heat of the first rays of sunlight as they cascaded through her bedroom window awoke her with the dawning realization that this was not Thieurrull and she was not in danger. Shuddering slightly, she composed herself, working to mentally create distance away from the reoccurring nightmare she had broken free from countless times before.

Saavik pushed chestnut curls over her elfin ears and rubbed her eyes. Peeling her light coverlet aside, she carefully padded barefoot across the warm tiled floor to the large window in what was now her room, and stared speechlessly at the great expanse of the Forge and the nearby peaks of the Llangon foothills. A light scent like cinnamon incense wafted vaguely through the thin air, and she closed her eyes to concentrate on committing the pleasant scent to memory. It was a sweet and complex smell of sand and desert blooms and a recent sandstorm had left the air feeling electrically charged; she could detect a slight metallic taste on the tip of her tongue. A shadowed movement outside caused her breath to catch but she kept her eyes closed, willing with all her strength that this was not an elaborate dream, that she would not wake up to find herself battered and alone on Hellguard.

Jarred from her silent reverie, her senses reminded her that she was not alone. Her guardians were up and about, discreetly going about their own morning routines as she was left to sleep.

Opening them once more, bright eyes adjusted to see a large teresh-kah as it swept its expansive silvery wings and warmed itself in the sunrise of Nevasa. It was no doubt looking for an early meal as it soared freely across the great crimson expanse. Saavik sighed heavily, relieved that fate had not played a cruel trick on her and she was still in fact standing barefoot in her room in ShiKahr. It is illogical to daydream, she thought as distantly the raptor's cry punctuated her silent discourse. Like so many times before since she had been whisked away on the Symmetry, she went through the motions of convincing herself that her living nightmare was finally over and she could relax. This was now reality and not the horrors of her past.

Allowing her shoulders to settle, she composed herself squarely once again by closing her eyes and mutely looking inward. Over the past year especially, her teacher had taught her to use discipline to find what she had at first believed to be a remote and inaccessible peaceful center. She had fought him at first, kicked and screamed with a litany of Romulan curses. It amazed her that he never struck out as she did, never screamed back. His only response was to quietly acquiesce, then later ask her permission to try again. At first untrusting in his motives and with certain disbelief that she could ever find serenity such as he described, let alone any kind of logic in her seemingly untamed and chaotic reality, Saavik stood resolute and immobile. From the beginning, she realized he could be stubborn and in her way, she would illustrate to him that she could be likewise. Somehow over the course of a few months, his patience with her had finally won out as it usually did, and she relented to at least try to succeed in the First Level of kya'shin.

Strange how now it was difficult for her to comprehend a life without such introspection; she considered her early lessons, the tantrums, the tears. Each was a stepping stone down a long path. At times she still found it hard to put one foot in front of the other and keep going, but it was something she must do. To learn control was one of the greatest gifts he had ever bestowed on her, and she would always be grateful. She considered this as she heard his predictable response to such notions at the back of her thoughts: There is no reason to thank logic, Saavikaam.

Descending to the cool tile floor, Saavik enlaced and steepled her tiny fingers together, focusing her energy as her eyes closed in reverence. All the while she could hear his gentle voice reminding her, patiently guiding her as she worked to build a comforting barrier between her inner self and the outside world. She allowed her consciousness to drift inward toward a perceived center. At the heart of this, she could see a flickering flame and could feel its heat as it licked and burned at the mental barrier she had constructed. Calmly, persistently, she soothed the inner blaze, tempered it until the fire became nothing more than a steady ember. It continued to burn brightly, yet she maintained control over it.

Saavik became aware again of her reality as the raptor screamed earnestly across the desert. Like the teresh-kah, she was still searching and more immediately, also hungry. It was time to prepare herself for another day of her new life.

Notes:

1. Saavik intrigues Spock when he first encounters her on Hellguard because she says the word "stars" in Vulcan in the novel The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes.
2. The flashback on Thieurrull is analogous to how events are described in The Pandora Principle, only now told from the perspective of Saavik instead of Spock.
3. "Hhakh ri-fainusu! Zaprah!" translates as "Stupid Stranger! Get Back!"
4. Saavik is taken to Vulcan to live with Spock's parents according to the 1984 DC Comic The Origin of Saavik (#7-8) as well as in the novel Unspoken Truths by Margaret Wander Bonnano.
5. Kya'shin translates roughly to "teaching of thought over emotion." From 'kya'= existence; ultimate abstraction of emotion and "shi'"= place of. (VLD)