Chapter 3
"I would speak now," T'Pring more or less commanded.
Nyota nodded. "Please, perhaps you should start since you are…were…Spock's first girlfr—"
"Hardly," T'Pring cut her off.
"Weren't you bonded to him as a child?" Nyota asked.
"Yes. But neither of us had any say in it."
"So…you just never saw each other again?" Christine asked.
T'Pring let a glare slip through her carefully fixed façade. "No. I did not say that. What we had was more than a simple Human boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. We had a bond, of our minds, that was supposed to develop as we grew into adulthood.
"But Spock decided to leave our home, for Terra, to attend Starfleet. And that was that."
"You mean," Nyota asked, "he just left? No good-bye? No discussion of your future?"
"Oh there was a discussion of sorts. In which I was expected to wait for him and his need for me. He did not ask for my opinion on Starfleet. He did not ask if I thought if it was a logical move for him. He just told me what he was doing and left."
"Did he ask you to go with him?" Leila couldn't help herself.
"He said perhaps I join him at a later time if it was logical to do so."
"Ouch!" Christine, Leila, and Nyota all said at once. Droxine's eyes widened.
"He did not consider the needs of our bond, of how it would affect me for him to be off-planet at a time when we were both maturing. When we would need to be together, to support one another."
"Did he…understand this?" Droxine asked tentatively.
"I do not know."
"Did you explain this to him?"
"It should not have been necessary. We do not speak of a need, we just know when it is there. And he chose to ignore when I was in need. Of course, the logical explanation is that as one who is not fully V'tosh, (1) he may simply have been unaware."
"So it may not have been entirely Spock's fault that you were left on your own in your…time of need," Nyota said tentatively.
"Possibly," T'Pring answered, "but I was all too aware that his mind wandered. Just like a Human."
Nyota and Christine looked at each other a little guiltily.
"Pardon?" Droxine asked.
Leila sighed. "I turned his head. I know I did. Spock has a thing for blondes."
T'Pring's eyes narrowed. "Not just you. Also her—Chapel. I saw both of you in his mind."
"Christine?" Leila was astounded. "You?"
"What, Leila, do you think you're the only woman Spock ever encountered?"
"I just—I didn't think—oh, I can't say this right. I thought Spock truly loved me and me only."
"Um, T'Pring?" Nyota asked tentatively.
"Yes?"
"Did you ever, uh, see me in his mind?"
"No."
"Really?" Nyota was surprised to find herself feeling a little let down.
"Not in the lustful sense he regarded Chapel and Salami."
"Kalomi," Leila huffed out.
"And Droxine-oh, he met her after your…divorce or whatever you call it," Christine said. "Because she's also blonde."
"Correct. I am unaware of Droxine."
"Christine…if I had known you and Spock were together, I swear I would not have allowed us to be together," Leila started.
"Oh can it, Salami. You drugged the guy. He came to me on his own."
"When he should have been coming to me," T'Pring added. "But I had moved on by then. If he had paid our bond any attention he would have understood."
"And would he and I?" Christine wondered out loud."
"Possibly. By then he was too confused to understand what had happened to our bond."
"You ended it?" Droxine asked.
"Negative. I allowed it to atrophy. It sent him mixed signals."
"That's rather…cruel."
T'Pring snorted. "Please. He left me all alone, never called after that first year, never wrote, nothing. Never came home—"
"But that's because his father wasn't speaking to him!" Nyota cried out.
"He has numerous other relatives who would have been pleased to host him. Not to mention, my own family. Face it, ladies, he dumped me, to use Standard vernacular. But he forced me to make it official."
"But he still went back for you!" Nyota pointed out. "And you told him you preferred Stonn and would have him no matter what."
"Correct. And even Spock admitted my logic was sound."
"But why did you pick the Captain to fight him when you knew off-worlders didn't understand the Vulcan way to break a bond."
"That was no concern of mine. It is illogical to bring friends to an event without explaining what is expected, or may be expected, of them. My duty was to Stonn. Spock had been trained by Starfleet in fighting techniques Stonn knew nothing of. My concern was to protect Stonn."
"I thought the Captain was dead when he came back to the ship," Christine mused. "You should have seen Spock's face when he realized he wasn't after all. It was priceless."
Nyota sighed. "So Spock's flirtations were enough for you to just decide to end it with a fight to the death?"
"Spock made each and every choice to disregard our bond. To V'tosh, there is no such thing as flirtation. To V'tosh, this is disreputable behaviour. I had no choice but to protect myself and he who desired me."
"How much did you see?" Leila inquired.
"Enough to know you succeeded in gaining his attention a second time."
"So there was a first time," Nyota noted. "I was never sure of that."
"There was indeed. Spock indulged himself," T'Pring confirmed.
Leila blinked back tears. "Is that all it was?"
"Correct, or as far as I could tell. By then, our bond was quite weak. I did not sense the kind of attachment between your two that should have been between him and myself."
Christine sighed. "There was really nothing between us, T'Pring."
"On the contrary. You told him you loved him."
"Oh for goodness sake, I was under the influence of a virus that stripped nearly everyone on the ship of their self-control. It was like hedonism took over some of the crew."
"But you felt it at that moment and so did he."
"He ran away from me, T'Pring."
"And on that Platonian planet—"
"Oh for god's sake, he was forced to kiss me. I even told him I wanted to crawl into a hole to get away."
"But you were attracted to him."
"One way, sister, one way."
"I think not. Regardless, I had enough by then and decided I would move on with my life."
"And Spock be damned?" Droxine asked.
"Yes. Because he had already damaged me and our bond."
(1) Vulcan