Author's Note: I've been remiss to note that I've borrowed a few details from other stories I've read here including the presence of a huge canyon behind the family home, Vulcans enjoying rose petal delicacies, and the whole garden thing. My thanks to the authors who created these ideas, which I assume are not canon. I'm only writing for fun and to work on dialogue.
Chapter 6, There Will Be No Stains
McCoy gazed around the splendid garden and grounds around Sarek's and Amanda's home. It's like a palace, he thought to himself.
He looked back at T'Sefora, who was inhaling a kind of rose hybrid and almost smiling, just so slightly.
Below them lay a vast canyon that reminded McCoy of Earth's Grand Canyon. The family home was, in fact, perched on the edge of the canyon. McCoy found himself irrationally—illogically—worrying about earthquakes. Even as he reassured himself that no Vulcan would build a home in an earthquake zone—this ain't San Fran!—he made a note to ask Spock about the geology of the area.
McCoy walked back to T'Sefora, who, to his surprise, plucked a few petals off the rose hybrids and ate them. Then she saw McCoy. "I trust you will not let my Aunt know this," she half-stated, half-asked. She turned her attention to a lavender-like plant to taste.
"Your secret is safe with me," McCoy answered with a smile. "I'm guessing these flowers are a delicacy."
T'Sefora nodded. "I have been careful to only sample. Ezyet Amanda tends to notice when things are amiss in her garden."
"Speaking of Amanda, where the devil is that devil cousin of yours?"
T'Sefora looked a little uncomfortable. "I believe Dap-lan-pa Sarek and Ezyet Amanda wished to speak with Spock about how he intends to proceed with his ko-kugalsu, who I believe is quite…disturbed by what she has seen on the news."
"His what?"
"Ko-kugalsu. His fiancée."
McCoy stared at her. Surely there was something seriously amiss. Spock was almost definitely involved with Nyota Uhura. His head spun. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Spock was engaged? None of it made sense.
"T'Sefora," he asked, "what exactly was all that media buzz about at the airport? Is it the cause for that argument in the hovolimo?"
T'Sefora cleared her throat. Sometimes lavender got stuck in it. She took a drink from her waterbag while she thought about how to answer McCoy. "This may take a few minutes to explain," she said. "Perhaps we should sit on the bench."
Up in the office, there was utter silence after Amanda's initial gasp.
And then, a wide smile grew on her face. Sarek remained expressionless but both she and Spock could feel his shock through their bond.
"Spock…son…when?" was all Amanda could get out.
"Last month."
"Why?" Sarek's voice was soft, almost a whisper.
"I told you, sa-mekh. I love Nyota. She loves me. We both want this and we are tired of keeping our relationship a secret, although I gather it is not on Vulcan.
"It will also ensure that we will be allowed to serve together on the Enterprise when it launched next year."
Sarek was a little disturbed by Amanda's obvious delight. "I am very happy for both of you, son," she practically gushed. "I liked Nyota very much. From what you've shared, she is both brilliant and loving. And even your father admitted that she is aesthetically pleasing!"
Spock turned his eyes on his father, his eyebrow raised. Sarek raised an eyebrow back. I may be old and bonded but I am not blind.
Amanda laughed and could feel Sarek start to relax as he absorbed their son's news.
"Will there be…repercussions once you go public with your engagement?" Amanda's delight was suddenly tempered by her earlier concerns.
Spock's mouth curved up just a bit. "No, Mother, it will not, if precedence is any indicator. There have been other, similar marriages. And as I have stated, nothing was out of line when Nyota was actively under my supervision as instructor."
Sarek finally spoke out loud. "Spock, there is the matter of T'Pring."
Amanda sighed. "Do we have to talk about her?"
"Yes," her husband and son said in unison.
"Buy me a Coke," she muttered. Her husband and son both raised an eyebrow to her.
"T'Pring's father contacted me two days ago," Sarek began. "He was most displeased by the videocasts of you and Nyota. T'Pring, he says, is quite distressed."
Amanda snorted. "She is about as distressed as a lematya (1) chasing a kelek-aushfa (2)," she said.
"Explain," Spock said.
Spock was well aware that Amanda held T'Pring in low regard. From the start, T'Pring had been what his mother called "difficult." She refused to respond to young Spock's attempts to strengthen their bond in the weeks and months that followed their kan-telan. It had torn Amanda apart, watching her seven-year old spend hours trying to reach the little girl through his mind.
Finally, he'd come to his parents, almost in tears, to ask if there was something wrong with him.
T'Pring, she thought, was just cruel. Over the years, she would tease Spock by blocking him from her thoughts for months, and then extend the faintest probe just when he was about to give up on her. She'd get his hopes up, pay him some attention, and soon go back to blocking him.
It wasn't until Spock had had enough of the stifling atmosphere on Vulcan—where nothing he did ever seemed to be Vulcan enough for anyone—that he announced his intention to join Starfleet. Amanda was sad to see him leave but she could hardly blame him. He needed, she thought, get the hell away from everyone on Vulcan.
Hearing that Spock had rejected VAS and more or less publicly announced he was leaving for Earth, and an inferior institution, T'Pring had actually come to their home, uninvited, to demand that he consult with her. As if she had any right to place any demands on him, Amanda had fumed at the time.
Amanda told her that Spock had already left. It was a lie, but the bond between T'Pring and her son was so weak that the young woman couldn't detect his presence. And anyway, he was, literally, already packing to go.
T'Pring went on to complain to anyone who listened that her bondmate was not behaving as a true Vulcan, that he was giving in to his Human emotions. What Vulcan, Amanda had to wonder, who's worth his salt would stand for the treatment that she and the Academy dished out to Spock?
Sarek had been quite upset. He meditated for two days and concluded that VAS had acted illogically and possibly unethically. Spock was correct to turn them down.
Joining Starfleet, however, was another story. Risking his life for what Sarek calculated held a 17.852% higher risk of early death than, say, taking a diplomatic or scientific assignment was downright illogical. There were other universities on Terra that were more logical choices, more suitable and…safer.
Neither of them, however, regretted the loss of T'Pring from Spock's future. They both worried about how he would handle his Time and held out a somewhat illogical hope that his unique biology would spare him the more devastating effects of full-blown plak-tau. (3)
More recently, Amanda had heard through the grapevine that T'Pring had not been exactly logical in her own behavior. She'd held her tongue, though, until it would be necessary to come forward with a charge of adultery, or at least cheating. And even those were concepts that were virtually unknown, if not unacknowledged, on Vulcan.
Not that Spock had exactly been a beacon of perfect behavior. But at least he'd tried to bond with T'Pring.
"Amanda," Sarek said gently. "You are keeping something from us."
"T'Pring is unworthy of Spock."
"Explain." Again, they both spoke in unison.
"She condemned Spock when he left for Earth. She publicly spoke of her illogical anger toward him. Even if she doubted him, it was her duty to stand by him and support him and she didn't do that."
"I didn't, either" Sarek quietly reminded her.
"You are his father. Parents are allowed to show disapproval. And you eventually did the logical thing—you came around. You never shut off your bond entirely. You felt for Spock and you reached out to him when you were back on Earth. Don't argue with me, Sarek—you love our son as much as I do. Maybe in a different way, but you do, and I know you can't bear to lose another child.
"You must remember this, Husband."
Spock reached out to his father. I know.
He felt Sarek tell him how, as he grew older, he missed Sybok, his troubled, illogical older son. A brilliant young man who somehow strayed so far off course. At times all of it hurt so much he could hardly move.
I know, Father, and I will work to reconcile our family. I will find Sybok. It is illogical for us to remain out of contact.
Amanda quietly absorbed the communication between her son and husband. "What I have learned," she continued, "is that T'Pring can hardly play the role of a wounded wife."
"You have listened to gossip?" Sarek almost sighed. It was such a Human thing.
"Hardly. I saw her with another one."
Spock eyes widened. He'd suspected as much given the extreme frailty of their link and his utter failure to consider T'Pring as he found himself more and more drawn to and fascinated by Nyota. T'Pring was almost an afterthought, so much so that it wasn't all that difficult to explain her presence to Nyota.
But to be caught out in the open, by her presumed future mother-in-law—now that was something so illogical it made wearing a Starfleet ski cap look sensible. Spock caught that last thought from his father.
Amanda did, too, and laughed out loud.
"I wish to formally end this tel." (4) Spock said. "It must be mutual."
"How do you plan to achieve this, given her family's…inclination?" Amanda asked.
Sarek stood up. "My wife, you were right all those years ago," he said. "The kan-telan was wrong for Spock and I suspect it is wrong for many.
"I started this. And I will end it. With no stains on Spock or the T'gai T'chen clan."
(1) wildcat-type creature native to Vulcan
(2) small pet
(3) the blood fever that is the final stage of pon farr and generally fatal unless the male mates although a few can stave off death through intensive meditation
(4) bond