T'Mor approached agnes who was making Spock's bed. Hiren had said modest, but it was anything but modest. "Where do you think he got this round bed and why do you think there is a reflective surface above the bed?"
Agnes shrugged, "Sometimes, I think it's best if less is known, so I do not ask." She turned to her friend, "Which reminds me, how did the conversation with your family go about your pending marriage?"
No human would have seen her micro-expression, but to Agnes who knew her well, it was as obvious as if she'd broken down in an emotional wreck. Her shoulders dropped, as did her face, "They are not agreeable to the marriage." She said softly, taking a seat on a crumpled sheet by the edge of the bed, "They are requesting strongly that I return to Vulcan as soon as possible. The clan matchmaker has matched me with a vulcan from the science academy, and they are strongly requesting that I forsake the match with Letant in favor of this vulcan male."
Agnes sat next to her, "What is their logic in this matter?"
"Prejudice doesn't require logic." she said bluntly. "They do not favor the idea of having a romulan in their family. If I return to Vulcan they will take measures to prevent the marriage including a marriage challenge. No reldai travels off world, so there will be no vulcan ceremony, if I marry Letant. More than that, I will have no family or home if I marry Letant. They have said that they will consider me sahaisau, klee'fah'tu."
Agnes widened her eyes. T'Mor's parents were banishing her and giving her the title of banishment. Agnes simply sat with T'Mor for a long moment, holding space with her, n solidarity. "Can I speak with them on your behalf?" She offered breaking the shared silence.
"They will not listen to you. I had told them you might be willing to speak with them. They cited that you were not a real vulcan, with real ties to vulcan family and traditions."
"To use human terminology, your family sounds like jerks." Agnes offered.
"I do not believe you in error or illogical about that statement, as it can be scientifically proven." T'Mor said with more inflection in her voice than was normal for her.
"Does Letant know about this?" she asked and then re-thought, "Actually, I believe a better question would be, what do you want to do?" The moment T'Mor looked at her, Agnes could see devotion in her eyes, and a tension in her chest relaxed. She would not hurt Letant.
"He doesn't know. I was contemplating asking you to come with me to speak with him about this. I believe he will be angry and it may take us both to calm him."
"Only if you tell him the entirety of the story." Agnes said looking at her directly.
"You mean, lie?" T'Mor said with a frown.
"Not exactly a lie, an omission, and slight rephrasing of what is true."
T'Mor blinked, "What do you mean?
"Do you wish to be married on vulcan?"
"No."
"Is it your wish to have your family present at the ceremony?"
"No."
"As I said, there is no lie, just a reframing of truth. My...logic...could be in error, but it's a thought." Agnes offered.
"I will consider this option." T'Mor said thoughtfully, "This does mean that I will no longer be able to go back home. I will be a romulan citizen."
Agnes turned to her, "Marrying Letant automatically guaranteed that anyway. You aren't marrying a common romulan, T'Mor. You were never going to be anything but a citizen of Romulus. I am going to ask you a distasteful question now." Agnes paused and T'Mor's amber eyes searched hers, "Do you love him?"
T'Mor did not hesitate to nod once and Agnes didn't push her to verbalize what they both knew was true. "I know he loves you, and you know it as well. Loving a romulan is tempestuous. They are as smart as vulcans, but lack discipline. They are as passionate as klingons, but keep a thicker veneer of civilization. Sometimes, their first thought are amoral, but with a gentle hand can and will change those thoughts. Their devotion is on par, sometimes much deeper, with humans. They are a beautiful and tragic people. They are a people I think Surak, if he were alive, would embrace and teach as his own." Agnes noticed that T'Mor had not taken her eyes off her the entire time she spoke, so she reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "If you marry him, you gain an Empire which will, in time, look to you for guidance too. They will follow our examples. We have the opportunity not only to have worthy mates, but to be fingers of logic grasping in the darkness of mental chaos."
"This will put us in danger." T'Mor said wisely.
"Yes."
"But Surak himself was not quiet, even when the bombs fell around him."
"He was not." Agnes said, a hint of a smile playing at the edge of her lips.
T'Mor let a long thoughtful sigh, "Thank you, my friend. You have aided me in my thinking. I believe it is only logical that I proceed with the marriage. I will speak to Letant on this matter tonight, after Osu Spock's lessons." She stood, "I will aid you in making this, very illogical, bed." She lifted the sheets, "T'Agnes, you have become as a sister to me. I thank thee for your service."
"It is no service, you are as a sister to me as well."
Letant threw the half full glass of ale against the wall as his viceroy watched, "What do you mean there are dissidents in the countryside calling me and the emperor blood traitors?"
The Viceroy threw his head back in a roar of laughter, "Well, I see your vulcan love has not cooled your hot romulan blood too much, yet."
Letant shot him a withering stare and the viceroy sipped his own ale, "Letant, my old enemy, you and Hiren had to know this was coming. You have a red headed daughter, and most people believe she is of your loins." he scoffed, "How anyone believes someone so lovely came from you is beyond me." He saw Letant stiffen so he laughed and went on, "Now, you take a vulcan beauty for your bride, and there are rumors that an elderly vulcan is coming to the palace. Perception is the people's reality. You've been isolated these last months by a bevy of sycophantish social climbers. You and Hiren both. The senate kisses the hem of your undergarments because you have, so far, created a time of building prosperity. They line their pockets thanks to your graces, so they have indulged your eccentricities. At the same time, they reserve their judgments, and keep the secrets that I now share with you, because they feel as if it's only a matter of time that you fail. They think that once you do, they can use this movement to remove you both from power."
Letant's jaws flexed and relaxed at a frantic pace. He paced over to the door, looking at the centurion there, "Go, tell the Emperor I require him immediately." The man slammed his fist into his chest and left. Letant paced back to the table, his hands behind his back. The Viceroy was correct, he should have expected this, and he was twice as angry at himself that he did not. Mostly angry because this mistake could have cost him the lives of the women he loved.
The viceroy popped some fruit in his mouth from the uneaten lunch sitting before them. He leaned forward and took some of the most juicy morsels off Letant's plate, knowing he would not eat. "Personally, I have no issue with how you or Hiren conduct your bedroom affairs. I have seen what is available for single women among the court and think an unbathed klingon woman would be preferable to the vacuous social climbers who trade their attentions for power." He noted Letant wasn't paying attention so he scraped Letant's plate of food onto his own.
Hiren entered the room casting his eyes between Letant and the Viceroy. "Why have I been summoned?" he said more formally since the viceroy was present than if Letant had been alone.
Letant gathered up the fliers the viceroy had given him with blood purity slogans, "There is a growing movement in the country that calls us this." Letant hissed.
Hiren looked over the propaganda fliers, frowning at the unflattering sayings, and even more offensive altered pictures, including one of a shadowy vulcan puppet master with him on a leash. He sucked his teeth, tossing the papers on the table. "Do they have any plans to harm anyone yet?" He directed his question to the viceroy.
"Not that my sources have found. They are small, not yet well organized, but they are said to have a new charismatic leader, so things are apt to change." The Viceroy said eating his and Letant's lunch.
"Do we have this new leader's name?"
"No, only that he comes from the Tolania provence."
Hiren's eyebrows shot up, "That is the provence where my late wife came from. I will reach out to the people I know and see if I can uncover anything myself, before we enlist the Tal'shiar."
The viceroy stood having finished his lunch, "You two have much to discuss. I have done my part. I will keep you abreast of anything that develops, until then, keep your alien beauties under watchful care." He paused, "And if you die, Letant, I'd be more than happy to see to the "needs" of your would be wife."
Letant knew he was joking but it didn't prevent him from the naked aggression on his face, made worse when the viceroy laughed.
"Letant, calm yourself before the vein popping through the ridges of your brow explodes all over my new robes." Hiren said moving toward the tea to pour some. "I expected this, sooner or later, not so soon. We've only been back a few months. I think there is some other issue at play and this is just a catalyst."
"Yes, well, whatever other hidden issue there is isn't going to die and isn't my mate or daughter. So we can't fix what we do not know." Letant growled out.
"Then we approach them and discover what the underlying problems are. If it turns out to be simply the bloodlines of our wives, then we destroy them without mercy." Hiren was trying to be logical, but having been praetor and an admiral, he found himself internally at odds. He knew negotiations were probably the real solution to their issue, but he found himself with a taste for blood and revenge, revenge for something they only perhaps thought about doing to him and his family.
Letant sat down, looking at his empty plate, "I don't even remember eating this, that is how angry I am. " he pushed the plate away in disgust, "How quickly can you contact your Tolania people?"
"Within the hour." He turned to Letant, "Do you think we'd have these issues if we lead Vulcan, lived vulcan lives?"
Letant rolled his eyes, "Don't go native on me, Hiren. We aren't vulcans, and never will be. We'd have worse issues on vulcan because we'd end up violating one of their restrictive and repressive laws. I don't know nor can I imagine what a vulcan prison is like, but I do know the oppressive heat would be complete torture."
"Do you think our wives feel similarly about life on Romulus?" Hiren asked thoughtfully.
Letant opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He had never thought of that. Agnes not so much, she came from Earth, the Federation, but it was the same premise if he really thought about it. As for T'Mor, his betrothed, it had not even crossed his mind. "They aren't captive here, Hiren. We aren't enslaving them. We married them. They are free to…."
Hiren interrupted him, "Are they free? Can Agnes return to the Federation on a whim? Will T'Mor be able to go to Vulcan as she pleases? We have an isolated and xenophobic Empire. Just the other day, they had to SNEAK out of the palace to do something so innocent as to speak to a teacher. We on the other hand come and go as we please."
Letant's eyes narrowed, "What are you saying, Hiren?"
Hiren gazed into his tea, "I'm saying, I don't know. The three of us were freed from that mad mans' prison, and I am free, but they seem to have simply walked into another cage."
Letant threw the papers he was holding toward Hiren, "I'm leaving, you are a morbid ass today. Contact me when you know something solid." He flounced out of room with a huff.
