Chapter 12
"Is there really an ancient legend?"
She watched his hands as he carved the symbol in the stone pillar. It was basically a single coil with a line bisecting it, but in meaning it was much more complicated. He called the sign a chah-muh-zee, and it was a sign of respect to the earth. He was hoping that using it as a guide for the spirits they might be able to find their way home. Already something on the planet had changed, for Chakotay had been allowed to sleep in peace last night for the first time since they had crashed on the planet.
She smiled to herself as she amended that thought. Sleep had not been a priority last night.
"You're staring again," Chakotay interrupted her mental digression. He was still looking at his work, but he smiled her half-smile. She felt her own answering smile rise up from inside her.
"Yes, I do believe I am," she teased, aware of the change in both of them. He had been right: she had been pulling away even while sometimes pushing the boundaries just to assure herself she knew exactly where they were. But now she was able to just lie here and watch him in contentment. He, too, seemed content.
His smile widened and he glanced at her. She grinned. She had not forgotten their predicament of being stranded on a planet, yet it seemed insignificant to their little private drama of yesterday.
"There," he said as he made the final cut. The fresh stone was white against the dark brown of the weather-aged pillar. The pillar was a beacon into the part of the medicine-wheel representing the peace of the after-life. It was worth a try.
They stood together, hand in hand, looking at the pillar and beyond the rest of the valley. It seemed so peaceful.
She looked down at their entwined fingers, lifting them slightly almost as if she needed the extra centimetres for focus. As she lifted her head she looked at Chakotay – looking at her. A great tenderness was in his eyes.
It was as he leaned down to kiss her that they heard the clearing of a throat behind them. They both turned their head to look, still holding hands.
Behind them stood Tuvok, Harry, Tom and a young cadet she didn't know. It had been Tuvok that had cleared his diplomatic throat. The cadet and Harry looked uncomfortable, but she could swear Tom was fighting a grin.
"Tuvok," Chakotay said, "how did you find us?" They both turned around to looked at the party. Chakotay's hand slipped away, but she knew him well enough by now to know he would stand by his decision.
"We were able to land Voyager on a raised plateau a few kilometers back," the Vulcan said, looking very Vulcan. She had noticed long ago he did that when a situation was unfamiliar to him.
"You must have landed Voyager near where the shuttle had crashed," she remarked.
"That would seem likely, as we had discovered debris from a Starfleet shuttle beneath the stern of Voyager." If a Vulcan could have looked baffled, then they would have looked like Tuvok right then. She felt sorry for him.
"But I believe what the Captain had asked," she tried to keep him diverted, "was how did you even know to find us here?"
It was an enthusiastic Harry that interrupted Tuvok to answer.
"We had been here a week or so ago, but we couldn't find any trace of you," he began. "We went looking for you, but it was Neelix that sent us back here."
"Neelix?" she asked, not sure she understood the dark-haired young man.
"What Harry is trying to say, Admiral," Tom drawled, "is that during our weekly briefing with Neelix, he pointed out to us that the 'Sky Spirits' had had a technology that had confused our sensors."
She wanted to repeat: Neelix? The story still did not make that much sense. She looked at Tuvok, aware he would be more accurate. The dark man obliged her unspoken question.
"Lieutenant Kim had initially suggested we look for you here, on this planet. But something, which I had not been able to identify yet, was blocking our scans. We then expanded our search to other possibilities." He hardly took a breath as he continued. "It was, as Lieutenant Kim had said, mister Neelix that had reminded us of the 'Sky Spirits'' ability to confuse our sensors. It then seemed logical to return to this planet, yet instead of merely scanning, we needed to investigate in person."
"And that's when we found you," Tom interjected. Janeway needed to stifle her own mirth at the man's cheek.
"Well, I hope you had more luck with landing Voyager than we had with the Delta Flyer," Chakotay told them.
"We experienced no obstacles in landing Voyager on the surface," her Vulcan friend remarked.
Suddenly this, too, seemed familiar. She looked at the man next to her, then back at the Voyager crew. "Well, Tuvok," she smiled, "I'm glad you came back."
"We're happy to oblige," Tom said with a straight face. Tuvok glanced at him before replying as well.
"We would not have stopped the search, Admiral."
That seemed to be all that was needed to be said. The six of them went to retrieve the few things she and Chakotay had brought with them before heading back up the slope to the plateau.
As they reached the edge of the woods she turned back to look at the village in the valley. It seemed so quiet.
"What is it, Kathryn?" Chakotay was staying close to her.
"I was just wondering: do you think they will ever find their way home?" He, too, looked back over the sad village. There was no sign of the spirits, yet part of her was aware they had not yet left their village.
"I do not know, Kathryn. But it is their responsibility now to find their way." He lightly brushed against her. Her heart leapt. They had known each other a long time now – more than nine years. In fact, she was aware Reg Barclay was trying to plan a party celebratinga decade since Voyager's launch. In some ways it seemed so short a time, and in some ways it seemed like a lifetime. But it was only now that she felt she had finally found her own way home.
She smiled a small smile for the man by her side, and then turned. They both went up the slope to face their destiny; never again looking back at the forgotten village.
