"I grieve with you." The phrase was customary, but the emotion evident in Tavin's voice was not. Nor was the moisture once again filling his eyes.
"I didn't know her, Tavin. She died during my birth."
"Then I grieve more deeply with you, Kov. May T'Dana the sehlat bring you comfort, joy, and peace, as a mother, at her best, does well." Tavin didn't drop his gaze this time as the moisture flowed. He seemed to feel neither shame nor the typical need for privacy when so clearly compromised. Perhaps it was that they were in his home, or his interactions with the animals.
Kov wanted to learn what it was that allowed him to be so at peace with such deep levels of emotion. But it was a breach of Tavin's privacy to ask, and so he did not.
In five minutes more, the sehlat kit began to make small urgent cries, and the mother rose and came to stand beside Kov's chair. "O'Nama, kroykah. You will have your daughter and your son back; there is no need to frighten our guest. Kov, allow me to replace this kit, and I will take T'Dana and return her, as well. It is time for feeding and sleep."
Kov's arms felt illogically empty when the kit had been sent back to her mother's pouch.
"Now that you are more comfortable with my companions, young Kov, let us tend to the matter of nourishment. Do you prefer plomik as broth, or soup? I have both and would find it most agreeable to honor your preference."
"I am fondest of the broth, Tavin. However, I have not eaten since before T'Khut rose in the sky and find now that I am quite hungry."
"Then I will bring soup, kevlas toast, and gaspar. Will you take tea?" Tavin took up a small jar of scrubsand and cleansed his hands before passing the jar to Kov.
"Tea would be most welcome." Kov settled back into the chair; he hadn't noticed his fatigue, until now. But he had arisen yesterday expecting a typical day, rather than one that had included the new assignment to the Science Academy and the walking it had required of him, nor the additional excursion to and from the place in the rock.
"Perhaps sleep would be more welcome to you, young Kov."
He opened his eyes to find that Tavin was arranging a meal on the table between the couch where he had sat and Kov's seat. The sehlat were not in the room now; Kov must have fallen asleep.
"There is nothing to forgive. You have given no offense. On the contrary, I am well pleased that you are at ease well enough to rest here. It will make the learning we will engage in much simpler a matter, and I find deep comfort in the presence of another Vulcan. My life has been empty, without my husband."
"I grieve with you, Tavin." Kov had spoken the words before, but never had they had this level of meaning. Perhaps it was that he had never before felt the pain of the other. In Tavin's openness, there was something of shared experience which most Vulcans kept well hidden behind an appropriately controlled demeanor. "It is agreeable that I am able to offer you some measure of solace in this difficult time."
"You have done more than that, young Kov. You have renewed my purpose. In tending to your needs and assisting you in learning the things you must learn to find Awakening to one who resists tolerable, I have new meaning in my own living. That is a thing of great value to me." Kov thought perhaps he should direct his focus elsewhere when Tavin's tears seemed to overwhelm his control yet again. But the other man was watching him directly. "Does it truly trouble you so, that I weep openly in this place? Even though we are alone, and you know the shape of my pain?"
Kov had no answer to give, yet he felt strongly that Tavin wanted one, and his generosity and compassion deserved a response.
He considered carefully. "I am – unused to such displays, Tavin. But I am not troubled. A better word would be unsettled. However, I find – value – in what you share of your emotions. I lack the ease with language to express it more completely, but there is a comfort here I am uncertain I have ever known. It seems most illogical, with the presence of four grown sehlat nearby, but it is nonetheless true."
He was uncertain he had known the truth of the words until he spoke. Tavin, though, simply nodded. "Then please avail yourself of the food I've set forth. There is plenty; I've eaten little, these last days."
"Will you eat with me, Tavin?"