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Toq followed Tokath and the three other Romulans through the jungle. He could feel his heart pounding in the eerie silence. There was not a creature in sight. It all seemed surreal. If he hadn't been the fearless warrior that he was, he would have regretted insisting that his would be father-in-law allow him to come along. But there was no going back now.
He boldly marched along, hacking at the vines and underbrush with his machete. At least their chopping made some sound. Of his four companions, he could only sense the slightest hint of apprehension from Dhaval. Not surprising, since he wasn't much older than Toq.
Lieutenant Eviess, in an effort to lighten the situation, mentioned that H'dean told her before they left that he hoped she would get eaten by a snake. That way he wouldn't have to listen to her insipid reading ever again. "As if he's so much better," she scoffed.
Toq and Dhaval exchange glances. And then, they both burst into laughter. "That's not what I heard him say," Dhaval alleged.
That got Eviess' attention. "What did you hear him say?"
"I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you…" he trailed off sheepishly.
The lieutenant gritted her teeth. "Why not?" she practically growled. "Toq obviously knows."
"Well," he stammered, "it was supposed to be only between us," he searched for the word, "men." Toq could see that Dhaval had almost cringed when he said the last word, for he knew what would ensue once he uttered it.
"I am not your subservient human wife, Dhaval!" she scolded him. "And in case you've forgotten, I remind you that Romulan women do not docilely accept half-witted excuses!"
Dhaval's reaction to that statement made Toq laugh so hard that he had to stop walking and lean on his knees. Anne was dainty and melodramatic; there was no questioning that. But Toq knew full well that she was anything but docile and subservient.
Tokath all the while had permitted the clowning around up to that point, for the sake of morale. But now even he was getting impatient. "Dhaval," he groaned, "What did H'dean say already?"
"Alright," Dhaval surrendered, "I occasionally overhear him when he's on patrol. He talks to himself, you see," he dawdled, allowing his listeners' suspense to mount.
"Get to it, sub-lieutenant," Tokath warned.
"He berates himself for the way he feels about you," he spat out quickly.
Eviess narrowed her eyes incredulously. Dhaval was infamous for his pranks.
"It's true!" Toq insisted, backing up the tale. "And I've seen him stare longingly at your window when he thinks no one is watching!"
The woman glanced from Dhaval to Toq and back again. If it had only been Dhaval making the claim, she would have immediately dismissed it for the hogwash that it was. But Toq had been serious for most of his life. Though the two were friends, they had never gotten into any mischief together. This was only going to work once, Toq realized with some regret.
The lieutenant rolled her eyes and marched ahead. Toq couldn't be absolutely sure, but he guessed that it worked. Only time would tell.
They passed the first night without incident. The silence was terrifying. Toq felt chilled, despite the fact that the weather was beginning to warm up again. He should have been able to hear the night animals and insects hooting and hollering by this time of year.
Enough! he scolded himself. He was a warrior. He could face the fierce predators that used to lurk in this wilderness without so much as blinking. Yet he was afraid of—what? The absence of those animals? The idea was ridiculous, and yet…still he was edgy.
He surmised that Dhaval must also be uneasy. The young Romulan gripped his disruptor tightly. He, too, had a woman waiting for him back at the compound, a woman he was determined to return to. He was probably thinking of Anne as he sat up, keeping the first watch. Toq wanted to speak to his friend, but he didn't want to let on to Tokath that he was growing afraid.
After lying awake for most of the night, he at last fell into a shallow, restless sleep.
As they made their way deeper into the jungle, Toq became aware that it was no longer silent. He noticed there was a low buzzing sound. Though subtle at first, it gradually grew louder and louder. The day wore on, and soon the swarming noise was nearly deafening. He knew that Romulans had more sensitive hearing than Klingons, and could only imagine what the others were experiencing. They handled it well, however; and with typical Romulan pride, they did not admit to being phased in the slightest.
"We need to get to higher ground, above the trees," Tokath shouted over the ruckus, pointing to the nearest mountains behind Toq. Nearest, because they were in fact in a valley between two mountain ranges.
The young Klingon took his cue and led the line in the direction their leader indicated. The droning did not abate with their change of course, which led Toq to the conclusion that they were then traveling parallel with whatever was making that maddening sound.
His head pounded as they ascended the mountain side. They would reach the height of the canopy before dark. Then they might be able to see what was making that terrible ringing, which was beginning to make him feel nauseous.
In order to distract himself and to keep from losing face in front of the others, Toq scanned the mountainside for a suitable place to suggest for setting up camp. It would be dark before they could climb back down, after all.
A frightening sight awaited them once they got above the trees. "Blood of Kahless!" he swore in shock. "What in Gre'thor is that?"
H'dean marched along the perimeter of the compound, grumbling to himself. He had to take Dhaval's shift for he knew not how long. Until the whippersnapper got back, of course. It would inevitably be several days at least.
I was never that young, he thought wryly. In truth, he was only in his middle years. Those years had passed slowly, though. It was times like these when he was beginning to see that he was getting old.
He was not unhappy, though, merely tired and apprehensive. Desperately, he hoped the team would not find what he suspected they would find. The concern on Tokath's face was not so easily concealed, either. Their hunches clearly were one and the same.
As he walked past the open kitchen window, he heard the all too familiar sound of Ba'el and Anne laughing. What else is new? he thought. At least somebody can laugh at a time like this.
H'dean was glad that Ba'el had found a friend, and that she would soon be getting married to Toq of all people. Likewise, he was happy that Dhaval and Anne had found love in each other, after both of them had lost their families. Having lost his own dear wife in the battle with the Klingons roughly twenty-four years earlier, he could very much relate to what they had been through.
Indeed, he cared very much about the welfare of all the younger generation of the sanctuary, even the ones who had left with Worf. He had known most of them since they were infants, after all.
But on that night, he was worried and tense. Everything seemed to be getting on his nerves as a result. He groaned.
"She really did tell me that," he heard Anne claim.
"That she's in love with H'dean?" Ba'el asked in astonishment. "You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"
H'dean stopped in his tracks. He was not one to eavesdrop, and even if he was, those two girls were practically still children in his eyes. There was nothing they discussed that would ever be of interest to him. Not normally, that was. But the mention of one's own name is enough to get anybody's attention. H'dean's ears perked up in response.
"It's true," the human girl persisted, "but she said she'd kill me if I ever told anyone. So don't whisper it to a single soul."
Curiosity mercilessly gnawed at H'dean. Who could possibly be in love with him? He quickly went through his mental list of all of the inhabitants of Carraya IV. No one came to mind.
"I won't," Ba'el promised. A burning silence ensued.
The Romulan guard shook his head in annoyance and continued his march. It was probably just more of their usual, frivolous nonsense about fictional characters. That's what you get for wasting your time spying on silly girls, he berated himself.
"It's just that, it's hard for me to see Eviess being in love with anyone," Ba'el mused, "especially with H'dean. I was always pretty sure they hated each other."
H'dean turned his head toward the window. Did his ears deceive him? He was middle-aged, but that wasn't generally when one began to lose the senses. Did he really just hear that? No, it was impossible.
"Well, I don't know much about Romulan women," Anne ventured, "but they do seem to be rather harsh in my opinion. Perhaps—"
SMACK!
H'dean's head spun around in a daze. He didn't hear Anne finish her sentence, nor Ba'el's response to it. When he at last recovered, he realized that he hadn't been watching where he was going. As a result, he clumsily ran into a sizeable column. And he felt like a complete fool.
He soon got over his humiliation, however and laughed to himself. That shrewish hag! As if I would ever return her feelings! Oh, she knew full well that he would not. That was why she threatened the human girl. But telling Dhaval's wife in the first place was a grave mistake. As soon as he was certain he would not be heard, he permitted himself to chuckle lowly. Getting a little sloppy, aren't we, Eviess?
Did she honestly think that it wouldn't get out? Everyone knew there were no secrets on Carraya IV. Especially not between Tokath's daughter and her friend. They were like two peas in a pod.
H'dean no longer felt like an ass for colliding into the column. He wiped the trickling blood from his cheek, and laughed even harder. It was Eviess who had made an idiot of herself. Oh, he was going to have a time with this bit of information, whatever he decided to do with it.
And he had the rest of the night to scheme.