I have been meditating. Correction: attempting to meditate, but the calm I seek eludes me.

Sarek monitors me from a distance. "Attend to your duties, and I will attend to ours."

Ours. His and mine? Vulcan duties, exclusive…of me?

Without hesitation, my first thought was to serve my people; that my duty was to the good of the many.

Now so few.

And yet, I did not miss Nyota's soft intake of breath…the sorrow I sensed even without touch.

Duty called: with everything that I am, I know I must serve my people.

But I cannot lose you, my one.