Maat S'chn T'gai

Chapter Fifty-four - An Opportunity

New Vulcan

June 2266

Selek

He immediately noticed when the healers arrived at the house next door. He was outside, in the yard, making minor repairs to the stone wall around the yard, so that Senek could come out and play in the yard without Durra worrying about him. He tried not to be obvious, but when the litter was carried out, with the covered body on it, he knew that something serious was wrong. He stepped through the gate, and went down the path to where another healer stood alone. "Pardon, but may I inquire what has happened?"

"The woman who lives here has died. Her bondmate has collapsed. We will be taking him to healer house. It is not known whether he will survive or not."

"Are there relatives to be notified?"

"No, there are none."

"What will be done with the house?"

"I suppose it will be sold. I am not sure. We must wait to see whether he survives or not, and what condition he is in if he does."

He nodded and returned to his own yard, to finish the repairs. Later, he walked past the now empty house to Sarek's house, and told him what had happened.

It was three days later when they learned that the man had survived, but was now an invalid. He wished to sell his house, to provide for his support in the hostel that the healers ran, next to Healer House. They immediately called an emergency meeting of the clan.

Sarek

"The house between Selek's and mine is now empty and for sale. The proposal is that we buy this house for the clan, even though we currently do not have any particular need for it."

Varun nodded. "This is an excellent idea. The house could be repaired if necessary, and the stone wall expanded to include all three houses. There would then be a large play area for children."

Tarel agreed. "It makes sense to buy it when it is available. Perhaps at a later date, the two houses between Sarek's house and this one may become available as well. We should also buy those houses when possible."

No one disagreed.

"Because of the large influx of cash and investments given to the clan by Tarel, we can afford to do this. I will begin negotiations in the morning."

Elinor looked around. "We could keep it as a guest house for the time being. Simply furnished. So that if anyone came to visit we would have somewhere to put them."

T'Pau nodded. "Yes. This is a good idea."

Varun

After the house was officially theirs, he went to inspect it. He found nothing serious that needed fixing, only some minor painting and varnishing would be necessary to make it look like new. There were still several pieces of furniture in the house, and upon querying, it was discovered that these were included in the sale.

While he and Selek and Sarek labored to tear down the side walls of the stone fences around the two previously owned houses, in order to use the stones to build the back wall behind the new house, the women went through the house, taking all the curtains and linens that they found to the clan house to launder. And then they cleaned the house thoroughly, so that it was ready for the crew to come and paint. They also inventoried what they found in the kitchen.

When the back stone wall was completed, and ran clear across the back of all three lots, they had very little stone left to use for the completion of the front wall. Elinor informed them that there was a new business, that she had on her list to check out, that provided building stone. Not having to go and search for every stone themselves would save them much time. They went to check it out, and returned with a cart laden with stone. While he went to return the cart, the other two men began on the wall. By the time he came back, they had a good start on it, each working on one side of the path to the front door. He set the gate posts in place and constructed the gate, and Tarel came and helped to hold it in place while he attached it to the posts. Then Selek began to instruct Tarel in the art of constructing a stone wall, while he assisted Sarek. By the end of the end-week days, they had the stone wall complete. His crew would come early on First-day to begin the painting.

Durra

When all the painting and varnishing was complete, and the walls and floors shone, the women carried the curtains and linens back, and hung the clean curtains in the windows. They folded all the linens and stored them in the linen closet. And then they washed all the dishes and pots and pans they found in the kitchen. In the late afternoon, the furniture delivery man showed up, and assembled the bed in the bedroom, placing a small chest next to it. Now they could make up the bed.

They needed to buy a lamp for the bedroom, and two armchairs and a table and lamp for the living room. And some better towels. They would supplement the dishes in the kitchen, which were already an odd assortment, with odds and ends from the other kitchens. By the end of the week, the house was ready to use, even though there was no one to use it. It would stand there, clean and ready, until they had need of it.

And now there was a large yard, fully enclosed, where the children could safely play. Saavik was marching around it, looking at everything very closely. Senek was toddling along behind her, gurgling with glee. Sovak was crawling about, not steady enough on his feet yet to follow the other two. Sapok sat in one place, watching everything that was going on. It would not be long before the two smaller ones were following the two older ones. Things would get very lively indeed when that happened.