Chapter 52: An Unexpected Conversation

A/N: Hi everyone, yes, this is a late update! I had lots of work and I sprouted a wicked little cold last week. I was not very popular on the public transport during that time, as my shattering sneezes made many an anxious eye swivel towards me :-) Fortunately, I'm all set again! Thanks for being so patient :-)

Alaya Karangalan: While I liked Arya Stark, my favourite was her sister Sansa Stark. Sansa started out as the naïve girl who became street-smart in a very subtle and unobtrusive manner. Arya was more in-your-face, and Sansa learnt to state her opinion and stand her ground in an increasingly queenly manner. No wonder her red hair and storyline are reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth I and she was crowned as Queen of the North at the end of the series. Yes, Vreenak is fiercely protective of Asha and she of him. And yes, since Vreenak is openly pro-isolationist and Letant is not, spying on the latter made more sense :-)

Romulanlover, great observations! The Tal Shiar, as Commander Toreth stated in canon, are doing the opposite of protecting Romulus. They are so paranoid that their own people are afraid and tired of them.

Romulans loved water. They had public baths, much like in ancient Rome, catering to different classes. They also held swimming competitions, and during the particularly hot months, the rivers were full of Romulan swimmers. Children were taught from a very early age how to swim.

Asha was swimming with Vekal in one of the beautiful rivers which led to and from the Apnex Sea. A true military man of disciplined habits, Vekal had been adamant that Asha continue her swimming lessons with him regularly after she had mastered the basics in Mirek. Christine found the whole arrangement very amusing and described their lessons as military training. She herself enjoyed swimming with her husband and joined them on a few occasions. When Thorek had the time, he, too, would accompany them. This, however, had the effect of intimidating Asha, so Vekal decided to teach her only when the two of them were alone. She appreciated the fact that he didn't ask her prying questions about her love life, especially considering his clear disapproval of her choosing Vreenak as a romantic partner.

This time, he wanted to teach her how to dive. Asha was not at all pleased about this idea, insisting, as she had in Mirek, that she would drown. Vekal listened to her protests patiently, then proceeded to shoot down each of her arguments one by one.

"You have undergone a medical checkup which states that you are able to dive without problems," he pointed out.

"That's only the medical part of it," Asha replied stubbornly.

"There have been many situations where you had to strike out on your own or you would have drowned."

"That's only figurative," she countered.

"I will not argue with a linguist. Finally, you insisted you would drown if you swam on your back. Nothing of the sort happened."

"I nearly did during my first few attempts."

"After which you mastered the backstroke. Still, I think a demonstration is necessary," Vekal said, completely unimpressed. Asha watched his lean muscular figure dive neatly into the water. He emerged after a few seconds with a shining purple stone in his hand. The river bed was covered with them, and they were eagerly gathered to make beautiful jewellery like necklaces and bracelets.

"Now, let's see you retrieve one of these stones," he said.

She frowned. "Oh, fine," she grumbled. "I don't know why I'm doing this."

Vekal raised his eyebrows. "True. No one is forcing you or holding a disruptor to your head. If you do not wish to dive-"

She glared at him. "Nice try. You know which buttons to press to make me do something I'm afraid of doing."

Vekal simply gazed at her impassively and kept himself above water with a slow, elegant breaststroke.

She practised first by sticking her head under water. Some Romulans who were swimming nearby were so amused by the spectacle that they stopped to watch. The unexpected audience distracted Asha, and Vekal's patience was sorely tried by this occurrence and his reluctant student. He remained calm, however, and instructed her to ignore them. After an exhausting thirty minutes, Asha was able to retrieve a pebble. Her achievement was greeted by applause and joking from the group.

"Good luck with the next pebble next year, Ihhei!"

Asha's cheeks turned pink with anger, but she clenched her jaw and when she continued to ignore them, they lost interest and moved away. Vekal's face softened.

"You did well."

"Thanks," she said. "Look, maybe we could go somewhere more quiet next time?"

"No."

"Why not, eneh?" she said, surprised.

"I believe you have been booked to recite poetry during a wedding," he said.

"Yes, and? What has that got to do with this?" she retorted.

"You have to learn how to swim and dive in front of others, just like you are going to read in front of others. You cannot have the whole river only to yourself."

"Surely one can reserve a swimming spot or something of the sort?"

"That is not our custom."

"We don't always have to do what others do," Asha snapped.

"True. But we are arguing in circles and wasting time, paenhe. The point is, you have learnt the basics of diving and not giving up in the face of adversity."

"Ah. Two lessons shoved into one," she said sarcastically. "You seem to have got it into your head that you need to teach me life lessons when we swim together."

"Yes," he said simply.

"When will you stop being my teacher?" she exclaimed in frustration.

"The day you stop being my student."

Asha gave up. It was very difficult to anger Vekal; or rather, Vekal, when angered, had excellent control over his temper.

She got out of the river and grabbed her towel. Vekal watched her for a few moments, smiled and proceeded to copy her movements.

"It is to be expected of someone who used to command Warbirds," Thorek said, laughing at Asha's description of her latest swimming lesson.

"At least it has given me inspiration for my latest poem."

"I ardently hope to be its second reader after you."

She smiled. "Of course."

And she gave him the pebble she had retrieved from her first successful diving session.

Vreenak, too, was amused by Asha's detailed narrative of her first diving lesson on Romulus. They were having tea in his garden, enjoying each other's company to the fullest.

"Maybe your teacher is lacking," he suggested.

"He's not! He's excellent!" she defended Vekal fiercely. "It's just…that I seem to need a push where swimming is concerned."

"A'rhea, you prefer swimming in words to swimming in water."

"Oh…That's a good way of putting it."

"And it annoys you that you need a push?" Vreenak asked her, leaning forwards and kissing her affectionately on the forehead.

"Yes. I hate being pushed by others, e'lev. It makes me feel incapable."

"Ah, I see. You feel infantilised?"

"A little. I am used to pushing myself on my own."

Vreenak smiled. "Ah, but I pushed you into reading out your poetry. You in fact made your displeasure about my gesture very clear to me afterwards."

"That's true," she said, smiling. "Romulans don't beat about the bush when it comes to self-presentation and showmanship."

"Most definitely not. We are tutored carefully in that area. Romulan education is-"

"-outstanding, I know," Asha laughed. "Well, I'm catching up now. Next week is my recital for the wedding."

Vreenak was more reluctant than ever to see her go. Letant's rogue rathakir were still collecting information and returning with bits and pieces of information which, when put together in a larger context, made him worry deeply for the Empire's future and just as much for Asha. Behind all those bits and pieces lurked the shadow of Borg technology. Yet, maddeningly enough, nothing truly damning about Hiren, who he knew had been responsible for the unique engineering of the rathakir together with Senator Tal'aura and Praetor Neral, had been forthcoming so far, and the man himself was inscrutable as always. Or at least, nothing damning enough to eject Hiren and his friends from the Senate and ruin his, Hiren's, career.

Asha dressed carefully for the wedding and took, as she always did, her stamp with her in case some of the attendants asked for her digital autograph. It was the second time she was attending a Romulan wedding, the first having been Kihika and Vereth's ceremony. This particular wedding had been organised by a distinguished family whose ancestry reached all the way back since the Sundering according to their meticulously kept family records. The bridegroom was rising high in the military and marrying a distant cousin, who, like him, was pursuing a successful military career.

Asha was more used to public speaking, and she always prepared herself thoroughly, researching her hosts, going over protocols for wedding guests and choosing her poetry carefully, though her hosts had been kind enough to inform her what type of poetry they wished for. Not surprisingly, it was about war, conquering and glory – taking, of course, the noble family history of the future spouses into consideration.

Her performance was very well received, and a small queue waited patiently to receive her stamp and copies of her book. She still found it hard not to blush or downplay the compliments she received. She was in fact expected to give small insights into her poetry-creating "genius", as one admirer referred to her writing, by displaying moments of triumph on her journey to publishing her book. Modesty was definitely not a forte of the Romulan people, and she had rehearsed with Rhian and especially Vreenak, who was a model of arrogance, to say things like, "I always felt that my poetry was worthy of an Empire. Not sharing it with you would have been most stingy on my part." Or: "Outstanding poetry is unfortunately often wasted on fools. I knew, however, that it would be never be wasted on a planet like Romulus which is full of unequalled literary taste."

Asha had closed her eyes in horror at such boasting, but her teachers were unfortunately right. Any downplaying of compliments or her poetry for the sake of modesty would be considered a rude rejection, and she would come over as weak or ill-mannered. On Romulus, giving and accepting compliments included praising the whole Empire. Rejecting a compliment was similar to insulting the Romulan Empire.

As she handed out digital autographs, her attention was arrested by a face which made her break out into an icy sweat. It was a cruel, sneering face, and it belonged to none other than General Parem of the Tal Shiar.

"This…chance encounter…is most wonderful, Ihhei t'Darak," he greeted her. He looked her up and down. "You seem to be thriving on our planet."

Asha mustered all her courage and self-control. "The world is small sometimes, Ihhai tr'Parem. I am indeed thriving on Romulus, and it is to you that I owe my deepest gratitude," she said evenly.

"Oh, it was a pleasure," he replied silkily, extending his copy of her book towards her. Asha placed her stamp on it.

"Thank you. It is always such an agreeable surprise to meet old faces from ages ago. Why…I might even call on you one of these lovely days," he mused.

"It is most kind of you to wish to trouble yourself, Ihhai, given your very busy timetable."

She noticed his eyes narrow. It was a warning sign that General Parem was becoming angry because she was refusing to be intimidated.

"If I have sufficient time to attend the wedding of a close acquaintance and school friend," he gestured at the bridegroom, who was talking with his parents-in-law, "then I most certainly will have time for you."

"Very well, Ihhai. I am sure we can arrange something."

"I am very sure, too. I will get in touch to schedule a meeting."

"I would be most honoured to host you as my guest. I remember your…hospitality with great affection," Asha answered.

"Memories, memories! What would we do without them? I wish you a pleasant day, Ihhei."

He smiled in his sneering manner, bowed to her mockingly and stepped aside, leaving place for the next person in the queue.

When Asha came home, Thorek took one look at her face, rose and put his arms around her.

"What is it?"

She hugged him as tightly as she could and buried her face against his neck. He guided her tenderly to the sofa and sat down next to her. She was trembling and looking him with frightened eyes. She told him about her conversation with General Parem. Thorek's face grew grave.

"He might arrest me. He might arrest all of us," she said, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I heard it in his tone and saw it in his face. He is a murderer."

Thorek held her tightly in his arms. "Ashaya, Senator tr'Vreenak must know about this."

"What if I put him in danger and he, too, is arrested by the Tal Shiar? They won't care that he's a Senator or their former employee. They don't care who's who anymore!"

"Asha, he must know."

She nodded slowly. "I will send him a message at once."

Thorek picked up his PADD. "I am sure Parem's threats are connected with this news item."

Asha looked. Chairman Koval of the Tal Shiar was on his deathbed due to the Tuvan Syndrome which had plagued him for years. Word had gone around that Koval's very own colleagues and employees considered him lax, and that he was too lenient to run the Tal Shiar properly.

"They're going to get worse after he dies and they choose a new Chairman," Asha stated. "And while it is true that we got married because of Parem, it is to ourselves we can give credit for the love we share in our bond, e'lev."

"Yes," Thorek said with a quiet triumph in his voice. "We can be proud of ourselves."

"Always," Asha said firmly, lifting up her chin.