Disclaimer - Please see Chapter 1

Avarak, having decided that it would be logical for him to use the remaining time to explore some more of the forest, came up from the pool and dried himself off. As quickly and quietly as he could he put on his execution uniform and shoes, trying not to disturb Mimi who was still lying on the beach.

Mimi propped herself up on her elbows, "Hey Avarak, what are you upto?" she asked him.

He had tried to be quiet… "I want to explore the forest." He said this with a small smile on his face.

"Would you like me to come with you?" a note of concern in her voice. It wasn't a good idea for Avarak to be exploring on his own.

"I was going to ask sa-mekh to come." he paused, "Do you want to come too?"

"No it's ok." she smiled, "I will stay here beside the pool with the boys. If your sa-mekh doesn't want to explore, come back and I will go with you."

"That would be agreeable." He nodded his head, turned, and ran towards his father who was a small distance away sitting on a rock beside T'Shahel.

"Sa-mekh!" Avarak was impatiently hopping from one foot to the other.

Sordd looked at him, as the day progressed it was getting harder and harder for his son to control his emotions. "Yes, Avarak." he said kindly.

"Would it be agreeable for you to explore the rocks with me?" He looked up, his deep brown eyes open as wide as they could go.

Sordd smiled the Vulcan smile that wasn't a smile. He was inwardly pleased that his son had asked permission, thus averting potential havoc. "That would be agreeable. Why do you want to explore the rocks?"

"There is an insect I would like to catch... I saw one on the rocks."

Sordd stood up, "It would be logical to start there. Lead the way..." Avarak led Sordd to a small patch of stones and rocks situated by the forest trail. They were tucked in amongst some bold pink and yellow flowers with large sized heads, there were also some small white butterfly-like flowers. As they approached they could smell the fragrance, a combination of spices, which reminded them of some of the flowers on Vulcan, and a sweet tropical floral fragrance which was totally alien to both of them.

They methodically started to turn over the stones, being careful to return them to their right place afterwards. The insects underneath quickly scurried away, however, it was of no consequence to Avarak as they were not the ones he was looking for. After 12.35 minutes of this activity Sordd became aware that his son was beginning to get very frustrated. He needed to take preemptive measures that would avoid any loss of emotional control. He placed his hand gently on his son's shoulder, "Avarak I think it would be wise to have a five minute break. Let us sit over here in the quietness. Then we can formulate a plan before we start looking again."

Avarak looked up at him, a look of frustration was on his face. He frowned. Sighed, then said, "Ha, Sa-mekh." in resignation. He sat down beside his father and tried to calm himself, it was difficult. Time was running out to catch this particular bug. Avarak began to fidget slightly, counting down the five minutes. Sordd sat quietly and at peace beside him.

Sordd took the time to have a look around, at first he took in some more of the beauty, sounds and smell of the forest... then his eyes fell on Peter, Adam and Saros who were still playing in the blue pool... T'Shahel was working quietly on her flower garland... Mimi was a small distance away lying down on the beach, her eyes were closed. He continued to watch her, a warm feeling grew inside as he did so... she stirred, sat up and looked at her PADD... he noted a look of concern on her face and he quietly wondered what had caused the change, it would not be logical to draw conclusions without further data. Mimi returned to looking at her PADD, exactly 2.25 minutes later she reached into her bag and took out two tablets… He inwardly sighed.

"Sa-mekh. Glazhau!" Avarak whispered beside him, interrupting his thoughts. Sordd turned towards his son who was currently pointing his finger towards a basalt rock that was about 1m away. A little insect was slowly crawling along the surface of the rock. Sordd watched Avarak quietly stand up and move toward the rock, a V'Shar operative would be impressed with his stealth. He carefully placed his hand in the path of the insect and after a few moments of indecision the insect crawled onto his hand. He looked at it in fascination and then he quickly and carefully cupped his hands together. A broad smile appeared on his face. He returned to where Sordd was sitting, uncupped his hand a little, "Sa-mekh. Glazhau!" Sordd looked in.

"Fascinating Avarak... Go and ask T'Sai Mimi what it is."

"Ha, Sa-mekh." He watched his son carefully scramble over the rocks towards where Mimi was on the beach.

"T'Sai Mimi!" Avarak called excitedly. She hadn't heard him...

"T'Sai Mimi!" He had finally reached her. "Are you ok?"

She looked up and smiled, "Yes, Avarak, I'm ok."

He frowned, "Sa-mekh can help..."

"I'm really ok ... Show me what you have there sweetie." She looked down at his hands.

The smile appeared on his face again. He looked down at his clasped hands, held them out and carefully opened them. Crawling inside was a little bug with a bright red dome shaped body and six short legs. The red body was littered with black spots.

"What is it T'Sai Mimi?" he asked excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other again.

"That is a ladybird, sometimes people call them lady bugs. Where did you find it?"

"On the rock over there. Sa-mekh helped me." He pointed to a rock that was sheltered under a banana tree. Mimi could see Sordd sitting beside it watching them. "I will go and show it to T'Shahel and Saros."

"If you want to show T'Shahel and Saros you better cover it over again as they can fly."

He raised an eyebrow at this and quickly cupped his hand over it again. "Fascinating. I will need to tell Sa-mekh." He said and he turned around.

"Remember and put it back where you found it Avarak!"

He turned to make eye contact with her, "I will T'Sai Mimi!" and then he skipped away. She watched him go over to the rock where T'Shahel was sitting to show her the bug. He opened his hand and the next moment Mimi could see him jump up and down, it had flown away. He ran and talked to his father for a few moments, then ran back towards Mimi. He was certainly going to sleep well this evening!

"Do you not want to swim more in the pools?" Mimi asked.

He looked down at her. "No, T'Sai Mimi, I am tired. Can I sit beside you instead?" he smiled.

"Of course you can. But first, can you let the boys know we have thirty more minutes then we need to go?"

Avarak ran off to tell them and quickly came back. She made some room on the rug she was sitting on and he sat down beside her, they both had a small snack and then sat in silence listening to the sounds of nature all around them...

Exactly thirty minutes later Saros informed Peter and Adam that time was up. They all scrambled out the water and began to dry themselves off and changed into clothing for going back down the trail. They looked like an absolute rabble. Mimi wasn't so concerned about her nephews, they always looked a bit of a mess, but she was concerned that Avarak and Saros were not to the usual Vulcan standard. Their trip uniforms were covered in mud from top to toe, and their hair had that drip dry appearance with no two strands going in the same direction.
Mimi made eye contact with both Sordd and T'Shahel their raised eyebrows said it all. To try and make them more presentable Mimi ran a comb through their hair. Saros's hair fell neatly into place after running the comb through once. After much effort Avarak's hair was finally tamed apart from a small tuft at the back. They then started their way back down the trail...

Kaiidth - What is, is.

Sa-mekh - Father

Ha - yes

Glazhau - Look

V'Shar - Vulcan Intelligence Agency