Narek watched Enid make her morning delivery from Ni'ael's window. The two men and Heiko's hologram were having breakfast and listening to Fank's update about the early morning events.
"You didn't take anything from her room?" Ni'ael asked. Narek had reported on the drawings wedged into the wall.
"No." He'd been careful. The men listened to the audio again. It was difficult to be sure what was going on as they only heard one side of the conversation. Not even that, Narek thought, Sort of a quarter of a conversation since there was no telling how much information was conveyed telepathically. Enid seemed to shift between telepathy and sign language for no apparent reason but then born telepaths often had inconsistent abilities. Most were powerful telepaths. Many like Enid, suffered sensory difficulties due to an overload on their brains. Enid didn't process peoples sub vocalizations consciously but perceived them as music which gave her an empathic quality. All around the young woman could be inconsistent. At times easy going and happy while at other times emotional.
"Ena, slow down," Rone's voice was steady. "You're tying yourself in knots." Narek was glad that Rone sometimes spoke aloud to Enid but wondered why. Enid had liked to hear her thoughts in her own voice. Maybe if Enid was emotional, verbal interactions were more effective than telepathic?
Enid could be heard whimpering and huffing atop of the sound of papers being shuffled. At least that is what it sounded like, flipping papers in a notebook.
"Easy, easy…" Rone soothed. Enid's breathing had become rapid. She was going to hyperventilate.
"Her sheet music!" Narek recalled the stacks of notebooks in her room. "I think she's rifling through her sheet music." He wished they had visual surveillance inside the residence.
"I wonder," Ni'ael began, "S'ril has sold some of her sheet music over the past few years. Maybe he didn't tell her?"
"Or she forgot," Heiko crossed his arms across his chest, "Her memory has gotten progressively worse over time. Her sheet music is like a journal to her, she might be trying to find a memory of something." Heiko knew that Enid's primary language was music. Her sheet music was important to her, it anchored her to her memories, her identity.
Ni'ael dismissed Fank and Heiko had a meeting to go to at school. Ni'ael turned to Narek, "The synths arrive today," he said.
Before going back through the checkpoint Narek stopped by his quarters. What sheet music had S'ril sold? He punched some keys on the panel on his desk, pulling up auction sights. He scrolled through a few screens until he found what he was looking for. The buyer for each batch was anonymous but there were images of the documents that had been purchased. Narek pulled out his handheld and transferred Enid's composition of Narek to the panel, placing it over the other documents for comparison. There were definite similarities with one of the documents. He looked at the star date on the document, it coincided with Narek's previous visit to the planet. She recognized him in her way. She had been trying to figure out when she had met him before but S'ril had sold those memories. Narek had no doubt that S'ril had purposely sold the documents to make it harder for Enid to remember her early encounter with her own people. He downloaded the image from the auction site to his handheld. He could use this. Once the synths arrived there would be no reason to maintain a Romulan presence. Time was getting short.
He found Enid in a dress shop and took up a position across the street where he could watch the activity through the storefront window. Enid didn't carry a PCD so Narek was left to wonder for what occasion she was buying a dress for. The seamstress projected a holographic representation of Enid. From the panel she flipped through dresses, each one being rejected by her customer. The seamstress excused herself to the back room leaving Enid sat cross legged, alone on the floor in front of her hologram. She looked down and played with some lint in the carpet.
What would her life be like with her father among the ultra elite of Romulan society? Would she, as Ni'ael suggested, find an occupation that would be both fulfilling to her and useful to her powerful father? He hoped so. He was grateful that the girl had great power in her own right. Plutarch would have more use for her than simply marrying her off to cement an alliance. She was not hard on the eyes for sure but her disability would make her less attractive to suitors. The idea of her having an ambitious political succafant forced on her was objectionable to him. He hoped that Plutarch was a man worthy of having such a daughter. He was startled when his handheld signaled his ear piece. Rone was talking to someone.
"I'm sorry, brother, I broke your fiance," the voice said. Narek tapped out a sequence of keys on his handheld to triangulate Rone's incoming call. It was from the dress shop. Interesting, broken how?
"No, she was out of sorts this morning. She's missing some sheet music."
Rone's voice sounded weary, born telepaths had difficulty regulating emotions eliciting disproportionate responses to small setbacks. "She's probably just overwhelmed by too many choices.''
"I just thought she should look at all her options…With her figure she can wear almost anything."
"It's one day out of our life, Aya. You can't put that much pressure on her." That Enid was looking at wedding dresses saddened Narek as it would be distressing to the girl when she learned she would not be going through with her plans.
"How to manage that?" Narek wondered. He understood his role in this. He was to be Enid's handler, at least in the short term. His goal was to deliver the girl to her father in one piece. He wanted to inflict as little trauma on the girl as possible, hopefully he could convince her to go willingly. He may need to convince her friends to let her go as well.
It was a slow day at the infirmary so Rone promised to pop by as soon as he found someone to cover for him. About 10 minutes passed when true to his word, Rone appeared at the public transport station on the corner. Dressed in scrubs and a lab coat he sprinted to the dress shop.
"By the prophets!" he exclaimed upon seeing the Enid hologram, "That is the one!" In the quiet afforded to her as Aya called her brother for support, Enid had figured out how to operate the holos controls. It wasn't as hard as she supposed really, why was this so difficult normally? She scrolled back through the previously discarded dresses and found one she liked and activated the program.
"You look like an angel," Aya said.
"I'm the luckiest man that ever lived…" Rone embraced her.
"Great, now out!" Aya deactivated the program, "It's bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the big day!" This was a relief Aya thought. She wondered if Enid was going to decorate her own cake or if some hapless baker was going to be subjected to the same trial? Rone had wanted to wait until S'ril gave his blessing but Aya figured that would never happen so she pushed her brother to proceed making plans quietly.
Enid had really wanted Missy to help her pick a dress but knew that was asking too much of her friend. She felt an urgency to marry Rone. The fact that she couldn't have children had been bitter news to them both. So bitter that Enid feared that Rone would never get over not having children by his own body. She should have never asked Rone to scan her! Enid had been offered a seat at a conservatory on earth but couldn't go. She was afraid her absence would provide Rone the opportunity to find a woman that he could love, one that could provide him with children of his own. Afterall, she had not been faithful when Rone left to go to school although she knew that Rone blamed Missy for that.
Rone too wanted to wed as soon as she was done with school. He knew that Enid's fragile sense of worth had suffered a blow with the news she couldn't have children. Rone had a developing distrust of S'ril since he learned Enid's heritage. The sooner Enid was out of that home the better.
After Rone left, Narek brought up the image of Enid in her choice of dress that had been stored in the dress shop's computer. Judging from the decor of her room, he expected the dress to be a frilly, overly femenine affair common for young Federation brides. It was actually quite simple and sophisticated. Her eyes stood out with the white girl in the white gown.
Enid left the store and turned right, away from the center of the settlement. Narek spied another tail, a nondescript humanoid was following her as well. Nondescript was the only way her second tail could be described. He wore a knit cap and was neither tall nor short. By his coloring, he could be human, Vulcan, or half a dozen other species, even Romulan. There was nothing outstanding about how the man was dressed and even for an experienced operative, tailing this man would be difficult. Narek lost sight of him a few times only finding him again because he didn't stray too far from Enid. Where was Enid going? He thought at first that she was returning to her empty home but she had doubled back then without warning, she ducked into an alley. The man ducked into the alley as well then came out again. Enid had not come out. Fear gripped Narek as he darted down the street. Could it be over that quickly? Was she gone?
There was another operative in the alley when Narek arrived.
"There's no evidence of transport," he stated. The planetary defense system would have made that difficult but not impossible. "There is no evidence of energy weapons. No biological residue." Even molecular solvent would have left evidence to someone who was looking. Narek heard a soft tapping above them.
"There!" Narak was elated, "She went in that window!" He pointed to an open window on the top floor. The blinds were swinging in the breeze.
"How?" the other man shook his head. Narek traced her possible path with his arm. There were antennae off the side of the building. A gutter ran close to the lowest. She climbed up the gutter to the antennae there," he walked a few feet over, "From there she used the remaining antennae to swing herself up to the window." It was far he admitted to himself but he had seen her jump from further distances. "See, look," he pointed to a broken antennae. He was seized by a renewed sense of urgency. Had her tail come to the same conclusion? He pulled out his handheld and expanded the screen. Quickly he tapped into the building's security cameras. She had been caught on the top floor but that was it. Narek prepared to tear that building apart until a message came through his earpiece. Enid had been spotted on the roof of the building at the end of the street. If she was at the end of the street, she'd have to come down, he figured as he ran through the alley stopping at the last building. It's a corner, and the building butted flush against the one next to it. There was no alley for cover, he thought, She'd have to come down through the building. The other agent took out a device and displayed the plans for the building with dots indicating various life signs within the building. Enid was in the fire stairwell headed down. Another dot was headed up at the same time. Damn!
Dropping all pretense of stealth, Narek and the agent blew the door to the fire escape and ran up the stairs. The humanoid turned and fired at them. Enid seeing this retreated back to the roof, the humanoid tailing close behind. Narek and the other agent spanned the stairs and burst out onto the rooftop. Phaser fire took the other agent and Narek dove for cover behind some pipes that ran the length of the roof. Where was Enid? She would blend in well with the white coating that covered most of the roof, he thought as his eyes methodically scanned the area. There! He found her behind an air handler.
Narek startled as he felt the earth give under his feet. He glanced down to find himself standing in sand. Warm salty air hit his face. He was standing on a beach a few meters from Enid who was looking out to sea over the choppy waves. Next to Enid an equine creature shook its head and stomped a hoof. Enid reached up to scratch its ear. The beast had wings and a deadly looking horn.
"We have to get out of here," Narek felt panic, "We don't have time for this, Enid, we have to move."
"Boo agrees, it's not a good day for the beach," Enid followed the creature to a path that led over a dune.
"Not exactly what I meant," Narek called as he followed the girl, resigned to the fact that he was a passenger on this ride at least for now. What the hell was going on outside her head? On the other side of the dune was grassland dotted with a few trees. Enid and the beast stopped under the nearest tree, an oak of considerable age. Narek turned 360 degrees to take in his surroundings. Was there something he could use to his advantage? Not far from the tree there was a burnt out stone foundation stippled with tiny white wildflowers. Off to the north was a castle with tall walls surrounded by dense thorny brush. To the west was a mountain range.
"There's a storm coming," Enid leaned into the giant beasts flank, "It's going to be bad." She looked directly at Narek. "I told Boo we should go inland to explore those mountains." Boo snorted loudly and stomped.
"I don't think Boo likes that idea," Narek speculated, keeping an eye on the creature's horn. The beast leveled its eyes directly at Narek before flapping its wings and folding them on its back.
"Boo thinks the mountains are a distraction," Enid explained, "They weren't there when I woke up this morning." To Narek's relief, Boo walked several meters away to graze.
"What about the castle," Narek suggested, hoping to learn more, "That would surely shelter you from the storm?"
"No," Enid said bitterly, "There is no refuge there." She shivered. Narek studied her expression. He'd seen that look at least hundreds of times during the evacuation on the faces of people who knew their world was ending but couldn't wrap their heads around the reality. Some would rather be shot by Tal Shiar than board a transport to the unknown. Some hid in their homes denying the finality of the situation.
"Enid, you are in danger," he had to get her out of her mind, "You are on a rooftop and someone is coming for you." Didn't she sense this?
"He wants to take me to meet my mother," she said. "I'd like to meet my mother." Her eyes brightened at the thought.
"Enid," Narek guessed he had one shot at this, "Your mother signed over her parental rights years ago."
"But why?" she whined, reminding Narek of an adolescent questioning a curfew. Narek considered his words carefully. He had decrypted the file connected to S'ril's divorce but he hadn't figured out why Enid's mother had tried to kill her. The difficult pregnancy resulting in a profoundly disabled child? Maybe there was no good reason to offer Enid. Abruptly, Narek realized he'd taken too long. Enid was aware of his thoughts.
"She hated me because I'm stupid!" The words hung in the air.
"I didn't say that," he started evenly. It was too late, the grasslands vanished and they were on the roof again. Enid was still behind the air handler. The humanoid was still stalking her, creeping closer and closer. Keep your wits! he told himself. Narek stayed low as he made his way towards the pursuer. The moment he had a clear shot he took it. With the threat neutralized, Narek rushed to the air handler. Enid was gone.