Another highly unlikely chapter X-D


Chapter 50 - Orchard Farm (Mimi's Parents House - Part 2)

Hugh found himself to be very relaxed in Sordd's presence, which had come as a pleasant surprise. It just went to show that what was portrayed on the media was not always the reality. In the future when describing his son in law to those who had not met him he would say he was a 'canny lad'. Both Hugh and Sordd were very well read and the conversation flowed easily from one topic to another, they were on their third mug of tea.

There was a sharp knock at the study door.

"Come in!" Hugh said, turning to look to see who it was.

Sordd also turned to see who was at the door, it slowly opened and Avarak entered the room, followed closely behind by Peter, Adam and Dug. All of the boys looked like they had been involved in some rough and tumble; Avarak's trip uniform was ripped at the knee. They were quite a mabuh-travek!

Hugh smiled at the three boys and a kind of radiance filled the room, which reminded Sordd of Mimi's smile.

"How can we help you?" Hugh asked kindly.

Avarak looked at Hugh then looked at his father. "Sa-mekh, can we go and get the phasers from the cottage?" he asked excitedly. "We want to play Vulcans and Andorians."

Sordd looked at his son with compassion in his eyes. Avarak was still very young and was just beginning his life long journey in the Vulcan disciplines, now was not the time or the place to comment on Avarak's exuberance. He would remind him this evening of the importance of maintaining his emotional controls. It would also be logical for Avarak to have an early night, tiredness often led to lack of emotional control. "Where is your sister?" he asked.

"She's in the secret garden with Madra," Avarak replied.

"You can go to the cottage but you must stay with Peter and Adam," Sordd replied.

"Thank you!" Turning swiftly on his heels Avarak ran back out the door. "Come on! Let's go!" he said to Peter and Adam, who quickly followed suit and chased after him.

Hugh stood up and closed the door, "You would think they were born in a field," he said with a little chuckle.

Sordd was confused with the expression and decided to ask Mimi about it later, there were other topics of conversation he wanted to engage in at the moment, "Tell me about the demonstrations and workshops..."

*'*

Mimi's mum took a deep breath and began to speak with a kinder tone in her voice. "You have always wanted children. Is it even possible for a Human and Vulcan to have a baby together?" She was not being mean but was genuinely concerned.

So this was the real problem, the question of having children. Mimi was quiet for some time. It was true she had always wanted to have children of her own. "It is possible, Sarek and Amanda have had baby Spock," she eventually replied.

Mimi's mum put down the dish she was washing and dried her hands, turning to face Mimi she leaned against the kitchen sink. "I'm worried," she said a note of real concern in her voice, "it is sometimes hard enough for two humans to have children naturally, never mind people of a different species. I'm assuming there will have to be medical intervention?"

Mimi stopped what she was doing. "Yes, there will have to be medical intervention," she replied. Mimi paused for a moment before speaking again, "If I was to marry a human there would be no guarantee we could have children naturally."

"Yes, but it is more likely," her mother pressed the point.

"Stop it mum! It doesn't matter if I have children or not. I want to marry Sordd because I love him not just so I can have children!"

"I'm worried for your health Mimi. An interspecies baby is bound to have an incredible toll on your body…what if …" she looked at the ground, unable to finish the sentence.

"Mum, it will be ok," she tried to speak in a reassuring tone. "Sordd is a doctor, he knows some of the best geneticists in the galaxy. We won't take unnecessary risks."

Her mum just nodded her head without saying a further word. She wasn't convinced, but there was no point carrying on with this particular line of conversation, for the moment anyway. She turned around and went back to washing the dishes.

*'*

Sordd, was listening closely to what Hugh was saying.

"… The automated harvesters mean that we have time to hold events, mainly for school groups, to show some of the more traditional ways of farming. Hence my attire!" Hugh spoke while raising his hands. "We have a number of heavy horses on the premises for ploughing demonstrations and we also run workshops on drystane dyking and how to scythe."

"You still use scythes?" Sordd asked intrigued.

"Yes, but for demonstration purposes only," he replied.

Sordd's interest was peaked. On Vulcan scythes were used to bring in crops in ancient times, the technique had long fallen out of use. "Could you show me how to use a scythe?" Sordd asked, genuinely interested.

This pleased Hugh no end. The impression that was given in the media was that Vulcans knew everything and could do everything. Here was one of them asking him to demonstrate how to use a scythe.

"Yes, I can," he replied enthusiastically. "How about we go just now? It's still a few hours until dinner time."

The two men rose to leave.

*'*

Sordd was standing outside the byre waiting for Hugh to return with the scythes. He looked out onto the fields of wheat, resplendent in the autumn sun, amid the soft golden ears, the unseen wind moved. Some of the fields had been harvested, the round bails spaced at various intervals waiting to be brought in for storage. He continued to look around. Next to the byre there were stables, a few horses were poking their heads out of the old-half doors nosely looking at what was going on in the yard. Sordd walked over to one of the stables. 'Mr Darcy', a handsome black horse, peaked his head out of the door, to see who was approaching. Sordd rubbed the horses forehead while wondering if he had been named after the fictional character.

"Do you ride horses?" Hugh asked as he approached.

Sordd turned around. "No, I have never ridden a horse," he replied, "they are not native to Vulcan."

"We can arrange some lessons if you would like?"

"That would be more than agreeable," Sordd replied neutrally.

Hugh handed Sordd one of the scythes and he took it in his hand, it was a lot lighter and shorter than a lirpa.

"Take a look at the blade," Hugh said enthusiastically, "see how thin it is. It's literally paper thin at the cutting edge and not much thicker running up to the rib." He carefully moved his fingers up the blade. While he was doing this Sordd inspected the blade on his own scythe. "The curves; crosswise, lengthwise and along the edge, plus the tension forged into the steel makes the blade remarkably strong and resilient."

"Fascinating," Sordd replied, while turning the tool around in his hand.

"Let's try it over here." Hugh led Sordd to a field of wheat. "Scything is a gentle art. It does not require great strength," Hugh said.

"whoosh thump" the cut wheat lay tidy on the ground.

Hugh repeated the motion again, "whoosh thump"

Sordd watched Mimi's father as he worked the scythe. It looked fairly straight forward.

While he was cutting the wheat, Hugh explained the technique, "At the beginning of the stroke you engage only the first third of the blade in the grass," he moved in slow motion, "about half way through the arc the full length of the blade will be cutting. Gently rotate your body at the waist drawing the blade along with you so it moves in an arc from the side, across in front of your body and coming to rest on the opposite side from where you started." He completed the motion. "The return stroke is just the reverse, still keeping the blade riding on the ground."

"whoosh thump"

"whoosh thump"

"If you try and cut with the full length of the blade it will only clog it with uncut grass, stopping your motion." He demonstrated how not to do it.

Hugh demonstrated the technique again, in slow motion, as Sordd mirrored him.

"Give it a go," he said to Sordd.

Sordd swung the blade and immediately got tangled in the wheat. Hugh looked on and chuckled.

"It is not something you can learn in a day," he said, "it takes time, patience and practice." Hugh demonstrated again.

"whoosh thump"

"whoosh thump"

"Keep trying son!" Hugh said in an encouraging voice.

Sordd frowned slightly, he was not Hugh's son. However, he did not correct the man. On numerous occasions Amanda had informed both Sarek and him that it was not polite to point these kinds of errors out. Instead he gave the scything another go. It helped that he knew how to wield a Lirpa, and after some time there was an obvious improvement. Hugh was quietly impressed.

Sometime later they both became aware of Avarak's noisy approach.

"Sa-mekh! Come quickly!" Avarak shouted as he was running towards them.

Immediately Sordd thought there must have been some kind of accident, which was a not an un-usual occurrence when Avarak was playing, he wondered if he would require his medical kit.

"What has happened?" Sordd asked.

"Nothing, Sa-mekh!" Avarak replied.

"Where are Peter and Adam?"

"They are playing hide and seek," Avarak replied. In his excitement he forgot about the game. "Come and see!" he grabbed at his fathers sleeve pulling him away...

*'*

Notes

mabuh-travek - Rabble

If you have the time check out Dougie MacLean – Scythe Song :-)

To give credit where it is due, regarding how to scythe I quoted from the following websites:

survivalsullivan how-to-use-a-scythe

scythe supply quick start manual