Chapter 66 - a'Tha

The Forge, ShiKahr District, Vulcan. 2227.

They arrived at the shuttle port and disembarked, it was now true dawn, it was still not totally dark neither was it totally light. To to the north and west she could see the outlines of the range of hills, which eventually became the Mountains of Gol where the ancestral grounds were located. They began to make their pilgrimage across the sandy plain which narrowed gradually as they progressed. Other families, especially old or influential ones, have their own sacred groves on their ancestral lands. S'chn T'gai's ancestral grounds were on Mount Seleya, no place of worship being more important to the modern Vulcan way of life... They would not be climbing to the summit today. Traditionally ceremonies were conducted lower down the mountain within a sacred grove, near the family vault.

They walked in procession, close family members carried ko-mekh on an a'sim, Sa-mekh, Avarak and her followed close behind, other family and friends followed behind them… Some members of the party carried flaming torches, to give light and to ward off any desert animals...

The finality of the situation struck her, the cold, sobering inevitability of death. T'Shahel uttered a soft cry which was carried away on the cool desert wind... soon those same desert winds would carry away the ashes of her ko-mekh… She leaned into her father and grasped hold of his robe to draw some form of comfort… she was cocooned and safe beside him...

As they were walking over the plain she heard the sound of a le-matya howling in the distance, T'Shahel tensed and held more tightly to her sa-mekh's robe while looking up at him. Anticipating both of his children's thoughts, Sordd spoke, "We are safe, le-matya are fearful of flames and will stay away," he said reassuringly while placing his hands across their shoulders in a protective move. T'Shahel quickly scanned around, there were more torch bearers than she had originally realised, it was only now that she noticed they were forming a protective barrier between the pilgrims and the dangers of the desert, a wave of relief rolled over her.

*'*

S'chn T'gai Ancestral Grounds, ShiKahr District, Vulcan. 2227.

The path meandered up the mountainside, sometimes going down before rising up again. Eventually it opened up into a natural amphitheater, that had been hollowed out of the face of the mountain. T'Shahel had been her before, in daylight, for Avarak's naming ceremony. At the far end of the amphitheatre was a raised dais with an altar of blood red stone, at the moment the stone was a blue grey colour. To the right of the amphitheatre there was a large vault, which had also been carved out of the rock, in daylight it was a burnt orange colour, just now it was a blue grey colour. Even the sand was a blue grey colour in the dawn light. T'Shahel looked up again at the the family vault, it looked dark, imposing and cold, everything looked cold apart from the flames from the flickering torches. She wondered if Avarak was frightened, she certainly was...

T'Shahel looked on as they placed her ko-mekh on the altar. The family members who had carried her ko-mekh, on her final pilgrimage, quietly retreated behind Sa-mekh, Avarak and her.

Priests and priestesses formed a semi-circle around the altar, T'Rama stood in front... The gong continued to sound...

T'Rama raised her left hand, "Sordd child of Skon, child of Solkar. What is your request?" she spoke with authority, her strong voice echoing around the amphitheatre.

"I ask for fal-tor-plak," he replied in a steady voice.

"Who is the keeper of the katra?" T'Rama asked.

"I'm, T'Pri daughter of Sasak." T'Shahel looked over to see her father's cousin step forward.

T'Rama looked over towards T'Pri and nodded her head as a sign of respect. She then turned again to Sordd. "Your request shall be granted Sordd child of Skon. T'Alaro's katra shall be taken from the holder and returned to the katric ark vault of the family, to be joined back into the a'Tha."

*'*

T'Rama turned and began to walk up the steps to the family vault, T'Pri stepped forward and followed after her. Sordd placed his hands on his children's shoulders and guided them up the steps, followed by Sa-kuk Sarek and Ko-kuk T'Aimnu.

T'Shahel was frightened as they walked up the stone steps, the vault did not look welcoming. Although Eridani had not yet arisen over the horizon, it was beginning to get lighter, which did make things a bit easier when navigating the steps. The metal door, which had opaque glass panels, opened before them. The small party walked into the vault, and the door closed behind them.

T'Rama led them into an ante-room. Most of the light in the room came through a glass window inlaid with orange stones, katra stones. There were also shafts of light coming through holes that were deep in the red coloured walls. The floor, made from obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass, was black in colour, T'Shahel could see their reflections in it. The other source of light was from the Kir'Shara stone, which was in the centre of the room, it gave of an orange glow and seemed to vibrate with life...

T'Rama turned around and indicated for them to stop. Avarak and her sat down on two stone seats, which had been carved out of the rock, someone had had the foresight to make them the correct height for young children.

T'Shahel then watched as her Sa-mekh, T'Rama and T'Pri walk into the inner chamber, the door closed behind them. While they waited Sa-kuk Sarek and Ko-kuk T'Aimnu would stay with them while the fal-tor-plak took place...

*'*

T'Shahel looked around the chamber, as her eyes became more accustomed to the dim light she could see that Vulcan script had been carved into the wall, most of it she could not read, being written in High Vulcan, other parts she could. Kol-Ut-Shan; Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, namautau; transcend, sahrafel; trust, Dif-tor heh smusma; live long and prosper, k'war'ma'khon; vibration of extended family, Ki'kwi'fun-tor; having returned from very far away, Olozhika; logic Kir-alep; peace, mol-kom; serenity, tash-tor; control… she drew comfort from the familiar words...

"Sa-kuk?" Avarak broke the silence.

"Ha, Avarak," Sarek replied.

"Why are we here when ko-mekh is outside?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Ko-mekh's body is outside, her katra is being transferred to a katra stone so that her essence shall live on," Sarek replied.

Avarak tilted his head, trying to comprehend what his uncle had just said to him. "Sa-kuk, I do not understand what a katra is," he said shyly.

"A katra is hard to put into words," Sarek replied kindly. "It has been described as the soul, spirit, and essence of a Vulcan. But even then, those terms are meaningless." Sarek paused before continuing, carefully choosing the words that he would use next. "Do not worry about your ko-mekh," he said in a steady calming tone, "she is within the a'Tha. She is not lost. She is at peace, as you should be."

"What is the a'Tha?" Avarak asked, as would any child of his age.

"The a'Tha is what we revere but do not understand," Sarek replied, "It is the force of the universe. Every life comes from and returns to the a'Tha…"

"Where is the a'Tha?" Avarak asked.

"The a'Tha is everywhere," Sarek replied neutrally.

"EVERYWHERE!" Avarak responded, his eyes wide open as he looked around him.

"Ha, EVERYWHERE!" Sarek replied.

T'Shahel closed her eyes as she listened to her uncles voice... she fidgeted with her robe, another failure in Vulcan discipline... she knew that she shouldn't but it helped... in the stillness she became aware of a vibrating in the atmosphere, the chamber was filled with an energy that she had not encountered before, she opened her eyes and looked at the Kir'Shara stone, it seemed that the vibration she was feeling and the glow from the Kir'Shara stone were somehow related...

*'*

T'Pri was first to return, her face was filled with serenity, T'Shahel wondered if she would ever attain the same look herself.

T'Pri turned to both of the children and raised a ta'al. "Dif-tor heh smusma," she said to them in a steady voice.

The children both raised a ta'al in reply and whispered, "Sochya eh dif."

T'Pri nodded towards Sa-kuk Sarek and Ko-kuk T'Aimnu then quietly left the chamber.

Some minutes later T'Rama returned, she turned to look at both of the children. "It is time for you to see where your ko-mekh's katra is placed," she said in a gentle tone, the authoritative voice of the clan elder disappearing and being replaced with that of a grandmother.

"I am frightened," Avarak replied quietly. T'Shahel was inwardly relieved that her younger brother was admitting to fear, she was also afraid but didn't want to admit it, not in front of her clan elder.

T'Rama knelt down so she was eye level with the children, although T'Shahel had not admitted out loud to being frightened T'Rama could see it in her eyes and sense it, even without any physical contact between them. She took a hand from each of them and sent them calm, after a sufficient amount of time she spoke again, "You are feeling fear because of the unknown," she spoke softly. "The logical thing is to face the fear. It will help you in your grief to touch the katric ark, it will bring you closure and with that will come peace."

She gracefully stood up, "Hold my hand," she said while holding hers out towards them, both children obediently stood up and took one of her hands, the fear that they had felt earlier continued to dissipate.

*'*

T'Rama led them both through a small hall into the inner chamber, which was a large cavern. There were Vulcan artefacts and statues scattered around the room, scattered in an orderly fashion. Again the only sources of light were the orange katra stones and shafts of daylight coming from above, T'Shahel wondered how this could be possible as they were inside the mountain. The inner chamber was of a similar structure to the ante-room except it was a lot larger. As they moved towards the centre of the room towards where her sa-mekh was kneeling down in a meditative stance, T'Shahel could feel the vibrations get stronger and the light around them seemed to get brighter as well. The floor of the room was made entirely of the highly polished obsidian stone, it reflected the light from the katra stones, which in turn reflected the light back, with that and the shafts of light coming from outside, there was no need for further illumination.

They moved towards where Sordd was kneeling, and knelt down beside him. T'Shahel looked up into his face, it was still filled with serenity.

"You can visit here whenever you need to," T'Rama said. "The katras of our family are our essence, our spirit and soul. They are here for remembrance, but also to aid future generations. Your ko-mekh will always be here, should you ever need her guidance, as are your ancestors."

T'Rama gently guided T'Shahel's hand onto the glowing katra stone that was in front of her, as her hand made contact with it, it flared into life, a tingling sensation went up her arm. She could feel its energy flowing into her, circling her around with its warmth and comfort, her ko-mekh's essence. She felt her ko-mekh's 'ashaya' for her. A whisper in her mind, 'Nenlohk dwon zeesh, T'Shahel'...

As the revelation that her ko-mekh was not the body that lay on the altar outside, but was here in the katra stone, broke on her she was flooded with a peace which went so deep inside of her that she instinctively knew it would never be taken away. She somehow knew that no matter what happened in life, this deep rooted peace would be there for her if she only stilled herself enough to sense it... A deep serenity came over her face... After sometime she slowly withdrew her hand and she opened her eyes.

T'Rama who was looking on could see the sparkle had return to T'Shahel's eyes, the grief that had clouded her for days had now disappeared. She also notes a depth of serenity in the child's countenance that had not been seen before.

T'Shahel's curiosity got the better of her. "Can I touch another stone?" she asked hopefully.

"Ha." T'Rama replied.

T'Shahel stood up and quickly glanced around the room, the stones seemed to glow stronger as she looked at them. One of them in particular caught her attention, she walked over to it and reached out to touch it, it flamed into life like her ko-mekh's stone had. Somehow she knew that the katra belonged to T'Pau, a clan elder whom she had never known. T'Shahel looked up towards T'Rama.

"T'Pau?" she asked.

"You ask a question, when you already know the answer," T'Rama replied while maintaining the neutrality on her face. Other stones around the room began to flare into life without anyone touching them. At this T'Rama simply raised an eyebrow, the response of the katra stones to her granddaughters touch, to her granddaughters presence, was indicative of a particular path the child would eventually be asked to take, if and only if T'Shahel made the right choices. Now was not the time or the place for that to be revealed…..

*'*

The small group stepped out of the crypt. T'Shahel looked over towards the altar, her ko-mekhs body was no longer there, the only thing remaining was some smoking embers, it did not bother her, it was not her ko-mekh...They stood for some time watching as Eridani began to rise higher over the Vulcan Forge, casting its orangey red glow into the dark places and warming the desert sands. They stood in silence appreciating the vast beauty of the scene before them. T'Shahel felt different inside, there was a stability there that she had now known before. Something had clicked into place, she understood something of the Vulcan way... something of the a'Tha...

*'*

Notes

a'Tha - The concept of a'Tha was a Vulcan belief that could mean Immanence in the Human language. Direct experience of the being/force of universe. It is believed to have been the oldest Vulcan word and the first ever written. In terms of effect, it was similar to the concept of God to other races.

A'sim - litter

Fal-tor-plak - the transfer of a katra from the keeper to another

Dif-tor heh smusma - Live long and prosper

Sochya eh dif - Peace and long life

Nenlohk dwon zeesh - I love you

References

Star Trek: Discovery" Season 2 "Light and Shadow"

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock