More mindless musings with no real plot! I'm just having fun writing about what it might be like to travel to Vulcan. I hope you like it :-)
Those without a northern UK/Scottish heritage - Coorie is a Scots word meaning "to stoop, bend, crouch for protection"and "to snuggle, nestle."
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Chapter 83 - Worla Pak-tor Tu Pakashogaya T'Sem
Federation Standard - Never lose your sense of wonder.
Literal Translation - At no time in the past or future lose your fascination.
It was Mimi's turn to observe. She sat quietly while watching T'Aria interact with her mum. There did not seem to be many differences between the way human and Vulcan toddlers interacted with their parents', the only real exception being that T'Aria touched her mother's face most of the time and she said very little. Mimi glanced around the lounge again. The children were talking amongst themselves in hushed tones. The vast majority of the adults were sitting in silence. From her own interactions with Sordd, she wondered if perhaps some of them were communicating telepathically. Things began to fall into place. She had noticed in her time at the Embassy that married couples rarely vocalised to each other, unless they were in someone else's company. That would explain why the cafeteria was so quiet despite being very busy. Was this the way bonded couples and family members primarily communicated? She would have to ask Sordd later in the privacy of their quarters. Mimi gulped. Conversing with Sordd through their bond was still very new and quite frankly tiring, especially if there was no physical contact between them. She hoped that he would not expect it of her at all times, in the same way that he did not expect her to be unable to display any emotions.
Mimi turned her attention again to T'Aria. "Ko-mek, po if Terra kah pla-kur?" T'Aria asked out loud, with bright eyed wonder.
Although still learning Vulcan, Mimi knew enough to know that the toddler was asking 'Why is Earth blue?' T'Lir patiently explained. After the short explanation T'Aria tilted her head, in the inquisitive Vulcan fashion. "Po?" she asked in response to her mother's answer.
Mimi laughed inwardly. It must be a universal constant. At certain stages in a child's development, the only question on their lips is, 'Why?' Unfazed, T'Lir serenely expounded on her previous answer. This seemed to breed further curiosity and there came a torrent of more questions...
"E'tum!" T'Aria finally declared while clapping her hands.
"Ha," T'Lir replied with a small nod. "Kah if!" Mimi watched as T'Lir gently touched her daughter's cheek. The exuberant clapping ceased and a calm filled T'Aria's face. Mimi made another mental note to ask Sordd about the interaction later on. At the moment she did not have the energy to ask.
Mimi turned again to look out the large viewing window. T'Aria was right, Earth was beautiful! More often than not she had not taken the time to appreciate how beautiful the world she had grown up on really was. She sat in silence and admired the swirls of white clouds, the deep blue ocean, mountainous areas, the Arctic (it was not possible to see Antarctica from their position), to the west; darkness, to the east; light, there was so much variety and it was changing by the second… she was going to miss it...
"May we join you?" Amanda asked in a slightly exasperated tone as she approached their seating area.
Mimi looked up to see Amanda standing before her with Spock hanging on her hip. Amanda was currently dressed in a blue coloured robe, similar in design to what she was wearing. Spock was wearing a dark grey excursion uniform. "Yes, of course you can," Mimi replied with a happy smile. "Where is Sarek?"
"He has a meeting with the Ambassador to the Sietta system, T'Mal," Amanda told her. "It will take up most of the afternoon. Do you mind watching Spock while I get a cup of coffee?" Not waiting for an answer, as she knew it would be yes, Amanda began to hand him over to Mimi.
Mimi reached out her hands to take him in her arms. "How are you today, Spock?"
"Rom," he replied quietly and with a slight frown. He quickly cooried into Mimi's shoulder in an endeavour not to be seen.
"He has just woken up from a nap," Amanda said as she placed her bag and Spock's mini backpack on one of the seats. "It will take him a little while to come round. Do you want anything to eat or drink?"
"I could go a cup of coffee, and maybe some carrot cake..." Mimi took a side glance at Sordd. He would probably disapprove of the calorific intake. There was no obvious response on his face or in his eyes but she detected traces of amusement through their bond. She turned again to look at Amanda, "I would LOVE some carrot cake!" Mimi then detected Sordd's even greater amusement at her use of the word 'love.' She turned to look at him with a sparkle in her eyes. He simply raised an eyebrow in response.
"Sordd, would you like anything?" Amanda asked.
"Vulcan green tei would be agreeable," he replied with a slight nod. "Do you require assistance?"
Amanda shook her head and waved her hand in the negative, "It's ok. I can manage."
Mimi started to gently rub Spock's back as he continued to come round from his nap. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as T'Aria made her way up to the observation window and pressed her nose and hands flush against it, leaving smudge marks in the process. Mimi grinned, another universal constant. Where there are children there are smudged window panes. Spock stirred at the proceedings. He paused before deciding to manoeuvre his way out of Mimi's lap. With some hesitation he looked up at her while gently touching her knee. There was a little tilt of the head before he proceeded to move towards the viewing window, with a quick backward glance on his way. Mimi rose to her feet in order to go after him.
Sordd reached out to take hold of her hand. "Ashayam, he will be ok," he said reassuringly.
Mimi turned with a small frown on her brow. "What if he runs off?"
"Vulcan toddlers are fitted with tracking devices when on board starships. He will be unable to leave the lounge unless accompanied by one of his designated adults."
"What if someone leaves the lounge and he follows?" Mimi asked with a note of concern. They had only been on the ship for a number of hours and she had managed to get lost twice. She dreaded to think what Spock would get up to.
"A force field will prevent him from leaving the lounge."
"A force field!" Mimi laughed lightly. "That is logical!"
Sordd nodded his head. "Indeed!"
Mimi looked over toward the children again as she sat back down on her seat. After completing a shortened version of the Vulcan greeting, which solely consisted of raising a ta'al to each other, Spock joined T'Aria in pressing his nose and hands against the window, leaving even bigger smudges than her. They then proceeded to babble about what they were looking at, interspersed with licking the window. It was difficult to make out what they were saying, but occasionally their conversation was punctuated with both a mixture of Standard and Vulcan, pla-kur; blue, alam; white, yar-kur; green, gahv-kur; purple, and nesh-kur; black! They fast became friends.
After a short time of contemplation T'Aria turned to speak to her mum. "Ko-mek. Po if kah kil-tor?" she asked, excited again with what she was seeing. Spock turned to look at T'Aria's mother, an expectant look on his face.
Mimi turned to Sordd who was also watching the proceedings. "What does kil-tor mean?"
Sordd inclined his head as he sought for the most appropriate Standard word for the Vulcan word that T'Aria had used, without losing her meaning. "Kil-tor means sparkling," he eventually answered.
"Sparkling?" Mimi looked surprised.
"Ha, the lightning storm is sparkling." Sordd pointed to a lightning storm which was making its way up the Eastern Seaboard. As Mimi had been so focused on the children she had missed it. She observed the phenomena for a few minutes before turning her attention once more to the toddlers. She listened as best as she could to T'Lir's explanation as to why the sky was 'sparkling.' She missed some of it, not knowing all of the Vulcan words. However, both children were satisfied with the explanation as evidenced by the little bow of their heads before turning once more to look at the view of Earth.
Without any warning the purple warp nacelles began to move from the horizontal position into the vertical, in preparation for jumping to warp. The two toddlers found this to be quite an exciting event, as did Mimi. No-one else in the lounge seemed to notice, or if they did, they certainly didn't show it on their faces...
Mimi's thoughts drifted. On the one hand the thought of relocating to Vulcan was a daunting one as she would have to rebuild a life there almost entirely from scratch. On the other hand she was thrilled at the opportunity that was open before her. Who wouldn't want to travel across the stars and go to other worlds and experience other cultures? She looked down on the planet before her. For centuries there were those who grew up on Earth with dreams of exploring the planet and discovering new lands. Pioneers, some of whom wanted to make their fortune, others wanted to experience new cultures, and there were also those who wanted to find a place that they could call home. Back then the world was full of endless possibilities. Now it was more than a world that held those possibilities, it was an entire galaxy. Mimi absentmindedly reached out her hand to place it in Sordd's. She did not see the tiniest hint of a smile which barely touched his lips, he quickly schooled it away.
After the very briefest of announcements the ship began on its journey. When at a sufficient distance from Earth the ship jumped to warp 2 and struck out in the direction of Mars. The only indication that this was going to take place was the view screens changing from blue to a light shade of purple. The purple shade would deepen in colour as the warp speed increased. It would take them just under an hour to travel through the Sol system at warp 2; speed restrictions did not allow spacecraft to exceed this limit. It would then take them a further ten days, at warp 7, to travel across the sector to the 40 Eridani A system, sixteen lightyears away. They were not going to pass all of the planets in the Sol system as their orbits were not in alignment for the journey. It was illogical to take a detour simply to fly by them. However, due to the number of children on board, the ship was scheduled to drop out of warp and move under impulse power as it passed both Mars and then Saturn. Vulcans were not ones to miss out on educational experiences for their progeny.
While they were travelling at warp, and as a slight interlude before they arrived at Mars, both Amanda and T'Lir decided to give their children krei'la biscuits and a drink of juice. T'Aria stubbornly insisted on eating her biscuits beside Spock, who just so happened to be standing beside Mimi! (It would seem that Vulcan parents have the wisdom to choose their battles as well.)
By the time they reached Mars, both Spock and T'Aria had taken up their posts again at the viewing window. "Sa-kuk Sordd, po if kah sbah?" Spock asked. Both children turned around and waited expectantly for the answer. Sordd explained to the children why the planet was a red colour.
T'Aria frowned, obviously not satisfied with this explanation. "Po?" she asked boldly with eyes wide open in anticipation.
Mimi noted that T'Aria's mother simply raised an eyebrow and Amanda smiled, perhaps both of them were relieved for the momentary respite from ceaseless questioning.
Mimi continued her observations of the children. She knew by now that Vulcans definitely had emotions. However, they endeavoured not to display them. She had seen her family of Vulcans display emotions, but even when they were at their strongest, there was always a reserve there. T'Aria and Spock did not have that reserve. Their emotions: joy, happiness, excitement, awe, frustration, interest, amusement, all spilled out. Not a Vulcan in the observation lounge batted an eyelid at their emotional displays. If Vulcans had stronger emotions than humans, then it followed that so too did their children. Mimi wondered at what age and stage it would become unacceptable in Vulcan culture for these emotions to be displayed, something else she would ask Sordd about in the privacy of their quarters.
One of the things that gave Mimi the greatest amount of pleasure as they made their journey through the Sol system, was when they dropped out of warp to pass Saturn, which was, perhaps, Mimi's favourite planet. Again, T'Aria and Spock, who were both quite content in one another's company, were standing at the viewing window. When Saturn came into view, wonder filled both of their faces at the unfamiliar scene. The yellow planet with its distinctive rings was currently undergoing both lightning and aurora storms. Even some of the adult Vulcans made their way to the observation window to take a closer look… that would be for scientific observation of course...
Mimi waited for the torrent of questions from the toddlers, but there was none. All that could be heard coming from their lips were the words, "Taurauk!" and "Kil-tor!" as they evaluated the sight before them.
Mimi turned to Sordd. Before she asked the question, he answered, "Amazing!" he said. A smile appeared on Mimi's face, yes, it really was!
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Notes
Ko-mek - mother
Sa-kuk - uncle
Thank you again, Kehlan and RobertBruceScott :-)
