Kovar touched his two forefingers to T'Meera's just before she boarded the shuttle. She had been assigned to assist with a delicate situation on Lunar colony. Her mission was slated to last three days. His dismay at such a short separation was illogical.

In her absence, he assisted his fellow cadets in moving back into the Starfleet dormitories. The humans remarked at how they looked as if they had never been damaged, but Kovar could clearly see where walls had been replaced with slightly more pigmented material. What must it be like to have such limited color vision?

His own items as well as his mate's had taken little time to move in, but many of the females in his class carried an illogical amount of luggage. For want of a distraction, he volunteered to assist them.

"Ah! Kovar, could you grab this? It's crushing my shoulder."

He assumed Olivia was engaging in the human practice of exaggeration, but lifted her luggage nonetheless. He reconsidered his assessment. He was quite sure it weighed more than she did.

"Why do you require such a mass of personal items?" he asked as they walked.

"I never know what I'm going to want to wear."

"We are required to wear our uniforms each day."

"Some of us like to go out when we're off duty," she replied while opening her door. "Just put it on the bed."

Since Rolinda had gone with T'Meera, Kovar had been tasked with unloading her things as well. Olivia accompanied him back out to the front of the building.

"I did not believe it was possible for a Starfleet cadet to possess more luggage than you," he said as he hefted two unreasonably heavy bags. "It appears I was mistaken."

Olivia lifted Rolinda's third bag off the transport shuttle. "My mom lives a few miles away. Most of my stuff is still at home."

An image of a human dwelling stuffed to the ceiling with clothing came to mind unbidden. Kovar quickly dismissed it.

Classes resumed the next day, and Kovar had increasing difficulty suppressing his agitation at T'Meera's absence. She would be back in two more days. His unease was illogical.

That evening, he received a message. Her assignment was proving more difficult than expected, and her mission duration had been extended. He was nearly overcome by so many emotions he could not enumerate them all. What was happening to him? He had not had this much difficulty controlling his emotions since he was a small child. He lit his meditation candle and assumed the appropriate position. He required meditation. That was all.

Kovar attended the second day of classes with clenched fists and grinding teeth. Everything irritated him. The instructors spoke too slowly or too quickly. The lights were too bright. His classmates asked too many questions. Above all that, his mate would not return for several more days. He returned to his room to meditate for the remainder of the day.

His roommate, Joshua, posed an obstacle.

"Hey dude. Are you feeling okay? You seem a little off."

"'Off' is an imprecise term," he replied through gritted teeth.

Joshua, much to Kovar's dismay, sat down on his bed. It appeared he intended to stay.

"You're sick. You should probably go to medical."

"That is unnecessary. I simply require meditation. Please allow me to do so."

"Why do Vulcans think every problem can be solved by meditation?"

"We do not believe that, but we know that many can."

"Sure. Well, if you pass out, I'm calling medical."

"Very well. Please allow me to meditate in silence."

Joshua huffed, but did as he asked. He pulled out his PADD and lounged on the bed.

The next morning, Kovar woke up feeling far too unwell to attend classes. At this point, he was fairly certain what was happening. He was experiencing the first occurrence of his reproductive cycle, pon farr. The timing was most unfortunate. He resolved to meditate until his mate returned.

Olivia left the dorms to return to her mother's house Friday night. Her roommate was still off-planet on a mission, and she didn't particularly care to stay in the dorms by herself. On her way to the shuttle bus station, she stopped by the faculty housing and knocked on Spock's door.

He answered the door in civilian clothes. Nice civilian clothes. "Good evening Olivia."

"Hey. I was going to invite you to Mom's for dinner, but it looks like you already have plans."

"Indeed. Perhaps in the future, you could provide more notice."

"Fine. But we miss you. You should come by sometime."

"I will take your opinion under advisement."

She rolled her eyes and left for the shuttle station.

Her mother and Sevek were just sitting down to dinner when she arrived.

"No Spock?" Ellen asked, disappointed.

"Nope. He had plans." Olivia wiggled her eyebrows.

"Well pooh. I was going to ask him to come visit Nana with us tomorrow."

"I'm pretty sure he had a date."

"Speculation is illogical. On what basis to you make your claim?" Sevek asked.

"Well, he was dressed to go out. He wouldn't tell me why." She marked off evidence on her fingers. "I have it on good authority that he's been dating one of the field-commissioned officers, since before she was field commissioned." She whisper-yelled the last part.

"Whose authority?"

"An eyewitness who saw him making out with a certain lieutenant on the transporter pad aboard the Enterprise. I'm told it was a very enthusiastic sendoff."

Ellen's mouth hung open. Sevek was silent.

"Anybody we know?" Ellen finally asked.

"No." Olivia pouted. "I think she's either a third or fourth year."

"Wait, she was a cadet?"

"Yep! Spock and Regulations have ended their marriage, and he is seeing someone else." She giggled.

"Does Sarek know?"

"I don't know. He was aboard the Enterprise when it all came out, but I don't know how much he saw."

"Well that's some news." Ellen took a bite of her oatmeal. "How was your first week of classes?"

"Meh. Rolinda and T'Meera got sent on a mission to Lunar Colony. They were supposed to be back today, but their mission got extended. Is it okay if I crash here this weekend? Josh is borrowing our room."

"Why is another cadet borrowing your room?" Sevek asked.

"Kovar is not taking T'Meera's absence well."

"Oh?" Ellen asked.

"They left Tuesday morning, and he seemed fine. He moved in both of their stuff, and helped me with mine. We found out Wednesday night that they aren't coming back until probably Sunday. He got crabby after that."

Sevek stiffened, but didn't comment.

"He skipped classes today and kicked Josh out of the room. We keep telling him to go to medical, but he won't. He says he just wants everyone to leave him alone."

Ellen closed her eyes and sighed. "You should do as he asks."

"He hasn't eaten in two days. What if he's really sick?"

"Vulcans can go two weeks without food. You should respect your friend's wishes." Sevek's tone stung.

Olivia looked back and forth between her mother and Sevek, who was looking at Ellen as if figuring something out.

"What aren't you two telling me?"

"Inquiries into your friend's personal business would be most unwelcome," Sevek insisted.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't mistaken. He did look uncomfortable.

"Liv," her mother interrupted. "Remember that time we went to Vulcan when you were fourteen?" she asked meaningfully.

"The most miserable trip of my life." She thought about it for a moment. "Wait, you're saying he's on his period?"

Ellen pulled her lips in and nodded, while Sevek tilted his head.

"Remember how you bit off Spock's head when he tried to get you for dinner?"

Sevek opened his mouth, probably to ask about the expression, but Olivia cut him off.

"Look, I was fourteen. It was eleven billion degrees outside. I was in pain. I was sweating hormones, not to mention the other thing." She widened her eyes at her mother. "And there were three Vulcan females with overly-sensitive noses in the house." She finished her outburst and was only slightly embarrassed. Sevek was an adult. He could deal with a little knowledge of human female biology.

Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. You've made your point." She deflated.

Sevek looked more curious than before, but didn't ask. Considering the current state of her cadet class, interspecies sex ed should probably become a thing.

They finished dinner in awkward silence, and Sevek went to his room to meditate.

As soon as Sevek's door was closed, Ellen whispered, "Maybe don't bring that up again. They're sensitive about it."

"How is that logical?" Olivia whispered back.

Ellen shrugged. "They're off-world and uncomfortable, let's not give them a hard time."

"Yeah, okay." She huffed. "I made it awkward, didn't I?"

"Just a little." Her mother held her index finger and thumb about a centimeter apart.

Olivia's shoulders sagged.

"Don't worry about it. He'll be over it by morning. Vulcan's don't dwell on things the way we do."

"Must be nice." Olivia resigned herself to a night of very little sleep.

Sevek had much to meditate on. His earlier conversation with the Dalton women was troubling. Olivia's classmate was almost certainly experiencing his first pon farr. He hoped, not only for the young man's sake, that his mate returned as scheduled. The consequences otherwise could be disastrous. His species had kept their secret from humans for nearly two hundred years, but their situation was now tenuous.

He had very little time before he would be in a similar position.

His search for an apartment thus far remained fruitless. So many families were still displaced. A single male with reliable housing was the lowest priority. Even if he did manage to find one, the thought of dying alone locked in a room on a cold planet seventeen light years from home was… disagreeable. Sarek and Spock would recover. His parents would grieve for an appropriate amount of time, then possibly have another child. He was not sure the same could be said about the humans in his life. John would certainly be upset, but would move on, as would his coworkers. The Dalton women, on the other hand, had clearly come to care for him as if he were their family. He remembered Olivia's outburst of despair the previous week, and knew he never wanted to be the cause.

Whenever he considered the possibility of taking a new mate, T'Ryla's face flashed in his mind. This was closely followed by the phantom sensation of his chest caving in. He breathed through the unwanted emotion until it passed.

There were additional difficulties. The emergency census of all living Vulcans was as complete as it was likely to get. Only about thirty percent of surviving Vulcans were female. Of those, less than five percent remained unbonded. His social circle on Earth was quite limited, and none of the Vulcan women he knew were single.

He thought then of his uncle. Sarek had been married to a human woman for thirty years. Unfortunately, inquiries into how that worked would be highly indelicate.

If, as he suspected, it was possible to bond with a human female and resolve the pon farr, his options would increase considerably. He knew many human women, several of whom he believed were attracted to him. He did not, however, believe that any of them would consent to be bonded to him. Telepathic mating bonds were difficult enough to break when both parties were skilled telepaths. The thought of breaking another bond so soon was physically painful, and he recoiled from the notion.

He needed to find someone willing to remain bonded to him, but who? He was not particularly close to any of his female coworkers. The women sleeping elsewhere in the house came to mind. Ellen had become somewhat of a mother figure, and the very idea was abhorrent. Olivia was so young and delicate. He could not bear the thought of possibly harming her, and quickly dismissed it from his mind.

The situation was thus: he had no place to go and no one to assist him. Embarrassment and pride were illogical. He would need to speak with his uncle.

The sun rose, and he realized he had meditated all night. Determined not to 'wear out his welcome' as the humans said, he went to fulfil his guest duties.