Of course, any characters and places you recognize are not
mine. They were conceived by the brilliant Gene Roddenberry, and copyright by Paramount.
Here we go again! This is the second story in a series. You don't have to read the first story, but it sure helps! Believe me! There are spoilers for the first story in here, BTW, so be forewarned. Well, enjoy the story. Oh, and if you have any comments, critiques, flames, etc., you can mail them to me when I finally get an address. :) Have fun!!!
Dedication: This story is dedicated to Kira, without whom the Eysu Moraht would never have existed, not to mention to my prereaders, without whom this story would not have existed. Thanks for the death threats on the previous one. You've given me a goal to reach.
Also, this story is written in loving memory of Eloise and Jimmy Hill, and of Anne King.
The Things Which I Have Seen
by Yuuki Miyaka
Chapter 2
Arys looked around the shimmering hall, amazed at the amount of work put into something so frivolous. She had heard Jake talking about dances and such, but she had never seen anything quite like it, and she was still extremely impressed. And the dress Jake had given her was absolutely wonderful. She'd never had the opportunity to wear it before. She sighed slightly, wondering what Jake thought of it.
Then, steeling herself, she made her way through the crowd towards her friends. "Hi, guys. I see I'm the last one to get here," she said brightly, trying to conceal her unease. It seemed to work, but she felt as though the necklace of Bajoran fire crystals she wore was pulling her down. "What do you think? Was it worth the wait?" Although she was asking everyone, the one person she truly wanted to hear it from was Jake, who seemed unusually silent.
Ari stepped forward, wanting to dance with her, and she shivered slightly, turning toward Jake. Although she valued the Cardassian's friendship very much, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with him. She stepped into Jake's embrace silently, and danced with him for some time. Eventually, she told him her news, and when he was speechless, she fled, looking for the others. Ari was the first one she found.
"Ari, can we talk?" The Cardassian stared at her for a long moment, wondering. She took his arm, walking with him out one of the doors. "Trust me, Katassa won't mind too much." Arys had seen Cardassians flush with anger before, but never with embarrassment. It was an interesting experience.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Ari's question was almost desperate, and she laughed slightly.
"I'm not returning to the Academy with you." At Ari's blank stare, Arys sighed. "I leave for the Special Security Training Facility in about ten days. Until then, I'm staying with Lieutenant Tuvok." Ari turned away.
"Have you told the others?" Ari asked, and Arys sighed. The same response as Jake. Did anyone really care whether she returned with them?
"I told Jake. You were the second person I found." She continued to stand there, staring at his back for a long time. Finally, she spoke again. "Ari, can I ask you something?" Ari nodded, and Arys steeled herself for the answer. "Do you even care?"
The science student's eyes widened, and he turned back to her in alarm. "What do you mean, do I even care?" She shrugged, and he stepped toward her, grasping her shoulders in his hands. "Of course I care, you idiot! Why else would I be so upset?"
The anger in his voice pulled an answering fire from her, and she jerked away from him. "You sure didn't sound that upset to me! Why should you care if another Bajoran leaves, right? After all, we didn't matter to you in the Occupation, and I sure as hell don't matter to you now!" The bitter words spoke more than she meant to, but right now she didn't care. She was sick of playacting with Ari. She pivoted away from him, wondering if she should stick around for the coming shouting match. Finally, she decided she would. That was what she needed right now, a good fight. And so, she was very surprised when she heard a quiet chuckle from her opponent.
"Do you honestly believe that crap?" She turned back to see Ari's eyes glinting with amusement. Her face flushed a dull red, but she rallied gamely.
"Why shouldn't I? You've never done anything to show me otherwise." He walked toward her, never taking his eyes off of her, and she gulped.
"Arys." Suddenly, Ari was right in front of her. He could kill her easily, she thought, before she remembered that he was supposed to be a friend. Her breathing went shallow.
"Wh-what?"
The word seemed to tear from her throat, and she steeled herself for whatever was to come. She had endured so much during the Occupation, become so strong. Let it not go to waste now.
He stroked her cheek once, a gentle touch. It was intimate, yet not. She knew he had no interest in her, except as a friend. But all the same, the caress made her shiver. She had only come this close to a Cardassian one other time. And she didn't know where that one was, or what had happened to him.
Eventually, she moved away from Ari, looking down. "All right, you win. You do care." The words came out grudging. Ari just smiled. She knew that he understood her fears better than most. "But that doesn't mean that I'll come back with you. I still have to train. I want to be the best, Ari. You know that."
"Of course, Arys. You take care of yourself in there." He turned away, and she laughed sardonically. "What?" he asked.
"I'm surprised you haven't warned me not to drop out." She waited for his comeback, knowing he would have one to that statement. He did.
"Why should I say something, when I know it's not needed? After all, in order to be the best, you have to be willing to stick it out. I know you can do it, and will do it, so there's no point in saying anything. Despite what you think, Arys, I believe in you. You can do anything you want to." And with that last statement, he left her with her jaw hanging open.
Kira stepped off of the turbolift into Ops, her expression confused. She had spent the entire night thinking about her conversations with Dax and Odo, and now she couldn't understand what they meant. She wondered if they were working together to get her to doubt her relationship with Shakaar, but she couldn't think of any reason why they would. Unless they knew something that she didn't . . . .
While she was considering this, she noticed Dax standing at her own terminal, also gazing off into nowhere. She wanted to approach the Trill, but she didn't dare. Something about Dax's expression told Kira that the science officer was also thinking of their conversation. And Kira wasn't sure she could handle talking about it without accusing Dax of something.
Just as Captain Sisko walked into Ops, the wormhole opened. Kira dismissed it, but one of the junior officers gasped. That gasp brought the entrance to Dax and Kira's attention. They looked down, and stared at the small ship coming out of the wormhole. It was of no make that the first officer could identify. But more than that, it seemed to be a conglomerate of all the different styles she had ever seen, each style blending with the others seamlessly to present a graceful whole. The effect was extraordinary. Even Sisko was silent, admiring the sheer beauty of the ship.
The silence was cut off by Dax's quiet words. "They're hailing us, Ben." That was all that was needed to prompt the entirity of Ops into action.
"Open hailing frequencies, Old Man. Let's see who they are and what they want." Dax's fingers flew over the controls as she complied with the captain's orders.
"On screen," Dax said as she finished the simple code.
What opened up before them was beyond their wildest imaginations. Kira faced none other than . . . herself looking back from the Ops viewscreen. She gasped, and her expression hardened into anger. But what was stranger was Dax's reaction to the person. She walked forward slightly, her audience forgotten as she stared at the person before her. "Colonel Kira. It is good to see you again."
The colonel looked around the room, ending up staring at Captain Sisko. "Call me Nerys, please. It will be difficult to distinguish with myself serving aboard this station, as well as visiting it. I'd like to say my own hellos. B-Captain Sisko, may I dock, please? I have much to figure out, right now."
Sisko nodded once, barely noticing the woman's slight slip. She was older than the Kira standing near him, he realised with surprise. Somehow, he had never imagined Kira as older. She just was. There was no age to her. Now, though, that was changing. "Old Man, you know her, don't you?"
Dax nodded once, and started walking up to Sisko's office. He turned, just barely in time to lead the way, and didn't even notice Kira trailing at the science officer's heels until he was about to close the door.
"Okay, Old Man. You are going to tell me what you know about her, and how." Kira, he saw, was silently fuming, and he smiled slightly at her, trying to help her calm down. It seemed to work, for she relaxed slightly.
"Ben, she's from the universe I visited. The one I wouldn't tell you anything about?"
Kira cut in at that point. "That would be the one that you and Odo both visited?"
Dax sighed. "Yes. We found out a great deal about the future before we realised that it was another universe entirely. It was quite enlightening."
Sisko sighed. "And is she a threat?" He didn't want to make any mistakes. And he couldn't help remembering the Intendent.
"No. Ben, as near as I can tell, she's very close to the way our Kira would turn out. But I can't be certain for several years to come. She's about the equivalent of twenty years in the future. It's a big difference."
As Dax was saying this, Kira was fumbling with a small viewscreen. Suddenly, she gulped. Sisko's response was immediate. "What is it, Major?"
"She's travelling with a Changling. And it isn't Odo."
Arys looked around the SSTF. She was amazed at the sparseness of the quarters she was to be living in. There were two beds, which obviously meant two occupants, but other than that, there was one desk and one closet. Anything else normally included in Academy quarters had been neglected, believed to be unimportant, Arys suppposed.
For a long moment, Arys wished that she was back in the Academy itself. This was going to be a lot harder than it had originally seemed, not to mention the fact that it was going to take her a year longer than anyone, save Katassa, to complete her training. Everyone else was taking normal training, which wasn't to say that she was better, just different. She laughed softly to herself. Even now, she censored her thoughts about the others.
A modest voice came from the doorway, startling Arys. "Hello. I see you've gotten here ahead of me." Arys turned, and regarded a wide-eyed girl. She was imminently forgettable, with short brown hair in a simple style and a quiet face that would never stand out in a crowd. Arys liked her immediately.
"Yes. I got here about ten minutes ago. Did you want a particular bed?" Arys felt the need to ask. She didn't know the girl, and didn't want to get off on the wrong foot.
"No. Why are you looking at me that way?" Arys shook herself. Since she had left the others, she had been distracted, forgetting herself from time to time. Apparently, that had cropped up yet again in the form of staring.
"Sorry. Are you familiar with the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor?" The girl's eye's lit up, and she smiled softly.
"I'm surprised you brought it up so readily. I didn't expect that for a while, and then I thought I would have to talk about it. I studied it in depth on my own. Why?" the girl waited as Arys composed her thoughts.
"I know this is going to sound really horrible to you, but you would have done wonders there. You are so . . . inconspicuous."
"I'm . . . *what?!*" Arys laughed at the girl's surprised look.
"Inconspicuous. No one could pick you out of a crowd. You'd be surprised how valued that was in the Resistance. We were all trying for that look. I never quite got it, but I came close, and besides which, no one ever paid attention to kids, so I was okay. I wish I had had your looks though."
The girl looked stunned. "That's the first time a woman has ever told me that, I think. By the way, I'm Shelley Foster. You are . . . ?" Shelley trailed off, waiting again.
"Myran Arys. If you studied the Occupation, you know that we put our family names first."
Shelley nodded. "Yeah, I did. So, Myran, what field of security are you training for first?"
Arys looked at her slowly. "I didn't know that there were separate fields we concentrated on."
Shelley went over to the bed nearest the door, putting down her duffel bag. "Mmhmm. Let's see, there's infiltration of enemy lines, disguise, tactical training, and a lot of others. I can't remember them all off of the top of my head. So what do you think you'll choose?"
Arys grinned, thinking about her experiences thus far. "Tactical. I still need work on it. Our cell leader didn't allow children to carry deadly weapons. But we always had an adult protector. That was what helped keep us alive, although too many times I slipped away from the adult to go exploring on my own." Arys sat down on the other bed to tell her stories, and the night flew away, the two becoming fast friends.
Odo sat in his office, reading the criminal activity reports. As usual, this time without Kira only served to remind him of the things he had done wrong. He hated the way he had dealt with his feelings, but he knew that there was nothing else to be done. After all, he couldn't shut her out completely. She was his closest friend, the only one other than Dax that he could really talk to, and he couldn't see a life without her in it. Even if it wasn't the role he would have chosen for her.
He sighed, pushing the PADD away, and noticed that someone was hailing him on a subspace transmission. He tapped out the code that opened the message, and was greeted with the image of another of his kind. "What?" he growled at her. But she was not swayed so easily.
"Hello, Odo. I trust I haven't intruded upon your meditation. I almost despaired of ever meeting you. I am Keurithe, the ambassador from the Founders. May I speak with you for a few moments?" She was too polite. He could almost believe she was an ambassador, instead of a fraud, like all of his people. He could not trust anything they told him again. Not since that trick they had pulled by exchanging Kira with that . . . one. Her evil had nearly cost him the woman he loved.
"Why would you want to meet me? We have nothing in common." Keurithe laughed softly.
"Somehow, I doubt that. I was an explorer, like you. But I was raised in a system far from yours, by those called the Aurahj. They helped me to understand that those called the Solids were not evil. I have worked almost my entire life to bring about peace between the Solids and the Changelings. Do you believe me, mee fieret?" She was at once both amused and scared. Odo could see both in her expression as she met his eyes.
The urge to believe her was great. He wanted to be welcomed into his people with open arms. He wanted love and acceptance from them. He wanted to believe in them, and have them believe in him. And she made it sound so simple. "How can I? Your people destroyed my beliefs long ago."
He sat patiently waiting for her reply, as still as a sculpture. And she spoke not too long after that. "I see. And you blame me for this?"
"No." The word was short. He knew whom he blamed for his disillusions. And it was not this one.
"I see. You blame the one who took Kira from you, no doubt. I forgot how soon that was for you, mee fieret. I'm so sorry. I wish it had not happened. But they want you back. As for why you should trust me, I am tse fierot." She shook her head, displacing some of her hair. And Odo marvelled at how well she could imitate the actions of humanoids.
Odo sighed. "You use words I don't understand. What do they mean?"
Keurithe smiled. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you do not know Aurahj. I called you mee fieret, meaning my brother. And what I just said was tse fierot, meaning your sister. It is a simple, yet beautiful language. You should learn it sometime. I can send you the dictionary, if you like."
Odo shook his head. "Don't call me your brother."
Keurithe looked confused. "But why not? You are my brother."
Odo hated this, hated dealing with them when they were like this. It was too easy to give over to the dark side of his soul, and give up for the love they offered. Only their love was conditional. "I'm not your brother in the ways that matter."
Once again, that confused look. Keurithe was charming when bewildered, Odo decided. "We had the same mother and father. We were grown in the same womb, for lack of a better term. We should have been raised together. What more matters?" When Odo simply stared at her, she continued. "We are siblings whether you like it or not, mee fieret. Get used to it."
Arys sighed, looking around Risa. She felt strange, uncomfortable here. It went against her nature to be here, watching the others enjoying themselves while she tried desperately to blend into the background. Jake and the others just couldn't understand how much like a Cardassian brothel this was. Even if those who worked here enjoyed themselves, she still saw oppression in it.
As if to illustrate her point, Taran approached at that moment. He was exactly on time for their 'date.' She sighed, not looking forward to this.
"So, Taran, what do you want to do, anyway?" Arys' voice came out sounding much more annoyed than she meant it to.
Taran just laughed. "My lady, you may choose whatever activity you would prefer. I am your loyal escort to the end." His ridiculous chivalry had a curious affect on her. It amused her, to her utter surprise.
She turned to him, watching his face as she said, "And what if I say that I don't want to do anything." Again, she was surprised. He actually looked disappointed by that prospect. "Taran, I know you work here. You must have plenty of other people to keep company. And as much as I enjoy your company, it's not really helping me at all. I just feel even more conspicuous when you're around." She turned to walk away, not noticing the running girl.
The two girls ran smack into each other, Arys falling into Taran's arms, the other one falling onto the floor with an audible crash. Within moments, she scampered up off of the floor, running away. But Arys stayed in Taran's arms, her heart beating fast. Part of it was interest. She had been in other men's arms, but this man attracted her. But the main part was pain.
He shifted slightly, and she yelped softly, pulling away. Within moments he was at her side, looking at her face. "Arys, what's wrong? Did you hurt something when that girl ran into you?"
Arys shook her head desperately, trying to conceal her secret. But Taran wasn't having any of it. Without another word, he led her back to his quarters, which were magnificent, and turned her to the wall, facing away from him. Her shirt was lifted, and Taran gasped.
The gashes running down her back were made by some type of whip, Taran knew. What was worse, some of them were still raw, not quite bleeding but coming close. And this woman had endured such torture with a smile? His vision transformed to scarlet before he could concentrate on helping her.
"Arys, who did this to you?" The words were cold with suppressed anger.
"My superiors." She spoke dispassionately of those who had abused her. Taran couldn't understand her at all. "They felt that my talking was excessive."
And Taran knew that he had to do something about this, and do it now.
Kira and Odo stood outside the airlock along with the rest of the senior staff, waiting for the two occupants from the unknown shuttle to debark. Kira was worried. She had seen how the presence of other Changelings affected Odo, and she didn't want him to go through that pain again. But at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder why her other self was travelling with one.
Odo, for his part, was rather anxious to meet this ambassador. He had not spoken of Keurithe's conversation with anyone, although he wished he could talk to Dax about it. She would understand better than anyone. But she had been holed up with Sisko since he had gotten the transmission, and he couldn't interrupt that meeting. He glanced over at her now, wondering what she was thinking.
Slowly, the two came out of the airlock, and Odo gasped. He hadn't realised that it was the same Colonel Kira that he remembered. She smiled at him, a bittersweet smile that brought pain to his heart. He hadn't meant to hurt her.
Major Kira and the others watched the exchange between them, curious. She hadn't realised that the two had known each other, although she should have guessed. And a blow of what could only be described as jealousy hit her. It worsened as the colonel walked towards Odo.
Nerys couldn't believe her luck. She would get to see Odo again, to apologize to him. She had felt awful about the way she had treated him, though she knew she was in the right about most of it. He was confused, and she had only made it worse. She should have known that he would not stay with her.
She halted in front of the security chief, reaching out to touch his face softly. And he let her, knowing he could do nothing less. There was so much communicated in that one touch that the others were left breathless with wonder. Even the other Changeling seemed surprised.
She, too, approached Odo, after giving Nerys sufficient time. And she held out one hand. "Odo, if you wish, you may Link with me to verify what I have said to you." Seven pairs of eyes widened. And Odo made a swift decision. He had found a way to kill those who threatened his home. He just prayed that she was telling the truth.
The Link was beyond anything he had ever experienced. There was a sense of familiarity about her, a sense of himself, his soul combined with hers. But more, there was a sense of love that he had not felt from the other female Changeling. It was unconditional. He could tell that in a second. And more, it was directed, not just at him, but at the entire station, and those on it, especially both Kiras.
He backed away after a moment, having connected with her. He was speechless, but believing now, and she knew it.
Kira and Nerys were both fuming inside. The Link meant more to Odo than anything they could do. And they wanted to mean more to him than this new person. Each eyed the other. Kira wondered what was running through Nerys' head, and Nerys was curious to see what was going through Kira's. This would prove very interesting.
Arys walked sedately through the silent room. The others were away, save for Jake, who was hovering over her, waiting for her to say something. But being in the SSTF had taught her quite a bit about talking when there was nothing to say.
Finally, Jake spoke, unwilling to wait for her to comment on any of it. "Arys, are you going to talk to me?" The worry in his voice was apparent to her, but it seemed distant, as though she was seeing it from far away. This whole existence seemed distant.
"What is there to say, Jake? You already know most of what I went through, and I don't see the point in discussing trivialities like the weather on Risa." Her hand traced the window ledge, and she could hear Jake's frustrated sigh behind her.
"Taran's waiting outside. He wanted to see you, and since he was the one to offer this hiding place to us, I thought you could see him. But I wanted to talk to you first. You don't seem willing to talk to me, though. Maybe it will be better with Taran." His voice broke on that sentence, she heard.
A low laugh was all that bid him farewell as he left the room. He growled slightly at Taran, and the other man just smiled.
Taran walked into the room, coming up behind Arys and touching her on the shoulder. She didn't flinch away, but only through sheer willpower. She hated being touched, hated knowing that she was going to be hurt. And she couldn't help but feel that these people were going to turn on her if she didn't keep it from happening. After all, they didn't understand what she had been through in the Occupation, nor did they understand what had happened to her in the SSTF. And nothing could make them understand. So why stay around?
"Arys, we have to talk. Jake and the others are worried about you. Can you blame them?" Arys shook her head, not speaking. She didn't really need to verbally answer this yet.
"What's more, Arys, I'm worried about you. You've changed. You used to be so fun-loving. But now, there's nothing left of that girl. What did they do to you to change that? Why did they have to hurt you?" The words were pleading, and Arys had no answer. She knew what they had wanted to accomplish, but she didn't know why it had to happen to her. It was what she had asked the Prophets constantly since they had rescued her. And there had been no answers. Nothing to show that the Prophets cared what happened to her. Even in the Occupation, there were answers. But here, now, it was as if she had given up the right. And if for no other reason than that, she wanted to die.
She turned on Taran, her one-time friend, and growled. He backed up one step, then another, and she pursued this until he had left the room. He fled, knowing that she had been a terrorist, and was more than capable of taking care of him.
When he was gone, she moved to the middle of the room, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. And suddenly, she was blinded by the tears. She stumbled, falling to the floor with a painful crash. But no one tried to get in. They all knew that she needed this time alone. And she wept bitterly for the innocence she had finally lost.