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Author's Note: Same thing…italics=flashback
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Chapter Twenty: Fairytales and Outcomes
She hated it. Totally, whole-heartedly hated it! More so it annoyed her to no end. A very annoyed and guilty feeling Beverly Felicia Howard-Crusher-Picard sat in a comfortable chair in Sickbay at five am with the hand of her best friend folded in her own.
She hated herself for not being able to help, even though she *knew* what was wrong. It also annoyed her that Lwaxana wouldn't help her own daughter, or at least try to. After all, she *had* been able to help before; why not this time? With a sigh she placed one hand over her belly, her mind wandering off to Lwaxana's earlier 'diagnosis'.
///"Traya Keisha!" In disbelief the elder woman stared at the small viewscreen on the desk. "This can't be!" Concerned the man behind her stepped closer.
"Mrs. Troi, are you all right?"
"Not now Jean-Luc!" Uncertain on how to react at her rudeness he stepped back and shut up. Computer: access Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi's personal Database; authorization code and voice recognition: Lwaxana treya-ego-Troi."
Authorization code accepted. Accessing... A list of Betazoid terms appeared on screen. Lwaxana quickly scrolled down and selected the last one. Another list appeared and again she selected the last term.
"I wasn't aware that Betazed is still an active language."
"It isn't. It's only spoken by members of the Houses of Betazed." The Ambassador responded without looking up or slowing her scan of her files. "Ah there it is! Computer: translate document 'Sraylashqua-AM-00001' into standard Language." Only a few seconds later the computer informed them that the translation had been completed. "Copy file to the terminals of Doctor Crusher and Captain Picard."
Order executed.
"Good." Turning around her chair she gracefully stood up. "I have just sent you the translation of one of our most ancient myths: the myth of Sraylashqua." Lwaxana gestured the two officers to sit down and walked to the replicator. When she returned she was carrying one cup of Earl Grey tea, one glass of orange juice and one hot-chocolate. Handing each a drink she sat down as well.
"The myth was Deanna's favourite ever since she was old enough to read." A mellow smile crossed her features. "She's always been the romantic type. The myth tells us about the daughter of Betazed's upper god. Ancient Betazoid society can be compared to Earth's ancient Greek society."
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"The Betazoids believed that everything that occured happened because of the 'Sraya' which roughly translates as 'gods of the sky'. Sraylashqua was the daughter of the two eldest gods. Her parents 'Sraycosmxa' or 'The god who knows' and 'Srayashla' 'The goddess who is' were the creators of Betazed."
"They could be compared to the Greek gods Oeranos and Gaia. Sraylashqua or 'She who knows all that is' was destined to rule Betazed one day, to bring and keep peace among the people. She was the Goddess of mind and soul, protecting the Betazoids from their own minds. Sraylashqua gave advice when a Betazoid would have to make a difficult decision or when a mind was threatened by emotions like hatred and spite."
"When she would walk amongst the mortals she would disguise herself and offer advice to those who needed it. No one ever knew with whom they were dealing with until she fled. According to ancient inscriptions she appeared as a small, beautiful woman with long, dark and curly hair and large brown eyes. Her eyes and hair were slightly darker and brighter than those of 'normal' Betazoids." Lwaxana bent forward and placed her empty mug on the table.
"Her actual looks were compatible to those of Earth's Phoenix with green eyes as bright as the stars. In addition the Phoenix, or 'lashquarai' as we call it, is now the symbol of the soul. Two bright green eyes are the symbol of Sraylashqua." Lwaxana shifted her position slightly and quickly probed the minds of her audience; both were a bit curious but also restless and failed to see the relevance. True to her personality she ignored it and continued.
"When Sraylasha and Sraycosmxa bonded they each gave the Betazoid race a gift. The Goddess gave them empathy and the God telepathy. Both possessed another power; telekinesis but that power was intentionally kept from the mortal Betazoids.
As a couple they gave the Betazoids the chance to forge an Imzadi bond. Only two Betazoids, pure of heart, mind and soul, selected by the gods themselves were considered worthy enough to bond fully in an imzadi bond.
A year after the wedding Sraylashqua was born. She had in her all the powers of both her parents; less powerful than her parents, but very powerful nonetheless." Uncomfortably Beverly changed her position and softly sighed. She wanted to go back to Sickbay and help Deanna in any way possible. But Lwaxana kept talking.
"But even the Gods couldn't change fate and Sraylashqua fell in love with a mortal. Nothing her parents said or did made an impression and she neglected her duties as a goddess and instead spent her time with her lover.
In desperation her parents locked the mortal away deep within the planet, preventing their daughter from reaching him. After having searched for her lover for weeks Sraylashqua realized her parents were behind his disappearance. She furiously created an army of Betazoids, controlling them with her mind. In that way she attacked her parents from within as well as without.
Even together the ancient Gods could not fight back and in order to safe their own lives and the Betazoid society they surrendered to her wishes and released their daughter's lover. Sraylashqua and her lover managed to forge an Imzadi-bond, making it impossible for her parents to deny their relationship.
Eventually Sraylasha acknowledged their relationship fully and with that acknowledgement a decade-long dispute was settled." Jean-Luc and Beverly sighed in relief, assuming that Lwaxana had finished her story...but she hadn't.
"Sraylashqua and her Imzadi had thirteen daughters; each had powers superior to any other Betazoid. But as her husband aged Sraylashqua realized that he would die soon, but she was immortal and thus would live.
After months and months of begging, her parents still refused to grant their daughter's Imzadi immortality. Sraylashqua decided to let the matter rest for a while before asking them again. Soon thereafter her partner died. Fury, hurt, sadness, sorrow and heartache took possession of her mind and she became a threat the Gods, her children and the entire planet."
Jean-Luc softly coughed, clearly indicating he'd rather be somewhere, anywhere besides where he was. Lwaxana simply threw him a drop-dead look, not pausing for a second.
"With united powers and a carefully thought out plan Sraylasha and Srycosmqua imprisoned their daughter. Eventually she begged to become mortal and once she was, she killed herself. Overcome by grief, her parents isolated themselves and their grandchildren from the rest of the planet.
After two decades the children wished to return to their planet. Upon their arrival they found that the belief of the Betazoid society in the Sraya had decreased. Sraylasha and Sraycosmqua recognized that they no longer held the status of rulers, and created the Thirteen Houses of Betazed. Each House was headed by one daughter and each daughter became the holder/carrier of two sacred memoria."
The elder Troi didn't bother to spell out that those Houses still existed since she knew full well that the officers in the room would come to that conclusion on their own. Again the Captain coughed. "I don't mean to be rude Mrs. Troi but..."
"You don't see what this myth has to do with my daughter's medical condition." The woman gracefully rose to her feet and walked to the replicator. On her way back she began talking again.
"According to the Prophiecies of Betazed, once every hundred years a special Imzadi couple will find each other and once every one thousand and thirteen years a child will be born in which the spirit of Sraylashqua will settle. Such a Lasquarai-child will go through similar pain in her life as the Goddess Sraylashqua." She had finally managed to ignite Beverly's curiosity.
"Deanna has been fascinated by this for a long time. She wrote a thesis about this during her Senior Year at the University of Betazed. In her thesis she investigated whether or not the prophecies could be true."
"And indeed she could find records dating back to 2151 Betazoid time about telepaths practising mind control techniques and telekinesis. In all cases it concerned a female and between each there was a period of about one thousand years. In three of the five cases the Imzadi partner died at an early age. In the other two the Imzadi couple could not live together because of the interference of others." This time Beverly cut in, she had an idea about what Mrs. Troi was going to say.
"Lwaxana, are you saying that you believe Deanna is a Phoenix-child?" The elder woman looked up and locked her dark gaze with the blue gaze of the Doctor.\\\
Doctor Crusher shook her head. Still not sure whether she believed Lwaxana's,or Deanna's, explanation. She herself did not believe in such things as God or Magic, though she had to admit that her encounter with Ronin had made her doubt that for a while. But she also had to admit that there were still...things...that couldn't be explained with modern technology.
In Deanna's case though...there was so much unknown...so many coincidences...so much that didn't make sense back then and still didn't now. A slight smile crossed her features; in retrospect it *did* make sense. At least more sense than any other explanation they could come up with.
The conclusion seemed simple: In order to protect herself, Commander Deanna Troi had summoned all her mental powers to protect herself; and the drugs in her system had caused her powers to increase by several orders of magnitude.
This made her for a brief moment in time the most powerful Telepath/Emptah known to exist in Betazed's history and gave her telekinetic powers which as Deanna had claimed in her thesis lay buried deep within every Betazoid.
However, the question remained: why had those powers surfaced now? Deanna had been in more dangerous situations before. So why had this particular situation triggered the effects it had? Lwaxana's theory was that Deanna still hadn't completely gotten over her anger of Will's departure, which Deanna had later confirmed. The mystery had been solved...or so they thought.
Beverly glanced through the window and her eyes settled on Deanna's sleeping form. She shook her head sadly. Deanna had seemed fully recovered. After having spent forty-six hours unconscious and a full week in Sickbay her recovery had gone faster than she had dared to dream. With intensive physical therapy Troi had overcome the paralysis that plagued her left leg.
Lwaxana had helped her to adjust to her new telepathic abilities. A smile touched the Doctor's lips as she remembered Deanna's reaction when she had told her that her remaining telepathic abilities weren't going to disappear, leaving her able to read the minds of those close to her.
Jean-Luc hadn't been too overjoyed, but he trusted Deanna more than her mother and had realized that Deanna was more disciplined than Lwaxana. 'Boy, Will is up for some surprises when he returns.' Immediately she mentally kicked herself for thinking that. She gave herself a mental shake and then stood up and walked to the Betazoid. She gently tucked a dark strand of silky hair behind Troi's ear.
"Say Sleeping Beauty, don't you think it's about time you wake up?" She didn't expect the slightest reaction so she turned around and walked to the door. She was nearly there when soft mumbling sounds drew her attention and pulled her back to the woman on the biobed. She bent over Deanna and laid her hand on her patient's wrist.
Underneath the closed eyelids she saw the eyes rapidly shift from one side to the other. The eyes fluttered for a moment before they fully opened. Huge unfocussed brown eyes tried to take in the surroundings. Her mouth stretched open in a long, cleansing yawn and she reached her arms out above her head. She rolled her head from left to right and arched her back.
Beverly could hardly believe it; Deanna had been unconscious for over twenty-four hours but acted like she was awakening from a nap. Their gazes locked and for a brief moment Beverly thought she saw a flash of fury in the eyes of the Betazoid. She shrugged the thought off pressed her hand against Deanna's forehead.
"Welcome back." A sweet smile touched the pretty face and she softly whispered back.
"Thank you. I haven't caused too much trouble, have I?" Not quite sure whether she had heard Deanna's words correctly Beverly searched the brown eyes.
"Trouble?! Deanna if all my parents were like you, I'd fall asleep while administrating their medicines." Both softly chuckled but Deanna's face suddenly grew serious.
"You do look pretty tired Bev." Again the Doctor shook her head.
"What can I say, I'm just overly concerned." With a grin she held out her hand and pulled her friend up. She scanned Deanna once again for anything unusual, but [] couldn't find anything. The empath started to swing her legs over the edge of the bed but was held back by the Doctor before she could get up.
"So you've been taking advantage of my hospitality for more than a day, care to tell me why?" Excepting an evasive answer like Deanna always gave concerning private matters Beverly was surprised when she got a full explanation.
"It's quite simple really..." While talking to Beverly she also thought cast her explanation to her mother, who already had already asked. "...As you know the drugs that were injected into my system a month ago enabled me to keep my mental shields up. Even when you kept me under sedation I was able to pick up on your thoughts and those of the other Senior Officers and my mother."
Beverly was a bit confused and concerned, but her curiosity kept her listening. "...What happened to me yesterday was merely the way that my subconscious dealt with the thoughts, words, and visions that weren't my own." The redhead looked curiously at the woman in front of her.
"What did you see?" The Betazoid jumped to her feet and walked out her room to the CMO's office, with Beverly following docilely behind.
"It was kinda weird...I witnessed flashes of what happened to you guys but not through anyone's eyes. Strange and interesting."
"How are you feeling now?" Both women sat back in a chair, one on either side of the desk.
"Relaxed, clear, a bit sleepy and very happy now that everything's sorted out." Beverly leaned forward onto the desk and wove her fingers together.
"No more surprises?"
"No more surprises." Deanna got up from her chair with a reassuring smile.
"Come in tomorrow for a full medical check-up, okay?" She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to protest. "Remember your promise Deanna."
"Oh, okay." Her snappish response was accomplished by a wink and made her redheaded friend grin from ear to ear.
"Oh, you're relieved of duty for twenty-four hours! I suggest you go spend some time with your mother." 'Jean-Luc and I have some unfinished business to take care off.' She added in her mind.
"Hey! No fair! I've just been released from Sickbay. How am I supposed to rest when you lock me up with Mother just so that you and Jean-Luc can 'finish business'." In reply Beverly simply stuck out her tongue, doing her best to hide a chuckle.
"Thank you Beverly, for everything." The whispered words softly rang through her head, causing her to hold her breath for an instant. She wondered if she would ever become used to hearing Deanna inside her head.
~D~