When I'm Gone
By: Dark Draconain
Rated: PG - 13
Feedbak: If you would be so kind ^_^
Disclaimer: See Prologue
Summery: Truth is in the eye of the storm. (A/T)

When I'm Gone
Chapter One: Mountains from Molehills

The capital city, Kryzal, was like a giant ice palace. The buildings were made of a translucent glass-like material that made the whole area seem surreal. The Azuure people were equally majestic, calm, and mysterious. They had invited Archer down to the surface several days earlier when Enterprise had first made contact with the strange ice people. The Azuures had been polite and courteous the entire time Archer was meeting with Emperor. They had asked about Earth and life in space, and in return they had told about life on a glacial world. Apparently not many of them were interested in space travel, although certainly many had gone out to explore the stars before.

Archer lay sprawled out on the couch—or at least what could be interpreted as a couch—reading a translation of a manuscript one of the Azuures had loaned him. He was alone in the apartment-type residence with T'Pol for the evening—Hoshi apparently found Azuure to be a very interesting language. The small apartment was done up in mostly shades of white, with a slight mixture of blues. It was decorated in a Spartan style, but was somehow still homely. There was a fireplace across from the living area, and the deep crimson flames played twitching shadows across the room.

"Do you intend to lay there all night?" T'Pol asked stoically.

"Maybe," he looked up at her perched on the edge of one of the table chairs. "Is that a problem?"

"No."

And another awkward conversation down for the count. God, what is it with Vulcans? But it wasn't, he knew, Vulcans. It was her. His science officer, Sub-commander T'Pol. Why couldn't they just have a normal conversation? Why was everything so complicated with her? Did she even care?

"Is that the book Sen-te lent you?" she asked quietly.

"Uh, yeah." He grinned weakly and walked over to where she was sitting. "Et tu, T'Pol?"

She raised one of her slender eyebrows.

"And you? What are you up to?"

"I am studying a soil analysis of this planet."

"Don't Vulcans ever take a vacation?"

"It is not required," she replied coolly and turned back to her PADD.

He shook his head and slowly meandered back towards the couch, then turned, "We're here for three more days. On one of them you're taking a vacation. And if I have to drag you into the mountains…"

"You'd what?" she asked blankly.

"Excuse me?"

"You said, 'and if I have to drag you into the mountains'. What would you do?"

"I…I'd…Oh, never mind!" he flopped down on the couch in defeat. Mountains out of molehills, Jonny-boy. Mountains outa molehills. Why I even bother....

~~~*~~~

It was dark outside, and the moons where glowing an eerie shade of ice blue. Everything on Azuure was so cold. The lighting, the temperature, the mood. And it was so quiet. Usually T'Pol would revel in the peaceful tranquility of such a calm place, but not right now. Her thoughts were far to…unsettling. She was uncomfortable being in such close proximity to Captain Archer. It wasn't so much the proximity; it was the relaxed air. The unprofessional, on vacation air. The captain wasn't acting as a captain should. He was acting like…himself. And it unnerved her.

She walked over to where he was laying on the couch sleeping. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. And it struck her then how tense he always seemed, and how much younger he looked in his sleep…. She recalled the night before they had come across Azuure. Captain Archer had shown up outside her bedroom door. And somehow she had known he was there.

She shook herself mentally and, not liking her current line of thought, retreated to hers and Hoshi's room to meditate.

~ to be continued....~