Author's Thanks: to SomniaRie & Inyri!
• SR - Thank you. :) Garak's actually going to have an influential role, if my plot unrolls the way I'm planning. Sorry 'bout not being able to update as soon as you probably wanted… I actually should be studying for an exam, now.
• I - mischievous grin The two girls are my own creation; Iliana isn't, but I've taken a large amount of artistic license with her.
I always keep writing; even when I should be doing other things; like studying. :p
As for if you've already met the Cardassian, you'll just have to wait. :D
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Author's Reminder: don't blaspheme or swear, but do tell me your thoughts & do put a smiley after jokes!
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Author's Note:
Criticism is greatly appreciated. I'm not ignorant of the time it takes, I assure you.
Enjoy! :)
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5: Struggles :5
- - - Shuttlecraft - - -
She yawned, blinking sleepily. She checked her computer readout. A few more minutes before she reached DS9… Hopefully she'd be able to keep anyone from looking at her ship—the engines, in particular…
She could always wait a few days… But, no. She wanted to be there before him.
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- - - Deep Space Nine - - -
"Nerys!"
Colonel Kira turned around. "Edon!" She hugged him. "How are you? It's been awhile."
Bajor's prime minister hesitated. "I've been better."
"Oh?" She guided him along her walk. "What's wrong?"
Shakaar Edon stopped. "I'm lonely, Nerys."
She smiled ruefully. "I know the feeling…"
"Would you like dinner, tonight? I have spring wine."
Nerys turned to him, troubled. "The Prophets said we weren't to be together, Edon."
"That was then. Maybe now–"
"I won't go against the will of the Prophets." She watched him sadly. "And if you were thinking straight, you wouldn't, either. I suggest you go meditate."
He frowned. "I will, but only to show you I am thinking clearly."
Nerys's face twitched. "If you think so."
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- - - Deep Space Nine - - -
"Careful!" Kasidy Sisko caught the wobbling vase.
Little Plié cowered. Sighing, she knelt beside the girl.
"It's all right," she said quietly. "Just try not to knock things over, okay?" She gently hugged the slim child.
Though she couldn't understand her words, Kira Plié relaxed a little. She smiled shakily. Kasidy smiled back.
"Hey, Kas!" hollered her stepson, Jake. "Want—"
"Hush!" she hissed. "Your brother's sleeping!"
"Oh, sorry." Jake entered. "Hi, Plié. How are you?"
She didn't react.
"Plié?" asked Mrs. Sisko, turning to face her.
The girl was examining the vase, again. She was keeping some distance from it, this time. Kasidy tapped her shoulder.
The Bajoran child whipped about, immediately looking at her face.
…At her face…
"Jake," she said uncertainly. "Is Plié deaf?"
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- - - Memory - - -
"I can't believe no one's explored these caverns." She spoke normally, knowing her voice would carry to her brother.
"It's beautiful…"
Something about her brother's tone caught her attention. "Areth?"
"It's… It's a she…"
"Areth!" she hissed. She hurried after him. She found him peering through a crevice. "Ar—"
He waved frantically at her to be silent. After she crouched beside him, he softly told her, "I don't want her to know I'm here, Naleet."
Naleet skeptically looked in. Her breath caught.
A slim alien woman went about her business in what was obviously her home. Her skin was pale even compared to a Bajoran's. Her hair was a yellowish bronze, or a dull gold. Its ends brushed her bare shoulders.
Her loose large gray blouse draped her form, covering her torso and connected by a cord to the rolled-up sleeves. It tucked into her pleated skirt, knee-high and slate-colored. Matching boot-shaped things covered her feet to her ankles.
Her back to them, the alien sighed, bringing a hand up to rub her lower neck. It rippled, and a wave of multifaceted dark red shuddered through the spot and reabsorbed.
Naleet gasped.
The woman turned abruptly. Her smooth little nose turned up slightly. Her eye sockets stretched a little to the side, the eyes themselves a mildly lighter shade of her hair's odd yellow-brown. She saw them almost immediately.
Naleet grabbed her brother's arm to run, but the woman's arm elongated to touch a few buttons on a console as she stepped over to them.
The crevice became a doorway. "Do come in," she said warmly in perfect Bajoran. She guided them inside.
Naleet debated dragging her older brother away from the strange woman, but a look at him showed he wasn't going anywhere. She stayed for his sake. She wouldn't let him be drawn in by a vixen. The alien gave no sign of noticing how she enraptured Naleet's brother.
The foreign woman guided them to a nearby table and chairs. "Can I get you something? Please forgive the poor décor. I get so few visitors. And, time…" She caught herself. "Forgive my rudeness. I'm Merow Lushpi."
"Kira Areth. My sister, Naleet. May I call you Lushpi?"
"Certainly, if you'll return the favor."
"Of course."
Nothing Naleet saw made Miss Merow seem any more than a friendly, lonely woman. Then why did she live so far underground? And what was she doing on Bajor?
After awhile of chatting with Areth and pointed questioning from Naleet, Merow Lushpi glanced at the ceiling. She smiled ruefully. "I've enjoyed your company, but it's getting late. Your family will be worrying, soon. Would you mind being transported to the surface?"
"Not at all!" Areth assured her before Naleet could protest. Lushpi went to her control panel.
"May the Prophets bless you till our next meeting."
"Thank you. Bring one of your works, next time."
"I beg your pardon?" Naleet asked sharply before her brother could promise to do as the stranger asked.
Lushpi beamed. "You're of the family Kira—artists." She tapped her cheekbone. "I haven't spent all these years rotting under this mountain."
"Do you still come out?"
Her cheek twitched. "On occasion."
"What do you look like? …Perhaps we could share a meal?"
The dull golden gaze became guarded. "We'll see."
Before Naleet could think of anything else to say, Lushpi had hit a few buttons, and the transport had begun.
- - - Cardassia - - -
Kira Naleet watched those milling about her with complete disinterest. She knew so much more, now, than she had then.
And she had paid dearly for it.