Kira opened her eyes. She was still lying on the floor. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and put a hand to her head. It felt as if it was about to roll off of her body back onto the floor. At least she knew without a doubt that she was really awake this time. She couldn't possibly feel this bad if she were dreaming.
She propped herself up against the couch and tried to think. Had she been dreaming? She could have sworn she had just had a conversation with Ziyal. Everything about it had seemed so real. Kira gingerly leaned her head back against the couch and closed her eyes again. She called to mind the conversation she had just had. And she knew it had been real. Bajorans believed in the spirit realm and she knew enough to know that she had been in touch with it. It was almost comforting to her to have this little bit of actual proof that one did exist past death. She was extremely grateful to the Prophets to know that Ziyal had been accepted despite being half Cardassian.
She suddenly squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Oh,no. The promise! She had made a promise to a spirit. Damn. What had she been thinking? In Bajoran custom, an oath made in the spirit realm was as binding as an oath to the Prophets. She knew that she could not break it without compromising her hope of entering the Celestial Temple. She wondered morosely if Ziyal had been aware of that when she had asked her. Probably. If Kira was being honest with herself, and she was, she had to admit that a spirit oath would probably be the only way that she would not renege on her promise to help Dukat.
Well, Ziyal had always been a clever girl. Kira moodily wondered if that was yet another trait inherited from her sire.
So now here she sat, staring blankly at the wall, going over and over everything that had happened thus far. She contemplated what to do. She knew that she couldn't just blithely walk into wherever Dukat was at and begin talking. He would never listen. She needed an opening of some kind. But what?
Suddenly, Kira had an idea. She didn't know if it would work or not but she had to give it a shot. But first, she had to find out where here quarry was being kept.
"Computer, locate of Gul Dukat."
"Gul Dukat is in his quarters."
That was a surprise. She had expected him to be in the brig. She had expected Captain Sisko would have immediately claimed his own quarters back. Maybe Dukat was worse off than she had thought. Well, no matter. She knew where his quarters were at. She stood up and immediately her stomach lurched. She shuffled her way over to the replicator and ordered up a cup of raktajino and Quark's Quick Fix. She'd never tried the hangover remedy before but she knew a few crew members who absolutely swore by it. She downed it quickly and then took a quick drink of her coffee. After a couple of minutes, she actually did start to feel less nauseous. She made a mental note to thank Quark and see if Julian could analyze what was in that stuff.
She started moving around the room, collecting the items she needed.
"Computer, what is the current time?"
"It is currently 19:42."
Damn. It was quite a bit later than she had thought but it didn't matter. Still feeling a little woozy, she went back to the replicator and ordered some herbal tea and some retamba stew. She needed something in her stomach besides coffee to help counter the effects of the alcohol she had consumed. She was going to need all her wits about her for this. Finishing her meal, she double checked to make sure she had everything she needed then headed for the door. Kira had never been one to try and put off a task, unpleasant or otherwise and besides, a promise was a promise.