Title: Sono
Author: Vesper (Regina)
Rated: T
Category: Drama, Angst
Codes: R/S ust, unrequited Tu/S, and company
Series: 'The Imperfect Series', in order: Now Taking Requests (coming soon), Sono, Nocturnus, and Permanence.
Spoilers: Strange New World, The Crossing, possibly others.
Summary: Snow, moon, flowers. A fairy tale retold.
Disclaimer: Star Trek, as always, belongs to Paramount, but I own the story.
Archival: Permission to Linguistics Database and EntSTCommunity (Warp 5 Complex) only. All others, please link to my website.
Thanks to: Rodlox, who beta'ed for style, and everyone at MHE for being very, very, very patient while I finished this.
Dedication: To MachingMonkey, ShiShi, and Stexgirl2000
Notes: 'Sono' is the Japanese concept of a woman's private garden for meditation. Inspiration came from this webpage, Japanese Art and the Japanese View of Nature (http/www.moa-inter.or.jp/english/setsugekka/setsu-kurita.html).
Part One
It was quiet on this hillside. A distant chirp of some animal, perhaps a bird, perhaps not, sounded with infrequent intervals. Other than that, Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Reed thought, there was no sound. The yellow sun was riding low in the sky, and the planet's first moon was a pale ghost opposite.
The Regent's garden was carefully tended, the beds of flowers trimmed with polished stones. Everything looked well-tended, in order, except for the tiny pale pink blossoms that the cool breeze pushed along the cobbled pathway, and blew off the trees that bore them. The Regent had called them--Malcolm couldn't remember. The UT had failed to translate it. Hoshi had smiled, a somewhat sad and private smile, at the word, but the chance to translate it had passed by, lost in flow of the conversation.
Malcolm followed behind Captain Archer and the Regent as they ambled through the garden. Hoshi paused to admire a large vibrant yellow flower, the single blossom topping a three-foot stem. Captain Archer and the Regent continued walking, the Regent pointing out plants, naming them. Occasionally a word would slip past the universal translator, but for the most part it translated with perfect ease.
Malcolm kept his eye on his Captain and the dignitary, but hung back a few paces. They were still in sight, no need to worry. The Regent had assured them they were safe here. He glanced back at Ensign Sato and his eyes narrowed.
She had ceased to examine the flower and was now looking around the garden. He saw her shoulders twitch as a shudder passed through her and she murmured, "There's something wrong here."
"Hoshi?" Malcolm questioned, hand on his phase pistol.
She had her hand in the air, poking it with an absent and gentle grace. Her attention seemed turned inward, her head tilted as she listened, her lips moving in a silent murmur. She didn't give any indication that she'd heard him.
"There's something," she said again, a whisper to herself, "something I'm missing."
"Hoshi." Malcolm prodded, his tone more insistent this time and Hoshi turned her eyes to him. "What is it?" She shook her head, shrugging off the feeling that had crept with insect lightness across her skin.
"Whatever it was, it's gone now." She was still staring into the distance, speaking more to herself than to him.
Her distant manner disturbed him. She wasn't looking at him, but through him. He asked, hoping his emphasis would pierce through whatever fog she was in, "What was it?"
She looked at him, her eyes blank, blinked, and then focused on his face. "What did you say?" she asked.
He fought against a sudden flash of anger. He said, forcing himself to keep his voice level, "Ensign Sato."
She stared at him, confusion creasing in between her eyebrows. "Why are you call-- What's wrong?"
He raised an eyebrow, a tight gesture she knew he'd picked up from T'Pol and she realized he was very displeased. She moved closer to him and he stiffened at her approach, his shoulders almost becoming a straight line.
He said, "You were just--" He stopped before he said the words that rose unbidden to his mind. Acting like someone else.
"What?"
"You sensed something?" His voice rose on the last syllable, a not too subtle prodding.
She shrugged, what she had felt a distant memory now. "Maybe, maybe not. It was strange."
He looked as if he didn't believe her.
She continued, her voice light, "You already swept the area, Malcolm. You didn't find anything. It was just the wind..." Her voice drifted away, as well as her gaze, the same distant look in her eyes for just a moment, then she snapped her gaze back to him. She said, "We're going to be late to dinner."
She walked away, down the path. The last rays of the sun touched the top of her head, a coronation of golden light. Malcolm looked around, seeing shadows settling into the farthest parts of the garden. The warmth of the sun had made him forget it was autumn here and he shivered against the chill creeping up his spine, as the sun disappeared from sight.
He turned his back to the garden and caught up to Hoshi's side. She smiled at him and said, "This is such a beautiful place, isn't it? I miss being around flowers."
"There is the hydroponics bay on the ship."
"It isn't the same, Malcolm. You know that."
He'd never cared either way. Plants, with their accompanying pollen, were a torture he tried to avoid as much as possible. "What does it matter, Hoshi?"
She shot a sidelong glare at him. She said, irritation hot in her voice, "It's earth, Commander, not--" she cut herself off and then continued, more subdued. "On board it's not the same. Can't you feel it? There's no substitute for sunlight, for the feel of its warmth on your face, for the smell of..." She looked at him and trailed off.
He shook his head, at a loss. What did she want him to say? Before he could offer any reply, she sighed, exasperated. They walked down the path in silence.
Up ahead, the lights of the Regent's hogan could be seen, bright pin-points behind colored glass, sumptuous emerald green, deep wine red, vibrant sapphire. The lanterns swung from poles set in front of the entrance in a breeze that stirred the once still air and caught the ribbons also tied to the poles, fluttering the colored strands high.
The place had a certain charm, Malcolm thought. For some reason, his mind drifted to the memory of Hoshi's smile at learning the name of those pale flowers and he asked, "What did the Regent say those pink flowers were called?"
Her brow crinkled in confusion for just a moment, then smoothed itself away. The smile reappeared and she said, "Kuri'ay."
"What does it mean?"
"Angel's wings."
"Why wouldn't the UT translate it?"
"It's probably just a glitch. If it thinks it's a proper name it will skip right over it. I'll take a look at it, later maybe, after dinner."
For a lapse like that, Malcolm thought, she usually would be at that program in an instant. Ever since they'd come to this place, she'd been more relaxed than he'd ever seen her, and the smile that hovered around her lips in various levels of brightness stirred something in him, something bright and painful.
He found it hard to remember when he last saw her smile this much. If she knew that he thought her as sad, she'd deny it in an instant, but there were moments, quiet ones, when she would be lost in thought, and her face would settle into a melancholy that tore at his heart. It was at those times that he would remember how young she was and he would wonder how many pieces had been torn from her by all they'd experienced.
She asked, "Are you all right, Malcolm?"
He stared at her, wondering if she had heard his thoughts. He wouldn't put it past her. Not after the many times she'd answered something he'd thought. She had a way of doing that, that sometimes he found endearing, at other times, just spooky. She always chalked it up to how long they had been friends.
"I'm fine," he answered and then said, regretting it the instant he did, "Are you?"
"Am I all right?" There was just the slightest shade of incredulity in her tone and it shamed him. He looked away, but still answered, "Yes."
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
No reasons. He couldn't think of any reasons and an unwelcome feeling of anxiety pressed in on him. The scent of a night-blooming flower flowed past and around him and he couldn't think. His thoughts were a jumble. The lights were too bright and he could hear laughter ringing through the night air and Hoshi was looking at him like he'd lost his mind.
He shut his eyes, the after-images of lantern lights burning against the darkness of his eyelids, and willed the whirling sensation to go away.
Just go away.
He felt a hand on his arm and heard Hoshi ask, "Malcolm? What's wrong?"
He opened his eyes and whatever had swept through him was gone. He felt cold and realized that the temperature had dropped. The breeze had changed to a stiff wind. He looked up as something icy and wet stung his face. Snowflakes were starting to fall, blowing sideways in the wind.
He said, "I just...nothing."
She shivered. He wondered why they were just standing out here in the cold. They should be inside.
Malcolm looked down at her hand. Hoshi dropped it from his arm.
A brief smile fluttered across his lips. "Let's go inside, Ensign."
Hoshi nodded.