Chapter 3: The Death of the Beloved Child
Summary for this chapter: A visit from Kai Opaka's son causes Vedek Winn to take a stand.
For disclaimers, warnings, etc. please see chapter 1.
This chapter leans very heavily on The Collaborator, and might not make sense if you haven't seen that episode.
Before Opaka Tehar led his resistance cell against the Cardassian garrison at Kendra Valley, he came in disguise to Vedek Winn to ask for her blessing. She recognized him immediately. He had his mother's round face and bright eyes, and when she touched his pagh she felt the same soft colours. She had heard of Kai Opaka's legendary son, the resistance hero, but he had never before come to the Vedek Hall. Now that he was here, Winn would allow him his disguise, for the moment.
"I knew you would understand," the young Opaka said. "If I go on this mission against the Cardassians, I need to know the Prophets are with me."
"They are, my son," Winn said. "The Prophets are always with those who serve them."
"I was hoping you would say that," said Tehar. He seemed young, absurdly young to be leading armies. Winn thought of her Kai, her friend, who had taken her from the obscure monastery where she had taken refuge and given her a future. It was a betrayal to meet with her son secretly this way. Still, she could not turn away someone who was willing to fight for the good of Bajor.
"Why did you come to me, my child?" Winn asked.
"The Kai..." Opaka Tehar hesitated. "The Kai does not understand. She thinks we can end the occupation peacefully, through negotiation and prayer. I heard about what you said in the Degari Temple during the Gratitude Festival. To hear words like that from a Vedek," Tehar suddenly smiled, "it was as if the Prophets really are with us after all."
It had been so little, what Vedek Winn had allowed herself to say in that sermon. Only a few veiled words about the longing of the Prophets to walk with their children in freedom. Kai Opaka had rebuked her for it, saying that she would bring down the wrath of the Cardassians and see the Vedek Assembly destroyed. Winn had knelt in public penance, but had apologized only for any damage to the Kai's honour that she might have caused.
"The Prophets will favour us if we follow their will," Winn said. "Why do you fear, child? Why do you doubt?"
"Bajorans will die," Tehar said simply. "There will be retaliation. The Cardassians have sworn that for every Cardassian dead they will kill ten Bajorans. But we can't not fight for that reason, can we? Bajorans die every day in the occupation, and will continue to die until the Cardassians are gone."
"You have the blessing of the Prophets," Winn said, allowing harshness to creep into her voice. It disgusted her, this belief among Bajorans that they could end the occupation without bloodshed, or that being unable to do so made them somehow morally culpable. "The Bajorans who die will walk with the Prophets as honoured martyrs in the Celestial Temple in eternal joy."
"Thank you," said Tehar, and bowed his head. "I'm so afraid. Not for myself, but for Bajor. But this is the will of the Prophets, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Winn. She stood, and placed her hands on Opaka Tehar's forehead. "May the Prophets walk with you, my child," she blessed him. "May they stand with you, and guard you. May they guide your hands, and may they watch your path, and may they always receive you in love."
The boy stood, and Winn took his hands. "One more thing," she said. "You did not tell me your name, so I do not know who you are, and I do not need to notify anyone in your family of your plans. Anyone at all."
Tehar grinned, understanding. Before he turned away his eyes were bright like those of the ancient Vedeks who had spoken with the Prophets face to face.
They brought Tehar's body back to the courtyard in front of the Vedek Assembly. The mourning procession had already turned into a mob by the time it reached the capital. When Kai Opaka emerged, the shouting Bajorans would not let her pass.
Winn understood. The people had had enough of the cowardice of Kais and Vedeks. And in that moment, so had she. Winn remembered her mother's death, how her mother had blessed the name of the Prophets even as the Cardassian wasting disease had claimed her life. The local Vedek had praised her meekness. Vedek Winn would bring a different message.
She ran to the steps of the Vedek Hall, overlooking the crowd. Jaro Essa was leading them. He had been her student, once, before he had stormed out of the temple to join the resistance. He would welcome a Vedek who was not afraid to speak.
"Rise up against the Cardassians!" Winn shouted to the crowd. "Follow the Prophets! Tehar has shown us the way!"
At Jaro's gesture the crowd parted, allowing Winn to pass. "Have not the Prophets taught you to forgive?" asked Kai Opaka, as Winn stepped into the crowd in front of her.
"No," Winn answered, and turning to the crowd left Opaka behind.
"Tehar died for our sins," Winn said as she moved through the crowd. "Our sins of apathy, and fear. Our lack of trust that the Prophets will not fail us. Tehar fulfilled the will of the Prophets. Who among you will do the same?"
Cardassian souldiers began to surround the square. Soon there would be bloodshed and death. But there would also be a beginning of something that should have begun long ago.
"Do you believe in the love of the Prophets?" Winn shouted. "Do you believe they tolerate those who make whores and beggars of their children? Did you stand with Tehar against the Cardassian oppressor?"
Finally Winn reached Tehar's body, Jaro at her side. She gathered the broken corpse in her arms. She would never bear a child, the Cardassians had made certain of that when she was still a girl. But she had called this boy her child, and he had asked for her blessing, and he had died because of the blessing she had given him.
"I have heard the voice of the Prophets," Winn said to her people. "They demand that we fight. They promise to stand by us, if only we are not afraid. The Prophets promise us victory." Winn lifted Tehar's body high over the crowd. "The Prophets ask us to follow!"
It was all lies, of course. Winn had heard the silence of the Prophets thundering out from the Celestial Temple. The only voice she heard was their mocking absence in the face of Bajor's agony. The Prophets had consented in contemptuous silence to the death of their beloved son, the same contemptuous silence that had greeted each and every Bajoran death. No Orb and no prayer-fire would ever tell Winn the Prophets' secrets, could ever make sense of the evil the Prophets had allowed. The only hope she could find was in her own words, and the only truth the one she would speak.
"Follow the Prophets," Winn said as the Cardassians bound her and led her away.
Notes:
The idea that Winn preached rebellion during the occupation (and that she was one of the few Vedeks to do so) belongs to selenak, who put it together out of various hints in canon.
Since this story is starting to squick even me, I'd like to add my standard disclaimer that any moral judgements made by any characters in any of my stories are theirs and not mine. Much as I love Her Eminence, her way of looking at the world can be rather disturbing at times.
Next chapter: In the Fire Caves, Winn prays to the Pagh-wraiths and is answered.