In the Fire Caves

Chapter 5: The Kai of Bajor

Summary for this chapter: In the caverns above the Fire Caves, Kai Winn realizes that the sacrifice demanded by the Pah-wraiths is one that she is unwilling to make.

For disclaimers, warnings etc. please see chapter 1.

The book of the Kosst Amojen is timeless, written in the eternal language of the Prophets and Pah-wraiths, without past or future. It tells the story of the brave and wise spirit who stood before the Prophets long ago and in a time yet to come, and first named them worthy of death.

What are we? the Kosst Amojen had said and will say to the Prophets. Are we impotent to help the Bajorans in their need? Are we despots to accept the worship of a people we will not save?

In the cavern overlooking the Fire Caves, the Pah-wraith in Dukat's form laughed. "Soon the Pah-wraiths will burn across Bajor," he said. Kai Winn knew that the time of destruction was near, the time the book had promised.

What are we? the Prophets had answered. We are not the true gods of Bajor. They left the Celestial Temple, and followed the Kosst Amojen to their long exile in the Fire Caves. Yet still they remained in the Celestial Temple, as they must, nontemporal, until their future selves make an end of all Bajor's gods.

"

A universe in flames," Dukat said, staring brightly out of the cavern towards the doomed Prophets in their Temple. The eternity of the Prophets would be destroyed by fire, the gods of Bajor torn down in the self-immolation of the Pah-wraiths.

The Kai of Bajor must make a sacrifice so that the end may begin. The book of the Kosst Amojen was clear on this point at least. When the Pah-wraiths had revived Dukat, returning him to his Cardassian form, Winn had shrieked in horror, terrified that her sacrifice had been refused. But on reflection, it made sense. It was a fitting form for those who had once been Prophets to take to end their lives, the form of the tyrant of Bajor. Let the Prophets see the form that they have taken, and know their shame.

Now that Dukat was in his Cardassian form, the Kai had expected to feel nothing but contempt for the man who had once been her lover. Almost nothing. She remembered the kiss that they had shared moments before his death, and imagined the feel of his Cardassian facial ridges under her fingers. She had allowed Cardassians to touch her as a child during the occupation. There was no guilt in this, since it had been necessary, and no pleasure either. But as Dukat reached up to heaven to begin his self-destruction, the fire of the Pah-wraiths in his eyes, it was the first time that Winn had ever found a Cardassian beautiful.

Without the Celestial Temple, without the Prophets, the Cardassians would never have been drawn to Bajor. Soon Dukat would die again, and with him the Prophets and Pah-wraiths. Bajor would be free of him, in the past and in the future, forever.

At that moment, the Emissary entered the cavern. There was no hope for him. With taunts and jeers, the Pah-wraith took the Emissary's rifle, and forced him to his knees.

The Emissary was helpless. He was doomed. The defeat of the Prophets had already begun. When the Prophets faded into nonexistence, his mother's rape and possession would disappear as well, and the Emissary would never have been born. He would face the same nonexistence as his masters.

"I've won," said the Pah-wraith to the Prophets. "You've lost." In a moment, all the gods of Bajor would die.

All the gods of Bajor would die. There would never have been any Celestial Temple. No Orbs, no prayer-fires, no shrines, no visions, no prophecies. No kais, vedeks, or ranjins. No priestly d'jarra. No prayers.

The Kai of Bajor must make a sacrifice. How had Winn allowed herself to believe that this Cardassian tyrant was all the sacrifice the Pah-wraiths had required? She was the Kai of Bajor, elected to speak to the people for the Prophets on matters of faith. And to the Prophets for the people. The Pah-wraiths had called her here because they needed her consent to the death of the Prophets. The Pah-wraiths were asking her to sacrifice her gods.

It was what Winn had wanted. The Prophets had betrayed her, ignoring her prayers, silent as stone at the suffering of her mother and the death of her mentor's son. Only speak to me, she had prayed. Even a word would have sufficed, but the Prophets had refused to speak. She wanted them dead.

It was just. The Prophets had failed her people, had abandoned Bajor to occupation and ruin. The Kosst Amojen had spoken the truth. The Prophets deserved to die. In a moment, they would.

The Prophets deserved to die. And Winn could not bear the thought of life without them.

"You cannot stop me," said the Pah-wraith, bearing down on the Prophets' Emissary, as he prepared to execute justice.

According to the earliest prophecies, the first words of the Prophets had been burned. The people had refused to follow them. Winn's foremother, the first and greatest Kai, had assembled the people and burned the words of the Prophets in their presence so that the shattered text could not bear witness against the people and demand their destruction.

The Prophets deserved to die. The book of the Kosst Amojen made that certain.

The Kai spoke to the people for the Prophets. And to the Prophets for the people.

The Kai of Bajor must make a sacrifice. The book of the Pah-wraiths demanded that the Kai consent to the death of the Prophets. This sacrifice she was unwilling to make. If there must be a sacrifice, there were others that she could give. Her pride. Her sense of justice. Her life.

Winn Adami lifted the book of the Kosst Amojen high over her head to cast into the flames in her last act as the Kai of Bajor.

"Then I will stop you," she said.

Notes:

Thanks to merrymaia for betalistening and moral support, and to selenak for inspiration, encouragement, and cheerleading.

As usual, all Biblical references are completely intentional. Heh.

Dukat's lines are adapted from WYLB. 

Next (&last) chapter: In the Fire Caves, Winn finally answers Dukat's question.