Enid woke. She took in her surroundings and groaned. This was the last place she wanted to be, particularly after the unbraiding she had received from Zani. She sat up, steadied herself, and looked for her shoes, planning a hasty exit. Narek was on his way, she could feel it, and he was livid with her father. He was also a bit miffed at her as well. She shouldn't have done what she did. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how she stopped the fight and was pretty sure she didn't want to do it again. Now that her father was satisfied, she intended to spend the rest of her time on the Gi'halidrl out of everyone's way so there would be no more trouble.
It was more than Zani's harsh words or the realization that her father used her that upset Enid. Missy had used her too, for access to Zani. But how had she known Enid would be on Vashti? Maybe it was lucky. Enid sniffled. Having found her shoes she shoved her feet in them and yanked on the laces. She would meet Narek on route to the beam out site. Her shoes secured, she sat up. Zani had snuck in. Snuck was a bad description. Enid hadn't been paying attention.
"It seems again I must thank you for your hospitality," Enid said.
"Your feelings are hurt so you wish to pout."
"Yes." Enid pulled herself up as tall as she could. "And I need privacy."
"You are heart sick for something you've never known." Zani's face softened.
"Save the platitudes. I'm out of your hair. I will take myself elsewhere, and my troubles will follow. You will have peace."
"And will you find peace? You want what could have been. There is no happiness in that."
"That is not your concern. Seriously, Zani, you don't want me here and now I am leaving. I would leave faster if you'd move out of the way."
"My tone earlier was harsh, I know. I do not want your father's machinations. He uses the refugees as a bargaining point with the Federation."
"He has power so he uses people. That is the way of things." Enid moved to push past the head nun who stood her ground. Enid couldn't pass—not unless she wanted to be rude to the woman and she didn't. She really didn't want to antagonize Zani anymore than she had by simply existing.
"That is very cynical." Zani placed her hand on Enid's shoulder.
"Don't touch me," Enid said. Zani's eyes widened but she nodded and returned her hand to her side.
"You have power, do you use people?" Zani tilted her head and watched Enid through narrowed lids. Enid thought for a moment with brutal honestly about her behavior on Vulcan.
"Yes! Only not for some grander purpose like resettling refugees! I use people for entertainment! Now will you let me pass?" Enid breathed heavily now, trying to maintain some semblance of composure. Things happened when she fell apart. Things she didn't want to happen. Picard had once asked her if she caused the accidents at the mine. At the time she denied it, vehemently, but given some space, she wasn't sure. She was sure that she didn't want anything else to be her fault.
"Your father could have resettled the refugees without using you," Zani said. She stood aside allowing Enid to stomp past. Yumuen was waiting for her in the common area. He saw her condition and pulled out his medical device but Enid flung it a meter away without so much as a glance.
"It's going to be one of those days," he mumbled as he retrieved it and followed after her. Narek was nearly at the convent and seeing this Enid have ran to him.
He embraced, "Take me away from this place, please, please, now." The words rushed out of her mouth.
Narek let out a long sigh and took her by the shoulders. "Soon, my love. We have to see this Rynar sorted out." Enid pushed him roughly away and scowled. "You won't have to come back to the surface again. I promise," he said. They continued to the transport site and returned to the Gi'halidrl.
Back on board, Narek sat in his chair and brought up the Federation News Service. He wanted to see what Missy was up to. Enid pretended interest in his tan zhekran. He discovered that Missy applied the same zeal she had used against the synth to an investigating of the Romulan evacuation. Why? Enid's thoughts were interrupting his concentration.
"You shouldn't let Zani get to you," he said without looking up from his tablet. Enid didn't reply, but she stopped mid twist and looked at him from the corner of her eye. Her lips were drawn together in a pout. "Just because she lives in a 'house of truth', doesn't mean her objective opinion is fact." He waved his hands and gave her a silly smile as he said, house of truth.
"You sound like A'den," Enid said. She finished the twist and did another, not really paying attention to the sound or feel of the cube's inner workings.
"How so?" Narek set his tablet to the side to give Enid his full attention. She hadn't brought up A'den before, except in the context of Elnor's killing him. Enid explained that in early adolescence, she very badly wanted raven hair like S'ril and A'den. She thought she could be a proper Vulcan if she more looked the part. Her hair didn't take dye well and her attempts had failed—badly. Missy swore she found the solution. She was sure of it, so Enid allowed Missy to try. It was also a dismal failure. Enid had royal blue hair, which she didn't mind so much, but Jimmy Fisher teased her horribly. A'den had asked her why she had let Missy try after so many failed attempts. Enid told him that Missy knew it would work, she saw it work in Missy's mind.
"He said I mistake someone's confidence for fact," Enid said when she finished her story.
"Well, confidence is a sort of truth we tell ourselves. And truth is a rather subjective thing," Narek said. "It is different than fact. We construct truths based in part on facts, but truth and fact are not interchangeable."
"I miss A'den."
"I know." Narek leaned over and took Enid's face in his hands and kissed her.
"You're trying to distract me," Enid said. She kissed him back.
"Yes." Narek knew the script by now. He also knew how to steel the spotlight from her melodramatic monologue. His hand moved to her blouse and he undid a the top few buttons.
"You're—"
"Yes!" He nodded before he was covered her mouth with his again. She traced his ears with her fingers then let her hands wander as they pleased. The pair retreated to their cabin. The door shut, and Fank looked over to Cailem. Narek and Enid often forgot there were other's aboard the Gi'halidril in moments like that. It didn't bother him or Cailem. It was Yumuen who was the odd man out, so to speak. Narek and Enid's passion was difficult to ignore but then who would want to?
"Better tell Yumuen to stay on the surface if he wants sleep tonight," Fank said.
"Do you think it's going to be gentle or naughty?" Cailem's eyes sparked as they washed over the taller Fank.
"I rather think Enid needs a good spanking." Fank smacked Cailem's butt cheek and pulled him in for a long kiss. Enid had been in a funk the past few weeks, even with Narek. She might benefit from a spanking, if it were done right. He felt he could give Narek some tips on that.
"Should we go..." Cailem nodded toward the their quarters.
"We're in Federation territory. Surrounded by enemies. We can't leave our posts." Fank shook his head as he worked Cailem's pants.
"Yeah...Dereliction of duty and all." Cailem helped Fank with his buckle. The stayed on the bridge.
Yumuen had not followed Enid and Narek to the transporter site, instead giving the couple some space. Narek was still very much Enid's handler. When Fank contacted him about the situation on the Gi'halidril, he was glad to have the option to stay on Vashti. As a telepath, he had training on how to filter out other's thoughts and emotions, but it was more comfortable at a distance. Besides, at the inn he was able to establish a secure connection and file his report.
He looked out the window of his room at the street below and wondered where the operatives that Ni'ael mentioned were right now. They were plotting how to dispense with Plutarch's discovered enemies. Outright assassinations were generally frowned upon by the elite but Yumuen remembered what Plutarch often repeated. Romulans must adapt to this new reality. Yumuen was surprised to discover Plutarch hadn't given an accurate map of the traps set by the Synthetic Alliance. He was also surprised that Ni'ael all but told Narek to keep Enid away from Surruk.
At the convent, Picard and the crew of La Serena enjoyed a dinner. Missy had somehow contrived to be included in the party. Picard was still mulling over the information from the day. He had overheard some of the interaction between Enid and Zani.
"You were quite hard on Enid earlier," he asked.
It was Soji who responded, "Why shouldn't she be? Enid gets a pass? She's in love with a murderer!" Picard turned to the synth. This whole thing had to be difficult for the—young woman. That is what she was. A young woman who had been terribly wronged. Even after the emotion chip was integrated into Data's systems, he could turn it off when emotions became too intense for him to process. It was a capability that Picard sometimes envied. Soji had no such ability. She couldn't escape her emotions.
"Enid might not see Narek as a murderer," he said.
"You mean she agrees with Narek. That synths aren't real people?" Soji pushed back from the table.
"She knows you're real. She knows you're alive," Elnor said. He didn't make eye contact but focused on his plate.
"How would you know?" Soji asked. She wished Elnor would talk about what happened on the mountain. Maybe if she knew more about what happened between the two, she would understand his motives better. Why had he helped Enid defile her fallen brothers and sisters?
"I just know! Don't ask me how." Elnor stood up. He nodded to Zani. "Excuse me," he said, and left. There were times that Elnor could still feel Enid's tears on his back. She had cried for the synths the entire ride back to the convent and for how ever long Elnor had been rendered unconscious by the synth weapon. Her eyes had been as red as the baboon blood that covered her. Given today's events, her secretiveness seemed unnecessary. Plutarch's enemies had still come for her. She managed to preserve everyone's life, true, but her bluster hadn't deterred the men form attacking her. As long as there were people who thought they could win, someone would come after her.
"Enid thinks she is seeking a mother," Zani said, after Elnor left. Elnor had not been the same since the mountain. She would need to talk with the boy. No matter what he had done for Enid, he didn't deserve a life sentence.
"Isn't that more reason to be nice to her?" Agnes asked. "If she needs..."
"What Enid needs is quite different from what she wants," Zani said. "She wants someone to kiss her and tell her that everything will be fine and that life is unfair and that she deserves better."
"But that's not what mothers do." It was Missy who spoke. After losing several brothers to the attack on Kiara, part of her wanted to blame Enid. She wanted Enid to disappear. Muriel O'Dare would have none of that. Zani was gentle compared to how Missy's mother had been to her.
"She has never had a mother so she fantasizes." Zani had met girls like Enid before.
"Enid has always loved fantasy." Missy smiled. "She made up games when we were little. Always chasing evil dragons and riding around on her imaginary friend, Boo." Maybe on some level, Enid knew her situation growing up? She shrugged at her own thought, glad that Zani was at least talking to her. She needed to interview the woman. Not for an article. No, Missy had an overwhelming desire to understand the man who was Enid's father. Zani had known him once although Missy wasn't sure how she knew that.
"You mean Boo," Raffe said. "She's not so imaginary." She rubbed her eyes which were red from more than snakeleaf.
"Have you seen Boo too?" Agnes and Rios exchanged looks.
"She shows up in my...I'm not going to call them dreams...They seem too real..." Raffe shook her head.
"We know. She's a persistent little filly." Rios rubbed his lover's arm. Sometimes the two of them were woken from the same vision of Boo, but neither understood what the winged unicorn wanted. "Wish I knew what she wanted."
"I'd give her anything for a goodnight's sleep," Agnes said.
"I've dreamt of Boo as well," Picard said. "How many people around this table have been visited by Boo?" Picard looked around the table. Zani and Missy added their hands to Raffe, Rios, and Agnes. Soji shook her head.
"I'll bet Elnor has," Rios said.
"There does seem to be a connection between those two," Zani said.
"But what does Boo want?" Raffe asked.
"Didn't Q tell you that Enid was on a short path?" Missy leaned forward as she asked in a whisper.
"Boo would know that," Picard said.
"Boo's looking for help." Rios rubbed his beard and nodded. This made sense.
"Missy you have more experience with Boo...Is there a way to ask what she wants?" Picard's question shifted all the attention to Enid's childhood friend. Missy shook her head.
"Communication with Boo goes one way," she said.
"On some level, Enid knows she's in danger. Boo's reaching out—frantically it appears," Picard said.
"I wonder if Narek knows what Boo is doing?" Soji asked.
"I don't Enid always knows what Boo is up to," Missy said.
Later that evening, Picard sat at his desk aboard La Serina, trying to make sense of what he knew about Enid's situation. She was in danger, and she knew it on some level but how did they fit in?
"It's elementary my, dear admiral." Q was dressed as Sherlock Holmes, in a deerstalker hat an sporting a Calabash pipe. While it was definitely Q's face, his eyes, skin, and hair, were Data's.
"Q, a girl's life is at stake here. Anything you know..."
"You know my methods," Q's pale Data-lips curved to a smile. Picard sat back in his chair and rubbed his temple. Why did Q take Data's form?
"Does this have anything to do with the synths?" He asked.
"Ah! Now the game is afoot!" Q vanished leaving Picard with more questions than answers.