Chapter Four
Revelations
'Oh, Mother, can't you come out here and field this one?' Hoshi thought vainly, putting her head in her hand and rubbing her eyes. She was sure she felt a severe headache coming on. "Tia, there are certain ways that a woman can behave with a woman that she cannot behave with a … No," she sighed, looking up at the girl, trying a different tack. "Tia, men and women are dif – Oh, God, you're not twelve; I shouldn't treat you like one." She saw the look in the Auran's eyes, and knew what was coming even before the golden girl answered.
"But I am one, not a dozen."
"Damn it." She yanked the Padd more forcefully from the pocket of her uniform than she'd intended, punching buttons on its face. "I'm reactivating the Universal Translator." But then she stopped. The device was fine for languages that had been programmed, or that could be extrapolated from the context of conversations. But unless the Doctor had discussed sex with Tia, it was unlikely to be of much help.
Stuffing the control back into her pocket, she stalked over to the closet and pulled out the first suitable garment her fingers touched and passed it to Tia, who mutely accepted it and put it on. The blue blouse at least complimented the pale blue skirt, Hoshi thought irrelevantly. At least it covered her high, firm breasts. Finishing buttoning the blouse, Tia looked up at her.
"In whatever language you speak it are going to, with me you angry are."
Hoshi shook her head sadly. "No, Tia, I am not angry with you. I'm angry with myself."
"Now I do understand truly not."
"No. Frankly, neither do I." She faced her and took a deep breath, trying to focus her thoughts. It was bad enough that Tia had not yet adjusted to the noun-verb-adjective pattern of English, but this subject was… "I'm reacting to you based on dealing as a human, not as an Auran, and that is not fair. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to explain it to you. I'm a Linguist, you're the Biologist, and neither of us is …." She shook her head.
"If we were on Aura, I would probably be doing a lot of things that would shock your people, because your people are not mine. I'm going to do a terrible job explaining this. I'm just going to have to ask you to trust me until we can get enough going so that we can understand each other without the UT. Understand?"
"I am … sure nyasi – not," she admitted hesitantly.
Hoshi rubbed her forehead, definitely feeling that headache coming on. "Look, at this point would you please just trust me on this, as a woman?" Tia nodded. "Women do not allow men to see their breasts, their vaginas or their … their …" She brought her hands back, slapping her own rump.
"Minlu."
"Minlu. As good a name as any. By the way …" She touched her own breasts.
"Pringlee. One is pringle." Hoshi pointed to her own vulva. "Sulyas."
"Sulyas. Well, Tia, the sulyas is very private." Tia burst out laughing. "What did I say?"
It took a few moments for Tia to stop laughing enough to tell her. "'Private' sounds very much, in Auran, like 'priivet', 'delicious'."
Hoshi grinned. "Well, a lot of men say it is… but the fact is that women are expected to keep those parts covered when around men. It's very sexual. And men are not supposed to let women see their …."
"Their…?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you?"
Tia shrugged. "Whether you do say it or spell it, I do think I will not – Oh. You mean their -."
"YES!"
x
"But is it so always?"
Hoshi turned toward the food dispenser, feeling the need for something to eat to relax things. Tia waited patiently while Hoshi thought as quickly as she could. Finally the Japanese translator turned back to her charge.
"I really think we're going about this all wrong. I can't give you intelligent answers without knowing how you think. Otherwise I can only give you rules, and that's not going to help at all." She sat down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her, inviting the Auran woman to join her. "Tia, on your planet, it is all right for a woman to … for a man to see a woman's pringlee?"
"Yes. They … significant…?" Hoshi was about to nod, but compromised with a shrug instead, "…are not." This was not going to be an easy conversation. "Human women do not? A rule?"
"Let's stick for the moment to Aura. Describe for me the kind of clothes you wear. No, that's not it," she amended, cutting off whatever Tia would have said. "Tell me why you wear … Why, when you were found, and until this afternoon, were you wearing a full garment, that covered everything but the head and hands?"
"The work I as Glistni do … 'Biologist' do, I must keep from my own body contact with my … specimines?
"Specimens."
"And on the Krontis, it flinus was …" She thought a moment, trying to remember the word from her lessons. "Cold. I cold was."
"And if you were not cold, or working?"
"I what I choose wear. One says otherwise not. This evening, wanted I to try some of the clothes you made for me," she said, referring to the matter resequencer Hoshi had taught her how to use. Between them, they had created and stockpiled a reasonable variety of clothing for the girl.
x
"Is there any part of the body that you … do not allow others to see?"
She thought for a moment. "There is no poiuy … significant part of a body that is wedsa … what you meant by 'private'. Priivet not, that about taste is, for wer … food, or qil, drink. We … as we like dress. If we cold are, we much wear. If not, then no. We … pretty things wear if we like, but it is our like, no one else's."
"Human women … we hide our … pringlee, our breasts. And our sulyas, what we call vagina."
"Do they shame you?"
"No, they're private." Tia was about to laugh, but smothered it with her fingers across her lips. 'This is going to be good.' Hoshi thought. "The … pringlee, and the sulyas, are sexual organs."
"No." Tia shook her head emphatically. "The pringlee provide wer, food, for infants. There is to them function not unless refnali a female is. The sulyas, males insert their ourlak, their … penis?" Hoshi nodded. "Males insert into the sulyas the ourlak, and they … deposit?... logler. That is for … 'insemination' is your word."
"Is there nothing more than that?"
Tia smiled. "It feels very, very good."
Hoshi laughed. "It does to us, too."
"We it like to much, even if 'impregnation' our plan is not."
"Same here." Hoshi told her with a salacious grin.
But fun though it was to share a moment of feminine bonding, she did not want to get sidetracked while she was learning such valuable information, which would go a long way toward reprogramming the UT. But Tia beat her to the next question.
x
"But why … hide … you do a part that performs a … sorry, your language so hard is. A function for a short time only? It a function natural is, a source of shame not. Infants must eat."
'Think fast, Hoshi.' She counseled herself. "Humans … equate the breasts and vagina with … sexual desire. For a woman to allow a man to see these parts is to say to him 'I want sexual relations with you. Sexual intercourse'. It can mislead him, and is unfair."
"A lie?"
"No, not exactly. But he may think you are saying something that you are not."
She thought about this. "So keep yourself covered always you do, so men you want them think do not." Hoshi nodded. "And do you not?"
"Not with .… Oh, how do I explain? I …" She pressed her hand to her own chest, emphasizing herself. "I want sexual intercourse with Seamus O'Cathain."
"Who?"
"You'll meet him. The point is; he is my choice. I feel attraction … sexual desire … for many men; Captain Archer, Malcolm, Trav –." She forcibly stopped herself. "The point is; Seamus is my choice."
"So without your clothing he sees you."
"No…. Well, yes, but not all the …. That would be …. He sees me …. It's only when I want to … do it. Do you understand?"
She shook her head, frustrated. "I am sure not. You complete sentences do not."
"That's because I – Well, because…." She sighed as Tia's look of uncertainty became more intense. "Look, I don't want it all the time, and so I choose when we … do it."
"Does he choose ever?"
"A lot more often than I do." She sighed, not really wanting to go where this line was leading. "The point is, for men sex is on their minds a lot, for women it is not. Women, we decide when, and one of the ways we tell a man we want it is to allow him to see … certain things like a breast. There are a million other ways, but let's keep it simple."
"This is simple?"
x
x
x
"Hoshi, what is a 'bra'?"
"Huh?"
"When angered you were, you me ordered: 'put something on'. Your words were 'a top, a shirt, at least a 'bra'.'"
"Oh. A bra is … well," she pulled down the zipper of her uniform, then unbuttoned the black tunic, spread the uniform so that Tia could see what she wore. "There are all sorts, but the purpose is to support. It emphasizes the breasts, holds them up against the pressure of our clothes, makes the breasts more noticeable…." Her voice trailed off as she realized just what trouble she was getting herself into. Tia was thinking intently and Hoshi rightly predicted what she was going to say, much to her regret.
Her expression showed the intensity of her thoughts. "You your pringlee … breasts cover so that sexually stimulate men you will not. And you then wear a garment that draws the attention of men to them."
"I know what you're going to say, and believe me, it is a long, long story."
"So want me Captain Archer allow to my pringlee see you did not, because feared you his sexual stimulation, so told me you did to put on a garment that would hold them out to him."
"…Yes."
"Hoshi, to insult you I do desire not, but very confused your culture is."
Hoshi nodded, pulling up her zipper. "You don't know the half of it."
x
Feeling uncomfortable sitting, Hoshi stood up, taking a step away. "Tia, what is it like in your culture?" She turned to face the girl again. "If you don't equate parts of the body with sexual desire, then how do you let a man you choose know that you want sex with him?"
"I do understand not," Tia said, her tone absolutely flat.
"How do you let a man know you want him?"
"He knows," she said in that same flat tone.
"But how? Is it something you do, something you …." She saw Tia becoming more uncomfortable, and decided to try a different tack. "I want you to treat me as if I were a young Auran woman, who knows nothing about sexual matters. How would you teach me to attract a man, to show him I want him sexually?" She turned toward the food dispenser, wanting a drink. "How would your mother teach you about sexually attracting -." A sharp gasp turned her around. Tia stood by the couch, frozen, hands covering her mouth, eyes wide in an expression of profound shock. "Tia?"
"Ho – how could you? Hoshi! How could you say such a –?" She blushed a profound gold, covered her eyes and turned away. She seemed to shrink into herself. "Of all the things terrible you could…." Hoshi reached out to her, but at the touch on her shoulder Tia pulled away sharply. "No!"
"See, now that is just what I mean. I don't know what I said, but I'm sorry. Obviously I stepped on something in your culture that your exposing yourself in front of Commander Tucker or Captain Archer –." Tia whirled back, her eyes still covered, but the moment she saw the stricken look on what of her face she could see Hoshi was sorry. "Then again, perhaps that is overstating …"
"I to talk want about any more this do not. Ever!" Tia cried, looking away to the bulkhead. "Keep my pringlee and my sulyas and my minlu covered I shall, if again we of this speak never!"
"I promise. Never again," she said solemnly. Slowly the blush faded from Tia's face and she unwound, gradually relaxing, only now looking at her. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I said."
Tia took a shuddering breath, trying to regain her composure. "I you forgive. Happen to me all the time it seems to."
x
The tension between them was not quickly forgotten, but in time they relaxed, though Hoshi was still completely at a loss. She resumed the impersonal 'teaching' method they had begun with, and while it was a lot more comfortable continuing this conversation sitting down, Hoshi was surprised by how easily their conversation became littered with a mixture of English and Auran. Sentences that were started in one language might be finished in the other, or occasionally the opposing language would be sandwiched within the former.
Once the subject got off of sex, it was a lot more pleasant.
But always in the back of Hoshi's mind was that chaotic moment when she had so forcefully crossed the line, and she had no idea at all what she had crossed. Thus she had to tread carefully, fearful of another such violation, never comfortable because she did not know when she would encounter that or some other taboo, or what the consequences would be.
x
But just as she was about to raise the subject, or try to find some way of probing what had disturbed Tia so profoundly, the buzzer sounded at the door. Getting up, Tia opened the door. "Good evening, Shar-les!"
"Hi, Tia. How are you?" Tia glanced at Hoshi, who had also come to the doorway.
"I know do not." She turned to Hoshi. "How am I?"
Hoshi smiled. "You're doing just fine."
"Class dismissed?" Tucker asked.
"Class dismissed, Commander. Take over." She said with a smile, stepping past him.
"And do worry not, Hoshi." Tia assured her in a conspiratorial tone. "I my priivet shall keep private."
Tucker looked to Hoshi.
"Girl talk, Commander. You wouldn't understand."
"I never do."