Chapter 12

A Grandmother's Concern

Stardate 2352.210

Two young girls, twins, ran down a bare dirt path, their school backpacks swinging. They had just gotten home and headed immediately to the small cottage behind the main house. They were late and their grandmother was not going to be happy. The structure was situated precisely ten meters from the edge of a high cliff. Even though the girls had been here many times before, they both loved to see the endless series of mountains and crags through the back entrance that was the landscape of Vulcan. Near the far entrance a woman sat on the floor with her eyes closed. Despite her advanced age, her back was ramrod straight.

Both girls were dutiful granddaughters, but their hearts were not into another session of learning right after a long day at school. They put their books down, knelt before their grandmother, steepled their fingers in front of their faces, bowed, and recited simultaneously.

"May you and your day be in harmony sister."

"It seems you are less interested in your lessons today than you normally are. You are late, and forgot your terseht maat."

The girls scrambled in their bags for the hairpieces, put their long hair up, and pinned it in place.

"Again," their grandmother said sternly with just a hint of affection.

They repeated the invocation.

The old woman smiled and fondly returned the gesture.

"And to you as well my sisters. What is on your mind today my children?"

"Nothing grandmother, we are fine."

"Sahrafel Kawarda and Ugaya Tellus, credit me with some intelligence. I've known you both since before you were born. I speak a fact, not a question. Something troubles you. This is a lesson. You are to speak freely here."

The girls were hesitant at first, but by some unspoken agreement they started talking. First one said a sentence, then the other the next.

"It's just that grandmother, I don't understand why I must learn these things."

"I mean, we don't know for sure if the other families we talk about even exist."

"No one else I know, outside of our family, and not even everyone in our own family, believe these stories."

"I asked my teacher, Sandoz about the… histories, and he says that they take place so far in the past that most believe they are only myths and that no one takes them seriously. "

"Mother says that they are important to you and that is why I have to continue with my lessons, but I can tell she has her doubts as well."

At this point they both seemed out of breath. They were about to go on, but saw the expression on their grandmother's face and stopped. They bowed quickly and spoke at the same time.

"I am sorry grandmother."

"Please remember not to speak so quickly children. The outside world is not quite used to people with your abilities."

To the uninitiated, the girls' way of speaking could be confusing at first, even disconcerting. When they weren't thinking, they could talk very rapidly, each one taking a turn saying something. Sometimes they even said the exact same phrase simultaneously. When you eventually realized they were speaking as one person and not two, they became easier to understand. That is, if you ever got over the fact that they could do it in the first place.

"Is there anything else?"

The girls hesitated at first, but finally said quietly:

"And the other children are… unkind."

The old woman had a mixture of anger and sadness on her face; then resignation.

"And do not be sorry, I asked you to speak freely with me."

She paused.

"Time passes so quickly as one ages," she noted wistfully.

At her granddaughters' look of concern she added.

"This time has come sooner than I would have wished. I had hoped to wait until your fifteenth year, but your mother is a modern woman and has little interest in the old ways."

"Wait for what grandmother?" they both said in unison, growing more apprehensive. The old woman paused and regarded her grandchildren. They are so young she thought. Are they really ready for this? The girls were bright and certainly took their responsibilities seriously she judged. She made up her mind. Time had run out and the girls were as ready as they were ever going to be.

"To show you the significance of all of the things I have been teaching you. So far we have been concerned mainly with ceremony and ritual. I've taught you how we greet each other, the significance of your hairpiece, the terseht maat – how it tells anyone who sees you your proper rank and where you come from; how we consider all of the five families as one when it comes to furthering our mission of discovering and maintaining our traditions. You've learned the ancient language and writing, and the meaning of the designs on our hairpieces. These traditions have been passed from mother to daughter for over fifty generations. They are important, for you need to know what is expected of you when you take my place as Pid-Kom, the head of our family, and if... when, the five families are finally reunited."

At this news, the twins eyes widened in surprise and worry.

"But grandmother…"

"…you cannot skip mother…"

"…isn't she supposed to be Pid Kom?"

"Is that even allowed?"

"Do not allow your emotions to consume you little ones," their grandmother admonished them.

"You will not be called on to become Pid Kom until I am gone. You do however, need to be made aware of your destiny, as the next phase of your training needs to start soonest. Your mother has no interest in being matriarch of our family, as much as I have endeavored to convey to her the logic of it. If you do not pick up the mantle, we will have to look outside our bloodline for another suitable leader, something we have not had to do for over fifteen hundred years."

The gravity of what they had just been told began to dawn on the twins. They would be responsible for maintaining a tradition dating to before this planet had been colonized. They steepled their fingers, bowed to their grandmother, and said at exactly the same time.

"I will not fail you grandmother."

The old woman paused again, struggling to suppress the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Enough delay. Follow me," she said more gruffly than she had intended.

She rose and led them to a small hidden door. They followed and saw that there were steps leading down into the darkness. It looked like the steps and the narrow tunnel had been cut out of solid rock. Not that they could see much as they proceeded down, as they were plunged into total darkness when the door closed behind them. They followed the sound of their grandmother's footfalls using the sides of the tunnel to keep their balance.

"Be careful children, it's a long way down if you fall."

Thankfully, there was a wide space between steps so there was little chance of that. It was still disconcerting however, to be walking down a flight of steps in complete darkness the girls thought.

"This tunnel was made shortly after the sundering. It was built originally as a means of escape. At that time, our family was not well thought of by many."

Their grandmother did not elaborate further and the girls were too preoccupied keeping their balance in the dark to ask what she meant. Finally they could see a rectangle of light in the distance. A minute later the steps stopped on a small landing and they saw the light was another door. Their grandmother gently pushed it open. They were greeted by a blast of hot dry air. The bright light nearly blinded them and as they moved to enter, their grandmother restrained them.

"Wait until your eyes adjust my dears."

The view through the door was breathtaking. Looking out they saw a platform cut into the cliff face no larger than a meter wide. The edge dropped about a thousand to the valley floor below. Looking up they saw they were below an overhang that effectively hid the platform from any prying eyes from above. A path, also cut into the cliff, led around its curve.

"This path is safe children, but stay away from its edge. Gusts of wind have claimed a number of our family over the years."

Where was their grandmother taking them? Their curiosity about what was obviously a very important part of their family lore, coupled with their trepidation over the long drop just a heartbeat away, was serving to make them very nervous. They did not have to travel far before they came across another door. The path itself continued along the cliff face.

When they entered, light from outside revealed a shrine of sorts. There were shelves along the wall crowded with very old artifacts. Their grandmother discretely made a benediction.

"Close the door," she directed them.

They obeyed and the room was plunged into darkness.

"What is all of this grandmother?"

"Wait."

Their grandmother moved around in the dark for a minute and suddenly the entire room was illuminated. It was larger than the girls had originally thought and their eyes went wide in wonder and surprise.

"It is your family history children, and the evidence of how we arrived on Vulcan."

The girls didn't say anything for a full minute until Sahrafel noticed something to her right.

"Is this what I think it is grandmother?" She said pointing to one of the artifacts.

"Yes, that is the sword of Sarak. The very one he broke in front of the Supreme Council. It signified his conviction that weapons were no longer needed, logic was more powerful, and fighting was no longer necessary."

"But grandmother, why do we have it here?"

"You will find artifacts here dating back many thousands of years to the origin of our race. As you know, in the time of Sarak, many of our people were not sympathetic to his message. Many left Vulcan to begin a new life on Romulus. For instance, these items here."

Their grandmother pointed out a set of hairpieces.

"They look like ours."

"Look closer at them."

"The designs appear to be different. These are not from our family then. Whose do they represent grandmother?"

"Very observant granddaughters. The history of any race is shrouded in mystery including ours, as you alluded to earlier. There are some things we do know however. There were five founding families who came to Vulcan originally. Those are their terseht you see. At the time of the awakening, many people were unsympathetic, including the founding families."

"Surely not ours as well grandmother!"

"Yes, ours as well little ones. We were a very conservative people, overly attached to the old ways of doing things. We were all very proud of our warrior heritage and thought it a central part of what made us Vulcan. Sarak's teachings were a completely new way of looking at things, a change so profound, we could not understand how it could possibly help us. We all thought it was a step backwards and would lead to our extinction as a race. History has, of course, proved the wisdom of Sarak and the Time of Awakening, and we are better off for it."

"Why did we stay on Vulcan then, if we did not believe in the value of what he was saying?"

"At the time, it was thought that at least one of the families should stay on Vulcan. Since we had originally come to this planet, a member of one of our families had always been in a position of leadership on the high council. It was felt that one of us should stay, oppose Sarak, and try to bring our people back to their roots."

"What happened to the other families?"

"We never heard from them again. Romulus has maintained a warrior culture, and has further developed into a very repressive society. It is unlikely the families would have survived in their original form in such a place. They certainly would not be in any position of leadership as the current government there would have suppressed, if not exterminated them altogether."

"Surely there is some remnant of them grandmother?"

"We will never give up hope granddaughters, but it is not logical to assume they still exist. It has been over 2,000 years after all, and the current regime has been in power for half that time. They are not very tolerant of anyone who does not think exactly as they do. The other four families would be considered a threat to be eliminated, plain and simple."