Chapter 2 "An Unwelcome Change"
Amanda
For a year, I interned on Vulcan after finishing my master's degree in Education, primarily as a reading tutor to younger children whose parents worked on the torrid planet for the Federation. The second, I assisted a full-time teacher and taught part-time at the Academy. Many Vulcans at first were wary of a human desiring to work on their planet. Still, they became accustomed to it as I adjusted to their culture.
T'Pau, my sponsor from a prominent Vulcan family and a governmental official, assisted me in my adaptation to the planet and the people's culture. My eagerness to learn endeared me to her despite being a human. In return, I looked up to her as a human would to an aunt.
My goal was to teach at the Vulcan Academy the next school year as a full-time teacher and not as an assistant. As a result, I accepted additional responsibilities during my second year to impress the headmaster, Balev.
One afternoon at the end of the week, he called me in for a meeting, and that is when my life came to a screeching halt.
"Miss Grayson, your talent for languages caught the notice of someone at the Embassy, and you will start there on Monday," Balev elucidated with a grave face.
"Wha- What?" I stammered, feeling my hopes and dreams crashing down around me while the headmaster repeated his statement verbatim.
"May I inquire why I can't teach at the Academy this year?"
"Miss Grayson, you have degrees in both linguistics and Education. Your talents are needed elsewhere," the headmaster crisply described, raising an eyebrow.
"But I love working with children; it's my calling. I have an advanced degree in Education," I protested. However, I knew it would be fruitless since Vulcans rarely changed their minds. I felt my body tense up, and I knew tears would come soon, too. During my time on Vulcan, I worked hard to shield my emotions and remain calm during my meditation sessions with my assigned teacher. Regrettably, that wall was breaking, and a flood of tears would burst through it any moment.
"Ambassador Sarek, your new supervisor, will visit you in your office shortly, and he can provide clarity of the components of your new position, " the headmaster detailed.
"But I- I- won't have any time to say goodbye to my students," I exclaimed, feeling robbed of the opportunity, but Balev didn't say anything.
"Do I have any say in this transfer," I angrily demanded, my voice rising to a higher pitch?
Section 4.4s in your contract states you may be transferred to a new position at any given time if needed by the Federation. Thank you for your hard work and dedication at the Academy. We hope you will return soon. Live long and prosper.
Although I remained calm outside, I was highly displeased about being uprooted. Plus, a Vulcan condescendingly quoting a part of my contract infuriated me even more as I stormed out of the headmaster's office and down the long sterile hall to my small one. Unexpectedly, I opened my office door and ran into the firm body of someone else.
"Oof," I said, falling back. Someone's hands halted me from losing my balance completely by tightly gripping onto my waist.
"Sarek," I thought.
Perplexed, I viewed him, dressed in a brown tunic and matching pants, standing in front of me. Simultaneously, my emotions caught up with me, and I commenced weeping to my irritation and discouragement from Balev's news.
"Excuse me, Miss Grayson. My intention was not to startle you," Sarek's throaty voice with bass answered from above, withdrawing his hands from my waist.
Although I cried out of irritation at the situation, the husky, sexy voice generated a tingle in my body.
Sarek was a puzzle I did not have a solution for. I always felt that he peered deep into my soul when his dark brown eyes met my own, and my body temperature consistently increased when he was near. While Sarek's presence commanded attention with his almost military-esque posture and stern expression, he was soft-spoken. My face reddened with heat consequently.
"Are you well? May I retrieve something for you," Sarek offered, raising one of his pointy eyebrows as I stared at him wordlessly as tears streamed down my face. He had expressive eyes for a Vulcan, and I was lost in them.
"Amanda," Sarek gently whispered, almost showing concern in his face for half a second, but then it disappeared swiftly.
Regaining my composure and wiping the tears off my face, I lowered myself in a chair and politely offered the Ambassador one.
"May I assume that the headmaster informed you of your new position?"
"Yes, Ambassador Sarek," I disappointedly answered, not making eye contact.
"You will split your time between my office and the Earth's attaché to Vulcan, Mr. Walker," Sarek apprised me in the usual cold Vulcan way.
The Walkers were a close family friend on my maternal side, and Ben Walker was an ambitious foreign diplomat. He was also thirty-five years my senior with a couple of children around eight to ten years younger than me.
Ben flirted with me while I taught at the Academy, and our social circles overlapped on occasion. I always turned him down gently by citing my career or lack of time. Honestly, I didn't have those feelings for him, nor did I know how to break it to him.
Perceptively, Sarek saw the slightly worried expression on my face after mentioning Ben Walker. He arched his right dark brown eyebrow high on his face, and I awaited a question from him. Sarek never verbalized it.
"Do you wish to ask me any questions before I depart, Miss Grayson?"
"No, Ambassador. Other than why I was chosen for this position, which I still don't understand," I replied, shrugging. With a bemused grin on my face, thinking it wouldn't be so bad to see the handsome Vulcan on the regular. Ambassador Sarek was the most attractive of all of the Vulcan males in my acquaintance with his finely chiseled features.
" Miss Grayson, you were selected for your fine-tuned linguistic abilities. Additionally, you were familiar with the Walker family," Sarek implied, putting a particular emphasis on the last part of his answer.
"Oh," I responded, not sure what else to say. Still, I had a bizarre feeling that the Ambassador thought I was romantically involved with Ben somehow, and I did not want him to think that was true.
Meanwhile, he gave me the Vulcan salute, which I returned, then he left.
That was four months ago.