"Poker?" Laris had come out to check on them and crossed her arms in disapproval at the sight she found. "You're teaching him how to play poker?"
Picard looked up at her innocently, "You know he'll need to know this, or else the other cadets will take terrible advantage of him."
Elnor hadn't decided what he thought of the game yet. It seemed to involve being able to gauge whether the other players were lying about the strength of the cards in their hand, while also trying to mislead them about his own cards, while also keeping track of which cards had turned up and which had yet to be shown. He was fairly confident he would be able to tell which players were trying to lie to him and which weren't, but as far as being able to mislead them about his own cards went, he knew he would be very bad at it. Feeling grateful for Laris' interruption, Elnor asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Actually, there is," she replied. "You can start by putting those cards away."
Ignoring Picard's look of indignation, she continued, "And after that, you can help me carry food to the table. Dinner is ready."
As she had expected, Picard's expression improved considerably at the mention of dinner. She knew the smells wafting from the kitchen must have been teasing them for some time now.
"Sorry," Elnor apologized as he plucked cards from Picard's hands and folded them deftly into the deck.
"Sorry, indeed," muttered Picard to himself after both Laris and Elnor had left. "Romulans everywhere, running my life." He smiled at the thought.
Laris and Elnor returned soon, balancing plates loaded with freshly baked salmon on thick beds of leafy greens along with a tray of delicious smelling bread. Picard wondered how he had ever made do with replicator food during all those years in space. He gave Laris a look as he realized what she'd meant earlier about changing the dinner menu. Salmon was a treat that would drive even mild-mannered cats into a demanding frenzy. With a cat who was already not shy about taking food, well, this should be interesting, Picard thought to himself.
Sure enough, they were barely settled before the cat appeared, this time running swiftly to fling herself into the seat beside Elnor. She popped her head up over the edge of the table, her nose twitching as she started to leap onto the table. Elnor caught her in mid-air with both hands and dropped her back onto the floor.
Picard and Laris looked at him in surprise. "Elnor," Picard finally said, "you looked like you were expecting that."
Elnor kept a wary eye on the cat as he answered, "Yes, I recognized the smell of baking fish earlier. When I returned your cards to the study, I took a moment to look up whether cats like fish or not. It seems that what I read about cats and fish was true."
The cat was pacing back and forth almost frantically under the table as Elnor kept her blocked from leaping back up onto her chair. She stopped pacing, sat down and stared at him intently with her big green eyes. Elnor patted the chair beside him. She was suddenly occupying it, having jumped almost too fast to see.
"Mwwrrrrorr," she said as she tapped Elnor's arm with her paw. Smiling, he gave her a piece of salmon, which caused her to begin purring loudly as she devoured it. He realized he had better eat quickly himself if he wanted to get any of his own dinner. As he concentrated on his food, trying to eat as much as he could while still giving the cat a steady supply of salmon, he almost missed the look Picard and Laris exchanged. Almost.
When his plate was finally empty except for half a slice of bread, he looked away from the cat who was still rumbling with purrs as she cleaned herself, and caught Laris and Picard staring at him. "So," he asked, "a salmon dinner with the cat was a test of some sort?"
Laris and Picard both burst into laughter. "I hadn't exactly thought of it as a test," said Laris, "more of an interesting experiment."
"It was all her idea," said Picard. "I had nothing to do with it!"
Focusing on Laris, Elnor asked, "So you had this all planned? Even before I asked you about, ummm, the thing I'm never going to ask you about again?"
"I did," she admitted, "however, I wasn't meaning it to be some sort of test. Nor punishment either," she added quickly. "I merely thought it would be entertaining."
"Hmmmm, so I'm entertainment now?" asked Elnor, not feeling nearly as hurt as his question would imply.
"Nooo," said Picard, "well, not just you alone. It is fun watching you and the cat interact, though, so you might say that the two of you together are entertaining."
Elnor stroked the cat, though not absentmindedly. He had learned that it wasn't necessarily safe to do anything with a cat absentmindedly. "I do like her a lot," he said. "I like Number One a lot, too. His presence is always welcoming and joyful. But her. . . ," he stopped petting her and turned to look at her, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand, "she's way more complicated."
"Cats generally are," agreed Laris.
After dinner, they once again lay outside in the cool, clear evening air watching the stars, Elnor learning the constellations of Earth from arguably the greatest man who had ever traveled among them. He could now reliably find the Big Dipper and trace where it pointed to the North Star. Orion, with his glittering belt, was another favorite. No one saw any shooting stars that night, but that was okay. Elnor was feeling pretty good about the chances of his wish from the night before coming true. He wondered what the other two had each wished for, but knew better than to ask. He suspected they might have wished for the same thing he had.
When it was time to go inside, Elnor reminded them, "I'll be going back to campus early in the morning. No need to prepare anything for me for breakfast, Laris." Sometimes he did feel a little bit guilty about how much trouble she went to for him.
"So soon?" Picard objected. He always objected, although he did occasionally worry that by spending weekends with them Elnor wasn't spending sufficient time on his studies.
That worry was allayed though when Elnor replied, "I know with the time difference I could stay later and still get to my first class in plenty of time, but I'd like to spend a few hours reviewing last week's work and studying for my upcoming classes. As the first fully Romulan cadet in the history of Starfleet," he grinned at the thought, "I do want to keep my marks high."
"What will you do about breakfast?" asked Laris. She always worried that he wouldn't find replicator food agreeable.
"I'm sure I can find something to eat if I get hungry before the cafeteria opens. Besides, there are always the replicators." Although Laris' cooking was far superior, he really didn't mind replicated food.
With each of them carrying a loaded tray, it took only one trip to clear the table and return everything to the kitchen. Elnor hugged them each before going to bed himself. Once again taking a few moments in the kitchen together to tidy up, Picard and Laris found themselves looking in on Elnor as they passed his room on the way to their own.
"Well, would you look at that?" Picard whispered softly to Laris. Elnor was asleep on his side facing the door, the cat stretched out full-length in front of his chest with his arm resting comfortably over her. She yawned as they watched, then closed her eyes, too.