He stared into the flame until it became a part of him, and he of it. And yet, even in the meditative state, the awareness of an Awakened and unmated female lingered within Soval of Vulcan. It mattered not that she was yet immature, considerably younger to Awaken than most of their people. It mattered not that she was his daughterkin, the only offspring of his own sister and her deceased mate.
T'Pol had Awakened, and Soval's mind and body responded as his physiology had evolved to do. Perhaps, without the pheromone releases, it would have been a simple matter to repress any latent response – but her releases were strong, and her mind open to the human she would have as her mate.
He considered the matter of this potential pairing, and the certain disapproval of T'Les. She had never desired to meet a human; she would not condone her daughter bonding with one.
However, that was not the immediate concern. T'Pol had Awakened to a human male, and he had yet to devise a method for discovering the identity of the human or ascertaining whether T'Pol was aware of what had occurred or prepared for the challenges that awaited her.
How did humans deal with such situations? Did they find themselves in such circumstances? He had never considered their mating practices, as these were not something Vulcans chose to disclose. It was not until his daughterkin had returned to the Consulate at a run, entering her room through the open windows he'd hoped she would avail herself of and broadcasting the scent of her Awakening, that the matter of how humans chose their mates became relevant.
Soval had scented the human male beyond the gate, but her right to privacy precluded him attempting to discover the identity of the man who had Awakened her. Perhaps his efforts to learn more of humans had been ill-considered, where she was concerned.
He had followed her that night, seen that she dealt with the five inebriated humans who had accosted her. Had she had less training, she might have been harmed or violated.
Had she been, by her human Intended?
That was a consideration he hadn't taken into account, when he assigned her an outer room with tall windows which would make egress possible, and, in her case, quite probable.
However, she had been quite efficient with the humans who had accosted her. Certainly, if the human in the restaurant had attempted sexual contact, she would have been able to halt the effort.
But would she have?
Soval didn't know and couldn't ask her. He had returned later to the bookseller where she had shopped, but the woman who ran the establishment would say nothing of the young woman who had recently left.
He had lingered, exploring the shop's inventory – and found the extensive section on human sexuality. A careful examination had indicated one place where a gap existed between volumes. The shop was densely stocked but meticulously kept. The gap very likely indicated that the book T'Pol had procured had come from that location.
He didn't need to know anything more about the specific volume to know that it dealt with human sexuality. A wise choice, for a young Vulcan woman seeking information. There would be no record in the computer systems as she explored.
Was her intent to mate with the human?
Was it possible for her to do so, if that was her intention?
Was the human a man of principle, or did he have more in common with the men she had dispatched before going to the dining establishment where she had presumably encountered him?
Without knowing the identity of the human, Soval had no means of investigating him. Until the tour of the Warp Five engine being installed in the prototype deep space vessel, he had known nothing more than that the man was human, and that he had sensed T'Pol well enough to follow her back to the Consulate. Were human males capable of scenting the pheromone release and responding to it?
In what manner would a human respond?
Now, he had some indication of whom the man might be. He would certainly be someone assigned to duty in the area of the engine itself.
However, it was most certainly a breach of T'Pol's privacy, and the human male's, to seek more than this.
Soval stared into the flame, considering whether the breach of privacy was more damaging a prospect than allowing a Vulcan too young when Awakened to simply follow her own instincts.