Kira Reon entered the ruined temple eagerly. He wasn't happy that the sacred site had been desecrated, but his heart was soaring. He was finally going to meet his sister again after four long years. He had dyed his hair black. Red-headed men inspired violence instead of lust in Cardassian men. He had become a better hunter, organizer, and found work where his father couldn't. He wouldn't call himself well fed, but he managed to get enough calories to maintain a lean muscle to his figure.

He was escorted by a monk. He had to respect the former temple clergy. If they were caught openly worshiping they could be executed on the spot. The Cardassians thought the Bajoran religion silly superstition that needed to be stamped out. They were told like children to believe whatever nonsense they wanted but to keep their ideas within their own homes and heads. It was unfair. Bajorans didn't proselytize to outsiders unless they asked and their religion was so ingrained in their culture, it was hard for the common man and woman to suppress their spirituality. Frankly, they shouldn't have to.

His sister was kneeling before the brazier of the temple. She had relit it and was boldly wearing red temple robes. She was no nun, she was a warrior, but she was one of the most spiritual people that Reon knew. Her hair had grown so long and was still naturally red. She refused to dye it and Reon was proud. Uncompromising Kira Nerys was his example to live by. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw him. She extended her arms for a full embrace.

"My little brother!" she gasped with emotion.

"Big sister!"

Reon threw himself into her arms. He was not ashamed of his tears with her as witness. Who else could he share his feelings with? It had been four years! They held each other for a long moment of time. He felt like a child again and stopped longing for a brief respite for his sister and mother. She was here. He kissed her on the lips with overflowing familial affection. She kissed his nose ridges, brow, and both cheeks on his whiskery face.

"You're trying to grow a beard at fifteen?" she laughed. "You're a man, Reon! I missed watching you grow up! Damn Cardassians!"

"Your hair is so long!" he gathered a strand in his hand and kissed it, not caring that it tasted and smelled of smoke and oil.

"Did you pray every dusk like I did?"

"Of course!"

"Good boy!" she patted his head.

He laughed, "Still trying to mother me?"

"Now more than ever! I've missed you!"

"I missed you, Nerys!"

"How is our father?" her voice lowered.

"Better. He's a whole man most days. He has a haunted look, but his garden has started sprouting again. A lady friend comes by once in a while to perk him up. The Cardassians have been harassing us far less. He didn't try to stop me from leaving at all. He simply nodded and requested that I remind you of his love."

"Oh, father," her voice broke and she squeezed him in place of Kira Taban. "You mentioned a lady friend? Are we going to get a new mother?"

"No," Reon insisted. "She is just a friend. I promise."

"It wouldn't upset me or our mother if it grew into something more than a friendship."

"It would upset me!" he snapped.

"Why?"

"Because our mother was a martyr and without compare. She was his one and only true wife. If he does anything with that woman, she'd be no better than his comfort woman!"

"Don't say that, Reon! The Cardassians have turned our men upon our women enough! I don't want to hear such things from you!"

He felt stricken. He supposed it was true. Besides a few old and unwanted women in their camp, the Cardassians had taken all of the female population for themselves or they had escaped into the Resistance or off planet. If he saw women, they were usually comfort women out on errands. Sometimes their masters allowed them to work and took their earnings for themselves. Less generous masters kept them locked away or literally chained in bedrooms.

The woman that kept visiting Kira Taban was a 'retired' comfort woman. He saw marks still on her skin where she had been manacled for years. If Reon wished to take a wife or lover, he would have to find her in his Resistance cell. That thought allowed him a new topic of discussion.

"I had hoped I would be recruited into your cell, Nerys," he told her. "So that we could fight side by side like we said we would."

"You know that's not wise," Nerys admonished. "Family members need to be spread out through the organization, if you can call it that. If our cell was compromised, father would really be the last Kira."

"Yes, but it still hurts. I allowed myself to nurse a dream. I have to settle with praying at dusk until this Occupation is at an end."

"Prayer is always a good thing."

"Is it?"

His sister's smile faded at that, "What do you mean?"

"Nerys, I don't think I have faith in the Prophets anymore."

She looked like she wanted to hit him but restrained herself, "Why, Reon? Doubt can be a good thing but-"

"It's not doubt. I just hate them."

She did slap him for that. He glared at her but didn't strike back.

"Will you let me explain?" he asked.

"You'd better!"

"Nerys, I don't understand why they would let this happen in the first place let alone for nearly fifty years! Look at this temple! They didn't protect it or their faithful! They let our mother and brother starve!"

"That's the fault of the Cardassians, not the Prophets! Reon, your anger and hatred is misplaced. Use it like I do: Against the conquerors and infidels!"

"Nerys, I watched more children die while you were gone. I listened to our father babble about our mother in his sleep. He talks like she's still alive out there somewhere. That's crazy! He's crazy! I've been beaten and humiliated working the fields so that the Cardassians can gobble it up! Look at me!"

He tore off his tunic so that she could see the angry welts, bruises, and cuts in his back. Some of it was no more than a few days old. She almost reached out to touch the nearest wound and thought better of it. She cupped his face instead as he continued telling her of his suffering.

"I had to work fourteen hours straight in the blazing sun and freezing cold rain. They made me dig trenches and clean the sewage systems. The comfort women never have to do those sorts of things!"

"No!" Nerys snapped. "But you don't have to deal with the indignity of a Cardassian scaled organ being forced inside you and having some of your pagh ripped out when they're through! And some of them still beat the girl for it!"

That put a chill down his spine, "Nerys, I heard you just escaped from a Cardassian prison. Did they do that to you?"

"No, thanks to the Prophets!"

"Thanks to the Prophets?" he said doubtfully.

"Yes! There's no other explanation for it!"

"What did they do to you? Were you tortured?"

"They held me for only a few days before the rest of my cell arrived, Reon. They went about the standard procedure of identifying me, stripping me, and exposing me to the tame version of interrogation. That's all, though. They got nothing from me and were only in the mind game stage when Sha- my leader rescued me."

"You almost slipped a name in there, didn't you, sis?" he teased.

She cracked a smile, "You caught me!"

"I'm so relieved to hear you are alright. I worry about you."

"And I worry about you! That's my job as the big sister!"

The monk that was standing nearby cleared his throat and a brunette beauty with green eyes came in to collect Nerys. She pierced Reon with those lamps and made a seductive noise of approval.

"Where have you been hiding this hunk? Can I play with him?"

"Sisica!" Nerys giggled. "He's my brother! Curb your libido or I'm telling our leader what you said!"

"Tattler!"

"Sisica isn't her real name, by the way," his sister whispered to him. "She teases all the boys!"

Reon didn't care. He wanted to follow Sisica and his sister out of the temple, but he was lucky they had been able to arrange this meeting. He kissed her one last time. Nerys held him until Sisica pulled her arm.

"I love you!" they said at the same time.

"Don't forget to pray at dusk, even if you're angry with the Prophets!" she said encouragingly. "Let them find you again!"

"I'd rather have my family than faith at the moment. They can't even grant me that!"

"Oh, Reon!"

"I've got a mission coming up. Wish me luck instead of a blessing."

"I'll give you both, you stubborn ass!"

"I'll take it."

He grinned but his heart was heavy. He had no clue that would be his last time seeing her.