Spock watched a team of horses run over the fields adjacent to McCoy's Georgia home. McCoy did not own or care for them but allowed others to use the fields so that he could watch them over a cold mint julep in the humid evenings. He'd told Spock it was his little thimble-full of youth, a detail of when he grew up. To Spock it had no meaning, as terrestrial animals were not seen on Vulcan in any capacity, its atmosphere's adverse effects on such creatures well documented.
He continued down the road passing the willows lining it. He continued on until McCoy's home came into view and he saw his old friend bearing down on the rails of his porch. Upon seeing Spock he chuckled and tottered out to him. Spock picked up his pace to shorten the distance knowing McCoy would insist on walking to him.
"Spock, did they finally give you the weekend off?" he asked, grinning widely.
"A curious expression; I was always free to visit." McCoy laughed at this and motioned for Spock to follow him. He walked closer to his old friend than he would have when they had served aboard the NCC-1701; McCoy since had lost some of his dexterity, become frail.
"It's hard to see old friends these days when most of them are dead. I could break out my great aunt's Ouija board but I thought it was all nonsense even as a kid. I never would have thought I would see the day I'd be grateful that you're Vulcan, Spock."
"How kind, Doctor."
McCoy patted him on the back and pointed to a small table with chairs a short way from the river that McCoy insisted his house be built by. From time to time, he would mention that dream to Spock, retiring by the water, when he had come to him for his check-ups or after briefings during their missions. It seems McCoy has gotten his wish, Spock mused.
Both sat down, though Spock quirked an eyebrow at seeing a pitcher of mint julep and two glasses. McCoy poured his own glass to the brim and started on the other one.
"Are you expecting another guest?" Spock inquired.
"Oh for god's sake! Just drink the damn thing you green blooded stick in the mud!" Spock obliged. To insure McCoy does not stress himself out with another argument, Spock justified.
"Finished that quick." McCoy observed with amusement.
"It seemed illogical not to do so as you seem intent on it being the only thing I am allowed to refresh myself with. Unless I wish to drink from the river."
They sat in silence for a little while, remembering the crew, and their days serving together. The sound of the river ran on. Finally, Spock inquired about Perrin; the Federation's public files had given him some interesting data regarding her.
"Perrin Landover; she interned with you three years into her time at Starfleet Medical." At that, McCoy looked curious. He set down his mint julep.
"Now that's a strange thing to be bringing up."
"She is being protected by my father. I have seen them together often since his return to Vulcan. They go to the parks, museums, walk through the streets of ShiKahr together. No one will tell me why he guards her; he says it is for the safety of the Federation but I do not know to what end."
"And you want me to dish out the details on one of my favorite former students. Well Spock, I can't give you any clearer of a picture than you already have." McCoy coughed, hitting his chest to knock the phlegm out of his throat, "but I can tell you she was as straight as an arrow when I knew her. Kinda hoped she'd come back though I'll admit I forgot all about her after a while. But she couldn't seem to trust anyone, with a stubborn streak to boot." He sighed and watched the horses. Spock waited for him to gather his thoughts.
"I guess those two things finally caught up to her and she just couldn't live with the results."
"What happened?" Asked Spock.
"I'm not just going to tell you something like that, Spock! It's just not fair, and it's in the past. And—" McCoy gabbed a finger at him, his eyes severe.
"How long as your father been moping around on that godforsaken planet; now, from what I've heard, he's finally shaping up and you want to pull the rug out!" he yelled.
"My father has spent his time productively serving the Federation on numerous assignments." Spock countered; silently admitting he'd raised the very same concern with Sarek before.
"And that's the problem. Working himself into damn a corner; let them be, your father's not a fool. I think they could be good company for each other."
Spock let McCoy's words simmer. He wanted more insight into Perrin's character but McCoy possessed his own brand of logic that Spock could not deny in this instance. He had never known his father to act foolishly yet it was strange to see them together. He recalled seeing her play a song for Sarek on her violin when he had come to consult his father regarding a peace treaty. Sarek had watched her intently; his form was disciplined yet relaxed. He had had his head honed in towards the music as she played. Deciding to leave a message with his father's chief of staff instead, Spock had left. Recalling that day, Spock realized McCoy had hit upon something he was now consciously noting; Sarek seemed more himself with Perrin around.
Perrin opened her door before Sarek was fully out of the hovercar. Since after the day his son had visited, she felt he seemed, perhaps, even more Vulcan. The succinct expression of his reflection in the pool at the Arboretum a while ago had become unerring, deepening. The checked emotion in is eyes was gone such that she could see it. Also regularly informing her of progress in his investigation, though offering scant specifics, she was happy with both changes. An end was in sight as his staff now traced the alliances of her suspects. Perrin felt might be able to return to her little loft in Paris in time to still fill Palais Garner's opening; to see the snow on the juniper trees.
Though she had been elated by the former previously, she felt happier now about seeing the snow again than playing in their orchestra.
She didn't worry about Sarek. At first, but the calm she felt from him was not a mask. She did still steer from anything that might make him think of Amanda or his son, despite his mentions of them sometimes with a lowered voice.
A warm smile grew on her face as she tried to think of what to play for him tonight. Bach, Simon and Garfunkel, Tchaikovsky to remind him of when they met. She laughed at herself for the last idea; I doubt he really cares, she thought. She considered asking what Amanda liked to listen to but Perrin's worry at bring her up chased away the idea.
Sarek nearly ran into her neighbor as both tried to cross the doorway.
"Sakkath." Perrin cried, remembering. Noticing Sarek, Sakkath had thrown himself out of his way but lost his balance, tripping into the sand. Perrin glanced at Sarek quickly before trying to help Sakkath up. Sarek looked on with curiosity.
"Sakkath; I must apologize. The ambassador decided to check up on me and I thought you had my message."
"Ambassador Sarek. I apologize for my intrusion some weeks ago when Perrin and I came to your office. You are well respected among Vulcans."
"Not all. And it caused me no offence nor delay." Sarek replied as he glided over to where Sakkath backed away from Perrin trying to sweep sand off him. She stopped then. She forgot sometimes, as Sakkath seemed a lot more at ease with humans than her Vulcan guards and had still not fully learned to control his emotions. And Sarek—he would not say a word when she sometimes passed close enough to brush against him. She didn't mean to, he simply always seemed to be a bit closer to her than she'd originally accounted for.
"And I received your message; I merely hoped—wanted to retrieve my comm as I mentioned to you this morning." Sakkath stated. He held himself straight.
"Ah." Said Perrin. Though Sakkath refused to precede him, Sarek gestured to the door to let them past; Perrin did. They all gathered in the small living room, Sarek looking over the needlework on the walls.
"T'Pau, my family's matriarch, constructed this." He was studying a piece that Perrin found especially nice. It was full of blues and greens, unlike the others that more reflected the earthy tones of Vulcan.
"It's lovely."
"She made it from thread my wife gave to her on her birthday the first year of our marriage; Amanda was unaware that we do not celebrate such events." He responded. Perrin chuckled in reply. She also felt a twine of sadness vibrate through her; he'd begun mentioning her often with the ease of someone mentioning facts instead of the reserved way he would reference her before. Perrin was struck by Amanda's resemblance to her mother: both seemed to glow with joy. She started to sort through the house, helping Sakkath search.
Sakkath found his communicator in the bathroom, caught in the drain of the sink.
"It should still work; mine from Starfl—" she stopped and just smiled at him, refusing to continue. Away from Sarek, Sakkath allowed himself to look bewildered but didn't comment. But she paused in thought, remembering her pride wearing the blue uniform; she allowed herself to feel again that much. She walked Sakkath to the door, Sarek seated himself in the living room as she did.
"Live long and prosper." He addressed Perrin though he'd craned his neck to look over at Sarek.
"You do the same Sakkath. I'll teach you some more tomorrow." He left.
"What will you teach him?" Asked Sarek.
"How to play the violin; a few human idioms though I believe the people he works with are English." Perrin replied, getting out her violin. Lately, looking at it made her restless. She felt almost ashamed to be Sakkath's teacher, finding her playing flat though he had assured her otherwise.
As she began to tuck it under her chin she couldn't smell her mint tea and glanced at the mug on the ground by her feet. Drunk completely before Sarek had arrived, she had enjoyed it too much to notice.
Excusing herself, she went to the kitchen and searched for some more sprigs of mint Sarek had gotten for her from one of the other, human, ambassadors. The jar where she kept them was empty but she kept looking anyways. She knelt on the ground to look for fallen mint leaves between the cabinets and the floor. Thinking she had found one, she snatched it up and smelled it for the indicating cool odor. It was dried out Plomeek. Perrin dropped it in the sink and knelt back down not wanting to give up.
"May I assist you?" Sarek had moved to the kitchen and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She replied with a sigh.
"It seems I cannot depend on myself being messy Sarek, which is a shame."
"How it that a shame?" Sarek asked.
"There's no more mint."
"I believe I have seen some in the courtyard."
"No there isn't any; there are no Terran plants out there." She responded.
"I was referring to Vulcan mint." He went out to the courtyard and Perrin watched him shuffle around, stretching down to an overgrown section of the courtyard. He came back in with a wide, red leaf in the palms of his hands. She took it and put it in her mug. Already she could smell it in the air, cool but off-putting.
After allowing it to brew she brought it to her lips and took a nervous sip from the odor. Disgusting, she thought. Tempted to spit it into the sink, she swallowed it and set down the mug.
"Do you find it distasteful?" Asked Sarek.
"Oh no; but I was thinking," she searched for a way out of finishing off the strange tea "it's such a wonderful evening. Let's go for a walk, see the sunset." Sarek was still fixated on the tea, reaching over to her mug. Perrin deliberately knocked it off the counter. Sarek moved to clean it but Perrin waved him off.
"I will get some more mint for you." Stated Sarek.
"No!" Sarek looked back at her as Perrin's wide eyes showed her horror. She leaned down and began to clean up the tea.
"I saw where it was; I will have some in the morning." She told him firmly. He didn't go for the mint.
Both stepped outside after Perrin dried away the spilled tea and she found the breeze coming off the mountains almost chilly. Sarek's driver followed behind a good distance in the hovercar as they followed the walkway running outside her building to the outskirts of the city. They paused at the edge of ShiKahr to watch the sun wane under the horizon before continuing. There was enough light left as it fell to recreate some of the effect she'd seen before, it again stripped away the years and made his strong features more pronounced. When the light was completely gone at last, his face returned to the present. Though Perrin was more than fine with that Sarek; she liked his company better than the idea of who he'd been. His knowing and honesty comforted her.
As the ground became uneven where the city seceded to wilderness, the hovercar was easy to hear. It purred loudly and scared away a pack of wild animals off to her distant left.
"The noise will scare away any Le-matya." Sarek offered as a positive to the distraction. They went further into the desert and saw nothing else but still heard the rustling of creatures running off out of sight. Vulcan's moon, really a planet Perrin remembered, was bright enough to point out any loose rocks before she tripped on them. Sarek spoke as they neared the mountains.
"Have you considered what I told you about your father?" Perrin had, along with the mementos he had snuck from her father's house as proof for his arguments.
Perrin wished he wouldn't keep trying to reunite them; she didn't want to know what her father had to say, she just knew she felt she carried enough guilt with her now, she knew her determination not to hurt her father further. She was surprised Sarek kept doing so after seeing the strained relationship he had with Spock. Perhaps that's why, she thought sadly. His house was always empty went she went at night to discuss progress in the investigation.
"I have Sarek. I have not changed my mind, and it will not be changed by you bringing me more things from my father's house to prove he cares."
"The only logical conclusion is that he does. You must see this." Perrin stopped walking.
"In all this time you have not once told me you are certain that is true. I will not risk—" she turned from Sarek, not wanting to show her growing pain though she allowed it to warp her words, "feeling the way I did that day again. It was too much Sarek; I won't deny it. I love him too much."
"That is the first time you have said so to me." Said Sarek.
Perrin smiled to herself. "You couldn't tell?"
"I am not human." They finished their walk going up a path in the mountains broad enough for the hovercar to follow and went back when it narrowed too much.
Sarek had gone home and Perrin was making sure the lights were out and her violin tucked safely under her bed. She'd switched into a small shirt from her high school gym class, Proust Le Collège embroidered along the neck, and silk pants, their matching top mistakenly stained with resin in a corner at her Paris loft. Smoothing her pajamas, she crawled into bed and lay down in the middle of it. Perrin looked to T'khut at the edge of her window and thought loosely about her walk with Sarek.
In the lighter hours of the night, Perrin woke up confused and still thinking what she was when she had fallen asleep but aware that something had changed. She turned to see T'khut shining directly onto her, framed completely in the window. She tottered to it to black the light out so she could rest. A small touch pad next to it controlled the tint on the glass; she pressed it until she could see nothing, mad at herself for again forgetting to do that before going to bed but aware the walk had taken a lot out of her as it did every time due to the higher gravity.
With no light, she shuffled slowly around to lie back down, and curled up on the edge of the mattress. But she couldn't will herself to sleep.
She tried to think of something but she could only picture Sarek. Perrin could almost see him walking through the desert earlier in her mind; she tried to imagine him asleep himself with envy she knew was because of the certainty of him not allowing emotional considerations to keep himself awake. Counting sheep did nothing, she had no mint; Sarek and their talk would not leave her mind. He is sleeping now like you should be, Perrin scolded herself. Wearing some elaborate robe, his hands crossed over his waist with his chest rising in a strict rhythm. The image came from how she'd first seen him on Tau Ceti. The dark robes he wore then were reduced to nothing but shadows with the light of T'khut blocked out. Now she imagined him laid out on the other side of her bed, something that relaxed her enough to begin drifting off.
