Chapter 24

Once more Trip met T'Pol in her white space. "Ok Darlin'. Are you going to tell me what has you so excited about meeting this V'Lar lady?" Trip asked as he leaned against nothing. He was dressed in sweatpants and his blue tank. T'Pol was on the 'ground' in front of him, wearing her silk pj's.

"V'Lar was my sister's T'Pau's mentor. Many of the people of my clan become either scientists or diplomats. It was very obvious from the time she was small which life path T'Pau would take. V'Lar was often around our home when I was a small child. She was, kind to me when I could not control my emotions. As small children it is a very difficult thing to learn but it is necessary that we learn before we mature," T'Pol explained.

"Ah, so you admire her. But why did you end up with Soval as your mentor? I mean, you're a scientist not a diplomat like he is," Trip asked. He went over and sat down behind her, pulling her into his arms. Even here, he couldn't seem to get enough of snuggling with her.

T'Pol avoided looking at him. "Soval is more patient than most with emotional outbursts. I was a slow learner."

"Aw hell," Trip huffed, "you do realize that you just torpedoed any remaining resentment I had with Ambassador Grumpy? First Hoshi figured out why your people acted like we're a bunch of kids and now you tell me that he helped you out with being a proper Vulcan."

"He is not grumpy!" T'Pol said indignantly.

"Honey, do you remember when I said that there were bad nicknames? Well, Soval collected quite a few. He got them because of his disposition, not that he was emotional. And he is grumpy, mind you he has more than enough reason to be grumpy dealing with the people that he does," Trip pointed out.

"Are you saying that the Humans Soval interacts with are the cause of his grumpiness?" T'Pol asked.

"Diplomats and bureaucrats are the worst sort of people to have to do anything with. They both have a terrible tendency to follow the 'it's my way or the highway' philosophy of life," Trip said sourly. "It's enough to make anyone with any sense grumpy."

"Are you so sure that Soval has sense? I seem to remember that you dislike him intensely," T'Pol said.

"I did, until I started to realize just what Hoshi was saying, that your people didn't mean to do the things that they did. Soval was merely the focus point of a lot of Human's resentment, especially Star Fleet's because he's the ambassador. That meant that it was his job to tell us no."

T'Pol frowned as another thought occurred to her. "I am aware that Captain Archer has said that the Earth government will consider our actions as self defense but what of Star Fleet?"

"As far as Star Fleet is concerned, the matter is closed. We were injured by an alien who we killed in self defense. But I'll bet you anything they're going to be worried about the Vulcan High Command's stand on it." Trip didn't have to wonder about that one. He had been involved in more than a few 'incidents' at one time or another to figure out how this was going to work.

T'Pol peered up at him quizzically. "Why do you think that the High Command will have anything to say? The facts speak for themselves. Tolaris attacked our bond, therefore he died." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

Trip shrugged, "If you say so. Now, where are we," he stopped as he heard a buzzing sound. As the buzzing sound echoed in their ears, they awoke. Not only was their alarm going off, the door buzzer was as well. "That's got to be breakfast," Trip said through the pain of the headache that he had just realized was the source of the pounding that he heard. T'Pol reached over and picked up a hypospray and gave it to Trip. She remained in physical contact with him which was all that allowed either one of them to move. Once the medicine had kicked in, they got up and started their day.

It wasn't easy doing things attached to another person. 'The only thing that's good about it, other than the fact that I can feel our bond so much easier, is that we aren't chained together and can switch where we're connected when we need to,' Trip decided. During breakfast he finished asking the question that he had started earlier. "Where are we going to put the ambassador up? I mean, the guest quarters we have are kind of small. I got the feeling that might be a bit of an insult."

"You are correct that V'Lar is a high status ambassador," T'Pol said. "I think it would probably be best if we give her your old quarters. They are larger than the guest quarters and no one is occupying them at the moment." She finished her breakfast as she told him what would have to be changed to accommodate the ambassador.

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Captain Archer waited while his Armory Officer read the recorded account of what had happened in the mind link that had killed Tolaris. "My God," Malcolm whispered. "I had no idea the Commander was capable of such cruelty. Not that I blame him for an instant, sir," he said as he belatedly realized that he was talking about not only a superior officer but to one as well, even if they were both his best friends.

Archer waved Malcolm's comment away. "I know what you mean. I knew that Trip had made a vow that he would do that to any rapist he managed to get his hands on but I had no idea that he'd actually do it more than twenty years later."

"Sir?" Malcolm asked surprised. "Why would the Commander do such a thing?"

Archer shrugged. "When we were kids an older friend of ours was raped and she never recovered. She committed suicide a couple of years later. Trip has never really been able to get over it. You're well aware that he considers himself a gentleman," Archer continued when Malcolm nodded, "well, part of that is defending the ladies around him. Sometimes I think that gets him into half of the trouble that got him his trouble magnet reputation. He may not show it but sometimes he really does have a white knight complex."

"At least where the ladies are concerned," Malcolm agreed. "He really cared for her then?"

"Worshiped the ground she walked on," Archer agreed. "And I don't blame him, we all did."

"Are we sure that T'Pol didn't influence the outcome? Not that I blame them at all," Malcolm said. "I'd have killed the bastard too, if I could."

"She freely admits that she refused to let Tolaris leave the link. In fact she tried to take as much of the blame as possible. But I don't think this is a situation that we can blame on her. If anything I think Trip's emotions were probably overwhelming her. Once this report gets back to Vulcan we're probably going to get those bastards at the High Command coming down on all of us for excessive violence," Archer growled. "On the other hand, you're not going to believe this one. Soval sent a letter along with our orders from Admiral Forrest. It seems that something T'Pol said to him has knocked him off of his high horse."

"Well, Hoshi did explain to you what she figured out didn't she?" Malcolm asked. "I know that T'Pol went to send Soval a letter about it."

"Yeah, but I'm still not sure I believe it. But the thing is, Soval believes it. First he actually apologized to me for his people's treatment of my father. Then he told me that he was sending one of his younger attaches to a Human school to learn more about how we mature as a species. Get this, he's sending someone named Sarak to kindergarten!"

"KINDERGARTEN!" Malcolm spluttered. The thought of a young Vulcan dealing with five year old Humans was enough to get him snickering.

"Ahuh," Archer said, trying to hold his own snickers in. "Soval wants him to write some kind of book or paper or something on the way Humans mature in order to help them figure out what mature members of our species act like."

Malcolm snorted. "Don't count on that working," he warned.

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EARTH - Miss Angela Barstow's Kindergarten

Miss Angela was nervous. While she had certainly heard about Vulcans before she had never thought she would be having one in her classroom. And if she had entertained the thought, she never would have pictured a young man around her own age. But for some reason the embassy had asked and her principal had agreed. Thus here he was, dressed in Vulcan robes and watching her kids run into the room like they were an alien species he had never seen before. 'Well, that just might be true,' she thought to herself as she patiently herded her charges into the morning circle.

As for Sarak, he wasn't sure that the small Humans WEREN"T a completely different species than the one he encountered on a daily basis. The Humans he was used to didn't shout, they didn't laugh and run from someone who was trying to tell them something, and they didn't have nearly so much energy! He watched as the teacher finally settled her students onto a rug at the front of the classroom. He watched the morning ritual with complete astonishment. Why were they singing such a completely illogical song? Yes, some Human songs were very illogical but these? These made no sense whatsoever!

The teacher introduced him to the children. Then to his complete astonishment the children started telling him the most strange and varied things. Why would he wish to know the names of Human reproductive organs and which gender had which ones? Why did they want to tell him that baby Humans did not have control over their bodily functions? Or that canines ate their own feces? He was even more astonished by the fact that the teacher, who he was now certain had the patience of Surak himself, was gently turning the strange conversation to what the children were learning in her class.

After a short time at this, the children were sent off to their tables and school supplies were handed out. "Don't worry, it's perfectly natural for children this age to talk about socially awkward, or taboo subjects. They are full of curiosity and a need to tell people about what they've just learned," Miss Angela told him. That was only partially reassuring to Sarak. From just the few minutes that he had already spent in this classroom, he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to explain how these creatures turned into the Humans his people were used to dealing with.

Miss Angela sat him down at one of the tables and a small girl smiled up at him. "Hi! I's Manda!"

"Hello Manda," he greeted her. "I am Sarak."