Disclaimer: I don't own any Vulcans
Not Another Love Song
"There aren't any Vulcan songs!" Ashanti's younger brother Vinay protested scrolling through the Karaoke selections. He was slightly drunk.
"Yeah, that doesn't seem fair," said her sister Priyanka.
"Sing us a Vulcan song!" said her other brother Vashid.
Ashanti had done it. She'd introduced her Vulcan boyfriend Tyback to her family. They'd taken it rather well. Of course she suspected this had something to do with the fact they knew they weren't sleeping together...they knew this because her mother had asked her point blank. "Are you having sex with him?!" In front of her father...It had not been the highlight of her life thus far...or maybe it was...if her life was a movie someone else was watching.
They thought it she was "just dating". She'd dated before. Never anything serious.
After what had been a rather successful dinner -- her mother hadn't asked Tyback if he planned on having sex with Ashanti, her brothers and sisters had insisted that Ashanti bring Tyback out for Karaoke with them and three of her other cousins. It was a "younger generation bonding thing"...in someone's words. Maybe her cousin Asha's?
"Yes, sing us a Vulcan song!" shouted her cousin Rash.
"What kind of song?" asked Tyback.
"A love song!" said Asha.
"Do Vulcan's even have love songs?" asked Priyanka.
Tyback blinked, "We do, from the pre-Surak days..."
"Sing! Sing! Sing!" chanted Vinay, Rash, Vashid, Amit, Asha and Priyanka.
Tyback looked unfazed...and unemotional. Ashanti suspected he was overjoyed. He had looked forward to meeting her family. Tyback didn't have a family of his own, when she had described how close knit and large Indian families tended to be, and how if they did get married he'd be sucked into all the birthday, wedding, anniversary, and holiday get-togethers he'd actually been happy.
"Very well," Tyback said, stoic as ever. "I will sing."
Ashanti cringed inwardly, she'd never heard Tyback sing and...
"You say you did not know she is mine oh -
You did you not see the necklace of green
My marks around her neck oh -"
He sang it in his native tongue. It was almost a chant really...and he wasn't that bad. He had a steady deep voice. Well really, what about Tyback wasn't steady? She looked at her siblings and cousins they were swaying their respective drinks in time.
"Bonded since we were children yes -
Married and mated in the fires of Ponn Farr
She is mine and mine alone yes -"
Ashanti wondered where the fires of Ponn Farr were. Perhaps it was some sort of temple? Lots of religions had fire rites...
"I will slide my knife across your stomach now -
Drink your blood from the chalice of your heart -
For she is mine and mine alone now...and never will we part!"
Well...that was...
...Touching...
Tyback finished by lifting his glass. Her siblings and cousins cheered. It occurred to her that none of her relatives spoke Vulcan...
"Whoa, Tyback, that was cool," said Rash. "Sounded more like a battle hymn than a love song..."
"I suppose they are very much the same," said Tyback.