Spock was surprised and somewhat perplexed to feel Nyota Uhura's grip around his fingers tighten almost painfully as they descended towards the transport station in Garissa District, seventy-five kilometers outside its capital city. He was certain, had she been Vulcan, that he would have lost the use of his hand. Of greater concern, however, were the erratic emotions he sensed through the mild link.
He felt her excitement wrapped around anticipation threaded with fear on top of uncertainty.
He covered both of their hands with his other one and projected comfort and reassurance through the link. During his single previous visit to her homeland and family, he'd only sensed her joy and her love for the people they would be seeing.
"You are nervous, beloved?"
She glanced at him, a rueful smile on her face and relief flooding the link.
"I was. I am. Just a bit," she said. "Sorry about the fingers." She ducked down to press a kiss to his hand – the wrong hand – but he understood the sentiment.
"It's unlikely that a human female of your stature unintentionally do my fingers lasting harm, Nyota," he told her, his deep gently teasing. "Please tell me why you are so unsettled. You were not nervous during our last visit."
She squeezed his fingers again, this time without attempting to amputate them, and smiled a much happier smile.
"Last time our wedding wasn't a couple of days away."
Spock frowned. Not a near-frown. Not a slight down-turn of his lips. His brow furrowed, his eyes darkened and there was a major down-turning of his deliciously sculpted lips. Images of the women from the twenty-first century "reality television" program Nyota had insisted he view all those months ago resurfaced. He could feel real dread swishing around his stomach and he fought to keep from projecting the feeling through the link.
When he spoke again, his voice was strained.
"I do not understand, Nyota," he fervently whispered. "I did not sense that you were unhappy with the idea of marrying me. I sense no reduction in your love for me. Surely it is not the time constraints that have you so disturbed. Mama and I completed the most significant preparations some time ago. Dr. Uhura has secured us a celebrant for the ceremony. What are you afraid of?"
His beloved laughed.
It wasn't a quiet chuckle or a girlish giggle.
Nyota Uhura threw back her head and let out a loud roar of amusement.
Heads turned in their direction as other passengers tried to see what was going on. Many of them, seeing the beautiful young woman so full of joy and abandonment holding the hand of the handsome but oddly fearful-looking (they had emotions after all!?!) Vulcan, couldn't help offering the couple smiles of their own.
"Oh, Spock," Nyota gasped through the last of her laughter. "Oh Spock, I was just feeling a little overwhelmed, but you…" she started laughing again and it was while before she could continue, "you, k'diwa, are obviously afraid of something."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, insight filled her mind.
"Wait a sec, you didn't think I was going to suddenly become a bridezilla, did you?" she asked in mock-insulted voice. "Really, Spock, after all this time?"
It was the half-Vulcan's turn to offer a rueful grin.
"The thought did cross my mind," he said.
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Although Wangari Maathai's tree project had been extended even to the some of the areas which had formerly made up the North Eastern Province of Kenya, the Garissa District was hot, dry and, to eyes accustomed to more verdant landscapes, featured very little in the way of vegetation outside the city proper.
Once November would have been one of the city's most humid months of the year, but since several draughts and district-against-district disputes over water rights had reduced the flow of the Tana River through the city nearly a two centuries before, Garissa town had become more arid. Hydro-scientists at the Garissa Science Institute were famous for maintaining the careful balance between the city and the few large farms in the surrounding countryside. The weather was a somewhat comforting reminder of the home he no longer had.
After they'd collected their baggage, Spock scanned the orderly bustle of the terminal for his future in-laws, his height advantage making it likely that he would spot them, and they him, before Nyota. As it was, she saw her parents only seconds after he did.
Her face, once again reflecting the wealth of emotions, she stopped in her tracks. A hand flew to her mouth. Without saying anything, Spock took her other hand in his.
Together, they watched as a tall, regal woman, dressed in the loose robes favored in the region moved towards them. The man at her side, her equal in height, was similarly garbed.
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M'Umbha Uhura stopped in front of her daughter. Her dark eyes swept Nyota's slight form from head to toe. She noted with approval that the younger woman had dressed for coming home. The floor-length light green dress had wide sleeves and was lightweight enough not be an encumbrance in Garissa's heat. The paler green mantle she wore over her shoulders could be raised for use as a veil to protect her from the sun. The image before her was a far cry from the little girl she'd sent off to the Academy. That Nyota had lived in either the impractical fashions her sister introduced her to, or in the tattered shorts and T-shirts she wore to run.
"Binti," M'Umbha whispered, "you have grown up. You look so beautiful."
Nyota moved forward and dropped Spock's hand to grasp both of her mother's.
"I'm so glad to be home, Mama," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I have missed you so much. And Baba, too! I'm sorry I've been so busy and the wedding and everything and leaving it all to you and Spock… ."
It was the most incoherent sentence Spock had ever heard her utter. She trailed off with a small sob just before M'Umbha clasped her to her chest and began stroking her hair and whispering soothing words through her own tears.
Benjamin, renowned psychiatrist or not, looked at his future son-in-law rather helplessly as the two women carried on.
Intuiting that an injection of humor might diffuse the danger of an emotional overload – another useful artifact of life with Uhura had been an increased ability to read human behavior and to meet (some) human emotional needs – Spock yielded to a perverse desire to shock his betrothed's father.
Stepping towards Dr. Uhura, Spock greeted the man with a near-smile.
"Baba," he said. "It is most pleasing to be in your presence again."
Then he enfolded the older man in a warm (literally) embrace.
Benjamin was no fool, and immediately recognized Spock's tactics. But he was perfectly willing to play the part if it meant preventing his women from dissolving into a puddle of tears in the transport terminal.
He stood stiffly in the arms of his daughter's fiancé for a moment before offering the young man a few awkward pats on the back. Behind him, he sensed M'Umbha and Nyota stilling. Their spirited exchange was silenced.
Spock released him and Benjamin turned to his wife and daughter.
"Binti," he sputtered, pointing an accusatory finger at Nyota, "what have you done to the boy that he is giving out hugs like candy and calling your old father 'baba'?"
Nyota grinned. M'Umbha laughed.
Placing a hand on her husband's shoulder, she focused her gaze on Spock.
"Hush, husband," she said and slanted a fond smile at the half-Vulcan. "There is nothing wrong with the boy. He is simply proving that he Amanda Grayson's son."
Spock leaned forward and kissed M'Umbha's cheek.
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It was not a long trip from the terminal to the Uhura home. Less than fifteen minutes after their mid-morning arrival in Africa, the walls of the property were visible on the flat landscape. Twenty minutes after that, they were walking through the wide front doors.
It was all much as Spock remembered it to be. A mix of many architectural styles, the three-story antique-yellow structure had been built into a wide, low hill and was meant for enduring the hot climate.
The sunken, open-plan rectangular ground floor, where the family conducted most of its entertaining, was tiled in a myriad of colors. The weight of the upper stories was supported by intricately-carved columns. Windows were liberally spaced along three walls, though large French doors led out to a balcony on the northern end. Low chairs and benches littered the large space, placed strategically to capture any errant breezes that chose to slip through the room. An offshoot located at the south eastern corner housed the kitchen.
The second floor housed the many bedrooms required for the frequent and extended visits from the family and friends that Uhuras encouraged. The third story held home offices and several storage areas.
Upon arriving, Spock and Dr. Uhura had carried in the luggage while Nyota and her mother continued their animated discussion.
M'Umbha had taken charge of the garment bag containing the wedding dress before sending the men upstairs.
"You go with Benjamin, Spock," she'd ordered. "I must see this dress you have made for my baby."
Spock had greened slightly at the reference to his time spent as a "seamstress," but he and Nyota's father had done as they were bid, and taken the rest of the luggage upstairs to the sleeping quarters.
Now, half an hour later, with still no sign of either woman, Spock took advantage of the time remaining before the midday meal to explore. It would likely be his last opportunity to find solitude before the wedding. Guests would begin arriving in the morning. He let himself out a small door on the eastern side of the room, walked down a sloping path to the end of the house and turned left.
The grounds on the northern end of the house were several meters lower than the rest of the surrounding area. Fine specimens of Acacia tortilis offered shelter from the intense sun. An underground irrigation system kept Benjamin's garden lush and beautiful. The sweet fragrance of chocolate daisies competed with lilac to scent the late morning air.
Spock sat on a small stone bench and contemplated his surrounding. His mother, he mused, would have loved this place. It was like an oasis in a desert, much like the small garden she had carved out of the Vulcan soil at their home. He had meant to bring her here.
Footsteps brought him out of his reverie. He looked up to see Benjamin walking towards him.
"This place you have made is as beautiful as I remembered it to be," he said when the other man stood before him.
Benjamin regarded him thoughtfully for a moment.
"Come with me, mwana," he said, indicating a small path through the stand of trees.
Spock walked beside him a short way. Neither spoke of the green plants or of the colorful flowers along the borders, though both enjoyed the sight of them.
When Benjamin stopped before the opening to a small walled off area, he gestured for Spock to precede him.
The half-Vulcan couldn't suppress a gasp when he saw what was inside.
"Your mother sent me holos and seeds," Benjamin told him. "It was a fine thing to discover that M'Umbha wasn't the only one with whom she shared a passion. Stay here as long as you like, mwana. Lunch isn't for another hour and our women will understand if you don't join us at the table."
Spock could only nod as his eyes fluttered over the replica of Amanda Grayson's garden. And then he heard Benjamin's footfalls fading away.
A/N: Check out my profile for more extensive notes on Uhura's parents, her ancestry and on why I have chosen Garissa as her home.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr. Wangari Maathai is, obviously, a real person. Her 2006 memoir Unbowed is a fascinating read. Green Belt Movement Kenya is an NGO she founded in 1977 to increase forestation in Kenya. Another of her many causes improving women's lives.