It's good to be home again, Muta Uhura thought as he arrived at the homestead.
Excitement, building from the moment the red earth of the Garissa countryside gave way to the green vegetation of the compound, drove him to rush through the main house without even stopping to put down his bags. His little sister was getting married! He was eager to join his family in celebrating her joy. If the delicious smells were anything to go by he knew exactly where all that celebrating was happening.
Then he walked into the dining room. to find his mother and younger sister engaged in a war fought entirely through eye contact. Upenda was trying valiantly to pretend nothing was wrong, or to at least tease the other two women into declaring détente. His father and future brother-in-law appeared to be plotting their escape. Even without knowing what was going on, Muta was ready to join them, but a quick glance at his older sister confirmed that she knew exactly what he had been thinking. Her glare told him, loud and clear, he had better stay put if knew what was good for him.
Not even bothering to swallow his groan, he slumped into a chair at the dinner table and studied each of his relatives in turn. Not a joyful face among them. No one had even greeted him. In fact, Upenda's bawdy jokes aside, so far, no one had said a word. Good thing Uncle Tabansi had taken the elders staying with them off to a restaurant, Muta mused.
Another stolen glance at this father and Nyota's fiancé told him that the two men had already tried all they are willing or all they were able to do in order to diffuse the situation. He didn't know what the problem is, but as it hasn't been unusual, since she was a very small girl, to find his little sister locking horns with anyone in the family, lack of knowledge wasn't a hurdle he was going to worry about jumping.
Reaching down to the bags he'd dropped beside his seat, Muta rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.
Pulling out a smallish object, crafted of gleaming dark wood and delicate strings, he eyed the half-Vulcan sitting across the table from him.
"Spock," he said, "I picked this up at a street fair the couple of weeks ago, and immediately thought of you. It's a bit like a crude little ka'athyra, don't you think? It's not tuned or anything, but I thought maybe, between the two of us, we might manage to fix that."
"Assist you in such a venture would be… most pleasing, kaka," Spock replied and Muta managed to stifle his surprise at the lack of formality with which he had been addressed.
"Well then," he said instead of letting his shock show, "we can get started as soon as we've all eaten."
"And you can go wash your hands before you eat anything, mwana," M'Umbha told him, taking her fierce eyes off Nyota for the first time.
Muta got up to follow her orders. Out of the corner of his eyes as he left the dining area, he saw his father's shoulders sinking in relief and noted Upenda's grateful smile. He grinned when he caught Nyota sticking her tongue out at their mother's back.
Nyota was restless. A few guests had already been milling around by the time she had crawled out of bed with the sun, and even though a few expressed shock that she was up at all — none had expected to catch more than a glimpse of her before the evening's ceremonies — she'd been too anxious about her dress to appease their sensibilities by hiding away in her room primping and being pampered. Her shaky smile and cold sweaty hands had more than one invitee wondering if she was planning on doing a runner.
Once her mother was up, she's ignored the older woman's repeated attempts at luring her back to the suite of rooms where Gaila, Upenda, Rand and Chapel already lay in wait. She didn't doubt that soon the five of them would find a way to forcibly remove her from the public areas of the compound, but she had no intention of going without a fight. Not before she saw her dress, anyway.
"Everything will be fine, binti," M'Umbha said, addressing her daughter in the slow, even tones usually reserved for lost children and potential jumpers. "Leonard is truly an artist with textiles, and Jim is — well, Jim so very eager not to see all his hard work ruined he'll likely stay out of Leonard's way until it is all done."
Needless to say, the bride-to-be didn't find the words very reassuring.
It wasn't until Muta, Benjamin and Spock had herded the bulk of the guests staying with the family — fifteen or so mostly older relatives — off to a picnic brunch in the gardens that she allowed herself to be distracted.
By prearrangement, Ambassador Sarek, who was not staying in the Uhura home, and M'Umbha's brother, Tabansi, took it upon themselves to do the distracting. They pounced as soon as the last of the guests disappeared down the garden path.
"Lt. Uhura, I believe there is a task for which you require assistance from your uncle and me," said Sarek.
Tabansi Wakufunzi stood at his side, nodding gravely.
"Yes," he said, agreeing with the Vulcan, "we should take advantage of the empty house to get everything into place. You wouldn't want to ruin your surprise, would you, estrella pequeña? You have worked very hard on it for such a long time."
Thoughts of her project proved the perfect antidote to her near-hysteria over the state of her wedding gown. Offering both men a wide smile, she ran to fetch a ladder.
M'Umbha was not happy. That isn't to say that she was unhappy. Dissatisfied was a closer approximation to what she was feeling. She'd waited so long to host a wedding for one of her terribly independent daughters and now, just when she was about to finally get her wish, Nyota was on the verge of mucking it all up. Bad enough the girl had contributed almost nothing to the actual planning—thank the gods for Spock! — but now, instead of relaxing in her parents' suit, submitting to the ministrations of the massage therapists they'd called in for the occasion, she was flitting around downstairs, no doubt working herself into a frenzy over her gown.
Part of her regretted encouraging her youngest child to give in the Dr. McCoy's last-minute alterations, but just thinking about how wonderful her youngest would look standing at her groom's side chased all such traitorous thoughts away. No, this was just a case of the girl's perfectionism coming back with a vengeance.
She looked across to room to where Upenda and Gaila were seated in a pair of chairs by the window, sorting through a pile of what looked like scraps of lace and satin in every hue of the rainbow — and in some colors that nature probably had never intended.
"Well, this one would go well under the dress," the Orion girl said, somewhat doubtfully. "It's just, well, Vulcans are so strong. It would be such a waste if she had to turn it into cleaning rags after wearing it only once."
"Don't be silly," the no-nonsense elder Uhura daughter replied. "Ennie's going to change before they go off to their tent for the night. It'll be fine." She held up a flimsy piece of fabric. "But this one is just right for a wedding night. Perfect, even. And it's not worth much, so no big deal if it ends up in shreds."
M'Umbha shook her head and turned to wear Janice was frowning into the vanity mirror at the elaborate beehive the hairstylists had woven her golden locks into. It was beautiful — it suited the girl, that is, it would have had she been living in the United States of America during the 1960s. Sighing, M'Umbha gave a silent prayer that the yeoman wouldn't pass out in the heat. Hair like that could be heavy, even with today's advanced technology.
A low, pleased groan from the next room alerted everyone to the fact that the masseuse was finished with Christine. Gaila and Upenda both jumped up, eager to be next in line. M'Umbha chuckled softly and returned her attention to the young man who was painting her toenails. She smiled happily down at the deep burgundy color. It really did look pretty against the brown of her skin.
The two tall young men walked ahead of the group, setting a leisurely pace. Each was laden with large food hampers — three and two, respectively — but did not use their burdens as an excuse to neglect their guests. Muta tossed back the occasional teasing comment, while, here and there, Spock offered an answer to a question about Benjamin's garden.
"You have been fortunate in both the son of your body and in the son you will gain tonight, eh Ben?" Elijah Uhura asked his cousin. "Both are intelligent, strong and have respect for their elders." He looked over to where little Nyota's fiancé was calmly discussing Benjamin's choice of ground cover with an elderly aunt known for her strong opinions and barbed tongue. "Not to mention patience — something we don't often see in young ones these days. What is your secret?"
Benjamin smiled but, as was his wont, took his time before answering.
"I had nothing to do with Spock's upbringing," he pointed out eventually. "He was a grown man before I ever met him. Muta, I can tell you, however, has had benefit of being the only son of M'Umbha Wakufunzi. He dared not grow up to be anything but polite!"
Elijah laughed at Benjamin's careful dodge. The two Uhura men came from a long line of freedom's warriors, but their grandmothers and grandfathers many times over had taught them that women ruled every Uhura home.
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As soon as they reached their destination — a small grove of gnarled old olive trees — Muta and Spock began placing ground rugs under the direction of the bossy elderly aunt.
Elijah and Benjamin joined several of the women in unpacking the food, plates and utensils from the hampers. Amid the laughter and general conviviality, the xenopsychiatrist sneaked furtive glances to see how the half-Vulcan was coping. He froze when he saw a potentially disastrous scene begin to play out.
The elderly aunt had just ordered Spock to move a particular rug three centimeters to right — for the fifth time, if Dr. Uhura had counted correctly. Spock had moved the rug, but not before seeking out Muta's gaze and rolling his eyes slightly in the most unVulcanlike behavior Benjamin had seen him display since the day at the terminal.
"Impudent brat!" the elderly aunt snapped as he straightened from his task and boxed his pointed ear. "Show some respect."
Everyone in attendance watched as Spock looked down at the old woman.
"My apologies, Aunty Ethel," he told her. "Is the location of the covering satisfactory, or shall I move it another half millimeter?"
Aunt Ethel harrumphed as everyone else broke into relieved laughter and pretended not to see the old lady's approving smile.
Soon after that, everyone settled down to eat.
Having proven himself capable of dealing with the most difficult of the aunties, Spock was vastly popular. Benjamin overheard more than one relative draw him into conversations that covered the sciences — the traditional focus of the Uhura family, or linguistics — the purview of the Wakufunzis. He felt no shame in being pleased that his daughter had chosen a man who was adept in the former area of study.
He was finished eating and leaning back against a twisted olive trunk when Muta brought out the strange instrument he'd presented at the dinner table the night before. A meaningful glance at Spock had the other young man rising from his seat and moving over to one of the hampers.
Benjamin hadn't noticed the large case that had apparently been packed at the bottom of the hamper, but he smiled broadly when Spock pulled out his ka'athyra.
"A duet, kaka?" Muta called out as Spock walked over to join him.
Yes, thought Benjamin Uhura, I have been fortunate.
And then he settled back to listen to his two sons play.
Just over forty-five minutes after the ambush, Nyota mounted the ladder a final time. She resisted Tabansi's and Sarek's requests, then outright demands, that one of them handle the placing of the delicate components she'd spent so lone fabricating high on the pillars dispersed through the ground floor.
"I'm the communications expert here," she'd protested.
Uncle Tabansi had given her a wry look at that. "As am I," he'd said simply. "And my concentration was actually more on the engineering side, while you specialized in languages."
"I too, have a background in the sciences, ko-fu," Sarek had added. He'd given up on calling her "Lt. Uhura" after Tabansi had pointed out that she was mere hours away from becoming his daughter-in-law and wouldn't it be more comfortable all around if he started treating her as such.
Neither of the humans had really expected the Vulcan ambassador to acquiesce, but Sarek had murmured something about comfortable human brides being safe human brides and had graduated from addressing her as "Nyota" to "daughter" in minutes.
And there had been many opportunities for both Tabansi and Sarek to call out warnings to her, as she was almost reckless in her desire to see ever piece of equipment perfectly placed.
"Get up on the stage, samehk," she ordered from her perch atop the ladder after she finished installing the final component.
Sarek raised a Spock-like eyebrow, but as both men had been doing for nearly the past hour, he complied. Before he could turn in place to face where the "audience" would be later in the evening, the south-facing door opened to admit McCoy and Kirk.
"My dress!" Nyota shrieked, eying the garment bag that was slung over the doctor's shoulder.
Four pairs of eyes snapped over to her and three voices rang out with, "Stay where you are!"
Jim Kirk just laughed.
"I mean it, dollface," McCoy told her. "You come down from there nice and slow."
"Yeah," Kirk agreed, still grinning widely, "the last thing we need is Spock killing all of us for letting you fall."
Tabansi moved to the bottom of the tall ladder.
"Adept though he may be in hand-to-hand combat," Sarek dryly informed the group, "my son would find it difficult to succeed in against a full Vulcan, especially as his concern for Nyota mostly likely hamper his ability to plan and execute a logical offensive. Rest assured, at least one of us should survive to explain to Dr. and Mrs. Uhura why the wedding must be postponed." At that he looked up at his son's intended bride. "However, ko-fu, it would be preferable for you to simply refrain from injuring yourself."
Nyota nearly fell off the ladder anyway, she laughed so hard. She hadn't realized that full Vulcans — even ones who had spent thirty years married to a human — were capable of Terran-style humor.
Kirk and McCoy exchanged distinctly uncomfortable glances while Tabansi grinned wickedly up at his niece and held out a hand to guide her descent. Only when she was safely on the floor did Bones walk over to wear she stood and solemnly open the bag and slip out the gown for her viewing pleasure.
"Oh," gasped Nyota Uhura, rendered incapable of intelligent speech for the second time that week. "Oh, Len."
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Before the brunch guests could begin trooping back into the house in the wake of the Uhura men and Spock, Tabansi persuaded a now-content — no ecstatic — Nyota to join her mother, sister and friends upstairs to do all the mysterious womanly things a bride was supposed to do in the time before her wedding.
In her race up the stairs, she didn't see the relieved glances the two older men exchanged as, excusing themselves from the departing Kirk and McCoy, they quickly pieced together the final components to her project and then commenced a quick test of the system to ensure everything was working well.
Her head full of her dress, she burst into her parents' suite, smiling unable to stop herself from dancing as she crossed the room.
"Mama!" she exclaimed. "You should see what they did to my dress. It's wonderful!
Sunset was upon them almost before he knew it.
After her ship's surgeon and captain had delivered the gown and they'd finally been able to banish the girl back upstairs where she belonged, Tabansi had slipped a disc into Nyota's equipment and he and the ambassador had tested the system niece and uncle had designed and built — him giving remote assistance during her frequent subspace calls — over the past couple of months. He was gratified to see that all was in working order.
When Sarek had asked him to make a few changes to the disc Nyota had planned to use later that evening, at first he had been unsure. But then the Vulcan had explained what he had in mind and showed him a sample of what needed to be added and Tabansi had been more than willing.
The pair had retired to the rooms he always utilized when visiting his sister's home — it would do for Nyota, or any of the guests to discover what they were working on. And there had been quite a bit of work to do. Tabansi hadn't brought all the devices he would have preferred to use to bring about the changes, so he'd had to work much more carefully than would have been necessary otherwise.
Luckily, he had had enough foresight to make a copy of both his niece's disc and of the entire system while they worked together. Although the effects were different in the comparatively small space of his suite, he and Sarek were eventually able to call their endeavors successful.
He knew that the Vulcan had also been pleased when he'd taken his leave less than three hours before sunset — Sarek had needed to return to his hotel to prepare for the ceremonies and then to escort the remainder of the Vulcan contingent back to the Uhura compound. Tabansi slipped on his own robes, reflecting not for the first time, that the traditional garb of his people was not unlike that of the people his was marrying into.
Then, it was time to go downstairs, out the doors and follow the winding garden paths to where his segunda estrella pequeña would pledge her troth to a man she loved fiercely.
Sarek smoothed the folds of his pale formal robes and took a final glance in the mirror. In five point seven minutes he would collect T'Pau and the elder Spock from their rooms in the hotel. Their attendants would meet them on the ground floor to depart for the Uhura compound. For now, he could afford a minute or two to think about his Amanda.
She would have loved being here, he thought as wistfully as a Vulcan can think. Which was more wistfully than a human might imagine. She was correct, he conceded, in her assessment of Nyota Uhura.
Nyota is exactly what our son needed in a bride. She will continue to teach him that peace and happiness are within his reach. Much as you did for me, ashayam.
He walked over to the old-fashioned swinging door and pulled it open.
Benjamin watched his laughing son tease Spock.
"Really," the young linguist told his future brother-in-law, "if it weren't for the Vulcan script going down the lapels, they wouldn't be all that different from what every Wakufunzi man will be wearing today. How on Earth did my mother manage to find Vulcan robes?"
Spock's lips rose in a half smile as he considered the pale green under-robe and darker green floor-length vest. Words of Surak, embroidered in the same pale green as the under robe, trailed down the front.
"I believe Mama consulted my father on what is considered to be proper Vulcan wedding attire and commissioned these from his descriptions," he replied.
Muta laughed. "Well, except for the script, it couldn't have been too hard for her to find someone to fashion them for her," he said. "You and I could be twins!"
Benjamin smiled at that. It was true. Muta's pale green caftan was very similar to Spock's robes. He glanced down at his own long tunic, flowing trousers and vest. Also in shades of green, his clothing didn't have the dramatic flair of what his son's and soon-to-be son-in-law's, but he was clearly meant to be a part of their party.
Muta clapped a hand on Spock's back. "Are you ready for this?" he wanted to know. "There's still time to back out. Ennie will probably leave your head intact, though I'm not sure I promise as much for the rest of you."
Benjamin was happy to note that the half-Vulcan didn't tense at the abrupt contact or the personal nature of the conversation. He was pleased to see his daughter's fiancé already accepted that he was one of their own.
"Of course I am, kaka," Spock said. "I have been ready for seven years, ten months and three days."
There was a lot of giggling and shushing and hugging and last minute spritzes of perfume and dabbing at make-up going on. Upenda's head was practically swirling. She made a note to herself to require her bridal party to get ready before her if she ever got married. Better yet, she would elope.
She looked over to where her baby sister stood encircled of three fussing friends and a weeping mother. Nyota managed to look serene throughout it all. Upenda wondered if her dada's calm demeanor was due to the brief private visit with that old Vulcan witch this afternoon, or if facing death on a daily basis had taught her to smile in the face of anything.
Anything, except not knowing the fate of her wedding dress, she amended with a fond smile.
McCoy grumbled quietly to himself as he followed the procession. He knew he was about to observe something that most humans would never have the privilege to see, but he couldn't really see the point of it. Okay, he could see the point of it. He just didn't see why the overgrown elf wanted him there.
Then again, it was probably Nyota who had insisted on allowing her friends and family to attend. Not even the Enterprise's famously stubborn first officer seemed to be able to move when she made up her mind.
He grinned to himself. Spock was in for it now.
"Exciting, huh?" Jim quipped, catching his smile. "We'll be some of the first humans to see one of the Vulcans' most mysterious rites."
"Yeah," Bones told him, wriggling his eyebrows. "I can hardly wait."
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Hiraku Sulu shuddered just a bit as Dr. Uhura's green paradise gave way to the red and bone-colored desert landscape. His colleague's father had created a paradise in a wasteland. Seeing it, wandering its paths, underscored why she was so entranced with the work he did in the ship's botanical gardens, but leaving the gardens behind made clear just how fragile it all was. He couldn't help but compare the gardens to the Enterprise crew's own existence in space. Like Dr. Uhura's oasis, they were constantly surrounded by a beautiful nothingness, living their lives just steps away from an environment in which they could not thrive.
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They had told her that she need not attend this ceremony, but she wouldn't have missed it for the world. Yes, it was a longer walk from the big house than the later Terran ceremony would be, but she was strong in spite of her years, and accustomed to walking. She would see this "bonding" today.
Ethel Uhura had never married, herself, but she had seen young men and women join the clan in her ninety-eight years. While no one ever asked for her tacit approval, everyone watched closely when she met the prospective bride or groom for the first time. The ones she hadn't liked had not lasted long in her family. The Uhuras were warriors and it took a strong person to live at an Uhura's side. This half-Vulcan boy, this Spock, was a strong one. His mother had been a noted professor and linguists, which undoubtedly impressed the Wakufunzis, but she admired his strength. He had shown her proper respect after she had chastised him, but had not groveled at her feet. Little Nyota would do well with such a husband.
Spock stepped up onto the stone platform and stood before the gong hung over glowing coals. He turned to look over his shoulder at the small group of people waiting around the enclosure. It was not the ancestral lands of his family, but M'Umbha and Benjamin had worked hard to recreate that place. And as would have been his right had he stood on Vulcan soil, those closest to him were there.
That several e of Nyota's family were also in attendance was a testament to the changes that all Vulcans would have to accept is his father's race were to survive.
He turned, picked up the small mallet and hit the gong.
Turning again, he listened for the sound of his bride's procession. When the faintest sound of the traditional rattles touched his ears, he rang the gong again.
It wasn't long before the approaching footsteps caught the attention of the humans present, and all swung around to watch as T'Pau, preceded by two masked figures shaking wind chime-like instruments, was carried in on litter borne by four muscular Vulcans.
Behind her, Nyota entered, beautiful in the gown he had pricked his fingers scores of times while creating. He ignored the two Vulcans walking behind her. Their presence was not important. There was no chance that his Nyota would declare kal-if-fee. What they held would not be required.
All of his focus was on the breathtaking woman climbing up two steps to stand behind T'Pau.
Spock did not burn for his bride, but he felt his heart rate increase six point eight percent, nonetheless. Suddenly, breathing became difficult.
He stepped down from the platform and moved over to a second platform where the bearers had set T'Pau's litter before stepping aside to join the other four Vulcan attendants. She held up her left hand in the traditional salute and he mirrored it with his right hand.
"Spock," T'Pau intoned formally.
He knelt before her and her right hand drifted up to ghost over his face to his contact points.
"Of your own will S'chn T'gai Spock, son of Sarek, son of Skon," she began without initiating a meld, "you have chosen to join your mind to that of the woman Nyota Wangari Uhura. She is well suited to you, as you are to her. This pairing is logical and beneficial." T'Pau lifted her hand from his face and pointed. "Kal-if-farr!"
Spock rose and returned to the platform where and picked up the mallet once more. Only this time, he found Nyota at his side and she did not stay his hand. He struck the gong a third time.
Together, but without touching, the two knelt on the platform, the glowing coals between them. Spock barely breathed as they waited for T'Pau to approach. In minutes, nothing would separate him from the woman kneeling across from him.
A/N: Almost there folks. Sorry there was so little funny at the end, there, but Spock and Uhura are bonding for goodness sake! No room for laughs. Also, in case anyone wants to protest Sarek resorting to teasing in order to keep Uhura on the ladder earlier, remember, just because a full Vulcan might consider humor illogical doesn't they don't understand and aren't able to utilize it. (Okay, many of them probably wouldn't be able to utilize it, but Sarek is a diplomat who has spent a lot of time among humans. And he was married to one. Trust, he can use humor to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation.)
Oh yeah, pictures of Nyota in her dress are available with this story as it is posted at lj's Spock_Uhura community.
Disclaimer: I don't anything of value, including anything related to Star Trek.