Katriel sat by her desk in silence, her chair turned so that she faced the wall, where a tapestry with an Andorian parable hung quietly. She contemplated it in silence, expression a little brooding, when her door chime went off.
"Hi, come in." She swung her chair back around to see Ensign Caissa entering, a couple PADDs in hand.
"Hello, sorry, Counselor, the Captain left a while ago, so I thought -"
"You're fine, Ensign," Katriel reassured. "I'm sorry I sprung those cancellations on you." As it turned out, the Betazoid had had a couple of morning appointments that she had decided were less important than capitalizing on Captain Elan's willingness to talk. So when the pair of them had swung into the counseling wing, Katriel had sent a quick telepathic note to Caissa to cancel her upcomings.
Just about everyone who worked in scheduling for Counselor Sedai had had that happen to them once or twice before, so the Ensign took it all in stride and hopefully Captain Elan was none the wiser.
"It's cool!" Caissa responded, cheerfully enough. "Hope it worked out. I have the Captain's records here for you, if you still want to take a look?" She stepped forward and offered the devices to Katriel.
This, too, was a custom. If Katriel brought any unscheduleds into her office, she usually wanted to see their records promptly thereafter.
"Definitely, thank you, Ensign. I really appreciate it." Katriel's tone was infused with gratitude as she relieved the Ensign of the items and powered one up.
"You want me to get you a new tea, too?" Caissa leaned forward on her tip toes to peer into the mug. It was still pretty full, but all the heat was gone.
"Oh, ah." She looked over at the mug, then shook her head. "No, I'll get one myself in a while, when I'm done here. Thank you, though."
Caissa nodded as she turned and slipped back out the doors, leaving Katriel to peruse the record materials in silence. It wasn't until about another half hour's worth of reading that Katriel read something that made her pause for a long time. She read it, and then read it again.
And then after a few minutes of consideration, she took an excerpt from the record and sent it to Captain Kero Elan, with a brief note.
"Found this embedded in your records, thought it was worth passing along.
- Katriel"
Kero was sat at the small table in her room. She stared loosely towards the closed door while her mind was replaying the conversation she had with the counsellor.
If Katriel hadn't gently pushed for that talk, Kero would have found a reason not to talk to her later. Yet deep down she wanted to unload the burden, and the counsellor was very apt at capitalising on that wish.
When the Commander reminded her about the replicators near her office in the attempt to avoid delay, Kero's emotions were already invested into the conversation. They were brought on the surface for everyone to see and at that stage she really only wanted the counsellor to see them.
"You have a message from Commander Katriel Sedai." Announced the computer suddenly.
Kero's eyes narrowed slightly as she turned her gaze to her terminal. She stood up, tapped the console and then sat down in front of its screen.
"Found this embedded in your records, thought it was worth passing along.
- Katriel"
Kero was somewhat intrigued. She smiled a little, too, she had become accustomed to Katriel's way of communicating, privy of anything that would make you feel she's judging you.
The Captain began to read the records. It was a log and after reading the first few lines, she began to wonder how that log existed or when it appeared in her records.
I have been wanting to tell her this for a long time.
I was supposed to get in, get intel any way I could and then disappear. I did so for a while, until I came across Kero. I remember seeing her, radiant, in Risa. She looked gorgeous in her bikini.
I thought, "Oh, I am so going to enjoy getting info from that one..."
Kero felt like she was being punched in the stomach when she read that line. She wasn't sure if she wanted to read the rest, but if Katriel sent it there must have been a reason? Maybe she was trying to strip that romanticised version of Shiala she had in her mind, so she could move on.
Truth to be told it was Kero who charmed me. But I knew I couldn't just quit and say, "Hey I am not going to spy for you anymore, have a nice day." So I tried to cut all contact, made them think I was caught or something. I couldn't bear to betray her confidence. I did manage to get her to love me... but it was no trick. I was just as smitten.
Kero brought a hand in front of her mouth and looked away for a brief moment towards nowhere in particular, before carrying on with the read.
I don't know if she could ever forgive me for this. But I love her and if it ever came to it I'd rather die than betray her.
The message had ended but Kero couldn't have read any more anyway. Her vision was blurred by her tears. She felt devastated and relieved at the same time. She knew that, at least, she hadn't lost her love after all.
Kero spent a few minutes in silence reliving those happy moments she had shared with Shiala. She had buried all that somewhere in her mind. For the first time in a while those memories brought her joy and not painful feelings of betrayal.
Thank you, Katriel.