A/N: Hi! Welcome to the sequel to The Prototype Vulcan. This picks up a few months after the end of the Prototype. I cannot promise a regular posting schedule because I'm going with the flow rather than following a strict plot. If some plot sneaks in later, we shall adapt. Hope you enjoy this first chapter! Let me know what you think!
"How was your lecture?"
"Devastatingly illogical," S'alea replied, sitting down on the sofa and slumping backwards into the cushions with no regard for posture.
Amanda regarded her with a look halfway between amusement and concern. "That bad?" she asked.
"If I were not receiving regular therapy regarding my unusual circumstances I would think I had not time-traveled at all," S'alea said dryly.
Amanda handed her great-aunt-in-law a cup of tea. "Well, that's your last one for a while. Have you given any thoughts to the offers from the VSA?"
"I have," S'alea said, and took a deep drink of the tea. She inhaled the fragrant steam with a sigh. "I must consult with Spock, however."
"Ah," Amanda said knowingly. "It's that kind of decision."
S'alea eyed her with suspicion. "Your tone suggests you do, in fact, have some sort of telepathic ability."
Amanda laughed. "Just a mother's intuition."
"Hm. Once I have spoken to Spock I would welcome your insights."
"Gladly."
S'alea went to her quarters and started a video recording. "Greetings, Spock," she said, inclining her head towards the camera.
-/\-
"Mr. Spock, you've got a video message from S'alea." Uhura handed Spock the data tape.
"Thank you, Lt." He put it with his other data tapes.
"She's early," Kirk said, surprised. "Hasn't been a month yet."
"Maybe she's bored," McCoy suggested.
Spock barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. After his shift ended, he took his stack of paperwork to his quarters. He played the video message from his great-aunt first.
"Greetings, Spock," she said, giving a slight bow of the head. "It has only been two weeks since our last communique, but the initial burst of lectures has reached its end. This is why. I have received an offer to rejoin the VSA as a current alumni. For two reasons, I assume. First, to catch up on everything I have missed. Second, to provide the VSA with everything our history is missing, as far as I am able. I foresee myself being pumped dry as the desert itself."
Spock snorted. Vulcans were nothing if not thorough in their quest for knowledge.
S'alea shifted in her chair. "I, hesitate to accept the offer," she said.
Spock's other eyebrow went up.
"In these last three months, I have seen this new Vulcan, and I do not fit here. I am, in the words of the esteemed what's-his-name, not Vulcan enough. There is a conceited stagnancy, and to think of being trapped in it, in the middle of dry academia, revisiting the age of turmoil until I die-" She sighed. "If it were necessary to the survival of our people, I would do it. But in truth, what I have to say about Surak, about change, about the history of their own ancestors, most people on this planet do not wish to hear, and frankly neither do they need to hear it. Vulcan is prospering as is."
Spock's eyebrows tilted down in sympathy.
S'alea leaned back in her chair with another sigh. "Just thinking of the fits I would inspire if I were to do something as "un-Vulcan" as to smile at the VSA drives me to wish for one of Dr. McCoy's mint juleps. Though Amanda assures me that with Vulcan biology I would achieve a better effect upon the nervous system with something called a strawberry daquiri."
Spock did roll his eyes this time.
S'alea looked directly into the camera pickup. "I do not wish to remain on Vulcan," she said plainly. "I have traveled in time and space and I have only ever seen one planet. How can I find my truth if I have not even seen enough of the Other?" She leaned forward. "I ask your advice, Spock. When faced with this decision, you rejected the VSA and went to Star Fleet Academy."
Spock's eyebrows hit the roof. She couldn't possibly...
"It is true, I do not wish to enter Star Fleet itself, but in terms of science, technology, and galactic history, it is on par with the VSA. The credits transfer over, and I can audit classes from both ends. I wish to see the galaxy and its peoples and I cannot do that from the lecture hall in Shi'Kahr. My therapist suggests I take more time to adjust to Vulcan before I go out into the galaxy at large. I have the suspicion that they believe I will be an embarrassment to the planet if I leave now."
Spock knew the feeling.
"Advise me, please, nephew. Would I be able to withstand the chaos of Earth and Star Fleet Academy?"
The video ended on S'alea's earnest, open expression.
Spock decided he, too, would take a strawberry daquiri if one were suddenly presented to him. Instead, he retreated to Dr. McCoy's office, where Jim and Bones were sharing a nightcap.
"Evenin', Mr. Spock," McCoy said genially. "Pull up a chair."
"Captain. Dr. McCoy." Spock accepted the seat, and even accepted the offer of brandy.
The two humans exchanged a glance. "Somethin' on your mind, Spock?" Kirk asked.
"Yes," Spock said slowly. "S'alea has asked me for advice."
"Regarding?" McCoy prompted.
"She wishes to enter Star Fleet Academy instead of retaking a position at the Vulcan Science Academy," Spock said.
McCoy almost choked on his brandy.
Jim gave a slow smile. "So rebellion does run in your family, after all."
"The line of Surak is nothing if not nonconformist," Spock agreed, taking a sip of his drink. It burned pleasantly on his esophageal tract.
"What'd you tell her?" McCoy asked, recovering himself.
"I have not yet replied. I wish to ask your advice."
"She's young," McCoy said generously. "She needs to live a little. Send her to the Academy, let her meet the galaxy, go to a few gatherings, learn to manage other species' professors instead of the VSA's. No offense, Spock, but the lecturer quality at the VSA is not the most scintillating."
Kirk frowned at his empty glass suspiciously. "How much brandy did you have that you're using words like 'scintillating'?"
"Not enough to talk about the cultural ramifications and implications of certain Vulcans being run off their own home planet," McCoy replied. "Spock, seriously, we've met relaxed and vaguely-emotive Vulcans, where are they all?"
"Amongst the people S'alea is being exposed to, they are few and far between," Spock replied. "She would indeed have better chances going to Star Fleet Academy."
Kirk hid a smile. "You started a trend."
"I did not," Spock sniffed, like a liar.
Kirk took a slow sip and sighed. "Vulcans live a long time, Spock. Why shouldn't she go to Earth?"
Spock inclined his head. "Why, indeed?" He drained his glass and set it down. "Thank you, gentlemen, for your insights. Doctor, captain. Good night."
"Night, Spock," they chorused, and McCoy added, "Tell S'alea to look up the McCoys when she gets to Earth, my momma'll keep an eye on her."
Spock tilted an eyebrow in amusement. "You wish to scare her away from Earth?"
"Aw get out o' here," McCoy scowled, and the door closed on Kirk's cackle of laughter.
-/\-
Sarek blinked. "You, wish to go to Earth. To study."
S'alea inclined her head, calm and assured. "Yes, I do."
Sarek looked at Amanda. His wife gazed back at him, her face displaying none of the roiling amusement in her mind. Sarek looked back at S'alea, and saw none of the defiance of his son. He sighed, and if he had been human, he would've pinched his nose. "You will inform T'Pau," he said.
"Of course," S'alea said serenely. "She already wished me fair travels. And she wants me to write her on the comparative emotional control of other species while I am there. Shall I forward you my observations?"
"I would love to read them," Amanda said, smiling.
"Excellent." S'alea stood. "If you'll excuse me." She left the room to go look for travel arrangements.
Sarek looked at Amanda.
She smiled at him lovingly. "Do we need to get a puppy? Are you having empty-nest syndrome?"
He scowled at her. "No." Although he wouldn't mind taking the time to train a sehlat, maybe once S'alea returned, or Spock...
Amanda grinned at him. "I hear T'Vesh's sehlat just had a litter."
"Mind-reader," he accused fondly.