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The days were beginning to become noticeably longer. It was early "summer." In reality there were only two seasons on this part of Carraya IV: hot, and hotter than Dante's Inferno. Ba'el decided that she would start bathing at night again after today.
When she returned, she could see Anne and Jadel through the kitchen window. The elderly woman was thrilled to have an assistant, and it was an open secret that Jadel intended for Anne to replace her. Ba'el did not blame her. She wanted to spend more time with her grandbabies. Ever since her eldest grandson, Toq, had left with Worf, Jadel had come to treasure her remaining grandchildren all the more.
Ah, Toq... It was bad enough that Worf took her heart, but did he have to take Toq, too? Before Anne came, he had been the closest thing she had to a friend. Sadly, she only realized it after it was too late. She had been cruel to him at times. He was always annoying her. But only recently did she understand that it was because he, too, merely wanted a friend. He was gone now, however, and he was not coming back.
Putting on a brave face, she walked into the kitchen. "Good morning," she greeted the two women, who in turn smiled back.
"Very good, Anne," Jadel said. Her tone was firm, but Ba'el knew that coming from her, it was high praise. "I think you're ready to handle the rest for today. I'll come back to help you serve the evening meal."
Anne's mouth fell open. "But…" She had hardly uttered the word before Jadel was gone. "Ya know!" She vigorously stirred the pot, angrily mumbling to herself.
"Good news," said Ba'el.
The human girl looked up from the soup, and her pout turned quizzical.
"My father has obtained some more books for us," she beamed.
Anne's face lit up. "Oh? Which ones?" she asked excitedly.
"They're all books from Earth actually," said Ba'el. "After hearing you talk so much about them, I wanted to read them for myself. I hope you don't mind if you've read them already."
"Not at all!" she exclaimed. "I'm happy for anything else besides those five books I've read five times already."
"Well," Ba'el said giddily, "I asked for the Horatio Hornblower series, all of Jane Austen's books, the complete works of Shakespeare, a small collection of poems, and Grimm's and Anderson's fairy tales for the children."
"That should last us a while! Oh, Ba'el, thank you!" she threw her arms around her friend.
"They're just as much for my benefit, really," she replied modestly. "They should come with the supply shipment tomorrow."
"Then I'll cook all day without complaining!" She laughed with pleasure and went back to the stove. "Just wait until you read about Hornblower! I've actually only read the first four books. He's so brave and clever! I'm in love with him, Ba'el," she stated as Dhaval entered.
"Who?" he asked in surprise.
"Captain Hornblower," she said dreamily, stirring the pot and looking off into the distance. She and Ba'el burst into giggles.
The Romulan narrowed his eyes inquisitively, "Who is that?"
"He's the most brilliant and indomitable man who ever sailed the seas!" Anne replied with visible admiration. Dhaval blinked.
Ba'el explained. "He's a character from a series of stories."
"I might have known," he said, slightly irked. "That is absurd," he told Anne.
"That's your opinion," she countered.
"What are you cooking to day?" Ba'el asked before they could get into a debate.
"I forgot what it's called," Anne replied, "but it's pretty good, I think."
Dhaval stepped forward. "Let me taste it," he insisted. She handed him a spoon. He scooped some of the soup onto the utensil and brought it to his mouth.
"Well?" the girl asked in an antsy tone.
He considered for a moment. "It's quite good," he said, "You will soon outdo Jadel, but don't tell her I—" he coughed suddenly. Staggering backwards, he erupted into a fit of coughs as he struggled to breathe.
"Are you alright?" both Anne and Ba'el kept asking. Grasping his throat, Dhaval continued to hack, and then collapsed face down onto the floor.
"Dhaval!" the girls exclaimed. The guard did not move. Anne turned him over, and he laughed, no longer able to keep up the act.
"You sneaky…snake in the grass!" Anne ground out as she kicked him in the stomach.
"That was low, Dhaval," Ba'el agreed.
The blow hardly did any damage, and the girls' string of insults only made him laugh harder. "Perhaps you won't humiliate me like that again," he retorted between snickers.
The stars shone brightly that night, but as there was no moon, it was darker than usual. Dhaval was beginning his evening patrol when he heard Anne scream. It's about time, he thought, smirking to himself. She and Ba'el had stayed up half the night talking about Captain Hornblower and various male characters in other stories. Once those new books arrived, he would never hear the end of it.
He personally would have preferred for them to have gotten a book with more sea shanties. He had been practicing that now infamous shanty all day, and had improved considerably at it. Reading aloud was simply something he had never gotten much chance to do. He would get better with more practice, he decided. But first, revenge. The incident in the kitchen had been on the spur of the moment. He and Ba'el were even now. It was time for Anne to get the rest of her comeuppance by way of his original plan.
He made his way toward the direction of the building. She came out of her door and ran toward him. "Anne! What's wrong?" he feigned. "Are you alright?" He was grateful for the darkness, for that way she would not be able to see the evil smile on his face.
"Dhaval!" she said, catching her breath, "There's a huge spider in my bed! Please come and get it out!" She grabbed fitfully at his arm and pulled him.
"We're in the middle of a jungle, Anne," he resisted. "What do you expect? I'm a guard, not an exterminator."
Just then, Tokath and his wife and daughter came out to investigate the noise. "What's going on, Sub-lieutenant?" his commander asked. Several others also emerged from their slumber. Soon a crowd had gathered to find out what had happened.
"There's nothing wrong, Commander," Dhaval answered, pretending to be annoyed. "Miss Wentworth is apparently afraid of spiders. I'll take care of it, sir."
"In the future, Miss Wentworth," Tokath said indignantly, "I would appreciate it if you would kindly refrain from waking everyone merely because you find tiny creatures in your bedroom!" With that, he and the others went back to bed. Ba'el stayed behind.
Anne pulled on Dhaval's arm again. "Alright! I'll dispose of it. Show me where it is."
She led her two friends into her room. "It's under the covers," she whispered, pointing toward the bed. He pulled the blanket off, and it there it was, right where he had left it.
Ba'el gasped. She was not afraid, but rather surprised. It was as large as a plate. "Spiders that big don't usually come this close to the compound, much less crawl into beds!"
"It is harmless," said Dhaval to Anne casually. "You didn't need to scream."
"I don't care!" Anne whimpered, "It's disgusting! Get rid of it!"
He bent down to pick it up. It tried to scuttle away, but he quickly snatched it by one of its legs. It hissed loudly as he threw it out the window. "There," he said, "it's gone. Now, can I get back to my real job?"
"But what if it comes back?" she said, clutching her fists to her chest.
"It's not going to come back," Ba'el reassured her. "Like I said, they rarely ever crawl over the walls. It's probably back in the jungle by now. Besides, Dhaval is on guard tonight. If it comes back, just call him," she said with a smirk in his direction.
"But don't scream again," he added.
"Goodnight, Anne," said Ba'el. She and Dhaval left Anne's room. Ba'el narrowed her eyes as she closed the door. "Why did you do that?" she shook her head.
"What do you mean?" he deluded.
"You know exactly what I mean. Haven't you already had your revenge?" she put her hands on her hips. "That was excessively cruel."
"You're right, Ba'el," he surrendered, "We are even now. I won't do it again." He stopped walking and faced her. "You're not going to tell her, are you?"
"Only if you keep your word not to do it again," she said. Then she started to chuckle. "It was pretty funny, though."
"Yes," he grinned. "That's why I did it. Goodnight, Ba'el."
"Goodnight, Dhaval," she said as she walked away.
He watched her go back into her home and then continued his march around the perimeter. He was not certain if she was telling the truth. Those two were practically inseparable. They told each other everything. He glanced into Anne's window and saw that she was examining every crevice of her room. She was assuredly going to be angry with him. He smiled again. The thought of her indigo eyes flashing with fury at him was wholly amusing. Nevertheless, he realized that Ba'el was probably right. It was a heartless thing to do to a human girl. He was going to have to think of a way to make up for his prank soon.
The solution did not elude him for long. It came when the Centurion of the guard finally got around to going back to the wreckage of the ship in order to carry out a salvage operation. After they obtained everything on Tokath's list, they were free to bring back whatever else they wanted for their own personal use. The Centurion and the other guards found clothing and various objects for their wives and young children. The Klingons did the same for their families.
There was nothing that Dhaval really desired or needed. But he rummaged around for curiosity's sake anyway. Ba'el had asked him to look for a pretty necklace for her to wear at dinner. When he questioned Anne, she mumbled something about cooking utensils being nice. He wanted to press her to tell him what she really wanted, but he knew it was a touchy subject. She still grew quiet anytime she was reminded of what had happened, and he suspected that she cried on her pillow at night. Unfortunately, the galley had been completed destroyed, so he would have to find something else for Anne.
It was easy to fulfill Ba'el's request. He selected an exquisite, dangling piece with red stones. He was not overly familiar with what women liked in the way of fashion, but it seemed to him like it would complement what his commander's daughter usually wore. There was a matching set of earrings and hair barrette, so he brought those, too. In the closet was a lovely rusty red dress that looked to be about Ba'el's size.
The next suite held somewhat of a surprise for him, though it was not altogether unexpected. On the floor next to the table was a picture viewer that had fallen down. He picked it up and saw that it was of Anne and her family. He sighed, wondering if he should bring it back or not. Then he decided that it was not the kind of thing that should be kept from her. Looking through the first of the two bedrooms, he found a hardbound book of poetry on the closet shelf. Inside was inscribed: To Anne with love from Mom, Dad, and Talia. Happy birthday!
He opened the book to a random page and read a stanza from one of the poems:
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shallot.
Ah, the poem she was telling Ba'el about, he remembered. He hoped that neither of them was aware that he listened to a good many of their conversations. Perhaps it was not right, but he was curious. He added the book to his bag, and went to the other room, which was obviously Anne and her sister's. That room had suffered considerably more damage, so there was nothing of value to be had. It was probably a good thing that she was not there to see its current state.
He moved on down the corridor to the next undamaged quarters. Inside, he found a jewel-blue dress with princess seams. Dhaval had no idea what Anne's tastes were, but he imagined that she would look rather pretty in it. He then left to go meet up with the others.
(As always, I don't own any of the book titles mentioned in this chapter.)