Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.

"Shore leave!" shouted Kirk as he sat down at the table.

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident with Lieutenant Uhura, - who was healing nicely - and she and Spock had slowly started becoming friends again. She now went to him for help when she required help, and he sought her out for chess matches every few days.

The amount of progress compared to that of Lieutenant Uhura's desire to learn Rendorian, however, was astronomical. For the life of her, Nyota was having a great deal of trouble learning simple phrases. Ellara supposed that it was just the fact that she was not a teacher. Although, the prospect of shore leave could be helpful…

"Where are you all going, then?" she asked between bites of French toast. Perhaps, if Uhura had no plans, she could join Ellara on a trip to Rendoria. Then she might have the possibility of learning from someone who was qualified.

"I am going to be visiting Spock Prime on New Vulcan." spoke up Spock.

There were murmurs of appreciation around the table, and Sulu contributed his ten cents with a smile. "I'm going home to my husband and son."

Ellara tilted her head, not having known that Sulu was a father. "How old is your boy?" she asked, curious.

Sulu gained a fond look, happy to remember his family. "He'll be three very soon. I swear, every time I see him, he's completely different."

The table chuckled, amused. "What about you, Ellara?" asked Uhura, smiling at Kirk, who had his arm around her.

Ellara swallowed quickly before answering. "I had actually been meaning to speak to you about that. I'm going to go visit my father on Rendoria, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me? I could introduce you to someone who could help you learn Rendorian a lot better." she suggest, lifting the corner of her mouth in a half-hearted smile.

Uhura though about it for a moment, had a silent discussion with the Captain, then nodded, grinning. "I'd love to."

Ellara's face erupted in a smile. Good. She wouldn't be alone.

"Nyota, come on!" cried Ellara for the fifth time.

Uhura had been in her room choosing what to wear for the past half hour, and Ellara did not want to be too late to see her father. "Coming." she called back, finally emerging from the bathroom wearing some pants and a nice top. "How do I look?" she asked, nervous.

Ellara gave her two thumbs up before beginning to haul her bag out. The two would be heading to the transporter room to be beamed down to the surface of Rendoria, whereupon Nalli would meet them and walk them home. He had a hovercar, however Ellara wanted to point out the scenery and buildings as they walked. Not to mention that it was better for their legs, and it wasn't a long walk. In most cases, they might have been beamed directly to their destination, but Rendorians, ever the private society, only wanted people to beam down to designated locations. Oh well.

"And that's where Ellara beat up one of the neighbourhood kids!" laughed out Nalli, pointing to a tree in the park across the street from his house.

Ellara blushed, wondering how it had gotten to this point. When they had landed, Uhura and Nalli had begun to talk about Ellara's childhood, which launched into Nalli showing everywhere that Ellara had gotten into a fight. It was mortifying. "There was a reason for that time." she interjected, grumbling.

Nalli simply quirked an eyebrow. "He'd said that Lywa's stripes were stupid, because they cut across her iris'." she explained, remembering that day.

Ellara, Lywa, Mikin and Bayne had been sitting on the grass, discussing each other's marks. Ellara had only just gotten hers, so she was still in complete and utter awe. They had just finished laughing about the thick stripe that ran horizontally across Mikin's forehead, making it look like she had a headband. Bayne, upset that Ellara had made Mikin laugh and not him(he was sensitive like that), had immediately said that the lines on Lywa's eyes were stupid. Lywa was slightly insulted but took it stride. However, Ellara quickly made up her mind and slapped him across the face. Already angered, this prompted Bayne to try and hit Ellara. She was too quick though, and by the end of their tussle, he had a split lip and a black eye. Mikin brought him home to take care of him, but only after thanking Ellara. She couldn't have done it herself, but she knew that Bayne was out of line for that comment. Ellara had definitely gone too far, but hey, they were a violent culture. They were used to it.

Ellara was brought out of her thoughts by almost tripping over the stairs. This, of course, prompted another round of laughter from Nalli and Uhura. Ellara rolled her eyes before beginning to bring their things inside. This was going to be a long two weeks.

That evening, as they sat in the living room after supper, Ellara pulled up a map of the town on her father's computer. He had updated it to be holographic since she'd started Starfleet, so it was much faster. Uhura and her peered at the screen, with Ellara showing all of the locations of people she knew who were fluent in both English and Rendorian, and then cross referenced that with all those that were teachers. There was a surprising amount, seeing as there were many educators in her town. It was like a hub. Once she had shortened the list, she went through again two more times, finding the ones that she knew liked her and the ones that would be willing to help.

By the end, Uhura had a list of five people that she and Ellara would visit the next day.

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed Uhura, throwing her arms around Ellara's neck.

Ellara stiffened up, not used to hugs from people who weren't family. However, she slowly brought her arms around to pat Uhura's back. "No problem." she replied, breathing a small sigh of relief once Uhura let go.

There was a brief moment of silence before Ellara came up with an idea. "Come with me." she said, jogging up the stairs. Nyota followed, albeit slightly confused.

Once she reached her room, Ellara reached into her bedside drawer and pulled out two candles. Grabbing the lighter from her dresser, she walked back downstairs. Finding two plates, she placed them on the table one beside the other and grabbed two pillows to kneel. She placed them on the ground in front of the candle and then got into place. Uhura caught on and quickly copied the Rendorian's movements. "I figured that since you'll be learning language from someone else, you could learn some culture from me. Every night before bed, Rendorians pray to our gods."

Uhura's eyebrows raised in surprise, not having thought that someone so logical and scientific as Ellara would be religious. "I know what you're thinking, blah blah blah, there's no such thing as god, except this isn't really our god."

At Uhura's look of confusion, Ellara continued. "It's been scientifically proven, you see. What happens is that our consciousness joins a different plane of existence and begins guiding our ancestors throughout their lives. Our High Priests and Priestesses are the only people capable of speaking with them. They then relay those messages to us. However, it's not always our relatives who speak to us, and it's just much easier to say it's our gods. So, at night, we pray to them, asking for guidance and safety. They can't really keep us safe, but if they see that someone is planning something malicious towards us, they can interfere through the Priests. And if we seek guidance, they can occasionally push our minds towards opportunities, or at least speak to us through the Priests, giving us help. And so, every night, we pray." At the end of her explanation, Ellara took a deep breath. That was a lot of information.

Uhura clearly agreed that it was a lot, as she took a few moments to think. "Why the candles?" she finally asked, looking at the stick of wax in front of her.

Ellara smiled, glad she'd asked about the one thing she'd forgotten. "It's laced with special herbs, and when it's made, the maker chants some specific prayers so that when it's lit, it draws the attention of our ancestors or anyone willing to help."

Uhura finally nodded, and Ellara passed her a paper with the prayer words on it. "You can join in if you'd like, just make sure to say that" - she gestured to the page - "before praying."

Ellara turned back to her candle and began her prayers, smiling a little when she heard Uhura - albeit very roughly - join in.

At around midnight, Ellara awoke for the fifth time, shifting the pillow on the couch. Her father's house was small, so Ellara had given up her room so that Uhura would have a place to sleep. Which left Ellara with the couch. It wasn't uncomfortable, per se, it was just… well, uncomfortable. Her father had replaced most of the furniture when she had moved out, and after that, he had never really sat still. He always had a project going on. Candle-making, building homes, thrifting furniture and selling it for a discounted price after fixing it up. It kept him busy, he said. He wouldn't get lonely that way.

Ellara had only lowered her head and nodded when he had told her, knowing that he was the only person allowed to grieve her mother forever. He was her soulmate. She was only her daughter. Daughter's moved out. Soulmate's stayed for life. It was the way. Ellara had to get over it. She just… wasn't completely ready yet. But it was alright, she knew that now. Her family might not be proud of the path she'd taken, but it was hers, and she wouldn't let the deceased control the entirety of her life. She just needed a bit more time to get out of it. Needed something to distract her long enough to stop some of the pain. It would come; she trusted the gods. After all, that was what she had prayed for. That, and so that Uhura would be happy with Kirk, and for Spock to stop hurting.

She still saw it sometimes in his eyes. He would see Nyota giggling with Jim, and Spock would look as though he had been stabbed in the gut. She hated seeing it and not being able to do anything other then recommend solutions to help that weren't working. It was up to the gods to help him; that was their duty. They played with mortal souls. Such was life.

With another punch to her pillow then, Ellara slowly drifted back off into a restless sleep.

Chapter fourteen over and done with! Definitely a filler, I apologize. However, I knew that if I continued on with the idea I was going for, it would be like 4,000 words long and it wouldn't be up till next week. Speaking of which, sorry for not updating on the right day. I was on vacation and planned to write, except I didn't. I didn't even do my homework until I was on the car ride back home... Anyway, so, a little insight into her religion and stuff which I am sure I have explained before, and some rambling thoughts from Ellara at the end. Next chapter is going to have the second to last stage of Ellara getting over her family. I swear I wanna punch myself every time I bring it up, but it's important to her, and she needs it to just finally be at peace. More to be revealed why later. Also I'm like so sorry about just digging up the drama again. I feel like a shitty author but I neeeeeeeed it for the development. I swear it wasn't supposed to go on this long but I got distracted. Also I know what I'm doing for the next few chapters so yes. But don't worry, family drama is coming to a close.

booklover1798: Thank you! I sure hope it was interesting...

.129: First off, sorry if it just says like .129 idk why it does that. Second, I'm not sure. I'm hoping for upwards of 30 chapters, but we'll see. I'm about halfway through my notes, so adding that with things that I'm going to want to put in... yeah, upwards of 30 chapters. My star-shining goal of "god I hope I can do that much" is 50. I don't think I'll make a sequel though... not for this one.

AwesomeFangirlOtaku01: THANK YOU! I really appreciate you saying that, I was worried. And I know that yeah he's half human, I just want to preserve the fact that he was raised Vulcan so it would make more sense to act almost completely Vulcan... that's something I really dislike about other fanfics. Some stories just make it so that he's Vulcan and then as soon as they start dating he's acting completely human which, based on the newer movies, is pretty incorrect seeing as his Vulcan-ness was something that frustrated Uhura in Into Darkness. Um... sorry for rambling woops.

- fangirl0012345

Updated October 14th, 2016.