Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.
It had been a week since the crew had been on shore leave. There was one more week left, and Ellara was slowly losing her mind. Her father had been having her help him make candles, and her hands were red and raw. She loved him, and she was glad that he could work a little less hard, but his hands were practically all callous. Ellara's were softer, more delicate. It didn't help that whenever Uhura was in her presence, she had to speak in Rendorian. She loved her language, but having to switch from Rendorian to standard every five seconds to explain a word was getting slightly irritating.
Thankfully, her reprieve came in the form of a message from her Captain one cloudy afternoon. Her father had had to go out to get more wax, and so Ellara was lounging on the couch, catching up on some paperwork that had just been sent in. Suddenly, her PADD 'ding'ed, and she quickly opened the message. "Hey Counsellor. Bones is driving me insane. Does your dad have any room in his house for five more? Jim."
Ellara chuckled, thinking of the unfinished basement. She would have to speak with her- Wait, no, she wouldn't. It had just occurred to her that the old lady who owned the bed and breakfast down the street charged very low rates, and according to her father, business was very slow. Perfect. She had a substantial amount of credits in her bank account, so it would be a breeze. She quickly opened up a new message on her PADD to send to Jim. "There's no room in the house, but there's a cute bed and breakfast down the street I can reserve. Just tell me when you'll be arriving and how long you'll be staying. Two night minimum."
Smiling, Ellara hit send and hopped up with vigour as her father returned.
"Nalli." she called out, hearing the door close softly.
"Yes my little fire?"
Ellara chuckled. Little fire was a term of endearment in Rendorian, which sounded(phonetically) like "asbwitchin". When Uhura had first heard him call her that, her eyes had widened in surprise, prompting Ellara to explain. That had been a fun day. "My friends from the starship are going to be staying at the house nearby. Is it alright if I invite them over to dinner while they stay?"
Nalli smiled, glad to see that Ellara had more then one friend. "It's no problem. I'll make your favourite."
Ellara blushed, glad to know her father remembered as he pulled out a worn cookbook. It was then that something else popped into her head. "I'm going to make a separate soup for one of the men. He's Vulcan, and they don't eat meat."
Nalli nodded, and the two began making candles once more.
It was another half hour before Ellara heard the ding of her PADD, and was pleased to hear that they were going to be staying for the rest of the shore leave, with the arrival being as soon as possible. With that news, she ran out of the house and down the street.
Walking into a cute little building, Ellara quickly spotted Mrs. Kentrin sitting on the couch, reading a very lewd novel. "Mrs. Kentrin! I'd like to make a reservation." she said quickly.
The old woman quickly looked up and snapped her book shut. Her face screwed up quizzically for a moment before opening up in joy. "Ellara Lat'toy! It's been so long." she stood up slowly and hobbled her way over to the much taller woman. Ellara had only the time for a smile before wrinkled arms were wrapped around her waist. "Oh, hello!" she exclaimed in surprise.
She hugged back, relishing in the moment. Mrs. Kentrin had been a good maternal figure to her, helping her cope a little bit. The old woman had lost her own daughter, and so she treated everyone like her child. It was sweet. "How many?" she asked as she began walking to her book. She preferred old fashioned things.
"How many rooms do you have available?" asked Ellara, leaning on a wall.
"Five."
"I'll take them all."
Mrs. Kentrin's eyes widened in surprise, tears glistening. "Thank you." she said softly, grasping Ellara's hands in her own.
"It's no problem. I just have to go tell my friends now. I'll be back soon." she said before running off.
When she'd arrived home, Ellara sent a message to her Captain, alerting him that rooms had been secured for him and their friends. He'd responded quickly, telling her that they would be arriving shortly and to meet up with them if possible. "Father!" she called, looking around the house for Nalli.
She found him whistling in the kitchen, working on a soup. "What are you doing?" she asked, chuckling.
"I remembered that the last time you visited, you had a Vulcan friend with you. I'm assuming he will also be visiting?" her father replied, looking at her over his half-moon glasses.
Ellara nodded, secretly pleased that he had remembered. "Well, I happen to know that Vulcan's are vegetarians. I put two and two together, so I'm making some Plomeek soup for the man. I learned a few years ago, and I figured it would be a nice surprise for him."
Smiling, Ellara tentatively hugged her father. He may be a little absent minded, but he cared so much. "Thank you." she whispered.
She backed off, adjusting her shirt. "I'm going to go pick them up. See you soon!"
Ellara walked off, making sure to grab some keys on her way out. It wouldn't do to be locked out.
It was a short walk to her destination, and she was about twenty metres away when she saw swirling lights and then the appearance of her friends. Ellara jogged the remaining distance, greeting her friends accordingly. "Glad you could make it." she said, a wide grin on her face. Noticing Kirk's expectant glance behind her, Ellara looked at him in sympathy. "Uhura is at her lessons. She should be home not long after we get to mine."
Kirk's face erupted with happiness, and Ellara felt her heart lift slightly. It was always nice to see two people in love. It was refreshing. And then she caught a glimpse of Spock behind him. He still looked hurt. Ellara hoped that he'd get over it soon; it wouldn't help anyone to have the Enterprise's First Officer infatuated with the Communications Officer, the girlfriend to his Captain. "Well, come on. I'll walk you to where you'll be staying. It's a bed and breakfast belonging to this sweet woman. You'll all love it!"
With that, everyone began the short trek to their destination. Along the way, conversation flowed easily about their shore leave. Chekov had been visiting his parents, and although he enjoyed seeing them, he missed the crew. Scotty and Keenser were just going from place to place, enjoying their freedom. Bones had gone to visit his daughter, now six. She wanted to "be like her daddy, the booboo-fixer!", much to the annoyance of his ex-wife. Sulu had stayed with his family, and his husband was with him. They would be sharing a room, and their daughter was with his mother. Kirk had been working with Spock, who had decided against visiting his father or Spock Prime.
All Spock had supplied was his whereabouts, so Ellara hung back to speak with him more quietly. "Are you looking forward to the next week?" she asked, looking up at him while she waited for his response.
Spock took a moment to consider his response; he was not sure of what they would be doing in this small village, nor was he looking forward to spending a prolonged amount of time in an apparently violent environment. However, he would be with his friends, so that was adequate. He voiced that last statement, to the apparent pleasure of his walking companion. She hmph'd in satisfaction, and, seemingly noticing his discomfort with small talk, remained quiet for the rest of the journey.
When they'd arrived at the bed and breakfast, Ellara brought them in and had an invigorating conversation with Mrs. Kentrin. When they left to walk to Ellara's house, Spock noticed a novel tucked away under Ellara's arm. She spent a majority of the time walking backwards, telling stories about the places they passed. A large variety of them involved fights she got in, and there was one log in a park they stopped at that had scorch marks on it.
Smiling sadly, Ellara told that story. "I was sitting right there," she pointed to where a majority of the burns were, "talking with Lywa, when I got my marks for the first time. I didn't even notice." she chuckled slightly, remembering that she'd literally been lost in her eyes, too entranced to notice that she was on fire.
"Sounds fun…" trailed off Scott, noticing the very large, burly man stalking towards the group. Everyone backed off, save for Ellara who was too focused on the log. It wasn't until two strong arms encircled around her and were practically squeezing her to death. She began kicking and punching, but stopped abruptly when she felt the body holding her chuckling. She looked down and her face broke out in an ecstatic grin as she saw her old friend. "Bayne!" she cried, hugging him back.
"Little miss Ellie. How nice of you to drop by." he said as he dropped her, ruffling her hair. "You've gotten bigger!" he exclaimed, sizing Ellara up.
"How's Mikin?" she asked, placing her hand on his arm.
Unbeknownst to the pair, Ellara's friends were watching on with curiosity. "Who do you think he is?" questioned Scotty, glancing at Bones.
McCoy looked incredulous, "How the hell should I know?"
"Well, you are her friend."
"Ask the Vulcan. They've been spending almost every minute together lately." he shot back, nodding his chin towards the Science Officer who was standing completely still.
"I would not know. The Counsellor and I mainly discuss our work. It would make more sense to ask
Counsellor Lat'toy herself." replied Spock, calm as ever.
Inside, however, his mind was reeling. Ellara had said before that Rendorians mated for life, so it was highly doubtful that there had been a romantic attachment between the two. It was more likely that the relationship between the two was more familial, which explained their ease of conversation and closeness. For some reason, this thought pacified him, but why, he did not know. This was an interesting development, one he would have to delve into to get a more detailed look when he next meditated.
It was then that Ellara realized she was holding up the group, and, bidding goodbye to Bayne, she began walking the group to her home once again.
Chapter fifteen, am I right? So, just to expand more on "Ellara and Spock spending every minute together", I mean playing chess games on their downtime and sitting beside each other while they eat and having "interesting conversations". Yeah. But tada! Spock's relieved that there's nothing romantic between Bayne and Ellara! Let the romance begin. I should probably add slow burn to the summary... this is the fifteenth chapter and he's only now starting to like her. Wow. Ok. Yeah. So, definitely going to be staying on Rendoria for a while. Some cute Kirk/Uhura moments, as well as some cute basically platonic(grrrr) Spock/Ellara moments! So much excite, lol. Hope you guys enjoyed!
xBrownEyedGirlx: Not soon, because I want to let it develop slowly, but it won't be in fifty chapters... maybe.
AwesomeFangirlOtaku01: Haha, that's good. Omg yeah. I just want it to be very satisfying once they do get together. Haha maybe yeah.
booklover1798: Thank you! I aim to do so!
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- fangirl0012345
Updated October 21st, 2016.