JMJ

Chapter Three

Dignity and an Empty Sack

"Well, that was an interesting dinner, wasn't it?" said Bashir as he walked alongside Pel to the docking station.

"I think things went well," said Pel, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "The Aploos' asked all the right questions in between polite conversation. Between the Grand Nagus, Lady Leeta, and the First Clerk, all the right answers were given back. In accordance to Rule Number 214, the best Ferengi business takes place immediately after being full, after all. Or as the Pelipans say, digesting thoughts take place best while digesting meals."

Bashir laughed a little, though he said in full seriousness. "I'm surprised that you didn't take the credit for bringing the Nagus' esteemed guests, though."

That twinkle just flashed brighter as she turned to Bashir and stopped walking.

"I don't need to take credit," she declared. "I didn't do it for myself. I did it for my people. I have potentially all the credit I could possibly want and more on Pelipa. Is that where the news came from?"

Bashir shook his head. "No, the Nagus told me this was all your doing."

Pel shrugged and continued for the docking platform, though slowly enough for Bashir to catch up Bashir noticed, and she was still beaming from ear to ear.

"Well?" Bashir demanded playing along.

"I'm a sensation overnight. After the year I missed my race I come back out of nowhere and get second place…" she laughed. "Before I know it I'm sitting with the brother of the High Mayor of Pelipa and invited to his house. I outshine the actual winner, unfortunately for him. I'm the only Ferengi ever to enter a race, and the only Ferengi ever to be known on Pelipa at all with fame instead of infamy. I think the biggest weakness of the Pelipan is love for novelty, especially novelty that makes something for him or herself on their own."

"I can see that, yes," admitted Bashir.

"Dr. Bashir," she said crossing her arms. "They found me charming, cute, and with the added fact that I also helped save my planet from certain doom and that was the reason why I had not entered the year before… another weakness they have is for sacrifice and heroes, especially underdog heroes. I had the entire planet in my pocket. In the Ferengi sense, literally."

"I'm sure you did," said Bashir.

"The powers of exploitation in my hands is power almost too much for temptation to resist," Pel went on. "I think the fact that we resemble a Pelipan pet also helps with the image. An Aguan fancy rat. They found me adorable. I was on the top of most informational transmitions for at least a week. I'm sure someplace on Pelipa is talking about me still. There was even someone who approached me with the idea of figurines made of me, and how can a Ferengi pass something like that up. I'd be considered insane for refusing."

"Did you refuse?" asked Bashir.

"I'm just listing all the assets I apparently took advantage of for Mr. and Mrs. Aploos being here," said Pel mischievously.

Bashir backed a little just to keep from running into her sudden spontaneous halt.

"I have everything I ever dreamed," said Pel with more gravity this time; she started by looking Bashir straight in the face in the manner that Ferengi were apt to do, but her face slowly lowered and her eyes diverted thoughtfully. "Recognition in every way possible, but aside from the reward money for second place, I took nothing for myself."

"And that was what impressed them most of all, I'm sure."

Pel smiled.

"Then why do you feel guilty about it?"

"Hew-mons sure are nosy." Pel shook her head with a pout. "It's no wonder they get themselves into so much trouble! I don't feel guilty about it."

She had, and long before she knew that other Ferengi felt as she did, a strong belief that love was more important than latinum, and love for her people should be sufficient enough a profitable gain in her mind to warrant her actions in that regard. Roughly 9000 years of the Ferengi philosophy of 'virtuous greed' was difficult thing to overlook, but he knew that in Pel's case it was something else that troubled her.

Bashir was now the one looking Pel straight in the face. As any Human would tell him, he had no trouble keeping his eyes on a person either even if he did give them a Human's sense of personal space. He smiled too.

"What?" asked Pel, and she wrinkled her nose and curled her lip, but in a way that turned into wry amusement.

Bashir knew before she spoke that she was changing the subject. For now, he let her, and she sized him up, knowing full well that he was allowing her freedom to speak without interruption.

"Ferenginar looks good on you," she said.

"Oh, the coat," said Bashir. "Loosely. There are coats of traditional Human design that look similar to a Ferengi business coat."

"You did it on purpose just the same. I've never seen a Human dress like that before."

"Have you ever seen a Human dressed in anything but a Starfleet uniform?"

"I've never seen a Human in anything other than a pair of skin tight exercise clothes or a blank tunic with slippery leggings," teased Pel. "I thought that was how you always dressed."

Bashir laughed. "I thought it best to represent myself as a friend of Ferenginar during this dinner but add a bit of my own to it. It was, I suppose, a bit of an art project on my part."

"You made it yourself?" asked Pel.

"I had it designed myself."

"Well," said Pel. "It fits, either way. I like it."

"So does your outfit," remarked Bashir, pointing out her dress that reminded him somewhat of an ancient Spanish riding dress, but colored more like a Mexican fiesta bunting.

Of course, it was accidental on her part, but it was funny how she ended up making a formal dress based on a Pelipan riding outfit to end up with something that looked so much like a dress of Earth that she had never seen. Her coat was fashioned after a Ferengi male business suit, but tailored to be more feminine. The colors were bright yellow, red, and rich brown with a little flash of purple printed with overlapping Ferengi aquatic floral designs splashing the coat alongside geometric shapes pulsing on a bright amethyst dress.

"Thanks. I'm not used to wearing a dress."

"You can't tell."

Pel sneered.

It surprised him how he had missed that sneer. It was difficult to call a sneer cordial much less beautiful, especially on a Ferengi, it was more common the more he was among them; though no one managed it with as much ease as Pel did. Somehow Pel managed a lot of things. He sincerely wished he could have seen what she had said and did to make the Pelipans so interested in Ferenginar even as unstable as its changes were right now. No matter how famous she was for winning such a race, the Pelipans were not so foolish as to take ideas from the whims of a spirited athlete seriously without cause. But then he had probably seen enough of her life without being physically there for it as it was. Something had to remain an alluring mystery.

At times, it was still a source of embarrassment to know so much about her, but she never seemed all too embarrassed herself about it anymore. In fact, it seemed a relief to her to have someone who understood her as a secret confident.

But changing the subject again, she said, "Speaking of clothes, I've never seen Quark in an ob-lappet."

But Bashir was still too distracted by her to think about Quark.

"It doesn't fit," she laughed in her bubbly way, was the only real "lappet" the one she used to cover something about herself. "He kept scratching it when he thought no one was looking. Poor thing."

Maybe Bashir was less of Pel's confident than he had flattered himself to be. It made him frown despite himself as he looked down at this person he had come to respect so much. So tiny in stature, voice, and build, and yet so full of life and power on the inside like a Jack Russell terrier that would brave fighting a crocodile if it meant saving a beloved master.

But if there was one other thing he was guessing about her, it was that she was relenting to the fact that Quark did not love her back as much as she loved him, and Quark had been so busy with life that Bashir could not blame him really for not having had time to sit down and discuss it in a proper manner. They probably had not had time to be alone together since Bashir and Quark were arrested from Noi's house by Keeoopii-influenced FCA.

Was it her father she was thinking about? Or was it basically a simple and unemotional weariness at being so famous on Pelipa for a while that she needed a break from it?

"Pel?"

"Yes?"

There was a pause as he and Pel looked at each other very intently. Though, he knew Pel was listening more than looking as usual as she seemed to gaze right through him. She cocked her head very slightly to get into a better position to hear him inside and out.

Bashir opened his mouth to speak, but he sighed and shook his head. What was he going to say?

Maybe it was just him. Maybe he was feeling lonely. Maybe he was reading into all this what he wanted to find: a reason to help, a reason to be her hero again.

Julian Bashir was the one unsure where he fit in anymore wearing a half-Ferengi/half-Human suit. Who was he trying to impress? No one would have thought a thing of him had he worn a completely Human black dress suit. Of course, wearing his uniform probably would have been in poor taste, but wearing what he was, he almost wondered if the one he was trying to impress was Pel.

He caught himself gaping at that. Just a little. He clamped his mouth shut and smiled. Sincerely, he smiled at her as he gently recalled to mind that he was never going to approach Pel from that light. She was a little sister. A friend. Something other than that would make their simple relationship more complicated than he wanted it to be. He was downright sick of complicated relationships.

"Do you think I'm trying too hard?" he asked; though she could not possibly know the exact meaning of the question.

"What?" she asked back wincing, listening some more, and she grinned. "Yes, always. I think you try too hard to pick and choose what you think is best to do, when the best thing to do is to try all viable options until something works."

"A typical Ferengi answer."

"I am a Ferengi!" laughed Pel. "But what are you?"

Bashir shrugged. The straight-forward question had him thinking straight-forwardly again. He needed it, except that she perceived him more than he gave her credit, he saw.

"A doctor," he said, and she seemed quite surprised and pleased by the answer, "so that advice doesn't always work as you might kill the patient that way."

"Mmm, yes," agreed Pel. "but it's better than doing nothing. That's what kills patients more if their dying! But that is what you are, a doctor, and a very good one, and don't let yourself forget it!"

"Thank you. It was good to see again."

"I'm glad you think so too!"

And with that, she bounded away for the door opening at her approach.

#

"Oh, Leeta, I'm so nervous! I can't stand it!" whined Rom grabbing the tops of his ears as someone with hair might pull that instead as he paced his bedchamber. "I think I'm going to have a nervous breakdown!"

"Rom! Please, just calm down!" Leeta begged running up from where she had been seated on the wide low rounded bed.

Rom had one shoe on and one shoe off. His shirt was a mess, and his coat and vest were dangling on pedestals precariously instead of hung up in the closet.

She was about to grab him, but a little head peeked through the open doorway.

"Moogee, is Rooga* okay?" asked Arkos.

Leeta sighed and cocked her head to one side as Rom continued panicking behind her.

"Mmm, no, sweetie," she admitted. "But he will be, okay? Just wait a minute. I'll come to tuck you in, alright?"

With a hurried nod, Arkos looked from his mother to his father and back again and then hurried out of the room.

"Look!" said Leeta as she spun Rom around towards her firmly. "What are you worried about?"

"That everything's going to fall apart. That Mr. and Mrs. Aploos will think that we're hiding something or trying to trick them out of their planetary finances or— or— or they don't like our spire!"

"Spire?"

"It's traditionally for killing people in front of everyone to make bets on who falls!"

"But we took that feature out now, especially after what happened with—"

She stopped herself. After all, bringing up Quark's half-hearted attempt at suicide was not the best thing to do right now, but it was hard to think in all this franticness.

"I can't do it!" Rom complained as if he had not heard her anyway. "There are so many Ferengi here!"

"Of course, we're at the capital, but—"

"Something's gunna go wrong. I just know it. I'm gunna have a nervous breakdown! I can't do it!"

He pushed past her to pace again only to leave Leeta throwing out her hands exasperatedly.

"That's why I'm here, remember?" she demanded. "And Quark! And Traymak… I guess… and Dr. Bashir, anyway!"

"I don't trust Traymak!" snapped Rom.

"Then why'd you invite him?"

"I don't know!" He stopped and huffed a very heavy sigh to mutter, "It sounded prestigious at the time."

"Rom," said Leeta gently coming behind him now, and she stroked his arched back tenderly as he still was all but hyperventilating at the wall. "Rom… Mr. and Mrs. Aploos had a wonderful time, okay? A wonderful dinner. A wonderful tour. They wouldn't be lying about that. They're happy and they're sleeping soundly in their apparent with full security."

"Ferengi can breach their own security and pretty well," Rom reminded her.

Again Leeta huffed.

"It's all happening at once, okay?" said Rom. "The Keeoopii might have something to do with Zek's son, Krax. His second cousin shows up the same day as the meeting with the Pelipans. Quark was right the first time. We're in no condition to take anyone into the Alliance, but we had to play it up! We're lying!"

"We're not lying."

"We're lying just like Ferengi do. Keep your lies consistent or whatever."

"Rom. Look at me."

Reluctantly, Rom obeyed. With that swollen little baby look he looked up at her as he always did when overburdened by his position. She took his head into her arms lovingly.

"We're not lying," she said and kissed him. "Okay? They know all about how we're in a time of transition. They just want to see if our intentions are sincere and then they'll help us. They're offering help. We need it, especially since we're kind of trying to go the route of being independent of the Federation… if we can help it."

"But why are we trying to be independent of the Federation?"

Leeta paused. "Because it's what your people voted on through their local positions and through their representatives— every citizen in the Alliance whether Ferengi or not. All did their part and there was no sign of fraud even with the keenest experts on fraud that you have, and Ferengi would know."

"Yes, but if they were bought out by someone then even the experts can't be trusted for sure."

"You can't think like that. We have to at least try."

Rom sighed. "It was a close count."

"Maybe… but we can't start fudging when we just started this whole process again, right? Remember, 'keep your ears open…' Don't tighten up into yourself otherwise you won't hear the opportunity, right? You can do this, I know you can."

"Oh, yes, advice from the same rules that say 'dignity and an empty sack is worth the empty sack!' That's very helpful."

"But part of this cultural renewal is finding the wisdom in what you already have, and even from what I learned there's a rule from the Hidden Profiters: 'It's always smart to look back to see what you already have' or 'make regular inventory' as the later rule stated before it was overstated and disappeared."

"That's… exactly what I'm doing Leeta," said Rom. "And I realize that we don't have much, except greed and latinum and lies."

"Focus on the good things we have."

"But that's a lie to say we have more good things than bad."

"If you think like that you're more the Ferengi you've always grown up believing was Ferengi than you think, Rom, because you're only thinking of what you could have if you had more rather than what you do have."

Rom stopped quite startled. He had to think about that one. Leeta sighed in relief and smiled.

"I'm sorry…" he said rocking his head one way and then another as he closed his eyes.

"Where's my ever-optimistic guy?" Leeta cooed.

"I don't know…"

"The guy who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt?" pressed Leeta.

"Well…"

"Where's that gentle smile of encouragement, hmm?"

Rom smiled half-heartedly. She kissed him again, and the smile unfolded to its full length even with the basset eyes.

"Thanks, Leeta," he said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You wanna know a secret, Rom?"

Rom's eyes narrowed as he lifted his head to hers almost befuddled. "What?"

"I don't know what I'd do without you either."

Rom kissed her back. Then he allowed Leeta to help with his things. He finished getting ready for bed as she went to tuck in Arkos and check on the already and thankfully still fitfully sleeping Nissa. When she returned, Rom was already in bed with hands behind his head. Before she took the place beside him, though, he lifted his head thoughtfully towards her.

"I was just curious, Leeta…"

"Hmm?" asked Leeta very sleepy by now.

"Did Quark say why he was going to be late tomorrow morning to see the Aploos' off?"

"Mmm, something about his bar, I think. Why?"

"Oh, no reason, I guess. I just wasn't sure if I was so upset that I missed something. I have so much to keep track of, y'know?"

"Yes, I do know, but right now, you have to let that heavy head of yours rest, Rom, or you'll be good for nothing tomorrow, okay?"

"Right," said Rom and she was relieved to hear his long sleepy yawn as he made room for her.

"Good night," she said.

"Mmph. 'Night! Bite the bedbugs…"

"I will," promised Leeta, and as she leaned over to kiss him once more, Rom was already asleep, and she grinned.

Good.

NOTE: Note: As noted in the previous chapter, the Ferengi language is meant to be seen as more immersive in Part II of this series and not as translated by the less individualized Universal Translater meant for optimum understanding in one's own language rather than understanding subtler cultural aspects of a language. "Moogee" fits better the spelling of the word in the Ferengi language. "Rooga" will be used in this story instead of "Foogie" as "Foogie" does imply "father" and therefore "daddy" better than "Rooga" does, but "Moogie" starting with "m" is coincidental. "Mother" fully is "Alshmoogee" and "Father" is fully "Alrooga".