Chapter 14: Realisations
A/N: Thank you very much for your comment, guest reviewer! Yes, I wanted to make the Tal Shiar come across like a pack of insane paranoid people, so I'm glad you got that impression :-) I'm a fan of Romulan Commander Toreth from "The Face of the Enemy" (Star Trek: The Next Generation). She openly mentioned her dislike towards the Tal Shiar and spoke about what they had done to her family. It becomes evident in that episode that the Tal Shiar are a very nasty bunch of people indeed.
The Terothka virus is mentioned in "Message in a Bottle" from the Voyager series.
You don't need to have seen either of these episodes to keep on reading, though :-D
Enjoy! :-)
Asha eyed Doctor Ruvasa t'Metak apprehensively, bracing herself for some scathing remark or the other about her Human anatomy.
Doctor Metak had iron-grey hair and kind dark eyes that twinkled like a bird's. She sensed Asha's unease and sat down on the chair next to her.
"Jolan'tru, Ihhei t'Darak. You are my third Human patient and I have studied reproductive healthcare in Humans. I can see that you are concerned. Try not to worry."
Asha sat up abruptly. Her head swam. Doctor Metak gently supported her and pushed a pillow behind her back.
"Thank you, Ihhei t'Metak. I am so grateful you could come. There are other Humans in this city besides Christine and me?"
"Yes. I understand that you might be very eager to contact them, but I have to keep my patients' identity confidential and act according to the rules of the government. But know that you're not alone, and Romulans and Humans can have very happy unions."
"That is good to know. It's a relief to me." She smiled, and Doctor Metak smiled back.
"I have a copy of my medical history. I hope it will be useful," Asha said, handing her a PADD. She always took one while travelling, and she was glad it had been returned to her once she had been able to leave the Tal Shiar prison.
"Thank you, Ihhei. Please allow me a few minutes to go over your data."
Asha liked Doctor Metak at once. She had an outgoing manner, asked clear questions, listened carefully and took notes. She examined her new patient carefully and didn't bat an eyelid when Asha informed her that she hadn't had sexual intercourse with Thorek. Yet. In all likelihood, she would never be intimate with him. She tried not to think about it, but she heard Christine's voice in her mind, backed up by Vekal's calm tones. Give it time, both of them had advised. Time. Nothing more and nothing less.
She knew her husband enjoyed an active sexual life. She wrested her mind away from the beginning spiral of anxious thoughts and focused on Doctor Metak's kind face. The doctor withdrew some blood with a hypospray. She checked Asha's iron on the spot and confirmed her patient's suspicions. She also asked Asha if she could share this information with Thorek since, as on Earth, doctor-patient confidentiality was sacrosanct. Asha agreed.
After finishing her session with her new patient, Doctor Metak spoke with Thorek: "I checked your wife. She has severe anaemia due to iron deficiency. She says you're doing everything to make her comfortable and that she is more familiar with our customs. Now, she doesn't want to show it, but to me it is evident that she is very stressed while adapting to a completely new environment under unusual circumstances. Stress in Humans will show up in a bewildering range of manners. The body and the mind will cross swords more often than you think."
"I have noticed that she doesn't want to show any signs of weakness."
"That is hardly surprising. Our whole society functions in a psychologically unhealthy manner." She pursed her lips. "We are very isolationist, and it is not doing us any good – at least from my point of view, Ihhai. I am reassured that you are helping your wife integrate into our society. We are not the most welcoming of people."
"Yes, I'm trying hard." He sighed. "You know what is expected from our marriage. That I force her into mating and producing a child. That I make her suffer. It is an abominable thought to me. I will never do it!" His voice was passionate.
She smiled. "I can see that you care for her wellbeing."
"It is my responsibility as a dutiful husband," he said formally. A knowing smile touched Doctor Metak's lips, and her eyes twinkled; then her expression returned to its professional neutral expression.
"Once her menstruation is over, I plan to give her iron. I want to complete her blood work first, though. I require a full blood panel before proceeding."
"Yes – she knows the symptoms. She has difficulties using the stairs this time. I try to help her." His mouth quirked. "She can be very stubborn, though."
"Then she'll be fine," Doctor Metak said humorously.
"I have no doubt about that. She has a spirit of fire."
Asha refused to lie in bed.
"It's not a disease!" she protested, frowning heavily. "I'm sure the women over here don't spend their days lying around in bed when their bodies are doing what they've got to do. Yes – I know their physiognomy is different. Really, I'm starting to wish I had been born a Romulan!"
Thorek smiled at her rebellious behaviour. "Menstrual periods are as individual in our people as they are in yours. So the doctor told me."
"But only two days in average length! And green. What I would give to have green periods…"
He laughed heartily. "Well, if you don't want to rest in bed, may I suggest a short stroll in the garden?"
Her eyes brightened. "Oh, yes!"
"You are very Romulan in your affection for nature," he observed.
"I could say that you are very Human about nature," she replied. "You see the things we do have in common?"
He looked at her. "I do."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yes." He brushed two fingers over her cheek. "It is. I'm glad you are Human-born."
"You are?"
"You wouldn't be the way you are."
Her dimples emerged. "And it took me a bucketful of iron for you to say that?"
"To use your Human saying: blood, sweat and tears?"
"Yeah. Right."
"Is that a double affirmative that conveys the opposite of what it means, namely 'no' in a humorous manner?"
She nodded, and they both laughed.
As soon as her period was over and her blood results were in, Doctor Metak gave her iron. Gone were the days of the 21st century intravenous iron infusion, and the treatment could be administered via hypospray. What had not changed was waiting for half an hour in case symptoms of an allergic reaction appeared.
For this purpose, Asha had to set foot for the first time in the medical centre where Doctor Metak and five other medical colleagues practised.
The waiting room was large and nicely decorated in soothing green colours. A couple – expectant parents, to judge from the size of the woman's stomach – was waiting together with their toddler son and a pet set'leth. Asha greeted them in flawless Rihan, and they responded politely. The fact that she was wearing a Romulan dress and hairstyle must have helped.
The set'leth immediately stood up, walked over to her and rubbed its head against her hand. The child, interested, followed the canine-like creature and stood at Asha's knee. Asha half expected the couple to intervene, but they smiled and watched. She conversed with them, asking in basic Rihan about the child's name and age, and wished them all the best with the latest addition to their family when an assistant arrived to pick them up. The little boy beamed when she patted his head before he walked back to his parents.
She felt happy knowing that she could make conversation with strangers and pleased that both pet and child, creatures of instinct, had shown no qualms about approaching her.
Soon, another assistant arrived to pick her up – a serious Romulan youth who took her to a small room and invited her to lie down in a recliner. He consulted his PADD and asked her to roll up her sleeve in English. She obeyed, and he pressed a large hypospray against her inner arm. She was asked to lie down for half an hour and press a button on a control pad attached to the recliner if she felt funny. She thanked him in Rihan, and he raised his eyebrows, obviously pleasantly surprised, and inclined his head gracefully.
She lay with her eyes closed, listening to the sounds in the corridor, an occasional murmur in Rihan, footsteps…The door opened after fifteen minutes and revealed Doctor Metak, who pulled up a chair at her side and smiled at Asha's sleepy greeting. She checked her patient briefly and left Asha to resume her nap.
The waiting period of half an hour passed without incident, and Kihika picked her up and drove them home in the flitter.
During lunch, Asha received a message from Thorek, asking how she was doing. Asha smiled. She wrote back telling him she was fine and thanked him for thinking of her.
At his workplace, Thorek read his wife's message and nodded to himself with relief.
He had been thinking of her a lot. She was simply unlike anyone he had ever met before, and not just because she was a Human. She was fascinated with his world. The smallest insect scrambling around awoke her curiosity and had her squatting on her heels to watch it. It made him see his own surroundings with different eyes. She asked him questions he had to look up or think about for some time. Her personality was both sweet and spirited.
His colleagues were curious about Asha, too. By now, the whole department knew about his marriage, that his wife was Human and the union forced, for he did not wear the spousal bracelet betrothed Romulans exchanged before getting married. He was also asked about his plans concerning fatherhood. Such prying questions annoyed him to no end, and he stalled them with abrasive answers. Above all, he was angry at how his colleagues were asking questions about Asha as if she were an exotic animal at a Romulan zoo. The day a newly employed teacher had the audacity to ask him about Asha's mating practices, he almost lost his temper. He dressed down the young Romulan in a calm but firm voice and asked him what he would feel like if he inquired about the mating habits of his, the teacher's, wife. After that, all questions stopped and his work atmosphere returned to normal. Normal in that his colleagues inquired as usual about each other's families and spouses and never about his non-Romulan wife, as if he were still unmarried.
It was during that time that Thorek began to realise how ostracised Asha must have been feeling. He could have easily distanced himself from his wife and blamed her for the discrimination he himself was experiencing at his workplace. He instead faced the unpleasant truth and had a good hard look at his society's xenophobic tendencies. By now, he valued his Human wife's feelings and opinions far above theirs, and she was his family. His loyalty was towards her first, and he was proud of her efforts to integrate into a society he was coming to acknowledge as hostile.
Now that she had been sharing the same roof with him for half a year, he found it difficult to imagine a home and life without her. Whether he wanted to admit or not, she had shaken things up and livened up the place with her presence. Kihika was genuinely devoted to her and even Rhian praised her industriousness. Asha could be as thoughtful and insightful as an ancient Romulan sage or philosopher, and as exuberant and mischievous as a child, to say nothing of passionate and stubborn. It would have taken a particularly cruel and ruthless Romulan to crush the spirit out of her in accordance to the Tal Shiar's expectations. He felt sick at the thought of some Romulan brute harming even a hair on her head and robbing her of those sweet dimples whenever she smiled.
A few days later, Thorek returned from work sniffling and with stomach cramps. By night, he had sprouted a vicious rash on his face, arms and legs. It turned out that a particularly nasty strain of the Terothka virus was going around. It also turned out that Humans were not affected by the virus. People were lining up at the Romulan equivalent of pharmacies to pick up their medication. Asha, her worries about his health set to rest by Thorek's doctor and Vekal, checked in on him regularly. She helped him apply salve to his skin to calm down the itching rash and cheered him up with her smile.
"This is an area where Humans are superior to us Romulans," Thorek said. He looked exhausted after spending most of the evening in the bathroom with symptoms reminiscent of stomach flu.
"Oh, my deyhhan, how about just forgetting about this Human versus Romulan or Romulan versus Human thing?" She smiled down at him and took his hand. He held it firmly. The tingling started, then calmed down.
He smiled back. "Yes. Christine and Vekal did point that out to me. But what is your saying? Old habits die hard?"
She laughed. "True. Speaking of sayings…I want to go over my homework. I'll be right back."
She left the room and returned with her PADDs. Thorek dozed comfortably in bed, listening to her go over the words in a soft singsong. Sometimes, she would play with her braid when she was mulling over the translation of a sentence. She was dressed in comfortable summer trousers and a t-shirt from Earth. There were so many things he hardly knew about his wife's Terran background.
Rihan was a lively language with a very musical prosody. For Asha, it practically invited a speaker of Rihan to venture into the world of poetry. Romulans loved anecdotes in poetry form. All Romulan children had to attend classes on poetry, speech-writing and elocution. As a linguist, she took a huge interest in this domain, and she decided that she would try her hand at writing poetry in Rihan once she had gained advanced mastery of the language. For now, rhymes and rhythm helped her with getting the nuances right. Finally, Thorek asked her to fetch a book of nature poetry and read a little to him.
He listened to her closely, making gentle corrections here and there when she had finished reading a poem. Then he said:
"I have not forgotten your wish to be employed. With full mastery of our language, Rhian thinks you might have several opportunities, provided you can gain full rights as a Romulan citizen. Such a way is littered with bureaucracy, discrimination due to your Human origin and hurdles. The Tal Shiar might well become aware and take steps to prevent you from becoming a fully-fledged Romulan citizen, especially given the current state of the treaty between Romulus and the Federation. Christine t'Jo'rek obtained full citizenship two years ago, however. I am willing to do what is in my power to make you a citizen with full rights on this planet."
Asha rose in astonishment. "You would do that for me?"
"Yes. I see with my own eyes that you are willing to work hard and have a natural inclination to language-related fields and beyond. Do you wish to see your talents and ambitions rot away under the thumb of the Tal Shiar? I think not. Non-Romulans can apply for citizenship after three years at the very earliest. We will make the most of that time to prepare you. Should they reject you, we will try again, like Christine did. Though her having tried to conceive a child with Vekal might have been a factor in her favour. As in: a Romulan has successfully broken in his Human wife. Believe me, I don't like this mindset."
"It makes no sense…Humans are despised, but add some Romulan DNA, and then it's okay?…Well, it can't be helped. And you truly wish to undergo all this trouble on my behalf?"
"Yes."
She shook her head in disbelief, then approached his bedside and took his hand again. "Thank you from the bottom and the top of my heart."
"It is merely-"
"-your duty as a responsible husband, right?"
"Yes."
Asha smiled. "You're not doing it because you're feeling crappy and your defences are down?"
"Indeed I'm not!" he said crossly. "What a strange idea!"
Asha chuckled. "I was joking with you."
"I am not amused!"
"Of course you're not. You're doing it because you have a kind heart. You just won't admit it."
He finally gave in to her amusement and laughed. "Your company refreshes me, my wife."
"Thank you. By the way, I think it's time for that salve your physician prescribed for your rash."
"Terrible stuff. It stinks. I don't want it."
"That's a very rash decision."
"And that was a dreadful pun, my wife. Now, if you would have the kindness of handing me that awful salve…" A smile tugged at his lips.
Asha pressed the tube into his hand with a triumphant grin. Her expression was contagious, and he leant back in the pillow and laughed.
"My ailhun, your wit and repartees are urging me to make a quick recovery."
Before she left for bed, she placed her cool hand on his forehead and studied his face. "You are looking more cheerful."
"I am. If you would care to keep me company as you did this evening, I will have every reason to be cheerful. But do not stick to the house. Make sure you go out with Kihika and see more of the city or the woods near our house. A stagnating mind is one of the worst diseases of all."
She nodded. "I agree. I'll take my holo-camera with me in the woods."
