Chapter 24: Discoveries
A/N: romulanlover, thanks for your review! I'm so glad you like Thorek!
Guest, your "50 shades of romulans" made me laugh a lot! Thank you so much for your kind words. Publishing my own story is actually a dream I've got…but I'm too scared to go for it, to be honest, so I'm not even going to risk trying it out...
Romulan fanlore: Beld'rath exists in fandom and is said to be home to Romulans who are far more relaxed and open-minded than other Romulans.
The bird of prey called Vas Hatham is also from Romulan fandom.
I used the Romulan name generator to make up Senator Letant's first name. Yes! I decided to rope in Letant! And he's most definitely canon and appears in "Tears of the Prophets", Deep Space Nine.
Senator Vreenak had successfully pushed another bill through, and he felt satisfied. He strode elegantly through the senate building, ignoring the tourist groups exploring the place, and marched into his office, his robes rustling in an imposing manner.
It had been hard to break the habit of slowing down his steps and glancing at those groups of Romulan tourists, half expecting to see that Human face again…
And speaking of that face, Asha t'Darak, her husband and another Romulan-Human couple had left the capital and departed for Mirek. His data mentioned that that couple had tried to unsuccessfully have a child. Asha's medical records indicated that she had undergone surgery to minimise the conception of a child. That Human woman piqued his interest. She did not seem afraid of taking risks to avoid other risks. The thought struck him as amusing, and he smiled to himself. Maybe she would have made a formidable politician. A bell rang. This meant that someone was in front of his office door and wished to speak with him. Vreenak rose and opened the door, revealing his best friend Senator Delon tr'Letant.
Vreenak could count his friends on one hand, and it was the same for Letant.
"So! Are you still spying on that Human?" Letant greeted him, looking at Vreenak's screen. Then he laughed. "Are you intending to breed with her that you're going through her medical records on reproduction?"
"Please abstain from being a cretin, Delon," Vreenak snapped.
Letant rubbed his hands with glee and flung himself down into a chair, throwing one leg casually across the other. Despite his many years of experience as a politician, he had retained a vivacious youthfulness about him, and where Vreenak flayed people with acrid sarcasm, Letant resorted to leaving ruffled feathers in his wake by means of applying waspish humour.
"They're quite something, Humans," Letant murmured. Vreenak turned away from his screen and stared at him.
"What exactly did you do on Deep Space Nine during the pact of the Dominion war?" he asked slowly.
"Six Human females. Alas, on a holodeck."
"You must be a degenerate to even consider mating with those puny beings, holographic or not."
"I recall them as most energetic...Though of course they might have been programmed to be that way."
Vreenak scoffed. "To get back to the point, what I am trying to do is…"
"Yes?" Letant said, grinning like a Ter'ak, drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair.
"Kindly stop that irritating noise, please. I am trying to keep track of her movements. She has departed for Mirek with her husband and another Romulan-Human couple."
"And?"
"There's another Human, that's what. Two Humans."
"And two Romulans. So?"
"It's better to keep an eye on that sort of group arrangement."
Letant let out a howl of laughter and slapped his knee.
"You left the Tal Shiar to remain in the Tal Shiar, eh?"
Vreenak glared at him. There was no way he was going to lower himself by admitting to Letant that he could not forget the beauty of her eyes – not because of their odd colouration, but because of the boldness of her gaze. For a Human woman who was a basically a nobody in Romulan society to stare back at him, a well-known public politician, with such impunity – it was not lightly forgotten.
Asha could never sleep well in a strange bed, although this one was most comfortable.
She woke up, carefully moved away from her husband and looked for her PADD. Thorek, however, stirred because of her movements, and blinked. He watched her get out of bed, stand near the tree for a few moments and touch its trunk, then pick up her PADD from the table and return with it to bed. He lowered his eyelids.
Quietly and slowly, she sat cross-legged next to him, the PADD on her lap. He opened his eyes and watched her scroll until he saw a picture she had shown him once before: the one of purple-haired André and herself. A year on Romulus was not as long as it seemed, and it was only natural that she missed him, he reasoned to soothe his pangs of jealousy; for Asha was smiling, lost in memories with André. She gazed at the photo for a good five minutes before she continued scrolling, looking at a picture of her parents and favourite relatives and reading up on the news in the capital.
There was a headline on Senator Vreenak. She opened it and studied the picture of the politician closely. Her expression was thoughtful. A smile touched her lips, and she continued to the other news items. After half an hour, she put away the PADD and lay down next to him. She soon fell asleep again, but Thorek lay awake for a good while longer. That André individual was tons of light years away and still he was with Asha, present in their room.
Thorek was so jealous he wanted to board their flitter, fly down to Earth and aim a disruptor at that purple-haired creature.
After breakfast, Asha stuck her head out of the window and breathed in the heady aroma of the flower fields.
"Mom and Dad would have loved this," she said. "And André would have gone rushing around the fields and-"
"You still miss that person?" Thorek asked coldly. Asha turned around, annoyed.
"Yes, of course I do. He still remains one of my closest friends even though he's light years away."
"That's funny. He was nowhere around after your assault."
Asha flushed with anger, and she was about to retort and tell him just how stupid that was. Then she stopped. She didn't want the situation to escalate, but she also wanted to talk this out.
"Thorek, can you please tell me what's going on?" She spoke in a calm but firm tone, making sure she didn't sound submissive or pleading.
He looked ashamed. "Please forgive me, my ailhun. It puzzles me that this individual, while he is absent, remains so present in your heart."
"André is part of my family just like you are, Thorek. He doesn't have to be biologically related to me to count as family."
Thorek nodded. "Forgive me," he repeated softly, taking her hands in his.
"You're forgiven. But the next time you feel jealous, just tell me instead of jumping down my throat."
"Jealous?! I wasn't-"
His wife arched a dubious eyebrow.
"All right. I'll tell you. If there's a next time." He raised her hands to his lips, kissed her palms and let go gently. "I am honoured to be part of your family, my wife."
Asha blushed, for his lips felt hot against her skin.
The day was devoted to an excursion of the famous flower fields of Mirek. For this purpose, guides flew tourists to the Botanical Gardens and divided them into little groups to explore different parts of the vast gardens.
Christine and Thorek found themselves in an insect-exploring group, and Vekal and Asha had the pleasure of birdwatching.
Asha rose on tiptoe and kissed Thorek's forehead when the groups dispersed. "Enjoy."
He returned the gesture and patted her cheek. "You, too, my ailhun."
Christine and Vekal exchanged a broad smile behind their backs.
Asha grinned to herself and chuckled softly as Vekal and she followed their guide.
"I see an amusing thought has struck you," Vekal observed.
"There's an expression called 'the birds and the bees' in English. Christine and Thorek are going bee-hunting and you and are I going birding, so it made me think of the expression. The thing is, its actual meaning is figurative and refers to sexual intercourse. It's used around children when Human parents talk to them about sexuality."
"A botanical approach…Yes, that is certainly amusing. Have you and your husband mated, paenhe?"
If that question had come from anyone else, even Christine, Asha would have been outraged. But Vekal's gentle tone did not offend her, and she answered just as gently:
"Eneh, that is a personal question."
"Romulans talk very openly about sex with those close to them."
"I know, Vekal. But it is so intimate. I feel that some things should only stay between couples."
"I don't wish to pry. I want to know if you're happy in your marriage, paenhe."
"But mating doesn't necessarily have to do with happiness. Some mate purely out of duty or pure lust, whether on Earth or on Romulus."
Vekal considered. "You have a point."
"Eneh, I am probably too idealistic and old-fashioned in my ideas of love and sex," she said. "I cannot have the latter without the former, while many Humans and Romulans think and do the opposite. I would at least want my partner to be tender with me."
"Then it is my wish, my daughter, that you find that tenderness with your husband."
"Thank you, my eneh." And very softly, she added: "I think I will."
Their guide stopped and pointed to the sky. Everyone raised their binoculars to their eyes. Asha gasped softly. An enormous Vas Hatham bird was heading towards its nest on the steep cliffs, and the chicks stuck out their heads for food. The Romulan emblem was based on this huge, fierce-looking bird.
"How majestic!" she exclaimed. Two Romulans in her vicinity nodded vigorously, and they began to speak to her and Vekal. One of them asked Asha if she liked the Romulan hairstyle because of her short haircut. Asha politely said that she did and short hair was far more practical. "I no longer shed like a set'leth. Do you have a set'leth, by the way?" she smoothly changed the topic.
After watching the raptors feed their chicks, they proceeded to a little wood full of lovely songbirds.
"They remind me of hummingbirds on Earth," Asha said. Vekal smiled.
In the meantime, Christine and Thorek wound their way towards the highlight of the insect tour – the Butterfly Houses. A Romulan woman was walking close to them, and she and Thorek struck up a lively conversation. Christine narrowed her eyes warily. She knew that Thorek and Asha had an open marriage, but she didn't like it, considering that Thorek stood to profit more from the arrangement than his Human wife, and she felt protective about the younger woman. Then she relaxed when Thorek mentioned that he was on vacation with Asha.
"My wife Asha has never been to Mirek before, so we journeyed over here with our friends Christine-" he gestured courteously at her, "and her husband Vekal."
"Asha? She is not a Romulan?"
"My wife is Human."
"Like me," Christine added.
The Romulan woman's face brightened. She was from the province of Beld'Rath, a very open-minded place for Romulan standards.
"It's pleasant to have different people on our planet who share a bond of love with our own people," she said. Christine watched Thorek closely to see how he would react. He smiled. "Asha has enriched my life. She has opened my eyes to so many things on my own planet. The days would not be the same without her."
Their conversation came to an end as they reached the Butterfly Houses, conservatories for rare butterflies. One species grew little antlers on their heads and in fact used them to fight for mates during their breeding season. Then there were huge purple butterflies, and when their group left that particular house, they were covered in purple dust.
"Asha is going to enjoy this a lot," Christine remarked to Thorek.
"Definitely," he agreed, giving her a side glance. She was probably trying to pry in her well-meaning way. His suspicions were correct.
"So…How are things between you?" she asked.
"Good enough so that we can handle things on our own," he replied pointedly.
Christine got the message. "Oh. That's great. What did the guide say was next?"
"Fanged hornets, and we have to wear protective suits." He almost told her that he didn't think she would need one, but he swallowed down his sarcastic comment.
In the afternoon, the groups met up again for lunch and switched tours: Asha and Vekal went on the insect tour, and their spouses were outfitted with binoculars.
And so the next few days passed, packed with excursions, explorations and discoveries. Asha's holo-camera was full of photographs and videos. Christine and she bought typical Mirek outfits, consisting of a crop top, a long dress and a sleeveless robe to go over the outfit. Men liked to go around with parted shirts displaying their chests and flappy three-quarter trousers (Thorek and Vekal refused to wear such a casual costume). The climate in Mirek was more humid than in Romulus and their people more laid back, though Beld'rath held the record when it came to open-mindedness.
Asha noticed that she had badly needed time away from Romulus. Kihika was joined by her soon-to-be-wife, who had been granted by a vacation by the family clan she served, and Galan went on a group expedition of several days to visit the cliffs where the raptors nested.
In this atmosphere of relaxation and shedding some of the paranoia so rampant in the capital city, Thorek and Asha were able to spend more time together and drop their guard more often around each other. As the first Romulan weekend of their vacation drew to a close and they went down for supper, Thorek told her about the Firefalls of Gal'Gathong.
"No place could ever compete with anything on any other planet."
"You cannot really say that without seeing other places of beauty with your own eyes," Asha disagreed, laughing.
"I am not sure, my ailhun."
"Maybe it doesn't depend on where you are, but on the sensation you experience when looking at something deeply impressive. And that can be very individual and subjective. Maybe what I'd experience when looking at Earth's Grand Canyon might be very similar to what you feel when you're at Gal'Gathong."
"I disagree. Though maybe it depends on the circumstances surrounding the visit. I mated in the glow of the Firefalls. The landscape, the atmosphere, the streams of fire corresponded to what my heart and body were undergoing while my body was joined with my lover's."
They had reached Christine and Vekal's room, and Asha was about to press the buzzer to alert them of their visit when Thorek wrapped one arm around her waist, his hand coming to rest over hers. Her skin erupted into tingling. He moved his mouth to her ear: "A Romulan's touch everywhere, all over your body, my ailhun, is different than if you were lying with a Human. All the more so because of our Vulcan ancestry. If you lie in the arms of a Romulan, Asha, especially near the sea, or the Firefalls of Gal'Gathong, you will experience the melding of love and lust as you have never experienced it before. Geography and the people who inhabit it are often inseparably linked."
"Maybe we both have a point," Asha said a little breathlessly. She leant her body against his and boldly moved her hand so it was on top of his and slid her fingers between his.
He nudged her earlobe with his lips, blew lightly on her neck and dragged his thumb slowly down her arm. He played briefly with her wedding bracelet and tickled the area around her wrist. He felt her suck in her breath and her stomach. Her lips parted, and she sighed softly. She was lost in pleasure. Her heart was racing and she was overcome with pleasant frissons. Her body felt hot and cold at the same time.
"What became of your lover?" she managed to say.
"She married someone more suitable. That would mean, of higher social status."
The door in front of them suddenly opened. Asha and Thorek separated and stood straight.
"You have a perfect sense of timing," Vekal greeted them warmly. Christine emerged, patting her already smooth dress even smoother. Asha was thoughtful as they went downstairs to have supper.
Once they were back in their room, Asha asked Thorek directly: "The lover who was with you at the Firefalls of Gal'Gathong…Was it R'ëal?"
She was playing nervously with her necklace, and her arm covered her chest, as if she was subconsciously trying to protect her heart from being hurt.
"Yes, it was her," Thorek confirmed.
Asha hesitated, then she said: "I guess that even after you break up with a person for good and you both go different ways, there's a part of you that keeps loving and feeling all kinds of things for that person, yes?"
"True. The challenge is to continue living and loving anew."
"Please tell me to my face. Would you want to be with her again?" Asha asked softly, looking him straight in the eye.
"No. We were meant to part sooner or later. A long-term committed relationship would have been disastrous for her and me."
She nodded slowly.
"Thorek, when you told me that if I lay in the arms of a Romulan near the Firefalls of Gal'Gathong and it would be an exhilarating experience for me…did you mean that I could lie in the arms of any Romulan?"
Thorek suddenly smiled and looked into her eyes.
"No," he said in a low voice. And Asha blushed deeply. Then, deciding to tease him, she took out her PADD and pointed to some prominent Romulan or the other in the headlines.
"So this Romulan would be out of the question?"
Thorek scoffed. "That doddering old codger? Of course he's out of the question."
"I had no idea, my deyhhan, that you had such a poor opinion of more senior Romulans. Doesn't wisdom come with age?"
Thorek glared at her. Asha continued scrolling. "How about him?" Senator Vreenak was gracing the screen. Thorek frowned mightily.
"Are you developing a taste for politicians? Well, whoever you choose, I refuse to select extra-marital candidates for you, as I believe you perfectly capable of selecting one yourself."
Asha smiled mischievously. "Will you get back to me once you have decided on the identity of the mysterious Romulan who'll hold me near the Firefalls of Gal'Gathong?"
Thorek arched his eyebrows. "I told you that I am not going to help you with the selection process. You see…" He came close to her and looked into her eyes. "It is up to you alone to identify who he is."
Asha blushed. They gazed at each other for a few moments. Then Thorek asked: "May I look at the photographs on your holo-camera?"
"Yes, of course." She went to fetch the camera, her cheeks warm, exhilaration in her heart.
