Chapter 34: An Afternoon with the Senator

A/N: Hi Romulan (is that you, romulanlover without the lover, or are you a new reader or reviewer?), thanks for your comment! Well, Vreenak is a cunning Senator who is absorbed in Asha's activities. I would imagine it to be pretty exhausting around him :-D

Neral is a canon-Romulan fron Deep Space Nine, acting first as a Proconsul and then as a Praetor. I was not able to find who the Proconsul was while Neral was a Praetor. Maybe I missed something or it really isn't mentioned anywhere.

Vocab lesson: "Terrhaha" means "Earthling" or "Human", and "Rihanha" means "Romulan".

Teams Tosha and Vreesha, please read on, and I hope you enjoy!


Asha's PADD beeped loudly. An encrypted message was coming in. It required her fingerprint and a retinal scan to open. Asha followed the requirements and waited impatiently. Finally, the message opened. It was a written note from Senator Vreenak, inviting her to one of his villas for an afternoon to discuss poetry.

"I am also glad to extend my hospitality towards your set'leth," his message said.

Asha showed it to her husband. "Why is he so interested in me?"

"We already discussed why. Do you wish to go, Asha?"

"As long as Lilou is with me."

The set'leth was quite big by now and very well trained.

"Then write to him and tell him you'll visit. You are an adult. You don't require my permission. You are usually so independent."

"Thorek, this is a Senator. You saw how he thrust me in front of the audience during the poetry reading. And I'm afraid of getting into something I might not get out of."

Thorek looked at her.

"Such as mating with him?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I already told you I think he's unmatable."

"Minds can change." He rose and kissed her. "You know my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I trust you. I am confident that should you one day long for an intimate relationship with him, you will be honest with him, with me, and especially yourself, Ashaya. How wise or unwise your correspondence and interactions with him are, I will leave to your assessment."

She nodded reluctantly, wondering why he was so blasé about Vreenak and how he could be so jealous about André whom he had never even met. "I will think about it."

She did. Finally, she wrote back accepting his invitation and informing him that Lilou would be with her. She chose one of the three dates he had offered and sent off her message using the encryption program he had sent along with his previous correspondence.

She received another encrypted message which read: "I look forward to seeing you again. I will send my aide with a flitter to pick you up."

It was none other than Rovuxo who came to fetch her. He tensed immediately when he saw Lilou. The set'leth growled at him, baring her teeth, but Asha squatted down and gently placed her hand on Lilou's head. "It's okay, Lilou. It has been sorted out. Please don't scare or hurt him."
Lilou obeyed and stood silently next to her owner.
"She won't injure you. I will not allow it to happen," Asha addressed Rovuxo kindly.

The aide looked at her with such gratitude that she felt embarrassed. He turned green when she thanked him for picking her up. Lilou sensed her nervousness about meeting Vreenak and nuzzled her hand. Asha stroked the fluffy ears and felt calmer.

The villa they reached was near the sea. It was not big and in fact looked quite innocuous from the outside with its plain simple structure. The Senator was waiting for her.

"Welcome, Ihhei t'Darak," he greeted her formally.

"Thank you, Deihu tr'Vreenak," she replied, bowing her head to him. He returned the nod and led her and Lilou into the house. The roof was transparent.

"It's beautiful. So much light and I can see the sky!"

"Your praise is ample, Ihhei." He signalled to Rovuxo that he could leave. The aide obeyed.

It was the custom on Romulus for a close acquaintance or friend to remove their street shoes at the host's place and put on a pair of indoor shoes. Asha had brought a pair along.

"Where do I change my footwear?"

He gestured at a chair and watched her remove her shoes.

"What are you wearing around your feet?" he asked, catching sight of the silver jewellery around her ankles.

"Anklets. They are popular in India, from where I originally come from."

"May I look?"

"Certainly." She removed them, and he studied the tiny bells at the back.

"Interesting. Our women and men don't adorn their feet," he said at last, handing them back to her. She put them on and slid her feet into her indoor sandals.

"I was wondering if I should make indoor booties for Lilou, but Thorek said it was not the custom."

Vreenak looked amused. "Your husband is right, Asha. In fact, your set'leth would feel quite uncomfortable in, er, booties."

She noted how he had switched to first names after the aide had left.

"Did you grow up with a pet set'leth, Merken?"

"Yes. Nearly every Romulan child does."

He held out his hand to Lilou. She sniffed it carefully and let him pat her. Asha felt more reassured as she watched them interacting.

They had some tea together and ended up speaking about Human and Romulan relationship and marriage customs.

"It must be different mating with a Romulan than with a Human," Vreenak observed as they strolled through his library.

"Are you trying to ask me a personal question, Merken?" Asha asked boldly.

He chuckled low in his throat, admitting defeat. "Yes."

"Please go ahead. I have the choice to refuse to answer."

"That you do," he said, looking into her eyes. "Did you have a Human lover before you arrived on Romulus?"

She suppressed a smile. The way he formulated it, it sounded like she had voluntarily picked Romulus as her destination.

"Thorek asked me the same question. It made sense, given our relationship. But why are you asking?"

"Curiosity. I wonder if you had lovers before your marriage. It is customary for Romulans to mate with more than one person before choosing a permanent mate or agreeing to a betrothal. Physical compatibility is important to raise the chances of a successful union."

"Many Humans proceed in a similar manner, others in a different one. As for me, Thorek is my very first mate," Asha said, now smiling openly.

He gazed at her in wonder. "You never mated with a fellow Human?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't want to." He mulled over her answer in silence. Then he asked: "And with your husband, a Romulan whom you married under unusual circumstances, you wanted to?"

"Yes. He just happens to be Romulan and I a Human. It didn't stop us from growing to love each other."

He pondered. "I was under the impression that Humans started to mate quite early."

"That is true of some Humans. I chose to only mate when I truly wanted to."

"The partner with whom you developed that unflattering holonovel about Romulans...He was not a suitable candidate?"

Asha burst out laughing. "Thorek and many others have asked me about that. No, we didn't regard each other as suitable candidates in that respect. Wait, did you call our holonovel unflattering? And with you being a Senator, you had access to my data and read the whole thing?"

"Yes and yes. You have included a Romulan in your novel who has no control over his drinking habits. It is disgraceful."

"Surely there must be instances of, er, alcoholism among the population?"

Vreenak pursed his lips. "All Romulans undergo vigorous training and discipline as soon as they turn five. It would be a shame to our educational system if a Romulan had no discipline over a glass of liquor."

"Merken, it is easy to speak of Romulans or Humans as if everyone was exactly the same. But every person is different. Generalisations are dangerous things. People can't be squashed into one script."

Vreenak approached her, bent his head and stared into her eyes. Asha was startled, but she held her ground and stared back into his frosty blue eyes.

"Yes, I can see that you are different, a paragon of chastity."

Asha raised her eyebrows. "I am neither a paragon nor was I ever chaste, unless you are mocking my deplorable lack of lovers. In any case, I do not see how that would concern you." Sarcasm tinged her voice.

"Oh, I am mocking you?"

"It is my distinct impression that you are," she stated bravely.

"And why would I do such a thing?" he asked, intrigued by how daring she was.

"While I cannot read your mind, you do seem very annoyed about the fictional intoxicated Romulan. And whatever you might say about disciplined Romulans, you are aware that what happened to me in the woods several months ago was real?"

His eyes darkened. "I am aware of what happened."

He struggled with his emotions, then yielded to the impulsive words: "I would have preferred to see them executed instead of working in the Reman mines."

He turned his face away abruptly and swiped his hand over his mouth, a habit he had had as a child when wishing he could unsay something.

Now he had truly let down his cover, made this Human aware that her wellbeing mattered deeply to him. He was vulnerable to her – he, one of the most distinguished Senators on the whole planet who had years of political experience, interrogating prisoners, negotiating contracts, keeping Romulus powerful during and after the Dominion War and covering his emotions with an acerbic mask.

He turned around to face her again. She was watching him quietly.

"To get back to your holonovel. You and your friend were very brash about writing to the Romulan embassy asking for details about our space vessels."

"For how long have you been reading my information?" she asked shrewdly.

"After your arrival on our planet. It is standard Romulan procedure to monitor newcomers on Romulus."

"I thought as much. Don't you think it would have been more brash if André and I had tried to smuggle ourselves onto your Warbird or something?"

Vreenak actually barked out a laugh. "That, given our security measures, would have been quite impossible."

"Exactly. We could argue about my brashness for ages, and we would never agree. The bottom line is that I am on Romulus and your world has become my second home."

His features softened. "Home?"

"Yes. Would you be very insulted if I said that Romulans are as diverse as Humans?"

He looked at her in silence for a few moments. "No."

She smiled. Then she asked: "May I ask you a personal question?"

He nodded.

"If you courted a prospective mate from another species, would it impact your political career negatively?"

His face darkened. "I am afraid so. You see how I must keep even our friendship secret. Yet I would rather have this than not have your friendship at all, Asha. There have been times when I thought of remarrying, of fathering children. The preferred and most straightforward path for a politician to have a family is to marry another politician from a clan one's own clan approves of.
I have chosen to remain single after the death of my wife and unborn child. Whether it is temporary or permanent is something I haven't given much thought about. My attention is absorbed by my political work, and I am advisor to the Proconsul and to Praetor Neral."

"Do you aspire to become a Proconsul or Praetor yourself?"

He laughed. "A question I have been asking myself for the last few years. The more power one gains in Romulan politics, Asha, the higher the risk of losing one's life. And yet the power of the position thrills me. I have always been very ambitious."

"Ambition is an excellent thing, but I hope you don't become a Proconsul or a Praetor as you would be placing your life at risk," Asha said firmly. He looked at her, and something like tenderness warmed his stern face.

"Placing my life at risk is part of the thrill I seek," he clarified. "In the times we currently live, this risk is part of a politician's job description."

"You seek other things, too."

"Yes. I have wishes…desires…goals which are incompatible with my political ambitions."

"Knowing you, you will definitely find a way to fulfil your wishes," Asha commented. Vreenak smiled.

"Kind Human words. Well, I appreciate the sentiment. There is no middle way in Romulan politics, Terrhaha."

Then, seeing her annoyed expression, he raised one of his smooth upswept eyebrows. "You dislike being called 'Terrhaha'."

"Of course I do…Rihanha."

"You are good at repartee," he replied, smirking a little – an expression she disliked on him, as it reminded her of his arrogance.

"You leave me no other option when we converse," she observed coolly.

He looked into her eyes, then held out his hand.

"My apologies. Allow me to rectify my error," he said.

She took his hand, wondering if and when she would get used to the fact that Romulans changed moods very quickly. Within a few seconds, Vreenak had gone from thoughtful and yearning to arrogant, and from arrogance to gentleness.

The look in his eyes and the feel of his warm fingers in hers made her blush. He led her to the huge garden, resembling more of a park, outside his home. He let go of her hand and showed her some rare plants and finally a section devoted to a group of nesting birds.

Asha was surprised to discover that the Senator was a bird lover. His interest in the little ones of nature seemed to clash with his large goals. Or maybe, as she reflected further, it was what he required for relaxation when finishing with his work for the day – though she knew that the kind of work he did stayed with him day and night. They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing Romulan poets, and she left with three books he had lent her – thus silently agreeing that they would meet again.


"You seem more willing to talk to me than with your fellow Human," Vekal stated. Christine and he, as was now often the case, were spending the weekend with Asha and Thorek at a site on the outskirts of Romulus.

"I do speak a lot with Christine," Asha pointed out.

"But not like with me, paenhe."

She smiled a little. "You are calm and patient with me."

"Implying that my wife is the opposite?"

"No, just…different."

"So indeed the opposite," Vekal confirmed humorously. "It's one of the reasons why I love her."

Asha smiled. Christine and he were a devoted couple.

Vekal continued: "Thorek tells me you have befriended Senator Vreenak."

"We don't know each other well enough to be friends. Besides, he is a Senator who is in favour of keeping the Romulan Empire isolated," she said crisply.

"Are you attracted to him?" Asha blushed at the question and the intensity of his gaze. Vekal was gentle and kind, but she suspected he had a fiery and passionate heart.

"Why are you asking?" she retorted, her voice sharp.

"Because Romulans do not take kindly to adultery."

"I agree. You know first-hand what you're talking about, after all," she answered mildly, recalling that he had had an affair with another woman during his first marriage. And for the second time since she had known Vekal, she saw a flash of anger spark up in his eyes. The first time had been when he had driven out to her house to reprimand her for upsetting Christine.

She quickly put out her hand and touched his forearm.

"I apologise for my sarcasm, eneh. I felt like you were judging me and my first instinct was to…you know…hit back. I understand you are trying to look out for me."

"Yes."

"To get back to your question. I am attracted to the Senator's conversation and wit, but not to his politics."

"That alone can be more than enough for a night in the Senator's bed," Vekal insisted.

Asha took a deep breath. "Vekal, it is ultimately up to me if I choose to mate or not to mate with someone outside my marriage. And it is a matter which is up to Thorek and me to discuss, not to you."

"True. It is none of my business," he said in a neutral tone.

She looked into his eyes. "I know what you're trying to tell me, eneh. I know that a Senator would make a dangerous bedfellow. I know that you are concerned for my safety, for all our safety."

"A Senator would make a fine mate, actually."

She laughed, and Vekal raised a puzzled eyebrow.

"Thorek said so, too. Well, it is absolutely out of the question." She raised her chin. "I will be sticking to Thorek like a burr. That is, unless he gets fed up."

Vekal smiled. "Thorek is your first mate, is he not?"

"He is."

"You are young. You would be satisfied with one mate only?"

Asha laughed again. "André and I used to discuss this topic to death. People are so individual. What works for some won't work for others. And in cases like this, one can only cross the bridge once one gets there."

"You speak wisely."

"I got that from you. It's contagious."

Vekal kissed her forehead. "Thank you for the compliment."

They rose and rejoined Christine and Thorek, who were playing a game of Romulan chess.