Chapter 45: Thorek and Vreenak

A/N: Hi Alaya Karangalan and romulanlover, I am so glad you enjoyed Kimara Cretak's appearance in the previous chapter! I watched all her Deep Space 9 scenes again to make notes of her behaviour, facial expressions and manner of speaking. What made things a little difficult is that two actresses were used for Cretak. What definitely stuck with me were her head dips/nods when speaking with Kira. It came over as a dignified and respectful gesture, and in the later episodes, she really had a certain charm about her and showed a genuine interest in conversing with her Human allies. It was such a pity she wasn't made a regular character on the show.Finally, enormous thanks to you two for following my story so faithfully, it's such a delight having you as my readers! :-)

Trivia: the Concorde actually existed - a fascinating supersonic jet resembling a swan. It was launched in the 1970s and grounded in 2003.

The Treaty of Algeron is canon and was signed by the Federation and Romulan Star Empire in 2311. But as we have seen, there were several little scuffles which took place in the Neutral Zone (need I mention the deliciously snide Commander Tomalak from TNG? ;-D )

I also see that I have not indicated a clear timeline in this pic, but Asha was kidnapped around 2376, so shortly after the Dominion War.

Mentioned before, but to be on the safe side: "Khnai'ra" means "Thank you".


Asha had started on a handwritten letter to thank Senator Cretak for reading out her poem during her closing speech in honour of the Fire Festival. After her vacation at the love spa, she added the finishing touches to it and gave it to Rhian to proofread. It was her second written letter to a Senator (the first had been her refusal to Vreenak's poetry event - something both she and Vreenak recalled with amusement), and she wanted to be on the safe side. Rhian nodded approval, and Asha sent it off without expecting a reply. Even if she had not known Vreenak and Letant, it was obvious to her that Senators were very busy people dedicated to making the state run like a minutely programmed warp engine.

She continued to meet with Vreenak, who behaved courteously towards her; but the flash in his blue eyes and the heat of his hand when she held it during strolls in his garden told her about the passion he kept locked within.

She felt the same way, longing to press him against her and kiss him, or ask him to show her where his bedroom was so she could throw away whatever barriers were between them in the act of sex.

It was a tempting thought, but she knew that she had to control herself. There was no guarantee that she would ever be granted Romulan citizenship, and she also felt certain that while the first rush of love and hormones would keep social inequalities at bay, it would gradually calm down, and sooner or later, that heady feeling of love and sex would not be enough to uphold a relationship with true substance to it. She was also aware that even if she became a citizen with full rights, it would not be like waving a magic wand.

A relationship of any kind with Vreenak would be challenging. The way it was now was worth it to both of them, despite their shared frustration about keeping their feelings in check.

On one occasion, he approached her from behind, slipped his arms around her waist and merely held her that way. She leant into him and they stood like that silently, watching the sparkling shimmer of the Apnex Sea. Then, with a soft sigh and a press of his cheek against her hair, he let go and pointed out the gathering clouds on the sky to her.

"It will storm tonight."

"Yes – even the air is very humid. It gets like this during the monsoons in India."

"Tell me more about India, Asha. You said your family is originally Bengali?"

She smiled, happy that he remembered her roots, and told him about her visits to her relatives when she was little. She also described the kind of transport Humans used to use.

"Two centuries ago, people used to travel on slow cumbersome planes. There was actually a supersonic aircraft called the Concorde, operating from the 1970s until it was grounded in 2003, I think. We Humans needed some time to come up with environmental-friendly supersonic commercial aircrafts and everyday efficient vehicles of transport, but our scientists finally made a breakthrough."

"Romulan and Human history share several parallels." He paused. "I never thought I would say that one day."

"You've got me to thank for that," she teased him.

"Khnai'ra," he teased her back and touched her cheek gently. "There are many things I do not know about you, though I learn something more about you every time we meet. I even know when you are menstruating, such as now."

Asha started a little. "What?! How do you know?"

Vreenak laughed. "Your body posture and movements. You move more carefully. You also ask to use the bathroom, and you wish to sit near the window."

"You did not notice anything else, though, do you?" Asha asked rather worriedly. She was extremely particular about hygiene.

He inclined his head on one side, his upswept brows coming together in a slight frown.

"Apart from that – no. Menstruation is considered a feat of natural engineering among Romulans. All bodily functions are, but menstruation occupies a special place and is much admired. Why are you embarrassed?"

"I remember. When a Romulan woman menstruates for the first time, a big feast is organised for her, and she is given a bracelet. Some Humans celebrate, too, but we had a long tradition of patriarchy, and it is still not an established practice. It is only recent that Human society has rcognised a woman as a fully autonomous individual. I was lucky and was taken out for a fun day by my parents. As for why I'm embarrassed…I guess it's just something I view as very intimate."

She looked at him and smiled. "You are a very keen observer."

A green flush rose to his face.

"I enjoy observing the woman I love. And though we abstain from consummating what we feel from each other, are we not lovers, Asha?" He stretched out his hand. She took it, intertwining her fingers with his.

"Yes, we are," she stated firmly, looking him straight into the eye.

"Then come, please lie here with me." He gestured at the elegant chaise longue in the hall and removed his socks and shoes. Asha did the same. They reclined together on the chaise longue, leaning against each other, Asha's hand on his chest, her anklets jingling softly as she moved her feet next to his.

Romulans had small ridges on the insteps of their feet which, like the ridges on the other parts of their bodies, were very sensitive and erogenous. Lying together with their bare feet touching was a sign of intimacy only lovers shared.

When it was time for her to leave and they straightened up, he ran one finger down the instep of her foot and flicked at the tiny bells of her anklet. This, too, was a courting gesture, and she returned it, circling her thumb around the ridge on his instep. She heard him catch his breath slightly, and when she looked at him, she saw the green colour flood his face. They hung onto to their control, however, and rose. He accompanied her to the door.

As usual, he was reluctant to see her go. His aide Rovuxo was sensible enough to keep his views on their relationship to himself. Vreenak could also see that Rovuxo liked and respected Asha because of her kindness towards him. He had her to thank that Vreenak had cancelled his suspension after the fiasco in the forest, after all. Vreenak and Asha were certain that if someone saw them together, they would make a correct guess about their feelings towards each other. Praetor Neral would be mightily displeased if he found out about Asha's secret visits. Vreenak didn't know of a single Praetor who had not had ties to the Tal Shiar, willingly or unwillingly. Having been in their employ, he wouldn't put it past them to occasionally send a scout to spy on the Romulan-Human couples they had forced into marriage.

He had run checks on every staff member of all his residences, and he himself had even paid Rovuxo's home a visit, carefully disguised. It had been during the Spring Festival two years ago and he had gone around with a basket of decorative lanterns, ostensibly selling them from door to door to whoever wanted them.

He had actually managed to sell lanterns to his own aide and seen Rovuxo's three children, who had each got a lantern. He had also surreptitiously planted a tiny camera in the hall. It had possessed a cloaking device and been programmed to self-destruct after two months.

He had checked the recordings and found nothing amiss. His aide was a dedicated hardworking single father with a structured life and no ties to any anti-isolationist organisation or an unhealthily isolationist agency like the Tal Shiar, whom he had grown to despise. He had interrogated prisoners of whom he had known very well that they were innocent, or had committed small offences as innocuous as stealing fruit from a stand. One prisoner had suffered a stress-induced miscarriage during his interrogation. He had stared at her and not budged while she had gone into contractions, screaming, crying, clutching her stomach as if to keep her baby inside her uterus by force. After a while, he had called the guards and had her escorted back to her prison cell without medical aid. The baby had died, and he had had no idea what had become of her. Or rather, he had not wanted to know. As for the prisoner's husband, the Tal Shiar had dealt with him. Anyone caught criticising the Tal Shiar signed their own death warrant.

If Asha knew what he had done, she would be horrified. She would want to have nothing to do with him. These were secrets which often weighed heavily on his mind, and they were bad secrets to share with a lover, especially with Asha.

The next day, Vreenak was sitting at his desk in the Senate Building, staring at the letter in his hand. It was a polite, formal, in every way correctly written letter from Asha's husband Thorek tr'Darak, requesting an audience with him for reasons best kept between himself and the Senator. He smiled grimly. He had a very good idea what Thorek wanted to talk to him about. Or rather, about whom.

He read the letter again. Then he ordered the Senate secretary to contact Thorek and set up an appointment, forwarding his calendar with available time slots in advance. Then he sat back, thinking of her hand on his chest, her feet touching his, the warm metallic silver of her anklets soothing against his skin.

A week later, Thorek was accompanied by one of the Senate staff to Vreenak's office. He was shown in, the doors hissed closed behind him, and the two Romulan men stood facing each other.

"Jolan'tru, Deihu tr'Vreenak," Thorek said.

"Merken, please." Despite his readiness to relinquish his title, his tone still managed to convey distance. He was ill at ease speaking to the husband whose wife he loved.

"In that case, feel free to take the same liberty when addressing me," Thorek responded neutrally.

They both inclined their heads towards each other. "Please take a seat, Thorek."

"Thank you. I will be direct. I wish to talk about Asha."

Vreenak flushed a little. "That is hardly surprising. In fact I thought as much when I received your letter," he said after a small pause.

"Do you love her, Merken?" Thorek asked him directly.

"Yes," the Senator said without hesitation.

"Truly so?"

"With all my heart."

"So I think we can agree that we both love her," Thorek said.

Vreenak inclined his head again.

"I have encouraged her to deepen her bond with you. Now, I will make this brief, Merken."

He rose and fixated him with a piercing stare. "Can you promise me that you will treat her as your equal, that you will respect her and never harm her?"

Merken placed his fist on the left side of his chest. "I swear it."

"Should you tire of this arrangement, I ask you to be direct and honest."

"I agree, though it is extremely unlikely that I will ever tire of Asha."

"Finally, as you know, your former employers, the Tal Shiar, have little fondness for me and my wife. I do not wish them to darken our doorstep, even though, most ironically, our marriage is their doing."

Merken nodded. "Understood." He paused. "I place a burden on Asha if she accepts me as mate, for we will not be able to display our relationship in public. There are no rules for our type of love, neither on Romulus or on Earth. But there is condemnation."

"Love," Thorek said, "has its own unwritten rules...if at all."

"Yes." Merken got up abruptly and strode to the window, his hands behind his back.

"I have loved before, but not like this. Asha brightens my day with just one smile. Just by looking at me she can quietly wrest secrets from me. I sometimes speak to her about politics. She would make an excellent agent, were she inclined to work in politics, the military or intelligence; but she is free-spirited."

Thorek laughed. "Yes, she's very complex, all the more so that she can find it in her heart to love us both. She doesn't know I'm here. She would be annoyed and tell me I'm overprotecting her."

He studied Vreenak's sharp profile. "If the circumstances of my marriage had been traditional and I had had a clan, I would have been after your blood. As things are now, I see that you truly care for each other. But you stand between the Empire and your love for a Human, Merken, and of that I disapprove. Tell me, what will the repercussions be if you are found out?"

"My political career would doubtlessly suffer, and so would your wife's career as an author."

"It is her personal wellbeing I am concerned about."

"I would ensure her safety. My friend Delon tr'Letant would aid her and her family," he gestured at Thorek, "if it became necessary."

"I would give my life for Asha. See that you keep her safety in mind, otherwise, I will kill you." Thorek's voice was soft but deadly. Vreenak's eyes flashed.

The two Romulans stared at each other.

"I swear it upon my life and the honour of the Empire," Vreenak said at last.

"Good."

"Your statement could result in your imprisonment or permanent punishment by mining dilithium on Remus."

"I know. It is very simple. I love my wife."

"And I respect that, which is why I will tolerate your threat; but especially because Asha loves you. When she mentions you, I see the devotion in her eyes and hear it in her words. In this respect, I am being quite selfish, for if I punished you for your insolence, she would hate me."

"I don't see how you could be anything else as a politician," Thorek observed dryly.

"True." He paused, studying Thorek's face. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"No. That is all."

"I would have thought you might try to…facilitate the process of obtaining full citizen rights for her."

"You thought wrongly, then. Asha is proud as a Romulan and she also has her own view of what is fair and what isn't. She wishes to obtain her citizen rights through normal channels," Thorek said coolly.

"She told me the same thing. She will not physically deepen our bond until she gains full citizenship. Was it entirely her own decision?"

"It was. She didn't ask for help or advice in this matter. Asha is very independent. Well, Senator, I will be taking my leave now."

"Very well. I will not say that it was pleasant to meet you, because it wasn't," Vreenak said.

"It is good to know that we can agree on this aspect as well," Thorek countered smoothly. "Jolan'tru."


"A letter from the Senate for you, my Lady," Kihika said. Asha looked surprised.

"I thought the letter from Vreenak would remain the only one from a Senator I would ever get." She looked at the seal.

"Oh! It's from Senator Cretak! Let's see what it says, Kihika."

"Are you certain I can stay?" Kihika asked. She knew Asha regarded her as a friend, but she also knew that social status separated them and that she was a paid employee.

"Yes." Asha unsealed the letter with her required thumbprint and retinal scan. There were two PADDS. The first was a letter from the Senator.

Asha read it, and her eyes widened.

"Well, Kihika," she said. "She thanks me for my letter to her and sends me a special application for full citizenship. She says only members with full citizenship can be shortlisted for contributions to Romulan literature and culture. She thinks it would make sense if I submitted a request which will be undergo an accelerated process. She does say that it has to be accepted by three Senators, and these same Senators will examine me for two hours. Usually, there is a written part, but I would have the option to submit my book instead."

Kihika clapped her hands.

"Oh, my Lady, you must apply at once!"

"Yes; the Senator says I have three weeks from now to hand in my application. It will take some time to get the necessary documents together and send it off. I'm just dying to tell Thorek about this!"

Thorek was delighted. "Rhian was right. Publishing your book has opened doors for you in Romulan society."

"You've done tons for me, too."

True to his word, Thorek had combed the databases and Romulus's library for documents which would help Asha learn more about the planet. The PADDs Vreenak had lent her contained specific information on Romulus's legal and political system, information on the most important Romulan politicians, the Empire's expansion through space missions and conquests, and even details on the Treaty of Algeron. She also found a PADD describing how the Romulans had joined the Federation-Klingon alliance during the Dominion War. This was something she hadn't thought of. She was a Human, and there was a possibility that she would be grilled on Federation-Romulan contacts, with the expectation that she would praise the latter.

Thorek helped her get the necessary documents together for her citizenship request. She also shared the news with Rhian and, of course, Vekal. Asha knew that Christine had managed to become a Romulan citizen with full rights, but since she had given up their friendship for lost, she simply asked him how Christine was and didn't mention her in connection with the exams she had had to sit to obtain her full citizenship.

Asha also went very carefully through the second PADD Senator Cretak had sent her, especially the section listing the conditions under which citizenship rights could be revoked. She raised an eyebrow when she read that public criticism of the Romulan government - which, of course, included the Tal Shiar - was considered a grave crime punishable by a prison sentence or even execution. No wonder Romulan society was so paranoid, and if her request was granted and she passed the exams, she would become one of them.