NINETEEN: Potential
"I'm okay," The female reiterated between sniffles, curled around a pillow in the sleeping area and surrounded by Andorians. "I'm sorry. I'm okay."
Ambassador Thoris th'Kor of Andoria was disinclined to believe her. It was not unknown for interstellar travellers to encounter difficulties when experiencing new cultures –even amongst Andorians- but this teary-eyed display, however short-lived, had caught both himself and his aide off guard. Having already been partially integrated into the Andorians compound on Earth, he had expected a little more... resistance to such a thing.
Solicitously, Lt. Thelen knelt to the redheaded Terran's level and offered her another tissue, advising only, "Let the heat drop, Dagmar."
The female was out of sorts enough to need a moment to translate that –what a state!
He was not displeased, precisely, nor was he disappointed. He was merely surprised. Then again, he had been warned that the trip might cause some level of instability in the female, had he not? Ambassador Archer had delivered the warning himself.
But of all the forms that instability could have taken... A sobbing female is not a thing any male of any species wanted to deal with –not any that he had ever encountered in his extensive experience as an Ambassador, at least. But, the Andorian male reasoned, it was not unusual for Andorians to display their emotions similarly. Though Andorians, at least, had the sense to do it in private...
Small mercies, that entire episode had lasted no more than three minutes, and already she was apologizing and pulling herself together.
"-still your friends, Dagmar." Lt. Thelen was telling the female, and there was something about the way the woman nodded and visibly fought not to curl in on herself that reminded Thoris that she was fairly young –if not physically, then in spirit.
Yes, he knew something of the spirit, Human or otherwise. There was a phrase for those like the young translator amongst Andorians, but it rendered awkwardly in her speech –"those with new eyes"- and Thoris was not fond of the butchery the English language inflicted upon his own. More elegantly translated, it meant "one who has not been here before." Humans had a concept of the opposite, which they happened to share with Andorians; old souls. Miss Gunnarssen was a new soul.
It showed.
"This will pass." Shral said knowingly, touching the female's shoulder lightly with his fingertips, as Thoris observed from a few arm-lengths away. The attraction from one to the other was obvious –the aide could not have broadcasted it any more clearly- but whether or not it was returned was... indecipherable. It was entirely possible that the female had no idea what Shral had been stubbornly trying to communicate since she'd first walked into the Embassy.
Any other Andorian would have given up by now, Thoris thought absent-mindedly.
The aide had been the one to summon Lt. Thelen, moments after Miss Gunnarssen's composure fled. For all that the aide had a quick mind –a tactician's mind- and had proven both loyal and indispensible in his service, Shral was not particularly soft-hearted or sensitive by Andorian standards.
And Andorians standards in that respect were very different from Human standards.
"I'm sorry," The female repeated again, without the snuffles this time as she brushed her auburn hair out of her face and uncurled her limbs. "I'm sorry, Shral."
Oh? Perhaps she was not so ignorant after all?
"I didn't mean to freak out on you," Miss Gunnarssen continued with a grimace of visible chagrin and an apologetic brush of her fingers along the back of the aide's hand. Thoris tracked the shiver that followed, from hand to antennae, with knowing eyes and wondered idly if the woman knew what that meant.
Probably not.
It wasn't especially significant, the gesture, but it... implied a few things. Familiarity, for one. Affection, for another –and not the same sort that Lt. Thelen showed her, either, but something one might expect between a courting pair. Especially a courting pair that had already begun the bonding process.
It would be interesting to see how future events unfolded, from a diplomatic perspective. If the Human female could adapt and continued to prove herself as level-headed and useful as he thought, the possibilities for furthering the Earth-Andoria alliance were endless. To have a Human permanently employed within the Andorian government, especially one integrated into their society and able to act as a liaison as well as a translator...
Turning and leaving the female to compose herself, the Ambassador pondered the potential.
As for what his subordinates did in their spare time... that was beneath his concern.
