Romulus Reborn: Forging Bonds of Home
Hi everyone, I'm back with the sequel to my previous story "From the Romulan Empire with Love" after an embarrassingly long 3 years. This story doesn't take the latest series Star Trek: Picard into consideration for the simple reason that it wasn't and isn't airing where I live. I'll just have to catch up with it later.
This fic is also inspired by "A Place Called Home" by Ellen Fitzwilliam Brandybuck, as it includes a determined Human-Vulcan woman in her story and Liruna-Rani, who's the main protagonist in my story, is a Human-Romulan woman struggling to fit in.
Liruna's parents are Asha and Vekal. I was delighted to see how much love especially Asha got from you, and she will naturally be starring in this fic as well. Letant will also be there, making an occasional nuisance of himself.
Vocab lesson: "daehlen" means "friend," "rinam" means "sister".
And now – enjoy, and please submit your comments!
Chapter 1: Homesick
"Delon tr'Letant! What kind of rubbish have you been telling Lira?" Asha's voice blasted through the house. Letant winced and rubbed his pointed ear delicately; but he also smiled at the same time.
"I haven't told her anything alarming," the exiled Senator said mildly.
"Delon, an elephant is a mammal. It doesn't lay eggs, and you know it," Asha Sen t'Jo'rek educated him.
"It must have slipped my mind," he said, his eyes crinkling with mischief.
"Like the time you told her that fish fly and that their fins are wings?"
"Possibly."
"You are incorrigible. And I hope you're not impregnating half the town. I've heard rumours, and I hope they're lies."
"There is a grain or two of truth in them," he admitted sheepishly. "But I can assure you that I have not sired any progeny. I just enjoy...poking around. I still have lots to discover over here on Earth."
"Delon, you can be so vulgar sometimes. I hope you weren't like that on the Senate floor," Asha said with disgust.
"Maybe just a little."
Asha smiled and shook her head as she sat down next to him. Then she became serious.
"Lira is asking many questions about Romulus. I wish my daughter could see her other home."
"On Romulus, people will be more suspicious about her roots than over here on Earth, Asha," Letant said gently.
"I have thought about that. And while everything in me wants to protect her from suffering, I know it's not feasible. And the last thing I want to be is a hovering parent. Vekal and I have discussed it, and we would like to send her to the Romulan farms over here."
"Interesting for what you would call a well-heeled Romulan."
"Comfort cannot be taken for granted. The earlier she learns that she must work to achieve her goals, the better. And as a Human-Romulan, she'll probably have to work a hundred times harder to prove herself. It's better if she starts early."
"It sounds like a Vulcan upbringing."
"Oh, Navok had a few ideas, too," Asha said, referring to her cousin Maya's Vulcan husband.
"May I add some of mine as well?" Letant asked eagerly.
"No," Asha said flatly.
"I thought as much."
"Not because you're not a parent. It has nothing to do with that. But because you're always up to no good."
"With all the back-breaking work you're intending to inflict on that poor girl of yours, she needs someone around her who has a sense of fun."
"You are really incorrigible, my daehlen."
"But still you have the tiniest amount of affection for me, my rinam."
She stood up and kissed his forehead.
"Always. But..." she raised a stern finger, "don't think you can get away easily with all your mischief, Delon. I still remember how I wanted to give birth in my bathroom because of you. I was very pleased when Lilou peed on your leg." She swept out of his room, shaking her head.
Letant chuckled. He doted on Asha and her family. He would think back to the days when his closest friend Merken tr'Vreenak and Asha had been lovers. Every year on the day they had fled from Romulus to Earth and on their birthdays, family, close friends and the Romulan community would hold a small ceremony to commemorate him, Thorek and Christine. Liruna, who was seven, knew about them. Her parents had made sure to tell her about her roots in what André called a child-friendly manner.
It wasn't surprising for Liruna to want to know more about the second home she had never seen with her own eyes.