Tripp woke the next morning, finding himself on the floor in front of a dying fire. He stood. He could feel what sleeping on the floor had done to his body. Tonight, he was going to make sure that he slept in the bed. He wasn't as young as he thought he was. Tripp smiled. He was glad that he held his wife in his arms last night.
Tripp made his way to the bathroom to clean up. He was on a mission today to help the queen with her problem so he could go home and be with his family. He missed his wife and kids. He also missed the ship and his friends.
Tripp felt better after the shower and getting dressed. He left his room and made his way to the breakfast room where he was meeting the queen to figure out what he could do to help her. He also had to figure out who the queen was in love with and if her heir wouldn't mind taking on more responsibilities. He knew that he could only do so much, but he wanted to help in any way he could.
He entered the breakfast room and found the queen there with another woman. Tripp made his way to the table and took a seat at his place. He greeted the queen before turning to the other woman. He saw what a beautiful woman she. He looked between the two woman and saw the looks they were giving each other. He knew who the queen was in love with. He was ready to ask when the queen held up a hand to stop him. He nodded, looked around, and saw servants still in the room. He waited while they put food on their plates and the queen waved to them outside of the room.
As soon as the door closed, Queen Ewena took the other woman's hand. "Tripp, this is my lover, Diomira."
Tripp smiled at the woman. "It is nice to meet you, Diomira."
"You, too, Tripp," Diomira gave a strange look. "How is that your name?" She asked.
Tripp told her how he got his name. After his story, he looked at the woman and knew that it was true love because he would look at T'Pol the same way. "I'm here to help you," He looked at the women. "Is your heir near?" He asked.
"She lives in the city with her family," Queen Ewena said. She was trying to figure out where he was going with this.
"Do you think she would be willing to come to the castle?" Tripp asked.
The queen nodded. "Yes, she usually comes when I call unless she is having a family emergency."
"Okay, who sits on the council?" Tripp asked.
"Me and six others," Diomira said.
"Tell me about them," Tripp asked. Between Queen Ewena and Diomira they told Tripp about the other members of the council. Afterwards, he turned to Queen Ewena. "You said that you tried to change the law before. Who were the hold out?"
"Lord Zik and Lady Sinas," Queen Ewena said.
"Why?" Tripp asked.
The queen shrugged but Diomira looked at the queen one more time before turning to Tripp. "Lord Zik thinks that the queen should have married him because he is the only male on the council."
"Is he married now?" Tripp asked.
"Yes," Queen Ewena said.
"What about Lady Sinas?" Tripp asked.
"She is the oldest on the council," Diomira said. "She thinks that we should follow the old ways."
Tripp nodded. Trying to think about how to change he law to help the queen. "Having you tried giving them a reason not too?"
"Yes, they have threatened to take away the crown from me and give it to someone else. My family has ruled Tranirus for thousands of years," Queen Ewena said. "I don't think that people would know what to do with change and I care about this world and its people too much."
"If your family has ruled for thousands of years, you must have woman in your family that loved women instead of men."
Queen Ewena nodded. "Yes, they either went with the laws or gave up the throne to their younger sister."
"You are the only direct line of the old queen," Tripp stated.
Queen Ewena nodded. "I was my mother's only child. My parents were glad that they had me because after me my mother couldn't have any more children."
Tripp couldn't think about what it would be like to be an only child. He grew up with three siblings having someone to else play with. He was glad that his children had each other. He knew that T'Pol was an only child, but she had told him that she would have liked a sibling. He glanced at the queen and couldn't imagine what it would be like to grow up here without any siblings. It must have been hard.
"Do they have daughters?" Tripp asked. Queen Ewena and Diomira nodded. Tripp couldn't see him doing this to his daughter. He wanted her to be a strong woman and know her own strength and worth. He wouldn't put a stop to T'Mir for whoever she loved. He would support her in anything that she did. He knew his daughter would use logic just like her mother. "How soon can you get a council meeting?"
Queen Ewena smiled. "They must be ready whenever I call. They have offices in the castle." Tripp saw her smile and knew what an intelligent woman the queen was.
Tripp nodded. "Get your heir as soon as you can and hope they we can get a meeting with your council tonight." The queen nodded.
'Tripp.' Tripp heard his name in his mind. T'Pol was calling out for him.
Tripp stood. "Excuse me. Let me know when your heir arrives," The queen nodded. Tripp headed for the door.
He came to the first unlocked door and went in. He made sure that no one was in the room before calling out to T'Pol.
'T'Pol.'
'Tripp,' Tripp closed his eyes as he heard his wife's voice. He always loved hearing her voice. 'We are close to you. We can come and save you.'
'Wait. I have something going on and I want to see it through. I will contact you when I need a pickup.'
'Are you sure?' T'Pol asked.
'Yes.'
'Okay, we will wait until we hear from you,' T'Pol sighed.
'I love you,' Tripp said.
'I love you, too.'
There was a knock on the door of Tripp's room. Tripp took a sigh before opening it. There was a servant standing there. "The queen would like to see you," Tripp nodded and followed the man out to the hall.
The servant took him to the queen. Tripp found the queen in her office. There was another woman sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk. The servant announced him. The woman and the queen looked over at him.
"Please take a seat Commander Tucker," Queen Ewena pointed to the empty chair. Tripp went to take his seat and he heard the door close behind him. The queen waited until Tripp was sitting and the door closed with a click. "This is my cousin, Lannoih, she is my heir."
Tripp turned to the woman and smiled at her. "Ma'am," He didn't know if she had a title or not. He had a feeling that she did because she was the queen's cousin.
"Commander Tucker," Lannoih said in a strong voice.
"Tripp, please," Tripp smiled before turning to Queen Ewena. "Have you talked to her yet?"
"No, I waited until you got here," The queen turned to her cousin. "Lannoih, there is a reason I asked you to come to the castle," Lannoih nodded. "As my heir, are you okay with taking on more duties because I'm hoping to change the law about who I marry."
"You want to make it official that I am your heir and no matter what happens with you I will take over," Lannoih said.
"Yes," Queen Ewena said.
Lannoih turned to Tripp. "What does he have to do with this?"
"I am here to help," Tripp said. "I want to go home to my family. Your cousin wanted me as her husband, and I can't do that because I have a wife and children from where I am from."
"He is on our side and only wants what is best for us," Queen Ewena said. The queen glanced at the door. "You know who I love and want to be with. You also know who I have standing in the way of that."
Lannoih nodded. "Lord Zik and Lady Sinas," Lannoih looked at Tripp. "How is this time going to be different?"
"I am going to refuse to marry the queen. We'll have you willing to take place as the royal heir. I going to try to change the way they think." Tripp said.
Lannoih turned to Queen Ewena. "You know that I will help any way that I can."
"Thank you, Lannoih. If everything goes right, you and your family will have to move to the castle." The queen smiled.
"I understand," Lannoih smiled. "Are you willing to have four young girls in the castle?" Tripp saw the love that Lannoih had for her daughters.
"Yes, there needs to be noise in the castle again," Queen Ewena smiled.
"Like the noise we made," Lannoih smiled. Queen Ewena shrugged her shoulders. Tripp could see that they were closer than cousins, they were friends.
Tripp hated to break up the smiles, but they needed to get this done so he could go home to his family. "How soon can you get the council together?"
Queen Ewena glanced at the clock on her desk. "An hour," She pressed a button and the door to office opened. "Please get the council together," The queen said in a commanding voice. "I need them there in an hour."
"Yes, ma'am," The servant said. The servant left.
Tripp stepped into what looked like a courtroom. There were seven seats with a table in front of him. The queen and Lannoih took a seat in two of the three chairs in front of the seven seats. Tripp looked at the seven people sitting in front. Tripp took a breath before taking a seat in the last chair. He could tell who Lord Zik was because he was the only man on council. He saw Diomira sitting in one of the chairs. He saw two older woman and either one could be Lady Sinas. Tripp leaned closer to Queen Ewena. "Who is Lady Sinas?" He asked.
Queen Ewena pointed to the older woman at the end of the table. He nodded.
"You called this meeting, Queen Ewena," Diomira said to the room.
Queen Ewena stood. "Yes, I have found a husband," She pointed to Tripp. "Commander Charles Tucker the Third."
"Stand young man," Lady Sinas said. Tripp stood. He didn't think that he was that young anymore. He had a wife and kids. "How did you meet this young man?"
"On his ship, I saw what kind of father he was. He had two small children with his pervious wife," The queen looked at each of the council members. She didn't say that his wife was still alive and looking for him or that he wanted to go home back to his family.
"Commander Tucker, do you accept our queen's proposal?"
"No, what the queen forgot to say was that I am married to my wife, and I want to get home to my children. My ship is waiting for me."
"So, you turn down the queen to her proposal. Why?" Lady Sinas stood on the edge of her seat. "You could marry to a queen and have princesses for daughters."
Tripp looked right at Lady Sinas. "I love my wife. In her culture we are bond mates. I can't live without her, and she can't live without me. I want to be there to raise my children and watched them grow into men and women. The queen was only marrying me to please you because you won't let her marry the person she wants."
Lord Zik and Lady Sinas narrowed their eyes at him. "She needs heirs," Lord Zik growled.
"She has heirs. Lady Lannoih and her four daughters," Tripp pointed to Lannoih. "You don't like that she didn't marry you," Tripp told Lord Zik.
"It's about traditions," Lady Sinas said.
"Traditions are meant to broken or there would be no change in the world." Tripp looked at each of the members. "If my people didn't break traditions we wouldn't be in space, and I wouldn't be married to my wife."
"Your wife?" Lord Zik asked.
Tripp smiled. "My wife is from another planet. How was I to have children with Queen Ewena when we are from different planets?"
"We would have found a way," Lady Sinas growled at Tripp.
"Or Lannoih would be queen when I die and her daughters would rule this planet," Queen Ewena smiled. "We could take out the middle and I could just declare Lannoih my heir." Five out of the seven were nodding their heads agreeing with the queen. "And I can marry who I want."
"You want to marry Diomira," Lord Zik shouted.
"Yes," Queen Ewena didn't look over at Diomira but at Lord Zik.
"It is unacceptable," Lady Sinas shouted.
"Why?" Tripp asked her.
"There needs to be heirs," Lady Sinas narrowed her eyes at Tripp.
"The queen has heirs, not her own but a cousin, who has four daughters to continue her line."
"She is the last of the original line," Lady Sinas said.
Tripp nodded. They just hit it on the mark. Queen Ewena was the last of a long line of queens who had led this planet. "Times change," He mumbled. "Do you have daughters?" He asked the room.
Everyone but Diomira nodded. "I also have a daughter. She is only one but the light of my eyes. I know one day she might bring someone home that stole her heart and I'm going to have to let her go. I want my daughter to follow her dreams wherever that takes her. I want to see if she wants to go into space like her mother and I did. But the thing is I'm not going to stop my daughter from following her dreams.
"What are you showing your daughters and granddaughters when you are stopping the most powerful person on the planet from her dreams. That is, it is okay to dream, but only within a box. This is a planet that is ruled by woman, who have a mind of their own. Let your queen marry Diomira and see what they can do together. Lannoih is ready to take her place as heir apparent. Great things can happen from this," Tripp looked at each of the members. "So today I am standing here asking you to let this woman marry the person she wants?"
There were smiles from the council members. "You are right, Commander Tucker. I would never do this to my own daughter or granddaughters. Thank you for helping me see."
"I call for a vote," Queen Ewena said. She started to speak again.
"Wait, this isn't right," Lord Zik said.
Tripp turned to Lord Zik. "You are just upset that she never married you. Grow up." Tripp saw a smile on the queen's face.
"You called for a vote?" Diomira asked.
"Yes," The queen looked at each member. "For Lannoih to be my heir and for me to Diomira."
Six out of the seven members voted for it and Lord Zik was the only one who didn't. His vote didn't matter because a majority of the members said yes to the vote. Tripp was happy for them. It was time for him to go home to his family. He touched Queen Ewena on the arm. "I am glad for your happiness, but it is time that I went home to my family."
Queen Ewena nodded. "Yes, we will arrange a ship for you to meet your ship." Tripp nodded.
Two hours later, Tripp was back on the Enterprise with the captain and T'Pol. Tripp had told them what had happened. They took his story. Tripp and T'Pol exited the captain's ready room. Tripp took T'Pol's hand. "I am ready to see the children and spend time with you," T'Pol nodded and led him to their quarters where the children were.
Later that night after the kids were in bed. Tripp led T'Pol to their room. He kissed her. "You are my fairy tale," Tripp mumbled before falling on the bed with her. T'Pol gave him a look. "I'm explain later," He mumbled against her lips.