Title: After the Rescue

Part: NEW 54/73

Author: Karmen Ghia, karmen_ghia@yahoo.com

Series: TOS

Romance Code: S/Mc and then some.

Rating: NC-17

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html

See part one for disclaimers, etc.

"So," Maja said in Patois as he eyed Qhoshi over a cup of Relan tea in the Sa mansion later that evening. "The old Vulcans are worried about Laninin."

"They worry over nothing." Qhoshi was frosty. She'd been battered and hounded by SaCriz, SiJidi and SiJidi's cousin, SiRond, since Laninin's arrival in the Sa mansion. The Commune, on the other hand, simply absorbed him and Ling's staff into their midst and all was well. Not so for the Vulcans. It was hard to tell Laninin was blind because he learned to feel his way around so quickly but once they had spotted it they were all over Qhoshi to have him examined by a healer. This was not wearing the madam down, it was merely turning her to stone.

"They simply wish to see if his blindness can be cured, Qhoshi. That's all." Maja knew how grating the Sas could be when they were after something and he felt sorry for her.

"Laninin is none of their business." Cold as ice.

"True." Maja sipped some tea to warm up. He didn't know Qhoshi very well and Laninin hardly at all. The little boy he'd seen playing in the Commune had seemed happy and healthy enough. The older children and the Deltan twins, Ro and Ko, had made a safe environment for him and he was happy in it. This was, according to Qhoshi, very similar to his life in Ling's house on Dhrgestera.

"True, Qhoshi, but why have you never had him examined?" Maja asked mildly.

"That, Master Ghet, is none of your business." Qhoshi rose to close the interview.

Maja did not look up. "I suppose I could ask Ling, but it seems a shame to distract him from the currency emergency in the Sovla system." He looked up at her. "So you might as well sit down and work this out before you really annoy me, whore-girl." Maja could also be cold as ice.

Qhoshi sat and serenely wove her long fingers together to cover her discomfort. She'd never heard that tone from Maja but she could imagine how effective it was with the Klingons. She correctly read the meta-message to be 'cooperate with me or I throw you out on your empath whore ass and do as I please.'

"Thank you. Now," Maja said calmly, cleared his throat. "Please tell me why you never had Laninin's eyes examined."

"It did not occur to me."

"Why not?" Maja wondered why she was being evasive.

"It is not necessary for him to see."

"Why not?" Maja wondered if this was cruelty.

"Because he sees with his mind."

"We all see with our minds, Qhoshi," Maja sighed, thinking on whose son Laninin was and why Hobie had bought him. "Are you worried that physical vision will stunt his prophetic abilities?"

"Yes."

"Laninin is not property nor an animal to be trained. He is a sentient being, placed in your care through god's agency and it is your duty to care for him to the best of your ability, which includes his physical well being." Maja was trying not to lose his temper. If Ling and Hobie looked at every interaction as a business transaction they were going to catch hell from Maja. He couldn't really upbraid Qhoshi too much, she was, after all, merely Ling's employee. "Has Ling forbidden you to have him examined, possibly cured?"

"No. We do not feel there is anything about him to be cured."

"He cannot see, Qhoshi."

"It might be voluntary."

"SaBrzia's blindness is voluntary." Maja lowered his voice, which had risen in anger. "Laninin is a little boy who has never seen in his life."

"Master Ghet," Qhoshi said patiently. "Laninin is half Magidrian, quarter Cmovi and quarter Phol. All are empathic species whose bodies heal themselves automatically. He would not have been born blind if that were not the choice of a highly evolved being."

"You know, Qhoshi, I believe, as you do, that each soul makes choices before birth. However, most souls, once they are in bodies and have had a look around, so to speak, often choose to undo or modify those original choices. This is the free will part of the unknowable mind of god's plan for each and every one of us. So you and I, having this conversation, are part of that plan and it is now our mission as souls on the same path as Laninin to TAKE HIM TO A HEALER AND SEE IF IT'S A PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENT AND NOT JUST MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT GOD'S WILL!" Maja took a deep breath and composed himself. "And perhaps you are right, perhaps his sightless state is the conscious decision of a highly evolved being. In which case, we can have him fitted with a sensor suit and then he can run and play and go to school with the other children instead of having to be carried around like a basket."

"He runs and plays, Master." Qhoshi couldn't quite keep the hurt out of her tone. "We're not monsters."

"Oh, I know, Qhoshi, Laninin is fine in terrain he knows but now he's in a varied and changing environment and needs to be able to see. And if it is in our power to restore his sight, we would be ..." Maja hesitated over the word 'wicked' "... highly misguided not to do so."

Qhoshi lowered her eyes: "He's a very expensive investment, Master."

"He's a sentient being, Qhoshi." Maja said gently, thinking on the hard things he had to say to Hobie and Ling at the earliest moment. "And, in truth, all children are expensive investments, actually more like high stakes gambling. Laninin might not turn out to be what you hope, but with god's grace he will be what he is meant to be. So, tomorrow we'll make all the arrangements and you'll come with us?"

"Laninin will prefer Ro and Ko's company."

"The Deltans? All right. Couldn't Ling have picked better names for them?"

"They chose those names."

"Oh. By the way, Qhoshi, the Sas want to know what drugs Ro and Ko take to damp down their sexy Deltan pheromones."

"Nothing. They are half Cmovian and have the mental capabilities to direct their body chemistry into other channels. As a result they have stronger immune systems and more complex cykotonic and lymphocytonic circulation than other DelCheqs, which are usually quite fragile."

"Remarkably clever that. How do they know how to do it?"

"I taught them."

* * *

"I don't think she's cruel," Maja said, referring to Qhoshi, as he lay next to Sarek several nights later. "And she turned out to be right. No physical basis for the blindness: Laninin simply chooses not to see."

"Fascinating. Is it a psychological disorder?"

"No, I think not. He is in all other respects a normal five year old boy. It's just that his inner vision is so beautiful, why be distracted from it?"

"I cannot fathom it."

"I can fathom it but I can't imagine being blind. I hope I would have the inner resources to cope and the circumstances to devote myself to prayer and the aural joys of god's creation but I really don't know."

"And you will never have to find out, Maja, blindness can be cured if it is physical and a cure is desired."

"Yesssss. Laninin is very chummy with SaBrzia, who is teaching him Vulcan. We did get Laninin a sensor suit so he won't fall down the stairs or knock over a bronze so I guess that's all I can do for now. He's a nice little boy. I think he likes the bustle of the Commune."

"Will he want to leave it?"

"Probably not; I don't really know. Perhaps we'll all stay together somehow. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it." Maja curled into Sarek's arm. "Thank you for letting me sleep here. Those old men are driving me mad."

"Thank you for sleeping here, Maja, I am enjoying the sex and company very much." Sarek listened to Maja laugh for a moment. "What are the Sas doing to you?"

"They make me speak in grammatically correct complete Vulcan sentences."

"Madness," Sarek commiserated. No one spoke that way in Shirkar, it was considered effete.

"Yes, very. And then when I do escape to go paint T’Paga’s portrait she laughs at my silly language."

"I can not imagine any Vulcan matron laughing at you, Maja, especially T'Paga."

"Well, she teases me."

"Do you really mind?"

"T'Paga's teasing? Heavens no. She's the perfect woman, you know."

"She is quite well thought of in society," Sarek agreed. T'Paga and her husband, Spoda, were invited everywhere and were in turn gracious hosts.

"That's because she's the perfect woman," Maja persisted.

"Yes, my Maja." Sarek stroked the half Mage's shoulder. "How bad is Ling's currency problem? I heard some news that Talljet Inc. was in serious trouble."

"Well, I'm not sure," Maja stated. "After Ling finished screaming at me for upsetting Qhoshi and interfering with Laninin, she told me that the entire financial system in the Sovla system went belly up because one planet started to print baskets of money to keep the army at work defending them from whoever is running amok there at the moment and it destabilized the currency agreements or something and now we are flat broke so stop spending money this instant. What I really think it means is that Ling is having a cash flow crisis and is down to her last nth gillion kaZillion credits and is overreacting. I've heard this flat broke story before and I think it's all a matter of degree."

"She?"

"Oh. Yes. I guess you don't know Ling is pregnant and totally annoyed. Says the timing is bad. What an idiot. No such thing as time."

"And the father is?" Sarek asked.

"Stez, of course!" Maja rolled his eyes. "Really Sarek, we're not all whores and scoundrels..."

"I never implied that, Maja."

"Ha! Well, never mind. It's incredible to me that Ling and Stez are still together. It's about thirty years, can you imagine?"

"Yes, Maja, I can." Sarek thought of Amanda for a moment but pushed it away. "When will the baby be born?"

"About six months; that's usual for us Talljets. Ling's the last of us. I was first, then Hobie, then Jir, now Ling. The JetCheqs are delighted to have more cousins on the way. I am delighted as well," Maja said thoughtfully. "I will be more delighted when the trial is over and I can make plans for the future. We can make plans for the future."

"Yes, since this trial will probably destroy my diplomatic career, I will have lots of free time."

"Then come with me to the Commune."

"Not as long as Amanda lives there, Maja. We have caused her enough suffering."

"I assume she'll stick with MajaKhat and neither he nor Hraja will ever return to the Empire, which is where most of the Commune will go after all this is over; that would include you and me."

"You would be mad to return there."

"Nonsense, I'm St. Gozine, remember."

"I do but the Yhets will have short and vengeful memories of your sainthood."

"Well, perhaps you're right," Maja said vaguely to avoid an argument. "But it's a big galaxy outside of the Empires and Federations. We'll go somewhere and I'll teach drawing and you can get a job haggling or helping to plan robberies or something. We'll survive; even flourish."

"Yes, my Maja," Sarek murmured sleepily and wondered if Maja would still want this future after Hobie's trial.

* * *

Spock had arrived on Vulcan and found himself in a dilemma: Go home and pay his respects to his father, go to the Gozshedrefreingin Commune and pay his respects to his mother, or go find Maja at the Sas and see what happens. Since it was late morning, he decided to call on his father, who would not be home but Sredia would tell him of Spock's visit. Then go to the Sas, visit his mother and make contact with Maja.

All went as planned until Spock arrived at Sa's kitchen door and wished SiRond, who was already older than god's wet nurse, a long life and prosperity.

"Spock." SiRond thought about this concept for a moment. "Spock. I'm not sure you're allowed in here anymore."

"I see." Spock clasped his hands behind his back. "May I know why?"

"Something in the connection between Maja's departure and you that caused SaBrzia to have a negative opinion of you and therefore ban you from the house," SiRond said.

"But Maja has returned," Spock ventured. "Has the ban not been lifted?"

"Well, I doubt it but that's a good argument." Tiny ancient frail SiRond stepped back from the door he was blocking. "Come out of the sun but wait here for me. I'll go present your cause."

"If you see my mother, will you tell her I am in the kitchen?" Spock asked, feeling like a twelve year old.

"Amanda-anas is visiting T'Pau, Spock. Won't be back until dinnertime." SiRond threw this over his shoulder as he tottered across the kitchen and struggled through the swinging door.

Spock looked around him. He considered taking a seat at the big table and decided against it. It would be undignified if he were thrown out, even more so if he had to rise to be thrown out. He stood at parade rest and reviewed the unchanged contents of the antique kitchen. Hearth, grill, sinks, pantry, spices and vegetables drying on a string strung over the high wide windows - it was the same as the last time he had walked Maja home and they had sat in the inglenook by the fire, drinking tea and ....

"SaBrzia says the ban remains." SiRond broke roughly into Spock's reverie. "However, if you're looking for Maja, he's at T'Paga's house. Do you remember how to get there from here, Spock?"

"Yes. Thank you, SiRond."

"Oh, I'm not worried about you, I want you to show Tien how to get there. Maja wants him to pick up some art supplies at Svik's store and I'm afraid he'll get lost."

Tien glided in and drawled in his Rom accented Vulcan that he would not get lost, that he never got lost and if he did get lost, he would find his way back. He frowned and looked wounded by SiRond's lack of confidence, which had zero effect on that Vulcan. "I have the list and the addresses. I don't want a guide. I don't need a guide." He looked at Spock. "Oh, hello again. Are they asking you to steer me around? Well, you needn't trouble yourself. I will be perfectly fine." Tien looked down at the addresses and up at Spock. "Except, I wonder if you can tell me, what does 'fifth blue door after the big tree next to the children's fountain in the second middle shopping area' mean?

Spock looked at SiRond. "Has Svik moved his shop?" he asked, intrigued but slightly distracted by a low ringing in his ears. Vulcan shops never moved unless their premises were destroyed.

"No, no. Only the city built a new shopping area to the east of it when they built the new suburbs. So now it's the 'second middle shopping area' instead of the 'middle shopping area'. Spock, will you please show Tien where to go?"

"I'm sure he can find it on his own." Spock received a brilliant smile from Tien for this show of confidence and solidarity. "However, since T'Paga's house is in that direction, I will just point out the way when we part."

"I will worry..."

"SiRond, I assure you, Tien can take care of himself."

"That's rrrright!" Tien drawled.

"Then I will worry about anyone unfortunate enough to meet him on the way," SiRond drawled, swiveled and tottered out of the kitchen with what was left of his dignity.

"Where are your brothers and Kalzat, Tien?" Spock asked as they walked down the deserted midday streets.

"Farro goes to the Preparatory Institute and Hraja and Kalzat suffer from the heat so they have to work in the house." Tien flipped his braid off his shoulder. "Plenty to do in there, you know, it's a wreck inside. "

"I was last in the Sa mansion before you were born, Tien. They never lived in more than ten percent of it for as long as my father can remember."

"That's true. It must have been a lovely place and will be grand again when we're done restoring it."

"Did you see Maja's studio?"

"Which room?"

"The long one with big windows on the second level. He painted a mural of all his friends on one wall. I am in it. There was a purple couch in it last time I was there."

"I've seen a room like that but no mural." Tien omitted the fact that in this room one of the walls had been whitewashed. "Perhaps I'm confused. You could show me sometime."

"I am forbidden to enter."

"Why?"

"The Sas hold me responsible for Maja leaving Vulcan many years ago."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for a while.

"We part here, Tien." Spock said. "There is your tree and fountain and the shop is in that group of buildings to the left."

"Are there no signs or numbers, Vulcan?"

"Just look in the blue doors and ask for Svik until you find him." Spock turned to go.

"Spock," Tien said. "Listen, about this address for T'Paga. Is this really 'the little house with the big tree in the yard, six from the penultimate corner of the cluster'?

Spock looked down at the paper Tien held and recognized Maja's spiky Vulcan cursive with annotations and grammar corrections from the Sas. He mentally upbraided Maja for sending Tien off into Shirkar with so poor a map. He then realized he'd never known T'Paga's official address, only how to get there, which is what these directions explained if you knew how to read them.

"I do not know T'Paga's house number. Let us go to Svik's shop and I will look it up in his directory and then we can go together." Spock suggested.

"Oh, that's a good idea." Tien assured him.

Tien might have liked to look around a little but Spock took him directly to the dim little shop.

Svik greeted Spock as if he'd just seen him yesterday instead of twenty years ago.

Spock turned to introduce Tien whose eyes were glued to Maja's drawings behind the counter.

"Shall I bring down your parent's drawings for you to examine?" Svik very nicely offered.

"Oh, yes. If it's not too much trouble." Tien was dying to look at these drawings. "Here, I'll do it." He took the step ladder from Svik and had the framed pieces on the counter in a twinkling. He leaned over them as if trying to read something under the crosshatching.

"Do you remember these, Spock?" Svik asked.

"Yes. I remember him making this one of the children's fountain," Spock said softly.

"Can you move a bit, Vulcan? You're in the light," Tien muttered. "Why do they call it the children's fountain?"

"It is where the children of this district play in the hot weather." Spock told him as he stepped back and to the left.

"Did you?" Tien asked distractedly, admiring the rendering of the site, choice and composition of the view. He would go have a look to assess the verity of Master Ghet's draftsmanship.

"No, I lived in a different district. I believe Ling did."

"But not Master Ghet, uncle Jir or Hobie?"

"They were a little too old." Spock said, remembering a late night swim with Maja that had ended quite pleasantly.

"And this?" Tien gestured to the drawing of the big tree.

"I remember him talking about it. He said he wanted to capture the essence of the tree. I did not understand his meaning."

"Do you?" Tien asked Svik brusquely.

"I have looked at that tree everyday for the past one hundred and seventy-two years and yet when I think of the tree, it is this drawing I see in my mind," Svik told him and received a Maja-esque smile for his honesty.

"I must have a look at that tree, indeed." Finding a kindred spirit in Svik, Tien began to relax and enjoy himself. "And this?"

"My shop," Svik said. "Maja often drew or painted pictures of homes or businesses and gave them to the inhabitants as gifts."

"You will see a painting of T'Paga's house when we arrive, if she still has it," Spock prompted.

"Oh, that's right!" Tien looked up at Svik. "I completely forgot what we were about. Here, I'll put these back." He rehung the drawings. "Listen, Svik-anas," he added the Klingon honorific because he felt the Vulcan deserved it. "Can I bring my brothers and cousins to see these? They will be fascinated."

"You JetCheqs are all welcome here, Tien," Svik told him.

"JetCheqs?" Spock inquired.

"Yes, indeed. There are so many half Talljets here in Shirkar, the town's picking up our Talljet slang." Tien smiled up at him.

"Indeed, Tien. Hochofedra." He shrugged awkwardly but Tien was delighted.

"Hochofedra, indeed." Tien shrugged happily. "Svik-anas, please, can I have what's on Master Ghet's list here? I don't know what half of this is."

Svik launched into a long and detailed explanation of his favorite subject: The technical development of Vulcan painting. Maja's request was mainly for paints and paint fixer - a substance of powdered crystals that set the color and kept the pigment from melting in the extreme Vulcan heat.

"You must take care when you handle the fixer because if enough works under your skin it will eventually poison you." Svik cautioned. "And if you don't die from it, you will want to. My aunt had that happen, she was sick for three years and cannot even look at a paintbox now."

"Astonishing! Does she still make art?"

"She switched to ceramics."

"Does she glaze?"

"She uses the natural glazes. Salt, blood, ground up insects, tree sap, crushed grasses, fruit juice ...."

Spock looked at his wrist chrono as Svik wound down through his list.

Unlike Svik, Tien had not missed the VulCheq's impatient gesture.

"Well, I'll certainly bring all the JetCheqs here for a visit," he said, gathering up Maja's parcels and handing a few to Spock. "You are the most fascinating Vulcan I've met thus far, Svik-anas. Adieu."

"I shall look forward to it, Tien. Your total comes to two hundred and sixty-five credits, less Maja's discount of ten percent, that's two hundred and forty-eight point five credits."

"Oh," Tien said thoughtfully. "Money."

Spock handed Svik his credit chip.

"I could simply send Maja a bill," Svik offered.

"It is not necessary, Svik, he will repay me." Spock at least hoped so.

"Thank you, Spock-anas," Tien murmured sotto voce as Svik ran Spock's chip.

Spock nodded gallantly.

The Vulcans made their farewells and Spock and Tien left.

"That was so nice!" Tien enthused. "Can we go by the fountain and the tree?"

Spock allowed him a quick look and then hustled him off in the direction of T'Paga's house.

It was a twenty minute walk through an old and pleasant neighborhood that was old enough to have big trees but too young for the profound decay of the Sa mansion. This had been where the newly independent vassals of the old families had settled when the ancient fiefs were broken up after the Vulcan Civil War. The homes were modest but were surrounded by large lots, which were cultivated for food. Some of them still were cultivated for food but most of what Tien saw were cool shady gardens full of lovely flowers and vines. This cluster of homes had been settled by the vassals that fought for Surak and so was on high ground with good soil and a reliable water source.

The vassals that remained loyal to the Sas, the primary and founding clan of the Shirkar oasis, had settled further east, in the shadow of the Sa mansion. They lived on sandy soil and very little water. They became skilled at divining water or they died out or they moved into the Sa mansion and then died out.

But T'Paga's family had been on the winning side of the Vulcan Civil War, and aside from surviving into the twenty-third century, they hadn't gotten much joy from it.

However, in the less distant past, T'Paga's family had greatly benefited from her and her bondmate's friendship with the Talljets. Previously, they had been minor gentry that had never really reaped the financial benefits of fighting for Surak's cause two thousand years ago. They were gentle scholars, governesses, tutors and small farmers with small prospects. T'Paga and her bondmate, Spoda, had befriended Maja and Ling at middle school and the small publishing house Spoda inherited had flourished from its exclusive rights to Ling's writings and all the business they could handle from Talljet Inc. Rising out of genteel poverty had elevated their social position in Shirkar as well. T'Paga and Spoda were asked everywhere and T'Paga was a gracious and fascinating hostess whose invitations were very much sought after.

Spock knew all this from his mother's frequent informative letters and SaGolia's chatty annual birthday letter to him. He exchanged the occasional note with T'Paga but she was too shy to ever mention her social successes. He was wondering if he would be allowed into her home without an express invitation. He recalled that Sredia had not invited him into his father's house and still stung slightly from being tossed out of the Sa mansion. He had great hopes of T'Paga's hospitality because she was, after all, the perfect woman.

end of part 54

This story also lives at http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/

Or http://karmen_ghia.tripod.com/ (tripod is making changes)

Or http://oocities.com/karmen_ghia/ (if tripod misbehaves)

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html

Request: If I cited something from one of your stories or someone you know, please let me know via email at karmen_ghia@yahoo.com or karmen_ghia@hotmail.com or leave me a note on the guestbook at http://www.oocities.org/Paris/Tower/2547/atr.hmtl Please be specific on the who and the what because I plan to thank all the sources for this (aside from those in my head) but I've read so much slash, fanfic, erotica, and other that it's all just a big melange and I can't remember most of who wrote what or where it came from. It is very possible that I unwittingly have referred to an event or a character from someone else's work and I would very much like to thank them for writing something so terrific that it penetrated so deeply into my subconscious that not even I realized it was there. Until you let me know. So please, help me out if you are so inclined. Thanks.