A Walk in the Past

Posted on 07 Aug 2009 @ 3:45pm by

3,309 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Timeline: After 'the interview'

"I could quite happily have lived without witnessing that," Isha said to Lieutenant Elek as they emerged from the observation room. "I know it is very late but I don't really feel like sleeping. If you will indulge me I would like to pretend that I am not cooped up on a Federation starship and go somewhere beautiful where I can clear my head ... somebody must have a suitable holodeck programme."

Elek nodded, half-distracted. He was, despite himself, disturbed at what he had just witnessed. Not for the way it had occurred, but because he had derived some illogical, irrational pleasure at seeing Nniol being brought down a few pegs. It was about time he was taught a lesson - Elek was just surprised he was so pleased he had witnessed it. He agreed with Isha - he needed to clear his head too.

He and Isha walked in thoughtful silence to the holodeck, and Elek keyed in a sequence. "Computer," he said, "initiate programme Elek-4."

The doors opened, and Elek stepped aside to allow Isha to enter first.

Following her in, Elek found himself relaxing almost immediately. The simulation was almost perfect - it was late evening, and the moons were out in force, so was well-light. They were stood on a cliff-top, looking down over a forest-lined basin, with wild horses running around, even at this hour. On their level, farmland lay all around, with a large farmhouse in the distance.

"El-Auria," he said, a smile touching his lips. "The southern continent of Matraya, twelve miles from the regional capital."

Isha could almost taste the change in the air, she moved forward, closer than anyone ought to stand to the edge of a cliff, "A place I have never been and can never visit ... is this how it was?" she asked with a smile spreading across her face.

Elek nodded. "As close as it can be. A collective of El-Aurian refugees pooled their collective memories, as well as using archival material that was saved, to create a holographic replica, to serve as a constant reminder of what we lost." He sighed. "I don't come here too often - it ... makes me want to stay. That farmhouse over there ... it belonged to me."

She turned back from the cliff. "I don't now what I would do if ch'Rihan ceased to exist ... I probably would not take others to see recreations, but I think you have a little more time to be circumspect, yes. We nearly lost it once, and I was part of one of several governments in exile ... the same would happen, I suppose." Isha looked at Elek again, "I'm sorry, it must be difficult for you to be here ... why did you choose here?"

"As a reminder," he said. "To me, that all things must pass. That this moment is merely transitory, and we should ... accept it for what it is. A learning curve. Sometimes a painful one." His gaze brushed the farmhouse, before looking down into the basin again. "That joy can be found in the most unlikliest of moments, as can pain. We must accept the lessons we are given, even if we do not like them."

Isha wandered back from the cliff edge, "That is a relatively easy perspective for one to take if one's life could last a thousand years ... I apologise Elek, I don't mean to bite, I just cannot help it."

Elek shrugged. "I'm not offended. It's true - I can take a different perspective to you shorter-lived races. But don't think it's an easier option. The longer view means you just see people making the same mistakes over and over ... and over again. Often the same people, but species too. And you see the people you care about gone in a flash." He offered a wan half-smile. "It's not easy, ma'am. I envy your lifespan as much as you might envy mine."

Kicking off her shoes Isha wriggled her toes in the cool grass, "I'm such a peasant!" she said with a laugh. "Let's walk this way,†with a sweep of her arm Isha indicated a path down to the trees, “Our memories are very long though … 1700 years ago When the clans that form my husband's family were laying the foundation stones of Ra'tleifhi, mine were still making war on each other and on anyone foolish enough to venture into the hills above Ramnau, when the Illialhlae decided to expand their holdings towards Ramnau the massed clans of the Khelliana fell on them reducing their numbers and their ambitions somewhat. The families never really saw eye-to-eye after that, and oddly, for what became two of the wealthiest and most powerful Houses in the Empire there was very little interbreeding ... that is one of the reasons my marriage seemed like such a good idea … yet somehow my son seems to have inherited the worst traits of both bloodlines – the Khellian’s unpredictable fire and the unparalleled cunning of the Illialhlae among them. I’ve talked a lot about myself Counselor Elek, and if I may I’d like to talk a little more.â€

Elek nodded. "I welcome it, madam. However, I doubt very much I'll be counselling you much during our discussion. Perhaps just Elek would do, as some people have been known to call me."

“If as ‘just Elek’ you will continue to treat my words as confidential I will call you Elek.â€

"You know it, Madam."

“The first time I was required to speak before the Senate my performance was an absolute shambles … anyone being kind might say it was mediocre. I was twenty five, not even the age of majority in our society, and there I was making demands on behalf of my mother! What one is taught about procedure and protocol is difficult to apply in practice when one’s audience is not inclined to agree and has multiple opposing agendas … by the time my ten minutes were through I was ready to shut myself in a room for the rest of my life, or at least find an alternative career. I failed to persuade them of my point and as I sat fuming on the wall that edged a marble fountain, the words of the next speaker floating through the half open door, a stranger approached me. ‘You misread them’ he told me, ‘You alienated your natural allies and insulted enemies who share your interests. Speak that way to your dressmaker by all means, but if you want to achieve anything of note within these walls learn something about the people you seek to influence.’ Quite unexpectedly I acquired a mentor who took my natural flair for politics and shaped it into something practical.â€

Elek was intrigued, but also thought he knew the answer. "Who was your mentor?"

Isha turned her head, looking back at him over her shoulder as she raised an eyebrow, "We just watched him 'talking' with T'Pal," she said distantly, "He had been filling that role for decades, I had been filling it for a day - the Llaugh the official representative of one's House is an important position. I learned much."

Elek caught up with her and indicated that they should walk around the farmhouse. He had no particular desire to go in there today.

"Sounds like you and he were close, once."

Isha nodded and allowed Elek to lead the way - it was his memory after all. "We were close," she said, "he was about the age I am now, and quite charming. Our friendship was entirely political," she added, fixing Elek with a look intended to crush any suspicions he might be building, "Or I believed it to be ... never in all those years did he give any impression that he had more than a platonic interest in me. Perhaps this is where I ought to have started when we last spoke at length," she considered the possibility but knew that her original decision had been correct; it was her continuing conflict that caused her to try and illustrate how complicated things were for her.

"Judgements aren't mine to make here," Elek said placidly. "After all, that's *your* memory", he added with a smile. "I try avoid making judgments where I can - it's the politician in me."

"Of course, Counselor Elek," Isha agreed - he was peeking and he had told her so, but she did not wish to make an issue of it; it was inevitable. "There is a politician in all of us - some more than most. I have never met anyone before or since who is so incisive about others - I was and remain an amateur next to him, and I am known in the right circles for being an accurate judge of people."

"What's your opinion of the warbird commander who is currently escorting us? I ask for my own safety as for anyone else."

Isha shrugged. "He is an unknown to me. Stiff, humourless. I don't think he likes me, but he was courteous enough. If he dislikes me he likes the Klingon less."

"Romulans and Klingons have never particularly liked each other," Elek replied with a wan smile. "I remember once, just before the Organian Peace Treaty, my eighth wife was stationed on -" He stopped, remembering their earlier conversation. "Apologies."

“Lieutenant Elek!†Isha cried, throwing her hands in the air for effect, “If I had thought you would take it as an order to be silent on the matter I should never have made that remark about your wives.â€

Elek laughed. "I was wondering how long it would take before you were so irritated by me that it would drive you to despair." He stopped, and looked out over the landscape. "Sometimes, you have to take humour where you can find it."

"You do not strike me as a man who lacks humour, Elek," Isha said joining him. She extended an arm, "You should lead the way," she said, "just nowhere too prickly," she added, glancing down at her bare feet.

The El-Aurian considered it for a moment, then pointed left, for no other reason than he was left-handed and was feeling in that sort of mood.

"So," he said, "your relationship with Nniol? He must have resented you, as you grew in confidence and influence?"

"He did not resent me until I became pregnant with my eldest son, not openly anyway," she considered for a moment the warning Latasalaem had given her shortly after her marriage (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DS5IC/message/640); of course he had resented her long before that, probably even before her betothal to his brother. Isha continued, however, "I was an experiment, in part ... he was intrigued to see what he could make of me, one gets to know a person very well over ten years, even across the senate floor. We met for first-meal most days when we were both present, analysed yesterday and planned the morning ... I think we were talked about, not least because his brother was so withdrawn and was not expected to remarry.

"Nniol had the sense not to instruct me, I don't take being told what to do very well. He saw that, and guided me, he set traps for me on those occasions where our interests diverged and when we met across the Senate floor, he forced me to make mistakes which I did learn from, wheras if he had tried to tell me, I would have ignored it."

Elek nodded. "Clever," he said simply, watching them gradually approach the edge of the Yarek Forest across the short grass.

Isha sighed, "You only see what is there now. They were both extremely good looking men, though it turns out that Nniol carries his age better than his brother did - he's 140 now, but clearly still has the strength of a much younger man. They were so alike ... "

"That's barely middle-aged for a full-blooded Romulan, so I can't say I'm surprised. Did you ever have any feelings towards Nniol?"

Isha's cheeks darkened a little, "I do like that I can rely on you not to prevaricate, Elek," she said running her thumbnail between her teeth, "I was very young, naturally I was ... impressed, but I was never going to have any choice over my husband; given our status any such liaison would have required the consent of our respective hru'hfirh, my mother and his brother."

Elek nodded. "And that, I can imagine, would never have happened."

He stayed silent for a moment, then went on. "You and Nniol are both passionate defenders of your House. It's just a shame that his arrogance precludes him from willingly working with other people."

Isha rolled her lower lip between her teeth, "I have no evidence, Elek, pure speculation, but I think he did ask his brother about it, only finding that I was available, so to speak, Nveid decided to take me me for himself. If you look at this from a certain perspective all Nniol is doing is attempting to correct what he sees to be a string of very ancient wrongs against himself ... I am both integral and incidental to that process. For certain I have tried to get him to work with me but that is not what he wants, he will not accept my authority over him or allow me any power other than what he grants to me."

"Hmm," said Elek thoughtfully. "There must have been ... times ... opportunities ...when you could have 'taken him out,' as humans would say."

Isha bit her cheek. Hard. She turned on Elek, "Why do you people always assume that because I am Romulan I am also by nature some form of assassin?" she almost raised her voice as she said it. "And given the nature of what I have just told you I was hardly in a positiion to make such a judgement, and why would I have done? " Isha flared, swinging round and plucking leaves from an unsuspecting bush in her annoyance.

"What do you actually think I would achieve against him? And what do you think the consequences would be if I were wrong? "

Elek stared back at her with an equal, and unexpected, amount of passion. "And what makes you think I was suggesting that because you were a Romulan? That was *your* assumption, not mine! I would have raised that thought no matter what species you were. Do not forget, I was once married to a Romulan, and have a half-Romulan son, so I am well aware of how much more Romulans are than their stereotypes."

He took a breath, exhaled it slowly, and calmed his breathing.

"I was raising the subject because I can't imagine *anyone*, regardless of their species, not considering that as an option if they were in a similar situation to yourself, and I imagine that you must have considered the consequences of your actions. You know far better than me what the outcomes would be. I would be interested to hear what your opinions are on the subject!"

"It would have started a war, Elek! One does not split a Great House in two without reprisal - this is not an arguement over the position of a garden fence or who gets grandmother's best teapot - it is about control of immense wealth, a private fleet, senate seats - its about much, much more than me and therefore my first duty is to the integrity of my House and the stability of the Empire above any personal thoughts of revenge I might carry in my heart."

Elek stopped walking, and took a mental step back. "And *that* was what I wanted to know," he said quietly. "Whether your personal interests would have risen above the interests of your House. You have answered my question. Thank you."

"Have I not been saying it all along?" Isha snapped, the resentment that bubbled inside her at this continued refusal to believe her creeping into her tone. "I don't require your thanks for doing my duty as hru'Hfirh of of one of the pre-eminant hfihar of the Rihannsu Stelam Shiar."

Elek smiled broadly. "Good," he replied cheerful, "because I wasn't thanking you for that. Romulans are stubborn people, and I wouldn't patronise you by giving thanks for something I'm in no position to thank you for. I just wanted to thank you for continuing to be honest. As I know you would do if our situations were reversed."

Isha was not so amused, "to outsiders mhnei'sahe may seem to be a notoriously opaque and fickle code, Elek, but my intentions are unlikely to change on a whim," she said folding her arms around herself, "perhaps you would like to remember that the next time you wish to verfiy the degree of my honesty."

Elek sighed, and decided to stop there - it was a debate he was quite clearly never goint to win. She would never see that he did respect her, and that he appreciated her unique understanding on the situation.

"You remind me of my wife, you know," he said instead. "My Romulan wife, that is. She was passionate about her beliefs, and had no fear in telling me what she thought. I admired her so much for it."

"Naturally. I hardly thought you would be referring to the years you spent with a Horta." Isha said a little tartly, "You're the closest I have to a friend on this ship, Webb will not come closer than he must, and I don't think T'Pal is capable of higher feelings ... I have noone else to talk to."

Elek chose to exercise the better part of valour and ignore the comment about T'Pal - at least for the moment. He had a lot of respect for the security chief, and certainly didn't share Isha's views.

"A Horta was in love with me once," Elek said conversationally. "But it wouldn't have worked out between us, you know. He didn't share the same interests as me."

Isha bit her lip again. "Now you're humouring me. I think I prefer the direct, if somewhat irritating Elek," she observed. "Would you walk me back to my quarters, please?"

Elek nodded, confused by Isha's attitude. It was true about the Horta - shame, because he'd been very intelligent. "I assure you, Madam," he said with a smile, "I will always do you the courtesy of being directly. Computer, arch."

"Thank you." There was a fraction of a thread, taut and drawn holding Isha together and she could not let it snap. She needed to be by herself again, to try and reinforce it while she still could.

Elek chose not to comment on the emotions was feeling - she knew he was an empath, and would reveal more if she wanted to. He escorted her back to her quarters, bridging up her flailing emotions with his own, controlled self.

"Thank you," Isha said again as they reached her door. She did not recognise the securiy guard that was waiting there, but she could hardly expect Webb to be there every hour of the day. "You can hand me over to a warder who is more used to the job of waiting patiently on difficult charges," she added.

"I'm not a warder, Madam," Elek replied, hoping to leave her with something to think on, and perhaps even make her see her unreasonableness. "I have become rather ... fond of our conversations. I do hope they continue, when you feel more recharged and less likely to feel like I am your enemy, which I promise you I am not. Good day, Ambassador."

With that, Elek nodded politely and walked away.

OFF

Ambassador Isha e-Khellian i-Ramnau t'Illialhlae


Lt (JG) Termin Elek

 

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