Whisper

December Challenge: Whisper

By panyasan

Disclaimer: Enterprise and it's characters are propriety of CBS/Paramount.

Rating: PG-13

Time-line: Takes place in T'Pol’s youth.

Summary: My entry for the December “Whisper” challenge.

She felt numbness in her body, spreading from her legs till her arms, her neck.

She had been sitting here for hours, in the same position, straight, her legs crossed, concentrating on the flame before her.

Her mother sat near her, her face as closed as she never seen before. It looked like stone. Hard, cold. She had this look from the moment she heard the news. From the moment her mother’s world had collapsed. And hers as well.

She needed her mother’s arms around her, her assurance that everything would be right again. That their lives hadn't changed. That she would hear her father’s voice the moment she would enter their house. That she would have asked his advice and he would teach her again in that loving way of his.

She would never hear his voice again. Sometimes she thought she did, she raised her head to listen very carefully. But it was just the whisper of the desert wind, blowing the sand into the sky.

She would never look at the stars again in his company. Never share the desire to see new worlds, to discover new possibilities. Instead she would look at the stars with pain in her heart, because some where in that sky full of stars, her father have giving his last breath.

Sitting in the long ceremony to celebrate her father’s life and to bid him fare-well, she looked at her mother. She felt a strong dislike against her mother. Her actions to find her a new betrothal as soon as possible, even before this ceremony were logical. Sometimes logic can be very cruel.

Her mother wanted her to find a Vulcan husband, bound to Vulcan soil. Her old betrothal died with her father, she needed a new one now. Mother took her responsibility; she had chosen a new mate: Koss, the son of a member of the Senate. An architect with the desire to build up her home world, not to explore the stars.

She had met Koss' mother. She was an ambitious woman with cold eyes, who wanted her husband to be part of the government. Minister at least. What better way to let her youngest son marry the daughter of the famous minister Karik, Vulcan hero, who died saving his people.

She heard that Koss' wife had died, without giving Koss' parents their precious grandchild. Now it was her turn. She overheard Koss' father asking her mother if her hips weren't too small. Instead of chastising him for his foolish belief in a old Vulcan myth, she had ensured him she could bear children.

Her dislike for Koss' family and Koss himself grew with the minute.

The priests were starting to sing. They stood up, her blood started to stream again. Minutes after minutes their voices would sing the old songs of grief. She heard the words and in her heart she repeated them over and over again. There were like oil on the wounds of her grief-stricken heart.

Slowly, they started walking towards the exit of the monastery. With force the priest opened the door and rays of sunshine illuminated the room. They stepped outside. The sunshine warmed her. She felt the dry desert wind on her face. She smelled the distinct smell of the indukah-tree. She breathed. This was her planet. Her love. Like Vulcan had been the love of her father. She would do any thing to protect her planet and her people.

She walked away to their transport. Then she saw him. Firm face, gentle eyes. Her fathers best friend. The father of her betrothal, her old betrothal, who had died as well.

She really appreciated him for coming in spite of his own grief.

“I grieve with thee, T'Pol”, he said.

“And I with you”, she said.

Then she looked Del'haiu Soval into his eyes. His grieve was evident. As was his shock that her fathers mission had failed so miserable.

For the first time she thought of something that would change her life forever. She would postpone the wedding. Instead she would leave her science post and would join the ranks of the military. She would find a way to find the truth: Who were the murderers of her father?

That was the moment her youth was gone. It became just a whisper of the past.