Shar waited for Dax to indicate where she wanted him to sit, but with a minimum of five officials dogging her, he assumed she’d appreciate his taking care of himself. On the landing across from her, he noticed an open spot beside a plant bed, swollen with speckle throat roses and vines twisting over and under small trees. There, he could listen and observe Dax and stay out of the way. Gazing through the Aquaria’s transparent floors at Vanìmel’s whorled cloud cover, he watched shuttlecraft streak back and forth between the planetside Houses and Luthia’s ports. He was intrigued by the illusion of being able to free-fall, through the floor, into the atmosphere. He enjoyed how the Yrythny incorporated awareness of their planet into their living spaces; Luthia felt like an extension of their world, not something separate.
“On the morning agenda—” Ezri began loudly.
Reluctantly, he tore his eyes away from Vanìmel and listened—or tried to listen—to Ezri. Officers continued their discussions, ignoring her.
She cleared her throat, “We’re discussing civil rights issues.” A pause. The chatter continued. She linked her hands behind her back and rolled back and forth on her shoes a few times before asking loudly, “Can we please focus on the issue at hand?”
Shar looked on helplessly, knowing nothing he could say or do would make them pay attention.
Skin pockets quivering, Rashoh ringed the room, forcing his associates into chairs. Other senior officials, including Jeshoh and Keren, followed suit. Shar was reminded of his zhavey’s favorite plant, a leafy tree that refused to accept pruning. Trim a branch, within hours a new shoot had sprouted.
Ezri climbed atop a stool, put a finger in each side of her mouth and whistled.
Pained by the shrill tone, Shar winced, his antennae curling.
But the chattering stopped.
“You and you,” she pointed at Jeshoh and Keren. “Select small groups of trusted associates because from now on I’m dealing only with representatives of each Assembly. It’s the only way we’ll accomplish anything. And if you want to schedule a meeting, a discussion, or a visit, you will first clear it with my assistant, Ensign ch’Thane.”
His initial gratitude at regaining control over their schedule dissipated slowly as the implications of his new assignment gradually dawned on him. The Yrythny officials stampeding toward him with their demands represented minutes, hours—possibly precious days—where research would be rendered impossible. Dax knows what she’s doing, focusing our time on her chosen issues,Shar reasoned. After all, hadn’t she been Curzon Dax, one of the most renowned diplomats in recent Federation history?Removing a padd from his pocket, he organized petitioners in a line and patiently took down their requests for appointments.
Since his night with Keren’s underground, Shar had burned with a yearning to help these people. He simply had to believe, to trust, that Dax knew the best way.
8
“You might try shushaherb packs for the swollen ankles,” Kira said, tipping back in her chair and resting her feet on the console in front of her. “Apparently the leaves contain some chemical that helps the tissues shed any water they’re retaining. Julian doesn’t like them because he can’t prove in his lab that they work, but most Bajoran women swear by them.” She took a sip of her raktajinoand waited for a response from the viewscreen.
Kasidy Yates, sitting in a loose lotus position on a braided rug in front of her fireplace, wrinkled her nose. “You think those will work for a human woman?”She yanked strands of blue yarn out of a skein and was winding them into a ball in preparation for knitting…something. Baby footwear, Kira supposed.
Kira shrugged. “Humans and Bajorans have enough in common that what works for us usually works for you. Give it a try. Couldn’t be worse than having to stay off your feet.”
“True enough,”she conceded. “You look tired, Nerys. Still haven’t taken any time off, have you?”
Dropping her feet to the ground, Kira leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk. “I’m fine.” Shrugging off Kasidy’s dubious expression, she reiterated her stance. “Really. With all the VIPs around, the tempo around here’s a little more crazed than usual. But I’m staying on top of it all, though I’m still working on the fine art of balance. The captain had it mastered.”
“True. Ben could throw a dinner party in the middle of a crisis— or take time to visit his land when he faced a serious decision,”she said while focusing her gaze on the length of yarn she’d just pulled out. “Sometimes he’d go out in the back where the porch is now, pull out the baseball bat, and whack some balls. Made him feel better.”
“Are you saying that taking up a hobby will better my leadership skills? Or are you guilting me into coming to Bajor?” Kira chuckled.
“You caught me.”Kas smiled, allowing the yarn to roll off her lap. She looked up at Kira. “I’d like the company. Someone who knows me for me and not merely as the Emissary’s wife and mother of the Avatar. And don’t forget the farmers are bringing in the katerpods over the next few weeks. You don’t want to miss that!”
Memories of dark, smoky autumn nights nudged their way into the present. Kira sighed, feeling pangs of longing for those few simple moments her people had stolen from the Occupation: walking winding farm lanes with lighted copper lanterns to ward off the inky darkness, and singing the harvest melodies, thanking the Prophets for another year of bounty, even though that bounty might be little more than a handful of katerpods.
“I know you want to visit,”Kas said. “I have your room all ready—it has a lovely view of the river. They’re starting the sugaring in a few weeks….”Her voice trailed off, her tone teasing and tempting.
“All right, all right! You’ve convinced me.” Kira held up a hand in good-natured protest. “I’ll talk to my staff and see what works best into the station’s schedule.”
“If you’re structuring your plans on the station’s schedule, you’ll be here about the time my child’s grandchildren are born,”Kasidy snorted.
… and that may be how long it takes for my fellow Bajorans to start speaking to me again, all things considered,Kira thought ruefully. “Work before play, Kas. You know the drill.”
“Yeah, I do,”Kasidy nodded. “But that doesn’t stop me from trying. We’ll talk next week?”
“Sooner if we have word from Jake. I promise.”
Kasidy closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “And please let there be word from Jake,”she said, invoking whatever powers the universe might use to bring him back home.
“Prophets willing, Kas,” Kira said earnestly. She straightened up, slapped her thighs and smiled to lighten the mood; she wanted to end their conversation on a positive note for Kasidy’s sake. “Besides, I’ll want you to tell me how well the herb packs worked on those swollen ankles. Without having Julian around to tell you how it’s all just a bunch of folk hokum, you don’t have any excuse not to try them.”
Kasidy smiled. “Yates out.”
Before Kasidy’s face winked out, Kira noted that it had started to exhibit that soft roundness characteristic of mid-pregnancy. Her hand dropped to her own belly and she ran her fingers over her flat stomach, remembering what it felt like to carry a life inside her. She wondered how Kirayoshi liked Earth, if her presence even shaded his memories.
Enough, Nerys, this is the part where you look at your endless to-do list and come up with meaningful reasons why you won’t be tumbling back to your quarters until after midnight.She gave a cursory glance to a half dozen padds sitting on her desk. Ro’s mostly informational report on the Ohalavaru trinkets left on her doorstep awaited her attention. In moments of morbid curiosity, she watched reports from the Bajoran news feeds, read the opinion pieces cropping up in the journals; the furor had yet to die down. She wanted desperately to believe that the late-night visit to her door was only a misguided gesture by some well-meaning individual. But in her heart she feared it was a portent of things to come…things she herself had set into motion by making the banned Ohalu text public.