Pandora's Box (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 22 Dec 2023 @ 10:40am by Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

2,791 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A Deck 3 - Sera's Quarters
Timeline: MD03 - 0000hrs

Previously, on Pandora's Box (Part 1)...

"Without that knowledge it is a difficult puzzle indeed." He looked back to Sera. "Assuming you intend to solve it with honour." He paused before continuing. "If you image the top and the inlays I expect the computer could solve it rather quickly... But that would be cheating of course."

Sera listened to what Montgomery said and then...considered. If this box was sent to her for a specific purpose, then what symbology did she know that could be a potential solution? Looking at the individual pieces within a most complex sliding 'block' puzzle, Sera began to experimentally move the available pieces around to the empty slots.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

(Time Skip - Past)

"Komekh-il...what does the tapestry on your wall mean?"

"It is...an artistic representation of my first name, S'Ers-a-kam." A bemused T'Ael responded. Her foremother often demonstrated strange facial expressions, however, they only appeared when Sera was alone with her. Sera had considered telling someone else the interesting things her foremother did, but there was no one she trusted with such an observation. It had simply become the way T'Ael was...a quirk, perhaps.

Sera tilted her head and regarded the unusual piece of art. "All I can see from the piece is a...wing of some sort?"

"Correct, child. It is a bird's wing." She walked over to Sera and crouched down so that she could look her granddaughter in the eye. Her voice lowered and she spoke solely for Sera's ears.

"That is what my name means...Wing. This particular wing belongs to a Ri--...to a symbolic songbird called a Dalwhin...it sings the most beautiful songs at sunset."

"Have you heard this songbird's call, Komehk'il?"

"Yes..." Her foremother's expression shifted again...she appeared...sad? Sera wasn't sure, but her guess felt right.

"I was told such a creature began its song at the time of my birth; so my mother named me Ael to honor the bird's gift to her."

Sera raised her brow in a most Vulcan manner and watched her grandmother's face instantly smooth to the schooled expression she wore around others in the family. Sera wondered if she had done something wrong.

"My ways are not Lyr'Zor ways, S'Ers-a-kam." T'Ael settled on. "However...would you like to learn them? It would be...agreeable to share them with you."

Sera's brow dropped and her expressive blue eyes alighted in curiosity. "Oh yes please, Komehk-il!"

(Time Skip - Back to Present)

Sera's hands began more confidently sliding the pieces around as Montgomery knelt next to her and watched, close enough that she could sense the warmth his body of his body.

It took some time, and trial and error to get the pieces to their proper places, but finally a new picture emerged.

"Ael..."

He watched each movement in silence. Initially Sera's movements did not seem to make sense, and the sigil quickly disappeared into a kaleidoscopic mess of shades of green and blue. Vala remained perfectly still as she meticulously continued to shift the pieces. He knew she was not working at random. Sera may be a strange, compelling individual but she was still Vulcan. They never did anything at random.

The pieces then began to take shape. Bejeweled curves and lines, perpendicular flourishes. In a different time and context Vala would marvel at the craftsmanship of this box, parts synchronising as they were, but he could only sit and watch as Sera manipulated the parts through some mysterious inspiration.

Eventually, as the final pieces moved into place the image became clear.

A wing, he thought just as he heard Sera whisper the word.

He slowly looked from the box to her. "I think... it will open now," he stated, other words lost to him. The whole episode had been... unfathomable and only one thing was for sure - there was clearly much he did not yet know about Sera.

Sera nodded but said nothing. She reached forward and applied pressure on the lid and this time it released and flipped open.

The first thing she saw was a folded garment, neatly tucked into the space so that nothing underneath it was visible. However, nestled in the center of the garment was a small sheathed weapon. She pulled it out and flicked the snaps that held the dagger within the scabbard and pulled the blade out.

It was an unusual double-bladed design, and on the guard again was uniquely Rihannsu symbology. She looked over to Montgomery and expected...she was not sure really, but her insides tightened and it irrationally felt harder to breathe.

"..." Vala tried to speak but his mouth just hung open. If the box hadn't confirmed it already there was some serious Rihannsu brisaer going on right now.

It was unmistakably a family blade. A dathe'anofv-sen. It was not something he himself had ever possessed, his father having presumably given his to his legitimate children, but every Romulan knew what they were.

It was not something a Rihannsu was in the habit of mailing to a Vulcan.

"S-Sera." He looked slowly from the blade to her eyes. "What is... what is this box to you? Do you know..." He shook his head then returned his gaze to her. "Who is it from?"

Her first instinct was to say "No one." But that was a lie; an outright lie. She had been tied up quite neatly. Only a truth would suffice.

"It is from my foremother...T'Ael." She all but whispered as if saying softly would somehow lessen the shock of all of this. She looked over to the open wooden trunk as if a le-matya would emerge next and devour the both of them. Perhaps that would be preferable?

She winced at the irrational thought and looked back to the blade. She ran the blade along her palm, drawing a line liquid emerald. She had remembered her Komehk'il saying that a blade would never truly belong to you until it tasted your blood. It was a most unusual ritual; but it was one that she had performed with every bladed weapon given to her growing up. Perhaps it was a Lyr'Zor thing...or a Vulcan at large thing...she was uncertain.

Vala knelt perfectly still as she whispered the words, his mind slowly filling with an increasingly chaotic internal monologue. How? Why? What? When? Where? A cacophony. He remained still, his hands grasping each other in his lap ever tighter, turning them white. Finally, thought, the mighty penny cut through the buzz of questions and thoughts, and finally dropped.

She was... nim dii. Like me. A product of two worlds. It explained so much and left so many questions, but they weren't for now. He felt such an enormous burst of empathy that his eyes began welling with tears. This was a lot. It would be a lot for Sera too. He wanted to help her.

The soft sound of a droplet hitting the ground pierced the silence. Was he crying? He reached up and touched his face. No. He had held back any tears for the sake of his Vulcan friend. Whatever her heritage she would not appreciate dealing with a sobbing Rihannsu. He looked down.

Green splashes on the carpet. Soft sounds as they hit the floor. He raised his eyes to their origin.

His eyes widened.

"Sera!" He exclaimed as he lurched forward to take the knife from her and cast it to the ground. What was she doing?? He cast his eyes around the room looking for something to staunch the flow of blood from the wound. He staggered to his feet. "Towel." His words filled with urgency as he reached the replicator, grabbing the cloth and falling back to his knees next to her.

He grabbed her hand and wrapped the towel around it, and pressed down. Silent moments passed. He finally met her gaze. Words failed him. But he remained.

Montgomery was touching her; his hands were pressed firmly against her injured one. She looked down at his ministrations, and tried not to shiver at the at how loudly his mind broadcasted against hers. It felt as if she were in the center of a maelstrom and it took all of her control to not gasp aloud. She was torn between luxuriating in the sensation or wrenching her hand out of his grasp. Instead, Sera tried to shield herself, but her efforts were only minimally successful.

"I must admit...the blade was sharper than I had anticipated." Sera started. "But...it is not life-threatening, Montgomery."

In yet another lapse of control where it came to this particular science officer, Sera reached her free hand out to touch his face, but halted before her fingertips got the chance to trace the line of his cheek.

What are you doing?! She internally hissed.

Outwardly she eased her hand out of his. The break of connection was like pulling a needle off of a record without care; a screeching halt and then she was alone with the familiar sound of her own thoughts.

The energy of mingling thoughts and emotions, the chaos of very different internal conflicts, and the extent of the connection that had existed between them in those fleeting moments only became obvious to Vala in their absence: He had watched Sera raise her other hand to him, close enough to touch him before being withdrawn; he had allowed her injured hand to pull away and then... silence. He felt the silence, the true deafening silence, consume him.

Moments passed.

His brain felt numb.

So many of his usual guards and protections lay broken into much dust. His carefully regulated emotions had betrayed him more than once. Weakened by the smell and visage of the box, patched back together then ultimately shattered by the tableaux of a Rihannsu dagger cutting through Sera's hand.

He breathed deeply. No recess of his mind would be able to protect him from Sera now. To find out more for her, about her. To help her. He couldn't make sense of it, but as their palms touched he found raw feelings of loss, confusion, a lack of belonging present in his mind. Similar to his own. But not the same.

Whatever strange acquaintance they had made prior to that moment was irrevocably changed now.

"It..." He broke stillness of the room, finally responding to her. Her comments felt like a lifetime ago. "It is not usual," he paused focusing on establishing a modicum of composure, "It is not usual to test the sharpness of a knife on ones hand."

Sera looked confused as she considered the box before, carefully avoiding gazing at Montgomery's face. Oh, her expression did not change much but it was there for him to see it, perhaps.

"I...I was taught that a blade does not belong to you until it has 'tasted' your blood. After that, both are bound in their destiny. I will admit it is not logical. You...this was not taught to you?" She looked down at her hand that was beginning to sting, but quickly blocked the minor injury out.

Montgomery had not 'signed in' for any of this. He obviously had become quite distressed to the trunk - and Sera was responsible. He had only been trying to be helpful when he offered to bring the crates into her quarters...and now all of this?

"Kwes nash-veh." Sera said very formally as she dipped her head to him in a manner of a half-bow while sitting.

(A formal apology)

Ruination by a box. Perhaps she should smash it to bits as Montgomery suggested initially.

Vala fought the urge to put his hand on her shoulder, to physically comfort her, instead sufficing with shaking his head. "You must not apologise Sera. It is not accepted as it is not needed." He tried to catch her gaze but she was eluding him.

"I do not know about customs around blades such as this. I... never had one," he paused, a pang of shame irrationally cropping up, then continued, "Perhaps I should beg your pardon for my ignorance." He kept searching for her eyes. "I feared you were..." Words caught in his throat. "... trying to cause harm to yourself."

Sera made a sudden, unbidden sound of surprise. It came out in a chuff. If she had wanted to harm herself she would have done so after finding herself in a rehabilitation center with a sundered bond. None of her family had concerned themselves with her then. However, his concern over the possibility she was harming herself caused Sera to look at him again.

"You were...concerned for me?" Oh, she was certain it was general concern...but her instincts whispered something else. All the mental discipline was not enough to negate the pull of inborn impulse.

"Y-Yes," he replied keeping her gaze, his voice building in conviction, "Of course I was." He paused. "Am. I am concerned."

She grabbed the blade that had been carelessly tossed and slipped it back into the sheath and put it back on the trunk. There was more to inspect within, but Sera shut the lid. She did not want anymore revelations right now.

"I am here. I am here for you. If you need someone to talk to." Vala said emphatically. He wished he could pick up the pieces of the past ten minutes and glue them back together, but he knew it was impossible. They had crossed the Rubicon.

"Sera when I came by..." He paused. "Look... I know you can handle a few crates." Another pause. "I offered to help because I wanted to get to know you more," he confessed, "I was curious about you." He caught her eyes again, and then, surprising himself, broke into a strange, slightly unhinged chuckle. "I think maybe I got my comeuppance for that." He regained his composure. "But I don't regret it. Not at all."

"I...I thank thee." His offer was sincere - it seemed only proper to thank him formally for his willingness to listen to her.

"You are correct. The shipping crates would not have proven much of a physical challenge. Nonetheless, I too must confess that your offer would have allowed more time to engage with you...that scenario was desirable--acceptable." Sera amended hastily. Fvadt. Well, at least she was being honest in her verbal gaff. It was a strange thing...honesty.

"Well now you have me at a disadvantage. You know a secret." To be fair, she had just learned a secret too...but it gave answers to questions she had been unable to ask, knowing there would be no straightforward answers. That she wasn't alone in learning the truth...it could either be unifying or...

Sera refused to think any further on that. What would be, would be. Kaiddth.

Vala gave her a small smile. "I'm glad it was... acceptable." He carefully chose her corrected word, but he knew what she meant and appreciated the sentiment.

"Honestly, Sera I am not sure what I know. Whatever is here though," he gestured to the sealed box, "well you can trust me not to mention it." He hoped she would believe him to be sincere. "As for secrets..." He breathed deeply. "I-I... I trust you." She would not likely understand how profound an admission that was for him. "As a result you will surely not be at a disadvantage for long."

Sera looked past him, thinking on what he said. His evasion was not unreasonable. She would not be willing to clearly state what had occurred here either at this point. Montgomery's statement agreeing to silence was a most unusual gesture, however. It was a kindness she was unused to, to be fair...and to come from a Rihannsu of all places.

"You honor me with your trust, Montgomery Vala. I will ensure such confidence is not misplaced."

In a way, they had just created their own Silence. It was the type of secrecy seen within the family...or between--No.

Find satisfaction in what is. That he did not, what, run away screaming? That was satisfaction enough...for now.

Vala smiled at her before taking a few moments to take stock. He had recovered now from what he could only ascribe to have been a panic attack, and in fact the subsequent interactions (despite involving no small amount of blood) had actually bouyed his mood.

To be continued...

[OFF]

--

LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

&

Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

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