Ster Julie
2010-04-30 03:07:32 UTC
Title: No Longer Despised
Author: Ster Julie
Codes: AOS; S, T'Pr
Rating: PG
Part 1 of 7
Summary: Complications arise when a crazed T'Pring comes to the House
of Spock. (Sequel to "Rejected and Despised"--It would be best to
begin with that story first if you haven't read it.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Trek. I don’t own much of anything, really.
A/N: 1. Thanks to the Vulcan Language Dictionary for the few Vulcan
words included here. And was it the pro-novel "Pandora's Principle"
that first named Saavik's palnet of origin as Hellguard?
2. As always, this is a Spock story, but T'Pring is a major
character. In fact, the working title was "The Book of T'Pring."
--ooOoo--
A Wild Woman
How the woman got into their compound no one knew. It was T'Essa's
terrified screams that alerted the House to the intruder's presence.
Wild she was, dark hair matted, skeletal thin. She clutched a
squirming T'Essa to her like a lifeline, yelling, "Mine! Mine!"
The elder mothers and the disabled male members circled the strange
woman warily, not close enough that she would feel threatened and harm
their youngest member, but not allowing her to flee.
Spock and Spock Prime came running at the sound of the uproar near the
dwelling. Both men stopped short and breathed, "T'Pring!"
Sarek had warned Spock Prime a week before Spock's arrival that a
deranged T'Pring had been seen going from camp to camp searching for
her lost son and lover.
"Stay back!" Spock Prime ordered when his younger self moved closer to
the woman who held his youngest child.
Spock turned back, astonished. "Do you not recognize T'Pring?" the
younger man asked.
"Do you not recognize that she is mad?" Spock Prime retorted. "She
could kill T'Essa!"
"I would never harm a child!" T'Pring shrieked.
Spock moved closer slowly. "I know that, T'Pring," he said to her
gently. "You hold her while I help her to calm down."
Spock softly stroked his daughter's forehead. /Don’t be afraid,
little one,/ he soothed. /I will not let her hurt you. Go to sleep./
T'Essa sniffled, murmured, "Sa-sa!" and then relaxed into sleep.
T'Pring rested the baby's head on her shoulder and rubbed her back.
Spock took T'Pring's elbow and gently led her from the suspicious
crowd and into the house.
"You look tired and hungry, T'Pring," Spock said quietly as he moved
them to the kitchen. He set out juice and crisp bread for the woman
while he warmed some soup.
T'Pring consumed the food and drink hungrily using her free hand. At
first she refused to relinquish her hold on the baby to Spock, but
when the woman smelled the hot soup, she reluctantly released her hold
on T'Essa.
Spock sat at the table with T'Pring as T'Essa slept on his shoulder.
He gently drew from T'Pring her tale of woe and her futile search.
"The ground had just began to shake as the healer placed my newborn
son into my arms," she began. "I looked to Stonn as the warning
sirens began to sound. We were ordered to hurry to the evacuation
shuttles. Stonn said that if I could run, he would carry our son.
"I couldn't move as quickly as the others, so Stonn kept pace with
me. He pushed me ahead of him onto the shuttle. As soon as … as soon
as …"
Spock placed a hand on T'Pring as she began to weep. "As soon as I
boarded, the doors closed! I begged them to allow Stonn and the baby
to board, or to let me out to go to them, but then the shuttle began
to lift! I saw Stonn yelling my name and my son flailing his arms and
legs, crying.
"I have gone from refugee center to encampment, through every House,
every person relocated here, searching, searching. One more shuttle
may have lifted off after mine, someone else could have rescued them,
right?" she asked desperately.
Spock tenderly wiped away her tears and shook his head.
"Every Vulcan survivor has been entered into a database," he said
gently. "Stonn's name is not recorded." Spock paused and sighed.
"Tushah nash-veh k'du," he said.
T'Pring collapsed onto the table as she wailed with grief. Hope died
in her that moment as she accepted the loss of her lover and their
son.
Just then a wary Spock Prime entered the kitchen. He crept over to
Spock and eased T'Essa off his shoulder, taking the baby to her crib.
When T'Pring had calmed down, Spock asked her, "How have you survived
so long?"
T'Pring wiped at her grimy face with equally dirty hands. "I lived on
whatever greens I could find and supplemented with my own breast
milk," she said. "I had to keep my milk flowing for when I found my
son." T'Pring looked at Spock accusingly. "You said I could choose
another," T'Pring reminded, "that we were bondmates in name only."
Spock nodded. "Yes, I said that."
"Where did you find so many children, Spock?" T'Pring questioned.
"They are Vulcan/Romulan hybrid refugees from a planet named
Hellguard," he explained. "I adopted them when no other House would
claim them."
T'Pring pressed further. "Allow me to have one child," she begged.
"You have so many! I would be a good mother, a very good mother. I
could give your baby milk and …"
"My baby is weaned," Spock interrupted. "I'm sure you would be a
devoted mother, but our people need to grow in numbers to survive.
When you are ready, you will need to have your own children."
"I know," she retorted. "Some men tried to mate with me before I was
even healed." She looked hopefully to Spock. "I could have children
with you!"
Spock shook his head. "No," he stated flatly. "I am excluded from
the breeding program due to my qomi genes."
T'Pring drew back. "Barbaric!" she breathed.
Spock lowered his head as he tried to control his emotions. T'Pring
brushed the back of his hand with her fingers. Her touch tapped into
his aching loss of Amanda.
"Tushah nash-veh k'du," she breathed when she learned of Amanda's
death.
"We grieve together," he murmured with brimming eyes.
Spock Prime re-entered the room.
"The elder mothers have drawn a hot bath and gathered clean clothes,"
he announced.
T'Pring clutched at Spock's hand. "Don't leave me!" she whispered.
Spock gathered the frightened woman under his arm and led her to the
facilities.
"I will stay nearby," he promised.
Spock Prime stopped his younger self with a touch. /Beware that one,/
he warned, relating his own betrayal at the hands of his T'Pring.
"This is not the same woman," Spock reminded his older self.
After T'Pring was finished with her bath, Spock helped untangle her
hair. Sadly, half of its long length was unsalvageable and had to be
discarded.
"You have not reprimanded me for having a child with Stonn," T'Pring
remarked. "Everyone else has."
"I gave you your freedom when I left Vulcan for Starfleet Academy,"
Spock reminded. "'Everyone' had no right to rebuke you."
"And have you found someone else?" T'Pring inquired gently.
Spock nodded slowly. "I have."
"May I inquire of your t'hy'la?" T'Pring pressed gently.
Spock sighed. "She is a linguist, a human, strong and talented."
"You have just described your mother," T'Pring observed.
Spock looked up surprised. "Yes," he realized, "she is very much like
my mother."
Spock stayed at T'Pring's side as she slept, chasing away the night
terrors and other bad dreams. In the morning he brought T'Pring to
the table for first meal, returning every wary glance with a
forbidding look.
Spock turned T'Pring over to Sybok for a healing session while he
recorded her name into the database. This caused the Council of
Elders to notice. They paid a visit later that evening.
"You have an unbonded female of child-bearing age in your House,
Spock," T'Pau accused. "She needs to be assigned to another House."
"T'Pring is only now healing, T'Pau," Spock replied.
"We are all healing, Spock," T'Pau retorted.
"You have not been chased away from House to house," Spock fired back
in kind, "nor assaulted. Allow her to heal and to be allied to
whatever House she wishes"
"You must break your bond with T'Pring," T'Pau ordered.
"I know that!" Spock snapped. He took a calming breath. "I will
inform you of her decision." Spock stood, ending the meeting. "Is
our business over?"
"Give her to me, Sa-fu," Sarek soothed. "I will take good care of her
in my House."
"I know you would, Sa-mekh," Spock agreed quietly, "but she must be
allowed to choose."
"Agreed," Sarek said.
"I want to belong to the House of Spock!" T'Pring cried from the
doorway where she had been listening to the entire conversation.
"Spock and I were promised to each other!"
"I explained why I can no longer be yours, T'Pring," Spock answered
her, his chin trembling.
"She could be mine," came a quiet voice from the corner.
Spock looked up to see Sybok. He could read the apology in his
brother's eyes.
"If T'Pring would have me as her adun, she would be part of the House
of Spock."
End part 1
Author: Ster Julie
Codes: AOS; S, T'Pr
Rating: PG
Part 1 of 7
Summary: Complications arise when a crazed T'Pring comes to the House
of Spock. (Sequel to "Rejected and Despised"--It would be best to
begin with that story first if you haven't read it.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Trek. I don’t own much of anything, really.
A/N: 1. Thanks to the Vulcan Language Dictionary for the few Vulcan
words included here. And was it the pro-novel "Pandora's Principle"
that first named Saavik's palnet of origin as Hellguard?
2. As always, this is a Spock story, but T'Pring is a major
character. In fact, the working title was "The Book of T'Pring."
--ooOoo--
A Wild Woman
How the woman got into their compound no one knew. It was T'Essa's
terrified screams that alerted the House to the intruder's presence.
Wild she was, dark hair matted, skeletal thin. She clutched a
squirming T'Essa to her like a lifeline, yelling, "Mine! Mine!"
The elder mothers and the disabled male members circled the strange
woman warily, not close enough that she would feel threatened and harm
their youngest member, but not allowing her to flee.
Spock and Spock Prime came running at the sound of the uproar near the
dwelling. Both men stopped short and breathed, "T'Pring!"
Sarek had warned Spock Prime a week before Spock's arrival that a
deranged T'Pring had been seen going from camp to camp searching for
her lost son and lover.
"Stay back!" Spock Prime ordered when his younger self moved closer to
the woman who held his youngest child.
Spock turned back, astonished. "Do you not recognize T'Pring?" the
younger man asked.
"Do you not recognize that she is mad?" Spock Prime retorted. "She
could kill T'Essa!"
"I would never harm a child!" T'Pring shrieked.
Spock moved closer slowly. "I know that, T'Pring," he said to her
gently. "You hold her while I help her to calm down."
Spock softly stroked his daughter's forehead. /Don’t be afraid,
little one,/ he soothed. /I will not let her hurt you. Go to sleep./
T'Essa sniffled, murmured, "Sa-sa!" and then relaxed into sleep.
T'Pring rested the baby's head on her shoulder and rubbed her back.
Spock took T'Pring's elbow and gently led her from the suspicious
crowd and into the house.
"You look tired and hungry, T'Pring," Spock said quietly as he moved
them to the kitchen. He set out juice and crisp bread for the woman
while he warmed some soup.
T'Pring consumed the food and drink hungrily using her free hand. At
first she refused to relinquish her hold on the baby to Spock, but
when the woman smelled the hot soup, she reluctantly released her hold
on T'Essa.
Spock sat at the table with T'Pring as T'Essa slept on his shoulder.
He gently drew from T'Pring her tale of woe and her futile search.
"The ground had just began to shake as the healer placed my newborn
son into my arms," she began. "I looked to Stonn as the warning
sirens began to sound. We were ordered to hurry to the evacuation
shuttles. Stonn said that if I could run, he would carry our son.
"I couldn't move as quickly as the others, so Stonn kept pace with
me. He pushed me ahead of him onto the shuttle. As soon as … as soon
as …"
Spock placed a hand on T'Pring as she began to weep. "As soon as I
boarded, the doors closed! I begged them to allow Stonn and the baby
to board, or to let me out to go to them, but then the shuttle began
to lift! I saw Stonn yelling my name and my son flailing his arms and
legs, crying.
"I have gone from refugee center to encampment, through every House,
every person relocated here, searching, searching. One more shuttle
may have lifted off after mine, someone else could have rescued them,
right?" she asked desperately.
Spock tenderly wiped away her tears and shook his head.
"Every Vulcan survivor has been entered into a database," he said
gently. "Stonn's name is not recorded." Spock paused and sighed.
"Tushah nash-veh k'du," he said.
T'Pring collapsed onto the table as she wailed with grief. Hope died
in her that moment as she accepted the loss of her lover and their
son.
Just then a wary Spock Prime entered the kitchen. He crept over to
Spock and eased T'Essa off his shoulder, taking the baby to her crib.
When T'Pring had calmed down, Spock asked her, "How have you survived
so long?"
T'Pring wiped at her grimy face with equally dirty hands. "I lived on
whatever greens I could find and supplemented with my own breast
milk," she said. "I had to keep my milk flowing for when I found my
son." T'Pring looked at Spock accusingly. "You said I could choose
another," T'Pring reminded, "that we were bondmates in name only."
Spock nodded. "Yes, I said that."
"Where did you find so many children, Spock?" T'Pring questioned.
"They are Vulcan/Romulan hybrid refugees from a planet named
Hellguard," he explained. "I adopted them when no other House would
claim them."
T'Pring pressed further. "Allow me to have one child," she begged.
"You have so many! I would be a good mother, a very good mother. I
could give your baby milk and …"
"My baby is weaned," Spock interrupted. "I'm sure you would be a
devoted mother, but our people need to grow in numbers to survive.
When you are ready, you will need to have your own children."
"I know," she retorted. "Some men tried to mate with me before I was
even healed." She looked hopefully to Spock. "I could have children
with you!"
Spock shook his head. "No," he stated flatly. "I am excluded from
the breeding program due to my qomi genes."
T'Pring drew back. "Barbaric!" she breathed.
Spock lowered his head as he tried to control his emotions. T'Pring
brushed the back of his hand with her fingers. Her touch tapped into
his aching loss of Amanda.
"Tushah nash-veh k'du," she breathed when she learned of Amanda's
death.
"We grieve together," he murmured with brimming eyes.
Spock Prime re-entered the room.
"The elder mothers have drawn a hot bath and gathered clean clothes,"
he announced.
T'Pring clutched at Spock's hand. "Don't leave me!" she whispered.
Spock gathered the frightened woman under his arm and led her to the
facilities.
"I will stay nearby," he promised.
Spock Prime stopped his younger self with a touch. /Beware that one,/
he warned, relating his own betrayal at the hands of his T'Pring.
"This is not the same woman," Spock reminded his older self.
After T'Pring was finished with her bath, Spock helped untangle her
hair. Sadly, half of its long length was unsalvageable and had to be
discarded.
"You have not reprimanded me for having a child with Stonn," T'Pring
remarked. "Everyone else has."
"I gave you your freedom when I left Vulcan for Starfleet Academy,"
Spock reminded. "'Everyone' had no right to rebuke you."
"And have you found someone else?" T'Pring inquired gently.
Spock nodded slowly. "I have."
"May I inquire of your t'hy'la?" T'Pring pressed gently.
Spock sighed. "She is a linguist, a human, strong and talented."
"You have just described your mother," T'Pring observed.
Spock looked up surprised. "Yes," he realized, "she is very much like
my mother."
Spock stayed at T'Pring's side as she slept, chasing away the night
terrors and other bad dreams. In the morning he brought T'Pring to
the table for first meal, returning every wary glance with a
forbidding look.
Spock turned T'Pring over to Sybok for a healing session while he
recorded her name into the database. This caused the Council of
Elders to notice. They paid a visit later that evening.
"You have an unbonded female of child-bearing age in your House,
Spock," T'Pau accused. "She needs to be assigned to another House."
"T'Pring is only now healing, T'Pau," Spock replied.
"We are all healing, Spock," T'Pau retorted.
"You have not been chased away from House to house," Spock fired back
in kind, "nor assaulted. Allow her to heal and to be allied to
whatever House she wishes"
"You must break your bond with T'Pring," T'Pau ordered.
"I know that!" Spock snapped. He took a calming breath. "I will
inform you of her decision." Spock stood, ending the meeting. "Is
our business over?"
"Give her to me, Sa-fu," Sarek soothed. "I will take good care of her
in my House."
"I know you would, Sa-mekh," Spock agreed quietly, "but she must be
allowed to choose."
"Agreed," Sarek said.
"I want to belong to the House of Spock!" T'Pring cried from the
doorway where she had been listening to the entire conversation.
"Spock and I were promised to each other!"
"I explained why I can no longer be yours, T'Pring," Spock answered
her, his chin trembling.
"She could be mine," came a quiet voice from the corner.
Spock looked up to see Sybok. He could read the apology in his
brother's eyes.
"If T'Pring would have me as her adun, she would be part of the House
of Spock."
End part 1