Hammer, Stone, Anvil, II: The Running

Posted on 03/31/2020 @ 8:40pm by

Mission: Sum of our Experiences
Location: Bajor, Lae'Or Home, Musilla
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

Stardate 53418.2
Old Earth Calendar: June 2, 2376

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The nightmare came again, swift fury on wings of sleep. Tahlin was running through the late-night streets of Bajor's capital, running from the man who had shown her so much love and affection over the years... Running because he had rejected her and her brother with his words... Running, because she could not bare to look him in the eyes.

She woke, cutting off a scream with difficulty. She was sweating through her nightclothes, and it wasn't due to the summer heat in Musilla. The sheets were all in a tangle, and her heart was racing.

After about a minute, the terror ebbed. She got up, smoothed out the bedclothes, looked at her reflection in the window. Still pale, still terrified... She reminded herself that her father couldn't hurt her anymore, that the divorce had been finalized...

Dammit, she mentally swore. The news about the finalization of the divorce had clearly triggered this particular nightmare. They'd celebrated, strangely enough, but the mind would do what it would do, she guessed. "I need something... Something to help me sleep," she mouthed quietly.

Stepping out into the hallway, Tahlin crept past her mother's room, then past her brother's as well. She listened at this door, hearing the breathing of two people. This was comforting; her brother and his husband had been great sources of comfort to her over these last weeks and months, not to mention her mother. Still, she worried about them... Hell, all of them in the house were worried about all the others. 'What a tangled web we weave'. Hadn't she read that somewhere? Some human author. Oddly appropriate, she felt.

A few minutes' work found Tahlin with a cup of tea in her hand. Thinking the night air would help, despite the warmth, she stepped out onto the back deck. The heat and humidity rolled over her, but she didn't mind... Much. She was so lost in thought, considering the moons and stars, she didn't hear the soft footsteps.

"Couldn't sleep?"

She jumped, a bit of tea spilling and burning her hand. "Dammit! Mother, you startled me."

The older woman laughed. "Sorry." She extended a hand, running it lightly through Tahlin's hair, just like when Tahlin had been a child. "What was it about?"

"What was what about?" Tahlin took a sip of her tea, the spice hitting her pallet and soothing her further.

"Your nightmare... Don't think I didn't notice. Its a mother's job, a mother's intuition, to notice... Come on, you can talk to me."

Tahlin took another sip of tea, thinking. She could tell, of course, but... "It was about Him," she answered, finally. "I had a nightmare about running through the streets after the Assembly resignation... Before things got really nasty... Why did he..."

Her mother raised a hand, cutting her off, the younger Bajoran catching the gesture out of the corner of her right eye. "I've been thinking about that a lot, actually... We'd fought before, of course, but... To just end a twenty-year marriage like that, to not support his own flesh and blood children... By the way, how's that cute Klingon you've been eyeing?"

Tahlin turned and glared. "Really, calling a Klingon cute? ... She's fine--we're supposed to go rock-climbing when you and I get to Traervest, but I don't know..."

"I'll be fine--you go and have fun. Prophets know you need it... Anyway, like I was saying..." Tahlin's mother sipped at her own tea, a lighter, more fruity variety than Tahlin preferred. "I really don't know what got into him. I've lain awake, thinking about a lot of things... Maybe the radicals in Winn's order got to him, maybe it was there all along and I just didn't see it, or pushed it aside for your sakes... But, its over, over and done with."

"Yeah... I've been thinking about that, too... You going to be all right, Mother?"

The older woman sighed. "I will, Tahlin. Eventually... It takes a lot to end a marriage like ours, but your father proved he doesn't give a damn about any of us... I might never love again, and that's all right. I've got you two, and that lovely son-in-law of mine. Now if I can just convince them to go into books, we'll be set." She laughed.

"Why not me? Why don't I take over the store?" Tahlin was genuinely curious about this. She'd always been the more literary of the two of them, and her mother's preference for her brother to take the store was odd.

"Believe me, I'd love nothing more. But, your future isn't here, on Bajor, I know that. You're a dreamer, a believer in causes of justice and equity. You fight for what is right, what you believe in. I know you've been looking at the stars a lot lately. Maybe you'll be a lawyer, maybe even our representative on the Federation Council--who knows. You've got time to decide... Take that time, and have some fun along the way, Tahlin."

Tahlin's eyes grew watery. "Thanks... Its good to know I've got someone who'll support me, no matter what."

"Of course." Her mother wrapped Tahlin in a firm hug. "I love you."

"I love you too."