Return to Valjiir Stories
Return to Valjiir Continnum
It was going to be a pleasant two weeks, somewhere in the hills of Epsilon Beryl IV. No ships, no worries, no missions; just old friends, outdoors, and family. The whole quadrant seemed to be taking a breather. There were no emergencies, no problems, no critical diplomacy to attend to. For the first time since the Nest ships had been launched nearly seven years earlier, all three captains and their families had been granted leave at the same time. It was a surprise, and one that those captains intended taking full advantage of. Subspace calls were made, plans discussed, arrangements seen to. So it was that Commodore James Kirk and Dr. Jade Han of the Lincoln, Captain Spock and Commander Ruth Valley of the Enterprise, and Captain Takeda Sulu and Commander Jilla Majiir of the D’Artagnan found themselves and their children together on the surface of Epsilon Beryl IV, ready to hike to a suitable campsite.
Ruth, Jade and Jilla made a final check of their provisions, while their husbands were rounding up the children. Like most Nest-raised kids, the children tended to go a little crazy under real open sky, and it was better to let them run around here for a while before saddling them with the rules of camp life. One only had to go a few kilometers to feel totally cut off from civilization. It was one of the reasons Epsilon Beryl was so popular with Starfleet personnel on leave. To arrange for a two-week campsite, remote, but large enough for six adults and five children to tent comfortably with only 10 days advance notice was one of the miracles of prestige and clout. They didn’t often use their celebrity status for such things, but for such a rare occasion as shore-leave together... Even Spock had agreed that perhaps it was permissable this once.
They had just finished re-packing when the men came up, children in tow. Jim held the hand of his almost-seven-year-old son, Christopher, who, except for the Asian eyes inherited from his mother, was James Kirk in miniature. Spock walked behind his two quiet, well-behaved, but mischievously bright-eyed children; seven-year-old Sarek, who, because of his golden hair, grey eyes, pointed ears, and already tall, graceful stature, was called ‘Glorfindel’ by his mother, and Luthien, a five-year-old Vulcan beauty whose huge eyes held only a cast of violet in their ebony depths to indicate her Antari heritage. Sulu carried his daughter, a six-year-old, burgundy-haired Indiian spitfire named Jenshahn on one shoulder, and his three-year-old son, quiet, grey-eyed, very Japanese Kichaee, on the other.
“Okay troops, let’s go!” Ruth called out, hoisting a pack onto her shoulders, then pulling the thick braid of golden hair out from under one of the straps. Spock and Jim picked up their packs, Sulu putting down his children long enough to settle his on his back. Then he picked them up again.
“They should walk, Sulu,” Jilla said.
“Better to let them get tired of being carried and want to walk than the other way around,” Sulu returned, grinning.
“Your kids get tired of being carried?” Jim wanted to know.
“He never puts them down long enough to find out,” Jade replied.
Sulu mock-scowled. “Very funny, Doctor. Just because I’m an affectionate father...”
“Smothering,” Jade broke in.
“Caring,” Sulu returned.
“Over-protective”
“Attentive.”
“Permissive.”
“Self-actualizing.”
“Face it, Roy, you spoil them rotten,” Ruth grinned.
“Look who’s talking,” Sulu shot back with a grin of his own.
“Indeed,” Spock intoned. Ruth stuck her tongue out at him. Which finished the conversation. The hike began, and Ruth started singing a walking song from a favorite book which soon had everyone singing merrily.
The tents were set up quickly, with no mishaps other than Kichae stubbing his toe, Luthien finding a dead butterfly and being inconsolable for all of five minutes, and Jenshahn bringing a pretty plant to her mother which turned out to be of a variety very similar to Terra’s poison ivy. Jim comforted Kichae, then took his pseudo-nephew’s mind off the pain with a game of catch. Jilla gently explained the cycle of life and death to Luthien, who responded with “That’s what Ara says, too,” then went chasing a living butterfly. And Ruth took care of the rash both on Jenni’s hands, and on Jilla’s.
Jilla and Jade began setting up the cook tent. Sulu and Jim had gathered enough dry wood for a proper fire. Ruth watched them piling it up as Spock finished assembling a movable wind-break.
“What’s that for?” she asked.
“A campfire,” Jim answered.
“You can’t go camping without a campfire,” Sulu added.
Ruth looked apprehensive. “Why?”
“For warmth,” Jim said.
“It’s not cold.”
Jim stopped and turned to her. “You’re not still afraid of fire, are you?”
“Of course n...!” she began indignantly, and Spock cleared his throat. “Well, maybe a little,” she conceded.
“So we’ll have a little campfire.”
“Why?” she asked again.
“It’s traditional.”
“Where?”
“On Terra, Ruth.”
“We’re not on Terra.”
“But we’re Terran....”
“Ruth,” Sulu broke in, “it’s for the kids. They’ll like the effect. Besides, how else are they supposed to toast marshmallows?”
“Couldn’t we heat up a rock with a phaser?” Ruth asked, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “You can toast marshmallows over a hot rock.”
Sulu closed his eyes. “We didn’t bring any phasers with us.”
“I’ll go back and get some.”
“Angel...” Jim began, his tone becoming aggravated.
“I’ll tell you what. If you don’t build a fire, I’ll do all the cooking.”
“Somebody get me a match,” Sulu muttered. Ruth turned to him, hands on her hips.
“My cooking is not that bad!”
Three voices replied, “Yes it is!” Spock stepped to her side.
“You are an excellent Science Officer, Ruth,” he said, “and an excellent First Officer. You have made an excellent wife and mother. But you cannot cook.”
Ruth plopped herself down on the ground, looking up at him, scowling. Sulu glanced at the pile of wood, then back at Ruth, then caught Jilla’s eye. Jilla slowly shook her head. He sighed and glanced at Jim, who had just had a similar silent conversation with Jade. They both shrugged.
“So who needs a campfire?”
It was decided that Jilla would cook vegetarian food for Spock, herself, Sarek and Luthien, and that Jade would prepare meat dishes for the rest. There was some question about Sarek.
“Isn’t he going to be keheil?” Jade asked.
“Looks that way,” Ruth replied, munching on a stick of dried beef.
“Then shouldn’t he be restricted to protein, like you?”
“He will be,” Ruth explained, “if he makes it. But until he passes his sh’nal, he’s vegetarian, like most Antaris.”
“You must be very proud of him,” Jilla told her as she swept vegetables into a bowl.
“Frankly, I was hoping he’d be a doctor,” Ruth returned, thickening her Israeli accent. Jade chuckled. Jilla looked confused.
“But is not a keheil the equivalent of an Antari doctor?”
“It was a joke, Jilla, never mind,” Ruth replied.
“I never do,” was Jilla’s wry comment.
“You two are terribly predictable,” Jade said.
“Don’t ever tell Spock that,” Ruth rejoined.
“Don’t tell Spock what?” Sulu interjected as he stepped into the cook tent.
“Never you mind,” Ruth answered.
“Keeping secrets from your husband?”
“No. Nothing important.”
“She and Jilla are predictable,” Jade supplied. Ruth stuck out her tongue. Jade smiled urbanely.
“Ruth?” Sulu said, grinning. “Predictable? When?”
“When she’s with Jilla, of course,” Jade returned.
Sulu scowled.
“See, I told you it wasn’t important,” Ruth rejoined.
“I should have known,” he agreed. He looked over the prepared dishes on the worktable. “So, what’s for dinner?”
“Good, rare meat for us, dead plants for the weirdos,” Ruth said, taking another bite from her beef stick.
“I like both. Am I one of ‘us’ or one of the weirdos?”
“That’s entirely up to you, Roy,” Ruth sniffed with mock-superiority.
“Just as long as you’re not helping,” Sulu returned pleasantly.
“I helped!” Ruth said indignantly.
“She made coffee,” Jade added. “She drinks it, she must know how to make it, right?”
Sulu took one sip from his cup of very hot, black coffee, nearly choked, coughed for a full five minutes, then managed a weak smile. “Good mud, Ruth.”
Jilla made a fresh pot of coffee.
“Christopher, stop chasing that rabbit, it doesn’t have a pocketwatch and it isn’t late!”
***********************************************************
“Jenshahn, take your brother with you.”
“Aw, Ama, do I have to?”
“Yes, you have to.”
***********************************************************
“Luth, don’t do that, he’ll bleed.”
***********************************************************
“Chris, look out for that [splash] pot of water.”
“Daddy, I’m all wet.”
“I noticed that, son.”
***********************************************************
“Ki, don’t follow Glorf up that tree. He’s bigger than you are.”
“Up the tree!? Glorf, get down from there this instant, but don’t... so he jumps anyway.”
“I’m all right, Ara.”
“He must’ve landed on his head.”
“Very funny, Sulu.”
***********************************************************
“My father outranks your father!”
“Jenshahn!”
“Well, you do.”
“Indeed, young lady?”
“Um... ah... gee, zilos, I didn’t see you there. Are you mad at me? Don’t be mad at me, please, please?”
“Don’t mind Father, Jen, he always looks like that.”
***********************************************************
“Sarek Glorfindel Spocklrn evan Ruth Valley Xtmprosqzntwlfd!”
“Christopher James Kirk!”
“Jenshahn Ruth Takeda!”
“Luthien T’Nuviel Spock’an ani Ruth Valley Xtmprosqzntwlfd!”
“Kichae Ichiro Takeda!”
“It is a strange but undeniable fact that no words can send fear through the heart of a child like his full name spoken at top volume by his mother.”
“Agreed. Captain Sulu?”
“Agreed, Commodore Kirk.”
Ruth walked past them, Luthien walking under one arm, Sarek under the other. “Ah, the joys of motherhood,” she commented, and disappeared into the tent that had been designated as the Nest. They had agreed that it was better for the children to retain something of the surroundings they were used to - and more convenient if their parents wanted to get amorous.
Jilla followed Ruth, Jenshahn and Kichae herded in a similar fashion. She, however, looked as content as Sulu had ever seen her.
Jade simply dropped Chris into Jim’s lap. “Why don’t you put your son to bed,” she suggested. The slight emphasis made Jim smile.
“You’ve been aggravating your mother, have you?” he said to Chris.
“Who, me?” Chris answered, his dark eyes twinkling.
“And hanging around your aunt,” Jim added as he stood up from his camp chair. “Come on, son, let’s not push it.” Grinning at Jade, who immediately took his seat, he disappeared with Chris into the tent.
“Luth, did you brush your teeth?”
“Yes, Sarek.”
“Where are you pajamas?”
“Right where I packed them.”
“Don’t forget your meditation.”
“I won’t.”
“And exactly what am I needed for here?” Ruth asked her son as he carefully placed both his and his sister’s soiled clothing into the catch-bag. Sarek gave her a bright grin.
“We always need you, Ara,” he said.
“Nurse Seibert makes us take care of our own clothes,” Luthien put in.
“This is a vacation.”
“I can take care of Luthien,” Sarek replied. “It’s your vacation, too.”
“Which is why I want to play the mom for a change,” Ruth told him.
“But...”
“No ‘buts’ or I’ll get your father.”
“Yes, Ara.”
“Glorf?”
“Yeah?”
“You make a great mom.”
Sarek’s grin, which had faded at the admonishment, flared brightly. “Thanks.” He paused, his grey eyes sparkling. “So do you.”
Ruth threw a pillow at him, then hugged both her children. Luthien whispered, “I think you’re a better mom than he is,” and Ruth smiled, hugging her all the harder.
“I heard that,” Sarek said.
“With those ears, how could you not?” Ruth joked.
“And he’s a telepath besides,” Luthien reminded.
“And he’d better not be doing any mental eavesdropping,” Ruth cautioned with a frown.
“I know better, Ara,” Sarek returned blithely.
Ruth smiled wistfully. “Yeah, I guess you do.” She clapped her hands together. “Okay, my darlings. Time to get some sleep so Ara and Father can have some time together.”
“Does that mean we’re going to have another sibling?” Luthien asked.
Ruth shrugged. “You never know,” she said. She tucked them both into their sleeping bags and kissed their foreheads. “I love you,” she told them as she turned at the door of the tent. She watched for a minute as they settled into comfortable positions, marveling at them. Two beautiful children, and her son the first real potential for a male keheil in all of Antares’ history. A little too independent at times, and he tends to think I had Luthien just for him, but... Her son. Spock’s son.
Not bad, she told herself. Not bad at all.
Jilla kissed the top of Kichae’s head as she tucked him into his sleeping bag. He was already half asleep, worn out from his first full day planetside with his ‘cousins,’ and she smiled as she smoothed his hair away from his eyes. It was rich and silky, like his father’s, the burgundy highlights that were so visible in sunlight now blending into the deeper shades of ebony. “Torzina, tu rosi,” she whispered, then turned to Jenshahn, who was valiantly trying to brush the tangles out of her own hair.
“Let ama help you, Jenshahn,” she said.
Her daughter smiled at her. “Okay,” she agreed amiably. Jilla took the brush and started to work on the thick fall of hair. There was nothing of Sulu’s silkiness here, only burgundy Indiian waves. “Ama?” Jenshahn said.
“Hmm?” was Jilla’s reply
“How long are we gonna be here?”
“Two weeks, aemi.”
“Good. I like it here.” Jen paused, then tilted her head in unconscious imitation of her mother. “Luthien’s fun to play with, but I like Glorf better.”
“Sarek,” Jilla corrected automatically.
“Zilama calls him ‘Glorf’,” Jenni pointed out.
“Yes, but his name is Sarek.”
“He doesn’t mind.”
“Your zilos does.”
“Ama!” Jenni snapped in exasperation that faded as quickly as it had come. “Anyway, he’s pretty.”
Jilla hid her smile. “Is he?”
“Haven’t you noticed?” Jenshahn retorted. “Honestly!” She was silent for moment, contemplating her mother’s obvious lack of perception. “He looks a lot like Zilama, though, especially when he smiles. Of course, Zilos never smiles so how could you tell?” She turned her head. “How come that is, ama? He should look like Zilos, shouldn’t he?”
“Why is that?” Jilla asked. “A child can resemble either parent.”
“No,” Jen stated firmly. “A boy looks like his father, a girl like her mother.”
“Jenshahné has spoken,” Jilla murmured, giving her daughter’s name the honorific ‘ay’ ending that, on Indi, would signify her ascendancy to the Imperial throne. As expected, Jenshahn ignored the gentle taunt.
“Well, I look like you, and Ki looks like Daddy,” she pointed out. “And Chris looks like Uncle Jim. Glorf and Luthien got it backwards.”
“As you say, Jenshahn,” Jilla replied, refusing to be drawn any further into the argument. She finished with Jenshahn’s hair and put down the brush. “Kiss ama goodnight now, and go to sleep.”
Jenni scowled, looking remarkably like her father, a fact which Jilla was disinclined to mention. “I’m not sleepy, ama.”
“Jenshahn, I said...”
“Oh, all right,” she capitulated. She plopped into her sleeping bag. “Torzina, ama.”
“Torzina, tu aemi.”
As Jilla left, she heard her daughter mumble, “Daddy says Zilama’s twitchy anyway. I bet that’s why.”
“She is not,” Luthien whispered.
“Is too,” Jen whispered back.
“Quiet, both of you,” Jim said. Two small voices answered:
“Yes, Uncle Jim.”
And you,” Jim added, turning to his son, “get into bed. You can barely keep your eyes open.”
“I can, too,” Chris protested.
“Do it anyway.”
“Dad, I’m almost...”
“...seven, I know. And I’m forty-seven and bigger than you.”
“You’re forty-eight,” Sarek put in helpfully. Chris giggled.
“Did you learn insubordination from your mother?” Jim asked sardonically. Sarek only smiled.
“Dad, tell us a story,” Chris said.
“Your mothers will be furious if I keep you all awake,” Jim replied. “Another time.”
“Please, Dad?”
“Please, Uncle Jim?” Jenshahn called.
“What, no word from the Antari corner?” Jim asked, smiling.
“It’s okay,” Sarek assured him.
Jim took a deep breath, looking at three pairs of pleading eyes. Sarek’s were twinkling, and Kichae was already asleep. “All right,” he relented. “But then right to sleep.”
They all promised, and Jim settled down on the tent floor. Immediately the kids sat up in their sleeping bags. Despite their insistence, they looked pretty sleepy to him. He didn’t think they’d be too tough to please, but what stories did one tell children who had probably heard half the fairy tales in the galaxy?
“Uncle Jim?” Jenshahn broke into his musings. “Were you always a captain?”
“Yes, dear, always,” he replied absently. Sulu’s daughter nodded wisely, as if that had been the answer she was expecting all along. But the question gave him the beginnings of an idea.
“Start with ‘once upon a time,’" Sarek suggested. Jim smiled. Ruth’s son was as much a brat as his mother. Which completed his idea.
“Once upon a time,” he began, “in a far-away desert where no one ever smiled, lived a Wizard, who fell in love with a Beautiful Girl.”
“What kind of a girl?” Luthien asked.
“A Human girl,” Jim explained. “From a snowy place called Minnesota.”
“My mom used to live there,” Chris put in, the fact obviously making him somehow important to the story.
“So did our Grandmother,” Luthien countered.
Jim cleared his throat in a captain-like manner and received immediate attention. “The Wizard took the Beautiful Girl to his desert and married her, because he couldn’t bear to leave her in all that snow and cold. Even though no one ever smiled, they lived happily for a time, and the Beautiful Girl learned to smile with her eyes. One day, the Beautiful Girl gave birth to the Wizard’s son. He was born smiling, and the Wizard was afraid that if all the other wizards in the desert saw the smile, they would think his son wasn’t a true wizard. The Beautiful Girl said she would try to teach her son to smile only with his eyes, as she did, but the Wizard wouldn’t hear of it. So he turned his very own son into a creature who would never, ever smile. He turned him into a Frog.”
Jim paused long enough for the children to express their dismay and annoyance with the bad wizard. “Now, I don’t think the Wizard was really a bad wizard, he just didn’t know any other spell to use on a smiling child. But anyway, the green Frog boy grew up into a tall, green, handsome Frog man. His mother told him of the spell that had been put on him, and that the only way to break the spell was to find a Golden Princess who would love him even though he could never, ever smile. So the tall Frog left the desert to search for a Golden Princess to break the spell.”
Jim noticed a growing speculativeness coming into Sarek’s grey eyes, but the boy said nothing.
“The tall green Frog was a brilliant Frog, and he went to work at the castle of the Man Who Was Always A Captain. They became friends, even though the Frog could never, ever smile. And the Frog told the Man Who Was Always A Captain of the spell that had been put on him by the Wizard. The Man Who Was Always A Captain decided to help him find his Golden Princess. They looked for many years, and they found a few princesses, but none of them were golden enough and the spell could not be broken.
"One day, they were found by a girl who was the most golden thing either the Frog or the Man Who Was Always a Captain had ever seen. But she wasn’t a princess. She wasn’t anything like a princess. In fact, she was a Brat. But she liked the Frog, and she decided to find a way to break the spell. She sang to him, thinking that perhaps music would help him, but it didn’t. She tried to make him smile, sure that if he could but smile, the spell would be broken. But the Wizard’s spell was too strong. She teased him and joked with him, but ended up respecting his brilliance and learning from him instead of him learning how to smile. She even found him a Silver Princess, but silver couldn’t break the spell. Finally, the Brat didn’t know what to do and she was very, very sad.” Jim paused again, waiting for the kids to sigh with the great sorrow of the story.
“But the Brat kept her sadness inside herself, and tried to make herself happy again by getting into all sorts of bratty trouble, which did not make the Man Who Was Always A Captain very happy. But still, the Frog could never, ever smile.
“One day a strange thing happened. The Brat and the Frog fell asleep at the same time, and had the very same dream. In this dream, a Silver Prince came on board... ah, to the castle of the Man Who Was Always A Captain. And the Silver Prince fell in love with the Brat. This made the tall green Frog want to really look at the Brat for the very first time, for how could a Prince be in love with a Brat? The Silver Prince held up a magic mirror so that the Frog could see what he saw. And the Frog discovered that the Brat was only a disguise. She was really a Golden Princess! The Frog thought back on all the things she had tried to do to help him, and he realized that she must truly love him, even though he never, ever smiled.”
Jim took a deep breath for the big finish.
“And with that, they both awoke only to find that the spell was broken! The Tall Green Frog became a Tall Green Wizard and fell in love with the beautiful Golden Princess. They were married at the castle of the Man Who Was Always A Captain. Sometimes the Golden Princess missed the Frog, and sometimes the Tall Green Wizard missed the Brat, but they lived happily ever after anyway. The end.”
The kids broke into applause, and Jim smiled, starting to get up off the floor.
“What happened to the Silver Princess?” Jenshahn demanded.
“She married your daddy, dear,” Jim replied.
“I thought so.”
“I like Ara’s version better,” Sarek stated.
Spock had brought his lyrette and Ruth’s guitar from their tent. Jilla had likewise retrieved her lyrette, and the three were playing softly; sweet, melodic music that fit the mood of the evening. They sat on blankets laid on the ground, within a circle of light from lanterns that had been hung from tent to tent. A small cookstove kept both coffee and water for Jade and Spock’s tea warm. There was a warm breeze from the southeast, and Sulu commented that it made him feel like the Santa Ana winds were blowing off the Sierras in California.
“Don’t the Santa Anas usually bring trouble?” Ruth teased.
“Before the Colorado River was efficiently managed,” Spock replied, “the winds known as Santa Ana always heralded drought. It was a considerable problem for the inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin.”
“There’s also the psychological documentation,” Jade added, sipping a cup of tea. “The Santa Ana winds have long been associated with an increase in unusual behavior. Much like the full moon.”
“Aren’t they actually caused by a shift in the ionization of the atmosphere?” Jim asked.
“Isn’t this conversation just a little bit heavy-handed for a vacation?” Ruth broke in.
“Just because you’re a science officer who’s sick of science doesn’t mean the rest of us have to play dumb,” Sulu returned blithely.
“Then maybe Jilla and I will start talking about Klingon activity in Sector G7,” Ruth countered.
“There is no report of Klingon activity...” Jilla began.
“Oh never mind!” Ruth scowled. “When are we going to start having fun?”
Sulu and Jim started laughing.
“Perhaps, my wife, the conversation is a little too mundane,” Spock conceded.
“After all, we are on vacation, and we should strive for a break in routine,” Jade put in, then smiled urbanely. “If only for our psychological health.”
“You people are impossible,” Ruth rejoined. “Why did I think a holiday with you would be a good idea?”
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Sulu apologized between chuckles. “You’re just such an easy target...”
“Easy target, am I?” Ruth snapped. “I’ll easy target you!”
Sulu was up and running before she had finished, and she raced after him, screeching “womprat!” at the top of her lungs.
“Do you suppose they’ll wake the children?” Jim asked blandly.
“You mean the other children?” Jade wanted to know.
Jim laughed, then turned to Spock and Jilla, who were again strumming on their lyrettes. “My sincere sympathies, my friends.”
“One grows used to such things,” Jilla replied gravely. It was so deadpan that it took almost 10 seconds before Jim and Jade began laughing.