Spring Cleaning of the Mind - Part I

Posted on Saturday, 21 May 2022 - 10:41am by Commander Soral & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Risa
Timeline: 2395

ON:

Soral sat on the beach unaccustomed to the quiet. The time spent away had been busy. He'd had to leave Alex and go to Vulcan for a V'Shar debrief and then to Starfleet for a debrief and then he hadn't seen Alex even on Earth, where she was. In the end via messages they had agreed to meet on Risa. the kids were now back on Vulcan with Alex's mother, where it was safe again and he was at the Risa home he owned. He'd written madly a book that would forever cement him as Shar, that secret was out of the bag. The publishers were salivating and Starfleet was none too happy about the revealed identity.

He supressed a sigh, Vulcan's didn't sigh. Even today had been trying, his visitor... had unnerved him even though the visit had been helpful. He now awaited Alex's arrival wondering how that would go.

Away from the more popular tourist spots, the directions had brought Alex Kingsley through picture perfect parks and past a peaceful lake and finally to a sparse residential area which offered the small handful of homes access to a small private beach towards the back of the properties while the front was beautifully landscaped gardens with flowering plants offering a up almost every colour of the rainbow. Not that rainbows were common place here, where the climate was carefully maintained to ensure guests could enjoy their vacation as much as possible.

Quite honestly, she would kill for some rain.

She was fairly certain that even in the fifteen minutes or so she had spent walking, she probably resembled more lobster than human. At least the front of the house was in the shade and she took a moment to enjoy the breeze as it cooled her skin while she contemplated knocking on the front door. It felt like an eternity since she had actually seen her husband. And while they no longer shared a bond, they were still very much man and wife in the legal sense. Yet the situation was different now, much more complicated.

So much more complicated.

By now she had lost count of how many doctors, psychologists mostly, she had been sat in front of - which was before having to give a detailed report to Starfleet which had felt nothing short of an inquisition. In truth, while she still had doubts her future was still in Starfleet, she had expected the choice to be taken out of her hands entirely and to find herself back to living a civilian life.

Stepping closer she moved to knock the door but as soon as she got near, the door clicked open - unlocking and allowing her to push it open with minimal effort. Clearly some sort of security system had already been set up to recognise her although she didn't expect otherwise. Stepping inside, she took in the open, spacious surroundings which was so full of light it almost hurt.

Closing the door she heard the lock engage as she slipped her backpack off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor with a soft thud. Inside was cooler, thankfully, which had to be for her benefit. Soral was raised on Vulcan, accustomed to the heat of his home world.

Walking around, she saw the doors leading outside from a kitchen area was open and pausing in the doorway she saw Soral sitting a short distance away, on the stretch of beach. Taking a deep breath she ventured out, her sneakers leaving imprints in the sand with every step. Stopping a few meters away, she seated herself on a small outcropping of rocks, not entirely sure what to say. So she started with something simple.

"Hi."

Soral, who'd been lost in thought was caught off guard a little but not enough to jolt him. He looked down at the wrist watch he had on, a monitor of sorts...it was a security alert that flashed green. It had told him she had arrived and he'd missed it lost in his mind. He stood quietly and walked over to the rocks and sat by her. "Hello." He reached over and took her hand, not hesitating but still at a loss as to where to go next.

She had almost - almost- apologised for surprising him but had stopped herself. And she almost asked what he had been so deep in thought about to not hear her approaching but stopped herself from asking that too. Instead she had watched him stand up with that grace Vulcan's just seemed to possess and come towards her, taking up a space beside her that left them both looking out over the beach and the water as waves lazily rolled into the shore. He didn't say anything at first, which made her nervous. Not until he was seated at which point he returned her hello and took hold of her hand.

She glanced down, staring at her hand intertwined with his and it took a long moment for her to understand why everything looked so blurry. Every feeling of guilt, anger, pain, love and loss - and a million feelings in between - boiled quickly to the surface. "I -" she began to speak but stopped short. She had thought about what she would say to him during her journey to Risa, and rethought it over and over. But now he was actually there, the words just wouldn't escape her mouth and seemed so inadequate.

He squeezed her hand. "It has been a trying time filled with many long hours." He looked out at the ocean. "I am glad we are together again."

“After everything?” She asked, her tone making it clear she didn’t believe he could be after all that had transpired. “No… I failed you in every possible way. But most of all as your wife. It is unforgivable.”

He sighed. “You have not failed me. You made choices, I understand those, especially with the circumstances. I regret severing our bond but it was necessary for him to not know all that was in my mind. Together we have grown though this."

“You were taken, and were dying and I should have known,” Alex countered. “I should have known he was not you and should never have let him -“

She broke off that particular train of thought as she reclaimed her hand and stood, walking a few steps away and staring out at the ocean with her back to Soral. “The only choices were to save the crew. The needs of the many after all…” she wasn't lying, yet there had also been that part of her that had been hurt by his decision to let go of their bond, even if she could completely understand it and couldn't blame him for it.

A silence fell between them as she stood watching a little boat drifting on the horizon.

"I don't really know who I am anymore," she admitted quietly...



TO BE CONTINUED...