JL - lt Kerenal, Princess Xue'Daio - "Atonement"

Posted on 241508.24 @ 6:18pm by Lieutenant Kerenal & Civilian Xue'Daio Nox

Mission: Agua Mala
Location: Coastal Overlook

The sound of the sea was far different than it had been a few nights prior. It no longer roared and bellowed in atonement for a love that should never be – it instead whispered and sighed as it broke on a not so distant white sand shoreline. Xue watched the glue-green waters roll until they were nothing more than foam fingers, desperately caressing the cheek of the shore like lovers… Star crossed lovers that could never be. The veranda beneath her silent perch gave way to another being, one she’d only recently come to learn was a timeless El-Aurian, and that was simply due to the fact her people watched and listened. While serving with him on the Enterprise, she hadn’t bothered herself with such things. They were trivial and he, only a Lieutenant, seemed far below her scope of importance.

My how things changed.

The soft rose-amber of her eyes traveled the expanse of the bronzed man’s shoulders and back. He was well-built, handsome, strong. Everything women seemed so willing to flaunt themselves for… And Xue cared not for his looks nor his strength; she watched him because of the way he watched something else. Far below the beached set the stage for another anomaly – one her mother had taken great interest in for all the wrong reasons. She was a fair beauty herself with hair the color of lilac flowers and eyes as blue as the skies above. Her blood wasn’t pure, but there was no denial that the so-called ‘Starling’ was of Apsha, and well-bred to boot. None of that mattered to the albino Princess. They could have been mere paupers, and her interest now would have been all the same – or so she at least attempted to convince herself. Deny it all she’d like, Xue knew well that the tides of revolution were coming. Something was coming, and something would have to give.

Closing her eyes and gathering the pale blue silk of her robes, the elegant young regent made her ginger path down the handful of steps and across the raw marble that separated her from the man. “Even the blind could see that you love her.” She spoke, pausing only once she reached the golden hand railing the El-Aurian leaned against during his vigil. She didn’t look at him, didn’t need to, didn’t want to – instead she followed his line of sight, watching the strolling halfing with earnest interest, but hardly the affection the man had. “Have you told her?”

He had been watching her for some time, silently guarding her from his vantage point when the voice had come over his shoulder. He tilted his head to catch the newcomer out of the corner of his eye and allowed himself a small smile at the intrusion of the princess. "I have, we have both made our feelings for each other quite clear, your highness," Kerenal replied softly with a respectful nod in her direction, "We have shared much more than anyone knows."

“Ah.” Xue replied with a nod of acknowledgement. Her pale fingers spread out over the zephyr chilled rail, savoring the coolness against her skin as she continued to study both the El-Aurian and the halfling – though each would play entirely different roles, with entirely different levels of fascination. In many ways the Starling was a representation of a freedom that the Princess struggled with. She was a culmination of wrong doings and cultural ‘treason’, after all no self-respecting Stenellis would ever give themselves to a member of another, inferior species… The result would be disastrous; a mutant of ungodly proportions that would, and could, never make it in any society – and yet there she was, strolling along the beach free as a bird on the breeze beneath the watchful eye of a man that adored her, surrounded by a group of people that both trusted and obeyed her. She had power, she had privilege, she had love.

“I’ve heard tale that you’re several centuries old,” The Princess found her voice again, slowly piecing together the puzzle of her thoughts. “Our culture dictates to us that our elders are to be revered and respected, and so I pass the same credence to you.” Her head dipped as she spoke, obviously reasoning with herself and marking her decision as solid and righteous, all the while her fingers imperceptibly tightened on the strong hold of bronze in front of her, “So when I ask you this, it isn’t out of belittlement but rather curiosity and a search for answers of my own…” The pink of her tongue graced the plush satin coral of her lips in a nervous fashion that seemed hardly befitting of a girl who would one day be Empress, and her eyes searched the lines of Kerenal’s face until they found his. “Do you not see race or is the fact she isn’t of your species, and a blend of two others, something trivial and unimportant?” Even she nearly cringed at how xenophobic her words sounded.

Kerenal pondered the question for a few moments as his gaze fell back onto Tierney on the beach before them, it was something that he had never really considered in a question of that form, but something that deep down inside he had known all along and would always know, "Turn several into nearly eight centuries," he replied to the first statement that she had made before pausing for a moment to think how to word his next reply, "Part of what drew me to her was the fact that she was... different, that she was something that I had never encountered before, which, for a member of my race, is quite a rarity." the El-Aurian replied honestly, his watchful gaze never leaving the woman who held his heart so delicately. "However, it was never really to do with race, if she had been human, she would have intrigued me just as much," he added before turning to face the princess, leaning on an elbow on the railing, "She's intelligent, fiercely loyal and resourceful," he began before pausing a moment to cast a glance over her, "When I met her, she was quiet, shy, withdrawn, scared of what she could be, of the unknown. But she's grown and blossomed into what I consider the best of both our cultures, she embraces what she is and has found happiness because of this."

“Even when some races seem so bend of superiority complexes and have tradition steeped in xenophobia?” Such words were treacherous, and Xue knew it all too well, but watching the nearly eight-hundred year old alien before her gave rise and reason to the tempest of emotions and thoughts she’d allowed to cultivate within her own soul. “The Stenellis aren’t the only ones,” In quick thought she rallied in defense of her people and the culture that had cultivated her, “The Romulans, Cardassians, even the Klingons, and Humans… I believe it lurks in most all races to strive for purity and maybe shun those that choose to interbreed.” She spun then, leaning her back against the railing as she spoke with her eyes now firmly planted on the intricate raw marble floors, not quite ready to look at the Halfling or the El-Aurian again. “For instance, we have been told that the Trill are selective among their own people to receive symbionts and that they absolutely shun half-bloods for such an honor. They say that half-bloods are physically inferior and can’t play host, but then again there are stories and documented case where black market symbionts have been placed in half-Trill hosts without problem…” Xue babbled on, reasoning more with herself and her own screwed up emotions than with the centuries old alien that patiently gave court to her rant. “But then,” She tilted her head to one side, raising the coordinated hand palm up as if to weigh the very thought she was about to bring to life with words, “there’s a joined Trill on the Vindicator who’s bonded with the human Commodore. A joined Trill. A human.” She weighed each with her palms, finding no equal ground as she did, “And you… You know no bounds of time, practically immortal, and yet you fall for a half-blood Stenellis who may or may not live the Stenellis life span…” The Princess looked at him then, her brows furrowed in worry and confusion as she searched the depths of his eyes with her own, “The biggest question becomes… Is it worth it? To cast tradition and reason to the wind just for the sake of emotional fulfillment?”

"The Humans have learnt, through time, that diversity is something to be championed, the Vulcans, for all of their logic and pride were one of the first races that saw mingling of blood between themselves and Humans, even for a race as... unemotional as the Vulcans, love is something that cannot be explained or reasoned with, it is simply something that happens." Kerenal replied as he let out a slight sigh and looked towards the sky for a moment, "Kol-Ut-Shan, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations." he translated, it was something that had bought him peace in his isolation on Vulcan after the death of his wife. "You ask if it is worth it, your highness?" the El'Aurian replied as he returned his gaze to Tierney, "Despite how much it hurts when the time comes... I cherish every moment, every single second makes me feel three hundred years younger and I would seek it out every single time."

His response, however melancholy, was rife with emotion and a sense of honesty that refreshed Xue's soul far more than the sea breeze could ever. Her pensive air of frustration seemed to slowly melt as the words the ancient alien spoke seeped through the cracks and pores of her psyche and polarized into the understanding the teenager had needed to obtain. With it came a smile, one that slowly spread over her delectable mouth to overtake her eyes with a glitter and a shine that could, perhaps, only be defined as gratitude unspoken. "Then it would be wise to galvanize it, would it not?" She asked, tossing a gentle gesture towards the sun soaked Starling with her head, "To spend those moments bound instead of tiptoeing through whatever uncertainty that may still separate you?" If only, she thought, it was just that simple... And maybe, just maybe, some things were.

"When the time is right," Kerenal replied with a light chuckle at the not so subtle implications of the princess' words. Oh how he had thought about it repeatedly, how he had planned to approach the subject in his every waking moment, upon seeing the smile that had sprung from her face at his return and then every time since when they spent time together, "For the moment, we are happy and that is the only thing in this universe that matters, it is the one thing that every sentient being strives for,"

"Happiness." The albino repeated with a nod. In many ways she was still a little girl, trapped with all sorts of idealistic images of love and everything that the fables promised rode alongside. Trapped... And repressed, replaced with the marble -like facade of a warrior ruler who had been promised that no such things existed in their world, or the next. She envied the Starling's mother most, for being brave enough to conquer what Xue had only now begun an internal battle against - just as she now envied the El-Aurian for his dedication and clarity where she fought to find her own. It would be slow coming, but eventually she'd find a path out of the dark fog of uncertainty that clung all around her. "I wish you luck."

"In my experience, your highness," Kerenal replied with another respectful nod, "We make our own luck," he finished as he turned back to watch over Tierney again as she relaxed in the sun and sand of the beach below.

For a time there was silence as the moon pale woman considered what the ancient alien had said. Luck, like fate, had often seemed predetermined or prayed for or wished upon - never once had she stopped to consider that it was manifested of a person's own doing. It seemed uncanny, and yet made sense. "May it be so." Xue replied at long last, her voice soft as she dipped her head towards him in brief relief and chose to take her leave. It was changing, all of it, and rapidly - leaving her to pick up the pieces left behind and either run to catch up or resign without so much as trying.

And still the question of value lingered; was Maec tr'Verelan worth it?

---

Lieutenant Kerenal
Chief Operations Officer
USS Enterprise NCC 1701-F

&

Xue'Daio Nox
Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Lady of Aleine
Regent of Apsha
Stenellian Ambassador to the Federation