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Are We There Yet?
Rating: PG Note: I am using another term new to me here, which I picked up from the Triaxian Silk board from T’Poptarts: cagemate. Chapter Ten The family was assembled for dinner in the dining room. Again, everyone had on the clan’s signature brown robe, with trim on the sleeves and hem being the only sign of individual preference. T’Sari’s aunts had been busy sewing to her specifications while she was away camping with Trip and T’Pol. As a result, both Trip and T’Pol were now suitably garbed to blend in with the rest of the clan. Trip only knocked over one goblet with a sleeve but managed to keep both his sleeves out of the plomeek soup and the condiment sauce. “I will venture to say your mother’s house will be a welcome place to return to after the restrictions of that camper,” said T’Sari to T’Pol. “Undoubtedly. Sharing the camper with you, Trip, and Lizi-Les was tight enough, but with Fluffy it became an exercise in contortion,” T’Pol responded. “Oh, Fluffy is not a bad cagemate,” T’Sari’s eyes sparkled. “You could always leave him here if the rest of the trip with him would be too much.” Trip grinned “From such a dubious beginning, you and Fluffy have become bosom companions.” “Yes, we have. I know I will miss him, so I came up with a plan.” “What is that, T’Sari?” asked T’Pol with the whole table full of relatives, including T’Sari’s children who had returned, gazing at her with great expectation.” “Later, after dinner, you all will see.” When all were assembled in the sitting room later, the door chime rang. T’Sari escorted visitors into the room. Matak and his parents walked in with dignity, in formal visiting robes, Matak carrying a spotted sehlat cub. His mother steered him toward T’Sari’s pre-teen children. He stopped before them and held out the cub. “For us?” asked T’Rani. “Yes.” Said Matak. “Go ahead, take him,” T’Sari encouraged her daughter. “But Mother, you cannot tolerate…” “It is alright now, My Daughter. I am quite content with the idea of a sehlat in the house.” T’Rani took the cub. “Tea anyone?” asked T’Sari, turning to the drinks table. While a low buzz of conversation filling the room, people mingled with tea cups in hand. A woman approached T’Pol and stood quietly until T’Pol turned and noticed her. “Greetings,” said the woman. “My son and I understand you have a brave sehlat who protected your family at the risk of his own life. In our family sehlats are of great help and are honored as members of the family. Since we admire yours, here is a gift for him.” The woman handed T’Pol a jeweled collar with Fluffy’s name engraved on a brass plate attached to it. “I accept this gift of great esteem in the name of our honored family member.” T’Pol took the collar and bowed. The woman nodded and walked away, disappearing behind the green robes of others of her family. Trip finished his conversation with the tall Vulcan he had sat next to at their first breakfast in this house and approached T’Pol. “I thought she wasn’t talking to us and we had a sort of cold war clan conflict going on here.” “It seems T’Sari has fixed that. But we probably will not be on their guest list any time soon. A gift to a clan member, even OF a sehlat or TO a sehlat, is as good as an apology for rudeness as we are likely to get while they are still grieving for their lost sehlat. As friends with their clan, we are not there yet. But as a family you, me, and T’Sari certainly have arrived. |
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