What A Difference A Day Makes - Part One
Posted on Tue Nov 1st, 2011 @ 10:12am by Tora Sulan & Lieutenant Commander Kit'rin'e
Mission:
In Our Time of Need
Location: Sulan's Quarters
Kit'rin'e awoke, this was his last day without duties but that was not the most important thing on his mind. Sleep was indeed a luxury that night one which he could only pay for briefly as it came in small quantities at several times of the night. He washed and dressed, a dark red attire much like the one she saw him in earlier in his quarters the first time. He'd prepared the gift, wrapping it in Caitian fabric much akin to silk though slightly stronger to protect against claws. It didn't take him long to pick what it was to give her. Every Caitian male must serve a time in the Caitian Defence Force. It's a mandatory service of only two years. Each is given a bladed weapon as part of the uniform.
This would be his gift to her. His own weapon which in essence was two in fact. His ceremonial sword, longer then most due to the size of Caitians, the other a bladed tip for the tail. Anyone who becomes the commander of a vessel is rewarded with an extra blade, which while it took considerable training, presented a very dangerous foe. However Kit'rin'e didn't stay long enough to make it that far, seeking instead to join Starfleet. Once ready he left his quarters, carrying the gift in both hands. It took only a few months, at least it seemed that way, to arrive at her doors where he chimed, hoping she was in and having forgotten to check her location with the computer.
It had been a very busy night at the Nexus and she hadn't stopped moving from the time she finished her conversation with Janice till after the last show when she called it a night. Given that she'd been up most of the day yesterday too, she was too tired to stay and had made it home and gone straight to bed. Today, she planned to sleep in, but it seemed that the universe had other ideas. So it was that when the door chime rang, it took a few minutes to pierce her consciousness and she groaned.
The pillow over her head didn't help, leaving her wondering if they'd go away when the chime rang again. She sat up, pushing her long hair back with a yawn. Whoever was there seemed determined and so she gave in and climbed out of bed. Wrapping herself in a long robe of black velvet, she tied the sash as she crossed through her quarters to the doors. Touching the panel to open the doors, she began speaking. "Sorry it took so long I was --" And then she realized who stood before her. Looking up she blinked, her mouth falling open. "Oh..." The realization that she was only in a robe hit her and she flushed a rosy pink. "Won't you come in?"
Right away he knew he'd disturbed her. In his haste to satisfy Caitian tradition and culture, he'd inadvertently broken another aspect of hers. "I am sorry, I have disturbed you." He said with a bow in greeting, though this bow was slightly deeper than the ones before. "I can come back another time if you wish," he said standing upright again. He saw the change in skin colour. He was not sure if his being here embarrassed her, he hoped not but it was already too late. The seed of doubt already planted started growing.
"Oh no, it's fine. I just....I was asleep and so I'm not really at my best. Come on in." She stood aside to let him enter. He certainly had disturbed her but not in the way he meant. The thought brought a smile to her face as she looked back at him. Not a bad surprise to wake up to at all.
Kit'rin'e walked in only a few steps, enough to let the doors close. "I wanted to give you this." He said holding the nearly four and a half foot long box towards her. "I don't know how much you know of Caitian culture and its traditions, but I'm required to give you this." He didn't let his eyes meet hers, his head slightly lowered.
"Required?" Whatever Su had expected, it certainly wasn't a gift so formally presented. And the fact that he'd yet to meet her eyes wasn't lost on her. She took the box and stepped back to lay it across the sofa. Given its weight, she had a sneaking suspicion what might be within the package.
"Yes." He replied. "I saw something that I should not have, had no right to," he added. "I am required to make amends." He was wrong to see that she was interested in him, why would she be? There were so many differences between them. "I hope you find the gift to your liking."
"That depends on what you saw." Her mind raced back over their interactions, and aside from bare shoulders and bare feet, none of which his culture forbade, she couldn't think of what it might be. Bending down, she opened the box and seeing the sword and the tail blade, she drew in a breath, overwhelmed. She knew immediately what this blade was. "Kit'rin'e?"
It was obvious to see how he felt, his ears were wilted slightly, not like the normal alert ever-ready state. His tail was slow and lazy in its movements, his whole body radiated regret. "I..." Having trouble speaking words which to him were so painful knowing what they meant, a cultural violation. "I...misread something, you, I...thought you were....expressing interest." Another difficult pause. "In me." There was another slight pause as he still didn't meet her gaze. "I'm required to make amends for it."
"I see." She paused, running a finger over the flat of the blade appreciatively. This certainly answered her one big question regarding whether he was attached, didn't it? "What if you were not wrong? What then?"
"It is not the males' right, but the females'." Kit'rin'e said. "I should have not seen anything but friendship, yet I saw more, it was wrong of me to do so, even if it was right or wrong." He responded. "Females declare an interest in a mate, the male accepts without question or hesitation. To find a mate is a great honour to Caitians, I am not used to the ways of females of many species. Even though I have been in Starfleet for some time, the ways of many are still alien to me."
"What if the female who declares such an interest does not appeal to him?" She had considered this and was genuinely curious.
"Caitians see past the physical, we see the person for who they are." Kit'rin'e said, for the first time looking at her. "The flesh of a person holds who the person is, inside is what we see. To Caitians having white fur is considered an honoured blessing, one which had I stayed on my Homeworld would assure me a mate, but I wanted more than to be treated like a....." He was trying to find a word suitable. "Prize?" He questioned wondering if that was the right word to use. "To find a mate is an honour to a male, to provide children is the greatest gift a male could give, to marry is the most sacred gift a female could bestow on a male." He continued. "I will easily live to 100 of your years, the flesh changes, the person, the mind, the spirit does not."
And that's where you're wrong.....
The thought rose within Su in a flash. Her flesh wasn't changing at all. And wasn't that going to be tough to explain? She considered her next words carefully before she spoke.
"You were not wrong." She ran a hand through her hair, sweeping it back from her face. "I've been thinking on this since I left you yesterday. But I have a question, and the answer matters very much to me, but it may be an answer that's not something you'd ordinarily be willing to discuss."
"A male can not refuse a request from a female." That was the part she would have to accept if she walked this path. If she wanted something, all she had to do was demand, or ask if she felt nice and she would get it. If she wanted to feel his claws on her skin she could, if she wanted to see his fangs, sharpen them or touch them she could. If she wanted him to hold her in naught but his fur then he would do so. "What answer do you seek?" He said, his hands in from of him, together.
"I want to know if this interest that you saw was something that was welcomed, if it was... a good thing." She moved several steps closer, stopping right before him to look up to his face. "With us humanoids, that matters. A lot."
He watched her draw closer, never taking his eyes off her. "It was welcomed, I felt honoured that you felt comfortable enough around me, despite what I am, to come into my quarters and even take off your shoes." He started. "You felt comfortable enough to honour me by holding my arm yesterday, joining me in the tree even after my display which some could have found troubling." Climbing a tree was one thing, Humans were often clumsy climbers but to Caitians it was exceedingly easy.
She nodded slowly. "And so you felt you'd overstepped your bounds and brought to me one of your most prized possessions. It is I who is honoured. The question that plagued you has been uppermost in my mind as well. I wondered if perhaps I saw something not there. This answers the last of my questions." She grew silent for a moment, reaching out to touch the fur that covered his hand. "But I am afraid. Not of you, but of the secrets I hold that you do not know."
"A risk we take when mating to other species is the unknown." Kit'rin'e replied,he watched her hand touch his. So small compared to his own. "You are not the only one afraid however. I am what I am, a feline, a predator, my size and weight are a danger to small-framed people even some female Caitians." He followed with "But there is one thing I'm required to point out." He had to, aside from his size, there were other life threatening aspects of a relationship with a Caitian. "Caitains pick one mate, for life. If you choose this you will be the only one for the rest of my days, however if you leave me, it could very well kill me."
That part of the equation Sulan had heard years ago. At the time she thought it admirable and she still did but now, it loomed much larger. One word, a simple yes, and there was no turning back. What had Jackson said? That she wasn't getting any younger? It had been a joke but behind the jest, he was right. She had to stop keeping people at arm's length and he'd said as much. She'd known Kit'rin'e for what: Three days? And yet she knew her steps had started along this path the moment she said hello to him in the Nexus. Finally, she lowered her head.
There is something you need to know, in all fairness, before I give my answer."
To Be Continued...
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Lt. Commander Kit'rin'e
Chief Flight Control Officer
Tora Sulan
House Manager, The Nexus Club
Crossing That Bridge Now That They've Come To It
