CHILDREN OF THE PROPHETS [PG] Printed in April 1994 in Outpost 2. It is permanently posted at Rene Auberjonois's webpage at http://members.aol.com/odophile/rene.html Summary: Kira comes to terms with Kai Opaka's abandonment with the help of her good friend, Odo (a friendship tale -- this was first season, remember? ) ------------------------------------ Gentle reader: This story was written over two years ago, which means it can now be released to the internet without fear of breaking Orion Press net-fiction publishing rules and risking the wrath of our grand puba, er, publisher, Mr. Randy Landers. It is neither very long, nor particularly profound, but it does capture the essence of what the first season of this phenomenal show was like...as well as foreshadows the relationship of Odo to Kira, which I must in all modesty state I saw coming from the proverbial block away. ;) Only one potential problem for nit-pickers; this was written using the DS9 writer's bible, which states that Odo was found in the Denorios Belt 52 years from the start of DS9. It has since been established (in both the Omnipedia and at Paramount's MSN Odo page) that Odo was found in the Denorios Belt _32_ years from the start of DS9. So the writer *is* aware of this discrepancy. Comments, questions can be posted or sent to: FAIR WARNING: all flames are doused in bucket kept by side of desk and Changeling sleeping inside will immediately search out and dispatch the sender... All that said, hey...enjoy! --------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This non-profit material was produced out of love for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and it's characters, and is not intended to infringe upon the Star Trek copyrights of Viacom, Paramount Pictures Corporation, nor those of any other legal holders of Star Trek copyrights. -------------------------------------------- CHILDREN OF THE PROPHETS by Judith Macquinn / OdoGoddess@aol.com Quark dipped his head obsequiously, then as soon as the woman in the skin-tight leather spacer outfit turned away, leered from ear-to-ear...which in Quark's case was not that difficult, being Ferengi. "You should wipe the drool off your shirt while you're at it, Quark," grumbled Odo, Deep Space Nine's chief of security as the view on his console changed from Quark's bar to the outer docking ring, section four, then five, then eight - the only ones in current use. While Odo wasn't so naive as to believe the areas of the station not in use wouldn't serve as meeting places for the unsavory, neither did he have the time at the moment to waste watching all the various levels and sections of the docking ring. Currently, he was experiencing something he called annoyance and what nearly everyone else would have described as anxiety. The safety of everyone on the station, whether resident, vagabond or transient was his responsibility. When someone who was scheduled to be on the station was not on the station, that was also his responsibility. At least that was what the Bajoran Provisional Government's council had informed him. They were most adamant in their vehemence that the visiting dignitary, Kai Opaka, be retrieved and brought back to Bajor with haste, despite the fact that Odo had no idea where the Kai currently was. He had discovered, to his chagrin, that Commander Sisko and Major Kira had taken the Kai on a "sight-seeing" excursion to the Gamma quadrant. The council had not taken that news with the equanimity that Odo had hoped for. In point of fact, the governing council had not even been mollified to learn that she was in good company and expected to return. They had also not been pleased to learn that he could not leave the station and track her down and bring her back himself. The minor matter of being station security chief had not swayed their demands. They had given him thirteen hours to bring the Kai to Bajor or else. Odo wondered what the 'else' could possibly be? He was a shapeshifter - no punishment could truly be effective with him unless they wished him dead. He did not believe that would be a consequence of failure, although a small part of his mind considered this option. More likely the 'else' meant a dismissal from his posting. Such a happenstance, however, would only provide him the freedom to-- "Dax to Security Chief." Despite interrupting his thoughts, the Trill Lieutenant's calm voice was balm to Odo's ears, replications though they were. He sighed, tapping his communicator. "Go ahead." It was the only thing he actually was "wearing" despite the uniform he appeared to wear. While he could easily reproduce a working communicator, he had grown accustomed to using the one issued to him. It's slight weight against his chest was oddly comforting; when he released his shape every sixteen hours, the device made its way to the bottom of his pail. When he began to reform, his first action was to push the communicator to his "surface" and then establish his customary humanoid form against it. It provided an excellent focal point for him to utilize as he took humanoid form. Despite fifty-odd years at it, he still had difficulty with the shape. It simply wasn't natural to him as so many other shapes seemed to come. Dax abruptly recalled him to the problems at hand. "Chief O'Brien and I are docking at Port Three. You wished to be informed of our arrival." "Yes. Is the Kai alright?" was Odo's only question. "I think the commander or Major Kira should brief you, sir," came Dax's response. Her voice was oddly sorrowful and for a fleeting moment, Odo had an inkling what the term 'pit of the stomach' meant. "I'll be there," was his only response, though. He was already moving from behind his desk and out the door before his communicator clicked to signal the conclusion of his conversation. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dax sympathized with Sisko. The tremendously supportive commander had tried every tactic he knew to help the major come to grips with the distressing events on the prison moon, but without success. Kira sat unmoving, seemingly unmoved at the rear control console, eyes unblinking, the picture of dejection. Sisko was, on the other hand, holding a spirited conversation with Doctor Bashir regarding Kai Opaka and the young doctor's findings from the prison world they had been forced to leave her on. Dax knew he felt the Kai's loss as deeply as Kira did, even if he wasn't as fully cognizant of Bajoran spirituality, but he did not allow his regret to deepen into the sorrow that seemed to have gripped Kira. Despite her woeful appearance, no one in the shuttle had dared to approach her, save Bashir who had merely scanned her injured shoulder, pressed a hypo spray of painkiller against her neck, then left her alone in her cloak of depression. The major hadn't thanked him or even given any indication that she knew of his presence. Sisko had merely pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head at her lack of reaction. Benjamin Sisko was a caring and immensely nurturing man, full of affection for everyone, even if he did not display it openly. The only times her symbiont-mentor could state they had seen him openly display affection was toward his now-deceased wife and to Jake, his only son. Jadzia sensed the parental amusement Dax felt toward the boy. A brief image crossed an inner portion of her mind of a tiny squalling infant, warm honey-brown like a hazel nut, cradled in the arms of a very young-looking Sisko, whose smile encompassed all the joys of life. That was so many years ago... and another's lifetime, not her own. A momentary sadness etched Jadzia's features as she realized that she never knew that Benjamin Sisko, filled to bursting with fervor and ambition and happiness. She had never seen a smile on his face now that wasn't etched slightly with worry or regret. No real joy in his life except for his son, whom he was holding onto a bit tightly, too, if one judged by the inner voice of the three hundred year old Dax and not the still ambivalent voice of the much-younger Jadzia. Jake felt the bonds and stretched them as much as he was able to on the station. Still, despite his parental worries and personal tragedies, Sisko tried to help others. He could feel pain besides his own. Prior to their first fateful trip through the wormhole, he would not have been able to do that. Jadzia had not known what to expect from this man she barely knew aside from those memories present and passed on by Curzon. After her joining, Dax had admonished her that even his memories of times past were invalid in the face of Sisko's world torn asunder at Wolf 359. Yet the major had undergone her own horrific experiences, Jadzia thought now, having witnessed the destruction of her home planet, her family and now, her faith? What affect would the Kai's painfully necessary abandonment in the Gamma Quadrant have on the fierce, yet vulnerable woman she was growing to respect? Dax and Jadzia were in rare and consensual agreement; only time would tell. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Odo opened the airlock for the group, having made it from the central hub where his office resided on the Station's main level, the Promenade, to the outer docking ring in forty-two seconds flat. His visual receptors noted the absence of the Kai in far less time. "Where is Kai Opaka?" were his greeting words to Sisko and Dax as they exited the shuttle. The Trill shook her head sadly; the commander sighed, then cocked his head toward the runabout hatch. "I'll leave it to the major to brief you, Constable. I'll be in my quarters for a few moments." His voice was somber and even, but this was lost on Odo. The shapeshifter changed his tone slightly, exasperated. "I need an answer, Commander. The Provisional Government expects me to return to Bajor with her in less than seven hours. I don't have time for these formalized procedures you Starfleet types like to impose..." His voice was edged with a slight icing of contempt, which Sisko did not acknowledge. He simply turned and faced the security chief with two very tired eyes. For the first time Odo noticed that Sisko's eyes were bloodshot and his uniform was filthy, torn and marred with what looked like scorch marks and abrasions. This stopped his headlong outburst faster than anything else could have and despite his haste, he inclined his head in a gesture of respect. "I...understand, Commander. Don't let me keep you." Benjamin Sisko bestowed a pale imitation of his normally wide smile on Odo and turned to continue up the corridor with Dax and O'Brien who simply exited the runabout and went past Odo without a word. The constable turned to wait for the disembarking Kira. He hoped she would provide some explanation the council would understand in regards to the Kai. The young Human doctor suddenly exited gracefully from the cockpit, carrying a medical kit and a tricorder. He looked briefly at Odo then went down the corridor, oddly pensive. The major did not appear and finally Odo was constrained to enter the runabout. Kira Nerys sat at the shuttle's aft control panel, unmoving. Her uniform was torn and burnt, and her face was pinched tight with what appeared to be pain. With a suddenness that startled him, she slammed her fist onto the console with a force that would have shattered less sturdy material. Odo noted with alarm that blood began staining the shoulder of her uniform tunic which was already torn open, and he stepped closer still, for the moment forgetting his concern about Kai Opaka. "Major, you should get to Medical. Let me help you." He extended a hand to help her up, but to his surprise, Kira twisted from his touch and turned her face away. "Major Kira?" He asked, surprised at and uncertain of the reason for her reaction. He dropped his hand and waited, feeling as awkward as he had nearly four decades before, when his touch had engendered suspicion and fear among the Bajorans he had found himself amongst. Despite the fifty-odd years that had passed since his inception in Bajoran society, he still encountered those apprehensive of contact with him. This contributed to filling him with the sense of being an aberration of nature or a curiosity, rather than a sentient being, and he resented it intensely. When someone as familiar as Kira Nerys pulled away from him, it troubled him greatly, although he'd die before admitting it. "She's gone, Odo," came Kira's quiet, pain-filled voice. "The Kai is gone to us." Odo's face registered surprise, a habit he'd acquired over the decades but which was genuine at this moment, rather than being a gesture which he emulated in the course of acting humanoid. "The Kai... died?" He asked in a reverent tone. While unfortunate, he thought this was an explanation which would not be construed as insignificant by the Council. He could convey this message with equanimity. His shoulders straightened as he stood back. A sound suspiciously like a sob escaped Kira and she shook her head, turned grief-stricken eyes to a startled Odo and said in a choked voice, "We left her, Odo... on a prison planet. She couldn't be brought back. We had to... abandon her there!" This last statement was too much for the major's control, and she turned away from him. "Major?" Odo was uncertain how to proceed, not cognizant of what had happened to the Kai, but obviously it was worse than he'd thought. He brightened suddenly. "If she's still alive, Major, surely we can retrieve her. I could retrieve her myself, just give me the coordin--" "*No*, Odo." Kira's voice was weary. She lifted her head and wiped at her eyes then turned to look at him. "It's not that simple. We crashed onto a prison world where some sort of energy field makes humanoids undergo a cellular transition if they're damaged or killed. Once someone undergoes this transition, they have to remain - they're a part of the ecostructure." Her voice grew somber then, almost accusatory as she touched her wounded shoulder and made a face. "Doctor Bashir repaired my damage as best he could, gave me an injection of some antimicrobial agent. It kept me from becoming part of the planet's transitional field. The Kai had died on impact. Then..." Kira swallowed, continued, "she returned... intact. We didn't know about the cellular change until she did. Once she came back from... from dying, she was part of the planet's ecostructure. She's stuck there now." Odo's communicator suddenly whistled, startling them both. "Dax to Odo." He tapped it with a frown still on his face. "Go ahead." "There's an incoming message from Bajor for you from the provisional government. They're demanding to speak with you, constable." Odo resisted the impulse to snort, instead looking dour and saying, "I'm sure they are. Let them cool their heels, Lieutenant. Route it to my office and give me a few moments; I don't want to receive communications here." "Understood, Chief. Dax out." Odo eyed Kira briefly, who still looked dejected, then simply nodded at her and exited the runabout. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "What do you mean 'you can't retrieve her', Constable?" "What part of my sentence don't you understand, Minister Varn? I'll be happy to repeat it." The shapeshifter had shed all pretense of politeness the moment he saw the council's collective face; all bloated with self-importance and their own idea's about how to govern. "Constable..." "*Chief* of Security," Odo calmly interrupted, then as several of the ministers frowned at his statement, added, "I am the Chief of Security on this station, please address me as such, Minister." "Chief Constable, we are puzzled by your apparent lack of concern for the Kai's well-being." Varn sat back and steepled his fingers, unconsciously trying to emulate the calm and poise which Odo naturally possessed. "Not at all, Minister Varn. I'm just as concerned as you about Opaka's condition, however, I am constrained to point out that there is nothing I nor anyone else can do about it. She is quite literally, out of reach." "Const... Chief. You..." Varn's voice faltered as Odo looked away from him deliberately, taking note of Commander Sisko entering his office without preamble. He came straight to the desk and stepped into the desk screen's field of view. "Minister Varn. How pleasant to see you. How is your wife and little daughter?" Sisko was polished and shiny-clean, one could never tell he'd been filthy and tired only moments before. His uniform was spotless and creased, an affectation that normally irritated Odo, but in this instance, he was pleased to note the ministers' reaction to Deep Space Nine's commander and his authoritative presence. Varn was only momentarily taken aback. "Commander Sisko. What an unexpected surprise. I and my family are quite well. I hope the same can be said of your own intrepid son?" Sisko was profoundly glad that his dark skin didn't show enough of a blush response to be picked up by the viewscreen. His son's latest prank had been an embarrassment to all involved. Despite the fact that it had taken place in Odo's office, the security chief's expression did not change. __Bless Odo__, he thought briefly before smiling broadly and responding, "Thank you, Minister. Now I take it you are as distressed as we are about the Kai's situation?" "Situation?!" "Of course, I have contacted Starfleet Medical and my chief medical officer and my science officer are relaying all pertinent information in order to study and rectify the problem. Until that time, I am afraid we are as concerned as you are in regard to her well-being. However," he took a breath, not permitting Varn to interrupt, Odo noted with well-concealed amusement, "I have placed it as a matter of top priority to Starfleet. Our best people will be working on this situation without pause, esteemed Ministers. Until such time as a solution to the planet's transitional energy field is found, we will gladly assist your people in sending periodic food and communication packets as necessary to the Kai." Odo sat up then, his eyes locked on Sisko as the ministers looked at each other, stunned. __Brilliant,__ thought the shapeshifter, __a master stroke. Telling them so baldly means that there is nothing that can be done, but giving them an option makes them feel that they are doing *something* instead of just assigning blame.__ For a brief moment, a smile hovered around the edge of Odo's mouth. The ministers all began to speak at once, then Varn silenced them by lifting his hands and addressing Sisko directly. "Commander, I am certain that my fellow council members can see you are doing everything in your power to achieve what we both desire: the return of the Kai. In the interim, we mourn her loss to the spiritual order of Bajor and will proceed as she would wish us to. Existing in a united and cooperative way." The screen went dark, even as Sisko and Odo both caught stray comments of 'an honor to those willing to traverse there' and 'drawing lots'. The commander stepped back with a sigh as the security chief snapped off his viewscreen. Odo said nothing, watching Sisko with his vivid blue eyes. Sisko sighed. "Every time I'm grateful for being here, something reminds me of how tedious caretaking is. Rather like parenting. You can't turn your attention away in case something of import happens, but important things don't happen twenty-six hours a day, only once in a while. But damned if you don't miss them and the whole situation can explode in your face." "Indeed." Odo's tone was bemused, "sounds like Security." Sisko chuckled, then shook his head and sat on the edge of Odo's desk. "Constable, you never cease to amaze me." "I think you mean amuse, Sisko. You don't sound very amazed." he replied dryly. "No, I meant what I said. And I'm sorry for the council having put you through this rigmarole. It's all bureaucratic nonsense." "Yes, and you did an excellent job of removing all onus or burden of returning the Kai from Starfleet and placed it on the Provisional Government's shoulders. By now, the Bajorans would consider it an insult for Starfleet to help them in any way with transporting supplies and such to the Kai. Of course, when it comes to the actual engineering of removing her from that place..." Odo's voice trailed off as he considered the situation. "Yes, and Starfleet is working on this, top priority just as I said," Sisko stated firmly. "What are the odds of her returning, Sisko?" the shapeshifter asked with his typical astuteness, pointedly adding, "*Honestly*?" The commander sighed. "Not very good. Not anytime soon. Maybe not in our lifetime," he admitted tiredly, adding, "Doctor Bashir is as good as they come when it comes to bioengineering - he wrote a treatise on it in medical school, but this prison moon's technology is radically advanced and there's no one we can ask about it. The prisoners abandoned there had been there for centuries." "And so the search for a new Kai commences. I can see the daggers drawing as we speak." muttered Odo. "The competition among Vedics is truly staggering. I remember the last three Kai transits." Sisko considered this. He often forgot how long the shapeshifter had lived and worked on Bajor, among the Bajorans. His insight, while not Bajoran, was also not human either, and therefore invaluable when one was seeking an alternative option, something one might not have considered at all. "Religious strife," was all he said though. "In spades." Odo stood. "If you'll excuse me, Commander, I have something that needs my attention." "Of course, Constable." The commander remained for a moment, watching his security chief exit the office, pondering the disquieting information he had just been given. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kira was nude. She had finished washing and cleansing the wound on her shoulder, having refused Bashir's offer to protoplase the tissue and attempt to ensure that scarring would not take place. She had also allowed the painkiller to dissipate without requesting another, feeling the throbbing of her flesh. She wanted this scar; she wanted the pain. It would remind her of her failure. The Kai's abandonment was a heart-breaking failure for Kira; despite what Opaka had said to her on the prison moon. She felt like a traitor in her own eyes and knew that the feeling would be a long time leaving. It wasn't the first time she'd had to do something personally distasteful to her, but it was the first time she truly regretted having to. Her indiscretions she could live with, the deaths she had inflicted in the cause of Bajor's freedom was something else. The knowledge of having someone else on her conscious was something Kira couldn't stomach. The Kai wasn't dead, but she might as well be and the thought of having to leave her behind was intolerable to her. Kira sought her brown eyes in the mirror of her washroom as she considered the happenings of the last day and a half. The only good to come of the ill-begotten outing had been the time she had spent with Kai Opaka, discovering and accepting what had created and nurtured her personality: despair. Prior to this day, Kira Nerys would never have admitted to even feeling despair. Rage, hostility, sorrow, even guilt were her closest companions since childhood, but despair was the key element that bound her personality together from the time she was old enough to comprehend what it meant to be born on an occupied world and of how little value her life was considered to be worth by the occupying force. Despair was what every Bajoran built their life on during the occupation. The thing that the young, idealistic Kira Nerys had felt the most despair over was discovering that some of her fellow Bajorans were even more uncaring than the Cardassians. Some even sold out their own people for favors from the enemy. It was this and the ensuing sense of outrage that had created her greatest dilemma to date. A dilemma which some day she would have to talk to Odo about, as the Kai had gently suggested in her probing of Kira's mind. Some day when her shapeshifting friend was receptive and she was open to confessions. Some day was not now, however. Now she had to try and accept that she had abandoned the Kai. Accept that she had not been strong enough to remain on the prison world, to help Opaka, to try and protect her. It wasn't until after Chief O'Brien had beamed the trio up that Kira had felt the enormous sense of relief, followed by an equally enormous burden of guilt and shame wash over her. The Kai had wisely understood. "Tell our people that I have answered the call of the Prophets." Opaka had instructed her. She had known what was in Kira's heart, not just in her mind and accepted her own bitter fate without resignation. With those words Kira knew the Kai expected no less of her. Harsh lessons then and harsh lessons now. __The Kai was wise__, she thought, then shook her head angrily as she noted her automatic use of the past tense. __She's not dead! We'll bring her back... somehow.__ Still nude, she strode from her washroom and stood before her room's shrine. She bowed her head in reverence, in what a Human would have called prayer and what the Bajoran's called supplication to the Prophets. She closed her eyes and began to meditate, the only light in her room from the stars through her viewport and the candles of her shrine. Holding her arms out caused her shoulders to protest, barely healing skin opened afresh and blood seeped down her arm and breast. She ignored it. "Forgive me, Opaka, I wasn't strong enough." Her eyes closed and her words became a whispered mantra. "Forgive me, Opaka. I am a weak person." __And a liar.__ The soft sound of Odo's voice made her eyes snap open, and she hastily blew out the candles of her shrine, making the dark nearly absolute. She swiftly made her way to the shelf where she kept a robe. Slipping it on, she turned but could see nothing in the inky blackness of the room. "Lights." she ordered reluctantly, ashamed at letting Odo see her weakness, even more than feeling shame at letting him see her nude, but the room was empty. "Constable?" She frowned, uncertain of her senses. She had clearly heard his voice, but then, she thought, __perhaps it was my conscience, giving his voice to my thoughts.__ He would undoubtedly have told her as much if he'd heard her rebuking herself. She sighed. __He so often is my conscience__, Kira thought, turning to look out the viewport at the implacable stars. She shivered as she recalled what she still had to tell him...some day. She had trusted him with so much of herself that sometimes it scared her, this friendship with a non-Bajoran which the young Kira Nerys would never have believed possible and the older, battle-hardened Major Kira Nerys would have a hard time living without. __I pray the Prophets don't ever make me have to__, Kira pleaded silently. The door signal caused her to jump. "Who is it?" she called, not desiring company, but not wishing to simply dismiss a caller who had taken the time to traverse to her quarters. "Major? It's Odo." His voice startled her, partly because it was his voice that she had thought she'd heard a few moments ago, partly because he sounded very concerned. No matter how much he grumbled or what the constable said, he did care very deeply about the people he worked with...and his friends. "Enter." The security chief did so without preamble, assessing her briefly before speaking. "I take it you've recovered from your ordeal, Major?" Kira snorted indelicately, then shook her head, "I suppose so. I'm back to fighting form, if that's what you mean." She touched her shoulder briefly, made a face, then looked back at Odo. "I don't want to fight, if that's what you mean, Major. I'm inquiring as to your emotional health. You seemed distressed earlier," he said simply, not one to dissemble. "I'm fine, Odo," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry for worrying you." Odo pierced her with his clear gaze, a slight warning tone in his voice. "I was understandably concerned, Major, for the state of mind of this station's liaison officer. Your well-being is one of my responsibilities." "You're a good friend, Odo. Probably the best one I have," she said quietly. "I'm sure I don't deserve one, but there you are. And here I am... and I shouldn't be." The shapeshifter absorbed this information without expression, then asked quietly, "You would have preferred to stay there, Major? With the Kai?" Kira sighed again, then shook her head and ran her hands through her hair. "No, I didn't want to stay with her. I wanted to stay instead of her. I'm not necessary here, Odo. She is. Our provisional government splinters more each day, insurrectionist groups and fanatics. New idea's of how to fix the same old problems. Outdated ideas of how to fix new problems." "The Kai, no doubt, understood the situation and capitulated with grace, Major," Odo said dryly, adding, "She doubtless would have told you to accept the situation in the same manner." "But Odo, now the splinter groups will have no strong voice to reach them! To teach them to accept peace with her grace, her calm acceptance and devotion to duty. She was an inspiration to all of us. We need her here, Odo! *I* need her here." The major's eyes grew suspiciously bright before she turned her face away, embarrassed at the swiftness with which her eyes watered. Odo considered Kira's words, then said softly, "Major, we are all of us bound by duty or responsibility or even physical constraints we have no choice in." She briefly glared at him, angered, but his expression stopped her and made her look down, ashamed. Odo's eyes conveyed a unique and personal understanding of limitations. Kira abruptly remembered Odo's expressed frustration in having to dissipate into a useless and vulnerable puddle every sixteen hours, unable to maintain the taxing humanoid shape he assumed for the comfort of the society he lived in. He certainly didn't do it for himself, since it was plainly exhausting. He placed himself in a limiting form to ease the apprehensions most people had towards his shapeshifting ability, to be slightly more acceptable in appearance to others - like her. Kira met his eyes then, searching his face. __We lost our world to the Cardassians, but Odo doesn't even have a world to lose. He doesn't know if one exists or if there are people who loved him and wonder what happened to him, or are searching for him after all this time, or even if there are others of his kind at all...__ To Odo's utter astonishment, Kira suddenly stepped up and hugged him, closely, allowing her cheek to rest against his chest for a long moment. After his initial start, he simply stood, uncertainty on his face, but he did not pull away or admonish her. After a moment, Kira let him go and stood back, a tired smile on her face. "Thank you, Odo," she said quietly, adding wryly, "I've wanted to do that for a long time." To his surprise, he found himself asking, "Was it what you expected, Major?" Anyone else would have said that his tone was polite, perhaps even distant, but they were not Kira. She could hear his earnest curiosity. "Your heart doesn't beat," she admitted. "I have no heart, Major," he replied levelly. "Now *you're* the liar, Constable." Kira smiled. "I beg your pardon?" his face developed a frown. The major noted the intricacy of his formed features, in particular the crystalline blue of his eyes. He could make them any color, any degree of opacity, she knew, yet his choice was oddly appropriate. They were clear and sharp and discerning, much as he was himself, and they didn't miss much. Unless someone was being obscure as she currently was. "A little rebuttal, Constable," she said with a smile, "to something I thought I heard you say earlier." He considered this for a moment, then shook his head. "I really need to confer with Doctor Bashir. I'm going to send the provisional government a conclusion report regarding the Kai. Otherwise, I'll spend all my time responding to endless individual requests for information. I... I'm glad you've recovered, Major." "Thank you, Constable." She said. She watched him turn to go, then asked suddenly, in a serious voice, "Do you know what else I've discovered, Odo?" He turned. "What?" "You're very, very warm." Kira said impishly, "*snuggly* almost." "Major..." "Don't worry, Constable, it will never leave this room." She favored him with a smile. "Just so long as you don't tell it to Quark, Major. He'd make my life hell," Odo grumbled, still disconcerted and growing nearly inaudible as he admitted, "he already does anyway, though, I suppose." Kira smiled more broadly yet; if she wasn't certain he'd deny it, she would have said Odo was embarrassed. __If he was Bajoran, he'd be blushing.__ "Your secret is safe with me, Constable," was all she said though, stifling her smile a bit to let him know she was sincere. He bowed his head in parting, then, to her amusement, he left her room with haste, obviously flustered. After a few moments lost in thought, Kira turned once again to the viewport. She couldn't see the wormhole from this vantage point, but it was out there. As was the Kai. __Odo was right. The Kai lives. Out there and... in here.__ Kira's hands clutched to her breast, slightly to the right, where her heart beat rhythmically inside her chest. Maybe one day... As the station's rhythm's quieted to night, Kira Nerys relaxed, at peace for the first time in days and thanked the Prophets for blessing her with one good, solid friend in her life...and for the time she'd been given with the Kai. ~ The End ~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- April 1994. c Copyright of Judith Macquinn in re: story content. Not meant to infringe on copyrights held by Viacom, Paramount or any other copyright holders of Star Trek. Please do not reproduce for anything other than personal reading use (including fanzines) without written consent of the author. Comments, questions may be sent to: OdoGoddess@aol.com