<USS Avalon> Avalon Log 040826--Musing in the park

After Commander Kabuki left, Vilya finished up on  her curriculum plan.  She 
hated the paperwork part of the job, preferring  to do something rather than 
talk about doing something.  After she shut the  terminal down, she got up to 
check herself in the mirror.  Nothing was out  of place and her earring 
sparkled in the light from her small window.  My  earring, she thought as she 
unconsciously reached to touch it.  Okay, it  was Papa's and it should have 
gone to 
the oldest child but Findel gave it to  you.  He didn't want his little sister 
to forget who she was and where she  came from.  Making a mental note to call 
her brother later, she told  herself that she hadn't forgotten and never would.
    Leaving Fleet HQ, she had no particular destination  in mind but she 
found herself heading toward Golden Gate Park.  She was  glad that the park had 
been untouched--Thank the Prophets--through out the  war.  It was her place of 
peace and meditation.  There was a  favorite spot, a stone bench under an arbor 
of local flora that changed by the  season, that she gravitated toward.  She 
wanted to sit and think for a  while.  As she approached, she was surprised to 
see that her favorite spot  was occupied.  Somebody, it appeared to be a 
Human male, was sprawled  across the bench, feet up on the arms at one end, 
reading what appeared to be a  real paper book.
    "Oh!  Excuse me!" Vilya exclaimed,  startled.  "I wasn't expecting 
anybody to be here."
    The young man moved his feet to sit up  straight.  Definitely looks 
Human, Vilya thought.  She noted the long  legs, the very long and straight 
black 
hair, and the almond shaped eyes.   What an unusual blue!
    "I'll...ah...just be going.  I didn't mean to  intrude," she said as she 
backed away slowly.
    The young man held up a hand.  "Wait, there's  no need for you to leave.  
This isn't my bench, after all, and you weren't  intruding.  I was just 
reading.  Please--have a seat and ignore me if  you came here to be alone.  Or 
tell 
me to get lost."
    Vilya smiled slightly as she took up the other end  of the bench.  Her 
bench mate nodded in satisfaction at that then went back  to reading.  Tilting 
her face up to the sun, Vilya closed her eyes and let  her thoughts wander.  
She didn't mind sharing a space with a Human.   It sill boggled her mind that 
the 'Bajor for Bajorans' movement continued to  attract people.  How could they 
blind themselves to the glorious  variety of the galaxy? She wondered if her 
attitude stemmed from getting to know  the Emissary and all the others on Deep 
Space Nine.  Captain Sisko always  insisted he was 'just a man' but he, along 
with her father, set an example of  decency and morality that she was glad to 
follow.  Not meaning to, she  sighed aloud, still missing them both.
 
~~~
 
    "Something wrong?"
    Her bench mate.  Vilya opened her  eyes and looked at him.  He was 
looking at her with an expression of  concern on his face.  "No, why do you 
ask?"
    "That sounded like a wistful sigh, kind  of sad," he replied.
    "I'm sorry for disturbing you.  I  was just thinking of two people that I 
miss," Vilya told him.
    "Who are no longer with us in this  world," he concluded properly.  "At 
least, not physically.  If you  think about someone, they live on in memory."
    He sounds so peaceful, so sure, Vilya  thought, as though he knows 
exactly what's going through my head.  She  suddenly narrowed her eyes at him.
    "You're not a Betazoid, are you?" she  asked sharply.
    "What?  You think I was reading your mind?" He  asked, shaking his head.  
"Not me, ma'am.  I was born and raised here  on Earth, down in Los Angeles if 
you want to be exact.  It's just that I  sometimes do the same thing as you 
were doing.  My oldest brother calls it  'feeling out loud.'  In any case, I'm 
sorry for your loss."
    "Thank you," she murmured, feeling a bit ashamed  for being so 
suspicious.  She felt she owed him an apology.  "I'm  sorry for being so sharp. 
 A lot 
of us are still suspicious after the  War."
    "I understand completely.  Trust me, I'm no  shape shifter.  I think I've 
been this particular height since I was  twenty," he said with a grin.  He 
looked at her curiously.  "Please  don't take offense at this but I do wish 
there were more Bajorans in  Starfleet.  You don't see very many civilians here 
on 
Earth, after  all.  You are a very strong, deeply spiritual people.  I admire 
your  ability to keep your faith throughout all that;s happened to you."
    Vilya felt her face flush, not for herself  but for her people.  "What a 
very nice thing to say.  Thank  you.  I'm Li Vilya."
    He took her proffered hand and shook it.   "Patrick Ming Kabuki.  
Everyone calls me Ming."
    "My commanding officer has the same last name..."  Vilya said.
    "Saketh is a cousin of sorts.  The whole story  is rather long and a bit 
strange," Ming told her.
    Vilya sensed something of substance in this strange  Human.  He had that 
inner peace she felt before but also charm and  sense of humor.  Oh hell, 
admit it, woman, you think he's attractive.
    "I wouldn't mind hearing it," she admitted.
    "Yeah?  Come take a walk with me and I'll tell  you the whole family 
history and, if you haven't run away before I'm done, I'd  ask you out for 
dinner," he said, smiling at her as he stood up to  stretch.
    "The walk's a deal.  We'll see about dinner,"  she said.
 
Li Vilya, Ensign
Starfleet Academy-Engineering  and Survival Education
 
"As I make my slow pilgrimage through the  world, a certain sense of 
beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow." 
-_A. C.  Benson_ (http://www.quoteland.com/qldb/author/531)

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