<USS Avalon> Dinner with Loneliness (Teryn/Erridim)

An hour and a half after Alpha Shift ended, Talea, feeling stressed, walked with calmness she didn't feel into the crew lounge and ordered her favorite dishes. She then sat as far distant from most of the men as she could, her apprehension flaring anew as she passed each one. When the server came up, she ordered a tea she knew would calm her nerves, but her worry was becoming acute; she couldn't sense Walker anywhere, and she knew that Security was checking the Avalon-B.
When it arrived, she sipped at it, her apparent calm more facade than real. Four minutes later, the grilled-chicken fettuccine Alfredo arrived, and she thanked the server before staring at her food and listlessly running her fork through it, as she was suddenly not at all hungry.
Shift was over, but Tery suspected Skyler would still be in her office finishing the shift paperwork, so she decided to go and maybe kill the hungries a bit with a snack. Entering the crew lounge, she cast her gaze over the room in an attempt to find an empty seat. She found one . . . mostly by finding the center of the emotional turmoil she felt upon entering the room. Her eyes held on the woman for a moment, and she noticed that the other was only pushing the food around on the plate rather than eating it. She decided to see if she could help. She might not be a Counselor, no, but she was half Betazoid.
Making her way to Talea's table, she spoke softly. "Hi . . ." It was a beginning. Her gray eyes were soft, kind, and warm, as was her tone. "You look like you could use a friend," she offered.
Talea nodded. "You're welcome to sit. I don't know what to do. Today's been one of the roughest days of my life, and that's saying something for a woman who . . ." She trailed off and shook her head. "I'd better not burden you with my situation. It'd not be courteous at all." She closed her eyes and shuddered.
Tery could feel it, even if the other woman said nothing more. She took the offered seat and gave her order to the server when she arrived. As the server left, she looked back at Talea. "It's all right. I'm not a Counselor, but I don't mind listening." She was a good listener.
Talea sighed. "You truly don't know what you're asking to hear. Trust me on this." She took a sip of the tea, then stated, her voice soft, "When I was fourteen, two of my brothers conspired to destroy the one thing I'd ever managed to successfully grow. Two years later, one tried to rape me in the shower. That latter incident, even more than my father's often too-violent whippings, taught me a rather unfortunate lesson." She blushed slightly, which darkened her skin instead of giving it a reddish cast; silver blood didn't lend itself to normal-for-Human reactions. "I learned never to trust men to be anything but selfish and self-serving, and that from my own kin!"
Tery felt herself tense. She'd been Resistance during the Occupation, and so had learned many harsh lessons, but to have learned those selfsame lessons from one's family was abhorrent! Her eyes flashed nearly silver for a split-second before they returned to their normal, soft, warm gray. "I'm sorry of that," she offered kindly before asking gently, "That . . . lesson . . . is why you are so unsettled here?" meaning the lounge, not the ship as a whole, though she suspected that too was likely.
Talea nodded before she shook her head, as if undecided. "Both yes and no. When my shuttle, the Baron l'Orange, was recovered and I was brought from stasis, the first person I saw was a man. A man I instinctively knew I could trust. I admit that I'm confused and a little frightened by this whole thing. My emotions are in such turmoil that I do not know what to do, especially since I was attacked in my very quarters this morning . . . by a man!" She tried to take a sip of her tea, only to spill it due to her nervousness, only wincing slightly at the intense pain of the hot liquid.
Tery frowned, wishing she could be more help. She understood how this whole thing could indeed be frightening to the lady, given all of that. Briefly, she debated whether she should take the tea from her for the moment or not. She decided to gently reach forward and offer to take it. If the offer were refused, she'd respect that. "Security caught the cretin, I presume?" she asked softly, concern showing in her eyes.
Talea almost laughed. "All I know is that he's in the Brig. And that the acting Chief Engineer is somehow involved in his capture." She set the tea back down, frowning, as the pain wasn't going away. "As a result of the attack and my required visit to Sickbay afterward, I was late for my first shift as the chief of Operations. While the Captain made it clear I wasn't going to be punished, I . . ." She sighed. "I am uncertain I believe her. This despite the fact she is decidedly on my side of this terrible issue."
Tery frowned in thought, retrieving her hand surreptitiously as Talea put the tea down. She somehow seriously doubted Skyler would punish the woman for being late because she was attacked, but maybe she could help Talea to believe it. She smiled. "If she said she wasn't going to punish you, I'd believe her. Skyler's not the type of person to lie about something like that," she offered.
Talea just looked troubled. "Trust is so hard for me to give freely. In the Clan I came from, one's word is considered little better than a pie's crust . . ." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "One's word should be one's bond instead. Your agreement and handshake as binding as a signed contract." She opened her eyes, her expression one of worry. "And yet, my Clan not only refuses to permit that, they actively rebel to this day against common-sense laws granting women their proper rights." She shook her head sadly. "It is a wonder I was permitted to leave Regelis for the Federation, as poorly equipped as I am!"
The more Talea said about her family, the more Tery thought of inventive ways to remove them from the gene pool. Such people made her sick! Not that she had a Klingon belief structure or anything, but people who showed that little honor even among their family - no, especially among their family - did not deserve to have family!
She sighed and forced her own sense of honor to be silent for a moment. "I agree with you about a person's word being their bond. That's the way it is back home," she said softly, a far-away look entering her eyes for a moment before she cleared it. "I wish all people believed that way, but unfortunately, they don't. But I'm glad you are away from that. And I want you to know something." Here, she looked Talea straight in the eyes. "I will never lie to you." And for her, it was that simple.
Talea nodded. "I appreciate that, more than you may ever be able to tell. But tell me, what is your name? Calling you "Hey you!" would be pretty rude, you must admit." She nearly laughed, but didn't, as she realized it would sound rather unhealthy. "My name's Talea Genot Erridim, although when I wed, I intend to shed my Clan name forever, leave it behind at the altar."
Tery chuckled at the first statements, but reached out to offer a handshake in greeting. "Sera Teryn . . . Tery to my friends," she offered. "And I can't say as I blame you on the name thing." Talea instinctively tried to shield lightly as she reached for the other's hand to shake it, but the agony of even that simple act doubled her over, testing her resolve not to cry out yet again. Her face went porcelain-white from the pain as well.
Pain flashed out, and Tery winced. She did not know what exactly had caused it, and that brought a worried look to her face, but when their hands clasped, her mind was completely walled off from the other woman, which was standard operating procedure for her, having been Resistance. She asked softly, "What's wrong?" More concisely, could she help?
The pain made Talea dizzy and she let go of the attempt to shield. Instantly, the pain ceased, but the echoes of the chaos it had caused affected her greatly, and she knew the other could tell just by looking that something was horribly wrong with her. She inhaled deeply and slowly let it out, willing the chaos to fade as well. "I . . . forgot I was still having problems with being stasis-locked. Unless you know how to ease me out of the lock, I'm afraid there's nothing you can do, unless you can help shield me until it eases on its own." She most decidedly didn't want to admit that said "easing" could very well make her insane, due to the tsunami of impressions that would hit her all at once!
Tery winced in sympathy for the other woman. The first, she could do nothing for. But the second, she might be able to. She shrugged slightly. "I might be able to help you shield," she answered after a moment's thought. "Are there special requirements to it in Regellians?"
Talea chuckled slightly. "Not really. It's just that many telepaths and telempaths are never taught how to extend their shields to shield others. Those who are new at it are often distracted by the fact they aren't doing it as second nature, and the concentration required as a result disrupts their ability to do other work."
She took a bite of the meal before her and blinked. Somebody truly knew how to cook! Hunger, now roused, raged, and she shivered delicately as she controlled it, so as not to wolf her food down. The last time she had made that particular mistake, not only had she embarrassed herself, it had nearly killed her when a shard of one of the nacho chips had become lodged in her throat in a position that was impervious to the Heimlich maneuver because it had braced itself in the larynx! Her eyes widened as she realized something. "Your order's not here yet and here I am, eating. How intolerably rude of me!" When she looked at Tery, her eyes had tears in them. Yet again, she had done something that, in her Clan, would cause administrative discipline, and she was gamely trying to force the fear this woman would order it done down.
The fear was palpable, almost a tangible thing. Tery winced inwardly at what this woman must think she was going to do. God, what kind of monsters were her Clan!? She smiled gently and shook her head. "It's ok, Talea," she assured gently, "I was Resistance. We learned you ate when you had the chance. No one bothered waiting. If you did, you usually lost out." She grinned a friendly grin. "Go on. I'll eat when mine gets here."
She took a sip of her beverage and tapped the glass thoughtfully. "As to the whole shielding issue, I think I may be able to help you there . . . if you wish it," she offered.
Talea visibly relaxed, then smiled, taking a sip from her tea. "Yes. The more who are shielding me at the time the seal breaks, the less likely . . ." She swallowed nervously before continuing, "the less likely it will be that the sudden imposition of both emotional and thought impressions will drive me insane. I'd hate to have to be placed in a psych ward because my abilities returned." Her voice had shaded back to calm, but she knew, all too well, how fragile her calm truly was.
This lady had given her word not to lie to her, this much was true, and that reassured, but the fact was, she wasn't sure the other knew just what was needed. "A telepathic shield will not be enough, unfortunately, because I am a telempath as well. This is a sort of empath who can also broadcast emotions, rather like a telepath can send thoughts." She wondered if she'd just offended Teryn, but shrugged mentally. If she had, then there was no help for it. Not all knew what a telempath was. Skyler's reaction to her being one was clear proof of that!
At that moment, the server approached, and Talea simply stopped speaking. This, to her, was intensely personal, and her natural caution was screaming at her not to continue this discussion with this oüdenlänter (Regellian term meaning (amongst other meanings) "Outlander"), but she ruthlessly suppressed the caution. As with Walker and Alexis (and to a lesser extent, Captain Skyler), she was beginning to understand she could trust this woman.
As the server left, Talea just said quietly, "I apologize for having dumped this issue on you, my lady." Her face showed her genuine regret. "But I admit to a great deal of desperation at this point. Being unshielded while appearing to have one that cannot be breached . . ." She took a bite of her food and shook her head, not continuing, since, to her, the rest was self-evident.
Tery nodded to her explanation of a telempath. She understood the term, being one herself. But then, there were things she could not tell most in Starfleet. Secrets that had to remain hers . . . for now at least. "Those of that Gift are rare in the Federation and its known worlds," she answered after a moment to let the server set her food down and leave. "But I do understand." She took an experimental bite of her food and smiled, savoring the taste before she continued.
"As to the rest, no need to apologize. I can understand how it would make you desperate. Being unshielded is maddening at the best of times." She offered another of her patented warm smiles. Then it occurred to her that, if she did this, her own secret would be out, at least to Talea. After all, Bajorans did not have as much Talent as she did. Nor did most half-Betazoids. 'Oh, well . . . so be it. There's really nothing for it save to let the lady fend for herself, and I cannot do that!' She took another bite of her food and grinned. "And you don't have to call me 'my lady' either. I'm just Tery, ok?"
Talea nodded. "That I can do with no problems, and I feel honored by you allowing it." She chuckled ruefully. "You're the second person who has informed me of that sort of request today. Truly, while we Regellians do indeed have royalty," she took a sip of her tea, "we use the term in respect toward any female we consider to be a lady, and you have, by your actions, proven to be one." She chuckled softly. "On the other hand, I've been rather a bad girl practically the entire time I've been aboard." Her apparent ease was illusory, for her self-confidence was at an all-time low, due to the constant blows it had received since she'd first revived.
After another twenty minutes, Talea excused herself and proceeded out of the lounge, trying her best not to allow her still-raw fear of men show, and worrying that it did. This, unfortunately, helped spread a false impression of her being cold toward men that would haunt her for some time to come.

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