Moscow was cold, but then it seemed to Kieran that Moscow had always been cold whenever he'd visited. Why his mother had chosen to live in the forsaken remnant was unclear, surrounded by the curious clash of Tsarist grandeur, Socialist economic simplicity, and the scarred, broken monsters of the Eugenics wars. Everywhere else on the planet had at least made an effort to scour themselves clean of such reminders, but Moscow appeared to revel in them. His mother had always believed they were left as a warning, his father said they were there to teach others that greatness could be reborn from devastation. Kieran thought the Russians were a pessimistic people, and couldn't see the point of rebuilding when another war would come along soon enough. On the outskirts of the city, nestled between an old orthodox church and the flight control centre for central Asia, the small cemetery was near emtpy. Two black-clad, grandmotherly figures hunched along together, returning to side-by-side graves with the StarFleet logo emblazoned on the pristine Crystite headstones. The same logo stared back at him from his mother's headstone, though hers truly was stone. He'd sat up for three nights to keep his father company whilst he slowly carved the tall, narrow, Vulcan letters into it. There was likely not another stone like it in the country still, but that was a mark of his father. There weren't many like him... and there wasn't even him, either. "I had wondered if you would come." A controlled, quiet voice sounded behind. He didn't turn. "T'Vel." "Is that all you have to say to your half-sister." "Would anything else be of use?" This time he did turn away from the graves, turning into the slight fall of snow, forcing his eyes to squint shut a little. "No, but it is my experience that that rarely prevents humans from expressing such sentiments anyway." "You were expecting 'it's good to see you'?" he asked, with an arched eyebrow - a particularly Vulcan gesture he'd picked up from their father. She didn't respond. "I think you'll find, even amongst humans, that's typically used because it is meant." "Ah, you are not, then, pleased to see me? Humans typically bond with family at such times." "What's there to bond with, T'Vel? I can bond just as well with PADD as with a Vulcan - better, given that I can simulate real personality." "You still pursue that argument? Why do you persist - you know you will not convince me." "And if you were capable of understanding why I do it, not only would I not need to, but there would something in there to bond with." He stepped past her briskly, hands tucked deep into the pockets of the StarFleet issue overcoat he wore, mindful of the fact that she was still in just the standard one-piece, ignorant of the cold. "I..." she paused, which caused him to do the same. "I have not yet held the vigil." "Why?" he turned, slower this time. "I thought there was a time-limit on that?" "The time limit is... a tradition. Given his life, ignoring such a tradition seemed almost obligatory... and I thought you might like to be there." "I... thank you. When is it?" "Whenever you are ready. It is only the two of us, no others would come." "I see.... lead the way." Off> Lieutenant-Commander Kieran Darkwater Archaeology and Anthropology Officer USS Vanguard ----------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo: Vanguard_4@xxxxxxxxxxx MSN: Steve_Hedger@xxxxxxxxxxx e-mail: KieranDarkwater@xxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now ************************************************************* USS Vanguard: http://ncv80221.netfirms.com/default.htm Vanguard Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/ncv80221 Gamma Fleet: http://gammafleet.trekplayer.com/ FreeLists: //www.freelists.org *************************************************************