[ussbansheec] Never to Late
- From: "Moria Grace" <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:34:23 -0400
"Never to Late"
Jada Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel, Noah Ellis
Somehow having the gardens of Star Fleet headquarters in beautiful bloom seemed
wrong to Noah. Didn't the flowers, trees, birds, and butterflies realize what
was lost? Didn't the Great Spirit know and shouldn't it be rainy and cold?
Screaming Eagle and Charging Hawk had been taken from them. There was nothing
to be joyous for and that's exactly what the gardens were, joyous.
Red faced and puffing, the young cadet ran up to the tall old man that had been
described to him. "Swiftwind? Mr. Nightwalker Swiftwind?"
Dark, grief-filled eyes pinned the boy to the spot. "Yes."
"I've been sent to get you. There's a woman at the shuttle pad that wants to
see you. Ms Jada Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel. She's only just arrived, sir."
Without a word, Nightwalker strode off, expecting Noah to follow him.
"What is Jada doing here?" Noah asked as he walked along side Nightwalker. "The
news hasn't been made public so there's no way that it's made it all the way to
Romulus."
"I don't know," Nightwalker snapped. "I don't know anything anymore. The
Ancients are silent, their counsel closed to me. My dreams... they are dark but
it's all shadow, I can't see." His long legs ate at the distance and they were
soon approaching the pad. It was empty except for a pale woman holding a tiny
bundle to her chest and looking lost.
Noah knew not to take the old man's mood to heart. No one was themselves at the
moment. He reached up and put his hand on Nightwalker's shoulder as they walked
the last few feet to the shuttle pad, but the moment he saw Jada standing there
pale, lost, and alone he let go of the old man and went to her. "You've come
home, Morning Star." It was more a concerned question then a statement.
"Have I?" Jada stared up into his eyes, almost letting go but still holding
herself strong. "I came to Earth. Is that home?"
Something wasn't right, Noah could feel it. "Where your shikaen is, is home."
Jada gulped down a painful breath, the bundle in her arms shifting and
sniffling. "She is my shikaen."
Slowly, Nightwalker drew the tiny child into his arms. "I'll see to the little
one, you see to Jada," he told Noah.
As soon as the child was safe with Nightwalker Noah drew Jada too him and held
her. "Come my Morning Star. There is a near by apartment were I can make you
some tea."
"He died," she said softly as she allowed him to lead her away. "It was an
accident, just a silly accident. So I left." It was the basic truth, not
anywhere near enough but she couldn't cope with saying more right at that
moment. "You came quickly, were you visiting friends?"
He had to tell her but not here, not this very moment. "I came with your
Ri'nanov. She had a meeting but has since returned home. I was walking in the
garden with Nightwalker." He lead her off the HQ campus and down the street.
The warm sun feeling even more wrong then before. "I am sorry about your
deyhhan, Morning Star. He was a good man."
"He was... a strong match." Glancing behind her, she saw Nightwalker cooing
over her daughter before they rounded a corner and were out of sight. "I don't
miss him," she said in a pained voice. "I should but I don't."
Noah lead them a little further and then up to an apartment building. "Your
still in shock." He told her softly as he made his way to the lift. They
boarded and he called out for the fifteenth floor.
"I barely saw him, he was the captain of a powerful ship. I don't... I don't
feel anything. I should feel something." She shook her head, her long black
hair floating around her face. "I do feel something: relief. Relief that I
don't have to stay there on ch'Rihan in that empty house any more."
Opening the door to the apartment his mother used when she was on Earth, Noah
helped Jada down the entry steps and over to the sofa where he sat her down
gently. "I'll take you to your Ri'nanov's home in North Dakota, that's where
she went after the meeting." Noah promised as he knelt in front of her. "Your
not alone, Jada."
"I've missed you, Grey Wolf," she whispered as she leaned her head against his.
"But I am. I was, at least. And I'm tired of feeling lost." Shaking her head,
she hugged her arms tightly around herself and asked in a very tiny voice,
"Hold me?"
It had been a very long time since she had asked that of him, but Noah did not
hesitate. He moved to sit on the sofa beside her and then drew her to him,
wrapping his arms around her and holding tightly.
"Why were you here? What was the meeting for?" she said as she leaned against
him and sighed out the breath she'd been holding.
He could never lie to her, not that he would ever want too. "The Banshee is
missing, Jada. The Admiral called in the families of the senior staff to tell
us."
"And... and Joseph? Is he missing? and Tabetha? They're not missing, are they?"
Noah closed his eyes against the sharp knife pain going through his heart and
now his very soul. "They were aboard."
"No, please no," Jada felt herself start to cry, her slim frame shaking against
him. "I came back to see them, I need them, how can they be gone?
"They don't know what happened but they're sure that they weren't destroyed."
Noah told her as he stroked her hair. "They've sent out two ships, both with
captains with a personal stake in this. Hummingbird's cousin Miranda who's
little sister is a Marine, and Captain Darth's stepmother. They'll get them
back for us, Jada."
Curling up against him, she felt her body relax, but her mind exploded with
questions and fears and needs. "How did I end up here?"
"It was your path, Morning Star." Noah said calmly. "You are were your meant to
be."
"And how did you end up here alone, Grey Wolf?" she asked softly. "Was there no
one you wanted to walk with you?"
"There was once." Noah replied softly.
"Who?"
Noah felt his heart stop beating, his breath refuse to leave his lungs. "A
beautiful morning star."
Jada blinked and pulled back to stare into his eyes. "Me? You loved me once?"
His throat went dry as he looked into her eyes. He vowed when she was married
that he would never tell her, but that vow was void when her husband died.
"I've loved you always."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Reaching out her hand, she brushed his cheeks gently,
shaking her head and frowning at him.
"Your age at first, and then when you meet Eamonn tr'Shen it wasn't my place
to." Noah admitted. "I wanted you to be happy and I thought that since you
agreed to marry him, that he did that."
"It was a powerful match," she told him. "Good in the eyes of our Houses. I...
I told my family that I loved him because I thought... I thought the man I
loved didn't love me and I felt duty to my House was better than being alone."
Noah looked at her with awe and fear in his eyes. "And who was the foolish man
who did not tell you he loved you as if you were his precious star?"
"You." Her first smile in what felt like years touched her face and warmed her
eyes. "I've loved you for a very long time."
Noah reached up and cradled her face in his large hands gently. Leaning in he
kissed her softly on her lips. "Do you think it is too late for our paths to
finally join together, Morning Star?"
"And my child? Ealasaid is barely three months old, is she welcome with you?"
Jada searched his face, trying to keep her own doubt from her eyes. He was her
love, she knew him better than she knew her brothers, he would love Ealasaid,
he had to.
Noah smiled brightly. "I've always wanted a daughter."
She didn't want to but she had to make sure... "But she's not yours, will you
still love her when she asks about her blood father? Will you care for her?
Hold her at night when she cries? Bathe her, feed her, spend endless sleepless
nights as she teethes, goes to school, moves out? Will it be as if she is your
own?"
"I can not take her di'ranov's place, I can merely be her v-di'ranov, but I
will love her, I do love her, as if she were my very own." Noah told her
truthfully. "I want to tell her of her father, to hold her, to bathe her, feed
her, to sooth away her nightmares, to take her to school, to tell her stories,
to watch her grow."
"And to love her mother?" Jada asked finally.
Noah kissed her. "Until the day my spirit moves onto the next plain where it
will wait for yours."
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