Title: Family Celebration With Icing
Authors: T'Sia and Saidicam29
Codes: Sa, Am, Sp
Rating: G
Summary: Sarek's family is headed on spiritual vacation, but the trip becomes
more difficult than they intended.
Disclaimer:
Family
Celebration With Icing
"Did you pack the cooling unit for Spock's vitamins?" Amanda asked
while Sarek came down the stairs, a travel bag in each hand.
"Yes, Amanda. You have asked me this four times thus far
today. It is packed," he answered, maneuvering
around her form in the middle of the hallway.
"Okay," Amanda just murmured absently-minded while she crossed out
further items from her mental list. She looked up briefly,
"Spock? Spock?" she repeated until the dark head of her
two-year-old son turned in her direction. "Don't play horse with I'Chaya anymore, you hear? We want to keep the
clothes clean."
Spock nodded and waited beside the sehlat until he saw his mother walk out the
front door then he climbed on the huge beast's back again and the sehlat
obediently carried him on another round through the living room.
Meanwhile, Amanda came to stand behind Sarek who was bent over the back cargo
space of the family flitter.
Sarek picked up the last bag, gently sliding it into the space he had reserved
through careful planning and strategic packing. He straightened,
examining his work, his hands absently rubbing together satisfactorily.
Amanda suppressed a smirk, shaking her head at his obsessive behaviors. "Are
we all set?"
"I believe so," Sarek answered, moving towards the front of the
flitter. "I just need to add some lubricant to the engine."
"Okay, I'll get I'Chaya and Spock
then." Amanda spun around, then, remembering Spock's blanket which
she still held in her hands, turned back to toss it into the flitter then left
to get her son. They returned, the sehlat bounding ahead of them, eager
to go on a rare flitter ride.
"Itchy," Spock whined and
extended a hand for his pet when Sarek led the sehlat to the cage set in the
back of the family flitter; but Amanda took her son's hand and came to stand
beside the flitter to ready the child seat in the back seat. "No,
honey, I'Chaya gets his own place," she said
gently and then fussed about the security straps that had tied themselves into
a knot.
"Amanda," Sarek called for his wife's attention, when he saw her look
over the back of the seat and I'Chaya's cage, he held
up the blanket. "You already packed a blanket for Spock."
"But that's his wobby."
Sarek suppressed an impatient sigh at her use of babble. "He already
has a blanket packed," he reiterated.
"I know, Sarek," Amanda stressed slowly, getting frustrated that the
seat straps would not untangle, "but that's his special blanket. He
might want it while we're away."
"Mommy," Spock whined, tugging at Amanda's robes.
"One second, Spock. Then take out the other blanket ... he loves
that one."
"Sa-sa!" Spock
implored urgently, neither parent noticing the way he stepped from one foot to
the other, his knees pressing together tightly.
"Spock, your mother and I are speaking right now," Sarek's eyes never
left his wife. "The other one is already packed."
"Aha!" Amanda cried out triumphantly, finally getting the straps
sorted out. She bent down to pick up Spock. "Look, Sarek…"
Amanda stopped, noticing a distinct wetness upon her arm where she cradled
Spock against her. She looked accusingly at her son, who met her gaze
directly. "Oh, Spock," she said disappointingly.
The toddler sniffed at her brazenly. "I vazhau."
"You sure did," Amanda agreed setting him down while she
checked her own robes for wet spots. "Come on, let's get you
changed." She took Spock's hand and headed towards the door.
"And Sarek," she called over her shoulder, "it's just a
blanket. Leave it there."
~~*~~
"Whew," Amanda breathed once they all sat in the flitter; luggage all
packed, Spock freshly clothed and the sehlat in the cage. "I think
we are ready to leave." She beamed at Sarek. "It's about
time or your parents will wonder why we are late."
"Indeed," Sarek confirmed and Amanda thought to see a hint of relief
in his expression. She chuckled inwardly at how bravely he endured the
chaos he was exposed to this morning. She watched as he took out the key
card and mentally went through the house. Had she closed all
windows? Was the stove out? She hated to think what could happen if
the kitchen caught fire.
Sarek sighed beside her. "Yes, aduna.
The windows are closed, the stove is cold. You checked three times."
Amanda smiled in slight exasperation. There seemed to be no thought of
hers he did not know about.
"Yes, because you are projecting constantly. This is why we should
practice... "
"Yes, Sarek, I know! Could we just leave now? We'll be
late," Amanda said, interrupting him.
"Where Itchy?" a little voice shouted suddenly from behind them.
Amanda glanced back at her son. "In his
cage."
"Where?"
"Behind you, Spock." Amanda faced forward, leaning her
head back against the seat wearily.
"Where?" he asked again, after a slight pause.
Amanda took a deep breath, slowly releasing it to calm her nerves.
"Spock, trust me, he's back there. You just can't see him from where
you are."
There was another slight pause, then she heard Spock wiggling
in his seat. "Itchy?" he called out. "Iiittcchhyy!" The sehlat gave a low
grumble in answer. "Oh, ok," Spock said happily, turning back
in his seat to play with the toys in the bag beside him. "He there, Mommy."
"Great," Amanda mumbled, looking over at Sarek to see what was
taking so long. Sarek expression was serious,
his brow creased in concentration as he repeatedly flipped the switches on the
consol. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I do not know," Sarek said and pulled a lever below the console.
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Perfect," she mumbled when Sarek got
out and opened the hood. About ten minutes later Amanda's patience
finally broke and she got out of the flitter to stand beside Sarek. She
looked over his shoulder while he bent over the engine. "Found
anything?" she asked and ignored the slightly annoyed glance he gave her
over his shoulder.
"No," he said pointedly when she still looked at him with questioning
eyes.
Amanda sighed and retreated to give Spock some kasa
juice he whiningly requested from the backseat. She returned to her seat
and drummed her fingers on the console for another five minutes. She was
just about to get out again when Sarek closed the hood. Her initial happy
expression changed into a worried one when she saw his dismayed face.
"I cannot repair it right now," he said.
"Well, there are two options then," Amanda said, counting them off on
her fingers, "first, we rent a flitter; or second, we take yours."
Sarek glanced from his simmering red flitter to the occupants of the family
vehicle. He shook his head. "We cannot take my flitter,"
he pondered the thought for a bit. "We must reach my parent's estate
in time to accompany them on the pilgrimage or they will leave without us."
"We could go tomorrow, the pilgrimage will be every day for about a
week," Amanda reminded him.
Sarek nodded, "Yes, but we planned to go together with the family.
It is tradition. If we rent a flitter, we will be too late to do
so." He glanced back at his prized flitter, built with his very own
hands when he was a student, and kept in pristine condition ever since.
He rarely ever drove it; Amanda had only ridden in it twice, and Spock and I'Chaya…never. He glanced back at his family,
swallowing hard against his dismay. "So there remains only one
option," he concluded and looked at his wife.
"But," Amanda held up her finger emphasis. "How do you
possibly expect to fit all of this," a wave of her arm encompassed the
van's contents, "in that?" Sarek followed her finger to his little
two door flitter.
Sarek nodded, understanding her dilemma. "We will have no choice but
to take only the essentials."
"Everything here is essential!"
"It--" Sarek stopped, giving his wife an exasperated glance.
"I have one bag, you have one bag, the rest of
that," he gestured with a nod of his head, "is Spock's. I
hardly think a two year old child requires this much equipment for a one week
stay at his grandparents'. I'Chaya and Spock
will have to squeeze into the rear seat, which means there is only the cargo
section for our belongings. I can only fit three bags in there, Amanda.
Either you select his things, or I shall."
Sarek moved to the rear of the family flitter and began unpacking its
contents. He deftly unloaded their things onto the garage floor, taking
his and Amanda's bags to place in the small flitter. As Amanda poured
through Spock's things, stuffing as much as she could into the one bag she was
allotted, Sarek took I'Chaya out of his cage and
placed him in the flitter, followed by Spock. When he turned back around,
his wife stood next to him, one overly stuffed bag in hand, and one toy bag and
wooby by her feet. "Amanda," Sarek said
warningly.
"I'll fit it in, just put this one in the
back." As he did that, she worked on stuffing the toy bag on the
floor between Spock's legs, placing his blanket across his lap. "Did
you grab his cooler?" she called back to Sarek, who was taking a last
inventory of the things they were leaving behind. A bump against her behind
made Amanda turn back.
"You will have to hold this on your lap," Sarek told her, handing the
cooler unit over.
"Okay," Amanda took the unit, placing it atop the flitter while she
finished settling Spock and his things inside.
Sarek got into the driver's seat and ran a quick maintenance check of the
flitter's engine. The flitter roared to life, lifting off the floor
slightly as the antigrav-unit kicked in, preparing
for flight. Sarek buckled up, giving his wife an impatient look.
"Ready?"
"Yes," Amanda quickly answered, flipping her seat back and climbing
in.
The garage door opened, and the flitter glided smoothly out, hovering several
inches above the ground as was usual inside city boundaries. The vehicle
picked up speed as Sarek turned onto the roadway.
Suddenly feeling a bit queasy Amanda exhaled a bit forcefully.
"Finally on the way," she said and leaned back. She glanced
over at Sarek and he gave a confirming nod, obviously as relieved as she felt.
"Are you feeling well, aduna?" he asked noticing how she briefly
rubbed her stomach.
"Just a bit queasy from the stress," she answered and gave him an
encouraging smile.
Sarek glanced quickly at the road and saw the traffic light coming; however, he
returned his gaze to Amanda while he pushed the brakes to make sure she was all
right. She smiled and winked at him. The smile vanished, however,
when a sliding noise could be heard from the roof as the flitter slowed.
Both their gazes wandered to the windshield and they watched the cooling unit
Amanda had wanted to pack earlier slide from the roof and down the windshield
then further onto the hood in slow motion. By the time the flitter came
to a complete stop at the traffic light, the unit had reached the end of the
hood and balanced on the edge for about a second before it fell off and landed
with a noticeable clank on the road.
Amanda looked at Sarek and saw how first his gaze and then his head slowly
turned in her direction. Unable to meet his almost exasperated expression
she giggled helplessly. "I'm sorry. I forgot it... I..." She sobered. "I'll just get it," she said and got
out of the flitter.
From outside she could see how Sarek stuck his head out of the window and
glanced down the hood to see if his precious flitter had suffered a scratch.
Some pedestrians stopped and looked over to them, curious what was going on.
Immediately she saw Sarek's head disappearing back inside the vehicle to the
shelter of the flitter's tinted windows. 'This must be embarrassing to
him,' Amanda thought, but she felt no guilt.
"Fitter ouch?" a small voice asked when Amanda returned inside the
flitter
Amanda suppressed a grin when she turned back to him. "No, the
flitter is fine, baby." 'It's just daddy's pride that's hurt,' she
thought to Sarek, not able to suppress her mockery and watched how he glanced
at her out of the corner of his eye. The traffic light switched to green
and the flitter sped forward.
Approximately thirty minutes later, they
reached the city limits. Sarek immediately increased the flitter's speed and
altitude as they started across the desert. For the third time that Amanda
counted, Sarek lowered his window a little more. "I'Chaya,
sit!" he ordered the sehlat, who was sitting directly behind him.
Amanda glanced in the back. "He is sitting," she giggled as Sarek
wiped the back of his neck, his hand coming away wet from the sehlat's excited
drool as he struggled to access the window. Giving in, Sarek lowered his window
completely, sliding his seat uncomfortably forward so the sehlat could stick
his head out. He noticed the bemused expression on Amanda's face.
"Cramped?" she asked him.
"Yes, but it is preferable to him breathing on my neck for the next three
hours."
She laughed again, leaning her head against the seat and watching the vast
desert view pass before her eyes.
A sudden wave of nausea swept over her, and Amanda turned her head to the
front, staring as far into the distance as she could to lessen the queasiness.
She took deep breaths, letting them out slowly and was pleased to note her
stomach seemed to settle by the time they reached the Llangon mountains.
Sarek swerved to the left, taking the flitter higher and faster above the
mountains, rather than flying alongside them as they usually would. Amanda felt
her queasiness return, her motion sickness increasing tenfold as Sarek had to
weave around the mountain peaks.
"Sarek, maybe you should slow down."
"I am attempting to make up time, aduna. No one travels above the
mountains, and we will have to cross eventually anyway."
Amanda tried looking ahead, then to her side, but no matter which way she
looked she could not escape the sight of the mountains whizzing past her at a
terrific speed. She took a deep breath, then released it, then took another,
closing her eyes in another attempt to end the nausea, but this only made the
weaving more exaggerated. "Sarek, please... "
Sarek noticed the strain in her voice and glanced at her.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to be sick." Amanda covered her mouth with her hand, the
other cradling her stomach.
Immediately, Sarek reduced the flitter's speed and headed back to the desert
floor. A quick check of the flitter's navigation unit showed a small watering
hole nearby. "There is water two point six flight minutes ahead, can you
make it?"
Wordlessly, Amanda nodded, bending over to apply more pressure to her rolling
stomach.
Sarek pressed the control to lower her window as well – just in case.
"Mommy?"
"Your mother is not feeling well," Sarek answered for Amanda
and glanced over at her ashen face.
"Mommy," Spock said again and Sarek's head snapped around to him when
he heard the clicking sound of the seatbelt release mechanism.
"Stay seated," Sarek said in a sharp voice but Spock only hesitated
for a second and then climbed out of the seat.
"Mommy sick," he said and tried to crawl into the front of the
flitter. Sarek quickly glanced at the
terrain ahead and moved the flitter down further while he reached back with one
hand and tried to hold Spock back; but what he grabbed was not the toddler, but
the snout of the sehlat who seemed to want to be part of the commotion too.
"I'Chaya, sit!" Sarek bellowed while he
felt Spock crawling between Amanda's seat and his arm.
A quick glance at Amanda told him she was not doing well. Her throat looked as
if it was constricting and Sarek knew what was to happen. 'At least the windows
are open,' he thought and for a brief instant, he seemed to gain back control
of the situation when his hand finally grasped Spock.
Out of balance, Spock put a foot on the middle console and for a moment Sarek
was too startled to react in time when he saw the windows starting to close
since Spock had accidentally activated the window control. Quickly he tried to
reach for the switch without releasing his son, but it was too late.
Amanda leaned over in her seat and attempted to empty the contents of her
stomach outside the flitter. The windows were closing fast, however, and closed
before she was done. When she was finally down to dry heaves only, she opened
her eyes and saw to her horror that half of the contents of her stomach had
remained inside the flitter and flowed down the window and the side of her
door. "Oh no," she croaked and looked at Sarek.
He still held Spock with one hand but stared ahead, only the twitching jaw
muscle indicating his thoughts.
"I'm so sorry," she said and searched for the button to lower the
windows since an unpleasant odor filled the flitter
cabin.
"Do not," Sarek said, "If the window slides down the... liquid will
only seep further into the door's interior."
"I'm sorry," she said again. "I couldn't hold it anymore."
Sarek looked at her and Amanda was relieved to see the sudden change from
irritation to softness and compassion in his eyes. "Are you feeling
better?" he asked.
Amanda nodded sheepishly. "Yes, I am."
Spock wiggled between them, still securely in Sarek's grip. "Mommy?"
he asked again and Amanda tried to smile despite her misery upon seeing his big
brown eyes so full of worry for her.
"Here, let me take him," she said to Sarek and took Spock when he
released him. Careful to keep him away from the remains of her sickness she
settled him on her lap. "Mommy's better now," she said.
Spock looked from his mother's pale face to the smelly, chunky mess lining the
door and her robes. His face screwed up in disgust, "Yucky."
"Yes, baby. It's yucky. My stomach is upset with me," she explained
and rubbed her belly.
"Baby?" Spock asked and poked a finger
carefully into her abdomen.
Amanda smiled lovingly. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sarek's gaze
snap towards her and suppressed the urge to let the smile intensify into a
grin. Just a few days ago, they had been visiting Sarek's brother Silek, and
his wife T'Leia, when Silek had announced they were
expecting. This had prompted some questions from Spock, and based on Amanda's
description of her own pregnancy Spock must have leapt to the same conclusion
for her current illness.
"No, honey, there's no baby in there... yet." She glanced up at
Sarek, who again caught her eye. He afforded her one of his rare smiles, his
thoughts no doubt on the possibility of achieving another conception during his
next Time to, hopefully, turn into a successful pregnancy with the help of the
geneticists.
"Uh-huh," Spock said and leaned against her, unaware of the silent
exchange between his parents.
As Sarek had promised, they reached an oasis two flight minutes later and Sarek
landed the flitter gingerly.
Amanda opened the door and set Spock outside. Following him, she flipped her
seat forward and loosened the restraint that held I'Chaya
in the vehicle, but instead of getting out of the flitter and running behind
his young master the sehlat remained standing half inside the flitter and
sniffed at the sticky mess that still clung to the door, his intentions
unmistakable.
"Ugh! I'Chaya, stop it," Amanda said and
grabbed the sehlat's neckband to pull him out of the vehicle. "I tell you
I'm sure they bred a pig somewhere back in your ancestry," she muttered
and led the sehlat a few feet away from the vehicle. "Sit," she ordered
and the animal obeyed.
Meanwhile Sarek rounded the vehicle and came to stand beside the door to
inspect the 'damage'.
Amanda looked briefly for Spock. "Don't go into the water, Spock, you
hear?" she called and turned back to Sarek when Spock nodded and bent to
pick up something from the ground.
"How bad is it?" she said and approached Sarek.
"I will need to take the door apart to clean out the interior once we have
arrived. The remainder can easily be wiped away with some water," he
answered.
"Okay, I'll get some cleaning pads," Amanda said and walked to the
back of the flitter, reaching beneath their bags to find the gear Sarek kept in
his flitter. Sarek bent forward to see if some of the vomit had entered the air
circulation unit, fortunately, it appeared none had.
"Here," Amanda handed some cloths to Sarek to work on the flitter
while she took a few to wipe at her robes, but it was useless. "It won't
come clean," she muttered angrily, catching Sarek's attention.
"Take it off," Sarek instructed. "We can clean it at the water
hole then put it away until we get to my parents' home. It did not reach your
pants or tunic, did it?"
"No," Amanda answered, heading towards the water as she slipped off
her robe. She squatted down and began scrubbing her robe under the water.
"Can I drink this?" she yelled back at Sarek.
"No," he called back.
"I want to rinse my mouth...is there any drink in the flitter?"
Sarek stood and retrieved something from the back of the flitter then
approached his wife. "Give me a moment to put some water through the
filter then you can drink it." He pieced his filtering canister together
then bent down, filling the top portion. He set the device down next to Amanda.
"Wait until the water goes through
the filter and into the bottom canister. Then you may use the water from the bottom
only," he warned. Satisfied she understood, he dipped some of his cloths
into the water then returned to attend to his flitter.
Satisfied that her robe was as good as it would get, Amanda stood up to
stretch, instinctively looking for her son. "Spock, no!" she yelled
as she spotted him about twenty feet away, at the water's edge, his pants
completely removed as he also attempted to clean his clothes in the water.
Unfortunately, his area was more mud than water, and his pants were completely
caked.
"Okay, Mommy," Spock assured her. "It
clean."
Amanda looked over at Sarek, who was looking around the flitter door to see
what the commotion was. He looked at their son then looked at her, his lips
pressed tightly together. With a shake of his head, he disappeared back behind
the door. Apparently, she was to be given the pleasure of cleaning their son
all to herself.
"Come here, boy," Amanda called to him. She took his pants, holding
them out at arms length. "Don't move!" she ordered then set to the
task of scrubbing them off under the water. She managed to remove most of the
mud, but his pants were far from what anyone could define as "clean".
Noticing that the water was done filtering, Amanda took several swigs, gargling
quickly then spitting it back out. She used the leftover water to clean Spock's
face and hands then sent him back to the flitter.
Amanda refilled the filter canister then folded up her robe and Spock's pants.
She placed the latter in the cargo area then set the canister atop the flitter
while she bent over to inspect Sarek's work. "How's it coming?"
"As good as it will be for now," Sarek answered, straightening. He
collected the used cloths and walked some distance away, setting them down then
pulling out a lighter to ignite the pile. He waited until the fire had almost
completely died out then covered the remaining embers with sand, extinguishing
any remaining fire.
Meanwhile, Amanda struggled with putting an over-heated sehlat and a half-naked
child back into the small rear section of the flitter.
"Move over, I'Chaya!" Sarek overheard
Amanda muttering to the giant beast as she tried to make room for Spock. Sarek
went around to the driver's side, reaching in to grasp I'Chaya's
collar and tugging the beast his way. "Come, I'Chaya.
Move over."
The sehlat did so, reluctantly, giving his master a big, sloppy lick to the
back of the head when he sat in the driver's seat.
Amanda got into her seat, laughing as she noticed Sarek wiping off the back of
his head... again.
"Ready?" Sarek asked, firing up the flitter's engine.
"Yes," Amanda sighed heavily, growing very tired, and wondering how
she would manage a pilgrimage after the day they've had. The flitter began to
lift when suddenly Amanda remembered the water. "Wait!" she yelled,
making every head in the flitter turn her way.
Sarek quickly put the flitter back down as Amanda opened the door and hopped
out. She was gone only a second then climbed back in, his water canister in
hand. Sarek stared at her, her cheeks red in embarrassment, knowing she was
intentionally refusing to return his gaze. He continued to stare, refusing to
move, until she finally had to look in his direction. "We hadn't taken off
yet, at least," she defensively, to which Sarek merely raised a brow and
turned back to his driving.
Amanda leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. "You know what? Maybe
we shouldn't go on the pilgrimage today. With our luck we'll be swallowed up by
quicksand."
"If you are not feeling well enough for the trip, Amanda... " he started but Amanda held up a hand.
"No, I'll be fine."
"But vomiting is very straining for the human body. The act causes the
loss of fluid and blood electrolytes," Sarek argued.
"I know. I promise I'll drink sufficiently once we arrive and ask your
mother for salt pills. I'm sure she has some left over from my last stay,"
she said and then chuckled. Your mother must think I'm all made up of a queasy
stomach when I come to visit them. Do you remember the last time when we visited
I was pregnant with Spock and... "
"Yes, I remember *where* your controls faded," Sarek said pointedly.
"Hey, I can't help it that I tripped over I'Chaya
on the way to the bathroom," Amanda defended herself.
"Your innocence did not save the potted plants on my mother's terrace from
dying from the acid in your gastric fluids," Sarek replied dryly.
"Ha ha, very funny," Amanda answered. She
glanced at the backseat again. "The furry pig tried to eat my vomit back
then too... " The comment earned her a
reproachful gaze from Sarek but she shrugged. "Well, isn't that
disgusting?"
"I'Chaya does seem to have some... peculiar
interests when it comes to you," Sarek teased.
Amanda hesitated just a moment to fire back her reply. "Not only I'Chaya," she said and winked at her husband.
Sarek turned his head away to hide the twitch of his lips that were about to be
tugged into a smile.
Amanda leaned back and lifted a hand to her mouth. Instantly Sarek's gaze was
back on her again and he reached for the altitude lever. "Again?" he
asked.
Amanda laughed half in the process of a yawn. "No, don't worry. I think
I'll just take a nap until we arrive." Her hair touched the head rest
behind her and it seemed as if she had just closed her eyes when a slight vibration
ran through the flitter. When she opened her eyes, she had to blink twice to
believe the sight outside that showed Sarek's clan estate deep in the Ken'Tal desert. "Are we there already?" she asked
and looked wearily at Sarek, then at the backseat. She smiled when she saw
Spock's head leaned against the headrest of his seat, his dark lashes touching
his cheeks while he slept.
"Yes, we have arrived. You have slept two point one hours," Sarek
confirmed.
"Doesn't feel like it," she commented, and then jumped when pain shot
through her while she turned her head back forward. "Except
my neck." She rubbed the stiff muscles.
As they landed, Skon and T'Lara came out of the estate to meet them. "We
were about to leave without you," Skon gently chided his eldest child.
"Forgive us, Father. We experienced some... unforeseen circumstances,
which also forced us to make an inconvenient choice of transportation,"
Sarek said and gestured at the over-packed flitter.
"Where is my sa'fu'al?" T'Lara asked,
leaning into Amanda's opened door to look into the back seat. Quickly the elder
woman jumped back, her hand covering her nose demurely.
"We... uh... it's not been a pleasant trip," Amanda informed her to which her mother-in-law nodded in agreement.
"Indeed," she murmured.
Amanda stepped out of the flitter, flipping her seat forward and unbuckling
Spock from his safety seat. She pulled him out and immediately turned him over
to T'Lara, who held the child at arms' length, her eyes roaming over his bare
legs and feet. She looked questioningly at Amanda, noting the lack of a travel
robe. "A really unpleasant trip," Amanda stressed.
The toddler woke up when being moved and began to whine. Amanda looked briefly
at T'Lara, but the Vulcan woman just nodded and wordlessly held the child
closer to her. Spock laid his head wearily on her shoulder and was directly
asleep again.
"Perhaps you could assist your mother in getting Spock cleaned up,"
Skon addressed Sarek, removing the child's bag from the rear of the flitter. He
handed the bag to his son and Sarek and T'Lara set off towards the house.
Amanda leaned against the side of the flitter.
"Are you feeling well, Daughter?" Skon asked.
Amanda smiled wearily. "I'm not sure. My stomach is better but I'm still
tired."
Skon nodded and took the remaining bags out of the flitter. He gave I'Chaya a stroke over the head when the sehlat nudged his
side. The animal had by now left the flitter too and came to greet his old
master.
Skon picked up the bags while Amanda closed the flitter's doors. "You
will, of course, rest before we leave, Amanda. However, if you do not feel
strong enough after that you may remain at the house," he said.
"But this pilgrimage is important," Amanda argued, "Your clan is
of Surak's lineage. The family's presence is expected today."
"True," he affirmed as they headed up the walk to the house,
"but while the pilgrimage is a tradition, is it not essential. There are
worse offenses than missing the pilgrimage." He
glanced at his daughter-by-marriage, his eyes twinkling with humor, "like becoming ill in one's prized zel'tulia plant."
"I always add icing to the cake, don't I?" Amanda said and winked at
Skon.
Skon nodded thoughtfully remembering the expression from his time spent as
ambassador on Terra. "Our lives have certainly been more... interesting
since you arrived," he agreed with a warm glint in his eyes.
They entered the house to prepare for the pilgrimage, both hoping the remainder
of the day would be better than how it started.
THE END
EPILOGUE:
Later that day, somewhere in the Ken'Tal desert ...
"Oh, Sarek, no! I told you this rock was slippery .
"