Of Faith and Family
Posted on Tue Dec 10th, 2024 @ 4:28pm by Remal Kajun & Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Mission:
Character Development
Location: Bajor
Timeline: Days after the Battle
"Thanks Sambose. It looks just like the day we built it originally." Remal stepped backward rubbing his hands together and gazed at the shed, newly rebuilt and standing tall in the early evening hours.
"Aye, it's a shame you can't replant the crop you had stored in there quite so easily." He shook Remal's hand before dumping his tools in a wheeled cart and rolling them back down the path towards his own home.
"It is indeed." Remal commented as he thought about how time would heal those too, and replanting was half the fun of messing in the dirt anyway. He looked over at the rays of sun falling low over the cabin, still in need of repair, despite the work which had already been started. This was only the Second time it had been damaged, though this time not as bad as the first.
He couldn't help but marvel at his life and where events and puppeteers with strings had lead him. He had originally followed their every request and visage with blind passion. It was hopeful fulfillment of his own inner most desires so why not follow that path? In fact it had only been in the last year or so when he had begun to question not just the faith he held, but the course he had been set upon.
There was only one thing that had never been in question, throughout everything in his life. Simple thing really, he mused, just as she appeared from the side door. Her golden hair reflecting the light of the sun. His love for her was as strong as ever, and his desire to have and care for his family, unshaken.
He seemed deep in contemplation, something they had both been doing a lot of lately as they processed recent events. It was a natural part of the healing process, to try and make some sort of sense, and then leave with history.
"All fixed?" She asked, dispensing with the easy silence.
"Yep." He absently brushed his hands again. "Sambose just left, said he'd be back to work on the cabin some more after the holiday. He and his family are going upstate to honor their traditions." He walked up to her and turned back to the shed. "What do you think? Sturdy right?"
"Should stand for another hundred years at least" Rhenora smiled as she took in the repairs. Their cottage needed repairs also but that could wait.
"And how are your repairs?' She asked as they headed for the couch in front of the roaring fire. She swung her legs over his lap and reclined against the armrest comfortably.
It was a comfortable entrapment, and he understood the 'repairs' she was referring to, though it didn't make his answer any more easily delivered. Absently his left hand removed her shoes and began rubbing on her ankles. "My repairs, meaning my fractured nerves and shaken convictions? They, like the man holding them, are under constant repair."
Now both hands were working on her feet, massaging the blood until she folded like a well worn sack of jelly. "And you? How are you fairing?" He was clearly turning the conversation back around to her. There was a pause before he added, "I saw you sitting by the water this morning in quiet contemplation." He knew when she was prepared to discuss her thoughts, she would.
She was quiet for a moment as she considered her answer. She didn't want to gloss over anything, Remal deserved to know exactly what she was thinking and feeling. "A crisis of faith perhaps. Wondering if our future lies here or in the stars, and if the Prophets will continue their meddling in our lives. I feel as though they discarded me when I was no longer useful to them" her eyes were downcast, an indication of the shame and failure she felt deep inside but struggled to express.
He paused rubbing to notably acknowledge she was seeking an outlet and to remind himself not to counsel her as he did others. "I'd like to think our future is what we make of it, but I also know that when they have a plan, not much interferes with said plan." He paused as he swallowed, and continued rubbing.
"I've done some reflecting along similar lines as of late. They used me as a puppet all of my life. They placed me on the trajectory which led me to you. So in some way, I suppose, it hasn't been all bad. But then, time after time they allowed you to get hurt. Used you for their plan to stop their enemy and in the end they allowed you to pass from our world, from me, without a second thought."
"From what you told me, they hadn't planned for you to pass. Small victory I suppose. And ultimately they sent you back, but not without someone else's sacrifice. Did they plan that too? I doubt it. Who could have predicted Patin? This suggests they are not all-knowing, all high and mighty, as many believe."
"You have every right to be angry with them. My faith was already on thin ice when we visited the Brotherhood camp months ago, remember? Now, I don't know, but I'm going to be second-guessing everything they have ever shown me for a long time to come." His voice was soothing and mostly straightforward as he hid his pain deep within, for her sake.
"They showed you a second child, and a future of peace and happiness, yes?" She asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. Her visions had mostly been of doom and gloom, punctuated with her own demise. She shook her head again as though trying to rid her mind of the images. "Ugh, I shouldn't put so much blind Faith in what they've shown anyone. I'm so confused. I've been worshipping them since I was a child, yet now that faith is tenuous at best. I feel lost."
She sighed in frustration, unable to articulate exactly what was waring in her heart and mind. "And I don't know if I want to settle down here or if I should go back to the Sunfire. I mean space isn't exactly a safe place to raise a family. Especially with my track record" she chuckled at her own bad luck.
There was a lot for the both of them to unpack there. They had talked about going back to the ship, but had not yet settled. The underlying question of Faith seemed more prevalent considering the recent events. "Despite our old age we are still young. If Savar and Aurora can raise a child on a starship, then so can we."
"But..." He continued, "concerning your blind faith. In the years after the Occupation and the Dominion War, I counseled a number of people who had lost faith in the Prophets. It was then that even I started to see them differently. To sit idly by while millions of Bajorans were brought to their knees only to later use The Sisko as an emissary to fight their demons felt hypocritical at best. It's really no wonder the Wraith Brotherhood built up such a following. They saw some commonality."
To ease her mind some, he continued, "As for my vision, it like many of their visions, are vague. Yes we were both here along with our two children and yes the beginning was a visage of peace. It was the ending where they showed a bright light as if the Sun itself had exploded, and then darkness." He was quiet and his hands had stopped rubbing her feet. "There was a time I considered this was them showing me my own death. So, you know, doom and gloom is a familiar trend with Them." He finished matching his words to her thoughts.
"It does seem that way doesn't it?" She mused, listening to Remal's rhetoric always soothed her. She felt the tension begin to leave her body, the feelings on guilt and failure would follow in their own time as she processed the ordeal.
"So what of our future, did you want to stay here or return to the stars?" It was an honest question to consider all sides of the debate.
He had already answered her question, a couple of times actually, which told him she was the one who hadn't decided. While it was true he preferred the slow life, he had to secretly admit to love being useful to others. He looked around the cabin, the windows remained cracked or blown out entirely, though covered. How could he help her through this decision block?
More rhetoric, that was how. "You know, my faith in the Prophets is nil, but my Faith in our family has never been stronger. For instance, I know you." He was looking straight into her eyes and into the depth of her inner most thoughts. "You desire to be in that center seat, making certain your people are safe and happy and well treated. You need to be Mama Kaylen, you always have."
"You don't mind?" She blurted out, feeling as though her needs were constantly trumping his and how it felt unfair.
"Me? There should be no doubt that my place, and Patina's place, is at your side. Baldric is young, impulsive and career-oriented. She, is not you. " He said keeping the decision in her hands while providing that nudge he felt she still needed. "And for now, you are the Captain of the Sunfire."
She was quiet for a moment, letting that truly sink in. Yes, there was joy in remaining on Bajor, but they were no safer here than being in the stars, with a crew they trusted and loved fiercely.
"We will come back regularly, I promise"
"I'll hold you to that. If only for the sake of knowing who she is and where she came from." He spoke pertaining to Patina. "And you must promise not to go cabin stir-crazy if they won't let you back in the command chair right away." He chuckled, "I can just hear it now."
"Besides, what is the USS Sunfire without Captain Kaylen in the Command chair?" He finished with an ego boost.
"She was the Sunfire before me, and she will be the Sunfire after me" Rhenora chuckled as she recalled the many years she had indeed called the Sunfire home. "But it would be nice to go back. Gotta keep that young upstart in check and all." Patina stirred from the other room and then resettled. "Are you ready for the juggle? From what I hear we have another week before they ship out."
"If you're asking if I am ready to raise a daughter while serving on a Starship while maintaining my sanity against our usual adversity, that juggle, then yeah, I think WE are ready." He proclaimed boldly while including the royal 'we' to say he thought she were ready as well. "Our lives are nothing without a bit of drama."
"Well this is true. Can't have life getting predictable and boring now can we?" The laughter rolled. "But first we have an uninterrupted week. Whatever shall we do with ourselves?"
He slid his hand up her inner thigh ever so slowly, gave her his most debonair look and devilish grin. "Well I can think of a number of things." Then a well-timed yawn interrupted everything. "Including as much sleep as we can." He would happily spend the whole week in bed serving his bride and keeping their infant daughter happy if it meant he got eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
"Oi, no making number two until number one sleeps through the night" she chuckled at his antics, but couldn't help but feel sorry for him. His needs had well and truly been neglected of late. "You've got till she wakes up"
His eyes widened, "Challenge accepted." One one quick movement he was out from under her and bearing down on top of her, his lips connecting. His left hand supported him, his right found its way to her bare skin at her ticklish right side. If she had not died and come back... if she had not just had a child, he would have lifted her up and pressed her against the wall right there in the living room.
Instead, he took his time, using his body to 'explain' his desires in great passionate detail as one does a good book. There was touching, and giggling, and a playfulness that had been lacking for months. It was only when his tongue found its way past her open lips that he knew his story had been well received.
TBC
Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Commanding Officer, USS Sunfire
Remal Kajun
Counselor Aide, USS Sunfire
Husband of the Captain
Played By Commander Jenna Ramthorne
