By Zanh Liis
71209.4
Hours after The Good Fight
--=In a medical facility on Aertok=--
71209.4
Hours after The Good Fight
--=In a medical facility on Aertok=--
Liis shook violently.
Her arms involuntarily railed against the restraints on her bed, her teeth rattled together with such force that they finally peirced her tongue, and she tasted blood.
She had been given dose after dose of all manner of drugs to try to control the multitude of complications that had arisen from the fact that the Ferengi doctor knew too little of Bajoran physiology to really care for her properly. Infection set in rapidly, and her temperature skyrocketed. She felt as if she were freezing to death and burning alive, all at the same time.
The wound in her chest stung. Her eyes felt foreign in her own skull as she tried to open them and look around. She was far too weak by this point to speak.
Her consciousness kept fading in and out in rapid cycles and the people around her grew ever more nervous that she was not going to survive to get them past their finishline.
As she was only remotely aware of their continued chattering around her, Zanh Liis sank deeper into the depths of her own mind, and the events of her life began to replay themselves in sequential order. From the earliest memory she had, which was the one she had only just recalled of her grandmother singing to her by the fire in the camps, and then they went on from there.
All that she recalled now had one common thread that tied the memories together like pearls on a strand.
Jariel was in them.
-=Flash=-
"L-l-l-l-iis is t-t-trying t-t-t-o s-s-say s-s-something!"
An older boy at the orphanage taunted Liis, about the stuttering that had plagued her up until her teens and made her an easy target for the persecution of the other children.
"Leave her alone, Lyshim," another boy spoke. He was only a few years older than Liis, though already at the age of ten, he wore the robe of an apprentice Vedek instead of the tattered clothing that the other children wore when it was time to go to the Temple and pray.
"What are you going to do about it, Camen? You don't want to bleed all over that pretty dress, do you? You're more of a girl than she is!"
"Do you want Vedek Timal to find out what really happened to the food that was supposed to go to the Temple?" Young Jariel asked defiantly, not afraid at all of the danger this boy twice his size and several years past his age might pose to him because he was defending her.
Lyshim backed down, but it was really only due to the fact that Vedek Timal was rapidly approaching. One of the other children had warned him that there was going to be a fight and he meant to break it up before it started.
"I'll get you later, Jariel. You watch your back." Lyshim promised.
Jariel helped Liis up from the ground, and began to pick up the books that she had been made to drop into the mud because of Lyshim's bullying.
"W-w-why ddid y-y-you h-h-helllp me?" She asked softly.
"Us girls have to stick together." Jariel shrugged, smiling gently as he tried to avoid getting mud on his robe. If he got mud on his robe, then he really would be in trouble.
-=Flash=-
Jariel walked slowly into the kitchen where Liis was drying up the last of the dishes from evening meal. He reached into a basket on the counter, grabbed a ripe piece of fruit and took a bite.
Unaware of his silent, approaching footsteps, Liis jumped at the sound of the fruit giving way to his teeth and whirled around.
"So." He said, after he'd chewed and swallowed his bite of food. "I hear someone is failing her philosophy course."
Liis let out a slow hiss through her teeth and tossed her dish rag down in disgust.
"Philosophy. Who needs it? Does it pay the bills? Fill your stomach? Can you base your life on it? Waste of time."
Suddenly Jariel tugged on the collar of his robe, his expression mocking insult. She realized what she'd said and shrugged.
"Sorry. I mean, can anyone who's not a Vedek base their life on it? What's it got to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with getting into the Academy, Liis. That's what you want, isn't it? Anything below an excellent grade and your average will fall dangerously close to cutting you right out of a Starfleet future. Then you'd have to stay here."
"And do what? Tend a herd of Rinta?" She growled. "Damn Vedek Timal. He hates me. That's why I'm failing his stupid class. Nothing I say is acceptable to him. I answer right from the books what more does he want?"
Jariel's mind wandered for a moment. He watched as Liis as she leaned over the table to wipe it down.
How much she'd changed, he thought. At nearly seventeen, she looked grown, instead of an awkward young girl. Her gangly legs, which once seemed too long for her body, now made her appear tall and elegant. She was becoming more of a woman with each passing day.
Every time he looked at her now he realized how close she was to actually leaving and going out on her own.
Going away from Bajor. Going away from him.
He wished he could freeze time and keep things they way they were, just a little while longer.
"Maybe I shouldn't help you. Just let you fail so you have to stay here.”
"What? I'm sorry? I didn't get that." Liis replied distractedly, finally pulling a chair away from the table and plunking down into it. "I just don't know what to do Jariel. Textbook won't work in this course and I can't give him any better. I'm going to fail."
"No, you're not going to fail. Textbook is not with Timal wants from you. This is all about faith, about beliefs and the Prophets and your Pagh...about how we're all connected to something bigger than ourselves. It's about life."
Liis raised one eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest indignantly.
"If you know so much about it why don't you just write my final for me."
"Can't. He'd know it was I. He's my mentor. I can't sneeze and him not know about it. I think he has an Orb that's only purpose is to track of what I do 26 hours a day."
Liis laughed.
"Well, that sounds more entertaining than watching the grass grow. Not much else to do around here."
"True. But you know...with you around somehow I'm never bored." Jariel blurted. He was sitting perched on the edge of the table now, leaning toward her. Suddenly, she felt uneasy and got up from her chair.
It had been twelve years since the first time she'd seen Jariel Camen. She remembered it to this day, the way they’d met.
It was her first week at the orphanage, and she'd tripped and fallen on the sidewalk in the garden and skinned her knees.
While the other children laughed, Jariel had silently walked up to her, his face a study of six-year-old sincerity. He helped her up and asked, "Are you hurt?"
Ever since that day, keeping her from getting hurt seemed to be his mission in life. Much to the annoyance of his mentors, who didn't want anything or anyone to distract him from his plans for the future.
She'd known from just after that first day that Jariel was being raised to take up the ministry. She’d also known from a very early age that she was destined to leave Bajor for good someday. She couldn't see herself staying here, watching life go by as season blended into season over and over and nothing ever changed.
Only one thing had changed over the years, which she hadn't counted on.
As she'd grown up, he'd been the one person in her life that she could always unfailingly count on. She'd found that as the years went on the thought of leaving Bajor, or more specifically leaving him, wasn't nearly as attractive as it had been when she was younger.
She sometimes even found herself wondering what it would be like, if one day when school was over, he just asked her not to go. If she just stayed with him for good.
But she always shook those daydreams off. He was becoming harder and harder to read as he got older. At times he'd seem as if he was just about to blurt out something really profound. But then he'd stop, make a joke, or change the subject. It never failed.
It was usually at that point that she remembered that he had always been taught that his needs, his wants came after the needs and wants of others.
He was raised to serve. Not to choose his own path.
She came out of her momentary fog to realize that his last words were still hanging in the silence, and he looked very uncomfortable. His expression questioned if she'd heard them, and finally she spoke to break the tension.
"Oh, anyone can get bored around here. Especially having to take Timal's classes. What am I going to do?"
Jariel, looking relieved she'd finally said something, jumped up from his perch and took her arm.
"You're going to put down that dishcloth and come with me for a crash course in Ancient Bajoran Philosophy. Right now."
"Now? But I have work to do."
"Vedek Timal's orders. He sent me to have a talk with you. See if I could "do anything with that Zanh Liis.'" Jariel said, suddenly mimicking the Vedek's trademark accent from Recantha province.
"So come on. Faith 101 is in session, and the classroom is out there."
Liis was halfway out the door, Jariel dragging her behind him by her sleeve when she finally tossed the dish rag in the general direction of the table and stopped resisting.
Captain Zanh Liis
Hovering between this life and the next
Somewhere on Aertok
Hovering between this life and the next
Somewhere on Aertok