425: Departure

by Fleur Le Marc
80724.17
Just before Meet the Parents
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Soundtrack: May It Be, by Enya
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-=Crew Quarters, USS Alchemy=-

As she checked to be sure she had all she'd need for the trip, Fleur remembered with gratitude the conversation she'd had just forty-eight hours ago, with a very good friend...

-=Days before, just after the party ended=-

"They can get you there all right, and quickly too. But it's going to cost you a small fortune." February sipped her mug of cinnamon tea slowly, twisting a strand of tri-colored hair around her index finger as she considered the information on the tiny screen before her.

"Cost does not matter," Fleur said, "I will be able to cover any transport fee. Speed is what I require." Fleur was glad she'd thought to consult Grace on this matter. After all, who better to ask about transportation from point a to point b than a navigator with hundreds of years worth of experience to draw on?

"Oh, don't worry she's a fast ship. Her Captain is nothing short of a lunatic. Small ship, but wicked fast. You'll be to Bajor before you know it."

Fleur sat down across from Grace now in the deserted dining hall as February continued to stare at PADD she held.

"But are you sure about the money? This is the required fare. That doesn't include the fuel surcharges, Betazed airspace travel tax, and the per bag luggage charge." February couldn't help but roll her eyes as she turned the PADD toward Le Marc. She expected shock at the price, but the French woman didn't even flinch.

"Done. Can you contact your friend and and arrange a meeting point for he and I on Betazed?"

"I wouldn't call him a friend, but sure, I can do that no problem." Bru bit her lip as she continued twirling her hair until she knotted it. "Ow." She complained to herself, as she set about untwisting the tangle she'd created. "This guy's father knew Deveral, and...well it's a long story. Short version, his family owes me. Big time. So..." February considered this a moment and came to a realization. "Hey, that reminds me. Deveral. I've still got scads of money lying around in all these accounts all over the place. I think one of those places is Betazed. I could do some checking, I'd love to contribute to this effort if you're seriously going to do this."

"Oh, I am deadly serious." Fleur assured her. "But it is not your money that I want, February. Your friendship has always been a gift to me, as has Reece's. If I have not properly conveyed that to you in the past, I..." Fleur blinked back tears. "Then it was wrong of me, and I apologize."

"You put up with Reece storming into your kitchen at all hours to get me a sugar cookie fix," February smiled gently, reaching across the table and grasping Fleur's slight, small fingers. "We know how you feel. We feel the same way. I just wish,"

February wondered if she should say what she was thinking, but as she wasn't sure when she'd see Le Marc again, she figured now was the time to say everything she had to say and not hold back. "Are you sure Bajor is the place to go, Fleur, if you're trying to-"

"Forget him?" Fleur interrupted, tears spilling down her face. "I am not trying to forget him, February. I could not, if I tried. Impossible." She gracefully slipped her fingertips across her cheeks and removed all traces of the moisture there. "I believe that the very best thing for me right now is to put myself into the service of others."

"You do serve others on this ship already, you know," Bru was worried about the dangers that Fleur would face if she went where she intended to go.

"Different thing. No one here is truly wanting, February. You know that. We live in luxury, eh? So many are still suffering, and I cannot sit here, feel sorry for myself, and contribute nothing to try to alleviate their misery. If I do that, then I truly am wasting my life."

"I have to admire your spirit," Bru's eyes conveyed her sadness at the thought of the suffering of the people of Bajor. "I've had long talks with him, you know, about what happened there. He communicates regularly with people nearby, and they report that the Plains are still devastated. It's been more than a year since the storm, but the government has largely turned their backs on the people. They were poor before the storm came to begin with, how can they be expected to rebuild without resources?"

"It is easy to dismiss the poor because they often have no voice." Fleur spoke through clenched jaws as she stared off into the distance. "I am loud. I will cry out for them, until someone must listen." She rose from the table and nodded toward Grace. "I cannot thank you enough for your assistance in this. I will never forget."

"Don't mention it. As soon as you get settled, if you can get a message to me with an address for deliveries, I'll crochet up some blankets for the children," February stood as well, pushing her chair back up against the table.

She took her cup and placed it back into the replicator, and stared at Fleur again. "I really wish though that you'd take some of Deveral's money. What the hell am I ever going to do with it all? He never wanted for anything in his life, except meaning. Maybe if you can do something good with some of what he made of his life, then he will rest in peace at last."

Fleur considered her words, and found her resistance to the generous offer was rapidly fading.

She had money of her own put away, won over the years by competing in various baking competitions around the quadrant and then left sitting in interest bearing saving accounts. She'd just ignored it, leaving it alone until she could figure out what she wanted to do with it that would matter.

Her large inheritance sat, also, untouched.

That was blood money in her eyes, and so she wanted no part of it other than to see that somehow, it might do some good, for someone else.

"As soon as we reach orbit, all it'll take is two subspace messages for me to find the accounts and transfer the funds into your name." February continued. "I'm insisting, Fleur. Please, let me do this. Not just for you, but for Jariel. That place means so much to him, and he means so much to me."

Fleur crossed the space between her and the other woman quickly and threw small arms up and over February's shoulders. The very tall Trill leaned down to embrace the pixie-sized Terran. "Thank you, Bru. So much. For everything."

February's own eyes pooled with tears as she hugged Fleur gently in return. "Find peace, Fleur. Please. You deserve it. You have such a good heart, I just wish that you could have everything you've ever wanted and then some."

Fleur stepped back, and sniffling softly, she nodded. "I'm writing some letters, for those I cannot bear to tell I am leaving before I go," she explained. She needed to say no more.

"I'll be sure that they get to their recipients. Don't worry."

"Again, I thank you. You truly are my friend, February Grace."

"Don't you forget it." She stepped out of the doorway from the dining hall and into the corridor, and was halfway to the lift before she turned back. Suddenly she was troubled by the fact that this did not feel like a temporary separation.

She poked her head into the room once more. "Why does this feel like goodbye?"

"Because," Fleur answered honestly, still softly weeping. "It may be."

Bru looked down at her boots and nodded, before finally leaving Fleur to finish her letters and prepare for her departure.

*****

The moment that the Alchemy was within transporter range of Betazed, Le Marc was ready to go.

"Fleur, wait!" February ran into the transporter room and slid on slick deck plates toward the dais. "I have something for you!" The out of breath Trill held a duffel in her hands, which she thrust out toward Le Marc.

"It's only one blanket, but find the child you think belongs to it and pass it along, will you please? Also, there are some crochet hooks and skeins of yarn in there. I put a little instruction book too, in French. So you can learn yourself, if you want to. Might help pass the time at night, when you sit by the fire and there's nothing else to do."

Fleur jumped down from the transporter pad and hugged her friend again. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing but a very soft thank you in her native language.

"You're welcome. Just promise you'll spend some of that downtime writing, even if you have to do it the old fashioned way."

"I give you my word."

"There's something else in there too. A credit pass, with all the information on the half million bars of latinum that Deveral had just laying around on Betazed, doing nothing. Please, take them and help the people."

Once again, Fleur couldn't prevent tears from falling. "Thank you, thank you."

Knowing her time was short if she was to meet her transport to begin her journey, Fleur stepped away from Bru and resumed her position on the transporter. She nodded to the operator once. "If you please, Sir."

"We're sure going to miss you while you're gone, Fleur," Crewman Andrew Parrish sighed wistfully, thinking about all the food she wouldn't be cooking, and he wouldn't be eating, during her absence.

"I will think of you all, every single day." Fleur promised. "Be well, Andy. Please, energize."

Just as Parrish slid his hands over the surface of the controls and Fleur began to dematerialize, a voice was heard in the doorway.

The man it belonged to had only just heard the rumor that she was leaving.

"Wait!" Jariel called, not certain what he was going to say to her if she did wait, but still needing to say something.

Fleur tilted her head toward him, and he watched her lips move, clearly speaking four soundless words to him.

Then she was gone.

"I'm sorry, Vedek Jariel. The cycle was already locked in, if I'd aborted at that point, she could've been hurt."

Jariel nodded his silent understanding. He hadn't even noticed that February Grace was standing in the corner of the room, with an astonished look upon her face.

February had been sworn to secrecy that Fleur was headed to try to help in the rebuilding effort for the Takesian Plains Villages of Bajor, so she said nothing specific as Jariel softly asked if she knew where Fleur had gone.

"She just needs some time to herself." Bru offered. "She'll write to you when she gets where she's going. I'm sure of it."

What little color remained in Jariel's face drained away. "I didn't get to say goodbye."

"She'll be back in a couple of months after she's burned through her accumulated shore leave," February reassured him brightly, trying to lighten the mood. She stepped up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, giving him a gentle little push back out into the corridor.

There was no reason for him to stand there, staring at the empty transporter any longer.

"Before you know it, she'll be back at the Afterthought, serving your soup and fussing over your tea."

"No," Jariel whispered sadly. Knowingly. "She won't."

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MLLE. Fleur Le Marc
On a personal mission
to help rebuild Bajor

NRPG: May we never forget that people are still suffering in the Gulf three years post-Katrina.

Whatever you can do to help, help.~ZL