80824.15
Concurrent with The Return
-=Takesian Plains;
At the location of what used to be the village of Iidian; Bajor=-
"Absolutely not." The elderly Bajoran woman looked her nose down, literally, at the Terran female standing before her.
"I don't know what you think this is, Miss, but we are running neither a religious retreat nor a spa here. We are struggling, every day, just to survive. We do not have enough provisions for even the children, let alone the rest of the people who were born here and who will likely die here. You must leave immediately.'
Fleur bit her lip, patiently waiting for the gray-haired Prylar to finish her monologue.
It was apparent that the woman was tired, frustrated, and hurting, While Fleur did not take her words personally, she knew very well that the woman was making a snap decision before she had even heard what Fleur could offer her yet.
"Madame, if I could possibly speak to your presiding Vedek," She tried, when the woman stopped at last to take a breath.
The request elicited a bitter laugh from the Prylar.
"Presiding Vedek? Are you serious? We have not had a Vedek present in the Takesian Plains since the Vedek Jariel left, right after the storms."
The sound of his name, tossed into the conversation so casually and unexpectedly, took Fleur by surprise and rendered her momentarily mute.
She shook off the associated emotions as best she could, and pressed on. "I believe you have misunderstood my intentions, Madame. I have not come to vacation here. I have come to help you."
Again, a short burst of incredulous laughter was the response she received. "You? You are can't weigh more than forty kilograms. You're a child. You can do nothing here but give us another mouth to feed. That is something we cannot afford."
"Judge me by my size, do you?" Fleur asked softly. Patiently. "What if I told you that this forty kilogram woman could cook enough soup to feed hundreds of people in a matter of hours with but one stove?"
The very idea gave Prylar Delle pause. She had been trying for a long time to organize food distribution in a way that would provide for more of those in her charge, but had run into dead ends with every plan she had attempted.
The Bajoran Government, still in the honeymoon phase of its union with the UFP, had been reluctant to press the Federation President to follow through on his promises of aid, made right after the Plains had been devastated.
There had been great talk then, of rebuilding, of healing. Of the strength of the Bajoran spirit to endure in the face of most grievous tragedy. That much had been true, and many of the people had managed to survive the past year with their faith somehow intact.
But the dangers of such a life of need were creeping up on them, and as the months dragged on Delle had no idea how long they could possibly stumble along this way without mass starvation, plague, or other manner of secondary disaster taking what life remained in the decimated region of her world.
"Even if you can cook that way, girl, we have no ability to support such an undertaking. Power and sanitation services here have yet to be restored. Most of the people are living in tents, if they are lucky. The children," Delle stopped, and for the first time her wrinkled face betrayed her sorrow. "The children suffer most."
Fleur did something so unexpected now that the old woman hardly knew how to react.
She hugged her.
Delle bristled at first, and then gently returned the embrace, seeming to lean against Fleur for support as emotion rushed over her, through her, and then once again was overtaken by the strength of her mind.
"I appreciate your sympathy for our situation and I am sorry that you have traveled all this way for nothing. But unless you have brought enough supplies to build a village with you,"
"Actually," Fleur interrupted, raising her diminutive hand into the air, "I have."
Delle's mouth fell open.
"Where are they, then?"
"Obviously they are not with me presently..." Fleur reddened slightly under the heat of the woman's stare.
"But by morning, two ships carrying not only emergency medical supplies and food staples will arrive, but needed construction materials to try to reestablish sanitation services and the power to at least two or three buildings." Fleur explained. "Moreover, there are blankets, tents, and everything that I will need to open and run a proper kitchen."
Delle stared at her in disbelief. "How is this possible? Do you represent Earth's government? Are you here on behalf of the Federation?"
Fleur laughed softly. "I am here on behalf of people who care, and represent only myself. I am, as a good friend of mine likes to put it, "one crazy French chick." She smiled, thinking of Reece and Grace, and the generosity that they had shown in support of her personal mission here.
"There is also construction equipment that will facilitate demolition," Fleur added. She had seen the rotting, mold encrusted buildings lining the road on her walk in from the site where her hired pilot had dropped her off, refusing to bring her any nearer. He did not want to have to look at what the formerly beautiful province had become.
*How easy it is to turn away when you refuse to see what is right before you. * Fleur had thought.
"The ruins are a danger to all here. They must be destroyed, and then rebuilding can truly begin. There is only one thing," Fleur bit her lip- here was the catch.
"I have not brought an army of workers with me, and so it may be that the equipment will go unused, unless there are those here capable of operating it and of undertaking the repairs to the infrastructure."
Delle's eyes stared blankly into the distance. Fleur misread this as disappointment, but in reality it was a sense of sadness over the villages full of men who had sat idly by in despair the past year, with the strength and ability to help those around them but no supplies with which to do it. Engineers, Architects, Builders. Artisans.
So many skilled and talented people whose spirit had been so destroyed by not the storm itself, but the overwhelming lack of a response from any able to aid them, that they had simply given up.
"We have..." Delle began slowly, "many capable of such work. If you are telling me the truth," She tried to judge the girl's intentions, and suddenly she reached out and clamped her hand onto Fleur's ear tightly.
She expected the Human to jump backward or to otherwise protest, but Fleur did neither. She lowered her eyes humbly and allowed Delle to take stock of her soul.
"Your Pagh is strong, Miss..."
"Le Marc. Fleur. Le Marc," She had told the woman her name at the outset, but Delle had been so annoyed by the intrusion that she had not taken note of it.
"Miss Fleur You..." She paused, looking at Fleur in surprise. "You have knowledge of the Prophets."
*Lady, you have no idea, * Fleur thought.
"I have studied the teachings of the Prophets for some time." Fleur admitted openly.
"Who has taught you?"
"A friend," Fleur was not so willing to be open about how she had come to make the journey here. Not yet. "A dear friend."
Delle nodded. "Must be a dear friend, if you are so willing to sacrifice whatever life you had before you came here to live in these conditions with us."
One final possibility troubled Delle, and she felt that she had to voice it before she put any trust in this person.
"You are not running from the law, are you? If you are wanted for some crime..." Every so often, a con artist with promises of help would show up at the camps, and end up breaking the hearts of those in dire need of real assistance.
Fleur laughed riotously. "No, no no, Madame, I assure you," She shook her head. "The greatest crime I have committed lately is missing evening prayers."
"Hm." Delle folded her arms, still unwilling to trust what she was hearing. It sounded too good to be true. "Tell you what, Miss Fleur. If what you say is true, and you have got ships coming tomorrow with supplies, then I will welcome you to our family of survivors here with open arms and I will do all that I can to see that you get the workers that you need."
Fleur was satisfied. She understood why the woman had to be cautious.
"That is completely reasonable. In the mean time, as a show of good faith," Fleur gave the duffel she was carrying to the Prylar. "This is my entire supply of rations. Energy bars and water packets. Please, distribute them to the children."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"But, what will you eat?" Delle asked. "I have no other food to offer you,"
"I understand that. If you are too busy to distribute the food, I will be happy to do it for you." Fleur offered. "I have taken up so much of your time already."
"No." Delle objected immediately. She had no intention of letting a stranger, even one who seemed as harmless in stature as this woman, near the children until she had proven herself. "I will do it."
She took the bag, leaving Fleur in the tent that served as the 'command center' of the community.
She paused a moment, looking into the bag. There was enough for a simple meal here for at least twenty children. "Thank you."
Fleur sighed, folding her arms. "I only wish I could do more," she whispered, though the Prylar was already gone.
Fleur Le Marc
Civilian Volunteer
Currently on Bajor