All Things in Love and War

Posted on Thu Sep 17th, 2020 @ 7:26pm by Commander Adamya Ryon & Lieutenant Junior Grade Karis

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Quarters
Timeline: Time Between Missions
1825 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been a long day for sure. Ryon sat down with a hot tea that Karis had once recommended for him. He forgot the name, but he had set the replicator to pour it at the mention of hot tea number four. As he scoured over the PADD before him, he rubbed his eyes and gestured for the information to move toward the room's holograophic display. "Four Captains and some robots..." he trailed off as he began reading the report, unaware that he was not alone at home.

"Huh?" Karis said coming into the room. She wasn't sure if he'd been talking to her or to himself but she was highly amused by the subject matter. She set down a bag next to the table that promptly fell over. With an exasperated sigh she set it back up and came to see what he was looking at. "Did I hear you say four captains and some robots? Thinking of publishing the next great holonovel? Cause I would totally support you for that."

"Just work stuff on the fleet feed," Ryon added, rubbing his hands over his face. "Four Captains are about to face disciplinary actions over an incident with robots," he explained a bit. With a quick gesture, he turned off the holodisplay. He had promised Karis that he would not bring his work home with him. "I didn't think you were home yet, did you get off early?"

"Hmm, I like my idea better. Actually I took the afternoon off and went drawing on the holodeck." She approached the bag again and pulled out a large drawing pad, opening it to show him some of the scenic views she'd been practicing on. "I think I'm getting better, I'm learning to dirty the canvas anyway which is important." The scenes were of a valley from the top of a cliff on some alien world that Karis didn't even know the name of.

"You're getting really good at that," Ryon replied, looking a bit impressed at the PADD. "Have you actually been here, or was it a program on the holodeck?" he asked, trying to imagine where she go the inspiration for her landscape.

"Holodeck. Honestly I didn't pay that close of attention to where it was, I just asked the computer to show me some still scenes of nature and picked one. I liked the horizon and the colors," Karis shrugged. "It also allowed me some time to think . . . Ryon, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Ryon replied as he made room for her to sit with him on the couch. "You know we're always open with each other," he added, growing a little worried. Usually Karis was not this careful when she tried to talk to him. Whatever it is, it must have been important.

She didn't think that was strictly true. There were some subjects she just didn't breach with him, like what had happened during the occupation. But she thought that maybe, given time and the fact that they were living together and had gotten to know each other pretty well through the bond, it might perhaps be time to discuss some of it. Karis sat next to him, closely, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. "Well . . . . I kind of wanted to know what made you lose your faith in the prophets? Was it a single moment or many?"

It was not something the Ryon spoke about. He was not even sure that he admitted that fact to himself. His silence spoke more to his own internal battle than to thinking about how he wanted to reply. This was something that had led to countless family arguments, it was difficult living in a family full those who chose piety as their life’s work. “Did my sister put you up to asking that?” He asked, still having feelings about the last conversation he had with Neira not long ago.

He stood up, moving to the kitchen area that was just on the other side of the living room area. It was a sign of how uncomfortable he was at the moment.

Karis let out a breath, disappointed that he'd moved away. "No, I haven't spoken to her in a long time actually. But I'm a very curious person and I would love to learn about your culture and where you grew up. I didn't exactly have the most idyllic childhood either, not that I'm comparing them." She shrugged. "I just wondered if you'd tell me anything about it."

Leaning against the counter, Ryon leaned to feel the cold metal on his palms. Resting on his elbows, the man ran his hands over his face. These were memories that he tried his whole life to bury, but they were the ones that still kept him up at night. "I saw... things that no child should ever have to see. Bodies, torture, unspeakable things happening to our women for Cardassian comfort."

His voice was low, almost a whisper at first. "When I was just sixteen, I went on my first mission against Cardassians. The next one, it was up to me to set off the bomb that kept the Occupiers away from our cave. It was terrible. I faced death every moment, and saw it daily. I saw hope drain from my people and not once did the wormhole aliens leave the wormhole. Not once did the path of the Prophets light my way." Gazing to the viewport, Ryon watched the warp bubble outside and let his attention drift away momentarily.

"When the Federation came, hoped seemed to have returned," the man added. Shaking his head, he said bluntly, "We got some nice technology, but we couldn't stop fighting ourselves. Even then, when my people had the so-called Emissary of the Prophets leading Starfleet operations overhead, we tried to destroy ourselves. The Circle, the Dominion, and the Pah-Wraiths brought more suffering. I just couldn't see the Prophets as anything but wormhole aliens who cared little for temporal beings."

Karis got up, picked up a throw from the sofa and wrapped herself and the throw around Ryon. "I'm sorry, I know you hate talking about it." She also thought that maybe once in a while letting out those emotions would help even if she hated to feel those things from him. "Still, isn't it strange? I mean one person can react a certain way to a situation and completely lose faith and someone else can feel like they came out of it only holding on stronger," Karis said, thinking of his sister. "I never had any faith as a child. It wasn't how I was raised. My father was a realist, my mother too I suppose. When she died he fell apart and I took over everything. That was just life, doing what needed to be done because no one else would and I had Alaiyah to look out for."

"I've thought about it every day," Ryon replied, giving Karis' hand a gentle squeeze of gratitude. "I was raised in a monastery. Religion was my life growing up," he explained. Glancing to a small decorative sculpture representing the Orb of Prophecy and Change, the Bajoran added, "We saw things differently. My sister tended to the wounded and stayed at the monastery with my father. I went out with my mother on patrol. We both saw ugly. But, she got to see the good. People getting better, the sound of reunifications. I only saw destruction, our good feelings came from the realization that we have held off death for another day. Healing is more supernatural, killing is more internal. She saw our Prophets at work if you will while I relied on myself and those around me, what I could see." Shrugging, he guessed, "Maybe that's why we are so different?"

Looking to Karis, he realized that he had been mostly speaking about himself. "You never really told me the whole story. What did happen with you and your sister?" he asked, genuinely wanting to hear about their experiences.

"Well that could be, but also people can view the same event differently and you have to remember you have very different personalities. Like Alaiyah and I. We managed," Karis said answering his question. "Honestly my sister is better with people than I am. She's so outgoing so it's better that she stays with him."

"Oh, you're not outgoing?" Ryon managed a joke and smile, looking back toward Karis.

"I don't think imprinting on strange men counts," she smiled back. "Should have seen me several months before that, I could barely talk to people. Still not that great at small talk but I'm getting better."

Nodding, Ryon replied, "Maybe you are heading for a career in the center chair?" It came out like a joke, but it was command was something that he could see in her future. He just was not sure how much she would enjoy the big diplomatic affairs.

She shrugged. She really didn't see that happening but then again she never thought she'd be anything other than a Stellar cartographer and here she was running a science department. "Enough shop talk. Now tell me about your relationship with your sister," she pulled him back over to the sofa and draped the throw over both of them as if the temperature had dropped to winter levels in the course of their conversation.

"She's my sister, I love her and I'd do anything for her," Ryon replied as if it should be obvious. However, he knew that he could not fool Karis, she knew him more than he did himself. "We don't talk as much as we should and she spends more time trying to save my soul than she does running her monastery it feels like." He sort of meant the last part as a joke, but it was the source of many arguments between the two siblings.

Karis smiled. "Well that's part of love, worrying about the other person. Maybe we should invite her to the ship? Show her that you're okay? I'd like to meet her in person."

"I suppose a visit would be good," Ryon said as he breathed in a bit. He really would like to have seen his sister, but he dreaded the inevitable religion talk. "I don't think I've ever met your sister, now that we're talking about family."

"You would remember her. But I could invite her for a visit. She's just a bit . . . Much. She'll probably try flirting with you just to make you blush. Let's do your sister first, " Karis smiled.

Shaking his head, Ryon teased, "So that is where you get it from." Laughing, the Bajoran stated, "I'll get my sister on the holo-vid and give her an invitation. He leaned down and gave Karis a soft kiss on her forehead and pulled her close for a moment before heading off to complete his newest assignment.