So`l Mackenzie
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"Your shoelaces are untied."
Posts: 45
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QaraH walked down the path, enjoying the smell of the plants and growing things. Her fingers itched to pluck the leaves of some of the plants that she knew, so she could dry them and add to her stocks of herbs, but she was unsure if she was allowed to do so.
"Hey QaraH." So'l called from the shade of a large oak on the side of the path. His voice lacked it's normal joyous tone, but was flat, exhausted. He was sprawled out underneath it, leaning back against the trunk in a hollow between two big roots. She turned and headed into the grass, heading for S'ol. She looked him over and arched a brow as she plopped down on the ground and after pulling her boots off, crossed her legs.
"What is wrong?"
"What makes you think something is wrong?" said So'l, still flat, tired. He didn't look at her, but kept staring out across the artifical valley.
"What makes you think that I am a fool?" she replied, letting a slight edge creep into her tone.
"Nothing in particular." replied So'l. His usual wit held none of it's usual tone of fun. Like it was on autopilot.
QaraH snorted and smacked him in the side of the head, her hand whipping out and snapping back in so quick a motion it was almost as if it had never happened. "If you did not want to talk about, then why call me over here?"
She leaned back on her elbows and looked upward at the tree they were reclining under.
"This...this is all beautiful, isn't it?" So'l asked. "It reminds me of the arboretum my sister worked at when we were kids." He gave no indication he had even noticed the blow, or her question.
QaraH frowned. "It is beautiful yes. It is amazing that they can do this on a starbase." She decided to let him talk and work his way around to what was bothering him. She had learned that S'ol was stubborn.
"She had this thing for plants." So'l continued, "I never understood it, but she loved them. One day she took me on a tour of the grounds, showed me all her favorate trees. I really didn't care about them, but she was so...enthusiastic."
His voice wavered twoards the end, and he stopped.
QaraH chuckled, "Like my brother and ... his horses. I wanted to be Klingon, and he wanted to raise horses. Whatever makes them happy I suppose. We choose our life and they choose thier life."
So'l didn't respond. QaraH leaned the rest of the way back and looked up through the leaves, waiting him out. Whatever it was he would either tell her or not, but she was enjoying this time in fresh air with the feel of earth around her. Several minutes passed in a silence broken only by the birds.
Finally So'l spoke again. "I've betrayed her."
QaraH turned her head to look at S'ol. "Who have you betrayed?"
"I- I promised her." So'l said. "I promised her."
QaraH stayed quiet, giving him time, waiting. His face was twisted, frozen. He was trying to hold something back. QaraH watched him. Letting him fight his internal battle. His eyes were watery.. a feeling she herself was familiar with. How many times had she herself fought tears?
So'l stood. "Look, I'm sorry for dumping this on you," he said, voice strained. He started to leave.
"S'ol.....!" QaraH did not move or raise her voice.
"QaraH, I can't." he said, looking at her for the first time. "I just can't." He turned away from her and jogged off.
QaraH watched him go. There would be time later, and later he would tell her what was wrong. She looked up at the 'sky' then and let her mind wander to her brother and what he might be doing now.
A JP by So'l Mackenzie and be'QaraH
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Pages: 1
In the Arboretum (Read 415 times)
