Commander Ava Munro - The Haunt of a Prayer
Ava Munro
(( Hermitage, Northern Plains, Rylor ))
Munro: Thank you, doctor, I haven't had a chance to come planetside yet and this is a wonderful introduction to Rylor :: sniffs :: And that smells delicious, is that fresh pastry? :: Ava points outside :: It's so nice out, should we have breakfast outside?
Ava walked across the small room to the kitchen area, it was as sparse as she first imagined but not without its technology, embedded into the wall was a replicator. The smell of the freshly baked bread wafted through the air and she doubted that that had been replicated - unless the doctor was a replicating genius.
Jaran: Pastries! I went a little overboard. I made groatcakes and three different types of droli, since I couldn't decide. Traditionally, these retreats are meant to be meat-free, so I apologise that I don't have any to offer you, as well. But yes, let's go outside. There's a bench that looks over the hills we can sit on.
Ava shook her head, she didn’t eat meat in any case. On her homeworld the consumption of animal ‘products’, even replicated, was considered unethical. No sentient creature could or should be considered a product to be consumed by others was the view of Ava and the people of Naura IV.
Munro: After you.
The doctor picked up a small bottle with a viscous substance to take along with the tray, stacked a couple plates on the tray as well, then walked to the back door.
Jaran: Would you mind replicating us a pot of coffee to share? It's the one thing I hadn't done yet.
Munro: Sure.
She hesitated slightly, the replicator was clearly a few decades old. Likelihood it was installed at the formation of this colony. After a quick command, the streaming hot coffee pot and several mugs materialised on a tray.
The two walked out the back door with their breakfast. The bench was at the top of a low hill a short walk away, and they had a view of a sea of turquoise grass once they were seated. She placed her own tray beside Jira’s removing the pot and placing it on the other and then removing the spare tray and placing it neatly beside her, ready to be returned to the replicator.
She accepted the offered plate from Jira.
Jaran: I figured you'd want this if you love syrup of squill on your groatcakes like I do.
Munro: My mother used to force squill down my throat when I had a cough :: small chuckle :: You’d probably like her, actually. She said it would help my immune system if I didn’t use a hypospray to cure every ailment.
She inhaled the Rylor air and allowed a moment to settle, letting the sun rest on her face with her eyes closed before opening them. She took in the rolling hills, endlessly flowing. She knew that somewhere they would end, a river or a road or a building would interrupt the flow but she liked to think that it wrapped itself around the whole world, like a beautiful comforting hug.
She took a bite of the groatcake, it tasted as wonderful as it looked. She was lost in her own thoughts when Jira finally spoke.
Jaran: I woke up this morning thinking about Callis. I wake up with it on my mind almost every day now. But today was the first time it wasn't all negative. I was thinking of our time under that rock, praying together. Have you thought at all about that since?
Ava took a pause of a few more seconds. There was a weight to the moment that she wanted to respect, and gather her thoughts. She kept her eyes fixed on those endless hills.
Munro: Something you might not know about me, is that I’m quite a private person. It’s part of my nature I think, I’m like my mother in that way. I really want to answer your question but to do so I need to tell you a bit of a story.
Jaran: Response
Munro: Like I said, I’m like my mother, we like to keep everything all locked up and kept close. My father was the opposite. He was so sure of himself and sometimes it was like he knew the secrets of the universe. I wanted to be just like him. Strong, confident, sure of myself :: breaths out :: Then he went to the war - Dominion. At the time we were learning about the gods of the Alpha Quadrant, and how religion shaped societies, even at times spreading across worlds and colonies. I prayed to all of them, every night he was gone I would say a prayer to as many as I could remember - even The Prophets - for my Dad to come back to us. I kept it a secret from my mother, she wouldn’t have understood. It was my private ritual for those years he was gone.
Jaran: Response
Ava turned to Jira, her face sincere and somber.
Munro: Yes, he did come back to us :: sad :: Changed. Something inside of him had been torn out of him. That part of him that I loved the most. It was gone. Something had crept into its place, a dark ugly thing. It was like he had died :: takes a breath :: I didn’t pray again after that, until Callis. I thought that the gods had taken that part of him as payment - that I was the reason he was changed. Then I left to go to Earth. I ran away from him and my guilt. So, yes, to answer your question, I think about our prayer often.
Jaran: Response
Tags/TBC
