[G-QTRS] JP by Lt. DeVeau and PNPC Saavok: From little things, big things grow. Part 2

[Amanda Nordstrom]

((DeVeau’s Quarters, USS Garuda))


::That done, the stick was set aside and the Clonex container closed.
After she placed the container back into the larger tub, she opened the
smaller and reached for a small scoop already inside. With it, she
filled it with some dirt, then poured it in the small yellow and
lavender pot until it was mostly full. She offered the scoop to Saavok
so he could do the same.::


::Reaching into the container, Saavok drew out a scoop of the potting
mix and regarded it with interest. Tipping it into the pot, he then
picked a few remaining grains off the scoop and held his fingers up for
inspection. Where a Human might have sniffed the soil, the child stuck
his fingers in his mouth. Alora’s mouth quirked first to one side, then
to the other.::


DeVeau: Is it tasty?


::Saavok gave Alora a patient look.::


Saavok: I am assessing the soil quality. My grandfather taught me the
traditional techniques whilst we were on Vulcan. This has a very high
level of organic matter, high nutrients but low inorganic matter content.


DeVeau: It’s not really meant to be consumed by humans...or Vulcans.


::That was the flowers’ jobs.::


Saavok: I will not poison myself.


::Except that this wasn’t Vulcan soil and his father had warned him that
whilst their people had an advanced ability to process simple poisons
and could eat anything on Vulcan with impunity, complex compounds from
other worlds could still be dangerous.::


Saavok: At least, I don’t think so. ::He paused, grey gaze unfocused as
he queried his body systems, utilising that active and extensive control
that Vulcans learned.:: I am demonstrating no ill effects. ::He confirmed.::


DeVeau: Well, honestly, there’s nothing in here that you wouldn’t find
in nature and none of that is particularly poisonous. I wouldn’t go make
a meal out of it though - might make your tummy hurt.


::Alora managed a grin, then turned back to her pot. Now that it was
filled, Alora got her hands dirty. Well, a finger. Using her pointer,
she created a little well in the middle of the loose dirt.::

DeVeau: This, ::She stated as she picked up the container marked ‘MF’.::
is Mycorrhizal Fungi. It helps the roots grow bigger, stronger and
absorb more nutrients.


Saavok: It is a symbiotic fungus? ::He sought to confirm.::


DeVeau: Exactly.


::She tapped the container so just a little fell into the hole, the
passed it to the child. That done, she took up her left, then gently
swept surrounding dirt about it until the hole was covered and the leaf
secured.::

DeVeau: Make sure not to press the soil down hard - violets like their
soil loose.


Saavok: I will exert due care.


::Copying Alora’s movements, he placed his treated leaf carefully into
the little depression and sculpted the soil into the hole and around the
leaf stem, until it was able to stand on it’s own.::


Saavok: What do we do with them now?


DeVeau: Now, we put them on a shelf under one of the lights and wait. In
a few weeks, we should see plantlets popping up.


::The little Vulcan carried his pot to the shelf and put it next to
Alora’s. It was interesting to think that this simple treatment alone
would produce a new plant. Fascinating.::

DeVeau: Do you want to help me put leaves from the other one into pots?


Saavok: Affirmative.


::Alora set aside the two pots and returned the mother plant to the box
in which it had been brought. As she selected a second mature plant, she
cast a sidelong glance at the young Vulcan.::

DeVeau: So...what are your thoughts on returning to the Garuda?


Saavok: I consider it preferable. ::He glanced over at Alora as he
picked up the scissors.:: Counsellor Moonsong and Mrs Gupta asked me
that too.


::Everyone seemed to want to know what he thought about being back. It
was nice that they were interested, if a bit odd to someone accustomed
to Vulcan acceptance of things that are as they should be.::


DeVeau: Oh. Great minds think alike?


::She supposed it was a standard question to ask someone after they had
moved away and then suddenly been posted back to the place from whence
they had originally moved. While the two Vulcans had been gone, Alora
had missed them. Now that they were back, well, in some ways, it was
like a piece of a puzzle had been missing and suddenly been found.::


Saavok: Do you find your posting aboard the Garudaagreeable? ::He asked
in turn, picking up the scissors.::


DeVeau: Yes.


::Even after everything that had happened, Alora wasn’t about to leave
Starfleet. Despite the trials, the tribulations, and the trauma, there
was still more good about it than bad. She just wished she could get
certain things out of her brain. If only it were that easy.::


DeVeau: I told your dad I missed him, but I have to admit, I missed you
too.


::’Missed’. Saavok had to think for a moment. It was an emotive
expression. But he ‘missed’ Misha; he would have found it preferable if
the other child were still aboard the Garuda. So Alora would have found
it preferable if they had remained. So would he. Could he say then that
he ‘missed’ the Garuda? He suspected that his mother particularly would
disapprove of the expression, but she wasn’t here. Alora was here, and
she was fun.::

Saavok: I missed you too. ::He said at last, with none of the usual
accompanying vocal tones. A statement of fact.:: I missed everyone here.

::Alora glanced at the child - for child he was, but even so, he was
also Vulcan. Saveron would have never made such a statement that had an
indication of emotion attached to it - at least, not knowingly. As they
continued their work on the leaves, she couldn’t help but smile.::


DeVeau: We should hang out more, even if your dad isn’t available. We
could do stuff together, you and I.


::That sounded far more interesting that his homework. He was trusted to
make his own way to school and back to their quarters, but Saavok
couldn’t wander the ship unsupervised and when his father was busy he
ended up stuck in their quarters a fair bit. Spending time with Alora
would be much more interesting. She was interesting, one of the few
aliens that he knew quite well.::


Saavok: I would not object to that. ::He said, the look from big, grey
eyes silently begging.:: What sort of ‘stuff’ could we do?


::Small fingers carefully packed soil around another prepared leaf. He
hoped that the little plants would grow.::


Deveau: I could teach you some Origami.


Saavok: That sounds… interesting. ::He hazarded.:: What is it?


DeVeau: It’s the art of paper folding.


::While she had gone to school in Japan, it had been included in school
as sort of an aside. The art was preserved through older generations
teaching younger ones and included in the educational program when the
danger of its extinction was imminent. That had happened long before her
time, but it had been kept in curriculum of all the schools since then. ::


DeVeau: Multiple cultures have something of that sort, but it’s long
been associated with Japan and a big part of their culture.


Saavok: You spent considerable time in Japan, didn’t you?


::She seemed to speak of it with an odd tone that some aliens used when
they were separated from something they found agreeable.::


DeVeau: It’s a beautiful country. I know I took you on a tour of Atlanta
and one part of Japan, but we should visit more as there is so much more
to it than what you saw.


Saavok: I would not object to that. ::Anything new was interesting.::
What do you fold the paper into?


DeVeau: All sorts of things. The crane is extremely popular because it’s
considered lucky. There are frogs and roses and horses and cats and dogs
and fish...I could go on and on.

::There were so many designs that Alora highly doubted anyone could ever
learn all of them. As it was, she knew quite a few, but her knowledge
was but a fraction of her friends in Japan.::


Saavok: Animal and plant simulcrums. ::He paraphrased, thinking about
it.:: An art form. ::Vulcan cultures had their own forms of art.:: I
would be interested to try it.


DeVeau: I would be glad to show you.


::As they finished potting the leaves, Alora began to clean. Although
she’d had a bad experience that involved plants, she also knew the
plants themselves hadn’t been sentient. Rather, like her, they’d been
taken over and forced to do things.::

DeVeau: There now. They’ll grow nicely. Thank you.


::’Thank you’. That was one of those alien expressions, acknowledging
one’s choice to do something positive, something logical, because in
their cultures there was always the possibility of an individual
choosing the illogical. After a year on Vulcan he was having to remember
these things. Fortunately there was a scripted response.::


Saavok: You are welcome. ::He put the now clean tools back into the
box.:: Thank you for teaching me.


DeVeau: Anytime, sweetie. Any time.


*********

Saavok

Vulcan Child

USS Garuda


&


Lt. Alora DeVeau

Chief of Science

USS Garuda