Lt. Jg. Ryden Tarus Kel - Ancient and Noble Houses

[Ryden Kel]

((Ohmallera Memorial Park, Ohmallera District, Starbase 118))

Lyra and Ryden continued walking, Ryden’s steps automatically guiding
him along one of the quieter paths.

Voss: You know, I’m usually the one who gives advice, not the one who
gets it. I have five younger siblings. And parents who… spend a lot of
time not being parents. It’s both reassuring and strange to be on the
other side.

Kel: I get that. I’ve spent so much time being the steady one for my
brother that hearing advice still feels… foreign. Nice, but foreign.

Voss: ~So do you and your brother –~ ::realizing she slipped into
telepathy:: Ah, sorry. We can speak out loud, if you prefer.

Kel: No, it’s alright. You’re not imposing. I… don’t get to practice
that part of myself very often. ~If you want to speak like this, I’m
fine with it.~

Voss: ~Are you close with your brother?~

Ryden drew in a slow breath. His thoughts spilled more openly in the
telepathic space than they would have aloud—warmth, a touch of
protectiveness, complicated threads of loyalty and old frustration.

Kel: ~We are. Or… we try to be. He’s brilliant and stubborn and has
this way of making me feel like I’m both babysitting and learning from
him at the same time. It’s messy. But he’s family. My father… Toran
Olysaar. He wasn’t joined when I was a kid. Back then he was just
Toran Kel... civil engineer, brilliant, focused, very… very invested
in making sure his sons were exceptional at everything. When I was a
teenager he was selected for joining. Olysaar. It changed him...
expanded him, made him wiser in a lot of ways. But it also made the
expectations louder. He wanted me to aim higher, think bigger, push
harder. If I brought home a perfect score, he wanted to know how I’d
get the next one even higher. ::He felt the faint echo of old pressure
along his ribs, a familiar imprint rather than a wound.:: He meant
well. He always did. But growing up, I think I spent more time trying
to keep up with who he thought I could be than figuring out who I
actually was. I don’t think he realizes how overbearing he gets. And
I’m still… learning how to not carry that into everything I do.~

They passed one of the park’s memorial stones, its surface catching
the dim light. Petals drifted across their path.

Voss: ~Your father sounds like a… complex man.~

Kel: ~That’s one way to put it. He had very firm ideas about who I
should be. What parts of me were acceptable. He didn’t know what to do
with a son who wasn’t fully one thing or the other. And I spent a long
time trying to fit into the boxes he drew for me.~

Voss: ::with a grim laugh:: ~Oh I’m well acquainted with parental
expectations. The last thing my mother wanted was for me to be a
scientist. As a daughter of the Sixteenth House, we’re all supposed to
be performers or orators or something along those lines. She cried
when I told her I’d been accepted by the Academy.~

Kel: ~Then you and I have something in common. Parents who built a
future for us before we even had a chance to imagine it ourselves.
But… you chose your path anyway. That counts for something. More than
something, really.~

He glanced toward the besimara trees ahead, their blossoms swaying lightly.

Kel: And for what it’s worth… I’m glad you chose it. The station...
and the rest of us... are better for it.

They continued along the pathway, the memorial stones rising like pale
sentinels beyond the flowers. He reached out again, telepathically.

Kel: ~Earlier you said you’re the daughter of the Sixteenth House…~

Voss: ?

Kel: ~I mean... what is it actually like? Being part of a Betazoid
House. My mother’s line is distantly tied to one, but it’s so far
removed it’s more trivia than identity. I grew up on Trill. The
customs… I was never really part of that world.~

Voss: ?

Kel: What does it mean, to you?

Voss: ?


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Lieutenant JG Ryden Tarus Kel
Medical Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240109RK1