Part 9 (1/2)

Even if I did reach her, Sisko thought, I don't know if I could find the words to explain to her all that's happened. I don't know if I could find the words to explain to her all that's happened. Except that he Except that he did did know the right words. He just didn't know if he could say them aloud to another person. know the right words. He just didn't know if he could say them aloud to another person.

At the base of the rear steps, Sisko followed a paved path out toward the gardens. He had until almost midnight before his scheduled departure from Deep s.p.a.ce 9 aboard U.S.S. Mjolnir U.S.S. Mjolnir, a Norway Norway-cla.s.s vessel that would deliver him to Robinson. Robinson. That left him several hours until he needed to take a transport from Bajor to the station, where he would still have time to stop at the infirmary and see Elias. That late at night, he hoped he would be able to make it on and off DS9, and in and out of the infirmary, without encountering anybody he knew. That left him several hours until he needed to take a transport from Bajor to the station, where he would still have time to stop at the infirmary and see Elias. That late at night, he hoped he would be able to make it on and off DS9, and in and out of the infirmary, without encountering anybody he knew.

With my luck these days, Quark will be camped out at the airlock. Thinking of the old Ferengi barkeep-the Ferengi Thinking of the old Ferengi barkeep-the Ferengi amba.s.sador amba.s.sador, Sisko corrected himself-actually brought a chuckle to his lips. He latched onto the positive emotion and let it put some distance between him and his experience a few minutes earlier, inside the temple.

Sisko strolled along the path as it weaved through colorful, variegated flowerbeds, trying to let his surroundings bolster his mood further in his last few hours on Bajor. At the leading edge of the arboretum that filled the back third of the monastery grounds, pavement gave way to dirt. Sisko continued on, heading for his favorite spot on the s.h.i.+kina grounds.

In just a few minutes, he came upon the brook that flowed through the arboretum. He walked along beside it, traveling upstream, until he saw in the distance the burst of pink blooms that marked the location of the undersized waterfall. It surprised him to see the vibrant nerak nerak blossoms flowering so late in the season. He decided that, despite everything, he would accept it as a positive omen. blossoms flowering so late in the season. He decided that, despite everything, he would accept it as a positive omen.

When he arrived at the spot, Sis...o...b..nt and selected a rock from the ground, then tossed it into the small pool that fed the cascade of water. He watched the ripples spread out in concentric rings, and then, impulsively, irrationally, he made a wish. Let there be peace Let there be peace, he thought, for Kasidy and Rebecca, for Jake and Korena. for Kasidy and Rebecca, for Jake and Korena.

Lowering himself down, Sisko hung his legs over the stone wall that bordered the pool. His feet dangled half a meter above the water. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, taking in the fragrant scent of the neraks neraks.

For a while, he sat that way, listening to the flow of the brook across the little falls. He concentrated on the pink noise of the water and tried to blank his mind. He didn't hear anybody on the dirt path until the sc.r.a.pe of shoes reached him from just a couple of meters away.

Sisko turned and looked up, squinting into the late-afternoon sunlight. He made out a figure standing in the path, clad in the orange robe of the Bajoran clergy, and he initially a.s.sumed that Vedek Sorretta also had come out for a walk in the arboretum. But though Sisko could not see the person's face because of the placement of the sun behind it, he distinguished a much smaller frame. He lifted his hand to s.h.i.+eld his eyes. ”h.e.l.lo?” he said, though he still had no desire to speak with anybody.

”h.e.l.lo, Benjamin.”

He had not heard the voice for quite a while-probably not for more than a year-and it sounded softer, gentler, than he remembered, but he still recognized it at once. He clambered to his feet. ”Nerys,” he said. It startled him to hear the delight in his voice, simply because he hadn't felt that way for so long.

Kira stepped forward with her hands out, and he took them, then pulled her in and hugged her. When they parted, he held her at arm's length and studied her robe. ”Vedek Kira?” he asked. ”Is that even possible? From novice to prylar to ranjen to vedek in three years?” Kira?” he asked. ”Is that even possible? From novice to prylar to ranjen to vedek in three years?”

”I know,” Kira said. ”This-” She gestured down the length of her robe. ”-just happened ten days ago.”

”Well, congratulations,” Sisko said. He took a stride backward and regarded her. ”It seems to agree with you. You look . . .” He peered at her face, at the beatific expression she wore. ”You look at peace.”

”Thank you,” Kira said. ”I feel feel at peace. For most of my life, I didn't think I'd ever be able to say that.” at peace. For most of my life, I didn't think I'd ever be able to say that.”

”I'm very happy for you,” Sisko said. ”So what are you doing here? Are you a member of the Vedek a.s.sembly?”

”Oh, no,” Kira said. ”And I'm not sure I ever want to serve in that way. I respect the a.s.sembly, but engaging in politics and staying at peace don't necessarily go together.”

”No, I guess not,” Sisko agreed.

”I've got a meeting this evening with Vedek Garune,” Kira said. ”But I've got some time to take a walk, if you'd like.”

Sisko stood aside and motioned forward. Side by side, they started down the path. ”So then I shouldn't expect to hear the announcement of Kai Kai Kira anytime soon?” Sisko asked. Kira anytime soon?” Sisko asked.

Kira laughed, the same loud, hearty guffaw Sisko had heard back on DS9. For some reason, that pleased him.

”Putting aside my complete lack of qualifications and suitability for the position,” Kira said, ”I think we're very fortunate to have the kai we do right now.”

”You always did like Pralon, even back when she served as Bajor's minister of religious artifacts.”

”She's extremely bright, a woman of strong faith and conviction, but she also has a deep empathy for others,” Kira said. ”And she's not as . . . political . . . as some of her predecessors have been.”

”I know what you mean,” Sisko said, a.s.suming that she referred to the terribly misguided Winn Adami.

Ahead, the brook curved left, cutting from the right side of the path to the left beneath a footbridge. Their shoes thumped along the wooden structure as they crossed it. Sisko recalled walking there with Vedek Bareil, many years earlier.

”How have you managed to rise through the ranks so quickly?” he asked. ”I mean, it's not that I have any doubts about your abilities, but three years isn't the typical timeframe in which to enter the clergy and become a vedek.”

”Honestly,” Kira said, lowering her voice in mock-conspiratorial fas.h.i.+on, ”I think I've been credited with prior experience.”

”I don't understand. What prior experience?”

”Serving directly alongside the Emissary of the Prophets for seven years,” Kira explained. ”And being his friend for . . . what? Twelve years now?”

”Something like that,” Sisko said, then added dryly, ”although I'm not sure we were friends in the beginning.”

”No,” Kira admitted, ”maybe not at first.”

Sisko stopped in the path, and Kira did so too. ”As I recall,” he told her, ”you weren't in favor of a Bajoran s.p.a.ce station being run by Starfleet officers, including me.”

Kira shrugged good-naturedly. ”But I learned fast.”

Sisko nodded as she made precisely his point. ”You've taken quite a journey, Nerys-a journey I'm not sure too many people are capable of making, Bajoran or otherwise. I'm proud of you.”

The accolade seemed to embarra.s.s Kira, but she accepted it modestly, bowing her head in acknowledgment. Then she began walking again, and Sisko did so as well. ”Sometimes I find it difficult to believe myself,” Kira said. ”For so much of my life, all I knew was strife: hunger and subjugation and violence. It was a struggle just to survive, and so many didn't.”

”You are nothing if not a survivor, Nerys.”

”And that was important-it's still important-but there comes a time when you realize that there's a world of difference between surviving and living.”

Sisko couldn't tell if she'd spoken with a note of regret. ”You did what you had to do,” he said.

Kira nodded. ”And I suppose I'd do it all over again if I needed to, though probably not quite in the same way,” she said. ”My time on Deep s.p.a.ce Nine, and my time with you, and even my time commanding the station . . . all of that helped put a lot of things in the past and keep them there.” This time, after they had traipsed around a sharp bend in the path, Kira stopped walking and turned to face him. ”It helped me learn to cherish the present, and to accept the future as it comes.”

For an instant, Sisko thought that she might be trying to advise him about his own life, that she somehow might have gleaned the events of his own present, as well the immediate future he had planned for himself. But she can't know But she can't know, he realized, and then another thought occurred to him about what she had just said. ”In many ways, Nerys, your story is the story of Bajor.”

”I suppose you could say that,” Kira said. ”You know the old proverb: The Land and the People are One.”

”I do know it,” Sisko said. ”But I have to admit that I was concerned when you decided to leave Deep s.p.a.ce Nine and Starfleet. I was worried that you might be running away.”

”From everything that happened with the Ascendants.”

”Yes.”

”I understand why you were worried,” Kira said. ”Believe me, I spent quite a few sleepless nights worried about it myself. In the end, though, what all of that really did was open my mind to new perspectives.”

”I think what it did, Nerys, was to deepen your faith,” he said. ”Not in the Prophets, but in yourself.”

”You may be right,” she said.

Sisko noticed a tall, square totem a bit farther along the path. A wooden bench nestled beside it. ”Shall we sit?” he asked. They did.

”What about you, Benjamin?” Kira reached up and rubbed her hand across the top of his head. ”What's this?” Since departing Adarak, he hadn't shaven his pate, and so his hair had begun growing back. After less than a week, he knew that it more or less looked like a shadow falling across his skull.

”I guess I just needed to change things.”