Part 16 (2/2)
Put me down NOW!
He dropped her.
He hadn't intended to do it. But the imperative was so startling and so overwhelming that it caught him completely unaware. She fell at his feet and, quickly scrambling to hers, backed away from him.
”I heard you,” he said, ”in my head. That must mean I'm getting better at this. Right?”
”You couldn't have heard me in your head.”
”I know I-”
”You couldn't have!” she said with an infuriated stomp of her foot.
She turned away from him in an obvious attempt to compose herself. He made no move toward her, stayed as far from her as he could.
She was in pain. My G.o.d, she was in pain over him.
At that moment, he cleared his mind because instinctively, he didn't want to think or even feel anything that she might pick tip on and cause her more distress. Just like that, he was suddenly thinking about nothing at all. And he fell totally relaxed.
”Deanna-”
She said nothing. Her hands were pressed against each other, palm to palm, and she had slowed her breathing down. When she did turn back to face him, all the confusion was gone. Instead she was fit with inner calm.
”Your problem earlier,” she said, sounding very clinical, ”was that you were once again entertaining erotic thoughts about me. All that did was focus you on the needs of your body. You can't put yourself beyond those needs if you use that as your focal point. You should watch out for that, Lieutenant.”
”Really.” He took a step toward her. ”Well, you know what I think, Miss Troi. I think your body and mind aren't quite as synchronized as you like to think. I think your body wanted to fall into my arms, contrary to what your mind might think of me. And so your ever-so-sure feet deliberately betrayed you.”
”I subconsciously threw myself at you, is what you're saying?” She laughed lightly.
”It's possible, yes.”
Again she laughed. ”No, Lieutenant. It's not possible. For your information, a piece of bark broke off, and that's what caused me to slip. That's all. If you look around on the ground, I'm sure you'll find where it fell. Now, if you'll excuse me...”
She turned and walked off. He called after her, ”When is our next lesson?” But she didn't respond.
He spent the next twenty minutes searching every inch of the ground, trying to find the stray piece of bark.
But he never did.
CHAPTER 20.
Dinner that night in the Troi household was subdued. The only sound was a persistent and gentle chiming as Mr. Homn stood at the middle of the table repeatedly striking the small instrument that gave thanks to the G.o.ds of Betazed for the food being eaten.
Lwaxana kept glancing up at Deanna. Her daughter seemed preoccupied this evening, her gaze and thoughts focused entirely toward herself. When, out of habit, Lwaxana sent a gentle and subtle probe into her daughter's mind to find out what was troubling her, she was astounded to find that her mental inquiry was turned aside. She could have, of course, immediately pushed more deeply and with more force, but that would have been utterly out of line. Casual mind brus.h.i.+ng was one thing; shoving one's way in after meeting initial resistance was quite another thing entirely.
Deanna...?
There was no response, and with an annoyed air, Lwaxana resorted to the far more inconvenient, since it meant she had to disrupt her eating, verbal ”Deanna.”
Deanna looked up. ”Yes, Mother?”
”What is troubling you, Little One?”
Her daughter smiled gamely. ”Nothing, Mother.”
”Casual lies?” Lwaxana looked disapproving. ”First you thwart a mind brush, and then you resort to telling me that nothing is bothering you when something clearly is. I thought we were more open with each other than that, Deanna. Frankly... I'm a little hurt.”
”There's no reason to be hurt, Mother, just because I don't want to share every intimate detail of my life every moment.”
Lwaxana raised an eyebrow. ”Intimate?”
”Mother, I don't want to get into it.”
Lwaxana let a rather crude response float from her mind into Deanna's, and it got the expected reaction. Deanna flushed slightly and said, ”Mother, that was uncalled for.”
”Perhaps. But how accurate was it?”
”Mo-ther...”
”It's him, isn't it. That Starfleet officer, Striker.”
”Riker.”
”Him.” Lwaxana carefully arranged her napkin in front of her and turned to her manservant. ”Mr. Homn, I'll want to send a communiqu? to Starfleet.”
Deanna slapped the table impatiently and said, ”Don't you dare!”
She might just as easily have spit into Lwaxana's food and gotten the same response as she received. Slowly, with an air of complete and utter shock, Lwaxana turned and openly gaped at her child. ”'Don't you dare'?” she repeated incredulously. Deanna looked down, her mouth moving but no sound coming. ”You're telling me, ”continued Lwaxana, ”what I, the keeper of the Sacred Chalice of Riix, should and should not dare? May I ask you, young lady, who in the Great Fire you think you're talking to?”
”Mother, please, I'm sorry-”
”I will not be addressed in that... that cavalier, offhand manner. I am not one of your 'pals,' Deanna. I am not one of your casual acquaintances. I am certainly not one of your Starfleet friends.”
”He's not a friend! He's not even... Mother, I don't even like him!”
”Then what is he?” demanded Lwaxana. ”What is he to you?”
”A frustration. A big frustration, that's all. He's a... a case study in surface arrogance. He's... he's nothing. Nothing. Not on a personal level.”
”Need I remind you,” said Lwaxana stiffly, ”of your commitment to Wyatt?”
”I know about that, Mother. But frankly, I can't believe that you're really going to hold me to that... that agreement.”
”Little One, I'm not holding you to anything! This is tradition and custom we're talking about. I don't just fabricate things to inconvenience you and make your life more difficult. I simply teach you what they are and expect you to abide by them. And you, knowing your place in society and the responsibilities that place entails, are going to abide by them. Aren't you.” The last was not a question.
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