For All The Right Reasons Pt. XI

[Veloras Itana 0]

For All The Right Reasons

Pt. XI

"Ghosts In The Web"

 

"Nothing. We got nothing.He won't say a word." Two security officers exited the interrogation cells on the isolation ward of the Jerrada Holding Facility. The place where political prisoners and war crimes suspects were being held.

 

The first man was a member of the Bajoran Militia, Itana recognized the uniform. The other had a strange face. She found it a momentary curiosity that an offworlder was involved in the investigation of the Kendra Valley Massacre. It was unusual to say the least to involve a non-Bajoran in something so intensely personal to the Bajoran people. Her thoughts soon returned to her father as she sat on a hard, unfriendly bench with Bariel outside the cell. The strange looking "man" stopped and exchanged greetings with Bariel before turning to her with a stern implacable and emotionless look.

 

"I have a few questions I'd like to ask the girl, if the Vedek will allow it."

 

"Not now Odo." Bariel replied flatly. "She has been through more than enough for now. If you like, contact me at the Dakeen monastery in a few days. You may ask your questions then. Veloras Ranik is not going anywhere and, his daughter needs time to rest."

 

The other man nodded curtly and returned to his companion. Itana still found his presence both strange and unsettling as they disappeared from sight and a third security officer emerged from the cell. "You can go in now." He said with a slight hint of disgust in his voice. Bariel nodded, helping Itana to her feet. It hurt her to walk. In fact, it hurt her to breathe and she was grateful for Bariel's help though she was determined to appear not to need it.

 

"Who was that?" Itana whispered as the door to the cell opened. "Was he in some kind of accident?"

 

Bariel smiled softly and shook his head. "The Prophets provide for all life to be different, Itana." He nearly chuckled. "Odo is very different. He is the head of security on Terok Nor err...Deep Space Nine and, he is a very personable fellow once you get to know him."

 

"I'll take your word for it." She she replied quietly. "He's one of the people trying to condemn my father. So, I'd just as soon never see him again."

 

"No, he isn't, Itana. He is quite possibly the one person who can help clear your father. Objectivity over this crime is in short supply on Bajor. Odo is not only objective but, honest to a fault. His only interest in this is justice. Both for your father and for Bajor. Vengeance isn't in him."

 

"Itana! Thank the Prophets." She looked across the cell, hearing her father's voice. He looked so tired and small. It tore at her to see him so broken and defeated. As if he had given up. There were no visible markings but, she was certain he'd been mistreated. There was no other excuse for the pain in his eyes. She ran across the room, all but diving into his waiting arms.

 

As they hugged the serene smile returned to Bariel's face. He was both gratified and relieved to see that, at least for now, Itana did not believe the misconceptions and hasty judgments about why Ranik had gone to the Kendra Valley that day. Bariel himself still carried a profound sense of guilt and loss for involving Ranik and his family in this intrigue. If there had been time, or another way he would not have done it. Now was not the time to second guess past decisions though. If he were to help clear the man, his own guilt over the situation would have to wait.

 

"We don't have much time, Ranik." Bariel began, taking a seat at the far end of the table. "Are you being treated well?"

 

"As well as can be expected given the crime I am charged with Vedek Bariel. I am not worried about myself and, I don't want you to be. Itana is what matters now." Ranik ran his hand gently down his daughter's swollen cheek. "What in the name of the Prophets happened to you?"

 

"It doesn't matter Daddy." Itana whispered still feeling the pangs of shame over her attack. "Vedek Bariel has helped me a great deal. I am all right."

 

"She, unfortunately, is suffering over your arrest much in the same way you are, Ranik." Bariel interjected. "I don't see that she will be safe here as long as this matter remains unresolved. I would like your permission to take her back to Bajor. To the monastery where she will be safe and well cared for."

 

"Absolutely Sir." Ranik replied with visible relief. He saw it coming and raised a hand to stop Itana's imminent objection. "I trust you with my only remaining child as I trust you with my life. Please, watch over her and keep her safe. She's all I have."

 

"No!" Itana shouted defiantly. "I will not leave you!" The little girl inside her that still needed her father erupted in a loud, tear filled cry. "This is wrong. It is all wrong. You didn't do what they say you did. I know it. You couldn't have. I was there."

 

Ranik pulled her into a tight embrace which made her wince and recoil in pain. "I'm sorry Itana. I am so sorry." Ranik's eyes filled with tears as he watched his daughter twist with the pain in her sides.

 

"Listen to me child." Bariel felt his own heart break as he watched the exchange between them. "Your father needs your strength now. He needs to know that you are safe from the harm you suffered earlier today. You will do him no good here, alone, and vulnerable to the same sort of attack."

 

Ranik nodded with emphatic agreement as Itana's pain subsided and the tension in her body relaxed. She laid her head on his shoulder crying quietly unable to come up with an argument that would allow her to remain close to the only family she had left. "I don't want to go." Was all she could manage to say before the fitful sobbing returned and she once again buried her face in her father's neck.

 

"I know you don't and, I don't want you to go. But, it is the only way that I will be certain you are safe. You have already suffered enough as a result of my actions. I do not wish you to suffer any more." Ranik looked away toward the barred windows of the cell, unable to meet her eyes any longer.

 

"Your actions?" Itana asked in a muted, half-choked whisper. She turned to Bariel confused and hurt, knowing that they were right. The only place for her now was on Bajor. Not for the reasons they thought however but, because it was where the Kendra Valley was and, where the answers that she needed lie.

 

Bariel layed a hand on her shoulder and helped her to her feet with his other hand. "You and I have a lot of time together ahead, Itana and, a lot of time to answer the questions I see in your eyes. Now isn't the time for those answers. Please, allow me to speak privately with your father for a moment."

 

Though it was possibly the most difficult thing she had done in her life, she relinquished her grip on her father's neck, nodding to Bariel. Sobbing audibly, she crossed the room and stood by the door, straining to hear what they whispered about once she was out of earshot. She could not make out much but what she heard was enough for a starting point to her own investigation into why her life had once again been destroyed, inadvertently, by Cardassian actions and, maybe the actions of her own father. The tears began to dry as the icy cold stillness in her heart returned. She was sure of nothing except for the fact that both her father and Vedek Bariel knew more than either of them were willing to admit, to her and to the people of Bajor. She WOULD know what that was if it were the last thing she ever did.

 

*****************************

 

Itana felt the sting of Kai Opaka's death as sharply the day she reentered the Dakeen Monastery as she had the day she learned that it had been Opaka herself who had comforted her that day in the arboretum. She stood, looking at the portrait in the hallway for the longest time. She had heard that the Kai had chosen to stay with the Prophets and, as she considered what she faced, alone in the sincere desire to clear her father's name, she wished she could choose the same.

 

"She was a remarkable woman." Bariel came up behind her, placing his hand gently on her shoulder. "She could take the pain of others and make it her own, easing their suffering in the process. A truly wonderful and benevolent gift." His voice sounded so sad as he finished the sentence. "She will not be forgotten." He added with a sense of resolve that Itana could not help but notice.

 

"Who is Prylar Bek?" Itana asked, determined to waste no more time.

 

Bariel seemed surprised and, she could swear, somewhat annoyed by the question. "Prylar Bek WAS the liaison between the Cardassian Command on Terok Nor and the Vedek Assembly. Why do you ask?"

 

Itana considered her response carefully for a moment and then turned to look at Bariel squarely. "I heard some of what you and my father spoke about yesterday sir. I NEED to know. Why do they think my father betrayed Bajor? Why do they blame him for those people dying? For Kai Opaka's son dying? I know you know the answer and, if you do, I'm wondering why you won't help him? They would listen to you. So either you haven't said anything or there is something else I need to know." She spoke the words in one long rambling sentence, in one breath, hoping to get it all out before she lost her nerve.

 

"I would be curious to hear the answer to that question as well Bariel." A woman's voice came from the alcove beyond the pillars in the palatial hallway.

 

"Wynn." Bariel smiled and, for a moment it honestly seemed to Itana as if he were trying to shield her from the woman. That soon passed and he stepped aside. "This is Veloras Itana. She's my guest here until this unseemly business is behind them and she can return home with her father."

 

"Is that so." The woman smiled but, Itana felt it in no way genuine. "Please, don't allow me to interrupt. I had heard of your arrival from Jerrado and merely wished to convey my joy at your safe return Bariel." Itana didn't like this woman, she had no idea why but, there was something there. Something she couldn't put her finger on. "Come here child." Wynn smiled again.

 

Itana stepped forward, lowering her eyes as the woman pinched entirely too roughly on her ear. "Yes ma'am." She whispered without looking up.

 

"Welcome to our monastery my dear. I hope the two of us will have time to spend together during your visit. Your pagh is strong. So rare in young people these days." She smiled again with feigned serenity. Itana really felt uncomfortable around her without knowing why. She smiled too much. She was relieved when, after some rather cat-like banter with Bariel over matters of religion, the woman withdrew without pushing for an answer to Itana's question.

 

Bariel looked at Itana with concern. "Come, we'll get you settled and fed. Then we can discuss your questions." He paused a moment. "Somewhere a bit more private." He lead Itana down the great hallway toward her new living quarters. After that they shared an eerily silent meal that Itana hardly touched and headed out into the gardens where she had first met Opaka.

 

...To Be Continued

 

It’s easier to run

Replacing this pain with something more

It’s so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

Something has been taken

from deep inside of me

The secret I’ve kept locked away

no one can ever see

Wounds so deep they never show

they never go away

Like moving pictures in my head

for years and years they’ve played

~Linkin Park