Values

[Vilanne 0]

Meritorious Achievement Award

 

Jaiysa's steps came to a slow halt a few meters behind Vilanne, who had found some interesting object or other in a shop window to occupy her attention for the moment and halted their strange little two-person parade of excited human and somewhat sullen Rihan along the Risan thoroughfare. She took the opportunity, as their pace slowed, to take a quick look around.

The street was relatively quiet in the dusky light -- presumably most of the locals had progressed on to the usual evening festivities. A motion caught the corner of her eye -- three young, svelte and of course scantily clad Risan women were moving down the sidewalk in the direction of one of the beaches. Further on she could see a young man from the Manticore in civilian clothing with two more women hanging on his every word, and a man and woman she didn't recognize proceeding in the direction of a nearby hotel. Otherwise the street was mostly deserted other than the proprietors of the still-open shops.

 

She wondered if Manticore's Chief of Security had been correct; that there might be Rihan spies among the wide-ranging population of the planet. He had insinuated that she might be in danger. This, of course, was why she had immediately returned to the surface in spite of her insistence to Vil that she would not -- not for the danger per se but because she resented the implication that she was not capable of taking care of herself. Of course the Bolian officer had reason to have made any speculations on her capabilities in self-defense but she refused to appear to be hiding. It was of course possible that there were operatives here, but if there were...she was capable of dealing with that.

 

Of course she'd also have to deal with Vil's exuberant joy at her abrupt reappearance. She had a feeling Vil assumed that she had returned simply because she enjoyed the human doctor's company, not because she wished to try her luck against the potential shadows lurking in paradise. And though this was not the case, Jaiysa had to admit that it could be worse. The lesser of two rokhinu...I could be with Eva...

Vil's eyes were glued to some gem-clad trinkets in one window, though her mind was glued to the conversation with Chief Mele. She couldn't get past the fact that he insisted on hinting - no not hinting, but totally and openly discussing her sex life. Vilanne had never tasted the fruits of that spirit, but she'd been raised with the mindset of saving enjoyment for marriage. She was happy and comfortable with this decision. But why did he insist that she indulge?

 

"Do you plan to purchase anything or are you simply going to stare forever?" Jaiysa asked Vil impatiently, her head snapping around to eye the younger woman pointedly, cutting through Vilanne's reverie.

 

As Vilanne came out of her stupor, she turned to Jaiysa with a question. "What do you think Chief Mele gets out of asking about my sex life?" Her tone was sure and her question was sincere.

 

Jaiysa blinked, startled by the abrupt topic shift. "Vilanne, I am not lloann'na and even I know the timbre of this place. It is an open business. Your chief -- you know him fairly well, na? Presumably he wishes to be sure you are...enjoying yourself to the fullest. It is certainly a common assumption here as to how one spends their evening hours--"

 

Vilanne broke into Jaiysa's remarks and piped up, "He's just rude for asking and assuming such things. He doesn't know me that way, why would he think..." Vilanne's voice trailed off, recognizing that she cut her off and didn't want to be rude, "I'm sorry Jai.. I'm just steamed that he was so familiar with that topic. I just don't get it."

 

Jaiysa looked at her for a moment. "There are many things, rokhinu, that you clearly do not yet 'get,'" she said after a second's pause. She was already of the definite opinion that Vilanne, though no doubt a capable doctor, was under the influence of a great deal of naivete. This was merely another sign. "Not the least of them being the fact that his attitude is hardly unheard of." Growing impatient with staring at the slightly dirty window glass, she pushed past Vil and into the store proper.

 

Vil followed her, her eyes attracted to everything that was glimmering, but still she kept up to Jaiysa. "What are your values for that, I mean, how were you brought up to believe?" She kept looking around the store as they wandered through. "I mean, unless that's too personal."

 

Jaiysa, out of Vil's range of view, rolled her eyes. It is too personal for your chief to ask you, but na too personal to inquire of me, rokhinu? "My belief is that it is a personal matter," she replied tiredly. "I have no interest in what you do with your time; if you restrain yourself, presumably you have a good reason; if you spend your time in more interesting ways, you have found someone worth the...effort." She smirked, raising both eyebrows. "It seems from your discomfiture however that you have not moved beyond the former outlook."

 

"No, I haven't."

 

Jaiysa said nothing, but cast a glance sideways which Vilanne took for a curious one.

 

"I've not found HIM," she continued by way of explanation. "That one special man that turns my head every time he walks into the room, the man that makes me feel special, the one that attends to me and make me want to attend to him. If I ever... but then again, I love my life in Starfleet. Marriage does not always work with combined."

 

There was a moment's pause. "One's work can interfere with relationships, certainly," Jaiysa replied shortly.

 

The store now bored Vilanne. She wanted to talk with her friend in depth, in confidence. She strolled outside waiting for Jaiysa to exit. She picked a bench across from the shop, flipped off her sandals and dug her toes into the sand while she waited.

 

Jaiysa trailed after her back out into the evening air and was immediately greeted with a barrage of questions in the relative privacy. "Please tell me how you were raised? What values did your parents instill? Tell me something." Vilanne's pleading was desperate. She'd not shared something so personal with anyone in a long time, yet suddenly she felt like Jaiysa was kicking her to the curb.

 

Jaiysa halted in front of the bench where Vil had placed herself, and narrowed her eyes, trying to determine what purpose the other doctor might have in these inquiries. "My parents..." she began curtly, then paused and seemed to be thinking the question over. "My parents were practical people," she finally said, turning away from Vil and proceeding a little further along the street. But Vil had already put her sandles back on and was nearly at Jai's side, listening intensely.

 

"Honor is very important to the Rihannsu," Jaiysa continued slowly, her eyes directly forwards, almost as if she had forgotten she had an auditor. "Act with honor, and right will follow along behind. Do a job which is necessary and do it thoroughly; pursue a relationship if it will not stain your honor and...feels right. Support the empire, your family, and your personal integrity." She paused again, and her jaw tightened just slightly. "In that order." She came to a sudden halt and looked back at Vilanne. "Does that answer your question?"

 

Vilanne really didn't get her questions answered the way she had hoped, but she did, however, get a bit more insight into Jaiysa. She giggled in her response, "Yes, that helps. Just one more question?"

 

Jaiysa shut her eyes for a second and then opened them again. "Anything...anything..." she responded in a sardonic satire of exaggerated patience.

 

Vil leaned into Jaiysa, whispering, "Do they really kill their superiors to get promotions?"

 

She might as well have dropped a bomb into the conversation. There was a sudden silence and Jaiysa blinked a few times rapidly. She couldn't tell from Vilanne's giggles and the tone of her voice -- did she think she was making a joke? "That depends on whether they feel they can justify it honorably...doesn't it?" she replied coolly. "A harder question for some than others."