Concert

Posted on Fri 8th Jan, 2021 @ 6:46am by Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels & Makila i'Hartelhai

2,550 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Timeline: MD-12

"Ugh."

Makila was tired, mentally but not physically. She wanted a break from her secret studies. Her mind drifted to the tentative, almost shy invitation of the gentleman from Starfleet security who had come with her system for protecting the clinic. He'd offered to take her to a concert. Perhaps a night away from her studies was what she needed to get so wemething more productive going on in her brain. If she had to look at another diagram of any species innards anymore this evening, she was going to throw things.

The Kirk was having a Masters Concert Series- where those artists pursuing Ph.D's in music would come to either play in the orchestra or present original pieces. This evening's performance was in honor of the Romulan Ambassador and the Orchestra was playing some of the planet's most famous music. Ironic that it was the Vulcans that truly kept Romulan culture alive in its music. A reunificationist by the name of Tivar had taken with her many scores of music upon her escape from Romulus. Tivar had then composed a piece in honor of her time on Romulus, that combined Vulcan and Romulan music. She'd heard that Tivar's music was sublime, but she'd never ventured out to such a thing on her own.

"I wonder... Computer will you send the Concert flyer for this evening's Concert Series to Lieutenant Michaels?"

"Any accompanying message?"

"Elements, I hadn't thought of that. No message required- just my name attached please."

"Sending now."

* * *

The vibration of his personal com device jarred Kellian's attention away from the BOLO that had come across his computer screen. Someone was wanted for stealing a scooter on the Promenade.

Luckily, it wasn't his job to handle--unless he caught the kid, at least. Kellian picked up his com and glanced at the screen. A flyer for the Master's Concert Series filled the screen, sent from--Kellian's eyes widened. It was sent from Makila i'Hartelhai.

He'd spent the last week or so buried in work, since his dinner date with Muffet. It would be nice to go out and enjoy some good music and get to know Makila better.

This sounds excellent. Barring anything unexpected at work, yes, let's go. Shall we eat somewhere, first?

That sounds lovely, any places you fancy?

Kellian thought a moment and replied, Somewhere in Tivoli Gardens would be best, I think. Have you ever tried the Rock Falls Inn? I think they serve seafood.

That sounds lovely. I've always enjoyed seafood. That was certainly true; Earth seafood was something of a delicacy to Romulan palates, and she didn't know why she enjoyed it so much. Between that and a good raspberry tart with lemon, she had been sold on Earth food from a very young age.

Great! Will you be in the Tivoli clinic that evening or in Brown Sector?

I will be at home, having earned my day off with the overnight shift twice this week. I'm crispy I'm so done with it all.

You sound like me when confronted with higher math--fried, Kellian wrote back. Taking two overnight shifts in one week is rough. Are you sure you're not a doctor already? Those are intern hours. I'll make reservations and come get you around 5:15pm, okay?

I'll be waiting! Makila had a moment of pure panic as she wondered what she would wear out on a date like this.

* * *

Kellian appeared at Makila's door that evening wearing a dark suit as he enjoyed the sound of the garden chimes. He smiled at Makila as she opened the door. "Hello."

"Praevus..." she whispered under her breath as she opened the door and took in his attire. Makila was glad she'd dressed up some, to look good on his arm. She was wearing a knee-length, lace, violet dress that matched her eyes. It was sleeveless, and had a modest neckline, but it fit her perfectly. A sparkly, silver pair of flats and silver hoops in each ear completed the look.

"It's good to see you. You look lovely tonight," Kellian said. The purple lace of her dress could be either fancy or casual, but her shoes and earrings made it look like fashionable evening wear. "Did you enjoy your day off, or did you spend it studying?"

Makila's cheeks darkened at his appreciation. "Oh both. I have a bit of a respite since exams were last week, however...I need to get ready for practicals. I think the clinic is helping with that a lot, because I notice more things in my notes that make sense because I've seen it before. "

"Practicals--real patients? That sounds like something to look forward to." Kellian paused. "How are you going to do your rotations if your father doesn't know you're in medical school?" he asked. "Won't you have to be away all day, all week, for those?"

"No, I am doing holographic ones. I can do them at my leisure, as I can set up a holoprojectior to send me to Medical from my home office. I want to keep it a secret for as long as possible."

At her leisure? Kellian thought. Boy, will she be in for a shock when her internship starts! "So you can holoproject yourself into Sickbay and take care of patients that way? My friend Rafe would have loved doing his med school practicals like that."

"Ive been attending lectures like that as I don't exactly have the means to charter myself to school. We will see how Dr Addams wishes to proceed once I am fully qualified. Papa can't sponsor me; conflict of interest."

"Does that mean you'd do your residency under Dr. Addams and the medical staff in the main infirmary? That would be fantastic," Kellian said. "Are you ready to go?" He gestured toward the garden path.

"I am hoping so. That would be the most ideal situation, should she be willing to sponsor a medical resident." She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. She was unprepared for the rush of emotional transferrance, and found herself smiling more warmly at the handsome man. "And yes I am ready."

They headed toward the restaurant, walking along the garden path until they reached the Riverwalk. "Dr. Addams comes across as a bit strange, sometimes, but she's good people," Kellian said. "She adores her niece, and she's helped on some investigations I've worked on. She's never dull, and you'd learn a lot from her."

"Everyone is a bit strange to an outsider. I am sure everything will work out." There was an odd undertone to how he said she's never dull and Makila found herself more intrigued by the idea of working with Dr. Addams. "I will have to formally apply, of course..."

"What kind of medicine do you want to do?" Kellian asked, "the same thing you're doing in the clinic now, or is there a specialty you want to go into?"

"I am not actually sure yet. The clinic is quite rewarding however, and I will continue my work there no matter what I do decide to do." Makila couldn't help but smile. "It's odd thinking of something as the rest of your life kind of career."

"Meaning you'd like to try different things throughout your life?" Kellian asked. They could hear and see the waterfall now; the restaurant was located just behind the cascade of rushing water.

"Meaning only that there are quite some options that I didn't have before" Raising her hand in a pseudo shrug she raised bright eyes to his face "I don't have to figure it out all at once after all."

"That's certainly true, and it's more fun if you don't," Kellian agreed. "When I was a kid I certainly never imagined myself enlisting in Starfleet, but that's what I did."

"I don't know that I really thought about the future, at least not at the beginning. It's hard growing up in safe houses, when you never know how long you're going to stay."

Kellian gave Makila a startled look. "I--know a thing or two about that. I'm sorry you had to experience whatever made that necessary."

"I love that you can forget that I'm half Romulan." her voice was quiet, and the sincerity of that comment was very clear from the tone and how she gently squeezed his arm.

"What I forgot was that your birth-father wanted to kill you," Kellian said with a wry look. "I can guess your father was on the run after he took you, but for him to have safe-houses that he could use is unusual. Your birth-father must have been--very powerful for your father to have to live in safe houses for so long that you grew up remembering them."

"My mother's husband. I doubt my birth father even knows I exist. It might be interesting to see if he could be tracked down someday" A wistful look crossed her face for a moment as she thought about the betazoid man who had sired her. Betazoid genetic records tended to be on file, and it would be possible to find out that information with the proper security clearance. "My mothers husband was a high ranking member of the Tal'Shiar....so yes, he was very powerful. "

"Oh, so that's why he was so enraged. I feel sorry for your mother. Being with your father was probably the happiest time of her life. If I had to be married to someone like that, I'd be looking for happiness elsewhere, too."

They entered the restaurant and were seated at a table. The waiter handed them tablet devices containing the menu that they could use to order from. Kellian decided to try the Cream-Free Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and a cup of lobster bisque. "What looks good to you?" Kellian asked Makila.

"Everything. I really love Earth Seafood." she replied with a smile. She tapped on the Shrimp Dejonghe and a small bowl of New England clam chowder, which was something that she'd recently found out about. It was so divine, that she absolutely couldn't wait to have it fresh. Her eyes gleamed brightly at his smile.

"When I was a little kid, my parents took me out on a shrimp boat once when we were on vacation on Galveston Island. It showed me an entirely different side of my parents that I had never seen. They rolled up their sleeves and got down and dirty with the crew, handling the catch. They taught me how to peel the shrimp, and soon I was put to work right alongside them. It was smelly, but fun, and the shrimp fry that night was fantastic."

"I am not sure I would go and do something like that." she said softly, having never had the opportunity to be on the water in such a fashion. She didn't even know how to swim. "Maybe I would...but what an experience for a child..."

"It was really neat, and I think what I appreciate the most about it now is that it showed me a type of lifestyle I'd never known before. It allowed me to appreciate the work that goes into producing the shrimp on my plate." Kellian chuckled. "And it taught me that I didn't ever really want to be a shrimper."

"I like to have a garden, but I think that the procuring of animals for the table is more than I want to think about."

Kellian nodded. "We have the luxury of being able to think that now, but for untold millennia, hands-on was how a person got meat." He twirled his fork and scooped up a knot of fettuccine and a small shrimp onto his fork. "However it got here, it's still good." Once he swallowed, he asked, "Have you thought about dessert?"

"No, any recommendations?" Makila smiled at the idea of dessert, but hadn't really looked to see what the menu held for that.

"I like fruit pie or something with chocolate in it, or ice cream," Kellian said. "What sorts of desserts do you like?"

"I do enjoy chocolate. I could eat mini-eclairs all day long, though."

"Did your father ever cook Romulan food for you, growing up?" Kellian asked.

"Variants of it. It was difficult to cook actual Romulan food, without actual Romulan animals in order to have the correct flavors. He did his best with the herbs, spices and general flavor profiles of Romulan dishes." She answered after taking a sip of her drink to wet a throat gone dry. "I have a much broader palate than your average Romulan I would think."

"It's terrible that they were able to save so little," Kellian said. "Mini-eclairs sound good. The thing I could eat all day long is oatmeal-raisin cookies. My grandmother used to bake huge, chewy ones."

"I have never heard of such a thing. Oatmeal I have heard of, as a breakfast food, but what is a raisin?" her curiosity showed in her voice before she took a spoonful of her shrimp pasta. Her eyes fluttered closed in an expression of utter delight at the explosion of flavor on her tongue.

Kellian smiled at Makila. "Raisins are dried grapes, but they still have enough moisture in them that they're chewy, and they taste sweet. Having them in the cookies makes the cookies more interesting than if they just contained oatmeal and nuts."

"I would not mind trying that. " she admitted quietly, with a shy smile up through her eyelashes at him.

That sounds like an excuse to invite her out again--and I certainly like that idea, Kellian thought. "Why don't we have a picnic together sometime, then?" he suggested. "Have you ever been on a picnic? There's a park near here that would be the perfect spot. And the best part about living on a space station, no ants."

"I haven't ever been on a picnic! That does sound like a fun outing. I'd be happy to go with you, our schedules permitting, of course." She knew as well as he, just how busy they both were in their respective jobs.

"Let's plan on it, then," Kellian said. "I'd like to get to know you better." He shot her a grin. "I'll consider it a challenge--getting to know someone while she's doing her medical internship and is half asleep all the time."

"I challenge you sir to say I'm half asleep right now!" she growled playfully, poking him in the bicep from her position across the table from him.

Kellian laughed. "True! But you're not a medical intern yet, either. What sort of coffee-type beverage do you like? I'll make sure to keep some around."

"I've never cared for coffee." Her pretty face twisted in distaste. "Anything can have caffeine added though."

"True," Kellian agreed. "Hot chocolate tastes much better than coffee, anyway."

How had they finished their meals so fast, Kellian wondered? "I hear a slice of cherry pie calling my name. Would you like a dish of eclairs for dessert? That should still leave us plenty of time to get to the concert."

*praevus- Handsome!

 

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