Grilling at Renato's, Part 2

Posted on Wed 22nd Jul, 2020 @ 5:59am by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Yuliette Marayan Dr.

1,174 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector Deck 2245 Renato's
Timeline: MD 14, 1500

Renato looked at her directly, as friendly as he could muster, "We will be having a feast later, it really is something, the smell of succulence and savory delight has attracted dozens so far, and its hours until we serve. I expect a crowd so now is the best time to see everything, there is an art walk as well further down the alley out of this cul de sac." He gave her an out, if she wanted it, but there was much to do right here.

"Maybe, yes, the art sounds nice. I think I'll get a plate and have a look around. Excuse me." Yuliette slipped her shoulders out of Ian's arm.

Now, on with the party!

---

The smell of roasting meat had led Lanis down an unfamiliar path somewhere in Brown Sector, looking for a restaurant. Cami's Mapa per Moba place had impressed him; there must be other similar places scattered throughout the collection of decks.

The restaurant surely had to be somewhere close by; he could hear children playing with each other; some game with sticks, it sounded like. The aroma of Roast Beast filled his nose more powerfully now than it had a couple of minutes ago, and he could hear the meat sizzling, so he must be getting close.

At last, he walked far enough down the street to come to a small plaza where a lot of people were gathered. Someone was grilling meat, and there was a laden table nearby. The children were fencing with the sticks.

A small half-Cardassian woman was collecting her own plate from the options. She looked up at the older Bajoran and passed him an empty plate as well, as a kind of invitation to help himself.

"Oh--thank you," Lanis said. "I hope I'm not intruding? I had thought this might be a restaurant until I got close enough to see the area."

"No. I mean, I don't know what it is usually." She pointed out the Ullian. "Renato lives or works here or something. As a counselor, I think? He organized a celebration for Peldor Joi. It seems anyone's welcome." She wasn't sure what half of the home-cooked food was, so she took sample sizes of a few things to try.

"It looks like--shops," Lanis said after a brief glance around the plaza. He looked over the food. "If I'd known I'd find this going on, I'd have brought something to share. My wife used to make fantastic tuwaly pie." He put some finger foods on his plate, along with a piece of hasperat, and hoped he wasn't taking too much. "I'm Dhuro Lanis; it's good to meet you," he said.

"Neone." She pronounced it carefully, still trying it on. It wasn't lost on her that he was Bajoran and that he didn't seem to glare or have any reservations towards her existence. There were plenty of other Bajorans equally indifferent, but the few with opinions on the matter had been pointed enough about it that she was wary to begin with. She put some food in her mouth and chewed carefully while observing the older gentleman, easy in his manner, friendly. The past tense reference to his wife probably made him a widower. Unless the woman had since eschewed baking pies. "What's in a tuwaly pie?"

"Usually, just chunks of tuwaly, which is a Bajoran fruit. Some people add a syrup. Irel, though, used to mix the fruit chunks in with a sweet, creamy cheese that she would make herself, when we lived in a place with cattle. She'd add some fragrant herbs, mix it all together, spoon it into a crust, and bake it." He shot Neone an amused look. "I weighed a few more kilos, back then."

Lanis glanced at the younger woman and noticed the Cardassian facial characteristics--though she seemed to be trying to stay wrapped in her head scarf. "I'm curious. Do you happen to speak Cardassian?" he asked in that language.

She looked at him strangely. "Pardon?"

Lanis switched back to Federation Standard. "I'm sorry. I haven't had anyone to practice speaking Cardassian with in months. The last time was here on the station after a protest. Speaking it with my computer isn't quite the same."

"You're more Cardassian than I am." She said with some bemusement. "I don't know the first thing about Cardassian anything besides a few things from—" She stopped short of talking about her father. "—general knowledge, I guess." She thought about it. if she were going to move to a Cardassian colony... maybe it would behoove her to pick up a few things. "Do you know enough to teach the language?"

"I'm pretty fluent, yes, but whether I can teach it is a different story," Lanis said. "I teach interns, though, so we could give it a try."

"You have interns? What do you practice?"

"Trauma surgery," Lanis said. "I'm on 'Use it or Lose It' time for the week; otherwise, you'd hardly ever see me down here."

"Is there a lot of call for trauma surgery on the station? I guess with tens of thousands living here or roaming through...." She imagined if she could somehow get her own credentials back in order it would be easy enough to join the rotation. She bit her bottom lip in thought, still trying to figure out the Gordian knot that was her life situation.

"It's not needed every day, but we do have some," Lanis said. "The tram derailment kept us busy. We also had USS Samurai arrive here after being attacked, bringing a lot of dead and wounded. That was a rough day. Aside from that, there are occasional crimes and the usual accidents people get into. Life here is never dull." He thought a moment. "Are there hospital facilities down here in Brown Sector?"

"I saw listings of a couple clinics in the public directory. I don't know about hospitals. It's not as big as the rest of the station, I'd imagine, so probably they travel upward for anything more involved. Or don't seek help at all. One of the Elders in the Zodiac appears to suffer from some stripe of a neuromuscular dystrophy or maybe Himmel's palsy that has gone untreated for decades and—" Yuliette caught herself and dialed back. "Well, I don't know if it's for lack of knowledge about treatments, or she just didn't want anyone trying to help."

Lanis listened carefully. "I've been told that efforts to have Starfleet doctors come down here have been rebuffed. I've also been told that wasn't without good reason, that the most recent Starfleet doctor to come down here was, shall we say, not a shining example of helpfulness. Starfleet abandoned this station for twenty years, and when we came back a few years ago, feelings had soured. They weren't helped by that fool. Are you a doctor?"

"I, uh..." Yuliette realized she'd said too much and looked around, spying the elderly couple who looked like they were afraid they were intruding.

(tbc)

 

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