Housewarming.

Posted on Tue 23rd Nov, 2021 @ 2:54pm by Lieutenant Kidan Mallaya DVM

891 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Good Day to Hunt
Location: Kidan's Apartment- Over the Lighthouse Veterinary Clinic
Timeline: MD 5: 1500

Kidan couldn't help but wonder what his dearest friend felt was a proper housewarming gift. He'd been summoned to retrieve the crate for it required a signature to be delivered.

A not-small crate now sat in the middle of his living room, and it was marked with the Lighthouse and Wave that the two had used for their clinic. He placed a thumbprint on the PADD that sealed the crate, and the PADD lit up. Kidan's eyes closed against the burn of tears when he saw a holopic of his friend Vantor waving in front of the Clinic that now held a breaking wave flag, without the lighthouse.

'You took the lighthouse with you, so I figured I'd do a little remodelling.' scrawled across the screen in rough script.

The sight of it without his lighthouse was something that smashed the air from his lungs in an emotional blow he wasn't expecting to feel so deeply.
His lungs burned with the desire for sweet, life giving oxygen before he gasped in a breath that was more than half a sob. Dashing the tears out of his eyes, he continued to read.

'Its not the same without you. I can't sink into the animals minds like you can. Your mother came and demanded to know what I'd done with you, after you'd been gone for 2 weeks. She even tried to invade past my public mind, like I was a child. You will be pleased to know that I had her thrown out of my establishment for that bit of pomposity.'

Kidan's jaw slackened, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head at those words. You threw out Mother? And lived to tell the tale, Rings...I wish I had your courage Van.

'She of course tried to bully her way in, but I stood my ground for you my brother. She will not find information about you from me. The harpy deserves to be thwarted after how she's always treated you, I never liked her. Anyway, expect me to come visit with Quilan. I've never been to a Starbase, and it would do her some good to see the universe before she really starts harping at me about babies again. I think the woman has the baby-fever. I still fully expect you to stand up in our children's Naming Ceremony despite having moved to the ends of the universe. If I can't escape it, you can't either!

Love from us all,
~Van

The light in the PADD died and Kidan felt himself suddenly eager to host his best friend and the wife who had the baby-fever. Laughing softly at the image of her hounding him night and day to produce children, he understood why Van spent so much of his time at the clinic. 4 legged 'people' were sometimes easier than 2-legged ones. He mused that his own child didn't come into the universe as an intentional thing, and it wasn't as far as he knew because of any desire for a child from his partner. The boy had been a surprise for him, and Zola as well so she'd said. Anik was a good boy, and well suited to take up his mothers ship and her trade when he was a man. He found himself with a faint sense of pride in the idea of his boy becoming a man.

He pressed his thumb to the seal on the crate, and the seal broke once more. The yawning box now displayed two spectacular pieces of art. The first was at first glance, a table. But such a table he'd never seen before. It was a slab of dark grained wood, set in resin. Bending to smell it he sighed when he couldn't easily identify the lovely wood by scent. The coating was throwing off his sense of smell, and that was fine by him. He bent to examine the workmanship of the long, oval of table. It was bare edged with a river of resin that twisted around and through the wooden pieces. The wood set in a and spectacularly colored, the deep blue and aqua of the resin throwing off sparkles. The depths of the blue seemed to glint with gold, and as he gazed at it he saw that it was indeed shot through with gold. There was the occasional flicker of gold at the top edge of the resin, to draw the eye inwards. How did you get that effect Van? Its...exquisite.

The second piece was a pot. It was cut of the same wood as the table, and bore a similar river of resin on the top, corner and side of the square pot. Inside the pot, was a broad leafed green plant with deep purple veins and white edges. Its trio of stems twisted together, and the pot settled easily into his outstretched palms.

With trembling fingers, he caressed the gift and felt the empathic echo of his friend-nay his brother. It was hand sanded to a sheen that must have taken him ages to do. There was so much love in this that he could feel it. Head bowing, the young Betazoids eyes closed of their own volition. The gesture sent two identical tracks of salt water glittering down his cheeks.

He didn't deserve such friends.

 

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