Rite of Remembrance

Title: Rite of Remembrance

Author: HopefulNebula

Summary: T'Pol reacts to one of the formative events of her youth.

Rating: G

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Notes: Dedicated to my own father, who died on July 15. Best accompanied (in my opinion) by Part 3 of "Heaven and Hell" by Vangelis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHXA8U-S6Es), but perhaps that's just me.

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If she climbs out her window and makes judicious use of the struts holding up the eaves that shield most every Vulcan house from strongest daylight, T'Pol can sit on her roof and watch the shadows of night fall over the city.

Her visits to the roof are rare; she prefers to save them for the times she most desperately needs solace, and she suspects that if her parents knew about this, it would be forbidden. Not that her father could forbid it now, at any rate.

A point of light appears low in the sky. T'Khru, she thinks in her father's voice. The planet closest to Vulcan's sun, named for its evening visibility. T'Pol fixes her eyes on it and fails to still her mind.

Behind her, T'Khut is rising, but she cannot bring herself to turn around and look at it. She remembers her father teaching her how T'Khut's gravity shapes Vulcan even now.

When T'Pol was a small child, her father had taken her away from the the city for regular nights of stargazing. She hears his voice now, as she watches the stars appear above her and the lights of the city turn on to match the sky.

The planet Betazed orbits that star, and the Andorians live in that system. Do you see the isoceles triangle formed by those three stars? The bright star they point to aligns with the south pole. You can use it to find your way at night.

She had made use of this at her kahs-wahn. In fact, the knowledge had saved her life.

Which one did fa-ko-mekh t'ko-mekh live on? Her own voice, the way she remembers it sounded when she was a child, rings through her mind.

She finds the star's position even as the memory of her father's voice points it out. It occurs to her that the light she sees from its sun today comes from around the time she was born.

Sa-mekh, T'Pol remembers, leaning back on her elbows to get a better view of above. I would like to go there.

Someday, dear child, I will accompany you. I have not had reason to visit Earth yet.

Except now he never will, she thinks.

She will go herself, once she is old enough. If a way doesn't exist, she will make one. And when she goes, T'Pol resolves that she will do everything in her power to honor her father and herself.

T'Pol looks down, the weight of the stars suddenly too great to bear, and sees her mother. T'Les says nothing, and T'Pol sees in her mother's eyes the same despair she herself has felt since receiving the news of her father's death.

She nods, and T'Pol notes that the corners of her lips have twitched slightly up. T'Les turns, re-entering the house, and T'Pol remains outside until T'Khut encroaches on the top of her vision.