City of Eyton Part 2

Posted on Sun Nov 7th, 2010 @ 6:42pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels

2,807 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Structured Shoreleave - Marchwiel

OLD-

She closed the door and continued down the hall to the room on the end where Retock and Zhutov were having a drink.

NEW-

The room reminded T'mpest of a Victorian parlor. Two small couches faced each other, both with embroidered cushions. Vladimir and Retock were each seated on a small couch talking. Helda walked over to Retock and gave him a kiss before sitting down. "The wagon is unloaded and the horses stabled."

T'mpest followed suit. She walked over to Zhukov, gave him a kiss, and sat down next to him. "Our room is ready." She glanced over at the other couple. "Perhaps we should retire and let the newlyweds have some privacy?"

Zhukov smiled a bit and nodded. "Yes." he said simply. He looked at Retock. "Thank you again for your hospitality and for opening up your home to us. Perhaps you could show me some of the sites in the city tomorrow." Vladimir asked him.

Retock nodded and stood up. "Yes, it would be my pleasure, Zutov. We hope you sleep well." he said to the two Starfleet officers.

"Thank you." Zhukov said as he took T'mpest by the hand and the two of them made their way to the small guest room. They walked in together, and Zhukov closed the door behind him. He looked at T'mpest and took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I think the saying goes, so far, so good." he said to her. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Knock on wood?" she chuckled. "So far, yes, things are going quiet well. This culture is quite interesting. I'm glad the men don't make the women go to war as well as everything else."

There was clean bedding folded neatly on the bottom of the bed. T'mpest quickly made the bed, then stripped down to her chemise. After folding her clothes and laying them on the chair, she pulled a brush out of her bag. "Helda is a nice girl. Although women don't have to walk two steps behind their men, it is the men who go to school and war. Women are expected to do much of the menial work," she said as she sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair.

"What do you think of Retock?" she asked as she began to French braid her hair, careful to cover the top half of her ears.

Zhukov walked over to the edge of the bed, sat down, and began to take off his boots. "I get the sense that he is happy to be home, but is seemingly conflicted at the same time. It's almost like he is not home by his own choosing." Zhukov replied.

"It's also pretty clear that he is not happy with what is going on, but his class of people...don't appear to have any real power. Crime seems to be fairly bad, and you saw all the factory smokestacks when we came into town, and they seem to be running all day and all night." Vladimir stated. "Oh, and the reason they married...she's with child." he finished. Retock had told him as they were walking around the house before the ladies came in.

"He loves her. He does, but he doesn't want her to be hurt. Said something about maybe having to go back off to the war if something doesn't change soon." Vladimir added. "Although we have only met these two, I get the sense that these are some tough people. Very determined, very proud people. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow." he said as he finished taking off his outer layer of clothes and hanging them on a corner post of the bed.

"Something Retock said as we came in about the walls struck me as interesting. He said his family helped to rebuild the walls and that the current walls were several generations old. I wonder if they built the current walls on top of the old ones, of if they tore down the older ones. Hoepfully, we can get a better idea in the morning. He has agreed to take me site seeing." Zhukov said as he sat back down on the bed and glanced at T'mpest.

The soft light coming through the window cast a beautiful glow upon her face. He didn't want to tell her...how lovely he thought she looked. After all, they had been going for almost two days and they were both tired. Also, it wouldn't be professional to comment on something like that in the middle of the mission. Maybe when they got back to the Ranger...

Zhukov cleared his throat. "Achem...so...what do you want to do about the sleeping arrangements here?" he asked her. He could feel his face become a little flushed, and hoped she wouldn't notice. Was he...crushing on the Vulcan? "I mean, it's ok if you want me to sleep on the floor..."

T'mpest noticed his discomfort. She'd put him in an awkward position, pretending to be married to someone he hardly knew. She hadn't given it any thought. She'd done what she had to do and when the opportunity came to visit the city, she'd been delighted. She hadn't even noticed, until now, how comfortable she was pretending to be married to him, holding his hand...

She pulled her thoughts sharply back to Vladimir's question. She couldn't let him know where her foolish thoughts were taking her. She placed a hand on his arm and looked him in the eye. "I don't want you to sleep on the floor."

Zhukov nodded. "Thank you. You know, it's probably better that we don't sleep separately just in case they decide to check on us tonight." he said. "You know, speaking of checking up on, we should probably check in with the others outside the walls and let them know we are ok. What do you think?" he asked the commander of the mission.

"We should let them know that we arrived safely," she agreed. "Then we should get some sleep. I will probably be asked to help fix breakfast." She made a face. "I'm not much of a cook, but at least I can cook over an open fire." She stood and gave him an impish grin. "As you are the master, I will leave it to you to contact T'kaarch and the others. I, as the dutiful wife, will get into bed and make sure it's warm enough for you."

She put her brush away and climbed into bed. It was small but had a good, thick mattress. "The bed has your wife's seal of approval," she said as she stretched out and got comfortable. She put her hands behind her head and waited for Vladimir to make the call. She wasn't going to let herself think about how little space there would be once he climbed in beside her.

Zhukov eased up a bit and smiled at her and simply said, "Okay, wife."

He stood up, took a step to the end of the bed and retrieved the communicator pin from his belt. He tapped it and it chirped.

"Zhukov to away team. Do you copy?" he asked.

"Away team here." came the reply.

"Commander Michaels and I are inside the city and are safe. What is your status?" he asked.

"OK, right now, Lieutenant." the voice said.

"Very good. Will try and make contact with you tomorrow sometime during the day. Zhukov out." he said as he placed the pin back in one of the leather pouches in the belt that hung from the corner post of the bed.

He turned and looked at T'mpest and smiled again. Zhukov walked over to the lantern beside the bed and blew out the flame and slowly got into the bed. He could feel her skin touching his as he pulled the blanket up over him. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out again. He turned his head slightly and was able to see the outline of her face from the faint light that came in from the street lamps outside the window.

Zhukov reached out with his arm, put it around her, and kissed her on her cheek. "Goodnight dear." he said. He fluffed up the pillow, and closed his eyes. He needed the rest.

T'mpest chuckled softly, "Goodnight," she replied before she settled comfortably against him and willed herself to sleep.

====

T'mpest woke to the sound of the bedroom door opening. The sun was just coming up. "Breakfast will be ready soon. Come show me your fry bread," Helda said quietly from the doorway.

"I'll be right out," T'mpest replied. She lay in bed for a minute after the door closed, not wanting to disturb the man beside her. But there was food to prepare and a city to visit. So, she carefully untangled herself from the blankets and dressed. When she was ready, she looked at the dirk, still lying in the chair. Should she put it on now, or tuck it into her bag and put it on after? "Later," she told herself. Better to avoid any awkward questions now.

As she walked out of the room she paused for a moment to look back at Vladimir, still sleeping peacefully. She smiled and headed to the kitchen.

When she got to the main room, Helda had a fire going and a pot of water on to boil. "I hope you and Zhutov slept well," Helda said as she turned to greet T'mpest.

"Yes, we did. The bed is very comfortable," T'mpest replied.

"Yes, it is. My brother-in-law makes them. He's the best in all of Eyton. Now, come show me this fry bread of yours. It sounds interesting."

T'mpest grinned and proceeded to show Helda how to make the dough, heat cooking oil in a pan and lightly fry the bread on both sides. "It's best with butter and honey," she told the other girl as she handed her the first one to try.

Helda took a tentative bite and smiled. "This is quite good. Much better than ash cakes."

"Definitely. What else did you have in mind for breakfast?" T'mpest asked.

"Eggs. Britta, my sister-in-law brought some over yesterday. We will be getting out own chickens in the next day or two." She walked outside and came back with a basked full of eggs. "How do you and Zhutov like them?"

T'mpest had no idea how Zhukov liked his eggs. Or if he liked them at all. "Scrambled, with a little rosemary for flavor."

"What is rosemary?"

"It's an herb that grows near my home. Perhaps you have another name for it." While Helda cracked eggs into a large bowl, T'mpest examined a row of jars containing dried herbs. She took each one down and smelled it to see if it was familiar. Several were, but there were a couple she'd never smelled before. She took a pinch to "taste" and slipped a bit into her pocket for later analysis. Finally she found something that smelled similar to what she was looking for. "This will do nicely." She held the jar up for Helda who smiled. "Ay, I use that in stews, but I've never tried it with eggs before."

T'mpest took a pinch and added it to the eggs, while Helda whipped them in and then added some cream.

The two women chatted amiably as they worked, Helda made eggs and heated some strips of salt pork while T'mpest made the fry bread. When the food was cooked and placed on the hearth in covered pots to keep warm, Helda turned to T'mpest. "Damia, go tell Zhutov breakfast is on the table."

T'mpest nodded and went back into the bedroom. Vladimir was still sleeping, so she sat on the edge of the bed shook him gently. "Zhutov, wake up. Breakfast is ready."

Vladimir's eyes opened slowly. For a brief moment, he was disoriented. Where was he. Why was a woman talking to him. Had he been drinking Vodka again? No, no...he suddenly remembered and slowly sat up.

"Wonderful, dear. You are so thoughtful." he said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Good morning to you." he said with a smile.

He had slept well through most of the night, though he did remember waking up when a storm had passed overhead. There was some lightning, thunder, and heavy rain if he remembered right. It had only awoken him briefly, with the sound of the rain putting him right back to sleep again.

He kissed T'mpest again on the cheek. He was getting to like that. "So, what have you fixed for our breakfast?" he asked her.

"Good morning," she said, smiling at his greeting. "Helda and I have eggs, salt pork and fry bread ready."

"Oh, excellent." he replied as he took a deep breath and smelled the food cooking in the kitchen. "It smells wonderful." he told her. "Give me a moment to get ready and I will be out shortly." he said.

T'mpest stood. "As long as you don't need any help," she teased before going back to the main room to see if she could mix up some honey butter for the fry bread.

Zhukov chuckled a bit as she walked out of the room. He stood up, yawned, and stretched his arms out. He took a few steps and began putting his robes and belt back on. He was anxious to see the interior of the city in the daylight and hoped he could get some more answers from Retock.

A few minutes later, he walked out into the main room to see the ladies placing the food on the table.

"Ah, hello Zutov. I hope that you rested well?" Retock asked him as they sat down at the table.

Zhukov nodded his head. "Yes, most definitely. We had a very comfortable night." he replied.

"Well, the beds are specially made by my brother. He has a small shop across town. They do excellent work there." Retock stated as he began to dish out eggs and salt pork onto his plate.

"These eggs. They look different, Helda." he said to her.

"Oh, they are a little bit. Try them and tell me if you like them." she replied to her husband.

Retock did and nodded. "Mmm...yes...they are good. Different, but good." he stated as he took another bite.

Zhukov began to make his plate now, as did the two women. "So where are we off to today?" Vladimir asked Retock.

"Ahh, a few sights you may not have seen before. You know, this is generally not a tourist type of town. Why were you here all those many years ago?" Retock asked him.

"I was traveling with my grandfather to see an old friend of his, but I really don't remember much about the inside of the city." Zhukov replied.

Retock nodded and took a bite of the fry bread. "Well, I hope it will make an impression on you today." He paused for a moment and looked at T'mpest. "Zutov is lucky, this bread is fantastic!" he said to her.

"Thank you," T'mpest replied. "It was taught me by an old family friend." She looked at Helda. "I am fascinated with the history of different cities. How they started and what their stories are. Is there anywhere I could find this information?"

Helda looked at Retock. "Women don't usually care about the old stories -- unless it's to tell them to children at bedtime. I don't know if the Elders would let a woman into the archives..."

T'mpest was afraid of that. She thought quickly. She could ask Vladimir to take her later, but there were so many things to see and learn here and they might only have this one day...

She thought about the cultures she'd studied. "I would like to take them back to the wise woman of my village. I grew up in a large village and they still tell tales of the old days. I would like to take something back to her next time we visit."

The concern in Helda's eyes cleared. "Why didn't you say so? We still honor the wise women. I'm sure the Elders will be amenable." She looked to Retock who nodded in agreement. "It's decided then. We'll go to the archives when we've cleaned up."

Zhukov smiled as he finished his breakfast. "Retock, if you will give me a moment or two to get ready?"

Retock nodded. "Of course, Zutov. I will be just outside when you are ready." he said as he stood from the table and headed towards the front door.

The next installment of adventure was about to begin.

[OFF]
Posted by

Lt. Commander T'mpest Michaels
&
Lt. Vladimir Zhukov

 

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