Judgement – To Aspire to Sisterhood
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
ON:
OLD: It was a sensitive subject so she changed tack.
NEW: "How do you feel at the moment? Any cravings? Nausea? Pregnancy stuff?" the Doctor came back out.
"Nausea?" Isha sounded surprised, "Not as a result of my pregnancy," she said, though the intrusion of certain noxious individuals into her space had her running for a bucket. "I must confess that I am perpetually irritable - I become like a hatham with a bruised beak! It has happened every time. And if you won't think me utterly disgusting, I cannot get enough very, very rare meat. I'm this close to asking the kitchen not to bother cooking it at all," she added, pressing her palms together to illustrate just how close she meant.
Chelsea smiled. "I think it might be wise to allow them just to frighten it under a sonic decrawave, just in case it's got any micro-bacteria on the surface. An attack of botulism wouldn't do you or the babies any good."
"Must I?" Isha asked with a slight pout, eyeing Chelsea's arm as though she might bit a chunk out of it. Then for no reason known even to herself Isha began to laugh. "I'm such a savage," she said.
"Nonsense. Your body is just asking for the things it's been depleted of. Minerals, vitamins.... it craves the sources of all that it needs to reinstate the balance. It's very simple and natural." Chelsea reassured her.
"It makes me feel as filthy as a Klingon," Isha said, "When one realises that all one is tasting is the blood ... " she paused and twisted her fingers together before looking back at her friend. "That's all, Chelsea, and in a few months I can return to reckless living."
"It will pass once your body has all the nutrients it needs. Reckless living? With two tiny, demanding babies? I wonder!" Chelsea replied.
"Doctor, I did not mean it that way, perhaps I need to work more on the jokes I make with you." Isha thought she had been doing very well. "But once they're born a suitable servant will be engaged to take care of them, I ..." Isha paused, and then she closed her mouth. "Does that sound a little heartless?" she asked.
"More than a little, do you not remember what you told me about the servant who was your mentor? Wouldn't you prefer to be your childrens' own mentor? Teach them what you have learned rather than some random other being the main influence in their little lives?" Chelsea's tone wasn't critical, it was compassionate and rather sad.
This was going to be one of those topics on which they could never agree, but Isha would at least try to explain. "How do I make you understand? I will never be only their mother, whichever House I have them adopted into I will be their hru'Hfirh first and their ri'Nanov second, a little distance is needed," though perhaps in truth Isha was just not strong enough to break with tradition.
"You're right, that's probably one part of your heritage that I will never understand fully, but I promise I'm going to try my best. I could never imagine being as powerful as you are Isha, nor how it must feel to bear so much responsibility on one pair of shoulders." Chelsea replied with candour.
"I just have this simplistic instinct that yearns for you to experience the love and intimacy of a simple family with yourself and Rh'vaurek and your children at your feet. It's a dream, a fairytale fantasy that I find hard to escape from imagining for you all and it makes me feel warm inside to think of such a scenario. I know that's naive and I'm very silly to try to impose it on you, even if only in my imagination, but it's what I want for Rick and I, so I feel that it would be wonderful for you too... which is ridiculous as you're totally different people, but .... well..... " she held up her arms in a combined shrug and surrender movement and sighed.
"If only I could," Isha said as she flopped back on the grass, her bare arms flung above her head, "but then who would be foolish enough to step in and take up my mantel? Certainly nobody who actually knew what it involved would be so stupid," she said staring up at the distant ceiling; it was painted pale blue to resemble the sky and give an air of openess to the deck.
"Have you been to Bajor?" Isha asked suddenly. "I mean is it really like this or are these gardens nothing more than a pleasant fiction?"
"I have been there, briefly... for a year only, when I was about 28... and yes, it really IS beautiful.... mostly.... but like anywhere it has it's downside too." Chelsea replied, taking in their surroundings too.
I mean to go again one day. Did I tell you my exciting news? It seems I have a sister.... an older, half-sister who.... well, it's a long story but she recently got in touch. She's full Bajoran. I can't wait to meet her, but part of me is a little scared too. I don't remember my father, but she does."
Isha's communicator chirruped but she ignored it, "Nothing that can't wait," she said knowing exactly what the call was about, a duty she had no heart to attend to. "You must be absolutely thrilled," she continued, "suddenly discovering more about who you are."
"Yes" Chelsea smiled but not as broadly as one might expect. "To be honest, I wonder if I've become a little cynical.... you see, I'm wondering to myself if she's for real.... you see I don't have any memories of what she talked about. She could be anyone..... "
"One can have that checked easily enough, you're a doctor, run her DNA sequence," Isha said. "Why ever would she be a fake, though I suppose that if she knew about you she might have made contact sooner."
"She said she's finally been forced to contact me because she's coming to DS5 for her work. When I protested at her use of the term 'forced' to contact me, she told me my Grandfather told her when I was younger that I had no desire to see my 'old' family nor have anything to do with my father or his relatives." Chelsea frowned.
"That simply isn't true.... I mean that i ever said that... but did Grandpa tell her that? And how can I ask him tactfully? If he did would he admit it? Why indeed would he? And if I ask him if he did but he didnt', won't he be offended that i could have entertained the idea he'd do such a thing, on the say so of some stranger? Am I making any sense? I don't think I've put together one single complete sentence since I started talking about this subject." She sighed.
Isha knew better than most people how easy it was to repress ones past; it could be done quickly or it could be done over the course of years. "Sometimes one simply forgets," she advised. "Why don't you ask him? And ask him what might have prompted you to make such a statement, I cannot see why such a question would cause offence."
"But I never would have said such a thing so if he *did* tell her that then he's deliberately kept us separate for all these years. If he didn't, then he'd be hurt to think i could imagine him capable of doing me such an injury." Chelsea explained.
Isha let her have the point. "I wonder what he would have to gain by doing that?" Isha thought aloud. "When did you last speak with him?"
"Um...." Chelsea had to think. "When.... um... not since Ryan and I.....he didn't seem to like Ryan. Come to think of it, he seemed to ask a lot of questions about his family and Bajor.... Isha do you think he's against Bajorans? I wonder if that's something to do with my father? I'm intrigued now. I'd like to see him face to face over this though. Then I can be sure before i go leaping to horrible conclusions in his absence."
Isha's comm chirped again. This time she simply rapped her wrist in irritation. She continued to ignore it and went on with her conversation.
"Did you ever review Milarno's file?" Isha asked. She had when he and Rh'vaurek had started sparring. "I doubt that it is Bajorans he dislikes. May I help in any way. Assuming he has no particular grudges against Romulans ..."
Chelsea laughed softly. "Not to my knowledge but then I suppose, now i've been left home for fourteen years, I probably have no idea what he has a grudge against, to be fair." She drew a thoughtful breath. "I felt I knew all there was to know about Ryan, Terran, Bajoran, Cardassian, all of his genetics true or modified. I still keep in touch with him and his Counsellor, with whom he now lives on DS9."
Isha sighed thoughtfully and curled into a sitting postion before wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees, "Events," she said wistfully, Chelsea was about the only person for whom Isha did not put on an act, when they were alone, anyway,"all those little changes we can't control."
Chelsea sighed. "Yes. So many, so small but with so much impact - especially when they knit together." She took in a deep breath. "I often think about poor Ryan. He's still so confused about who he is. At least I don't have that to face." Her sympathy for her ex was genuine. Even though their relationship had ended badly, she wouldn't have wished what happened to him on anyone.
"I'm not sure I would have been so kind," Isha said, "but I suppose the wound was somewhat soothed by the good Mister Dunham. Have you made any further progress with your wedding?" she asked, I shall have to make sure I am not being coerced or otherwise brutalised on that day. Isha almost said it aloud, but realised that Chelsea would not see the humour in how she dealt with the issues in her own life.
"Have you had another fitting with Azuma?" she asked instead. "No, I've been totally out of time." Chelsea answered, silently unable to explain why that had two meanings, but desperate to talk to her friend about it if she could have. She definitely needed someone to help her work it all out but Eric had been clear, things could go wrong for Rick if she broke silence.
"Thank you so much for organising that for me, Isha. Whoever this sister turns out to be, she'll never be as good a sister to me as you have been." she sighed, smiling. "You're a hard act to follow".
"I'm not going anywhere, Chelsea," Isha said, unsure what it was that Chelsea was not telling her. "You'd easier move this station that remove me from it."
"I should HOPE not!" Chelsea looked surprised at that turn of the conversation. "I didn't mean that... i just meant that my actual sister will be out-matched before she even gets here. Anyway, it won't be long before we meet her, she was on the transport when she called. She'll be here tomorrow."
"One of the things that I have noticed about you is that you always make the time. Please do not compare her with someone who should not exist. I am sure that you will engage her with both an open heart and an open mind." It was not something Isha allowed herself, but she understood ... to an extent.
"I will try, but I would like to clear the inconsistencies from her story first before I invest my heart in particular. I have resolved to speak to Grandpa as a conclusion of our discussion, so thank you for helping me with at least one step forward in this bizarre matter." Chelsea answered, shifting her position to sit up straighter, subconsciously demonstrating the taking on of a more positive resolve.
"Good," Isha said, though she was far from sure that any story could be completely devoid of 'inconsistancies'. "When will you do that?" she asked.
"As soon as I get back tonight." Chelsea resolved.
After a moment's thought she said "While I have you to myself, as my 'Matron of Honour' do you have any feelings about some kind of 'hen party'?"
"Matron of Honour? You make me sound three hundred years old," Isha said, though that was about how old she felt right now. "Why would you want to have a gathering of chickens?" she asked, curious.
"Well, the Terran version of this kind of thing tends to range from a stupid excuse for excesses on the one extreme to a much nicer kind of 'pamper party' on the other, where a group of female friends and relatives join the bride to spoil themselves with spa treatments and niceties for a day or a weekend.
On Bajor it's a traditional method of bonding the females of the two incoming families - to perhaps blend in matriarchs if necessary, or to smooth the bride's passage into her new family, and in the old days, it would have eased her out of her old life. Do you have pre-nuptual traditions on Romulus?" she asked.
"I was introduced to my husband to be at a gathering, then he, my mother and I, and a witness from each House went into a private room to determine if there could ever be viable offspring. As I'm sure you are aware the touching of the palms in vulcanoids provokes a particular chemical reaction if such a union will be fruitful. Then we rejoined the gathering. We met again several months later when I was carried in a litter to his estates for the wedding. I had already formally separated from my mother's House in a ritual before we left ... for a whole day I was nameless ... and then I took my Husband's." Isha paused.
"Usually it is the male who takes his wife's name, and joins her House should she hold rank in one, but that is hardly possible if one weds a hru'Hfirh. I don't actually know what commoners do before they wed, probably get drunk and dance a lot which I have noticed appears to be a universal constant," Isha said with a slight smile.
"I favour the pamper day idea. Collect up all the ladies who want to come and have a massage or twelve, some nice treatments... you know cleanse, bathe, soothe, float, warm....." Chelsea began to realise as she savoured the ideas just how long it had been since she had done these kinds of indulgent things. The plan was growing on her already.
Isha hesitated, "would I be welcome?" she asked, not because she thought that Chelsea would not want her there, more that her friends might find her presence strange., "If I am to be invited that is."
"Invited? If *you* are not there then it's off!" Chelsea was indignant.
Isha's face broke into a smile, "I meant more that I would not wish your friends to feel uncomfortable. I will be there if you wish it, I'd like to be," she said.
"I DO wish it, and if i have any *friends* who don't then they are not the friends I thought them to be and we are well off without them!" she replied loyally.
"Mind you, I don't get to choose my relatives!" she smirked, wondering what her new Mother In Law would think of her 'golden girl' when she met up with her match in the form of the Ambassador - even 'off-duty'. She patted Isha's hand and rose. "I have to go and make that call to my grandfather. I'm so glad we've settled the party.
Do you think you could make peace long enough with Yolanthe for us to use her salons - I was intending to ask her along so it seems to make sense? Oh.... on that subject.... where did we decide we could hold the actual wedding if we're not to be at the Box of Delights for that part?" She asked, her mind skipping about up and down the list of arrangements that were beginning to shake loose from their orderly queue and become more maverick as the pressed closer and with more clammer.
"Anything you wish, Chelsea," Isha said experiencing a slight shudder at the mention of the bartender. "You could hold it here," she reminded her.
"These gardens are gorgeous but I was thinking we'd need massage tables, a spa pool, all those sorts of facilities..... " Chelsea was thinking it out.
"I'm sure there are ample such facilities," Isha agreed, "but I meant the wedding, think this would be too public a venue to properly enjoy spa treatments," she said with a smirk.
"Indeed" Chelsea joined her with a smile. "Sorry, I was stuck in the hen-event mode.... yes, the wedding. I'm sure this is the most wonderful venue. I'll speak to Rick and check with Tash... the CO.... hopefully we can open it to anyone who wants to come."
She stood up and moved towards Isha to give her a hug. "Thank you for coming to meet me like this. I needed this quiet time to get my head together. Please take care of yourself, Isha. I don't know what I'd do if anything were to happen to you or the babies." She hugged her friend tightly and took her leave.
A JP Between:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
CMO - DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | To Aspire to Sisterhood | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Mon Nov 08, 2010 @ 9:55pm | |
| Location | The Bajoran Gardens | |
| Timeline | SD 35 - 22.00 |
OLD: It was a sensitive subject so she changed tack.
NEW: "How do you feel at the moment? Any cravings? Nausea? Pregnancy stuff?" the Doctor came back out.
"Nausea?" Isha sounded surprised, "Not as a result of my pregnancy," she said, though the intrusion of certain noxious individuals into her space had her running for a bucket. "I must confess that I am perpetually irritable - I become like a hatham with a bruised beak! It has happened every time. And if you won't think me utterly disgusting, I cannot get enough very, very rare meat. I'm this close to asking the kitchen not to bother cooking it at all," she added, pressing her palms together to illustrate just how close she meant.
Chelsea smiled. "I think it might be wise to allow them just to frighten it under a sonic decrawave, just in case it's got any micro-bacteria on the surface. An attack of botulism wouldn't do you or the babies any good."
"Must I?" Isha asked with a slight pout, eyeing Chelsea's arm as though she might bit a chunk out of it. Then for no reason known even to herself Isha began to laugh. "I'm such a savage," she said.
"Nonsense. Your body is just asking for the things it's been depleted of. Minerals, vitamins.... it craves the sources of all that it needs to reinstate the balance. It's very simple and natural." Chelsea reassured her.
"It makes me feel as filthy as a Klingon," Isha said, "When one realises that all one is tasting is the blood ... " she paused and twisted her fingers together before looking back at her friend. "That's all, Chelsea, and in a few months I can return to reckless living."
"It will pass once your body has all the nutrients it needs. Reckless living? With two tiny, demanding babies? I wonder!" Chelsea replied.
"Doctor, I did not mean it that way, perhaps I need to work more on the jokes I make with you." Isha thought she had been doing very well. "But once they're born a suitable servant will be engaged to take care of them, I ..." Isha paused, and then she closed her mouth. "Does that sound a little heartless?" she asked.
"More than a little, do you not remember what you told me about the servant who was your mentor? Wouldn't you prefer to be your childrens' own mentor? Teach them what you have learned rather than some random other being the main influence in their little lives?" Chelsea's tone wasn't critical, it was compassionate and rather sad.
This was going to be one of those topics on which they could never agree, but Isha would at least try to explain. "How do I make you understand? I will never be only their mother, whichever House I have them adopted into I will be their hru'Hfirh first and their ri'Nanov second, a little distance is needed," though perhaps in truth Isha was just not strong enough to break with tradition.
"You're right, that's probably one part of your heritage that I will never understand fully, but I promise I'm going to try my best. I could never imagine being as powerful as you are Isha, nor how it must feel to bear so much responsibility on one pair of shoulders." Chelsea replied with candour.
"I just have this simplistic instinct that yearns for you to experience the love and intimacy of a simple family with yourself and Rh'vaurek and your children at your feet. It's a dream, a fairytale fantasy that I find hard to escape from imagining for you all and it makes me feel warm inside to think of such a scenario. I know that's naive and I'm very silly to try to impose it on you, even if only in my imagination, but it's what I want for Rick and I, so I feel that it would be wonderful for you too... which is ridiculous as you're totally different people, but .... well..... " she held up her arms in a combined shrug and surrender movement and sighed.
"If only I could," Isha said as she flopped back on the grass, her bare arms flung above her head, "but then who would be foolish enough to step in and take up my mantel? Certainly nobody who actually knew what it involved would be so stupid," she said staring up at the distant ceiling; it was painted pale blue to resemble the sky and give an air of openess to the deck.
"Have you been to Bajor?" Isha asked suddenly. "I mean is it really like this or are these gardens nothing more than a pleasant fiction?"
"I have been there, briefly... for a year only, when I was about 28... and yes, it really IS beautiful.... mostly.... but like anywhere it has it's downside too." Chelsea replied, taking in their surroundings too.
I mean to go again one day. Did I tell you my exciting news? It seems I have a sister.... an older, half-sister who.... well, it's a long story but she recently got in touch. She's full Bajoran. I can't wait to meet her, but part of me is a little scared too. I don't remember my father, but she does."
Isha's communicator chirruped but she ignored it, "Nothing that can't wait," she said knowing exactly what the call was about, a duty she had no heart to attend to. "You must be absolutely thrilled," she continued, "suddenly discovering more about who you are."
"Yes" Chelsea smiled but not as broadly as one might expect. "To be honest, I wonder if I've become a little cynical.... you see, I'm wondering to myself if she's for real.... you see I don't have any memories of what she talked about. She could be anyone..... "
"One can have that checked easily enough, you're a doctor, run her DNA sequence," Isha said. "Why ever would she be a fake, though I suppose that if she knew about you she might have made contact sooner."
"She said she's finally been forced to contact me because she's coming to DS5 for her work. When I protested at her use of the term 'forced' to contact me, she told me my Grandfather told her when I was younger that I had no desire to see my 'old' family nor have anything to do with my father or his relatives." Chelsea frowned.
"That simply isn't true.... I mean that i ever said that... but did Grandpa tell her that? And how can I ask him tactfully? If he did would he admit it? Why indeed would he? And if I ask him if he did but he didnt', won't he be offended that i could have entertained the idea he'd do such a thing, on the say so of some stranger? Am I making any sense? I don't think I've put together one single complete sentence since I started talking about this subject." She sighed.
Isha knew better than most people how easy it was to repress ones past; it could be done quickly or it could be done over the course of years. "Sometimes one simply forgets," she advised. "Why don't you ask him? And ask him what might have prompted you to make such a statement, I cannot see why such a question would cause offence."
"But I never would have said such a thing so if he *did* tell her that then he's deliberately kept us separate for all these years. If he didn't, then he'd be hurt to think i could imagine him capable of doing me such an injury." Chelsea explained.
Isha let her have the point. "I wonder what he would have to gain by doing that?" Isha thought aloud. "When did you last speak with him?"
"Um...." Chelsea had to think. "When.... um... not since Ryan and I.....he didn't seem to like Ryan. Come to think of it, he seemed to ask a lot of questions about his family and Bajor.... Isha do you think he's against Bajorans? I wonder if that's something to do with my father? I'm intrigued now. I'd like to see him face to face over this though. Then I can be sure before i go leaping to horrible conclusions in his absence."
Isha's comm chirped again. This time she simply rapped her wrist in irritation. She continued to ignore it and went on with her conversation.
"Did you ever review Milarno's file?" Isha asked. She had when he and Rh'vaurek had started sparring. "I doubt that it is Bajorans he dislikes. May I help in any way. Assuming he has no particular grudges against Romulans ..."
Chelsea laughed softly. "Not to my knowledge but then I suppose, now i've been left home for fourteen years, I probably have no idea what he has a grudge against, to be fair." She drew a thoughtful breath. "I felt I knew all there was to know about Ryan, Terran, Bajoran, Cardassian, all of his genetics true or modified. I still keep in touch with him and his Counsellor, with whom he now lives on DS9."
Isha sighed thoughtfully and curled into a sitting postion before wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees, "Events," she said wistfully, Chelsea was about the only person for whom Isha did not put on an act, when they were alone, anyway,"all those little changes we can't control."
Chelsea sighed. "Yes. So many, so small but with so much impact - especially when they knit together." She took in a deep breath. "I often think about poor Ryan. He's still so confused about who he is. At least I don't have that to face." Her sympathy for her ex was genuine. Even though their relationship had ended badly, she wouldn't have wished what happened to him on anyone.
"I'm not sure I would have been so kind," Isha said, "but I suppose the wound was somewhat soothed by the good Mister Dunham. Have you made any further progress with your wedding?" she asked, I shall have to make sure I am not being coerced or otherwise brutalised on that day. Isha almost said it aloud, but realised that Chelsea would not see the humour in how she dealt with the issues in her own life.
"Have you had another fitting with Azuma?" she asked instead. "No, I've been totally out of time." Chelsea answered, silently unable to explain why that had two meanings, but desperate to talk to her friend about it if she could have. She definitely needed someone to help her work it all out but Eric had been clear, things could go wrong for Rick if she broke silence.
"Thank you so much for organising that for me, Isha. Whoever this sister turns out to be, she'll never be as good a sister to me as you have been." she sighed, smiling. "You're a hard act to follow".
"I'm not going anywhere, Chelsea," Isha said, unsure what it was that Chelsea was not telling her. "You'd easier move this station that remove me from it."
"I should HOPE not!" Chelsea looked surprised at that turn of the conversation. "I didn't mean that... i just meant that my actual sister will be out-matched before she even gets here. Anyway, it won't be long before we meet her, she was on the transport when she called. She'll be here tomorrow."
"One of the things that I have noticed about you is that you always make the time. Please do not compare her with someone who should not exist. I am sure that you will engage her with both an open heart and an open mind." It was not something Isha allowed herself, but she understood ... to an extent.
"I will try, but I would like to clear the inconsistencies from her story first before I invest my heart in particular. I have resolved to speak to Grandpa as a conclusion of our discussion, so thank you for helping me with at least one step forward in this bizarre matter." Chelsea answered, shifting her position to sit up straighter, subconsciously demonstrating the taking on of a more positive resolve.
"Good," Isha said, though she was far from sure that any story could be completely devoid of 'inconsistancies'. "When will you do that?" she asked.
"As soon as I get back tonight." Chelsea resolved.
After a moment's thought she said "While I have you to myself, as my 'Matron of Honour' do you have any feelings about some kind of 'hen party'?"
"Matron of Honour? You make me sound three hundred years old," Isha said, though that was about how old she felt right now. "Why would you want to have a gathering of chickens?" she asked, curious.
"Well, the Terran version of this kind of thing tends to range from a stupid excuse for excesses on the one extreme to a much nicer kind of 'pamper party' on the other, where a group of female friends and relatives join the bride to spoil themselves with spa treatments and niceties for a day or a weekend.
On Bajor it's a traditional method of bonding the females of the two incoming families - to perhaps blend in matriarchs if necessary, or to smooth the bride's passage into her new family, and in the old days, it would have eased her out of her old life. Do you have pre-nuptual traditions on Romulus?" she asked.
"I was introduced to my husband to be at a gathering, then he, my mother and I, and a witness from each House went into a private room to determine if there could ever be viable offspring. As I'm sure you are aware the touching of the palms in vulcanoids provokes a particular chemical reaction if such a union will be fruitful. Then we rejoined the gathering. We met again several months later when I was carried in a litter to his estates for the wedding. I had already formally separated from my mother's House in a ritual before we left ... for a whole day I was nameless ... and then I took my Husband's." Isha paused.
"Usually it is the male who takes his wife's name, and joins her House should she hold rank in one, but that is hardly possible if one weds a hru'Hfirh. I don't actually know what commoners do before they wed, probably get drunk and dance a lot which I have noticed appears to be a universal constant," Isha said with a slight smile.
"I favour the pamper day idea. Collect up all the ladies who want to come and have a massage or twelve, some nice treatments... you know cleanse, bathe, soothe, float, warm....." Chelsea began to realise as she savoured the ideas just how long it had been since she had done these kinds of indulgent things. The plan was growing on her already.
Isha hesitated, "would I be welcome?" she asked, not because she thought that Chelsea would not want her there, more that her friends might find her presence strange., "If I am to be invited that is."
"Invited? If *you* are not there then it's off!" Chelsea was indignant.
Isha's face broke into a smile, "I meant more that I would not wish your friends to feel uncomfortable. I will be there if you wish it, I'd like to be," she said.
"I DO wish it, and if i have any *friends* who don't then they are not the friends I thought them to be and we are well off without them!" she replied loyally.
"Mind you, I don't get to choose my relatives!" she smirked, wondering what her new Mother In Law would think of her 'golden girl' when she met up with her match in the form of the Ambassador - even 'off-duty'. She patted Isha's hand and rose. "I have to go and make that call to my grandfather. I'm so glad we've settled the party.
Do you think you could make peace long enough with Yolanthe for us to use her salons - I was intending to ask her along so it seems to make sense? Oh.... on that subject.... where did we decide we could hold the actual wedding if we're not to be at the Box of Delights for that part?" She asked, her mind skipping about up and down the list of arrangements that were beginning to shake loose from their orderly queue and become more maverick as the pressed closer and with more clammer.
"Anything you wish, Chelsea," Isha said experiencing a slight shudder at the mention of the bartender. "You could hold it here," she reminded her.
"These gardens are gorgeous but I was thinking we'd need massage tables, a spa pool, all those sorts of facilities..... " Chelsea was thinking it out.
"I'm sure there are ample such facilities," Isha agreed, "but I meant the wedding, think this would be too public a venue to properly enjoy spa treatments," she said with a smirk.
"Indeed" Chelsea joined her with a smile. "Sorry, I was stuck in the hen-event mode.... yes, the wedding. I'm sure this is the most wonderful venue. I'll speak to Rick and check with Tash... the CO.... hopefully we can open it to anyone who wants to come."
She stood up and moved towards Isha to give her a hug. "Thank you for coming to meet me like this. I needed this quiet time to get my head together. Please take care of yourself, Isha. I don't know what I'd do if anything were to happen to you or the babies." She hugged her friend tightly and took her leave.
A JP Between:
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
and
Lt. Cmdr. Chelsea Adams
CMO - DS5