An Image Of The Past (Tess)

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Tess ran home from school, her rhyl 'Sparky' sitting on her shoulder. The past days had been exciting. She hadn't quite understood all of it, but she understood that the men in the uniformes had helped them. It had been scary sometimes - especially the caves, she never wanted to go into one ever again - but all in all it had felt like a big adventure for Tess. All had turned out good in the end so it outweighed the moments she had been frightened.

They had only just arrived back in their village a couple of days ago and now they even had a permanent guest in their home - Mr. Moreno, one of the strangers who had helped them. Her father Ishto had agreed to let him stay with them, provide a room in their house for him where he even could keep his technological things he needed for the studies of the Ba'ku. Tess was overly excited about all that. She had seen things she never had before and everything about them seemed to be magic. If her father would let her she would stick to Fabiano Moreno the whole day and drill him with questions.

Like now. Storming into her home she dashed about the spacious living room area and headed directly to the small carridor in the back that led to Fabiano Moreno's room. She just slowed down enough at the door so she wouldn't run against it before she grabbed the handle and stormed into the room, hoping she would find the very nice stranger in there.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano Moreno glanced up in surprise as the door to his borrowed room burst in.  He was sitting at a desk in the home of Ishto Skuyanhjin.  Ishto, the Ba'ku native, and the village elders had agreed to let Lt. Moreno, the Starfleet xeno-athropologist remain in the village, to study the Ba'ku culture in depth.  Though some had reservations given the incident that had happened with the So'na.

But when Fabiano approached them with a request to 'live as a Ba'ku' in order to learn their culture, his request had been discussed at length before being agreed to.   It would take some time getting used to living without the modern technologies he had grown up with but the opportunity here was too good to pass up.

Turning to look towards the now open door, Fabiano spotted the young Ba'ku child.  Tess was the middle child of his host, Ishto.   He found her to be an extremely inquisitive little girl.

"Hello Tess.  Are you done your classes for today? Can you tell me what you learned?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Rahul rarely walked home with his sister, it was just not something he normally did.  He never before had been concerned about her safety when in the village. But that had changed a short while ago with an incident with an android brought to light that the entire village had been duped and nearly tricked out of their rightful homes.

"Tess, slow down!" he called after her picking up his pace to keep up, but she didn't wait.  His younger sibling was off running in a mad dash towards home.

He knew why she was so eager to get back home.  It was the Starfleet officer staying with them.  Rahul slowed his pace as soon as the house came into view, and frowned at the building as if it were to blame for the presence of its newest - unwanted - resident.

He kicked at a pebble in his path.  He didn't understand why his father or any of the Elders allowed the man to stay behind when all the rest of the Federation personnel had left.  Rahul glanced up to the mountainside that had hidden the observation post from which he and his people had been studied like lab rats in secrecy.   The facility was gone now... the mountain returned to it's former state so exactingly that if Rahul hadn't seen the 'duck blind' himself he might not have believed it.

But he had and it upset him that they'd been spied on.  Now rather than hiding the fact that they were being studied, instead one of the aliens was living in his house.   Well, not for long if he had anything to say about that.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

It wasn't that Tess had not heard her brother calling after her. She just was too excited to slow down, she wanted to get home as quick as possible.

Tess was delighted to see Fabiano there. Running over the short distance to the desk where he sat without even taking her school bag off she beamed up at him with an energy only kids that age had. "We learned about the leafs, the trees and flowers today! You know, when you find a leaf you can tell from which tree it is. I collected one, I'm gonna show you!" Taking off her bag she opened it and pulled out a school book, opened it and showed him a rather big leaf that was a bright red in color.

"Do you like it? You can keep it if you want! I know where more of these are!" She grinned happily as she looked at him and pushed back a few strands of her curly hair out of her face. "I wanted to bring my favourite flower too but forgot to go back and pick it. Do you think we can go and pick it later? I drew a picture of the flower so we can find it again!"

She looked at the desk Fabiano was sitting at. She wanted to see the technological things, she knew he had a few of them but couldn't see them right now. "Can you show me some of your Starfleet things? I wanted to see them the whole day when I was in school!"

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano took the offer red leaf from the child and smiled patiently at her enthusiasm.

At her question to go out and pick the flower she missed, Fabiano smiled.  "Only if you have permission of your older brother.  You're father mentioned to me he was going to be busy this afternoon so he's not available to ask, and I'm just a guest here remember? But if your brother is okay with it, then yes I will take you back to where you saw the flower.  Perhaps we can invite Rahul and Benjin to come along for the walk?"

He thought the walk idea might distract her but Tess' question regarding his gear, proved otherwise.

"Ah... " Fabiano hesitated.  He knew the Ba'ku didn't agree with the use of modern technology and that had been one of the stipulations in regards to his staying. He'd been permitted to remain only if he limited the tech to emergency equipment only and then only if he kept it out of sight.  No one wanted the disruption that seeing the tech all the time would cause.  Fabiano had been permitted his comm badge, an emergency beacon and a PADD for recording his observations.  He had tried to press for bringing a tricorder and phaser but the Ba'ku elders had refused those items.

"Perhaps another time, Tess." Fabiano tried dissuade the young girl's interest in his gear, not wanting to go against his host's beliefs.

He tried to distract her with returning to the topic of the hike. "Why don't you show me this flower picture you drew.  So I can look for it on our walk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Rahul entered their small adobe home.  The earthen bricks had sheltered his father for nearly 300 years.

Ishto was one of the original settlers.  Rahul's mother, Ehakela, had been one on of the first children born to the settlement after arriving.  The couple had been together nearly 75 yrs before Rahul's mother felt the desire to start a family of her own.  Rahul had been born first - his birth had been difficult and his mother had nearly died due to complications.  Even with the metaphasic radiation it took a long while for his mother to recover.  For 8 years he was an only child.

While there was no ruling as to how many children one could have, the norm in the village was that families would only have one.  The elders were very cognizant of what the village capacity was and were careful not to overburden the land on which they grew their crops.  However, Ehakela wanted more children despite the risks to her health.  The village doctors advised against it... but Ehakela was adamant.  A large family was what she desired and soon Tess was born, with little to no complications.  Encouraged by the relatively easy birth this last time, Ehakela and Ishto enlarged their adobe dwelling to make room for a third child.

Unfortunately, the concerns of the doctors proved true and Ehakela died giving birth to her 2nd son, Benjin.

Rahul hung his school bag by the entrance and slipped off his shoes before walking into the main living area.  This was where the family had played games together,  where he'd performed his first concert for his parents, where his mother would read to him.   A hand-drawn portrait of his mother hung on the wall.  The artistry of the drawing was exquisite but Rahul always found it didn't do her justice - she'd been more beautiful than it portrayed.

Pausing a moment, standing in front of the portrait, Rahul took the time to remember his mother properly, before turning to the tasks of the day.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Lt. Moreno's room - Year 2376]

Tess listened to Fabiano's explanation why they had to ask her older brother and she nodded her head eagerly. To her there was no reason Rahul would disagree.

She was disappointed when he said she couldn't see the tech she knew he had. She began to pout. But before it could get worse he asked her to show him the drawing and her face lightened up. "I drew it in school when we came back from learning about the trees and plants", she explained happily as she took off her school back and rummaged around it a bit - it was quite a mess in there.

Finally she pulled out a slightly crumpled sheet of paper and handed it to Moreno.

While Fabiano looked at it Tess moved over to him and rested her elbows on his thighs as she looked at the drawing with him together. "Those are the flowers I've seen today", she explained, "and that one is my favourite." She tapped on the drawing on the right. "That's why there's a crown on it!" She turned her head and beamed up at him with sparkling blue eyes. "But I like the other flowers too", she kept on explaining. "And butterflies. They like flowers too, they always sit on them!"

She giggled to herself. She really wanted to pick one. Then she remembered that Fabiano had said that she should ask Rahul first. Wasting no time she pushed herself off Moreno and dashed out of the room into the main living area.

She rushed over to her brother and then patted her left chest with her right as if she would activate a comm badge - a gesture she had seen often when the Starfleet officers had been here and she thought it would be fun to pretend she had one too. "Tess to Rahul!", she giggled. "Can we go pick flowers with Mr. Fabiano?! Please!" She jumped around him in excitement.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano was relieved when his distraction tactic work on the little girl.  Moments later he was looking over the most adorable drawing he'd ever seen (Fabiano didn't have much experience with children).

"Your drawing is amazing, Tess." he commented then looked to the flower she pointed out.  And sure enough there was a tiny crown on it.  "From your drawing it kind of looks like an Earth flower called a rose.  Though roses grew on bushes not single stems.  But the petals formed around the central stamen in either globular or high-centered shapes like your drawing."

Forgetting himself for a moment Fabiano was about to dig in his drawer for his PADD to show Tess what a rose looked like.  But he was saved from that mistake by Tess suddenly jumping up and rushing out of his chamber to head into the main living area.

From his position he could see her gesture and hear her familiar phrase... oops!

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

With his father away it was left to Rahul to prepare the evening meal and to look after his sister.  Rahul took the responsibility seriously.  So he didn't feel at all guilty about listening in as his sister spoke to the Starfleet, who was officer billeting in their home, about her flower drawing.

Rahul had heard all about the flowers throughout the last class of the day, art.  She'd chattered on  incessantly as she made her drawing.  Rahul had chosen to work on his own unfinished artwork.  A still landscape of the village.

The idea for the drawing of course was prompted by the Son'a's trickery.  He figured if he studied the village in fine enough detail, he'd be able tell a fake from the real, should Starfleet ever try to trick them again.  Of course Starfleet promised no such thing would ever happen again.  Rahul was skeptical about their promises.

Pushing such grim thoughts from his mind at the moment, Rahul turned towards the kitchen to begin on the preparations for the evening meal.    But he turned to find Tess walking over to him, tapping at her chest as he'd seen the Starfleet crew do when wanting to communicate with someone in the distance.

The request itself was reasonable, but the manner in which she asked put him off immediately.

"I don't know..." he hedged.

Rahul didn't like that Tess and the Starfleet officer were getting along. "Maybe another time. Why don't come help me with the dinner preparations?" And stay away from our visitor... he added silently.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Main living area - Year 2376]

Tess had learned from a very young age to do little things in the house that weren't too hard for her to help the family. While the basic things of life were taught to both sons and daughters like cooking, baking and tilling the fields, looking after the cattle, the girls were trained very early in things like sewing, embroidery, weaving while the boys learned to do things like carpentry and forging. Given the enormous lifespan of the Ba'ku it wasn't uncommon that they learned to become experts in all of these things in the course of a lifetime.

So, helping preparing dinner or setting the table for dinner was something Tess could do easily. But right now she simply couldn't be bothered to do any of this but she wanted to go and pick flowers.

Receiving a negative response again after Lt. Moreno already had denied showing her the tech stuff, Tess pouted at her big brother. "But I want to pick the flowers. Why can't I go now? Mr. Fabiano said he'd go with me! I want to show him my favorite flower! He said it looks like a rose. Do you know what a rose is?" The pouting hadn't lasted long but was replaced by her excitement again.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

At his sister's pouting and questioning of 'why not?', Rahul got frustrated.

"No.  I don't know what a rose is... nor do I care! We are not going to pick flowers and that's final!" he snapped.  "Dad left me in charge, okay?  So don't argue.  If you don't want to help in the kitchen you can go play quietly in your room."

He hoped she'd join him in the kitchen but doubted it.  Tess didn't show much inclination or interest in the art of cooking.

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano overheard the children's conversation as he stood in the doorway of 'his' room ready to go with his gear having anticipated a 'yes'.  But it seemed that Ishto's eldest boy wasn't in the mood.  Was it because of his presence?  Or something else?

Fabiano recalled back to his own school days and remembered several days that weren't so pleasant - usually because of a single individual.  Maybe it was the same with Rahul?  Being an anthropologist studying this culture... Fabiano should just keep out of the way and observe how Rahul deals with the situation but already the Frenchman was finding it hard to be impartial.

He was disappointed their trip to flower hunt was over before it begun.

"I'm willing to help make the evening meal if you show me what to do."  Fabiano stated as he stepped out into the hallway that led to the kitchen where they spoke.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Main living area - Year 2376]

When her brother snapped at her Tess instantly was on the verge to cry. She just didn't understand what was the problem. To her Rahul was insufferably unfair to her and the world broke apart.

"But why can't I?", she whined, tears stinging in her eyes. When he then sent her to her room - because she really didn't want to help in the kitchen, even less so when she wasn't allowed to go and pick the flowers she wanted - she let out a sob of anger and defiance. "I'm gonna tell Dad you're being mean to me!" With that she turned around and headed for her room, stamping her feet deliberately to make sure her brother understood she was mad at him.

Tess didn't use to be so petulant, it had started after their mother's death that she became like this more often.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano heard Tess' defiant, petulant outburst and had to stifle a smile.  He crouched down to her level as she came stomping down the hall towards her room.

"Hey Tess, rather than be alone in your room, why not come and help me assist in the kitchen?  The more of us helping... the quicker it gets done and then maybe Rahul might rethink his decision.  He may just be worried that if we leave now we wouldn't be back for dinner... which is valid.  We wouldn't want to miss dinner, right?"

Fabiano smiled at the unhappy 7 yr old trying to coax one in return.  "What do you say?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Rahul ignored Fabiano's offer, because Tess whined and then threatened to 'tell' their Dad as she stomped away.  Rahul just rolled his eyes at his sister's dramatics.  Why did she have to be such a brat!  Everything was always about her, he grumbled to himself.  Even Benjin, at just over a year had few tantrums than she.   He sighed and turned to begin washing up the tubers.  Fabiano had said they reminded him of potatoes from back on Earth.   That thought earned a frown.  Like as if he wanted to know what the plants on Earth were called?  Did he care?  No.

His silent grumblings were quieted as he caught the tail end of what Fabiano said to his sister. Seriously, Rahul wished the guy would find some other family to stay with.  The stranger was a bad influence on his sister.  She was too curious about where the stranger came from.  It was going to cause problems.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

When Fabiano spoke to her Tess slowed down and leaned against the wall with her back, sliding down to sit on the floor with her knees tucked up. She listened to what he said, blue eyes looking up at him. The petulance subsided somewhat and the reason he stated actually sounded logical.

After he finished she looked down into her lap as she thought about that. She knew she had to help more since mommy died. Her dad had explained it to her. "Okay, I'll help", she gave in. She desperately wanted to show him the flowers. And she wanted to know what a rose was.

With Fabiano she walked back into the kitchen that was integrated into the main living area. She saw Rahul washing some tubers. In reality Tess adored her brother and usually they got along more than well. She'd share everything with him. Though lately some factors occurred that made their relationship a little more difficult.

"Rahul", she said in a little voice as she approached him with big blue eyes. "I want to help preparing dinner now, I promise I'll be good. Do you think maybe we can go and pick flowers afterwards?" She took another step and hugged his legs.

Yes, she could be the sweetest when she wasn't in one of her moods.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Fabiano watched as the 7 yr old considered his words quite seriously.  He smiled when she agreed, deciding with just that little bit of prompting that helping was the right thing to do.  Decisions like that would eventually come easier.

He walked with Tess back into the kitchen and watched as she made .... well not so much an apology but rather ... an agreement to help.

Fabiano watched as Tess hugged at her older brothers legs.  That the siblings were normally close was rather evident.

Assuming there was no way Rahul could say no, Fabiano stepped forward towards the sink, washing up his hands.   "Let's get started then! I'll peel."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Rahul looked down at his sister, with her arms wrapped about his legs, her large blue eyes gazing up at him and knew it was a done deal.  When she was like this... he couldn't say no.

He tried to be stern though.  "Fine, but flower-picking will be canceled if you argue or give me a hard time with getting dinner ready."

While Tess and the stranger washed and peeled the tubers setting the pot on the stove to heat, Rahul washed and cut the ingredients for a light salad.   Many, but not all Ba'ku were vegetarians.  The Skuyanhjin family weren't staunch vegans but meat was rare.. and without their father present tonight at the evening meal, Rahul didn't even consider adding any to their meal.

Rahul kept a close eye on Tess throughout the prep and dinner set up but it seemed she really wanted to go on this flower-picking hike.

During the meal itself, the Starfleet officer tried to strike up a conversation with him but Rahul gave only brief one or two word answers. After a time, the man stopped trying to involve him and focused his talk towards Tess.

This time he was talking about how flowers were pollinated on his home planet - by flying insects caused bees... he mentioned how at one point in their history they had used chemical herbicide to stop weed plants but that the long-term side-effect was a weakening of the insects as it killed the queen bee.  As a result nearly all the bees in the world had killed and crops reliant on the bees for pollination failed.  There was a world wide food crisis.

Rahul thought all the Federation species ... including the Humans were stupid, even before hearing that anecdote.  That just seemed to prove it!

After dinner, Rahul had Tess and Fabiano wash the dishes while he cleared the table and packed up the leftovers.  There was an artist neighbor who often got so caught up in his work that he'd couldn't be bothered to cook.  Left overs were always welcome there.

Rahul had put off the moment as long as possible but eventually realized he would have to follow on his end of the agreement.

"Alright, go get what you need for your flower-picking. We have a couple hours of daylight left."

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

When Rahul agreed to go picking flowers after dinner Tess beamed up at her brother and promised once again that she'd be good.

With Fabiano's help Tess improved her skill to carefully peel the tubers with a kitchen knife. She was slow and cut off way too much of the actual tuber that could have been eaten but she was learning. All the while Tess was chatting about the trip she had made with the school class today, not only telling him what kind of flowers she had seen but also what trees and what animals.

During the meal Tess happily ate her portion of cooked tubers and salad, though she picked out the seeds he had put in there that held resemblance to pine nuts. Tess didn't like them.
Unceremoniously she dove her fingers into the salad on her plate to gingerly grab another kernel with thumb and forefinger and put it on the table beside her plate while Rahul and Fabiano were 'talking'.

When Fabiano then began to tell her from the pollination and the bees and how the chemical herbicide had caused a disaster Tess listened with interest. She loved to hear stories from Earth and to learn how things were done there. She was drilling him with questions, for example she wanted to know what a bee on Earth looked like. And then began to tell from the insect she knew here on Ba'ku.

After dinner Tess readily washed the dishes with Fabiano. After that, when Rahul finally gave in to the flower picking Tess squealed with joy and ran into Fabiano's room to pick up the drawing she had left there.

"They look like this!", she said excitedly as she held the drawing up over her head. "Mr. Fabiano, you have to take your ..." She didn't know what the PADD was called. "... that thing with you!" Tess wanted everything at once. Take a walk, pick flowers and learn about Fabiano's Federation tech.

Putting on her shoes, drawing still in hand and crumpling, she then waited impatiently at the door, wondering why the boys needed that long.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

The Starfleet science officer chuckled and followed after Tess as she ran into his room to retrieve her drawing.  That she was eager to have him bring his PADD along made him wince and glance towards Rahul.  Her older brother didn't seem impressed with Tess' fascination with the device.

"That's probably not a good idea, Tess.  I have those devices for emergencies only.  I'll take my notes by hand and try drawing my own representation of the flora - like you did.  I only hope I'm half as good of an artist as you." He remarked as he picked up a pad of paper and a drawing stylus

He gathered up a jacket and while doing so slipped his phaser into his pocket.   There weren't many predators on Ba'ku - especially near the village but Fabiano wasn't about to take chances of running into one while out with the children.

He then followed after Tess who was impatiently waiting by the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Rahul threw a warning look toward the Federation officer at Tess' suggestions that the man bring one of his tech devices.  Rahul knew the Ba'ku elders didn't approve of the man's technology - that was reason enough for Rahul to not trust them also.   Thankfully the man seemed to read his look and explained to Tess how he would take notes by hand.

Rahul put on his shoes and then led the way out of the house towards the hiking trail that the class had used earlier that day.  He recognized the flowers from Tess' drawing and knew that they grew about 45 minutes up the mountainside where the grassland began to become forested once more.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Tess' home - Year 2376]

Tess pouted a little when Fabiano said he couldn't take the PADD with him but it was not too bad because Tess realised if she would make a fuss about it now she probably wouldn't be allowed to go and pick flowers.

Once they were out Tess was just as energetic as she'd been this morning in school. No sign of fatigue at all. She ran ahead up the hill, jumping over small rocks, now and then stopping when she saw a pretty flower or an interesting animal, all the while chatting and babbling about stuff she came across on their path, always finding new things she wanted to draw when back home.

On the way she picked single flowers she brought either to Rahul or to Fabiano before dashing off again.
Almost an hour passed before they finally reached the more forested part of the mountain. It became a little shadier but the variety in the vegetation was noticeably increased here too.

Tess excitedly crouched down in front of a small cluster of her favourite flowers that grew beneath a mighty tree. "Look! I found them!", she called out to Fabiano. Indeed the flowers looked very much like roses except they didn't grow on a bush and the blossom was smaller too. The color was interesting, it looked white but the colours of the petals seemed to change the shade of color depending on the angle you looked at them or how the light was hitting them. They looked almost pearlescent.