Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [29]
Chakotay’s jaw dropped.
“Surprise!” his baby sister said, her eyes bright and her grin threatening to split her face.
He caught her up in a big hug. “Sekky! That cunning Kathryn,” he said when he released her. “You and she had this planned all along, didn’t you?”
“Yep,” Sekaya confessed smugly, looking completely unashamed. Grinning, Chakotay shook his head, taking it all in. He was aware of Stefaniak trying and failing to stifle his curiosity.
Chuckling, Chakotay said, “Ensign Stefaniak, this is my sister Sekaya. Apparently she’s going to be a spiritual adviser to the colonists.”
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” Stefaniak replied, smiling. “Welcome aboard Voyager.”
“Delighted to be here,” Sekaya replied. “So, how’s my big brother doing as captain? Has he gotten you all into any trouble yet?”
“You don’t have to answer that, Stefaniak,” Chakotay said quickly.
“Thank you, sir,” Stefaniak replied, looking vastly relieved.
“Come on, Sekky. I’ll show you to your quarters.” They left the transporter room and headed for the turbolift. “Why didn’t you tell me anything about this when I visited a few months ago?”
Sekaya was still chuckling at Chakotay’s surprise as she replied, “My shamanic training wasn’t finished, and I wasn’t sure if it really was something I wanted to do. Besides, you had only just gotten home. We didn’t want to drop everything on you at once. And then right after your visit, well, you suddenly got very busy saving the Federation. Again.”
He grinned and ruffled her hair. “It’s really good to see you,” he said sincerely.
“You too, brother.”
Sekaya was a gorgeous woman, tall, slim but curvaceous, with bright, intelligent eyes. The two were often mistaken for twins. They were only a year apart in age and resembled one another a great deal. There had been a deep and easy fondness between them while they were growing up, and Chakotay often wondered if his “contrary” nature, which had caused him to be the first person of Dorvan V to permanently leave the planet, had influenced Sekaya. While he was gone, after their father’s death, she, too, had chosen to leave their home. That much he knew. What he hadn’t known was why she had left.
“So tell me about this spiritual adviser position. Are you part of Starfleet?” he asked.
“No,” she answered swiftly. “I’ve kind of created this position for myself. After you ran away and joined Starfleet,” she said teasingly, “I started thinking about my own role on Dorvan V. I ended up assisting the shamans and getting my training from them, but I felt a strong need to take that knowledge elsewhere. Take it out to a wider circle.”
“You contrary, you.”
“Hey, that’s your title,” she joked back. Sobering a bit, she continued. “I felt that what I had learned needed to be shared, that there were others who were hungry for this. So, with the shamans’ permission, I left and started training in other paths as well.”
Chakotay was a bit startled at the revelation that his people’s shamans were so forward-thinking.
“They approved of your sharing their secrets?”
“Not all of our secrets, no, of course not. But some things, yes. And many of them agreed with me that while it was important to keep our traditions alive and well within our tribes, it was time for someone to go out and share the richness of our path.”
Chakotay looked at her with new respect. “Very good, Sekky. I’m proud of you.”
She smiled, then said, “Not to be rude, but can you keep the nickname between us? I’m all grown up now, in case you hadn’t noticed, and I prefer to be called Sekaya.”
It was a mild rebuke, but a rebuke just the same, and Chakotay was surprised by how much it stung. For the first time, he was made sharply aware of the years that had passed between them, and just how far apart they had grown. The thought saddened him, but Chakotay supposed such things were inevitable.
“Of course, Sekaya.”
Then she grinned, slipped an arm around his waist, and hugged him.
“But I hope I’ll always be Sekky to you.”
After they had gotten her settled in her quarters, Chakotay took Sekaya on a