Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [30]
Her first visit was to Counselor Astall, with whom she would be working closely on the mission. Upon being introduced, Astall made a happy sound and enveloped her “sister” in a bone-crushing hug. For the briefest instant Sekaya tensed, then she surrendered to the embrace, contentment stealing across her lovely features.
“I’ve always wanted to meet a Huanni,” she said as they parted. “I have so much respect for the approach you bring to traditional therapy.”
Astall ducked her head, pleased and slightly embarrassed by the words.
“We help heal by listening,” she said. “It’s surprisingly simple. While it comes naturally to our species, others seem to have a harder time of it. When we combine this deep listening with more traditional therapy, recovery time is greatly speeded up.”
Chakotay frowned. He knew all this, of course, but for some reason the way Astall phrased it reminded him of something. He couldn’t quite grasp it, and shrugged it off. It would come to him eventually.
Next, she met Kaz, who seemed utterly captivated by her, and then Fortier, who actually bent and kissed her hand. Colonist or no, his Gallic chivalry was intact. Chakotay thought wryly that the male colonists might spend more time in “counseling” with the beautiful Sekaya than with Astall.
When he took her up to the bridge, Sekaya greeted everyone with equal warmth, from the newcomer Tare to Kim to Ellis. Ellis shook her hand and glanced from her face to Chakotay’s in mild surprise.
“You have the exact same features,” he said, then added, “Although they look much better on you, ma’am.”
Chakotay raised an eyebrow as Ellis met his eyes. It wasn’t hard to read their expression. Ellis was doing his best to “loosen up,” as Chakotay had suggested, and was clearly hoping he had not overstepped. Chakotay gave him an easy grin and a clap on the shoulder, and Ellis relaxed visibly. It was a good start.
In his quarters, Chakotay replicated some traditional foods grown on Dorvan V, and the two siblings had a feast. He deliberately kept the conversation light as he sensed Sekaya was holding something back.
Over coffee and dessert, a decadent chocolate cheesecake, Chakotay decided it was time to probe a bit further.
“Sekaya,” he began, feeling his way, “I think there may be something we need to discuss.”
He caught her in mid-bite. She’d just placed a fork-ful of cheesecake in her mouth and her eyes went wide as she chewed. Swallowing, she coughed, said, “Discuss what?” and reached for her coffee.
“Earlier today,” Chakotay continued, “you said, ‘We didn’t want to drop everything on you at once.’ ”
He was right. Sekaya had been holding something back. She quickly looked down at her plate of half-eaten cheesecake. Then she flashed a smile at him.
“I should have known that you’d pick up on that. Just because you’re a contrary doesn’t mean you’re slow on the uptake.”
“Tell me.”
She sighed and pushed her plate away. For a long moment, she stared at her hands, then she began.
“First, tell me your impression of how things were back home when you came to visit,” she said.
Uneasily, Chakotay said, “Everything seemed fine. I asked around a bit, about how you fared under the Cardassians, and everyone reassured me that the occupation had gone quite uneventfully. That the Cardassians hadn’t bothered you, as we had all hoped. I remember thinking that Father had died for nothing after all, that he must have gone out looking for a fight just on principle.”
She eyed him. “Our father. A staunch proponent of peace and cooperation. You really believed he went looking for a fight?”
“It was the only theory I could come up with that fit the facts,” Chakotay said. “If Dorvan V was never bothered by the Cardassians, and Father still joined the Maquis, what else was I to think?”
“When he died, you left Starfleet. You became a Maquis, just like him. You went looking for a fight just on principle too.”
He looked down at his cup of cooling coffee. “Of course, the reason he and I hadn’t spoken in so long was because I wanted to leave our world and join Starfleet.