Little girl lost part 2

Posted on Sat Mar 28, 2020 @ 11:28pm by Lieutenant Yukiko Winters

1,404 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: Betazid
Timeline: Approximately 3 years before En et Arcada Ego

It took Silk a moment but finally she made her way toward the girl. It could not be but she knew that somehow this was her when she was young, maybe a few years after coming to Betazid to live with her adoptive family and to get training.

She took a breath and made enough noise not the startle the young girl.

"You know it is much more fun to skip the stones rather than just plunk them in." Silk called out to the little girl.

The girl turned long white hair flying making a more tangled mess then it already was. There were mud stains down the front of her tunic from holding the stones she had picked up. She eyed the woman making more of a face having been caught at something she should not be doing anyway.

Finally the girl got up the courage and said, "Who are you?"

Silk almost said her real name and stopped at the last minute. She thought back, she had gotten the nickname later and said, "Silk, I am called Silk."

The girl eyed her for a moment then shrugged. "You come to see Taggum?"

Silk shook her head in the negative. "No not really, I think I came to see you."

"Me?"

Silk was still not sure how she had gotten here or if this was real or not but she nodded anyway, "Your Yukiko right?"

The little girl eyed her with even more suspicion. "Yeah, how'd you know? You don't look Betazoid and besides it is against the rules to pry."

Silk shook her head, "No did not need to. I just happen to know. I was in the town and someone mentioned that there was a little girl with hair like mine. Said her name was Yukiko, so no against the rules. They are a real pain aren't they?"

Her younger self nodded brushing a dirty hand through a matted section leaving a streak of dirt and nodded. "Can't do this, can't do that, why bother. I did not want to hear anyone anyway, they're all stupid!" As she said that she grabbed one rock and threw it with all her might into the lake.

Silk approached laughing. "Yeah I heard about the rules and yes a lot of times people are stupid. Here give that one," Silk pointed to a flat rock.

The girl handed it over and Silk lined it up with a quick practiced flick the stone went out and then bounced off the water, then again, and again, and again before finally sinking with hardly a ripple.

Yukiko squealed with delight as the stone skipped and eagerly asked, "Can you teach me to do that?"

Silk replied, "Of course but it takes discipline and concentration. Think you can handle that."

Yukiko nodded her head, "Yes!"

"Really? How is the discipline and concentration of your other lessons going?"

Yukiko made a face again and scowled but did not answer.

It was all the answer that Silk needed. "I thought so. I was much the same way, hated discipline, hated the rigidity, the rote. It was not until I was a bit older that I realized that one had to be more dedicated." Silk pondered for a moment.

"Come on let me teach you how to really skip those rocks." Silk said gently after a moment, "like I said it takes a bit of discipline."

They spent the next hour or so doing just that and Silk explained as she did so that it was not any different from using a throwing star. One had to learn how to flick those just right. Yukiko was impressed that she knew about those things and Silk mentioned that she had been trained even near the same place Yukiko had come from on Earth. The girl seemed to warm up that there was someone here that had been at least within a few miles not light years away.

Taggum was coming back and noted the women with the semi-adopted daughter. He thought of her that way, though technically she was fostered and her own parents awaited the day she would be reunited with them. He was a bit puzzled at who this person was, almost looking like a much later version of the little girl. The woman had the same white hair and there was something to the features that made her look similar. He wondered if somehow she was a relative. He watched a moment as she instructed the girl in some way of skipping stones on the water and then approached warily but without malice.

"Good day," he said stopping just a little bit away.

Silk straightened and turned whipping her own hands on her pants leg. "Good day sir. I do apologize, I was......"

Yukiko interrupted. "She heard there was another girl with white hair like her in the market and came to see. Here...." Yukiko turned and skipped a rock that made a neat three bounces off the water though it did not quite sink without the near ripple as the older woman's.

"She taught me to do that!"

Taggum looked back and forth between the two for a moment puzzled and then shrugged. "Very good, if you would apply your self to your other lessons as much."

Yukiko scowled, before Silk gave her a significant look and then she nodded. "I know, just not much fun."

Silk chuckled, "Not all learning is fun but sometimes you have to look at the goal beyound."

Taggum nodded, "A wise saying. I am sorry and you are?"

Silk began to make a bow but stopped with just a bit of one. There was no reason to put more suspicion then already lurked in his eyes. "Silk. They call me Silk, just a tourist taking in the sights."

Taggum looked at her and shook his head slightly. The impression was it was but half truth. Still there was no impression of a threat just one of wonder and oddity if that could be described. "Taggum of the Fifth House. Welcome to my home, perhaps Silk you will grace us for dinner?" His mind had briefly reached out and was surprised to find shields. He did not probe not wanting to appear to be rude, but there was something he could not quite figure out here. He had been intrigued though and thus the offer of dinner.

"I would be honoured," Silk replied. She looked down at her younger self and said, "We must get cleaned up don't you agree?"

Yukiko looked at her tunic and hands and started to make a face and then stopped. She nodded with a serious look on her face and stood straighter and in a firm voice announced, "Yes, it is something we need to do."

Taggum raised an eyebrow but said nothing for the moment and only indicated the way with a tilt of his head. He watched as Yukiko walked ahead. She did so with that youthful energy but unlike other times she did not stop to inspect every insect, every flower, anything that caught her eye and was an excuse for being tardy.

"I am impressed," he said to Silk. "She is normally not this way. Most times I have to all but beg her to go back."

Silk nodded and watched. "She has the will, but she is also scared."

Taggum was puzzled on that. "Scared? There is nothing here to be scared of, she is cared for, we as a society are careful in discipline and respect."

Silk shook her head, "she is scared because she is lost."

"Lost?" Taggum asked.

"Yes," Silk replied flatly.

"I do not understand," Taggum was genuinely interested is this woman's assessment.

Silk did not reply for a moment but finally she made a smile. "All that she knew, her friends, her family, her culture, everything in her young life seemed to suddenly have been taken away. I have no doubt that you are very kind, Betazoids invariably are because of their gift of empathy, but to her she is lost and that makes her resentful. She does not quite understand why other than she can hear other's thoughts and that tore her away from everything she knew."

Taggum eyed Silk for a moment. "And how would you know she can hear others?" he inquired after a moment.

Silk chuckled and replied, "because I can too."

TBC:

 

RSS Feed