by Leslie Lee
unnecessary. I am sorry for breaking that vow. I take no pleasure in your pain. We were careless.”
“No, just the opposite,” Syll said. “We have come to care. There is no greater danger in the paths we have chosen. Especially this path. Yet, we cannot turn away. You have all surpassed my every expectation. And I ask you to endure for as long as this takes. There is no failure here as long as we learn.”
Kari untangled herself from Syll and stood.
“Mistress Syll.” She wiped her face. “May I administer the punishment?”
“Punishment?” she asked, puzzled.
Kari turned to the students. “I know you hate this, so this is appropriate.”
She walked to Welan and hugged him. “Thank you. The night was very special and I enjoyed it.”
She moved to Jhynif who almost flinched away. “Thank you,” she embraced her. “I shall always remember it.”
Donle seemed to enjoy the hug. “Thank you, I have become stronger and more committed because of it.”
She pulled Myryath into her arms.
“Thank you. You made me happy. For a few moments, I was happy.” She released her. “I do not forget who is responsible for my being here. I will never forget and I shall work to the day that he will receive his reward appropriately.”
A few days later Syll returned to the cell. The guards always came from the same group. Despite the rules strictly forbidding it, the guards only rotated from within that small contingent. They had taken to leaving the cell door open so they could converse with the Human sometimes. It seemed to help Kari. Donle was sitting with her. They were playing a child’s game which delighted the Human.
Donle rose respectively. Kari stood, smiling, and hugged her though Syll did not respond in kind.
“Are you well, Mistress Syll?” Kari greeted, her voice soft.
“I am. Though I am saddened by some news. I have it on good authority that the Beloved Nephew feels power slipping away for some reason. Unfortunately, almost half his wealth has disappeared. Such a shame.”
“Such a shame indeed, Commander,” said Donle. “Perhaps the Tal Shiar can be of assistance there.”
“We have offered only to be refused from what I understand. I believe he accuses everyone including the Federation, the Klingons, the Cardassians and last I heard, the Ferengi.”
Donle snorted then composed herself. “A shame that he has diminished the capacity of the Tal Shiar in favor of his own network. I believe he refers to it as an intelligence network.”
“Yes. It does appear that someone somehow found out who his bankers were and where they left their money. A shame.” They smiled at Kari. “Let us speak no more on the subject. Have you eaten, Kari?”
“I was waiting for you, Mistress.”
“Foolish. You must eat when you are hungry. I know it is difficult.”
As the Beloved Nephew had grown ever more desperate, his calls for her presence became more frequent. But his time with her was shorter and physically less damaging.
“I have a request, Mistress Syll.”
“If it is within my power,” she answered.
“There is another Human here.”
Syll felt the ground beneath her grow very thin. Donle who had been putting away the game dropped a piece.
“There are many prisoners here, Kari. It is our, my Romulan, my Tal Shiar honor, to fulfill my duties. That can never and will never change.”
“I understand. I would like to speak with the Human.”
Syll turned her attention to Donle.
“Your students did not tell me,” Kari said, placing a hand on Donle’s arm for a moment. “The fault does not lie with them. When we entered the interrogation room a while back, the settings were not in their default position.”
Syll clenched a fist in irritation. “They were set for a Human? Someone has been entirely careless. I shall need to speak with them.”
“I understand granting my request will be very very difficult if not impossible. But if it can be arranged, I will not allow myself to be identified. I will appear as a Tal Shiar. Veiled. Your kindness the other day made me think it was possible. I will not allow the Human to speak to me about anything of importance. And I promise that what I say to the Human will reveal no secrets. Also, I do not encumber this request. I am committed to what I am doing. But if it can be arranged just one time...”
“I will see what I can do. Now let’s see if the kitchen has managed this lo mein dish you wanted.”
They continued to school Kari in every Tal Shiar observation method they knew. The students and their Commander had to commend the Starfleet ensign’s training. She was a sponge absorbing all they taught. She could remember everything in a room with a single glance. Every conversation she overheard. And if she couldn’t hear, then she’d read their lips. Every person she saw. Names if announced. Descriptions without exception. All was relayed to Syll, then if immediately important, to the Seigneur of the order. Always meeting in the garden. Always parting with a kiss.
Details with no immediate importance were imparted to the students. Syll could not help but think of them as her students still. She would tell them stories attempting to keep the facts correct but not reveal what they were truly about in case anyone was listening. They always assumed someone was listening. Through one of those insignificant details, they traced back one of the hiding places of the Beloved Nephew’s military supplies. The cache vanished. Someone threw suspicion on one of the Beloved Nephew’s staunchest allies. The Beloved Nephew had his ally and all his family slaughtered in the middle of the night.
The toll on Kari, though, grew in intensity. Sometimes the abuse was purely physical. The doctor was able to repair that, saying how he was now trying to strengthen her body to be able to withstand the mistreatment. Other times, Kari walked off the Beloved Nephew’s shuttle by herself. In some ways, those were the worst. The doctor had little to do though he always examined her. Kari would tear the clothes from her body and hurl them into a corner to stand naked screaming incoherently until she allowed Syll to take her to the pain field.
On those occasions, they’d stand, forehead to forehead, not speaking. Kari had requested that they intensify the field. The Romulan had never experienced this level of pain before. Despite the students’ pleas, Syll allowed it. As the field washed them with agony, they embraced, devoid of any clothing. Syll would wait patiently for her to begin, never pressing her. It would seem like hours before Kari would start transmitting the details that steadily poisoned the Beloved Nephew.
When Kari suffered so much that she couldn’t concentrate, Syll would recite nursery rhymes about the Stars of Wisdom that she remembered from her childhood. The pain field helped her remember them. She taught the Human little songs until the tears would stop flowing.
This session seemed no different until Syll suddenly collapsed. Kari signaled wildly to the students. They dropped the field immediately and caught them as Kari tried to support the screaming Romulan.
“What happened?” Welan demanded.
“I don’t know,” Kari snapped. “She’s freezing. Get some blankets and the doctor right now.”
Welan muttered quickly into a communicator. Myryath and Jhynif grabbed some emergency blankets and covered them both. Syll was seizing, her eyes rolled up into her skull. She’d stopped screaming though and just frothed at the mouth. Kari hung onto her arms as the others tried to keep her head from banging the floor further.
“Why is she so cold?” Donle asked, gasping with the effort. “What were you doing?”
Kari shook her head, holding her tightly. “I was saying how I thought the Beloved Nephew was polluting my mind. I’ve been doing things at his behest.” Kari bit her lip and would not meet their gazes. “Then she gave me the mantra to repeat. But she kept saying that...”
Myryath touched her arm, warning.
“Saying that she was very glad that she was able to send me to the Beloved Nephew so often. And that I too should be grateful.�
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“What mantra?” Welan asked.
“My soul is my temple, my heart is my shield, my mind is my weapon, my life will not yield. We were just repeating it over and over.”
“I am unfamiliar with it,” Jhynif said while the others also shook their heads.
“I am fine,” Syll groaned suddenly, struggling to sit up though Kari kept her lying down. “I am sorry. I am just tired. I am fine.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” the doctor said bustling in. He quickly scanned Syll.
“You’re exhausted that is true. All of you. You too my little Human. Why don’t you two have any clothes on? Never mind. I don’t need to know. She has wounds on her back.”
Syll lost consciousness as the doctor administered a mild sedative despite her protests.
“I did that,” Kari said. “I dug my nails into her.”
The doctor attended to the gouges Kari had inflicted along the Romulan’s spine. “Why?”
“She is my tormentor. I hate her.”
Myryath picked up Kari’s pad and looked at the readings without changing her expression. They looked at her.
“As you say.” Her voice was flat as she handed the pad to the other students.
“Mistress Myryath and Mistress Jhynif, please dress her and take her to your hospital,” Kari said. “Master Welan and MasterDonle will transport me back to my cell.”
They nodded. The doctor could find nothing wrong with Syll but warned her she needed rest. She agreed but rest would have to wait. Events flowed swiftly on Romulus now. Danger and fear
