=/\= Turbolift =/\=
Kallistra continued along in the hallway, holding the little Romulan boy's hand but didn't look down at him. She figured that the sooner she arrived at her quarters, that everything would be all right. He would have something to eat, and she would try her best at translating what he would say to her, although her knowledge of Romulan was a tad rusty. When she was a young woman, she learned Romulan at Starfleet Academy from a Romulan friend of hers, Sharien. It had been many year since she last saw Sharien and she was due to brush up on Romulan sooner or later. For a moment, she peeked down at the little boy to find him glaring at her, her eyes narrowed in disdain. If she hadn't received training for telepathy and empathy, she would have been overwhelmed by the anger coming from the boy. There was also a great deal of frustration. The poor thing also lost his family, so she understood completely. He had every right to be angry and upset. Those were natural feelings and he was mourning them in his own unique way.
"It will be all right." She spoke gently, in a tone filled with warmth. The way in which she spoke to Bellona when she was rather upset. The little boy probably had been through a lot and seen a lot so she did not blame him in the slightest if he was frightened. For a moment, she was caught off guard by a barrage of thoughts that the boy seemed to be thinking and one of them involved him biting her hand so that he could get away. Before he could have any chance to do that, she jerked her hand away and gave him a firm stare, leaning down a little.
"That is not polite." She told him then commenced dragging him along. Albeit she felt bad just dragging the poor boy along, she knew that there was very little chance that he would actually cooperate. He had some fight in him and part of him wanted to fight her. How could she appeal to him and convey that she is a nice person?
Three minutes later, they arrived at the Carmichaels' Quarters and Kallistra sounded the bell. She could hear the soft chime fill the room with a background cacophony of children chortling in amusement. A mere seconds later, Mrs. Carmichael answered the door. Her good-natured face appeared, a smile playing on her lips.
"Hello Kallistra." Mrs. Carmichael greeted warmly. "And who is this?" She motioned casually to Nveidh who now used Kallistra to hide behind, his dark eyes peeking out from behind her.
"Good afternoon, Carol." She allowed a small smile. "This is Nveidh. A young boy that has come to stay with me for a while. I apologize for being rather frank but is Bellona ready to go just yet? I know it's a bit early but I sort of need to speak with her presently." Mrs. Carmichael give a nod of response then disappeared for a moment before reappearing with Bellona. After bidding the Carmichaels goodbye, Kallistra entered into her quarters with Nveidh and Bellona in tow.
=/\= Grey's Quarters =/\=
At first, Bellona just stared at him, not saying anything and Nveidh did the very same thing. He seemed rather shy, his lips pursed though Kallistra could feel that he felt befuddled by the fact that her daughter had pointed ears like him yet she looked different. Kallistra directed the little boy over to the couch and motioned for him to sit down. He looked as if he required some much needed sustenance and rest.
Immediately, she moved over to the replicator and replicated some plomeek soup, Betazed spiced rice, oskoid salad, Damara berry juice, and some osol twist, for desert. Once the table was set and all of the food was placed in the center, Kallistra called Bellona and Nveidh to the table. He just sat there on the couch and stared at Kallistra, a frightened facial expression on his face. Bellona had to walk over to him and take his hand to bring him over to the table. When he sat down, Kallistra pronounced a small pre-dinner prayer to the Betazoid gods and then began eating. Bellona dug into her dinner, particularly enjoying the plomeek soup but Nveidh just stared at the strange food. The only thing that he could recognize was the osol twist. During the entire dinner, he barely uttered even a syllable but telepathically, Kallistra could hear the mind-whispering going on between Bellona and Nveidh. She was explaining to him what all the dishes were and was asking him copious questions to quench her thirst of curiosity. While he was utterly unresponsive to Kallistra, he seemed to almost open up to Bellona, asking her questions as well. One particular question made Kallistra chuckle softly. He inquired as to why she lived with a woman with rounded ears rather than pointed while she had pointed ears.
'She is my mommy.' Bellona responded as she speared an oskoid leaf with her fork.
'She is…?' He inquired, obviously astonished at that revelation. 'But…she has rounded ears…and your ears are pointed…like mine. How can she be your mother with rounded ears? My mother and father both had pointed ears. Are you Rihannsu?'
'My daddy had pointed ears.' She muttered, making a face at the little boy. 'What is Rihannsu?'
'Romulan, of course.' He replied a matter-of-factly.
'Oh…no…My daddy was Vulcan. Though he called it Vulkhansu.' She declared, sounding as smart as a whip. Kallistra was proud of one thing, that Bellona inherited her father's well-night infallible intelligence, something she never possessed.
'My daddy is dead though…' She added in a somewhat morose tone, a frown tugging at her small pixie-like features. 'I miss him…'
'Really? I lost my daddy and my mommy!' He maintained a neutral expression, though his dark eyes revealed that he was upset by the whole matter. 'I…I miss them, too.'
'Well I don't have any brothers or sisters. Maybe you can live with me and my mommy.' She whispered, the tone of her voice very soft. 'Do you want to be friends?' He remained silent for a moment, nodding slowly in response to the query.
'Yes…' Was his simple response. Kallistra pretended to not listen, allowing the two to have their conversation together, smiling faintly at the two of them actually getting along. At least someone made the poor boy feel better.
'Children, go play in Bellona's room. All right?' She told them in a not unkind voice. Right away, she began busying about, clearing away the mess left on the dining room table.
'All right mamma.' She said.
Without a word, Bellona took Nveidh by the hand and yanked him into her room with a spring of youthful vigor.
'Let me show you my puppy, Charlie! You will love him! He is so sweet.' She declared happily but the door shut. Kallistra returned to her reverie, straightening things up around the quarters for a little while so it looked presentable. She had been neglecting her duties of late, leaving somewhat of a mess that accumulated over the past week. When she had finished, she pressed her ear to the door and could hear the faint mumble of conversation in her mind. She dusted for a bit, moved around some furniture to "open up the room" somewhat, and opened up a box. That particular box was the one that held all of the items that belonged to Syrik and housed all of his pictures as well. Dusting off their wedding picture, she set it down on the bed table next to the right side of her bed, frowning slightly. The picture was of their wedding on Vulcan. It all happened so strangely because when she first met him, Kallistra instantly disliked him, dismissing him immediately as a "stone-face". In fact, she actually used to make fun of, calling him "Stone-face the Vulcan" while in Starfleet Academy which became a popular nom-de-plume for him. It was just strange to imagine how the two of them came to fall in love. She allowed a faint smile then left the room.
