Good Gravy.

*hangs head in embarassment*

Asso, my teenage son (a tested genius, not that I would brag) read your response and maintains that many native english speakers are not as fluent as you are. I agree with him.

That you were a great writer, an ace at describing action showing at the same time the emotions and feelings that are behind them and that are their basis (and in your very peculiar way, that's without saying anything very clearly, but making shine them through your writing)... well, my friend, I knew it already.

But here, in this chapter, there is something else: there is the day-to-day, the daily household - we might say. And this day-to-day, this daily household, is made in such a way as to show how sparsely day-to-day, how sparsely daily household they must inevitably be the day-to-day and the daily household of a couple such as Trip and T'Pol.

And let's not forget the humour and intrigue.

Great, very great job!

And if my English is poor, please forgive me.

I am persuaded you understand.

OMG Ana is crazy as hell and so funny. I am loving this story. Keep the chapters coming.

Glad you're still writing this SL! I had to go back and reread all of your previous work. IT WAS FUN!

Wow, intense ending! Nice handling of Tolaris but I have feeling he is not through causing trouble, LOL. Always enjoy your work, both the rich Vulcan culture background, the interesting characters, and the intriguing plots.

Somehow you have managed to anticipate all my comments about the previous chapter. It feels as if you wrote this one just for me. :)

Thank you for letting us catch up with Malcolm and T'Jala. Despite Malcolm's reputation for being a reserved Brit these two seem to have made remarkable progress and really shown Trip and T'Pol how it should be done. Just think of all that angst they could have avoided. :)

Tizok's comment reminds me of the elevated status of T'Pol and her clan. It seems to be that T'Para must be remarkably open minded to accept the idea of human-vulcan relationships so readily, because she has a lot to lose. How lucky TnT are to have an eldest mother like that. I suspect that attitude is far from common on Vulcan. This is reinforced later when we see her chopping carrots. Can you imagine how much it must have cost to import those from Earth?

As always, T'Lissa is absolutely charming. I have this vision of T'Paras's garden being much like a Japanese Zen garden, cultivated at great expense and effort in the arid climate, with every rock and stone in its appropriate place, and maintained by a gardener who's about 500 years old. I can just picture this poor chap at the sidelines watching this little tornado wreaking havoc on his carefully sculpted garden. And yet, with Vulcan's being as long-lived as they are, I don't suppose children are common and I bet they're greatly cherished. So perhaps he doesn't mind all that much. Still, I'm tickled by the thought of this poor chap watching in despair.

I enjoyed overhearing T'Para and Jul talking about Trip and T'Pol's problems. It gave me an interesting insight and helpfully answered some questions about just how they got into this mess. What was T'Les thinking of? It's hard to believe she could suspect T'Para of collusion, but it's the only explanation that makes sense. I suspect that T'Les's relationship with her Eldest Foremother was probably as disfunctional as her relationship with her daughter. That, or T'Les was completely paranoid.

I think we missed Anna's showdown with her Eldest Foremother and I'm dying to know how that went. From Anna's reaction to Trip I guess it was quite spectacular!

At the end, Tolaris rears his ugly head. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him and no good will come of this. I'm sorry that Trip cut T'Pol out of the loop when he decided how to handle the situation. I suppose as head of house it's his responsibility, still on T'Pol's behalf I'm a bit offended at being cut off. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Once again the most interesting perspective is from an outsider meeting Vulcan culture for the first time, and it gave me my favorite line in this chapter:

"One of the antiques stepped forward ..."

BnB,

First of all, I thought it great that you opened chapter 6 with an intimate neuro-pressure interlude between Trip and T'Pol... oh wait, that was Mal and T'Jala! (LOVED the misdirection there.)

And of course your T'Lissa is brilliantly portrayed, as usual.

As for Tolaris, could there be a more stinging indictment of the sorry state of pre-Federation Vulcan psychiatry (or whatever they call their equivalent) than his obviously bogus cure? He clearly remains an unrepentant sociopath, despite having successfully 'completed' his course of treatment...

I hope he doesn't do TOO much damage before he gets his just rewards, but if past history is a guide, I'm going to be biting my nails before all is said and done!

Keep the chapters coming.

BnB,

Wow, your writing is fantastic and the plot-lines leave so many directions open. Tolaris may wish to go hunting, for what type of prey? It seems that the Vulcan Healers are either incompetent or have been suborned. Koss is perhaps sympathetic to Rommies.

Hopefully TnT can get closure or maybe Koss and Tolaris can get dead.

Your style suits a retired engineer to a tee, really enjoyed Trips description of Koss a few chapters ago although I thought "gravy sucking pig" might have fit or perhaps "Bohemian circus freak"

Steelchaser

Thanks for the commments everyone. Fear not DinahD, all is not as it seems. Tolaris has not been neutered by any means. Neither has Koss.

Honorary Italian? Gee Asso, I don't know what to say? Thank you. I'm already Scot, Irish, Cherokee, English, Welsh, Shawnee, and quite possibly a dab of French. Add Italian into the mmixture and something might explode:)

I always find your stories interesting because you present a very masculine take on Trip and T'Pol's relationship. So many stories are written by women that we sometimes forget how differently men and women view certain situations. Trip's concern about appearing "weak" when he stood by while T'Pol married Koss is a case in point. Your interpretation of the events we saw on the show is perfectly plausible and a freshing change from the "happily ever after" stories. Here are two very different people who are working and struggling to make their relationship work.

You are the master at creating a believable Vulcan world, especially from a domestic viewpoint. The clans, T'Para, T'Lissa, the healers, the food preparation - everything just fits beautifully and logically. It's nice to see that Malcolm has joined Trip as being a proponent of Vulcan-Human unions.

Tolaris surfaces - hmmm. He seems just a little too good to be true. Don't tell me you've neutered one of the truly nasty guys on the show. Yes, Trip is his boss, but Tolaris had to have gained a little secret satisfaction from Tucker's very emotional response to his mere presence. I know. Wait and see. Wait and see. You know, of course, that I'm not a very patient person.

Thanks for another absolutely marvelous chapter!

There's a bunch of stuff to say about this chapter.

Let aside the sharpness and clarity of writing; you know - all world knows - that the reading of your stories (I mean the way you write) supplies both physical and mental pleasure. Everything flows, plain and simple, but at the same time, feelings, emotions, the inner workings of the characters are felt and perceived with neat clarity.

The scene between Malcolm and T'Jala is delicious. “The appropriate Human response to such a statement, she reflected, would be a kiss.” Eh Eh. Priceless

I am particularly struck by the conversation between Jul and T'Para. They try to explain all the love tribulations between T'Pol and Trip. They provide logical explanations (Or at least they think).

My friend, with a few well-bedded sentences you gave one of the best descriptions I ever read about the illogic of love, you were able to fully demonstrate and show the universality of a feeling that cannot be inscribed in the rigid canons of rationality.

You showed that T'Pol and Trip can't help but fall inevitably in the same mistakes that every loving couple commits.

Fool, fool lovebirds, who hurt each other by themselves, without understanding why!

Commenting on one of my stories, you said once that you tend to represent our couples differently from how I do. Well, I tell you: maybe. Actually, I personally do not feel much difference.

You know what? I propose you as an honorary Italian.

Tolaris? Damn. I hope he dies painfully and slowly.

Hey, waitaminute, where did my comments go? Let me try again.

I bet Trip's casual attitude is absolutely scandalising the natives. "Oh, hi Eldest Mother, mind if I sit down?"

The star of this particular story is T'Lissa. She's absolutely adorable and her interactions with Trip are superb. I get the impression that the Vulcans are a bit taken aback by the way he plays with her (don't Vulcan's play with their children? I suppose it probably isn't very logical) but I can see that T'Pol is amused and it seems as if T'Para and Jul are too. I don't know how you do it, but please keep doing it!

I know that Trip tried hard not to embarrass T'Lissa by showing how proud he is of her, but I also know that T'Pol and T'Lissa would have known exactly what he was feeling, and I'm sure T'Para would too, and no doubt the healer Jul could also sense it.

I couldn't help sniggering at the thought of T'Pol writing analysis programs to try to understand her human friends better. I suppose body language must be hard to teach, especially to somebody from a culture where so much effort is put into hiding how you feel.

This was beautiful: "your father sometimes behaves in a manner that does not always adhere to the strictest tenants of the most rigid forms of logic". Master of understatement, T'Pol! Absolutely charming that T'Lissa completely missed T'Para's disapproval!

I wonder, how is it done on Vulcan? Is it acceptable to get married *after* the pon'farr has been resolved? If not, no wonder they're dreading that meeting with the Eldest Mother.

Tolaris and Koss seem to be pretty despicable but it's a surprise to find Koss is so immoral. With two bad eggs in that clan it makes me wonder what sort of people they are, but perhaps these are just two bad examples because Jorin seemed to be a good sort. But Koss seems to be manipulating Tolaris and Tolaris seems to be manipulating Jorin. Just getting back at him for the events at the shareholder's meeting? Or something more sinister.

It makes me wonder - how 'on earth' did T'Pol end up betrothed to Koss? I really enjoy seeing her supported by her extended family, but what were they doing to let her get into that marriage to Koss in the first place?

Watching this is great fun, and I can hardly wait to see what happens next, but I'm also quite fond of T'Jala and curious to see how she and Reed are getting on. Will you show us at some point?

Another great chapter that was worth the wait. As always I enjoyed the way you write T'Lissa and her interactions with her parents. I like the direction you're taking with her young character, very interesting. Koss and Tolaris in cahoots? Nothing good can come from that pairing. Looking forward to the next chapter.

T'Lissa is precious. It is good to see Kov settling in on Vulcan. And I have a delicious sense of forboding about Koss and Taloris. Please give us more soon!