Chapter Text
Part I: Life on Earth
Ha’kiv fi’Terra
Chapter 1
Earth Mid-Year/Belaar 2229
The first time they met Amanda had reached her hand out in the usual Human greeting. It was at a dinner party and they shared a mutual friend somewhere in the room. She didn’t know much better – she was a young school teacher and Sarek had only hesitated a moment before taking the hand offered.
To go along with the Human saying, it was love at first sight, or first touch for him. Of course, he didn’t truly register these feelings for a while, and even when he did, he resisted them. It was the Vulcan way, but she was not Vulcan.
Obviously, he received no internal thoughts through the touch, but a bit of a bleed through of emotions. He never had issue keeping his emotions in check (with only once or twice in his entire life beforehand had a situation resulted in anger showing itself and even those had been terribly weak compared to what he had seen humans exude), but now, with their hands clasped, all he could feel was warmth and happiness and an overwhelming sense of curiosity. He couldn’t help but lift an eyebrow and stare at this strange (beautiful) creature before him.
But he was a diplomat, an ambassador representing the Vulcan race, and could not be distracted by Amanda. So they met formally and that was that. Or it was supposed to be.
When he was invited by the human diplomat that was in charge of him, to explore the city, he had agreed because learning how Humans functioned in daily life could be very interesting. But in a seemingly popular little café, the diplomat became absorbed in conversation and left Sarek to contemplate his surroundings. And that was where he met Amanda again.
She was leaving with what looked like a group of friends and she had looked in her clutch only to tell her companions to go on without her – she had left her phone on the table. She turned and spotted Sarek sitting with a cup of mint tea in his hands, his solemn face downturned just slightly. She approached.
“Hello again!” She said, sitting down across the table from Sarek. Her hair was pulled back in a relaxed bun, her face open and brightly colored earrings swung as she turned her head.
“Hello,” He replied.
“I think this is the last place I expected to see you,” She said, giving him the warmest smile, plainly saying ‘I’m glad you are here though’.
“I was being shown around your city,” He replied, settling back in his chair.
“But you were ditched,” she offered with a sideways quirk of the mouth. He had to admit, he was fascinated by that mouth. But he restrained himself from studying her too closely – they were still almost strangers.
“Ditched?” He asked. He was still a bit rusty with Human slang and sometimes the words eluded him.
“Left behind,” Amanda said. “What are you having?”
Sarek glanced down at the tea. “Tea. Mint to be exact. We have something similar to this on Vulcan.”
“Really? Is this as good?” She seemed legitimately interested.
Sarek shifted, a bit uncomfortable. “Well, it is different. I do not want to offend.”
“Oh whatever,” Amanda waved her hand. “I love hearing about other planets and cultures.”
“Have you never been offworld?” Sarek asked. It wouldn’t be surprising if she said no.
“Sadly, no,” She sighed. Not surprising. “But I’ve always wanted to go to Vulcan – I studied the language in university.”
“Really?” Alright, a bit surprising. He had never met anyone who had bothered to learn the language and never actually traveled to Vulcans or worked with Vulcans.
“Oh trust me, I probably butcher it,” She laughed.
“I do not think you can slaughter a language.”
Amanda laughed again, as if Sarek had made a joke, which he certainly had not. He narrowed his eyes just slightly, conveying confusion. Amanda stared at him for a moment until, “Oh right! You were being serious. When I say ‘butcher’ I mean to say I can’t speak it well or beautifully.”
“I see.”
“And of course, compared to your Standard… you are very good by the way,” Amanda said. Sarek didn’t reply. He knew this was a compliment and he felt he shouldn’t wave it away, but at the same time, he had nothing to offer back.
Amanda did not seem to notice the silence, instead glancing around and sighing almost sadly. “I had better be going – I said I’d go to the movies with my friends.” She suddenly leaned forwards across the table. “Though to be honest, I find you much more interesting than any flick.” She stood and extended a hand. Again, Sarek gave pause but for whatever reason he took the hand again.
The warmth and now what felt like a love for a new friendship seeped through him. And he was fascinated. These feelings of acquaintance, of simple being were almost addicting. He couldn’t help but look up into her eyes and just fall into those feelings, no matter how slight they were.
“Hope to see you!” Amanda gave him a sunny smile, obviously oblivious to what she was passing on to the Vulcan. She waved at him, clutching her small purse and dashed out of the café, her heeled boots clicking on the tiled floor.
He was left sitting with his cold mint tea in the café, when suddenly the patron approached him.
“That girl you were talking to, she left her phone,” And he handed it off to Sarek who blankly stared at it for a bit. Finally he took up the phone and left.