In a few minutes, the wind picked up, pushing its way through the skeletal mobatrees, and carrying with it the electric smell of the oncoming storm. Kasidy huddled tighter beneath her shawl, knowing she would have to head inside soon. It’s just as well,she thought. I have to finish that letter to Joseph—
Movement caught Kasidy’s eye, past the trees, and she looked off to the right, down the unpaved road that led from Adarak. A lone figure was walking in this direction, she saw. Her heart seemed to jump in her chest, the thought of Ben still fresh in her mind. She tsked at her silliness; she could not yet tell the identity of the figure, but the light complexion eliminated Ben as even a remote possibility.
Or Jake,she thought, sadness buffeting her like the cold wind. It had been weeks— months,she amended—since anybody had seen Jake; she had not heard from him since she had moved to Bajor. She missed that bright young man for so many reasons. She had known and liked Jake longer even than she had known Ben, and the two had been friends from the day they had met. And after Ben had vanished, she had found solace in sharing her grief with Jake, and in being able to see so much of his father in him. When she had learned that Jake was missing, sorrow had overwhelmed her and taken her to the brink of despair; only the life forming within her had brought her back and allowed her to look forward again.
Kasidy stood from the chair and walked to the other side of the porch, nearest the road. Who can this be?she wondered. When she had first relocated to Bajor, she had received scores of visitors, well-meaning locals—and others too, from all over the planet—wanting to do whatever they could to help the wife of the Emissary. Kasidy had not wanted to insult anybody, out of her own sense of politeness, but also because of Ben’s love for these earnest people. As the days had passed, though, Kasidy had begun to speak privately with some of her visitors from Adarak, and she had let them know that while she appreciated the assistance and the good wishes, she also sought a measure of solitude. To her surprise, the people of the town had understood, and now they not only left her to herself—for the most part, anyway—but also exercised a protectiveness of her, keeping uninvited guests away as best they could. They monitored the local transporter, and kept the roads and skies clear of unauthorized traffic. Kasidy still received messages on her companel, as well as an occasional visitor, but the person she saw most these days was Itamis Nath, the local postmaster; while mail almost always arrived in her delivery box via transporter, he sometimes would come out himself—just to check on her, she was sure.
The figure coming down the road waved, and Kasidy pulled a hand from beneath her shawl and waved back, though she still could not identify the person. Not Nath,she could see that, and not anybody she knew from town. Maybe a stranger,she thought, absently biting her lower lip. She hoped she would not be faced with another of the Bajoran faithful; she suddenly found herself not in the mood for a guest, particularly not for one wanting to worship her missing husband or her unborn child. Whoever the caller, they wore a wide hat, she saw now, and did not seem to be that tall—
Nog,Kasidy finally recognized. She smiled, realizing that what she had mistaken for a hat was actually his ears. She wondered why he had come all the way to Bajor unannounced, and why he had walked out to the house rather than using the transporter in Adarak. She had known Nog for as long as she had known Jake—the two young men still considered themselves best friends—and she had actually gotten to know him well in the weeks and months after Ben’s disappearance; Ben had helped Nog become the first Ferengi in Starfleet, and Nog had regarded Ben with appreciation and respect. After Jake had also gone missing, Nog had contacted her at least once a day, ostensibly to update her on the hunt for Jake, but the two had continued talking daily even after the search efforts had slowed. They had subsequently become good friends. Like the locals here, he had also become protective of her. He had even modified one of the escape pods from Xhosafor her, so that she could keep it behind the house in case of emergencies; with her being pregnant, he had not wanted her to have to walk half an hour into town if the local transporter went down for maintenance or for some other reason.
She watched Nog as he walked up the dirt road toward the house, and she revised her earlier feeling about not wanting guests; she was pleased to see him. She had intended to contact him on Deep Space 9 this afternoon, after she had finished her letter to Joseph. She wondered again why he had come all this way without letting her know first—
And suddenly Kasidy understood the reason for Nog’s visit. They found Jake’s body,she thought, something Nog would have wanted to tell her, not by subspace, but in person. No,she thought. No, not again.She stepped off the porch, intending to run to meet Nog.
But what about Nerys?Kasidy had also become good friends with Kira Nerys in the last few months, and she could not imagine the colonel not shouldering the burden of delivering such terrible news. Maybe…
“Maybe you should just wait till he gets here,” she said, chiding herself for leaping to such an awful conclusion. Still, as she waited, she could not shake off the feeling of dread that had descended upon her.
Even before Nog reached the house, though, she felt herself relax. The Ferengi wore a wide, toothy smile as he approached, an indication that he was not delivering bad news to her—although he might be delivering something; she saw that a small box dangled from one of his hands, his fingers tucked beneath a string wrapped around it. When he got within earshot—actually, with his ears, he had probably been within earshot for quite some time, she thought, amused at herself—she called to him. “Hi, Nog.”
He waved again with his free hand, and when he finally turned off the road and up the path to the house, he said, “Hi.” He was not in uniform, but clad in comfortable-looking blue pants and a green sweatshirt, underneath a light jacket. He lifted the box as he walked up, offering it to her. “Here, I brought you some Argelian teacakes. I know how much you like them.”
“Why, thank you, Nog,” she said, touched by his thoughtfulness. As she reached out and took the box from him, she asked, “Where did you get them? I usually couldn’t get any on the station.”
“They’re from Uncle Quark,” he said.
“Really?” Kasidy asked, slightly embarrassed by the obvious skepticism in her voice. Quark had always treated her well enough, particularly after she had become involved with Ben, but such a considerate act was hardly characteristic of Quark’s dealings with her—or of his dealings with anybody else, as far as she could tell.
“He doesn’t know,” Nog admitted. “He wasn’t in the bar when I left the station. Treir’s running the morning hours.”
“Treir?” Kasidy asked. The name did not sound familiar to her.
“Uncle’s new dabo girl,” Nog explained. “Although I get the feeling she thinks she’s his business partner. Anyway, she let me take them.”
“So you stole them?” Kasidy teased. “That’s not very Starfleet of you.”
“Don’t worry. When I tell Uncle they were for the Emissary’s wife,” Nog said, “he’ll thank me for cultivating good relations with the Bajorans.”
“And then post an account of his good deed to the Bajoran comnet,” she said with a laugh. “Come on in the house.” She stepped back up onto the porch and started toward the door.
“I forgot what time of year it was down here,” Nog said. His shoes clocked along the porch behind her. “My lobes are freezing.”
Kasidy opened the door and went inside, Nog coming in after her. The front room, the largest in the house, spread away from the door in all directions. Kasidy spent most of her time these days here, either huddled around the fireplace or sitting at the picture windows that looked out on the scenic landscape. She liked the openness of the room, the great windows and the vaulted ceiling an inoculation against potential feelings of claustrophobia. She enjoyed reading books or recording letters in this space, often composing missives to Ben—and lately, to Jake—so that, when they returned, she could easily share with them what they had missed, as well as how much she had missed them.