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Kestra was fascinated by Soji. She had a million questions, and tried as hard as she could not to bombard her with them. She wasn't always successful. But she couldn't help it! Sometimes she just couldn't keep her thoughts inside! She'd never seen an android before, let alone one that looked and acted completely human! She'd heard so many stories about Mom and Dad's friend Data, and she knew he had been nothing at all like Soji.
Kestra was fascinated by Jean-Luc Picard. He'd startled her when they'd first arrived. She hadn't understood at first how this stranger would know her name. But as soon as he asked about her parents, it all clicked. She'd seen pictures of him before, but hadn't made the connection right away. She desperately wanted to know why he was here, but she knew she'd never hear the whole story. Her parents were so overprotective!
But Kestra was most fascinated by whatever was happening with her parents right now. They weren't themselves at all. Well, they kind of were... sort of. But it was more like they were trying to be themselves, and not quite accomplishing it. It seemed to be convincing Picard well enough, but they couldn't fool her.
For most of her life, until Thad was gone, her parents had been the epitome of in love. She'd never seen any adults quite as connected as them. They had always been open with her and Thad about their relationship, and their connection, and everything they had been through to build what they had. Sometimes Kestra's friends would tell her it was weird, the way they acted, but Kestra didn't think so at all. To Kestra, it was perfect. She loved to see them share glances, little touches, smiles and kisses. She loved hearing Dad call Mom Imzadi all the time - he used it as much, if not more, than he used her name. Grandmother told her he did that because he's human. Something about differences in cultures... Kestra never really cared why he did it, she just loved that he did.
Her parents' love for each other made her feel safe. Protected. She didn't inherit much in the way of empathy or telepathy from her mother - not as much as Thad had - but she had enough to feel that love. It wrapped around her and lifted her up when she was sad.
But after Thad died, something shifted. Their shared grief had been immeasurable. Of course it had. But it had also changed something in her parents. At first, the three of them had clung to each other, leaned on each other for support. Mom and Dad supported her more than the other way around, but she had done what she could, too.
And then Mom got better. Well, as 'better' as you could get after losing a child. She started to smile again, to live. To do the little things with Kestra that they had done before. Dad didn't. Dad seemed to get worse and worse. Kestra could feel that her mother was worried about him, could see it in the way she looked at him.
What's wrong with Dad? Kestra had asked one day, when Dad hadn't left their bedroom for an entire weekend. Her mother was the only person she could communicate with this way, and she would often do so when she didn't want Dad to hear what they were talking about. Even Grandmother wasn't able to speak with her telepathically, as much as she had tried.
Humans experience grief differently than Betazoids, her mother had explained. Kestra hadn't been satisfied with that answer, and the way her mother had looked at her father when he'd finally come out only confirmed her belief that there was more to it than that.
She had thought things were as bad as they could get, but she had been very wrong. Dad had finally stopped hiding out in his room, but he also stopped interacting with Mom outside of the most superficial of conversations. Kestra could tell Mom was trying to keep up appearances, but she could also see the way Dad would pull away from her touches. How he didn't look at her the way he used to. How he started moving to Thad's room at night when he thought she was asleep.
This became the new normal. This tension between them that Kestra couldn't ease, no matter how hard she tried. They both treated her exactly as they had before, but the cracks in their relationship permeated everything, despite their best efforts. So Kestra began spending more and more time away from the house, adventuring in the woods, playing the imaginary games she used to play with Thad, and trying to pretend everything was normal. She hated coming home for the silent dinners and evenings where her parents would each try to hold a conversation with her while studiously avoiding talking to each other. She couldn't remember if Dad had called Mom Imzadi even once since Thad died. He just didn't say it anymore.
She had been adventuring in the woods, avoiding home, when Picard and Soji had appeared. It had been a long time since she'd been excited to return home, but she knew her parents would be thrilled to see him, and hoped it would break up the long, uncomfortable evening that was looming.
What she hadn't expected was to see her parents suddenly touching again. Holding each other and smiling at each other. At dinner, Dad even called Mom Imzadi again. It was like old times, and she could tell that that was exactly how Picard felt. Like everything was normal. They talked and laughed and planned as if nothing was amiss.
Kestra wanted to believe it, but underneath the smiles, the caresses, the Imzadis... their emotions were cold. They were putting on an act for him. None of it was real, and it made her stomach twist.
She wondered if it would ever be real again.