Work Text:
WHY DO HORSES RUN
Kelrec sat in his office.
He was tired and was reading a book before bed.
He sat on one side of his double seating area that he used for meetings with his cadets, and relaxed with a book in hand.
His War College jacket was undone, and he had one leg resting of the knee of the other.
The crackling of the fire that rose from an oblong mid-section of the large table between the two sofas, spread a warm glow throughout the room, the flames danced gently behind the transparent screen.
He sighed contently.
And then there was a knock at the door.
Damn.
He knew instantly who it was, and was not surprised when moments later Chancellor Ake’s voice called out “Kelrec?” in a manner that caused butterflies to stir in the pit of his stomach.
“Come” he called out, knowing full well that ignoring her would be more futile than even the Borg could ever have imagined.
Chancellor Nahla Ake paused momentarily in the doorway as the doors slid open upon Kelrec’s command, and then swept into the room.
She stopped and her mouth dropped open in an exaggerated fashion as she scrunched her nose up and gestured at the table.
“Your table has a fire pit in it?” she asked incredulously “I didn’t know it did that!
How come the desk in my office doesn’t do that!
Kelrec, you've been holding out on me!”
He didn’t look up from his book and instead said “you didn’t ask” in a tone that probably sounded more irritated than he would have liked.
He was accurately aware that his social skills sailed very close to the wind, and that his neurodivergent nature meant he was wired slightly differently to others, often leaving them with the wrong impression of him.
An image of himself sat comfortably at one end of the spectrum and Nahla Ake waving at him like some small mischievous space pixie from the other end flashed across his mind.
He filed the image away in his head for proper inspection later.
He glanced up at her just in time to see ‘the look’.
He didn’t quite know how to interpret ‘the look’ yet, but she often used it on him.
He wondered if his inner guilt was something she was able to read, because in a flash she was smiling at him sweetly before she dropped onto the couch next to him, swinging her bare feet up onto the couch, and resting on her back in what he could only describe as an ‘untidy fashion’.
Just when he thought she was done, she scooched up so her head pressed into the side of his thigh.
He looked down at her with an uncomfortable frown on his face which only seemed to make her eyes sparkle even more.
“Watcha reading?” she enquired
“A book” he replied curtly.
“What’s it about?”
He paused only momentarily.
“It’s about a man who inherits a new house, but upon moving in discovers that instead of the nice orderly peaceful retreat he was expecting, it is instead haunted by a 400 year old ghost of a small women who is armed with a sharp stick that she uses to endlessly poke at him with."
“Really?, sounds weird, how does it end?"
“I don’t know, I haven’t got that far yet.”
She mulled this over for a moment “How do YOU think it is gonna end?”
He sighed in resignation, lowered the book onto his leg and looked down at her.
“Well I think the man eventually snaps, grabs himself a phaser, and shoots himself with it just to get away from her and finally have some personal space.”
She chuckled at him and used the back of her hand to swat him on the thigh.
“You’re adorable when you're rattled, and it’s 422 years old by the way."
A small smile played on his lips before he could do anything about it.
And then without warning, she scooched up some more and rested her head in his lap.
The manoeuvre totally threw him off balance, and he genuinely panicked for a moment before he regained control and let the book drop from his hand and onto the couch in what even he had to concede was probably a tad too dramatic a gesture.
“Was there something you wanted from me?” he enquired, knowing full well that she had gained the upper hand somehow.
“There was, but that can wait. What is the book really about?”
“It’s called Why Do Horses Run, it’s by a 21st century author called Cameron Stewart, and I was rather enjoying it”
“So no ghost in it?”
“No”
“Story for the soul?”
“I am finding it very compelling yes”
She hummed, gave him another look and then sat up suddenly, curling her toes appreciatively in front of the fire.
“So is it this button here?” she gestured at the small faint light on the table surface.
He nodded, and watched her press the button so the fire display sank back down into the table and then back up again as she played with the controls. He sighed and draped his arm over the back of the sofa, watching her in silence.
“So what else have you got hidden in this room? I mean it just looks totally sterile on the surface but Ive got a feeling now that there is more going on here than meets the eye.”
His eyes flicked to another barely visible panel on the arm of the couch and he regretted it instantly.
She moved to the new panel throwing him an almost pitiful look suggesting that this was all too easy, before she pressed a few buttons there too.
Suddenly the room was transformed. A holographic image of a beautiful sandy beach stretched out across the wall behind them whilst the opposite wall was now a mass of palm trees.
A pelican flew out and over their heads.
“Your office is a holo emitter?”
He knew he looked, and sounded crushed, this was personal to him.
“Not the whole room, it’s just a projection, it helps me . . . relax” he managed
“That and the tea” she said giving him an appraising look.
“Yes”
“Your whole damn office is just one big make-out pad Kelrec! When were you gonna tell me this?”
“I was, not surprisingly, not planning on mentioning it at all.
And it’s not, how do you put it, a ‘make-out pad’” his voice carried a hint of genuine surprise.
“You old dog” she swatted him playfully on the shoulder, picked up the book and snuggled into the sofa next to him.
His shoulders dropped in total defeat.
“So tell me more about the horses, and why they are running?” she asked happily.
“It’s not about horses at all”
“Very misleading title then”
“Not everything in life is what one might initially think it is”
She pursed her lips looking at him thoughtfully for a long moment
“No it isn’t is it. I’m right with you on that one.” She said warmly.
He was aware that he smiled again.
Damn.
~ end ~