Cousins (Part Two)

Posted on 07/01/2021 @ 12:02pm by Captain Cara Letsul & Adira Toril-Harrington

3,326 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: The Mirror’s Edge
Location: Cara's Quarters
Timeline: Take place after: Late Night Sessions

( Continuation)

Adira blinked and shook her head, so many questions at once. She was trying to keep up and it was knocking her anger back. The adrenaline rush of the fight was pulling back her level of buzz from drinking earlier too. “I suspected the Holonanny already. I told him about that a few days ago.” she scowled. Was he listening to this woman before he listened to her?

“As for telling Neil. I need to talk to him about a lot of things, including WHY I came here tonight. I’d prefer if you do not tell him anything until I talk to him. “ she blushed. That was not going to be a pleasant conversation, and yet she felt justified in her suspicion. He hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about his friendships and who he was talking to. How was she supposed to trust him?

“What else did you ask?” she paused, “Ah the other Adira. She was killed by the same mirror enemy that tried to ensure I was also killed. The Empress, who is now dead.” she said. “She had it out for me back home, and here… well. We don’t know why she targeted this Adira, other than the possibility of just being pissed off.” she sighed, “As terrible of a woman as the other Adira was, I’m pretty sure she was innocent of wrongdoing against the Empress, and it was her connection to Neil that got her killed. The empress had taken the place of Neils then fiance…. Adira was getting close, with the twins and all. We think that the empress thought that was a threat to her position with Neil.” she shrugged a shoulder.

“I can’t remember what your last question was.” Adira frowned trying to remember as her thoughts swirled.

“ I was wondering if your cousin, MU Cara, was nice to you.” Cara’s own mind swirling at the information that Adira gave to her. She went to sit back down on the couch, she was robbed at getting to know her own cousin, the small child that was so cute. Her eyes panned back to Adira. “I’ll let you handle the details with Neil.” folding her arms across her abdomen feeling like she needed to do so, to keep herself together.

Adira took a breath, “She was nice to me. We were close until Adam.” she said. “Shes the only real family left there, but, I doubt I’ll ever see her again.” Adira eyed her, still not certain if she fully believed the innocence of friendship here. She wasn’t sure what would make her feel better about it. Maybe if Neil told her, without her having to confront him.

"I am glad that she was nice to you, and who is Adam?" Cara picked up some details from her body language. "I do hope that you will get to see her, your cousin once more, and maybe you will. I don't know how the universe is weaving all this together though. Unfortunately, I won't have that chance to get to know the other you in this universe.” Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly Cara stated, "Look, I don't know how I can convince you that Neil and I haven't kissed, or even slept together. I've got my own troubles and I've been doing my best to keep him out of it."

"All that has happened is he and I met where I work. As in, I am a bartender and I am also.. Well, I used to be a counselor. He looked troubled, I asked questions" she shrugged. "Second nature to me. He was hurting so, I tried to ease the pain, and not by sleeping with him. I've got my own problems with my love life as it is, so I wasn't looking for a notch in my bedpost or a romance. Also I didn’t want anyone to know I am here, hiding. I asked Neil not to tell anyone, who I am and not mention I was here. However that cloak is now ripped aside especially since I went to help out at that explosion. It will be easy enough for some people to find me.” Cara shrugged again.

Adira sighed, “Forgive me for not being wholly trusting very quickly. Things have been… well my trust has been broken a lot. I feel like this universe is just as much filled with evil as the one I was born to.” she said, rubbing her forehead. “I just… Well ever since I came here and I decided to be with Neil the rumors of his sneaking around have been flying. People would approach me and tell me about him smiling and laughing with pretty young ensigns while i’m managing 4 rowdy children. I always defended him.” she sighed, “But I can’t lie and say that doubts didn’t get planted.” she confessed, “And when the DTI showed me the videos of you and him… telling me he moved on and he didn’t even want to talk to me… those doubts took root and now I’m just…” she sighed loudly.

"Yup familiar with those sorts of tricks that are being played. I would like to just... throttle the ones who did that to you. I really would like to. Lies, deceptions, manipulations. It seems a master is working behind the scenes." Cara mused, then she looked at Adira once more. "Tell me about this Adam person? Who or what is he?"

Adira looked at her and let out a breath, why was this woman so easy to talk to? It was because she looked so much like her own cousin. She had told her cousin everything when they had been connected. She’d been almost a second mom to her in some ways. “Adam is my former husband. He died with our son in a shuttle accident a few years ago.” she licked her lips, “We had a short time together, always moving. He didn’t really like the fact that I was getting involved with the rebellion, Cara is in the rebellion. He felt I was putting our son at risk by getting involved.” she said. “It wasn’t like he wasn’t defiant against the Empire too.” she scoffed and then closed her mouth. She hated to think ill of a dead man, the father of her sweet little boy. Jonus has the best parts of both of them, Adams charm, his handsome face, Adiras passion. Her heart squeezed, missing him.

Cara reached out her hand towards Adira out of compassion for the woman. "Oh dear." her eyes watering feeling the grief Adira was feeling at the loss of her little boy. "I am so sorry, words just can't.." her voice faded away, she just wanted to sweep Adira into a comforting embrace. "I'd like to give you an embrace but I don't want to overstep your boundaries." a tear trickled down her cheek. "I know you don't trust me and I won't even ask you to trust me."

She allowed the woman to take her hand, but she was not ready for an embrace. She looked at her, “Have you had such an intimate loss too?” she asked her. Only another mother could truly feel the grief that Adira felt when she thought of Jonus. It made her want to go home and gather up the other children now. It pained her to wait and to do it right.

Cara could only shake her head at that question. "I've not had a child of my own. And I may never have one, with how things are going. I can feel your grief though. I do know loss, but of a different kind." giving her own sigh. "I have seen the devastation a mother and father go through when they lose a child, have felt the bitter pain, still I can't ever say, I know how you feel." giving a comforting squeeze of her hand and then letting go.

“I forget the empathic senses.” Adira said after feeling baffled at the shared emotional reaction. She rubbed her hands together as she stared at them. “I’m sorry I came here and fought you. I’m just… Neil is going through so much and I just can’t allow a distraction to confuse him more. I feel like its an attack and I can’t stop all the attacks… I just… I don't know how much more I can take, how much more I can see him endure.” she licked her lips. “Hell I found out from someone else that he lost his father… He’s not even told me…. His wife… how is a man to endure so much crap that he doesn’t even tell his wife that his father died?”

"Wait, what?" Cara raised an eyebrow on that. "I didn't know that he had lost his father." searching her memories, "Nope I truly didn't know at all." Then she looked at Adira. "I think he is compartmentalizing what he can handle, Neil seems to have that ability to section things off and deal with the situation one at a time. Right now, it's you, and the kids. Especially the children. Once that is done, then he will probably go to the next section. I have no clue as to what that will be. I am also thinking that he didn't want you to be feeling so guilty about what is happening, that you'd leave yourself open for more manipulation. There are men who have that innate nature of being protective. And Neil is one of them."

Cara thought quietly for a moment. "A man or woman can find some inner strength by talking to someone they may feel they can trust to a point, an outsider who isn't involved. That may not be the case where I am concerned any further. Once he finds out that you and I met. "

"Would you be willing for me to be one of his confidantes? Or will you cut him off from talking to someone who may have some sort of perspective that another may not have. Like a counselor." locking her gaze with Adira, "If you let jealousy come into play here, a solution will not be found, and I won't be able to help out, both you and Neil.”

Adira looked at her, “Jealousy is natural when your husband is having late night confidence emeetings with a woman as beautiful as you are when she’s in nothing but a robe.” she said. “But He needs someone to talk to…” she sighed. “I think I just need him to tell me about you… to help me trust the situation. I mean… It wouldn’t be the first time a husband of mine tried to sleep with… well… you.” she winced at the reminder of that history.

Cara's mouth dropped open, then she recovered, "Wait, what? I hope he wasn't successful. From what you had told me, if I were in her shoes, I'd probably do something to Adam. Maybe lure him in close and... shut him down using nerve strikes. Or just flat out refuse him. Probably would depend on my mood, and how angry I was. " Cara looked down at the robe she was wearing then moved the lower part, near the leg. "I've got a night gown underneath this." showing a section of a pale pink silken material. "However, I do understand your concern." looking up at Adira, then straightening upright.

"I hope he does tell you, Adira. If he doesn't, he may have his reasons why he doesn't, though he may actually tell you. Give him time, and there shouldn't be any shame either. Especially since he's not ever made any overtures towards me in any form of an intimate way. Only as tentative friends." Cara stated, giving a shrug. “And now here we are, at a crossroads of our own. Will you continue to try to kill me or will we move forward and try to work things out.” her eyes are kind and gentle.

Adira swallowed hard and folded her hands together, her knuckle a little sore from striking Cara. “I’m not going to try and kill you. I had too much to drink and I was stupid. I never intended to seem like I wanted to kill you. I just thought I would scare off a threat to my marriage.” she sighed. She looked at her, remembering all the times she and her own Cara had been so close. She had been able to cry in her arms, and Cara in hers. Until Adam they were each others biggest support.

“I’m going to try and trust this. I really am going to try. Please understand.. Everything I’ve thought I could trust on this side of the universe has turned out to be sullied somehow. Maybe not everything, but a lot of things. My trust is broken and I don’t know who or what to trust.” she said.

"I really do understand, Adira. I really do. I think you and Neil are in the same boat. And don't let this add fuel to the pyre of pain and anger you have right now, but, Neil had said the same thing. It wasn't in reference to you, but the whole circumstances with the kids and whomever is pulling the strings behind the scenes. He might even be questioning the friends he has here. But that is more of a speculation on my part." Cara replied. "It will be up to you as to whom you can trust. I have been in circumstances where I don't know whom to trust or what either. Which is why I am here, to sort matters out. I do know there is at least one or two people I can trust. I hope there will be more but not right off the bat."

Adira frowned, as she considered back through the conversation. “Why are you hiding out here?” she asked. “Who is it you are afraid of?”

Cara leaned against the back of the couch. "It's not that I am afraid of them, and not certain as of yet who is after me, but I do know that I was being watched. Watched for quite some time now. It may have something to do with my background, well maybe backgrounds.." Cara paused as she mused over something. "I don't know if I should talk too much about my background. I don't want to drag you or Neil into anything that might be coming my way."

“Years ago a gate had been found, the ancients had used it to travel to different worlds, some used it to travel back in time for observation to have a true experience on history. Well that was what myself and our away team figured out.along with the science teams that were sent to study it. From what I have been told, I had called the science teams back, I guess I made a command decision to call them back, I really don’t remember why I did. And up until that point of time, I had a good memory. One day I had a feeling to go to the gates, and found the man that I love injured, close to death. I rescued him, got him back to the starbase and got him the medical help he needed. He actually died once on the table, but they were able to bring him back. He was sent home to Earth to recover. After that though, my memory goes even more patchy. “

“According to reports, I took personal time off and wasn’t in contact with anyone for a week or so, then I was found on a shuttle with no memory of where I had been and no recollection of what I had done on my personal time or even how I got on that shuttle. To make things worse, the gates had disappeared, And no one knows where they are anymore. And for some reason, it is thought that I know the location of the gates, along with the keys that operate it. I was sent to a place where I had to use a hypo to turn off my telepathy and was interrogated by unknown people about the gates, where the keys were and also what happened to the man I loved.” she shrugged. “It's still a mystery to me where the gates are at.” Cara stopped and placed her arm in her lap.

Adira listened to her story and frowned, “Gates that can travel back in time, go to different worlds without ships. That's power.” she said. “THis universe is so dark Cara. It seems so light compared to where I was born, but the more I learn, the darker this universe seems. It's insidious. It makes you feel comfortable…. Safe… buts it not.”

"Actually some of the areas did have ship size access points too, it was really interesting and concerning. Can you imagine being able to send troops in transports or a cargo ship as well that way? Fortunately, they didn't have anything big enough to send a Galaxy Class Vessel through that I can remember. Or was there?" Cara mused on that for a moment then addressed the latter part of what Adira had said.

"There are safe sanctuaries that one can make, but they don't always stay safe, unless there are those who work to have it be. That's why there is a Federation and people working together to try to make things more safer. It doesn't always happen but we all do try. I agreed to be a rear admiral, of which I mentioned earlier, because I wanted to help with keeping people safe. I did my best, people thrived but now, I am tired, I feel like I am broken. And I don’t know if I can take any more of the machinations of those who think they can play the game of pulling strings.Not until I get a bit of a rest, or try to do so.” Cara stretched a little bit and hid a yawn behind one of her hands. “I feel I have to sleep with one eye open at times.” lowering her hand, “Now I’d like us to be friends when you feel comfortable enough to do so. If that's okay with you.” Even though the fight burned some of the alcohol from her system, Cara was feeling another wave of weariness over take her.

Adira could read the cue. It was time to part ways. She blushed mildly, “Again I’m sorry for the way I showed up… I… I lost control. I understand what you mean about being tired and broken. For the sake of my cousin I will try to be friends with you. I feel like I want to trust you and I know that is just because of your face. Either way, thank you for being honest with me, assuming you were.” she said with a cynical chuckle. “A step forward from here.” she said. She turned towards the door. “I hope that a safe haven can be had. For both of us.” she said before quickly leaving the room, and heading back for her hotel room, fully ashamed of herself, but having a glimmer of hope.

Neil was certainly not preventing the appearance of wrong doing, but maybe he wasn’t actually doing anything wrong. Maybe there were glimmers of light still alive in this universe. The Federation might be the so called becon f light here, but in her experience they were just faking that light… but if it went down further to the actual people. Maybe. Just maybe, some of the people were genuine. She could only hope.

END

Cara Letsul
Bar Tender

Adira Toril Harrington
NPC- Junipyr Danae

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