Peace Talks
by Sunraven, Oct 23, 2000

Dr. Terra McClare was sitting in the garden of meditation that had been assigned to her in the Minbari capitol city, Yedor. The peace and quiet, both physical and empathic, was restful to her overstretched senses. She'd been with the Warrior Caste Shai-Alyt, Branmer, for the entire day. The Warriors' emotions were usually turbulent on a normal basis, but at the moment they were much worse than that. The angry resentment they felt for being forced by the Religious Caste to surrender right on the verge of winning the war with Earth was causing a shocking number of incidents between the two castes. Both Delenn, the nominal head of the Religious Caste, and Bramner were feeling the pressure while they tried to regain control of their people. Add to that the fact that the peace talks between the Humans and the Minbari were scheduled to begin in only a quarter cycle topped off an already volatile situation.

She had spent the last four months with the Minbari learning to understand them better as preparation for her role as empathic mediator for the peace talks. It had been a wonderful opportunity, though it had also been fraught with tension. She found these people fascinating. Their culture was balanced on precarious and razor-edged lines of peace between the castes. Rituals were what kept heads cool and allowed the status quo to continue. Honor was in their heart-blood, and the rituals supported that honor.

But the war with Earth had changed all that.

Now the Warrior Caste was angry, more angry than they usually were as a caste. Their collective pride had been pricked by the forced surrender, and they weren't happy at all with the caste that had forced that upon them. Bramner had let her monitor him all day to let her become familiar with the needs and problems of the Warrior Caste. She would stay with him now until the peace talks started. She had already done her stint with the other two castes and the Guild of Telepaths.

She thought about the hatred for her and her kind that she had felt over and over coming from the warriors who Branmer had seen that day. There had been only two exceptions, one being the Shai-Alyt himself and the other being his Alyt and Aide, Neroon. Branmer was half Religious Caste, and so he understood the need for the surrender a bit better than his warlike brethren. As for Neroon, that young man was a mass of conflicting emotions that often gave her a headache when she was around him for very long. He had learned to respect her somewhat when the Minbari had first tested her for the mediator position. But she confused him, and he was awfully jealous of Branmer's growing fondness for her. At least jealousy was what the feelings felt like. It was hard to tell with him sometimes.

And now she was going to be forced to spend the next month in very close quarters with him and others of his caste. She was due to ride with them on the Ingata to Aldenon, the Centauri planet that had been leased by both governments for the peace talks. She needed to learn more about the Warrior Caste as they were going to be the most difficult to settle into neutrality of all of the three castes.

She felt someone enter her garden just then. Someone full of anger, pride, ambition, and, yes, uncertainty and confusion. She didn't know the person well enough to recognize his, he felt undoubtedly male, emotional signature. But it was definitely against Minbari protocol to interrupt someone in a meditation garden. She reached a bit deeper to see if she was in danger. No threat came off of him. This was really odd. A rude Minbari?

Now she could hear his footsteps as boots crunched across crys-gravel and he turned the corner around a D'tahhn tree.

It was Alyt Neroon.

He came up to her, giving off embarrassed vibes now for disturbing her. "Dr. McClare. Forgive me for disturbing your meditations."

She stood up from the stone bench and came to meet him, looking up at his fierce face curiously. "I felt you coming. Is something the matter, Alyt Neroon?"

Now he looked down and away from her. "No, nothing is wrong, if that is what you mean. I wished to talk with you. I have questions."

Now she was confused. "Questions that are urgent enough that you would interrupt my meditations?"

He bristled at the perceived rebuke and said defensively, "I do not have much solitary time, what with my duties to the Shai-Alyt, and I had no other opportunity to come."

She smiled at him, and felt embarrassment and confusion as a result. And a grudging male-female attraction. Smiles weren't common among the Warrior Caste, and hers seemed to disorient Neroon something fierce. He wouldn't find being attracted to a female Human very pleasant either, she knew. He hopefully would learn, as Terra had done, to chalk it up to biochemistry and curiosity and then to ignore it. "I wasn't rebuking, only curious. As the empathic mediator, I am of course available to all of the diplomatic team and their aides." She waved to the stone bench. "Will you sit with me?"

He nodded briskly and moved in his graceful warrior's way to sit down. She sat down next to him, and turned to lean against the bench arm so that she could face him. She pulled her bare feet (she had been meditating, after all) up to the bench, and wrapped her arms around her legs.

He looked at her feet, then surprised Terra by blushing and at the same time giving off an erotic surge of emotion that scorched her a bit. Oh, oh. She guessed from his reaction that Minbari females don't show bare feet in the present of unmarried males. Oh to hell with it. She wasn't Minbari, and he needed to realize that. She could ape their customs fairly well by now, but she was still Human. Out of sheer Human stubbornness she kept her legs up on the bench.

"What do you wish to ask me, Alyt Neroon?" Let's get things back to business.

He tore his eyes away from her feet and up to her face. "When the Prometheus fired upon Dukhat's cruiser, I am still confused as to why that Captain did that. I have heard the official story, but I am afraid that I do not believe it."

"What have you heard?" He had the darkest eyes she'd ever seen. Yet they seemed to have a light glowing deep within them. Terr, get back to the subject.

"Your government has told us that the Captain who fired on us made a wrong decision. That it was bad judgment. But I find that difficult to believe of a leader so high up in Earthforce command, after my experience with your warriors."

"It was more than just bad judgment. You're correct in your assessment. But Earthforce didn't feel as though they should go into it into more detail. But it isn't a secret. The Captain of the Prometheus was a paranoiac, Alyt. He had hidden his delusions and fears from the medics, but they had grown inside him like a cancer. When he came upon your ships, which are extremely frightening to a people not as advanced as you are, he reacted from his mental illness, not his experience as an officer."

"How do you know of it, then? It seems that that would have been kept secret among your military and political hierarchy."

She smiled at that. "They asked me to read him empathetically when the Prometheus returned to Earth. He had learned to fake out the testing machines so well that they needed concrete proof as to his illness to make a decision on what to do with him. And they didn't trust Psi-Corps to do it."

Now surprise was his strongest emotion. "You were very young to have received such an honor, were you not? You must have been just a child."

"In years, I suppose I was young. But never make the mistake to believe that I was ever young in spirit, Alyt. I've lived with people's emotions intruding on me for my entire life. I was born with the gift, not grown into it as most gifted people are. I've felt such evil as you can never imagine, and such goodness as well from people since I was small. You grow up real fast in those circumstances. Most people go mad as well."

"But you did not."

"No. My mother kept me sane and protected me until I was old enough to build my own shields. Without her, I would have been in some Psi-Corp mental ward long ago. It still isn't easy for me. I expect it never will be." Now why did she tell him that? Showing weakness to a man like Neroon was never a good idea. He was a born predator, was this enigmatic Minbari soldier.

"So you showed this man to be insane. I see. It truly was a tragic mistake." He shook his head, and the fierce warrior's face gentled for a few seconds. "So many died for a mistake due to insanity."

"Why Neroon, you don't hate Humans any more, do you?"

He blushed again, and his familiar angry glare returned. "I still resent your people, Terra. I resent the leader and the friends they took from me. But I believe that they have more than paid the price for their mistakes."

"Could I ask you a question that has long puzzled me, Neroon, without you taking offense?"

The dark gaze sharpened. "I rarely take offense, Terra."

Hah! In a pig's eye, you don't! Schooling her expressive face not to show her amusement, she asked her question. "As I have come to know and admire your people, and your culture, there is one thing I don't understand about the Warrior Caste. Your caste holds personal honor very high in importance. That was why the anger your caste felt about the dishonorable destruction of the Black Star through treachery was so strong that Sinovar killed himself rather than obey the surrender order. But what I still don't understand is how could your caste consider the destruction of such a technologically inferior race as honorable behavior. My people didn't have a chance against yours, Neroon. Is it honorable for the cat to squash the ant?"

He didn't lose his temper, to her surprise. Instead he looked down at his hands, then brought his eyes back up to meet hers again. "I am not familiar with those animals, but I comprehend your point. In a normal war, if there is any such thing of course, we would not have proceeded as close to genocide as we did. The leaders of my caste would have disdained your EarthForce and their antiquated technology as being too unimportant to be treated as an enemy. But when your ship caused the death of our leader, your people earned our anger. And even though your fighters were outgunned and had no chance at all, through their skill and tenacity they finally earned our respect by showing themselves to be formidable opponents. Then it became more honorable than just, as you put it, squashing ants. Does that answer your question?"

She smiled and without thinking about it put her hand on his. "With respect, then there is hope for these talks. Thank you, Alyt Neroon. You have given me a great gift by sharing your viewpoint with me." She could sense his discomfort at her touch, and she started withdrawing her hand. She was a touching person, and some of the Minbari such as Delenn and Relinn apparently liked that very much. Even Branmer didn't seem to mind. But for some reason Neroon got all shook up whenever she touched him. I have to remember that, and stop doing it to him! But for some reason she often felt so comfortable with him that it happened without thinking. It was a bad mistake for a mediator to make, and she had to start thinking when she felt the urge to do it.

Once her hand was back around her legs, he looked at her. "Why do you do that?"

"Why do I do what, Alyt?"

"Touch me like that. And the Shai-Alyt as well. It is not a custom of our people to do so, and I was wondering..."

"It isn't always a custom of my people either, I guess. But in my case, I do it automatically because I've always touched people. Touching helps block my empathic gift somewhat, and I've done it my entire life to help anchor me. And as a sign of respect and... uh, affection as well."

Now he looked surprised. "You feel affection for me?"

Sensing he wanted the truth, she gave it to him. "I admire and respect you, Alyt. And I feel extremely comfortable around you when you are calm. I feel as if, given the proper circumstances, that we could become friends. I apologize for making you uncomfortable by touching you. If you wish, I will try not to do it again."

Now the eyes looked as deep as space suddenly as he stared into her own. "If it gives you comfort to touch me, then you may continue to do so. Your customs are not mine," He briefly glanced at her bare feet again. "And I will try to understand that. I... admire you as well, Doctor. If I had known you before the war, then I believe that I could never had killed as many of your people as I did without feeling some remorse."

Then he got up from the bench, bowed to her, and said, "Thank you for your time, Doctor McClare. I am in your debt."

She got up as well. "Any time, Alyt Neroon. I enjoyed our talk."

He looked startled at that. "Yes, I ...enjoyed it as well."

Then he turned and left the garden. A dark and violent man with an inner core of decency, honor, and strength. Who would have thought it? And damnably attractive, too. She sighed. It had been way too long since she'd had a lover. That was the only reason she found Neroon so attractive. There would be an entire unit of fury pilots on the peace planet when they got there. Maybe she would find someone there, or maybe not. Oh, well. Whatever will be will be. She went back to her meditating and tried to rid herself of the image of eyes and the feel of emotions as dark and all-engulfing as space.

-- continued in part two --