The ceremony itself was simple; similar to many such Human rites, the body was displayed in a casket and well-wishers were allowed to view it before it was committed to the ground. Though some Federation cultures considered burying bodies a waste of space and resources, it was very important to the Andorians to carry out these rites. The bodies were always wrapped in the finest cloth, and the caskets themselves were ornately crafted; Andorian culture thrived on manufacturing, engineering, building, and designing, and sought to express that whenever and wherever it could.
After the ceremony came the departing of the well-wishers; which in this case took hours because each had to greet each member of the family in attendance and pronounce their own feelings of loss for the departed and their support for the family. It was clear that several of the guests were surprised at Jevor's presence; or perhaps not having originally realized he was missing from his patrarran's funeral, his presence now jogged their memory.
By the time the last guest had left, Jevor was feeling sheepish and completely embarrassed. He was torn between wishing he hadn't come this time either, and wishing he'd come for the first funeral. The engineer was leaning towards the latter when, lost in thought, he was surprised by Mina's sudden appearance in front of him. She gave him a small smile and kissed him on the cheek. "We can leave now," she whispered in his ear as she pulled away. He squeezed her hand in appreciation and allowed her to lead him away.
Another uncomfortable trip in the hover car followed the funeral, but to Jevor that was heaven compared to the ceremony. Everyone was silent as Garat, grim-faced and obviously hiding his emotions, piloted their car. Elka wept silently in the other front seat, while Mina, Illy, and Jevor rode in the back. As with the earlier ride, Illy avoided Jevor like the plague. Jevor had obviously noticed his sister's apparent disgust with him, but was opting to not make a scene of it until he could talk to her alone later. He knew she was probably still angry with him for leaving Andor so many years ago, but his career had demanded it. No doubt his recent lack of communication with her had compounded the problem.
Like many Starfleet Academy entrants, Belan Jevor had enrolled in the academy right out of school as a grim-faced, overly serious teenager. Since Andor had a branch of Starfleet Academy, he had opted to stay with his family and go to school there on Andor. During his years at the academy, and in its post-graduate officer training school, Illy had been born and had attached herself steadfastly to Belan; much more so than to any of the others. Not that she was in his way mind you; she was in some ways a very bright child and knew how important his studies and his friends were. She almost always seemed to disappear when appropriate. However, she was also not shy about letting him know when she felt he wasn't spending enough time with her.
Illiasha was just barely six years old when Belan graduated as a Lieutenant from officer training. He had known he would soon go on his first deep space assignment, known that he'd be leaving home for a lengthy period of time. In the excitement shared by him and his friends, perhaps also due somewhat to his youth, he'd never really considered his little sister in all of that. And Illy, being only six, didn't fully realize what graduation from Starfleet Academy's post-grad and Belan's posting to a starship really meant. Thus, with only two short days left, a passing comment by Jevor about his posting aboard the Wellington broke the young girl's heart.
"So how is grade school going?" Lieutenant Jevor had asked her.
"Fine," the six year old Illiasha had replied absent-mindedly as she played with some of Belan's freshly washed clothes, which he was folding and stacking on top of his bed.
"Are you learning to read and all that?" Belan inquired.
"I can read, silly," she told him playfully, flashing him a toothy grin. Andorian children typically started school at age three and Illy, like the other children her age, had already picked up the basics of reading, writing, and speaking with coherence.
"Good. You'll be able to read my letters then without pestering our matra," Jevor replied, returning her smile with one of his own as he continued sorting and folding his clothes.
"Letters? Why are you going to write me letters?" she asked.
"So you'll know what I'm up to. And you can write me letters about how our matra and patra are, and how things are here," Belan told her.
"I don't understand. Why do you want me to write you letters about home? You live here," Illy said.
"Honey, I'm leaving in two days. You know about my posting to the Wellington," he told her, stopping his work and focusing his attention solely on his sister.
By the dramatic change in her facial expression, Illy didn't know, or more precisely, hadn't put two and two together to realize that a post on a starship meant leaving home. "What do you mean you're leaving? You can't leave!" she exclaimed.
"Come on kiddo, I have to. It's my job and I have to advance my career," he told Illy as he sat down next to her. "It's not like I'll never be back you know."
Clearly she wasn't convinced. The serene little half-smile she had worn while she was messing around with his stacks of clothes disappeared and was replaced by a pouty frown. Her eyes grew large and her normally light blue face became somewhat navy in color as tears began to stream steadily down her cheeks.
"Oh, Illy come on now," Belan told her soothingly as he reached out to smooth some of her tangled hair out of her damp face. "It's not as bad as all that."
Illy flinched away despite his efforts and moved to the far side of the room where she bunched up in a corner and continued to cry; to her, it was like her whole world was ending, which was something Belan hadn't realized at the time. "I don't understand!" she sobbed. "What did I do? Why are you mad at me? Please don't be mad! Please don't leave!" she pleaded, her face pressed tightly into her lap.
"Illy, I'm not mad at you," Belan assured her as he walked around his furniture to sit near where she was curled up against one wall. "Why would you ever think something like that?"
Illy looked up, her eyes shooting daggers at her older brother. "Then why are you leaving me?" she demanded in an accusatory tone of voice.
Belan was a bit taken aback by that. "It's my job, sweetie," he told her after a moment's hesitation. "If I want a career as an officer in Starfleet, my next duty lies aboard a starship. School is but a tool to achieve greater goals; it's not an end in and of itself. Don't be so sad; I'll be back to visit and I'll send you messages all the time," he offered.
Illiasha didn't believe him, but she nonetheless unfurled herself and crawled over to where he was sitting. She hugged him tightly, burying her head in his shoulder. "I love you Belan. Please don't go," she said again in a soft quiet voice.
As it happened, Belan Jevor did leave as scheduled. During those last two days, Illiasha didn't let him out of her sight for a single minute, as if she was afraid he would leave without her knowing about it. In retrospect, Jevor concluded, that's probably exactly what she was afraid of. The day of his departure inevitably did come; Illy, along with the twins and most of the rest of the family, drove him to the spaceport and saw him off. Illy hugged him for an extended period of time; so long, in fact, that he nearly missed the transport to the Wellington. She literally had to be pried off of him, and when she was, the ensuing screech of agony was loud enough for the whole city to hear.
Belan kept to his promise and wrote his family, especially Illiasha, quite often, at least for the first year or so. He loved his family and missed them a great deal. He wished they could understand; or more precisely, he wished Illy could understand and accept it. Illy never once wrote him back, though he learned from messages from his other family members that she had had a very difficult time adjusting. His patrarran even went so far as to demand he come back to be with his sister during one particularly bad time; he'd refused of course, though not because he didn't want to be with his sister. Since it would've taken him over a week to get back, he didn't see how he could be much help, and he did have his duties to attend to after all. Though his patra had backed his decision, it was the beginning of a slowly growing rift between Belan and certain members of his family; obviously Illy felt that his decision not to return was in some way something against her, and those family members that had to help her were less inclined to cut him any slack.
As time passed, his letters became few and far between; they were almost always greeted with luke-warm responses at best, and he began to find other things to distract him. He'd made many new friends, including a certain Vulcan Ensign by the name of Valen, with whom he would go on to serve a couple of different posts with, until Valen's death aboard the Bristol. This, plus the rigors of trying to increase in rank and become a Chief Engineer, helped the void between he and his family to grow.
With his second posting, Jevor found his duties even harsher. He had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander and had been given the duties of Chief Engineer aboard the starship Sussex. Its Captain was a very demanding person; in part possibly because Jevor was young and unproven. The atmosphere aboard the ship was always tight; no one told jokes on the Bridge like they did on the Bristol, and no one stepped out of line. Even the tiniest failure in one's duty was greeted with a stiff verbal thrashing; this included asking for leave for family emergencies. The commander of the Sussex felt that any good Starfleet officer had their shipmates as their family; any other ties were superfluous and detracted from one's ability to perform their duty. Thus, when Jevor's patrarran died, he didn't even bother to ask his captain for leave; he just made up some excuse and sent it back to his family, along with the note of condolence Illy had apparently committed to memory. Jevor needed a stellar review from his captain for career advancement, and he had vowed to show him no weakness.
After three years of life aboard the Sussex without apparent hope for advancement, Jevor was just about to resign in futility when the offer to serve aboard the Bristol came. The captain of the Sussex actually seemed sorry to see Jevor go, and gave him a glowing review; in a way not surprising since Jevor had gone out of his way to be exactly what the captain wanted him to be. Jevor had served with Captain Freeman briefly aboard the Wellington, when Freeman was then a Lieutenant Commander. The two had become quick friends and had sporadically kept in touch over the years. It was on Freeman's personal request that Jevor was offered the job of Chief Engineer aboard the Bristol, and for that, Jevor was very much in his debt.
Jevor's reliving of the past was interrupted by a hand shaking his shoulder. "Belan, are you going to sit there in the car all day, or would you care to come in to the house?" his older sister Mina prodded him.
"What?" he replied, blinking at her. "Oh, um, yes, I'd love to. Thank you Mina," Belan replied after regaining his bearings. Illy merely scowled at him and shook her head, running off ahead of the rest of the family. Belan's matra, Kalla, was already waiting for them in the kitchen of the main house, along with the twins Tiram and Meanak, as they had arrived home just ahead of Belan's group. The house itself was very large, and was a sturdy, finely crafted structure. There had been noticeable changes made to it since the days of Belan's youth.
Illy immediately went over and gave her matra, Kalla, a big hug. When Belan then approached, she seethed at him and went running out the back, leaving Kalla and Belan to talk while the rest of the family went about other business.
"She hasn't said one nice word to me since my arrival," Belan Jevor noted of Illy as he took a seat next to his matra.
"She's in a lot of pain," Kalla replied. "As are we all, though I think it is especially intense for her and I feel for her. She had very few true relatives, even fewer now. Your return, though very welcome, has reopened a wound for her I think," she continued quietly.
"Why? I didn't do anything to her!" Belan complained.
"Didn't you?"
"What, was I supposed to stay here my whole life and till the land? That's ridiculous," Belan complained.
Kalla's eyes grew angry. "It was the chosen life of your patra and your patrarran. Don't you dare call it ridiculous," she reproved.
"I'm sorry matra, I didn't mean it like that. I'm very proud of what our family has accomplished here, but it just wasn't something I wanted to do at the time," Belan explained.
"It was a choice," Kalla agreed, her voice even. "You made the choice and the responsibility for it is yours. You chose your career over your family, and you must now accept the consequences of that. Whether you meant to or not, you hurt your sister."
"And you?" he inquired.
"We've always been proud of you, Belan. Anything you wanted to do, we supported. You did a great honor to our family with your success and your chosen line of work. Your patra couldn't stop telling his friends about his only son and what a man he'd become," she answered, smiling wistfully at the recollection. "However, your little sister saw things differently."
"What can I do?" Jevor asked after a brief pause.
"Give her some time, Belan. She'll come around eventually," Kalla suggested. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll retire for the evening. It's been a very exhausting day." Belan helped her up, to which she smiled and patted his hand. "Thank you my son, but I can manage. I'm not all that old yet you know." Belan smiled and looked on after his matra as she left the kitchen and made her way to her room.
"Far be it for me to dispute the advice of your matra, but I think it'll take a bit more than that with Illy," Mina said from one of the room's other doorways. Startled, Belan turned quickly to face her. "My apologies Belan; I didn't mean to eavesdrop or sneak up on you."
"It's alright. Please come in," Belan Jevor offered. His older sister left the doorway and took a seat at the table next to her brother. "What did you mean by your comments about Illy?"
"I just meant that time alone isn't going to cure the rift between you two; you're going to have to do something about it yourself," she explained, pushing her hair back over her antennae with both hands.
"What do you suggest?"
"Well for one thing, come back to visit more often," she teased. "Spend some time with her while you're here also. And be patient. If you'd care to get started right away, I believe she's in one of those trees you and Hanarran used to play in out back," Mina said, motioning with her thumb back over her shoulder out the door Illy had run out of.
Belan flashed her a quick smile, "Thanks Mina." He got up quickly and jogged out the back.
It was getting dark once Belan made it outside to look for Illy, making finding her no small task. He decided to start with his favorite tree, which was fortuitous because that was exactly where she was.
"Illy, is that you up there?" Belan asked of a dark shape occupying a tree limb several feet off the ground.
"No," came a tiny reply.
"Come on, Illy, it's me Belan," he called up to her.
"I know who you are; at least I thought I did," the voice replied sarcastically.
Jevor sighed. "Just what is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing, dear brother. I just haven't seen you in twenty years and people change over time, that's all," she told him harshly. "Maybe you're not the same Belan I knew."
"It's only been six years, dear sister," he corrected.
"Maybe to you, but it feels like a lifetime to me," Illy replied harshly. "Why did you have to leave? I was completely alone here!" she continued, her voice raising.
"What do you mean you were completely alone here? That's ridiculous!" he replied harshly. "Everyone else was here with you! Our parents, Mina, Garat, the twins; they were all here. How could you possibly be alone with that many people around you?"
"It isn't the same," she replied simply.
"As you so astutely pointed out, people change. Part of that change sometimes means people leave people that they love behind to pursue new things," Belan explained. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Illy, I swear it. I tried to send you messages as often as I could, but you never replied. How come?"
The sound of leaves and branches shaking was followed by a thump onto the grass; the shadowy form from up in the tree had joined her brother on solid ground. "I was upset for a very long time. I thought I'd done something to make you want to go away. I'd never really felt as close to anyone as I felt with you, never as comfortable with anyone. I love our family because they're our family, but I love you because you're you. Do you understand? That's why I felt alone, even with everyone else here. Anyway, I didn't write because I thought maybe that was some way I could get back at you or make you come home. That was probably a little childish of me," Illy conceded.
"I missed you terribly you know, little sister," Belan admitted. "I often wondered how you were and what you were up to."
In response Illy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Belan's neck. "I missed you too. I'm glad you're here," she told Belan, her arms still locked around her brother. "I never could stay mad at you, you know."
"For that I'm thankful," Belan replied honestly. "And I'm glad I'm here too." It wasn't until he'd actually said it that he realized it was true.
At length Illy shivered slightly and released Belan from her vise grip. "I'm cold," she told him.
"Do you want to go back to the house?"
Illy nodded affirmatively, barely perceptible in the faint light. "Would you carry me just like you did when I was younger?"
"Sure," Belan agreed, hoisting his sister up. "You know you're getting to be pretty heavy," he noted.
"I am not!" she scolded, laughing as the two proceeded back to the house. "I think that Starfleet of yours has made you pampered."
Jevor stayed around the house for the next several days, spending a great deal of quality time with his family, especially his sister Illiasha. It felt really good to be with them all again; he didn't realize it until now, but he'd really missed the atmosphere of home. It felt really good to be back.
Despite the fact it was still technically their period of mourning, Garat and the widows were already taking steps to prepare themselves for running the family business. Belan Jevor was occasionally within earshot of these meetings, and he could tell they were not going well. Frustration was clearly setting in as they all already had too much to deal with to add more work to themselves, but at the same time they also realized that they didn't have much of a choice. The twins had left for the southern province, and they would be of no help for the tasks that lay ahead. There was no one to pick up the slack, unless they brought in an outsider. Belan chaffed at the thought.
"So your leave must be just about up Belan," Elka noted at the family dinner table one night a week after Belan had arrived.
"Yes, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow morning," he replied evenly.
"Tomorrow!?" Illiasha screeched. "Why didn't you say anything brother?"
"Illy don't fret. I'm not leaving, at least not in the way you think," Belan told her.
"I think that requires some explanation," Elka said.
"I've given things a lot of thought over the last week. I've decided my duty right now is to stay and help out around here, where I'm needed most by my family. I've shirked my responsibilities in the past; it's time I gave something back," Belan explained. "Matra, I'd like your permission to stay and help."
"You have it of course, my son," Kalla replied cautiously. "What about your career and your responsibilities in Starfleet?"
"I'm going to return the shuttle I came in and apply for an extended leave of absence. I'll ask the captain to send someone along with me and drop me off back here," he told them. Illiasha squealed with delight at that prospect and leaned way over, kissing her brother on the cheek while nearly falling off her chair.
"Illy be careful!" Kalla reproved. To Belan she continued, "If you think that's best, my son. What will happen if your captain doesn't give you the extended leave?"
"Then I'll resign my commission," Jevor told her quietly.
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