Chapter 16: On the Way Home

"You know what you ought to do. Clear your character handsomely before her. Tell her that you think very highly of the understanding of women."

- Eleanor Tilney in Northanger Abbey to her brother Henry, after he teases her and Catherine Morland

"Miss Morland, I think very highly of the understanding of all the women in the world – especially of those – whoever they may be – with whom I happen to be in company."

- Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey (This is a direct answer to the quote above. He's still teasing them and goes on to tease them more.)

Amanda was right. After the scene with Rennila and Phocas in the blue sitting room, everyone met in the library, where the king announced the departure of Phocas and Rennila and the continuation of the negotiations. Everything went much more smoothly now that the two chief troublemakers were gone. In two days' time, the remaining ambassadors managed to work out an agreement which satisfied them all.

Amanda was surprised and a little unhappy that the king was going to give the Romulans any dilithium at all, even the small amount he offered them. However, Sarek pointed out that it was a small price to pay for continued peace with the Romulans and that the final agreement overwhelmingly favored the Federation and its allies. The Minali were completely excluded from the final agreement, and Sarek predicted that they would face trouble from the Romulans for a long time to come. Phocas was certainly going to have a lot of explaining to do when he reached his home planet.

Prince Liron, having been forgiven by his father for his foolish behavior, had been an eager participant in the final negotiations. Sarek later told Amanda that the young man was bright and thoughtful and showed considerable promise as a negotiator. Queen Gennadia said that she believed that he had learned some valuable lessons about dealing with people from his experiences with Rennila and that he would be more careful in choosing who to trust in the future.

Queen Gennadia spent much of the time while the negotiations were finalized visiting with Amanda. She and Amanda talked briefly about the ending of The Ghost of Grey Tower Heights. However, most of their conversation was about Phocas and Rennila.

"I'm so glad that you suggested hiding in the secret passage and spying on them," Gennadia said. "How did you know that Phocas would try to give the jewel back to her then?"

"I just thought that he would want to get rid of it as soon as he could," Amanda said. "He knew that I'd seen it. Even if I hadn't realized that it was Rennila's, he knew that I would probably tell others about it, and sooner or later, someone would make the connection. Phocas knew that King Othniel would be angry with him for bringing Rennila here, and if he could give the jewel back to Rennila, it would be more difficult to connect him with her."

"I still don't understand why he wanted to bring the Romulans into the negotiations at all," Gennadia said.

"Well, he could have been hoping to set the Romulans and the other ambassadors against each other so badly that he could get the king to favor his people over all the others," Amanda suggested. "Although, Sarek's theory is that he was hoping all along that the negotiations would be cancelled so that his people could engage in illegal mining in this system before any official trade agreements were put in place."

"I'm glad we've seen the last of them," Gennadia said, "but spying on them and catching them was exciting! For a moment, I felt like a heroine in a novel."

"I know what you mean," Amanda said. "However, I think I've had enough of novels for now."

"Intrigue in real life isn't the same as intrigue in stories, is it?" Gennadia said. "But the stories still have their appeal, and I'm sure that, eventually, you'll want to lose yourself in one of them again."

"Just not right away," Amanda said. "I've still got work to finish, and then we'll see."

When the negotiations were finally complete and it was time for everyone to leave, Gennadia was sorry to see Amanda go and invited her to come back and visit when she was able.

Andrew Betz, on the other hand, was not leaving at all. Immediately after the trade agreement was finalized, he publicly announced that he would be resigning his position with Ambassador Morgan and returning to civilian life so that he could ask Princess Desta to marry him. From the cheerful mood of the king and queen, Amanda thought that it was likely that they would approve. Ambassador Morgan said that he would be sorry to lose Betz but that he understood the situation completely and even envied him a little. Princess Desta gave Amanda a big hug and thanked her for her earlier advice.

"You were right!" Desta said enthusiastically. "Everything worked out just like you said it would."

Sarek raised an eyebrow at her, and Amanda smiled.

"I'm very happy for you both," Amanda told Desta.

In their quarters back on the T'Vel, Amanda sat back and rubbed her eyes. She had been working steadily since their ship had left Lareynia several hours ago, and her project was nearly complete. Even after all the distractions, she would be finished well before their ship returned to Vulcan. She pushed back her chair and stretched, glancing over at Sarek to see what he was doing.

To her astonishment, Sarek was studying the other gothic novels that she had brought with her on the trip.

When he saw her looking at him, he asked, "How is your project, Amanda?"

"I'm almost finished," she said, "but why are you reading those? They have no intellectual value, and we've proven that they feed my overactive imagination."

"I am considering the character studies in these stories," Sarek said, leafing through the pages of one of the books. "The stories are not logical. The characters are not logical. Yet, they did provide you with some fascinating insights into the characters of the people on Lareynia."

"Insights?" Amanda asked.

"Although I still disapprove of the way you conducted your investigation, you did correctly identify the villain of the conspiracy in the palace," Sarek said.

"I was wrong about the nature of the conspiracy, though. I believed that Phocas was a murderer, but that wasn't completely true," Amanda said.

"Nevertheless, you were correct about the unethical nature of his character and that he bore some responsibility for Faridil's accident," Sarek said. "It also seems that you were correct in predicting the marriage of Andrew Betz and Princess Desta."

"That wasn't because of the book I was reading," Amanda said, standing up and going to her husband. "Princess Desta talked to me about her feelings, and well, I have some experience in those."

Perching on the arm of his chair, Amanda held out her fingers to Sarek, and he brushed his against hers.

"I believe that I may have underestimated your instincts and your understanding of the situation," Sarek continued. "Since we both have some time on our hands, I thought we might investigate these other novels to see what insights they might contain."

"Do you mean that you no longer believe that they are a bad influence?"

"Only in that they led you to investigate a dangerous situation on your own," Sarek said, a stern note in his voice. "I want you to trust in me and confide your concerns to me, no matter what they might be or whether you think I might disapprove of them. I would prefer to take the time to hear your concerns and reassure you than to leave you troubled and possibly in danger."

"I'm sorry, Sarek," Amanda said gently.

Sarek continued running his fingers lightly across hers. "You can always talk to me about anything. Even though I might not understand, at least at first, I will do everything I can to help you and keep you safe."

"I promise," Amanda said.

"And if you enjoy these stories, it is only logical that we read them together so that we can discuss them," Sarek said with a small smile. "I would like to understand these stories better, and some experiences can be more enjoyable and less frightening when they are shared."

"That's true. I'd like to share these with you," Amanda said. She always liked it when Sarek found logical reasons to do less-than-logical things just because he knew that she'd enjoy it. "Where would you like to start?"

"Perhaps this one?" Sarek held up a book with a green cover. The name of the book was A Haunting at Castleton Court.

"It looks like a good one to me," Amanda said.

With no duties weighing on their minds and no one to interrupt them in their quiet quarters, Amanda took the book and began to read it aloud:

"She ran down the stone path, heedless of the stormy night. The wind whipped her hair, and the rain drenched her long, silken gown. Lightning streaked across the sky overhead and lit up the path before her. She glanced behind her, but there was no one in pursuit. She had successfully made her escape.

Needing shelter from the storm, she made her way down to the summer house. Her fingers fumbled at the cold metal of the door latch. Inside at last, she gave a sigh of relief.

Then, a figure stepped out of the darkness, and a pair of hands seized her.

With a cry, she tried to pull away, but the unknown figure pulled her closer.

'Amanda!' the figure protested. 'Amanda, darling, it's me! You're safe!'

Recognizing the voice of her lover, she collapsed into his arms. Finally alone for the first time since Amanda had arrived at Castleton Court, the two of them shared a long kiss."

Amanda stopped reading and looked questioningly at Sarek. He looked back at her with that small smile still on his face and a glint of humor in his eyes. Of course, he'd known the name of the heroine when he'd selected that book.

"I was correct," he said, reaching out and pulling Amanda into his arms. "These stories do contain helpful insights."

"Very helpful and very insightful," Amanda murmured before kissing him.

The End