Note: This round robin is posted with permission from all its authors.
Saavik's reluctance to celebrate the Katra fi' Salan, the holiday for remembering lost katras, is soothed by Spock's acceptance.
This story, unlike others by the same writers, does not use the novel Pandora Principle for background.
Disclaimer:Star Trek and all it's characters belong to Paramount.
Part I – Joanna
Blessed heat surrounded her as she made her way down the long walk to the villa in ShiKahr. Saavik welcomed the heat and higher gravity as if she had been born and raised on Vulcan. She had not. It was part of the reason she did not want to be here for this holiday, the Katra fi' Salan, but she had promised. Newly bonded to Spock, she was still reluctant to deny him anything. He had expressed to her how much he wished to share this holiday with her, and so she had agreed, but only because she missed him.
Suddenly, the townhouse gates stood before her. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed the walk. She began to push the button to announce her presence before she realized that this was her house now, a gift from Spock's father Sarek on the occasion of their bonding. Saavik pressed her palm to the padd, and the gatepost and the gate swung open effortlessly.
Just as easily the sight of the garden beyond filled Saavik with memories of this place and the woman responsible for it. Amanda,Spock's mother, was the only maternal figure Saavik had ever known. Saavik set down her small bag and wandered the path to the back gardens. This was her favorite part of the lush paradise so rare on Vulcan, an oasis created by a human woman who had made this world her own. The plants were predominantly Terran and Vulcan, but Amanda had never been reluctant to return from a diplomatic mission with a crate of carefully packed plants, suitable for the Vulcan environment. The walk that Saavik liked so much was surrounded on one side by a high privacy wall and the other by the side of the house. The large leaves of tall me'da plants created a tunnel through which one could walk to the back gardens. The shade of the me'da allowed several different flowering plants from Terra enough shade that they flourished here in the hotter, dryer climate of Vulcan. Towards the end of the walk was a small pool created with gray water from the water shower and air conditioning units in the house. Rivulets of water spilled down the rock sides of the feed into the irrigation system.
Saavik reached the end of the path, and the spacious back garden exploded before her. Now in the dormant season, all the Vulcan flora was in bloom. Surely there was no more beautiful place on the planet, and it was hers. Saavik was reminded of the holiday she had come here to celebrate with Spock. Katra fi' Salan. Literally Souls in the Wind, a time when the Vulcans revered the ancestors whose Katra were lost in death. When death was expected, the family gathered and the living essence of the dying family member was placed in a vessel which would be returned to the family's Hall of Souls, but death could not always be expected, and home and family were not always near. Certainly, Saavik's Vulcan parent had not. She set her jaw and determined to remove these thoughts from her mind. Spock would want her support. She would celebrate this holiday for Amanda, whom she had known, and cared for, and who as a human had not had a Katra in the Vulcan sense to impart.
At this thought the wind in the garden whipped up and Saavik felt a familiar tugging at her mind. Spock must have found her bag at the front of the house. He was looking for her.