Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything except Lt. Seamus O'Cathain (O'Ca-tain) and Tia Anlor (Ahn-lore). As I have said in 'Casting Call', 'Golden Girl', 'A Few Words' and 'Glistni', they belong to me.
Perspective: This story takes place about ten days after 'Glistni', thus being the end of Tia's 2nd week aboard the Enterprise. The production of 'Henry V' referred to is from 'Casting Call', which took place about 6 months 'ago'.
Rating: PG
Note: This story is dedicated to Kellie Waymire, who portrayed Crewwoman Elizabeth Cutler. She passed away on November 13, 2003, when this story was in its first draft.

Small Time
by JMK758
Introduction

About the only thing that had grown to be 'normal' in the almost two weeks that Tia had been aboard the Enterprise was her morning breakfasts with Hoshi Sato and Elizabeth Cutler, her friend and co-worker in the Biology department. She looked forward to seeing them each day not only for the chance at companionship, but for their invaluable aid in interpreting for her the frequently unintelligible tangle of human relations that she encountered each day.

They had become good friends, something she had precious little of in her former life, and she sensed they really did enjoy her company. She felt she could express herself without fearing she was going to be laughed at.

She had found, oddly enough, that that was her worst anticipation. She was trying so hard to fit in, and it was a vast relief that she could do so among such understanding new friends who would not ridicule her for her efforts in abandoning the Universal Translator in favor of actually learning this monumentally confusing language which could not keep even a definite article or negative tense in the correct places.

So it was with some distress that she scanned the Mess Room from the open doorway, seeing neither of them. She really did want to talk this morning; there were many things that she had learned that had confused her immensely (these days that was no surprise at all) but usually an explanation from one of them sorted things out – a little.

There was, however, a familiar face in the room. She had never met the man, but had watched him last evening on her quarters' monitor, and had determined to meet him. Counting herself lucky, she crossed the room to where he sat.

The man, though seated, she knew would be taller than herself, no surprise since he was taller than Hoshi who topped her by about two inches. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and though he did have a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage before him, he seemed more intent upon the contents of the padd in his hand. "Apolo – I mean … Forgive me? Lieutenant O-Cay-ten?"

The man looked up in mild surprise, smiling when he saw her. "O'Cathain." He corrected mildly, pronouncing it 'O-ka-tain', having hit the accent on the end. "Top of the morning to you. What may I do for you?"

x

Seamus O'Cathain, the ship's Astrometer, knew who the young woman was; there was no one on the ship who did not know of their new passenger, and he had heard much about her from Hoshi Sato, but he had not yet met the 'golden girl'. Now that he had, he regarded the description to be quite appropriate.

She was an Auran, whose particular distinction, aside from being a former slave 'rescued' by the Captain, came from her blood. Where human blood was based upon iron, Auran blood was based upon gold, which carried oxygen through her body in a manner he figured only Phlox would comprehend, since to him it seemed to defy what he knew of the metal or of biology. Apparently, some atom bonded with both the gold and oxygen, taking the life giving atom on a ride with it through the bloodstream. But it did serve to give the golden pigment to her skin, long hair more golden than blonde and golden irises. She was not wearing a uniform, not being part of Starfleet, but wore a white blouse and blue skirt. She did not look 'dipped in gold' as someone had described her, but quite natural and real, with a complexion California girls could only dream of and would probably kill for.

He bit the thought back, remembering from the stories he had heard about her just how many of her race had been killed for it!

But at the moment she was staring at him with an expression he could only interpret as monumental confusion. "Beggin' your pardon, lass, but are you feeling all right?" he asked, his strong Irish brogue even more pronounced in his concern.

"Lieutenant Seamus O'Cathain?"

"You've got me. Would you care to sit down?" She shook her head sharply, as if trying to clear something from it, and took the offered seat. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Apologize do I. Confused I am." She smiled in self-awareness. "Always confused I am." As he set the padd he held down upon the table, she pulled from the pocket of her skirt an identical one. "This gave me Hoshi."

It took a moment for him to work out what she was saying, until he realized that her lips were indeed moving with her words. She was speaking English but with a very scrambled syntax. "Is something wrong with the Universal Translator?"

"I off tur – I turned it off. A ralyas … a 'crutch' it is. Is Hoshi me teaching to without it speak. But a dictionary link she created, use I as reference it."

"Ah."

"To her I speak you of. But what you are expect I do not. You sound what you did last night not."

"I beg your pardon?" He was becoming more and more adrift trying to follow her. She picked up the padd and punched several controls. She looked up in confusion.

"You do me insult not."

He held up his hands. "Wait. Let's start over. Why did you come to me?"

"Spoke I to several men. Watched you last night. Said they did you teach me how to…" She looked again at the padd. "…behave would. But how you sound then you do not."

"Teach you to behave?" Confusion was starting to mingle with apprehension.

"Hoshi said you cultured … taught her."

Seamus felt the conversation getting further and further out of his control. 'Watched me last …' he thought, hoping he had not been doing anything embarrassing.

"Hoshi said you taught her…" She punched in another set of commands. "…how to act."

The clouds parted. "Ah! I see! 'Henry the Fifth', you watched the video of that play we did."

"Daaii, Yes I mean. Elizabeth said 'drama teaches the human condition'. But confusing it was. You were like you are not. Even sound the same you do not."

"I was playing an English King from hundreds of years ago. Tia, look… I may call you Tia, may I?"

"My name it is. Call me what else would you?"

He held up his hands before he might lose as much of the thread as he'd gained. "Never mind. Listen, Shakespeare's plays are a wonderful way for humans to explore the human condition, but they are definitely not meant to be a guide, especially to someone who does not have a firmly grounded understanding of humanity. Now I could recommend any number of modern plays, books and films, but I think you had better stick to real life."

"Then would you to behave … act teach me not?"

"Oh, I will, in time. But it takes a lot of discipline. I can think of dozens of roles you're perfect for, but for now … for now …" He saw the door open across the room. "For now, I am very glad to see Ensign Sato!"

As Tia looked back over her shoulder to the door, Seamus signaled to Hoshi, Ensign Elizabeth Cutler and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, very urgently indeed, to join them. When the trio joined them at the table, Seamus was vastly relieved. He'd let Hoshi handle the translating and he could sit back and relax.

As they settled themselves about the table, Hoshi gave Seamus a discreet kiss on the cheek. "How are you feeling?" There was an undertone to the question that Tia could not comprehend and the others did not 'note'.

"Like a dog! They are really plaguing me down below." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tia Anlor snatch up her padd and press the controls rapidly.

"Did you turn the UT off again?" Hoshi asked her with mild reproof. She nodded, not looking up from her research. She was working the controls with great intensity. Hoshi turned back to Seamus. "We have an agreement. When she does this, no slang; we stick to strict English."

"Okey dokey."

Hoshi slapped his arm, but gave up on the irrepressible officer, turning her attention to Tia who had ended her search. "So, did you find what you wanted?"

She regarded them with a satisfied smile, feeling well armed to hold up her end of the conversation. "Kaslier O'Cathain agreed to discipline me has, to behave teach me." She set the padd down. "I am to be his bitch."

She could not understand why Kaslier Reed and Vascan Cutler looked stunned, why Hoshi turned to Kaslier O'Cathain, her face filled with shock mingled with fury, or why Kaslier O'Cathain looked at her with such an expression of horror.