Sarek found his son almost exactly where he had expected to find him. Spock stood at the foot of Mount Seleya, staring out pensively into the red expanse of the Vulcan desert landscape. He had returned to the ship long enough to change into a clean uniform tunic, though still for Sarek it was incongruous to see a Vulcan garbed in such striking earth colors as opposed to the subdued robes of the Vulcan disciplines. How he had once wished for Spock to be standing here now in those exact such clothes. The son to follow the path of the father... it was the Vulcan way which Sarek had followed dutifully when he was a child. Now, his path would be followed by no one, for his only son had chosen to beat his own.

He pushed the errant thought from his mind as Spock, still standing motionless before him, cocked his head imperceptibly toward Sarek to indicate he'd become aware of his presence. It was not to be helped now, and it was illogical to occupy oneself with situations that could not be altered. The acceptance of things they way they are, another wise doctrine of Surak.

Sarek approached his son lightly, quiet feet of a strict master of tranquility making little to no sound against the harsh desert floor. Spock did not move or give any outward appearance that he felt a reaction to Sarek's presence once again, but something in his mental projections that Sarek could barely catch tensed. Spock, after so long, was still uncomfortable around his father... preferring the company of humans, of the valiant Captain Kirk, over his parent.

Sarek folded his hands before him serenely, glancing meaningfully and with respect to the desert Spock considered so astutely moments before.

Spock seemed to wait for Sarek to get to the point of his visit, but when it became obvious he was going to draw out the experience, Spock reluctantly returned his own attention to his early musings.

Sarek chose then to gently but still sternly break the silence, "I stopped by to see your captain... he seems to be doing well."

Spock nodded, "For a human he heals fast... Doctor McCoy would say that practice at it has made him better."

Sarek concealed a frown, though mentally he did, "That's an illogical concept, that one could 'practice' healing."

Spock half-nodded, "So is Doctor McCoy."

Sarek nodded, "Of course..." then looked sideways at his son, still retaining his pose and authority as he commented, "Captain Kirk also happened to inform me that he considers you his t'hy'la, Spock."

Spock tensed, even enough for Sarek to see it, but for a long time he said nothing.

Spock slowly responded in a very guarded, clipped voice, "The captain has long regarded me as... a friend."

Sarek looked back out at the desert, "T'hy'la is a strong word, my son... I suspect the translation is more to Captain Kirk than just a friend."

Spock's shoulders almost sagged as he dropped his eyes to the desert floor at his feet, almost in exasperation and maybe irritability (though to a proper Vulcan subtlety), and confirmed, "Jim does have a greater grasp of the Vulcan meaning than most humans."

Sarek returned calmly, "Humans are, of course, illogical creatures."

Spock threw a quick glance at his father, catching the imperceptible out that his father was leaving him... blame Kirk's sentiments on human frailties of emotion and be done with it. Any other time, Spock might have taken his father's bait... a few years ago he would have. Now, however... he couldn't do that to Jim, least of all to his own father.

Spock cocked his head slightly at his father, stating plainly, "Humans, I have noticed, have a way of bringing people into their families. To them, not all family is born, some is chosen... illogical, but true. When it struck Jim to regard me as a brother, I became as much a one to him as though we'd been bared from the same womb."

Sarek looked over at his son, meeting his eyes, and studying the young officer. Spock, though he would never admit it and nor Sarek aloud, could have an intensity to him, moments when those emotions were just beneath the surface and they were disconcerting. Disconcerting to a Vulcan because they were so raw. At times, Spock was most primal... and Sarek, as a trained and restrained Vulcan himself, didn't know how to handle that kind of primal.

Sarek, instead of being overwhelmed by what Spock was capable of being, lifted one eyebrow and said as gently as he ever got, "Your captain did not implicate your own regards of him, but he did say that he did not often give someone that kind of loyalty unrequited."

Spock's simmering rage and even maybe some fear faded, and a very calm and almost peaceful repose came to his face. He looked again over the desert sands, being stirred gently by an almost stale wind. His voice was almost melodic and fitting with the pure nature around him as he answered cryptically, "I have never found acceptance... not the kind that Jim offers to me. Vulcans reject my human half, humans reject my Vulcan half... Jim doesn't see me as halves or parts... he takes me as a whole. He feels... compassion, for my whole self... not for what I'm composed of, but who I am as an unique life. For that, I owe him a great deal."

Sarek stepped slightly closer to his son, pressing faintly, "Do you consider him t'hy'la, Spock?"

Spock did not look at his father, keeping dark, keen eyes on the reddish sands as he sounded almost bitter, "If an emotional weakness is what you're looking for, Father, seek no further."

Spock turned to face Sarek, that bubbling anger underneath his plain mask and nearly black eyes. He said evenly, "Yes... I regard Jim as t'hy'la... my brother and more-than-friend."

In the silence that ensued, Spock stepped aside and left his father. Sarek was left alone, watching after his son, wanting to go after him but Vulcan stoicism keeping him in his place. He wouldn't know what to say to his son even if he did stop him... there was nothing void of emotion that could be said.

Sarek looked again out at the desert, wind-dancers gliding lazily on paper-thin wings in the fleeting updrafts of hot air. Mount Seleya, so wise and yet once again, for the second time in one day, her wisdom offered no council.

Kirk pulled his shirt gingerly over his head, thanking the Vulcan priestesses that tended to him. He would never complain about McCoy's beside manner again after being attended to by a crowd of doctors and nurses that couldn't even offer their patient a weary and long-suffering smile. It didn't even have to be a real one, but it would be better than the expressionless masks they wore. Normally, the stoicism didn't bother him, but this experience had taught him how much he preferred the human touch when hurt.

Kirk smiled (even though he knew no return would come for his gesture) to the young Vulcan woman cleaning the room as he prepared to vacate. He'd recovered enough to go back to the ship, and he was more than ready to. Vulcan was just too damn hot for any Iowa farm boy.

The Vulcan nurse looked blankly at him and his courtesies, but was saved from having to try to break the awkward silence when a deep voice intoned from the door, "Wise priestess, I'd respectfully request audience with the patient."

Both looked to the door to see Sarek standing regally there, waiting without rush to be granted his request.

The darkly beautiful Vulcan woman near Kirk nodded at Sarek, gathering her things and moving out of the room.

Kirk smiled, knowing his action was wasted as well on Sarek, but Sarek would better understand that Kirk was only trying to be friendly. Sarek couldn't have lived with a human wife and not learn a thing or two like easing a tense situation.

"Come to see me off, Ambassador?" Kirk teased.

Sarek gave Kirk a querulous look, "Hardly... I did, however, come for a specific reason."

Kirk stopped, catching the sincerity and business tone in the voice of his first officer's father. Sarek obviously had something to say, especially to forgo ambassadorial niceties as he was trained to have mastered.

Sarek approached James Kirk, considering him astutely and closely before beginning candidly, "My son... it seems that he also considers you his t'hy'la."

Kirk froze, staring at Sarek, and asking, "He said that?" not really believing it even as he said it. Spock, admit to something like that, and to his father no less? It seemed farfetched.

Sarek half nodded, pensive, then continued, "Of the faults my son may have, never before has being a poor judge of character been one of them."

Kirk's face screwed, and he muttered, "Thanks... I guess."

Sarek nodded, then began again with renewed conviction, "I have come to ask if you would be willing to participate in a Vulcan ceremony."

Kirk looked toward the door, wondering if Spock were standing outside and that part of this strange tradition for some reason was to have the parent ask.

When it turned out Spock was not right outside the door waiting for his answer, Kirk looked again even more curiously at Sarek, "What kind of ceremony, exactly, Ambassador?"

Sarek paused, still studying Kirk, then folded his hands and took a breath, "In the Time of the Beginning, when our race was a barbarian and violent one, there were times when entire families were slaughtered for so little gains. That is the root of the t'hy'la word and concept... forged between two in battle who had come to depend on the other to guard his life... forming a new and unknown bond between them Vulcans had not known before. Also created in this time was a ceremony of Accepting. I am afraid it is somewhat difficult to explain in human terms, a number of the Vulcan words have no literal Federation Standard translation, but the Accepting was an act of bringing into one's house. In those days when entire families were slaughtered, the very young infants were often spared to be raised by the enemy and taught to fight for their cause against their kinsmen. As our people evolved so did the Accepting... it became a willing exchange of a child from one family to another for belongingness. The ritual turned into one of trust, and a tradition to never leave a child without a home. The tradition now, aside from a few literal instances when children still change homes, is mostly ceremonial. You and my son equally regard one another as t'hy'la... you are his brother as he is yours... by our customs that makes you..." he paused then regretfully elaborated the only way he knew how to a human (though it somewhat butchered the intent), "'part of the family', you might translate it into English. I have come to ask you to participate in the Accepting, to ritually bring you into our house."

Kirk blinked, still trying to take everything in, then stammered, "Wait a minute, let me see if I get this straight... you want to adopt me?"

Sarek nearly smirked, "That is an equitable rough translation, yes."

Kirk started to laugh, then stopped when he realized that, of course, Sarek was dead serious.

Kirk cleared his throat, "I'm honored, Sarek... truly, I am, and for Spock's sake alone I wouldn't hesitate... but I have other obligations and responsibilities that would be complicated by being legally adopted into a Vulcan family..."

Sarek interrupted gently, "I did not say 'legally'."

Kirk stopped, waiting for Sarek to clarify.

Sarek continued, "I merely said ritually... there are no legal stipulations to this ceremony. The Accepting is a private matter between families... among t'hy'la as well, there have never been documentation for the exchange, not even in the Time of the Beginning."

Kirk thought a moment, "So this is... just for show."

Sarek resisted a frown, "It is not a display, Captain Kirk... we participate as a sign of respect and... acceptance in all familial sense of one outside the house trusted and regarded highly enough to be invited into the house."

Kirk nodded, "I think I understand..."

Sarek nodded, waiting.

Kirk smiled kindly, "As I said, Ambassador Sarek, I would be honored."

Spock turned at the Galileo shuttle door. The ship had been sent down on Doctor McCoy's behest... he insisted that until the captain was fully healed he stay away from those molecule-slicers. 'Damn fool dangerous enough without trying to put together open wounds to boot', he'd said... although the shuttle coming down to pick him and the captain up, he suspected, was as much for the doctor's sake as the captain's. Doctor McCoy, in his persistence to hate the transporter, found any way he could to use a shuttle whenever possible.

Kirk was standing about half a dozen steps from the shuttle, talking quietly to Ambassador Sarek and Lady Amanda.

Spock stood patiently, squelching the curiosity to wonder why the captain spoke at such long length with his parents. Never to give into such human failings, of course, Spock merely stood in his spot and waited.

Amanda looked over Kirk's shoulder at Spock, smiling though he did not see it and asking, "Are you going to tell him?"

Kirk glanced in the general direction of the shuttle, then answered, "No, not right now, anyway... I'm not sure how he'd take it. Besides, we don't need a ceremony to be brothers... we never did before. I have a feeling he likes having a friend without any Vulcan strings attached to it... I'd be the last to disturb his fun."

Sarek commented, "I suspect 'fun' would not be the most appropriate word to use."

Kirk smirked, "You're probably right... thank you both for everything, not the least of which, saving my neck."

Sarek lifted one brow, but Amanda smiled, "Think nothing of it, Captain Kirk... we could no sooner let a gained son die than let our son's brother come to harm."

Kirk smiled warmly, nodding, "Well, I have to leave."

Sarek nodded, "Of course... may good fortune go with you, son."

Kirk looked waywardly at Sarek, "Fortune, Sarek? That's illogical of you."

Sarek returned quickly, "I was merely accommodating for you."

Kirk nodded, "Of course... I hope to see you both soon, good-bye."

Spock straightened as Kirk turned and walked toward him. As he reached Spock's side, Spock fell into step beside his captain, asking after a moment, "Anything wrong, Captain?"

Kirk climbed somewhat gingerly into the shuttle, resisting the urge to swat the precautionary hand that Spock held poised to help the captain. Kirk settled himself into a seat as Spock clambered in after him, shaking his head, "Everything's great, Mister Spock, but I'm dying to get back to my ship."

Spock lifted an eyebrow at Kirk, "I would think the doctor would find it most displeasing to discover the shuttle returned only to deliver a dead captain."

Kirk laughed, "Right you are, Spock... so let's go home."

END