Hoshi sat silently in the shuttle bringing them back to Enterprise, lost in her thoughts as she looked through the front screen at the velvet of space. It would be a few more hours before they met up with Enterprise. Phlox was sitting next to the pilot, exclaiming at the beauty of each random star that happened to cross their path of vision. Hoshi smiled at the doctor's enthusiasm. She felt like an old soul.

T'Pol was seated on the rear bench in front of her, check that, T'Pol and Trip were seated on the rear bench. They were not talking but Hoshi was feeling the special hum in the back of her skull that told her the Vulcan was at rest. She wished the same could be said of her. Instead, she was on tenterhooks. They were going to land on Enterprise in a matter of hours, and then what? Could she go back to being Ensign Hoshi? What about Malcolm? Would he even recognize her, she felt she had changed so much. And then would he change his mind? Could life go back to normal again? Was she a monster that she had left the Nint child behind? She quickly chased the thought off – he would be better off, and she knew it.

The shuttle finally landed in the shuttlebay, and the hatch opened. Hoshi cringed inwardly. She didn't want to go out and be subjected to everyone's stare. Who was waiting for them? Hopefully, Archer didn't have a whole squadron on hand. She was about done with being escorted by armed phalanxes or cadres of diplomats everywhere she went.

Everyone on board the shuttle was getting up and it was time for her to step out, too. The pilot exited first, followed by Phlox, beaming from ear to ear. Trip and behind him T'Pol were blocking her view of the hangar, but she heard Archer exclaiming in pleasure and she had a sense there were only a few Enterprise people there. Bless Archer for keeping the welcome committee small. Either he had sensed what was appropriate or Phlox had given him a hint.

Trip turned around to help T'Pol step off the shuttle and she accepted his hand matter-of-factly. Hoshi was so shocked at the sight that she forgot she was stepping out herself, and then she was there, standing in the shuttlebay, looking at Archer and Malcolm and a couple more crewmen she couldn't place.

And before she could take the next step, Malcolm had hear in a bear hug, ending with a long and passionate kiss under the open-jawed gapes of Archer, the pilot and the other crewmen, the large smile of Phlox, the lackadaisical acceptance of Trip, and the stone-faced interest of T'Pol. Malcolm finally let go, allowing Hoshi to catch her breath. Her doubts and questions had fled her mind and she couldn't remember what she had been anxious about for the life of her. She looked hesitantly at Archer, who looked up at the ceiling and then cleared his throat.

"Well, huh, let's all pretend we haven't seen anything, shall we? Welcome aboard, Ensign. It's good to have you back." And Archer led the outfit off the shuttlebay so he wouldn't have to notice Malcolm's arm around Hoshi. He needed to write out a communiqué about proper behaviors between the ranks, anyway.

Trip winked at Hoshi as he and T'Pol nonchalantly sped ahead of them, T'Pol as stolid as always. And Hoshi suddenly clued in that the place they were hurrying to was not the bridge. She turned and smiled at Malcolm. Yes, everything was going to be all right.

xx

T'Pol looked at the two padds on her desk, almost copies of each other. One was going to Starfleet, the other to Vulcan, with ten additional layers of detail. It had taken close to two weeks to write her and Hoshi's joint report detailing the past six months and now it was up to Starfleet and Vulcan to address what needed addressing with the Dalgorts. Even if Hoshi could bear witness to the events, it was impossible for her as a Vulcan citizen to appear in front of the Overarching Council because Vulcan had not lifted its moratorium on the planet. Her report would provide a framework of sort for the upcoming lengthy negotiations between Vulcan and the Overarching Council to see the embargo lifted. She expected there would eventually be a softening of Vulcan's position, once the situation with the Arumids was addressed and measures put into place so that what had happened could never happen again. Though probabilities were that it eventually would, given Dalgort civilizations.

Starfleet would play its usual role as mediator in the process, explaining to Dalgort why they didn't want a travel prohibition to be enshrined on Vulcan star charts and advocating on behalf of Dalgort in trying to get Vulcan to lighten its opprobrium. What happened afterwards was in the hands of the diplomats. She and Hoshi had been two specks of dust in the currents of history.

As usual the universe moved in unfathomable ways. Their plight was what had led to the discovery of the Nints' treatment of the Arumids. It was a small but important reward for what they had to endure.

xx

Enoikoawn tried to placate Enodreiwn, he could tell how nervous she was, and her nervousness was making him nervous. To be summoned by the Overarching Council was no small matter, especially when one was a mountain Nint, regarded as somewhat unsophisticated and backward even by Nint people.

They were in the hoverport, waiting for the hovercraft to Verkael. Enoikoawn had a hard time believing he was there so soon after he had helped the aliens escape. Even though he himself had not been summoned by the Council, he had told Enoidreiwn he would go with her to share whatever fate awaited her.

Knowing the Council, knowing the Nint government, and knowing the Verkaels, anything was possible. It could be that one or both of them would be thrown in jail the minute they landed or it could be that they would be handed back to the Nints as spies. It could even be that she was awarded a medal for hosting the aliens. No matter what plight was awaiting them, running away was not an option for they had nowhere to run to. So they had agreed they would both go.

The flight was uneventful and they had encountered no problems with the pre-flight inspection. They both knew which answers to give to the 500 questions and didn't have to be taken aside for a manual physical examination, the scanners would show they were Nints through and through. As the hovercraft neared Verkael, Enodreiwn's anxiety increased and he grabbed her hand, trying to help her regain some measure of calm and to bring her mane down a little.

Upon their arrival, they were collected by official-looking Verkaels and whisked to the Council chambers. Only a few representatives were present in the cavernous space, and they both stood in front of the semi-circle of dignitaries, feeling very small and impressed. Enoikoawn was given leave to sit while Enodreiwn was asked to remain standing before the Council.

All members of the Council were looking at her with interest, it was not often they got to meet actual Nints. The Verkael representative to the Council got up and asked her Nint counterpart to lead the ceremony. He stood up in turn and had Enodreiwn answer a few questions. She did it hesitantly, mane standing high. Then the Nint representative asked one more question and Enodreiwn looked at Enoikoawn in a panic when she recognized the fake Nint name they had given Aw-Shee.

The fear that rose through her prevented her from hearing the next part, there was a roar in her head that was muffling the sounds in the chamber and she had no idea what the Nint representative said. Then a courier came into the room with a bundle in one hand and a litpadd in the other. She saw as she turned to him that Enoikoawn was grinning, an incongruous sight, and she tried to fathom what was going on through the noise pressing on her temples. The Nint took the package from the courier and approached her, ceremoniously thrusting both at her.

She grabbed them as best she could. The bundle wriggled and she almost dropped it, heard the Verkael representative urging her "Don't drop it!" She realized that the bundle was moving, looked down at it straight into a small Nint face staring back at her. She looked up and at the litpadd in her hand, uncomprehending. Then the representatives were congratulating her, and Enoikoawn was at her side, an arm around her waist, leaning over her shoulder to look at the bundle, and she looked up at him with puzzlement, and he said "It looks like we have a brand new baby" and that was when it became real, when the noise in her head was replaced with the real noise in the room, and she looked with shock and amazement at the baby in her arms and decoded the litpadd that said she was the mother of the child name Bastersun, born a fortnight before on Verkael, the first Nint to be born on Verkael in many long years.

She cooed gently at him and started humming to it, mindless of the tears washing off her face onto his head. They were tears of happiness.

THE END

This has become one of my favorite stories. I wrote and published the first chapter on a whim and then realized I may have overreached as I didn't really have a story to back it up. It took a lot of work but it was worth it.

I am immensely grateful to all my reviewers, as always.

Thank you.