The Quiet Between Footsteps
Posted on Sun Aug 17, 2025 @ 11:23am by Commander Tayanita 'Tay' Lio'ven & Commander Cara Letsul
2,383 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Time After Time
Location: Garden Observation Deck, Mid-Level Promenade
Timeline: MD17 - 2215 hours
The garden was dimly lit, dappled in soft blue from the bioluminescent flora that climbed the support columns like ivy from another world. A shallow pool stretched in a crescent arc beneath the curved viewing window, its still surface catching the pale glow of distant stars. The air here smelled faintly of moss and the mineral clarity of recycled water—a quiet, green breath amid the thrum of station life.
Tayanita sat cross-legged at the edge of the pool, elbows resting on her knees, hands loose and still. Her braid draped over her right shoulder, dark against the soft hues of her tunic. She had found this place by wandering—not through any map or suggestion, but the same quiet instinct that had carried her through centuries of change. It felt… peaceful. Real. She had needed that.
The sound of footsteps approached—gentle, measured, not out of place. Tayanita did not look up at first. But the presence was distinct: light on its feet, like a dancer pacing the edge of music. There was no intent to interrupt, only to share the space. She glanced sideways and caught the brief shimmer of black curls and the quiet gleam of eyes that held emotion without words. Betazoid. Human. Alive with feeling. Tayanita met her gaze, nodded once, and said nothing.
There was a sense in the air, something so tangible when Cara stepped into the area of serenity. Goosebumps prickled up and down her arms. The woman in quiet meditative pose, the dark braid over her shoulder, immediately caught Cara's attention.
The woman's gentle energies echoed way deep into Cara's soul. There was a timeless feel about her, reminding Cara of another, Ione....
Effortlessly, Cara lowered herself to the ground sitting cross-legged and closed her eyes, her hands palm upwards resting upon her knees. Rhythmically, gently, she began to breathe, going into a meditative state. It was if she was listening to a peaceful melody, one which touched upon the natural harmonies she had sensed when upon Pangaea.
Tayanita let the quiet settle again, letting the sound of shared breath and the distant hum of the station become their conversation for a while. She hadn’t expected company, but she didn’t mind it. The woman’s presence wasn’t intrusive; it was… attuned. As if the space had accepted her, too.
After some time—she wasn’t sure how long—Tayanita spoke, her voice low and calm, not meant to disturb the stillness but to be part of it. “You listen well,” she said, not turning her head. “Most people don’t stop long enough to hear anything at all.”
She looked over then, her expression open but reserved, like someone who had grown used to offering trust slowly. “I’m Tayanita,” she added after a beat. “Tay, if that’s easier.”
She slowly opened her eyes, Cara slightly turning her head. Her voice resonant with reverence.
"Tayanita, a truly beautiful name." Cara responded, a tranquil expression in her eyes.
"I am Cara." giving a nod of respect, as to what she was sensing. "I have found in the course of my life, I need to listen, to feel, to touch the eddies of the places I come into contact with."
Tayanita’s smile was subtle but genuine, touched with something that felt like understanding. “Cara,” she echoed softly, as if trying the name on her tongue. “It suits you.”
She let her gaze drift briefly to the pool’s surface before looking back. “You’ve got a way of being present. Not just here physically, but… tuned in. Like you’re listening with more than your ears.” Her tone wasn’t pointed, just observational—gentle in its honesty.
There was a pause, then a quiet breath. “You feel things deeply, don’t you?” she asked, not prying, just acknowledging it. “I notice that in people sometimes. It’s not always easy carrying that kind of sensitivity in a place as loud as this.”
She gave a small shrug, braid shifting on her shoulder. “Just figured I’d say it. Not everyone sees it, but I do.” Another beat, then her eyes met Cara’s again, warm but unassuming. “It’s good to share quiet with someone like that.”
Cara shifted herself to where she could make eye contact with Tayanita, and to see the nuances of her facial features.
"I do feel deeply." Cara marveled about Tayanita's observations. In this moment, she felt a connection with this woman near her, just something about her, as if a thread of connection was beginning to form.
"Most times I have a shield of protection, to filter the onslaught of the life around me, out." A sense of an ancient soul came from her gaze, though Cara was only 45.
A soft smile danced across her lips, "I love the energies here though, healing, instead of destructive. Though there has been pain inflicted upon this station." a slight lowering of a corner of her mouth.
Tay’s brow lifted just slightly, a trace of curiosity crossing her features. “You say you feel everything so strongly, and you carry it the way some of us do… Makes me wonder if you’ve got a thread or two of El Aurian in you.”
Her tone was light—not teasing, but inviting, like someone quietly offering a mirror without pressing it into someone’s hand.
She glanced toward the soft light rippling across the pool’s surface. “This place… it has scars, sure. But it’s still breathing. Still growing. That matters.”
Tayanita looked back at Cara then, her voice steady. “I think people like us are drawn to that. Not because we’re trying to fix everything—but because we understand what it means to keep going.”
She let the quiet settle again, not rushing to fill it.
A spark of surprise flashed in Cara's eyes, when Tayanita mentioned something about a thread or two of El-Aurian.
"I do not know if I have some El-Aurian or not. It hasn't been something that has crossed my mind to even explore." Cara felt goosebumps form upon her arms.
She went silent casting her gaze towards the pool of reflection.
Quietly Cara whispered, "I've suffered some headaches when a time phenomena has happened or there seemed to be a shift in something. Like the shift of energies of an area."
Tayanita watched the flicker of surprise settle behind Cara’s eyes and didn’t rush to fill the space. Instead, she offered silence—the kind that wasn’t empty, but respectful.
“Sometimes things like that don’t come with explanations,” she said quietly. “They just… are. Part of us. Whether we ever put a name to them or not.”
Her gaze shifted to the arc of light dancing across the surface of the water. “For El Aurians, it’s less about seeing time and more about feeling when it shifts out of tune. We’re attuned to patterns—of people, memory, even space. So when something’s been bent or scarred—when time’s pooled too long in one place—it hums differently. Some call it resonance. Others think it's something more quantum, tied to subspace fluctuations and localised chroniton density.”
She gave a soft, thoughtful breath. “But what it feels like... is pressure behind your eyes. A skip in your heartbeat. Like walking into a room and knowing someone just left, or like the space itself remembers something you weren’t here to witness—but you still carry it.”
She glanced back at Cara, her expression gentle. “You might be sensitive to that. Doesn’t have to be El Aurian, not fully. Some people are just born… tuned in.”
A beat passed. “And if you are feeling those shifts, those echoes—it’s not weakness. It’s awareness. Painful, sometimes, yeah. But it means you’re part of something bigger. You just notice the ripples where others miss the stone.”
Tayanita didn’t offer reassurance as a fix. She simply sat with the truth of it, steady and unafraid. “Whatever it is, you’re not alone in it.”
It was as if something that had been held at bay, locked behind closed doors, was released. Cara wasn't certain as to what it was but there was the tangible sense of relief.
A tear trickled down her cheek as Cara looked back at Tayanita, wiping the tear away with the back of her hand.
"Thank you." her voice quavering with emotions.
Had she been longing to be able to open up like this to someone, one who understood. Cara pondered upon that for a nano moment.
Cara had dared not to truly open up to anyone on this level. Tayanita though, with her gentle understanding, piercing through the barriers Cara had placed.
She paused in her thoughts, it wasn't piercing, it was a soft and gentle knock.
Tayanita met Cara’s eyes and gave a small, honest nod. “You’re welcome.”
She didn’t say more at first, just stayed there with her—no rush to fill the silence or smooth over the emotion. When she finally spoke again, her voice was steady but kind.
“I think most of us want to be seen. Really seen. And when you carry a lot inside, it can be hard to know who to let in.” She paused, giving a slight tilt of her head. “You don’t have to explain it all. Sometimes it’s enough just to have someone who understands a little of it.”
She let out a quiet breath, glanced toward the water, then back at Cara.
“I come here for that reason too. To just... breathe. Let some of it go.” Her expression softened. “If it ever helps to sit here and not say much—or to say everything—I’m good with either.”
No big promises, no grand gesture. Just the simple truth of someone who meant it.
A simple nod from Cara, gazing into the timeless eyes of Tayanita.
"What if, there was the need of one healer, to hold a hand of another healer. In a moment of quiet."
This was something Cara hadn't brought up with anyone, outside besides her mother. Not everyone would have that understanding, of two healers being able to rebalance each other, to connect on a spiritual level.
Tayanita’s gaze held steady, but something softened in it—like Cara’s words had reached somewhere much older than the uniform she wore.
“When I was young,” she began, her voice low, unhurried, “my mother used to take me to sit with the elders when someone in the village was ill. They didn’t just treat the body. They’d sit, sometimes for hours, saying little. Just being there. Because sometimes, the healer needed healing too.”
Her eyes drifted briefly to the pool’s rippling surface before returning to Cara. “One of the elders told me once—‘if your hands are always giving, they’ll forget how to receive.’ I didn’t really understand it then. I do now.”
She gave the faintest, wry smile. “You’ve got that same stillness I used to see in them. The kind that comes from walking through storms and not losing yourself in them.”
Her tone stayed gentle, but there was no mistaking the sincerity. “So if you ever needed that… a hand, a moment, no questions asked—I’d give it. Because I know how much it can matter. And I think you do too.”
She could read the sincerity in Tayanita's eyes, as well as the feeling emanating.
Her hand slowly reached out towards the wise woman next to her.
"I do know." Cara's voice soft with a resonance of reverence. "I make the same offer to you as well, Tayanita."
She wasn't making the offer lightly, the air seemed to grow still, as if a bubble of serenity enveloped the two women.
Tay didn’t take Cara’s hand right away. She let the stillness between them breathe, as the elders once taught her, because a moment carried more meaning when it wasn’t rushed. Then she reached out, fingers closing gently, like sealing a promise.
“Again, when I was young,” she began, her voice low, “my parents taught me how to feel the shape of time—how moments ripple out and touch things far from here. But it was the Oneida who taught me what to do with it. To listen not just with the ears, but with the skin, the bones, the space between heartbeats.”
Her gaze stayed on Cara’s, steady and unwavering. “They believed that when two healers meet, their spirits step into the same river. For a while, those waters flow together, carrying the strength of both. You leave carrying some of theirs, and they carry some of yours. It’s how balance is kept.”
She gave the faintest, knowing smile. “El Aurian or not, you feel the currents. You notice the subtle changes—the quiet turning of things most never stop long enough to see. That’s why I trust this.”
Her thumb brushed over Cara’s knuckles, grounding the connection. “Your offer’s heard, and it will be remembered. If the day comes I need it, I’ll come. And if the day comes you do… I’ll already be there.”
She didn’t let go immediately. Her gaze softened, and for a heartbeat the centuries in her eyes showed—fields under starlight, winter rivers running slow, the hush of snow on cedar branches. Then she released Cara’s hand.
“For now,” she said, voice quiet as the water’s edge, “we just sit.”
There was a brief answering flash in Cara's eyes, something in her recognized what she saw in Tayanita's gaze, something familiar. Her hand returned the gesture before her hand was released. She felt no words needed to be said.
What all that Tayanita had shared, the wound in her soul, her heart, her very being was mending. Cara hoped though, that she was aiding Tayanita as well.
Cara turned to gaze back towards the pool, feeling the healing current encircle both Tayanita and herself. It was time to just sit and breathe.
Commander Cara Letsul
Executive Officer
Deep Space 5
Commander Tayanita Lio'ven
Chief Medical Officer
Deep Space 5
RSS Feed