Mark of the Dragon

Chapter 2 - Varik of Vulcan

            Varik of Vulcan stood in the miserable rain beside an open grave in a Human cemetery. The cemetery was surrounded by a low but ancient rock and stone wall which also enclosed a tiny church. The funeral services ended hours ago with Katlin's body suspended above its grave, and still no one had come to bury her. He would have done it himself if it had been allowed, but this was an ancient people who had lived on this land for more than a thousand years. They were very particular about who buried whom upon their sacred ground. Katlin had been rather firm on this point herself. And so he waited, thinking of her the last time they'd been here together; hearing her voice in his head.

"Katlin, I do not understand. Who must do this?" Varik asked.

"The grave diggers. If we do it for them, they will be out of a job," Katlin explained. "Besides, Aunt Beth would want it this way."

"To have a man she never knew put her into the ground?" Varik asked.

Katlin nodded.

"How do you know this?" he asked curiously.

"She and Grandma helped Dad raise me after Mother died."

"Katlin, I do not understand. Why would she want this?"

"To honor the ancient way. It's been done this way since before there was a church in the grave yard. All the people of the dragon come to rest here, Varik. It is our way," she said. "I will stay with her until they come."

"Then you will come to the pub?" he asked.

"Yes. Father would do it if he had survived her because she was his sister and she had no other family except us. But he is dead and already buried here himself, so it is up to me," she said.

And now it was up to him. Only her grandmother and her daughter had survived Katlin, with only a friend left behind to see that she was buried properly. Her dream of someday having a husband had never come to pass. Or had it? Varik raised his brow as he remembered her dying conversation with their daughter.

Seana was born without a father in the usual sense. Conceived in a test tube, her existence was planned by her mother with the help of geneticists. His only involvement had been as a genetic donor, one of many sampled as source material to make the necessary genetic repairs to Katlin's genes. The fact that he also donated as Seana's father Katlin hadn't known until after the baby was born when her features gave him away. Still he agreed to Katlin's plan to raise the child essentially on her own. He'd visited as often as he could and got to know Seana quite well over the years. He had a very good relationship with her, but Katlin hadn't revealed his identity as Seana's father to their daughter until she was on her death bed. It was then she told her about having been married by the fairies.

***

"It's in the drawer," Katlin said. "Beneath the socks, behind my under things."

"Is it this Mother?" Seana asked, holding up a tiny silver tube.

"Yes. Please bring it to me."

The girl handed her mother the tube, then she and Varik watched as Katlin opened it.

"Do you remember this?" she asked as she extracted a coiled document from the tube. She unrolled it and handed it to Varik.

Varik straightened the fragile document that was much smaller than what was accepted as standard in the Federation. It was a certificate of marriage they'd received during an undercover mission some seventeen years before. It bore their names and was given to them by a race of tiny humanoids from a world that was now protected under Federation law. It's cultural diversity was determined to be unique as a result of their mission, and so to protect it, visitation to that world was banned. Because of this, the document itself would never be valid in any Federation court, but the beings who conducted the ceremony took it seriously enough.