Submitted as a story of the Trek BBS october 2011 challenge. This is an experimental piece of writing, and one which focuses on a time between the DS9 (tv) series and my series. It specifically focuses on the time in Kira's life after she gave birth to Mia, her first child When three vedeks, after closely studying a prophecy, publically announce that Mia is an infidel of the Prophets, Kira comes under immediate danger. Thanks to the generosity of vedek Talrik, she now safely resides in the Koma temple. It is in there that she now really mulls over the events of the last few months... For some more background information regarding your questions about Kira (and Odo), see the following: the chapter called Characters in my Series bible, Chapter 2 of my story Secrets and Lies, and Flashback 1 and Flashback 2 of my other story Devolution. Here is the story: Moment of Surrender Abruptly the vision ended and Kira was staring into the blue glowing orb. Gently she closed the lids to the elaborately jeweled casing. She had hoped for answers but she all got from the Prophets were riddles, a confusing array of images, and old memories from the past. It was so disappointing, she expected to see at least some sort of indication of what would happen to her and her new-born child, Mia. But she was already telling herself that the Prophets didn't work like that, sometimes they didn't explain things directly and it was up to the individual to work out what it meant. So she got to her knees and prayed to the Prophets, begging them to give her clarity. She felt so unbelievably trapped in an impossible situation, and though it was safe here in the Koma temple, Kira knew she couldn't stay here forever. To think nine months ago she was living happily on DS9, married to Odo, and living a life that seemed, on further reflection, so simple and almost carefree. Of course a few Bajoran eyebrows were raised when she married Odo, a shapeshifter, but she should have realized then that it was a sign of things to come. When Bashir told her and Odo about a medical procedure he had realized would help her and Odo to conceive, she was so delighted. What seemed impossible, became possible, thanks to Bashir's mastery of medicine and biology. The medical procedure had that funny name... In vitro fertilization*, or IVF, yes that was it. Though it was an artificial means of conception, Kira wasn't put off and sure enough two months later she was pregnant. The first few weeks were nerve-wracking for her because at the time neither she or Bashir had any idea what the embryo would develop into; a Bajoran or a shapeshifter. It turned out it was both, the baby was in essence Bajoran in terms of outward appearance and physical structure. But it was the cellular level that was different, it was a fusing of silicon and carbon based cell structures. A lot of what Bashir had told her about Mia's biology either confused her or scared her. All that really mattered, and the question both she and Odo always asked, was whether Mia was healthy. Though after three months Bashir became convinced that everything would turn out alright, and Kira relaxed considerably after then. Looking back she realized she had celebrated way to prematurely. For those three months she had worrying about nothing else except for her developing child. It was at that point when she became acutely aware of other Bajoran's attitudes to her bearing a child of a shapeshifter. She could tell many of the Bajoran officers on DS9 were uncomfortable with the idea of a half Bajoran half shapeshifter child. But Kira didn't sense there was any hostility to either her or her baby. That all changed when three Bajoran vedeks, using the text of some obscure prophecy claimed that the child Kira was bearing was an infidel of the Prophets. The three vedeks believed that the child was literally 'the evil one' and would grow up to wreak considerable harm upon Bajor. She had read the actual prophecy, and though it sort of applied to her and Odo, it could have applied to many other unborn children and not just her own. Unfortunately many Bajorans didn't come to her interpretation of the prophecy, they thought her child was 'the evil one'. What happened afterwards became a blur of pain to Kira. First it was the Bajoran officers on DS9 avoiding her, literally, though some, the ones who shared her interpretation of the prophecy, acted completely normal around her. Then came the death threats, and she once got assaulted on a corridor by a crazed Bajoran officer. She could never forget the look on his eyes, those mad staring eyes. The officer actually thought killing her and her unborn child was the will of the Prophets. After that incident, Odo became so protective of her that she was almost permanently confined to quarters. It was for her own safety, and things only seemed real to her when Odo had made a passionate vow to protect her with his life. Worse still she read the Bajoran papers and nearly all of them were condemning her and the baby. In all but a legal sense, she had become an outcast and just as despised, probably even more so, than the worst Bajoran collaborators in the Cardassian occupation. All she had left was Odo and her faith. Oh she prayed, she prayed to the Prophets daily, beseeching to them for guidance. She knew the Prophets could hear her prayers, but in praying she found no comfort. Her faith was being tested to the uttermost limit, and so she continued to pray, even though it did nothing. The thing which really kept her going was the baby itself, she bore no anger or malice to Mia. She loved her baby daughter all the more harder because despite everything that had happened, it was the most important thing in Kira's life. Nothing could change that, and how her people thought that the baby was 'the evil one' or the devil seemed utterly ridiculous to her. Giving birth was one of the most moving events in Kira's life. It took place in her quarters, and it was just Odo and Bashir who were with her on that occasion. Due to the circumstances the traditional Bajoran ceremony for births couldn't take place. But it did not matter to Kira, holding her new-born daughter in her arms was more than she could have dreamed for. She had never Odo look so happy, and they both agreed to name their daughter Mia. Once the initial joy of bringing Mia into the world started to fade, a horrible crushing sense of responsibility crashed down upon Kira. How could she raise Mia like this? She couldn't go to Bajor, and she couldn't indefinitely stay in her quarters. There was only one option and that was to leave DS9, to leave Bajor. It was a horrible thought to Kira but she figured that if things didn't change it was the only option she had. But in her heart she could never leave Bajor, and when she had reached a true low, only then in the depths of despair and doubt did, finally, some hope arrive. That hope was in the form of vedek Talrik. He paid Kira a visit to her quarters, and explained to her that only some of the vedeks believed that her daughter was an infidel of the Prophets, but they could be convinced if the Kai were to make a decree. When Talrik offered to provide her sanctuary in the Koma temple and help to resolve the whole matter, she could not believe it. She thanked him so much, that looking back, it was embarrassing. Now here she was in the Koma temple, her place of residence for the last seven days, and praying to the Prophets. Her doubts and worries returned in full force when Talrik told her that convincing the vedek assembly that Mia was not 'the evil one' was going to be much harder than he first thought. It all came down to that blasted prophecy, and it's interpretation. Upon hearing this bad news she well and truly panicked. She was afraid, so afraid that she could only just stop her hands from trembling and her voice faltering in fear. If Talrik should fail, then even the sanctuary of the Koma temple wouldn't be enough to protect her. She would have no choice but to flee Bajor. How had it come to this? She bowed her head in tortured prayer trying to make sense of it all. Her very faith was faltering, and her thoughts became even darker. What if the prophecy was right? Was Mia really an infidel of the Prophets. If so then why had the Prophets inflicted this trial, this immense humiliation, upon her? Of all the things she was going to lose, was her faith in the Prophets the next thing to be lost? This was truly rock bottom, this was a nightmare of unprecedented scale. For so long now she had believed that the Prophets always had a path laid out for her, even when at times it seemed that the path was obscure or confusing. But this was different. Was this the Prophets way of punishing her for being the mother of an infidel? As she considered this something else came to mind, something that she more firmly believed in than anything else. No matter how much a person had strayed, if they truly repented and changed their ways the Prophets would forgive them. The Prophets were not malevolent and they did not deliberately punish people, it was always the case that it was the person punishing himself and not the Prophets though his evil deeds. When Kira thought about it, she could not see how she had sinned or transgressed by conceiving Mia. She was becoming steadily more convinced that the Prophets weren't punishing her, they were testing her instead. Her path was now one of great misfortune and sorrow, but that was the will of the Prophets, so how could she go against that? Still it was one thing to accept her path, it was another to walk it. It would be a path full of doubts, of anguish, soul-devouring regret and lamentation. If that was the path the Prophets had ordained for her, then there was no other way. For all her wants and desires for guidance, the thing that really mattered was her faith. That was her guidance, that was what the Prophets were telling her all along, to keep the faith... She stood up, and with her hand wiped away the wetness in her eyes. She was going to take this day by day, step by step, maybe Talrik would succeed, or maybe not. All that mattered was the present and Mia. With that resolution, etched firmly in her heart, she left the chamber. *Bashir used a modified form of IVF, in this case taking genetic material from one of Odo's cells and implanting it into one of Kira's egg cells. The actual prophecy refered to in my story: And there shall come a child, raised by two parents of great honour and virtue. The father will be an outcast, and yet a respected member of the community. But the mother's seed will not be normal, and the community's healers will help both mother and the unborn babe to survive. Thus forth all will consider the babe, a child of virtue and of potential like any other. At birth none shall suspect of the wickedness this new born babe shall commit in later life. The parents will rise the child, but this youth will disobey and leave the family home never to been seen by the parents again. And still none will suspect what this youth will grow up to be. By that time it shall be to late, and when all know this babe's name, a new age of darkness will set in. All that is will be transmuted and destroyed, and what we know of the world will be cast in to great fires. Soulless beings, with hearts of evil and wickedness, will be raised and this babe will be supreme over all the world's life...