CHAPTER 2

CHIEF OF SECURITY ODO was outside Commander Sisko's office when he encountered the Bajoran vedek who had been Brother Gis's companion on the runabout. The man was acting strangely, ignoring the device that would announce his presence and instead tapping the locked door with a peculiar-looking tube. Odo moved swiftly to place himself between the monk and the door.
"May I help you?" he asked, though his tone turned the polite inquiry into the demand Who are you and what are you doing here?
"How does it work?" the vedek asked.
"How does what work?" Odo replied testily.
"This." The vedek gave the closed door a substantial rap with the tube, making Odo flinch in spite of himself.
"You need to know how a door works?" The shapeshifter could not help sounding amused.
"Not a door," the vedek responded with equanimity. "This door."
Odo gave a little snort of half-suppressed laughter through his not-quite-perfectly-formed nose. "I fail to see the problem. A door is a door."
"Here." The vedek dipped his free hand into his sleeve and quickly tossed an object right at Odo. The shapeshifter's reflexes did not fail him; he snatched it from midair and stared at the object.
"What's this?" he asked, slowly rotating the small, rubbery cube.
"A ball." The vedek smiled. "Go ahead and roll it across the floor if you don't believe me."
"Roll this?" Odo snorted again. "I don't think so."
Still smiling, the vedek extended his hand for the cube. The shapeshifter slapped it into his palm unceremoniously. The vedek gave it an odd flip and the cube went bouncing down the corridor on its edges in an erratic, wandering course.
But it did roll.
"A ball is a ball," the vedek said, picking it up when it finally came to rest. "And a door is a door," he concluded in triumph.
By now, Odo was out of patience. No matter how much he owed the Bajorans, he could never bring himself to like their vedeks' roundabout way of making a point. "Is there something I can do to help you? Besides playing ball in the corridors?"
"I am here to see Commander Sisko," the vedek announced, holding the tube to his chest with both hands.
"Is Commander Sisko expecting you?"
"Commander Sisko is a man who has walked with the Prophets. Who can say what he expects?"
"The Prophets again …" Odo muttered to himself in disgust. He liked straight answers to straight questions, something he never got whenever a Bajoran brought up the Prophets. "Do you have an appointment?" he asked.
"I have a mission." The vedek's wrinkled face was creased by an expression of pure bliss. He cradled the tube tenderly.
"If that's a message for Commander Sisko, I'll give it to him." Odo stuck out his hand.
The vedek scuttled backward, clutching the tube. "It was entrusted to me," he protested. "I cannot let it be seen by any eyes but his."
"You'll still have to let me examine it. I'm in charge of security. I can't permit any suspicious objects to be taken into Commander Sisko's presence."
The vedek backed away even farther, shaking his head violently. Odo sighed. "You have my word of honor that I won't read it; I'll just look at it. I won't even need to open it if it scans as something harmless. I only want to make sure that it is what you say it is. Then I'll personally escort you in to see Commander Sisko, all right?"
The vedek gave Odo a long, suspicious look that reminded the shapeshifter a lot of himself. Finally, though, the tube changed hands. Odo ran a small sensor over the length of it and found nothing to excite speculation. He passed it back to the vedek, whose hands closed around it as if he'd never expected to get it back at all.
"There. That didn't hurt much, did it?" Odo said dryly.
"Would you also like to scan this?" the vedek asked.
Odo looked down at the rubber cube and grumbled, "That won't be necessary." He touched his communicator. "Commander Sisko, Odo here. There's someone to see you."
"I'm very busy right now, Odo," Sisko voice came through. "I don't want to be disturbed. Tell whoever it is—"
"He appears to be a Bajoran vedek."
"He's back?" The commander's voice betrayed surprise. "Hmmmm, just as well. I have some good news for him from Starfleet Command. The medical supplies are on their way, and I'm working on the other phase of the problem. Bring him in." There was the sound of a lock being disabled and a muted hiss as the door to the commander's office slid back to admit Odo and the monk.
Sisko looked up from his desk to say, "Brother Gis, we were lucky; there are three Federation vessels in the vicinity able to—" He stopped when his eyes lit on the Bajoran's face. "You're not Brother Gis."
"With respect, no." The Bajoran made a shallow bow. "I am Vedek Torin, of the Na-melis Order. I live in service to the Kai Opaka."
Sisko frowned. "The Kai Opaka is gone."
"We are all diminished by her absence," Vedek Torin responded. "And yet, she remains among us, if we find the eyes to see her."
"More nonsense," Odo muttered.
Vedek Torin gave the shapeshifter a searching look. "My friend, I sense a certain bitterness about you. Although my order is small, we have mastered a number of remarkably effective techniques to achieve personal harmony and set the pagh at rest. When I have discharged my mission with Commander Sisko, perhaps I might share some of these with you?"
"What sort of techniques?" Odo asked irascibly.
The rubber cube arced into the air between them. "Well, we play ball a lot."
"I'd take him up on it if I were you, Odo," Sisko said, secretly enjoying the nonplussed expression on the normally unflappable constable's face.
"I don't need personal harmony!" Odo snapped so sharply that Commander Sisko had to smother a chuckle.
"No?" Vedek Torin sounded disappointed. "Then perhaps you would prefer to apply our techniques as a means to rise above your skeptical nature? The mind that doubts everything often finds the answer to nothing. A person in your line of work needs answers."
"With respect, Vedek Torin," Odo said, biting off the words, "I don't think your mission here was to teach me spiritual exercises."
"That is true," the vedek averred. "Commander Sisko, I must ask you to come with me to the temple. I have a message for you from the one in whose service I will ever be."
"From the Kai? But—"
The vedek forestalled his objection. "Reserve your doubts until we have spoken, I beg of you. Come to the temple."
"Can't you just give it to him here?" Odo demanded.
"If I could, why would I ask him to accompany me to the temple?" Vedek Torin asked with such quiet reasonableness that Sisko could almost hear Odo's teeth grinding together.
"I can't leave the station," Sisko said.
"That is not needful. I speak of the temple here. Will you come?"
Sisko rose from his chair and was about to leave the office in company with Vedek Torin when Odo stopped him. "Commander, I don't like this. Why the need for all this—this hole-and-corner secrecy?" He glared at the Bajoran, who returned a beatific look to him.
"Do you have any hard reasons to suspect this man of deceit, Constable?" Sisko asked. Odo was forced to admit that he had none. "Then don't worry; I'll be fine."
Odo followed Sisko and Vedek Torin out of the commander's office. In the corridor, Sisko and the vedek turned in one direction and Odo went in another, continuing his rounds. He had not gone twenty steps when he heard a short, penetrating hiss. He looked to one side and saw Major Kira Nerys motioning for him to join her.
"Is something the matter, Major?" he inquired.
"Nothing, Odo. I just have a little free time and I was wondering if I could buy you a drink at Quark's Place. The two of us haven't had a nice, friendly chat for a long time."
"A nice, friendly chat, is it?" Odo was amused, in his own reserved way. "A nice, specific chat, if I know you."
"Odo, I'm hurt!" she exclaimed, giving him a look to match the words. "You don't think I'm your friend?"
"I know you are. I also know you." He gave her a searching look that had extracted confessions from more than one would-be malefactor aboard DS9.
Major Kira raised her hands in surrender. "You've got me, Odo. All right, then; let's have a nice, specific chat over something cool."
"You know I don't drink," he reminded her.
The Bajoran rolled her eyes. "Fine, then can we have our chat without the drinks? I'll owe you one."
"You may wind up owing me more. What's on your mind?"
"I want some information."
Odo smiled sardonically. "I thought as much."
"Who was that vedek I just saw leaving Commander Sisko's office? I saw him earlier, when I went to greet Gis at the runabout docking bay."
"Hmmm …" Odo grew thoughtful. "You know, Major, information moves smoothest when it moves both ways. We can trade."
"Trade?"
"My answer for your question, your answer for mine: Who is this Gis you went to greet?" He watched with interest as the color of Major Kira's cheeks heightened slightly.
"Gis came to see Commander Sisko at my suggestion." Her unwillingness to share this knowledge was obvious. "He works in one of the refugee camps."
"What was his business with the commander?"
"Isn't it about time for that trade you mentioned, Odo?" Kira asked innocently. "Who was that vedek?"
"He calls himself Vedek Torin of the Na-melis Order."
"Na-melis!" Kira echoed in amazement. "They were the personal assistants of the Kai Opaka."
"So he said."
"But the Kai is gone. What could possibly bring one of the Na-melis Order here?" Kira mused. "And what would he want with Commander Sisko?"
"I'm afraid that you will have to go elsewhere for that information," Odo said. "Vedek Torin was decidedly closemouthed on the subject. What about your Brother Gis?"
Major Kira only smiled.
"I see. Very well, if that is all—" He tried to proceed on his rounds. Kira stopped him with a gesture.
"Maybe you don't have that information at the moment, Odo, but it's only a matter of time until you do. I believe in you. You make it your business to know what's going on aboard this station. If you don't know what brought Vedek Torin aboard—yet—you won't be ignorant for long. When you do find out, share the news with me. We'll trade again."
"Is that an order, Major?" Odo asked.
Kira's smile was set to disarm. "Just a request. From a friend who's helped you do your job once or twice. And one who now owes you one." The smile faded abruptly. "I'm not asking you to spy for me, Odo. As first officer, it's my duty and in the best interests of this station for me to be aware of Commander Sisko's whereabouts at all times. It's a matter of security. You do understand that?"
"Perfectly." The corner of Odo's mouth twitched slightly. "When last seen, Commander Sisko and Vedek Torin were heading for the station shrine. If I learn more, I will make it a point to pass that information on to you. All in the name of security, of course."
"Thank you," Major Kira replied with dignity. "I'd appreciate that."
As she left, Odo remarked to himself, "There goes the only person I know who could out-trade a Ferengi." He uttered a short, sharp bark of laughter at the thought of how annoyed Kira would be to hear herself compared to Quark, then resumed his rounds.

The Bajoran shrine aboard Deep Space Nine was a place of silences and mysteries. Although Benjamin Sisko had made it his business to acquaint himself with every aspect of the station as soon as he had settled into his new posting, his familiarity with the shrine relied more on floor plans and schematics than personal experience. He was not a frequent visitor to this outpost of Bajoran mysticism, and those few times he had set foot across the threshold, he had been too preoccupied by other matters to truly notice his surroundings.
He followed Vedek Torin through the main area of the shrine, breathing deeply the soothing scent of old incense and pausing impatiently while the monk lit a fresh cone of perfumed gum in one of the many delicately carved braziers. As they went on, Sisko saw several Bajoran worshipers in the shadows. He recognized them—shopkeepers and servicepeople from the station. There was Kova Dilvan, who ran the refreshment stand where Jake spent so much of his time and nearly all of his allowance. Sisko was used to seeing the squat, dark-haired Bajoran full of bounce and energy, an aggressive salesman fit to give even the Ferengi some hard competition. Now he stood in quiet contemplation before an abstract sculpture on the shrine wall, the picture of tranquillity.
They left the public area and passed through a doorway hung with ornaments like those peculiar to adult Bajorans' earrings. The crystal strands chimed softly as the curtain closed behind Sisko and Vedek Torin, leaving them in a small, extremely private chamber. It was unfurnished except for a smooth, cylindric pedestal holding a glimmering golden dish of oil. Vedek Torin murmured a few words, then kindled the wick floating in the oil. It was the only light in the chamber, but it was sufficient.
"Now we may speak," Vedek Torin said.
"Are you sure?" Sisko cast his eyes back to the crystal curtain. It did not seem like a substantial barrier to potential eavesdroppers.
The vedek was unperturbed. "It will suffice. I bring you a message, Commander, from the Kai Opaka herself. It is a message whose secrecy must be guarded absolutely. If you do not have the skill to preserve secrecy where there are no doors, you will do no better behind a hundred locks."
Benjamin Sisko regarded the vedek closely. "How did your order receive this message? No one has heard anything from the Kai since her departure." He was sure of that. If anyone had had word from the Kai, there were half a dozen political opportunists on Bajor ready and willing to transform the message so that it would be all to their advantage.
"I did not say we received this message," the vedek replied. "It is as you say: No word has come from the Kai. But these words remained behind." He removed the ornate stopper from the metallic tube in his hand and slid out the pale blue scroll within. "Since the Kai's departure, the members of my order and myself have been devoting our efforts to organizing and archiving all personal writings that she left with us. Such must be preserved."
"She was a woman of wisdom," Sisko agreed. I am sure there is a great deal of value in any works she left behind."
"More than you know, Commander." Carefully the vedek moved the dish of oil to one side and unrolled the scroll on the pedestal. "Are you able to read Bajoran? There are several versions of our written language, you know, some used only within the Temple."
"I understand. I'll try," Sisko said, looking over Vedek Torin's shoulder. "If I can't make this out, would you have any objections to my having the computer translate it?"
"None. That way you will be assured that the translation is an honest one. Is that not so?"
Benjamin Sisko was momentarily embarrassed by the vedek's insight. "The computer can also confirm that this is a message left by the Kai, and not something deliberately planted by someone else for your order to find."
Vedek Torin nodded. "The intrigues of Bajor. You are wise to be so cautious, Commander. Your mind is open, but your eyes remain open as well. That is good. The Kai was altogether right in placing so much trust in you. With such good judgment, perhaps you may not need to submit this message to your computer after all. See."
What Sisko saw was a closely written, beautifully lettered example of the most common, accessible form of Bajoran script, easily legible. The message was framed by a thick band of dark blue and gold decorative calligraphy that reminded Sisko of ancient Islamic art from Earth. He had no trouble reading the Kai's message.
"'By the blessings of the Prophets, I, the Kai Opaka, have been vouchsafed a vision of the child,"' Sisko read aloud softly, occasionally glancing up at Vedek Torin for any sign that he was mistranslating the Kai's words. "'The hour has come when the Prophets choose to reveal the place where we must seek the child, and the peace of Bajor hangs in the balance. My time may not permit me to witness the search, but if this mission is entrusted to one who has walked with the Prophets, all may yet be well. Seek her in the places of desolation, for she shall heal them. In the heart of the green valley of song, in the village where many waters dance, the prophesied one shall be found. Let her then be brought to the Temple, into the sight of the Prophets and the people, that they may behold and believe.'"
Sisko lifted his eyes from the scroll. "A child?" he asked. "What child?"
"The child of an ancient prophecy," Vedek Torin explained. "It speaks of a healer to come and make all things whole. Do your people have such prophecies?"
"Many peoples of the Federation do," Sisko admitted. "But this"—he gestured at the message—"this doesn't strike me as a matter for the attention of Starfleet. It seems to be a purely internal Bajoran concern, something the Temple itself should pursue, not us."
"I would agree with you, Commander," the vedek said, "if not for the fact that the Kai's message is no longer solely in the keeping of my order."
"What? You spoke of the need for secrecy—"
"Secrecy as far as those who do not believe in the prophecy," Vedek Torin said, folding his hands on the pedestal. "To us, the child is everything. If you have a treasure you prize above all others, what would you give to recover it should it fall into a stranger's hands?"
Sisko felt a pang as Jake's face flashed before him. "Anything," he said sincerely.
"Better, then, to do all in your power to prevent the treasure's initial loss. No matter what the differences separating the different political factions of Bajor, we are united in this belief of the prophesied healer. But those who do not believe would see the child as a pawn to further their own desires for the future of Bajor."
Sisko was inclined to agree with Vedek Torin. Yet, knowing what he did of the Bajoran religious establishment, he wondered whether this Na-melis vedek was not being too optimistic. His order had served the Kai Opaka; in a way, their exclusive devotion sheltered them from the realities of life outside the Kai's service. On Bajor, intrigue was not limited to politicians. It was an insidious growth that sent tendrils of plot and counterplot even into the heart of the Temple itself.
"Then other Bajorans know about the Kai's vision of the child?" Sisko asked. The vedek indicated that this was so. "I don't see your problem. The more who know, the easier your search for the child will be."
"I wish that were so, Commander." Vedek Torin sighed. "It is not. When we discovered the Kai's message, we brought it before the Temple council, as was our duty. By rights, the matter should have remained within the Temple until our own searches and inquiries might bring the child into our midst, as the Kai directed we must. But word escaped. Rumors sped through the capital. Not every ear that heard them was bound by the silence of the Temple."
"The silence of the Temple isn't all that effective if the rumors escaped in the first place," Sisko pointed out.
"Alas, that too is so." The vedek made a gesture of resignation. "Only a directive from the council, worded in the strongest possible terms, put an end to the gossip. But it was too late; the harm was done."
"What harm? Did the rumors reach the ears of any unbelievers?"
The vedek's eyes glittered brightly by the light of the oil lamp. "You are the first such to know, and that only because you have walked with the Prophets. May you be the last, until the child is found. No, Commander Sisko; word of the child's existence only touched Bajoran ears, but that was enough. Tell me, have you heard of the Dessin-ka?"
Sisko thought hard. The name sounded familiar, something Major Kira had mentioned to him once. "The Dessin-ka … Isn't that the name of one of the political factions making up the provisional government?"
"A very influential faction, Commander," Vedek Torin agreed. "My brethren and I did not know precisely how influential the Dessin-ka were until our news escaped to their ears. They are—how would you say it?—a group given to the more traditional values of our faith."
"Then they oppose the Federation presence on Bajor?"
"Adherence to tradition need not mean refusal to accept all things new. The Dessin-ka recognize the many advantages your Federation may bring to Bajor. They are a strong voice in your favor … for the moment."
"For the moment?" Sisko repeated slowly. He didn't like the sound of that.
The vedek stared into the flame that danced above the smooth surface of the oil. "You said before that you know of many peoples besides our own who cherish belief in the prophecy of a healing child. Yet I think you will agree, these beliefs are not identical?"
"There are some variations, of course, but in general—"
"The Dessin-ka, too, have a prophecy. We see the promise of a healer in the Kai's words; they see more. The child of the Kai's vision is for them the Nekor, the one who brings a sword. She will make all Bajor one by her power."
Sisko was at a loss to comprehend Vedek Torin's words. "I thought all your people shared a single faith. How can the healer of one Bajoran prophecy be the—the sword-bearer of another?"
Vedek Torin turned from the pedestal. He walked to a wall where a plaque set with dozens of crystals glimmered in the shadows. His fingers plucked three long, tapering stones from their setting and showed them to Sisko. One was blue, one red, the third a purple so deep it was almost black.
"Beautiful, are they not?" the vedek said, letting Sisko see that the ornaments were actually hollow. With extreme care he dipped each one into the oil and held them up to the light of the flame. Beams of green, orange, and pale amethyst light shone through the facets. "What has changed?" he asked, as if speaking to a child.
"Only what we see," Sisko replied. "The crystals and the oil inside each one is the same. I see what you mean, Vedek Torin."
The vedek sighed. "Would that the Dessin-ka shared your willingness to be instructed. They are convinced that the vision-child is their Nekor and none other. They clamor for her to be found at once. Their prophecy, you see, foretells that the Nekor's reign must begin with the Berajin, the time of the harvest festival. We have tried to explain to them the difficulty—perhaps the impossibility—of complying with their demand. The Berajin comes too soon for us to have hope of finding her and bringing her to the Temple by then."
Commander Sisko studied the Kai's message. "True. This doesn't give you much help about where to begin your search."
"No?" Vedek Torin looked perplexed. "What further details would you desire than the name and location of the village where the child may be found?" His gnarled finger touched a line of the text.
"'In the heart of the green valley of song, in the village where many waters dance,'" Sisko read once more.
The vedek laughed. "With respect, Commander, your command of this form of written Bajoran is excellent, but you are reading the meaning of our place-names, not the names as themselves."
"Ah!" Sisko exclaimed, understanding his error. He recalled a conversation with Chief O'Brien during which the Irishman had told him that the Terran place-name Dublin actually meant the black pool. On Earth, no one bound for Dublin spoke of going to the black pool, and here—
"Then this says …?" Commander Sisko asked, placing his finger beside the vedek's on the scroll.
"The Kaladrys Valley, Bennikar village." The vedek's hands retreated to the shelter of his sleeves. "It might as well say the abyss. The Kaladrys Valley is a wasteplace now, and no longer do waters dance in Bennikar."
"The Kaladys Valley?" Brother Gis's visitation returned to Sisko.
"In the Kai's service, we lost track of the world's small ironies," Vedek Torin said, his eyelids lowered as he contemplated the oil lamp's fame. "Had the Prophets granted the Kai this vision a few years earlier, the Cardassian destruction was still comfortably far off from Bennikar. We could have found the child and brought her to the Temple with time to spare. Now there is no Bennikar."
"And what guarantee do you have that the same is not true of"—Sisko hesitated, hating the words, but forced to say them—"the child as well?"
Vedek Torin's eyes snapped wide open. "But that cannot be true," he insisted. "It must not be true. This is why you must help us, Commander. You must lend us the Federation's aid in finding the child. If she is not found, if the Dessin-ka do not see their promised Nekor before them in the Temple at Berajin, they will accuse us of having found her and hidden her from them—even if she is not there to be hidden! The repercussions will be terrible. They will pull all their support from the provisional government, upsetting—even smashing the balance we have worked so hard to achieve."
His hands darted out to seize Sisko's. "You have the resources we do not. You can find the blessed child where we could not begin to seek her."
"One child …" Sisko took a deep breath. "A child from a village that's been wiped out of existence. No other clues? Any description of what she looks like?"
The Bajoran shook his head. "Neither here nor in any of the scriptures of prophecy. But she will be known to you."
"You are asking for a miracle, Vedek Torin," Sisko said. "The Federation will help as much as possible, but we can't promise miracles."
The vedek inclined his head. "When you first came to Bajor, you promised us peace. Is this not the greatest miracle of all?"

 

CHAPTER 2

CHIEF OF SECURITY ODO was outside Commander Sisko's office when he encountered the Bajoran vedek who had been Brother Gis's companion on the runabout. The man was acting strangely, ignoring the device that would announce his presence and instead tapping the locked door with a peculiar-looking tube. Odo moved swiftly to place himself between the monk and the door.
"May I help you?" he asked, though his tone turned the polite inquiry into the demand Who are you and what are you doing here?
"How does it work?" the vedek asked.
"How does what work?" Odo replied testily.
"This." The vedek gave the closed door a substantial rap with the tube, making Odo flinch in spite of himself.
"You need to know how a door works?" The shapeshifter could not help sounding amused.
"Not a door," the vedek responded with equanimity. "This door."
Odo gave a little snort of half-suppressed laughter through his not-quite-perfectly-formed nose. "I fail to see the problem. A door is a door."
"Here." The vedek dipped his free hand into his sleeve and quickly tossed an object right at Odo. The shapeshifter's reflexes did not fail him; he snatched it from midair and stared at the object.
"What's this?" he asked, slowly rotating the small, rubbery cube.
"A ball." The vedek smiled. "Go ahead and roll it across the floor if you don't believe me."
"Roll this?" Odo snorted again. "I don't think so."
Still smiling, the vedek extended his hand for the cube. The shapeshifter slapped it into his palm unceremoniously. The vedek gave it an odd flip and the cube went bouncing down the corridor on its edges in an erratic, wandering course.
But it did roll.
"A ball is a ball," the vedek said, picking it up when it finally came to rest. "And a door is a door," he concluded in triumph.
By now, Odo was out of patience. No matter how much he owed the Bajorans, he could never bring himself to like their vedeks' roundabout way of making a point. "Is there something I can do to help you? Besides playing ball in the corridors?"
"I am here to see Commander Sisko," the vedek announced, holding the tube to his chest with both hands.
"Is Commander Sisko expecting you?"
"Commander Sisko is a man who has walked with the Prophets. Who can say what he expects?"
"The Prophets again …" Odo muttered to himself in disgust. He liked straight answers to straight questions, something he never got whenever a Bajoran brought up the Prophets. "Do you have an appointment?" he asked.
"I have a mission." The vedek's wrinkled face was creased by an expression of pure bliss. He cradled the tube tenderly.
"If that's a message for Commander Sisko, I'll give it to him." Odo stuck out his hand.
The vedek scuttled backward, clutching the tube. "It was entrusted to me," he protested. "I cannot let it be seen by any eyes but his."
"You'll still have to let me examine it. I'm in charge of security. I can't permit any suspicious objects to be taken into Commander Sisko's presence."
The vedek backed away even farther, shaking his head violently. Odo sighed. "You have my word of honor that I won't read it; I'll just look at it. I won't even need to open it if it scans as something harmless. I only want to make sure that it is what you say it is. Then I'll personally escort you in to see Commander Sisko, all right?"
The vedek gave Odo a long, suspicious look that reminded the shapeshifter a lot of himself. Finally, though, the tube changed hands. Odo ran a small sensor over the length of it and found nothing to excite speculation. He passed it back to the vedek, whose hands closed around it as if he'd never expected to get it back at all.
"There. That didn't hurt much, did it?" Odo said dryly.
"Would you also like to scan this?" the vedek asked.
Odo looked down at the rubber cube and grumbled, "That won't be necessary." He touched his communicator. "Commander Sisko, Odo here. There's someone to see you."
"I'm very busy right now, Odo," Sisko voice came through. "I don't want to be disturbed. Tell whoever it is—"
"He appears to be a Bajoran vedek."
"He's back?" The commander's voice betrayed surprise. "Hmmmm, just as well. I have some good news for him from Starfleet Command. The medical supplies are on their way, and I'm working on the other phase of the problem. Bring him in." There was the sound of a lock being disabled and a muted hiss as the door to the commander's office slid back to admit Odo and the monk.
Sisko looked up from his desk to say, "Brother Gis, we were lucky; there are three Federation vessels in the vicinity able to—" He stopped when his eyes lit on the Bajoran's face. "You're not Brother Gis."
"With respect, no." The Bajoran made a shallow bow. "I am Vedek Torin, of the Na-melis Order. I live in service to the Kai Opaka."
Sisko frowned. "The Kai Opaka is gone."
"We are all diminished by her absence," Vedek Torin responded. "And yet, she remains among us, if we find the eyes to see her."
"More nonsense," Odo muttered.
Vedek Torin gave the shapeshifter a searching look. "My friend, I sense a certain bitterness about you. Although my order is small, we have mastered a number of remarkably effective techniques to achieve personal harmony and set the pagh at rest. When I have discharged my mission with Commander Sisko, perhaps I might share some of these with you?"
"What sort of techniques?" Odo asked irascibly.
The rubber cube arced into the air between them. "Well, we play ball a lot."
"I'd take him up on it if I were you, Odo," Sisko said, secretly enjoying the nonplussed expression on the normally unflappable constable's face.
"I don't need personal harmony!" Odo snapped so sharply that Commander Sisko had to smother a chuckle.
"No?" Vedek Torin sounded disappointed. "Then perhaps you would prefer to apply our techniques as a means to rise above your skeptical nature? The mind that doubts everything often finds the answer to nothing. A person in your line of work needs answers."
"With respect, Vedek Torin," Odo said, biting off the words, "I don't think your mission here was to teach me spiritual exercises."
"That is true," the vedek averred. "Commander Sisko, I must ask you to come with me to the temple. I have a message for you from the one in whose service I will ever be."
"From the Kai? But—"
The vedek forestalled his objection. "Reserve your doubts until we have spoken, I beg of you. Come to the temple."
"Can't you just give it to him here?" Odo demanded.
"If I could, why would I ask him to accompany me to the temple?" Vedek Torin asked with such quiet reasonableness that Sisko could almost hear Odo's teeth grinding together.
"I can't leave the station," Sisko said.
"That is not needful. I speak of the temple here. Will you come?"
Sisko rose from his chair and was about to leave the office in company with Vedek Torin when Odo stopped him. "Commander, I don't like this. Why the need for all this—this hole-and-corner secrecy?" He glared at the Bajoran, who returned a beatific look to him.
"Do you have any hard reasons to suspect this man of deceit, Constable?" Sisko asked. Odo was forced to admit that he had none. "Then don't worry; I'll be fine."
Odo followed Sisko and Vedek Torin out of the commander's office. In the corridor, Sisko and the vedek turned in one direction and Odo went in another, continuing his rounds. He had not gone twenty steps when he heard a short, penetrating hiss. He looked to one side and saw Major Kira Nerys motioning for him to join her.
"Is something the matter, Major?" he inquired.
"Nothing, Odo. I just have a little free time and I was wondering if I could buy you a drink at Quark's Place. The two of us haven't had a nice, friendly chat for a long time."
"A nice, friendly chat, is it?" Odo was amused, in his own reserved way. "A nice, specific chat, if I know you."
"Odo, I'm hurt!" she exclaimed, giving him a look to match the words. "You don't think I'm your friend?"
"I know you are. I also know you." He gave her a searching look that had extracted confessions from more than one would-be malefactor aboard DS9.
Major Kira raised her hands in surrender. "You've got me, Odo. All right, then; let's have a nice, specific chat over something cool."
"You know I don't drink," he reminded her.
The Bajoran rolled her eyes. "Fine, then can we have our chat without the drinks? I'll owe you one."
"You may wind up owing me more. What's on your mind?"
"I want some information."
Odo smiled sardonically. "I thought as much."
"Who was that vedek I just saw leaving Commander Sisko's office? I saw him earlier, when I went to greet Gis at the runabout docking bay."
"Hmmm …" Odo grew thoughtful. "You know, Major, information moves smoothest when it moves both ways. We can trade."
"Trade?"
"My answer for your question, your answer for mine: Who is this Gis you went to greet?" He watched with interest as the color of Major Kira's cheeks heightened slightly.
"Gis came to see Commander Sisko at my suggestion." Her unwillingness to share this knowledge was obvious. "He works in one of the refugee camps."
"What was his business with the commander?"
"Isn't it about time for that trade you mentioned, Odo?" Kira asked innocently. "Who was that vedek?"
"He calls himself Vedek Torin of the Na-melis Order."
"Na-melis!" Kira echoed in amazement. "They were the personal assistants of the Kai Opaka."
"So he said."
"But the Kai is gone. What could possibly bring one of the Na-melis Order here?" Kira mused. "And what would he want with Commander Sisko?"
"I'm afraid that you will have to go elsewhere for that information," Odo said. "Vedek Torin was decidedly closemouthed on the subject. What about your Brother Gis?"
Major Kira only smiled.
"I see. Very well, if that is all—" He tried to proceed on his rounds. Kira stopped him with a gesture.
"Maybe you don't have that information at the moment, Odo, but it's only a matter of time until you do. I believe in you. You make it your business to know what's going on aboard this station. If you don't know what brought Vedek Torin aboard—yet—you won't be ignorant for long. When you do find out, share the news with me. We'll trade again."
"Is that an order, Major?" Odo asked.
Kira's smile was set to disarm. "Just a request. From a friend who's helped you do your job once or twice. And one who now owes you one." The smile faded abruptly. "I'm not asking you to spy for me, Odo. As first officer, it's my duty and in the best interests of this station for me to be aware of Commander Sisko's whereabouts at all times. It's a matter of security. You do understand that?"
"Perfectly." The corner of Odo's mouth twitched slightly. "When last seen, Commander Sisko and Vedek Torin were heading for the station shrine. If I learn more, I will make it a point to pass that information on to you. All in the name of security, of course."
"Thank you," Major Kira replied with dignity. "I'd appreciate that."
As she left, Odo remarked to himself, "There goes the only person I know who could out-trade a Ferengi." He uttered a short, sharp bark of laughter at the thought of how annoyed Kira would be to hear herself compared to Quark, then resumed his rounds.

The Bajoran shrine aboard Deep Space Nine was a place of silences and mysteries. Although Benjamin Sisko had made it his business to acquaint himself with every aspect of the station as soon as he had settled into his new posting, his familiarity with the shrine relied more on floor plans and schematics than personal experience. He was not a frequent visitor to this outpost of Bajoran mysticism, and those few times he had set foot across the threshold, he had been too preoccupied by other matters to truly notice his surroundings.
He followed Vedek Torin through the main area of the shrine, breathing deeply the soothing scent of old incense and pausing impatiently while the monk lit a fresh cone of perfumed gum in one of the many delicately carved braziers. As they went on, Sisko saw several Bajoran worshipers in the shadows. He recognized them—shopkeepers and servicepeople from the station. There was Kova Dilvan, who ran the refreshment stand where Jake spent so much of his time and nearly all of his allowance. Sisko was used to seeing the squat, dark-haired Bajoran full of bounce and energy, an aggressive salesman fit to give even the Ferengi some hard competition. Now he stood in quiet contemplation before an abstract sculpture on the shrine wall, the picture of tranquillity.
They left the public area and passed through a doorway hung with ornaments like those peculiar to adult Bajorans' earrings. The crystal strands chimed softly as the curtain closed behind Sisko and Vedek Torin, leaving them in a small, extremely private chamber. It was unfurnished except for a smooth, cylindric pedestal holding a glimmering golden dish of oil. Vedek Torin murmured a few words, then kindled the wick floating in the oil. It was the only light in the chamber, but it was sufficient.
"Now we may speak," Vedek Torin said.
"Are you sure?" Sisko cast his eyes back to the crystal curtain. It did not seem like a substantial barrier to potential eavesdroppers.
The vedek was unperturbed. "It will suffice. I bring you a message, Commander, from the Kai Opaka herself. It is a message whose secrecy must be guarded absolutely. If you do not have the skill to preserve secrecy where there are no doors, you will do no better behind a hundred locks."
Benjamin Sisko regarded the vedek closely. "How did your order receive this message? No one has heard anything from the Kai since her departure." He was sure of that. If anyone had had word from the Kai, there were half a dozen political opportunists on Bajor ready and willing to transform the message so that it would be all to their advantage.
"I did not say we received this message," the vedek replied. "It is as you say: No word has come from the Kai. But these words remained behind." He removed the ornate stopper from the metallic tube in his hand and slid out the pale blue scroll within. "Since the Kai's departure, the members of my order and myself have been devoting our efforts to organizing and archiving all personal writings that she left with us. Such must be preserved."
"She was a woman of wisdom," Sisko agreed. I am sure there is a great deal of value in any works she left behind."
"More than you know, Commander." Carefully the vedek moved the dish of oil to one side and unrolled the scroll on the pedestal. "Are you able to read Bajoran? There are several versions of our written language, you know, some used only within the Temple."
"I understand. I'll try," Sisko said, looking over Vedek Torin's shoulder. "If I can't make this out, would you have any objections to my having the computer translate it?"
"None. That way you will be assured that the translation is an honest one. Is that not so?"
Benjamin Sisko was momentarily embarrassed by the vedek's insight. "The computer can also confirm that this is a message left by the Kai, and not something deliberately planted by someone else for your order to find."
Vedek Torin nodded. "The intrigues of Bajor. You are wise to be so cautious, Commander. Your mind is open, but your eyes remain open as well. That is good. The Kai was altogether right in placing so much trust in you. With such good judgment, perhaps you may not need to submit this message to your computer after all. See."
What Sisko saw was a closely written, beautifully lettered example of the most common, accessible form of Bajoran script, easily legible. The message was framed by a thick band of dark blue and gold decorative calligraphy that reminded Sisko of ancient Islamic art from Earth. He had no trouble reading the Kai's message.
"'By the blessings of the Prophets, I, the Kai Opaka, have been vouchsafed a vision of the child,"' Sisko read aloud softly, occasionally glancing up at Vedek Torin for any sign that he was mistranslating the Kai's words. "'The hour has come when the Prophets choose to reveal the place where we must seek the child, and the peace of Bajor hangs in the balance. My time may not permit me to witness the search, but if this mission is entrusted to one who has walked with the Prophets, all may yet be well. Seek her in the places of desolation, for she shall heal them. In the heart of the green valley of song, in the village where many waters dance, the prophesied one shall be found. Let her then be brought to the Temple, into the sight of the Prophets and the people, that they may behold and believe.'"
Sisko lifted his eyes from the scroll. "A child?" he asked. "What child?"
"The child of an ancient prophecy," Vedek Torin explained. "It speaks of a healer to come and make all things whole. Do your people have such prophecies?"
"Many peoples of the Federation do," Sisko admitted. "But this"—he gestured at the message—"this doesn't strike me as a matter for the attention of Starfleet. It seems to be a purely internal Bajoran concern, something the Temple itself should pursue, not us."
"I would agree with you, Commander," the vedek said, "if not for the fact that the Kai's message is no longer solely in the keeping of my order."
"What? You spoke of the need for secrecy—"
"Secrecy as far as those who do not believe in the prophecy," Vedek Torin said, folding his hands on the pedestal. "To us, the child is everything. If you have a treasure you prize above all others, what would you give to recover it should it fall into a stranger's hands?"
Sisko felt a pang as Jake's face flashed before him. "Anything," he said sincerely.
"Better, then, to do all in your power to prevent the treasure's initial loss. No matter what the differences separating the different political factions of Bajor, we are united in this belief of the prophesied healer. But those who do not believe would see the child as a pawn to further their own desires for the future of Bajor."
Sisko was inclined to agree with Vedek Torin. Yet, knowing what he did of the Bajoran religious establishment, he wondered whether this Na-melis vedek was not being too optimistic. His order had served the Kai Opaka; in a way, their exclusive devotion sheltered them from the realities of life outside the Kai's service. On Bajor, intrigue was not limited to politicians. It was an insidious growth that sent tendrils of plot and counterplot even into the heart of the Temple itself.
"Then other Bajorans know about the Kai's vision of the child?" Sisko asked. The vedek indicated that this was so. "I don't see your problem. The more who know, the easier your search for the child will be."
"I wish that were so, Commander." Vedek Torin sighed. "It is not. When we discovered the Kai's message, we brought it before the Temple council, as was our duty. By rights, the matter should have remained within the Temple until our own searches and inquiries might bring the child into our midst, as the Kai directed we must. But word escaped. Rumors sped through the capital. Not every ear that heard them was bound by the silence of the Temple."
"The silence of the Temple isn't all that effective if the rumors escaped in the first place," Sisko pointed out.
"Alas, that too is so." The vedek made a gesture of resignation. "Only a directive from the council, worded in the strongest possible terms, put an end to the gossip. But it was too late; the harm was done."
"What harm? Did the rumors reach the ears of any unbelievers?"
The vedek's eyes glittered brightly by the light of the oil lamp. "You are the first such to know, and that only because you have walked with the Prophets. May you be the last, until the child is found. No, Commander Sisko; word of the child's existence only touched Bajoran ears, but that was enough. Tell me, have you heard of the Dessin-ka?"
Sisko thought hard. The name sounded familiar, something Major Kira had mentioned to him once. "The Dessin-ka … Isn't that the name of one of the political factions making up the provisional government?"
"A very influential faction, Commander," Vedek Torin agreed. "My brethren and I did not know precisely how influential the Dessin-ka were until our news escaped to their ears. They are—how would you say it?—a group given to the more traditional values of our faith."
"Then they oppose the Federation presence on Bajor?"
"Adherence to tradition need not mean refusal to accept all things new. The Dessin-ka recognize the many advantages your Federation may bring to Bajor. They are a strong voice in your favor … for the moment."
"For the moment?" Sisko repeated slowly. He didn't like the sound of that.
The vedek stared into the flame that danced above the smooth surface of the oil. "You said before that you know of many peoples besides our own who cherish belief in the prophecy of a healing child. Yet I think you will agree, these beliefs are not identical?"
"There are some variations, of course, but in general—"
"The Dessin-ka, too, have a prophecy. We see the promise of a healer in the Kai's words; they see more. The child of the Kai's vision is for them the Nekor, the one who brings a sword. She will make all Bajor one by her power."
Sisko was at a loss to comprehend Vedek Torin's words. "I thought all your people shared a single faith. How can the healer of one Bajoran prophecy be the—the sword-bearer of another?"
Vedek Torin turned from the pedestal. He walked to a wall where a plaque set with dozens of crystals glimmered in the shadows. His fingers plucked three long, tapering stones from their setting and showed them to Sisko. One was blue, one red, the third a purple so deep it was almost black.
"Beautiful, are they not?" the vedek said, letting Sisko see that the ornaments were actually hollow. With extreme care he dipped each one into the oil and held them up to the light of the flame. Beams of green, orange, and pale amethyst light shone through the facets. "What has changed?" he asked, as if speaking to a child.
"Only what we see," Sisko replied. "The crystals and the oil inside each one is the same. I see what you mean, Vedek Torin."
The vedek sighed. "Would that the Dessin-ka shared your willingness to be instructed. They are convinced that the vision-child is their Nekor and none other. They clamor for her to be found at once. Their prophecy, you see, foretells that the Nekor's reign must begin with the Berajin, the time of the harvest festival. We have tried to explain to them the difficulty—perhaps the impossibility—of complying with their demand. The Berajin comes too soon for us to have hope of finding her and bringing her to the Temple by then."
Commander Sisko studied the Kai's message. "True. This doesn't give you much help about where to begin your search."
"No?" Vedek Torin looked perplexed. "What further details would you desire than the name and location of the village where the child may be found?" His gnarled finger touched a line of the text.
"'In the heart of the green valley of song, in the village where many waters dance,'" Sisko read once more.
The vedek laughed. "With respect, Commander, your command of this form of written Bajoran is excellent, but you are reading the meaning of our place-names, not the names as themselves."
"Ah!" Sisko exclaimed, understanding his error. He recalled a conversation with Chief O'Brien during which the Irishman had told him that the Terran place-name Dublin actually meant the black pool. On Earth, no one bound for Dublin spoke of going to the black pool, and here—
"Then this says …?" Commander Sisko asked, placing his finger beside the vedek's on the scroll.
"The Kaladrys Valley, Bennikar village." The vedek's hands retreated to the shelter of his sleeves. "It might as well say the abyss. The Kaladrys Valley is a wasteplace now, and no longer do waters dance in Bennikar."
"The Kaladys Valley?" Brother Gis's visitation returned to Sisko.
"In the Kai's service, we lost track of the world's small ironies," Vedek Torin said, his eyelids lowered as he contemplated the oil lamp's fame. "Had the Prophets granted the Kai this vision a few years earlier, the Cardassian destruction was still comfortably far off from Bennikar. We could have found the child and brought her to the Temple with time to spare. Now there is no Bennikar."
"And what guarantee do you have that the same is not true of"—Sisko hesitated, hating the words, but forced to say them—"the child as well?"
Vedek Torin's eyes snapped wide open. "But that cannot be true," he insisted. "It must not be true. This is why you must help us, Commander. You must lend us the Federation's aid in finding the child. If she is not found, if the Dessin-ka do not see their promised Nekor before them in the Temple at Berajin, they will accuse us of having found her and hidden her from them—even if she is not there to be hidden! The repercussions will be terrible. They will pull all their support from the provisional government, upsetting—even smashing the balance we have worked so hard to achieve."
His hands darted out to seize Sisko's. "You have the resources we do not. You can find the blessed child where we could not begin to seek her."
"One child …" Sisko took a deep breath. "A child from a village that's been wiped out of existence. No other clues? Any description of what she looks like?"
The Bajoran shook his head. "Neither here nor in any of the scriptures of prophecy. But she will be known to you."
"You are asking for a miracle, Vedek Torin," Sisko said. "The Federation will help as much as possible, but we can't promise miracles."
The vedek inclined his head. "When you first came to Bajor, you promised us peace. Is this not the greatest miracle of all?"