OOC: Just some characterization.
IC:
The Fayths beamed back aboard the Galileo 5 months later. This time Sharah was very determined to be perfectly polite, she wanted to get AWAY from Vulcan and was going to make sure her parents knew she had ‘learned a lot’ and they could go home. That hard won determination was put to the test when they materialized on the transporter pad. The first thing Sharah saw was Oliver, he’d come to meet them and not that horrible Klingon Lt. Andrew smiled and took pity on her. He took the little tree from her and her dad stepped out of her way with a wink.
“Olly!” Sharah ran off the pad and straight over to him, wrapping him a tiny child bear hug. As they walked out of the transporter room Sharah prattled on about all the different plants she had seen and what she had learned about them. Her family went in a different direction. As soon as they were far enough away, Sharah’s mask of perfect politeness and maturity cracked. “Oliver can I tell you a secret? I HATE Vulcans.”

“Well, they do have an acquired taste and to have them poke around your head it is a little unsettling” He agreed, Oliver had decided to meet the Faythes and treat Sharah to a picnic in the Arboretum in the style of a ploughman’s lunch. “So, how did it go?” He asked curiously, it must have been somewhat successful seeing how her parents left her with him.

Sharah huffed. “Vulcans have CRAZY minds. I thought everyone else I heard was confusing. I asked them about it because I was really confused. Everyone told me their minds would be very calm. But they weren’t. Then they told me I was telling lies so I wouldn’t have to work. They told mom and dad I was lazy, illogical, and undisciplined. I tried to tell them that the Vulcans were embarrassed and angry not me, but…” she shrugged. She obviously had been waiting to tell someone who would listen. “They are so confused, and angry, and happy, and jealous, and depressed, and every other thing I can think of. They “meditate” all the time. They say it controls their minds. They wanted me to do the same thing. I can meditate on my own thoughts all day, that doesn’t stop me from hearing what they REALLY want to think about.” Sharah makes a gagging face, “a lot of it was weird!” Sharah giggled. Now that she got all her frustration out she could answer what he really wanted to know, “I don’t think I learned what they wanted me to, but I learned how to hide what I was thinking and feeling from them. They wanted me to learn to not hear anything, but I can’t do that, but I learned to ignore them. I still hear it, but if I concentrate REALLY hard, I can ignore it.”

They arrived at the arboretum and Sharah took off to go see all of the plants she’d helped Oliver with the last time she was on board. But she finally sat down next to the Terracotta Helianthus Annuus. “It’s happy now,” she told Oliver when he finally caught up with her.

“I gave it some extra TLC” He said with a chuckle the door closing behind him as he crossed his arms, “I have it some deeper soil, took a bit but eventually it started to get bigger changed its feed too and now its got a beautiful colour” He said indicating to the hues of orange, red and even brown it was sunset in a flower. “I’ve made us lunch,” He said, pointing to the blanket on the floor.

Sharah tipped her head up to look at the color, “It’s beautiful” She ran her hands over the moss that Oliver had added around the base of the flower. “Lunch?” Sharah bounded up and over to the blanket. She bounced as she sat waiting for Olly. “I’m going to do this when I go to Star Fleet,” she said pointing around the arboretum. “I’m going to use plants to make medicine to make people feel better.”

“That’s really good to hear, I’m glad I helped guide you to Starfleet. It won’t be easy, mind you.” He said with a wink, “But if you do as well at that as you’ve been doing here, you’ll make a fine Doctor. I am sure of it, and you can tell me all about it.” He said sitting down and opening the food tubs he had prepared and placed plates in front of them. “Ploughmans Lunch” He explained pointing to each individual item.

Sharah very carefully took a piece of everything and tried it all. Sharah loved it and asked for extra of everything. She asked Olly a lot of questions about the academy. But mostly she asked him about every single plant in the arboretum and all about learning botany. “I’m excited to be here, Olly. We have 4 weeks. Dad said he didn’t want to make the captain turn around so we are staying for a while. I want to learn about ALL the plants here.”

“Well I’m not sure four weeks will give me enough time to teach you everything but I’ll do my best to keep up with you. I’ve also downloaded and put some botany books onto a PaDD. I’ll have to go get it later. I guess you know how to use one?” He asked unsure how much a ten year old knew about starfeet technology.

“Really? Thank you!” Sharah hugged Olly hard. She was excited to keep studying after she left the Galileo. “It’s okay if I can’t figure it out Andrew will show me. He loves all that stuff.” Sharah sat back down to finish her lunch.

Sarah Fayth, Civilian Child

En Oliver Loughty, Botanist