Old Shadows

Posted on Mon Sep 29th, 2025 @ 10:43pm by Civilian Laeon Wylde & Petty Officer 2nd Class Khlynt Medan

2,592 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Prologue: To Boldly Go
Location: Lounge, USS Fenrir
Timeline: MD 10

ON:

Khlynt’s steps were deliberate as he made his way through the quiet corridors of the USS Fenrir, his mind drifting back to the last time he had seen Laeon. The boy had been just that...a child, with wide, innocent eyes and an infectious curiosity. He had always had a pencil or charcoal in hand, his mind forever lost in the patterns he created with it, always drawing something, always observing the world in a way few others could. It had reminded him of his daughter, which...was why he had always made the effort. It had made him remember the good things, not the bad.

Now, Laeon was older. Was he still that same curious boy, or had time changed him, as it had with so many others? Khlynt felt a brief, sharp pang in his chest, a lingering ache from the past...from what time had changed. He pushed it aside as he requested Laeon’s location from the ship’s computer. The lounge.

As he approached the lounge, he felt an odd sense of hesitation, as if he were about to step into an entirely new moment with someone who had once been a part of his past. When the doors slid open, Khlynt’s eyes immediately found him. He had changed, grown up...but not so much that Khlynt didn't recognise him at all.

Laeon sat at a table, the same intensity in his posture, though it was now paired with the lean, taller frame of someone on the edge of adulthood. His blonde hair fell past his jaw, slightly tousled in that way that gave him a youthful edge, even if his features were softening with age. He was deeply focused on his drawing, pencil moving with practiced ease over the paper, eyes locked in a world all of his own.

Khlynt paused just inside the door, his gaze steady as he took in the boy...no, young man now, approaching adulthood. His hands folded at his back, and for a moment, he simply watched, as if studying the subtle ways time had worked its quiet magic on Laeon. The same fire, the same quiet brilliance, but now with the weight of years, of life lived, of things unknown. Would Laeon remember him? He had been a guest, a traveler, a fleeting presence among the laughter and conversation of those days, another grown up visiting the house. Would he remember and be happy to see him?

Finally, he walked forward, his voice breaking the stillness of the room. "Laeon," Khlynt said softly, but with warmth, "I see your skills have only improved with time."

Laeon looked up absently at being spoken to, blinking to snap himself back into focus. He just stared at him, watching the familiar face...but it was the aura of the man that awakened the memories of Khlynt's stay at his family's home many years ago. "Ephron?" he said softly with awe as he pushed himself up, laughing gently when he realised he was right. "Ephron!" he launched himself forward at the older man, not caring about the smudged charcoal on his fingers as he hugged him tightly.

A shaky breath escaped Khlynt at the hug, and he moved his arms around him, returning it gently. "Hello, Laeon," he said quietly, giving a small smile. The joy of the boy was a balm to him, in that moment. He didn’t care about the charcoal marks. It would wash out. What would not go away was this small moment. "Oh, I have missed you. How you’ve grown."

Laeon laughed at the words, but it didn't quite stop the tears threatening in his eyes as he clung to him. He had always liked him, had always waited for him with excitement as a child when he knew he was going to visit his family home. More though...just to be able to hold a living part of his past...a past that had been destroyed by a violent war...it meant more than he could find words for. "What are you doing here?!"

He smiled as he touched his hair for a moment, his hand gentle before he took a deeper breath. "I work here," he said and pulled back, just a little, his hand going to his shoulder. "I have a different name here. Khlynt Medan. No longer Ephron..." he met his eyes, holding them.

"Khlynt..." Laeon said softly, as if testing it out as he studied his face with confusion. "Which...one is the real one?"

"Both are real," Khlynt said with a soft smile, his eyes gentle. He gave Laeon's arm a reassuring squeeze. "Just different coats for different weather. But I was born with the name Khlynt, if that's what you meant."

"Different coats for different..." Laeon echoed, processing what he meant by that. He finally nodded though, content with getting an answer in his given name. He sat back at the table, hoping he would join him as he looked to him with wide, violet-blue eyes full of awe. "I didn't know you were in Starfleet..."

Khlynt followed him back to the table and took a seat with the same quiet grace he always seemed to carry, smoothing his waistcoat as he settled. His eyes stayed on Laeon, still quietly astonished by the years that had passed. "I've been in Starfleet on and off," he said with a soft smile. "Now...I serve as a counsellor." He let the word land gently, as if even he still found it new on his tongue. And it was. "That part is recent. Before, I worked in Tactical. And before that..." he gave a slight shrug, the corners of his mouth curving with dry amusement. "I was a civilian. Complicated, like most things." He paused, then added, more softly, "When the Federation granted me asylum, I wanted to offer something in return. Something useful. Healing, if I could. It felt...right."

"A counsellor?" Laeon couldn't hold his surprise back. It was the last thing he'd expected him to say. But he thought about how much he'd always enjoyed being around him...maybe that made him an ideal counsellor. "Those still seem weird to me," he admitted softly, knowing it was probably silly seeing as he'd lived in Starfleet for a while now. "The Priests did that stuff, not doctors."

Khlynt nodded, his eyes softening as he exhaled. "Truth be told, it still feels a bit...unfamiliar to me, even with the training and the experience of being the subject of counselling. It's more of a label than anything else. It serves the same purpose as the Priests, the Listeners...Confessors..." His blue eyes twinkled with a touch of amusement as he smiled. "But the spirit and mind require healing just as much as the body, so they can call it whatever they like. You go to another world outside the Federation, and they'd have a different name for the same function."

Laeon nodded slowly, understanding what he meant, but it was hard to...accept it on an emotional level. He paused for a moment, before reaching up to touch his own ear with a soft chuckle. "Where's my sweet?" he suddenly asked.

Khlynt looked at him before he smiled. It was a slow smile spreading, a light at the cadence of an old dance. His hand briefly brushed his pocket. He had taken one from his quarters. Read. Lemon. Wrapped in paper. Not replicated. He palmed it as he tutted, watching Laeon. "That old magic? Been awhile...let's check..." he shook both his hands in a dramatic fashion then moved his left hand to Laeon's ear...and then produced a sweet, letting it brush the back of his ear. "Ah, seems it works here too..." he said and offered it to Laeon.

Laeon's face lit up with delight, looking so much younger with it as he took the sweet with a warm laugh. It was one of his strongest memories of the visitor from another world. He would always produce a sweet from behind his ear using magic. Everytime he visited his family's home. "I would get so confused, even frustrated," he admitted with a soft chuckle, turning the sweet over in his fingers. "Trying to figure out why I couldn't pull sweets from behind my ear..."

"Ah...I just wanted you to have a touch of magic," Khlynt admitted as he met his eyes before he looked down, at the sweet. "In a world that is so quick to take something and label it for a use. And...I always liked seeing your creativity. Perhaps it was an old man's silly fancies, but I wanted you to remember me fondly."

"I did. I do," Laeon said quickly but honestly, smiling almost shyly as he tucked blonde hair behind his ear and popped the sweet into his mouth, not too old to enjoy such treats. "And it's...it's good to see someone from...before," he admitted quietly.

Khlynt nodded as he watched him, his eyes softening. "I am glad you feel that way. I was worried it would be too painful," he admitted openly...still awed at how much Laeon had grown.

Laeon considered for a long moment, his legs swinging slightly as his eyes went to the sparkling view. "Sometimes, it's like I imagined it all," he breathed, shaking his head as a frown came to the youth's otherwise fair features. "I don't want it to be a dream."

He let out a breath, nodding. "It isn't," he said and reached out. He took his hand, gave it a squeeze. "It happened. And you survived it...you, your father, your uncle. You survived."

Laeon nodded firmly, squeezing his hand in return, looking to him with warmth in his eyes. "I missed your stories," he admitted gently.

Khlynt looked at him with surprise before he gave him a small smile. "Ah, have you?" he asked, his voice quiet. "I can tell you some, if you wish. And you can draw, like you used to. The stories might be sadder now that...you are older."

"Why should everything have to be sadder as you get older?" Laeon shook his head firmly, watching him with a touch of stubbornness at the observation.

"Because the universe believes that you can handle and grow from it," he whispered as he looked at him, searching his eyes.

"Well it's wrong," Laeon replied stubbornly, but his eyes shone as he watched him and he relented to a weak smile. "And...unfair too," he didn't care if it sounded childish.

Khlynt nodded, taking a deeper breath as he gave him a sad smile. "It is," he said softly, meaning it. "It's unfair." He gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

Laeon squeezed it in return, his eyes remaining warm with him all the same. He took a breath, determined to change the atmosphere. "Or maybe, you just need to look on the lighter side of life," he teased him boldly.

"Maybe," Khlynt chuckled warmly as he looked at him, his eyes shining at the words. "Oh, you have grown up, Laeon...yet I still see the colours of the child I once knew."

"I am...53 of their human years," Laeon looked to him with an almost shy smile at that, tucking his hair self-consciously behind his ear. "Dad reminds me I'm still a kid though. Still have to do school. Still have to be couped up in safezones on the ship."

"For your people, you're...still young," Khlynt said with a small, his eyes shining. "I think he is correct. However...I will not call you a child. More a youth, close to becoming a young man. Of course, if you were my child..." he raised an eyebrow, his eyes shining with warmth. "I would call you a child until my last breath."

Laeon grinned, laughing softly as he slapped the back of his hand fondly against Khlynt's arm. "Don't encourage Dad. He's bad enough as it is..." he studied him for a long moment, in awe of the man he had known so many years ago. "I...never imagined you would join Starfleet," he admitted softly. "It seems so...strict for you."

"It is," Khlynt admitted and shook his head, a small smile coming to him. "But it's a place that is safe, for now. So...I thought I'd try and make a space for myself here, as a counsellor. A few decades and then I can see if there is something else I wish to do. Or if I decide to travel. Right now? I serve."

"Safe..." Laeon searched his eyes for a long moment, holding his breath. He was hiding. Just like his father had taken him to Starfleet to hide. He nodded lightly, not saying it out loud, not wanting him to feel...exposed. "I...suppose Starfleet can be that. Between the Borg and the Dominion..."

"And the aftermath of it all, the universe is still...recovering," Khlynt said and gave him a small smile. "Maybe I wanted to feel I was helping for a bit. On a bigger...scale than usual."

"As a head doctor..." Laeon said quietly, nodding as he watched him thoughtfully, not sure if he could do that. Khlynt had to be so...generous. "To help make them...happy again. No...no, you wouldn't say happy," he corrected himself, laughing gently.

He chuckled softly as he looked at him. "To make them feel secure in their own skin and emotions again," he said instead, studying him. "To be honest, at least to themselves if not everyone else."

"I mean...it still seems strange, to do that with someone outside of the priesthood," Laeon admitted gently, shaking his head thoughtfully though, his expression betraying the shift of attitude on the matter. "But...I guess if it makes someone feel better, there can't be any harm in it."

"It will always be a little strange to you," Khlynt said with no judgement, his eyes gentle. "And in truth...it all ties to each other. Each culture has had religious figures that listened and offered advice...good, bad, truth, falsehood. A counsellor is just an extension of that tradition, from all those species and civilisations out here in the Federation. And...there is no harm in it, if done right."

"Are you doing it right then?" Laeon asked with a grin that bordered on to being cheeky, mischief in his eyes that made him look more the youth that he was to his people.

"Working on it," Khlynt said with a laugh, his eyes warm with it as he met his eyes. "No one is perfect, Laeon." He watched him with something close to adoration, at the grin, the warmth...the childlike quality still there despite the life the youth had experienced.

"You'll come to dinner at our place, right? Right?" Laeon grinned, pushing his shoulder to his 'Uncle' Khlynt, and there was a slight stubborn set to his jaw that suggested he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I will...but first, you will come to mine," Khlynt said and smiled, his hand going to touch his hand for a moment. "You and your father. I will prepare a meal for us and we can talk, the three of us." He chuckled and reached to pinch his chin, the set of his jaw looking so much like not only Alexion, but Jaimes.

OFF:

PO2 Khlynt Medan
Counsellor
USS Fenrir
(PNPC Hanlon)

Laeon Wylde
Civilian Dependent
USS Fenrir
(PNPC Blake)

 

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