Destined From the Start

Chapter One - First Memories

Early in the year, 2269

His first memories were of warmth and security. Being held close against his father's body, warm, dry, secure. Nestled in the cloth sling, his head resting over his mother's heart, feeling the familiar rhythm. Not complicated memories at all, but very comforting.

He had a very vague remembrance of something interesting that had hung before his eyes, that he had wanted very badly, waving his hands about until he could make those small figures spin and dance before his eyes. It was not until much later, when his sister was born, that he realized that it had been a mobile, hung over him, to stimulate his eyes, and his coordination. But he did remember wanting to touch those figures, desiring them.

He remembered the sound of his mother's voice, humming softly to him as he drifted off to sleep. The deeper rumble of his father's voice, as he held him against his shoulder and spoke softly to him, the words meaning almost nothing at that stage, but the sound of love having great meaning, even to that tiny boy.

He remembered Pavel, from very early. Smiling at him, holding him, laying on the floor with him, speaking in Russian. And so it was that he had four languages at an age when most children had barely begun on one, for his father often spoke to him in Vulcan, and his mother in kiswahili, and everyone around him in Standard.

There were faces that he seemed to have been born knowing, they were so familiar to him - Uncle Jim, and Scotty, and Bones, Uncle Kurik and Aunt Chris. Comforting, to know those faces, and trust them, almost from birth.

The touch of his father's fingers against his face, soothing, sending calm, and sometimes gentle instruction. The different feel of his mother's hands, not conveying thoughts so clearly, but full of love and tenderness.

Memories of laying on the floor, with his parents there, gently manipulating his body, teaching him to exercise. Later memories of crawling, of tentative steps, attempting balance. Vague memories, not clear, but there, just the same. When he questioned his father, much later, about such early memories, he was assured that it was very common in Vulcan children to remember events that occurred even before their second birthday. And his mother agreed, saying that she had a few memories of her very early life as well, not clear, but definitely memories.

And so he treasured these memories, of love, and warmth, and security, and held them close, and did not forget. And when he was lonely, or sad, or distressed, he brought them forth, and contemplated them, and was able to return himself to a more pleasing state of mind.