"Hello, Captain. Hot sake?"
Hikaru Sulu looked up from his padd to see the face of the forward rec deck’s new manager. "Oh, yes, please. Didn’t know we had any on board."
"I made it a point to get some when I came aboard a few weeks ago."
He hmm’ed in reply, his eyes focusing again on his padd.
"Interesting reading?"
Sulu looked up into her brown eyes. "Tragic, actually. It’s a report on how my daughter died," he said softly. He swallowed the contents of his cup.
"My condolences, Captain. We all share your loss." She refilled the cup with more hot sake. "She was really important to you?"
"Very much so, but she never really understood that."
"Why?"
"Why does any child think their father no longer respects them, no longer cares for them, no longer loves them..." He sighed and took another sip from his cup. "I caught her in a compromising situation once. She was...let’s just say she was embarrassed, ashamed. She never looked at me the same way after that."
"Did you forgive her?"
"There was nothing to forgive."
"It’s difficult to accept that when you can’t forgive yourself."
"She always tried to live up to this pretentious image she had of what she thought I wanted her to be."
"And what did you want her to be?"
"Herself."
She refilled his cup. "Did you ever tell her that?"
Sulu shook his head slowly. "No, I just never found the right time. I’d try to, and she’d back away." He sighed deeply. "And now I never will."
"Regret is a bitter beverage, Captain." She refilled his cup.
"And what is left to me? My daughter is dead."
"Yes. Yes, she is. We’re each allotted a certain time in this existence. It’s really what you make of it that matters the most."
Sulu sipped from his cup and suddenly realize that she’d stopped serving him sake some time ago. It was hot green tea with a touch of honey. He smiled and looked at the woman as if seeing her for the first time. "Thank you..."
"Guinan," she supplied the answer to his unasked question. She adjusted her big floppy hat and headed down to the other end of the bar where Janice Rand had just taken a seat. "Any time, Captain. Any time."
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