“So you stole them?” Kasidy teased. “That’s not very Starfleet of you.”

“Don’t worry. When I tell Uncle they were for the Emissary’s wife,” Nog said, “he’ll thank me for cultivating good relations with the Bajorans.”

“And then post an account of his good deed to the Bajoran comnet,” she said with a laugh. “Come on in the house.” She stepped back up onto the porch and started toward the door.

“I forgot what time of year it was down here,” Nog said. His shoes clocked along the porch behind her. “My lobes are freezing.”

Kasidy opened the door and went inside, Nog coming in after her. The front room, the largest in the house, spread away from the door in all directions. Kasidy spent most of her time these days here, either huddled around the fireplace or sitting at the picture windows that looked out on the scenic landscape. She liked the openness of the room, the great windows and the vaulted ceiling an inoculation against potential feelings of claustrophobia. She enjoyed reading books or recording letters in this space, often composing missives to Ben—and lately, to Jake—so that, when they returned, she could easily share with them what they had missed, as well as how much she had missed them.

“I’m sorry about your ears,” Kasidy told Nog, “but you should be all right in here.” She had burned a fire earlier this morning, and the room still retained much of the warmth that had been generated. “Why didn’t you transport over?” Kasidy asked, curious. “For that matter, why didn’t you let me know you were coming?” She walked across the room, pulling the shawl from her shoulders and dropping it onto an easy chair. She stopped with the box of teacakes at the kitchen doorway, and turned back toward Nog.

“I guess because I didn’t even really know I was coming,” he said. “Not until I was on my way.” He strolled over to his left, skirting around a sitting area and moving toward the stone hearth. “I had the day off, and I realized that if I stayed around Deep Space 9, I’d end up working on the Defiant.I knew Commander Vaughn wouldn’t like that, so I decided to get off the station.” As he spoke, Nog looked at Ben’s collection of African art from Earth that adorned the walls, and then along the mantel, at the framed photographs there: Ben and Kasidy at their wedding, a portrait of Ben in his dress uniform, a montage of Jake at different ages, and others. His gaze did not linger on the photographs, Kasidy noticed—she could not look at them herself without becoming wistful—but quickly traveled upward. Above the mantelpiece hung a reproduction on parchment of a painting Ben had loved, and that Kasidy had come to appreciate herself, City of B’hala.“Before I knew it,” Nog went on, “I was on a transport headed to Bajor. So then I thought I would come visit you.” He turned and looked over at her from across the room. “I hope it’s all right.”

“Yes, of course,” Kasidy said. “But why didn’t you transport out from Adarak?”

“I don’t know,” Nog said, looking nervously down at his feet. “I guess I just felt like taking a walk.” For the first time, Kasidy detected a note in Nog’s voice that something might be wrong.

“Well, I’m glad you came by,” she said, opting not to question him about it, but to let him tell her in his own time, in his own way. She held up the box and said, “I’m just going to put these on a plate. Can I get you something to drink? Maybe something warm?”

“That would be great,” Nog said.

Kasidy thought about what she could serve Nog; her replicator had not been programmed with any Ferengi selections. “You don’t care for tea, do you?” she asked him.

“Not really,” he said.

“How about some hot chocolate?” she tried.

“If you have salt to go in it,” Nog said. The notion of combining chocolate and salt did not appeal to Kasidy, but after leading a freighter crew comprising people from several different species, she had long ago ceased to be surprised by the various things people chose to eat.

“I certainly do,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” She headed into the kitchen. While she removed the string from around the box and set some of the teacakes out on a plate, Nog spoke to her from the front room.

“This place looks just like the model,” he said.

“The” model,Kasidy noted, and not “Captain Sisko’s” model.She wondered if Nog had intentionally avoided using Ben’s name for her sake.

“That’s right, you haven’t been here since we finished,” she said, and felt momentarily awkward herself for having referred even indirectly to Jake, who had helped her during the early stages of the house’s construction. “I’ll take you on a tour later.” She pulled a tray out of the cupboard and placed the plate of teacakes on it. She got out two smaller plates and some linens, and then tracked down a saltshaker. Good thing I stocked the kitchen,she thought. She had done so because to do otherwise would have meant that this was not Ben’s house; he loved to cook.

“I remember these windows from the model,” Nog said. “They’re great.”

“Yes, that’s one of the things about the place that I like best,” she said. She activated the replicator—Ben might have been a cook, but she was not—and ordered a mug of hot chocolate for Nog and a cup of apple-cinnamon herbal tea for herself. She loaded the two drinks onto the tray and then carried the light repast out of the kitchen. Nog had crossed to the side of the room opposite the fireplace, she saw, and stood now at the windows, looking out at the view. He had taken his jacket off, which she saw hanging on the coatrack beside the front door. “Here we go,” she said. She set the tray down on a small table, between two chairs that faced the windows. Kasidy sat down, and Nog walked over and sat in the other chair.

“So how are you feeling?” he asked.

“Good,” she said. “It’s getting harder every day to move around normally, but overall, things are good.” She took one of the small plates and put two of the teacakes on it.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Nog said.

“So what’s this about Commander Vaughn not wanting you on the Defiant?”she asked, recalling what Nog had said a few minutes ago.

“No, it’s not that,” he explained. He picked up the mug of hot chocolate in one hand and the saltshaker in the other. “The crew’s been working so hard to get the ship ready to explore the Gamma Quadrant that he just wants to make sure we’re all well rested.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” she said.

“Me too,” Nog agreed, “though none of the crew were too happy when we had to push the start of the mission back a day.”

“So when are you leaving?” she asked, and suddenly felt an unexpected pang of loss, knowing that she would not see Nog again for another three months.

“The day after tomorrow,” he said.

She took a bite of a teacake, trying to distract herself from her emotions. “Hmmm, these are terrific, Nog. Thank you for bringing them.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, and sprinkled a liberal measure of salt into his mug. He drank deeply, licking his lips afterward. “This is good too.”

“So are you looking forward to the mission?” Kasidy asked.

“Yeah,” Nog said. “It’ll be nice to be on the Defiantwithout having to head into battle.” He paused and looked down, his eyes focusing on the mug in his hands. He seemed distant all of a sudden, and Kasidy wondered if the thought of going into battle had been the cause. Nog had been traumatized by the loss of his leg during the war, she knew, and though he had been fitted with a perfectly functional biosynthetic replacement, it would not have surprised her to learn that he still sometimes suffered from the memory of the ordeal. She chose not to intrude into his silence, and finally, he looked up and said, “Anything to get off the station right now.”

“Is there something wrong on DS9, Nog?” she asked, concerned about the young man.