Song of the Lea

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Song of the Lea
Author(s):	Karen Dates
Date(s):	1998
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Song of the Lea is a K/S story by Karen Dates.

It was published in the print zine First Time #47.

Summary

"Kirk is presumed dead when the shuttle he is piloting crashes onto a water world and his bond to Spock is blocked."

Reactions and Reviews

A really unique story, filled with imagination and creative thinking. After an accident Kirk is taken into the care of creatures on a planet who resemble Terran whales, but possess high intelligence and a sophisticated society. The story concerns Kirk's living with these beings while recuperating. He has lost his memory and has taken on a child-like persona.

This imaginative story also involves the planets ocean dwellers and land dwellers wanting Kirk to be their mediator to stop interplanetary war. But there's all kinds of wonderful things like Kirk's healing in the huge womb-like cavity of the Lea and the scenes of Kirk cavorting with the Lea in the water.

And very satisfying was all the good, strong emotional reactions when the others think that Kirk is dead. McCoy seriously grieves and Amanda is profoundly affected. (I guess I respond to this because of the lack thereof in that movie.)

But because of a link. Spock still senses Kirk. And a neat scene where Spock tries to help McCoy with his grieving by linking with him to show him that Kirk is alive.

Lots of interesting characters like the land dwelling doctors and when Kirk is found, he is kept in his childlike state until he can help bring peace between planets at a conference.

Some difficulties for me such as this is Admiral Kirk, described as 47 years old, which is totally fine and definitely he'd be buff, but not that buff—he's continually described as a golden boy running around in a loincloth. And some of the parts of the beings and all that was involved with how they lived, how they felt, their political situations, etc. was a bit overly long. But beautiful Kirk and Spock scenes and moments, for sure, and lots of love. A really fine story.

It's a pleasure far me to read a story such as this because it's very much one I would not write, and I'm glad others do. I don't exactly write such full-bodied, plot-dense stories, and this one was immediately engrossing. I did keep seeing the need for some basic editing, but the writing was vivid and colorful. This was novella-length, and the details were really rich; also with lots of connections back through the workings of the Federation and Stardeet and other Star Trek canon things, both official and fannish. And there were no loose ends... what a wonderful idea, one of my favorites in sci-fi, to have these sentient, telepathic '"whale" beings-and what glorious creatures to behold. As if our whales aren't glorious enough, these are like two-three times larger even. And the story weaving Kirk and Spock into their lives and the lives of the humanoids was really inventive, to say the least. The underlying history and dynamics and feelings between Kirk and Spock were threaded throughout the whole story, too. It's really a lovely and unique idea, rich in possibility, to have them already bonded (a spontaneous bonding) but not yet having had sex... I very much like the characters, by the way. They're portrayed as really nice people-Lea and humanoids--but it's not a nauseating perfect kind of nice. Also, the doings of the oceanic station are most interesting. And McCoy plays a good part in this that I really liked, close with both Kirk and Spock. One of the best things is Kirk playing with his whale-friends. But of course the best things have to do with Kirk and Spock, and especially their dramatic coming-together again and how they have to take it slow until Kirk gets his memory back. There's also some danger and jeopardy, a good balance between all these elements of the story, and a nice, unhurried pace. A memorable story.

A wonderful story by a talented new writer! From its explosive beginning to its warm, loving ending, it is a thoroughly enjoyable tale. I don’t want to really reveal the whole plot since it’s a new story, but there are some things I’d like to mention: Karen’s idea of the Lea is great, their gentle, compassionate nature shown right from the start as the Matriarch saves Kirk, taking him within herself to do so. It was easy to see how such beings were anxious for peace between the Reilians and Sreians, and how they saw Kirk, as Llea’rin, as the key.

I liked how Kirk retained his basic personality throughout his amnesia, how he found the bickering between Nels and Rea comforting, subconsciously reminding him of Spock and McCoy. It was so natural for Kirk to be instantly attracted to Spock, even though he couldn’t remember him.

The bonding was done beautifully. Spock, frantic so long over his lost captain, could no longer stop himself from bonding with Kirk. He gently opened Kirk’s memories, and they bonded, in a wonderful, sexy scene.

There’s plenty of excitement going on, including a treacherous plot, but a nice, happy ending. I loved the ending, filled with tender love-making, and sharing.

Great story, Karen! We want more!

It takes a tremendous amount of imagination to create a world and its inhabitants and to make those inhabitants come alive and real and to make us care deeply about them. Such is the case with the Lea, as fashioned by this creative and talented author. Throughout its many pages, "Song of the Lea" simultaneously educates, fascinates, frightens and inspires the reader. The plot is complex and believable and in spite of its many components, easy to follow.

The story begins with a devastating shuttle explosion from which all but one member of the Enterprise crew is able to escape in newly incorporated pods. The escapees watch in helpless horror as the remaining occupant is blasted free, his body but a charred, blackened shell that plummets lifelessly to the sea below. The famous luck of Admiral James T. Kirk has run out. If this isn't enough to get your undivided attention, wait until you learn that following Spock's return from Gol, Kirk and Spock have taken their relationship to a new level - a level at which a spontaneous bonding has taken place. The sense of loss he feels when he cannot reach Kirk through their bond is pure anguish. In the tradition of good science fiction, however, the story doesn't end here. Back in the alien ocean that has seemingly claimed the body of Starfleet's most renowned admiral, a great dweller of the sea, the Matriarch of two Worlds, the Grandmother of Life, responds to a cry unlike any she has heard before. She takes the tiny life-form that has been cast into her watery habitat within the very core of her being, where she begins to heal it. This very creative touch gave me an idea of how refreshingly different this story would be. The author now acquaints us with both the sea dwellers and the land dwellers of two very similar but warring worlds: worlds that are soon to realize the awesome power of one small fragile golden human. Aboard the Enterprise, Spock fights a battle of his own. Sensing now that Kirk did not die, he mounts a determined search for his love, the one man in the universe for whom his mind and body yearn to join for all time. Even though Kirk is reborn and has no memory of his past, he is quickly recognized as a charismatic figure with the ability, perhaps, to heal the rift between the sister worlds before both are destroyed.

McCoy, Sarek and Amanda have meaningful and realistic roles in this unfolding drama and the three of them are unified in a way we seldom observe, their goal to reunite Kirk and Spock. This is an incredibly well woven tale that grips the reader from start to finish both as a riveting adventure and an absorbing love story. Highly recommended.

A diplomatic party caught in an ion storm, a shuttle disintegrating over the ocean, a starship grieving for its heroic Captain except for one Vulcan, who feels his beloved friend isn't dead. And a few months later, an amnesiac, charismatic golden alien nursed by the Lea emerging from the waters to capture the hearts of the Landwellers, unite the beings of the sea and the people of the land once more, and talk two planets back from the brink of war... A beautiful and delightful story with wonderful world-building and OCs, with a bit of a fairy-talish quality to the narrative and lyrical descriptions of the Lea and of Jim's beauty. I love how Jim, even without his memories, retained the same compelling, energetic, and commanding personality. And obviously, this Starfleet would benefit from re-reading the story of a 20th century maritime disaster called Titanic...