This Cool North Wind

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	This Cool North Wind
Author(s):	Sarne
Date(s):	2003
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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This Cool North Wind is a Kirk/Spock story by Sarne.

It was published in the print zine Prophets in the Wilderness.

Summary

"Where a desperate journey across time to an ancient kingdom teaches Kirk the hardest love lesson of all."

Reactions and Reviews

Sarne writes a mystery in a vivid evocation of ancient Egypt. Clearly, the author has knowledge of Egyptology. She draws a parallel between Spock's own mystique and the ancient Egyptian king to explore Spock's feelings about the choice he has made to bond with Kirk. Spock is drawn back into antiquity and Kirk after him, until Spock again makes his choice for Kirk. The plot is handled delicately and the descriptions of place are delightful. I can find nothing to argue with in the characterizations. This is cool and skilful writing.

Egypt has always intrigued me, and I once visited there for 10 days, so I found this beautifully written and unusual K/S story completely engrossing. In it, Kirk and Spock are on their honeymoon in Egypt, sailing down the Nile on a felucca boat. Spock is strangely fascinated by the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and at times seems distant and distracted while sightseeing. Kirk wakes up one night to find Spock gone and follows him to a museum. For some reason the door is open and he finds Spock staring at a statute of Akhenaten. Then Spock suddenly vanishes! Kirk manages to follow him and finds himself in ancient Egypt, in the capital city built by Akhenaten. Somehow Kirk finds himself to be a member of the palace staff, is dressed like an Egyptian with longer, darker hair, and can read and understand the language. Kirk goes looking for Spock, and finds that Spock is the pharaoh Akhenaten, happily married with a large family and with no memory of himself as Spock, and also with no memory of Kirk.

I had many questions by this point in the story. (As did Kirk!) How had this happened? Why had it happened? Why did Kirk know he was back in the past, yet Spock didn’t? Would Spock remember Kirk? Would Kirk and Spock be reunited? How would they return to their time? The rest of this compelling story answers most of these questions and brings Kirk and Spock back to their felucca in modern Egypt. They come to a deeper understanding of their love and commitment to each other as a result of their shared experience in the past. Sarne leaves a few details about the experience a bit unclear, but this rather added to the enigmatic and mysterious mood created in this story.

Sarne has a remarkable way with words and is very skilled in narration and dialogue. The descriptions of both modern and ancient Egypt are lyrical and very evocative. I reread the author’s narrative description of Egypt as seen from their felucca, because it was so well written and brought back vivid memories of my trip there. Plus, either the author already knew a lot about ancient Egypt or did a lot of research, the details of daily life in the city and the palace are fascinating to read. This story was something a little different and I really enjoyed it.