Tirizandi

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Tirizandi
Author(s):	Jehanna Hunter/JS Cavalcante
Date(s):	2000
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Tirizandi is a Kirk/Spock story by Jehanna Hunter/JS Cavalcante. It is a sequel to The Tirizan.

It was published in the print zine First Time #51.

This story tied with Deep Water for a STIFfie Award.

Summary

"After confessing their love, Kirk and Spock decide not to act on it out of fear of how Starfleet and their crew would react."

Some Comments by the Author

My favorite original character is the Betazoid ambassador, the Tirizan, from the story of that name and the sequel, “Tirizandi.” But I love them all, good guys and villains alike. There’ll be some new OCs coming up this year, I hope, that I am really enjoying writing, too. Also, I hope to bring the Betazoid back for another curtain call, but I’m not sure when. Oops, just realized I have to out my other pen names, because “The Tirizan” was published under “Jehanna Hunter.” “Tirizandi” looks like it’s coauthored, because I have both pen names on it. But they’re both me. It was a way of handing off that continuing storyline to the main pen name.

Reactions and Reviews

"Tirizandi (The Matchmaker's Art)" is a 51 page story by Jehanna Hunter and J.S. Cavalcante. Ifs a very different and original story. I give away the plot so be warned. I cant say I really loved this story, but that's because I'm not really into any story with a lot of original characters in it and espedally so when one of them is very dominant. As you can guess, the tirizan or matchmaker in this story is one of the main charaders, if not the main one.

Ifyou mainly read K/S forthe sex, then this storywill disappoint you. There's basically one big long sex scene at the end and that's it. Romantics will like this, though.

Darien-Rai Quel, is a gay male Betazoid ambassador on his first really big mission. Naturally he's traveling on the Enterprise and this must be sometime late in third season. Quel had met Spock and Kirk briefly about four months prior. The story somewhat alternates point of view between Quel who is talking into a log book and that actual omniscient writer who takes care of the scenes outside of Quel's view. Quel is VERY gay. His mannerisms of speech might be a little off-putting to some.

Quel's mission is that he must go to Terago Six to settle a dispute in this planet which has just joined the Federation. There is a struggle between the ruling class/govemment and the miners who mine the important dilithium. There is also a caste system in this world. The prime minister is Reshan and his young daughter Reshai will become the next prime minister. The head of the miners is Syan.

Four months earlier, Kirk and Spock had met Quel, not realizing he was a tirizan. And four months earlier, Spock and Kirk had kissed and decided they could not be lovers. They had no clue that Quel had helped them along because of his mysterious matchmaking ability. He can spot imzadi and create the right emotional moods for the lovers to be to realize they want each other. That's not as well put as it is in the story. But I'm not using 51 pages, either.

Quel's whole strategy is that he will get Reshai and Syan together because he knows they are imzadi and that this will solve the whole situation. Yes, Spock and Kirk go along with this plan.

Kirk, meanwhile in the four months since first kiss to Terago Six, has been a bear to the crew. Spock and he keep telling themselves that they cannot be lovers.

Several events occur, somehow Quel makes everything happen. Reshai and Syan meet and fell in love immediately after they start talking. They are married. The caste system is definitely weakened. And in the process Kirk decides he can be Spock's lover after all. Uhura, the ship's matchmaker as well as the entire crew, are very happy about all this.

And everything ends happily with Spock and Kirk screwing. Actually, I should say making love because it is a romantic scene and the emphasis is on their love and need for each other as people.

The story really works better than this bare bones plot makes it seem. However, you can tell that you are definitely going to have to just accept a lot of coincidences and premises just on the authors' say-so. If I weren't so anti-original character stories so much, I'd probably like this better than I do. As it is, is okay. And it's definitely like nothing else you've read before. Quel is an original character, for sure.

This is a second story that centers around a very inventive character—one Darien-Rai—a Betazoid who is now an ambassador on his first assignment and his transport is the Enterprise.

Since the events in the first story, he's been not only smitten by Spock, but considers his matchmaking efforts with Kirk and Spock to have been a "triumph". But when he comes on board, he discovers that his triumph was not to be because Kirk and Spock have never consummated their union because of Regulation 47B—no fraternization. He's so dismayed!

This character is so fully realized, as is the world in which he moves. So many wonderful details help create a beautifully defined picture. One small example is when Darien-Rai contemplates Spock's aura: "His sadness was as smooth and brittle as Tivarian crystal, so fine that one touch makes a weeping sound."

And so many charming and adorable things about this character—such as when Spock asks how he had gotten out of an arranged marriage and our Betazoid ambassador says: "Being very, very gay helped. I propositioned her brother. I wanted to make sure she got the message."

And this comment: "By the seventeen hells of Haldor, I really must work on my attitude." I love when characters who are not of Earth, make references to their own culture and upbringing. After all, what would they know of Earth and human culture unless they were very well-versed in many different societies, but even then they'd refer to their own. Sorry—this is an issue with me! But, I digress.

I especially liked the way his homosexuality was shown in many comments and perceptions of his environment, besides being really funny! "I'd better stop wearing a track in the hideous carpet and just record the facts."

The tirizan is hard at work—vigorously matchmaking not only Kirk and Spock, but two other characters from the planet where he's utilizing his ambassadorial skills. This mission serves as the backdrop to Kirkand Spock's story, and it is effective up to a certain point. I enjoyed a lot about the planet's political and sociological situation and the two should-be lovers who serve as counterpoint to Kirk and Spock, but there were parts that, for me, were a little too long and involved to hold my interest. However, I absolutely appreciated how everything was carefully thought out and researched.

Another aspect that makes this story a littleslow for my taste was having every event recounted by Darien in a personal log a s well a s from Kirk's POV and Spock's POV. Even though each character saw things differently, there was much repetition.

But Darien tells Kirkand Spock some wonderful things like that the crew wants romance and that they love the idea of Kirkand Spock together! He says they are legends and the crew gets energy from them. When he tells Kirk to have the courage to look at himself, he says: "Ask your heart."

Then he schemes to get everyone together in the council chambers. Later, a lovely, romantic scene where Syan, the miner, asks Reshai, the leader's daughter, to many him. But even more romantic was Kirk's revelation about his and Spock's relationship—they are imzadi. I lovedthe language of the Betazoids.

Lots of fine writing: "How could we resist, with that feeling soaking through from only one deck above?" And a beautiful love-making at the end—sweet, but sensual, too—not easy to do!

This is an enjoyable-and interesting and romantic and sexy-story with JSC's continuing character, the Betazed ambassador, Darien-Rai Quel, on the Enterprise on the way to a first assignment, bringing opposing sides together on Terago, a new Federation planet.

I like the Betazoid stuff about being a sacred matchmaker. This is the person who had brought Kirk and Spock together in the previous story. Actually, I had forgotten whether this person was male or female in the previous story (I only remembered he/she turned out to be not what I had thought at first, and that could have gone either way). I forgot in the beginning of this story, too. I thought it was a female because (and I'm showing some bigoted stereotypes here) of the person's silliness.

Oh how deliciously frustrating, that Kirk and Spock have talked about being lovers, but they've "stepped back from the brink." They acknowledge that they simply cannot be lovers in their Starfleet positions. So the whole story is fraught with this tension. Divine.

I appreciate this story for dealing with this issue. This Starfleet has strict rules against fraternization even in command teams. On the books, anyway. One of the most basic problems is that a command team being lovers can't help but indicate favoritism, would make the crew question orders. Too much potential for dangerous breakdown in discipline. But, of course, these men are disciplined, controlling themselves. The unresolved tension is wreaking havoc on the crew, however. Plus, there's always the problem of over- compensating, of Kirk purposely not favoring Spock, being harder on him than he would normally be, just to show there is no favoritism. The very small moves they allow themselves are really beautiful. Quiet, erotic passages, a touch to the lips, etc. Under the circumstances, such an act is very overt. W e get a nice flash in Kirk's thoughts of the first time they...almost...acted on their feelings. Lovely, breathless scene, nice and erotic, Kirk's thoughts of that kiss. "You realize even this is probably going too far," Spock says. I'll say. But he also says, "One day we will bum the regulation book, together." Nice, nice.

There are fun shipboard life scenes, and also this interesting scenario regarding the new-member mission that Darien-Rai is on. It's a society with a caste system that clearly needs to be overhauled, if they get to be a Federation member. Perfect job for our Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, wouldn't you say?

We learn most stuff in the story from Darien-Rai's personal log. A lot of it is about his disappointment-and what that says about his talents and the prognosis for this mission-over Kirk and Spock, still not being lovers after he had brought them together, though they are clearly imzadi.

It's also about how empathic projection works, not just empathic perception.

Bigger things are tackled here, too-our perceptions of what the people around us can handle, how honest we can or cannot be within our society, etc. This story has a style of POV-switches and scene-breaks that I like, too. It's not like "one scene/one POV," but instead, we will see a scene from Darien-Rai's perspective, and then a scene break with a switch to Spock's POV, but of the same scene; and sometimes with a little reverse, to see whatwejustsawbutfromtheotherperspective. It's taking a lot of words to describe something that was basically a subtle or seamless structure; and I liked it.

I questioned whether Kirk's saying "gay," "straight" and "cop out" sound realistic in 23rd C. Standard. Maybe gay and straight, yes; but where ever did the term cop out come from anyway? There's a denouement concerning the planetary situation, but Kirk and Spock's situation Is still frustrated, even though they public ally admitted their (unconsummated) relationship. Naturally, all the crew is totally behind their being together. We could have told them that, huh.

Finally, finally, now is the time...no more holding back. Gorgeous, slow love scene, ah.,.. Divine orgasms, 69, sweet afterglow, oh yes...and then fucking and melding-exquisite. "...the closest conjunction they could achieve in this lifetime." How beautiful.

At the very end, from Darien-Rai's perspective, one can feel all over the entire ship the tensions finally released. And even he gets some sweetness that night, too. Nice story, indeed.

This is a follow up to another story... where a Betazoid 'kythed' Spock and recognized his emotions for Kirk, and also felt Kirk's feelings for Spock and left off at the point where Spock is just made aware of it. It was a good story, but for me this one is better. In this one the Betazoid is on his first diplomatic mission as an ambassador, trying to settle a dispute on a new Federation planet.

The story is told from 3 POV, the ambassador, Darien- Rai, Spock, and Kirk. It's done smoothly, and allows the story to unfold in a unique way. I usually don't like stories with too much emphasis on a third character, but the "fey little ambassador", as Kirk accurately describes him, is just such a deliciouscharacter, you can't help but like him.

The plot is good, with the unusual twist that while Kirk and Spock have acknowledged their mutual feelings, they have decided they can't act on them. I like how the authors handled that. You can accept it because these are two are duty-conscious, dedicated Starfleet officers. They are concerned that the crew would not accept a relationship betweenthe captain and first officer and they don't want to disrupt the crew or lower morale. So, until they can come up with an alternate solution, they believe they can't become lovers. It's really sad, too, when their alone together and just wanting to be together.

Darien-Rai has other ideas for his Imzadi, however, and ceaselessly tries to make them see the light. He's actually desperate for it, because his plans on uniting the planet he's been assigned depend on another imzadi couple that he hopes to make known. I liked how the authors made a parallel between the planet's problem between the ruling and working class, and Kirk and Spock's situation. When Kirk and Spock finally do concede to the inevitable—ooh, sexy and loving.

A very enjoyable story, and you don't need to read the previous story, either. This one easily stands on its own.

In the dim recesses of my mind, I believe I read a prequel to this, wherein the same interesting little Betazoid ambassador first surfaced to practice his ancient art of matchmaking. This story stands alone, however, and stands very well. It’s an entertaining piece, with both familiar and new characters fully realized and appealing.

A very clever plot device, I thought, was that Kirk and Spock have readily admitted their attraction, their desire for each other, before the story begins but have taken the unprecedented decision not to act upon it. This makes for some of the most touching and bittersweet moments you can imagine. They have consciously put regulations and ship’s discipline ahead of their own feelings, but this has in no way dampened those feelings. They freely speak of their love, which is very nice, but doesn’t make the sacrifice any easier. Witness this exchange after Kirk has agreed to submit to Spock’s ministrations on his tense back and shoulders: “Then I shall bid you goodnight, Jim,” Spock reached his hand across the desk to Kirk’s face, touched the cheek gently, gently. He brushed two fingertips over Kirk’s lips. “I wish—“ the Vulcan said, but he did not finish. Kirk knew what Spock had been about to say. I wish that I could kiss you good night. “So do I,” Kirk said. “But you know where that could lead.” He matched Spock’s gesture, reaching across, daring, with the desk between them, to do what he wouldn’t have dared otherwise. He traced the slender Cupid’s bow of Spock’s mouth, pressed his fingers there. Spock kissed the fingers softly.... Doesn’t that do incredible things to you? Complete denial is one thing, but knowing and acknowledging their love only to turn from it is simply excruciating and eloquently expressed.

There is quite a detailed plot regarding the Ambassador’s labors to unite the opposing factors of a planet, but it is his continuing effort to bring Kirk and Spock together that is most effective. Kirk finally comes to the realization that he has been in error, that it is time to acknowledge openly that he loves Spock and damn the consequences, in the middle of a speech to the planetary rulers. This is an exceptional moment, and a great idea from the authors. In a stirring revelation, he announces, “I have been resisting the fact that my first officer and I are Imzadi, are...are warrior-brothers, and belong together as mates.” This is a wonderful moment and a memorable story.

You know it's a good story when the drama in it makes your heart start beating hard. I don't always get so involved in a story, but this one had me hooked. The scene in the briefing room when Kirk discusses the mission with Spock and Darien-Rai, the Betazoid ambassador (and what a sweetie he is), really captured Kirk's character so perfectly I could actually hear his voice and see his body language. I love to see Kirk strong, impatient, humorous, with all that emotion just under the surface.

Another brilliant scene was Kirk's 'fight' with Spock in the corridor outside sickbay. The authors don't say Spock is hurt, they just show it through his speech. And Kirk's unreasonable comments don't degenerate into attack—he's angry, not vicious. I found this powerful because the love was there even with the anger.

Much more could be said about this elegant story. If you haven't already read it, please do. This alone was worth the price of the zine. And the illustration is to die for.