This is positively delightful. Gul Rejal!  I'm a novice where Cardassians are concerned as well, so I can easily identify with Amrita and Maeva's unease and confusion.  I feel like this will be a learning curve for them, and I get to tag along.  Can't wait to read more! :D

I do know enough about your world from free writes and challenge stories that I have read to recognize some familiar characters, however, so I feel like this will be a chance for me to learn more about their backstories, and about them as individuals.

Well I wondered when the end would come to this story, so here it is. It was good fun watching Amrita become steadily more integrated with the Cardies. You have a knack for writing about Cardassians and developing their culture, their physical features and language, which is all rather tricky stuff to do, and pulled off the language part without it sounding cheesy.

The next thing I constantly noticed was your interpretation of the Cardassians. There appears to be mismatch between the arrogantly aggressive Cardassians of TNG and your Cardassians, and a mismatch with the Cardassians who occupied Bajor.

Perhaps the best evidence for this mismatch is in Duet, with Aamin Maritza. He seemed to be the only Cardassian in the Gallitep labour camp who was deeply uncomfortable by what was going on. So from what you could rather confidently conclude that there were very few Cardassians who actually cared for what was happening to the Bajorans, and who thought it was wrong.

The point I'm trying to say is that Cardassians are somewhat xenophobic and when they have control over other humanoids they abuse those humanoids rights if it so suits them (Cardassians). I can see the ordinary Cardassian wishing the Obsidian Order was gone, and Central Command not so encroaching. But I would think your average Cardassian would not like to see outsiders living on Cardassia. Sure they would be tolerated but Cardassians are proud and a bit vain, and they always go on about how their culture is the best and most richest in the Alpha Quadrant. Amrita only fitted in because she tried to emulate the Cardassians, that and her curiosity of them. But she must have know it was mainly SHE who had to really adapt to the Cardies, and not the other way around.

That did come over in your story, but this should have been made stronger, and to really show that Amrita wants to overcome certain Cardassian prejudices because she wants to live with these people, and that she sees the good points, and is prepared to overlook the bad points. This story sometimes rather conveniently glossed over sticky points: the occupation of Bajor, Cardassian Union joining the Dominion, and that coup you referred to in the story.

You portrayed the coup as something bloodless, like one easy transition, and you just snap your fingers and voila! In one week you have a new government, and everyone just accepts this.

I don't buy it, and I know I have commented on this before, but I still don't buy it. I've never heard of a military coup that has been bloodless and not resulted in more instability inside the country. What about Alon Ghemor’s supporters? I cannot believe he had no power base or people who backed him up. In fact the dissident movement in DS9 wanted something like this to happen (democratic government on Cardassia), and they seemed to represent a minority of far more enlightened Cardassians in DS9 (or perhaps a bigger minority than first thought?).

Nah this coup you dealt with would have descended into civil war, it smacked to me of the old order (Central Command) trying to stop the new order (the Cardassian government and all) from growing in power and popularity. I know Cardassians have been conditioned and somewhat brainwashed, but it strikes me that the Cardassia you write will eventually slip back into the tyranny this coup supposedly tried to avoid.

Again Alan Ghemor's supporters would not be happy about this, there would be protests, and how would this new government (Jarol's government) deal with this? I'll tell you how; violence and oppression. Jarol would become the dictator and tyrant she does not want to become. This was such a big plot opportunity that you missed; could Amrita still live with her new found Cardassian friends, despite in the midst of some sort of Cardassian civil war? This no-real-consequences-to-the-coup thing is such a crazy paradox, that I would go as far as to say that you deliberately made the Cardassians civilised and nice.

It is very clever how you moulded Amrita into accepting the Cardassians, and lures the reader in as they get more enraptured by who these Cardassians really are. But if you just step out of it for a minute (and after the coup part) and really examine the story, the feel is wrong and it goes back to that coup.

I still think it was a golden opportunity to really see whose these Cardassians were, and to have two opposing sides and one hell of an interesting conflict. But oh well, what's done is done.

This was enjoyable to read, but the Cardassians seemed a little to perfect and nice, it almost seems to me that you are making a defence of these Cardassians but overlooking their real nature, which may explain why something was slightly amiss in this story.

Don't get me wrong, these are subtle points, and they don't make this story bad, but it does make one think...

Finally on a different note, it would have cool sort of like ending this story when Amrita is on her deathbed or something...

Ah, the wedding! The vows remind me a little of my own wedding - my poor husband had to repeat the Hebrew vow about four times before he got it perfectly right! :)

Scary recollection of the Order, amidst happiness, it's reminiscent of a broken glass at a Jewish wedding.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I always like this story, even if half of it doesn't make much sense to me. Now I'm wondering just what else you have in store for Kapoor. I mean are you going to cover all the important events in her life up to when she dies? Great stuff, and keep the chapter acoming!

And now the bridge to how is obliterated.

But - it's very telling that she never mentioned a word about her beloved to her parents. That tends to not bode well for couples in real life. Something holds her back. Now, while she is well aware that things are not necessarily going to be rosy, I am kind of interested about why she would not have tried to at least prepare them a little. The day #s indicate that they were "going out" some two hundred or so days. Hence this was a fairly active deception/cover up. Not accusing Amrita of anything, but she had her chances to at least let the information begin to leak out.

I like the writing but the character! Man oh man she did not handle that well. I do not condone the father's behavior but he is rather shocked about all of it, too. Plus they know they will not see her, perhaps never again. These are a lot of difficult blows at once for the Kapoors.

"I want to wake up next to you every morning, I want to play with my child that is also a part of you, I want to eat food cooked by your small hands and feed you with my desserts, I want to feel the touch of your soft nose on my scales when I kiss you, I want to walk the Alley of Heroes holding your hand and take a holoimage by the Legate Tekeny Ghemor’s monument with you, I want to have picnics with you in Hampat Park, I want you to find my first grey hair, I want to ask you if I my armour is polished and shiny enough and listen to your nagging that I don’t put it back where is its place.”

That is truly wonderful writing, and very, very true of long-term, good marriages. They are a lot less about major moments (although those exist) and grand sweeping gestures, but more about whether the trash is taken out or a spouse holds the door open for his or her beloved. Lovely.

And the political differences are good and believable. Values differ! And so they should! When we meet different civilizations, they are not all going to, lock-step, look and feel like things we know. We are going to see genocide and child brides and different governments and all of it.

You do a good job conveying what would clearly be a rather tense time, without a lot being known. One thing that's bothered me in Trek (both canon and fanfic) is that, often, everyone, somehow, knows everything.

And that's just absurd.

Your characters meaningfully move from not knowing to knowing - it makes sense how they learn about all sorts of things, including the news.

I love this story, and every chapter I attentively read and follow. It is a very addictive read, and though some of your ideas about Cardassian views on political and governmental systems I disagree with, they are still very tasty and thought-provoking stuff.

For that I tip my (imaginary) hat to you. The Cardassians you portray remind a bit of the Russian people. The two peoples share quite a few things in common: many years of suffering, government corruption, living through horrific wars.

But the most interesting thing is that the Russian people in general aren't very big on democracy. All they really want is a stable government, and a leader they can look up to. Which is very similar to the Cardassian beliefs portrayed in your story.

Again very interesting parallels, and nice one for such a great read.

Author's Response:

An interesting comparison. Not something I planned (although the Soviet Union and my own country's past tell me what's life like in a totalitarian country and I draw a lot from it), but I can see where you see some parallels.

OH!

Well now, a nice simple game, a little banter and then a BIG moment! A kiss! And call me Tavor now!

Wow. Firstly, it is a great moment that has been really superbly set up and build up to and nows pays off in the writing of it. Secondly, again with the wonderful humour lacing everything. Kapoor's reaction here was priceless -

Oh? Oh...oh!

Hee, hee. Oh, I could so picture her face and her internal voice at this moment. The sudden change from puzzlement to OMG this means... Loved it. Only to be shortly followed by -

“Oh?” I was surprised. “Oh.” Disappointed. “Oh!” I realised it must be something special then.

Again, the flux of emotions and the mix of thoughts and trying to decipher the cultural differences and the rapidly changing personal circumstances between them both. It was sweet, endearing, funny and lovely. Super job.

What I really love about this is the feeling of - these are individuals and they are not a monolith. I think it's easy for us to pigeon-hole people, and imagine how we are going to be when we meet aliens for the first time! If First Contact is with someone who has the equivalent of Asperger's and doesn't look us in the eye, will we ever trust the entire species? We could be condemning a relationship with billions of individuals because one person failed to shake hands or look at us in whatever we deem to be the "right way".

I recall reading a book several years ago (unfortunately, the name of the author thoroughly escapes me) about gestures. And of course there are differences wherever you go. You nod here, it means one thing, but it may mean something far different.

I worked with a woman, back in 2001, who conducted a number of conference calls. And she would inevitably say, "For those who can't see, Joe is shaking his head." And she MEANT nodding. She MEANT agreement. So I would jump in and say, "So, Joe is indicating agreement" or "Joe, you agree, right?" And Joe would confirm that he agreed and would look at both of us like we had three heads. Fortunately, this woman did not get upset at my barging in, but ... eh ... weirdness.

So we humans have these disconnects all the time. And then we get an impression about a culture and we need to, somehow, shake it off. Ullmann's behavior and report have set that cause back, big time. Her actions and words, clearly, confirm what the Federation has been thinking - that this will never work.

Go Kapoor, go!

I love this. Especially the surprised looks on Kapoor and Zamarran at seeing the other. I dare say Kapoor was even more surprised to see that Zamarran invited her to remain. That was sweet and it shows there's more to him that the officious exterior. I delighted in how he kept being startled by Kapoor's methd of finding out things but just LOVED the way Kamara totally pegged Kapoor when he made the comment, "She attacks with questions." So true - and he noticed! ;) me thinks <3 is blossoming before them and they don't even realise as yet. Hee, hee. Perfectly lovely scene, again with the finding out differences and cultural tidbits - not one sided either but for both sides. Excellent.