Date: 12 Dec 2011 23:25 Title: Strong Enough Not To Regret
Sweet story. I like how Dad comes around. Do you think he would have if Amrita and Tavor had not had children (perhaps by choice, perhaps not), or had been unable to conceive, and instead had adopted two fully Cardassian children?
I ask this not only for the sake of the story, but also speaking as a married woman who is childless by choice. While I recognize that disapproving parents can sometimes come around when the grandchildren arrive, it does make me wonder if the spouse can ever be accepted if a couple choose not to reproduce.
Author's Response:
I think her parents wanted and needed to know that she's happy and that no harm had been happening to her all that time they had no news about her fate, so they would accept him even if there were no kids, because that would allow them to have their daughter back. Even her father.
But I think this is a very individual matter and different people may behave differently in different situations. So lack of kids could change a lot...or nothing.
Thank you for reading :)
Date: 12 Dec 2011 18:38 Title: Strong Enough Not To Regret
I think this story really fleshes out the character of Kapoor, and gives us a look into a side of her that although it seems darker...frankly, it worried me to think that maybe it wasn't there. That she didn't ever question what she'd done, and never realized the implications and the confused loyalties that her actions suggested.
I think Kapoor's dad was a little mean in how he phrased his questions, but I understand where they come from. He's been frightened for his little girl all this time--what else were the Kapoors supposed to think, after their daughter's behavior, and the Cardassians' own awful behavior towards their democratically-elected government and to the rest of the quadrant with the isolation?
Thank goodness he doesn't know his daughter had a chance to blow the whistle on the coup before it ever happened, and failed to do so, or I suspect his disappointment would be much more severe. The truth is that Kapoor was so blinded by her love that she did not make the decisions she should have made.
Seeing that she does have those dark moments and does have those regrets really raises my estimation of her, though. I'd come to think of her in Among the Dragons as someone who just couldn't make a logical or hard decision to save her life, and whose actions bordered on treason. I had thought that she simply swept any objections under the rug and fooled herself until she never thought about them again. Seeing that she does think and worry, that she does understand all of the consequences of her actions, makes her come across as a much more intelligent, insightful, and relatable individual, to my mind. And more trustworthy, at this point in her life, because it's clear now that she would think about what it means to have given her word.
That said, it's true that her family is absolutely adorable. The best moment was when Chumi asked if she could hug her grandmother.
Either that or Tarin yelling, "Oopsie!" That was too cute. 
I'm not sure that she could never, ever have any regrets again, because even though her family matters have been settled, the oath she swore to Starfleet and the information she should have taken them is still an issue . And there are at least indications that she's now considered that and that it weighs on her, as it should.
But at least she doesn't have the regret that there's a family behind her that might have disowned her, and that has to be a big burden off her shoulders, one that I am glad she's now free of. 
Author's Response:
I don't think Kapoor won't ever think or won't feel regret. She just thinks that regretting her actions means regretting having her family and that makes her very guilty. So it's more "I promise myself not to regret" than really not feeling anything. It's trying not to regret.
Her family certainly has its downs, too, but this is one of the times when they can all be together, so they enjoy their time.
Having her family whole must make her additionally happy. Even if her father will always remain a bit reserved toward her husband, they at least can be in one room and behave in a civil manner.
Thank you for the review :)