Runt anxiously lied in bed, eyes glancing to the tiny bulb flickering off and on in the corner of the room. The thing still hadn’t burnt out despite grabbing it from the tube a week or two ago with Williams.

He didn’t mind it—truly, it was just something small—what was truly bothering him was the message they had laid out on a pad. It was back home, addressed to his mother—all he had to do was to finalize it and send it.

But this was odd. Maybe even a bit hard to do? Runt’s never had this problem—he and his mother had a great relationship.

“Uuuuugggghhhhhh….” the Caitian groaned, laying back in his bedding. Counseling was going great, he was making new friends constantly, and truth be told: Runt had no genuine reason to be anxious. He glanced over at the stupid flickering light, glaring at it.

OKAY, maybe it was bothering the cat. But there was no real reason to throw it out—Runt just assumed the bulb would’ve burnt out by now and been done. But it’s been almost a week….

“You are a pain in my tail. You know that?” He muttered, getting up and holding the flashing bulb up. “Kinda in the back of my mind a lot. Like a uh….pestering annoyance. A bothersome squirrel. A uh….well. You get the gist.”

There was hesitation in his movements once again as he glanced back at the pad, then the bulb. This was silly. “Fine. If you want to be annoying, you can sit here and listen to me read this.”

The Caitian grabbed the device and started reading over it.

“Ahem, Dear Mama. I’m more than thrilled to report to you and tell you I’ve been doing amazing over here at Starbase Bravo. The foods okay, but the work is great and I have a close friend already!” He glanced back at the bulb. “That better be a good flickering, you jerk.”

”Of course there’s been some….stuff. But I can’t really complain. I even possibly met this cute guy! But that’s a story for another day.” Runt continued. “There’s this one man—not related to the topic above—Ensign Williams. Total rule follower, sweetheart at his core. He’s the main friend I’ve made. A good guy! But I want to branch out more.”

There’s hesitation as Runt looks at the bulb.

”I know you’ve wanted me to do more. And I will, I promise you. I’ve been having the best time, and Starfleet was definitely the right choice.” He pauses, fixing a spelling mistake or two, before continuing. “Still no dice on meeting people like Commander Sh’ill. No, Mama, before you ask, I am not going to go out of my way too.” He chuckled, already hearing what his mother would say in his head.

”….I won’t lie when I say I miss home. Papa must be bored with his final child out of the house, and I miss my sisters and brothers, obviously. Last I checked, Ax and Ay are working on a new model of class.” He rolls his eyes. The twins were always a bit over the top for his taste.

“I won’t keep you for much longer reading this, but there’s one last thing.” He slowly looked at the bulb, it giving bigger bursts of light than before.

”I remember forever ago when you told me there would need to be some point in my life when I’ll need to look at what’s in front of me and decide what’s important. To uh, choose.” The Caitian then looked up above the small desk the bulb resided on, with a graduation picture from the academy plastered on it. “And…”

The cat paused, looking forward for a moment.

Then, In one swift movement, Runt grabbed the bulb and tucked it neatly behind the photo, wedging in between the tape and picture against the wall. “But I think you’re wrong. I think that I can learn to live with both of the things. Learn to co-exist without having the things in life stopping me from doing what I want.”

There was a pause before he started to read again.

”But that’s all I had to say. I love you, I can’t wait to hear back, and make sure Papa is doing okay. If you make any of that good bread and want to send it over, don’t hesitate.” He snickers at that thought. Runt remembers vividly the feeling of running from his furious mother after stealing a fresh loaf of bread she made when he was younger.

“Love you to the ends of the galaxy, Hrelle.”

As Runt finished reading over the letter, he glanced up at the photo. The light was notably smaller, but it was now fully on; illuminating a smiling Runt with his graduating class. Before he hit send, he added a final note.

“P.S. I think everything is going to be just fine.”