<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/IWP1F5P.jpg)</div>Name: Alric Dorn<br/>Location: Mess Hall<br/>Tagging: T'Rena Valitreah T'Gai<br/><hr/><br/>"Certainly. None was taken or assumed." Dorn replied and waved his hand to clear away any notion that she had given offense or he had taken any. "I am sure it will be my turn to apologize for some social or cultural gaffe soon enough."<br/><br/>"I will find something, and that will be enough. Starfleet has a much greater breadth of opportunity for its members than service to the Central Command, sadly. The stories of many vaunted Starfleet officers who achieved so much and had such wide-ranging influence on the quadrant are quite inspiring." Dorn conceded easily. There was ample reward, ready for the taking, for those with the initiative.<br/><br/>He nodded with quiet approval when T'Rena admitted that she joined to serve her father. There was nothing false or affected about that approval. He would not admit that he did not know whom his father was to this female - at least not now. Perhaps not ever. Even if she could not completely understand what that meant there was always a certain stigma attached to individuals whose parentage was unknown or unorthodox in any culture. He felt some sympathy for the female. Dorn inferred that her hybrid nature caused her some hardship - how could it not, when her parents were members of two species who loathed each other and had radically different cultures? - and he inferred from the sadness and her desire to honor her father that T'Rena's father was in some way absent from her life. Though he mused that he could not really understand the loss of something he had never had.<br/><br/>"It is very commendable to honor one's parents." Dorn said solemnly, and he reached across the table and clasped one of T'Rena's hands. His hand was much larger than her own, and was notably warmer than the touch of a human would be. He had seen humans perform the gesture to other humans, and it seemed like an acceptable means to express condolences.