Hi. The one good thing about going away is coming home. I never want to be apart like that again. Daddy, daddy. I have a little brother. Really . Is that him . No. Hes in there. Surprise. A baby . Yeah. Ii thought youd be happy. I mean, we talked about it and decided wed start trying. Oh, i know. stammering well, but your last visit you were only here the one night, and. Well, i thought itd take a couple of nights. To be honest, a lot more nights. I guess we just got lucky this time. Vedek porta. Nerys. So,thisis where you are when youre not at the temple. Very impressive. Havent you ever been to ops . What business would an old monk have here except maybe helping a young couple to meet the emissary . Are you sure this is a good time . I think hell be able to fit you in. Thank you so much for doing this, major. Oh, im glad to. They can take therubicon. door chimes come in. Um, vedek portas here with the young couple that just got married. Theyre hoping to get the emissarys blessing. Bring them in. You remember the words . The marriage blessing . Emissary, were very grateful to you for seeing us. Not at all. Now, if youll just join hands. Zhiakala, tareh anu suur. Tevon, akalu rez. Kavor matana kel. Thank you. Thank you very much. Your accent is getting much better, emissary. Im glad to hear it. sighing it isnt that bad, is it, being the emissary . A few ceremonies, an occasional blessing. I didnt say it was that bad. Its just hard getting used to being a religious icon. Ill have to take your word for it. Kira to sisko. Go ahead. Youd better get out here. Sisko a lightship. I dont know where it came from. According to remote sensors it never entered the wormhole. Dax id say that ships about 300 years old. Life signs . Someones on board a bajoran. Try hailing them. Ki no response. Tractor the ship into transporter range and beam the passenger directly into o thinfirmary. moaning hes a little disoriented. Im captain benjamin sisko. Youre aboard a Federation Space station near bajor. Who are you . I am the emissary. [captioning sponsored by the u. S. Department of education i was headededack to bajor and my lightship was caught in an ion storm. It nearly tore it apart. A girder came loose from the bulkhead and impaled me through the shoulder, hehe. I remember thinking i was going to die alone in space and then, i realized what was happening. The prophets were opening the gates of the celestial temple and drawing me to them. What happened then . Ow its difficult to describe. My grandfather, my brother so they could communicate with me. You spoke to them . Could sense their understanding, their grace. Ive never felt such bliss. And then they healed me. A light washed over me and then, my wound was gone. They gave me back my life. I felt reborn. When exactly did you leave bajor . Oh, it couldnt have been more than a few days ago. What was the year . That was over 2020years ago. 200 years . Mymyife. My parents. Theyre gone. Bashir if you give us your name maybe we can contact your descendants and let them know youre. Aalive. Akorem. Ants. My brother died last winter and my wife and i never had children. Akorem laan, the poet . Im a poet, yes. You wrote kitaras song and the call of the prophets . You know my work . Youre considered one of the greatest poets of bajor. Every schoolchild can recite gaudaals lament from memory. Perhaps thats part of the prophets plan for me. Their plan . Its not clear to me yet why they made me their emissary but they gave me back my life for a reason. Akorem, a great deal has happened since youve been gone. Maybe major kira can spend some time filling you in. Major kira . Thats right. But your family would be part he artistdjarra. Djarra . Bajor used to have a strict caste system. A persons work was dictated by what family they were born into. You no longer follow yourdjarras . When the cardassians occupied bajor we gave up thedjarras so that we could fight them. We all became soldiers. The cardassians occupied bajor . It seems youre right, captain. A great deal has happened since ive been gone. Sisko if you look at the prophecies about the emissary a lot of them make much more sense with akorem in the picture. Really . Every text ive read says that the prophets will name their emissary by calling him to them that he would find the celestial temple would give him back his life. Go on. They didnt give me back my life. Not literally but they did help you get your life back together. True enough, but i wasnt the first one to find the wormhole, or to meet the prophets. Akorem was. Benjamin, i thought you didnt believe in the prophecies. I dont. Then why are you using them to justify giving up your position . So your minds made up . Youll step aside . Akorem will make a far better emissary than i ever was. Hes bajoran. Hes a revered poet, and he wants the job. Besides, starfleet will be thrilled. They never liked the idea that the bajorans saw me as a religious figure. How do you know i make it clea the bajorans will accept akorem as their new emissary . R that im stepping aside voluntarily they will. Youre off the hook. How does i ifeel . It feels, uh. Good. No more blessings to give. No more prophecies to fulfill. Im just a starfleet officer again. All i have to worry about are the klingons, the dominion and the maquis. Chief congratulations, dad. You heard . Great news, my friend. Come have a drink. Celebrate. I really should be getting home. Oh, just one. All right. Quark, did you hear . Chief obrien is having a baby. I thought your females carried your young. My wife. My wife is having the baby. Congratulations. Cutest thing you ever saw. You know babies. Every little thing they pick up goes straight into their ears. I used to love readingngo him. You know, see brak acquire. Acquire, brak, acquire. Just think. Soon therell be two little obriens scampering about underfoot. Lready been through all the diapers and the endless crying and the sleepless nights. Yeah. Cheers. Oh. Chchrs. Is something wrong, chief . No. Nothing at all. Couldnt be happier. Did you hear . Keikos going to have another baby. Now . no. Seven months. I see. Worf delivered molly, you know. Really . He were trapped together when her time came. Oh, well, ill be sure and call you when shes ready to deliver. You can lend a hand. Unfortunately, i will be away from the station at that time. Far away. Visiting my parents on earth. Excuse me. laughing the thing is, julian now that mollys a little older i was hoping to be able to spend some time with keiko again. I thought we could. I dont know. Go out at night. Dont get me wrong. I know once i hold my little baby in my arms ill be the happiest man in the world, but. I wasnt expecting it to happen so soon. How about a game of darts . The emissarys first public appearance . I wouldnt miss it. Im surprised to hear you call him that. Why . Hes been with the prophets for over 200 years and now they sent him back to us. Yes, but two days ago you believed captain sisko was the emissary. He made it clear he wants to step aside. Does that mean he never really was the emissary . No. But they cant both be. I dont know. What do you want from me, odo . Forgive me, major. I dont mean to be difficult but your faith seems to have led you to something of a contradiction. I dont see it as a contradiction. I dont understand. Thats the thing about faith if you dont have it, you cant understand it and if you do, no explanation is necessary. Ever s sce the prophets returned me to my people ive asked myself the same questions over and over again. Why did they keep me with them for so long . Why did they return me to my people now . I now know the answers. Bajor suffered a great wound while i was with the prophets the cardassian occupation. The bajor that ive returned to has lost its way. People no longer follow the path ththprophets have laid out for them. They no longer follow theirdjarras. Artists have become soldiers. Priests have become merchants. Farmers have become politicians. We must heal the wounds of the occupation. We must return to ourdjarras. We must reclaim what we were and follow the path the prophets have laid out for us. It is their will painters to their canvasses priests to their temples. If we do this, if we follow ourdjarras, then bajor will flourish again and become the green and peaceful land i rememeer. It will be as if the occupation never happened. By returning to ourdjarras, we will have erased it forever. Left for bajor. Of course. I had no idea you were going to advocate change on such a massive scale. Its what the prophets want for bajor. Its why they sent me. Are you sure of that . Absolutely. The emissary knows that what hes proposing will be difficult for some people to accept. He doesnt expect things to change overnight. So youre not going to ask first minister shakaar to step down and go back to farming . No, of course not. But frankly, by the next election i doubt very many people will be left on bajor who would elect a farmer to political office. We hope that, eventually, the people will support enforcement of thedjarras by legal sanction. So if someone defies their caste. . Society will have appropriate remedies at its disposal such as deportation. You realize that castebased discrimination if bajor returns to thedjarrasystem i have no doubt that its petition to join the federation will be rejected. Kai winn and i have already discussed it. Were willing to make that sacrifice in order to follow the will of the prophets. I had a feeling winn would see it that way. Well, the emissaryry transport leaves shortly. As a starfleet officer, i am bound by oath not to interfere with bajoran affairs but. As a friend to bajor i have to say giving up federation membership would be a mistake. Oh. Yourpaghis strong. I i e now why kai opaka goodbye, captain. Goodbye, emissary. Morning. Guess ill have to take my raktajino with me. Sihere. Youre not finished. Ill find someplace else to sit. You dont have to get up for me. Youreihvalla. Imtenari. S in i guess ill have to get used to being treated like that. I remember when i got promoted to lieutenant it took me a while to getetsed to being called sir by my friends who were still ensigns. But thats different. Youd earned the right to be treated with respect. I havent done anything. Sounds like you have some reservations about bringing back thedjarras. The emissary is asking something very difficult of us but we have to have faith that hes guiding us towards something. Even if what hes guiding you towards doesnt include the federation . Its not our place to question the emissary. No matter what . Maybe you never realized this, captain when you were emissary no matter how difficult it seemed. I better get to ops. gasping rustling who are you . Kai opaka. Whoareyou . What are you doing here . How did you. . Dont you know me . I think you had what the bajorans call an orb shadow. Sometimes, people who o ve been exposed to the orbs of the prophets experience hallucinations weeks, even months later. What triggers them . An excess of neuropeptides. I can give you an inhibitor to make sure it never happens again. Of course, i ii do, you risk never finding out. Finding out what . Bajorans believe you only have a shadow experience tried to tell you during an orb encounter. Interesting. So. Any idea what they migig have been trying to tell you . Sure. That i have too many neuropeptides rolling around in my head. sighs a bird is a difficult thing to sculpt. Maybe you should have started with something simpler. Come in come in services are about to begin. But i can tell i have no aptitude for it. You didnt give yourself over to what you were doing. How can yoyosay that . I was up half the night. I have a flock of flightless birds in my quarters. Youre still clinging to a false life. You must do what the emissary has asked and follow yourdjarra with all your heart because if you give yourself over to the prophets they will guide you along the path theyve chosen for you. And youll know more joy than you ever thought possible. That a girl. Practicin did i win . G. Well play a game later. Try another one. Keiko miles . Oh, uh. Thats mine. I only wear it in the holosuites. I suppose julian has one too. You two certainly spend a lot of time in the hololuites. Well, you should be glad. It kept me out of trouble. chuckles mmm. Want to try for twins . I dont think it works that way. Youd better brush up on your biology. Teach me. Look, i drew a pony. Oh. Lets see. Does your pony have a name . I dont know. Miles, i still have a lot of specimens ive got to catalog for the survey. Go a aad. Ill play with molly. Oh, miles, its good to be home. Come on, molly. Lets play darts. Remember what daddy said ababt the right way to stand . Lets try again. I dont want to. Can daddy color too