arrow_of_apollo | TM 186

186 - Religion

Lee Adama's never really had much time for religion.

Not that he would ever say he didn't believe. He did, but in a way that was about as much lip service as you could get without saying "no". It was just that the Lords of Kobol didn't make his home life difficult (that was his mother and father), and the Lords of Kobol didn't fly his Viper and get him through War College.

Like a dutiful son and a dutiful soldier, he attended services when required. He stood beside his father and his mother (on different occasions more often than the same) and attended whatever Temple events were required by the uniform, but it's never been a part of him, not the way it was a part of her.

It's one of the many things about Kara Thrace that he'd never been able to wrap his head around. Of anyone Lee had ever met, if there was a single person who epitomized self-reliance, it was Starbuck. She threw everything she had into everything she did, and if it worked out, it was all thanks to her amazing skill and talent, and if it didn't, well, someone was out to get her. Kara should have been the last person to look to divine intervention for anything.

But Lee knew different.

He knew about the figures and the candles in her locker. He knew that there were quiet prayers and silent moments when she looked to their wisdom or guidance. And he knew-- or at least, thought he knew-- that she'd prayed for him to come back safely the day the Cylons attacked.

Aphrodite and Artemis. Naturally, right?

Aphrodite who embodied love and lust and the enjoyment of the physical. Kara was a woman of appetites that she fed without hesitation, and too often, without restraint. She drank too much, smoked, hopped into racks whenever she felt like it, and gambled like she'd never need the cubits. Maybe she knew, Lee thought, that she wouldn't.

And Artemis, the huntress. Was there anyone who'd ever rode a Viper with a keener eye and deadlier hand? How many Raiders had been splashed on the end of her cannon fire? How many enemies had she narrowly avoided, how many close calls and near misses? Starbuck could rain destruction on her enemies like no one else, Top Gun trophy or no.

The day after she was lost, and Lee Adama can't bring himself to pin up the picture she gave him in the spot on the wall they'd agreed on. Not yet, not while the flash of her ship exploding is still a purple-white ghost behind his eyes. But he can walk through that hallway and find the candles and statues that have been left there by others. He can pick out the tiny figures of Aphrodite and Artemis and he can light a flame beside them.

Maybe tomorrow, he can say something, asking the Lords he's not sure are there to protect Kara Thrace, wherever she's gone.

But not today.

OOC Note: This prompt response fic is based on mun's conjecture and takes place a day after the third season episode "Maelstrom", but is not based on a canon occurrence.

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