"Computer, begin recording"
An image flickers to life and Ael'Ihhuein is sitting in her personal quarters aboard the Defiant. She's wearing her night clothing, which consists of a silvery coloured satin gown with emerald lining. She has a slightly saddened affect to her as she looks down into a wine glass filled with a bluish coloured fizzy liquid. Her eyes move forward and her voice finally begins to speak after she lets out a soft sigh.
"Mnhei'sahe... it is so hard to keep that which is so deeply true to you alive..." she pauses and breathes out before taking a drink from her glass, finally continuing, "My transition into a Starfleet officer has been a road to which I have been faced with so much conflicting choices. Oh Elements has it been hard. I wish to continue as a Starfleet officer and to fit in with my peers while retaining that which is culturally important to me..." she laughs to herself softly and shakes her head.
Illy takes a drink from her glass and finally places the empty glass down on a counter, "The Rihannsu exchange officers... I am apprehensive of serving aboard the Defiant with them. I am sure in their eyes, I have done great shame to the Empire... It is not like that in my eyes. I have neither betrayed my people nor my culture once and fortunately Starfleet has never asked anything of my Rihannsu life or knowledge."
She leans back and then looks up towards her ceiling, "But some cultural beliefs are getting harder to cling to as I doubt I shall be returning to the Empire...." she pauses and looks saddened more, "Ever." Her finger idly traces over the rim of her glass as she thinks, "I fondly think of many of my old stomping grounds back on ch'Rihan and my time at the temple. I believe I have accepted that the only way I shall see ch'Rihan again is through a holosuite... I have come to terms with that. I believe I am also coming to terms with some other inevitable realities of cultural differences being a barrier to my lifestyle."
She picks up a frame, which presumably has a photograph of sorts in it, or perhaps a painting but she doesn't reveal it she simply looks down towards the frame's contents, "I am certainly fond of this one. It is my favourite painting I have done thus far. Perhaps I shall do more and this will keep my mind off of things. I either need to return to my hobbies or have more work put upon me. I simply have not been as busy as I would desire."
