Leave Granted, Duty Interrupted
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard grants Troi leave without hesitation, affirming his authority as a leader who values human connection—even as Troi rejects the horse as a symbol of unruly emotion, exposing her emotional distancing as a defense mechanism.
Troi confesses that Betazoids lose themselves in animal emotions, contrasting Picard’s quiet discipline with her fear of being swept away—then Picard turns the mirror on her, suggesting the greatest chaos resides not in animals but within the human heart.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, empathetic, mildly amused; genuine care for Troi and the horse while remaining primed for duty and command.
Picard physically tends the holodeck mare—allowing it to smell his hand, straightening its forelock, inspecting a forefoot, checking the girth and stirrup length—consoles Troi, offers leave, gathers the reins and begins to mount before answering Riker's com and departing for the bridge.
- • Provide Troi with emotional and practical support (offer leave).
- • Savor a brief private respite and ritual of control with the mare.
- • Maintain readiness to respond to ship matters and be available if needed.
- • Personal compassion is an element of command responsibility.
- • Rituals and tactile connections (horsecare) sustain moral and psychological balance.
- • Duty may intrude at any moment and must be answered promptly.
Controlled urgency—serious about the situation but disciplined in delivery to avoid alarm.
Riker's voice, via ship com, interrupts the holodeck to report entry into the first system and to request the captain's presence on the bridge; his tone conveys urgency and gravity though he remains concise.
- • Summon Picard to the bridge to address a developing situation.
- • Convey the situation's gravity efficiently to elicit immediate response.
- • Ensure command continuity and operational readiness.
- • This event (system entry) requires the captain's presence and judgment.
- • Clear, prompt communication preserves operational effectiveness.
- • Framing the event as 'spectacular and a little terrifying' will prompt rapid attention without panic.
Wistful and quietly strained—wants to be compassionate to family while constrained by duty and cultural self-knowledge.
Troi resists engaging with the horse, offers a wistful anecdote about a Betazoid kitten, discloses her mother's poor condition and the likelihood she will need leave, and frames her cultural tendency toward emotional immersion as the reason she avoids bonding with animals here.
- • Communicate need for leave and gain Picard's support.
- • Avoid emotional enmeshment with the horse as a self-protective measure.
- • Maintain professional composure while admitting personal vulnerability.
- • Betazoids can become overwhelmed by others' emotions and must self-limit.
- • Family obligations can and should sometimes override shipboard duties.
- • Confession to a trusted superior will yield humane consideration.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The holodeck mare's forelock and forefoot are tactile focal points: Picard straightens the forelock and inspects a forefoot, grounding the scene in physical intimacy and signaling his practiced care and authority over the animal simulation.
Picard gathers the reins as he prepares to mount; the reins become a brief physical link between him and the mare, then a prop of departure when duty calls—he holds them and pats the horse before leaving.
The stirrups are checked for length by Picard; the adjustment underscores his competence and signals imminent mounting, serving both practical and ritual functions in the fleeting intimacy.
Picard checks the saddle girth as part of ritual preparation to mount, a practical movement that doubles as a slow physical punctuation of the private moment before duty intrudes.
Troi's Betazoid kitten functions as an anecdotal object: referenced in dialogue to reveal Troi's family history and cultural tendency toward emotional entanglement, shaping Picard's response and underscoring her need to request leave.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge is evoked through Riker's com call: it functions as the locus of operational urgency beyond the meadow, its existence and current activity (system entry) abruptly reclaim Picard from intimacy and redirect him toward command responsibilities.
The Holodeck Meadow provides a sunlit, pastoral refuge that enables intimate disclosure: its tactile details (grass, simulated breeze, the mare) create a private space for Picard and Troi to lower formal defenses and exchange personal truths before ship duty intrudes.
The Bedouin's Tent appears as a rhetorical location in Picard's speech, invoked to illustrate the war mare's place in human life and to lend cultural depth to his bond with the animal; it is metaphorical rather than literal in this event.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"TROI: Captain, my mother and I share a bond. She is going through a difficult time, and I may need to be with her."
"PICARD: If you want leave, you need only ask."
"RIKER: We've entered the first system. I think you might want to come to the bridge."