Card of the Week: Queen of Blades

Anyone who has done anything great has had critics.  It’s part of being a success.  Know the difference between your core values and when you are just being stubborn.

The Queen of Blades is intelligent, self-sufficient and fiercely independent, with a blunt frankness that can appear as criticism.  She can fulfill traditional roles when necessary, but is not interested in conforming.  Driven to improve the world, her extremely high standards can make her difficult to please.  She may not care to coddle your feelings, but believe what she tells you.

Inverted, this indicates actions that come from spite more than from deliberate cruelty or malice.  Outward anger may be masking self-deception from one who does not know how to ask for help.

In “Elaan of Troyius”, the Enterprise is ordered to the Tellun star system to carry Elaan, Dohlman ruler of inner planet Elas, to a pre-arranged marriage with a ruler of outer planet Troyius, in hopes of uniting the two fractious worlds to bring peace.  Troyian ambassador Petri is on board for the trip, to placate Elaan with gifts and teach her Troyian customs.  Elaan wants nothing to do with him, smashing his gifts and stabbing him.  Kirk steps in as teacher, and is temporarily affected by mood-altering hormones in her tears.  Meanwhile, a Klingon ship shadows the Enterprise, and one of Elaan’s guards is caught sabotaging the ship’s engines to weaken the ship’s power in prelude to a Klingon attack.  Elaan’s necklace of “common stones” turns out to be made of invaluable dilithium crystals, which Scotty uses to restore the ship to full power.