Liara knelt behind the fern, just barely hidden by the large round pot that held it. A breeze blown up from the ocean carried the smell of fish and salt. It stirred the sheer white window hangings and caused the papers of her mother's desk to flutter. Biting her lip, Liara crept forward, eyes wide, breathing shallow, as she made her way toward the arch leading into the other room. In her hand she clutched a handful of blue-gray crawlers. They squirmed mightily, trying to force themselves free.
She didn't let them.
She could hear her mother talking, her voice rising in questions. She couldn't make out Senator Tevos' response. The matron rather important member of the Thessian Senate, or so her mother had said that morning, sounded nervous. Liara crinkled her nose. She didn't know why anyone would ever be nervous around her mom. Benezia was about as scary as…as…well, something that wasn't very scary. Like a pillow or something.
She found another hiding spot behind the bookshelf where she could see out the archway and into the common room. She had heard that on the Citadel homes had doors on their interior rooms as well, and she silently wished that was the case in asari homes as well. If she was caught, she didn't think she'd get away with a lecture like she had when she'd been caught trying to unearth relics in the community garden after school months earlier. No, if her mother had even the tiniest thought of what she planned to do, there would be serious trouble to be had.
The voices grow closer, moving down the hallway toward the main room. Liara cursed under her breath and tried to slink back into the shadows. All her work digging the creatures up without leaving a trace of it in the garden would be for nothing if she was seen now.
From the top of the stairs, where, she supposed, her mother had been showing the senator the T'Soni artifacts that weren't kept on normal display in the front of the house, Benezia glided with Senator Tevos at her side. A string of commandos trailed behind them, but Liara saw them almost as much as she saw the white veiled serving women that seemed to always be everywhere. They were a part of the house, as much as the bookshelf she was hiding behind or the arched window she had climbed through. Except…one of them had seen her.
Their eyes met, and for a fleeting moment Liara's stomach sank. It was over. A cold chill ran over her, but she refused to turn away first. This was her house, after all. If she wanted to hide behind bookshelves, covered in dirt and clutching a half dozen squirming worms in her hand, well, that was her business. Unless of course the young commando told her mother.
Instead, the deep blue asari smirked at her, and though she couldn't be certain, Liara was fairly sure she winked at her too.
"You see, Senator, why these changes have to be made, don't you? If even the tiniest…" her mother's voice faded as the procession moved through the main room and out into the garden. Taking a deep breath and hoping the commando would keep her silence Liara sprinted down the hall and, ducking from one less than ideal cover to the next, made her way to the dining room. The sliding wall that kept it separated from the rest of the house was cracked open. Glancing once out of the tall windows to the back to make sure that no one standing on the screened porch noticed her, she opened it just a bit wider and dashed inside.
The room smelled of fresh bread, pungent odor of spices and baked eezo. It wasn't the sharp ozone smell that accompanied the use of biotics, but a comfortable, homey smell. The uncut load sat under a white towel in the center of the table, surrounded by plates of various meats and cheeses. A bowl of fruit stood at the far end next to a pitcher of well watered spiced wine.
This wasn't expected. When her mother had company – especially unexpected company that prevented her from taking her only daughter to the new display of prothean artifacts that had just arrived at the museum – she ordered the kitchens to prepare lunch in full. It was a subtle shaming, hinting that the guest was unable to fend for themselves. Or, at least that is what her mother had told her once when she asked after the Citadel Councilor had suddenly stopped in.
Whispering a curse that would have had not only her old governess but her mother washing her mouth out with soap, Liara dropped the worms on the table and then went to look out the door. They were still on the porch. The commando that had caught her eye before turned, as if sensing her watching. Liara wasn't sure if she'd brought her head into the room fast enough, but there wasn't time to dwell on it.
Wielding the knife with a precision she doubted anyone believed she had, Liara sliced the still-warm bread. She snatched her fingers away from the hot center, sucking one into her mouth while she laid the steaming slices onto the blue china plates set across the table form each other. Eyes darting to the wall every few seconds she quickly put the sandwiches together, wracking her brain to try and remember how many on a plate deemed politeness. Etiquette had never been her strong suit in her studies, and she spent most of her time in that class in school now doodling pictures of ancient asari on long, exciting treks.
The sandwiches finished, she sent a thank you to Athame and one to the universe (it was, she figured, a good idea to not keep all your prayers in one place, just in case) that they were still inside. She retracted her thanks a moment later as she heard the back door open.
"I thank you for the offer," Tevos was saying, "but I really must be getting back."
Liara scrambled madly looking for a place to hide, small hands tearing open cupboards and lifting back tapestries to places she knew she wouldn't fit.
"Please, I cannot allow you to leave without showing some hospitality," Benezia answered.
Liara ducked under the table, her back pressed against the legs of the tall, intricately carved chair that stood at its foot. She tried to slow her breathing. Sitting there, able to see nothing from under the pearlescent tablecloth, she debated removing the worms from the sandwiches she had just made. She'd be caught, certainly, but she could claim she saw someone enter and had come to check when she saw the worms.
Except for that commando.
A voice in the back of her head, one that she thought she should normally listen to, but usually didn't want her to have any fun, said there was the commando, and the fact that it would be a lie. And, the more interesting part of her mind added, her mother could always catch her in a lie.
She heard the wall slide open. Heard her mother's surprise at finding the sandwiches already made. Heard the suspicion as well, and tried to calm her breathing even more. She felt, more than heard, them come to stand on either side of her. Listened while they raised the sandwiches and made offering. And then…
"Liara T'Soni!"
She winced.
"Liara I know you are under there. Present yourself, my daughter."
Shoulder's sagging she crawled from under the table and stood, head down, staring at her feet.
Had she raised her head she would have seen the commando smirking at her. Had she raised her head she would have seen the laughter in the senator's eyes. Had she raised her head she would have seem her mother's anger tempered by her own amusement.
She didn't raise her head.
"Explain."
Her mother's voice reverberated around the room. She hadn't raised it, hadn't shouted, and in some ways this was worse.
"I…I…," she stammered, unable to find the words to explain. What were worms in a sandwich beside missing out on the oldest known artifacts discovered in asari space. What were worms when compared to a disappointment of her mother, once again, having to back out of a day together because of her political maneuvering. What were the words that could make her mother understand?
"Let the child be, Benezia. I came unannounced. You told me you had plans and yet I continued to steal your time. No harm done," the Senator said, and Liara finally raised her eyes to look at the others in the room.
Tevos had avoided eating the worms, but one lay squirming on her plate, leaving dirt and eezo trails along the patterned edge. Liara couldn't seem to drag her eyes away from it as it wiggled around, trying to find a dark hole to crawl into. She turned, finally, and met her mother's eyes.
"You will return those to where you found them. I was going to take you, as you had wanted, to the Tri-belt Exhibit, but as it seems you should hardly be out of your nursery, I think this afternoon will be spent in mediation."
Liara nodded, holding back tears.
"I will meet you in the garden as soon as Councilor Tevos leaves. Now go."
Liara nodded. She tried to hold her head up and her back straight as she left. Mediation with her mother wasn't so bad. It wasn't the museum, but…her punishment could have been a lot worse.
"Liara?" She turned at the sound of Tevos' voice, and felt the scales on her neck flare in embarrassment as the worms from the sandwiches her placed in her palm.
"Thank you, ma'am," she said, "and congratulations on being raised councilor." Her mother would like that – that she remembered to congratulate her. And maybe her appointment as well, Liara didn't know.
"This is certainly the most honest gift I have received since taking office," Tevos answered.
It would be over a century later before Liara understood what she meant.