A/N: I was trying to get a little more insight into asari with this story... they are great in many things, not so great in some and outright terrifying in few... and that's why I love them. :)
Big thanks to Theodur for allowing me to use the flying ponies and for permanently implanting the idea of Shepard/Liara + Aria/Tevos friendship into my headcanon!
Thessia, about 15 years after the reaper war
"So, remind me, why are we going there again?" Shepard asked her bondmate as she continued to nervously fidget in the seat of their skycar.
Liara threw her a slightly annoyed look. They have been discussing this for days. "Because this is a great tradition among my people and the head of the house T'Soni is simply expected to attend..." Liara patiently explained. "And you agreed to it."
"Yeah, but why do I have to wear this?" Shepard whined, pulling on her black dress.
Liara rolled her eyes, realizing what this was all about.
"As much as I love you in them, I won't let you wear that N7 hoodie and cargo pants into society!" Liara said. "Besides, I wear dresses for you all the time!"
"Yes, you do..." Shepard replied with a dreamy expression, earning her a playful push from Liara sitting next to her.
"You always have your biotics, but I can't properly hide a gun in this thing!" Shepard managed to complain when the image of Liara in her dresses left the forefront of her mind.
"That's tough. Don't worry though. If there is trouble, just get under the table and I promise I will protect you..." Liara teased her.
Shepard only growled in response. They sat in silence for a few seconds as the skycar continued to take them to their destination.
"So where did you hide the gun?" Liara finally asked.
Shepard looked at her with 'that look'. "When we get back home, maybe you can find out" she said and leaned over to quickly kiss her bondmate on her cheek.
Shepard's hand went to her neckline and she traced her fingers around the metal piece surrounding her neck.
"Hey, love. One last question and perhaps I should have started with it..." Shepard said, a blush appearing on her face. "Why am I wearing a collar with your family sign on it? she asked.
Liara blushed in return but a certain feral look filled her eyes as she looked into her bondmate's eyes.
"The sign is called sigil, my love. And that is the point of this gala party. To show to all the nobles of Thessia, that Jane Shepard has been claimed by house T'Soni... by ME" she stressed the last word and pulled Shepard by her collar and into a passionate kiss.
They finally separated when they heard the skycar VI announce one minute to the destination.
Both Liara and Shepard were breathing heavily as they composed themselves. Especially Shepard had to fix her hair which was disturbed by her fervent bondmate. For some reason, Liara always went for her hair. Shepard found it incredibly cute. She supposed that it were the differences between them that were the objects of much attention during their lovemaking. Liara enjoyed her human strangeness just as much as she loved Liara's asari crest and her beautiful blue skin.
She looked at the details of her collar – the house T'Soni's bondmate collar. The piece of the metal alone was a priceless artifact, the engravings on it masterfully done and coalescing into a beautiful rendition of T'Soni's house sigil – a yellow flower remotely resembling an earth's rose.
She remembered when Liara told her about it. The flower itself was always considered very rare on Thessia and in any substantial quantity only ever grew around Liara's family ancestral household. Legend said that it was a gift from goddess Janiri herself to Liara's ancestors.
Of course, given what they learned during the reaper war and what Javik told them, this legend might very well be true. Especially, since they saw a nearly identical flower growing around Prothean ruins on planet Eletania all those years ago.
"Shepard, are you ready to go?" Liara asked her, disrupting her reverie.
Liara saw her looking over her collar and smiled. "You know, you are quite lucky" Liara said with a wicked grin. "Since I am quite certain of your loyalty to me, I have decided to forgo the use of leash... which also used to be traditional for this celebration"
Shepard looked at her with disbelieving stare but then remembered that the collar does indeed have a small metal loop that could be used to fasten a leash to it. She gulped down, thankful that Liara trusted her enough. But while Shepard did not relish the thought of being publicly led on leash in front of the thessian aristocracy, she definitely planned to ask Liara to do it when they got home.
"Uhm, thank you, Liara" she mumbled an uncertain thanks to her smiling bondmate.
They got out of the skycar, which immediately flew away.
Shepard looked around them. The celebration was held in one of the older meeting halls, specifically designed to hold pompous and also secretive parties for the asari matriarchs. Shepard did not see a single journalist, not a single cam floating around.
Taking Liara's hand into her own, they went on to the entrance into the main hall, stopping only to leave some of their outside clothes in the changing room, a charming asari coat girl taking their clothes.
When they reached the entrance another smiling asari went forward to greet them.
"Welcome to the Bondmate Ball, lady T'Soni, spectre Shepard" the asari nodded at the both of them, noting their arrival on her omni-tool. "You may come in when ready"
Shepard and Liara looked at each other and took a step forward, other asari servants opening the doors for them. When they walked inside the enormous hall, Shepard was momentarily blinded by the grandeur that she saw.
The room was like taken from the fairy tales of old. Beautiful frescos were lining the walls, depicting various famous events from asari history, going as far as 35 000 years. Golden ornaments decorated the ceiling; the trace amounts of eezo in them making them shiver a gentle blue light. Greatest sculptures of asari art were placed in the alcoves around the room. The floor was a mosaic of precious gemstones taken from all over the Thessia and carved into precise hexagons.
Shepard saw tables, forming a letter U placed on one side of the hall. On the other side was a slightly elevated stage where some asari band was currently setting up their equipment. Between the stage and the tables was a small dance floor.
On the side of the hall, there were tables filled with deliciously looking food, meticulously prepared by the best asari caterers. And of course, there was a large bar next to them.
In addition to the main tables, there were numerous small coffee tables spread around the hall in strategic positions, following the asari mindset by allowing the guests to mingle freely with each other.
"Dr. Liara T'Soni, head of the most ancient and noble house T'Soni and her bondmate, spectre Jane Shepard!" the announcer, an older looking asari with a strong piercing voice, proclaimed their presence to the entire hall.
Suddenly, every eye in the room gazed at Shepard and Liara. And there were many eyes indeed, sometimes more than two per person. Shepard saw well over hundred asari and at least as many aliens of various species – their bondmates.
Shepard suddenly grew self-conscious of all the attention and of the piece of metal around her neck. But then she realized what it represented and relaxed. She would gladly proclaim her love and loyalty to Liara to the entire galaxy. One room will not be a problem.
When an asari hostess gestured to follow her to their table, Shepard stepped in front of Liara. Falling of one knee, she made a large bow to her bondmate before standing up. "My lady?" she said and offered her hand to Liara. Her bondmate took it, a deeply touched look on her face. Look that made Shepard love her ever more.
Following the hostess, Shepard escorted Liara to their table. The other guests muttered approvingly at Shepard's actions, making Shepard proudly raise her head so everyone could clearly see T'Soni's sigil engraved on her collar.
Liara's place was almost at the head of the table and when they reached it, Shepard moved out her chair for her, allowing Liara to sit and earn further approvals from the watching matriarchs at the same time, before taking her own seat.
As soon as they both sat, the attention to them disappeared and the guests went back to mingling.
Servers brought them two glasses of Serrice ice wine for their initial toast. They clicked their glasses, kissed each other and drank the wine. With that, the rituals were over for the moment and they were both free to stand up and mingle with the rest of the guests and watch more of them arrive.
Shepard discreetly looked at the other aliens present. Most of them were humans, turians and salarians, some krogans and batarians and few quarians and volus. In addition, there were odd elcor, drell and even hanar and vorcha. Shepard saw a stork shaped alien that she did not even recognize at first before Liara whispered to her that it was raloi.
They all wear collars similar to the one currently adoring Shepard's neck. Even though some of them were wearing it on different part of the body, since they had either a too big neck or none at all. Apparently, all houses had unique engravings done on the collars and of course, the sigil was different.
The flower of Liara's family appeared to be a rarity as most of the other sigils were various thessian creatures – real or fantastic. Many of them were flying creatures that Thessia was so famous for.
Given the vast amounts of dust-form element zero scattered in the biosphere, almost all animals and some plants developed at least some levels of biotic abilities. The most common trick was using the element zero to temporarily lower their body mass which allowed many absurdly large animals to achieve proficiency in flying or at least jumping really high.
Shepard was scared shitless by one of them when they went on a family outing during the re-opening of the Armali national park. Her daughter suddenly enthusiastically jumping around and pointing upwards as a gigantic shadow went over their hands. Shepard lifted her head and saw an elephant sized animal glowing with biotics and casually flying over them. In a split of a second, she gently tackled her daughter, covering her with her own body, before smiling Liara came over to her and told them it was a harmless shy herbivore… Her daughter still remembers that day, because later on she got to ride a flying pony.
The reaper war took an immense toll on animals of Thessia. There was one predator that kept attacking reaper units with devastating biotic warps and was subsequently hunted to extinction by them. Its image was now part of the official coat of arms of Thessia aerial defense force and scientist had it cloned and reintroduced into Thessia's sky.
Shepard could fully understand why so many ancient asari would choose these majestic animals as symbols of their houses.
