Hyetiana, 1207 CE
Syrila was looking out of the window of her home. Her new home. It has been five years since she was diagnosed as an Ardat-Yakshi – something she always believed was just a scary story.
Asari like her were usually confined inside special monasteries for the rest of their lives. No possibility of release. Asari people feared the Ardat-Yakshi greatly and were willing to do anything to keep them out of their society. If one didn't want to go to the monastery or chose to run away, she was hunted down and killed.
There was an order of asari warriors that specialized in handling people like her. Syrila always shivered when she thought of the Justicars. Every Ardat-Yakshi was just a disease to be purged in their eyes. Under common circumstances, Syrila's fate would have been sealed. Fortunately, her family was anything but common…
Syrila T'Soni – daughter of the current main line of the T'Soni family – one of the oldest, richest and most powerful families on Thessia. After her condition was diagnosed, her family's influence allowed her a third choice besides imprisonment or death – exile.
Her name was erased from T'Soni's family tree and she had to leave Thessia. Still, her mother, the current matriarch of the T'Soni family, would not leave her youngest daughter to the wolves.
Syrila was set up on the Hyetiana – the ice planet. One of the newest asari colonies.
Through shell companies, a remote but sizable real estate was purchased for her and a beautiful house built. The official cover story was that the place was purchased by several large companies to serve as a location of wild corporate retreats.
In addition, secret trust funds were set up for Syrila that would comfortably secure her for at least three of asari lifetimes.
In return, she had to promise her mother that she would remain on Hyetiana until told otherwise.
Syrila suspected that "until told otherwise" may very well last for the rest of her life, but she trusted her mother's wisdom… most of the time.
Initially, when her exile began, she feared that she would soon be bored out of her mind. However, she was very far from the truth…
Her mother hired the best teachers for her and every day, Syrila would spend many hours being tutored by them over the extranet.
In addition, one month of every year, few of the most trusted T'Soni acolytes would come to Hyetiana for her physical training. Syrila was taught how to fight, both with her hands, biotics and weapons. Her training was getting more and more intensive over the years and recently, it also included survival courses in Hyetiana's wilderness.
She initially feared that her family would simply confine her to the ice planet and forget all about her. However, given her rigorous and expensive training, she knew that that wasn't the case.
"If mother had no plan for me… if I was to remain in this ice hell forever… why would she invest in me so much?" Syrila always thought. When she questioned her mother on this, she always got the same answer.
"I will not be here forever, Syrila. One day it will be just you and your sisters. But while they will have their own acolytes one day, you need to know how to take care of yourself alone. How to survive. And you will survive. You are my daughter and you will survive"
To prove her words, her mother did something totally unexpected. She hired Padrik Solus – a salarian who was universally acclaimed as the best teacher of his generation. He specialized on asari and all of his former students later went on to achieve great things in the following centuries. He was already long retired with only few years left when Syrila's mother hired him.
He agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement and to spend the rest of his days on Hyetiana, tutoring young Syrila. He was regularly teaching her for nearly two years before one day, he passed away peacefully in his sleep.
It was only after many decades later, during the war, when Syrila realized just how much "the old salarian" truly influenced her mind.
After Padrik died, the only other person regularly staying with her in the house was Laya Navis – over two centuries old asari maiden who served as her governess ever since Syrila was twelve years old. When Syrila went into her forced exile on Hyetiana, Laya was the only one from her old life who was allowed to come with her.
As Syrila looked onto the sky, the Hyetiana's sun was still high-above the horizon. It was the planet's summer solstice this day and the day would be long.
She sighed. Looking at the sky always made her miss Thessia most of all. Even during the day, the Hyetiana's sun just looked noticeably different from Parnitha.
Syrila heard knocking and then the door creaked behind her.
"Syrila… I am going to bed. Do you need anything else today?" Laya asked, sticking her head through the door.
"No, thank you. Sleep well" Syrila answered her, barely glancing back away from the window. Laya sighed. "Don't stay up too late…" she said and closed the door behind her.
Laya knew what it was doing to Syrila when she was watching the sky. Initially, she would berate the young maiden for it. Calling it "pointless self-torture".
But Syrila would not listen to her. It helped her to think about her life.
As she looked at the sky, she would reminisce about the day when she was told what she was and what it would mean to her in the future…
There were no hysterical scenes, no screaming, no tears. Everyone was level headed and knew what needed to be done.
Syrila trusted her mother even as the older asari completely rewrote the course of her future life.
"At least I will have a life…" she thought. While she still had to leave her home behind, the alternative was much more terrifying – being locked inside a monastery and making marmalade for a thousand years was just unacceptable to her.
She supposed that in a way, many would envy her life. She had a lot of money to get anything she ever desired and no parents around to tell her what to do. Plus she was getting the best education in the galaxy.
But in the end, she was alone…
Loneliness. That was something she was struggling with for several months now.
No matter how disciplined she became, she was still young asari. She needed to speak… to be with other people of her own age. At least for a while… and she would do it tonight.
Syrila waited for an hour to make sure that Laya was asleep. After that, she dressed herself and quietly slipped out of the house…
It was the peak of a summer in this part of Hyetiana – not that "summer" was much speak of around here. Basically, it meant that one would not freeze to death even while outside during the night.
Syrila silently pulled her personal snowmobile away from the house. She nervously glanced behind at Laya's window several times before she finally disappeared behind small hill.
Leaving the house far behind, she mounted the snowmobile and activated its engine. She put on a pair of sunglasses on her face to protect her eyes from the harsh light of the Hyetiana's sun which was now very low over the horizon and casting ever longer shades over the ice world.
Syrila moved her hand to the accelerator, but then she stopped, doubts gnawing at her again.
"Am I making a mistake?" she thought with a profound sense of foreboding. She almost shut down the engine again… but then she shrugged off her doubts and steeled her resolve. She released the brakes and the vehicle launched forward, taking the young asari to her destination in a nearby city.
As the snow covered landscape flew around her, she thought about where she was going – the annual celebration of Summer Solstice.
Unlike most species in the galaxy, the asari originally did not celebrate the solstices. However, the date had a special meaning to the colonists on Hyetiana – except a small band around the equator, it was a world of ever lasting winter. As such, the time around summer solstices was a period of highest economical and social activity on both hemispheres.
For example, any sort of massive construction work was feasible only during the short summer. New buildings would be built and if they suffered any damage from the winter, the Hyetianans would repair their homes at this time.
Partial melting of ice caps allowed extraction of ores and minerals which were otherwise inaccessible for the rest of the year. Since agriculture was difficult at best and most of the food had to be imported, the mineral mining provided a much needed boost to the planet's economy.
However, the main income for the inhabitants came from tourism and from leasing the planet's sizable and mostly secluded real estate to corporations and research institutions.
Even nature itself was a sight to behold in the summer. Fast-growing vegetation would spring from the ground, blooming and releasing its resilient seeds and thus securing their existence in the next summer. After that, almost all of it would die again only to be reborn next year in a never ending cycle.
The life was difficult in the constant cold and planet was still relatively sparsely inhabited, especially in winter months. In fact, many people owned homes on both north and south hemispheres and regularly migrated between them to avoid the harshest winters.
The city where Syrila was headed would be quite empty in few months but right now, it was bustling with people. Many offworlders came to Hyetiana for the summer celebrations. On the night of the solstice, wild parties would be held there and it was party like this where Syrila was currently headed.
Just few years before being diagnosed as Ardat-Yakshi, Syrila began to visit clubs and social gatherings on Thessia. At first, she was reluctantly dragged there by her wild older sister – Atala. However, she eventually came to enjoy them… just another thing she now missed from her old life.
Syrila missed other people. She missed talking to them, sharing their life or just dancing the night away…
Her mother insisted that she isolated herself on the ice planet for her own safety as well as the others. Syrila mostly agreed with her. She did not want to hurt anyone.
They told her that as an Ardat-Yakshi, she would be compelled to meld… that it was dangerous for her to be with other people until she grew up and learned how to control herself better.
However, in this case, Syrila just knew that they were wrong about her. She wasn't a slave to her urges. In fact, she never felt any large desire to meld with anyone before and after learning what it would mean for her partner, she was outright repulsed by the idea. Her condition was not commutable and unless in melding, it was no danger to anyone…
"I am not some sex-crazed freak. I can do this! I can have fun, meet some friends and then go home… nobody will be hurt!" she thought confidently as she parked her snowmobile in front of a local culture centre where one of the bigger celebrations was being held.
Syrila could hear the music pulsing inside. There was a small crowd standing outside the building. She grew nervous… it has been too long that she was around so many people.
"Nice machine!" one of the random asari coming from the parking lot called to her, pointing at her snowmobile and smiling before she went inside the club.
"Thanks" Syrila answered uncertainly.
For the first time in many years, a complete stranger gave her a casual compliment. It felt strangely good… almost normal. She did not realize just how much she missed simple social interactions like this.
Remembering where she parked, she went inside the building.
The first thing anyone did when entering building on Hyetiana was to check in their winter gear. Syrila went to a dressing room and looked for a free locker. When she found one, she took of her glasses, gloves, coat and thermal pants and locked them all inside. She also changed her arctic shoes into a pair of more fashionable ones that she carried with her inside her coat.
Syrila went to a nearby mirror and checked herself out. The get-up she was wearing was the last social dress that her mother bought her back on Thessia – green with white stripe in the middle and on her back. It did not expose much flesh, but it hugged her well developed curves snugly.
"Killer dress, sis!" Atala would say to her when she first wore it.
Syrila hoped that there wasn't a radical fashion shift within last five years or she was going to look very much out of place.
As she entered the main room and gazed on the swarm of the dancing asari, she was relieved to see that they were wearing similar dresses as she was.
She gasped at the sight which was very rare on Hyetiana and even rarer to her eyes these days – scantily clad asari dancing to the beat of the music.
For a minute she had an irrational fear that everyone would immediately see her for what she was. She imagined the music dramatically stopping, the crowd turning to look at her and shouting "Demon!" or worse… she was pleasantly surprised when all she got were few casual glances from a people coming through nearby.
Syrila looked around but could not see many aliens. There were not a lot of aliens living on Hyetiana to begin with. The cold climate, while tolerable to the worm blooded asari was not popular with the other species.
Salarians and Krogan were both cold blooded and from very warm homeworlds and so they hated the ice planet. While there were many salarian scientists working in the labs world wide, they mostly kept to the closed and well heated habitats.
As for the other species, the gigantic Elcor were still a rare sight, even on the Citadel, and the aquatic Hanar instinctively avoided frozen water as it symbolized stillness and death in their culture.
Surprisingly, the Volus were one of the few who commonly lived on Hyetiana. Being forced to rely on full body pressure suits anyway, they did not mind the cold climate as simple addition of heating system inside their suits made it fully comfortable for them.
Syrila could see few of them dancing with their asari partners. They looked funny to some people as they waved their small arms wildly in the air, but Syrila had to admire their spirit. She giggled as one of the wilder and probably drunker Voluses kept rolling his spherical body around the dancing area, much to the embarrassment of his asari girlfriend.
Syrila felt another pang of regret when she remembered that the last time she was at a party like this, her sister was with her. She quickly banished the bad thoughts and headed to the bar. She ordered a drink called Rusty grass – it was one of the few agriculture commodities locally produced on Hyetiana.
The name referred to the rusty color of the last summer's grass which remained under the ice during the winter under ice and was harvested and fermented to produce the drink as soon as the ice melted in the next summer and before the old grass began to rot. It was only mildly alcoholic and Syrila was carefully drinking it in small sips – she could not risk getting drunk too much and only wanted to get into the mood. Very soon, she felt herself relaxing. The music was great and she started to really get into the spirit of the place.
Given the natural curiosity of the asari, it was not long before a young asari approached her at the bar and started to chat with her. Syrila was delighted to finally have a conversation with people roughly her age again, even if it was at a noisy party and half of the conversation was almost inaudible.
Syrila was also delighted to realize that a thought of melding did not cross her mind even once. She was fully in control of her desires.
"I can do this…I can easily control myself. Mother was wrong."
However, very soon Syrila discovered a slight hurdle in her plans. Given her secret existence, she could not afford to use her own name! She regretted the need to give this young, friendly asari a fake name, but it was a necessary evil. Nobody could know who she really was… ever.
She kept purposefully driving the conversation away from her personal life so she would not have to outright lie into her face… and it worked, soon the asari picked up the message and stopped her prodding into Syrila's background. Instead, they chatted about fashion, music, sports and various local and galactic events.
Soon more asari joined them at the bar and Syrila found herself in a gaggle of asari maidens. Honest laughter echoed around their little group.
Syrila was very happy at that moment. Being alone always reminded her of her condition – what she was and what she could never be as a result. But here, she was nobody special. Just a young asari maiden having fun… it felt normal and good.
Later on, their little group collectively decided to hit the dance floor. Earlier this evening, Syrila would have been nervous about dancing in a club after so many years, but now that she was part of a crowd, she felt confident again.
They all began to dance to the rhythm of the music. Like almost everything the asari did, even their dancing was deeply sensual and provocative. Syrila felt little overwhelmed at seeing the amount of exposed blue flesh that was swaying around her in painfully erotic fashion.
"I can do this… just focus on the dancing" she though, trying to suppress dangerous thoughts, that she was very much dreading, away from her mind.
She closed her eyes and lost herself to the flow of the music. Her body followed it closely and her mind was calm.
It all worked perfectly… until she felt one of the asari placing her hands of Syrila's hips, matching her body's movements.
With her concentration disrupted, Syrila opened her eyes and was surprised and nervous to see the group of young asari formed a dancing circle around her. There was something strange in their eyes that Syrila could not identify. She was even more confused when some of them frowned at their bold colleague who made the move and was now touching Syrila's dancing form.
Syrila shivered under the asari's touch, but she had to admit it felt pleasant to be close to her like this. The other asari was very beautiful.
"Oh, goddess… have I made a mistake?" Syrila thought in fear.
The other asari leaned in to embrace her. "You are very beautiful…" she whispered and Syrila finally realized what she saw in her eyes.
Desire. Pure unadulterated desire.
Meanwhile the other asari were eyeing her with what could only be described as jealousy as she leaned closer to Syrila in order to kiss her.
"Goddess, no! What is happening? I have to stop this!" she cried out mentally. She wanted to run, but the other asari held her firmly and just before Syrila could move away from her, she leaned in to kiss her.
Their lips barely brushed together when suddenly a yet another figure casually waltzed inside their little circle.
An older looking, but very beautiful asari – a late maiden or perhaps even a matron. Syrila could not see the details of her face very clearly in the semi-darkness of the club, but she knew that she was beautiful.
This asari moved closer to them, eyeing both Syrila and her current partner.
She then licked her lips as she looked at Syrila with predatory gaze, making the young Ardat-Yakshi gulp down. Then she made a gentle but clear body language gesture at Syrila's partner – "scram away child, this one is mine."
Her current partner stared at the intruder in defiance and for a moment, Syrila thought that they were actually going to fight…however, the younger asari eventually backed down.
Both evolutionary and social pressure made the long-lived asari inherently obedient towards their elders. As a result, even though it was clear that all the asari in their dance circle wanted to throw themselves at Syrila, they still instinctively backed down when an obviously much older and mature rival moved in.
Syrila breathed out both in relief and, as she had to admit, frustration. The touch of the asari was still burning on her hips… the kiss they shared leaving ghostly sensations on Syrila's lips.
Still, she knew very well that she needed to get out of this situation. She started to turn around in order to go away from the dance floor and back to the bar.
However, before she managed that, she was stopped in her tracks as the newcomer put her arms on Syrila's shoulders and began to dance very close to her.
"Hello there, handsome" she breathed huskily near Syrila's ear. "Can't believe that I almost overlooked you! We will have some fun you and I... and I am sure that you'll like me more than these kids" she said in seductive voice and chuckled. "The things I can show to a young one like you…"
Syrila was now in a very confused state. A small part of her wished to stay and take this mature seductress up on her offer, especially as she felt her body writhing against hers. However, she was also not stupid. She remembered her condition well and knew when to call it a day. She also did not like how the other asari were looking at her. She felt like a centre of attention again and it was not a feeling she would desire to feel tonight.
"Sorry, I think that I need to go sit down…" she began to say, excusing herself with a polite smile. She looked at her new dance partner carefully for the first time.
Syrila gasped at what she saw. Smile froze on her lips as she recognized the asari in front of her. She was wearing a make up but it was definitely her.
