1.
A figure wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up made her way through the streets of New London. Walking on digitrade legs, the almost comical bounce betrayed her as a quarian while the ease at which she moved without a hardsuit gave her away as a rannoch-born, a rannie. As she gently, but willfully, moved through the crowded streets that grew more crowded as she neared the New Royal Mile, the casual but finely cut fabric of her clothes rustled like a whisper, a high quality concerto to match the rythm of her bounce.
A sturdy high quality leather pouch bungled off her lower back, hiding from sight her illegally modded quarian shotgun to the eyes of the unknowing, of the people who were awaiting the Crown March, traditionally spearheaded by the Black Watch.
Just as Qibbie Vas Rannoch reached the New Royal Mile, the Black Watch got their marching orders and they started their march down the New Royal Mile as fifteen magnificently uniformed pipers set the tempo with 'Scotland the Brave'. The typical wail of the bagpipes was alien to Qibbie's ears, but the intent of the march wasn't lost on her. She suppressed an involuntary shiver as the Black Watch Pipers passed her by. Humans surrounding her saluted the Black Watch with revered respect and tears ran down faces left and right. The Pipers were followed by equally magnificently uniformed soldiers shouldering turian made laser-rifles. Qibbie spotted a few salarians, turians, asari and a krochan in their strode perfectly with the tempo and Qibbie realised that the concrete under her toes she balanced on vibrated in the rythm of their steps. The soldiers were followed by an armored limousine Qibbie didn't know or understood the significance of, but as it passed her, the crowd became solemn, almost defiantly so. Qibbie caught a short glimpse of a crown on a display in the limousine, but she could only guess at what the symbol would mean for the humans around her. The limousine was followed by further rows of soldiers and as the wail of the bagpipes got further away from her, so did Qibbie's interest.
She resumed her gentle but willful push through the crowd anew and despite the crowd's density she progessed surpisingly quick upwards the New Royal Mile, further and further away from the Black Watch' march. Qibbie came to a halt again, infront of a gallery that had chosen this day and time for a vernissage of Admiral Shepard's latest paintings. Measuredly and calm Qibbie pulled back her hood. Still mesmerisingly sultry, the last fourty years had done little to Qibbie's face. She had traded in her shoulder-length hair for a thick pixie-cut that helped to make her appear younger than the seventy years that she now counted.
Qibbie was well aware that fourty years had passed since she, helped by Sisters of the Eclypse, freed Ellyon Rannoch Tuchanka T'Soni-Shepard, the stunted counter-biotic with the weird scalpplates and one eyebrow crowning her left eye, from the cryo-prison on Iona 4. For a while, both Qibbie and Ellyon travelled together and when Qibbie returned to Rannoch to start her reform of the rannochian agriculture, Ellyon followed and started with filling in the blanks of twelve years of cryotic suspension. Eventually, Ellyon returned to Earth where she would go on to become a professor of post-Reaper history, specializing in the rise and fall of the Fresh Start Movement, the FSM. Seen as a provocative and flammatory voice in the academic world, Ellyon was nevertheless a respected scholar in her field. Qibbie herself had met success with her agri-cultural reforms and now commanded a galaxy-spanning dextro-food empire. Unable to convince her first love Aleda Vas Invincible of her affections, Qibbie married a comely quarian girl thirty years younger than she was twenty years ago. Together they adopted two orphaned quarian kids, brother and sister, whom they raised to take up positions in Vas Rannoch Industries. Qibbies marriage wilted into an arrangement of convenience over the years. Comfortable, but ultimately loveless. Months passed in which Qibbie would never even find her wife home without caring where she might be. Her adopted kids were getting ready to leave the nest and lived their lives mostly away from their adoptive home, but they bombarded Qibbie's social media with selfies taken allover Rannoch with people she didn't recognize. Qibbie counted her adopted kids as the only thing she had ever done right and seeing them being happy, carefree and financially independent gave Qibbie a warm feeling indeed. As Qibbie's dextro-food empire didn't need her presence anymore than her wife and kids did, Qibbie had her hands free to follow her own path again. On this day, fourty years since Ellyon's jail-break.
Qibbie produced an invitation and a vernissage catalogue from the iconic hoodie frontpouch and peered through the etalage-screen into the gallery. There was a small, but elegant gathering inspecting Admiral Shepard's latest works. Qibbie sighed. The vernissage had Ellyon's scheming written allover it. Fourty years to the day. Qibbie made herself no illusions. Fourty years ago, she pledged herself to Ellyon's cause to rescue her hesistant lover, the Ardat-Yakshi Mica L'Sidow, from the hidden monestary the hapless asari was banished to due to Ellyon's actions. Qibbie guessed it would've been too much to ask from Ellyon to let the past be the past. She knew the little Sarat-Sashi all too well. Even becoming a professor in the rise and fall of the FSM and the impact of that happening on the Greater Asari Expanse was all in preparation for this day. Keelah, even Ellyon's acceptance speech of her learned seat was peer-reviewed as 'inherently revolutionary rethoric ment to incite and enflame peaceful subjects of a stable government'. Yet, every voice in opposition of Ellyon's academic stance was well aware they were dealing with a counter-biotic of untold and uncharted power, a power steeped deep in legend and conjecture, made up to fabled proportions by willing tongues.
For the last thirty-five years the two women hadn't spoken eachother, but neither needed to speak to the other to stay in the know. As Ellyon's academic fame grew, so did Qibbie's industrial exploits in scope. The both of them rarely didn't make the news or were rarely not mentioned in one talk-show or the other. The only thing that bothered Qibbie about her fame was the fact that her two kids were constantly followed by the tabloids, but to their credit the siblings handled the constant attention with grace.
Qibbie didn't tarry any longer and entered the gallery as she hoped, fashionably late. A greeter dressed in an immaculate smoking bowed and straightened, obviously annoyed that he couldn't accept Qibbie's coat to keep in guard. Qibbie wore none. 'Welcome, madam..?' The charade put up by the greeter tickled Qibbie's funny bone, but she was aware that vernissages were formal gatherings were the cultural elite rubbed elbows. 'Qibbie Vas Rannoch, CEO of Vas Rannoch Industries and captain of industry. Please accept my invitation and my excuses for my lack of decorum. I'm a friend to the family, as you surely understand.', Qibbie spoke friendly, going along with was expected of her. The greeter bowed once more, 'Very well, madam Vas Rannoch.' The greeter straightened and announced Qibbie's arrival, which caused the high society crowd already present to fall silent and pay attention as Qibbie calmly bounced further into the gallery.
The owner of the gallery, a dandy of advanced years, approached her, 'Madam Vas Rannoch, your visit to the vernissage honors my gallery surely.', as he extended his hand, which Qibbie accepted and lightly shook he continued, 'Would you mind if we seized the moment to have our meeting immortalized?' Qibbie smiled, 'Not at all.' Still holding the gallery-owner's hand, they both turned to an especially present photographer and Qibbie conjured a fresh smile on her lips as the photographer did his work. 'Have you have a work in mind to place a bid on, madam Vas Rannoch?', the owner inquired through his smile and Qibbie answered through her smile, 'Please, were these works appraised by a shepardist instead of an art-appraiser? I'm wealthy, but not stupid.' To the gallery-owner's credit he remained steadvastly in his role as the perfect host, 'I see. Please enjoy the vernissage, madam Vas Rannoch. I'll let you to mingle.' With perfect smiles to eachother, the gallery owner and Qibbie parted ways. Qibbie silently hoped that the owner parted to put salve on his burns. With the initial formalities behind her, the crowd returned to their ends as Qibbie friendly nodded to faces she recognized as the human elite who she had indirect dealings with. As her imperium handled mostly in dextro, the human element was sparse in her business but yet important enough to acknowledge. Qibbie was sure that her showing up without her partner gave the crowd enough talk to leave her sufficiently alone.
'I can read lips, you know.', a voice said behind her, without malice, 'Shepardist... I almost broke decorum.' The voice was as lite as the small framed asari it belonged to. Qibbie chuckled as she turned to look Ellyon in the face, 'Don't worry Elly. My volus will haggle on 'Shotgun Goddess' in my name. I'm sure the rake will be sufficient.' Ellyon shrugged in mischief, 'Pfff, all what our families do is shifting the same money to eachother at this point. None of us is crying any tears over loose change these days.', Ellyon took a moment to seize up her one true friend and continued, 'Are you aware that you entered the Galaxy Fortune Five recently? You're the fourth most wealthy person in the galaxy, and you look to die for. Whatever is your secret, you spacehippie?' Qibbie crossed her arms as her face became more sultry than it quarianly possible could get, 'That same list has the Shadow Broker in the fifth spot and the Elusive Man in the first and I am to believe that? Does asarinism blind one to malarky? Have your scalpplates become longer? Other than that, you haven't changed a bit, Elly. Congratulations on your professorate. That must have stung your mother a bit, I guess?'
Ellyon frooze for a moment as she realised something, 'I... I never asked how she felt about it. Blue mom was as supportive as she always is...' Qibbie couldn't help herself, 'Ever the skyball-mom she is. She's my rolemodel. Don't let it get to your head.' Ellyon perked up, 'Yes! How are Arvo and Ranna doing outside of the tabloids?' Qibbie brought up her left arm and fiddled with her OT a bit. As she showed Ellyon the latest selfies of her adopted kids Arvo and Ranna, the vernissage had reached the point were the artist of the hour, Admiral Shinobu Shepard, would be introduced to the invited elite.
The ceremony went as well as could be expected with Shinobu being the center of attention. 'Don't go cross-eyed, don't go cross-eyed.', Ellyon rooted for her mother as Qibbie did her best to not burst out in laughter. As Shinobu torturously underwent the ceremony, Qibbie couldn't help but notice that the admiral seemed to not have grown any older as well, even though the ever stoic oriental woman was well in her eighties. 'Sheesh, where have you been to not know? You have the Salarian Solution to keep you from dying for being in the general vincinity of a chocolate-chip cookie. For humans who bonded with asari there's Salarian Prolong. It greatly delays human aging.', Ellyon reacted and Qibbie nodded, 'That makes sense. Most of the scientists in my company are salarians. Their minds scare me, but you can't argue the results.'
'You sure can't.', Ellyon agreed as she applauded her mother's akward appreciation speech. Only Ellyon could see the relief on Shino's face for having lived through it. 'They used to lick their eyes.', Qibbie said as she applauded along. Ellyon shot Qibbie a sidelong glance, 'What?'
'Salarians.', Qibbie clarified, 'They also ate flies.' Ellyon did her utmost to keep a straight face, 'I see it's bed-time already, young lady. You're doing this on purpose.' Qibbie was mildly satisfied with Ellyon's struggle to not succumb to a laughing-fit and decided to show the small asari some mercy as she managed to be the first to compliment Shinobu with a very successful vernissage. Shinobu appeared to be genuinely happy with Qibbie's presence, 'Qibbie! Thanks for coming. I know that your accountant handles your earth-dealings, but Ellyon insisted on pointedly inviting you. I wouldn't have hold it against you had you not come. But it's good to see you in person again.', Shinobu fell silent for a bit and then added, 'Being a mother has done you good. There's something in your face that wasn't there before. Radiance. Contentment. I'm glad.' Qibbie wanted to offer her thanks for Shinobu's compliment, but the latter was called away and had to excuse herself. Qibbie could do none but let Shinobu entertain her guests. 'Was that yellow mom?', Ellyon asked and Qibbie offered, 'That, or a very expensive piece of quarian engineering that says all the right things in your mother's voice.' Ellyon audibly snickered as she figured that the vernissage had now entered the informal stage, 'Well, she had to get well over eighty to come this far. Let's go find blue mom, while I make sure that everyone sees that I have Qibbie Vas Rannoch as arm-candy at this high-brow vernissage. Shall we, madam Vas Rannoch, Phd?' Qibbie laughed in a dignified manner, 'We shall, learned madam T'Soni-Shepard.'
Liara was being held by a group of turian art-critics who regaled her with a deep analysis of her wife's art. With Liara's reputation as an erratic historian and flakey archeologist, while being the plucky poster-girl of Shadow Broker Insterstellar with the temperament of a skyball-mom, the turians were almost speaking in tongues to show their superior intelligence in a place where Liara couldn't very well retaliate with a deadly amount of newtons. Qibbie needed naught a second to gauge the situation and intervened, 'Can I inconvenience the gentlemen to surrender madam T'Soni to me?', Qibbie asked with the most diplomatic smile on her lips. The turians immedeately recognized the quarian dextro-farmer and graciously bowed out. 'Lest you go hungry.', Ellyon whispered as the turians turned away. Liara lightly shook her head at the two women in front of her, 'Ever the mischievous, Qibbie? But thanks for the rescue all the same. And you, young lady,', Liara continued at Ellyon, '.., mind your manners.'
'Yes, mom.', Ellyon habitually answered and then realised that she had done so, 'Sheesh!' Liara looked obviously pleased with the small victory over he daughter in a motherly way but instead of teasing Ellyon a bit more, she turned to Qibbie, 'You're staying at our place, I hope, Qibbie? Our door is always open to you as you well know?' Qibbie showed the palms of her hands, 'It'll be my pleasure, Ellyon's mom.', playing along with Ellyon's force of habit to be a literal daughter. Liara couldn't help but beaming with pride as she looked at the two women in front of her, falling easily back in the roles they had as eightteen year olds, suddenly so very long ago. It was weird for Liara to admit that becoming an equal had been the hardest thing she had ever done. Liara decided that she rather remained a mother and Ellyon had largely gone along with that desire. Liara reckoned that Ellyon did so because that was familiar, safe and most of all 'cosy'. And sometimes Ellyon would lose herself and defer to Liara like a teenager would, much to Liara's sans-malice glee. To see the very successful quarian friend to her daughter, albeit in jest, fall in line with it did Liara heaps of good. Liara appreciated Qibbie's gesture with a wink and sobered, 'How have you been, Qibbie? Outside of what I learn from the extranet, of course.' A weird feeling overcame Qibbie as going from the wink to the question it seemed as if Liara, for a very fleeting moment, was staring straight into her soul before becoming a seemingly doting skyball-mom again. Liara, being the Shadow Broker, knew full well how Qibbie had been as one of her agents even sat on the board of directors of Vas Rannoch Industries. Other Shadow Broker agents were keeping a close eye on Qibbie's estranged wife and on Qibbie's adopted siblings Arvo and Ranna, quietly making sure that neither of the three would come to, or cause, harm in one way or the other. For locating and mounting a daring rescue to free Ellyon from cryo stasis, Qibbie had forever earned the protection of the Shadow Broker. Liara even knew that Qibbie had taken the time to watch the Black Watch start their march down the New Royal Mile and that the expensive leather pouch bungling off Qibbie's lower back hid her shotgun from plain sight before Qibbie had even made it to the gallery. Yet, Liara listened with interest to Qibbie's talking as she guided both Qibbie and Ellyon along Shinobu's paintings and past the people that needed to see that the family held close relations with the single most driving force behind the rannochian economy. It would surely come in handy one day. Along the way, Ellyon took Liara's hand and so walking and talking, moving through the high society present at her wife's vernissage, Liara felt a happiness she silently wished could last forever. Even if Shinobu wouldn't sell a painting, the vernissage was a win for as far as Liara was concerned.
When the trio came upon where Shinobu was talking with some important guests, Liara could see on Shinobu's face that she was making a mental snapshot of the three of them. A new painting, Liara knew and one the Shadow Broker would buy out as soon as it hit a collector's auction in the future. Just as right now her agents were subtlely influencing the prices of the paintings at the vernissage skywards. Shinobu introduced the guests she was entertaining, but one of the guests, a stately woman who was dressed in an assemble that was worth the value of a small shuttle interrupted her,'Hold on, dear, I recognize that picture of quarian sultryness from afar. Qibbie Vas Rannoch, Rannoch's very own captain of industry. Delighted to finally meet you in person, madam Vas Rannoch. My husband, Loydd Thorogood, does business with one of your subsidiaries. You must know, I'm an avid collector of Shinobu's paintings of your person. It's obvious to collectors in Shinobu's incrowd that you surely are her muse. To finally see you in the flesh is most... striking... and if you allow, most unsettling.'
'A pleasure to make your aquaintance, madam Thorogood. I have been called a great many things over the years, but never unsettling. It's an unusual compliment.', Qibbie spoke pleasantly, making a show out of being right at home at this kind of gathering, 'I'll mention your husband to my agents, surely favorable outcomes for us both can be achieved in our future dealings.' Madam Thorogood graciously nodded, her mission accomplished. She didn't object when Shinobu excused herself and her family. 'You should've thrown in a keelah.', Shinobu offered once out of earshot, 'The croon would've loved that.' Qibbie laughed, 'Please, I married a girl and raised two keelahs. I can do without the understanding for the rest of my life.' Ellyon didn't miss a beat, 'So much keelah...' Qibbie returned without malice in her voice, 'Careful, Elly. I might yet decide to go home...' Ellyon crossed her arms while her eyes silently dared Qibbie to say it. Qibbie surrendered, '.., bosh'tet.' Ellyon punched her right fist into her open left hand, 'Score!' Liara suppressed a facepalm and Shinobu suggested to blow the joint. 'They don't need me at this point, it's impolite to discuss worth infront of the artist.' Liara agreed and herded Qibbie and Ellyon towards the gallery's exit, 'Not a moment to soon as well, the kids are getting restless.'
2.
The group declined a limousine-ride to the luxury condo as New Hyde Park wasn't that far a distance from the New Royal Mile. Besides, Shinobu and Liara needed to work the formal behavior out of their systems. The banter was light-hearted, laced with the laughter of Ellyon who took the chance to release her pented up excitability collected at her mother's vernissage with both hands. All too soon for both Shinobu and Liara, they were at the door of their condo. 'When last your stayed over, I lifted one of your hairs from the pillow of your bed and added your bio-markers to the lock, Qibbie.', Shinobu said casually, 'I'm sure that Liara has already told you that the door is always open to you. Go ahead, do the honors.' Qibbie shook her head in disbelief, 'Here I was thinking that it was a kind saying.'
'Oh, it is.', Liara answered chipperly, 'Shino just doesn't understand that.' Qibbie hesitated to place her hand on the bio-lock that would open the door leading into the home of two people who were more thankful to Qibbie than she could begin to fathom. At lest Ellyon pushed Qibbie's hand against the lock and the door repeated Qibbie's full name back to her before giving way. As Qibbie stepped through, Liara's assistant Glyph, a holographic sphere and tasked AI, descended from the ceiling, 'Ah, mistress Vas Rannoch! Your last visit was thirty-five years ago. You left behind a treatise on the preservation of rannochian high-landic soil-samples. I've kept it for your retrieval. I imagine you might be delighted to finally be reunited with your property. I trust you're well, mistress?' Qibbie laughed as the absurdity of the moment hit her and recovered, 'I'm well, Glyph. But I think that the treatise has been QED'd long since. It can safely be disposed of. Thanks.' Ellyon pushed Qibbie further into the condo while telling Glyph to buzz off. 'Come on, up the stairs, Qibbie. I need to discharge, cook dinner, set the table, make sure everything is just so and catch up on some reading before lights out. Post haste, if you will.' Qibbie climbed the stairs that would lead to the condo proper and replied, 'Not your just so, Elly. I'm not autistic.' Liara bumped into Shino who almost fell backwards from the stairs over Qibbie's backtalking. But instead of setting off on one of her feared flare ups, Ellyon shrugged Qibbie off, 'At least let me pass then. I really need to discharge, spacehippie.' Qibbie flattened herself a little and let Ellyon push past while giving the small asari a few playful taps on the head. As Ellyon disappeared into the home, Qibbie caught on to the confusion of Shinobu and Liara, 'I just never give her the time of day when she gets like that.', Qibbie explained smilingly, 'Elly took to it quick and it became just something that we do.', Qibbie seemed to remember something as her face shifted between several emotions, 'I better go and help Elly past the "oh, gross" ordeal.' As Qibbie set after Ellyon and disappeared into the home Shinobu shot a look at Liara while lightly shaking her head, 'I... I'm jealous. A spacehippie is playing our daughter like a piano and yet lives.' As they ascended the stairs Liara added, 'That same spacehippie also survived twelve years of asari lock-up, humiliated Aria, rescued Ellyon, annihilated a crack Eclypse squad, reformed rannochian agriculture and raised two children to young adulthood successfully. Weirdly enough, I got the feeling that helping Ellyon discharge comes the hardest for her. I just don't understand how it even became a thing and why she falls into her role so automatically.' As they entered the home as well Liara continued while Shinobu let herself fall on a comfy couch, 'I admit to the sting that Qibbie gets to help Ellyon where we get rejected.'
Liara moved to the open kitchen and bussied herself with pouring two tall glasses of soda before returning to the couch where Shinobu broodingly launched. 'Oh come on, Shino.', Liara reacted at Shinobu's display, 'It isn't that bad. If any person gets to help Ellyon, no one better than Qibbie when it's all said and done.' Shinobu straightened herself out and accepted her tall glass, 'I'm over it. It's that croon Thorogood. She was going on about collecting my paintings of Qibbie exclusively, but that means that she never bought any of my paintings.' Liara steeled herself, knowing what was coming. 'They're all in a private collection on Rannoch. A spacehippie collective keeps pouncing on every Qibbie painting that I do, with information that borders on insider-knowledge. Liara.'
Liara inspected her tall glass, that really didn't need inspecting, 'Then I guess that mrs Thorogood collects catalogue clippings of those paintings.', realising that she had snarked, Liara hastily added, 'Admiral Vas Qib-Qib. The poor man struggles with a lot of guilt. The quarian art-collective is a front he hides behind when buying the paintings. He survived his wife and alienated his daughter. So the Shadow Broker washes a hand and gets his hands washed in return.'
Shino took to brooding again and Liara relaxed. Liara was a peerless Shinobu-expert and knew the worst was over with. She picked up voices coming from the bathroom. One unmistakingly asari, lite and relatively carefree and one quarian voice, deliberate and studied. Liara couldn't make out what was being discussed as the bathroom was an independent unit to the house, especially build to withstand a Sarat-Sashi. But it was friends talking.
'Can I have Qibbie assassinated?', Shinobu informed. Liara just said 'No. You can't afford the Shadow Broker.' Shinobu shrugged and unwilling to stop with her little game she offered, 'Vorcha are cheap. Aria will give them to me for free.' Liara turned to Shinobu and scolded, 'What have the Vorcha ever done to you?' Shinobu gave it some thought, "Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't be a fair fight. The specifics on that shotgun frightens even me.'
'Sheesh moms! Envirolights? Music? Cosyness? Seriously, without me you two would still be sitting there with no lights on when it's dark out, wondering where your lives went wrong. Goddess!' Shinobu and Liara looked dutifully guilty as Ellyon fluttered around the livingroom making it all just so. Qibbie bounced around the couch towards a recliner and sat down, pulling up legs and resting her chin on her knees. Shinobu observed Qibbie for a while, following, 'I'm still at a loss.' Qibbie understood Shinobu's thoughts and while Ellyon made herself busy in the kitchen Qibbie replied, 'We travelled together in a two person shuttle. We've seen eachother at our most weak and vulnerable. That accounts for a lot, I guess.', Qibbie fell silent as a reminder on her OT started flashing. After checking the light Qibbie looked up from her OT, 'I'm sorry, would you mind if I listened to this OTcast? Agri-science, fascinating talk about Palaven river-clay.' Shinobu got up from the couch, 'Be my guest. I'll be in my workshop.' Liara got up as well, 'I'm going to see if Ellyon needs help with anything.' Qibbie smiled and produced a set of earbuds. Within moments she seemed to be fully engrossed in her OTcast.
'Dextro-casserole.', Ellyon explained without being asked as Liara took a seat on a stool at the cooking-island where Ellyon was busy. 'It's quick, easy and Qibbie murders for it. We'll be having pot-luck, otherwise we're irresponsibly wasteful.' Liara lightly shook her head, 'Irresponsibly wasteful? You're pre-emptively dodging a question, sweetheart.' Ellyon looked up from her cooking, to be greeted with Liara's mischievous smile. A smile that just as easily could've been on Ellyon's face. Ellyon was too busy to smile back, 'Ever since that day at the institute, Qibbie is the only other one who has witnessed me discharging. And I owe her a lot. She can get into my face, scream insults and set the tips of my scalpplates on fire and I'll thank her for it.', Ellyon dropped what she was doing and opened the oven to check on what was cooking inside. Her voice sounded muffled as she went on, 'When she reminds me that I'm being autistic.., it just connects. You know? It makes sense.' Liara observed her daughter working. She knew better than offering to help. Everything on the cooking island had a place, just so. Utensils ordered on size and need, pans on the correct spot getting the right heat, hands working steadingly and surely without needing to be watched by the asari they belonged to. Liara was amazed that Ellyon had never cut her fingers up, or burned something, or forgot an ingredient in the many things she was preparing seemingly at once. Liara didn't worry about her own inactivity. Ellyon would just find it cosy that someone was present to witness her working. Small talk would ruin the moment. Not that Liara found it easy still, but this situation was the result of a process of years. Ellyon would call it progress. When Ellyon suddenly started talking as she was wont to do, Liara jumped a little.
'We weren't always this way. Qibbie had betrayed my trust to get her transponder back from Malala, so that she could return to her pelgrimage. After she had sprung me from the cryo-chamber, it was just the next day for me. I didn't understand anything and was a schoolgirl about it. Also, Qibbie wasn't eightteen anymore, but thirty. Not a girl.', all the time that Ellyon was talking, she had never stopped anything that she was doing. Liara waited for Ellyon to continue speaking on her own volition, but Ellyon didn't seem prepared to pick it up again Liara spoke up, mindful of it not being a question, 'It bothers you.'
'She got to be beautiful.', Ellyon stated matter of factly as Liara stiffled a laugh. Ellyon gave her mother the annoyed daughter look and continued, ' But it's the beauty that comes with understanding who and what you are, I mean. We're not equals anymore and it took a long time for us to work past it all, but she never shipped me home. I can't measure up, but have to make the effort anyway.'
'Sweetheart, it isn't a competition.', Liara objected by using tone of voice, but Ellyon visibly discarded it and reacted, 'I must be seventy, but I'm fifty-eight. Qibbie is seventy as a fact. A twelve year chasm I can't cross.', Ellyon suddenly dropped everything and looked at the ceiling. After a while she adjusted to look at her mother, 'Thirty-five years later and I realise that I haven't even begun to collect the materials to start building a bridge. Qibbie and I just settled on some common ground in the bathroom that allows us to be comfortable.', Ellyon resumed cooking again, 'I feel tolerated, like back then. But also a friend who's been away for too long. It's duty.'
Liara went in her mind over the information that as the Shadow Broker had come her way. It was deeply troubling, but the Shadow Broker doesn't interfere. Information was merely a commodity that she bought and then sold off to the highest bidder. But Ellyon was very aware that she was talking to her mother as well as the Shadow Broker. Ellyon had been much too forward and open with her feelings for Liara to accept that it was a mere mother-daughter talk. Liara just settled on an observation for now, one she could only hope that right person would pay the highest price for eventually, 'Bodies will hit the floor.'
Ellyon looked into the livingroom and saw that Qibbie was securing her earbuds, her OTcast obviously finished. Shinobu came into the livingroom, attracted by the smell of expertly prepared food. 'Like a thunderstorm on a pic-nic for the oblivious but secure.', Ellyon said to no one in particular and then she raised her voice, 'Mama Shino, Qibbie, dinner is ready!'
3.
Liara patiently waited till Shinobu's soft snoring indicated deep sleep. Before getting out of bed Liara pulled up her panties and straightened her sleepingtee. She spend some time untangling herself from Shinobu's limbs and was finally able to get up. As soon as Liara was next to the bed, Shinobu usurped the warm spot on the matress Liara had left behind. Liara smiled at it and wanted to return to bed, but she needed something comfirmed of what she was effectively sure. Something that Liara as the Shadow Broker had puzzled together a long time ago, but was still locked in mystery despite her formidable resources.
Soundless, she exited out into the hallway and took some time to listen if anyone was awake. The house was deep in rest. Only the sounds that houses make one doesn't notice during the day occured, like settling woodwork. Liara didn't spook at those sounds, knowing full well the difference between sounds made by living beings and sounds made by materials acting on differences in ambient temperatures.
Liara ghosted through the livingroom to the part of the house that was never really lived in. It's where Shinobu had her workshop and where the rooms were where the people slept when it was the family's turn to organize christmas. Liara's Shadow Broker office was there too, as it wasn't a secret for the people who slept there during christmas. Even Aria T'Loak had at one time even been in one of her Shadow Broker offices on Thessia. To Aria's credit, she pretended not to know that that Shadow Broker held office in it. Liara made herself no illusions about Aria anyway, but if her current educated gutfeeling was as sure a shot as she knew it to be already, then a few masks could be dropped and that would make life a lot easier.
Passing Shinobu's workshop, where the very comforting smell of artist-paints wafted from, Liara came upon her offices. The reinforced door giving way to her offices was loose, but there were no lights on inside. 'An open door is an invitation.', Liara murmered, repeating a line Aria T'Loak once had said regarding doors and her Shadow Broker offices. With her right hand she pushed the door further open and the light from the corridor spilled into her offices. The screens were off and nothing seemed to be tampered with. But she noticed immedeately that someone was sitting in her chair. The light from the corridor shot off the weapon the figure was holding. 'Good evening, Shadow Broker.', a pleasant, but deliberate and studied voice welcomed. Liara nodded and before reaching for the light-switch proper she answered, 'Likewise, Colonel Qibbie Vas Rannoch, RCI. Rannochian Counter Intelligence.' Liara switched the lights on, that were programmed to slowly come online as to not blind anyone. 'I wasn't sure about that and kept it in mind as a rumor, Qibbie. When were you recruited into the RCI?' Qibbie calmly secured her shotgun and placed carefully on Liara's desk and then got out of Liara's chair. Qibbie made an inviting gesture to Liara to take her seat. Before answering Liara, Qibbie couldn't resist a joke-y observation, 'Both in our skivvies, people might get the wrong idea.' Liara resisted the urge to acknowledge the joke, but took her seat as her eyes went over her offices. 'I'm here, but I respect your hospitality. Your computers are fully secure. Besides, nothing you know will surprise the RCI. Mostly because you buy a lot of information from us to begin with.', Qibbie leasurely scratched the bridge of her nose where her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and then continued, 'If you're wondering how I got my shotgun through customs.., the answer is that I didn't. It was mailed peacemeal to the Rannochian Embassy over the course of an earth-week. It was assembled there and handed to me on the way to the gallery. It's a one to one copy of my own shotgun though, in my weapons locker aboard the Futura. I don't trust those pedastrians in the embassy to know how to handle really precious and dangerous tools, even with a step-by-step idiot-guide.'
Liara put her fingertops together and returned, 'Let's not waste time with smalltalk, Qibbie.' Qibbie pretended to be jolted by Liara's words, 'Right! I was recruited when in prison, when the RCI wasn't at all aboard with the accident that supposedly had killed me before I could be turned over to the custody of the rannochian diplomatic corps. I was already working some angles on my own in prison, but I doubt I would've been able to gain the pull that I eventually had without the RCI helping me along.'
Liara nodded. That fitted the puzzle she was waiting to complete for decades perfectly. Liara understood that Qibbie was putting up a show, she had placed he shotgun right in front of Liara and had stepped back far enough to be a target for Liara's biotics. The gestures were made, but how much Qibbie was willing to surrender was yet up for discovery. 'Go on.', Liara encouraged. Qibbie seemed to do calculations of something in her mind and continued, 'Effectively, it was the RCI that finally pinpointed Ellyon's cryo chamber on Iona 4, and I was ordered to spring her. I agreed, because that fitted the narrative that was going on anyway. For much what happened during that, the coincidences that made a lot of stuff happen, that groundwork was done by the RCI. Did you know that the leader of the Eclypse that was on that mission had figured me out for RCI? I was able to play it off as malarky, but Berryl L'Suride was a sharp woman. Everything I did after that has been used by my superiors to gather information and gain footholds allover the galaxy. You can imagine how powerful it is to have an operative that's also a well respected captain of industry who reformed the way Rannoch did agri-culture.', Qibbie paused for a moment, seemed to do some calculations again and shrugged, 'The RCI has spend a mountain of resources over the last thirty-five years to find one specific Ardat-Yakshi. Fruitlessly.'
'Mica L'Sidow.', Liara said, noddingly, 'I have never been able to pierce through the walls of the Justicars.' Qibbie lopsidedly smiled, 'We know. That's why I made the pact with Ellyon and suggested that she should specialize in the history of the FSM. None of us could've expected that she would go this far with it. Ellyon's academic opinions are even on the verge of destibalizing the Matriarchs, who are scrambling to undo her professorate acceptance speech ever since. For a challenged person without training to topple governments, Ellyon did work that would've financially crippled my government if they would've had to bankroll operatives to send the Greater Asari Expanse to the brink of a civil war.', Qibbie noticed the look on Liara's face and added, 'Ellyon is classed as a rogue factor. The RCI has no interest in her out of respect for Admiral Shepard and because once you try to get Ellyon to do your biding, the opposite will happen. In hindsight, the outcome as it stands now couldn't be any better, even if Rannoch doesn't gain anything by an asari civil war, apart from the easier placement of agents. It's not like the asari eat dextro or need lounge-chairs for digitrades.'
Liara chuckled at Qibbie's observations and briefly wondered what a civil war would do for herself as a thessian born asari. As the Shadow Broker she was neutral however. 'So, the fourty years have passed...', Liara mused. Qibbie nodded, 'Yesterday to the day. We go with Ellyon's plan that she herself had from the start. Ellyon and I start bludgeoning our way to the Ardat-Yakshi. We have no idea how to chart the future from there on out however, apart from the given that once Ellyon and I are done, the Sisterhood of the Justicars will be dismantled fully. We have no clear numbers on the die-hard FSM people out there. Already we're getting pro-FSM feedback from places that we had classed as firmly caste-bound.' Liara quickly assessed the situation, 'So even if you fan the fires with the destruction of the Justicar order, there's no telling if your actions will have any weight on the politcal landscape as a whole. It's all conjecture from here on out.' Qibbie yawned and stretched, she had been lightly bouncing on her toes for the whole time and she rolled her shoulders to work the kinks out of her muscles, 'It's more that at this point it's up to the asari. The FSM never really died. If we fan any fire, we might give oxygen to the FSM element that's willing to go volatile. But it won't be the RCI adding fuel as apart from my person, we're committed to being interested observers. As discussed earlier, Rannoch has no stake in asari politics. Economic or diplomatic.'
'All of that is hinging on an Ardat-Yakshi who could be long dead.', Liara pointed out, 'Are you really prepared to go to war over that, Qibbie?' Qibbie raised her eyebrows in bewonderment and replied, 'Oh, Mica is alive. Asari don't summary execute their less than favorable element. You people aren't batarians. The fact that no one has been able to pinpoint Mica's locale just means that Justicar Malala is still alive and pulling the strings of the order. Even if we never have been able to verify Malala's whereabouts as well.', Qibbie yawned with conviction and continued, 'I'm not the one going to war. Ellyon is going to war however and that was in the books for well over three decades. The fact that in the Expanse I'm prisoner 105674-Q is providence that fits a narrative. No one will finger the RCI. My orders are to keep Ellyon alive no matter what. Rannoch will forever honor the sacrifices made by Shepard and the crew of the Normandy that allowed us to reclaim Rannoch and to put an end to the Geth-war. Talking about Ellyon, It's time to return to bed because a little from now she will go for a glass of water, just as she always does.' Qibbie started to turn away from the desk Liara was sitting behind, only to be held back by her, 'You're forgetting your shotgun, Colonel.' Qibbie set herself in motion again and at the doorway she looked over her shoulder back at Liara, 'It's yours. Use it to kill your agent in my board of directors. He never told you anything we didn't want him to tell you anyway. Sleep well, Shadow Broker.' With that, Qibbie vanished into the hallway, but Liara called her back into view, 'Qibbie, why would Justicar Malala hold on to Mica? It doesn't make sense to me.' It took a while for Qibbie to lean into view and there was honest confusion on her face, 'Uhm, Malala can see the enddays coming as well. In the RCI there's a scenario where she's the one to "triumphantly rescue" Ellyon from the cryo chamber, reunite her with Mica and so earn herself the eternal gratitude of an autistic bio-weapon. Even with the current scenario, Malala has the ultimate blue-chip with Mica. I guess that we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.' Qibbie disappeared again and Liara called Glyph down. 'Glyph, boot all computers. We have work to do. And seal the door.'
'An RCI Colonel, one of their most effective and well respected operatives...', Liara murmered as her office came alive around her and the reinforced door silently bolted shut, '.., freely sharing all that information. But not volunteering her true purpose. I believe the RCI's intent to make sure Ellyon survives and Qibbie indeed makes for a convenient excuse in the Expanse. A nice revenge story. Qibbie is deniable. But not expendable. What was she not telling me? What does she want me to do?' Liara carefully put the shotgun aside and kept lingering on the weapon. Undeniably quarian, a fully working replica of Qibbie's personal shotgun. 'What did Qibbie say about the replica? Something about not trusting the embassy with really precious and dangerous tools? Does that mean that this shotgun isn't precious or dangerous?', Liara was stumped. She made a decision, 'Glyph, arrange for Admiral Vas Normandy to be here in two days. Credits aren't an object, just get her agenda cleared. I need her to fully inspect this weapon.' Glyph flew a little circle above Liara's head and vocalized, 'At once, mistress. It will be a delight to see mistress Tali again.'
Liara set to work and before long, her agents had received new directives. As Liara returned to bed as well and nestled herself in Shinobu's arms, the Shadow Broker's gaze turned fully towards the Greater Asari Expanse.
4.
At the breakfast table it was as if the night before hadn't happened. Ellyon fluttered around the kitchen that was heavy with the smell of freshly baked goods, scolding Shinobu for fingering the steaming breakfast rolls that she had just finished baking. Liara was in charge of the coffee-machine because neither Liara or Ellyon trusted Shinobu with the thing. It was the picture of a family that was working the morning-crankiness out of their systems while trying to work together to get the day started.
When the three joined Qibbie at the table, she looked up for her OT and remarked, 'Had my kids been here with me, the house would've been burned down by now. It makes me feel at home in an unsettling way I find to be weirdly comfortable.' Ellyon huffed as she offered Qibbie a mug of steaming-hot dextro-tea, 'I bet you do, raising kids and all. I can relate, forced as I am to raise my parents.' Qibbie chuckled as she gratefully accepted the mug and took the time to savor the aroma wafting from it, 'I meant to say that some things are remarkably simular the galaxy over. But your point works too.' Shinobu, busy with plastering strawberry-jam allover her breakfast-roll, added without looking up from her first art-project of the day, 'It's... cosy.' Ellyon sighed, defeated, 'Yeah, mom, thanks.' Liara, from behind her coffee, straight faced, 'I guess it's about time that Shino and I leave the nest and find a place of our own. Don't worry, mama Ellyon, you have raised us well and we'll be responsible young ladies, always carrying a fresh set of undies in our purses when we go out.' Now Shinobu paused her breakfast art and decided to add fuel to the mix, 'And we'll be good defensive drivers and never forget our wallets.' Ellyon dramatically threw her hands in the air, 'Sheesh! Alright already!' With her one eyebrow furrowed in anger, Ellyon took to committing murder one on her breakfast.
Qibbie kept on interacting with her OT between bites of her breakfast, sometimes nodding, sometimes raising her eyebrows and sometimes muttering something that closely sounded like 'keelah', though she would never admit to that. Liara's uninterested glances at Qibbie learned her nothing, as Qibbie's OT was of quarian make and fully operated on the quarian written language, an idol-script that even missed recurring patterns in the strings of symbols on Qibbie's OT-holoscreen. Eventually, Qibbie seemed satisfied and diverted her full attention to the breakfast table. How Ellyon was successful in presenting a dextro breakfast as rich in choice as their ususal breakfasts were was beyond Qibbie, but she was thankful for it nevertheless, 'That was a breakfast worthy of godkings, Elly. I didn't realise how much I actually miss your cooking.' Ellyon perked up, her anger vanishing in an instant, 'I'm glad! So, when are we leaving?'
'Whenever you're ready, I guess.', Qibbie reacted, not at all bothered by the sudden change of topic, 'The Futura has been overhauled and has been retro-fitted with a new drive-core and new systems. You'll love how she handles now.', Qibbie made a little gesture over her plate and rose from the table. Noting Shinobu's apparent confusion over it, Qibbie spoke friendly, 'I'm nothing if not quarian.' Shinobu quickly shook her head, 'No, sorry. I was trying to remember if I have seen Tali ever doing the same. I just got a short flashback of being on the Normandy. I.., am sorry.' Qibbie's face seemed to gain in sultryness as she lingered on Shinobu's words. When she spoke up again, her voice was almost fragile, 'Other people have ghosts. People like us have graveyards.' Qibbie lightly touched Shinobu's right shoulder in passing and moved towards the room she had spend the night in. Liara watched her go and then looked at Shinobu, who stoicly was finishing her own breakfast. Realising that Liara was observing her, Shinobu said, 'Truer words have yet to be spoken.' Liara sighed and mused that she was the one truly knowing who had said these true words. She decided against filling Shinobu in on what had transpired last night. Liara wasn't ready to involve Shinobu yet. Things had to be verified, cross-referenced, passed by different experts and then re-evaluated. The puzzle that was Colonel Qibbie Vas Rannoch, RCI, was not yet put together whole.
'Will you guys go do what you do?', Ellyon suddenly spoke up, 'I need to tidy the kitchen up and clear off this breakfast before I go.' Shinobu smiled at her daughter, 'I guess that for once, your mother and I can tidy up, sweetheart.' Liara nodded with fire, but Ellyon was shocked, 'Wha? Never! You'll just put everything away willy-nilly and that will bother me to no end at the other side of the galaxy. I won't stand for it! I won't!' Liara instinctively reached out to calm Ellyon down and found herself in New Hyde Park in the evening at christmas time. Liara realised that she was in a memory that Ellyon was sharing with her. A light snow was falling as the park was festively lit by colorful lights. A man dressed like an elf was operating an old-timy street-organ that was playing christmas carrols and happy people were strolling along. The anticipation for christmas was palpable and lingering heavily on the air. For moment, Liara let herself bask in the atmosphere of it all, even though she knew that she was swept up in Ellyon's happy place. A christmas eve from shortly before Ellyon's first manifestation as Sarat-Zashi. Liara was aware that Ellyon's outburst wasn't just about allowing her mothers to ruin her carefully arranged, just so, kitchen. Something more was bothering Ellyon and Liara hoped that here, in this everlasting christmas eve, Ellyon would open up about it. Liara's eyes searched the scene and saw Ellyon at the site where the 'elf' was operating the street-organ. She was putting some money in the man's beggartin and stepped back. A little door opened in the street-organ and a monkey wearing a fez on it's head jumped out of the organ. It scurried to the beggartin and bowed to Ellyon before grabbing the credits and scurrying back to it's home in the organ. Ellyon bowed back to the monkey. Back then she was convinced that the monkey was a real monky. When she learned later on that the monkey was in reality a very expensive piece of animatronics, she had cried for days over it. It struck Liara that her daughter, bowing to an animatronic monkey and now clapping along to a christmas diddy, also was a professor in modern history with a Chair at the New Oxford University. Liara came up behind her daughter and took one of Ellyon's long and droopy scalpplates that were resting on her shoulders, softly pinching the squashy tip of it. After a while Ellyon started, 'She betrayed me again.' Liara remained silent, content with playing with the tip of one of Ellyon's scalpplates. She was just enjoying that Ellyon allowed it. She wouldn't allow it outside of a sharing, that Liara knew for sure. After a while Ellyon continued, 'I overheard it all, mom. Qibbie doesn't know it, but she's a dead quarian walking. One day, all of this will catch up with her.' Liara nodded, not realising that Ellyon was standing with her back turned to her mother. 'It annoys me that I'm not even angry with her.', Ellyon extended with a voice that was nevertheless angry, 'Qibbie does as Qibbie is, but everything that she does is selfish, even if she makes it appear as if it's helping someone. When it all comes down to the wire, Qibbie will be the one meeting her ends. Whether or not I'll meet my ends will merely be a side-effect of that. Goddess! It's just one of the many scenarios, one of the angles, that Qibbie is playing. You know.., no.', Ellyon suddenly fell silent, thinking about something. 'What's going on in there?', Liara asked as she lightly tapped on top of Ellyon's head. Ellyon shortly giggled to Liara's delight and then turned serious again, 'Qibbie isn't a dead quarian. When that time comes for her, she'll dodge that bullet too. Qibbie is like the quarian auntie Aria. Or the quarian Elusive Man. That meeting with you last night? Moment by moment, word for word, movement by movement.., it all happened exactly on her terms. You were just along for the ride. No offense, mom.' Liara smiled, again not realising that Ellyon wasn't seeing it, 'None taken, sweetheart. I was realising the same thing. But I did manage to confuse her at the end.' Ellyon made a dismissive noise and returned, 'You didn't see the smile on her face before she turned around to answer you. It scares me. If Qibbie can run circles around the Shadow Broker, who else is getting bamboozled? What is everyone not seeing?'
'I fear that we'll only discover that when it gets to it. My agents have all gotten new priorities and they will come up with the pieces to the puzzle. But you should realise that the Expanse is on the verge of a civil war and that whatever Qibbie and you have to do to get to Mica will affect that powder-keg. And that leads to the next question, what will Qibbie get out of that? It occurs to me that everything that happened in the last thirty-five years has only served to strengthen the cards in her hand.'
'You disapprove.', Ellyon noted and Liara had some trouble processing the leap in logic. She took her time before answering, 'Mica is an Ardat-Yakshi. There's no telling in what state of mind she'll be when you find her, sweetheart. Please allow for her not jumping at the chance to elope with you, no matter how dire her current surrounding are.'
The scene shifted to a beach during sunset. A distance away from where Ellyon and Liara were standing, memory-Mica was doing cartwheels in the surf that washed up on the beach. Her laughter carried lightly over the sound of the ocean. 'Mica the terrible Ardath-Yakshi, the baby-stealing asari boogeyman that comes to get you when you're not listening to your parents and don't do your chores.', Ellyon spoke. 'Don't be like that.', Liara returned while watching the young asari doing gymnastics in the surf, wearning nothing but her underwear. Liara wondered when this memory was made, as she couldn't remember when Ellyon and Mica had ever been together outside of the FSM Institute for challenged asari. Ellyon had never made scenes up and Liara figured that her daughter wouldn't start doing so now. The scene was a solid memory, correct to the tiniest detail. 'You know very well what she's capable of doing. You survived it. I still share Sarina Pol's opinion on it. We can't change the fact that Ardat-Yakshi have to be monitored and chaperoned, but we can change how we go about it. When you extract Mica from where she's being held now, she'll need a lot of help, preferably from Sarina Pol on Thessia, sweetheart.'
Memory-Mica ran up to Ellyon, while throwing a handful of sand at her. The sand, a memory like anything else, didn't pose any threat to Ellyon and Liara, but Ellyon played her part in the memory by ducking away from the sand-attack, 'Stop it, Mica!' Mica closed the last of the distance, hands on her hips, 'Or what?' Mica reached for Ellyon's hand and they stood a while, swaying their locked hands from left to right, 'This is so awesome!', Mica sighed, 'All of this because you saw it in a vid? Oh, can I make a request?' Ellyon laughed genuinely and memory-Mica pulled a face at it, 'Don't laugh at it! You could watch a vid about the thessian highlands and we could there and pretend to be on a pic-nic. Or a vid of Shepardland Themepark! I always wanted to go there!' Ellyon looked at the excited girl holding her hands, 'I'll have to break this off, Mica. Back to reality...' Memory-Mica's face went from exhuberance to desperation, 'No, no! Please, Ellyon! A few more cartwheels! Just a few more..!' Ellyon pretended to think it over and surrendered, 'Go on then!' Mica hugged Ellyon like a storm and then ran back to the surf where she did her last allotted cartwheels.
'I actually watched a Shepardland vid.', Ellyon said with a shudder and Liara could do no less but to laugh freely. 'This is also the last time I've ever seen Mica happy. Whatever else, mom, whatever else, this is what I want to be to Mica. Her shot at happiness. I'll watch whatever vid it takes to remember for her if that makes her happy.', Ellyon paused and the scene switched back to christmas eve in New Hyde Park, 'It isn't about embracing eternity. I can do that with any asari bored enough to do something stimulating.'
'I thank you for putting that image in my head, young lady.', Liara scolded. 'No big.', Ellyon answered absently, 'I know that she needs to be in a.., controlled environment. There's just no other way. But her situation is my fault and I have to make it right. I've listened to mama Shino, I've listened to you, I have listened to Qibbie and fell in line for the fourty years that we agreed upon. Nothing came of it. Now I'm getting Mica my way and let the chips fall where they may. It won't be pretty. We have to break off, I guess this has taken more than a moment in the real world.' Liara nodded, 'Before we go, let your mother do the cleaning up. You push her away far too often as it is already.'
'Mama Shino gives me headaches.', Ellyon reacted, which rewarded her with a stern look from Liara. Casting her eyes downwards, Ellyon said, 'Okay, but you owe me.' Liara laughed, 'I'll get over it. Let's return.'
Not a moment after Liara had said it, they were back at the breakfast table and Ellyon ended her tantrum with, 'I'm sorry mama Shino. Thanks for offering to do it. Really.' Shinobu wasn't at all surprised with the sudden change of tone, 'Yeah, I expected as much. Did you at least take aboard anything your mother told you in that head of yours?' Ellyon rose from the table, fine with the given that Shinobu had picked up on the fact that a sharing had taken place, 'My scalpplates are bearing the sting, mom.', Ellyon said. She rounded the table and gave a Shinobu as quick kiss on the cheeck, 'I'll get ready then.'
Shinobu watched her daughter leave the room and then she turned to Liara, 'We're not going to like the evening news a few days from now, I'm sure. We should be ready for anything, including a summons from the Council.', Shinobu took her coffee-mug only to discover that she had emptied it already. She sighed, 'Why didn't our daughter become the crazy cat-lady that I wanted her to become? Or a tree-surgeon? Meter-maid? Burger flipper?' Liara took Shinobu's hand and pressed a kiss on it, 'Keep it together, love. This isn't the time to go cross-eyed and flaking out.'
