Nadja's dreaming quickly felt like a rush of reality. It almost felt like she passed through a tough spot of air or something thicker in the air causing her stumble slightly. She looked up at the younger looking quarian in red and black robes and saw that she wore the environmental suit with the robes like some of the elders and some of the kids at school. She smiled and showed no sign of being afraid or disturbed by the discovery that this individual was trapped inside a suit.

"You know the doctors have found a cure for the suit. You don't have to wear it after a few nasty shots." Nadja explained in her innocence.

The woman seemed still slightly distant as she looked out at the ocean and the low sunset. Her eyes glittered and Nadja could hear the heavy breathing of someone that wanted to cry, but was holding it back.

"I know little one… I prefer to hide from my past… to remember who I was… who I am." She breathed in a heavy sigh and wished she could wipe the tears from her eyes, but instead she scratched the visor and lowered herself to the grass, and kept looking at the ocean scene.

"That seems pretty sad… I wish you weren't so sad. Why are you up here looking at the sunset anyway?" Nadja asked taking a seat beside the woman, cuddling close to her.

"I like the beauty of it… it makes me feel happier about things. She looked down at the small child beside her and her eyes seemed to calm instantly. "Thanks for making me see what needed to be done. It's been awhile since I've smelled the actual air of this place." She reached up and unsealed the mask and let the air fall on her face. Nadja leaned forward to get a good view of her face and noticed the black lines coming from her neck area and from behind her head decorating the area around her face.

The woman still seemed lost to her surroundings, but her mood appeared to be improving like she was reminiscing about better times. "I'm glad you are feeling better." The woman looked down at the innocent girl sitting at her side and smiled though her eyes filled with tears.

"Tell Mom… Tell her that I love her…" The woman bit her lip and looked out at the water and let the tears break from her eyes and fall to the grass. Her chest heaved at her words. She pulled her knees up and let the wind blow her hood around. Nadja looked at her confused, but before she could ask a question she felt herself slipping from the dream. She quickly felt herself inside of her own bed inside of her home and everything seemed to fit into place though her dream seemed strange to say the least.

She rose slowly from the bed, her head felt very light and dizzy. She stumbled from her bed and opened up the window to her room and looked out after she had climbed the small staircase so her short figure could get to the window's ledge. It was the morning and she felt that she had somehow slept in. She grabbed her robes and wrapped them around her and walked out the room to the kitchen to see if her mom and dad were getting breakfast ready. Her father wasn't in the room, but instead she found Tali washing some of the dishes humming a tune as she worked. Nadja rubbed her eyes, breaking the sleep from them and yawning out of habit. Tali pivoted to see her daughter walk into the room and sit at the table.

"How did you sleep?" her mother asked, smiling with her morning brightness that Nadja had at times wondered how she managed to do that.

"My head feels like it wants to fly away…" She groaned.

Tali chuckled slightly at the irony of the situation and grabbed a nearby towel and dried her hands before she walked to one of the other chairs and sat down.

"So what will we be having this morning?" Tali asked.

"I want some Felarins…" She stated sleepily.

"You know what those do to your teeth…" Tali mentioned.

"But Mom…" She groaned.

"Keelah…" Tali rose and walked to one of the pantries and pulled out a container and grabbed a bowl out of one of the cabinets. She placed it next to Nadja who smiled and looked far brighter. Tali couldn't help but smile seeing her eyes shimmer like that.

She poured the strange substance from its container into the bowl and grabbed a nearby handful of seed-like pods from a bush growing outside the window and dropped them inside of the dish. The contact of the pods and the liquid caused them to pop open releasing a scarlet color and a sweet aroma through the room. Tali knew that this treat had its nutritional benefits along with the sugar content of the so called soda that John had drank on a occasion, which she was surprised to see the Earth still make after all these years.

She grabbed a small container from another area of the kitchen and poured a bowl of red ball looking plants. She used her spoon, scooped them up, and ate them slowly. Nadja watched giving an exaggerated scowl of disgust at what her mother was eating.

"How can you eat that disgusting garbage?" Nadja asked.

Tali broke from her deep thinking and looked at her daughter, her eyes narrowed.

"This isn't garbage… This is healthy and good for you little one…" Tali smiled.

Nadja stuck her tongue out. "You just sit there and smile…" She complained.

"At least I'll have teeth to smile with…" her mother retorted.

Nadja grinned slightly. She never could seem to win against her mother in any type of argument. She wished she would just grow up now and actually go out and do bigger quarian things and repair a new warp mass effect field drive cores that they were testing. She just sighed and ate her Felarins, making sure to drink the sweet juice that stained her teeth red.

A faint chirp from outside caused Nadja to look toward the open window to the bright and warm outside scenery. She had always loved listening to the beautiful Kreuns. She just pictured their large and majestic beauty. Their oranges and their reds softly fading into each other as their purple ringed black spots made a frightening face on their backs. They had large head tendrils that went straight back off of their heads, their ends moving in the wind. They made flying appear so easy and flawless that anyone could go and just jump into the air and join the majestic creatures in the air. Nadja grinned happily to herself as a breeze filled her fingertips with that feeling of innocent flight. Her mother looked at her child with humor and love for her dreamy child.

"Why don't you go down to the beach and hug your father; he's gone fishing…" She rolled her eyes.

She hummed to herself as if she had lost her train of thought and had completely missed her mother's words, but she swiftly shot a look at her and smiled. "I think I will… try to surprise him." She giggled.

She skipped out the door to the sunlit world. Tali watched her and smiled as she turned back to the finished dishes and the clean kitchen. "Keelah… What am I doing…?" She turned and walked to the door that Nadja had just catapulted herself out of and made her way down to the beachfront where she could just make out the small shape of John working furiously with his antique rod.

Nadja skipped up to her father's side and saw he was wearing non-traditional quarian garments. She giggled as she slowly began to realize how ridiculous her father looked with his large brimmed hat filled with hooks like he had caught himself too many times, large baggy pants and a pair of rubber boots. John cocked his head back and laughed seeing her daughter sitting next to him, her legs pulled up. He reached down and messed up her hair.

"What are you doing little one?" Her father asked, signs of stress breaking the formality of the greeting.

"Watching you make a fool of yourself…" She teased.

"Well… I am doing that aren't I?" Shepard laughed.

"You'll get it one of these days…" He heard his wife speak as she descended the hill.

He turned farther back to get a look at her when the legs on his chair shot back and the chair fell back causing him to fall to the ground spilling a box filled with hooks and bobbers and fake bait. If Shepard wasn't laughing as he just sat on the ground they would have felt more worried about the situation, but they joined in his laughter.

"Can't a guy get a look at his wife without falling head over heels for her?" John teased as he set himself back up.

Tali chuckled as she made it onto the rock and looked out to the sea, one of the few that Rannoch had. It was, without a doubt, beautiful. It stretched out like it was eating the land away and that soon they would all fall into the water drown, but instead it appeared to be a sleeping giant, softly sighing in gentle breaths as it laid in slumber releasing gentle ripples. It still never got old to see this scenery.

Nadja looked around as she heard another chirp from one of the Kreuns. She finally caught sight of one just as it vanished behind one of the large rocks that were not too far from her. She bit her lip as she looked at her parents who appeared to be slightly distracted and decided to go on an adventure to see the Kreun's "secret hideout". She turned and took two steps toward the rock when her father's voice broke the silence and her guile.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked.

Nadja turned with a stiff smile. "Nowhere…" She lied.

"You wanted to see that Kreun didn't you? I know you love them, but you know that it is dangerous on these rocks?" He spoke sternly.

"I know…" She whined. She sulked back to her father's side. "I just never get to do anything fun." She crossed her arms angrily.

"You would need a trusty assistant to go on this adventure…" Her father spoke softly.

Nadja turned quickly and saw her father smiling and holding his out to her. The joy filled her blood and sparked her brain launching her muscles into a fit of joy causing them to snap her into a standing position and jumping with joy as she took her father's hand.

"First…" Shepard reached into one of his pockets and pulled a long rope from his pocket. He tied it firmly around Nadja's waist and then tied the other end to his waist. "If something happens, this will stop it from being any worse." John guaranteed as he tightened the final knot.

Nadja hated the binding that she had been forced into, but if it was her ticket to see a Kreun up close she couldn't complain. She hoped with all her might that she would be able to touch one. It had always been her greatest dream to actually touch one and not just stare mystified at their majestic beauty.

"Man the outpost dear… we will be back soon." Shepard kissed her softly before they parted ways.

"Be careful you two… you know how fickle those creatures are…" She looked at the rod with a slight ounce of confusion and sat down beside it, looking out to the red bobber bouncing in the waves.

"Don't worry, we will." Nadja almost sang.

She snagged her father's hand and they began their climb over the rocks over to where the Kreun had disappeared. It was a long and relaxing climb over to the spot. Shepard was amazed at his daughter's dexterity and agility as she climbed over the rocks. Every second simply made him feel prouder to be her father. The gentle slopes of the rocks were, at times, slick, but they easily managed to traverse the dangerous terrain and arrive at the dark cave on the other side of the rock side.

Shepard's mood quickly flipped from a happy adventure to a look of concern. He didn't like the looks of the cave and the positioning of the rocks.

"Stand over there…" Shepard told his daughter.

Nadja could hear the change in mood and the frightening concern when he knew something was off. She stepped to the side and let the slack of the rope disappear as her father slowly stepped toward the dark cave entrance. He flipped on a light and before he could react the Kreun shot out of the cave, smashing his own fist into his head along with hitting him with its legs and knocking him backward and down onto the rock where he hit his head and fell limp.

Nadja stared at the scene in complete shock, but what quickly caught her eye caused her heart to almost drop completely. She watched as her father's unconscious body began to slide down the rock face to the dangerous waters below. She looked at the rope connecting her to him and panicked. She turned quickly and grabbed the rock-face just as it snagged her and pulled her violently back.

She felt her fingers begin to slip from the poor handholds on the smooth rock. Just as she was about to scream for her mother her fingers slipped and she was knocked onto the ground when her fingers slipped and the air was launched from her lungs. She could only cough and cry as she slid down the rock where her father was now hanging dangerously over. She snagged another crack in the rocks and stopped them from falling, but she didn't have the power to pull him up. It was adrenaline alone in her young body that was being used to hold her father up. She screamed again, but considering the loud crashing of the waves she felt that she wouldn't be heard and even if she was her mother wouldn't have time as she felt the strength quickly draining and her grip giving way at each passing second.

Just as she felt her hand slip a hand grabbed her and held her in place. She looked up and saw the black and red suit of the woman in her dreams pulling her up and out of danger. Her visor was off along with her helmet. Nadja looked at the woman and could have sworn that she knew her, the familiarity in this woman felt so close to her that she tried to look back at the women she had scene in her lifetime, but none of them rang a bell. More impossible was the fact that she was just from her dreams and had no possibility to actually be helping her right now, yet Nadja could clearly feel her hand squeezing hers.

"Not today… Not today you don't…" The woman spoke as she pulled them out of harm's way. She leaned back and breathed hard at her handiwork. She stretched her arm and walked over to the unconscious man and looked down at him, the sadness in her eyes were overwhelming and Nadja didn't know why this seemingly unknown woman would feel that way for her father. She smeared a bit of medi-gel on his head wound and walked over to Nadja, tears in her eyes, which she failed at trying to hide. She grabbed Nadja's hands again and lifted her other hand up into the air.

"I want you to close your eyes…" She swiped her hand over Nadja's eyes slowly. At the moment that the woman's hands finished its journey on the other side of Nadja's eyes she felt the touch of the woman completely and opened her eyes to see no one there. She looked down at her hand and saw an empty dispenser of medi-gel along with her actual dispenser being missing.

Before she could question anything anymore her father began to stir and she looked over at him. He turned to her and saw her sitting there, a look of fear in her eyes. He looked around and sat himself up, holding his head, feeling the sticky area of medi-gel use and looked at his daughter, noticing the dispenser in her hands.

"Thanks Nadj…" He used her annoying nickname.

She looked down at her hands and noticed the connection.

"But Dad… I didn't…" She started.

"I know… you didn't do much… but man. Did you see the wings on that Kreun? Ah! Beautiful!" He joked trying to make light of the situation.

Nadja tried to laugh, but she wondered more where the mysterious woman went. "Dad? Do you know a quarian woman that wears red and black robes?" Nadja asked.

John looked at her confused. "Not really too personally… no… Why do you ask?" He inquired as he made it to his feet, wiping the dust from his pants and shirt.

"I was just wondering…" Nadja dismissed quickly.

Shepard stared at her, slightly confused, but he couldn't think much with his head still ringing like a bell.

"Come on… Let's get off of this rock… That was too close anyways. Good thing I didn't slip off of these cursed rocks…" He cautioned.

They slowly trekked and retraced their steps back to the beach where Tali reeling the rod in that creaked and bent as something pulled on it. The look of adventure and excitement filled her eyes as she struggled with her catch. John laughed to himself at the scene in front of him. Every time she pulled back and looked like she was going to win and as quickly as she leaned back, her chair was violently pulled forward again and she almost fell over.

"Shepard! John! Help me!" She squealed.

He reached over and grabbed the rod and felt the strength of the animal on the other end.

"Nadja! Help!" Shepard joked as both her parents were almost tossed forward before they tugged back on the creature. Nadja leaped forward and snagged the rod and helped them pull back on the road. It quickly became loose as the creature broke the water's surface and flailed about.

The family quickly pulled up the rod and they held the rod as Tali reeled in the catch. The monster was huge and Shepard was amazed at the sheer size of this fish. It was a rather unique catch too. The skin was smooth yet it appeared to be covered in designs. The family stared at it in wonder before Shepard pulled out the camera and set it up.

"This was a family catch. Let's get the whole family in here with it." He set the timer and stepped next to Tali, pulling Nadja in close in front of him. The camera went off showing the smiling faces of the family and the huge fish. Along with a single detail that no one caught or could catch unless they knew it was there.