Epilogue
"So… that was it? You simply left?"
Aethyta sighed. "Yeah, kid, I did. I'm not proud of it. But… she'd hurt me too many times. I wasn't about to come back seeking her out. She needed to come to me; or that's how I felt at the time, hurt as I was. And… well, she never did. And I was too damn proud once you were born to try to reconcile. I allowed those cunts in the Matriarchy to laugh me right off of Thessia, and it wasn't until after Nezzy died that they sought me out to look after you."
Liara took a delicate sip of her tea, causing Aethyta to roll her eyes. The kid was a damn prude. "I… thank you. For telling me. I truly thought you were ashamed. I had no idea… you loved her so much. She was always… somewhat sad, I think, especially knowing what I now know. Perhaps it was regret? Perhaps she was so involved in all her political and religious dealings because that was all she had left. If only she knew you still loved her."
"Hey, you listen to me, kid. I loved your mother with my entire being, almost my entire life. We just… couldn't figure out how to keep the other shit from getting in the way." Pausing, she took a swig of her own drink before continuing. "I wish I had gotten to know you. I've loved you, too, kid, from afar. I wish I could've kicked those kids' asses for calling you filthy names in school. And I wish I could've taught you how to pilot a transport. Mostly, I wish I could've found a way to be involved at all. But it was too painful, for both of us, and for that I'm truly sorry. I can never make that up to you, Liara."
"Well," her daughter said slowly, looking up from her tea. "I'd certainly be willing to let you try." Smirking, she added, "The Eclipse commandos are certainly a large step in the right direction."
Blinking stupidly for a moment, Aethyta finally let out a crack of laughter. "I like you already, kid!"
A/N: Aaaaand here's the end! This has been a challenging and rewarding project to work on. I'd again like to acknowledge all of Word Krush's work on helping me refine the idea - and giving me the original smut prompt that it was born from! As well, I'd like to thank both Raven Sinead and Diablo Kades for betaing this for me. I hope you all enjoyed this, and that it helped shed some light on a possible explanation for what happened between Benezia and Aethyta to split them up so irrevocably.