The sun on Rannoch sat low on the Horizon casting long shadows across the arid landscape. On the plateau beneath them a group of geth worked beside a handful of nervous looking quarians to move the wreckage of a downed fighter. Shepard sat with Tali, her legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. Liara stood in the shade, watching as they stood up and embraced. Tali turned, her mask off, and Liara smiled at her. Tali had been going without her mask, like many other quarians, for short periods ever since the Reaper had been killed. Liara thought their delicate features should surprise her, but they did not. Her mother had told her stories of the quarians, before they'd needed their suits. Of their beauty, their grace. Benezia's father had been quarian, the son of the quarian ambassador. He'd been a dancer, much lauded by his people, and the earliest bedtime stories that Liara could remember were of her mother sitting on the side of her bed and deflecting stories of who Liara's father was with stories of her childhood with her own. Tali had a gracefulness about her face that reminded Liara of those stories, and she wondered, in an abstract way, if it was possible that Tali was related to her grandfather. She'd never been able to figure out how to ask, quarian families weren't the linear paths that they had once been, family names becoming distorted over the last three centuries.
Tali came up to her, hugged her, then joined her people and the geth behind them. Liara moved to stand beside Shepard, leaning against her, her arm sliding around the human's waist. She let her gaze wander over the woman beside her then gazed out at the horizon.
"It's beautiful," she said, looking out at the scenery.
"Yeah, it is," Shepard said, watching as a young quarian in a suit that barely fit climbed up the back of a geth Prime. The child's parents looked on nervously, wringing their hands and occasionally reaching out for the child, but they did not stop him.
Liara followed her gaze and chuckled. "I guess this is what we are fighting for," she said, "A ray of light in a dark galaxy. This is something the Reapers could not destroy."
Shepard nodded distractedly. Her eyes followed the boy as he settled himself on the Prime's shoulders and lifted his arms in triumph. "Let's have a baby."
Liara started, looking into Shepard's eyes, "What?" The memory of the last time Shepard had surprised her so thoroughly faded as Shepard brought her hand to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the backs of her fingers. In her other hand she held a delicate silver bracelet. It was the sort of thing human jewelers made in echo of asari bonding bracelets, pre-made with precious metals that had no significance to the parties involved other than their aesthetics. They'd become popular even among the asari in recent years, often being more delicately crafted then their original counterparts. Liara couldn't deny that it was beautiful, and the fact that Shepard had taken the time to pick it out, had circumvented every spy camera Liara had at her disposal to keep it a secret made it as precious as one they might have picked together. It was engraved but Liara couldn't read what it said.
"Marry me, Liara. I'm an idiot, I'll be the first to admit it. But I'm going to try to do better than my other self, from what you told me, I don't like who I was. I do, though, I want to spend forever with you. I want to argue about the bills and over what groceries to buy, and I want to wake up beside you every day for the rest of my life. I want to read the paper with you in the morning, and curl up with you at night.
"I want fight and make love and be completely boring together. I want to know you so well I forget you aren't me. Even when you aren't crawling around in my head. I want to piss you off because I left my dirty socks on the floor again. I want you to yell at me because I forgot to do the dishes.
"I want to make you breakfast. I want to tell you that yes, that dress makes you look fat, even when it doesn't just so you'll glare at me and then laugh. I want to be your wife, Liara T'Soni.
"If you'll let me."
Liara worked her jaw, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. Shepard's first proposal had been the night they had first attempted to conceive. It had gone something like, "So, I just knocked you up? You don't know yet? Oh, well. We should get married." This, this was something completely different.
"Liara?" Shepard whispered, taking a half step back. They were standing outside a brightly lit restaurant in New York. It was mid-December and the city was lit up for the upcoming human holiday. The ground was covered in slush, dirty with the passing of thousands of people. It darkened the street, and Liara remembered wishing it would snow when they'd set out for dinner earlier. They had come to visit Shepard's mother, but the elder Shepard had been called back to duty. Liara was certain that her sudden return to her ship had more to do with finding out Liara would be joining her daughter and less with any important mission she might have had.
Shepard's face fell, her hands gripping Liara's once, softly before falling to her sides as Liara still didn't answer her.
Liara wanted to speak, she wanted to scream yes, of course. She wanted to scream it to the heavens, let the entire galaxy know. The words refused to form, they wouldn't work their way out of her throat and Shepard was looking more and more like the end of the world had come. Shepard smiled, weakly, went to shove her hands, bracelet and all, into her pockets. Liara stopped her, control of her body returning to her in a sudden flash. She grabbed Shepard's wrist just as the bracelet was about to disappear into the confines of the human's coat.
"Yes," she whispered, letting her fingers trail down Shepard's hand and extracting the circle of metal from her fingers. She went to slip it over her right wrist, then stopped, and slipped it over her left instead. That was the human custom wasn't it? The jewelry given in promise was worn on the same arm as that given in commitment. "Dear Goddess, yes." She threw herself into Shepard's arms, then, hugging her so tight that for a second she was afraid Shepard would have difficulty breathing.
But then Shepard was laughing, and swinging her through the air. Their breath fogged as they closed in to kiss, both smiling so widely they feared their faces would break. Passerby's stopped, watched. An asari was strange enough, but one being twirled like a dancer through the cold December air was unheard of. Neither noticed the slowing of the holiday shoppers, though, as they drank each other in. They didn't notice the children, pointing at them. They didn't notice the hushed whispers, or the knowing smiles. The elderly couple that, watching them, clasped hands, the woman leaning into her husband, both remembering the day, years before when he had given her the diamond ring she still wore.
They stood in each others arms, silently, foreheads pressed together as it began to snow.
Teiron sidestepped around the pile of wrapping paper, picking up the empty plates and cups that had been spread around the banquet hall. She dropped it all into the large, black waste bag that some thoughtful person had tied to the back of a chair. Probably Liara, she was always thinking about things like that. Erra's twenty-fifth birthday party was winding down, finally. Teiron felt drawn out, exhausted. The day had gone by in a rush, but watching Erra now, showing off her presents to the group of her closest friends was worth it all. She spotted Liara picking up the remains of a party game that had been abandoned for the girls to go play with the holographic dance coach Cerra had bought Erra. She slipped up behind her, unnoticed, and wrapped her arms around her waist. She felt Liara stiffen for a second, and then relax into her embrace. She settled her chin onto her shoulder.
"Thank you," she said, pressing a quick kiss to Liara's jaw.
"For what?" Liara asked, letting her weight rest in Teiron's arms.
"You have to ask? I couldn't have done this without you, I think I'd have had a nervous breakdown about two seconds after everyone got here. Tyrants, the lot of them."
"They're prepubescent children!" Liara laughed.
"Still. Who's idea was it to give them sugar again?"
"Yours," Liara said, turning and planting a chaste kiss on Teiron's lips. "I did warn you."
Asari didn't celebrate yearly birthdays, the day remarked only by the closest of friends and family. Small gifts might be given, but it was nothing like the rituals that many of the shorter species had around the day of birth. The salarians were by far the worst, entire clutches often getting together every year in grand celebrations. At most, they had one when a daughter reached two, and occasionally another at around ten. Both were usually fairly subdued, but involving more distant friends and family. The twenty-fifth birthday was the last that was celebrated with any large party on the day of birth, the next large celebration coming when a child officially began her maidenhood. For all that though, the twenty-fifth birthday was probably the most important in asari culture.
Liara had told her once that it was because in their distant past, if a child reached their twenty-fifth year it was unlikely that they would then die from any of the common childhood illnesses that had plagued the asari before modern medicine. She had talked at length about the significance, and the various artifacts she found during her undergraduate days that displayed the different ways cultures had honored their children for reaching their first quarter century. Teiron hadn't been listening, Liara had been standing naked in front of the mirror in the bedroom at the time, and her mind hadn't really been on Erra's upcoming birthday. She'd wondered, at the time, if that made her a bad parent, but had decided that she was okay with that if it did.
"Yes, I suppose you did," Teiron sighed, which became more of an annoyed moaned when she saw the matron that was coming around the table towards them.
Milyn's mother had come to terms with her and Liara. It probably had a lot to do with her bondmate, but Teiron didn't really care why she'd suddenly become one of their greatest supporters, she was just grateful that she was. Of Erra's other two friends, Cerra's mother had been completely uninterested one way or the other, but was almost overly strict with her daughter, so even if she'd been completely against them it wouldn't have made much difference. Sephora's mother, Naivill, on the other hand, was everything Teiron hated about her species. She was nearly 700 years old, had six children from six different fathers, and had apparently never met an asari she liked, even to just grab a cup of coffee with. This included her own daughters.
She was so powerfully against asari mating with other asari that she'd even gone so far as to suggest that they should not mate with human women either, their body types being too similar. It would, she had argued, draw their young, impressionable, maidens into looking to the familiar for potential bondmates. And that was simply unacceptable.
Liara turned, saw her coming and did her best to hide her smile. She kissed Teiron again, and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to run the trash to the compactor, don't want the keepers to be overworked," she whispered, her smile finally breaking through.
"No, don't leave me. Liara, love, please," she pleaded, only half jokingly. Liara nodded politely to Naivill, smiled widely at the frown that was sent her way, and began gathering up all the paper wrapping and plates. Teiron forced a smile as Liara walked away and turned to elder asari. "Naivill."
"Teiron. Just going to flaunt your disgusting habits to everyone are you?"
"I was thinking about dragging her into the corner and melding with her when she gets back, but you know, I figured kissing her would rile you up more."
Naivill huffed, crossing her arms and scanning the half-dozen children and their parents that were still there. There had been nearly two dozen children here at the start, mostly humans half Erra's age, though you wouldn't know it from looking, but the party was drawing to a slow close and now only Erra's little posse of asari and a couple of stragglers waiting for their parents to pick them up remained. "I'm amazed so many showed up."
"I've found you are the only one so desperately interested in what I do in private, in my bedroom, that you feel the need to make a big deal about it. Are you jealous? Liara's the jealous type, I'd be careful," Teiron said, pushing down the nervous flutter than centered in her stomach. Liara was much better at deflecting unwanted attention, and Teiron was afraid that if Naivill kept pressing she'd just end up throwing up on the elder woman's shoes.
Naivill didn't speak, glaring daggers at Teiron. Teiron tried to keep her smile light, but her stomach was churning. If it hadn't been Erra's birthday, she was fairly certain she'd have simply decked the annoying matron. This was Erra's day though, and having her friend's mother's nose start gushing blood, while memorable, was probably not how the child wanted to remember during her birthday party. One of the stragglers came up, just as Teiron was about to ask why the older woman was still standing there if she made her so uncomfortable, thanking her for the party and then leaving with her parents.
Teiron watched Liara slip back into the banquet hall as they child left, and moments later the other left as well. Erra waved at Liara, who made her way over to her. The three remaining girls were supposed to be staying the night, though Teiron had a feeling that was what Naivill had really come over to speak about. She probably didn't want her daughter staying at their place.
Erra was showing off some of the features of her omni-tool, how the SSH display could change colors, and the various games she'd already downloaded to it. Teiron had argued, fruitlessly, against Liara buying her that. It hadn't been cheap, but Liara had insisted. Teiron felt a warm buzz as she remembered the explanation Liara had given her. It's a T'Soni tradition, she's said, to be given your first real omni-tool on your twenty-fifth birthday. It was just child's tool, with heavy restrictions on calls and extranet access, but Erra had never been so excited. And Teiron hadn't been quite so happy as when she heard Liara saying that Erra had earned a status next to her own three daughters. Thinking about it made the fact that Naivill was still glaring at her bearable.
"Well, I can see why you're so interested anyway," Naivill sneered, as she too watched Erra show off her new gadget, "I suppose you can overlook anything for enough money."
Teiron saw Liara twitch slightly, as if she had heard, and ground her teeth. Did people really think that? It was bad enough that Liara was harassed on Thessia for having taken her for a lover, but for them to think that Teiron was in it for her money...the thought made her ill.
"I'd fuck her just the same if she didn't have a single credit," Teiron hissed, her anger boiling, "For Athame's sake, does it really matter? I don't care how much money she has, I don't care that she's fucking blue. I love her, and you can butt the fuck out." She growled, her teeth grinding. She'd kept her voice low, and she didn't think anyone had heard her. For that, once she'd stormed a few feet away and her anger began to dissipate, she was grateful. Goddess, she couldn't imagine what would have happened if she'd said that loud enough for the entire room to hear.
She kept her stride purposeful, even when the moment had ended and all she wanted was to slink away, and began packing up Erra's other gifts. She berated herself for letting her temper get the better of her. There as no way that Sephora would be allowed to come over now, and Erra would probably never forgive her when she found out. She hung her head, fought past the urge to cry or scream or otherwise turn the spectacle she'd avoided into something even worse. Still, she felt good for having said it, even if she was certain that it would just make all their lives more difficult. The look on Naivill's face had been worth it, the color draining, the angry purse to her lips. Teiron allowed herself to smile, which widened when she felt someone step up behind her. Warm arms circled her middle, and she and Liara were in the same pose they'd been before, their positions reversed.
"I love you," Liara whispered.
"I love you, too," Teiron said questioningly. It wasn't something they often said to each other, at least not as earnestly as Liara had. Oh, certainly they'd had their moments, standing in the kitchen or sitting on the couch where they were teeth achingly sweet about confessing it. And the 'I love you more' wars they had were enough to make Erra throw up her arms in disgust and leave the room. All of that, though, was done almost in jest. Not that the sentiment wasn't meant, but neither felt the need to confess that they loved the other; it was simply a given.
"Thank you," Liara said against her crest. She hadn't stepped all the way against Teiron's back, a hands breath separating them.
"For what?"
"What you said. I already knew it, but it's nice to know anyway."
"You heard that?" Teiron asked, heart sinking. If she had, then so had everyone else. She'd thought she'd been so quiet.
"I might have been eaves dropping with the use of Erra's new omni-tool. Remind me to grab mine from the table before we leave. You weren't speaking loud." Teiron hadn't seen it on the table, but that didn't mean much. She smiled, relaxing.
"I'm sorry," she sighed, "Erra's probably pissed."
"Not at all. Her exact phrase was 'You go, Mom'. She gave me permission to do this." She pressed a hand on Teiron's shoulder, urging her to turn.
Erra and her friends, including Sephora, were watching from across the banquet hall. Naivill had stormed out, leaving her daughter behind. Teiron would learn later that she'd been told off, rather rudely, by Erra. It earned her daughter a hug and dessert before dinner the night Teiron was told. The other parents were also heading for the door. Teiron scanned the room once, taking it all in, before letting her eyes land on Liara's. They were smiling, matching the nervous grin. It had been a long time since Teiron had seen that particular smile, and it shocked her a little to realize she had missed it. Liara took a step back, reaching into her pocket once all the other adults were out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye Teiron saw her daughter sit up straighter and whisper to her friends.
"Teiron Riela," Liara said, her voice little more than a whisper, "if you are willing, I would bind my soul to yours." Teiron's eyes flew to Liara's hand, where she held a long, thin box. Teiron took it from her, and slipped the lid off. Inside was a bonding bracelet. Not the metal circlets that aliens gave, thinking its meaning was the same, but rather a woven band of ribbons. One was white, to show one of the partners was a widow, another almost the exact shade of Liara's skin. The third, close enough to Teiron's own skin color that when she picked it up out of the box and laid it across her right wrist the ribbon seemed to disappear. They would be bound with these ribbons, if she accepted Liara's proposal, as if there was any question. "I know this isn't exactly the most romantic moment to propose, but after urging you on Erra told me I needed to get my act together and, I quote 'Marry my frigging' mom already'. I didn't want to disappoint on her birthday."
Teiron laughed, and held her wrist up, the ends of the woven ribbons dangling off the sides. "When the sky is right, my soul is yours," Teiron said, then rolled her eyes. Goddess, while the appropriate line considering how Liara had asked, it sounded like something out of a bad romance vid. "It...it might have just been the perfect moment, romantic or not. Erra's been asking when she can finally start calling you 'Dad'," she continued, as Liara tied the bracelet to her wrist. She watched Liara's eyes go wide, and her smile spread.
"I kind of like the sound of that," she murmured, before leaning in and kissing her softly.
"Me too. Goddess, I, I don't even know what to say."
"That was what I was going for," Liara said, and with a quick look over her shoulder at the group of girls, kissed Teiron again, longer and deeper, her arms circling around Teiron's waist and pulling her close.
One of Erra's friends let out a loud cat call, and they broke apart, laughing. "We can pick that up once we get them situated and asleep. Goddess, I love you."
Liara grinned, kissing the side of her mouth before stepping away. "I love too. Now come on, before they come over here and start asking inapropriate questions."
They gathered their things, and Erra and her friends attempted to try to ride one of the keepers that were coming in to finish cleaning before Liara admonished them. Teiron didn't notice. She didn't really care. She could barely keep her eyes off the ribbons on her wrist long enough to keep from walking into the wall.