Broken, Haunted and Breathless tell the story of Rachel Shepard, Liara T'Soni and their war-torn romance. Broken also tells that of Benezia and Aethyta. Writing ME fanfiction (ff) is a labor of love. My thanks to readers, reviewers, correspondents, and the other writers who inspired me by creating and sharing stories of their own.

Joseph Campbell, who thought only men could be heroes because he lived in a more sexist time, said, "Tragedy is the shattering of the forms and of our attachment to the forms; comedy, the wild and careless, inexhaustible joy of life invincible." In my stories, readers will find both. We've forgotten, I think, that the difference between the two is only in how they end.

They will also find something else. I write these stories to celebrate the heroism of women. I do try to make their stories conform to a certain extent to the games, so that readers can connect their experience of the games with this--but to my mind, ff exists to give favorite characters and worlds more life, more depth, and redemptive possibilities they were denied in the games. Still, their worlds and times exist in a galaxy threatened by the extinction of all advanced sentient life, where true heroism comes at a cost, and the reality these characters face can be grim. Whatever happens, remember, I too love these characters. In my tellings, I promise, the stories of these powerful and amazing women and their friends contain much joy, and you won't know if their tales are comedies or tragedies until the very end.

Currently, I'm working on Broken, the first in the trilogy. It contains stories of the defining moments in the lives of key ME characters--Benezia, Aethyta, Shiala, Sha'ira, Shepard and Liara. In these moments their senses of who they are and what they are about get put to the test or broken by circumstances or choices. They face the difficult work of how to go from there. I believe it's not what happens to anyone that defines them, but what they make of it.

To prevail, the characters must take their fractured stories and weave them into something new. That is also what I do in Broken. The characters' stories are fractured in time and woven together. I believe a story should be an uninterrupted dream, and that trusting readers to make discoveries and connections is part of good story writing. However, since this story is being written over several years, with sometimes large gaps between chapter postings, until it is complete, I will provide several keys to help readers. First, I'll give a guide to the chapters, indicating which characters each features and the timeframe. Second, I'll post a glossary of terms and titles used by the asari. Lastly, I'll include an index of OC characters. In the future, I might also add an appendix on the poems quoted in the epigrams.

I'll also continue to post teasers to let readers know where the story will go in the next installment. I'm super excited that I'm only a chapter or so away from beginning the two great romance arcs of the tale--Benezia and Aethyta's and Liara and Shepard's!!!! You might like it too, since I write romance much faster than angst.

Chapter Guide

Title--Main Character(s)--Timeframe(s)

1. First Sky--Shepard--Shepard's youth
2. True--Benezia, Liara--Liara's early youth
3. A White Ship--Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan--ME
4. Black Diamond Eyes--Benezia, Liara--Benezia pre-Liara, Liara's youth
5. Starlings --Shepard--Shepard's youth
6. Echo of the Future --Shepard, Kaidan, Benezia, Saren--ME Eden Prime
7. Burn --Benezia, Sha'ira--Benezia's & Sha'ira's youth
8. Bad Ice--Shepard--Shepard's youth
9. Strict Beauty --Liara, Benezia, Sha'ira, Shiala--Liara's youth
10. Simple as False --Shepard, Normandy crew, Benezia, Shiala, Saren--ME
11. Crossing Rough--Benezia, Aethyta, Shiala--pre-Liara
12. The Emperor of Ice Cream--Shepard --Shepard's youth
13. Plump Grapes --Liara, Benezia, Shiala, Sha'ira --Liara's youth
14. Swallow --Benezia, Shepard, Shiala, Saren, Normandy crew, Sha'ira, councillors, Udina --ME
15. Explanations --Benezia, Aethyta, Shiala --pre-Liara
16. Like This --Aethyta, Benezia, Shiala --pre-Liara
17. What Would I Do --Shepard --Shepard's youth
18. Say Nothing --Liara, Shiala, Benezia --Liara's youth
19. One Burning Life --Benezia, Saren, Shiala, Sha'ira, Tevos, Sovereign --ME
20. Ceremony of Innocence --Shepard, Ash, Kaidan, councilors, Wrex--ME
21. Warning --Benezia, Shiala --pre-Liara
22. Fly --Shepard --Shepard's youth
23. Come Near --Liara, Shiala, Benezia, Sha'ira, Aethyta --Liara's youth
24. A Hundred Miles --Aethyta, Benezia, Liara, Sha'ira, Shiala --Liara's youth
25. Born --Shepard, Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Fist, Ash, Kaidan, Saren, Benezia, councilors--ME
26. Passport to the Darkness --Benezia, Shiala-- pre-Liara
27. Warp of Our Hope --Benezia --pre-Liara
28. Catch Fire --Shepard --Shepard's youth
29. Time --Benezia, Aethyta, Liara, Sha'ira, Shiala --Liara's youth
30. Hiddenness --Liara, Benezia, Sha'ira, Shiala --Liara's youth
31. In Her Hands --Shepard, Normandy crew, Sha'ira, Tevos --ME
32. The Country They Call Life --Benezia, Shiala --pre-Liara
33. Where Trees Flower --Liara, Shiala, Benezia, Sha'ira --Liara's youth
34. Hints and Guesses --Shepard, Ash, Wrex, Sha'ira --ME
35. I Couldn't Stop Watching --Shepard --Shepard's youth
36. Only in Dreams--Benezia, Shiala--pre-Liara
37. Not Knowing--Liara, Benezia, Shiala, Sha'ira--Liara's youth

Glossary

(adapted from Greek)