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Shepard hung back while Tali took her first steps on the soil of her home planet. It reminded her of the trip to the desert she had taken with Thane, her own first steps on the soil of her homeworld. Not quite the same, at least at the time—Tali's people had waited so long for this moment. Now Shepard had to wonder if she would ever see Earth again.
She glanced quickly at Kaidan, knowing that he had been raised on Earth and felt its danger like his own. Reaching for his hand, she squeezed it quickly. He smiled briefly and looked away, and she determined that he didn't want to talk about it. Of mutual accord, they moved forward to join Tali.
"I can't believe it," Tali said softly. "I don't think it's really sunk in. The homeworld. My world. Look at the sky!" She gestured toward it, and pointed off into the distance. "And the rock formations. They used to write poems about them."
"They will again," Kaidan assured her.
"Yes. Yes. I imagine they will. Did I ever tell you what 'Keelah se'lai' means? The closest translation is 'by the homeworld I hope to see someday'. And here I am. Keelah se'lai," she whispered. Then she held her hands up in a frame. "The living room window will be right … there."
"Staking a claim?" Kaidan asked.
Tali nodded. "I know it doesn't mean much, but … when this is over, I'll have a home."
Shepard saw a wistful expression cross Kaidan's face, and for the first time it occurred to her that he would also want a home someday. Meanwhile, she didn't even really remember what it was like to have a home … and that had never bothered her. But that was a problem for another day. Although it occurred to her that Tali had never expected to have a permanent home, either.
"The quarians have spent centuries as nomads. Do you think your people can go back to living in one place again?" she asked.
Tali considered that. "We have gotten used to carrying our homes around with us. It will be strange not to be able to do so."
Shepard bent and picked up a small piece of rock, putting it into Tali's hands. "Maybe this will do for a start."
She could hear the smile in Tali's voice as she said, "Yes. That it will."
Small gestures aside, there were miles to go before they could say Rannoch was truly claimed for the quarians, however, and the three of them had to get moving if they were going to defeat the Reaper that was menacing the planet.
There was a moment when it seemed all was lost and they would have to pull out and leave the Reaper in control. And it made Shepard angry. She was sick and tired of losing to the Reapers, of having them in her way everywhere she went, of having to fight for every inch of forward progress. She needed the quarians for the larger battle; they needed Rannoch. This one battle was going to end, right now. So she took up a weapon and had Joker attach the entire fleet's targeting systems to it, so that when she took a shot at the Reaper, every ship in the area did, too. Even at that, it almost didn't work. Shepard had to dodge the lasers the Reaper shot, rolling across the ground, scraping herself up even with the hardsuit.
But at last it was over, and the dying Reaper lay on its side, the light fading from it.
It spoke to her, calling her by name, telling her that the cycle would be completed, that she would fail like all others had before her. It presented the struggle as one of order against chaos, of the Reapers taking down organic civilization so that synthetics couldn't take over. It was the first time Shepard thought she might understand what was truly happening. She thought of Legion, of EDI, of EDI's growth into a person, of Legion learning to make connections itself rather than as part of the collective, and she couldn't bring herself to see them as a threat. They were her companions. Her friends.
And it was that determination, that feeling, that drove her to demand that the quarian fleet stand down, that they let the geth live. She couldn't stand here and see an entire civilization wiped out by the very people who had created them. To her sorrow, Legion was lost in the process—he chose to upload himself to the geth collective to allow his emerging personhood to spread to all his people.
Tali fought her, at first, but Legion spoke to her. He asked her if she thought he had a soul. And in the last moment before he gave himself up, she told him yes.
When it was done, a geth prime approached them, offering the services of the geth to help the quarians make a life on Rannoch, to live and work together. Admiral Raan had arrived by that point, and while it was clear she was taken aback by the offer, she could also see the advantages in it—and was willing to consider rethinking the way she had seen the future of the quarian people, which gave Shepard hope.
Kaidan, Shepard, and Tali sat together for a few minutes in the warm Rannoch sun, enjoying the brief moment of peace after victory. "You okay?" Shepard asked Tali at last. "I know working with the geth won't be easy."
"I'm not staying," Tali said unexpectedly. "I'm going with you."
"Are you sure?"
Tali nodded. "I look at all this … this picture of hope and peace, but—all I can see is everyone I've lost."
"I get that."
"So I'm coming with you to help you take down the Reapers."
Shepard smiled. "I'm glad. It will be better having you aboard."
They got to their feet, and Tali lifted her face to the breeze. "It really is beautiful, isn't it?"
"It is," Kaidan agreed.
"It will be years before we're able to live without our suits completely, but right now …" Tali stepped forward. She took off the top plate of her visor and stood there with the sun of her homeworld shining directly on her face. Shepard and Kaidan had hung back to give her privacy, and they could hear her sigh of bliss. Her voice floated back to them. "Right now … I have this."