She'd never seen anything, any species, as beautiful. Not even the Asari. He was so colorful, so graceful. She was just a little girl growing up on the Citadel, but that day she found the first stone of her path. She wasn't a "duct rat", but she would play with them. That's how she met him. He said his name was Krios. He wasn't always around, but when he was the "duct rats" would get really excited because he would play games with them. They might pretend to be spies for the Council and follow an adult around and then tell Krios what they saw or what the adults said. Sometimes he would give them secret words to listen for or special things to find that were hidden. Sometimes he would hide robot bugs and the kids got to go find them. When they brought them back, he would give them candy. Sometimes Krios would let her hide the bugs. Then after a long time she would have to remember where she put them. When she did that's when Mr. Krios would give her chocolate. It was fun! One day she saw him hiding in a corner looking at a data pad. She thought he looked sad so she walked over to see if he wanted to play a game. The games sometimes made him happier.
"Hello Mr. Krios." she greeted him politely.
"Hello, Ms. Wong." Krios nodded to her.
"Do you want to play a game?" she asked as she bounced on her tip toes.
Krios looked up from his data pad and seemed to consider her for a few moments. "Yes, let's play a game." The little girl smiled up at him and waited excitedly for him to tell her what today's game would be. "Let's play a new game today." he told her.
"A new game?" She asked.
"Yes. I'm playing hide and seek with someone, but they have hidden very well and I can't find them. Will you help me?"
"Isn't that cheating, Mr. Krios?" asked the little girl.
"No. They have hidden a very long time. We have to find them so we can tell them they won the game."
"Oh! Okay!" the little girl smiled. "Who are we looking for?" Krios brought up a picture on his data pad to show her. She had seen the man before; he came by the noodle shop on her ward often. "I can find him!" she told him excitedly.
"Good." Krios said. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a robot bug. "When you do, squeeze this bug and it will tell me exactly where you are."
"Wow!" the little girls smiled and took the shiny toy from the alien. She looked up at him with wonder. It seemed to make him happy because he smiled a little, but his eyes were still sad. "Mr. Krios?" she asked.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry if this is rude, but what are you? I've never seen any other aliens on the station that look like you. Where do you come from?"
Krios looked at her for a long time before he answered. "I'm a Drell. My people live on the Hannar home world."
"Oh. Why do your people live with the Hannar and not their own world?"
"You have a lot of questions." He told her almost annoyed.
"Yeah, my daddy says that a lot. I think I want to be a reporter when I grow up!" she beamed up at him.
"My world was dying. The Hannar as many as they could. That was very kind of them, wasn't it?" He told her.
"Yeah, it was." the little girl said softly. "I'm sorry about your world, Mr. Krios."
"As am I." he grinned faintly down at her. He paused for a moment before kneeling down to her level. "I may never see you again," he said. "Thank you for playing these games with me, Ms. Wong. They have helped me."
"You're welcome. They were fun! And you gave me chocolate!" Her smile fell a little. "I will miss you."
"And I you."
The little girl blushed turning her innocent face pink. "Maybe when I get older I can come to the Hannar world and visit you."
"Perhaps." He answered flatly.
"Mr. Krios?" she asked timidly.
"Yes, Ms. Wong."
"If I never see you again, or maybe not for a very long time..." she was shyly moving her shoulders side to side. Suddenly she grabbed his face in her small hands, "You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen!" and she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before she ran away as fast as she could, giggling.
The little girl spoke so fast Krios had to replay the memory a few times to understand what she had said. He wasn't sure he'd ever been called 'beautiful' before. It made him smile, a real one. It also made him sad, and angry. He put the emotions aside and went back to his data pad. He thought of his wife and his son. Soon he would avenge her death, then maybe he could be a father again. A better one than he had been.