The sun was out as it normally is on Horizon due to the thirteen (Standard galactic approx. 1.5 Earth hours) hour day and night cycles. Sai'ira walked out of the clinic that the shuttle company had sent her to after they landed, they even picked up the tab. She slipped on a pair of sunglasses as she walked out with her orange jacket over her shoulder and her bag in her right hand hanging by her wayside. A blue skycar hung in the air as the suspended clinic sat in the lower stratosphere above the clouds. She could see the space station above her as well as mobilized battle cruisers and frigates, alas Sai'ira felt as though she was tossed from the frying pan and was now falling into the fire as it seems the situation on Horizon was getting worse.

The top of the skycar opened up and Aethyta stepped onto the dock quickly approaching Sai'ira with a swift grace that would either end in a hug or another violet eye that she was attempting to cover.

"Sai'ira Bennezia Shepard."

Oh shit my middle name, Sai'ira thought as her grandmother strode towards her.

"Guess what I saw?" She asked in her low almost raspy voice.

"Um...a cloud in the shape of a turian mandible?"

Her eyes rolled as she removed her granddaughters sun glasses. "I saw you get your ass kicked-"

"I did not! They got way worse...those guys are in jail right now-er on their way to jail."

"Is that what you think?" Sai'iras grandmother shook her head, she took a step closer and inspected Sai'iras eye her lip pushed forward as she nodded her head. "I've seen worse." Her lips pressed against her granddaughters forehead, and wrapped her arms around her.

"Not too tight." Sai'ira chuckled, as she dropped her bag, she felt like she was wearing a corset to tight, probably because she was, a medigel wrap that while a little tight it did take the pain away. However any prolonged laugh made her feel like she was stuck in a vice. "Two of my ribs are fractured."

"You'll live, I missed you and I'm getting a hug."

Smiling with her arms around her grandmother, the scent of her clothes reminding Sai'ira of her childhood, she recalled baking with Aethyta when she was much younger and while they ended up ordering out it was worth watching a centuries old Matriarch curse under her breath as chocolate hockey pucks came out of the oven instead of the haphazardly shaped cookies they had cut.

"I missed you too." Sai'ira replied as Aethyta took a step back to get one more look at her.

"You look good, a little lean but good." Sai'ira was going to respond however she saw the new skycar behind Aethyta.

"Nice shuttle, T'loak pay for that?"

"Perks of the job, besides being an all powerful and wise matriarch certainly has it's privileges especially when dealing with other asari."

They walked to the skycar, Sai'ira tossing her bag in the back seat as she sat in the passenger side. The roof of the shuttle closed, and the heads up display came to life as it lit up the whole of the shuttle. Lurching backward as they pulled out of the clinic docking bay Aethyta began the decent into the clouds.

"I'm glad you came to visit but If I'd know how dangerous it would be then I'd have sent for a private shuttle."

"It's fine." Sai'ira said, gently touching her side as she felt a shock of pain. Watching the clouds pass the windows as they dove through them. At least she could enjoy the ride, Sai'ira thought.

"So how's everything on Earth? I saw that dojo you opened, who's looking after it?"

"George, Mirandas son, he's a decent enough biotic to cover for me for a few weeks."

"Is he hot?" Aethyta smirked as she looked to Sai'ira who saw the city coming into veiw as well. The first word that popped into Sai'iras mind was "enormous" much like the megalopolis' of Earth New Horizon sprawled for what seemed like endless miles. The skyscrapers and beacons of industry and wealth stood like mountains in the skyline, the sun was wanning and hitting the ocean much like she was used to seeing back in Toronto, except that was a lake, and it was always cold. Here though, the sun always shines and the drinks have umbrellas, so Sai'ira hoped she would get a little beach time before she had to work.

"I've known him since he was a baby."

"Is he still a baby?"

"Grandma..."

"Aethyta you're not on Earth anymore hon. And anyway I'm just bustin on ya, I'm sure he's a nice kid." Before Sai'ira could reply Aethyta pointed across the sea with her hand an inch under Sai'iras nose. "We're having dinner there tomorrow night, with E'nea T'loak."

"Really?"

"Well us and a hundred other guests..."

"Ow, don't make me laugh." Sai'ira smiled as she held her side.

And there it was, past the metropolitan area and the peninsula giving it a natural moat much like how a castle would have, singling itself out as superior, prestigious, better than everyone else. It didn't need to be the tallest building, because the others were all there for it and it is the Pantheon. The Casino itself would have been impressive enough, a giant colosseum-like structure but clearly asari in design, with its sweeping pillars almost organic in shape. Flying over the water docks that surrounded it except near the beach where she could see what looked like hundreds of people strolling the sands and more inward the bars, pools and restaurants. But Aethyta passed it all and flew towards a hill covered region a few miles away and there she could see that only a few lived here. As the estates were quite large, the landscape filled with Mansions and Villas the whole island must have been private drives. Aethyta landed in a villa, a more classical-looking building with gorgeous balconies, and a heavy use of Kolossi wood from Thessia the red tint of the material complementing the whitewashed villa.

"Godess. This is amazing." With her wide hazel eyes, Sai'ira removed her sun glasses and took it all in, from the air it looked like acres of land, with a guest house adjacent to the main house, a private beach, tenis court, and Sai'ira could only guess how beautiful it was on the inside.

"I've seen nicer...but not by much." Aethyta set them down on the driveway, a turian stood waiting for them.

Of course there's a butler .

Sai'ira was instantly reminded at how much nicer it was to be on the ground. Firstly the air was significantly better with the sweet scent of grass, and the ocean mixed together made her want to go for a swim, the distant sound of waves did nothing to help ease the notion either. She walked around the shuttle across the pavement holding out her hand to the turian, he stood at attention with his hands behind his back, he was old, although turians tended to age well in Sai'iras opinion she figured it was their metal carpice that kept them standing up straight after all the years.

"Afternoon ladies, ah your grandmother informed me that you had spent a lot of time on Earth. Firmly by the palm if I'm not mistaken. Titus Cosdius at your service." He shook her hand, firm, looked her in the eye with a slight nod of the head.

"Strange tradition but I always believed it gave false pretense, during the war I saw humans speaking to their officers in ways I'd never dare, nor accept. Shall I take your bag ma'am?"

Sai'ira declined politely, "I'm fine, thanks."

"Need anything ma'am?" He said turning to Aethyta who shook her head with a little smirk on her face as she looked to Sai'ira.

"No thanks hon, just make sure she's polished and ready by eight." Sai'ira followed her after she tossed the keys to Cosdius as she walked towards the house.

"If I find any scratches-"

"I know, I know...I'll be billed." Aethyta shook her head.

Titus seemed satisfied with the response as he clicked the fob activating the skycar doors. Sai'ira continued to follow Aethyta on the stone paved path, Of course the house on the inside is just as gorgeous as it is on the outside. It was classic asari spartan, as on Thessia less is almost always more, walking by the living room Sai'ira felt the material as it glided against her fingers she stopped and took in the living room with the aroma of the ocean and fresh air filling the house, watching the sun spill onto the couch and floor Sai'ira let out a relaxing sigh.

"Why don't you take a shower upstairs? Your room is the one across from the bathroom, dinner should be ready by then."

"Alright." Sai'ira gave the the couch a tap with her fist before walking upstairs, just as Aethyta said there lay a bedroom across from the bathroom, tossing her bag in the bedroom like a bowling ball, the backpack sliding against the end of the bed. Sai'ira got undressed and carefully removed the brace around her chest, it fit just under her breasts and forced her to wear a sports bra to prevent chaffing but the medigel that coursed through the brace sure felt better than nothing. She looked in the mirror and saw the red eye, asari bruising tends to be a bit more violet colored. She let out a sigh as the mirror fogged up with the steam from the hot water.

Why can't I just stay out of things?

In her mind if she was able to help then that meant she was obligated. She thought that's what her father stood for, Sai'ira always tried to be principled to stand for something, she's studied the justicar sutras and numerous human laws and philosophers on the subject. Justicars have a simpler version of their code as a way for civilians to get a basic handle on justice, it rests on aggression should one aggress upon another the one aggressed upon has the right to defend themselves, but not always the right to take life as one should always act accordingly. Hence her interest in martial arts, she enjoyed asari Yu'ui which focused primarily on the upper body and a solid stance, it was invented when the asari met the turians a more physically intimidating species. Of course Sai'ira preferred asari martial arts because they included biotics and even ways to improve them naturally as they existed long before any dependable implants.

She wondered about her students there are twenty of them including George-her first student- Miranda encouraged her to open the dojo in Toronto after seeing how she worked with George who by human standards would be considered a biotic prodigy, after all these years humans still require top of the line implants to stand a chance against an asari biotic but then again that's every species.

She turned off the shower and after drying off her legs she began to walk towards the bedroom to get dressed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like a pale human face, turning her head she realized that's exactly what she saw. He gave her a bit of a start at first then she was thankful she wrapped the towel around herself. She recognized the face, older late thirties-early forties, black hair gray eyes...an Alenko. He was a tad embarrassed judging by the color around his cheeks which didn't make a whole lot of sense considering he wasn't the one in a towel.

"Um...hi." Great ice breaker, Sai. "Can I help you?"

"Sorry, Aethyta said you'd be done by now I'll wait for you downst-"

"Thomas?" Sai'ira blurted, his name coming into her head. "Goddess I haven't seen you since you were like three-er I'll be down in a minute."

He nodded his head and quickly headed downstairs. Sai'ira felt like she had embarrassed him with her last line but what else are you supposed to say? like my legs? She shook her head and quickly changed into something more comfortable. Making her way down stairs in training sweats and her favorite t-shirt the image on the front long faded so it remained gray with a few red marks.

Titus and Aethyta were waiting by the dinner table when Sai'ira came hopping down the stairs, her grandmother smiled seeing Sai'ira walk into the dinning room with titus looking mildly agitated but that seemed to be normal. When Sai'ira sat down at the dinner table she looked across at Aethyta who was eyeing her.

"Glad you could join us." Titus said as Thomas entered the room with a bottle of wine in hand.

"I got the one you asked for." He said setting it down.

"Ah, the 2268 Kalistair red, Salarian of all things. They don't normally make wine or any vintage at least because..." Titus awkwardly looked around the room. Thomas sat down across from Sai'ira as Titus opened the bottle and began to pour.

"Anyway I thought we'd have something simple and native to Earth in honor of our guests. Grilled Salmon with a honey garlic glaze and-"

"Babe, you mind if we eat?" Aethyta said cutting into her fish.

"Oh, yes go on ahead." Titus let out a sigh as he cut into his steak, obviously having prepared something different for himself the old turian chewed thoughtfully as he nodded his head.

"Sorry I barged in on you earlier I didn't mean to." Thomas said.

"Don't worry about it, I was more surprised that you were here."

"Oh, Aethyta didn't say anything about the gala?"

Sai'ira tilted her head towards the head of the table to a devilish grin. "I was going to tell you but it slipped my mind It's at the Pantheon you'll love it, first class food, first class drinks, and there's a lot of hot people there too you've an athletic build I'm sure you wont be going home alone."

Her brow fell flat above her eyes as Sai'ira did her best to ignore the last remark and sipped her wine.

"Besides Thomas here needed a date." Aethyta let out a satisfied moan as her mouth filled with the risotto, "great job Titus, I'd ask you where you learned to cook but I'd get your biography."

If turians could smile Sai'ira figured that would get a chuckle out of him but nothing more than a nod of the head.

"Actually my friend did, Allen but ah-there was no presumption I didn't know you were here."

"Makes two of us, so I figure you're here for the occupation?"

"The Alliance-led Council expeditionary force here to inspect the shipyards and weapons factories in Kreik. There are currently no Council forces in the city itself." He had a dopey smile as he chewed. Sai'ira couldn't tell if he was proud of his political answer or simply being matter of fact, as a soldier he wasn't exactly there to give his opinion on the situation after all. Sai'ira glanced from Aethyta to Thomas and cleared her throat, "what's your roll in all of it? I've been on Earth so not a lot of Terminus news gets our way."

"Well the inspectors are currently awaiting permission to enter the city." He pressed his lips together searching for an answer. "We've been denied entry, part of my roll is to take part in the negotiations with my father."

"How is Aiden? I haven't seen him in forever."

"Shrewd." Aethyta commented, "I bet he loves salarians the way that man does buisness it makes sense why he's the human councilor."

"Yeah, dad certainly has a way with people that's for sure."

Sai'ira realized what was going on as for a moment she forgot that Aethyta works for E'nea and all of a sudden Thomas's answers made a bit more sense. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be at work with her grandmother but at least it involved free food and drinks. She spotted the vocation code on Thomas right shoulder, it was less ostentatious than what you'd find on Alliance armor but still noticeable if you look for it. The white 'N' and red '7' marking him out as a member of the Alliance elite.

"Tell me about Allen-" Sai'ira wanted to make Thomas a little more comfortable, Aethyta may be working but Sai'ira is on vacation..."vacation".

"Obviously my first question is, does he have a nice ass?" Sai'ira gave a facetious smirk.

"The most important question." Aethyta agreed.

Thomas chuckled glancing at the turian rolling his eyes next to him. Shaking his head Thomas reached for his wine glass. "A few more of these and I can answer that."

"We have more than a few." Aethya reminded.

"Well he's a soldier first, that's for sure."

"One of those." Aethyta groaned.

"That's alright." Sai'ira said, dreading a night of boredom in perhaps one of the most luxurious locations she has ever been but then again should she be disappointed she could always slip away and find her own fun.

"Well he's been on duty for a while so it's, you know hard to shut that part of your brain off." Again sounding like he didn't want to talk in front of Aethyta. Sai'ira bore a bit of a frown, she knew Aiden, and had grown up with Thomas's grandfather Martin and figured the Alliance at least deserved to be heard out. After all her father fought for them, believed in them, what more did she need to know?

"I uh, ahem, I'm sorry but I really wanted to see the beach-Thomas would you join me? After yesterday I think the waves would be nice."

"Sure, excuse me-"

"Your fine, don't go past the fence that's the property line." Aethyta warned.

"Yes, of course." Sai'ira brought her wine glass with her and kissed the top of Aethytas head on her way out with Thomas following.

"Damn kids, isn't that right Titus?"

"The young always find their own path even if it has already been tread."

"So what is it you can't say?" Sai'ira asked as she sipped her wine, she brought her sweatshirt with her, putting the hood up as the sun had set and the warmth of Horizons sun had gone.

"Not much really, just the usual political B-S you know? I can't say what everyone already knows because it could give way to some horrible event like unlocking a kennel filled with rabid dogs." They had both left their shoes on the villas patio and could feel the waves gently tickling their feet as they walked down the sandy beach. Sai'ira hadn't seen one in years even though she lived near a lake, Ontario isn't known for it's sunny beaches. With the city skyline in full view the lights from the Pantheon outshining anything around it, there were boats passing by with people happily drinking their night away, even an occasional firework went off, the light bouncing on the waves. And if you stood and watched long enough you could see skycars floating on by in the distance as the megalopolis remained ever-awake.

"I doubt that, most people just want what's best for themselves." Sai'ira remarked.

"Full scale war? And half the point of us even being here is to make sure there isn't a dreadnought factory of some sort."

"Why does the council care? It's not like Aria has gone out conquering."

"She could if she wanted too...you're right though, the council doesn't care, Earth does. This was supposed to be an Alliance colony, now it's lost territory to be regained."

"That's not going to happen. That could cost thousands of lives."

"I know. So we're here to make life difficult for Aria, lock her in stalemate. And to remind her that her ambition has limits...that I can get behind."

"If it's going to cost life then it better be worth more than pride." Sai'ira said, eyebrow cocked as she sipped her Kallistair red

"Sai'ira, this is the Alliances job, to colonize, to explore, to collect resources to better the galaxy and humanity." She could see the look in his eye, the ideas inspired him and he spoke truthfully, is this what her father believed? Obviously from spending time with Miranda Sai'ira knew that (at least as much as Miranda had known) her father was single minded in the sense that stopping the Reapers always took priority and he never lost sight of his goals.

"Besides the T'loaks rule like gangsters if you're not with them you're against them. And E'nea is the most like her mother she's the eldest and most cunning of Arias daughters. And I'm supposed to help negotiate dreadnought accords with her. God help me, I'm sorry I'm dumping all of this on you Sai'ira, I'm just...nervous."

"It's alright, really. Don't worry about it Tom." She patted his shoulder with a smile. "Now tell me more about this Allen fellow."

"Ha, ok well..."

Break