"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE ~~~~~ SPIRITS IS WRONG WITH YOU! Do you have any idea what you unleashed upon the galaxy?!" The turian councilor is pissed. If he was human, his face would have been beet red.

"Do you believe I should have executed the queen?" Shepard folds his arm and shows a face telling the council to go ahead and say it.

"I do not think that was his intent commander Shepard" the salarian councilor calmy said.

"Don't you put words in my mandibles. I'll speak for myself" the turian snarls at his colleague.

I interject. "Are you saying the council approves genocide?" I pull out my omnitool and get ready to record their statement.

Wrex comments "they would have done it to us if they didn't half ass everything like they did in the war."

The asari councilor tries to cool things down. "This exchange is becoming volatile at a rapid race. Shepard we need you to understand that while morally you may have done the correct thing in releasing the queen, the reality is that your actions will affect the landscape of the galaxy for centuries to come, which I will have the… opportunity to live through. It may have been reckless for ourselves to anoint someone unfamiliar with galactic history as a Spectre, however the unusual circumstances required it. From now on think carefully on how your choices might result in changes centuries from now."

"I understand. Truth be told I am not sure if I made the right choice, but I chose the one I could live with. We will just have to wait and see" Shepard said.

The turian speaks with animosity. "That we will human. Find this conduit Saren is searching for and destroy it" the meeting is adjourned.

The tension in the room is like walking through seawater. Everyone left as soon as they could. Normally we would have had our little chats riding down the elevator, after that no one was in the mood. Shepard and Wrex left. The spectre went to meet some acquaintances that may know something about the conduit. Wrex went to see what other Krogan know about the supposed cure. I went to the presidium and found a tree to meditate under.

I sit under the young flowering tree. The air underneath it feels cool and smells sweet. I cross my legs and engage my back extensor, muscles to comfortable sit up straight. My eyelids become heavy and slowly sink down. I place my awareness in my chest and follow my breath. In and out. Up and down. Expansion and contracting. My body and mind slowly transition into a tranquil state.

"*********?" Tali said. I open my eyes and she my favorite quarian on the walkway.

"Hi Tali. What are you doing?" I genuinely ask.

"I'm looking for a gift for my pilgrimage and found you. Am I interrupting?" She said.

"Oh no please sit. I can meditate anytime. I won't have the chance to talk to you forever" I motion to the grass next to me. Tali sits. Her fingers play with the grass, pulling some up and letting go.

"The meeting didn't go very well. Without saying it, they expressed their disapproval on Shepard freeing the queen" I explained.

"That's horrible. Shepard always does the right thing. They should trust him" Tali said.

"That's the thing with politics. It's not about right and wrong but what they want. They want the rachni dead but are afraid to say it out loud" I said.

"Quarian politics are so simple. How do we divide resources and invest in the fleet with the occasional plans against the geth" Tali said.

"I wish I had that, except the geth part" I said.

"*********, Would you teach me your meditation? I'm curious how it feels" Tali said.

"There are lots of different meditations each with their own purposes. The very basics is how you control your body's energy. There are some masters who can consciously raise their body temperature. I don't do that but it shows how powerful it can be" I said.

"Is that impressive for humans?" Tali asked.

"Yeah that's amazing. Wait, why don't you think that?" I look at her curiously.

"Quarians can lower our body temperature a few degrees. We all can do it. It makes our bodies require less food. It is probably an evolutionary mechanism to survive droughts in our home world. I only need one nutrient tube a day to stay healthy" Tali explained.

"REALLY?! that seems really low" I said.

"We never needed much food and scientists believe since the suits render our immune systems weak, our body reallocates resources elsewhere. Apparently fighting bacteria all day everyday takes a lot of energy." Tali explained.

"Uggghhhh I know right. I keep trying to get rid of this guy who moved in" I point to a random area on my arm "nothing I do can get him to leave" I joke. This makes Tali laugh.

"Well if you really want to meditate, you need to learn how to control your thoughts. How to quiet them. Most people's brains jump from one thing to another and only rest when sleeping. This is not good. The trick is to use your body to direct your thoughts. Slow deep breathing helps slow things down. Then what you want to do is just watch your thoughts. Don't engage them. Just think of them as leaves in a stream. You see them and they go away. Eventually there will be very few. This is a lot harder then it sounds. Your brain will need to form new connections. It's like a muscle" I said.

"Oh that is why you taught me your breathing technique. Is there a way to get rid of my anxiety permanently?" She asks.

"Sadly no. Anxiety is a natural state which we need for some reason. However too much can be a problem. You won't be able to get rid of it, although you may be able to make those neurons enter a kind of dormancy if you learn to quiet them and keep them quiet" I said.

"How do I do that?" Tali asks.

"Once you can achieve a quiet mind, you can start developing your nervous system to pay attention to any subtle sensations. You kinda just play around with it until you get it" I said.

"Ok I'll try" Tali's voice synthesizer makes an odd static like noise when she breathes. The white lights in her mask make it appear that her eyes are open. It is not a bad thing, I myself find it harder to do. My brain wants to pay attention to everything I see. I ask her if her eyes are closed, and she claims they are. It is kind of creepy. Anyway, Tali is doing much better than I when I started. She is silent for more than a minute. My overactive brain used to not be able to handle ten seconds.

"This is hard. I think about the replacement mass field inverter that needs to be replaced then I think about all the other things I need to do." Tali said.

"HA! Sucks doesn't it. Here is a trick. Go back into your breathing. Do at least 10 slow deep breaths." Tali does so and then I say "now think about your next thought." This stumps her.

"Wait… how am I supposed to think about my next thought?" She asks.

"You can't. That little moment of quietness, aim for that for longer periods of time" I said.

"How does this make you so happy?" Tali asks me.

"It doesn't. It helped me learn to weaken the parts of my brain that were over firing the angry parts. Currently I can activate the parts that make me feel good like watch a cute animal video or doing something fun. I haven't found the happy parts yet" I explained.

"This seems like a lot of work. I'm not sure this is for me" Tali nervously said.

"What you are giving up now? So close to the start?" I nudge her to keep going.

"Fine. I'll try again soon. What are you doing later?" Tali said.

"Kinda just waiting for everyone else for the next mission. I tried to find Google on my omnitool but can't" I open my screen.

"Google?" Tali doesn't know what I mean.

"What is that thing where you can type questions and get answers" I said.

"Oh that is the extranet. You go to this blue triangle symbol and press this slight downwards bent line symbol with two yellow circles on each side. It's some kind of ancient asari symbol for knowledge" Tali leans over and presses it for me. She gets a little close. I feel off. A pressure goes up my spine. My chest feels like it's being microwaved. My cheeks are getting flus… oh no you don't. Don't you dare catch feelings for a main character. She is meant to be with Shepard… or Garrus depending on which universe this is. Besides, she is too young. It doesn't matter how awesome and kind she is or how thin her cute waist and le… STOP IT.

"Are you ok? You look different" Tali notices.

"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern. So, I type my question here?" I ask

"Yes, that is right. What did you want to look up?" Tali asks. I type in 'what do quarians look like.' Tali asked me not to as it is a really personal topic for them. She made me promise not to look it up. I said fine and changed quarian to volus. The images filled my screen

"Oh my God" I'm shocked.

"So that's what they look like? What is with their skin?" Tali asks.

"Their skin? Look at those ears. This is a curse image" I put away the nightmare fuel. They are not ugly, but they look so weird.

"We never speak of this" I said. Tali nods. Her omnitool beeps.

"Joker wants me back for some engine tests to improve flying. I need to go" Tali said.

"I'll go with you" I get up and brush the grass off and follow the engineer. I look at Tali and wonder what is so special about her. I haven't felt these feelings for a long time. She is different. I'll have to figure it out later. Until then I'll focus on Virmire.