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Thane watched Shepard go. His siha would save the day again. It was what she did. He had tried to help her, but he could no longer be the man she had once counted on. Those days were over.
He removed the hand he had held over the wound in his gut. Likely all his days were over; even without Kepral's Syndrome it would have been difficult to recover from a wound such as this one. Now … well, he would need blood, and he knew, none better, how little drell blood there was on the Citadel.
Small hands suddenly brushed his aside. The salarian councilor was kneeling next to him, looking at the wound. "That was most impressive."
"Once I would have prevailed," Thane said faintly. Shock was setting in, and his system was in no shape to fight it.
"You nearly did anyway. And there is no question in my mind that you saved my life. Thank you."
Thane nodded, saving his precious air. Breathing was even more difficult than usual.
It was a relief when Bailey joined them. He could see by the tightness in Bailey's face that he understood the severity of the wound. "I've got the med team on their way. Anything I can do to keep you comfortable until they arrive?"
"Shepard," Thane managed. "All right?"
"So far. I've been tracking her movements. She's on her way to the rest of the Council."
"She will." There was more to that sentence, but Thane left it as it was both because he had no breath to continue and because it was as simple as that. Whatever was before her to do, Shepard would do. The only battle she had ever lost was the one against his illness.
He hoped that if today ended the way he expected it to, if this was the day he crossed the sea, she would be able to recover, to go on with her life and find happiness elsewhere. She deserved that—that and so much more.
"'Course she will," Bailey agreed. He put a hand comfortingly on Thane's shoulder. "If … If you're worrying about Kolyat, don't. I'll—I'll look after him. Like he was my own." A dark shadow crossed his face. "Better than if he was my own."
"May Arashu … bless you, Bailey."
"Well, I'll take all the blessings I can get. Probably need them." Bailey winced, and Thane realized that he, too, was wounded.
Nodding at Bailey's side, wet with blood, Thane looked a question at him.
"It's nothing."
"Not … nothing."
"Near enough. Don't you worry about me." Bailey looked up. "Here they are."
Mercifully, Thane blacked out while the med team loaded him on a stretcher. He awoke in a hospital bed, an oxygen mask over his face.
"Mr. …?" The doctor next to his bed frowned at his datapad.
"Nuara," Thane said, lifting the mask enough to speak. "I am a patient here."
"Yes, of course. Mr. Nuara, your wound is very serious, and the advanced stage of your Kepral's Syndrome keeps us from being able to treat it as we would like. You have already lost a great deal of blood, and your body's ability to make more is severely compromised. If you lose any more—" The doctor didn't finish that sentence. "There is very little drell blood on the station."
"Save it, doctor."
"What?"
"Time had grown short for me already. You may need what drell blood you have for someone with a longer future."
"You know what it means, what you're saying?" The doctor's eyes searched Thane's face.
"I will die. I have been preparing to do so for … a long time."
"We can't force you to accept treatment that you don't want."
"I am aware of that. I understand the consequences of my decision." As the doctor turned to go, Thane called after him. "Doctor, how long?"
"A few hours yet, I would imagine. We can extend that some, but not a lot. Is there anyone we should call?"
Thane gave him Kolyat's contact information. "And … Commander Shepard."
"You know the commander?" The doctor sounded skeptical.
"I was part of the Normandy's crew for a brief time." Thane said it with pride. He felt a sorrow for those he would not see again. Garrus. Joker. Jack. Grunt. Tali. Kasumi.
"I see." There was a new respect on the doctor's face.
"If she … comes here, I want to see her. Regardless of …" He didn't bother to say any more. If Shepard could come, she would, and nothing would stop her from getting to him.
"I understand. I'll put a note in your chart." The doctor left the room, and Thane lay back, looking out the window.
"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, guide her hands. Accept my services in your honor and aid her in her great task—in all the tasks that lie before her. Be with her when she needs you. Arashu, great mother, be with my son. Be the parent he no longer has, set his feet on the path of the light. Kalahira, at long last I come to you. Guide me safely across the sea." He thought of Irikah, seeming to see her there as if she was standing in front of him. "Guide me to her where she waits."
"Father!" Kolyat was there now, and Thane reached out a hand to him. "Father, no! They told me you won't take the transfusion. I could—"
"No, my son. It is too late for me. My time has been coming to an end for some time. You knew that."
"But I thought there would be more time!"
"I, too. But—I fought today. I didn't win, but I gave my all. It is … I am content that this should be the way." He nodded wearily. "Yes."
"I …" Kolyat swallowed against the protests that he wished to make. Thane had never been more proud of his son than he was in this moment, seeing him accept the pain of what was to come and bear it with grace.
"You will become such a man," he said. "I will be watching you from across the sea. My love and your mother's will always be with you. Never doubt that."
"I don't, Father. Not anymore." Kolyat reached out and held his hand. "I won't leave you. Not until—"
Thane nodded. "Thank you." Looking out the window again, he wished for Shepard. Once he saw her again, he could go in peace and be content.