|19|
"Damn it all."
"This says there's a city in the Grim Reaper System….What do you want with it…Nualavera not enough, Casnar?"
"I haven't even been living there," Casnar grumbled, removing his hand from his face as he sat up on a bench and looked at the women reading through the file shared over their wrist devices.
"Hiding from your responsibilities, Casnar….How not surprising."
"Are you two done yet…I need to look at the files myself and figure out my next destination."
"He's cute how he pouts…Do you have a lady friend by any chance?"
Miranda narrowed her eyes at Kasumi beside her, eyeing the drell who was now glaring at the thief, "…He's looking for her, Kasumi….Don't you listen?"
"I enjoy a condition called selective hearing," Kasumi flipped her screen off and it no longer projected from her device….She moved over to Casnar on the bench, the cape twisting around her with a life of its own. "Tell me about her….She must be a catch." Casnar stood up and walked away from her, Kasumi smiling from underneath the dip of her hood as he went to Miranda and held out his hand.
"Her name's Braith Shepard, but I doubt you like the rest of the ungrateful humans I've met know who she is and what she's done—" His voice faltered as Kasumi and Miranda gave him the most odd looks he'd seen from the two—as if they were set upon by bewilderment eating at their minds.
Kasumi stood and tiptoed on her catfeet towards him, the cape trailing in the air, "….Now why does that not surprise me….Shepard alive….And some cute drell tall and handsome over here mooning over finding her….Where in the galaxy did you come across our missing friend?"
Miranda said nothing, only staring at Casnar with incredulity.
"She walked into my town, passed a shop I own, and I followed her…."
"Like everyone else," Kasumi grinned, her painted small cat smile filled with inhibited pleasure, "…And I bet she liked you."
"She didn't want me….But eventually grew to accept me….We….She was suffering from something…..I think the Alliance abducted her with some soldier they sent….He and she knew each other before the war."
Miranda finally spoke, "…She survived? There's no way she could have survived—the Citadel was—"
"Destroyed and she lived," he looked her in the eyes, "….Something helped her….And I was convinced she wasn't who she was—who I claimed—"
"You claimed her," Miranda repeated.
"I claimed her recently," Casnar affirmed, "…And it was mutual…But I turned my back on her because of what I thought I knew—I was told—and they took her when I wasn't looking."
"Casnar, you fucking idiot….How…How do you find Shepard of all people in this galaxy….Aside from the glaring fact she was only married to—"
"Miranda," Kasumi tapped her shoulder, "…We probably shouldn't discuss that….Why do you think the Alliance took her?"
"What…What were you going to say, Lawson?"
"It's insignificant at this point, compared to what's missing," she glanced severely at Kasumi, "…An Alliance soldier from before the war…That could be anyone….Did she recognize him with some type of affinity or was it professionally just what it was—former colleague."
"Kaidan Alenko….I know for a fact."
"I know him," both women said, then Miranda, "….He's on Grim—inside the actual Reaper."
"I'm trying to get there," Casnar took the key for his docket files from Miranda, "…I would appreciate it if you would help me if you, too, are trying to make your way into the system."
"A little more input about the conditions you bastardly left her in, first, Casnar," Miranda poked him in his chest, "…You have that way of abandoning things just like—"
Kasumi cleared her little throat and smiled at Miranda.
"To answer your question," Casnar gruffed, looking at both women with even more suspicion, "…I was informed she was an alien….Not a clone….Something else inside her—I felt fooled and I got over it," he said, "….But within a night she supposedly went into seizures—which is likely because it's what made her into an alcoholic sucking down lighter fluid to stop the dreams or what she was having. She was supposedly flown to another hospital from the one I brought her to, so I was told, and then when I went to find her at the new place, they told me there she'd never even been registered….That was weeks ago by Earth Standard….Now I'm trying to find her."
"You lived on Earth?"
"I lived as far as I could from Rakhana without moving back to Kahje…And I found a place where I could just exist."
"Home was too tough, huh."
"For one who ran from her own, I would think you'd understand," he retorted harshly, and Miranda was rebuked….Kasumi tapped her index fingers together through her gloves.
"I think we should get going," Kasumi nodded to the security lights traveling over the bridge connecting to their hub, "…Likely we're not to stay here too long for fear of no-good-doings….Casnar, Miranda….Hug and make up and let's get off this station….Braith's waiting."
"Barge with Garm 'Spore-Dick' or one of you have a shuttle we can fly out of here," Casnar suggested, ignoring the lights. Kasumi's cape flicked as she led them out of the glass house and sought out their own docks opposite the barge waiting for Casnar on the rim of the station ring.
