Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter, every single one gives me a real boost. You made me blush a little as well.
And someone liked my selfdarkening glass and someone got the cameos, yay!
Since I can't write the guest reviewers directly I'm saying "Thank you" here. Shayne B asked whether Garrus will become the sassy badass we know - I'm trying, really. But we also see the story from his point of view so we see more of his insecurities. I'm aiming to make him more snarky and badass but I don't see him there yet. So far he's still the Palaven boy with an attitude, who had not had any real struggles to get through yet. I will try to get him to be more sarcastic soon, I just don't know how well I can write that.
()()()
"So, do you think I should talk to Septimus or should you?" Shepard asked as they slowly walked over to the elevator that would take them down to the markets.
"The Councillor and the Consort want youto do this." Garrus answered.
"Yes, but he's a retired turian general, wouldn't it be better if another turian spoke to him about honor and how to deal with rejection?"
"Turians are notoriously bad at dealing with emotions like love and rejection. Sunshine, you weren't there but let me tell you, when I thought you had left me, I was in a bad place. Just ask Frank and Nihlus. I'm not sure I can be of much help." Garrus said with a slightly embarrassed trill.
Shepard put her hand on his armored arm. "I'm sorry I made you feel bad but I had thought..." She shook her head at the memory.
"You know that I never meant it that way."
"I do now." She said quietly. She turned her head and gave him one of her blinding smiles that always made him miss a breath. She had put some dark color on her eyelashes, pronouncing them and making her pale blue eyes look even more intense. He couldn't look away and almost bumped into the elevator door.
In the elevator a newscast mentioned reports about ominous incidents in the Exodus Cluster and the Armstrong Nebula. These reports mostly came from mercs, who were always eager to tell spooky stories to Citadel reporters, so no one actually took them serious. Still, the human colonies in these outer reaches were always under a threat and the Alliance was spreading itself thin, trying to protect them all.
The doors opened to the upper markets, and the smells from many people of all kinds of species, many of which could really use a shower, attacked Garrus's nose. He looked over to Shepard and saw her wrinkle her nose, so she noticed the smells too. It was quite the contrast to the clean and bright Presidium. While the Keepers kept the station functional and even managed to keep the lower area clean, the upper and lower markets still suffered from the mass of people in them at any given time.
They passed the market stands, ignoring the salesmen calling out to them with their newest deals or fighting with angry customers. They went down a set of stairs into a hall full of mercs and businessmen of the more shady kind. These were the lower markets, a bit more dirty, a bit more not quite legal. Garrus felt very uncomfortable in his C-Sec armor and ignored the hostile looks he got as best as he could. Shepard beside him was tense, her hand on the pistol on her side, but she still walked like she owned the place.
Passing a krogan who looked even more angry than krogan normally do, they got out of the room and into an open corridor connecting different parts of the lower wards through passageways, tunnels, elevators and a transit train. From the other side of a walkway over a nauseating deep gap in the Citadel's structure, loud music spilled over to them and with a short look over their surroundings they went to the club.
Chora's Den was still one of the more shady establishments on the Citadel, always under surveillance by C-Sec. Which did nothing to prevent the illegal deals and the frequent injuries over disagreements about those deals happening there.
Garrus nodded his head towards the window in the surveillance alcove where he had spent a lot of time when he was still a rookie at C-Sec. It was also the place where he had met Shepard for the first time, and where he had had his first sex with an alien, two strangers who never told each other their names. The memory made a warm shiver run down his spine.
Shepard looked at him with a tiny smile and he noticed that her face was flushed pink. She probably had the same thoughts as him.
They fell in step next to each other, each protecting the flank as if they were in hostile territory. Which wasn't far off the truth, many patrons looked warily at Garrus's armor and had their hands on a sidearm. Garrus knew that the club had fallen into new hands recently and now belonged to a human named Fist. It was also well known that Fist was an agent for the Shadow Broker. Since the change in ownership the clientele in the club had taken a turn for the worse. Garrus wondered why C-Sec didn't show more presence here.
The whole place was built in a circle, the bar in the middle and tables with cushioned sofas arranged on the outer wall. The music was loud and obnoxious, asari dancers writhing on the tables to it. They laughed and giggled but the sleazy looks on the patron's faces made Garrus feel uneasy. He thought back to the questions that Shepard had about the asari and he had to agree. Why did young maidens do this? It was one thing to be more open and relaxed about one's sexuality, but it was something else entirely to be looked at like a walking-talking sex-toy.
A quick look around showed them all kinds of species but Garrus soon spotted an older turian sitting on the side close to the entrance. He pointed him out to Shepard, he wore expensive clothes, a purplish robe draped over his shoulders and his fringe. It made him look very much out of place in such a seedy environment. On the table in front of him five tall glasses stood empty, the sixth glass, half full with the pink sparkle of an asari-style cocktail, was in the turian's hand.
It was hard to tell whether a turian was drunk or not if he was sitting down. Drunk people walked the same way across every species but the rigid faces of turians and their normal, stiff posture made it hard to tell their drunkenness while sitting. But Garrus could tell that the general was well on his way to a gigantic hangover the next morning and closing in on falling over without memory right now. Chora's Den was probably the worst place to do that.
"We have to get him out of here." Garrus whispered to Shepard. "He'll fall over soon and who knows what will happen to him then."
"Is he really that drunk?"
"Oh yes, I'm not sure if there is any point in talking to him right now." Garrus said. He stepped up towards the general and made his voice and the underlying harmonics sound authoritative. "Sir? Come with us please, we have a few questions for you."
The general snapped his head up. "Leave me alone, you unplated youngling." His speech was so slurred that Shepard looked at Garrus confused, apparently her translator gave up on Septimus's speech. The General raised the glass to his mouthplates but forgot to close the sides of his mouth, dripping the pink liquid all over his robe. With a frustrated groan he patted himself down with a napkin but failed in getting any of the sticky liquid off his robe.
Garrus grabbed his arm and pulled him up, Shepard supporting him on the other side so that he wouldn't fall face first into the table. He was mumbling some protests but let himself be led outside. They went over the walkway to the corridor, his spurs occasionally catching on Garrus's, and placed the general on a bench where he slumped forward. Garrus pulled him back against the wall before he could fall off the bench.
Shepard snapped her fingers in front of his face and the general stared, confused by them for the strange sound coming off them. "General Oraka. Can you hear me?" She asked but as she watched his head loll she shook her own head. "You are right, Garrus, there's no point in talking to him now. Would cavasober him up?"
"Yes, it might. A huge glass of water would probably also help. Should I get some?" Garrus still had to hold the general up, he looked like he was about to tumble over.
Shepard straightened up. "No, I'll get it, you stay here with him, maybe he will talk to you. I can't understand him anyway." She turned around and went into the lower market hall. Garrus noticed that the general had his eyes open and looked rather interested after Shepard. He made a warning growl and the general turned his face to him.
"Don't worry youngling, I noticed your scent. I won't pursue her. I also smelled her on you. Looks like you got a good thing there." The turian general looked a bit more awake by now and Garrus hummed his concern. "Leave me in my sorrow, youngling, just leave me."
"I can't do that, General." Garrus said and trilled to get the general's attention. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, C-Sec, and that was Commander Shepard of the Alliance. The Consort has asked us to speak with you."
"The Consort, yes." He closed his eyes for a second and sighed. "I've seen a lot of horrible things in my days and there's only one woman in this damn galaxy who helps me forget it. Her. And she doesn't want me."
Garrus hummed sympathetically. "If you... adore her so much, why do you spread lies about her?"
"I love her!" The general looked up as Shepard came back with a cup of cavathat he eagerly took and drank. He sat up straighter and yelled at Shepard as if it was her fault. "She rejected me. Me! Septimus Oraka, general of the turian fleet!"
Shepard didn't take kindly to getting yelled at. "Some general you are, moping in a bar. What would your troops think, seeing you like this?"
Septimus fluttered his mandibles and his subharmonics underlined his words angrily. "The troops can kiss my leathery backside. All I wanted was to retire and be with her. I deserve that." He hissed and turned to Garrus. "Look, youngling, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but don't waste your time."
His posture broke and he fell forward, leaning heavily on his elbows on his thighs. His voice got quiet and his subharmonics changed to grief. "The one place I always felt at peace was with her, but now..." A low, sad keen was all he could do.
Shepard squatted down in front of the general and looked him in the eyes. Her face showed sympathy but she hummed a line of tones that told a turian to get his act together. Oraka stared at her with genuine surprise. He made a short trill and Shepard repeated her hum. It had the desired effect, the old turian raised himself up.
He still stared at Shepard who slowly got up again. "Straighten up and act like a general?" He asked. Shepard nodded. "Maybe you're right, Commander. Sha'ira is worth it, even if she won't have me back."
Shepard took his arm and pulled him up. "Get up and get moving General."
Septimus nodded and wiped down his robe. "Alright, I'll go to her... after I've had a cold shower. Or two." He lifted the cup of cava. "Here's to soldiers acting like soldiers. Thanks Garrus, thanks Commander Shepard. You know Commander... you might make a good general yourself one day."
He took a datapad out of his pocket and handed it to Shepard. "Take this to the elcor diplomat, Xeltan. I spread his secrets and made it look like they had come from Sha'ira but on here he will see how I really got my information. That will exonerate Sha'ira and he may see that he needs to up his security protocols."
Shepard made a turian salute and Septimus made one as well. With a short look to Garrus he said, "Commander, could I have a word with Vakarian here alone? I'll send him after you in a minute."
She nodded and went back into the lower market. Garrus didn't like the idea of her waiting there alone and he growled at Septimus to hurry him up.
Septimus only fluttered his mandibles in a grin. "Does the Commander know?"
"Know what?" Garrus growled.
"That you scented her. Does she know what that means?" Septimus grinned even wider, knowing from the confused trills that Garrus couldn't stop, that he had been right. "So she doesn't know? Every turian who comes close to her will know that she is to be your bondmate and she has no idea? How do you think she will react when she finds out?"
Garrus groaned and his subharmonics were extruding fear and embarrassment. "I'll be in a world of pain, probably."
Septimus came up close to him and sniffed. "I can also smell her on you. Did you have sex in your armor?" The general hummed, pleased with himself. "I had no idea human women were so... adventurous. Maybe I should broaden my horizons..."
Garrus growled uncomfortably. "I have to go. Spirits watch over you, General." He dipped his head and walked fast over to the door to the lower markets. Behind him he heard the general laugh.
"Good luck Garrus. Hold on to the good thing you have."
As the door closed behind him he saw the general walk over to the transit terminal. He looked sad and Garrus felt sorry for him. To love and be rejected, nobody deserved that.
The door closed behind him and he scanned the room to make out Shepard. He discovered her in a corner of the room in deep conversation with a krogan - of course! - over some gun mods. As she saw him, she walked over to him and waved a goodbye over her shoulder towards the krogan. "See you later, Jax."
The krogan looked at him suspiciously and suddenly sniffed the air. A laugh rumbled through him. "So that's him. Ha."
Shepard looked at him confused and then at Garrus but he shrugged his shoulders and pretended to not know what's going on. They went back up the stairs. Once they were on the upper level, Shepard went over to the huge window that overlooked the ward toward the ends of the Citadel's arms. She stared out in wonder.
"So many people, so many species. We humans had begun to conquer space like 200 years ago, maybe? And now look at this, this spacestation, larger than some planets, people from all around the galaxy and we are among them all. It's kind of overwhelming." She kept looking out, her arms leaning on the railing. Her face full of the childlike wonderment that he loved to see. She looked so beautiful to him.
He scrambled for a breath, his chest constricting once again. "Yes, overwhelming." He agreed but he didn't mean the station.
She finally pushed herself away from the rail and looked at the direction markers on the wall. They took an elevator up to the Presidium and as they stepped out he noticed how Shepard looked around confused.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"The embassies, are they this way or that way?" She turned to the left and to the right, looking for something and then turned on her omni-tool..
He snorted in amusement. "Are you lost?"
She sighed. "My sense of direction isn't all that great. I always have a map on my omni-tool. Let me see..."
Garrus put his hand on her back and gently pushed her in the right direction. "Come on sunshine, I know where we have to go." He smiled at her. "Never would have thought that you needed someone to guide you to the right places."
She turned to him and whispered with an underlying tone. "There are certain places I would like to guide youto right now."
He stumbled and silently cursed the people in the corridor to the embassies because he really needed to press this woman against the wall and bury himself in her. As they entered the elcor embassy he was glad that he wore his armor, it did hide certain things.
The huge, grey elcor spoke in the typical, slow drone that all of his species had. It clearly drove Shepard up the wall, her foot impatiently tapping, her arms crossed in front of her chest to prevent her hands from fidgeting. For an occasional sniper, Shepard was surprisingly impatient. Not that he was much better when it came to conversations with an elcor.
She presented the case to him and the diplomat droned, "Unbelieving. I know this Septimus and he could not learn my secrets. The only way he could learn them is from the asari Consort."
Garrus noticed how Shepard almost rolled her eyes and took a breath for a probably more snappy retort and he felt her pain. To cut the ordeal short he snatched the datapad out of her hands and showed it to the elcor. "As you can see, we have proof. Septimus himself has given us this information and he recommends that you update your security protocols."
Xeltan twitched some of the fleshy appendages in his face and droned, "Confused. This is difficult to fathom. Dismayed. Anyone can discover my secrets."
Garrus tried to calm him. "Septimus Oraka is a retired general, he is a powerful man, with good sources. I'm sure for anybody else, this information would not be easy to find."
The elcor kept on worrying about the information and his complaints about the Consort. He left to talk to her as hurriedly as someone of his kind could, stomping out and making the walls rattle with his steps.
They walked out after him and found themselves alone in the hallway. In a fluid motion they both turned to the other and embraced. Arms wrapped around each other, Garrus nuzzled Shepard's hair and she pressed her face into his cowl. They didn't need words.
Shepard's omni-tool chimed and she growled a string of curses that his translator didn't get. With a sigh she answered the call in audio only, her face still pressed against his chest.
"Yes, sir?" She asked, her voice making clear that she was talking to a superior. An unfamiliar voice answered from her tool.
"Shepard, could you see me for a minute if you're around? I'm at the ambassador's office."
"We are just around the corner, sir, we'll be there in a moment." She closed the call and took Garrus's hand to pull him behind her as she walked towards the set of doors leading to the embassy halls. When the door opened she let go of his hand but he stayed behind her, watching over her, protecting her. It felt right.
They made their way to the human embassy. Shepard looked over her shoulder and indicated that he should come up to her side. "That was Captain Anderson. I had sent him a message this morning that I would like to talk to him about a turian he had worked with."
"Why? Did he have anything to do with Saren?" Garrus wondered.
Shepard had small grin on her face. "Well... it's all oh so veryclassified, as you know. But on the Alliance side every little fart is documented, even if they don't mention the names of everyone involved. I had a search algorithm about operations involving the Council, the turian Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance. Anderson's name turned up as having worked with a turian on a big mission with a scientist, artificial intelligence and what not, and somehow it all turned into a disaster. It's pretty much the only bad mark on Anderson's resume."
"What is the name of the turian?" Garrus asked.
"There is no full name but it is shortened to S.A." Shepard said with a smirk. She put up a grainy, fuzzy picture, taken in an angle from the top on her omni-tool, showing a dark skinned human and a white plated turian. "I also found this picture, not a good one but I'm sure that Mr. Skullface here is a younger Saren."
It was hard to tell but the overly long mandibles stretching out on the side of his head looked at least like Saren's. Garrus was intrigued, he never thought that Saren would ever have worked with a human.
When they arrived at the human embassy, a man left the room, who Garrus recognized as the human ambassador. His face showed a forced smile as he looked at Shepard and greeted her with a nod and a snarled, "Commander". Shepard answered with an equally snarled, "Ambassador". The ambassador ignored him and Garrus couldn't help but think that it was deliberate.
They entered and Shepard's face turned softer, showing a real, friendly smile. "Anderson, Captain, my Captain!" She called out and in a display of complete disregard for protocol and rank, she pulled the dark-skinned man into hug. Anderson looked surprised for a second but then returned the hug.
With a giggle Shepard stepped back from him and made a proper salute. "Sir, it's good to see you."
Captain Anderson saluted as well. "Likewise, Commander, nice of you to come so quickly." He turned his attention to Garrus and extended his hand towards him. "You must be Garrus Vakarian, it's very nice to meet you." Anderson was older and slightly taller than Shepard. Garrus saw the intelligence of a soldier in his eyes but also the caution of experience. This man did not easily make friends.
Garrus took his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, sir." He stepped over to Shepard's side and Anderson directed them both to a set of chairs around a conference table to sit down.
He could tell that Anderson was guarding his features, while he was obviously glad to see Jane Shepard, he also looked tense. Garrus decided to watch his face closely for the signs of lying in human faces that he had studied so well. He discreetly set up his omni-tool to make a recording of the Captain's face.
Anderson settled down on the opposite end of the table and made a small pile of datapads in front of him. With a sigh he looked up and addressed Shepard directly. "You know, I do get a warning flag messaged to me if someone tries to access files I have categorized as classified. Adding your message this morning, I'm almost dreading to ask what the hell you are working on, Shepard."
Shepard grinned mischievously. "Vakarian and I are part of an ANIS investigation about the Spectres. Especially Spectre Saren Arterius." She leaned forward and fixed her pale blue eyes on him. "Tell me about the mission you had with Saren."
Anderson pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "How do you even know?" He groaned. Then he looked up. "You didn't, did you?" Shepard's lips twitched. Anderson shook his head and murmured. "Fell for the oldest trick in the book..." Shepard's grin only got wider.
Anderson leaned back and looked at some spot on the ceiling. "I can't tell you any details, but... back then the Alliance had a research facility on Sidon in the Skyllian Verge. I can't say much but there was an emergency, missing scientist, just what you expect from a secret operation falling over. The ambassador Goyle wanted me to investigate and also be tested as a Spectre candidate. Saren was assigned to test me. We went after that missing scientist who had apparently changed his subject of interest and had some old artifact in his possession..."
Shepard's back tensed. "What kind of artifact?"
"I don't know for sure, Kahlee said it was old, maybe even older than the protheans. The artifact and his research about it was lost in an explosion." Anderson sighed and pinched his nose again. "Saren made a damning report about me, said I endangered the mission. I barely managed to get out with Kahlee, before he destroyed the place and all evidence. The artifact and the research were lost and Saren made it look like my fault. The Council put the idea of a human Spectre back into the drawer and hasn't taken it out again so far."
Anderson got up and went to the window overlooking the Presidium. He stayed silent and appeared to be deep in thought. There was something in his posture that spoke of defeat, regret and a deep sadness.
After a few minutes he pulled himself out of his mood and turned back to the table. His attention focused on Garrus. "I may have been known to have a non-favourable opinion of turians for a few years after the experience with Saren. I... I can't erase that but I want to make it clear that I have learned that Saren is an exception among the turians, not the norm."
Garrus acknowledged that with a dip of his head. Shepard spoke up with a snort, "He's an asshole, sir."
Anderson let a small smile play on his face before he turned serious again. "Even worse," he said, "his behaviour is intentional, he knows what he's doing, unapologetically. He has no regard for life, only the mission and his advantage." He sat back down again. "You have to be careful if you plan to go after him. I'm not the only one who gets flags mailed to him if someone accesses the old files."
Garrus and Shepard shared a look. They had to work fast if Saren knew that he was watched now.
Shepard looked up to her Captain, who was also her friend. Her face didn't show her Commander mask, she looked like a girl who had to interrogate her own father and didn't want to do it. "Is there anything else you can tell us? Could Kahlee have more information for us?"
Anderson suddenly leaned forward and slammed his hands flat on the table. The pile of datapads toppled over, some clattering to the ground. "You will not, under any circumstances, contact Kahlee Sanders!" He yelled angrily, "She is under my protection and her involvement in this case is classified. Not even I have had contact with her for the last 18 years. She doesn't have any further information for you and you will not contact her. Is that clear, Commander?"
Shepard straightened in her seat and loudly replied, "Yes, sir! Crystal, sir."
Anderson's features softened and he pushed himself away from the table. He had that deep sadness on his face again and Garrus couldn't help but wonder what Kahlee Sanders had been to him. Shepard got up and walked around the table to Anderson's side, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for dragging these old stories back out." She said softly. Anderson padded her hand with his own and for a second his shoulders sagged forward. He suddenly looked years older.
With a nod to her he composed himself again and indicated for them to follow him to the door. "You have to go now, Ambassador Udina will be back soon and I have a confidential call to make before that." He took Shepard's hand and looked at her warmly. "Take care, Shepard. Oh, and your aunt Marianne would like to hear from you once in a while. She calls me sometimes to hear what you are doing and I would prefer if you told her yourself." He had a scolding look in his eyes and Garrus noticed with amusement that Shepard squirmed like a schoolgirl who hadn't done her homework.
"Yes, I'll write her." She mumbled, staring at her feet. With a nod to Anderson, Shepard and Garrus left the room, letting the door close behind them before they began to talk.
They took a few steps away from the door. Garrus turned to her, "Did you know that Anderson was supposed to become a Spectre?"
"No! I never heard about that." Shepard shook her head, "We talked so much through the years but he never mentioned that. He also never mentioned this Kahlee, I wonder who she is."
"Are you going to try to find out who she is and what she knows?" Garrus asked.
"No, I think we should respect his wish. And it was a long time ago, I think we should concentrate on Saren's recent actions." Shepard began to walk slowly back to the Presidium and they stayed silent for a while.
Finally his curiosity overcame him and Garrus just had to ask, "Who is aunt Marianne?"
Shepard wrinkled her nose for a second. "After Mindoir... after my parents had died, aunt Marianne took me in and gave me a home. She was my mother's sister, lives in the outskirts of Chicago, a city on Earth, runs her own furniture business. We..." Shepard sighed, "we didn't get along all that well. It was mostly my fault, I was an angry teenager with posttraumatic stress disorder, full of fear, anger, loneliness. She didn't have any children of her own, never wanted any, and suddenly she had an angry, hormonal teenager in her house."
Shepard stopped at the lake and looked ahead, her eyes unfocused. "She liked to cook, to sew, to decorate and she tried to make me interested in these things. There she was, talking about recipes and all I ever did was practice Taekwondo kicks in the basement."
"What's Taekwondo?" Garrus asked, settling against the rail beside her.
"Martial arts, lot's of kicking and punching. I practised that for hours, I was so angry all the time. On good days I just played games. The rest of the time I was constructing things, printing them and putting them together." Suddenly a small smile danced over her face. "There must be boxes full of little constructions that I made. I wonder if Marianne still has them. The only thing we did together was cooking and eating dinner. It made me a decent cook at least."
"You can cook?" Garrus had not expected that.
"I'm no chef. But I can follow a recipe without setting things on fire and I can usually whip up something edible with the stuff that is there. It won't be fancy but it will fill you up. I could cook something for you." Shepard suddenly looked up. "Of course, I would have no idea how things taste for you. How many tastes do turians have?"
"What do you mean?" Garrus asked, trilling confused.
"We humans can taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami on our tongue. What about turians?" Shepard asked, her face full of curiosity again.
"Turians taste sweet, suavis, sour, bitter, amarus and salty. Also on the tongue." Garrus said.
Shepard looked at him thoughtful. "What is suavis and amarus like?"
Garrus had to think about that for a minute. Suavis was just suavis, how should he describe that? "Suavis is kind of sweet and tasty, a very pleasurable taste." He said after a while.
Shepard nodded to that. "That sounds kind of like umami, only umami is more on the salty side for us."
"Amarus is a dark, bitter taste, very unpleasant. It's not just bitter, it's worse. Turians can tolerate things that are bitter but things that are amarus are inedible for us." Garrus had to shudder just thinking about the taste.
Shepard laughed a little. "Is that why turians don't like human coffee? Coffee is quite bitter but maybe we don't taste it like you do."
"That could be true, I never understood how anybody can drink that vile stuff." Garrus smiled at her. "But I tolerate the smell because I see what you are like before you have had any in the morning."
Shepard grinned. "Yeah, you don't want to argue with the morning monster before it has had coffee."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Garrus grumbled and wiped a strain of hair from her face.
She smiled at him and he spread his mandibles in a smile at her. He wanted to press his forehead against hers but he didn't dare. Not out here in public, and not without talking to her about his scenting.
Shepard suddenly saw someone and walked over to a turian who was picking weeds out of a flower bed. She knelt down beside him and dipped her head. The turian looked slightly suspicious but acknowledged her greeting with a dip of his head. Garrus walked over to them and greeted the old man as well.
"Are you the gardener here?" Shepard asked.
The older turian raised himself up and pointed around the Presidium. "I'm one of the gardeners. I'm responsible for the flowerbeds on the whole Presidium."
"They look wonderful, so beautiful." Shepard said in earnest. "Do you happen to know if they keep fish in the Presidium lake?"
The gardener laughed. "I usually only get this question from krogan. No, there are no fish in the lake, it's the Presidium's water reservoir and they try to keep it as clean as possible. The only things living in the water are plants. I made a few flowerbeds for marsh plants on the shore, right over there, you see?" He stepped up to Shepard to direct her view and suddenly sniffed. With a jerk he turned around and stared at her. Then he turned towards Garrus and he knew that the gardener was taking in his scent to compare it to what he had just smelled on Shepard. His eyes widened and his mandibles hung slack when he realized that her scent came from Garrus.
His subharmonics chirped a mixture of confusion, disgust and amusement as if he couldn't decide on the right reaction. Garrus hissed at him to keep quiet but it was already too late. Shepard had her arms crossed and looked with furrowed brows back and forth between the two turians.
She made a nod towards the gardener and thanked him for his information and then roughly grabbed Garrus's arm and pulled him over to a quiet corner on a walkway over the lake. Garrus was kind of relieved that they were in public, at least she probably wouldn't shoot him here.
Hopefully?
With her arms crossed and leaning back slightly she looked at him, her eyes piercing. "Garrus Vakarian, I get the distinct feeling that there is something you want to explain to me. And don't you dare say that you don't know what I'm talking about! Every turian and krogan sniffing at me, you know damn well what I'm talking about. Spill it."
Garrus squirmed under her intense gaze, stretching his throat. "I scented you. Turians and krogan can smell that."
"You did what? What does that mean?" Shepard asked, her voice a bit higher than usual.
He sighed. "I didn't plan it, it just happened, ehm, in the heat of the moment..."
Shepard looked at him critically and opened her omni-tool, typing in a search. She read the result and her eyes got wide. She looked up to Garrus. "The Extranet says that we are engaged now. The fuck?" She stared at him and he couldn't quite understand the emotions flying over her face. There was confusion, fear, anger and something else. She took a breath and then hissed. "And it just happened? Does that happen often? You do that with all your women? You didn't mean it? Or did you? And why didn't you tell me? What the hell, Garrus?"
"This is not the place." He snarled and grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the C-Sec headquarters. She pulled her arm out of his grip and angrily growled at him but she followed him into C-Sec. Silently they stomped through the hallway, ignoring people looking at them, until they got to Garrus's old office. Luckily it was still unoccupied and he locked the door behind them.
Shepard had her arms crossed again and the look on her face was quite hostile. Garrus took a careful step towards her. "Shepard, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I scented you." Her face turned a little softer. He took a deep breath, trying to come up with an explanation. "Scenting is not a purely instinctual action but close to one. It's a way to signal to other potential partners that this one is not available anymore. I did it... as I said I didn't plan it..." He lost his way, burned by the angry look she gave him.
He took another step towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Jane, I have never done that before with any partner. I don't know what came over me... You drive me crazy, you make me lose all sense of reality and I... "
Suddenly she smiled, making his gizzard jump. She raised herself on her toes and put her hands on his mandibles, stroking them with her thumbs. Pulling his face towards her she kissed him softly, suckling on his mouthplates. Her voice was husky as she whispered, "You silly, romantic turian. Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Well for one, you're usually armed..." He said, fluttering his mandibles in a relieved smile.
She laughed, lowering her head and he realized that she offered her forehead to him. He lowered his head as well and pressed against her with an urgency that was slightly ridiculous. He felt his scent release and he sighed in relief that he didn't need to feel guilty about that anymore.
Jane moved away from his forehead but held his head down and pressed her nose against it, sniffing. "It smells... different." She whispered. "It's kind of metallic, different than your usual scent." She looked him in the eyes. "I wish I could do that too. To you." He forgot to breathe.
She grinned. "I could put on lipstick and cover you with kissmarks, telling the world that I kiss this turian and no one else!" She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him all over his face.
There it was again, that feeling that something behind his cowl wanted to explode.
()()()
Aaaww, they are just so cute!
Most of Septimus's lines about Sha'ira and Xeltan's are from the game, they were just too good, but I changed the setup a bit.
How doturians close the sides of their mouths for drinking? Damned if I know, maybe they can raise their gums? Have internal lips on the sides? Let's just ignore this for now, I'll come up with something later. Stuff like this keeps me up at night.
The story about what kind of things turians taste? I completely made that up, so no canon-panic please. I just thought that they are more into sweet things, since they are almost made of dextrose.
The story of Anderson working with Saren, Kahlee Sanders and what the artifact had to do with Saren's obsession is told in the book 'Mass Effect: Revelation' by the lead writer of the Mass Effect video game, Drew Karpyshyn. In case you haven't read that yet, you should, it's very good.
Constructing things and printing them? Well, in the future everybody will have a 3D-printer of course! (I want one...)
suavis = sweet and tasty
amarus = very bitter