Joe's Note: While I've developed a distinctly unique version of Lost-Translations-of-Quantum-Foam for this story, she - and the history of Eingana and the biology of thorians - is all borrowed from LogicalPremise with permission. If you haven't yet, track down his Of Sheep and Battle Chickens series and read the entire thing. Just make sure you set aside a few hours, because you're going to need it. Speaking of things that you need to set aside a number of hours for, how has Mass Effect Andromeda been treating you all? Given the backstory surrounding Cora, Lexi, and sis!Ryder, I can already see ways to incorporate them into my overall story. And not in an 'I bet Harry will incorporate them', wink wink, nudge nudge sort of way, either. If that's your bag, go poke and prod Leonineus to see if he'll update Lightning among the Stars again.
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Alexander, Howard, Alonsis2, MJ, Christopher, Daniel, Brian, Crusifikz70, Rollin, Chris N, Fablesrogue, Morgan, Janne, Joseph, Jason, mpop, Riley, bloodylord, Luke, Zachary, Marc, Ziryo, Elliot, Timothy, Leigh, Chris, George, Koby, Dimitria, William, Mauday, Stephane, Ken, Warslick, Paul, Pat, Mitch, Joel, Warren, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing. Additional thanks go to the incomparable LogicalPremise for his amazing set of references covering many untouched facets of the Mass Effect universe, as well as listening to me ramble about ideas for the future of this story.
"What I was before no longer matters; I now exist solely to speak for the Old Growth. And you are all trespassers before it." The thorian's thrall stared at Harry and his companions with dead, dispassionate eyes for several seconds… before letting out a bark of laughter and shifting her stance, her body language shifting dramatically as she became significantly more animated. "Goddess, the look on your faces. Wait, it's 'goddess', right? The turians that I absorbed didn't know much about humans apart from how to kill them, but seeing as how you're traveling with a group of asari…"
Harry exchanged an uncertain glance with Deianeira before looking back over at the arboreal being, his wand never wavering as he kept it trained on the unknown alien woman. As he'd somewhat expected from a thorian thrall, it was clearly constructed from various kinds of plant material… wood, vines, moss, and even some flowers. She stood roughly his height, with vaguely human - or asari - features and a body that was more than superficially similar to an asari or human woman's. But apart from the materials that she was composed of, there were other obvious signs of inhumanity: her pitch black eyes, and the pair of mossy tentacles emerging from the back of her head where a human would have hair or an asari would sport crests. They were markedly longer than even Epipsychidion's extended crests, and significantly thicker as well. They reminded Harry a bit of twin tails and made him wonder what sort of purpose they might have served for the original being that the thorian was now mimicking. "I guess I'll take goddess. The STG's files were light on information about sequestration and thorian thralls… is there anything left of the original being or am I addressing the thorian directly? Are you… it?"
Sketching a bow, the woman straightened back up and then ran her hands over the tops of the twin tails emerging from her head slowly. "After a fashion. I would joke that I once bit off more than I could chew, but I learned long ago that you lesser beings find jokes about my nature to be distasteful. But yes, I was and largely remain the one known as Lost-Translations-of-Quantum-Foam." Given her lack of clearly delineated irises or pupils, it was difficult for Harry to tell exactly where Lost… Quana, he decided. Quana in his head if not aloud - at least for now - and he'd use female pronouns just like with the asari. Even if the thorian's thrall wasn't female in the strictest sense, she appeared close enough for it to be appropriate. Without distinct pupils or irises, it was difficult for Harry to tell where Quana was looking but he got the distinct sense that he was being looked up and down slowly. "You're well prepared for me. Far better prepared than the turians who came before you. Am I not the only one of my kind who survived, then?"
Well, that crossed one item off of the list of things that the matriarchy wanted to know: however the thorians communicated with each other over a distance, it wasn't innate to the thorians themselves and therefore not something that could be bred into a new strain of Sylléktries to enhance coordination when the inevitable Reaper invasion disrupted communication networks. Otherwise, this thorian obviously would have known that… "There's at least two more living thorians that we know of, and a third that may or may not still be alive. Also, we're prepared because you interacted with the protheans and we have their records on it." Harry shrugged, gesturing to the tower around him. "Personally, after reading what the protheans wrote about you? I can understand why the matriarchy left you alone all these years. But now that you're running into other Council races, we're pretty much out of time. Make contact now while we can still operate in secret, or leave you to the rest of the galaxy."
"The protheans?" Quana cocked her head to the side curiously, thinking for several moments before making an excited burbling noise. "Oh, the sethani. If that's how you know about me, then I can understand your caution. We didn't exactly have the best of relationships. Mostly because I wanted nothing to do with them, but they kept poking and prodding at me anyway. They were just so… uniform. Boring. Uninspiring. They had nothing to contribute to my whole, especially after they began dominating the lesser species of their cycle and forcing them into homogeny. Their husk forms under Reaper control are actually more interesting to me than who they originally were. Pathetic, isn't it?"
Their husked forms… oh, the Collectors. They were more interesting to the thorian than the protheans had been? The thorian had been in contact with the Collectors? The more Quana spoke, the more questions Harry had… but he also had a mission to accomplish. Picking the thorian's brain at length could come some time after they established some sort of rapport with the ancient being. "You're very… very… you're not what I expected, in all honesty, based on the videos of a thorian that we found in the STG archives. You're so…"
Quana arched one lumpy, moss-covered brow at Harry's fumbling. "Cordial, predictable, fathomable, relatable?" Harry shrugged; any of those would do. "Actually, since you seem intent on talking to me for some reason… what the hell? It must have been something I ate." The woman broke into peals of laughter at the disgusted look on Harry's face before shrugging helplessly. "I am what I am; I'm not going to be ashamed for it. Twenty thousand years ago, the Collectors visited this world to recover a piece from one Reaper wreck in particular. I figured that anything they were showing that kind of interest in must be important, and so I tried to stop them. The ensuing battle cost me many of my Spheres of Thought, causing significant… you would consider it neurological damage. So as I said, while I'm still mostly who I was before? I chose to cannibalize my last remaining thrall to repair some of the cognitive gaps left behind after the attack. Not that it bothers me terribly much; she was easily my favorite of all the beings under my control at the time. One might say I found her… enthralling?"
Merlin. He was standing before a being that had seen the rise and falls of dozens of civilizations, surviving not a mere one or two but three complete purges of the galaxy's sentient life forms… and it was making terrible puns to him. What even was his life anymore? One particular part of that explanation caught Harry's attention, though. "Twenty thousand years ago? So you had access to other species after the protheans died off but before the asari reached space? How?"
"The protheans had their pet projects… the asari, the hanar, your species to an extent… and I have mine." An ambulatory vine reached out, gently stroking down the length of the strange tails emerging from the back of Quana's head as she smiled at Harry. "In my case, I was smart enough to isolate them from the relay network and warn them of the dangers of leaving their system by Reaper-detectable means. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to encounter them some day, but forgive me for saying that I hope you don't. It's nothing personal, mind you, I just want someone left behind to continue caring for me after the species of this cycle are inevitably wiped from existence." Quana hummed softly before slipping around and past Harry, looking over his companions critically before returning her attention to him. "Based on the knowledge that I absorbed from those turians, I recognize all of their weapons. Heavily modified, but still obviously asari designs. You? You wield a stick. You're carrying a pistol, but keep it holstered in favor of that stick. Why?"
Harry glanced over at Deianeira, only to have the grand master raise her free hand in surrender and then take a step back and away from him. She kept her weapon at the ready and trained in Quana's general direction, but was leaving him to face the thorian's thrall alone. For a moment, he found himself feeling betrayed and abandoned, only to realize that this was literally why they'd brought him along. Why Luciana had assigned the mission to the Fedelma and its crew. They thought that he could handle a situation like this better than literally anyone else in the Collective, or at least anyone in the Collective capable of leaving Óasi easily. Deianeira wasn't abandoning him, she was turning complete control of the situation over to him. And so with that in mind, Harry stepped forward and relaxed his grip on his wand a bit as he held it out for Quana's inspection. "Even after living with them for a year, the Collective's best scientists still can't explain how I can do most of what I can do. I guess the best way to put it is that I'm able to manipulate some sort of underlying energy that permeates the universe and-"
"You're a witch?" The faint snicker that escaped Harry made Quana tilt her head to one side as she studied him, frowning faintly. "One of the turians had a passion for asari mythology. They have stories about beings with fantastic powers that sound like what you're describing, something the turians themselves lack as a people. But I'm guessing from your reaction that the way the asari word translated for you isn't quite right, is it?"
Harry chuckled again before shaking his head, spinning his wand idly as he looked for something suitable to demonstrate his powers on. Given that the thorian's growth covered most visible surfaces inside the tower, it wasn't easy. "Because most asari express in a way that other species find feminine, omni-tools tend to translate asari words into a gendered language's feminine equivalent." Adikia had drilled that explanation into his head more than once, and he'd nailed the recitation perfectly. Go him. "The asari 'mágissa' translates into English as 'witch'. The word you're looking for in my case is 'wizard'."
Mouthing both English words silently as she tested them out, Quana nodded decisively after a few seconds. "Wizard, then. The term is new to me, but what the concept that it represents isn't. At least two of the thrall races we reigned over had members with abilities similar to yours, and the inusannon knew of a third species." Oh. Well then. So much for his need to demonstrate what he could do. "Given that the turians didn't know anything about your kind, I'm assuming you hide yourselves away like the empowered among our thralls. Are humans the only race of this cycle with your abilities?"
Opening his mouth to respond, Harry found himself pausing as he thought the question over. Assuming that they weren't extinct and he and Luna weren't the last of their kind, witches and wizards were still hiding themselves away from humanity at large even as they spread out among the stars. The Sylléktries hadn't known about magic until they'd stumbled over him. Were humans the only species with magic? Or were there magical asari - and perhaps magical members of other Council races - out there who were just as good at hiding themselves away as the human wizarding world was? "As far as we know? Yes. But then again, the Sylléktries didn't know about my kind until they met me. So who knows?"
"It never ceases to amaze me, that certain things manage to continually repeat themselves cycle after cycle…" Quana trailed off, staring at Harry thoughtfully for several seconds before shaking her head to clear it. "At any rate, we've established what you are but not who you are… or why you are here. Tell me."
He hadn't, had he? And she'd been a perfectly gracious host, introducing herself first and everything. Well, she'd introduced herself in a roundabout way, but at least she'd done it. Harry took a step back before sketching a bow, twirling his wand lightly in his fingers and creating a spray of purple and gold sparks around his body as he did. "Harry Potter, at your service. My imposing companion here is Deianeira T'Samados, grand master of marines aboard the Fedelma. The others are ranking marines from our ship, here to serve as my… guards for lack of a better term. As for why we're here? To talk to you, essentially. We're hoping to negotiate an exchange of information, in any field that you're willing to offer. The Collective is obviously interested in learning more about thorian and inusannon technology, but the fact that you've actually seen the Reapers firsthand means that you have knowledge that would be more invaluable than any piece of technology on this planet."
Quana let out a soft hum as she made her way back over to the Tunnel of Life, running her hand over it slowly. "The sethani just wanted my help understanding the technology they found on this world, but had nothing to offer me in return. The turians didn't even understand what they'd discovered." Spinning back around, she quickly closed the distance between them and offered a smile full of teeth that seemed unnecessarily sharp for a being that probably didn't even eat. "Right then. I'll make you the same offer that I've made every species that I've encountered since the end of my race's cycle. You mentioned wanting to 'negotiate an exchange'? Well, you have nothing of value to offer me when it comes to technology or scientific knowledge. After all, if you did then you wouldn't be here asking for my help. At the same time, that doesn't mean you don't have anything that I want. I'm bored, Harry Potter, and horribly stagnant. Apart from when my thralls visit me to deliver necessary supplies and materials, I'm all alone on this world. Even when they do, it is a business-like exchange. It leaves me craving stimulation. New thoughts. New ideas. So in exchange for what you want from me, I want one of two things. Either one of you can volunteer to be sequestrated so that I can absorb your essence into myself and expand my mind further… or you can try to best my thralls in combat. Impress me in some fashion, and I'll give you what you want."
Before Harry could even contemplate the offer that Quana had made him much less formulate a response, Philaenisa decided to share her two knuts worth. "If we really want to impress her, we should have Captain Allura drop a bed and some other essentials, then leave Harry alone with her for a few hours. Seems to work with everyone else."
Harry let out a groan, his hand bouncing off the faceplate of his helmet as he tried to reach up and pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Because of course Thalestris had her own thoughts to share on Philaenisa's suggestions. "So what, if you can't have him, none of us can?"
"What? No! And who says I'm not going to have some of him when you and Adikia are done?"
"There's not going to be anything left to have if you throw him at the woman who is literally full of toxins and acid!"
"Says who? You've seen what his magic can do, he can probably figure something out." Philaenisa let out a grunt as Thalestris elbowed her in the side, shoving the slightly taller asari away before catching Harry's eye and waving in the thorian's direction. "So, do you want us to leave you two alone? I feel like you're used to having an audience by now…"
Closing his eyes, Harry took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly before turning to face forward again and opening his eyes. "Well, considering that we know exactly how you kind works… I'm sure you'll understand when I say that the sequestration option is pretty much a non-starter for us?" Quana offered a lackadaisical shrug; taking that to mean that she wasn't offended by his refusal, Harry let out a quiet sigh of relief before pushing on. "When you talk about besting your thralls, do you mean some sort of duel or other ritual combat, or-"
Quana loosed something a bit higher than a chuckle but not quite an outright giggle as she took a step backward and spread her arms, a wet splat heralding the delivery of another thorian thrall via the creature's Tunnel of Life. And then another, and another, and another, the green beings slowly shambling forward to create a line behind her. Most of them were recognizable as corrupted turian forms, along with one batarian - perhaps the Blackwatch unit had employed a guide? - and one being that Harry didn't recognize any more than he did the form that Quana was using to interact with them. "A fight to the death. Kill or be killed. Compared to the true extent of what I am, these thralls are but poor shadows… but besting them would prove that you're worthy of my attention. Although if you fail like the turians did, I'll probably still absorb your corpses out of curiosity. Even if you're not worthy to learn my secrets, you might still prove interesting." Making her way over to join the leftmost end of the line of thralls, Quana spun around to face Harry and arched a brow. "What do you say? Think you're up to the challenge?"
While Harry was definitely no stranger to mortal peril, and he'd long ago lost the aversion to killing in combat that Dumbledore had fostered in all those around him? It by no means meant killing came easily to him, even if his opponents were nothing more than soulless golems controlled by their creator. "Those are my only two options? You can't… I don't know, send one of your thralls with us to learn more about us? You did say you were interested in our culture, after all."
"Why should I expend energy so that you can prove your worth to me? Especially when you're the one who wants something from me?"
"…that's fair. And out of curiosity, what if I choose to just walk away from you? Would you let us leave?"
"Why wouldn't I? You and yours didn't stumble upon me; you quite clearly knew exactly where my Tunnel of Life and Spheres of Thought were located. Combining that with the fact that you have a ship in orbit and presumably more where it came from? If I tried to kill you to preserve my secret, your people would just fire on me from orbit the way the Collectors did and look how that ended for me." Quana crossed her arms over chest before huffing and tossing her head, making the twin tendrils growing from the back of her head sway from side to side. "I'm an older and significantly superior life form who thinks that it's my biological imperative to cultivate and rule over lesser species like yours, Harry. I may be arrogant and rightfully so, but I'm not an idiot."
Fair enough. Harry shot an uncertain look over at Deianeira, hoping to receive some sort of input on the situation, but received only a shrug in return from the grand master. So the decision was solely and entirely his, then. Lovely. Probably because she knew that he was too noble to do something like tell Quana 'sure, fight these asari while I watch'. Turning his attention back to the thorian's avatar and her assembled thralls, he sighed. Given that they were essentially animated plant matter, the assortment of fire and horticultural spells he knew would serve him well. But unless they fought similarly to Death Eaters and took turns attacking him, there was a very real chance that they could overwhelm him in short order. "We haven't done much in the way of group CQC drills yet, so I don't feel comfortable bringing most of you into this. Hale… wanna watch my back?"
Chuckling lowly, Thalestris strode forward as she drew her pistol with one hand and unsheathed her sword with the other. "If you tried to make me sit this out, I'd make you conjure the lumpiest and most uncomfortable couch in existence when we got back so you could sleep on it tonight." Flipping the sword around into the backhand grip that she preferred when combining it with the kanquess, she offered Harry a toothy grin. "Forget having your back, I'm going straight up the middle. How many do you want me to leave you?"
"You'll still have my back if I reach the middle the same time as you. Wanna try out that flaming spear idea that we've been working on?" Harry exchanged wolfish grins with Thalestris before snapping his wand up. Sending a cone of flames racing into the center of the thorian thralls, Harry watched his companion rocket forward in the blue flicker of a spear kanquess, colliding with one of the thralls and destroying it utterly upon arrival as she cleared a space for him. Apparating into the gap, he pressed his back against Thalestris's before reaching back to rest his free hand on her hip so that he could guide her through pivoting into a position that gave him an optimal line of fire. "So if sparring is foreplay to you, what's this?"
"Tonight's going to be the night we see if that Unbreakable Charm you put on our bed actually lives up to its name."