Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.

Rewrite Notes: Still inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce.

Author's Notes: None

Revision History: 10/20/2018

Part 1: Chapter 22::13 Days Post-Awakening: Citadel Part 10

Amanda woke up slowly the next morning, opening her eyes and then rolling onto her back to look across the empty bed. She was alone in the room, the only reminder of Sha'ira's comforting presence during the night the lingering spicy floral scent of the nais's pheromones on the royal blue silken sheets. Sitting up in the bed Shepard glanced down at her omni-bracelet for the time and her brow rose in dismay. She hadn't planned on sleeping in this late, but apparently Sha'ira had felt that letting her sleep as long as she needed was more important than their planned early morning training. Then again, she thought with a slight rueful smile, for all she knew the matron would present her with a completely revised schedule for the day which already accounted for her late rising when she emerged from her room.

Pushing down the sheets and comforter, she slipped her legs over to the side of the bed and sat on the edge. Taking a quick internal check of how she felt, Amanda had to acknowledge that she did feel much better this morning. She was still sad and grieving the end of her relationship with Liara, but those emotions no longer felt as raw and overwhelming as they had last night. Looking around she saw three doors, two of which were open. One led to the sitting room they had talked in last night, which explained how Sha'ira had been able to move her to the bed so quickly. The other door led to a richly appointed bathing room, complete with both a deep, jetted bath in one corner and a waterfall shower in the other. Inside, placed upon the cabinet next to the sink where she would notice them the moment she walked into the bathroom, she found a new asari-style Spectre uniform and underwear for her to wear.

Once she had showered, Amanda checked her still healing skin and was pleased to see looked much better than it had yesterday with no sign of irritation at all around the edges. She changed into the clean Spectre uniform, tucked the hood into her belt, exited the room, and began retracing her way back to the compound's kitchen. She was investigating the refrigerators, searching for something to have for breakfast when Carya came into the room. The maiden looked offended when she explained what she was trying to find and promptly shooed her over to sit at the table while the nais began preparing a breakfast for her.

"Dr. T'Rani's office sent over some nutritional supplements for you," Carya informed her as the maiden placed a full juice glass in front of her, "they will ensure you get all the nutrients you need while your body acclimatizes to your cybernetics." Amanda stared dubiously at the liquid in the glass…which was a brilliant turquoise in color. Upon noticing her expression, Carya laughed, "It is in pelidnon puree, Spectre Shepard, a popular fruit native to Thessia. It is quite pleasing the taste, I assure you."

As the acolyte began cooking at the stove, Amanda took a tentative sip of the juice. It was thick, more like a smoothie than juice, but then the maiden had said this was a fruit puree and not a fruit juice. As for the taste…she took a second sip, then a third as she made up her mind about it. A bit like pear, she finally decided, but mixed with a hint of apple and melon. Not bad at all, she decided as she took another sip, even if the color seemed a bit unusual. Then again, she had seen pictures of Thessia and been amazed at the colorfulness of the plants and trees, so it probably wasn't that unusual to the Asari.

Ten minutes later Carya deftly placed a deep-dish plate in front of her; the deep well in the center filled with a stack of what looked like alternating slices of colorful blue and purple and cream-colored fruit, flat bread and pinkish meat topped with a generous dollop of reddish syrup. "This is anachauros," the maiden informed her as the nais sat down at the table with her, "it's a common breakfast served to Commandos during training or any day they are expecting to utilize their biotics at combat capacity."

"So," Shepard picked up her utensils, a knife and Asari three-pronged fork and began cutting into the stack, "what is everything?" She listened as Carya began describing the various thinly sliced fruits used as she impaled a bite-full of the dish and had her first taste of it. Her first impression of the meal was that it was dense, sweet and savory both, and not something that most humans, unless they were world class athletes or bodybuilders, would probably ever eat. She wouldn't be surprised at all to find out the dish provided three to four thousand calories in one sitting. The meat was smoked cervus meat, a massive, vaguely oxen-like, domesticated horned reptile from Thessia. The reddish syrup over the top was made from the tuwean fruit, a Thessian fruit that grew in the planet's many marshlands. The flatbread was a fiber-rich cake made from the flour and bran of atto, which was similar to Earth's oat grain.

Shepard pushed away from the table with a contented sigh; the anachauros had been excellent, and, contrary to her initial concern at its density, she didn't feel overfull…or at least not uncomfortably overfull. "The Consort will be able to meet with you in approximately thirty minutes," Carya informed her, "she mentioned something about training?"

"Oh," Shepard said in surprise. She honestly had thought that they would not be able to do the training during this visit due to her sleeping late, "That's good news."

"She said that you could wait in the central gathering room until she is free," the maiden dipped her head toward the kitchen doorway, "do you know where it is?"

"Yes," Shepard replied, remembering the sounds of conversation and laughter the night before, "it's just right out the door and then left to the area at the center of the building, right?"

After being politely rebuffed in her efforts to help with the clean-up, Shepard made her way to the common gathering room. She paused just after entering, looking around curiously. Before last night she had never been in the private living quarters area of the compound, only the public part that the Consort used for her business. Her gaze took in the bookcases placed on the side walls in between the two doorways on each side, then the huge display screen on one end of the room. Couches and chairs in blue and cream were placed around the room, forming various conversational areas.

She turned her head and looked toward the far end of the room. Various smaller wind, stringed and percussion musical instruments were displayed in protective glass cases hung upon the wall while their larger cousins were resting in their stands upon the floor. In the left corner was a grand piano, and in the right…a dual yeiattiavo keyboard. Amanda's eyes widened in surprise at seeing the instruments, and the dual keyboard in particular, and she immediately headed to that end of the room.

Stopping in front of the yeiattiavo, Amanda reached out and brushed her fingers over the matte black surface of the keyboard, marveling at how much it looked and felt like the one in her dream. This was the Asari equivalent of the instrument the Prothean musician had been playing in her dream, a fealindale. Stepping around the instrument she sat down on the bench behind it and glanced around for the power switch. There, she found the switch on the right side and powered up the keyboard.

The Asari yeiattiavo, like the Prothean fealindale in her dream was played both by interacting with the keys and with one's biotics. Even sustaining a chord was done with one's biotics instead of with foot pedals as with a piano. Amanda focused on her aura and smiled as she was now able to feel the weak mass effect fields produced by the eezo modules located within the device. The amount of eezo in each module was minuscule, just enough to form a weak mass effect field when electricity was applied to it. Each eezo module, and she could sense fifteen of them, was in essence an input control that she could interact with using her biotics.

She placed her hands on the lower keyboard and began picking out various notes, making sure she knew where the C keys were located and verifying the layout of the keyboard. It was probably a testament to the universality of music that there were only minor differences between the standard key placement of Human, Asari and Prothean keyboards. For this though, Shepard's grey eyes narrowed, she really wanted the Prothean keyboard layout since she would be reaching into those memories to play upon the instrument. She lifted her omni-bracelet, activated the haptic interface and did a search for any open data interface within the immediate area. There it was, she smiled with satisfaction as she identified the manufacturer and make of the instrument and initiated the connection.

After poking around in the interface for a few minutes, she was able to figure out how she could create a custom key layout for herself as well as specifying the biotic input mapping for each eezo module; that included mapping out what instrument sound should correspond to what type of input. Some of the Prothean instruments didn't have direct analogues, in that case she simply chose what she thought would be the closest among the available options. After she was satisfied with her changes, she named the custom layout 'Fealindale' and saved it. Since Sha'ira had given her guest right, hopefully this wouldn't be the only time she was able to play. She activated the layout and then watched with surprise and intrigue as the keyboard's molded matte surface actually rearranged itself to match her custom layout. Ok, Amanda thought after it was done, that was unexpected, but neat. It also made finding the keys much easier, especially since one of the major differences in layout between the fealindale and the yeiattiavo, and the piano for that matter, was that they were laid out for five fingers and the fealindale was laid out for three.

Now finally ready, Amanda focused on her biotics as she placed her hands on the keyboard and reached into her memory of the dream. She started out slowly, getting used to the idea of pressing the keys and using her biotics to manipulate the instruments sensitive mass effect field. As she grew accustomed to playing the keyboard and using her biotics to manipulate it at the same time, her playing became smoother. This had been second nature to the Prothean musician, simple as riding a bike once the skill was mastered…but not so simple for her just yet. As soon as she was able to play some simple chording exercises at proper tempo Amanda stopped and then began playing the same piece as the Prothean musician had been playing in the dream.

Liara would probably be fascinated to hear this, the thought went through her mind and was quickly followed by pain as she realized that she wasn't certain she would ever mention it to the maiden after last night. For one thing it smacked too much of desperation, of dangling something in front of the maiden that she knew would get her full attention, for her pride to rest easy with the idea. Shepard sighed unhappily as she stopped playing, no she probably wouldn't mention anything to Liara about the changes in the Cipher, or at least not mention them anytime soon.

Amanda stared off into space as it hit her how many things she wouldn't be sharing with Liara anymore. The small things like delighting in the maiden's enthusiasm when the nais talked about her archaeological digs or some paper she had just read, and the big things like sharing her hopes and fears with the maiden and having Liara's emotional support behind her when she most needed it as well as being there for Liara in the same way when the maiden needed it. Shepard let out her breath as she pinched her nose, fighting against a sudden urge to cry. Perhaps someday they might share such things again as friends. First though, she knew she needed some time to let go of the desire to share them as lovers rather than friends before they could reach that stage. Her emotions under control again, or at least enough that she wasn't going to start crying, Shepard lowered her hand back to the keyboard. After a moment, her fingers began wandering over the keys, delicately picking out the first bars of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as it seemed to fit her current melancholic mood.

Did that Prothean musician know any music like this, Amanda wondered, as she played the first movement of the Sonata. Did they have slow, sad songs that expressed what they were feeling in their hearts through their music? She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds she was creating as her fingers played the chords and her biotics carefully manipulated the phrasing of it to accentuate the expression of the notes. While doing so she was reaching back into her memory of the dream, focusing on how the Prothean woman had used her biotics to control how the fealindale produced each note. Yes, she had done it exactly this way, Amanda thought as she willingly submerged herself in the Cipher memory…

Alassë closed her eyes and focused on the music. It was especially important to her that she played this perfectly tonight, for this was the first time she would be playing the piece for an audience other than her father. She had composed it almost a year ago following the death of her dear friend and lover, Ayas Keldithas. The man that she had thought she would spend the rest of her life with until he died in the line of duty. Until recently however, she hadn't felt as if she had recovered enough from his death to perform it in public. Now though, although her heart still ached from his loss the pain was no longer so immediate for her.

She began playing slowly at first in a brief, repeating tune, each pensive chord accompanied by muted pulses of dark emerald biotics. Then she began bringing in more complexity to the melody, as well as bringing in the first mournful strains of a diathou, a midrange stringed instrument. The muted pulses of dark emerald around her became interwoven with the slow swirling of a lighter emerald as the diathou's tones carried above the traditional notes of the fealindale. She played, one hand on the upper keyboard and one on the lower, her fingers sliding over the pressure sensitive keys to create the tones. As she finished the first measure, she returned to the simple pensive chording of before, only now with the diathou along with it. This was not the usual complexly layered composition she usually created, but a bare, sparse arrangement with the minimum of instruments.

Again and again she played variations on the melodic line while always returning to the simple pensive refrain, for this is how memory was - always it returned to the loss whenever you thought of the person. Happier memories, thoughts of the future that might have been, all punctuated by the stark reminder that the person in them was gone. There would be no new happy memories, that future would never come about for that person was no longer there to make them with you, build it with you. Three quarters of the way into the piece she shifted the tone, the refrain shifting from pensive to gently melancholic. The dark green of the chords also lightened to deep emerald as the tune shifted from mourning, from grieving the loss, to a measure of acceptance of it. She dropped out the diathou near the end, letting the piece quietly end on the same three chords as it had begun…only now they conveyed a farewell. She let the emerald of her biotics die away, bowed her head for a quiet moment with all four of her eyes closed then lifted her chin and opened them.

Alassë was expecting to see the darkened auditorium in which she had begun, but instead to her shocked surprise she was in an entirely different location. She was in a room, a much smaller one and instead of her audience she only saw three unfamiliar blue-hued aliens that from their appearance were mammalian-type females. The one in front was wearing a long flowing garment while the other two were in armor. The Prothean female frowned, it was not Empire armor either for it was completely of the wrong design and color. Before she could utter the question forming on her tongue, 'Who are you and where am I?', the lead alien spoke an unintelligible word to her…or was it? The sound seemed oddly familiar to the musician and she frowned at the blue alien in confusion as she tried to place it….

The blue alien female repeated the word she had spoken before, only in a more concerned tone. "Amanda?"

Shepard shook her head slightly trying to clear it as the Cipher memory receded into the background. "Sha'ira," she finally replied as her mind cleared and she knew who and where she was…and who were the other two 'aliens' who had just witnessed what had happened to her. Just fucking lovely, Shepard thought to herself, she wasn't certain what the Council would do if they realized the extent to which these Cipher memories affected her - especially the first time she experienced them.

"Tela," she met the matron's sharply inquisitive gaze, then shifted over to the half-foot taller asari next to her who was also regarding her with keen interest, "Alena." Try to bluff it out or give them just enough of the truth? Shepard pondered the question as she noted Vasir's crossed arms and M'Tara's fisted hands on her hips. Not as defensive as the day before since neither was barriered, but definitely suspicious. She really wished she had considered that there might be more than one memory in the Cipher of the musician before she started playing. Nothing to do about it now though other than damage control. Oh well, Shepard wryly thought to herself, at least she knew the Prothean female's name now, it was Alassë Lanthoryl.

"Interesting," Alena spoke first, her purple-eyed gaze intent on Shepard as she commented, "the last time I felt something like that it was while two other asari were melding." Shepard tilted her head to the side in bemusement as she focused on the tall lavender-hued asari. That was rather interesting to know, it might even be an important clue to how her mind interacted with the Cipher and what was happening the first time she accessed a memory. On the downside, it also meant that attempting to just brush this off would probably not work out very well for her.

Her attention shifted to Sha'ira as the Consort moved closer, stopping just on the other side of the yeiattiavo. The matron looked down at the custom layout of the keyboard and remarked, "This is laid out for a three fingered hand."

Exactly how long had they been watching, Shepard wondered as she replied, "Yes, the Protheans were three fingered like Quarians and Turians."

Past Sha'ira, Tela shifted her stance, drawing Shepard's attention to the medium-blue nais. Vasir eyed her shrewdly for a long silent moment. Finally, the asari stated, "You didn't know who we were for a moment did you?"

And there the question was, thought Shepard as she steadily met her fellow Spectre's brown-eyed gaze. "The memories are very intense the first time I experience them," she offered part of the truth. It might be enough to satisfy them…

The look Vasir gave her then, with raised brows and a clear - bullshit - look, let her know that the nais was definitely not buying it. She glanced over at M'Tara, the taller asari was also giving her the raised brows look, only the matron was also smirking at her, probably for even trying to get that past them in the first place.

Shepard grimaced, yea well she hadn't really expected that to entirely work. It was just that she really hadn't wanted to get into this damnit. "The memory is very intense," she emphasized, "since I essentially re-live it the first time. After that though recalling it is just like recalling my own memories." Sha'ira's eyes narrowed at that admission, but thankfully the Consort was in front of the two Spectres so they didn't see her reaction. Shepard waited for a moment to see if Sha'ira would say anything but the matron didn't, keeping yesterday's confession that Shepard's own memories were rather Drell like now to herself - at least for right now.

"Re-live?" Tela repeated, looking intrigued, then her gaze sharpened, "that looked like a bit more than mere re-living."

"There is a short period of…" Shepard paused thinking of what word to use, "disorientation I guess, when the memory ends and I'm still partially caught up in it. It usually only lasts a few seconds." She quite intentionally left out the part where she sometimes wandered around still thinking she was the person in the memory until something jarred her out of it…like what had just happened with Sha'ira calling her name. If that got back to the Council she could probably kiss her chances of getting back to the ship today, or anytime soon, goodbye.

"Hmm," Tela responded, her expression somewhere between bemused and dubious as she regarded Shepard. "So, you actually believe you're the Prothean in the memory? You have no sense of your own identity while you are accessing the memory?"

"None," Shepard firmly replied, "the first time I access one of the stored beacon messages I'm completely immersed in it to the exclusion of everything else."

Alena's brow furrowed as the nais frowned at her, looking rather concerned, "You have no awareness of your actual surroundings? That could be very dangerous."

Shepard turned to the tall asari, "I'm quite aware," she replied, "I do not make any attempts to go looking for memories unless I'm in a safe location."

"So, what happened here?" Tela immediately pounced on the perceived opening.

"The same memory I spoke of yesterday," Shepard returned her attention to Vasir, "I was attempting to access it in order to recall how to play the fealindale which is very similar to this yeiattiavo." A smile tugged at her lips as all three matron's eyes immediately focused on the instrument, they were intrigued she could tell with the bits and pieces of Prothean information she kept parceling out. It was an excellent distraction tactic to keep them from focusing on the contents of the memory rather than the specifics of how she remembered it. Did she feel at all guilty about it? Maybe concerning Sha'ira, but after the other two's antics yesterday she felt not a bit of guilt about turning the tables on them. Turnabout was fair play after all.

"Then the memory you accessed was not the one that you intended?" Sha'ira asked before the other two nais said anything.

"No, it wasn't," Amanda shifted her gaze to the matron standing on the other side of the yeiattiavo, "I was wondering if they had any music like our Moonlight Sonata…" she hesitated for a moment, quibbling in her mind over whether or not to be more specific, then added, "specifically the first movement."

Sha'ira's gaze softened in compassion as the nais regarded her, then she inclined her head in understanding. "And that was enough to trigger a different memory…" the Consort said thoughtfully, then, "what song was that you were playing then?"

"I was actually playing?" Amanda asked curiously, she hadn't been actually sure if she had been playing or if she had stopped as soon as the memory began.

"Yes," Alena responded before Sha'ira could, "along with quite the biotic light show to accompany it."

Shepard glanced past Sha'ira to the taller of the two nais standing behind her. "Not really," she demurred, thinking of how simple the composition had been compared to the piece she had heard in the first Alassë memory, "'Farewell Beloved' is pretty minimalist compared to 'An Afternoon Thunderstorm'."

One of M'Tara's brows rose at the reply, "I'll take your word for it."

"'Farewell Beloved'," Sha'ira repeated softly, but with a hint of a question in her tone.

"Her fiancé, Ayas Keldithas, died a year before the time of the memory," Shepard responded. "Alassë Lanthoryl was a gifted composer and musician, and that was the composition she created to help her deal with her grief and come to an acceptance of his loss."

Sha'ira looked thoughtful, "Would you mind playing it for us again?" Amanda gave Sha'ira an inquiring look as did Tela and Alena behind her. The Consort smiled at her, "I would like to hear it again, but also I would like to see how the effects on your aura are different this time." She frowned slightly, "I am trying to get a better understanding of how these memories are affecting you. As Spectre M'Tara said, the effects on your aura were particularly pronounced when you experienced the memory." Sha'ira paused for a moment and then added in a bemused tone, "To a point that honestly I would not have believed possible of just a memory if I had not felt the difference in your aura for myself."

"You're thinking that every time she recalls a new memory it's a new deep memory imprint?" Tela questioned with a concerned looking frown.

Alena frowned as well, a look of concern crossing her face, "So what does that mean for her zeukeso? Especially if she keeps getting new memory imprints?"

The Consort turned to glance the tall asari's way as she answered, "That she will need to meditate more frequently than she would have had to otherwise." That didn't sound so bad, Shepard mused, she still had some slack time in her daily schedule. "However," Sha'ira continued, "I will have a better idea after she interacts with those memories a second time."

Tela chuckled as she looked over at Shepard and commented, "I believe that sounds like your cue to start playing before we can think up any more questions to ask."

"I believe it does," Shepard agreed as she resettled herself upon the bench to play, "Alright, 'Namarië Melda' or 'Farewell Beloved'." She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to ignore the fact that she had three sets of inquisitive eyes and their matching inquisitive aura's all focused on her as she carefully focused solely on the memory she wanted…this was definitely not the time to accidentally find yet another Alassë memory.

She focused on the yeiattiavo, sensing its weak mass effect field controls and began with the first three slow notes. Letting them fall like three separate drops onto a smooth, still pool. After that it was easy to submerge herself into the memory and into the emotions - loss, regret, and grief - that the piece drew forth from her until it ended on the same three notes. It wasn't until then that Amanda realized that the second time through the lament had been one time too many for her tenuous emotional control. As the sense of Alassë, her thoughts and knowledge, faded away she became aware of the tears slipping from her eyes.

Spice and flowers filled her nose and then Sha'ira's arms wrapped around her from behind as the matron pulled her into a comforting embrace. No, Amanda thought, as she fought against her grief, she did not want to do this in front of the other two Spectres. Sha'ira she was comfortable with, but not the other two asari…

A moment later she felt a hand smooth over her head and then to her surprise heard Tela's voice beside her, "Let out your grief Amanda and do not feel embarrassed for it, for there is no reason to be," the nais sighed, "it's not as if either Alena or I haven't had our share of it over the course of our lives."

Once she got over her surprise, Shepard's next thought was how had the other Spectre even known what had happened last night. Had someone listened into her and Liara's very private conversation the night before? She stiffened as she opened her eyes to glare at the two Spectres through her tears in a confused mix of anger, hurt and betrayal.

"Before you get too upset with anyone," Alena quickly commented before Amanda actually made any accusations, "you should know that all confidential Consort communications have to be authorized and then officially setup and taken down once they are completed. We were informed this morning that you had spoken to Maiden Liara T'Soni under Consort Sha'ira's seal of confidentiality after we left last night. We had hoped for your sake that…" the tall asari paused, her expression softening as the nais regarded Shepard. The naturally marked matron did not actually finish her sentence, instead returning to the topic of the call itself, "Your call was not monitored Amanda, it was simply not difficult for us to guess why you would call the maiden."

"Oh…" Shepard's shoulders slumped as all the anger abruptly drained out of her leaving a confused morass of grief and still lingering feelings of hurt and betrayal. No, provided you already knew they had been lovers it wouldn't be that difficult to guess what would be the topic of conversation. "Sorry," she fought through her feelings to meet both of their gazes and apologize to the both of them for making the unsubstantiated leap in logic in the first place, "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Vasir gave her a contemplative look and then said, "Given your unfamiliarity with the process it is understandable that you would wonder how we knew about the call in the first place." The matron paused for a long moment, then finally added in a gentler tone, "Just in the future I would request that you ask before thinking the worst of us please."

Amanda immediately felt even more guilty. Before she could reiterate her apology though Alena spoke up, "Don't worry about it so much," the tall nais kindly, but firmly advised as she rolled her shoulders in an asari shrug. "Tela and I will give you two sometime alone. Join us for tea when you feel up to it," the tall asari inclined her head toward the other end of the room. Shepard glanced over that way to see Carya setting up a tea service for them. She had been so caught up in the conversation that she hadn't even noticed the acolyte entering the room.

"Alight," she replied, and as the tall asari turned added, "thank you." Alena paused, gave her a slight smile and reassuring look before taking a few long strides to catch up to Tela who was already headed in that direction. Shepard stared after them in bemusement, she hadn't expected them to show her so much kindness. It was surprising to say the least, but part of her had to wonder where they had been two years ago when she had been floundering so badly while chasing after Saren.

Pressure on the top of her head brought Amanda out of her thoughts, "I do apologize Amanda," Sha'ira said very quietly. The matron's voice seemed right above her ear and Shepard realized that the nais must be resting her cheek upon her head. "I let my fascination with the changes to your aura," Sha'ira continued, "and my concern for how it might affect your zeukeso blind me to the probably that the song would deeply affect you."

"I didn't think about it either," Amanda ruefully admitted as she carefully wiped her tears away with her fingers, "and I knew how close my emotions were to the surface this morning." She rested her hands on Sha'ira's arms wrapped around her and settled back against the matron's body behind her. She needed to join the other two Spectres and get started on the day…but she could let her ragged emotions be soothed by the Consort's touch for at least another few minutes. Finally, she squeezed Sha'ira's forearms underneath her hands, signaling to the matron that she was ready to be released. The light pressure on the top of her head went away as the nais behind her straightened up and then released her, stepping back so she could rise from the yeiattiavo's bench.

The two of them joined Tela and Alena at the table, Amanda pausing for a moment to pour tea for both her and Sha'ira before sitting down as a way of thanking the matron. Shepard brought the delicate cup to her lips and took sip of the tea, savoring the fragrant scent and taste of it as she ordered her thoughts. She turned her attention to Sha'ira, "So what did you sense when I played?"

The Consort's blue eyes narrowed contemplatively over her own teacup as she took a sip. "That your aura both felt as if were shifting," she responded, "as I would expect in a case of severe zeukeso, and as if you were melding with someone, though not as strongly as before." The matron didn't say anything else for a moment, but then she added, "It was very unique, I cannot say that I have ever felt anything quite like it before."

"It still felt as if I were melding?" Shepard hadn't expected that, "But I knew it was just a memory. I mean I was really focused on it to know how to play, but I never lost awareness of myself or of my surroundings."

"That may be," Alena added her observation, "But Sha'ira is correct, it did feel exactly like that…very odd."

Shepard thought about that for a few moments, "Maybe it's due to the beacon messages in my mind being stored in the same physical location as they would be for an Asari?" She indicated herself, "But obviously I'm not one so my mind isn't making the same type of connection to it?" She thought back to the scan Dr. Chakwas had done, "In the brain activity scan that was done, when I thought of the memories that area was activated so there are memory pathways linked to it."

"That maybe it," Tela responded thoughtfully, "but sometimes your aura just shifts. We were near enough yesterday that we would have definitely noticed if your aura felt like it just did when you played for us." Interesting Shepard thought, there was one time yesterday when they might have felt it, but they hadn't been in the room with her when Anderson revealed that the Collectors might have once been Prothean. Thalion had come forward very strongly for a moment before she had wrested back control of herself.

Sha'ira inclined her head in agreement with Vasir and then added, "When you spoke to me yesterday and your aura shifted, it did not feel as if you were melding with anyone."

"So, what is the difference?" Tela looked over at Shepard inquiringly as she asked the question.

The last thing Shepard wanted to admit was that the difference was that as far as she was aware she hadn't been accessing any Prothean memories at the time. No, in each of those instances it had felt as if the Protheans in question had been standing beside or behind her and directly speaking to her. "Those weren't full memories," she said, sticking as close to the truth as possible, "or rather I wasn't focusing on the memories."

Tela gave her a slightly suspicious look but then Sha'ira mused, "Memories of memories? That might explain the difference."

Shepard focused on the Consort, ignoring how Tela was studying her, "My own memories of those memories, ones stored where their supposed to be for a human you mean?"

"Perhaps, Sha'ira said, deep in thought, "that would account for it feeling like zeukeso as well. In any case though, we need to move onto the training." She twisted her wrist and glanced at the golden omni-bracelet she was wearing, "We only have just enough time left to cover the remainder of what you need to know to begin your meditation practice."

At least she didn't need to take notes anymore Shepard mused as Sha'ira began discussing the specific characteristics of the memories she should chose to meditate upon.