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: Happy New Year everyone. Also, only one more chapter left in Part 1.

Revision History: 12/31/2018

Part 1: Chapter 23::13 Days Post-Awakening: Citadel Part 11

As soon as she phased in from her flash-step, and the walls and floor of the Republic Embassy's biotic practice arena resolved into view Tela shifted her weight to her back leg and lifted her right knee in preparation for a snap roundhouse kick only to hesitate as the nais realized her opponent was not in fact standing right in front of her. Sometime within the faction of a second it had taken her to flash-step across the width of the arena Shepard had moved, but where? Tela instantly focused on her aura, knowing that she could sense if the human was near with it quicker than she could by actually looking around. Out of the corner of her eye Vasir caught a flash of movement on her right about the same time she sensed the human with her aura. Instincts finely honed over centuries of combat prompted the asari Spectre to instantly shift to a more defensive stance and shield along her upraised knee and arm just in time to defend herself from Shepard's own roundhouse kick. That same instinct also enabled the Commando matron to repulse the human's attack with a with a perfectly timed biotic pulse. The result was that Shepard's leg, which should have slammed into Vasir's shielded forearm with a noticeable amount of biotically-enhanced power behind it, instead forcefully rebounded, sending the human spinning away from the asari.

That should have been enough to create a brief opening in Shepard's defenses; to perhaps knock the human off her feet, or at least cause her to reel back as her leg was repulsed. Vasir was certain that with any other human her counter would have indeed had just that effect. Shepard, however, seemed well prepared for it, flowing gracefully with the force of the pulse and actually using the momentum to open a distance between them before settling back into a defensive stance. Vasir had to give the human Spectre this, Shepard was quick, Huntress quick, and Tela suspected that the human had been using her biotics to make herself quicker and stronger for far longer than she had access to these Prothean memories. Vasir was almost certain that whatever skills Shepard had learned from the Cipher had only honed the human's ability to use dark energy to augment her physical reactions, her speed and strength, in the same way that young Huntresses trainees were taught to use it.

"Much better," Vasir praised Shepard, "your aura didn't shift at all that time."

One of Shepard's dark brow's rose and her reddish-pink lips curved as her expression lightened, showed her pleasure at the Senior Spectre's comment. "Good to know," Amanda responded, "I guess I've actually absorbed more than I thought from Thalion and the others." A small frown creased her brow, "Though I have to admit, even though I've not had these memories for very long, I've already gotten used to pulling on them for their expertise… especially when I'm in combat. It's a bit of a struggle not to reflexively do that."

Alena spoke up from where she was leaning against the right-hand side wall, "Then now is a very good time to stop before it turns into a habit."

"Alena's right," Tela immediately backed-up her friend, "the longer you rely on them as an aide the more difficult it will be to keep yourself from pulling", she found Amanda's use of that particular word instead of another, such as accessing intriguing, "on those memories in the middle of combat. And you especially do not want to pull on those memories around any Asari." Tela smirked at the human, "The shifts in your aura when you do are so obvious that even a child would notice it."

"And while a child would just be curious about what they had just sensed," M'Tara picked up the conversational thread, "any nearby adults would immediately seek to identify whose aura had just fluctuated in such an odd manner and start wondering why it had occurred."

"Yea, yea, yea," Shepard turned her head slightly, just enough to glance toward Alena, "really, I get it. Don't touch the memories around Asari unless I want them all stopping and staring at me wondering what in world was going on with me. And since I'm trying to stay under the radar out there that's the last thing I need."

"Indeed," Tela's expression turned serious, "because the next thing any Asari would wonder was how a human could possibly know all the biotic techniques they just saw you use and why you had such a unique aura. You would quickly become the object of intense scrutiny."

"Unique aura?" Shepard frowned, appearing both puzzled and concerned, "Sha'ira mentioned last night that my aura had changed from two years ago."

"I'm not an expert on reading auras," Vasir felt compelled to admit as she responded, "at least not compared to a fully trained Consort or Matriarch. I can however, tell that you have far more life experiences than any almost any other human I have ever met…and those few were clearly among your race's Matriarchs."

"Just in case that didn't make it clear," M'Tara added with a brief smirk, "what Tela means is you feel much older than you should feel." The tall nais' expression turned more serious, "It wouldn't be unusual if your aura belonged to a more adventuresome maiden or Huntress with nearly two centuries of experience, but to a human of only three decades?"

"Oh," Shepard's tone was flat as she absorbed that piece of unwelcome information. "So…" Shepard drew out the word after a moment of silence, "what about the Warlords who will know that I'm human?"

"Oh, they'll definitely be interested in you," Alena smirked as she drawled her response, "but you will have Councilor Tevos' personal backing and they will assume that she knows the reason behind it." The tall asari Spectre paused a second and then added, "Correctly, as a matter of fact since the Matriarch does know the reason behind it."

Tela sighed as she rolled her shoulders in a shrug, "You might as well give up on the idea that they won't be intensely curious about you - they will be. What you wanted was for them not to attack you or your crew as soon as you cross over into League territory. With the Council not only reinstating your status as a Spectre, but also tacitly backing your mission they at least won't do that."

Shepard echoed her sigh as she nodded with evident reluctance, "True, that is all I wanted, but I wouldn't have minded a bit of true anonymity as well."

Tela actually laughed at that, though not unkindly, as she regarded the human. "Not likely, but perhaps you will be fortunate and they at least won't be overt about it." The matron sympathized, but it was not very realistic of Shepard to think that the League Warlords wouldn't be keeping a very close eye on her and her crew's activities.

Throughout the entire conversation between the three of them, it hadn't escaped Vasir's notice that Shepard had kept up her guard, remaining watchful and wary of her. The nais' dark blue lips curved up in a smirk, well who was she to disappoint? The two-story, ten-meter tall biotic practice arena within the Asari Republics Embassy on the Presidium they were sparring within was quite sizable at fifty meters by fifty meters square. It had advanced biotic dampeners built into the walls, ceiling and floor, but those were not needed today as they were only utilizing defensive and close quarters combat biotic techniques. Vasir flicked her gaze upward, past the viewing balcony at the first story level of the room, which was inset into the wall and behind a shimmering barrier for safety, to the ceiling. The nais near instantly measured the intervening space above her and then flash-stepped.

The asari Senior Spectre came out of it in mid-air, lightening her body mass with her biotics while letting her forward momentum carry her higher toward the ceiling. It gave Vasir a few more seconds to locate Shepard, which wasn't hard given that the human hadn't yet moved. Tela's brown eyes narrowed, the nais knew full well by now not to expect Shepard to kindly remain there, so the question was where would the human go next? Taking a gamble, the matron flash-stepped again, from mid-air to the far side of the sparring arena. Her brown eyes darted around the arena, seeking Shepard, only for her brows to lower in confusion at seeing that the human was still standing in the center of the arena. What was Amanda up to? Certainly, it wasn't that she couldn't have flash-stepped within the same time period.

After taking about ten minutes to lecture Shepard about the reckless of flash-stepping too close to an object when not absolutely needed, and sharing a few horror stories of promising maidens whose lives had been cut abruptly short when they phased in from a flash-step within an object instead of next to it, the two of them had been chasing each other around the arena for the past twenty or so minutes. Shepard had showed absolutely no sign of biotic exhaustion the last time Vasir checked, and the matron had been monitoring the human closely for it. Tela was mindful that Shepard was one, only a human and thus had less reserves and needed a longer biotic recovery period than an asari, two, underweight which would give any biotic even less reserves and make them susceptible to becoming abruptly biotically exhausted if they overextended themselves, and three, still recovering from her reconstructive surgeries.

Quite frankly Tela was impressed with the skill level Shepard had displayed thus far. The matron Commando felt certain that utilizing every technique she knew that she would prevail over the human Spectre in a more serious spar. However, Shepard definitely wouldn't make it easy for her, and there was even the chance that a mis-step would result in her defeat. That was almost an unthinkable thing for Vasir to seriously consider - a short-lived human winning a spar with her? The matron's mind rebelled at the thought, and yet…Tela had to admit that it was also intriguing. How much strength of will and mind Amanda Shepard must possess to deal not only with her death and reconstruction, but at the same time deal with these memories and treat them as something to be learned from instead of something to be frightened of and resisted against. Melding with the human would doubtless be intoxicating, and if Amanda were akteria on top of that - as so many humans were within a meld with a matron - it would be even more intoxicating.

Shepard still hadn't moved, and Vasir eyed the human suspiciously for a few more seconds before finally flash-stepped closer to her. In response, the human settled deeper into her stance and then raised one arm. Her aura shifted in a distinctive way and then the indigo-blue ripple of a biotic barrier formed in front of the human with the origin of the dark energy field centered in a bright vertical line along the upraised length of her forearm. Tela's brown eyes widened for a fraction of a second in surprise, she had learned this technique long ago during her Commando training, but over the centuries had found little practical use for it. She preferred to stay mobile, out maneuvering an opponent instead of standing still behind a strong barrier. Shepard's aura shifted even further, and the barrier field became more cohesive and coherent, settling into a well-defined long oval biotic shield. Vasir's brow rose as she eyed the exceptionally well-formed barrier. She suspected that the knowledge of this particular biotic technique came from Dragahîr Thalion's memories. Clearly, he had been a master of it judging from what she was seeing…certainly this looked more impressive than what she recalled from her long-ago training. She glanced over to see Alena's reaction to this only to see that her fellow Spectre had pushed herself away from the wall, an intrigued expression upon her face, and was walking over to take a closer look.

"Reflective shielding," M'Tara said thoughtfully as she stopped beside Vasir, "haven't used that in a while."

The barrier rippled and weakened as Shepard lost her focus, "Why not?" she asked them.

"It's draining," Alena responded, "and for the energy you use maintaining it, it's usually better to stay mobile and just avoid or maneuver around whatever your shielding against." The tall nais rolled her shoulders in a shrug, "It's considered a situational technique, and you shouldn't get yourself in situations where you need to use it quite frankly."

Tela huffed out a laugh at that, "True, I've not had cause to even really think of using it after they taught us it in Commando training."

The whitish blue of the barrier field around Shepard rippled and faded, and the human frowned at them. "Alright, it does take a lot of energy to hold, but still I'd like to try and master the technique. Thalion considered it to be useful both on the offense and defense. He actually used it quite frequently from his memories - during ship boarding actions whenever he and his team had no choice but to push through the defending pirates to take a passageway - whenever he needed to break through the defenses of a well-fortified position - or just to hold an enemy's attention while his team mates maneuvered to a more advantageous position."

"Spectre Shepard is correct," the refined, aristocratic tones of the Asari Councilor had all three Spectres looking upward toward the first-floor viewing balcony, "the technique may be situational, but in those situations it's use, and ability to reflect an enemies fire back to them, can quickly turn the tide of the battle." Behind the slight shimmer of the protective barrier Matriarch Tevos stood at the railing, flanked by the four of her personal Commando guards. Tela stared upward in surprise, wondering exactly how long the Councilor and her guards had been watching them. The inset viewing balcony was both obscured by the barrier field and cast into sharp shadow by the ceiling lights so it could have been for quite some time without them noticing. As requested, she had sent a notification of when they started and an estimated time of when they would be done for planning purposes, but the matron certainly hadn't expected the Matriarch to make a personal appearance. As they were watching the Councilor turned from the balcony railing and stepped back out of sight, a moment later her guards disappeared as well as they followed her. Tela turned her head to glace over at Alena, and the two matron Spectres shared a bemused look with one another over this development.

"Has she been here all along?" Shepard inquired of them in a puzzled tone.

Tela rolled her shoulders in a shrug, "I don't know, the Matriarch is here now though." The human shot her a quick sharp glance combined with a slight head tilt indicating human confusion at that statement, then snapped her head back as they heard the sound of a door opening. Two of the Councilor's personal guard stepped through the double-doorway first, did a quick visual scan of the arena and then stepped aside so that the Councilor herself followed by her last two Commandos could enter the area.

Vasir and M'Tara bowed respectfully as Tevos approached them, greeting the elder nais with a respectful, "Salaa, Councilor Tevos."

Shepard, for her part, drew herself up stiffly into the Human at-attention stance, "Good morning, Councilor."

The Councilor inclined her head to the three of them in return, "Salaa, Spectres," and then focused her attention upon the human between them who had shifted into an at-ease stance. The Matriarch considered the human thoughtfully for a moment before speaking, "Spectre Shepard, I know you have not had much interaction with Asari before you took Liara T'Soni on-board your ship, but you may wish to consider learning the most common forms of formal interactions with all of the Council races." Before Tevos could say anything more, Shepard broke her military stance and executed an appropriately respectful formal bow to the Matriarch. "Ah," a brief reflective expression crossed the Matriarch's face, "I suspect things will become less complicated for you once you formally separate yourself from the Systems Alliance Military. In fact, I believe that is one of the things Councilor Anderson wanted to discuss with you after this training session is over."

Shepard frowned as she lifted her wrist just enough to quickly check the time on her omni-bracelet. "I understand that your time here is limited today," The Councilor responded before the human could say anything, "however I believe there is a way to extend it by at least a few more hours." The Councilor glanced over at Tela and the matron straightened at the attention, "I believe Spectre Vasir needs to go to the Terminus Systems. If she is amenable to leaving today, it would only a short deviation from her flight plan to detour to New Canton and transport you directly to your ship. Utilizing her Spectre credentials for preferential access to Relays with high wait times such as the Widow Relay should shorten your transit time to around an hour."

Tela was amused at being suddenly volunteered as a shuttle service. She did indeed need to go to Illium and begin her on-site investigation into the activities of Truth Hax, but she really hadn't planned on leaving this afternoon. It was a good thing she kept a mission bag packed and ready to go. "Of course, I'm already packed and ready to leave," she smoothly responded to the Matriarch. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the brief annoyed expression that flitted across Alena's face at this unexpected turn of events. She turned toward Shepard, "It will be my pleasure to offer you a ride there," she assured the human with warm sincerity before M'Tara could come up with an alternate offer. She smiled serenely as she lifted her gaze from the human to meet Alena's imperceptibly narrowed lavender eyes which indicated the other matron's displeasure with this turn of events and her smile widened ever so slightly. Tela saw absolutely no reason why she shouldn't enjoy this opportunity to tease her friend, especially after Alena's gloating over the way Amanda had responded to her flirtatious teasing yesterday.

"Hmmm," the human Spectre made a sound which drew Vasir's attention back to the human in time to notice raised brow and amused look Amanda was giving her. Evidently, she and Alena's byplay, even as brief as it had been, hadn't gone unnoticed. "Thank you," Shepard said to her fellow Spectre, "that will certainly shave off some time from the regular shuttle service."

Tela's expression shifted to something warmer as she regarded the human, "It also gives me time to brief you on Omega, Warlord T'Loak and the League in general." She elegantly waved a hand as Shepard looked about to speak, "I know you received Systems Alliance briefings, but they cannot possibly understand those waters as well as we understand them."

Shepard snapped her mouth shut, tilted her head ever so slightly to the left as her expression turned thoughtful, then the human straightened with a decisive nod. "I would appreciate whatever you can share with me that will help me with my mission."

Humans were so strange, thought Tela, one of the early video documentaries introducing Humans to the galactic community had captured this exact behavior in a humorous image of a pale-skinned, dark-haired human female and one of their domesticated companion species known as a dog staring at an asari visitor. Both human and dog had their heads tilted the exact same direction and angle and, as far as anyone could tell, very similar expressions of uncertainty as they warily observed the unexpected addition to their environment. The video commentator had explained that the behavior had to do with the Earth mammalian common trait of external ears which served as sound channelers directing sound waves down into their inner ears. Tilting the head changed the relative position of each ear on the vertical plane and allowed them to identify with great accuracy the originating source of a sound, an obvious evolutionary advantage. The behavior was instinctual for most Earth mammals when presented with any ambiguous situation, even a purely intellectual one.

"Spectre Shepard," the Councilor drew their attention back to her, "if you would demonstrate your knowledge of the reflective shield once again." That seemed to surprise the human given the human's quick questioning glance toward Vasir. One of Tevos' brows rose at this, a maiden questioning a matron about following the command of a Matriarch. Tela frowned at Shepard, but before she could verbally respond Tevos continued, "I understand that both Alena and Tela have been advising you against accessing those memories during combat, but in this case I want you to form the best reflective shield you are able to form. If that involves you pulling from the Prothean memories of the Cipher, then please do so in this instance." Well the Matriarch had been watching them for at least a short while, realized Vasir. Long enough to have overheard that particular conversation at least.

Shepard regarded Tevos for a moment, her expression carefully neutral. After a second, she nodded and very politely replied, "Of course, Councilor." Was the human that suspicious of the Matriarch, Vasir wondered, or was it only that this was Shepard's first in-person, face-to-face meeting with her. It was one thing to interact with Councilor Tevos via hologram or other communications device when one only experienced her wisdom and diplomacy, it was another thing to interact with her in person. Then any biotic would feel the power of Matriarch Tevos' aura thrumming up against their own and be unequivocally reminded of the fact that Asari only grew more powerful with age…and those Matriarchs descended from the Followers of Athame were the most powerful biotics in the known Galaxy.

Tela took a few steps back as Shepard took up a defensive stance once again, one arm raised and clenched in front of her. A moment later the matron moved closer to Councilor Tevos in order to get a better view of the forming shield as the nais felt Shepard's aura shift, indicating that she was accessing one of the Prothean Cipher memories. Alena followed a moment after, taking up a similar position on the other side of the Matriarch. Shepard's aura shifted even further as the blueish white haze of the human's barrier became more coherent and the outline of the reflective barrier shield more distinct.

Vasir glanced out of the corner of her eye at the Matriarch. The matron wondered what Tevos thought of the way Shepard's aura was shifting and changing, whether or not it truly felt like zeukeso. Then Tela felt the human's aura abruptly cross over into the state where it seemed as if she were actually in a meld with someone. Someone who wasn't there, at least not in person, and snapped her attention back to the human. The coherence and form of the mass effect matrix around Shepard's body was now so regular that it almost looked like a hybridization of biotic barrier and technical armor with the manner in which the barrier's dark energy field was ordered into a regular lattice-like arrangement. Tela's brown eyes widened in appreciation as she regarded it. Her barrier wasn't even this good, Vasir ruefully recognized, but then again she seldom found herself in a combat situation where she could stand in one place and concentrate primarily on it. Keeping your momentum and advantage in battle meant that you were always splitting your attention between what your enemy was doing, what you were doing now, what your enemy was likely to do next, and what you were going to do next to maintain your initiative and counter it.

Vasir glanced quickly over at Tevos intensely curious to see her reaction. The Matriarch was standing stiffly, her expression composed and alert as she fixed her attention sharply upon Shepard. The matron's gaze drifted further to the four Commandos arrayed behind Tevos, they were reacting more strongly to Shepard's bizarre aura, the bluish white haze of a barrier encompassing each of them. None had their hand upon their weapons…yet, but the asari Spectre could see that they were tense and prepared to react forcefully to any sign that the human was a threat to the Matriarch. Tela knew that each of the four Commandos possessed the same level of clearance as the Matriarch, a necessity since they were expected to guarantee her safety in any situation. "This occurs whenever she fully immerses herself within one of the memories," the asari Spectre informed her Councilor. Vasir noticed Tevos' blue eyes flicking briefly in her direction before returning to Shepard.

From the other side of the Councilor Alena added, "A similar incident occurred earlier this morning when she played a piece of Prothean music on the veiattiavo at Consort Sha'ira's compound. I say similar only because the memory she accessed was from a different Prothean," the tall Spectre explained.

"This is from Dragahîr Thalion Elendel's memories," Tela nodded, "he's the only one we know of who would have this level of expertise in either defensive or offensive biotics." Vasir paused and then added, "That and I'm becoming familiar with how her aura feels when she's accessing his memories in particular."

A slight inclination of Tevos' head as an acknowledgment of the information they had given silenced Vasir. Custom dictated that the next response come from the Matriarch. "Do your memories from Dragahîr Thalion Elendel include techniques on how to alter the shield so that you can control where it reflects incoming fire?"

Tela turned her attention to Shepard, so far the human hadn't inserted herself into the conversation at all…even though it concerned the biotic technique she was currently so adroitly demonstrating. "Cenflaid mín Dragahîr, ettelëa," the human responded in a deeper than normal voice, and Vasir stiffened at the sneering, dismissive tone of the reply. This was the second time Shepard had responded as Thalion, the other time occurring the day before during the second meeting with the Council. Tela had shared memories with Matriarchs before and received strong memory imprints from them, but never had she been overwhelmed by those imprints to the point of losing track of where and who she was much less speaking as that Matriarch. Was it only that Amanda was human and her mind unable to appropriately process these memory imprints? Were the Drell neuro-chemicals Cerberus had flooded her brain with complicating the issue? Did they have an effect on the imprints that altered them in some manner, making it difficult for Shepard's mind to maintain a core sense of self whenever the human accessed them?

The questions ran through Vasir's mind in a flash before the matron found her attention diverted from them as she noticed Shepard's reflective shield actually thickening along the edges while maintaining its thickness in the center, and as a result taking on a slightly parabolic shape. Tela was startled, the Commando who had taught them the reflective shield technique had never mentioned that you could alter the shape of the shield in such a manner. Though now that she was seeing it, Tela's brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully, she had some ideas about how it could be done from the varied biotic techniques with which she was already familiar. Certainly, it would make the reflective shielding technique much more tactically useful in wider variety of situations since you would no longer need to be as careful where you placed yourself in relation to the enemy. You could possibly even stay within partial cover with the ability to adjust the shape of the shield and still reflect the enemies fire back at them. Vasir glanced over at the Matriarch, no wonder both Shepard and Tevos had been united in their view of its usefulness. Tela knew that the Matriarch had served for over two hundred years as a Commando in the Ulee Republic Guard and had participated in many anti-piracy and anti-slaver missions. No doubt Tevos had many opportunities to utilize the technique during her time as a Commando.

Shepard's aura altered once again as the sense of her melding with someone else faded away. Vasir could still feel the influence of the prothean upon the human's aura, but it no longer felt as if Shepard was actually melding with…him. The matron let out her breath in an exhale of relief as she felt herself relax. The nais hadn't really anticipated that Thalion's influence might cause Shepard to attack them, but she didn't understand quite what was going on with these Cipher imprints or to what extent they might be able to influence the human.

The barrier and shield abruptly faded from around Shepard as the human released the mass effect field, bowed her head and sighed, "Thalion I honestly like you… but sometimes you can be one really arrogant dick," the last word was particularly emphasized. The human sighed again, and then raised her head to focus on them as she straightened from her defensive stance. "Pardon my language, Councilor."

Councilor Tevos didn't immediately reply to Shepard. Instead, the Matriarch stared at the human with a pensive expression upon her face in complete silence. After a few seconds the human shifted uncertainly under the Councilor's focused regard, it was enough to finally stir the elder asari into speaking. "These memories come with very strong personality imprints." It was not a question, noted Vasir, but a statement.

A frown creased Shepard's brow, "Yes…I guess you could say that?" the human didn't sound quite certain of it. A flash of intense sorrow drew her expression into a sharp frown of pain for a moment before Tela could visibly see her force those emotions back under control, "I've melded before, but never experienced anything like this resulting from them."

Tevos' grey eyes, which were only a shade darker than Shepard's lighter grey ones, softened as the Matriarch regarded the human. The Councilor knew what had happened last night in the same way they had known, for she too had received notification that Consort Sha'ira had authorized an encrypted communication's channel between Shepard and Liara T'Soni last night. The elder nais inclined her head in a slow nod to this response and then continued, "Consort Sha'ira trained you this morning in the appropriate meditation techniques?"

"Yes, she did," Shepard responded promptly, "along with Spectres Vasir and M'Tara."

The Matriarch's expression turned stern, "You will make them a part of your daily routine Spectre Shepard." Tevos' tone made it quite clear that she had just made an order and not a request.

Shepard stared at the Matriarch, her brow furrowed and her gaze searching for a long moment before the human slowly nodded her acquiescence. "Yes, Councilor Tevos," she acknowledged, sounding slightly puzzled, "I will make it a priority."

Tevos stern expression remained unappeased by this response, and if anything grew even more strict as the Matriarch spoke very firmly to Shepard, "I understand that the information contained within the Cipher is proving to be helpful to you with developing your own biotics and tactics and indeed I suggested that you access them for just that reason. However, what just occurred makes it evident that the potential exists, if you are not cautious, for your identity and personality to be slowly eroded and taken over by these Prothean memory imprints. Rigorous and daily adherence to the meditative techniques Consort Sha'ira taught you should guard you against such effects and will hopefully allow you to continue accessing them without undue risk of adverse consequences."

Shepard's grey eyes widened, "I…" Amanda fell briefly silent then nodded, "I understand Councilor, I promise you I will make them a part of my daily routine." From Shepard's conciliatory tone, it seemed the Matriarch had finally gotten through to her and the human now realized the elder nais was not being hostile toward her, but protective.

Councilor Tevos steadily regarded the human for a few more moments as if judging Shepard's sincerity before gracefully dipping her head in acknowledgment. "In addition, you should make an effort to visit the Citadel as frequently as possible given your mission. Either Consort Sha'ira or I will be able to inform you whether your aura indicates you are being overly affected by these imprints."

"Yes, Councilor," Shepard replied, "I'm not sure how often that will be, but I will make sure I check in with one or the other of you each time."

"Very well," Tevos responded, then shifted back to the previous subject of conversation. "Do you believe that you can now form a reflective biotic shield without relying upon Dragahîr Thalion Elendel's memories?"

Tela smirked at the flash of relief that crossed Shepard's face at the topic change. Then the human frowned thoughtfully as she considered the question. "I think so," Shepard responded after a few seconds. "I may have to review those memories a few more times though to get down the subtle mnemonics he used as well as the nuances of all the various techniques involved in it. Make sure I understand exactly how the hardened barrier and shield feel when they're done correctly, and the various ways of manipulating the shield to alter its shape."

Councilor Tevos inclined her head in understanding, "Do you feel confident in making the attempt against a training drone?"

"Certainly," Shepard didn't hesitate to answer, "I could use the practice, make sure I understand how to shape the shield and direct the ricochets where I want them to go."

At the human's response, Councilor Tevos glanced over at Tela, "If you would Spectre Vasir."

Tela dipped her head, "Of course, Councilor," the matron responded as she raised her arm to activate her omni-bracelet. The three Spectres were all wearing Asari style formal Spectre outfits again since that was what Shepard was wearing and they were still escorting her around the Citadel. For sparring, they had taken off the hoods and jackets leaving them in the high-necked undersuit which was made of the same material as their Spectre-level combat undersuits and so offered a basic level of ballistic protection. Using her omni-tool Tela activated one of the arena's many stored training drones and a nearby access hatch opened to release it into the practice arena. The small combat drone quickly floated over to the medium-blue nais and then hovered in front of her awaiting instructions. The training drone was piloted by a very basic level VI and equipped with a pistol grade weapon that utilized non-lethal micro-pellets as rounds. Any armor or basic barrier was sufficient to protect against it, and as a safety measure it was designed to shut down if it sensed that its target might actually be harmed by it. With a few taps on her omni-bracelet's haptic interface Vasir setup the parameters for the droid and then looked over to Shepard, "Whenever you're ready."

Shepard stepped back into a defensive stance, her left forearm raised and then summoned a basic barrier which shimmered bluish-white around her body. The human closed her eyes, her expression set in frowning concentration as she focused her attention. The barrier around her grew more coherent, and, at the same time, a reflective shield formed in front of her upraised forearm. Both shield and barrier continued to grow more distinct and coherent for a few seconds, and then all progress seemed to come to a halt. Tela suspected this was about as far as the human could get on her own, and honestly it was an excellent effort for only having practiced the technique twice before now. Shepard finally huffed out an annoyed sounding breath and her aura shifted, not as far as earlier, but definitely enough for the watching asari to tell that she was accessing Dragahîr Thalion's memories. In the next few seconds the barrier around Shepard and the oval barrier shield in front of her became extremely coherent, taking on the barrier/tech-armor hybrid appearance it had earlier.

Tela glanced out of the corner of her eye at Councilor Tevos, the Matriarch had a subtly impressed expression as the elder nais beheld Shepard's barrier and reflective shielding. No wonder, thought Vasir as she returned her attention to it. She had never witnessed a finer barrier, Dragahîr Thalion definitely had been a true master for this was a work of artistry in dark energy. The matron had to admit that she was starting to feel rather envious of Shepard for possessing his memories…even if those memories came with the threat of zeukeso, and Protheans in general seemed to be oppressively speciesist.

Of course there was the possibility, her gaze focused on the human forming the barrier, of simply asking if she could meld with Amanda and see them for herself. Vasir frowned slightly at the thought, for one thing, given Amanda's current uncertain Spectre status and her own status as a Senior Spectre, even asking could be considered to be coercive in nature and the nais didn't want to do anything that would damage the fragile growing trust between them. Not after that moment earlier today, when Shepard had realized they knew about the communication between her and the T'Soni maiden and assumed the worst, made it clear exactly how tenuous was the trust. Second, while it was one thing to check if Shepard knew anything new, such as the sound manipulation technique, it was another thing entirely to essentially admit that she couldn't actually perform a known biotic technique as well as Amanda. No, thought Tela with a small smirk, fully aware that she was being both speciesist and ageist right now in her thoughts, she would first make the attempt to further develop the coherence of her barriers on her own. It was bad enough that, thanks to Cerberus using the techniques researched by the Republics, Shepard was now almost on par with M'Tara and she in terms of raw biotic power and likely by far the strongest human biotic, but being better than she, an asari Commando and Spectre, at creating barriers - no matter the reason behind it - no, that just would not do at all. And…Vasir frowned at even contemplating the possibility, if for some reason that failed, such as might be the case if the Protheans were utilizing an unfamiliar underlying biotic technique to form their barriers, then perhaps she would be familiar enough with Shepard by then to make the request as a friend and not as a higher ranking Spectre.

"I'm ready," Shepard's declaration refocused Vasir's attention on what was going on around her. The matron dipped her head in acknowledgment and tapped on the hepatic screen of her omni-bracelet to shift the drone's mode from stand-by to training. The drone hovered nearby for a moment, then maneuvered itself on its jets to a position where any ricocheting ammunition would not threaten the onlooking asari. As the drone repositioned itself, Shepard shifted position to keep facing it. Finally, it oriented itself upon the human and the indicator light on its front panel switched from green to amber to indicate that it was ready to start the training cycle Tela had programed into it, and then finally to red as it began its firing pattern. Tela had programed in a reactive program, whenever the drone registered returning fire for at least ten seconds, which in this case was its own reflected fire, the drone ceasefire and reposition itself at least a meter away from its former firing position before firing again. That way Shepard would have plenty of time to get the shape of the shield correct in between the drone repositioning itself to another location.

Because of the drone's repositioning, the three of them were now standing off to the side of Shepard as the drone fired at her. From this angle Tela couldn't really tell much about how Shepard was altering her reflective shield, she would pull off the footage from the drone's camera afterward and examine it when she had some free time later. Instead, she focused more on Amanda's facial expression which was one of intent concentration. Even with the signs of her reconstruction still evident in the unhealed jagged edges of graphed skin, Shepard was compelling, the underlying fine bone structure and full lips spoke of her beauty, but most of all it was her presence that drew the eye. Intelligence, resilience, competence after just two days Vasir understood why the Systems Alliance had put forward this human above all other's as a Spectre candidate. The matron's only concern was that perhaps Shepard's moral code was a bit too uncompromising for some of the situations Spectres found themselves having to resolve in a way that didn't disrupt the Galactic peace. Truth, honor and integrity were something to strive for…but not if they came at the price of millions of innocents dying because holding onto them too strictly incited a war. Was Shepard capable of sensing those subtle currents in what was often a chaotic time limited situation? The matron had found that most Spectre candidates could pick the right choice when the possible consequences were clearly laid out before them. However, the consequences of a choice were seldom clearly laid out before you. No, you had to be able to determine the possible consequences, discern which were likely, and then judge between them all on your own - and you often did not have very much time to do it.

A flashing on the haptic display of Tela's omni-tool pulled her attention away from the human and her thoughts. She glanced down at it, then back up to focus on the drone. Its shield barriers were flickering, Shepard had successfully altered her biotic shield to reflect its weapon's fire back at it. Tela glanced back down at her omni-bracelet's haptic display, considering the data it was presenting to her. As the drone ceased fire and re-positioned itself the matron quickly created a custom formula to display the amount of incoming fire as a percentage of the drone's ammunition usage. In other words, to what extent Shepard was concentrating the reflective fire back at its origin instead of scattering it.

The matron glanced over as Councilor Tevos leaned over toward her and quietly asked, "Tela, if you would share the drone's tactical data?"

"Certainly Councilor," nodded Vasir as she tapped in a few commands to forward the requested information over to the Matriarch's omni-bracelet.

When Tela refocused on Shepard she noticed that the human hadn't bothered to move, which was not a surprise since the drone had only shifted to the left by a meter. This time it took only a few seconds for Shepard to alter her reflective shield so that the drone's shield was once again flickering with the return impacts. Vasir looked down at the haptic display, "Seventy percent of the ammunition it's expending is being reflected back to it not bad at all," the matron reported, "especially given its size." Tela's lips quirked as Shepard quickly glanced over at her with a frown before returning her attention to the drone. The nais wasn't really surprised that the human wasn't satisfied with seventy-five percent. Vasir looked down at the display again and, noticing that the percentage numbers were beginning to increase, quickly locked the drone in place so it wouldn't reposition after ten seconds.

Councilor Tevos called a halt to the training ten minutes later due to the upcoming meeting with Councilor Anderson. "Impressive reflection Spectre Shepard," the Matriarch praised as she examined the tactical data from the drone on her omni-bracelet. "Your barrier absorbed only eight percent of the ammunition's velocity, slightly less than a shallow angle ricochet."

Shepard looked surprised at the Councilor's comment, then thoughtful, "Good to know, Thalion's memories include a few times when he was able to even the odds when outnumbered solely by reflecting incoming fire back at the attackers." The human glanced down at her omni-bracelet and frowned, "We are scheduled to meet with Councilor Anderson in twenty minutes?"

"Yes," the Asari Councilor responded, "there is a walkway that connects the Embassy with the Council Tower. The walk is not long, but we should leave soon in order to meet with him on time."

That was a very clear hint and the three Spectres made their way over to where they had left their jackets and hoods. M'Tara waited until they were putting on their jackets to inquire, "So…" the lavender eyed nais asked quietly, "what did Thalion say?"

Shepard shrugged on her jacket, then glanced up at the taller asari with a carefully composed expression. "Witness a Draghir's skill, you who are not Prothean," she responded just as quietly as she began fastening the jacket's buckles. Both Tela and Alena gave the human a dubious look at that answer. "Ettelëa does translate as one who is not Prothean," Shepard asserted, but neither matron missed the slight hint of defensive evasiveness in her tone.

"Right…" Alena drawled unconvinced, "and the way he meant it?"

Shepard flushed, then huffed out a breath before finally responding very quietly, "Primitives." The human sighed with an unhappy frown, "As much as I like the individual Protheans I've come to know from the Cipher, we really are lucky that the Prothean Empire isn't around anymore," she commented with quiet grimness as she finished buckling her jacket and draped the blue hood over her head. Alena and Tela shared a concerned look as Shepard turned away and started back toward where Councilor Tevos and her four Commando guards were waiting for them.

Alena shook her head with an expression of dismay, "And to think, we were always taught to revere them for uniting the Galaxy and building the Citadel and mass relays. Now we find out they were not only intolerant of any culture but their own, but also didn't have any problems with genocide if your race wouldn't or couldn't assimilate into theirs."

Tela inclined her head in silent disquieted agreement as they turned to follow after Shepard. Alena was right, most Asari believed that the Protheans had been similar to their own race. Only where the Asari were still striving to unite the races of the Galaxy through peaceful persuasion, the Protheans had actually succeeded at uniting them. Re-creating a galactic government such as that which the Prothean Empire had achieved was commonly, if not explicitly stated, held to be a goal of the Republics - the ultimate political and civil expression of Siari unity. Now it seemed as if not only had that assumption been terribly incorrect, but that the Citadel and mass relays had not been left behind from any altruistic motive at all. If Shepard was right, then the Citadel was actually a hidden snare, meant only to ensure that each cycle used it as it's centralized seat of Galactic government, enabling the Reapers alpha strike to destroy any centralized government and provide all the information they needed to track down every existing population center.

"Spectres please walk with me," the Councilor beckoned with a graceful motion of her hand as they exited the practice arena. As the Councilor's guards shifted to make room for them next to Tevos, Vasir, M'Tara and Shepard moved forward from where they had been following along behind the quintet. "Spectre Shepard, how strong would you judge Prothean biotics to be compared to what you know of Humans and Asari? Reviewing the techniques you spoke of yesterday there seems to be a strong emphasis on biotic energy conservation and techniques for maximizing biotic energy efficiency." With a sideways amused glance at each other Alena and Tela shifted positions so that Amanda, who had been following along behind them in order of seniority, could walk beside Tevos. Obviously, the intent of the Councilors request was to ask Shepard questions about the Protheans.

"I'm not certain?" Shepard responded as she moved up, and a moment later Vasir felt the human's aura shift and change as she accessed the Cipher memories. That had to be unsettling to the Matriarch's Commandos, Tela mused, feeling the human's aura shift like that…how had Alena so descriptively put it? Oh yes, like a school of xayea in open waters.

Shepard's head tilted to one side, "I believe you may be right Councilor," she said in a bemused tone after a moment. "They may have actually been on par with a mid to high range human biotic rather than a mid to high range asari in terms of raw biotic power. In terms of biotic effectiveness though, I'd say they were actually comparable to an asari. There is a very strong emphasis on perfecting techniques in all the memories I have found so far, and their amplifier technology was more advanced than what we have currently."

"More advanced how?" queried Tevos.

"Answering that will require two pieces of background information," Shepard responded, "the first is that Protheans, like the Asari, evolved on an eezo rich world and were natural biotics. The second is that, also like the Asari, they developed a full body neural net which allowed them fine control over the dark energy fields produced by their eezo nodules." Tela was surprised at this bit of information, yesterday Shepard had mentioned that the Protheans were all biotics like the Asari, but hadn't mentioned they also had similar neural nets linking their eezo nodes. "I'm only aware of that though," Shepard continued, "because the memories cover the fact that the biotic amplifier implantation surgery for Protheans involved embedding a secondary neural net of synthetic fibers next to their natural one and that for non-Protheans they created a neural net for them. If you were military or some type of governmental agent, they added in a micro-amplifier for each eezo node to maximize the dark energy field you could produce."

"That is quite interesting," Councilor Tevos responded, "is that knowledge from Dragahîr Thalion Elendel's memories?"

"No, Councilor, it's from the memories of Elder Instructor Lindariel Ealoeth," Shepard replied. "She tutored non-Prothean civil service recruits in the basic techniques they would need to interact with and operate the Empire's computer systems and equipment." Amanda paused for a moment then continued with a slight shift of topic, "I'm hopeful that somewhere in the Cipher there is more information about their implants. I'm giving myself reaction headaches from trying to replicate some of the more complex techniques, but I suspect that one of their non-Prothean amplifiers would neatly solve that issue."

"Indeed," Tevos didn't sound quite so enthusiastic about the idea, "what techniques in specific are you referring to?"

Shepard's head swung Tevos' way for a second at the question, more than likely because of the Matriarch's tone thought Tela. "Protheans, like Asari, were capable of shifting their aura so they could utilize their biotics with one another," Shepard responded after a moment, "I managed it for a second yesterday, but that left me with a bad reaction headache. Breaking the glass out on Purgatory station also left me with a reaction headache."

They were approaching the end of the long hallway, the doorway in front of them lead into the Embassy proper. Tevos stopped a short distance from it, bringing their group to a halt. The Matriarch turned toward Shepard, "I agree that a greater understanding of their amplifier technology would be advantageous to not only you but also all other biotics. However, I must stress again that you must be mindful of your meditations and take these explorations slowly and cautiously less you find yourself in deep waters and very dangerous currents. Do not risk the stability of your mind by recklessly rushing forward without due consideration of the dangers for there is no place to retreat to within it."

Tevos did not say anything further, but instead signaled for the Commando in the lead to open the double doors. On the other side the sound of conversations greeted them and further up the hallway asari in various styles of business wear wandered about with either data pads or papers in their hands. This pretty much signaled the end of the Councilor's questions for Shepard Tela knew, as they would not have any real privacy until they stepped into Councilor Anderson's office in the Council Tower.