"Tali?"

"Mmm. What?"

"I said, 'What do you want this house to look like'?"

They were still in bed this morning, John had been awake for the last two hours, datapad in hand. He had thought that Tali was fully conscious as well. After getting fleeced by practically everyone, John had retired for bed far earlier than Tali had. Turned out that he was still terrible at Skyllian Five. So when he had gotten up, he'd decided that he needed to figure out just how he was supposed to build this house.

She giggled as she realized that she might have dozed off again. It didn't help that, while he had the datapad in one hand, with the other he was running his fingers up and down along her back and spine. She had vowed after their reunion during the war that it was something that she would never take for granted. She rolled over to her other side, sleepily facing him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Mmhmm."

"So, about this house."

"Right, right." Tali sat up, back against the headboard.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well…" As she thought about it, Tali supposed that she wasn't entirely sure. Just what did houses look like on Rannoch? And then, what did she want in one? "I suppose I would like something traditional, like what we used to build before the war. But…"

Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "But?"

"I guess I still want it to be modern?"

"But modern." He rubbed his chin. "You know, there were homes built in the southwest of America called pueblos that might not be too dissimilar to the architecture that you've shown me."

"Really?"

"Mmmhmm. That area was pretty hot compared to other parts of the country. I imagine it's not too different from what Rannoch is." He thought back to their brief stay after defeating the Reaper. It had been warm, to say the least.

Tali pulled herself close to him, resting her head on his chest while attentively looking over the images on the datapad. One specifically caught her eye - with its smooth curves and lack of sharp angles. "Keelah, John. You're right! They are very similar." She spotted an image with soft, flowing arches adorning the roof. "I like that one. See all of the curves?" He nodded. "It looks so smooth." She squeezed his arm. "Do you think we could live in a home like that?"

If he honest, he quite liked it too. In a way (perhaps a carnal one) all of the flowing curves reminded him of Tali. He chuckled at the absurd thought.

He smiled at her. "Oh, absolutely. I've been reading, and the material should help keep the inside relatively cool, even on your hot homeworld. These homes were designed that way." He frowned. "There's only one problem."

She cocked her head, curious but concerned at the uncertainty she heard in his voice. "What is that?"

"I don't actually know how to build a house. The closest I've come to building anything are those damn models over there." He cocked his thumb in the general direction of the model ships that adorned the case around his desk.

There was an awkward silence, before Tali broke it with a sound that took him a few seconds to recognize.

She was laughing at him. Loudly.

Tali pressed her face into his shoulder as she quaked with laughter. The sound of it normally brought him such joy - he loved seeing her happy - but here? Yeah, not so much.

"You thought…? You thought that…? Oh keelah, you thought that I wanted you to build us a house? With your…" More uncontrollable laughter as she squuezed his arm harder with the fit. "With your bare hands?"

Shepard's face flushed in embarrassment. "Wait, but I thought you wanted…?"

Finally, her laughter slowed down enough to try to answer him in a reasonable fashion. "John, I never expected you, personally, to build our home. You're in no shape to do that sort of thing anyway."

He was even more confused. "So all of this talk about me building us a home…?"

Tali turned more serious as she realized that he was genuinely embarrassed and a little hurt. "John," she placed a loving hand on his shoulder, "it is okay. I never…I should have been clearer. I never imagined that you would've thought that I expected you to do it yourself. Besides," she planted a quick kiss on his lips, "we never really worked out the details of this either. I'm sure we'll have a place to stay when we get to Rannoch. Then we can decide from there." She paused in thought. "You know, I'm sure there are plenty of people - even mine - that know how to do it. We'll work it out, okay?"

He gave her an embarrassed smirk. "Well, we can at least decide where."

She leaned in and gave him another kiss. "Yes, we can do that." She pulled on her omnitool from the nightstand before opening it up. After a few keystrokes, a local map of Rannoch appeared. She pointed to an area that looked rather familiar. "So John, I was thinking right around here…"

"…And that was the end of Harkin."

Ashley sat there, mid-swallow, as Liara finished up her story about Harkin and her last act as the Shadow Broker. "Unreal. After all of this, the bastard still managed to be a pain in the ass." She finally swallowed the eggs that Shepard had made that morning. "At least that explains all of your secrecy."

Liara's cheeks flushed. "Yes, about that…I am sorry, Ashley." Liara sent a quick glance Shepard's way, before returning to the Spectre. "I was rude to you, and I made a mess of things in my desire for secrecy. I should have at least been more honest with you."

She gave Liara a half-shrug in nonchalance. "It's okay, really. At least you brought Garrus with you and didn't try to do it completely by yourself." She paused, finishing up her orange juice. "Although it would have been interesting to see just how far you really could have pushed your biotics. I know James would have liked to know."

The asari let out a small laugh. "How is he anyway?"

"Last I heard, he was out at one of the turian colonies, I think. I haven't been able to keep up with him as much as I'd like," both Shepard and Tali caught the tinge of sadness in her words, "you know, because they keep us kinda busy. Garrus might know though."

"The council been showing you respect, Ash?" It was Shepard who piped up from his end of the table. Beside him, Tali and Traynor were discussing the finer points of mass effect fields and personal hygiene.

"Yeah, skipper. We're big time heroes now. But, they are keeping us very busy."

He swallowed a bit of over-syruped pancake. "Mmm. I bet. So," his tone shifted to a more serious one, "how are things really?"

The current Spectre looked, for only an instant, to Shepard with a sense of genuine fatigue. "Honestly, there's…a lot that's still wrong. Thessia," Ash sent a quick sympathetic glance across the table to Liara, who at that time seemed to have found her fork exceedingly interesting, "is still a mess. Clean up crews from Palaven, Earth, and even Sur'kesh and Tuchanka have begun to arrive, but it's going to take a long time. Years, I think, before it starts to resemble the planet we remember." She finished off her drink in one more Herculean gulp. "But, the fact that we can even complain about something like 'clean up' is a hell of a lot better than the alternative."

Their asari friend managed to speak up again, albeit softly. "Yes, that is definitely better than the alternative."

Ashley's face brightened again. "Oh, Shepard. I was asked to give you a message of 'thanks' and well-wishes from a justicar on Thessia. I think her name was Samara?"

Shepard chuckled lightly. "Yeah, she's the only one I know."

Tali piped up from beside him. "Oh, I'm glad she's okay. I liked her, in a strange 'I would have no problem killing you for trying to cheat at poker' kind of way."

He laughed as he squeezed her hand. "Yeah, I don't think her code would have taken too kindly to that sort of behavior."

Eventually their idle chit chat ended and most of the others had returned to their duties. It was Ash left with Shepard and Tali in the mess hall. When she got up, she motioned for them to join her as she strode purposefully to the elevator.

"I've got something to show you. C'mon, follow me."

The shuttle hangar had been partially turned into a storage and supply bay now, and there was enough hustle and bustle to match. The first thing Shepard noticed was just how packed the back of the area was now. Containers both large and small were piled nearly to the ceiling.

"Hey, Cortez! Is it ready?" Ashley had yelled the pilot's name as soon as they entered.

He first poked his head from behind one of the two Kodiak shuttles in the hangar. "Yes ma'am!" was his sharp reply. With wrench in hand, he jogged over to them.

"Commander - sorry," he smirked in embarrassment as he gave him a sharp salute, "I mean Admiral Shepard. It's very good to see you, sir." He turned to Tali and gave her a quick hug.

Shepard simply chuckled and extended his hand, which Cortez shook. "It's quite all right, Steve. No need for the salute, I'm not here on business."

"Of course not, Shepard…uh, 'sir'? I don't know. I guess I just wanted to salute you as an admiral, at least once. You earned as much."

Shepard chuckled. "All right, you got it out of your system." He stopped, again glancing around the overstuffed hangar. "So just what the hell is going on here?"

Ashley smiled and cut in. "Steve, let's just go show them."

They mazed their way around some of the boxes that were strewn about. Eventually they stood in front of shuttle 03, which Cortez had just come from. "So, the shuttle is yours now," Ashley said with a smile on her face.

While he appreciated the gesture, Shepard was having none of it.

"Guys, we can't," started the retired admiral sternly, "there's too much to do. Someone else needs that."

Tali cut in next. "Keelah, Shepard is right. The Fleet still has a huge number of ships, and I am sure we won't have a problem getting one of our own." She looked over at Shepard with a smile, before returning her attention to Steve and the Spectre. "Besides, I'm an admiral. I'm pretty sure they owe me one."

Ashley looked first to Shepard, then Steve, then to Tali. "Fine. If you say so," she huffed. "But the offer stands if for some reason you can't."

"Does Hackett or the Council know about this?"

"Um, no. Not specifically. This was our idea."

"Mmhmm. Well, thank you, but you guys need that more than we do. Besides, everyone has done enough."

Defeated, the Spectre turned to the real task at hand. "You may have won that one, sir, but there is actually something here for you. Well, not you," she corrected, "but…well, you'll see." She led them to two large containers near the back of the hangar. "The Alliance wanted to make a show of their goodwill to your people, Tali." Instead of pulling off the top of the container, the Spectre simply brought up the holo-label on the box itself.

"Keelah, these are…"

Ashley grinned. "Yeah, they're replacement network hubs, routers, and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't understand. Hopefully it can help fix whatever the hell is going on on Rannoch. The guys over in Tech weren't a hundred per cent sure if they're compatible, and it probably won't be able to take care of everything, but they figured it couldn't hurt to try."

"Ashley, thank -"

Tali was interrupted by the overhead comm.

"Hey, Commander Williams?" Joker's voice had come through the intercom. "We're ten minutes out from Rannoch. We'll probably need Tali up here to let us in…or whatever. I just don't want the fleet trying to shoot us down."

"Got it, Joker. I'll be right up." Ashley turned to them, wearing a cheeky grin. She clapped her hands for emphasis.

"Okay, guys. Let's get to it."

Shala'Raan was pleased to see that the landing area near Jal'Himom had been cleared that morning, as she had ordered it to be. It was one thing to be able to stage an Alliance frigate, but still quite another to stage it and the Malinor as well. With the city and the rising sun to her back, she thought that they'd done an admirable job of keeping this relatively low-key.

"Not that we could have made any fanfare had we wanted to." She huffed in annoyance. The reports that were forwarded to her made for disheartening reading. Construction was slow-going in basically all of the settlements that they had reoccupied (the Geth hadn't quite kept up on all of them), and they were still having trouble getting new crops planted - as Van'Relai had been quick to point out - because the required machinery was either unavailable, or the requests simply hadn't been filtered to where they needed to go to.

With planetary communication still hampered, there had been no way to announce to everyone that Tali, Shepard, and the rest of the Normandy crew were set to arrive this morning. So instead, she was standing near the edge of the walkway that extended to the landing pads with the other admirals and the five members of the Conclave (along with the few regular workers on hand) milling about quietly behind her. Thankfully, she was largely being ignored, as even Zaal'Koris, who would normally be talking her ear off, was instead chatting quietly with Falla'Morta.

Shala found herself pensive this morning and was wondering about a good many things. How would Tali greet them - her - after all the discord that had taken place? What would Shepard be like after his own ordeal? Yes, she'd had the long talk with him about the rings and bonding, but that was just one aspect of the man. How was he really? What plans did they have here? What did he want to do, how would he integrate into their society? The litany of questions seemingly never ended.

Keelah.

For now though, she at least had Han'Gerrel to lift her spirits. Which was, in and of itself, an astonishingly strange thing to have realized. She'd noticed that Han seemed to be amiable enough as he talked with one of the other representatives. He even looked to be in a good mood for once, as he even laughed on occasion during the conversation. Maybe he would be okay today.

She couldn't have known, of course, that fellow admiral Daro'Xen had had yet another reassuring chat with him earlier.

Daro was only half paying attention to whatever it was that Lano was droning on about. Instead, she too was watching Han keenly. He appeared to her, like he did to Shala, to be…on good behavior today. She just hoped that it would last, because today was important in a way that she couldn't describe. The quarians were about to receive members of the human Alliance - not in a strictly diplomatic way - but, keelah would their impressions of them matter. Sure they had fought alongside the humans during the war (and she was genuinely impressed with their Admiral Hackett), but fighting alongside them was likely a very different proposition to working with them. And Shepard was the key.

Before she could continue with that line of thinking, she was interrupted.

All four of the admirals stopped what they were doing, or saying, or thinking, when the traffic controller's voice invaded their earpieces to inform them that both ships were making their descent.

With a deep breath, Shala prepared herself.

"Here we go."

He smirked. Watching Tali fidget like this was just so endearing, he couldn't help himself. It reminded him that the pilgrim girl that he had met was still swimming around somewhere inside this woman whom he loved so deeply. He knew she was nervous, probably almost paralyzingly so, which is why he said nothing to her. Instead, Shepard ran his hand up and down her spine.

"I look okay, right John? I look like an admiral?" Tali was wringing her hands furiously when she wasn't playing with her realk (convinced as she was that it was somehow wrinkled or dirty). He grabbed those hands just to get her to stop for one impossible second. When he did, she actually froze in place, but it didn't stop her fitful speaking. "And do you think that I should let out Chatika because she's famous too, and took out a bunch of…" Sheepishly, Tali planted her mask into his shoulder. "I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were, sweetheart. But it's okay," he reassured her, punctuated by an embrace as he pulled the rest of her close to him. "You're the one who's going to get the attention." He laughed lightly. "We're just the misfit aliens that helped you along the way." Instead of a snappy retort like he expected, he got a poignant one.

"Helped? Oh, I don't know about that, John. We have Rannoch back largely because you're the crazy one."

"Crazy? Yeah…crazy about you, Miss vas Normandy."

"Keelah, that was terrible." It was, but it only made her laugh more. "But your my misfit alien, and I wouldn't trade this for anything. Nerves and all." Somehow, she had forgotten to try to wring her hands, or fidget about. Leave it to John to do that. Liara stepped up behind Tali, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

"Keelah, that's a question. I'm…" Tali faced the asari, who wore an expression conveying genuine concern. "I'm excited, but…anxious. There's so much that's…" she felt John's hand on the small of her back, rubbing her there. She closed her eyes in a moment of contentment. "Mmmm, there's so much that's going to be new, Liara. But, I'm okay. Really." She nodded her head in John's general direction. "Besides, it's not like I'm alone in all this."

"Okay," Joker's voice began over the intercom. "We're touching down in about ten seconds."

Ashley joined them. "Hey guys, prepare yourselves. Joker's still getting used to actually putting this thing down on a planet."

All three of them shot her a look of surprise and concern - for Tali, evidenced by her bright, but wider, eyes.

"You mean he -"

Shepard never finished his statement as they felt the force of the landing. His hand had reached out and pressed against the wall beside the elevator as he tried to brace his weight against it. The floor shuddered underneath them, rocking them all forward in the CIC. As the ship felt like it rebalanced itself, he realized that Ash and the other crewmembers had already braced themselves for support.

They were apparently used to this by now.

Liara gave the Spectre a look of quiet exasperation, to which Ashley laughed heartily. "Yeah, I know. We're hoping he gets the hang of it soon."

"I would not be surprised to learn that he does it on purpose."

Fretful landing or not, they had arrived.

When the doors in the airlock opened ("Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere. CO Williams is ashore, XO Traynor has the deck."), the relatively dim light of Tikkun was still enough to cause momentary blindness while their irises adjusted. When they could see again, there were but nine figures awaiting them at the end of the ramp.

Ancestors, we did it. I'm - we're - home. I'm about to set foot on my homeworld, as a quarian homeworld. And my saera - my humansaera - is going to do this with me.

After a moment's pause where the world seemed to freeze, it was Tali that moved first.

"What a time to be alive."

The voice, of course, belonged to Commander Shepard. He'd approached from the far side of engineering as soon as Garrus had left via the other exit.

"Keelah, what?"

He chuckled softly as he walked toward her, stupid smirk plastered across his face as always.

"Hi, Adams," he muttered good-naturedly as he walked past the chief engineer. He was not here for him though.

He didn't notice the knowing smile that Adams gave to his back as he'd glided past.

"I said 'What a time to be alive.' It's a human expression used to express surprise, and usually appreciation, at seeing something truly amazing."

Her head tilted in her usual way to convey confusion. She hadn't gotten what he meant this time.

Humans and their damn idioms.

"Wha-what are you talking about? What was so…what did you…?"

He continued to smile, the bosh'tet. "Well, Miss nar Rayya, I was just coming down here to ask you if you wanted to watch a vid with me this evening, when I could have sworn," he looked to his left at the door that Garrus had just exited through, "that a certain turian who, by his own admission believed that you and your people got what they deserved for the Geth, actually apologized to you."

"Y-yes, Shepard. He…uh…did." She had said this with wonder, as if hearing the way that Shepard had phrased it made her realize just how big of a deal Garrus's admission actually was.

"So, like I said," he began matter-of-factly, "what a time to be alive. Do you wanna hear another one?"

What was he going on about today? "Another what?"

"Another human idiom, Tali." He saw her body language indicate her surprise. "What? You don't think I overhear you and Garrus talking about me when you think I'm not around?"

It wasn't so long ago that she would have been too nervous to even respond; she would have thought that he was being serious. But now? She had learned that this was just his way, that he liked "pushing her buttons" (keelah, even I'm starting to use them!) just for the humor of it all. And now she even found it to be funny.

"Well, I suppose you were bound to. This ship is not only small compared to the Rayya, but it is so quiet." She crossed her arms in mock indignation. "So what's this other 'human idiom'?"

He looked at her with his mouth hanging open - completely dumbfounded. He'd totally forgotten. He'd noticed recently that she seemed to have the ability to do that to him.

"Keelah, what a time to be alive…"

Tali looked up for a moment at John, just to see if he was actually there and that this wasn't some kind of hollow dream (and if he was there, to see if he'd actually heard her). He was there, all right, leaning slightly on his cane while regarding her with love, and was it 'pride'? The smile he wore reflected both. He gave her a small nod and a squeeze of her hand.

"Auntie!" Relinquishing said hand from his, she ran excitedly (not quite as fretfully as when she had sprinted into John's embrace a few days ago), down the ramp, having barely registered the other admirals and the entirety of the Conclave. It gave John (who was laughing lightly at the display of joy), Liara, and Ashley a chance to assess their surroundings and to take their time.

The first thing John noticed were the buildings. The last time he was here, they had remained on the outskirts of whatever settlement had been nearest (he couldn't remember, he had been still reeling from the defeat of the reaper and having Tali finally openly with him), but he found himself giving the buildings a glance. He noted their relatively short stature, their stone construction and their -

"Oh Tali! Welcome home!" It was Raan, of course, whom Tali had run to and they met in a tight embrace. "Oh, how I missed you, child! Welcome home."

The exchange had brought John's focus back to directly in front of him down the ramp, and he watched them embrace before he set his gaze on the others gathered there. He recognized the suit of Han'Gerrel, and assumed that the two figures surrounding him were Zaal'Koris and Daro'Xen. He cast his eyes on the five figures behind them, as uncertain now as they appeared to be.

"Shepard," came the soft voice of Liara from behind him, "who are the five quarians in the back?"

He tilted his head slightly to speak over his shoulder. "I don't know, Liara. Perhaps we should go find out?"

"Yeah, skipper. Let's go do that," Ashley agreed from over his other shoulder.

Garrus and Kasumi had a arrived a few minutes after the Normandy touched down, and they were now chatting with Ashley and a couple of the Conclave members. Liara was having a discussion with Daro'Xen, of all people.

"Admiral Shepard, welcome to Rannoch." Han'Gerrel extended his hand.

For a moment, Shepard looked at it with hesitance, uncertain what to do. Deciding to take a chance, he shook the quarian admiral's hand.

"Thank you, Admiral Gerrel. 'Retired' now. It's good to be here."

There was an awkward moment of silence as they each relinquished their grips. Gerrel spoke first after a long intake of breath.

"Shepard, I'd like…to apologize. For my behavior aboard your vessel, and for needlessly endangering you and Tali'Zorah. Shala'Raan has not let me hear the end of it, and I hope that we can move past the incident."

After a moment that Shepard spent wondering just what his angle was, he decided to play along. "Okay, admiral. Fair enough. I'll be the first to admit that it was a heated moment, and believe it or not, I can kind of understand where you were coming from."

This surprised Han. "Oh?"

"Of course. It was war. It was a desperate war. You had a chance to take advantage of an opening. Would I have made that call? No. But…after recent events, let's just say that I can somewhat…relate."

He had left it at that, and Han did not press him - wisely so.

The quarian admiral was perhaps about to say something further when the voice of Shala'Raan interrupted them from behind Shepard.

"Please excuse me, Han, but may I have a word with Admiral Shepard for a moment?"

Han tilted his head in surprise. "Oh, yes. Of course, Shala."

Before he could completely turn away, Shepard spoke again. "Admiral, before you go." Han'Gerrel turned and faced him, the curiosity given away as so many quarian feelings were to Shepard these days. "I wanted to reiterate to you - I meant what I said. I get it, I really do. So…no hard feelings?" He extended his hand once more. He wasn't sure if Gerrel understood the idiom.

Han did shake the human's hand after a moment's hesitation. "Yes, Shepard. No, uh, 'hard feelings'. Thank you." And with that, Han'Gerrel vas Neema walked back toward toward Daro and Liara.

"Keelah, Shepard. That went better than I'd expected."

He smirked at Shala'Raan. "I'm afraid to ask what exactly you were expecting, but I'll take whatever that was. I'll take it every day of the week." A thought occurred to him. "Just how many days are there in a week here? And before you ask, 'no' I never thought to ask Tali about it either."

She chuckled at his response. "Well, we measure time differently here than your people do, Shepard. And I believe that Rannoch orbits our star faster than Earth does Sol."

"That's right. I think your orbit is about two-thirds that of Earth's."

"Hmm…I suppose the closest approximation would be…" she tapped a few keys on her omnitool. "By your measurements, the calendar might be divided into perhaps six months comprised of 39 days. With weeks made of 13 days each." She watched him dumbly try to work out the math. "It's not completely accurate, of course. After all, it is just an approximation."

Uncertainly, he looked down at the rest of his body.

"I…hope that I get used to that, because your days are what? About 32 Earth hours, right?"

She nodded as she confirmed this on her omnitool.

"Right…so long days, long weeks, long months…but short years. Got it."

After Shala checked to see that Tali, Zaal, and Lano (of all people) were having an animated discussion (punctuated by the unmistakable sound of laughter after Shepard thought he heard Tali ask with a laugh, "Your son was the shopkeeper?"), she guided Shepard into the nearby building that served as the HQ for the landing zone. She had led him to an out-of-the-way office, where Shepard stood waiting patiently.

"Keelah," she began with a huff, "you wanted to ask me about bonding?"

"Do you mind if I sit down?" He asked this as he leaned his cane against the long table…and sat the hell down. He watched her shoulders indicate laughter. "Good, because my leg is sore as hell. It's all this standing around that gets me, you know?" When she didn't immediately join him, he gave her his most disarming smile and gestured for her to sit down as well.

Which she did.

He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "Okay, so Tali has tried to explain what bonding is like for her, and I imagine for all or most of your people, Shala. And while I think I'm beginning to understand, I just…I don't know. I just want to make sure that what I'm feeling is what I…should be?" His words trailed off, unsure as he was on how to continue.

"It's okay Shepard. Just ask your question."

He rubbed his forehead. "I've noticed recently - well, I first really noticed it after I had to stay on Earth and Tali…came back to the fleet." He frowned at the remembered feelings. "I couldn't sleep, I was extremely irritable. And then after the attack on Earth, it was more of the same. Garrus and Liara could tell you about it. I just…wasn't myself. And then when we got here and you introduced your 'newest admiral', I was so…relieved. I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. For the first time in months, I felt like myself again."

"Shepard, I'm sure Tali has talked to you about this, but she was not quite 'herself' upon her return either. I cannot speak to her own personal experience, but from what I witnessed, she was behaving in a similar manner to what you have described to me." She paused, considering her next words. "Shepard, a bond is not something supernatural. It is a physiological and psychological response that we give to those who care for us. In many respects, it is not dissimilar to what I imagine other species feel - well, maybe not the salarians, but that helps prove my point. When a quarian fully bonds with another, it is for life. I know that your people - well, humans, that is - 'bond', it is often a very…fluid thing."

He closed his eyes at the mention of the way humans had a tendency to love and discard. "Shala, I'm not -"

She put a hand up to stop him. "Shepard, I am not here to insult you, or to doubt you. Keelah, you have more than proven your feelings for Tali. And what you've described sounds almost exactly what a separated bonded quarian might feel. I just wanted you to know that we are just different. We are a spiritual people, we believe in our spirits, our ancestors, and that our love is tied into completing ourselves at the deepest level - at completing our souls. At finding what we hadn't really known that we were without." She stopped for a moment, considering. She laced her fingers together as her hands rested on the table. "Tell me, Shepard, do you remember your life before you met Tali?"

"Well, yeah. Of course I do."

"Do you remember being happy? And I do not mean in the fleeting, 'someone said something funny' happy. I mean happy in your soul. Truly at peace. Contented."

For a moment, he did try to remember. He tried to remember how he had felt in his "previous life". He emitted a rueful chuckle. Two lives ago, at least, by his reckoning. But regardless of the number of lives, Shala's point remained the same: comparatively-speaking, he had been a shell. What had he been before the Saren mission? Like Shala had implied, he had found laughter and joy to be sure, but that had all been so fleeting. So transitory. So damn superficial. He remembered very little of it at all if he was honest. Which, again, proved her point. With a sigh, he answered.

"No, Shala. I was not. As you implied, I wasn't unhappy, but compared to how I feel now? How I feel with Tali? It's night and day; there is no comparison. She unlocked a part of me I hadn't known existed."

Perhaps his other half.

There it was, as plain as day.

Shala visibly relaxed, and actually laughed.

"What?" He wasn't sure why she'd laughed, but he was certain that it was not an inherently bad thing.

Without saying a word, she reached into a compartment in her suit that he hadn't known existed (Did everyone have pockets like that?), and extracted something from one. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in a tan cloth, and she handled it delicately as she placed it with reverence on the table between them.

His heart skipped a beat; he held his breath. Shala gently unwrapped the cloth, one corner at a time.

"Well…" He muttered without even realizing it. What his eyes relayed to his brain was a sensory delight. Two thickly braided gold chains were laying before him, snuggling close to one another. Even in this somewhat darkened (and relatively cool) room, the faint twinkle could be seen. But that was just the appetizer. Laying neatly next to one another were two rings of equal size and thickness, but the color was different. Sure, he could see gold, but it was touched with a swirling mix of light and deep green. At first, he thought that the colors were actively moving - actively swirling - before realizing that it was just his eyes playing a trick on him. He looked at Shala.

"These are…?"

"Yes, Shepard." Her crescent eyes betrayed her smile. Keelah, she was pleased with herself and the good people who volunteered with its construction. Geru would be happy to know of his reaction. "Those are the rings that you requested. Do you like them?" It was a rhetorical question. They both knew it.

"I…" he stammered. "Shala, I have seen Tali'Zorah's face, and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that she is the most beautiful…anything that I've ever seen. But these? These are a…distant second. But second nevertheless. And that is very impressive."

She laughed heartily. "Well, I will happily take 'second' when compared to our Tali." She noticed that he still hadn't reached for them. "Shepard, you are allowed to pick them up. They are yours now."

He hesitated, his finger shaking mere millimeters above this, the representation of his love for his soul's soul. He closed his eyes tightly for less than a second. When he reopened them, even Shala caught the fire of resolve held within them. He then ran his fingers across the chain, determined to ingrain the feel - every crevice, every tiny and perfect imperfection - into his human mind. Finally, he picked one of the chains up, and placed the ring itself in the palm of the other hand. He traced the ring with his thumb.

He choked up, and could not find words. The expression on his face when he looked up to Shala conveyed all that he wished to say to the woman.

"Keelah, if this is your reaction, I will pay a lot of credits to see our Tali's reaction!"

After a moment, he joined her in laughter.

When it died down, Shala softly asked another question. "Shepard, I…have to ask. How does she feel? About…the Board? About me?"

Those were loaded questions.

"Don't you think that those are questions best posed to her?"

She considered this. "You're right. I just…" she put a hand to her visor, "I worry, Shepard. She has been through so much, and I fear that I have done little to alleviate it. Especially recently."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much. She's a strong woman. And if you ask her, she'll tell you how she feels."

For a long time, she said nothing.

"Keelah, Shepard. I never meant for her to have to go through any of this." It was obvious that she was trying to pull back her own tears, but her breaking voice betrayed her feelings. "She was so…she didn't deserve the things that happened…and then the things that we did to her."

"You don't just mean the trial, do you?"

"Yes that, but…no, not just the trial."

He produced a wan smile. "Shala, I can only tell you what I think. It's obvious that you care for her. And circumstances were what they were." He shrugged to emphasize his point. "You did the best you could, and I know it would have been easier if you weren't an admiral, and she wasn't the daughter of one. But that's what it was. I guess you'll just have to ask her yourself."

She nodded slowly.

"Now Shala, before we go, I wanted to ask you about this location right here. It's not too far…"