Thessia

Liara's voice faded and she fell silent, staring at the window in front of her and Sen. In her mind's eye, she could see the puncture wound in the glass from the bullet that had pierced it. The Shadow Broker laughed to herself as she remembered the human term "magic bullet"…the deciding factor in a conflict; that which conquered all. While the bullet that had been meant to take her life had not done so, it had changed everything.

"You are saying so much and yet so little." Sen commented, drawing Liara's attention to her. "And I must admit that I am confused. Were you not overjoyed to see her again? Even though…even though so much had changed how…if you loved her…how could you speak to her in such a manner? How could you attempt to anger her?"

"Because love can be twisted, tangled, and spun into something that resembles nothing that once was pure and bright." Liara mused. "I thought then, that I was broken. And I also, mistakenly, believed that I had found the broken pieces of myself and stitched them back together. I was wrong. There were pieces of me that had been shattered, Sen, split into so many fragments that I could not even find them. Small shards of myself piercing me, burrowing deep and spreading their poison…because pain too long untended turns to venom and permeates your entire system. It conquers you, possesses you, clouds your vision and your sight and twists your person."

"You wanted to hurt her?" Sen whispered, unable to imagine that much pain in her own heart.

She struggled with the concept of being hurt so terribly that the pain within her reached out and scarified those she touched with love. Even when Mira had left her, she understood the woman's reasons. And when she had received news of the accident, she had worried and she had grieved. But never once had anger stricken her heart.

"Yes I did." Liara answered. "There is a sense of belonging with love. A sense of ownership that is not possessive, not jealous, but passionate and fierce in its intensity. To believe that you are loved, to believe that the body alongside yours is yours alone, to cherish and protect and to, at times, dwell inside and hide away from the world…is the greatest gift that the galaxy has given its myriad races."

Sen blushed a gentle shade of violet as she heard the truth in Liara's words. She remembered the sweet nights spent in slumber with Mira, the feel of her skin, the heat of her body, the cadence of their breath matching as they descended into dreams. She had felt safe, loved, and comforted in those moments, as though she belonged in that room, alongside Mira, sharing the same air.

"I understand." Sen murmured.

"Love is universal." Liara continued. "And thus it would seem that sense of ownership is as well. However, Sen…to love a soldier is another thing entirely. A soldier will never wholly belong to the one they love, because they have already sworn their lives in service to something greater. A soldier is owned by their oath, by their duty, by a code of honor that can supersede even love. I did not realize, at that time, how truly selfish my anger was. Because, when the Normandy was attacked, Shepard did not belong to me. She belonged to the oath that she swore before she even knew of my existence."

Sen nodded as understanding dawned on her. "You believed that she had a choice that day, to go with you to safety or to die ensuring the safety of others."

"I was a fool to think that. I was a fool in my anger, and I can admit that now...how I wish I had realized it sooner than I did, then." Liara replied. "And until I learned what it was to belong to something other than another, something larger than two individuals in the dark of space…at that moment, understanding dawned. But the road to that point was filled with pitfalls, bitter words, confusion, and chaos. That bullet changed everything…and it made me who I am today."

"What happened?" Sen inquired, eager to hear more of the story.

She knew how it ended, with the greatest tale of love and tragedy that the galaxy had borne witness to. But the journey to that point, how Liara had come from the bitter, conflicted asari she described to the paragon of wisdom and kindness that had taken her in and sheltered her when life became brutal.

"I remained in the apartment for four minutes, leaving a message for Shepard…I knew that she would come, because she had never failed in her word to me. I also sent a message to my contact, moving up our time table. I needed to meet him as soon as possible and find out what he knew. Once the message for Shepard, telling her where I had gone, was hidden, I left my apartment."

"To go to the meeting?" Sen asked.

Liara shook her head. "I doubled back. This was not the first time that someone had attempted to take my life in my home. If the shots from afar did not succeed, their next step would be to show themselves. I waited, and before long, my assailant appeared…in the form of Tela Vasir, an asari Spectre."

Sen shook her head. "The more you speak of Spectres, Liara, the more I begin to distrust them. It seems that all of them were corrupt in some way. They had the power to go above the law, and it damaged them."

"There is a reason that the Council disbanded the unit last century." Liara said, closing her eyes. "There were too many misusing their power and craving more. The last thing that this galaxy needs is another Saren or another Vasir."

"Why was a Spectre trying to kill you?" Sen asked, intrigued.

"Vasir had been purchased by the Shadow Broker." Liara said. "Another good life ruined by pernicious influence. However, I let her invade my home and search through my belongings and my home, knowing that she would not find what I had left for Shepard. Only someone who truly knew me could…and I trusted Shepard to do so. She had shown enough that I had begun to believe that she was the woman I loved, returned from the dead, somehow."

"So you left and went to meet your contact?" Sen asked, sitting forward in her chair, eager to hear more.

"Yes." Liara nodded. "Little did I know that the evening would end with explosions…of various types, causing various damages."