Thessia

Sen stared at Liara as the skycar set down in the hospital's parking deck. Her eyes were wide as she attempted to juxtapose what she had learned with what she was now being told. Decades of education warred against the trust she had in Liara, and she could not restrain the words that left her lips.

"That's impossible." Sen claimed. "The Shadow Broker disappeared after the Reaper War. The brokerage was dismantled and…"

"Was it?" Liara offered a coy, canny smile. "I had no idea."

Sen stared in dumb amazement at one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. She had been taught, as had every asari, salarian, turian, krogan, batarian, volus, vorcha, elcor, drell, hanar, and human, that the Shadow Broker had aided in the Reaper War based solely on the need for survival, but then, the mysterious entity had either abdicated or been forced from their throne, never to work in the galaxy again.

Sen sat back in her seat, still struggling to comprehend the magnitude of this revelation. Liara extended her hand, and the young doctor seemed not at all certain if she should take it. Liara had confessed to crimes, certainly, but the stunning fact that she still persisted as the uncontested head of the galaxy's underworld was…staggering.

"History must have been rewritten." Sen breathed. "No one would believe me were I to tell them that the Shadow Broker still lives, breathes, and acts in the universe."

Liara nodded, her eyes filled with a gentle sort of sorrow. "I know." she replied. "I re-wrote history myself, purposefully. I remained as quiet as possible for a century and a half, until, gradually, people began to believe that the Shadow Broker had fallen off the face of the planets. Then, as these things do, legend became history, and history forgot that the Shadow Broker and its power were anything but a legend."

"I…see." Sen breathed, still stunned, sworn to secrecy already by the belief in the galaxy. "But you still…"

"Yes." Liara admitted, free, trusting Sen with her greatest secret…well…her second-greatest secret. "I am still the Shadow Broker. Times have changed, technology has grown, but still secrets are bought and sold. Still, I attempt to keep true to my first promise, and the reason that I claimed the brokerage for my own. To make this galaxy a kinder place for the soldiers, those who protect, who defend, who guard what they hold dear."

Sen shook her head as she stared at history personified, the final resting place of the majority of the galaxy's secrets and intrigues.

"I can't imagine." Sen breathed. "And you have been all this; have done all this…alone?"

A somber expression crossed Liara's face. "Not entirely alone, no. But neither with true companionship. Operatives cannot hold the same place as friends, nor can an informant give more than they possess or be more than what they are." The asari's lovely blue eyes darkened. "But always there has been a reason in my actions and for them. Even remaining alone, by myself all these decades and centuries, has been a conscious choice."

Sen lowered her eyes, unable to think of a purpose or a calling that would make her choose to be alone. For so long, she had forged ahead, attending university for the century required to become an interspecies trauma surgeon, ignoring those who said she was too young for the pursuit, that she had wasted her young years and would later regret it. Through it all, she had striven not to be alone, to keep friends and family near her for as long as possible but…but that had changed when school ended and her career began. She had thrown herself into her work, caring for nothing and no one beyond that…until Mira Dorsen had changed her life, and made her realize that no career, no calling, could replace the warmth and caring of someone who desired to share your existence.

"You shouldn't be alone, Liara." Sen whispered the words in her heart without thinking of how they might sound.

The expression of pain in her friend's eyes made Sen feel remorseful, but she could not retract what she had said. Sen believed it wholeheartedly…and Liara had so much to offer the world. No matter how important her work was…no matter what being the Shadow Broker required, it hurt Sen to think of someone as beautiful and wise as Liara living in isolation.

"I've said something wrong." Sen broke the silence when it became clear that Liara would not reply.

"No." Liara shook her head. "There is a difference between saying something wrong and speaking a truth that pierces the heart. Come, let's waste no more time. You should not be sitting here with me when Mira has asked after you."

Sen nodded and opened the door, still unable to relieve the aching in her heart. She could see the hurt in Liara's eyes, the pensive tightening of Liara's cobalt lips, and she felt still that she had spoken amiss. Liara had her reasons for being alone…she had loved once, and it had ended in pain. And now…she had great secrets, great wealth, and there were many who would pretend affection to attach themselves in some permanent way to a name as auspicious as House T'Soni.

Liara deserves better than what most in this galaxy would offer her, Sen thought as they walked through the gleaming halls of Thessia Medical. And perhaps that is why she chooses to be alone. To hear her speak of it, she had the love of the greatest warrior of her time, and the strongest heart in the galaxy. To lose that, not simply once, but twice over…perhaps, I, too, would be living a life in isolation.

The two asari rode the elevator in silence to the TCU, Liara lost in her own thoughts, Sen much the same. Sen glanced at the asari who had cared for her during this trying time, who had kept her from falling entirely to pieces. She saw the tightness at the corners of Liara's eyes, and wondered how much it troubled the…the Shadow Broker…to be in a place like this.

Surely, Liara had to be remembering the times she had spent, wondering if her loved ones would survive their injuries.

Or, Sen mused, she is remembering the times when she herself was locked in places like this…wondering when the pain would stop. If she would get well. Her life has held so much suffering. She had just gotten Shepard back and then…then watched her injured, watched her go into shock, and still remained uncertain of where they stood. However…I do know how the story ends. I know they loved again, strong, beautiful, 'til the end of the War and after it. How they returned to that point, how they recaptured that love, Sen reached the door of Mira's room, turned around, and saw Liara take a seat, her eyelids lowered, her posture contemplative, is perhaps a story best left to Liara's memory. Some secrets deserve to be kept…and some moments are so sacred that they can never be retold.