"Hey…"

"Oh! Hey Kolyat, what are you doing down here?"

The drell shrugged as he approached her, dressed in a thin T-shirt and drawstring pants,

"Well I noticed you kinda stormed off after talking with Garrus, Dad told me to give you a few minutes before following."

"Smart man that Krios." She chuckled, slapping her hand on the crate next to the one she was sitting on, "Have a seat."

Kolyat looked around before sitting, "Man this place is huge…"

The cargo bay could easily fit his aunt's house, including the surrounding buildings.

"Yea, it's much bigger than the original Normandy. Kinda makes me wonder if the Illusive Man is compensating for something…"

Kolyat laughed, "From what I hear he's got quite the stick up his ass."

"Stick? The man has an entire tree shoved up there!"

They fell into a companionable silence; the only sounds were the hum of the engines and the slightly labored breathing of Shepard. It was then Kolyat noticed she was drenched in sweat, her usually spiky hair plastered to her skull. Fae had a bottle of water hanging from her fingers and a glance behind him showed the heavy bag with a massive hole ripped down the side.

"I take it the equipment offended you in some way?"

Fae looked back, "What, that? Nah," She paused, jaw clenching momentarily, "Garrus's mission just…hit close to home is all."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm guessing you know by now what happened on the Citadel today."

"Dad gave me the highlights."

"Well, the same situation kinda happened to me."

Kolyat looked at his hands for a moment, "You mind if I ask what happened?"

"Actually no, I don't mind." Fae seemed surprised at this but continued on, "My family lived in one of the harsher districts of the Tenth Street Reds. Bad luck I guess, but we lived on. My father took every precaution and he never missed a payment."

"Payment?"

"Yea, protection money. It was just one huge extortion racket. You'd pay the Reds a little of your monthly paycheck and they wouldn't drive by and shoot your kids while they were playing hide and seek on the front yard."

"Goddess of Oceans…"

"That's the least of what happens in the slums man, way worse shit goes down out there." Her eyes held a reddish glint as she glared at the far wall, "Anyway, my father never missed a payment. He didn't want his children to live indoors their whole lives."

"Children?"

Fae smiled, "I had three sisters, all older. I was the baby of the family." Her smile faded, "My mother had always been sick, the doctors never really knew what was wrong with her, something to do with her immune system but my father never told us anything. He wanted to protect us; mom didn't want us to worry.

I started getting involved with the Underground when I was about 13. Normal teenage rebellion bullshit, fighting the system you know? Defying authority? I was just having fun, and pretty soon I got a job as a DJ for several major hangouts for the Reds.

I didn't find this out till way later, but a new medication hit the black market. It wasn't approved by the right companies because it was highly experimental and controversial but it held the key to curing my mom. It was also very expensive…"

"I think I see where this is going…"

"I bet you do," Fae murmured, lips trembling slightly before she continued, "My father thought, it's just one missed payment, what could it hurt? And my mother wanted to try it. She said she didn't care about the dangers; she just wanted to be able to play with her daughters in the garden…

What my father didn't know was that one of the heads of our district, Finch, had been stealing money from the main accounts. Lots of money, enough that a few of the higher ups started noticing…Under pressure he told them my father stole the money, pushed the blame onto my family."

"Fae…"

"I wasn't there, I worked that night. I was just walking home like any other morning and then I smelled smoke…" Her voice choked off before she continued, "They burned the house down while my family slept."

Kolyat felt the zing down his spine, his breath quickening as memory crashed over him.

School's out, finally. I have never been so bored in my entire life…

I can't wait to get home; Dad's supposed to be arriving later tonight. Mom's been cooking all day and she says if I get home fast enough I can lick the cake batter off the spoon.

Something's not right, I smell fire…M-Mommy?

Her scales were once golden, sunset colored eyes…they're red now, and the sun has set.

He jolted back to the present, finding Fae's arms around him.

"I remembered that out loud didn't I?"

"Yep," Fae whispered, tightening her hold.

When Fae finally did pull away she had tears in her eyes, "That's why it was so hard to see Garrus face Sidonis. I had to face Finch when we were hunting Saren."

"What happened?"

Fae shrugged, "He had the nerve to ask me to help the Reds. I had the decency to refrain from doing more than kicking him in the crotch."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"I shoved my gun in his face, but all I could hear was my mother telling me how wrong violence was, how it didn't solve anything, it just added more pain. So I let him go."

"Did you explain this to Garrus?"

"Oh Garrus knows my past, that's why I snapped when he said I didn't understand what he'd been through. We had our talk and I realized he was so angry at me because he couldn't be angry at Sidonis. He had let that bastard go and he wanted his revenge…so he took it out on me. I know how that feels, so I forgave him."

Kolyat nodded, "That's big of you."

"We're a team. We need to work together to stop the Collectors."

"I see."

Fae looked at her Omni Tool, "Jesus Christ, Mary, and Joseph! You're gonna miss dinner, better run up to the Mess quick before Gardner gives your plate to Grunt."

"Aren't you coming?"

Fae shook her head, smiling softly at him, "Nah, I'm gonna stay down here for a bit. Gardner has to save my food."

He smirked back at her before heading for the elevators. His last sight of the Commander was her waving before delivering a roundhouse kick to the heavy bag.

. . .

"You disappeared for a while before dinner." Thane Krios commented from his bed as Kolyat fell onto his cot.

"Just talked with the Commander for a bit."

"I assume everything remained peaceful?"

Kolyat chuckled, "Yea…she just told me about her family, what happened to them."

His father sat up abruptly, "Fae told you?"

"Yea, I thought all the squad knew."

"No," Thane looked surprised, "The only individuals on this ship who know are the members of her old crew and myself. Fae refuses to speak of her life before the Alliance…"

"Huh, well…huh." Kolyat wasn't sure how to process that. Why had she told him? She barely knew him…

Thane gave him an odd look before laying back down, "Clearly she trusts you. Don't take that lightly Kolyat."

"I won't."

Kolyat pulled his shirt off, throwing it in the general direction of the laundry disposal before settling back into bed. He quickly fell asleep, doing his best to push thoughts of Fae to the back of his mind.