Chapter 10

"Are you sure about this?" Kolyat picked at loose scale on his chin, unable to keep his hands still. The airtram zoomed quickly through the atmosphere. Within minutes, the city they had landed in disappeared from the windows and amber acres of grain flowed beneath them in undulating waves. Beside him, Miranda thumbed through a datapad—always working, Shepard thought with a smile. He turned to Kolyat.

"Completely sure? No."

Kolyat looked up at him with surprise. Shepard nodded. "I'll only be sure if you are, Kolyat. Any time you feel like it's not going to work out, just send a message my way, and I'll come get you, no questions asked."

"And... you'll come visit, right?"

"Whenever I can," he promised. "And when I can't, there's always vid-mail." He paused, watching the drell, but he didn't seem too anxious. "These people are like family to me, Kolyat. I think you'll like them."

"I… I hope so."

The airtram slowed to a stop at a smaller town. Shepard, Miranda, and Kolyat disembarked, the latter shouldering a small bag. The bulk of his belongings had arrived a few days before.

"Come on." Shepard led the way through the rest of the people milling around the platform, entering and exiting airtrams on their way to different destinations on Amaterasu.

"Koen!"

"Don't call him that! It's rude!"

"He said I could, Lynn!"

"It doesn't matter what he said, it's still rude. He's Commander Shepard!"

"Don't say it so loud! Do you want the whole of Nodame Station to hear you?"

Shepard, Miranda, and Kolyat approached four dark-haired women, the two youngest of which were glaring at each other. The oldest, an elegant woman with a few silver strands in her black hair, stepped forward, hand outstretched.

"Commander, it's good to finally meet you in person," said Rebecca Williams, smiling warmly as she shook his hand.

"Dr. Williams, a pleasure—"

"Rebecca, please."

"This is Miranda Lawson," Shepard said, gesturing at the woman beside him. "She, uh—"

"Kolyat is important to Koen, so he's important to me too," Miranda interjected, laying a hand on Shepard's arm. He looked down at her, a warm smile on his lips.

Rebecca Williams nodded. "I'm glad." Turning to her daughters, she gestured, "These are my girls: Abigail, Lynn, and Sarah." A note of pride entered her voice. "Abby just got back from a consult with her florist and wedding planner—she'll soon be Abigail Kwon."

"Congratulations," Shepard said, noting the sparkling ring on the older girl's finger. He shook the girls' hands, his eyes lingering on Sarah. She didn't resemble Ash physically so much as it was the way she carried herself—arms crossed, head high, a steely glint shining from hazel eyes. "Sar and I got real close. We… bonded."

Sarah met his eyes with frank appreciation. "Ash told us he was cuter in person than on the vids, and she wasn't lying!"

"Sarah!" Lynn groaned, her face blooming red. Abigail just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I take it you're Kolyat Krios," she said coming forward, hand extended.

Kolyat looked startled at being addressed by Abigail—but then, Shepard reflected, he'd probably never seen a corset and such a poufy dress before. Those tube-dresses women wore all over the galaxy had been the rage for more than three years—according to Miranda, at least. It was partially her disdain for women's current fashion that had dictated her attachment to her bodysuit. Not that Shepard minded.

"Uh, yeah," Kolyat said, recovering. "Nice to meet you all."

"I'm glad to welcome you to our home, Kolyat," Rebecca said. "Commander Shepard told you I'm a professor at the local college, yes? When you're ready, I can set you up with an academic advisor, and we can see about getting you started."

"Mom, he doesn't want to talk about school the minute he gets here," Sarah said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed Kolyat by the arm and tugged him forward. "Let's go get something to eat. Do drell eat meat?"

"Um, yes…" Kolyat looked over his shoulder at Shepard who nodded reassuringly. "Usually bugs—"

"No way!" Sarah's expression was a mixture of shock and admiration.

"Yeah," Kolyat said, gaining confidence. "The crunchy ones are the best—"

A collective squeal of feminine disgust made Shepard chuckle. The adults lingered behind the young people as they made their way out of the station and into the summer sunshine of Amaterasu's sun.

-end-

Thanks for reading! Sorry the last chapter was so short, but I didn't want to drag it out. I may have one more update - there might be a fanart of Koen and Kolyat coming in the future. I'll post the URL here when it comes. I also have a couple of scraps from Koen's past that I never used. I might post them and the fanart in a "bonus items" chapter.

Also we don't know how old Ashley's sisters are - only Sarah. Since Sarah was supposedly the youngest and Ashley the oldest, here are their ages in this story: Abby 25, Lynn 20, Sarah 18

Thanks to We Will Conquer - beta reader and slayer of misplaced semi-colons!