"Commander." A stern male voice rang out.
Liara couldn't recognize the faces, or the voices that emanated from them. Their details were murky and blurred. But she felt that they were familiar.
"I am sure you understand the gravity of the situation, but please let us make it plainly clear." A woman spoke coldly.
As Liara sat in the hard steel chair, she felt the biting rings around her wrists, the looseness of the gray prison jumpsuit she wore. The room was cold and harsh. Inwardly she smiles finding that her surroundings were...fitting.
"We want answers Commander, as do the Batarians." A second male voice sounded. "We are trying to avoid open war, can't you see that?"
And war will come, no matter what I say.
The thought was all she could offer to her inquisitioners. She could tell that all three of them were high ranking Alliance. She peered back at them with distain. They embodied the ineptness, the deafness, and most of all, the fear that she had seen from the Galaxy before the Reaper war and even after it.
Fear. Yes. Her mind purred. It is almost palatable. The ever-sweet candy that the mind so readily feeds on. Her response to them was silence.
"Where is your ship? Who is in command of it?" The first voice demanded.
"I haven't the faintest of ideas." Liara offered with a small smile. It was the truth, at least partially.
"Then would you be able to tell us the whereabouts of Dr. T'Soni? SAI last saw the Asari in your company on Illium." The woman stated.
What are you probing for? Weakness? Liara wondered.
"We know you were close to the alien Commander." The woman continued.
Close? You have no right to even speak of such things! Not to me! Liara's mind hissed with rage. But she felt that the thought was not her own.
"SAI also knows you were close with Thane Krios."
Liara's heart heaved. She knew that El'Jaid had always been true to her, but at the same time Liara knew that The Commander had shared something, intimately in common with the Assassin. She had to admit she was jealous of him.
"Did the Drell know of your plans for Bahak before he died?" The woman inquired with the sound of venom on her tongue.
Anger, Liara knew not where from, broiled up within her again at the slanderous words. "Everything about Bahak is in my report." She spat.
Yet a little whisper. The honest, acidic voice within her slithered within her mind's ear. Her throat constricted with creeping bile.
Liar.
"Your report? Commander, as we have said; you report doesn't exist. No report was ever filed by you. Admiral Hackett has made is clear that he has never seen your report and knows nothing of your operations with Cerberus. You have no copies of your fabled report and so your words are meaningless." The first voice rang again.
Liara's view struck to the floor as she clinched her hands in to biting fists.
"I see we are getting no where." The third voice called out. "If only you would work with us, we could guarantee more than a firing squad."
The woman waved her hand in a dismissing fashion. "Guards, take Shepard back to her cell."
As Alliance MPs set the heavy hands on her, Liara saw another blurry image scurry over to the three like a harried mouse. Not so quietly, the courier whispered in their ears.
"We have reports of Batarian fleet movement. Its chaotic, but we believe that the Batarians are mobilizing for war."
Liara tried to turn and strained against her captor's firm grasps. "Don't you listen?! They are here! They are coming!" She screamed.
Her reply came in the audible blare that haunted her lover's dreams. That sent Shepard cringing in to the corner of her room, sweating, scared, and disoriented at night. It was the unholy bastardization of a wail that embodied undivided malice towards life. Only a crafter of nightmares and a twister of souls could have given birth to such a sound.
Liara stood bound and shackled in place as the room around her burned with the people init and all was reduced to nothing more than ash. As her eyes were called skyward, Liara found herself looking up into Oblivion's Gate.
She saw that its eyes were red.
"El'Jaid!" Liara yelled as she bolted upright in bed. The light sheet clung to her sweat slicked body as she exhaled her breath and craned her head into her hands. Blinking her eyes, she worked to dispel the dregs of the dream.
"Goddess..." She whispered as her mind tried to piece together some form to reason of the imagery she had seen. As she sat in the quiet and the solitude of the bedroom, she could only surmise that the dream had been a result of melds she had shared with El'Jaid. It didn't surprise her. Powerful memories, and emotions could be exchanged or slip between partners during a meld.
Yet Liara sensed something else in the dream that was below its surface. It was leeching, intelligent, and degrading. But she couldn't lay a finger on exactly what is could be...
A rap on her door interrupted her process of thought. "Mistress? Mistress T'Soni, are you awake?
"Yes, I am awake I'Alla. What is it?" Liara called back.
"Defense Counselor Parasini is here to see you." The commando replied.
Liara shot from the bed reaching for her light green robe. "I'll be out in a moment."
"Of course mistress."
Soon after Liara strode out of the bedroom and in to her father's foyer. As she rounded a corner she saw Gianna sitting at the dinning room table. She noted that the human woman's expression was telling as she sat leaving back, glowering at Aethyta who stood nearby leaning against the wall. The Matriarch seemed like she was expecting trouble. I'Alla also kept a protective distance, keeping a keen eye over her Matriarch.
Aethyta's Commandos were devout in their following of the Matriarch. Even though Asari could live for a thousand years, change happened swiftly. As the six year war lingered more and more Asari, particularly Maidens, harkened to Aethyta's call for a more militaristic stance for the Asari, and became commandos. Many chose to serve under her direction. As a result, Aethyta had grown to be a powerful voice within Asari politics. Even though the war had ended, she was still a popular figure. Many Asari praised her for her pragmatic stance, her unabashed honesty, and straight talking; even if they disliked her hawkish-ness.
As soon as Liara came in to view though, the commando dutifully departed.
"Well so much for the legendary hospitality of the Asari." Gianna said crossly. "I wasn't expecting to be treated like royalty, but I also wasn't counting on the interrogation either."
Liara drifted to the near by kitchen and came back to the dinning room table with two glasses of water, one she set down in front of Gianna, the other she held in her hand as she took a seat across from the human.
"Be grateful I even let you in." Aethyta growled.
"Da'ma, please." Liara said giving her sire parent a lightly rebuking look.
Gianna then turned her attention to Liara. "Dr. TSoni. If C-Sec or the Council knew I was meeting with you right now, I'd banned for the rest of the trial and probably thrown in jail. Hell you could wind up right along side me. "Gianna said tersely.
"Then why did you come if you are so concerned for your hide? Aethyta baited.
Gianna let out a snort. "If I was concerned for 'my hide' I wouldn't be here. Ever since I was banned from the trial for the day I haven't been able to have access to Shepard. C-Sec is under assault by rioters, and as you can see, the prosecution's 'little' announcement did wonder's for Shepard's reputation as well." She turned again to Liara. "Well T'Soni, congratulations. The day went exactly according to plan. A complete disaster." Gianna scowled.
"Plan? What plan..." Aethyta blurted and looked over at her daughter.
Liara got up and walked over to the expansive windows that led to the outside patio. She looked into the night as the towers of smoke strung into the vista like the strings of a violin waiting to be played.
"Well...there had to be some way to force the prosecution's hand, or rather, entice it. Even you admitted to that."
"Had I realized that you and Shepard were not being fully honest with me I wouldn't have agreed to the insane move. The cost was too damn high!" Gianna stormed. "Without me being there, Jagdhund had a veritable field day with Alenko. If I had been there, I could have stopped everything from caving in."
Liara turned coldly to the human. Her expression pitiless. "You wouldn't have changed a thing. The Prosecution would have still taken advantage of Kaidan, and nothing you would have said would have changed that."
"You don't know that..." Gianna retorted.
"His responses weren't lies or stories." She crossed back over to the dinning room table, setting the glass of water on it. "Kaidan's responses were deeply held beliefs and truths. No one else, but him, can change that." Liara leaned in pressing her hands against the marble tabletop. "What is your plan for tomorrow?"
"My plan?" Gianna responded incredulously. "T'Soni there is no..." She stopped in mind sentence pressing her fingers against the bridge of her nose. She slammed her back against the seat tilting her head down, and taking a drink of her water. Liara was quiet, but held an expectant gaze on her.
"Is it true." Gianna said flatly. "Did Shepard really die."
"What did Shepard tell you?" Liara asked.
Gianna returned Liara's hard gaze. "She told me that she was gravely injured when the first Normandy was destroyed. That Cerberus rescued her and used the Lazarus project to heal her. She also told me that Miranda Alenko was apart of it. When I brought up Lazarus; Miranda didn't comment on it very much. Looking back on it I see now that she was being cagy about it."
Liara felt a pang of emotion at Gianna's words. Anger, regret, loss...She did not know how to categorize it, but it was still there.
"Now you'll have to excuse my lack of comprehension; I don't see how recovering from heavy injuries and being raised from the dead are anywhere close to being the same thing." Gianna growled. "So I need to know. Did Shepard actually come back from the dead?"
Liara immediately stood up and walked over to the window. Gianna said nothing, but at the same time, she made it clear that she was not going to budge.
However, like her beloved, Liara did not let her iron mask of control falter. Liara's eyes of pure ice opened again, their reflection piercing back into the room.
"Fuck." Gianna winced.
No one said a word at the next question was obvious.
...What next.
"All we can do now is wait and see what happens tomorrow." Gianna stated.
"That's it? Wait!" Aethyta shouted in disgust.
"Given the circumstances; yes. I don't know how the Prosecution is going to support their claim. Honestly I could see things still going either way for Shepard." Gianna pushed away from the table and stood up.
"How so Ms. Parasini?" Liara asked softly.
"It all depends on how the testimony is framed. If the current state of things were different; I'd go and have a friendly chat with Mrs. Alenko about Lazarus. But with the whole planet in total melt down; going anywhere near the Alliance berths would be insane for me." She turned towards Aethyta. "Believe me Matriarch; right now is not the healthiest of times for Shepard's defense counselor to be recognized in public."
Aethyta gave her a contemptuous glare, but said nothing more.
Gianna stood and adjusted her long waistcoat as she crossed the room to the door. She looked back at Liara who hadn't turned to watch her guest leave. "Dr. T'Soni, I also came tonight to reassure you that I am doing everything I can to make sure that Shepard's life is spared. I bid you good night." She said simply as she opened the door, and slipped past it like a shadow.
Liara looked out the window blankly as the night continued to wax into sunless dawn taking no real note of Gianna's departure. Her stance was one of ease as she favored her right leg, canting her hip. Yet her arms were wrapped around her in a consoling hug.
It is over. Her mind choked Parasini believes the best outcome will only be the sparing of her life. Yet Liara knew that was only the sweeter half of the bitter pill.
She shut her eyes, and gripped her arms as she fought to keep the tears at bay. She knew that life was never fair. It was a lesson she had learned time and time again. But her mind howled at the complete injustice of it all. Of the wasted gains after the Six year war. Her mother's death. Of Shepard.
Life only seems to breed injustice and setbacks.
"Little wing?" Aethyta asked cautiously.
Liara feeling her sire's unwanted gaze upon her. "You disapprove of how I handled Captain Alenko."
"Benezia wouldn't have approved..."
"Don't being her memory in to this!" Liara hissed.
"The man was already beaten, and you went in a kicked him when he was down." Aethyta returned.
"You don't know. I didn't take anything from him. I gave him exactly what he asked for." Liara responded.
"Like a sledgehammer."
"He didn't deserve charity or kindness." Her voice low. "I asked him to come with me when I went to find Shepard. I pleaded and begged, and still he chose to stay with the Alliance. All he offered to me were empty words of how he would continue to honor her sacrifice. I gave him a chance at Horizon." Liara turned to look back out into the black night. "I had kept tabs on Shepard's crew the best I could. I passed the information that he was stationed on Horizon to Cerberus hoping he would join with Shepard if they crossed paths again. And when they did, what did Kaidan do with the chance? He shoved it away and called her a Traitor."
"Look...weren't you...surprised when you saw Shepard again?'
Liara looked Aethyta in the eye. "Kaidan never believed in Shepard. He followed her; but he also and reacted just like everyone else did before the Reapers finally came upon us. I may have been cruel, but his own actions did not dictate that I had to be kind to his demand." She walked a few steps forward towards her parent. "Tend and care for those who are bind and deaf by nature..."
"But suffer not those who are blind and deaf by choice. So according to Athame." Aethyta finished reverently. Her own eyes fell to the space between father and daughter.
"I guess now we wait." Liara said softly in dismay. She looked to her father hoping, pleading, demanding guidance. Liara watched as Aethyta's eyes did not move and disappointment blew through Liara like a cold winter's chill. She went to the table and picked up the glasses. She poured their unused contents down the kitchen drain.
Waste. Such is life I guess...
"Good night Aethyta." Liara stated calmly as she passed her father by.
"Hey." Aethyta caught her by the arm, and Liara stopped cold in her tracks.
Aethyta continued to look dejectedly at the floor. "Look...I know I've been a piss poor excuse for a parent."
"It's alright..."
"Shut up." Aethyta barked. "No it's not alright." Aethyta roped Liara in to a hug.
At first Liara tried to fight her grasp. She didn't want this, not now. "Let me go." Liara growled with her eyes on the verge of tears.
"Not till you listen to what I have to say." Aethyta soothed. "I know what you and Shepard have is special. I wish Nezzy and I had what you have with Shepard. Look, I don't need to tell you that Life isn't fair. Things happen that have no real meaning behind them. Both good and bad. However, there are also things that happen, good, bad, and every shade in between, that do have meaning. I know you two would do anything for each other. You are doing everything you can to help her."
"Then what is the meaning of this then?" Liara growled as she fought off the tears.
"Ours is not the purpose to discern the meaning or pass judgment of an event until it has passed. Only after, can we act with true purpose So said the Goddess to her Acolytes." Aethyta said sagely.
Her father's words of truth finally broke in to her and she gripped at Aethyta sobbing. "But I can't save her from herself! I'm doing everything I can, but I'm losing her again!" Liara screamed in to Aethyta's shoulder.
Her father continued to hold her close as Liara continued to speak.
"The way she turned herself over to C-Sec; it was almost the same sense of eerie calm she had before she turned herself in to the Alliance. And in the Tribunal...it was like she was a puppet master and everyone else were just pawns playing to her tune. It's like she wants this to happen. I don't understand it Da'ma."
Aethyta just held her as she sobbed.
"It is strange how life has its inversions." Aethyta soothed. "A rose has its thorns and for all their genius, the best whiskey the Salarians can come up with can't even get a Hanar tipsy."
"Always with the jokes? Even at a time like this." Liara blurted out a laugh through her tears causing Aethyta to smirk.
"I'd rather laugh then cry any day Little wing. And speaking of inversions and odd complexities, Shepard is no different."
"What do you mean?" Liara asked giving Aethyta a curious look.
"She comes off as unstoppable and powerful, because she is. Hell, she scared the fuck outa me when she rescued me from Cerberus. However, even through all of that, she is fragile. She has reasons for why she is who she is. Some of them are admirable, others are not."
Liara's eyes darted away and a frown etched itself on her face.
Aethyta gave her daughter an appraising look. "You know, you glow when she is near, and the desire I see from her is more then simple carnal sex appeal."
Liara could feel her cheeks warm. "I should have guessed a sex comment would be coming soon or later."
"What?" Aethyta smiled as she gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and loosed her hold on Liara. "At least it is one thing most people share in common. Well everyone besides Geth.
Liara gave her a soft lop sided grin. "You know, Mother loved to use that little passage, about our purpose. She used to hastise me with it when I asked too many questions."
"One reason why so many Asari listened to her. I may not have agreed with your Mother on many things, and believe me that passage still grates my nerves whenever I remember her saying it; but there are times when it makes more sense then charging in like an angry Krogan. I still prefer an action, the right action, to sitting up in an ivory tower and doing nothing though. If I were to give this event any meaning for you; right now it would that even though it is dark and you can't see, keep fighting."
Aethyta walked down to a short niche in the foyer, and Liara felt compelled to follow.
"Then what is the right action now?"
"Prayer."
"Aethyta lit a small thin candle and proceeded to light white candles in the small alcove. Soon Liara could see a small statue of Athame in the back. The idol was a tasteful nude. The head held high and a long slightly curved sword in the right hand pointing towards the sky. Three empty candle nooks laying in front of it in a neat row. Soon a light scent of citrus and sandalwood pervaded her senses, warming her.
Liara could see Aethyta opening a slim but large armoire that was nestled against a side wall.
"Choose." Aethyta said calmly.
Liara drifted over and looked at the myriad of small different candles. If it had been a full-fledged temple, there should have been just over sixteen hundred candles to form combinations of three for each of the five thousand sutras of the Goddess. But Liara knew that with private home collections like this one, the candle selection depended entirely on the practitioners preference and what they could afford. Liara could not be sure, but it seemed as if Aethyta had at least six hundred.
Carefully she searched over the collection and found three that instantly called to her.
Hope. Salvation. Truth.
The essence of Miracles. Liara silently whispered as she careful carried the three to the statue. Gingerly she set the three in their places and kneeled before the statue.
"Trials and tribulations the Goddess has endured, and we must endure. Hope is to be the ever burning flame in our hearts." Aethyta said calmly as she lit the first. "At the Goddess came for her Joined-Lover who was taken by Lamia, must we also be there for our mates and Daughters." She then lit the second. "As the Goddess always stated truth without fear, must we also state truth without fear." The third then was set alight.
"The Goddess is praised." Liara said softly as the warmth of the space ensconced itself around her. In that moment she could feel El'Jaid's strong arms wrap around her and feel her warmth imbue her.