A/N: Hi everybody!

*Hello Dr. Nick!*

So work projects aside, I am going to be on vacation from the 13th to the 24th. I will be at home and I promise I'll try to at least get one chapter, if not two, out during that time, but I can't make any guarantees.

Enjoy!


If any of the Kodra actually departed when they were dismissed, it was only a scant few. Del could see no real change in their numbers after the Ubuut had gone.

The females with the red sashes- the ones that Sihra and Antolia had called 'the One Hundred', had formed a bit of a breakwater between the members of the Kodra and their party, but it was clear they were just as unsure and curious as the rest.

That Sihra wanted to pursue the Ubuut was clear on her face and in her body language, but she chose to remain, walking back to the others with a grim expression and more than one glare thrown at the murmuring Kodra. Juffbak Hotes, however, vanished after the leader, having remained silent throughout the proceedings.

"How do you think it went?" Del asked softly as she drew near. "Do you think he'll agree?"

"Do not worry, detrak," Sihra said, then smirked. "Only two died. This was one of the better Kodra meetings I have ever attended."

Sokka, who was almost uncomfortably close, stepped closer still, her head ducked a bit and her nostrils flaring as she regarded Liara and Del with the scrutiny of a scientist examining a lab specimen. Del did her best to ignore her, but when the female reached out and plucked at her robe, she could not help a bit of an unconscious flinch.

"Sokka, leave them be," Sihra said.

"They are so small and ugly," the younger rakir replied. "If I had not seen the silver one fight…" Her nostrils flared again. "And this one is Stunted-"

"She is a doctor, and smarter than you shall ever be," Sihra said, making Del blink and then color a bit. She thought that Sihra barely tolerated her, the rakir warrior much preferring the company of Liara or the cousins. To hear that kind of praise from her was unexpected. "She is the captain's levayha."

"You have never really explained what that means," Del said. "The translators don't seem to know what to make of it."

Sihra started to speak, but the oblivious Sokka, still scrutinizing Del as if searching her for pinworms, answered instead. "A soul that is broken into pieces," she said, as if explaining things to an exasperating child who should know better. "A warrior so great they cannot be contained in a single body. Sihra, it is strange. She is levayha to the captain-I can smell it- but it defies logic. The captain is a warrior, this detrak is not."

Sihra rumbled a laugh. "I know her better than you," she said simply.

"There are different manners of warrior," Liara said. "Different methods of bravery. Not all battles are fought with claws or weapons or strength of body. Shepard has saved my life, and the lives of more people than grains of sand at the ocean. She would surprise you."

Del felt herself blush suddenly, and was grateful when Sam walked over, distracting them.

"There still seems to be a lot of hostility among the Kodra. They've not done anything yet but it may be a good idea to fall back to someplace a bit less…closed in."

"They will do nothing," Sihra said. "Any that tried would be met by me or the One Hundred."

"What about him?" Sam asked, jerking her chin toward Duenoro, who was helping to remove the bodies of the male and wild female that Sokka and Sihra had killed. "He seems a bit too calm for someone who watched loved ones slaughtered in front of him. I…assumed those were his family?"

"His father, and one of his sisters," Sihra said, glancing back. "He is the only fertile male left to his House. He is a strange one, but no coward and no fool. The House is his now, and he has cunning and sense. They chose their fight and he knows it. They were fools to attack in the middle of the One Hundred, during a Kodra. He does not tolerate fools."

"So no worries about him knifing one of you in the back?" Sam asked. The two rakir stared at her suddenly as if she'd grown a third eye.

"In the back?" Sokka wrinkled her nose, horrified. "Only a puling coward would kill in this way!"

"She didn't mean anything by it," Antolia said, then looked at the others. "Rakir have no assassins, no cut-throats. If Duenoro meant to kill either of them he'd face them honestly, in fair battle."

"Forgive me," Liara said. "I mean no disrespect or to question anyone's honor, I seek merely to understand- Sokka attacked that wild female from behind…"

"And rightfully so," Sihra grimaced. "Kivita was an idiot to turn away from Sokka…what she did was an insult to Sokka's strength, reducing her to non-threat. As well, she did so to unbalance the fight between myself and Dusodo, hoping to take me unawares. If Sokka had not killed Kivita, Duenoro would have himself, for the dishonor brought to his House."

"I see. So, because Kivita knew that Sokka was there and willfully turned her back anyway, the dishonor is hers and not Sokka's. It was her knowledge of Sokka's presence that changes the dynamic."

"You detrak can learn," Sihra said with an amused lift to her lip, then looked around as she heard the Ubuut's door open again. This time, it was Hotes who entered, glaring around him.

"The Ubuut dismissed this Kodra! Quit gawking like milk-fed and go home!"

There were rumbles and bared teeth, but the Hall began to slowly empty. Sihra broke from them and headed toward Hotes. They spoke for a long moment, in voices too low to hear, before she headed back toward them. This time, she looked pleased, and relieved.

"The Ubuut is open to a treaty," she said. "So long as it can be negotiated next to his fire. He has agreed to let the rakir be uplifted and the Affliction cured."

A collective breath of relief went out among the group. Antolia herself looked near tears. "That is marvelous news. I will get the talks initiated at once, iron out the details of the treaty."

"We will notify the shuttles and the research base," Liara said. "Then we must get back to the Aswa and our own mission at Permiatic."

"Of course. We'll be able to handle matters from here," Antolia told her. "Thank you, Captain, Doctor, for all your help. Thanks to you, a great people will be able to live, and make their place in this galaxy."

"I will not be going with you," Sihra said, with no small measure of regret. "No one wants to feel Osco's blood more than I. She took me from my home, treated me like an oddity, a beast. Still, if she had not done so, perhaps we would have perished from the Affliction after all. At any rate, my duty is here with my Ubuut. With this decision there may still be some in the Kodra who will revolt, seek his life."

"He will need his Champion," Liara said with a faint smile. "I understand, Sihra. Your place is here."

Sokka suddenly straightened and looked at her aunt. "I will go."

"You are sure? You have no idea what they face, Sokka…and you will see things you cannot even imagine."

"That is exactly why I wish to go. I want to see these things that you described. I want to fight in battles I never even imagined possible. This 'Osco' caused you pain, and I am family. I can be sure that your honor in this matter is defended while you attend your duty here. A rakir needs to help finish this fight."

"I see no reason to deny her if Sokka wishes to join us," Liara said. "We would be honored to have her aboard, and there is much that she could learn."

"Don't worry, we'll smack her around if she gets out of line," Ashley said from nearby, smirking. Sihra nodded her head.

"Then go, Sokka. Our House will be twice as honored as the first to leave Nakira and sail the night sky."


They said their goodbyes, Miranda unsurprisingly electing to stay with Antolia and the treaty teams, still determined to right her karmic wrongs by making sure the rakir were saved and not exploited. Sokka did not react much when she saw the shuttles, but feeling the one she was aboard rise and move beneath her threw her off her balance a bit. Though Ashley tried to prompt her to look out the viewport, she refused and kept her eyes clenched tight.

This act seemed to bring her some small amount of shame, and when they boarded the Aswa, she made a point of going directly to a window and looking out of it.

Her awe at seeing the green and gold ball of Nakira beneath her, the endless expanse of star-speckled black around her, was almost childlike. "This is my home? This is Nakira?" she asked softly, then wrinkled her snout in confusion. "How do we not fall off? Why is the ground we walk on flat there and yet round here?"

Del was glad for the opportunity to put her mind and energy toward something other than their ultimate destination and the showdown that would commence there. She spent the next several hours with Sokka, explaining rudimentary concepts of physics and gravity and time and space. Sokka seemed to have a rather keen mind, not only quickly accepting what she was told but seeming to have a good understanding of it. She asked an endless series of questions, most of which were logical and extremely well thought out.

Oddly enough, Del found it far easier to get along with Sokka than she had with Sirha. The elder rakir was so rigid, closed off. She dealt with her fear and her confusion by balling it up and hiding it from every possible scrutiny. While Sokka, obviously, made no real display or mention of fear, she was far more communicative and garrulous, addressing her concerns by learning about them and facing them head on.

Eventually, the questions came down to Osco, what had been happening and the threat she posed. As Del filled her in, Sokka grew more and more quiet, a grim sort of tenacity coming over her expression. Now, she truly did remind the geneticist of the Prilekk.

Out of her own curiosity, Del found herself asking questions as well, rather than just answering them. She asked about the rakir's beliefs, their myths and stories. She asked more about the 'levayha' concept, and what Sokka told her troubled her some. The more she thought about it, the more it disquieted her.

That evening, exhausted from all the goings-on, she nevertheless found herself pacing Liara's room, trying to make sense of her thoughts. Liara, dressed as usual in a simple white shift for bed, watched and listened, pouring them a pair of drinks.

"I really think the rakir know and understand more about our universe and the matters of physics and even quantum mechanics than they think they do," she said.

"Why do you think this?"

"Their mythology, for one," Shepard said. "They may rely more on their incredibly keen sense of smell but their eyes are different from us as well. They see colors in a different spectrum than we do…or a different part of the spectrum, rather. That's why they see biotics as being silver, but it doesn't just stop there. Sokka told me that some of the monks can see the life in things- trees, plants, animals, other rakir…but also things that aren't alive, like rocks and metal. I think they're somehow seeing the actual radiation generated by objects from a molecular level in kind of an…an aura. They explain this with their rudimentary understanding as being 'life' but that doesn't change the fact they're seeing a very real and measurable phenomenon. And then there's the 'levayha' thing."

Liara shrugged a little, giving a gentle smile as she passed Del a glass. "Their concept for soul mates. It is hardly a rare or unusual thing among any of the species. Even krogan have an idea of soul mates."

"That's what I thought too but that's not really the case, Liara." She held tight to her glass, speaking intently, but made no move to drink. "They can smell it. Sihra knew almost the moment we met her that we were 'levayha', and when she mentioned it to Sokka she sniffed to verify it-"

"Del, it is just a matter of pheromones," Liara said. "Their olfactory receptors are so sensitive they're picking up the chemical reactions in our bodies. It is no more mysterious than this."

"Normally I'd say you're right, but it's not just that. The Consort mentioned it. You yourself said you felt as if you had known me forever from the moment we first met. You know I felt the same thing…like we had always been together, we had just somehow…forgotten. And I think the rakir know the difference between normal pheromones between two people who are attracted or even in love, and this concept of 'levayha'. And even that's not just it. I asked her to clarify it for me. It's not just a soul they believe was split into two parts."

"Tell me."

"They believe that a single soul, a single person, can be broken into thousands of pieces-pieces that reflect each other yet are different. One break in two different bodies is what we'd consider soul mates, but they go further. They think that those two pieces can themselves be broken time and time again…into the same body, existing at the same time, in countless reflections."

"I do not think I am quite following-"

"I'm talking about multiverse M-theory, Liara. The idea that there isn't just one dimension but an infinite number of dimensions or Hubble volumes with physical laws similar to ours…or even bubble universes where the physical laws differ. That every possibility out there exists, and in each Hubble volume there exists a different version of everyone…you, me, Ash, Sam, Jura, Sihra…we're all out there in a trillion different configurations, leading a trillion different lives, but still us."

"You are speaking to the old idea that with every decision we make, we split off…and there is another us that makes the opposing decision. That…what was his name? The old Earth scientist…Schrödinger. That Schrödinger's cat is neither alive nor dead but exists in quantum flux, in both states, until observed."

"Yes. That's what the rakir believe…tied up in legend. It's not just that you and I are two halves of the same soul, but that there are trillions of 'us's out there who are all also two halves of the same soul. They believe that while in this life, one rakir may find a mate with another, yet in a different life in a different 'reflection'…that same rakir may find a mate with someone completely different. The Ievayha are apart from that. They believe that in every reflection, the Ievayha find the same true mate over and over again, that they're bound together at a special level through all reflections. And this is something they can actually sense…whether it's truly scent or sight or just some unexplained intuition."

"And you are inclined to believe this?" Liara asked. Her question was sincere, mere nonjudgmental curiosity. Shepard let out a breath, then shook her head.

"I don't know what I believe, Liara. I mean, obviously there is an explanation of some kind but- I just think it's rather surprising that a civilization at their level, one that didn't even know until literally today that their world was round and not flat, have an apparent grasp of M-theory…even if it is wrapped up in myth and fancy. Us aside, it got me thinking a bit and…if anything, I'm even more concerned about Osco opening this Fold."

She lifted her dark eyes to Liara's blue. "None of us are physicists so it's not really all that strange we wouldn't have considered it…but we've been so focused on this Fold that Osco wants to open as a conduit through space…a way for the brasa to go from the Holy Waters to here instantaneously, bypassing all the trillions of light years of space between our two galaxies. What we haven't considered is that space and time are intrinsically bound together- and on some level are even the exact same thing. We've been operating under the hope that the brasa have been extinct for millions of years but that doesn't necessarily matter. If they can Fold space, then the same Fold warps time. That Fold could open a door directly to the height of the brasa empire. There is a very real possibility that an entire armada will come through in numbers and strengths we cannot hope to contest. And it gets even worse…"

"How could it possibly become worse?" Liara asked, troubled.

"We've focused so much on Osco powering the Web and opening an enormous Fold…and we completely forgot that one can open smaller Folds with far less power. She doesn't have to wait until all the Antennae are powered to open a Fold…just to open a Fold big enough for an armada! The moment she's got one of the Antennae powered it's possible she can open a Fold with that alone, large enough to let…say a frigate through. Then that ship joins the battle on her behalf, with superior weapons, allowing her to reach Ilos and power that. And then that is enough to widen the Fold for say…a squad of Frigates, or a pair of Cruisers."

"Goddess…"

"And every time she opens a Fold she's not only fiddling with the fabric of space but also time…and if the multiverse theory is correct, she could be warping the fabric of untold Hubble volumes, in a trillion different realities. It may not have much effect- if any at all- with the tiny Folds we've seen so far, but one of that size and scope? That door could lead literally anywhere and anywhen in the entirety of not only our universe, but God only knows how many others! Forget the weapon that can wipe out the Milky Way…she could unravel the very essence of everything, on a quantum level!"

"Del, shh…" Liara set her glass aside and took the doctor's shoulders gently. "Listen. According to what we have learned, the brasa have done this before, to other galaxies. That necessitates opening the armada-sized Fold. If it were possible that it would unravel the very fabric of space-time, it would have happened before now. They must have some level of safeguard to prevent that, or else it is not a possibility."

"Or they've just gotten very lucky," Del said, then sighed and nodded. "You're right. I could drive myself crazy with all the 'what-if's. My brain refuses to shut up about it. I keep imagining worse and worse scenarios and every damn one of them is plausible, if not downright likely. I just…"

Liara enfolded her in a hug. Even if Del were correct, there was little they could do about it now than what they were already doing. They had to stop Osco as fast and as best they could, and hope it was enough.

Shepard held Liara just as tightly, her face against her shoulder. After a moment, she mumbled against the cloth of her shift.

"It's a romantic idea though, don't you think? That there might be an infinite number of you's, and me's- and that somehow, they always find each other?"

Liara smiled slightly, resting her cheek against Del's head. "I find the notion very…comforting. I do not know if I can believe it, but it is comforting nonetheless."

"I don't know if I believe it either. I don't know, truly, if it even matters. But you're right…it's comforting. It's a hope that…you know. Even if things go terribly, somewhere there's a Liara and a Delilah that will go on."

Liara shifted a little, gently cupping Del's face and drawing her gaze up to meet her eyes. "That will be us," she said. "We are going to be the ones that keep going on, Del. I will never give up on that. I will fight for that with every breath I have left in me. I swear it."