Abandoned Drell Village, Kahje

Day 1, 2200

"Engine's patched up as well as I can manage," Wendy sighed, shutting down her omni-tool. "I'm a pilot, not a mechanic. Orbit control says they'll have a ship with us by sunrise."

"Alright…" Ekris nodded, massaging his brow ridge with a tired hand. "Try to get some sleep, okay? We'll be up a while on watch."

The pilot nodded, quietly, although he doubted she'd actually listen. With another sigh and stretching his shoulders, the drell wound his way out of the cockpit, through the crew compartment, and hopped down onto the beach once more. A fire was burning quietly some distance away, one figure beside it. The rest were gone.

"What's the news?" Solara murmured, firelight flickering on her bronze face.

"Rescue team's coming in the morning," he muttered. He had done away with the chestpiece and gauntlets of his armour, discarding them in the sand, and now he slumped down next to them, examining the slight scarring on his gauntlets where his biotics had torn their way out in the barrage. "Where are the others?"

"Mac'Tir and the justicar went for a walk," she replied, reaching out to warm her hands against the fire. "Your human friends retired to one of the huts. Asleep in each other's arms… all lovely and poetic, but mortifying to walk in on. Hence my self-imposed exile out here."

"Been a long time coming," the assassin grunted, with half a smirk and a glance towards the huts.

There was silence, for quite a while. No talk, just the crackle of the fire and the sound of the tide lapping at the beach, occasionally broken by a clank or a clatter as Arness continued working on the shuttle. Eventually, however, even the fretful pilot seemed to give up on her efforts, and settled down to sleep, leaving them with a more perfect silence. It was Ekris who eventually broke it:

"Level with me…" he muttered, a half-smile crossing his jaw. "Is there anything else you weren't telling us today? Besides the whole… data mining… thing."

Solara looked up, soberly, but smirking a little nonetheless. She didn't reply immediately, just glanced back at the fire…

"The administrator's dead," she admitted, finally. "He's been dead a while."

"You know that?"

"I'm his assistant, you think I don't monitor his bioscan? He died when the wreckage hit."

"Uh-huh. So grabbing the data is to… what? Carry on his work? Cover it up?"

"Whatever his successor wants to do with it," she shrugged.

Another pregnant pause, as the two of them stared into the base of the fire. Ekris reached out, wordlessly, prodding the embers with his gauntlets and causing it to rise higher, flaring.

"It wasn't all bullshit," Solara interjected, quite suddenly. "That data… really will help with the search for survivors, once the hanar's ships arrive. It was just…"

"Secondary."

"Yeah."

She tipped her head back, rubbing the bridge of her nose and staring skywards for a moment. Ekris watched her, unnoticed, and quickly glanced back to the fire as her eyes fell earthwards again.

"You've changed," he murmured, gently.

"What?" Solara frowned, head snapping around accusingly.

"Survivors are secondary… that's not you. You used to be the bloody cheerful one."

"My brother is dead" - Ekris looked at the floor, guiltily - "and my people are at war. Not much to be cheerful about these days…"

"You could pretend you're happy to see me?"

"…you are such a prick."

"Yeah, you told me that last time we saw each other, too."

"Some things don't change-"

"Do you want to know what happened to your brother?"

Solara frowned at the sudden change of direction, and her eyes flickered over to meet his for a moment, warily.

"I… don't know how much they told you," he murmured, staring down at his boots.

"Yeah you do. They didn't tell me anything. They never tell us anything."

Ekris nodded quietly, and knitted his hands together, wringing them slightly. The fire was still flickering, but his skin - no, his blood - felt cold all of a sudden. There was a slight shimmer of blue around his hands, but he discarded it with a flex of his fingers, and cleared his throat.

"There was a… contract, on Illium," he muttered. "Assassination. It went wrong."

"No shit," Solara scowled. Ekris just sighed.

"We crossed paths with the Alliance team I'm working with now. And it turns out our target was ready for us. He killed Denar. Quick shot to the head, if that means anything."

"Less than you'd think."

"Right… he got Tomik and Vari, too. I was the only one who made it out."

"How?"

"How what?" Ekris retorted, though he could guess already.

"How did you make it out-"

"-when they didn't?" he guessed. Judging by the look on her face, he'd guessed right. "Are you asking whether it was my fault, Sol?"

"I didn't say that," she snapped. "But you did."

"It wasn't," he growled, more harshly than he'd intended. "Tomik left me behind as a lookout, and took the others inside. By the time I knew we were compromised, the three of them were dead."

"And the man who killed them?"

"Captured by the Alliance. Dead now."

"Good riddance…" she spat.

Ekris nodded, grimly, and let his attention wander back to the fire, the matter seemingly at rest. Another, indeterminate stretch of time seemed to pass, before he finally became aware of a pair of eyes boring into the side of his head, a keen-eyed gaze fixed on him.

"What?" he grunted, not looking up from the fire.

"If I've changed…" Solara murmured, "then what the heck happened to you?"

The assassin looked up, eyes flickering a little in the glow of the fire, but he said nothing. He just stared at her for a moment or two, then turned his gaze back to the fire, hands clasped in front of him.

"You've gone cold…" she continued, quietly. "Quiet."

"Dark days," Ekris shrugged vaguely. "It's hard."

"Would you care to pray? I know it always used to-"

"I'll… pass. Thanks."

Solara frowned, and shuffled a little closer in the sand, wary gazed fixed on him.

"Okay… that is new," she observed, gently. "What's wrong?"

The assassin sighed.

"Call it a mild… only mild, mind, but a mild crisis of faith…"

"You… no longer believe?" Solara blinked, curiously.

"I no longer find… strength," he replied, choosing his words carefully.

"How so?"

He let his head tip forward, bowing it and letting out another low sigh. The questions, always with the questions… typical Solara.

"I believed," Ekris muttered, finally. "We all believed, your brother Denar believed. Look what good it did him. And yet I find myself in the company of men and women who follow other gods, or no gods at all, and their fortunes are just as fair as mine."

Solara made a small hmm noise, but nodded in understanding nonetheless. She shuffled a little closer once more, tilting her head to one side and watching on, as she asked:

"You say you believe, strength or no… do you not wish to avenge your gods?" - she smirked a bit before continuing, wryly - "I remember you used to use that line a lot."

"I did," the assassin chuckled, weakly. "I do. But I have friends to avenge, now."

"Mhmm. And where do you find your strength these days? Do you believe in siari, or pray to the old gods?"

"I believe in whatever gets me through the day," Ekris murmured, soberly. "And I pray it will be enough."