Since it had been Saturday when Mali had been released she didn't have long to wait before she could get started. Mostly, she just walked around the grounds, stretching her legs and breathing in the fresh air; she even found a small lake on campus. The two days in which she did this the air was warm and sunny, hints of spring on the air. Sometimes she saw packs of boys and girls running in straight lines or hanging out together on the grass; when this happened Mali steered clear. On one of such expeditions, Mali realized that because of all the excitement of the past month she didn't even know what the date was. "What's the date today?" She suddenly asked Clint, who always accompanied her, a short distance away. Clint was surprised, but not entirely so. When he had taken up this job Dickens had filled him in on everything, and he was surprised she was still standing, let alone forgetting the day and month.

"Sunday, February sixth." He said.

"I got my biotics on the second, right?" Mali asked.

"Yes, on Wednesday." They walked on, passing the lake and entering a forest. A sheer rock wall towered above the trees, and seeing it, Mali walked to its base. Ever since she had gotten her biotics, a whispering had started, usually faint, and in the back of her head; but when she had entered the forest, it had grown louder and more prominent, so much so that she could almost grasp what it was that was being said. This development had worried her at first, but when it had not gotten worse or threatened her in any way she just kept pushing it away. Mali looked up and saw that high above her head there was a slit in the rock, barely big enough for an adult to get through sideways.

Curiosity spiked inside of her, but she didn't let it show conscious of Clint behind her. "Somali we should leave, it's almost time for dinner." Clint spoke. Mali turned away from the wall and they started back. As soon as they were out of the trees the whispers went back to being murmurs in the back of her head. Interesting, Mali noted.

"Call me Mali, no one uses my full name." Mali said.

"I have to admit, it is an unusual name," He answered, "why did your parents pick it?" A dark shadow passed over Mali's face as he mentioned the p-word.

"I don't have any parents." Mali answered. "I don't know who named me, but it was probably my orphanage headmistress, Mrs. McCruely."

"Oh, I didn't know, I'm sorry." He said.

"It doesn't matter. Can't miss what you've never had, right?" Mali said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I guess so, although I believe parents are a little more necessary than that, and so when gone, a little more disruptive to the child," He answered, "I would know, mine died when I was seventeen." He said.

"I'm sorry." Mali answered. Clint seemed lost in memories.

"I joined up in the army as fast as I could, dumping my younger siblings with our aunt. The military was just somewhere I could hide and not face my problems, or my own grief." Mali felt a pang; this was coming uncomfortably close to her own predicament.

"So what did you do?" Mali asked, intrigued.

"After a while I couldn't bare it anymore, this hiding, so I took some leave and went home. It was the best decision I could have made. My family had not seen me in a year and a half."

"And you healed just like that?" Mali asked, doubtful.

"No, it took a long time; but in the end everything worked out ok. That was thirteen years ago." Mali was quiet as they walked back; he had given her much to think about. When they got inside a roar of chatter filled her ears. Where the podium had been was now a long table were the staff sat; Mali looked away when she saw Liara sitting there. Mali grabbed a plate and filled it with food from the buffet table and sat down in her old seat, eyeing the students around her. Mali had picked mashed potatoes, salad, and a chicken breast with milk; she had also grabbed about ten packets of barbecue sauce. Mali opened all of them and started squirting them around on her plate.

Clint raised an eyebrow as Mali squirted some barbeque sauce over her salad. "What?" Mali asked.

"Nothing," He wisely lied. "Just your taste buds are a little unorthodox is all." Mali speared a couple green leafs and was about to put them in her mouth when a human girl of about seventeen or eighteen years of age came and sat down across from them. She was tall, and had dark green eyes and auburn hair which was currently pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a strange outfit, kind of a zip up jumpsuit that Mali realized the rest of the students were wearing as well—except her. It was ironic that before this had all happened Mali had never seen a red-headed girl, and then she met two within a month. Startled by this unforeseen visit, the salad stayed hovering near her lips.

"Are you Somali Avon?"

"Uh…Yah." Mali answered, finally putting down her untouched fork.

"Man, we seem to be getting all the young ones around here." She complained. Mali scowled but the girl continued unfazed, "I'm Barbra O'Connell, but you can call me Ara." The girl smiled, but Mali did not return it. "I'm here to take you to bunkhouse five after dinner hear that you are joining us." She said, excited. She leaned forward a bit, intruding on Mali's personal space. "Are you really a felon exiled from Earth because you broke into a secret military facility and murdered everyone?" She whispered. Mali almost choked on her mashed potatoes. Clint, alarmed, smacked her back a couple of times to clear her airway. Mali gave him an annoyed look as a lot of her breath was forcefully expelled from her lungs. "So are you?" the curious girl leaned in further. Mali never got a chance to reply as, unnoticed by them, Admiral Dickens had approached. Ara retook her seat, subdued from her questioning.

"Somali, may I speak to you?" he asked. Mali sighed, her stomach grumbling. She got out of her seat and followed him to the empty lobby outside the cafeteria. He handed her a duffle bag that he had been carrying. "In there is all your new clothes and such, and all of your belongings have been transferred from your backpack to there." He said.

"Thanks." Mali took the bag. "Anything else?"

"Yes, as of an hour ago the reaper that has been orbiting Thessia has left, we don't know why." Mali was surprised.

"Why hasn't anyone attacked it?" Mali asked.

"We don't have the firepower, and it hasn't attacked us, we would not want to provoke it."

"What about the council? Why don't they attack?"

"They seem to want to study and watch it for a bit, see what it's doing."

"What?!" Mali almost screamed.

"I know, I know." Dickens frowned, "I don't like it either but there's nothing we can do. I just thought you might want to know. I wish you the best of luck in your training." He said.

"Thanks." Mali said, "you too." They both walked back into the dining hall, unfortunately, the annoying girl was still sitting there waiting for her. Mali set the bag down and retook her seat, finally starting to eat. "What's in the bag?" Ara asked.

"Are you naturally this annoying, or did you have to work at it?" Mali snapped. That shut her up until it was time to go, however Mali did feel a pang of guilt at the hurt look that crossed Ara's face. When Mali was finished grumpy Ara and herself got up from the table; Clint didn't move. "Aren't you coming?" Mali asked him.

"No, the board has deemed you safe to be around, so after tonight I am no longer necessary." He answered.

"So this means you're not going to be around anymore?" Mali asked. To her surprise she had kinda gotten used to the constant presence of Clint and she was unhappy to lose it.

"No. So goodnight and goodbye then."

"Goodnight, but I hope it's not goodbye. We might see each other someday." Mali answered.

"That may be." He smiled. With one last farewell Mali picked up the bag, and left with Ara. Darkness had settled in over the campus; above them, the cold stars of heaven looked down on them. Ara cut cross country—ignoring the paths that glided gracefully over the grass. She stalked ahead, not waiting for Mali who was lugging the very heavy bag. The N7 campus was a huge circle with a diameter of ten miles; the campus buildings and the fountain being in the exact middle. The surrounding area was split up into four "fields:" North Field, East Field, West Field and South Field. Ara was heading toward where a huge forest covered half of both the East and South fields. The big number five blipped deep in the heart of the wood.

They hiked for a mile over the grass, which was thick and vibrant green, shining slightly in the moonlight. "Why is this place so big?" Mali wondered aloud, not really meaning for Ara to hear her.

"We train on every inch of it," Ara replied to Mali's supposed rhetorical question, "if we didn't have the space we would be superly cramped, what with learning how to drive the trucks an 'all in field survival." Mali gaped.

"Did you say trucks?" Mali asked. Ara looked over her shoulder.

"Why are you so surprised? This place is supposed to make us into soldiers." She explained.

"What else have you been learning?" Mali asked, hungry for information. They continued walking; in the distance the beginnings of the forest could be seen.

"Well, we're starting with the off-road trucks, and then we are going to learn artillery guns and then put both together, and that's only the first step." She said.

"Wow!" Mali said exited.

"Hey, what classes do you have?" Ara asked. Mali fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her schedule, giving it to the older girl. "They put your schedule on a piece of paper?" Ara asked, making a face.

"Is that weird?" Mali asked.

"I haven't used one since kindergarten." Ara answered.

"I guess I'm just a little behind in technology." Mali offered.

"A little?" Ara laughed, "Where did you grow up? The stone age?" Mali was confused.

"Where is the stone age?" She asked. Ara burst out laughing, her cries ringing out into the night around them.

"Where? It's a time, not a place." She said between breaths.

"Oh." Mali answered glumly. Ara suddenly stopped laughing, looking at Mali curiously.

"They never taught you that in school?" She asked. Mali looked away.

"I never went to school." Mali answered after a bit, "I grew up on the street, in New Chicago." They trudged on in silence for a bit, Ara thinking. Cool night air blew softly on their clothes, Mali wondered how a breeze got in through the mass effect dome around them.

"Not to be rude," she started, "but then how did you get in, if you grew up on the street?"

"I'm handy in a fight is 'all." Mali answered.

"Well I can see that," Ara said, looking down at Mali's schedule, "you're in advanced hand-to-hand."

"What else am I in?" Mali asked, she was curious, and she hadn't had Vic look it over yet.

"Don't you know?" Ara asked.

"I haven't had a chance to look at it yet." Mali lied. Ara rambled them off, and by the time she was done they were standing at the edge of the forest.

"We're finally here!" Mali exclaimed, shifting the heavy bag to her other shoulder.

"Nah, we still have a bit of a way to go." Ara said, disappointing Mali. "Hey," she turned around to look at Mali, "let me take that bag for you." Before Mali could do anything she had grabbed it off her shoulder and plunged into the trees; Mali followed, surprised at her kindness. They walked in between the large, dark trunks. Just as before, as Mali entered the forest the mute whisperings had once again almost become audible. Mali strained her ears, but to no avail, nothing could be made out. A few minutes of fast walking in, Mali sensed a huge shadow rear up to the left of her.

"Ara, what's that to our left?" Mali asked.

"It's what we call Finch's Beak, cuz it looks like Ms. Finch's nose, long and pointy—" Mali laughed—"it's a rock wall, you can see it better in the morning." Mali realized that it had been the craggy peak she had seen earlier that morning. She analyzed the name they had given it with the picture of it in her memory and snickered again, whomever had named it had been right on. As they travelled deeper into the forest, the darker and quieter it got, until Mali felt like they were walking in constant perpetual twilight. The tree trunks were getting thicker too—the bases Yards wide. They had been travelling in the woods for about twenty minutes when suddenly the undergrowth around them got unbearably thick—they had to struggle through, getting scratched and snagged all over.

"Why is it so difficult?" Mali asked.

"To discourage other squads from coming this far." Ara said, and they pushed on. They struggled through the underbrush for about seven more minutes—until they broke through the bramble wall into a clearing on the other side. Immediately Mali focused on a huge shadow that loomed up and up and up—towering high above the other trees; a huge canopy stretching a quarter mile wide, a trunk the thickness of the length of a short train.

"What is that?" Mali asked, staring up.

"Isn't it awesome? It's a bio-engineered oak tree," Ara said, pride evident in her voice. "The trunk's a thousand feet tall and the canopy is close to a two-thirds of a mile wide and almost twice that tall." Mali "oohed" and started up at it for a while longer, and then checked her map.

"Uh, Ara? Why does our bunkhouse seem to be on top of the tree?" Mali said, confusedly.

"Wait and see." Ara said with a knowing smile, and walked toward the base of the tree. They walked till they were a few feet from it and then Ara started off to the left of it. Up close, Mali could see huge crevices in between the bark pieces—she knew that if she stuck her arm in one of those it would probably swallow her up to the shoulder. They walked nearly twenty yards around the outside of the trunk when Ara stopped. "Come here." She said, motioning for Mali. She pointed at a small knurl in the bark, Mali squinted at it.

"What?" Mali asked. "What am I supposed to be seeing?" Ara sighed exasperatedly and from her pocket she pulled out a small light. She shined it at the spot.

"Look again." Mali leaned in, and at first she didn't see anything; but as she stared at it, unnaturally curved lines became slowly visible…

"It's a picture!" Mali exclaimed, "Some sort of estranged dog or something." Ara snorted in amusement.

"No, it's a chimera."

"A what?" Mali asked.

"A three headed animal from Greek mythology." Mali just started at her blankly. "You've got to get some education! It has three heads—a lion, a goat and a snake." Ara exclaimed, frustrated.

"Why would an animal have three heads?—least of all have one of them be a goat." Mali asked.

"It is an ancient Greek monster, very powerful and terrifying." Ara said.

"Well then, why is one of the heads a goat? A goat isn't terrifying." Ara sighed tiredly.

"I don't know."

"If they were going for power, why not a horse? Or a cheetah? Something fast."

"I don't know." Ara replied.

"And the lion would probably eat the goat head anyway." Mali said. "So why would they do that?"

"Listen," Ara said, "we are not arguing about the logic of the chimera's heads. The point is that the chimera marks the spot where the button to get into the elevator is. You press the lion head to get in. The snake head is used in an emergency, say if you're being forced by another squadron to open the door. If you press the snake head, the entire tree will go in lockdown for an hour, not letting anything in or anything out."

"What about the person on the outside?" Mali asked. Ara looked grim.

"By pressing the snakehead you lock yourself out of the base as well as the enemy. It's the only way it works." Ara said. "Regardless, if any of the heads are pressed a notification is sent to bunkhouse five. Shall we?" Ara pressed the lion head, and a door previously concealed slid inward—revealing a dark blackness within. Without hesitation, Ara stepped through, and without a choice, Mali followed. The door closed behind them, sealing them off in total darkness.

"Uh, Ara?" Mali asked.

"Just wait a second." She answered, and soon enough a blueish light flickered on. The elevator was completely a metallic silver. A few seconds later they started moving—not upwards as Mali had expected—but sideways, at a slight upward angle. "We go in a spiral all the way up the trunk," Ara explained, "less weakening to the internal structure."

"Cool." Mali answered. The ride was about a minute long, in which Mali imagined them swirling up and up inside the tree trunk. When the doors slid open, Mali was not prepared for the sight—she gasped. The elevator had come to rest on a shiny metal platform that was set sturdily in between two gigantic branches. A few steps led down from the square platform, turning into a long and wide catwalk set in the middle of the tree's top. HUGE Branches whipped back and forth on either side of the catwalk in a strong wind, as loud as gunshots with their cracking and creaking. Mali realized that they were in the heart of the canopy. The catwalk seemed to stretch the entire way across the trunk of the tree, and at the end, with glowing lights, was the bunkhouse. It wasn't at all like Mali had imagined when they had said 'bunkhouse.' Nestled snugly at the end of the catwalk and in between three very sturdy branches (so thick they could be monstrous trees of their own) and the branch's branches, was a white two story building. Big windows offered a great view of the storm of whirling bark as well as let out the cheering glow of warm light.

"Looks kinda like a birdhouse, doesn't it?" Ara commented.

"Yah." Mali was soaking it all in. "Wow." They started across the catwalk, buffeted by the strong wind. Mali kept leaning over the railing, trying to see the ground but it was too dark and they were too high up. "How in the world…" Mali was in awe. "A house in a tree?"

"We won the first match and the prize was the best bunkhouse."

"Won't everyone know about the tree? I mean, it's kind of obvious being a thousand feet tall!"

"That's the beauty of it," Ara smiled as they walked, "The entire thing is camouflaged until you walk into the clearing—with some type of shield I think."

"Wow." Mali said, appreciative. They had neared the house now. The front door was on the second floor, and so they climbed a matching metal ramp from the catwalk up, doubling back, and up some more till they reached a sort of front porch patio.

"Well, in we go." Ara said moving to the door.

"Wait!" Mali stopped her, she took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say sorry for what I said earlier, about being annoying, it was rude of me." Ara looked at her for a second, than smiled.

"It's ok, we all get like that sometimes. Ok, let's go in, I'm freezing my butt off!" Mali nodded and smiled. As they approached the door it slid open, emitting bright light and warm air. Right inside the door was a small square of tile, on which an impressive amount of wet shoes and stockings had been piled off to the side. Ara kicked of her shoes and added them to the pile; Mali followed her example and did the same. Then, turning to face the interior, Mali was greeted with an enormous room. It was like a big rectangle. To Mali's immediate left was a hallway leading off into the house and a small wall, waist height, that on the other side was a staircase leading to the downstairs. As Mali followed the trail of the tile it curved to the right were Mali found herself in a large kitchen. The walls were lined with old fashioned birch kitchen cabinets with pearly white marble counter tops running underneath them in a large L flipped backwards.

A sink was in the middle of the short leg of the L; around the curve and further down at the end of the cabinets and counter, was a double oven, stacked on top of each other and right next to that was a large, double-doored refrigerator. A neat little island stood in the center of the kitchen and a long oak table with matching chairs stood a little past the entire thing. Directly across from the kitchen was a large carpeted sitting area. With white carpet and plush couches, it looked very comfortable. A large screened doo-dad was set up off to one wall with three couches set up around it and a coffee table. Currently a small girl was lying across one of these couches, reading a book; she had looked up when they had walked in.

"Hey runt," Ara said, looking around, "where's all the guys?"

"They went for a midnight raid on the cafeteria." The little girl said. She looked to be no older than twelve or thirteen years old, which surprised Mali. The little girl turned and set her eyes on Mali—they were a deep brown, like her shoulder length hair. "Who's the new girl?"

"Who, me?" Mali asked pointing to herself, surprised.

"Is there anyone else in this room?" The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…no. I'm Somali Avon." The girl looked at Ara for an explanation.

"Dickens assigned Mali to our squad, probably because we are short a couple, since Knot and Dill got injured and Kara was disqualified."

"Well, welcome to the family." The little girl said, not sounding very welcomingish. She sat back down to continue her book and Ara moved off down the hallway.

"That's Cadence, she's a tough little cookie but she's the baby of the family—and the youngest in the program. We call her Cad or runt, whichever you prefer." Ara led her down a long hallway that had doors on both sides.

"What's her deal?" Mali asked quietly.

"You mean, why is she in the program? I haven't really got it all out of her, but it has something to do with her brother." They stopped at a door three down and to the left, Ara turned to look at her. "Don't underestimate her for her age though, she's deadly with knives. You'd just better be glad that she's on our side." She turned back to the door and walked in, still toting Mali's bag. "Well, this'll be your room. All the girls sleep upstairs, the boys downstairs, no going in between levels at nighttime unless it's a team meeting or it's an emergency. We don't usually eat in the mess-hall for breakfast and dinner, we prefer more bonding meals together, but lunch is fair game." She set Mali's bag down on the bed. "You can meet the rest of the team tomorrow when they're not raiding mess halls. Well, goodnight."

"G'night." Mali said. Ara turned to leave, than turned back.

"Yah know, for the record, I don't believe what everyone's saying. I'm glad you're on our team." Mali smiled.

"Thanks."

"See yah in the morning."

"See yah." After the door slid shut behind Ara, Mali looked around her new room. The room (her biggest one yet) was a medium sized rectangle and simply furnished. A platform bed sat on white carpet a yard or two from the door— it was covered with a comforter and pillows that were a grayish light shade of blue. A bedside table was at its side with a glass triangle that Mali had come to learn as the equivalent of a lamp—a small remote sat on the table's surface. On the far wall, which was one of the long sides of the rectangle, one-third of it was covered in birch paneling, as was the entire long wall to Mails right. A double-door dresser stood with its back against the wall to her right, along with a simple desk with another triangle lamp. Thick grayish-colored curtains hung from the ceiling down to the floor, covering the rest of the two-thirds of the far wall and the entire short wall opposite Mali's bed. A door past Mali's bed led into what she was sure was a bathroom.

Mali flopped down on her bed next to her bag and stared at the ceiling, processing. Outside she heard a lot of feet stamping and door's slamming and guessed that the rest of her new team was back, but she did not go out to meet them. Instead, she turned over and started fiddling with the remote, wondering what it was for. There were only two arrows, both pointing in opposite directions, one left and the other right. When she pressed the right one nothing happened, but as she pressed the left arrow a quiet whirring could be heard and Mali looked up to see the curtain pulling back. Starting from the short side and moving to the long side, it smoothly pulled back to reveal the most gorgeous view Mali had ever seen. The curtains had been covering full length windows, and beyond them Mali could see lots of graceful branches, and beyond that, most of the campus, lit by a host of twinkling stars above and the brightest, biggest moon Mali had ever seen. It towered in the sky, sitting on its heavenly throne and drinking up the light of the stars around it.

Mali sat back, suddenly at peace. Whomever was coming, whatever danger lay ahead, was nothing compared to the awesome beauty of the galaxy.