Mali plopped into her bead that night exhausted and drained. "Could the lessons be any harder?" She groaned through her pillow to no one in particular. Liara was fair and kind—a far cry better than Professor Finch—but she was still a tough teacher. She pushed Mali hard, often to her limit, and didn't take no or any amount of complaining for an answer. She understood that they were limited in time, and so she took every second into account. Mali kicked off her boots and slithered under her covers, still fully dressed in her clothes from the fight at the library. She shirked away from the thoughts of her busy day of school tomorrow and instead, snuggled into her blankets, preferring to think of only the here and now.

The next instant something jolted her awake from a dream she had been having. Mali scanned her dark room, but it was empty and still, no sign of an intruder or disturbance anywhere. The girl sighed and sank back down into her pillow, sleep already weighing down her eyes. Suddenly, there it was again; a soft thrumming—coming from outside. Mali's eyes snapped open. "What now?!" Mali groaned, looking at the clock. 2:15 A.M…goddess was she ever going to get some sleep around here? Mali shuffled from her bed to her closet pulling out a coat. She regretted the decision immediately, but her curiosity had won out—she had to figure this out if she was ever going to sleep peacefully again tonight.

Mali followed the sound out into the hallway, her bare feet scuffing the carpet, her eyes groggy. She was pretty sure she looked like an extra for the Walking Dead. The sound was deep and rhythmic, like nothing she had ever heard before. If she didn't know better she would have said it sounded like a pulse—but that was impossible. She ended up at the front door. Mali put her hand to it, and was surprised to find that it was softly vibrating in time to the thrumming's continues beat. Mali shook her head. "This is ridiculous," She berated herself, "I should go back to bed." Something stayed her, as if she was being pulled to it, and Mali knew that she wasn't going anywhere. Reluctantly she pulled on someone's boots, probably Audin's by the size of them, and she quietly slipped out into the night. She could feel it through the soles of the boots; the thrumming was getting more powerful with each step she took. Mali followed her gut feeling and continued on, to the middle of the skywalk. Off to one side was a steel ladder, attached to a large tree limb, that Mali knew led to a lookout near the canopy top of the tree.

As she placed her hands upon the ladder the thrumming spiked in power. Shaking her head at how crazy this all was, Mali started to climb. She climbed easily a mile, and by the end her arms and legs were burning from exertion. She was quickly covered from view by the branches that surrounded her; they reached out toward her like old friends, whispering and moving with the wind. On the way up Mali got slightly dizzy from their rocking motion, to her it looked like an ocean of green surrounded her on all sides, tossing and churning, making it hard to tell up from down. Finally she reached the crow's nest and Mali sighed with relief as she shook out her cramped muscles. Around her, at the edge of the canopy, the night sky stretched out above her; she had never had such a clear view of the millions of stars in the sky. The tops of the branches around her waved back and forth, looking like a bunch of hands at a concert, the moonlight glinting on their leafy surfaces.

The thrumming pounded in her ears now, it was all around. Mali turned in circles, she looked up into the sky, but there was nothing anywhere out of the usual. Everything was quiet and still; it was like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for dawn. Frustrated, Mali plunked her butt down on the cold metal floor of the lookout, holding her limbs close for warmth. Nothing made sense, she was here, the thrumming was as powerful as ever, but there was nothing. Mali splayed her fingers across the floor, feeling the small vibrations under her palms. It was as if something was humming, Mali thought. But to what tune? What melody? Her legs protesting, Mali stood up again, looking out across the field of tree limbs around her. It was as if the tree was beckoning her out there. "That's crazy." Mali said. "You've done crazier." The tree seemed to say back. Mali shook her head. "This whole thing is crazy, so why not?"

Mali made her way down a few feet on the ladder, and then taking a deep breath she reached out and grasped a sturdy looking branch. All most immediately Mali was connected to a huge ocean of power and life that flowed right underneath the tree's surface. It was as if Mali was seeing double, for her eyes were still open and seeing branches, but suddenly there was a golden force flowing through each and every leaf. Mali didn't know how this store of energy could have gone undetected for so long, it was like a nuclear bomb. It wasn't until halfway across the canopy that Mali realized that her biotic's had activated. The whispering voices that she had never been able to hear had suddenly returned and now the messages were clear. "Sun," they whispered, "rain. Growth." There were many voices, all talking about the earth. Mali hummed with energy too; it was as if her energy and the tree's where mixing into one another's; the line between what was her and what was tree became blurred and wavy. Mali didn't know where she ended and the tree began, or vice versa.

She should have been frightened, she should have been scared. Thus wasn't natural, it shouldn't be possible. But she felt safe, safer than she had ever felt before. Mali continued to weave her way between the branches that grew thick around her like a jungle. She should have collapsed from exhaustion long ago, but the tree's energy sustained her, allowing her to keep going. Suddenly she broke free from inside, little twigs and leaves sticking out of her hair and clothes so she looked like a scarecrow. It seemed like the whole world was spread out below her. Mali gasped and a cold wind snatched it away. The rosy hints of a sunrise where chasing the moon and stars away; it was as if there were two different skies for one moment. One dark blue and covered with stars, the other gold and pink, and then it was gone and the sun took over completely. The whole campus was below her, and Mali could see farther than she thought was possible. She swore she could see a hint of waves and a cliff, but that could have been her imagination.

Mali sat down on a thick branch, waving her legs into limbo. She relaxed against the trunk and closed her eyes, just feeling the tree's energy pulse through her. "'What are you?" She asked it silently. There was only the steady beat of its energy as an answer. Mali finally understood what had been going on; she smiled as it all made perfect sense. She had been hearing voices for weeks—ever since they put that amp into her brain—and now she knew why; what she was hearing was the thoughts of the plants around her. Somehow, because she had so much raw biotic power apart of her, she could reach out to other biotic rich organisms. The thrumming she had been hearing wasn't a sound at all, but the thrumming of the flow of life force from the bunk five tree inside her. She could sense it, and was drawn to it.

Mali concentrated hard like Liara had taught her, and cast her senses around her; she was overwhelmed with the roar that filled her ears. There was life everywhere; in her mind's eye each life force shined like a star in the night sky. They were so numerous that it looked like the whole campus was one blazing sun of life. Mali smiled and relaxed, just basking in the glow. She stayed like that for over an hour, drifting in and out of the different currents of energy. She found that she could sense other biotics as well—like Groose in his cell—or Professor Finch who was for some reason still up in her office, but she could not sense anything else. Mali guessed that to sense something or someone they would have to have at least a little bit of eezo in their body.

It was amazing to her that no other biotic had ever discovered this before her; the strength and prominence of the constant energy flowing around her was powerful and unmistakable. Mali couldn't believe that she had gone so long without noticing. Mali remembered that someone sometime had told her that Thessia was an eezo rich place, and Mali could see it now. Every plant gleamed in her mind's sight; and Mali bet that asari were just the same, having lived off the planet for millennia. A particularly strong wind gusted through the tree's branches and forced her out of her trance. Mali looked on the horizon, and to her dismay, saw that thick dark storm clouds had approached unnoticed. Lighting crackled underneath their bows and the air smelled like ozone. Mali cursed herself, she had lived here long enough to know that knew that Thessia's weather was unpredictable. Quickly, she scrambled from her perch and started climbing back toward the ladder but she knew that she wouldn't make it. It had taken her almost an hour and a half to climb out to the rim of the canopy and then she still had a mile downwards to the nest. It would take her probably two hours, and all she had was minutes.

As fast as she could Mali struggled through the thick branches, cursing the big boots which slowed her down. She kicked them off, hoping to go faster, and they tumbled away through a gap in the leaves. She was barely a hundred feet in when the storm hit with crackling and thunder. "What is the point of a bloody campus shield if it doesn't keep out weather?!" Mali shouted into the wind. She vowed that someday she would invent one, or if not her, she would find a geek to do it for her. She was soaked in under a minute; the branches became treacherously slick from the rain water. Thunder boomed overhead but Mali paid it no mind, focusing only on finding the next handhold or foothold. This was precisely the reason she didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

The air around her suddenly smelled of ozone, and Mali's hair stood on end. She realized to late what was about to happen. The lightning bolt came as fast as a snake, with a loud crack and a flash. She would have been fired if she hadn't thrown a shield up at the last second—saving her from becoming charred toast but throwing her off her feet, and unfortunately, into certain death. Mali lost her grip on the tree branch she was holding into and fell backward, crashing into tree limbs and branches, she didn't even have time to scream. She desperately grabbed out for anything to hold onto, to stop her fall, but everything was wet with rain. Mali cried out in pain as she glanced off a branch that wouldn't break; Mali knew it was only a matter of time before she fell onto one of the monster branches, and when that happened she knew she was going to be a goner. Instinctively Mali lashed out with her boitics for anything to save her.

Desperate, Mali grabbed at the tree's energy flowing through its body; Mali grabbed through the energy at anything that could help, the branches, the leaves. Somehow she bended the energy coursing through the tree's limbs, forcing them to move. Branches started snagging at her clothes, leaves started cushioning her fall. With increasing difficulty Mali grabbed at more around her, aiming for branches below her. She watched in amazement as the branches bent to her will. Mali rapidly wove branches into a thick net and moved the others out of her path. With the foliage out of the way Mali fell in freefall, tumbling head over heels, but at least she wasn't getting whapped in the face every second by twigs. Mali spread her arms and legs out like a starfish, taking control of her fall. Carefully, she aimed herself above the net she had made. She hit it with the force of a bulldozer, jarring her teeth and bones; Mali was just thankful it wasn't fall and void of cushy leafs.

The net groaned and bended inwards as it absorbed the impact, a few branches cracked and snapped under the stress. The hastily made net tilted to one side as one end snapped and another sagged. Mali wrapped her arm through the weave and held on as her world went vertical, the net lurching. Mali screamed as hot pain burned her shoulder. She hung there for a second, catching her breath and orienting herself. A few green leaves fluttered past her like small helicopters, Mali could feel their energy leaving them as they were no longer connected to the tree. Rain splattered her lank hair as she carefully lowered herself to a thick branch below, her arm aching. What she had just done astounded her, Mali couldn't believe it.

Eagerly Mali reached out again, and carefully, bended the energy of a tree branch near her. It curled and snapped obeying Mali's commands. I can move plants, Mali thought, aghast. With her new skill, Mali suddenly had a crazy idea. Carefully, she sat down on the branch she was standing on, then just as slow, she moved it toward another branch. Mali directed the other one under her, and carefully, she switched from branch to branch, like a rock star surfing a crowd at a concert. Slowly, she made her way in the general direction of the nest. In this way she finished the trip in a half an hour, almost an hour less than climbing out there on her own. When she finally came into sight, Mali was exhausted. Around her the tree rocked with the force of the storm, Mali had never seen one so bad. Shouts filed the catwalk as Charlie came running from the direction of the elevator. "I found her! I found—oh my gosh! Guys! Com'ere quick!" He yelled.

By the time Mali reached the catwalk almost her whole team was outside in the rain, staring as she came in floating on the branches. The formed a loose half-circle around her as she carefully deposited herself onto the catwalk, sliding off the slick branches. "What?" She looked around at their shocked and open-mouthed faces quite smugly.

"Where have you been?!" Ara exclaimed, "We've been looking for you!"

"What happened?" Alex asked, "How can you suddenly control plants?" Mali looked around at them.

"You would never believe it if I told you." Mali smiled. The team grinned back.

"Try us," Oli replied. Suddenly Audin stuck his head out of the front door of the bunk.

"Has anyone seen my boots?" He asked loudly over the wind.

I

"No—way!" Ara exclaimed a few minutes later after Mali had explained. They had moved inside to the couches and were watching the branches lash the windows as the storm raged on. Around her, Mali's team had all their mouths hanging open in shock—Alex looked a little glassy eyed.

"I'm not lying—it really did happen." Mali spread her hands out in a silent plea. "I just woke up and wandered outside and voila, plant powers!"

"How...?" Alex murmured, perplexed.

"I can't know for sure, but I think it has something to do with how powerful I am." Mali answered.

"And how powerful would that be?" Ara asked, raising an eyebrow. Mali thought for a moment.

"I really have no idea." She finally concluded.

"What I want to know is why everyone was up and looking for me?" Mali asked. "I know I was gone for a long time, but I left early and it can't be later than six in the morning right now." Oli nodded along.

"Yah, you are right. We didn't wake up for you really—the school called to say that classes were canceled from the storm and that's what woke us up. But then when you didn't show up we went looking and we couldn't find you."

"Yah!" Cadence chimed in, "me'n' Oli thought that Groose had attacked you again so we called Dickens!"

"What?" Mali asked. Everyone looked kind of uncomfortable, no one would meet her eyes. "What happened?" Mali asked, quieter.

"The classes being canceled wasn't the only call we got today," Oliver answered, "Dickens called to say he and Shepard were on their way over; Groose escaped. I'm sorry Mali."

"How?!" Mali exclaimed, frustrated. "He knew stuff! He was too valuable!"

"The guards slacked off or something," Ara interjected, "they thought they were guarding a kid, after all. He broke out and assaulted them and ran."

"It just doesn't make sense." Mali interjected. "He couldn't have just broke out on his own—he had to have had help." Oliver was shaking his head.

"Mali, think about it. No one would help him—everyone hates him. You may think he's dumb but he's still got some brains, or he wouldn't have made it into N7 training. Besides—and office isn't really that hard to get out of anyway." Something clicked inside Mali's head.

"Hold up! What did you say?"

"That he is dumb but—"

"No! Not that! The last part."

"It's not hard to break out of an office?" Oliver raised his eyebrows. Mali gasped.

"Who's office?"

"Professor Finch's. For some reason she volunteered her services at the last minute." Suddenly to Mali everything made sense. Why Finch hated her, why Mali had such a bad feeling about her—everything.

"Guy's, I think I might know—," Suddenly their front door was thrown open, letting the screaming air in and interrupting her mid-sentence. Three bundled figures hurried inside and shut the door again, cutting out the noise and leaving a vacuum of quiet with its absence.

"Hey everyone, didn't mean to startle you." Shepard smiled from under his rain jacket. Mali looked past him and was relieved to see Liara pulling off her hood. She smiled when she saw her, but when Mali opened her mouth to speak Liara's eyes warned Mali not to speak.

"We came as soon as we could," Dickens strong baritone rang out as he took a chair. The other two adults hung back, just listening. "It also helped that we were on our way anyway. What's the situation?"

"What's the historian doing here?" Charlie asked, motioned over his shoulder, "no offense." Liara just nodded.

"Oh my gosh Charlie, you can be as dumb as a cupcake sometimes." Alex rolled his eyes. "That's Liara, you know, the GalaxyQuest character with a fifteen point shield bonus—that's her—in the flesh. One of the most accomplished biotics in the known universe in our living room." Alex turned to Liara. "Please excuse my friend's ignorance, Professor T'soni, he is a total nerd." Mali could tell that Liara was silently laughing behind her cool mask.

"It's all right—the picture on the card doesn't do me justice."

"No it does not." Charlie eyed her up and down with interest. This was the last straw for Mali, who had to turn away to keep from being seen. Ara and Cadence shared a silent conversation that went along the lines of: Did Charlie just hit on an asari forty times his age?

Yes, yes…I think so. Shepard coughed uncomfortably.

"Let's get back to business, shall we? What was the thing I heard about plants?" Mali took a deep breath and stood up, trying to smooth out her rumpled clothes as if she was just about to make a speech.

"That part I should explain." Mali answered. So again, she recounted her morning findings, except this time, she went into more detail. She recounted waking up and climbing across the canopy, only to fall when the storm hit and then her journey back. She left out the part about noticing Finch in her office, she would save that for Liara later, and in turn, Dickens. Mali talked so much that a cut on her cheek from a branch reopened and started stinging again. Finally she plopped back down on the couch, exhausted from her trip down memory lane.

"Liara?" Dickens turned to her for an explanation. Liara was already shaking her head.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before—or at least, nothing we have heard about. It's possible that because of her body's heightened biotic content, she could be more sensitive to other biotic organisms." Shepard had his eyes closed.

"If this is true," He said softly, "than Mali is more powerful than we ever imagined." Dickens stood up and brushed off his pants, even though there wasn't anything on them.

"I have to go, there are many things I need to attend to. However, I'd like to see you in my office tomorrow night to discuss this further." He said looking at Mali. His tone made it clear he didn't want her to talk about it anywhere else, with anyone else. Shepard stood up too.

"I'll leave as well, but I'll be keepin' an eye out." He said. "Stay safe, hoodlums." He teased, walking out the door with Dickens. Everyone looked expectantly at the only adult left.

"Oh no, I'll be staying for at least a little bit." Liara said. "Mali, can I talk to you in your room?" Her voice was stiff and emotionless, and Mali should have seen it as a warning. As Mali left the living room she could hear Charlie whispering to Alex.

"You mean this whole entire time?...Sign me up for her class!" Mali snickered as her door closed behind her, but she had barely walked through when she was pulled into a hug.

"Air!…" Mali gagged into Liara's shoulder. The asari released her.

"Are you ok?" Liara looked her over concernedly.

"Yes," Mali nodded, "What I'm concerned about is who helped Groose escape!"

"I don't know who did it Mali, the security footage is empty."

"Well I think I might know who it is." Mali checked the door to make sure no one was listening in. Liara raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"How could you, when you weren't even near there?" Mali went and sat down, patting the bed next to her for Liara. After they were situated Mali told of her suspicion.

"I think that Ms. Finch did it." Mali said bluntly.

"What?" Liara scoffed, "that little woman?"

"She's hated me from the beginning, you know that! And I saw her in her office really early this morning, though at the time I didn't know that's where Groose was being held."

"You mean you actually saw her?" Liara asked, surprised.

"With my new gift." Mali said. "I could see her biotic powers. She must've just let him go and erasing the footage, because I couldn't see him anywhere near." Liara looked skeptical.

"Mali, we can't say that it was Finch because we have no proof, and your powers, we don't even know how they work yet…you can't trust them." Mali stood up, aggravated.

"I know it was her! It all makes sense. You don't believe me, do you?" Liara sighed.

"Mali, I don't disbelieve you, I only doubt you intentions. You and her have had some sort of meat between you since you first met her, and I can't say that I don't think you wouldn't jump at a chance to discredit her. She could have just been guarding him, I don't know! All I'm saying is there could be another explanation." Mali huffed and crossed her arms.

"Liara, we finally have a real lead! She could be the other spy! We can't pass this up; we can't let it go unquestioned!" Liara sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Fine, we can tell Dickens when we see him tomorrow. I was going to see him anyways." Mali looked down, curious.

"Why?" A look Mali had never seen before crossed Liara's face, something like indecision. Indecision? Liara always knew what to do. "What?" Mali asked. Liara pursed her lips.

"I don't know if I should tell you Mali, I don't want to get your hopes up before I ask Dickens."

"Ask Dickens what?" Mali asked, intrigued. Liara didn't answer. "If it's about me, I have a right to know." Mali crossed her arms again.

"Fine." Liara rolled her eyes. "I might as well ask you first." Liara took a deep breath. "Mali, you are very special to me. I know that we've only had a few weeks of knowing each other, but in those weeks I feel that we have gotten very close to one another, am I wrong?" Liara looked at Mali for confirmation and Mali shook her head. Liara continued, spurred on, "and in that time, I have found that I have come to really enjoy you, and being around you." Liara took another deep breath, Mali could tell she was nervous. Liara kept wiping her palms on her cargo pants. "In fact, I would say that Mali, I love you like a daughter—and I want to do what I would have done ten years ago when we met for the first time—I want to adopt you."

Mali stood there, shocked. She had not seen this coming, although she had been hoping for it for a while. "What?" Mali choked out, in total disbelief. Liara hurriedly explained herself, Mali only half-listening. This was not how she had envisioned it.

"I know its fast, but Mali, whenever I leave you it feels like my heart is getting ripped out, and I couldn't understand it for a long time, what was happening, until this morning." Liara was talking so fast she was tripping over her words; Mali looked like a glazed zombie had come and inhabited her body, she just stood still and stared at the far wall. Liara rushed on, "I was thinking about how every time I leave you you get hurt, or somebody tries to attack you and when I think about all the people that have hurt you I just get so angry I could kill someone! And then I heard that you were missing and I just totally freaked out, I totally lost it!"

"What if I never saw you again? What if you were killed? I just couldn't let that happen. I realized then that I cared about you even more than my own life, because I would without a doubt die to protect you, and I realized that I wanted you to be with me and live with me, and share our lives together, and I just—," Liara had gotten so worked up that she hadn't noticed that Mali had started to silently cry. Tears were coursing down her face as she just started at Liara, her eyes as big as saucers and holding more emotion than Liara thought possible. In that moment, for the first time, Liara could see Mali, actually see. Inside, there was a tortured young girl who longed to belong and to be loved, but was too afraid to reach out and become vulnerable.

Mali's eyes held so much depth in that moment that Liara would never forget it. The asari pulled the crying girl to her, and wrapped her arms around her as she sobbed.

"Why? Why?" Mali repeated over and over in between sobs; Liara wasn't sure who that question was meant for, but she knew whomever it was they had a lot of answering to do. After a while Mali calmed down enough to talk. "Thank you." She hiccupped.

"What for?" Liara asked.

"Everything. I just don't know where I'd be without you. It's like you just dropped from heaven right into my lap when I needed you in my life." Mali sat up and wiped her eyes, looking at Liara. The woman sat, patient and listening. "My whole life," Mali began, "I have wanted a family. I used to see kids at the orphanage get adopted all the time, and I always wanted it to be me, but I was never picked. Then our run-in happened, and I no longer had that option because I ran away. As I grew older I became more aware of my surroundings and of people, and I realized the cruelty and pain that adults treated others with. There were no other people to see, no good ones. Only robbers, cheats, and cut-throats.

I was hurt by many adults during my years on the streets. I was taken advantage of because I was young and small and gullible. I lost my trust in adults—in people in general. I closed myself off to them and to the hope of a family—of a mother—because of what I'd seen and experienced. I used to think, what was the point? If I could ever find my mom, or my dad, what was the point? They would just use me like everyone else had. They wouldn't love me, they couldn't, because adults are incapable of love. But then I met you again." Mali looked into her eyes. "I met you and you changed everything. You took me in, even though I was a stranger, and made me food, and even gave me clothes to wear because I didn't have any." Mali's eyes were starting to pool up with tears again; as she talked it became increasingly difficult to speak because she was choking up.

"You put up with me—even though I was rude and uncaring. You showed me kindness like I had never seen, and when you learned about Finnick you didn't shirk away like everyone else had. Try as I might I could not keep myself closed off from such love—unconditional and never changing. You made me believe again. So now you know what I mean when I say thank you, because without you me as I am wouldn't be here without you." Mai leaned over and hugged her. "So yes, I defiantly want too."

"Wow, that was better than a Hallmark card." Liara snorted as she held her.