Liara followed Telienos to her office. The first thing that hit them when she opened the door was the barely audible strains of music. The room was dim. Touching a few keys at her desk, Telienos changed the setting of the windows, allowing the rays of the sun to shine through. Liara sat down and waited patiently, the distraction palpable in the matriarch as she moved to the windows.
How old she was, Liara had no idea but she thought Telienos was the same age as Benezia, judging from the slight fading of her facial markings, the faint lines around her eyes, the tiny spots along the tips of her crest. More of a recluse than a political mover, she had dedicated most of her life in research and guiding students at various institutions. Formally from Hyetiana, she was in charge of one of the many educational academies on the cold planet. She was fortunate to be off planet when the Reapers arrived. With much of the galaxy under Reaper attack, she had gone from colony to colony before finally taking refuge with the Salarians. After the war, she chose to return to Thessia.
"Centuries it has been since I last walk on Thessia," said Telienos. "Of all the things here I miss most, is the sun."
Liara understood what she meant. In her archeological forays on other planets, digging and exploring ruins for Prothean artifacts, she had spent weeks and months underground without a peep of the sun. Even so, she enjoyed her work and never felt stifled as she was able to leave at will to breathe freely and enjoy the natural environment of the world she happened to be on. Hyetania offered no such freedom with surface temperatures ranging near freezing point.
"It is an ambiguous existence but considering the richness of fellowships, to lose the indulgence of nature is insignificant." Telienos's gaze lingered on the scene of the bustling city for a moment before she turned and strolled slowly back to Liara.
"Are they..?"
Biting back the question hastily, Liara dipped her head slightly in apology for her intrusion, knowing that if Telienos didn't see it, she would have felt it. She did not feel she was on that level of familiarity with Telienos to take such liberties to ask about her private life. Their meetings were always professional and she had come to appreciate the quiet support from the matriarch on her attempts to try to save the TI.
"They are remembered." Telienos turned. Her smile put Liara at ease as she sat down in the armchair next to her. "That they are not around to witness the state of the people and our home is a blessing."
"It has not reached tipping point yet."
That was more of a hopeful sentiment than a statement. Liara wished she still had the numbers and resources in the Shadow Broker network to try to gather up the information the Reapers surely had left behind somewhere but losses were high. That wasn't the priority after the war. Whatever personnel left were set to reestablishing the tattered galactic economy and trade routes to get much needed supplies to the homeworlds and surviving colonies.
"No, not yet." Teleinos clasped her hands on her lap. "Five years ago, the Assembly chose to try to find a way to deliver our afflicted people from the Reaper influence. Not all were in favor. Several of us wanted to implement extirpation immediately. Aethyta and I are among them."
Liara nodded. Aethyta's stance on the TI was always crystal clear. She was the practical sort although acerbic in her statements. Her surviving parent did not try to hide her impatience with the Assembly whenever they spoke of the current policies. Often loudly asserting that she would rather deal with drunkards than that lot of misoneism blues busy building fortifications under the dome while their asses were burning.
"My bondmate has the same opinion," she said.
"Having the longest and closest engagement with the Reapers, Shepard knows far better than anyone the impossible task we have set ourselves. So do the Humans, the Turians, the Salarians." Teleinos leaned forward. "Do you know how much progress they have made in regards to the TI on their homeworlds?"
Frowning, Liara tried to recall if the latest reports she had from one of the surviving agents held any details on this matter. "I'm not exactly clear," she confessed. She ought to pay more attention to the developments on other homeworlds.
"The Humans have eradicated more than three quarters of the TI, the Turians removed an estimated half of the TI on Palaven. The Salarians have mostly identified those who have remained hidden and we ourselves only managed a tenth." Telienos sighed. "Our innate disposition has cost us, in lives and rebuilding efforts. It will cut us even deeper."
"It is not an easy thing to fight our own people," Liara ventured tentatively.
"It is more than that. The directive to save as many as possible has failed yet those in authority could not see it. Refused to admit it. Have we saved any in the last five years?" Telienos looked at Liara who shook her head. "We are currently fighting to hold on to what we have managed to snatch back. We are besieged day after day, losing bits here and there steadily. It has dragged on for too long. The burden on the people is growing intolerable. Immediate action has to be taken. The danger of the rift among ourselves increases the longer we take to remove the TI. They are doing exactly what they are programmed to do; sow misinformation and discord."
How could Telienos know that? Scanners would have identified TI immediately. They couldn't have come into the city. If they didn't come into the city, how could they have done what the matriarch said? A cold hand seized hold of Liara when she suddenly realised how it was possible.
"Families. The TI have been in contact with the detractors," she said in dismay. Why oh why did she not foresee this? No, she had seen it but had conveniently forgotten it in her zeal to find a cure for the TI.
"Despite efforts to obstruct any attempt in communications, it is inevitable contact were made. Who would not try to talk to a love one, to find out if she's the monster she's made out to be? Mother, wife, lover, child, friend," Telienos said sadly.
"Then..," Liara thought quickly as she pieced together the few hints Telienos had dropped. "There have been secondary project sabotages."
"Yes. Small overt touches affecting military projects. If we managed to develop the means to accelerate the atrophy and they come to know of it, they will move to larger mischief. They may already be planning something to deal with the news that our armed forces are planning to launch the take back campaign earlier than expected."
Why had she heard nothing among her contacts here on Thessia? Liara wondered. Unless they were part of the detractors. In which case, were they feeding her false information? She froze. April. The military had asked her bondmate to train the trainees, to pass on her military knowledge to aid them in massive deployments. What if they asked her to take part in the battle? Systems Alliance divisions were stationed on Thessia to support both Human and Asari interests. A number of their officers were deployed with the ARF.
"I thought news of the military campaign is not public knowledge," she said, forcing herself to sit still instead of putting in a call to April. To make sure she was all right. Was she not supposed to observe a training session that morning?
"We are talking of hundreds of military soldiers whose loyalties are not suspect at the moment, only their tongues," Telienos said dryly. She reached across and touched Liara's hands gently. "Shepard is safe."
"I am sorry, I..," Liara tried to still her wrenching fingers, grateful that the matriarch empathised.
"I understand." Giving Liara's hands another pat, Telienos fell silent for a moment. "I have no clear evidence at the moment that the medical research to incapacitate Reaper nanites has been sabotaged but I cannot rule out the possibility."
If there were disruptions, it could only come from the Asari, not the Salarians. Liara could think of a few whose stance were against any form of TI eradication. Though they were not directly involved with the secondary project, there were other means through which they could interfere. "Do you want the Salarians to have total control of the secondary project?" she asked.
Teleinos shook her head. "No. Not at the moment. I'd prefer to hear what Kedar has to report tomorrow. If he has a viable suggestion, the research to accelerate TI atrophy will take place on Sur'Kesh."
"If the Salarians fail to come up with anything plausible, would the Assembly consider the alternative?"
"The Geth," Telienos said flatly. "Tell me, how much of our future would you place in their hands?"
"It is only a matter of time. Whether we trust them with it or no, they have after all, the ability to get the information."
Teleinos sat back, contemplative but did not deny the fact Liara put forth. Using the Geth to map the physiology of the afflicted Asari was bruited two years ago when news of their success in their endeavor to strengthen the Quarians' immune system became public knowledge. It was one of a few proposals to try to understand the mind-altering effects of indoctrination on an Asari but the fears that the Geth, in future, would use this knowledge against them was great and received little support when it came to the vote.
"The Assembly is at the moment, in disarray. That's putting it mildly," Telienos corrected herself. "I would not bring it up again unless we stand at the precipice."
Liara accepted her decision with some relief, she wasn't receptive to the idea either. "Then I will continue to work with the Salarians," she said.
"Be on your guard, Liara," Telienos warned gravely.
Kelice
It was an unusual bar. Perhaps unusual was the wrong definition. Instead of the usual troupe of scantily dressed Asari dancing and swaying to loud thumping music, there was only a lone singer in a corner. Crooning a slow sad love song April could not put a name to but fitting the sombre atmosphere of the quiet crowd. Taking a sip from her glass as she stood at the bar counter, she looked around the low key establishment. The furnishings were simple and the lighting was muted. There were no flashing holosigns. A holomovie was playing on the public screen, the sound set to low. The shelves of the bar boasted the usual array of glasses and bottles.
"Not the typical bar, is it?" Sanar murmured beside her, dressed in civilian clothes. A simple but beautifully cut tunic and skirt that reached her ankles.
April emptied her glass, dressed casually in a blue shirt, jacket and pants. There was no way she was going to walk into a bar in her uniform so she had changed into the spare clothing she kept at the academy. "I get the feeling people come here to whirl quietly in their drinks," she said.
"That's the purpose of a bar, " said Sanar. "Why call it a bar otherwise? The rest are just frivolities."
"But necessary." April signalled the bartender to pour her another shot.
"You can really put it away," observed Sanar, leaning against the counter top. "That's the tenth. What are you trying to bury?"
"Am I trying to drop something?" April turned her glass slowly on the counter top, avoiding Sanar's gaze.
Sanar shrugged. "That's one of the reasons people go to a bar."
"I thought you lost a bet," April returned, not sure she liked to be grilled by someone she had only moderate knowledge of. Even if she liked her better than her stiff neck superior.
"So I did, hence." Sanar drained her glass before waving to the bartender. "So, what does it take to get you drunk?"
"A lot."
"Captain, that's a challenge I cannot resist." Sanar thumped the countertop.
"You're on."
By the time Sanar conceded defeat, a neat row of bottles was lined up before April, along with a large gathering that caught on to the impromptu drinking contest. The inevitable bets were laid on the drinkers. If any of them recognised Shepard, none ventured to acknowledge her identity, preferring to respect her privacy.
April won the contest by half a bottle and could still walk out of the bar on her own feet while the bartender and a few others steered a totally drunk Sanar after her. They called a cab. Assuring them she could see themselves home, April managed to punch in the destination despite looking down at a dancing console. She pushed a lopsided Sanar upright as best she could when she slide one way to the other when the skycar turned this way and that.
"Lousy quaffer," she muttered, finally clamping a hand on Sanar's shoulder when she nearly pitched into her lap. "That's another bet you lost."
"Shepard, are you drunk?" The voice was unexpected.
"How did you get in the car?" she slurred, blinking at a myriad of bobbing heads.
"You are drunk," Effia snorted, standing behind Liara. "You must have hit for home without knowing it and neither one of you is buckled up. Who's she?" she nodded towards a comatose Sanar.
"Never mind. Come on, April." Liara reached in to pull her bondmate out, relieved that she was safe. "See her to one of the guest rooms," she said to Effia before steering her bondmate away.
"She lost another bet," laughed April, staggering a little as she leaned on Liara. "Erial would have been smart enough not to. Is it night already?" She tried to bring up her omni-tool as she stumbled up the stairs.
"Yes, it is. It is not far now," Liara encouraged, half using her strength and half of biotics to guide April.
She was dismayed by her bondmate's inebriation. It used to happen in the months after they arrived on Thessia when April went out to the city most of the day and came home drunk. The frequency of the drinking bouts had gradually tapered off so this was the first time in more than three years her bondmate indulged herself.
"I'm all right, just give me a few hours." A burp escaped April as Liara lowered her to the bed before removing her boots and socks. "Damn, Erial would have won big," she added, reaching out to thump Liara's thigh as she sat down beside her.
Erial. That was a familiar name. Frowning, Liara tried to recall where she had heard it. Ah, it was that memory April had shared with her. One of the marines of her unit that perished at Akuze. There was a flavour of closeness, now that she thought of it.
"April, who is Erial?"
"Likes to bet. Always reaping in the credits because she knows I can't lose. Hell, likes to run after me, y'know."
"Run after you?"
"Sticks like glue. Thick and thin. Hell, she was so skinny, best in squirreling through the ventilation shafts."
Realisation dawned on Liara for she could not imagine April "squirreling" through anything as an adult, much less ventilation shafts. "You mean, she was your childhood playmate."
"Space brats stick together," chanted April in a singsong voice, waving a fist. "Fist toe head, yours to mine, all for one, ss'plore the unknown," she coughed as sudden tears came to her eyes and her throat tightened.
"April." Liara took her hand in concern, feeling the grief. The event of her friend's death was long past, why was she grieving over it now?
"I didn't bring you out, I'm sorry," April said clearly, looking at her.
"What?" Liara said in confusion.
"We should have a vacation."
"April..." Liara stopped when she saw her bondmate's eyes were closed.
Was she seeing Erial or was she seeing her when she said that? Pressing her hand lightly on her bondmate's temple, she sensed the gentle even rhythms of sleep. Questions could wait. For now, her heart was eased that April was safe. As she moved away to change out of her clothes, a wry smile lit her lips. Vacation. If she meant it, she would have to hold April to that promise.