Ripples in the Stream

by Vyrexuviel

Eden Prime was a disaster, but from the ashes of a hero's pyre rises a new hope. A very different warrior rises to take the place of a fallen legend. Time to quit dreaming. Time to Awaken. ME Universe, Out-of-universe character with D&D roots; some Shadowrun influence. (Will update erratically, please be patient!) Co-Authored by MasterMind4892! Book One Complete!

25. Chapter 24: Seeds of Future Darkness

Ripples in the Stream

A D&D / Shadowrun / Mass Effect crossover
by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: The author of this story does not, in any way, derive any profit from the story. D&D, Shadowrun and Mass Effect are the property of their respective copyright holders. Jorukaia and other unfamiliar characters in this story, however, are mine.

---

"I'm Diana Allers, and I'm now classified as an enemy combatant by the Batarian Hegemony."

The news feed read Alliance News Network, yet another war report from the front lines on Khar'shan. The batarians had apparently pulled all their best-trained and elite units back to the homeworld when the war broke out, after the massed slave charges didn't work on the first few worlds.

The Alliance had experience with those.

Despite whatever restrained animosity some believed the Alliance had for the Council, no race in the Galaxy had earned humanity's righteous fury as the Batarians. Not even the turians after Shanxi. For almost three decades, batarian slavers had needled and tested the Alliance's patience as well as humanity's staunch ideals against slavery.

This was clear for all to see as humanity's forces charged into the fray with shouts of "For Terra Nova!"

And yet, Humanity was not alone in this. The Hegemony had discovered once again that they had overestimated the favor they carried with the Council after abducting slaves and rubbing the transparent claim of 'plausible deniability' in their faces for centuries. And after the attempted war crime at Terra Nova, the Alliance's formidable forces were reinforced by the Turian armada and bankrolled by the Volus and several Asari Matriarchs.

And if that wasn't enough, the STG's presence was felt throughout the entire theater of war. While it was an open secret that the salarians spied on everyone, they had especially kept eyes on the batarians due to their status as a rogue state. Territories were mapped, potential military plans were recorded and defense stations were sabotaged. The self-indulgent Batarian military was floundering when salarian spies assassinated high-ranking corrupt officers that were given too much power. Those officers that proved competent at their jobs soon followed, in 'accidental' deaths far too common to be merely happenstance.

The Hegemony's rotten military, that had less than three dreadnoughts and had never been tested on a large scale of warfare, was already incapable of preventing human expansion of the Skyllian Verge. And on top of everything, the Hegemony found itself fighting on two fronts as the STG's information warfare sparked the largest slave revolt in Batarian history at the news of rescue and liberation from coming Alliance and Council forces.

There was no doubt that the Batarian Hegemony's days were numbered.

The news feed continued to pipe itself into his ear as Garrus sited down the length of the rifle. The target was only a hundred meters downrange, but that was the maximum at this particular range anyway. C-Sec spared no expense when it came to maintaining their edge over the local criminal element, but one thing they scrimped on was range-space. He could understand it somewhat, they had to fit the range into the limited space on the station.

Still, he wished he had a full half-kilometer range to play with, sometimes.

Garrus sent another round downrange and grunted slightly in displeasure. He knew all the range's guns like the back of his hand. He'd tweaked, calibrated, re-sighted, and maintained most of them at one point or another. This one had a slight tendency to pull ever so slightly high and left, no matter how much he adjusted the sights.

Another trigger-pull, another round downrange. Another hole in the target marker. One more step on re-qualifying for his marksman certification.

"Mind if I join you?" He nearly put the round at the outside edge of the target. Rookie mistake, but he had been in the zone, as the humans put it.

The asari beside him lifted a brow as he turned. Good armor. Scratch that, expensive armor, not just good. Held herself like a commando, not invading his space. Good posture. "Sure thing. I could use another warm-up."

She nodded, glancing past him to where the Asari Spectre was fiddling with her rifle. A faint smirk touched her lips as she racked into the lane next to him. A comm request appeared in his HUD as she slid a case onto the bench beside his and popped the lid. Given the nature of the range, comms were used between shooters, as in the enclosed range, ear protection was mandatory at all times.

"I saw your work on Virmire. Very nice." Her voice was familiar, yes, one of the commandos. He didn't have a chance to meet all of them, there were quite a number crammed into the human ship, the Normandy.

"Yeah, Virmire was quite an example of things tend to happen on the Normandy. You barely hit the ground for five minutes, and already, things get exciting." Garrus gave a disapproving snort. Then he grinned. "I love it. Working with a Spectre and the Darastrix ambassador means there's no such thing as a boring day."

"You can say that again." The asari lifted a rifle out of the case, and Garrus had to suppress a double-take It had to be a Haesta pattern, an antique! They stopped making those before his grandfather was born. "Ever seen her close up? In battle, I mean."

The woman certainly knew how to treat that baby right, cuddled close to the cheek, and leaning into the cheek-guard, instead of holding it to the head and bracing with the shoulder. A subtle distinction, but the Haesta had...quirks. If you treated her wrong, she'd be liable to jam and foul up on you in the worst ways. Treat her right, though...

"She certainly knows how to take CQC to a whole another level. Makes the krogan look like amateurs and I don't know how to feel about that." He turned back to his range, mandibles flaring a bit in a grin. He noted that the range target next to his was gliding to the back wall. Evidently, this asari was trying to match him.

"Be thankful she's on our side. And pray for her enemies." The asari sounded amused, before ripping off a round. It only scored on the bottom outside edge, but at that range, with a high-cycle assault rifle, that was fairly impressive.

Garrus watched with a keen eye as she fired a few more shots off. "Hmmm... good shooting. Takes a lot of careful customization and even more practice with that model to hit a target at that range."

"I've had a lot of practice." The asari's smirk was visible through the metaglass as she paused to shoot him a look. "Aethyta."

"Garrus Vakarian." The turian nodded back and turned to cuddle his rifle. Though he would deny it if called out on that. "You must be the Matriarch that Chief Williams mentioned."

"One of them, yeah." Aethyta sighed a bit, then hefted her rifle and let off a ripping burst. It mostly hit the target, with only one slug missing entirely. The rest dented the target in a spray around center mass. Not bad accuracy at that long a distance, for a spray-and-pray weapon.

"Good sighting, but I can tell you're distracted. Here, watch the master at work, see if that can get your head in the game." Garrus smirked slightly. He had heard about the Matriarch losing a daughter, and knew one of the best ways to help take the mind off it was going through a routine. Shooting practice was a good method.

Aethyta blinked when she saw the turian pulling away to retrieve his sniper rifle from a case. She looked back at the man's targets that all had near-perfect headshots. If he hadn't been using a sniper rifle for a target at such long range, then what had he been shooting with? The Matriarch did a rare double-take when she saw the weapon he had left on the table. Wait a minute... had Garrus been making perfect shots with a simple Predator pistol? He has been hitting targets at the farthest range with just a pistol?!

The rifle was an odd one, and felt weird in his grasp. Heavier. More solid. A talon traced along the thick, huge barrel, remembering the line Joru had murmured as she handed him the case. 'Death is as light as a feather. Duty, as heavy as a mountain.'

Oddly appropriate. He uncapped the optical scope and flicked off his HUD. No sense making himself dizzy.

"Hey, is that?" The matriarch blinked as he slapped in the magazine as Joru had shown him, then racked the slide.

"Going hot!" he warned, before sighting the cross-hairs on the target.

Aethyta bounced off the far side of the lane and even Vasir started up, pistol in hand, when the thunderous KRAK-KOOM slammed back at them from the far wall of the enclosed range. Even Garrus winced at the concussive report, but his mandibles had split wide in a fiendish grin.

The top half of the target was gone.

Aethyta sputtered through a long string of what he assumed were curses, as his translator was having trouble with the intricacies of High Thessian. "-and bugger your grandmother, what the hell is that thing?!"

"Just an old souvenir that the Darastrix gave me a short while ago, been meaning to test it out." Garrus casually shrugged as if there was nothing wrong with this picture. "I sniped nearly a dozen different targets on Virmire before she had a chance to reach them. She said the last time she saw a sharpshooter with my skills was because he had heavily augmented himself with cybernetics. Then she handed me this baby and said to go nuts. And then she says that I'm now one of the people allowed to call her 'Joru', apparently."

"Huh." The old asari yawned and rubbed the side of her head, before picking up the ear protectors and putting them on, grumbling a little. "Warn a girl before you use one of those things. Damn near blew my ears out!"

"Sorry about that." Garrus shrugged slightly and settled himself on the bench as a fresh target was brought up. This one had a faint distortion over it, indication of a shield over the solid metal target. "Going to let off another round."

"Right." Aethyta shifted to lean against the far wall and held her hand over her ear. Asari.

Another pull of the trigger and he was in love. He could feel the well-oiled action working beneath his talons, felt the bolt slam home, felt the firing pin engage. Felt the shock-slam of the recoil blasting into his shoulder with a heavy kick as the weapon spat a bright burst of flame from the muzzle brake. The deep, thunderous voice of the baby slung against his cheek rang like music in his ears.

Or maybe tinnitus

The bullet hadn't done much to the target this time, the range-shields were strong bastards, and a purely chemically-powered gun like this couldn't produce the velocities necessary to punch through an active barrier shield.

The asari shifted setting her gun carefully on the counter and yawning hugely. Theatrical to a fault, these asari. "D-Damn. And you said the Darastrix gave that thing to you?"

"And a small stockpile of munitions." He safed the weapon, then removed the magazine and worked the slide to eject the fat, talon-length cartridge. Then he bent over to root around under the desk to grab the spent brass. "She looked almost sad when she gave it to me. I could see why, it's a beauty."

She muttered something that sounded like 'beauty at smashing eardrums' as she sighed and hefted her own gun. "I wouldn't have thought her the type to be sentimental about a firearm. You saw how she gave that gun of hers to Wrex?"

He had, as well as the way the krogan had cradled it as if it were his firstborn son. "Yeah, but... There's something about this one that makes her sad, I think. Not sure. Either way, I'm glad she trusts me with it."

He'd already gotten out the cleaning kit that had come in the case, and was starting to carefully field-strip the weapon. Muzzle brake unscrewed like so. Barrel was pinned and screwed on, so that would have to come next. Then the receiver and bolt.

Aethyta let off another ripping burst, then a louder crack came from the range where Vasir was working her own practice time in. The sounds of an active range soothed him, as did the simple, if novel, actions involved in cleaning one of these ancient masterworks of the gunsmith's art.

Even as news reports filtered in on the war against the Hegemony, Garrus could feel content.

---

"Uh, Nezzie? I'm as happy as you to have her back, but if you don't ease up a little we're going to need another visit to the Temple."

She shot Aethyta a glare, but sighed softly, releasing her hold on her Liara sightly. The young asari was still blushing a bit as her mother gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "The Goddess brought you back to me, Little Wing. I am never letting you go again."

Aethyta gave a soft snort as she glanced about the sitting room. Benezia's decor was the usual soft greys and blues she remembered, though the mandala hanging on the wall was new. "Ease up a bit, Nezzie, before you give us all diabetes."

Liara actually gave a soft snerk of amusement at the joke, provoking an overacted horrified stare from her mother. The next few minutes were filled with giggles and laughter, as Aethyta plopped herself on the other side of the couch from where Benezia and Liara were cuddled together.

"I've had the cooks start readying your favorite meals, Liara. They're quite eager to host you again. I can never imagine what you've been through, but I am sure you must be famished for proper dining again." Benezia had never stopped holding Liara close.

The younger asari gave a quiet humm, cuddling against her mother's chest and blinking softly up at her with a soft smile. "I was only on the dig for a week, Mother..."

"And captured by geth commanded by a mad turian Spectre. And then you were... gone." Benezia's arms tightened around her daughter and her breath hitched a little before she continued, in a softer tone. "You may eat whatever you wish. And I have also taken the liberty of reserving seats for our family's box at the Dilanngia concert hall next week. Earisa are playing a multicultural selection taken from human mythology. I know how much you love their music."

Liara blushed cutely and sat up, smiling at her mother. "That's wonderful! I... Thank you, Mother..."

"Always, my Little Wing," Benezia almost choked up. "Always."

She leaned into her daughter, holding her close and caressing the folds at the back of her neck. Liara had always been ticklish there, and she gave a girlish little squeak.

Aeythta smiled as she shifted to get comfy on the couch. "It's always good to see the two of you happy."

Liara turned slightly to keep at the other matriarch, blushing shyly. "I...don't believe we've been formerly introduced, respected Matriarch...?"

Aethyta gave a soft bark of laughter. "Girl, you've certainly got your mother's way with words."

"Liara T'Soni," Benezia smiled. "It's time that I finally introduce you to Matriarch Aethyta Valerys My old... bondmate."

The young maiden's eyes widened and she looked from her mother to Aethyta with wild surmise. "I...see. And.. my father. Correct?"

"She is indeed," her mother nodded, and gave her daughter another gentle hug.

Liara slithered out of Benezia's grasp, but kept one of her mother's hands as she slid to her feet, giving Aethyta a remarkably cool look. "It is good to...finally meet you."

Benezia opened her mouth to make some comment about how Aethyta's absence wasn't her idea, when the other matriarch short-circuited things.

"Yeah yeah, c'mere." Aethyta yanked the startled maiden into a bear hug of her own. "Goddess, I've longed to do this, ever since Nezzie sent me your baby pictures."

"Mmmph!" Liara pulled away, pushing the smiling Aethyta back with some force and shooting her mother a betrayed look that conveyed more surprise and hurt than Benezia had expected.

It cut to the heart, that single look, but then Aethyta was laughing again. "Oh yes, she did, and you were the most adorable baby in the galaxy. And I'm not saying that because you were mine too."

Liara gave a huff and stalked away, turning her back on both of them. It took a moment before Benezia noticed the rhythmic breaths to be part of a calming exercise, and the whiteness of the maiden's knuckles.

Aethyta's brow lifted at the display. "Well, it looks like she takes after me than you let on, Nezzie." Her smirk dropped when she recognized the rare signs of surprise and confusion on Benezia's face.

"My apologies" Liara sounded a irritated as she turned back, blushing a bit hard. She shot her mother a mock-glare before pointedly sitting on the other side of the couch and cuddling against Aethyta. She smiled a little as the stronger matriarch slid an arm around her and cocked her head up to give that small, knowing smile that Benezia had learned to dread when Liara was in her teens. "So. Where shall we start?"

"Hmmm... well, proud as I was of you graduating from Serrice University with a doctorate when you were only fifty years old, I took a real shine to how you took most of your biotic instructors by surprise." Aethyta started grinning. "I still get a kick out of the way you managed to throw your trainer out the window entirely by accident. Good thing it was open!"

Liara blushed a bit about that, and her smile faltered slightly. "She'd been being a bitch to me since day one. Claimed I would never amount to anything and the only reason she was even bothering to go through the motions was because she was being paid a lot to do it. She started really teaching me after that incident, though."

"Hehehe... classic reverse psych training." Aethyta nodded. "They have to get you over the first emotional block... and... wait..."

The maiden's words sunk in. It took a moment for Aethyta to notice, but Benezia had been shocked right away.

"Liara?" Benezia questioned. "In the entire century of your life thus far, I have never known you to even be capable of such language."

The maiden's face had paled a bit, before flushing a dark blue. "Well, she was being a bitch. I was merely using proper and concise terminology for someone being so arrogantly cruel."

Silence took the entire room as both Matriarchs stared at Liara for a full minute. Then Aethyta took it back as she burst out laughing. "Using that sort of language under the roof of House T'Soni? Wow!"

Liara's smile was back, and her blush deepened as she sprawled against Aethyta. "Let's just say that she...inspired me."

Benezia still looked a touch concerned while Aethyta took it in stride. "Well, it may be good for physical training, but I'm not saying that anyone should take such attitude without giving it back with a kick in the quad!"

The maiden gave a smile as her father gave her a soft hug, shooting her mother a soft smirk. "I think I like her."

The differences were subtle, but Benezia saw them. There was no bond among the asari greater than mother and daughter. Every asari revered their mother, and that bond was surpassed only by the one formed with their own children as they grew in their womb. No one in the galaxy, not even their bondmates, could understand an asari better than their mother. And as Matriarch T'Soni looked upon Liara, she had sensed it. As this was an unprecedented event, she had chosen to hope it was nothing but lingering aftereffects from what the Darastrix had accomplished. But with every minute as she spoke with her daughter, Benezia could sense the change.

"Liara," she spoke in the tone that instantly seized an asari daughter's attention. "I've sensed an unusually potent change in your emotional state. Particularly anger. Now, tell me the truth. How are you really feeling?"

Liara...did not react like Liara. For a splinter of a fraction of a second, the being that lay against her bondmate, though she wore her skin and flesh, was not Benezia's daughter. Then that impression was gone again, some flicker of something else once more hidden behind the Veil, and Liara's eyes, her daughter's eyes, were brimming with tears. "I...I am not certain, mother.. I feel..."

"I don't know how to describe it, Mother. I feel.. I feel..." She was on her feet and pacing before Aethyta could grasp her, her knuckles white as she clenched her hands tight. She stopped as suddenly as she had started, facing away from both the matriarchs, her voice trembling with badly-suppressed emotion. "I remember the silence. The utter stillness. You don't realize how loud a body is, until you're forced to do without one..."

Benezia could feel her daughter's torment. She hurt. And in that moment, she knew where the disquieting fury brimming under Liara's skin had come from. After all, it was the same as what Benezia had experienced it herself back on Virmire when she found her daughter's tomb.

The Matriarch's eyes turned to glacial ice as she spoke. "I know exactly what it is you feel, my child. Saren."

"No, you don't." If Benezia's tone was the arctic wind, Liara's was the cold of the interstellar void. "He captured me, Mother. He interrogated me. I refused to bow. I refused to plead. You taught me that much or...I don't know where such strength came from. I was just a young paleoarcheologist. Even so."

"It wasn't Saren who came for me the last time. It was Kassavdra." Benezia's breath caught at the pain this memory evoked in her daughter's voice. "She...She wasn't the woman who used to tuck me in anymore Her... Her eyes were dead. Empty."

Liara's hand lifted, caressing her face. Her voice was trembling wildly, but the rest of her was as rigid as if she'd been electrified. "She... She had a knife and... I'm not even sure that Saren meant for it to happen."

"Kassavdra?" Benezia felt a slowly growing horror. "She was as close to you as her sister, Shiala. You mean that your... end came by the hand of a member of our house? Of an old friend?"

"Oh Goddess..." Aethyta whispered.

"No, mother." Now Liara's voice was steady, but her whole body trembled slightly. Her hand fell back to her side as she turned to face Benezia. She's never seen this sort of expression on Liara's soft, almost babyish face, it was like no expression at all. "I did that myself. I had to do it blind, you see. Because she took my eyes."

The rage baking off her daughter made Benezia recoil, and even Aethyta looked horrified. Liara continued, her voice almost lilting a little, as tears began to well in her daughter's too-dry eyes. "She carved them out, Mother. With a rusty spoon. Just as Saren told her to. You see, it wasn't her. Not anymore. He'd eaten her. Emptied her. Took everything she had, except her life. I don't blame her for what she did, she was already dead in spirit anyway. No, I blame Saren for what he did to her. He took her... My childhood protector. And he murdered her, mind and soul. He didn't even have the decency to finish the job."

Her voice was trembling as badly as her body now, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps. "He destroyed her, turned the woman whom I loved as sister or aunt into nothing more than a flesh-puppet to carry out his will. THAT is why I hate him, Mother. Not for murdering me. For murdering my childhood."

Benezia stood tall, towering over her daughter as she took her in an unbreakable but tender embrace. "I am here, Liara. At your side, always. Remember what I have taught you, Little Wing. Peace through purpose. We do not allow ourselves to be ruined by an inner tempest of emotion; we hone them into purpose, and finding that purpose brings peace."

Liara shuddered slightly, a soft sob escaping her as she slid her hands around her mother's waist. Her eyes closed, at last spilling the tears that had pooled there. "...Yes, Mother..."

"I am not unsympathetic to the human's suffering or their rightful claims for justice. But with Athame as my witness, Liara, the claims of the other races upon Saren's life are now forfeit. When we find him, rest assured, we will not be handing him over to the Council or the Alliance. We will see to it that they will believe him to have be killed in battle. In reality, he belongs to Thessia now."

Liara's gaze as she pulled back from her mother was cold, but seemed to smolder She gave a faint nod and hugged her mother fiercely, a final hitching sob as she cuddled close, hands finally unlocking to grasp tightly at her mother's back.

"What am I, invisible?" Aethyta chuckled as she joined the family hug. "You can bet your ass I'll be helping catch that turian bastard. I'm no commando but I was raised by one as well as my Krogan father. And I've had a thousand years to learn how to fight dirty. No one messes with my girl."

The younger matriarch paused, her hand sliding over Liara's, and her gaze turning to Benezia. "Nezzie...why is your dress wet?"

The matriarch lifted her hand, to show shocking dark-purple, the color of asari blood, and both parents turned to Liara. With some horror, she lifted her hands, which were pooled with blood.

She'd clenched her fists so hard her nails had dug into the palms. But...her nails weren't the neat round things of most asari. These were elongated. Almost sharp.

Liara's eyes were wide as she looked up at her mother and father, her bloody hands upraised as if in supplication

Benezia was frozen in muted shock. Aethyta gently took one of Liara's wrists to examine her hand closely. Then her shoulders sagged. "The universe isn't going back to normal, is it?"

They had no response.

"... Fuck."

---

If anyone had ever told Samantha Traynor that she would look forward to jogging and other forms of exercise, she would have checked their water for lead.

Sam was anything but an athlete. For one thing, as an impoverished colony girl, she had only received gene-therapy for life-threatening problems. Her body was wracked with nearly half a dozen health conditions that, while relatively minor, made physical exercise something of an impossibility. Especially with asthma. But even though Sam's recently improved financial situation had allowed her to finally get most of the treatments she needed, the comm specialist was still a scholar at heart. She preferred computer science, board games, literature, philosophy and other academic interests instead of athletics Sam's body wasn't as important to her as her mind.

Which is why she was panting rather a lot after the mild jog around the track that EDI had coerced her into, but the sight of her friend and self-proclaimed 'sexbot' jogging easily alongside her the entire way, just enough ahead to allow Sam a good look, had spurred her on to keep going that extra hundred meters.

Now, though, she was puffing and blowing as "Edi Randisum" offered her a water bottle, which Sam gratefully took. Her lungs worked like a bellows, but without the whistly asthmatic wheeze that used to accompany almost every exertion she had ever done. Now, it felt as if her pinhole-sized throat had widened into a six-lane, three-level express airway, and while she could feel her pulse beating rapidly in her throat, the sight of a smiling Edi was enough to make up for the exertion.

EDI was resplendent in her "Edi Randisum" disguise, her slender, toned body sheathed only in a pair of boy-shorts and a matching neutral-grey athletic bra. Standard Alliance-issue sneakers adorned her feet, and Sam knew that all of that was just for show, and that EDI was as naked as she always was, despite the tight-fitting 'clothing' she 'wore'. Which only made the gorgeous Nordic bombshell even more gorgeous in Sam's eyes, to know the secret of her girlfriend's true nature.

"Please, finish the bottle, Sam." Edi's voice lacked any of the artificiality of EDI's true voice, which was something of a letdown, but Sam understood the need for EDI to appear human while out in public. "I'll refill it later."

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice," Sam breathed as she eagerly downed the purified liquid. It wasn't until she had started this exercise thing that water suddenly became so delicious.

Edi smiled, making Sam's heart jump as the disguised sexbot shifted her weight with all the delicate grace of an asari ballet dancer. Even wearing the mid-thigh jogging shorts and full-coverage sports bra, almost a T-shirt, the garments looked near painted-on, and Edi Randisum had already turned many heads at the jogging track.

Part of the Arcturus Stadium, the jogging track was the regulation size for track-and-field, and Edi had flowed through the jog, her topknot-ponytail swaying from side to side like a banner, like a golden flag drawing Sam on to ever greater speed. It wasn't the run alone that had her heart beating quickly, not with that body wearing those clothes...

Focus. Sam shook her head, trying not to get distracted by her girlfriend's body as much in public. It was a venture that she was rarely successful in, especially since even when in disguise EDI always went the distance to be the most tantalizing form possible of eye-candy for Sam.

"S-So... How much further do you recommend on the jogging track?" Sam swallowed off the rest of the water, and offered the empty back to her girlfriend, who smiled softly back at her.

"Just one more lap, and then we go. Don't want to hog the track." Edi nodded slightly to one side, where a group of three jock-types were watching the two girls with avid expressions, though they were apparently merely appreciative, not lecherous.

Edi murmured quietly as she patted Sam's shoulder and arm, guiding her back around to the starting position. "We have had no fewer than six different admiring groups. The one who made a lewd comment was silenced by his companions."

"Common decency never fails to warm the heart, EDI. This is the late 22nd century after all." Sam smiled before she started taking in deep breaths. "Whew, I'm getting real bushed. I'm not used to this sort of thing."

"That's only because you haven't had a chance yet." Edi's wide smile made Sam's heart skip a beat and begin beating faster without any other provocation. "Now, come on, one more lap, then we can go home."

EDI's presence always made Sam feel better, light on her feet. Just that flawless yet heartfelt smile from a supposedly artificial person lifted her spirit in ways she could never describe. And so, she bent down into the starting position as she braced for the final lap.

Her girlfriend kept her waiting as she slid into a starting stance beside her. "Ready? Set. GO!"

Edi took off, but didn't go too much faster than Sam, coaxing her onwards into a jog with her long-legged grace. Which was an inspiration of its own for Sam's adrenaline. The young woman pushed on across the track, determined to give it everything she had.

Five minutes later, she had finally completed the entire run. The breath exploded out of her lungs as she sat down at last, exhausted yet a little invigorated all the same.

"Well done, Sam! You completed your run a minute faster than last time!" Edi beamed and slid her hand around Sam's waist, cuddling against her and picking up a bag that they had left near the entrance. She slid another water bottle out of the bag, offering it to Sam, who then downed it in seconds.

"I... I can name... half a dozen... different reasons... why I never... could have done it... without you."

Edi's look was breathtakingly beautiful as she shot Sam a soft smile, guiding her friend towards the locker rooms and a soft, tender, loving kiss.

---

His sister Mei was three years older than him when she died. She was the smart one.

His parents had scrimped and saved and driven themselves to premature age by the time he was sixteen, saving up everything they could, doing without when they could easily have gotten something, buying only that which was utterly essential, saving for their children's future.

Mei never got a future.

He didn't blame her, nor the drunk driver who had subsequently been put away. But his parents had been broken by his sister's death, and their family had never been the same.

He'd left, taking only the money that had been marked for his use, selling everything he could do without and didn't need, or couldn't bring with him, and headed outworld. It was the only way to get away from that awful cold silence.

He'd come back as often as he could, to pay his respects like a dutiful son, but his parents had wasted away under the trauma, and had never been the same since.

In time, the visits had stopped. They never questioned why.

Now, he was older, his parents were both dead (they had had him late in life), and he was forging a life for himself, doing his best in an uncaring world.

His sister still haunted his dreams. Her bloody dress and the way she seemed almost to bulge with hideous promise. The way her sightless eyes seemed to gleam and flicker in the dark hollows of their sockets.

Shiala woke with a start, gasping quietly and looking towards the door where for a splintered instant her mind insisted she would see the walking corpse of a long-dead woman.

She wasn't there, of course. She couldn't've been there. Mei Dan had died over three decades ago, when she was just 17, before humans had encountered another species.

The asari shivered slightly and slowly extricated herself from the sheets, stepping softly around to take a drink of water and let her heart rate drop back down to normal.

This wasn't the first time she'd had a disturbing dream while sleeping with someone. It was the first time she'd dreamed that she was someone else, however.

Shiala sighed. It was getting worse. Many of the locals of Zhu's Hope were already starting to act with an odd familiarity with one another. As an Asari, she could feel the subtle changes in their auras before any of them. And now she herself had just relived the memories of one who she had never even melded with. There was no question that she was afflicted with the same changes that were starting to affect the others.

She shot a look at the human man, still slumbering peacefully and smiled a bit. Fai Dan was a tender lover, soft-spoken and kind-hearted. They hadn't actually done anything together, but Shiala found that being in another's arms helped quell her own nightmares. At least, it did when whoever she was sleeping with didn't have nightmares of their own.

She slipped quietly out, the door hissing softly as it responded to her touch. The mayor of their small village murmured quietly in his sleep, but the asari was already out the door before he settled back down again.

Fai Dan wasn't a light sleeper, but he didn't sleep like a rock either. Shiala padded near-silently down the central corridor of the ship that had given the village its name, her bare feet soft as the moonlight which streamed through the open doorway at the far end. She'd told and told Davin to keep it shut at night, and she wasn't surprised to find him outside, watching the moons rise.

She stood beside him for a time, feeling the wind ripple against her, before touching his elbow. He didn't startle, or even shift, just nodded slightly in acknowledgment of her presence. They were all like that now. She had a dim sense of who all was near her, at least of the group that the Thorian had infected. Most of them were in the ship, but a couple, like Davin, hadn't been able to sleep, or had been on watch detail. They still weren't sure that the Geth had been fully destroyed yet, and were keeping watch.

This was bigger than she could handle. She turned wordlessly away from Davin, who didn't even look towards her as she headed off.

The hard permacrete scratched at her feet, but she didn't care. She had something to do, and a little irritation wasn't going to stop her. The comm station was still where Ledra had gotten it set up, with the main aerial parked on top of the ship, and the comm panel on ground level. Shiala didn't even bother trying to figure out differential local planetary times and just punched in a commcode that she knew by heart.

She shifted a bit from foot to foot as the older-model comm setup worked to patch her through to the extranet, and from there, via the comm buoy network, all the way to Thessia. Hopefully the Matriarch was in.

"T'Soni residence." Anassa, one of the personal guard. Shiala could recognize her clipped cadence anywhere.

"Anassa, it's Shiala. I'm on Feros right now, and... Is the Matriarch there?"

"Shiala?" There was an immediate caution in her voice. "Were you not part of the retinue that was given to Saren and never returned."

It was not a question.

"I was." It felt like an admission of guilt. In a way, it was. "I...can't really go into details right now. It's past local midnight, but-"

"And now you would demand the ear of Matriarch T'Soni." Anassa's voice had never been so cold. This far out into the galaxy, all Shiala could manage was a time-delayed audio link, but it was enough for now.

"I would request it. As humble as a penitent would. If the Matriarch deigns to notice me, that is her choice, I will not force the issue."

There was a long silence on the other end. To the former commando, it felt like hours. Shiala could feel the oppressive weight as her fate was now being decided by the T'Soni House. For what she had done, indoctrination or not, she did not deserve redemption. But perhaps she could at least atone.

"Huntress Shiala." It was the voice of her Matriarch, and her heart caught in her throat for an instant.

"M-Matriarch. I beg an audience, at your earliest convenience." She barely managed to get the well-remembered words out without stumbling over them too badly. They were the same words that she had spoken long ago. The first words of ritual in becoming oath-sworn to House T'Soni. They suddenly felt bitter in her mouth, as if she had no right to say those words, not after breaking her oath so badly.

"I did not expect any of your company to reach out to my house again, let alone beg with a voice bearing shame. You may have my attention, for now."

Shiala swallowed, bowing her head to the voice, despite being thousands of lightyears away from the Matriarch. "I thank the Matriarch for her patience. I have only recently come to my senses, and wish to atone for my negligence and lack of faith. I humbly request the Matriarch's guidance, as I have lost my way, and need the wisdom of the Matriarch to guide me."

"I am not without grace of mercy or forgiveness, Huntress. I have seen the insidious methods of how Saren and his true master enthralls those under them. Just as I am also eternally grateful to Goddess Athame for returning my beloved daughter to me."

"L-Liara was...captured?" Shiala's heart froze for an instant. She hadn't known... Hadn't been told... Tears brimmed in her eyes. Goddess, she would have given anything right then to be at the Matriarch's side, to comfort her in her grief, but... "She was...returned?"

"Yes. Through a battle and then a miracle worthy of legend." The voice of a Matriarch did not waver or falter, but Shiala could have sworn she heard a slight, awed tremble in Benezia's voice "You did not know of her capture?"

"N-No, Matriarch. I was..dispatched prior to her capture, I think." She shivered, and not because of the faint, chill breeze that heralded dawn on Feros, stirring up the ubiquitous dust.

"...I understand." There was another long pause, and when the Matriarch next spoke, her voice was once more coolly calm. "Anassa informs me that you are on Feros."

"Yes, Matriarch. I...have been living here, since... Since I was freed." She shifted slightly, her bare feet starting to get really uncomfortable against the cold stone.

"Freed from Saren's control?" Trust a Matriarch to instantly hear what was not said. "Explain."

She took a deep breath, held it a moment, then let it out. She began at the beginning, or as close to it as she could recall. "I do not actually remember things clearly, Matriarch. I do remember being summoned and flying down in a shuttle. Then we were walked out and I... melded."

She couldn't stop blushing, even though the Matriarch was lightyears away. "Saren forced me to meld with... this native lifeform here. It was a very alien mind, but... I managed to translate. Barely. He spoke to it, they talked. I don't remember the specifics..."

"Saren needed an asari so he could glean knowledge from an alien lifeform?" Shiala heard the sudden interest in the Matriarch's voice, though she remained calm and even in her delivery. "What kind of creature was this? And what knowledge was he seeking?"

"It was called the Thorian, and it was a plant-like organism. Its tendrils spread over thousands of kilometers, but it's mind was.. There's no way to really describe it, Matriarch. I felt... I felt as if I was being enveloped in ancientry, if that makes any sense, Matriarch..."

"It does; it was a very old creature. Probably older than Thessia's daughters considering Saren's obsession with the Protheans. I can hardly imagine sharing a mind with such an ancient creature."

"It was truly indescribable, Matriarch." She was almost sad that it was dead, the Thorian's mind had been unique. She took a breath and continued her story, her cheeks flushing a bit. "A-Anyway, once the bargain was made, I was...given to the Thorian. It...enveloped me, took me inside itself. Submerged me in its mind and...I was one with it."

"Continue." The Matriarch sounded mildly interested.

"There...wasn't much after that. I don't remember much during my... my meld with the Thorian." She was blushing like a 30-year-old, what was with her?! "But I remember being freed from it. She was there, the... The Darastrix."

"Jorukaia was there?" The Matriarch asked with greater interest.

The huntress didn't question how the Matriarch knew the Darastrix's name. "Yes, Matriarch. She... She slew the Thorian. Burned it, and..."

She took a deep breath, she had to finish this. "And burned me too. I nearly died, but.. She saved me. Brought me back from the brink. And when I woke, I was..free."

"Then she has liberated a huntress of my house as well as my daughter." Benezia sounded musing, thoughtful, and Shiala didn't want to pry but...

"Please, Matriarch.. I know I have no claim on your favor, but please, I.. I have one more thing of note to relate..."

"The knowledge Saren sought, yes." The Matriarch answered. "Speak very clearly. What was the avowed enemy of House T'Soni and Citadel space seeking from this ancient creature?"

Shiala swallowed in a throat suddenly dry. "H-He sought the mind of a prothean, Matriarch. To make sense of the message of a prothean beacon, I... I still remember.. it is a pressure in my mind, Matriarch, the distillation of a thousand prothean lifetimes, their.. Their patterns of thought and being and culture."

Another voice, one Shiala knew intimately, suddenly came on the line. "The complete comprehension of the Prothean's thoughts and culture?!"

"Peace, Liara," the Matriarch spoke.

Shiala's heart lifted, and a radiant smile touched her lips. She had known that Liara was on Saren's list, but to receive such confirmation of her freedom and health unwound a chain from her heart. "In a manner of speaking. Think of it more as the underlying context and syntax without the actual content."

"Incredible! What of-"

"Liara. There will time for that later." The Matriarch sounded amused by her daughter. "Huntress Shiala, return to Thessia at once. We will speak more of this in person. And then we may discuss your future."

The connection was severed, the "Connection Lost" icon hovering in midair over the comm terminal. Shiala sighed and glanced towards the colony ship. This was going to be difficult.

---

The call went to messaging again, and Aethyta disconnected. Again. This was getting infuriating!

"Calm, my love, she will answer." Benezia must have heard her grinding her teeth. Despite the calm tone, Benezia was more animated and agitated than usual, upset. Even angry.

Aethyta paced restlessly, while Benezia sat in her chair as regal as a queen upon her throne. She felt like a caged animal, helpless and infuriated! "Why doesn't she answer?!"

"There could be many reasons, Love. Please, sit. Tea?" Benezia gestured as one of her servants had arrived, carrying a tray with an ancient set of cups and a kettle.

Aethyta tried to call again, got messaging once more, and flopped into the love-seat nearby. She rubbed at her eyes, giving a long, defeated sigh. "I just don't know what to do, Nezzie..."

Benezia shifted, seating herself beside the other matriarch and accepting the teacups from her servant before the girl retired to a proper, respectful distance. "Please."

Aethyta glanced at the offered tea and took the cup and saucer that Benezia was holding out to her. She took the cup, sipped it it carefully so as to not burn her mouth with the near-boiling tea, and sharply set the cup down before buzzing Joru yet again.

The increasingly grumpy asari muttered something in an old krogan dialect as yet again, the call failed to connect. "Pick up already, you useless reptile!"

"Calm. Peace." Benezia touched her shoulder, then her throat and cheek. Her cool, pale fingers carried an aura of calmness with them that soothed Aethyta's wounded spirit, and she gave a long drawn-out sigh. "There. Better?"

"Yeah... I just..." She was up and out of the seat again, her restless energy propelling her long past the point of tiredness. "What in space is she even up to that she won't answer? Even her fight with Saren didn't keep her from answering!"

"I am certain that there is a reason. We may not know it, but the Goddess has a plan for all of us. Even Liara. Even Jorukaia." Benezia's words brought Aethyta to a halt again. "Please, sit. Enjoy your tea."

Aethyta hadn't spilled so much as a drop of the scalding-hot liquid. Mistreating tea in front of Benezia was a fast way to earn yourself absolutely zero action for upwards of a year. She heaved another huge sigh, and popped open the connection again.

She was in mid sip when the call finally went through and nearly choked on her tea.

"Yeeeesssssss?" The voice was Jorukaia's, drawn out and clearly annoyed.

"Ah, Goddess above, she answers! Tenth time's the charm! What the hell, are you in the middle of damn war-zone or something?!" Aethyta quickly put the call on speaker as Benezia's eyes had widened in surprise and eager anticipation with her first words.

"Even dragons sleep, Aethytaaaaa..." The name was drawn out this time, a low, growling note of menace in it.

She had been sleeping? They were worried sick about their daughter and the darastrix hadn't responded because she was taking a damn nap? The Matriarchs exchanged a distinct look of unamusement. "Oh, well Athame forbid that I rob you of your precious beauty sleep! You have some explaining to do, you big butch lizard!"

"I just spent six hours straight with my Pet, Aethyta." Joru sounded less foggy now, more aware and focused. There was no yawn on the line but Aethyta definitely got the impression of one as her voice came back, now tinged with a distinct hint of amusement. "I trust that you do not need to know the messy biological details?"

Matriarch Benezia T'Soni rose to her feet and strode to the console. "Joruakaia. I could not care less about your carnal lusts and indulgences. Liara just sprouted claws that bear a suspicious resemblance to your own, and is now recovering from a nervous breakdown."

The Matriarch drew in a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice was as cold as an icy comet and just as intense, lashing into the pickup with sufficient fury to make even Aethyta cringe a little. "What have you done to my daughter?"

There was a long-ish pause on the line this time, and when she came back, Joru sounded fully alert and awake, almost curious. "Describe her teeth. Does she have fangs?"

Both asari went still. Benezia glanced to Aethyta, who immediately called up the finest doctors in Serrice that they had summoned to look their daughter over to the best of their ability. After a moment, the increasingly unnerved medical staff relayed their latest findings.

Benezia's eyes narrowed to slits and veiled menace crept into her voice. "It appears that Liara's eye-teeth have become slightly longer, and her entire jaw structure has reinforced. I repeat myself only once, Darastrix: What have you done?"

"Your daughter's body was rebuilt and regrown using the blood of a dragon as a base, Matriarch. What did you expect would happen?" Joru sounded waspish, snapping back across the lightyears.

Benezia inhaled sharply. If looks could kill, the console would have spontaneously exploded. "You have exactly sixty minutes to make yourself decent before you teleport to my estate at once. Then you will explain yourself in full. And with Athame as my witness, it had better be good. For your sake."

There was silence on the line for a moment, before Joru's tone returned. If Benezia's was heated, Joru's was chilly. "Get me a picture of where you want me to arrive."

The Matriarch transmitted an image of her back courtyard immediately. "Fifty-nine and a half minutes."

"I shall be there. May I bring a friend? I'll need someone to help carry the books."

"Bring your pet if you absolutely must, but in the House of T'Soni, she will not leave your sight. You now have fifty-eight minutes. Do not delay." And with that, Benezia closed the link.

---

The warm pressure around her that had kept the nightmares at bay was gone, and she woke with a start, a silent pain easing through her temple as the warmth behind her shifted and moved away.

She gave a quiet protesting sound, still only half awake as she groped around for that familiar, comforting warmth, then gave a squeal as the covers were ripped from the bed.

Something splatted on her, and Jack finally woke up enough to lift her head and watch Joru's tail vanishing into her closet. Her bedmate had tossed a robe at her and striped the bed of covers.

The dragon's voice floated out of the closet. "Go get washed and dressed, we leave in forty five minutes."

"J-Joruuuuuu!" She didn't mean to whine, but she'd been in the middle of a really good dream, damnit!

"Go on, use the shower. I'll have clothes for you when you get back." Joru's tone was gentle and encouraging, but still brooked no argument.

"No morning quickie?" Jack slid to her feet giving the closet a petulant glare "Where are we even going? And why?"

"I made a slight miscalculation with my recent resurrection." The dragoness emerged, carrying a couple different dresses, trying them against herself in the mirror before tossing them on the bed and striding back into the closet. "We'll be heading to the ancestral home of House T'Soni on Thessia, so be on your best behavior."

"...Haaaaaaa?" Whatever Jack had been expecting to hear, it wasn't that. She sat up, now fully awake. "We're going to the blueberry homeworld? And what's this about the resurrection? There's more to it?"

"Apparently I fucked up Liara's species." Joru flashed her a fanged grin as she came back out of the closet with another pair of dresses, holding one up against herself before nodding. "Go shower, Jack. Unless you want me to magic you clean again."

Which, while efficient as fuck, watching all the gunk that had accumulated on her skin since her last shower just waft itself off her and into a sickeningly large ball was not something she needed to see this early in the day. "Yeeeaaaaaah, I'll take a shower, thank you very much."

She slid out of bed and wobbled a little as she headed for Joru's beyond-luxuriant bath. "But what do you mean you screwed up Liara's species?"

[The ritual called for the heart's blood of a dragon.] Joru's voice echoed slightly in her mind, making Jack grin and finger the new collar adorning her throat. [Her own blood, bone, and flesh was synthesized from my blood. That leaves its mark. Dragon's blood is one of the most powerful mystic reagents, especially heart's blood, willingly given. It changed her.]

"Wow. Goddamn, that's some pretty potent stuff to get mixed up in your system." Jack muttered absentmindedly as she stepped into the shower. She couldn't stop running her fingers affectionately over her new collar.

The gleaming silver of the metal pressed tightly to her skin was adorned by a multitude of gemstones, running from dark-purple under her chin, through blue, green, yellow, orange and dark red under her ponytail. The pattern they made was eye-catching at best, a glorious display of wealth and power. And all for her. To claim her.

Jack smiled as she let the water cascade over her, feeling it run over her collar as if it were her own skin. The metal had fused shut around her throat when she had willingly donned it last night. Joru had cautioned her that once she chose to become Hers, she could not undo that choice. Jack had only hesitated slightly before donning the collar and giving herself to her Mistress.

Now? Now, she felt better than she ever had. Protected. Loved. Cherished. Whole. If there were tears of gratitude mingled into the water cascading over her face, she didn't notice them.

Never before did the nightmares feel so far away...

[Hurry up, Jack. We leave in ten.] Joru's amused voice resounded through her mind, another gift of her collar. Her mistress would never be more than a thought away.

"Yeah..." Jack sighed as she finished doing a quick rinse and groped for a towel.

Instead, she found Joru outside the shower stall, clad in a stunning tight-fitted dress in deep blue that highlighted her flame-red eyes. The dragoness snapped her fingers and gestured, all the water on Jack's body flying off and taking with it the day's accumulated grime. "Dress."

The clothes she handed her suddenly-dry human consisted of a dress (ugh), some sort of silvery things, and a pair of black high-heels. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Stockings are just very long socks, Jack, and you know how to put those on. Hurry up" The dragoness was already on her way out of the master suite.

"Ah, fine. For you, and no one else." She was blushing a bit as she sat on the padded (and pre-heated) bench to start dressing in her new stockings. The silvery shimmer of them did go nicely with her collar, though...

It took her five minutes to dress, by which time Joru was checking a huge mass of books of all shapes, sizes and compositions out along the balcony. Some she would wave away, others she would tap, and they'd be added to a growing pile at her feet. She glanced over at and smiled at Jack, nodding in faint approval of her human's attire.

Jack was not a girl for dresses, the last one she'd had on she could barely remember Back before the bad times. Now, the little blue-silk number came down to mid thigh, and her silver stockings made her feel ridiculous. The shoes didn't help, making her wobble a bit. "I hope we don't have to walk far..."

"Not far at all." Joru gave a grin, and gestured to the pile of books. "Take as many as you can carry. We'll be leaving shortly."

"And why are we bringing a small library with us?" Jack grunted as she hefted book after book, getting a surprising number of them to balance in her arms before Joru hefted the rest and spread her wings.

"Liara is going to need to learn about her new species. And while I will need to train her somewhat myself, she's quite the studious girl from all accounts, and will enjoy having new books to read." Joru sounded amused as she winged them out past the overhang protecting her private apartments in the Refuge, and up the hundreds of feet to the box canyon where the portal still stood.

Even after everything, Jack was still going to have to get use to talking so casually about someone changing species. "Alright, lead the way."

The dragoness gave her an amused look, touching the arch of the portal. Beyond, the view of her Ambassadorial Suite rippled into existence, and a quick glance confirmed that the un-slept-in bed was unoccupied, and no figures lurked discretely in corners. Stepping through and ushering Jack through into Joru's apartment on the Citadel, she took a grip on the human's shoulder. "Do try to keep a good grip on those, will you? Liara would be quite irate if we accidentally smeared a priceless and irreplaceable treasure across a few dozen lightyears."

Jack's eyes widened and she looked up at the dragoness, who's gaze was far away. "Wait, wha-"

And then the apartment was empty once more.

---

"Liara." The soft voice broke into her mournful reverie, but the trembling girl didn't look up. She had her back to her door, and was laying on her bed. The bed was slightly too small for her, being a child-sized bed she had last used when she was 20. She had found her old room exactly as she had left it, to the best of her memory. Even the cracks in the walls and the exploded window had been replaced, or had that only been a dream?

"Liara?" The voice came again from the doorway and she huddled away from it, sniffling to herself. Mrs Dendara, one of her favorite childhood toys, was currently being crushed between her arms, held tight to her chest. Mrs Dendara had been a character on an exploration-themed children's programme when she was a young child, and she'd begged and begged and begged her mother to get her one of her limited-edition licensed dolls.

"Liara..." She shivered and couldn't quite suppress the sob this time. Was she still Liara? What was she? Would Mrs Dendara even still recognize her, after her...change?

She felt the bed shift as whoever it was sat on the edge, and she shied away from the contact even before she felt the gentle, tentative hand on her shoulder. "Go 'way..." She could barely manage a soft, husky whisper after all her long hours of crying.

"No matter what the stars portend, I will never leave you, my Little Wing." Benezia's quiet words were accompanied by a slight shift in her bed, and her mother's calm, gentle touch on her shoulder.

As always, she could feel the love in that touch, quiet, dependable. Acceptance. Her body twisted slightly as a sob tore its way out of her throat, her shoulder hunching against that touch as if from a blow. She couldn't face her mother, if she still was her mother...

And yet, Benezia stayed ever close to her, bearing the patience of stone. Liara shivered and sobbed quietly, trembling under that calm regard. Her breath came in a soft hissing rasp, she had long since cried herself hoarse. "g'way..."

"Not when my most precious daughter needs me."

The sob came again, but this time it seemed to be too big for her raw throat, and stuck there. She could feel the love her mother had for her through the bond they shared, through her touch. But she wasn't her mother's daughter, not anymore. Not since...

"I'm a freak..."

"No." Liara actually shivered at the conviction in her mother's voice, the palpable weight of centuries behind it, and knew there would be no further argument. The Matriarch had built alliances, turned away pirate fleets and preserved Thessia's future with that conviction. "You are not anything of the sort. You are Liara T'Soni, my beloved scion, heir to House T'Soni and a daughter of Thessia."

Liara's heart thundered in her ears. Eyes tightly shut did nothing to hold back the tears as she trembled and sobbed uncontrollably at this point, huddling into a fetal ball around her oldest and most beloved toy. Like the little girl she had long since ceased to be.

"Allow me to remind you of who you are, my Little Wing." With but a touch from her mother, Liara's body followed as she found herself sitting up again, and felt her breath hitch as she looked into her mother's eyes. Eyes that turned black as the bond between an asari mother and her daughter seamlessly reached out once again.

And their minds became one.

Liara could feel herself surrendering to the meld, her own eyes darkening even as she shut them. The warmth, the tenderness, the unconditional love that flowed from her mother's mind was almost unbearable. Like the tide erasing a castle in the sand, it wore away at her fears and self-loathing. In the physical world, Liara shuddered and gave a soft, wracking sob as she almost fell across her mother's chest, clutching wildly like a little child woken from a nightmare.

[M-Mother...]

[I am here, Little Wing. And I always will be.]

Liara only clung tighter.

---

She had to admit, she was impressed. Asari architecture incorporated the best aspects of both dwarven and elven and combined them into a unified whole that was entirely beautiful.

Combining the simple geometric elegance of dwarven engineering with the graceful, airy aesthetic of the elven tree-homes, the asari spires of Armali combined to give an understated sense of elegant grace and lasting grandeur.

The landing pad she arrived on was one near the top of the spire, with a splendid view over the lesser spires of the city before it fell away into the bay the city had been built around.

Armali was an old city, and had spread like lichen around the entire large bay that had once been a modest trading port. Now, aside from the bay itself, the city covered everything in its lofty spires.

She turned, Jack shifting around her with a stack of books, as the door opened and a figure strode out. Aethyta. She was flanked by a pair of commandos, though they were weaponless. That didn't mean they weren't dangerous though.

She opened her mouth to greet the matriarch, only to have her cheek mashed hard against her teeth in an open-handed slap that snapped her head to the side. "That is for making Liara have a panic attack and lock herself in her room for a good six hours."

Aethyta was seething, she could practically taste the rage boiling out of the smaller woman's pores. Her alien scent was still strange to Joru's senses, but she was parsing it well by now. She felt Aethyta seize one horn and allowed herself to be pulled down, as in this mood, Aethyta would simply climb her like a jungle gym if she didn't.

She wasn't quite prepared for the tender kiss on the cheek Aethyta hadn't slapped and blinked in some surprise at the still-furious matriarch.

"That's for coming so fast. Now, get your tail in gear and help us."

Jorukaia gave a quiet chuckle as Aethyta released her horn. "Very well, lead the way."

The trip into the spires of House T'Soni wasn't particularly long, especially not with Aethyta practically jogging to get back to her daughter. She heard the sobbing well before Aethyta lead them into the sitting room.

Benezia was clad in a flowing informal robe in her favorite pastel yellow, with Liara practically plastered to her side. The young asari was wearing almost childish clothing, a pair of pants and a shirt in some soft, neutral-grey material. Her feet were bare.

Joru was struck by the scent before she fully registered the scene. Aethyta was angry, of course. Benezia was an odd mixture of towering fury, deep distress, and a wellspring of strong love and affection that Joru had rarely run across. Curious, but perhaps the best thing for Liara right now.

As to Liara herself, the draconic overtones nearly drowned out the horror and distress she was radiating, along with bewilderment and confusion.

"My apologies for taking so long to get back to you." She sank into the unoccupied sofa across from the one that Benezia and Liara were seated on. Even from here, she could make out the small, sharp claw-tips that now adored Liara's feet, and which no doubt also tipped her fingers. Those were buried in her mother's robe, as Benezia held her daughter close.

"Very few times in our history has an outsider been invited to the estate of a Matriarch of the Circle." Benezia's tone was cool, but not as harsh as it might have been. The look she gave the darastrix, however, that could flay flesh from bone. "But this is clearly an unprecedented situation, so we will forgo the formalities with my blessing."

Aethyta took up station behind the Matriarch's couch, with Liara peeking a little at her from where she was pressed against her mother, held close by Benezia's arm as the matriarchs glared at her with withering stares.

"You will explain everything. Now."

Joru leaned back and pondered how best to proceed. "You are aware that my blood, my heart's blood was the primary ingredient in the ritual, yes?"

"Despite my admittedly eager haste to have my daughter returned to me, I was not deaf to what was involved, darastrix." Benezia still glared at her. "I have some of the finest medical minds in the galaxy in my employ, including several geneticists."

Aethyta practically growled. "They're down in the labs right now, going over our daughter's blood-work"

Benezia went on after a slight pause. "While we are aware that this matter involves several as of yet unknown fields, please explain everything in the context that our science can understand as much as possible. But first, I must ask you one question very clearly and you will answer to the very best of your knowledge: Is my daughter in any danger?"

For answer, Joru turned to the daughter in question. "Liara. Answer a few questions to the best of your ability. Are you in pain?"

Liara shook as her eyes darted all over the place, but stilled as her mother placed a calming hand on her shoulder. The young asari took a deep breath and exhaled carefully.

"N-Not entirely. I am self-aware enough to recognize that while I am terrified out of my wits, I am in no significant physical pain. Aside from having cut my own hands a few times by accident."

The young asari reached out, trembling a little as she showed the needle-fine claws that had sprung from her fingertips.

The dragoness leaned forwards, ignoring how Aethyta suddenly flared with biotic light, and carefully displayed took the girl's hand. Her own claw-tips were light and gentle as she carefully caressed Liara's fingers, examining the young girl's claws. They were like thick and heavy fingernails, but razor-edged, coming to a needle point, about an inch long "Interesting. And I understand you now have fangs as well?"

Liara flushed and squirmed, but opened her mouth at a gentle word from her mother. Her eyeteeth were indeed elongated slightly, twice as long as the rest of her own teeth.

Joru's smile showed her own much-longer fangs. "Very good, they're coming in nicely."

"I beg your pardon?!"

She ignored the outburst and focused on the young asari. "Do you feel the urge to tear things? To rip, claw and destroy? To feel hot blood on your face and hands?" The dragoness leaned back, after releasing Liara's hand

Aethyta snarled. "What kind of question is that?!"

"One that I must ask." Joru's tone was quiet, but stung like a whip. It gentled considerably as she dropped her gaze back to Liara. "Well?"

"I-I..." Liara swallowed before her gaze turned into a icy glare. "Yes. Saren. I want to see him broken, defeated and punished without mercy. But, I assumed that was trauma from what he had done to me. To those I..."

She turned and buried her face in her mother's robe. Aethyta's eyes were blue fire now, but Benezia just looked bleak as Joru sat back with a soft sigh.

"Well, suffice it to say that this was not entirely unexpected."

"NOT UNEXPECTED?!" Aethyta would have lept over the couch to get at Joru had not Benezia lifted a hand.

"I trust you have an explanation for this."

"I do. But you won't like it." Joru sighed and got slowly to her feet, pacing slowly and digging her toes into the soft, plush carpet. "My blood was a major component of the ritual, along with three kilos of dust-form eezo and raw diamonds, totaling more than eleven million credits in value."

Liara's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open as she sat up to stare as Joru continued to pace. Aethyta swore in several forms of Krogan profanity she made up on the spot. Benezia merely held her daughter close.

"Dragon's blood. That is one of the most powerful magical reagents. Our species evolved so long ago we have forgotten our homeworld, but whatever world we first rose upon, it must have been the magical equivalent of Thessia."

She paused, gazing out over the city for a moment before turning back to the asari. "Eezo is in everything here. It's in the soul, in the water, in the very air you breathe. So it was on my species' homeworld. Not with eezo, but with magic."

Silence.

Then the Matriarch took a long breath as she brought what she had already suspected. "I understand that your kind's blood has many unique properties, but this is more than a reaction to a major blood transfusion. Tell me how much the ritual has altered my daughter's core DNA with your own."

"That is a complicated question, Matriarch." Joru turned, her tail swaying elegantly behind her as her silver-embroidered black dress slithered silkily around her. "With dragons, it's hard to tell where the line between biology and magic is drawn. What other explanation is there for a being larger than the ancient Terran dinosaurs, that is capable of both self-powered flight, and the ability to melt steel with one's breath?"

She turned to meet Aethyta's gaze. "When we met in the mine on Therum, you did not notice, but I was perfectly comfortable with the heat, despite being within a few meters of glowing-hot magma. I could bathe in such liquid and feel nothing more than warm afterwards."

The flaming gaze dropped to Liara, huddled against Benezia like a scared little girl. Which to some degree she was. "Suffice it to say that she will be stronger, tougher, and more charismatic than others of her race. The claws and fangs are a side-effect. Were I to liken it to genealogy, she would be at least twice removed from the primary donor at this time."

She slowly sat again beside Jack, gently gazing at the trembling girl. Her voice was soft and gentle. "Liara, there is nothing to be afraid of. Yes, the changes have come, and yes they are permanent. But this will only strengthen you, as a sword fresh from the anvil is quenched to temper it."

Liara nearly turned white as the blood seeped from her face. "Y-You mean... I'm going to t-turn into one of you?"

"Not at all." Joru snorted. "Your blood was contaminated with an exceptionally powerful source of draconic magic. As such, you've gained a few of my traits, that is all. A bit of strength, a bit of toughness, natural weapons, and perhaps my heightened emotions."

Lingering suspicions concerning her own childhood floated around her mind, but she firmly banished them for the moment. It was highly unlikely that Liara would find herself int that sort of situation in any event.

"But... but my body is still changing?" The young asari cuddled closer to her mother, Benezia's arm tightening around her.

Joru's smile was gentle, but her chuckle was a bit knowing "You're, what, around a century old?"

A slight flush entered Liara's cheeks. "Y-Yes, I'm 106."

Joru's soft chuckle was back and she leaned back in the, really very excellent sofa. "So you're going through puberty. Changes are to be expected. Heightened emotions, possibly a taste for raw meat. It's natural."

Liara's eyes went wide while Aeythta threw hands up in the air.

"Raw meat?!" Cried the half-krogan asari. "Just how drastic will these changes be?!"

"Probably not that drastic. Most of them, the gross physical ones, have already occurred" Joru glanced down at the girl's bare feet. "You'll need new footwear, but you probably won't need a whole new wardrobe."

She met and held Liara's eyes, her gaze softening as much as she could. "I didn't mean to tease. It's unlikely that your appetites change too much, though your senses will probably sharpen slightly over the next few weeks or months. You'll also find it slightly more difficult to be anesthetized, as your biology resists artificially being put to sleep."

"I understand that most of these changes appear beneficial," Benezia spoke up again, "But are there are any less appealing effects? Is there any way to reverse the change, or at least mitigate it?"

"Not to my knowledge. Short of totally erasing who your daughter is, and allowing her spirit to completely rebuild herself from first principles, I know of no way to expunge the draconic infusion." Joru gave Benezia a pointed look, then softened her expression with a faint smile. "But I can admit to being somewhat biased. I am a dragon after all."

The dragon turned and retrieved one of the large tomes from the stack of six Jack had been carrying, and which the human had set on the floor when Joru pulled her down beside her the first time. "Here is a basic primer on draconic biology. It's from a pre-scientific world, but that does not mean that it is not without use."

The book was a solid two feet tall and a foot and a half wide, and easily six inches thick. Despite her delicate handling, it almost thudded as she set it on the coffee table between the two sofas. "The rest of the books I have brought are more academic studies of draconic physiology, culture, and capabilities. And despite their somewhat fantastical style, I have personally verified their accuracy."

"I will have my best experts peruse them from front to back..." Benezia glanced at her daughter who had already grabbed one of the tomes and was tearing through it with her usual passion for learning. "Assuming they can get them away from Liara."

Joru's smile clearly showed her fangs, but it was a happy one, watching Liara blink at the tome then up at her. "B-But-"

"I am aware that it isn't translated. This is the original, nearly six thousand years old." Technically, the original was still in her Library, but the Forge could make copies that were identical down to the 'age'. "I have provided a translation matrix, though possibly not one you've had cause to deal with before."

This time, she set a small pair of pince-nez glasses with large silver frames and what looked like cut-crystal lenses perfectly polished. "These shall translate whatever text you look at into your native language, but they will not work on the spoken word."

Liara froze. In fact, she was so still that it was as if someone had pressed pause on time itself. Even Benezia glanced at her daughter as Joru tilted her head slightly at her in some concern.

Jack leaned over to whisper in Joru's ear. "Did... she just go into shock?"

Benezia merely smiled in amusement. "You just gave an archaeologist the means to translate any written text. Are you truly so surprised?"

Jorukaia gave a soft snort. "Ahh, I should have known. Yes, Liara, it works on any language, though not, I should add, computer languages. But poetry and prose, yes, it will translate those. Accurately, and without flaw. Idiom will not be translated, however, only the basic underlying text."

"A-A-And... what of ancient prehistoric Prothean texts?" The young asari was sitting bolt upright now, staring at the pair of archaic spectacles with avid longing and visibly starting to hyperventilate.

"Those too. It does not care if the language is living or dead, Liara. It only cares if it conveys meaning." She broke off and gave a quiet, throaty chuckle as the young asari snatched the spectacles and bolted through the door fast enough to leave divots in the carpet. "Oh my, should I be concerned?"

"Yes." Aethyta gave her a flat stare. "You just broke her more than your damn blood did."

Jorukaia gave a quiet chuckle at that, smiling a bit as Jack slid an arm around her waist. There was a squeak from outside the door and a confused-looking asari stepped inside, pausing as she saw both matriarchs and their guests. "Ahh, forgive the intrusion, Matriarchs."

"Ah, Shiala," the Matriarch rose to her feet. "Have no fear, we were just wrapping up."

She turned back to the darastrix. "Jorukaia, we will continue more of this discussion after we have reviewed this information. But for now, I request you share everything you can with my doctors and geneticists in the adjacent chambers so that they may continue to observe my daughter's condition."

She rose slowly to her feet, then surprised her hostesses by bowing courteously to the newcomer. "Shiala. It is good to see you once more. Allow me to tender my humble apologies for our first meeting."

Even for an asari commando, Shiala would have taken several steps back from the dragon if she was not in the presence of her Matriarch. "Y-Yes, I understand. You did what you had to do to destroy that... creature."

"Sadly, that was not my intent." Joru rose, her hands clasped before her waist. "The Thorian was already dead when I burned you. That was mere... exuberance on my part. And for that, I must apologize. I did not think to check for bystanders, and I pride myself on my thorough attention to detail. It was a blow to my ego, with you as collateral damage. An unconscionable act, that I acted to rectify as quickly as I had realized my mistake."

She allowed her gaze to fall to the carpet between them. "But platitudes and belated repairs do not undo the suffering I caused you, however inadvertent. For that, you have my most humble apologies, and an offer of a boon. A simple device, such as the one Liara is no doubt putting through its paces even as we speak"

The commando blinked and shot Benezia an uncertain glance, before turning back to the darastrix. "I do not deserve any such boon, not after how I was beguiled from my sworn duties."

"While a commendable attitude, we darastrixi remember our debts, be they dark or light." She gave a slight nod of acknowledgment "When you or your mistress has need of my services, do not hesitate to ask."

Shiala could not bring herself to respond to that, not when she had a greater reason to atone for. The commando turned to Benezia and murmured a soft "Matriarch?"

Benezia shot Aethyta a look, and the younger of the two matriarchs slid around to give Joru a subdued glare. "This way, if you please."

Jorukaia's ears pricked as she stepped around the corner, a glance at Jack drawing her pet after her. She really was doing better with the high heels, and the effect they had on her cute rump was delightful.

No sooner had the doors closed behind her when Joru's keen ears picked up the slightly muffled voice of the commando. "Matriarch T'Soni. I have shamed you. I was not strong enough, and I was seduced from my duties. I acted against you, your house, and all of Thessia."

Aethyta ushered her and her pet into a smaller room with only one entrance, and a window looking over the cityscape. She left shortly thereafter with a muttered comment about bringing some refreshment, leaving the two guests alone for the moment.

Joru didn't care particularly about the slight. she merely marked it down to Aethyta's understandable concern about her daughter. Were she in Aethyta's place...

Benezia's voice filtered through to her, and she lightly laid a claw-tip on Jack's lips as the human opened her mouth to emit some sort of cranky comment.

"There is no need for that, Huntress. As I have told you, we are aware of the insidious tools that Saren's masters have gifted him. It was both unforeseen and unfortunate, and there is nothing that could have shielded any of your retinue from its power. But you alone have escaped its clutches, and now you have returned. For this, you are to be commended."

There was true emotion in the words that followed the short pause. "I... I am not worthy of such grace, Matriarch. I did terrible things for Saren, I.. I must be punished for my transgressions."

"That is yet to be determined. For now, your duty to me continues. How are you feeling after such an ordeal?" Benezia's voice was much warmer now, and they seem to have shifted. Probably seated on the couch.

"I..am well enough, Mistress." The younger asari sounded almost ashamed. "I..The Darastrix was correct in that she injured me, but I was still in shock when that happened. I was still...enmeshed in the Thorian when she...killed it. The shock was...considerable."

"And you will be tended to," the Matriarch spoke gently. "But as I said, we can consider your mission a success. Though the cost was high and it took many twisted turns, you have returned to report on what you have seen of Saren's operation."

"I...yes, Matriarch." The commando sounded contrite still, if not abject anymore. She began to relate her tale, how she first met Saren at an obscure asteroid base out in some planet-less backwater. How she and her squad of commandos were picked up by an agent and brought to Saren's flagship in a mid-space rendezvous Her first look at the colossal starship that would have dwarfed even the Destiny Ascension.

"And this is where your path seemed to take a mind of its own?" The Matriarch sounded concerned. Joru was aware of Aethyta's tread coming back with someone else, a commando or servant perhaps. She entered to find Joru already watching the door, and jerked only the tiniest bit. Very good reflexes that, tightly wound but under strict control. The woman behind her was smaller, not a commando, evidently a housemaid of sorts, bearing a tray with a small platter of dainties, and an electric teakettle. Very nice.

"Yes, Matriarch. It was subtle, gradual. I felt... Less and less like myself. His words seemed to slither into my ears, wrap around my soul. In the end, I sat at his feet and drank in his instruction as as if it were the nectar of the Goddess." Shiala sounded close to tears now. "I cannot absolve myself entirely of guilt, Mistress. Please, I... I have not the right to demand anything of you, but I would request whatever punishment for my transgressions you deem fit..."

"Of course you failed." The Matriarch's voice suddenly turned sharp, and Joru could practically hear Shiala shrink into herself. But then the Matriarch's voice took a different turn. "You failed because you were inferior to the mind of a god, Shiala. Had you been able to utterly rebuke Sovereign's influence, I would have believed you to be Zhendrah-Yakshi herself reborn. But the fact is that you are not the Chosen of Athame, and therefore I cannot condemn you for something that even I myself would have failed to resist."

There was a longish pause while Jorukaia accepted a teacup, then left it hanging in midair by a Mage Hand cantrip as she sampled a slice of something delicious, much to Aethyta's and the maid's surprise. "I... M-My apologies, Matriarch..."

"Our latest findings from Virmire, Saren's now former base of operations, have inferred that Sovereign may in fact belong to a vast collection of AIs that have existed since before Thessia. Before the Protheans, Shiala. Do not mistake the overwhelming power of your enemy as weakness on your own part."

Joru barely caught the shocked 'goddess' on the part of the commando, absently taking her cup from midair to sample the excellent tea. "Then... What will happen to m-me, Mistress? I...had hoped to be used as... cannon fodder, to soften up his defenses..."

"I will determine this in time, Huntress. For now, the rest of your report. How did you come to the human colony of Feros? Explain to me what Saren was seeking there, and why it meant so much to him?"

Jack cuddled against her on the small sofa as she passed small talk with Aethyta. How she'd contacted the landlord on Illium about that tiny little apartment rented as 'Jona Siberys', and quietly bought her way out of the lease. How 'Jona' had arraigned an exit from Illium, heading back into the terminus systems, and had yet to be heard from again. The cover identity was deeply flawed, and she couldn't be bothered to keep it up, especially not when she wasn't being pursued by the authorities as she thought she would be.

Meanwhile, she kept her ears tuned to the pair down the hall, how Shiala had little recollections of her time once she'd arrived at Saren's base. "I was his thrall, Mistress. Little better than a flesh-and-blood drone. I... Honestly, I am glad I cannot recall much of that time. I remember being summoned, and...flying with him on his ship. Arriving on Feros in a shuttle with him as he had his Geth push the colonists away. They didn't attack at first, he had business with the Thorian first."

"You speak of the ancient creature that he gave you over to. Saren made you use our people's ability to take what we want from another's mind." The deep disapproval was clearly not aimed at Shiala.

"Yes, Mistress. It was not by choice, and more that he used me as a living translator, to better comprehend and be comprehended by the Thorian I had little will left by that point, I doubt that I could have offered much in terms of resistance, had the Thorian decided it wanted me out of its mind."

"I will not ask you to relive whatever that creature had inflicted on you." The Matriarch spoke gently. "After a time, that was when you met the darastrix?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking." Joru missed the next part as Aethyta pointedly asked her a question.

"Now that you're done listening in on Nezzie's business, how did you get this girl of yours into that bodysuit for the Fornax interview?"

"With great amusement." Jorukaia snickered quietly at Jack's indignant look. She cuddled the human against her, overpowering her attempt to get to her feet and kick Aethyta's teeth in with tender care. "It was quite the involved process, but I have ideas for how to make it both faster and more erotic for the both of us next time."

"J-Joruuuu!" Jack squirmed against her as she thumped a fist against the Dragoness's side.

"Well, the one she was wearing sure as hell isn't to my tastes, but I'm interested in the... other uses that kind of material might have. Any chance you'd be willing to share a few of them?"

"I think I might be persuaded to part with a few..." Joru leaned back, crossing her ankles and giving a knowing smirk at Aethyta. "It depends on what you have in mind... A set of sheets perhaps? Did you fancy tucking Benezia into a set of sleek, slippery-black sheets, perchance?"

"Hmmm... tempting," Aeythta grinned. "Much as I would love to see Nezzie and that rack of hers in one of those suits, I doubt I'd ever get her into one."

Jack froze a bit, turning to stare at the now-grinning dragoness. "Mmm, I'm certain she'd at least consider it, if you turned up wearing one yourself. Besides, she seems like she'd favor a white suit over a black one, to better contrast with a black robe worn over it."

"Daaaamn, to show up like I'm in 'commando leathers'? Yeah, that might-"

Joru did not flinch when the shriek rang out, followed by sprinting footsteps. Liara had finally had her outburst. Oh well. She followed behind at a more decorous pace than Aethyta's run, Jack tagging along behind.

"They work, they work, they actually work!" Liara was babbling a mile a minute as she clung to Benezia, who looked like she was struggling to choose between embarrassed, annoyed, and hopelessly amused. Aethyta was looking bewildered, as was Shiala who was just now getting off her knees as the dragoness re-entered the original room.

"Of course they do." Joru's amused tone cut through the excited babbling as the entire assemblage turned to her. "My enchantments do not falter or fail, and always do exactly what I specify. I pride myself on my craftsmanship, be it smithing, crafting, or enchantment."

"I took another look at the material from the prothean data disc retrieved from Ando Prime over 1,500 years ago! There was a mistranslation on Volume 3,782, line 631! It seems the Prothean's strength in biotics came not from their natural capacity but rather through their advanced knowledge of biotic science and implants!"

Joru couldn't quite restrain a proud smile. "I'm certain that the correction will improve your understanding of the protheans. No doubt there are other mistranslations as well."

Liara went still again as the implication sunk in. The idea that their entire collection of Prothean knowledge may have been mistranslated...

"Oh Goddess," Benezia sighed.

"... I have to get to the Serrice Academy at once! We need to verify the archives!"

"Whose 'we'?" Aethyta asked rhetorically.

"Not yet, Little Wing." the T'Soni Matriarch firmly massaged the bridge of her nose. "I know you are excited by the many potential revelations, but not until we review your... condition."

"Mother, please!" Liara pleaded, already breaking several house customs with her desperate enthusiasm. "I can survive a ride to the Academy! We are talking about history! Our knowledge of the Protheans may be at stake! Especially their cultural edicts of the Jan-Key-Hai!"

"Jhankihaa."

Everyone turned, Liara most of all, her eyes wide with shock to stare at Shiala. When the young asari finally got her voice back, it was barely a whisper. "Wh-what?"

Shiala evidently realized she had spoken out loud. She blushed and dropped her gaze, her voice contrite. "Oh, my apologies, Lady Liara..."

"No, wait, how did you know that?" Liara's asked, though it sounded almost like a demand. Her eager excitement made her squirm, the crystal spectacles she was still wearing wobbling on her nose.

"I...just did?" Shiala shrugged a little, glancing uncertainly between Liara and Benezia, even as Jorukaia swished her tail out of the way and sat decorously nearby.

Matriarch Benezia stiffened as she made the connection.

"It's as I was telling the Matriarch, it's what Saren wanted from the Thorian The Prothean Cipher. It contains the... oh dear..." Shiala trailed off as her eyes widened slightly, remembering Liara's passion, before her shoulders sagged in resignation of what was about to happen. "It contains the complete essence and understanding of what it means to be... a Prothean."

The young asari's eyes could not physically get wider as she stared in shock and rising excitement. Joru's voice, amused and musing cut through the rising tension like a red-hot blade through butter. "Curiouser and curiouser. Liara is a prothean researcher, Shiala apparently has an intimate knowledge of the protheans. And I have interacted with two different prothean beacons, which transferred their messages to my mind..."

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at her. It took considerable self control not to preen under their gazes, until Liara found her voice again, giving a soft, squeaky syllable "...what."

"On Eden Prime, I interfaced with a prothean beacon. It...was not gentle." Joru looked away and accepted the gentle hug from Jack, stroking her pet's fringe of raven-black hair with one affectionate hand. "The other time was on Virmire, when I retrieved the Beacon that Saren held. I have since delivered it, still functional, to the prothean experts at the University of Serrice, as part of my deal with the Council."

"I find it a curious coincidence that we three have all gathered here and now. I wonder..." Joru broke off as Liara all but launched herself at her, only coming up short at Benezia's muttered "behave!"

Liara was properly chastised by her mother's rebuke. Even so, she was still visibly trying to restrain herself. Whether from her new character traits or just her enthusiasm for Prothean studies, no one could tell. "Ambassador Jorukaiazhanivahkyss? Would you grant me the trust of examining your memories of the beacon's message?"

She gazed long and deeply at the young asari, surveying her from crest to feet. She was still clad in the medically-neutral grey shirt and baggy pants, but almost vibrated with excitement, as her wide, young, pleading eyes gazed soulfully back at her. A soft snort of amusement preceded a languid presentation of her hand. "You have been suitably courteous to me, and I am curious to see what you would make of the beacon's imagery You may proceed."

Liara looked as happy as the day she graduated with her Serrice doctorate. "Oh, thank you! You have my deepest gratitude, Jorukaia! But first.."

She turned back to Shiala. "Any message from a beacon would be far better understood with a Prothean's understanding."

The commando blinked and almost instinctively shied away from Liara's near predatory look. "I, um..."

"Please," was Liara's near-instant response, her expression turning to pleading. Shiala looked to her Matriarch and received an affirming nod.

She exhaled softly and gave a slight nod to Liara. The pair of them moved to one side as Shiala began the ancient ritual words. "Embrace Eternity."

Both Shiala's and Liara's eyes went black, and Joru leaned forward, watching with interest. The two asari had linked hands, fingers interleaved as they leaned their foreheads together, seeming to stare unblinking into each other's eyes. She could hear their hearts, beating with one slow, steady rhythm, heard their breathing synchronize. An interesting phenomena, this, and one she would like to study further.

All too soon the link was broken, as Liara took a startled breath and blinked eyes once more white and blue. "I...see... I see, so much. Goddess, it's...beautiful."

Shiala gave a faint, shy smile and slid her arms around Liara as the younger asari hugged her tightly. "I only gave you that which I was given, Liara."

"That's.. That's alright. Thank you, Shiala, for the gift of understanding." The young asari turned eagerly to the darastrix. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Jorukaia" Benezia sat up, prim and proper as she met the dragon's flaming gaze with her own keen glance. "Is this the first time one of our people have melded with you?"

"Yes." The simple affirmative was tinged with amusement and curiosity

Benezia's glare was steely as she met Joru's eye. "There will be no tricks with my daughter, let alone in my house." A strong soul this, as she tilted her horned head in mild assent.

"I understand, Matriarch, and will play no tricks with your daughter's mind." That is, if she made it through her mental defenses. A Mind Blank effect is no joke, even to a dragon.

"You need only relax, Jorukaia" Liara spoke gently, as the dragoness gave a faint smile. "I will take care of the rest. Open your mind, and Embrace Eternity!"

For a split second she felt the impact of Liara's mind as the young asari took her hand, her eyes closing then opening meld-black. For a second or two, there was silence, before Liara grew more and more agitated, jerking her hand away from that of the dragoness, and blinking rapidly as her eyes returned to their usual white-and-blue.

The young asari tilted her head, as if making sure the darastrix was in fact in front of her. She blinked again. Then her eyes narrowed in a flat glare.

"Not. Funny." She gritted her new teeth, both her draconian heritage and passion for Prothean knowledge were making her more than a little peeved that Joru was playing hard to get with said knowledge. "Stop wasting our time, Ambassador."

"My apologies. A simple experiment." The dragoness rose, and gave a courteous bow. "I merely wished to see if my mental defenses were adequate to provide protection against an asari meld. Please, right this way."

She strode to one of the blank walls of Benezia's home, drawing both matriarchs to their feet as she made a small motion and a door that had not been there a second ago slid smoothly open. Matriarch Benezia's eyes narrowed to slits as she rose to her feet. "I was under the impression that you could understand any language, Jorukaia So either I have spoken nonsense, or you deliberately ignored my words inside my own house."

"No offense is intended, Matriarch, I am certain that your home is the most well-defended on the planet." The dragoness turned, stepping over the threshold into the translucent glass room on the far side that clearly fascinated Liara. "However, my mental sanctity is of paramount importance to me, as you no doubt can understand. I will not lower my mental defenses somewhere I have not personally secured against mental intrusion. Sanctuary is proof against such things, for reasons you no doubt understand. I regret that I had not previously stocked provisions or furniture here, but a few moments with your daughter on the far side of this door shall suffice for providing adequate protection while my primary shield is down."

Flaming eyes held the matriarch's gaze. "I gave much to restore your daughter, Matriarch. Nine centuries of my lifespan. Would I really be so foolish as to risk such a large investment unnecessarily?"

Liara looked to her mother, who was silent for a time before nodding. With that, the young scientist followed the darastrix inside her Refuge.

"Shall we try again?"

This time, her face was serious as she gently took Liara's hand. "Understand that there are places in my mind that you are not allowed to look. I have many dark things in my past that I would not care to share with one as young and innocent as yourself. Things I am ashamed of, and things that I am proud of, but which are nonetheless not fit for your mind. With that caveat, are you ready?"

"My people understand the sanctity of the mind more than any other race can claim. I will not seek anything other than the message left by the Protheans. You have my word as a T'Soni." Liara's promise was solemn and sincere.

"Then let us begin." Jorukaia reached up with her free hand and caressed the base of her right horn, where a bulge was nearly completely obscured by the growth of her horn. She stroked it tenderly, from her temple outwards, then turned her gaze back to Liara.

The young asari took a breath, closed her eyes and let her breath out in a slow sigh. "Embrace Eternity."

The impact of the youngling's mind against her own was palpable this time, and Liara gave an unexpected grunt, before Joru opened her mind to the young one, and ushered her inside. She could feel Liara's almost overwhelming curiosity, the urge to look, to see, to know, being held in check by a surprisingly strong will for one so young. She guided her visitor to the correct memories, and sank into them with her new friend, consoling and offering what comfort she could as the deluge of horrific imagery once again washed over her. Nothing as overpowering as some experiences in her life, but the horror that vibrated through the implanted memories was unmistakable.

She felt Liara's mind recoil, but gently held her close, opening to the young asari and showing her everything. Every last minute trace of the Beacon's message. Even as she did so, she felt Liara retreating, and let her go, the memories shared.

She came back to her outer awareness with the realization that tears stood in Liara's eyes. She reached up and gently brushed them away with a tenderness that surprised even herself. "There there, it's over now..."

"That... that was... incredible." Liara breathed. "All this time... all my research, yet I never dreamed... I am sorry, the images were so vivid and intense... you are truly something remarkable, Jorukaia."

The horned woman reached up to caress her horn once more, reactivating her mental protections as she gave a faint smile down at the smaller asari. "Thank you for the compliment, my young friend."

The scientist barely heard her. "I...I need a moment to...collect myself."

"Of course." Joru kept her hand holding Liara's as she gently and tenderly lead the young asari back across the threshold from her Sanctuary.

Benezia immediately strode forward and took her daughter from Joru's hand. She held her daughter close and murmured quietly to her. "Breathe, my Little Wing. The melding is always a potent experience. But I am here."

"Thank you, Mother." Liara nuzzled into her mother's arms, making the dragoness give a fond smile, first at the pair, then over to Jack, who'd remained seated on the couch where Joru left her.

"Saren went to extraordinary effort and risk to retrieve the beacons and the Cipher to understand them." Shiala shifted nervously. "Whatever information was within is crucial to understanding his plans. Perhaps even his whereabouts and destination."

All eyes turned to Liara. Her mother held her closer, murmuring gently to her daughter. "What did you see in the beacon's visions?"

Liara put her hands to her temples to calm the rush of images. "It's... it's a... oh Goddess. It's a distress call! The Protheans... they were crying out for help!"

"What else did you see?" Her instant belief and encouragement was enough to draw Liara's attention to the darastrix.

"So much... devastation... fire... death... machines. Eyes with eons of malice..."

"Do not lose yourself in the river, Little Wing." Benezia murmured, still holding her child. "Focus on my voice, and follow the memories to what you seek."

"I-I... There were other images. Planets. Cities. Locations. Places I have seen in my research..." Liara stopped, then her features visibly lit up with discovery. "Ilos! The legendary secret research world of Ilos! That's what Saren was looking for!"

"Ilos." That resonated. Ilos was a name she knew... "What is on Ilos, how can we get there?"

"The Conduit..." Shiala breathed, her eyes going wide. "The Conduit! It must be on Ilos!"

"Conduit?" That also resonated, sharply. "That's important... What is it? Where can we find it? Can we get to it before Saren does?"

"If there is one thing I am certain of from my imprisonment as Saren's thrall," Shiala began, "the mad Spectre said that finding the Conduit was critical to Sovereign's goals! Liara, are you sure the Beacons say that the Conduit is on Ilos?"

The young asari nodded, growing more animated in her urgency and slipping free of her mother's arms. "Yes! It's very clear that the iconography points to Ilos. That particular style of statuary-"

She was cut off as Jorukaia once again stood, this time gently tugging Jack to her feet as well. She steadied the human with her tail as she spoke. "If Ilos is our target, then let us begin readying for battle. Matriarchs, I shall leave the logistics in your capable hands. As for me, I have...other preparations to make. Liara, the sooner you have a course for us, the better."

Liara's widened with ever-growing joy. "Is this true? We're really going to Ilos?"

For answer, Jorukaia merely looked across to Benezia, allowing her the honor, and curse, of making that decision.

Matriarch Benezia rose to her full height. "Let us make ready. It is time to finish this once and for all."