After The Collective left Omega on a transport to the growing colony of Eden Prime, Mycerra tried to find comfort in the routine she created.
They watched every movie Inos premiered at the cinema. Bohai paid for their tickets a time or two. They inevitably spent the bonus money for popcorn and candy at the snack bar. Mannis invited them to fix up the sky car often enough they ate dinner two to three times at the apartment and the rest of the week at Mannis's or out to eat. Once or twice a month, they'd gamble the night away with Brom, Hadar, Mannis, and Hadrian.
Two months passed before they noticed a change on Omega.
One by one, Hinder managed to cull the Blood Pack, Eclipse, Blue Suns, and two smaller gangs controlling the farming center on Omega – home of the infamous breeding farms of varren, pyjak and smaller animals. The stories of how mounted in competition, each incident bloodier than the last.
They prepared to leave for Brom's apartment for an evening of friendly gambling when a knock stopped them.
Mycerra grabbed her pistol from the hiding spot behind the cubicles and approached the door cautiously. She checked the camera feed.
"It's Aria and your mother."
"Put that thing away. It'll freak my mother out."
Mycerra unlocked the door and put the pistol back.
Aria and Lenaye entered. Amani locked the door. "You are a hard pair to find these days." Aria announced dramatically.
"Considering Hinder is leaving gutted people on the streets and catching sky cars on fire, that's a good thing." Mycerra said. "We have friends we spend time with."
"I know." Aria moved around the apartment. "I noticed you were friendly with The Champion at the charity event."
"Hadrian Yanus is perfect. Can we become a throuple?" Amani mockingly proposed to Mycerra.
Mycerra laughed. "Turians don't do throuples."
"Maybe he's different."
"You can ask him, but I guarantee the answer is no." She humored her lover.
Amani kissed Mycerra's cheek. "You're perfect."
"That's the baby glow talking." Mycerra faced Lenaye and motioned the woman further into the apartment. Lenaye stayed near the door. Aria and Amani shifted further into the apartment and out of immediate sight. Mycerra stepped closer to Lenaye and placed her hands in her pockets. "And so we meet."
They squared off.
Lenaye mimicked the wide stance and aggressive energy. The resemblance between Lenaye and Aria translated in person. The mind meld did not do Lenaye service. The years may have softened Lenaye's figure, but Mycerra recognized the muscle beneath the softer curves. Someone like Lenaye never quit the profession. A true fighter stood in front of her.
The survivor in her respected that. The woman in her respected the strength of this person. The romantic partner of Amani Ysett wanted to bitch slap the mercenary back to Cyone. All of it combined created a false smile neither believed.
"He'd make the better partner." Lenaye whispered.
"Your daughter loves you very much. Don't throw it away." Mycerra warned. "Tia deserves to have her whole family available to her. Do not mistake my desire for the family to be whole as an invitation for you to be toxic towards me or an invitation to create a toxic environment to shut me out."
Lenaye just smiled.
"Mom, leave her alone." Amani called out.
"I'm trying to be nice, Little." Lenaye answered sweetly.
Mycerra snorted.
"Be nice, Cerra."
"Yes, Dear." She sang out sarcastically.
Lenaye closed the gap entirely, taller than Mycerra by inches.
Aria rounded the corner. She gave Lenaye an evil look. Lenaye stepped around Mycerra and joined her sister. "Ari, my sister, I would never put a finger on Amani's precious Tiamna."
Mycerra snorted again. "Could've fooled me." She muttered.
"Be nice!" Amani called out again with more sternness.
Mycerra trailed Aria and Lenaye deeper into the apartment. She called Brom to let him know they weren't making it that night.
"You can't cancel at the last second, Colton. I thought you were better than that- "
"Trust me, Brom, if I had a choice in the matter, I'd rather be losing money to you, Mannis, Hadrian and Hadar."
"Have you spoken to Hadar lately? The man's been off." Brom asked.
She watched the three asari eye her up. She walked toward the kitchen. "After I told him about Yusa trying to run off with Craid to Kar'shan I was told to stay out of it, so I stayed out of it. We trade small talk when I buy varren strips, but it's not an open friendship."
"Falling outs are brutal."
"Indeed, they are." She mourned with him. "Give my best to him though. He needs the hugs. Trying to be strong when it's okay to accept help."
"Don't ever tell a batarian that." Brom advised.
She breathed. "I must go tend to my future mother-in-law and Aria T'Loak. Pray for me."
She ended the call before Brom dug his own grave. She now stood waist high in her own grave, figuratively speaking, when she looked across the apartment at three irritated, powerful asari. Embracing death, she leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms.
"I'd suggest dinner but Hinder has a hit on your head." Aria announced to the group and zeroed her full attention on Mycerra. "I'd ask what you did this time, but I'm sure you'll tell me without force and manipulation."
"I'm breathing." Mycerra answered. "That's crime enough."
"If she keeps it up- "Amani threatened.
"No, no. My business, my mess, my responsibility. You take care of Tia; I'll take care of my own troubles." Mycerra gestured broadly. "Besides, I have a plan. Sort of."
Lenaye advanced toward Mycerra. Aria tried to grab her shoulder and arm and missed by inches. Amani weakly protested the aggressive maneuvering. Aria stood in front of Amani as a shield.
Mother and future daughter-in-law stood toe to toe. "I don't like you."
"Great news. I'm not a fan of you either right now." Mycerra whispered.
"You're putting my daughter in the way of danger."
"I don't like taking orders from bitchy asari and not being paid for it."
"Your payment is a guaranteed placement- "The asari seethed.
Mycerra flexed her hands, dispelling biotic energy. "I'm not working for Hinder. Especially when she doesn't drop a credit for the work she expects to be completed in her favor. You wouldn't do it, so why should I?"
Amani started to cry.
Lenaye stepped back and put up her hands. "The human has a plan. Let's hear it." She sneered.
Face burning, Mycerra crossed her arms. She needed the help. She needed the protection. Storming out wouldn't help her. Reapers be damned if they weren't building a case for why she should kidnap Amani and walk away now.
"You have a plan- "
"Ease up, Lenaye." Aria warned. "Now is not the time."
"But she has a plan, Aria." Lenaye argued. "I want to hear what it is."
"STOP IT!" Amani struggled to breathe. "Both of you promised to not interfere. And you promised to try and make it work, Cerra. All of you promised."
Mycerra uncrossed her arms. "Clearly Hinder has a hit on me, so I can't take a walk to give you space, Amani."
"And if she hurts you, I'll kill her." Amani vowed. "Now is not the time to sharpen your wit."
She put both hands in front of her.
"I'm serious, mother. Enough is enough. I'm choosing her. She loves me. She cares about me. I know everything I need to know about her, more than you ever learned about my father. Leave her alone."
Lenaye huffed.
"I'm tired of being on guard and wondering when Hinder is going to kill Bohai or Mycerra. If you don't put a leash on her, I'll find a way. And if I can't find a way, I'll help Mycerra or Bohai find a way." Amani threatened Aria. "Unless someone has anything nice to say, I want everyone but Mycerra to stay."
"Little- "
"Don't you dare, don't you dare." Amani turned an odd shade of blue. "I am done with you micromanaging my life. I'm not a child anymore, Mother."
Lenaye inhaled, ready for the argument. Mycerra watched Amani's expression harden. She crossed her arms again and waited for the smackdown both deserved.
"I am only looking out for your best interests. You should have chosen a turian. Even a bare faced turian is better than an untested human."
"Not nice to call a turian bare faced." Mycerra chipped in.
Amani glared at her and shook a finger.
Aria moved to sit on the couch.
"Do not sit down. You're part of this mess. You started it by promising Hinder the help of my partner. That's not right nor fair to her." Amani faced Aria.
The resemblance and no-fucks-given attitude spread person to person.
"From here on out, Cerra is off limits." Amani ordered Aria and Lenaye. "If Hinder has an issue with that, she can take it up with me. I know how to poison that woman a hundred different ways without her noticing. If she wants to recruit her crew for the cause, I have no qualms about killing them either. Are we clear?"
Her voice rang clear in the apartment.
A pin could be dropped and heard two apartments below.
Aria admitted defeat. "I'll have a word with her." She promised.
"Not one more word about turians or partners you'd prefer I pick. I picked Mycerra because she's a good person. Unlike any of us." Amani's breathing labored. She clutched her side. "And Mycerra, just…shut up. I don't want to have to kill you."
"For the record, I'm not as good as you think I am." Mycerra volunteered.
Amani made a strangling motion with both hands.
"Also, I'm hungry. No one's happy. We can all eat now, right?" She pushed.
Amani moved past her mother, pulled Mycerra into a heady kiss, and finally breathed. Mycerra snaked an arm around her.
"Fine, fine…I'm as perfect as you think I am." Mycerra whispered in her ear.
Aria cleared her throat. "I don't cook."
"I'm not cooking." Lenaye said.
"I'll cook." Amani said. "Mycerra, you're helping."
Mycerra glanced over at the sisters, then back to Amani. "But I burn things."
"I don't care." Amani snapped.
"Yes, Dear."
Amani handed out orders to Mycerra. Aria and Lenaye observed from the kitchen booth with invested interest. Occasionally, Mycerra made a joke about the lab coat and Amani retorted in kind about the pistol.
"Could we discuss anything except your kinks?" Lenaye asked politely.
"Better hide the cuffs." Amani said to Mycerra cheekily.
"And your boots." Mycerra shot back.
Lenaye rolled her eyes. "Children…"
"To think what our own mother said about us." Aria mumbled.
Mycerra stopped cubing vegetables and turned to the booth. "You had a mother? And here I thought you were raised by wolves."
Amani slapped her arm. "Be nice."
"My apologies." She lied.
Aria rose to the challenge. "Your mother managed to neglect manners and respect for one's elders."
Mycerra cleared her throat, color leaving her face. "We won't talk about my parents."
Aria leaned forward, attempted to appear harmless, and failed epically. "Trouble in your perfect life?" She pinched the emotional nerve with extra malice.
"Fuck you."
"Language." Amani corrected.
Aria leaned back and brushed her hands in satisfaction.
Tension lingered between Lenaye, Aria, and Mycerra like a mist. Over dinner, Lenaye announced she'd stay on Omega for two more weeks and wanted to learn more about Mycerra. Amani thrilled at the idea and listed activities they could partake in like mother to a child. Aria basked in Mycerra's obvious discomfort and added to the list Amani started.
At the end of the dinner, Amani committed Mycerra to drinks with Lenaye, the shooting range with Aria and Lenaye, and wanted Mycerra to introduce Lenaye to Nihlus Kryik. Mycerra refused to make the introduction and told all three her connections weren't for sale.
"You know what I meant." Amani argued. "Since we're all family now."
The dark look on Mycerra's face said otherwise.
"We are a family now." Amani stated to her mother and aunt primarily. "Since Nihlus is your brother-in-law I thought it would make getting to know each other less awkward."
Mycerra cleared her throat. "I remind you I have not physically met my sister since I was two years old."
"My mother will eventually visit us." Amani said confidently.
"Your mother will visit us on Earth?" Mycerra's skepticism tainted her otherwise attempted pleasantness. "I'll believe it when I see it."
"Regardless of what you believe, I will not abandon my daughter." Lenaye folded her hands and matched Mycerra's stubbornness. "It will be interesting to meet your mother and father."
Mycerra collected herself. "My genetic donors are dead. If they were alive, they only cared about one daughter. It wasn't me. Now that I've been called worthless, rude, and a mere decoration in Amani's life, I'm going to shower and then to bed. Tonight was thoroughly awful. I hope you're proud."
She walked to the bathroom, considering the front door instead. A locked door dulled the sleepy indignant rage. She tried to toss a singularity palm to palm, the surplus energy too static to hold a stable field.
"At least she didn't leave to stay at Bohai's." Amani said.
She recognized Aria's voice, slightly muffled by the closed door.
"You don't know her the way I do." Amani pleaded. "She's…an injured soul looking for someone to make her feel safe. She doesn't have a real family. Not like us. I hoped – I don't know why I tried. You and Mom never listened anyway."
"That's not true." Aria denied flatly.
"You didn't have to make her feel like an outsider. You didn't have to agree with Mom. She's here, for me. Who cares if she's not a turian. She's mine. She loves me for me."
"You need better standards, Amani."
Mycerra moved away from the door and turned on the shower. She cranked the heat to the max and stripped quickly. The hot water burned at the touch. Training her thoughts on the hot water instead of punching Aria and Lenaye, she found solace in pain. She turned down the heat when Amani unlocked the door and entered.
"You want to talk?" Amani asked.
"Not particularly." Mycerra turned off the water.
Amani tried to stand comfortably. Six months pregnant, Tia made pregnancy balance and comfort impossible. "Tonight was a disaster."
Choosing to not prod the sore nerves, she reached for the towel rack. Amani thrust a clean towel into her hand. She dried her face first.
"My mother promised to be respectful."
"I'm tired of being disrespected and dismissed. I'm not asking for praise, but the least they can do is respect my autonomy and existence." Mycerra said, physically exhausted after the turbulent evening. "The only reason I'm going along with the plans is because you want us to live together, as a family."
Amani frowned. "If you're uncomfortable- "
"It's fine." Mycerra lied unconvincingly. "I'll be the example."
"I want everyone to get along. Is that too much to ask?" Amani begged.
Mycerra wrapped the towel around her. "They made one thing clear, Amani. Love doesn't make a family. Commitment does. So, I'll go have drinks and the shooting range and maybe if Pacyra calls, make introductions. What I won't do is be someone's stepping stone." She moved past Amani, hair a tangled mess.
Amani bit back fresh tears.
"Just because I'm pissed at them doesn't mean I don't love you." Mycerra dragged herself to the bedroom.
Amani joined her several minutes later.
Mycerra faced away from her.
Amani rubbed her back. "Tiamna."
"Hm?"
"We're strong, yes?"
Mycerra dispelled biotic energy in harmless waves. "We're strong."
"Can you look me in the eye and say it?"
Mycerra half turned. "We're strong. Go to sleep, Amani. Tomorrow is a new day." She turned her back to Amani again.
Amani spooned with her, desperate to close the perceived gap separating them at the worst, most vulnerable moment.
A marauder leaned over her.
Its hard hand clasped her ankle and dragged her along the broken road. She cried out involuntarily, a pebble lodged into a gash along her back.
"Enough." Its distorted voice ordered.
In the distance, she spotted a transport.
Biotic energy welled in her hands. Powering through the pain, she lashed out with a biotic wave of force strong enough to force the marauder to stumble. Red veins of blood suspended in the air around it's body.
An invisible hand pressed to her chest.
The dream faded. Amani hovered, her hand against Mycerra's breast. "You weren't breathing." She whispered.
Mycerra curled her hand around Amani's. "I think the nightmares are taking a life of their own these days. Creating their own stories to torment me."
"What did you dream of this time?"
"This is why you shouldn't listen to the news." Mycerra joked. Amani curled up next to her. "I'll try to make it work, Amani, but it's not going to be easy." She promised her partner.
Amani prayed to the Goddess Athame for peace and a path to a united family.
Two days passed before Lenaye suggested drinks at Afterlife. Mycerra dressed to the teeth in armor and weapons. This time the armor served a different purpose. She hoped it gave Lenaye pause before becoming a cruel bitch again.
She sat across from the batarian bartender infamous for hating anyone not asari and batarian.
"Get lost." The batarian ordered.
She shook her head. "Tend to your other customers."
He tried look more imposing.
She placed Hammy, her shotgun, on the bar top. "Tend to your other customers." She ordered coolly.
He glared at the turians flagging him down for drinks. Something clicked in his four eyed head, and he left her alone. She pulled out a small knife and picked at her nails.
"You look like you need a drink." A krogan addressed her.
She looked up at the Blood Pack member. She debated starting a bar brawl to escape drinks with Lenaye. She valued her pretty face too much. Sadly, a bar brawl would not save her from Lenaye.
"Want Ryncol?" He offered his half-finished bottle.
She eyed up the dark bottle and the scarred hand offering it. "Thank you. But no. I'd much rather catch my mother-in-law on fire with it."
He laughed and sat next to her.
"Is there something you needed?" She asked particularly.
He chugged the Ryncol and tossed the bottle at a bartender, missed, and cheered as the bottle hit someone on the other side of the bar. She lost herself in the fight the bottle caused. "You look like Tuchanka on a bad day, Colton."
Her hairs raised on her arm.
"I've looked worse." She answered carefully.
"Want to shoot someone?" He offered freely.
She never lifted her hands off the shotgun. "Tempted, but it won't help much."
He cracked his knuckles. "That other human. The male. Adult."
"Mathers?" She guessed.
"I always forget his name. Slippery bastard. Said you know people."
Her brow rose. "Who do you want to talk to?"
"You know Urdnot Wrex?"
She shook her head.
"Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian are friends. Unbelievable, but true."
She pulled the shotgun closer.
"Urdnots on Omega want to return and fight for breeding rights." The krogan explained with more diplomacy than Lenaye and Aria combined. "Rumor has your channels are wide open."
She breathed. "I'll see what I can do. If you could send me a list of names, that would speed the process." She hated politics, and for whatever cursed reason, she knew too many people who knew how to use her. She maglocked Hammy to the small of her back again.
A hand landed on her shoulder. The armor absorbed the bulk of the strong pat. "I like it when someone cooperates."
She did too.
He flagged down the bartender and ordered another Ryncol.
She tapped his arm. "Your info?"
He provided her the address and received an email ping moments after.
"I need the names first." She asked firmly.
"I'll have the list for you later, Colton." The krogan dismissed her.
She turned into Lenaye and started. Her hand instinctively reached behind her back to touch the shotgun. "You work with krogans now?" Lenaye asked surprised.
"Business is business." She answered.
Lenaye dressed casual; no weapons, no armor. Mycerra hated that she felt naked without a pistol. She loathed Lenaye for being comfortable enough to walk around unarmed.
"What's with the armor? You expecting a fight?" Lenaye mocked.
"Can we say we did and just not have drinks together?" Mycerra asked kindly.
If Amani pushed her away because she didn't try to make it work, she'd never forgive herself. In the same breath, they owed her basic decency.
"I promised Amani to learn more about you. This is neutral ground." Lenaye shook her head. "If you don't want to reciprocate, I can tell Amani we're willing to keep our distance from one another."
The veiled threat hung over Mycerra's head like a guillotine.
"If we're going to talk, we're not doing it at Afterlife." She left no room for argument. "My life was hard, Lenaye. You loved your daughter. My mother threw me away before I was even born. It'd have been better if she aborted me. At least then I wouldn't have to ask myself why biotics in anyone except asari is acceptable. I love Amani. I want a full, long life with her. And I don't want to be at war with you. I just want to be respected. No one is respecting me and I'm not going to let that continue. I refuse to. So, when you're ready to talk, seriously talk, we'll talk. But I'm not playing games. Unlike you, I mind meld with your daughter almost every day of the week. The truth will come out, one way or another. So don't threaten me, because I will bury you."
"Are you threatening me?" Lenaye whispered, all predator.
"No. I'm telling you how it's going to be." Her teeth grinded. "I'm adopting Aria's rules. She's your Little, but she's my lover. And my friend. I'm not losing her, and I won't make her choose. But ask yourself – after all the micromanaging you've done to her life, who is she going to choose? Her mother, who wants to control her or the lover who wants her to be free and happy?"
Lenaye glared at Mycerra, the realization sinking in.
"I won't abandon my daughter like my parents abandoned me. Don't think for a single second I'm walking away from my daughter. The only way I'm leaving Tia's life is if I'm dead, and if I'm dead, the first finger pointed will be at you, then Aria. I'm tired of being the good girl, Lenaye. I'm tired of your bullshit. I'm tired of Aria's. I'm not afraid to take Amani off Omega and hide her from both of you. So don't fuck with me."
"She's my Little." Lenaye seethed.
A loud bang ripped both of their attention to the second floor. A krogan tumbled over the railing onto the first floor. The dancer scrambled out of the way in time to avoid being crushed. The spectating drell tripped over his feet escaping.
More gunfire punctured the background music.
Lenaye backed away from Mycerra.
Mycerra summoned a biotic bubble pre-emptively. She expected Lenaye to expose a pistol and shoot her dead on the spot. She wanted Lenaye to try, then Amani would double down on her side instead of Lenaye's.
Patrons swarmed toward the exits. People trying to enter stopped the fleeing individuals rapidly accumulating into a mob pushing to escape. The bouncers dismissed everyone in line and tried to clear room for the fleeing individuals. Even the vorcha wisely moved out of the way to create space.
Lenaye went left. Mycerra went right.
She dove behind the bar and maintained her shield. Gunfire cut short. Her translator worked overtime and spit out unintelligible conversation mishmashed together into an unholy conglomeration. She turned it off to starve off the migraine. The mindless music, mix of alien languages, and bodies created a strange symphony possible only on Omega.
It bespelled her.
The true bar brawl broke out. Drunks wailed on each other for sport, others settling old grudges under the guise of the brawl, and yet others in the thrill of the violence. She peaked over the bar top to spy second floor's mess spilling onto the first floor.
Spying the bouncers wading into the mess, curiosity chased away common sense. She leaned on the bar, bubble shield maintained, and observed like a perverse spectator. People tried to flee without entering crossfire of fists, bodies, bullets, and drinks. Most managed to escape it unharmed. A few unlucky earned a concussion from bottles flying through the air.
Deciding she wanted better seats to the entire chaotic battlefield; she claimed a dancer's empty table and maintained her bubble shield. People she recognized weaved in and out of vision. Time became irrelevant to her. She reveled in the violence before her, her own anger and disappointment resonating with the mad house known as Afterlife.
Mycerra dropped the bubble shield long enough to cast a singularity between Roker and two vorcha. She shook a finger at the vorcha before throwing up the bubble shield again. Placing her chin in her hands, she propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward in total detachment from it all.
"And a one, and a two, and a three. A one, two, three." She sarcastically conducted to the violence before her.
Two turians crashed into a heap of fists and insults.
The chaos around her fit her miserable mood.
Aria and Lenaye watched it from the second floor. Several biotics surrounded the sisters and created an effective biotic shield.
"What is she doing?" Lenaye asked Aria in supreme confusion. "What's the point of staying in the middle of it?"
"To prove a point." Aria raised her glass to the sarcastic half wave from Mycerra. "Amani talking to you?"
"She's disappointed I'm not supportive of her bad decision."
"Regardless of what you might believe, we're on the losing end." Aria shook her head and sipped her drink. A thrown drink splattered and dripped down one of the biotic barriers. "Best we give in and accept that mess down there as one of ours."
"Over my dead body." Lenaye said.
"You don't need to be dead to be ignored." Aria warned. "Your Little is little no more. She's in love with that human down there and nothing will keep them apart."
"I'll find a way."
"Let it go, Lenaye." Aria warned. "Before you lose her."
"I'll find a way." Lenaye vowed.
From her perch in the center of it all, Mycerra noted their conversation. She needed to learn how to lip read. For now, she knew they saw her, had a conversation, and now Lenaye wanted her dead, if looks were anything to go by.
She tossed another singularity to stop a turian and krogan from ganging up on Roker. He threw the dirty bar rag at the krogan and marched toward Mycerra. She dropped the bubble long enough for him to take a seat next to the table and expanded the biotic bubble shield.
"First bar fight?" She asked casually.
The batarian bartender reappeared and hurled a drink at her.
"Probably poisoned." She said to Roker.
He mumbled under his breath and dabbed at a cut on his arm. "Hates anyone that's not asari or batarian."
"Yes, but does he try to poison everyone?" She asked seriously.
Dark blue blood dabbed along his forearm. "Just humans."
"But why?" She complained. "What makes us so special?"
Roker shrugged. "How long you holding that up?" He gestured to the bubble shield.
"As long as I want." She answered. "I survived the reapers. This is child's play."
"And what was that like?" He asked.
The krogan and turian who wanted to destroy him in hand-to-hand combat now turned on each other. She smiled as the krogan turned to make coincidental eye contact.
"You ever stand in the middle of a fully developed city one second. Have it obliterated in under an hour? Totally?"
"I live on Omega."
"No. This was worse. This was…like having your garden flattened by intruders after the flowers finally bloomed. All that hard work, gone." She swept her hand across the air. The krogan rolled away from the bubble and onto the floor. The turian landed fist after fist on the krogan's head. "Starting to look personal, yeah?" She gestured to the two combatants in front of them.
Roker leaned forward for a better view and agreed. "Rivals, I believe."
"Nothing like a bit of blood sport in a bar fight." Mycerra remarked dryly.
"Reminds of a group of red sand users going at near the docks. A bloodless affair until one pulled a long knife." He measured out a foot long blade with his hands. "Most of the people were pitched off the docks up to that point."
She choked on dark amusement.
"This'll last an hour unless Aria intervenes." Roker warned her.
"I'm feeling a bit parched. Do you know if the water is safe to drink?" She asked and jerked her head toward the bar.
He caught her intention and smirked. "I'll make myself a drink while you pour yourself water."
"Hand on my shoulder. We move slowly but we'll get there." She instructed calmly.
He rested a bloodied hand on her shoulder. "Lead the way."
She liked the sound of someone believing in her. She preferred not having to risk her life for simple approval too. A shame, most of the that approval stemmed from turians.