Part I:

RAKKA

continued

Ylyssus hobble-walks out of the door after it irises open, looking to his left at Miranda Lawson in her plain dressed-down uniform of gray. "You can stop the act," she crosses her limbs under her chest and leans a little backwards from him, "…I think that lunge across the navigation deck threw off the element of secrecy." Ylyssus sets his hands on his waist, his head low to avoid scuffing his crests on the ceiling of the passage. He huffs and chuckles, looking down the opposite end, away from Miranda as he becomes thoughtful. Miranda glances down at his pants and up, meeting his eyes, "…Yes, I changed your clothes. Don't thank me, it wasn't an experience I relished." She nods as he stares at her, indicating he move right and head down the tube. "We're in Mohouni as you said we should look here first, about a klick north…That's only a kilometer if you don't understand." They begin walking, Ylyssus first, Miranda following, behind her waist the e-stim gun for any surprises.

Ylyssus looks right and left at the next exit in the Ni S'pri—the bay area. He stares at all of the burrells looking hungover and unable to move from their spots on the floor. Even the di'leans look sickly.

"What did you do to everyone?" He turns and looks at Miranda's blue eyes and porcelain prettiness behind him.

"Grunt gave them something special…They'll live," she nods and assures him, her eyes wide. Ylyssus turns back to the sad-looking group.

Garrus comes over after handing the last burrell a bottle of water, having twisted off the cap for him…The burrell looks overly grateful as he raises the bottle shakily and nods at the turian's back. He speaks to Ylyssus, "…You ever drink Ryncol?" Ylyssus shakes his head. Garrus sets his hands on his back, the elbows pointing outward, "…Don't piss me off and you'll never find yourself surprised by your alcohol." Ylyssus nods slowly as Grunt sways over, his thick armored boots clumping on the grill in the floor.

"Lawson and me are goin' to take you for a walk to some city south of the ship," his blue eyes look from Ylyssus to Miranda behind him and left of his shoulder, "…You ready." He reaches over his hump and withdraws a heavy-looking rifle from his holder on the back of his armor, cradling it with a menacing, saurian grin of teeth.

Miranda makes a cough in her throat and turns away, rolling her eyes, "…I'll be back…Shouldn't take more than a few seconds."

Ylyssus is fascinated by Grunt's rifle and he leans over it, pointing his finger at it, "…Hey, be careful," Garrus warns him, seeing Grunt letting the drell inspect it, "…That gun will take your hand off, and if he aims it proper," Garrus draws his mandibles to his jaw, "…Your head."

Ylyssus looks round his shoulder for Miranda, hoping she'll come back soon.

Apparently Garrus and the others do not appreciate a foot-long poisoned blade being drawn on Thane, or any one of them for that matter.

Ylyssus descends the ramp between Miranda, in a thicker lining of gray uniform that looks more cushioned for whatever reason to him, and Grunt. The air is clear and it is daylight, a warm golden cast to their faces from the suns rising from the horizon. The sound of dirt crunching underfoot, small slips of dry grass scratching at their boots can be heard as they make the rakha. Ylyssus slits his eyes to protect himself from the brightness, having been inside the ship's darker interior. He looks about quickly and turns towards Miranda on his right. She looks up at him. "You should let the di'leans out to graze here, they'll be much happier on solid ground than inside that vessel," he points two fingers up into the hold and turns from her to look about again. Miranda raises her arm and speaks into her omni-tool, passing the idea on to Garrus, Kasumi and Thane on board. Grunt curls his lips up and pulls in the scent of the air.

Ylyssus turns to look at him, "…What's wrong with him."

Miranda looks at the krogan, and back to Ylyssus, "…That's his smile."

"You like it here so far?" Ylyssus asks the krogan, still holding his rifle in his claws, and Grunt focuses on him.

"Anywhere is better than home," Grunt snarls, "…Especially if it's dry and growing things…You have any thresher maws?"

"What is that," Ylyssus twists his hand in a clueless motion.

"If you have to ask then you don't have any."

Miranda turns her gaze from Grunt to Ylyssus, "…Think of thirty meter long carnivorous worms with bad tempers and acid for saliva."

Ylyssus swings his gaze back to Grunt, "…We have berens, but they're rather docile unless you're a rachni."

"Doesn't sound fun to kill," Grunt grumbles and looks back to the sunrise. "Rachni are fun to kill though."

"We should get moving," Miranda says, "…You know where we are, Ylyssus?" He nods and she raises her arm, gesturing that he should start leading…Ylyssus turns and begins a light stride through the clearing as the first of the di'leans struggle to make their way down the ramp and out of the ship. Garrus stands at the top of the ramp, watching the animals escape their confines, and raises his head to also see the trio starting their way south.

Ylyssus leads the way through a sparsely-treed forest, the sound of trees creaking in the golden woodland giving an eerie feel to the place. The wind passing through the trees is fresh and rakhan, and Miranda's hair is swept to the side and away from her face. She looks up at the canopy and can see blue sky. It's nice to be on a real planet once in a while…She looks over at Grunt to check on the krogan and sees him more relaxed and almost introspective with his large, aggressive countenance.

"Trees," Grunt suddenly says, turning his head and seeing Miranda on the right of Ylyssus, "…These trees look old."

Ylyssus turns to see the krogan admiring the woods, "…You think these trees are old, they're young compared to the hidelahs…Those are jungles to admire…" He gazes forward thoughtfully, "…Braith's life changed when she visited her first on a hunting expedition."

"Why, what happened?" Miranda asks.

Ylyssus is quiet a moment, "…She met her kylah, Cemal…The runners who survived the attack," the others focus on him as he tells of this fact, "…said he knelt to her and called her Mistress Supreme…She would choose the time…"

"Time," Miranda repeats, "…Choose what time."

Ylyssus shakes his head in reflection, "…I don't know…Cemal did…Maybe he was referring to when she left to the mines…She chose that," he says no more and lowers his gaze and face to look at the woodland floor as they continue to trek on.

On a rock Ylyssus sits to rest and consider the city at the bottom of the hill. Miranda hands him a water pill, "…Swallow it," she instructs him, "…It will replenish your water stores and sodium-potassium, some other important chemicals your body needs." She holds the pill in her glove, Ylyssus looking at it before he looks up at her face surrounded by her hair. He turns his face away from it in a polite dismissal. The sound of a gun charging behind his turned crests causes him to wince his eyes and sigh out quietly…He turns back to Miranda and takes the pill from her hand.

"Only swallow it," he says as she puts her handheld weapon away. "You always this forceful with threat," he asks her while she pops a pill in her mouth and swallows, simultaneously sending relays back to the Ni S'pri with her omni-tool. She looks about distractedly as she answers.

"I'm here to make sure you're kept healthy, Ylyssus, I don't need you behaving like a stubborn child who won't take care of himself." She settles her alert gaze on him.

"Fact is I don't altogether trust you," Ylyssus continues to look up at her, "…I think you're ready to hurt me."

"We both are," Grunt says out the side of his jaw as he trumps by them. Miranda watches the krogan take a look downhill before she focuses on Ylyssus.

"You hide the fact you're healthy and can move without a limp, a knife as long as my arm in your old clothes, and you threatened Thane."

"He hit my sered," Ylyssus replies, "…I would have killed him if he intended more, but I was also interested in hearing him out with Tetonbaum…I don't kill unless there is immediate need…A dead body provides very little information compared to one alive."

Miranda's eyebrows sink over her nose, "…You were a th'ane once…You know how to interrogate people?"

"I could do it without showing them my knife," he looks at her weapons on her lower half.

"Why did you become…what you are now," she shakes her hand towards him, "…Some kind of assistant to Casnar." Ylyssus lowers his gaze to the city below and draws up his knees in his arms.

"I've only told one other why," he says, gazing down upon Mohouni, "…That's the one person who had the right to know."

Miranda watches him a bit longer, then directs her interest towards the city, "…That's where we're heading?" She sees Ylyssus nod.

After a few more minutes of reflective silence, Ylyssus stands from his rock and proceeds to walk down the hill. A spectacular view of Mohouni and its southern lands stretches away from them under blue sky.

As Ylyssus navigates the way down the rocky hillside, he constantly looks up at the city, never once thinking in his years as a Serepta under Aspah's dominion over him that he would return to Mohouni a freed drell, now choosing the master whom he wished to serve.

The city streets have few if any inhabitants…Casnar's attack was thorough. Much of what is left still stands, but with furtive eyes looking out at the guests to the city from windows and dark doorways. Ylyssus and Miranda and Grunt come down through the open northern gates, following along the main road towards the cottus.

Ylyssus casts his uncertain gaze everywhere, …This is not the Mohouni I remember…The doorways are empty but for a few drells and drellahnas who come out to look at them passing through their section of the city.

Ylyssus casts down his eyes from the stares, almost uncomfortable in a place he knew well and made into his work and pride. There were at least song and dance at night, he recalls of the dinners with other Sereptas and contests within the old slave building.

Miranda looks about with her eyes as Grunt walks abreast of her, both winging from Ylyssus's shoulder points. The sound of their boots crushing dried dirt as they walk the lane downhill towards more stacked and colorful buildings.

Ylyssus looks up at the cottus, its windows open and curtains blowing wantingly out these…He slows and then curves away down a side street, hurrying from the sight of the sponsor cottus in which Casnar butchered Aspah Bentara and his barra spilled blood.

Miranda and Grunt keep up with him silently.

Down the lane, looking left, Ylyssus ignores the few remaining residents who have stopped in their tracks to observe him and his alien companions…He turns down another lane and makes quicker for a cotti in the distance, "…It's up ahead," Ylyssus says as he looks over his shoulder at the others, making eye contact with Miranda and Grunt.

"This place smells bad," Grunt rumbles, "…Didn't Casnar say this was his?" He looks at Miranda, who looks to Ylyssus.

"The barra has been withdrawn from here for some reason," Ylyssus says softly for them to hear and continues to look around, "…Casnar left it occupied…Can't be Morthwyls having run them off…There are people still living here…but no host sponsor," his voice whispers this as he gazes ahead to the cotti nearing on their left. He slows to a stop, head turned to look at the old two-story home in which Braith lived when she was not on the hunt with her Behedins.

His face changes some with a light of hope when he sees smoke issuing from the chimney shaft, and the smell of food cooking brings him to a harsh reality…Braith did not like to eat in the cotti…She only ever ate with him and the other Sereptas in the slave building, or with her Behedins when they were summoned to dine in Aspah's meal halls. His lips press together as his face shows tension.

Miranda steps up closer and looks at him, "…That it? Looks like someone's home."

"Cooking something," Grunt's small nostrils open wider.

Ylyssus agrees with a nod, "…I'll go in first," he tells them, not looking at either, his eyes set on the glow in the window of the second floor. "It could be the two of them or one, maybe neither," he elaborates no further and starts towards the cotti, his stride certain.

Ylyssus reaches the door inside the archway of the entrance, looks longingly at the boards…He is seen by Miranda and Grunt to reach out and touch the door with first one hand and then the other.

Miranda glances around the street, then focuses once more on the drell who looks to be having a moment.

Ylyssus stares at the ground in the entryway, his eyes wide and wet. Being here, full of memories…It hits him hard…Little Behe, Braith…He had experienced the closest he would ever have to knowing what it was like to be part of a real family…Not brotherhood, not slaves…A daughter and a mother who he would have married if things hadn't been what they were.

Miranda and Grunt see him hold onto the pylons under the shelter over the entry, "…Come on, Ylyssus," Miranda says underbreath, "…Get it over with."

Ylyssus blinks to clear his eyes and looks up at the mouldings in the top of the entrance, then lets go of the arch supports and grips his fists loosely…He raises his hand and, with one hesitation, strikes the wood three times.

Dolatrafas looks up from the hearth on which his breakfast cooks, some strips of meat and vegetables of a dark green texture…The knocks from downstairs issue again, drawing his suspicious nature.

Standing off the floor, he heads to the window, and looks down to the front of the cotti.

He sees the crests first, and then the strange tight gray uniform of the drell, and raises his head to call down, ( "…Who are you, and what do you want?" )

Ylyssus looks up from the front arches and gives Dolatrafas a fright.

The Behedin backs up a step, then narrows his eyes. He is out of his Behedin armor, leisure silks on his large, muscular figure.

Ylyssus stares upwards at the drell in the window, …My, he's grown over time.

( "Go away," ) Dolatrafas scowls down at him, ( "…You have no mistress to visit here. She is gone from us. This is no longer her home." )

Ylyssus plants his boots into the dirt and hardens his stare upwards.

( "Cretinous defiler," ) there was no reason to hold back now, Aspah was dead and this Behedin had no longer the papir'aia's protection, ( "…come down here so I may have my companions ask you questions…We need to know where Behe is—" )

Miranda and Grunt have been listening to the shouted Rakhïken passed back and forth between the drell in the window and Ylyssus out on the dirt of the lane, and Miranda gasps as they see the drell in the window bend to pick up something and throw it at Ylyssus's head.

Ylyssus ducks as the piece of pottery comes down passed his crests…He straightens and curses at Dolatrafas.

( "I come up there," ) he warns the Behedin, ( "…I will throw you out of that window next," ) he points two digits at the Behedin's sneer.

( "She is gone!" ) Dolatrafas calls down to Ylyssus, ( "…Your mistress is gone, dead! Away with you!" )

( "She lives," ) Ylyssus shouts back.

Dolatrafas shows some hesitation before he replies, ( "…You are mad! Go back to wherever you came from! Leave here—This is not your home! It is mine!" )

( "I bet you know," ) Ylyssus hisses out, pointing and thrusting his trembling hand at the drell, ( "…You know where she's to be found, Dolatrafas, you conniving wyrrtun!…Where's your father!—" ) Dolatrafas hurls another piece of pottery at him, Ylyssus ducking and avoiding it again, ( "…Where are—Why are you not with the Behedin, you bastard—" )

( "Be off with you! She's not there nor here!—Your mistress—is dead!" )

( "Liar," ) Ylyssus glances down the lane at Grunt and Miranda, then charges the doorway.

Lost of his patience with the drell up above, Ylyssus kicks down the door with several punishing thrusts of his heel, and a final rush with his shoulder—

The door splinters open, so weathered with years.

Dolatrafas curses down from the window at the damage to his family heirloom.

Lunging through the lower floor, Ylyssus passes through the old mezzanine, and makes for the staircase at the end.

Dolatrafas can hear the drell's passage through the cotti, and he is taken with shock…The former lover of Behe did swear he would kill him at one point, and Dolatrafas is alone, his father out on the hunt with the rest.

His countenance grim, Ylyssus rises to the top of the mezzanine, turning with the balcony wall for the room he last made love to Braith inside…His molars grinding in the back of his jaw as his eyes pluck out the drell in the boudicea. Dolatrafas is no easy Drell to threaten nor send into a quaver, and even Braith permitted him to overtake her on the shore of the river Kir when he raped her once…

But Ylyssus is taller, more nourished since his time in Nualavera and the durril he has been fed with his meals has added a fresh vigor to his body…Dolatrafas does see that the drell has thickened since his time with the youngest surviving hiriwa of the Sousan-Soterios house-clan.

( "You will come out of this house now—" ) Ylyssus runs into the room, passing the frame by which he picked up his lover and kissed her just shy of moonlight one night, when she asked him to share his heat with her.

Dolatrafas backpedals, and throws up his hands defensively, ( "…She's dead to us!" ) Ylyssus latches onto the fabric of his tunic and pulls him towards the window, ( "…She's not coming back!" )

( "Liar!…" ) Ylyssus snarls, jerking the drell closer to the window, his hands knuckle-tight with the soft silks, ( "…I'll bet you know where she is," ) he hisses into Dolatrafas's face, wild anger in his eyes, ( "…Where is your father." )

Dolatrafas grips his wrists, ( "…Not here! He is in Rakka—" )

( "Where in Rakka!" ) The silk twists as Ylyssus lifts him off his slippers.

Miranda runs forward with Grunt, witnessing the violent confrontation in the window, "…He's going to throw him—"

"You think," growls Grunt.

Dolatrafas throws his arm over Ylyssus's hands, ( "…Morunguhl'a!" )

( "How are they able to hunt in Rakka with Morthwyl chasing every Drell out of the land!" )

The Behedin kicks his feet, struggling with the grip on his fine silks, ( "…They are protected! She lets them enter—" )

( "She! As in Behe!" )

Dolatrafas cries out, ( "…Yes!" )

( "You lied to me! Why—Why lie to me!" )

Dolatrafas gives him a sneer, ( "…Because she chose you—You pathetic Serepta—Over me, and I—" ) Ylyssus yells at the top of his lungs and throws Dolatrafas through the window…He grabs onto the ledge, panting and gasping from the strain of his anger and heartache, his back heaving with each hard suck of air, in and out, as he looks downward.

Dolatrafas is suspended in the air, his body held up thanks to the countering force of Miranda's biotic power…She stares at Ylyssus through her blue glow, arm outstretched to the Behedin. Grunt bends his elbow and rests his rifle over his shoulder, grinning at Ylyssus leaning back into the room from the window and resting against the wall.

"Now that looked fun."

Miranda twists her head to look at him behind her, lowering Dolatrafas to the lane.

Up in the boudicea, Ylyssus sits on the floor, holding himself and staring at the wall below the window ledge…He hears the footsteps coming up as outside Grunt's voice from the lane instructs the drell, Dolatrafas, not to run off.

Miranda enters the room and turns, looking down at him as he tries to look up at her face, fails and drops his teary gaze to the whitewash again. She crouches down to him, "…Ylyssus, we need to leave now…We'll take him with us," she pauses to let this sink into the despondent drell, "…Will you leave him alone so we can use him to help us." It was not the asking but a command.

Miranda pulls her lower lip under her upper teeth as she watches him. Ylyssus finally lifts his gaze and stands from the corner, moving across the floor with Miranda turning and rising to see him move the food from the fire, as it has started to burn.

She sees him set everything aside, knowing where to place the objects—plate, pot, food, boards for the hot items…He stands by the fire, his hands at his sides.

"I need to set this out," he says without turning, "…Go, please."

It is not in his power to turn her from his back, but Miranda sees the drell needs to make peace with something, and so steps out to give him that time alone.

Ylyssus picks up a carafe full of water and pours it into the hissing flames and over the embers stoked by Dolatrafas.