Part I:

RAKKA

continued

Braith gazes serenely back at Thane. Her mouth an inexpressive line. Siha, he thinks with an intense chill in his blood…Gazing back at him is a woman he knows, loves, and he is there to kill.

Casnar restrains himself, body responding to her presence—the face, the wild tussle of black hair from being trapped under the hood, the eyes, the perfume of her scent stabbing at him and making him forget the fact of having slept with Miranda only that very same day.

Ylyssus blinks, is the first to utter anything, "…You have been here," he falters, "…with…the Behedins?" Confusion muddles him, "…This whole time I have been traveling on foot?…"

Bromthas smiles, ( "…No scent yet for you, Ylyssus, but then again had you a sense of smell, you would have never known—had she been riding beside you, what with how we have hidden her," ) Bromthas looks to Braith seated next to him, ( "…I am finished trying to translate in Common for that fellow," ) he gestures to Thane whom Braith continues to stare directly at, ( "…I prefer our language…The other is too tiring." )

Her voice carries chills through Ylyssus's tenesses, ( "…Thank you, Bromthas," ) she turns her eyes from Thane to the Behedin, ( "…You may go with the others now." )

"Others," Casnar stands as Ylyssus and Thane do the same, ( "…What is going on here! Why are you here in Thorolf at the Kir instead of in Bangal'roux!" )

She looks expectantly to him, ( "…To collect you, my love." )

This has the effect of wilting Ylyssus's tebral folds to his neck…He has waited for the chance to see her, before Casnar, and now that chance is never going to happen.

As Casnar's eyes widen at her remark, Ylyssus looks to the trees in dejection…He sees movement among the dark trunks but has no care.

Braith stands with Bromthas, and the Behedin signs to her the Tierrea symbol then walks away, "…What the Hekelah was that!" Casnar snaps, "…You're Human—"

"Morthwyl hybrid," Thane corrects, "…She is not Braith—but an adaptation, Casnar."

Casnar's glare bounces back and forth from Thane to her, "…Damn this!" he shouts and stalks around the fire. Braith holds up her hand as he suddenly stops his progress, and remains in place.

Casnar hesitates only because she has willed it…A wall unseen prevents him from moving any closer to her. Her gaze moves to Ylyssus, ( "…You…I think I remember you," ) she moves around the fire, Bromthas and the remaining Behedin gone, and she flicks out a knife she handles by its blade, still making way over to Ylyssus, ( "…You took care of her," ) she stops next to him and traces the zip-up of his uniform to his tebris with the back-handle of the knife, ( "…How long have you been waiting…for this moment with her…" ) She leans and licks him on the lips…

Ylyssus only stares back at her, his tebris not rising in response to the "kiss" she has given him. He turns his eyes down, ( "…Are you really…Braith," ) he forces himself to ask, not wanting an answer.

Casnar wrenches against the stasis she has him in, watching from the corner of his eye, "…Ylyssus, don't—" His lips are sealed by the will of her thought and Casnar finds himself as silent as a stone.

"Braith," Thane tries another tactic, and the cold gray eyes move to his, "…Notice anything different about me?"

She smiles, a long pause as the fire crackles, Ylyssus's breathing harder—the knife presses into his tebris, blunt handle now in her glove as she keeps him still with the sharp point, "…I do not know you…You are different…"

Thane nods to Ylyssus and Casnar, "…Release them, and I'll tell you how you should know me…"

Casnar suddenly is freed and falls, catches himself and reels. Braith, or Braith's embodiment, is away from Ylyssus, walking towards Thane at the middle of an arc between the three of them around the fire…

Casnar snarls as his temper hits full blunt, "…Braith, whatever that is—"

"I need him to be quiet," Braith says, after having placed her power over Casnar again, silencing him, and now she looks to Thane and with a predatory tilt of her head, she smiles again, "…You have something powerful…Something that belongs to us…"

Thane pulls out the tearshaped fossil, the petal of the female morthwyl, from his bachir and offers it, another hand readying a knife in his grasp behind his back. He gazes fondly into the gray eyes, remembering the same face—but with more warmth coming out of it when she was his commander.

"A piece of your people returned, Siha…"

Braith takes it into her fingers, floating it from his tips to her glove, "…A sister…" Thane sees Ylyssus's eyes widen beyond her shoulder, "…And whom do I have the pleasure of expressing my gratitude with…" She moves closer to him, pressing sweetly against his chest with her black furs parting. Thane looks into the eyes of not his former commander, but a very different, very dangerous being.

She returns her focus onto the fossil with the stilled fetus inside to Thane's eyes…Braith never had seen his same irises now, as before he removed his tints, and the morthwyl programming that exists inside her head, and countless others, has no certainty who or what he represents to the host form.

It is in that moment Thane replies, and moves the knife from his waist's holder, "…I am Thane, son of Reule Krios, husband of Irikah Soterios-Sousan, father of Kolyat…Lover once to the real Braith Shepard…Siha," and her eyes widen...

Casnar is dropped again from the stasis and has witnessed Thane's own knife cut into the breast of the woman, "…No, Thane, no!…" He runs over and is flung away by Thane's biotic power, launched nearly into the woods.

Ylyssus is paralyzed with uncertainty.

Garrus and Grunt are on the other side of the river, shouting across the roar.

Braith shudders, her eyes glowing white, filling with blackness before a bright light shoots out of her mouth and leaps into the sky, blinding everyone…In the matter of seconds, it is over.

Braith collapses in Thane's arms as he withdraws out the dark knife, slick with her blood, and returns it behind him, "…Shepard…" She hears from a distance, "…It is me…We're here…Come back to us…"

Casnar screams and rushes Thane, hurtling himself into the drell.

Both tumble off the dying woman…

Ylyssus sees them hit the river, be carried off by the current.

He hesitates between Braith on the ground, and Thane and Casnar fighting, but sees Grunt and Garrus running after them on the other bank, with Byloniue, burrells, Tetonbaum likely among the dark group pursuing the pair. He turns back to Braith, stirring on the ground.

"Braith?" He moves to pick her up, and her bloody hand smears suddenly over his patak…Ylyssus winces, then opens his eyes lid by lid, "…Ah, Braith…"

This time when he looks into her eyes, he sees what gives him elation—the eyes of a woman who loves him, remembers, and is not what possessed her moments before…Braith spits up blood and smiles, her teeth stained red, "…What's wrong with you, you look too damn happy to see me, Ylyssus."

Ylyssus smiles from teness to teness, "…By Kala," he breathes out, shaking his crests, "…I am a believer…"

Braith spits up another bubble of blood, "…Why am I on the ground?"