A couple days earlier.
Knock knock. The commander enters my room. I love Shepard like a brother, but this is not the best time to barge in. I'm fine tuning the thanix cannon at a far range. This is the most difficult part and requires all my concentration which I was supposed to be getting today now that I have an opportunity.
"Hey G. Where's *********? I would like his help with something."
"He's gone. Mentioned he had an important errand and went to see Legion." I said.
"Really? What could he possibly have to do?"
"I don't know but it must be really important based on how he was acting. ********* did mention he would be working in the cargo bay when he gets back and to stay out." I hope he isn't doing something stupid or dangerous.
"Legion should probably explain what is going on. I should go. See ya G."
"Take care Commander."
Before I visit Legion, I make small talk with Doctor Chakwas and broach the subject. I asked her if she overheard anything but four inches of metal walls and her hard of hearing made it impossible for her do discern *********'s schemes. I'm going to have to talk with the geth unit. Despite how many times I killed geth I mean heratics, it still feels really strange to be conversing with it or they. ********* convinced Legion to allow us to address it as one entity to make it easier on us. I've been forcing myself to get to know Legion and the more I learn, the less of a threat he seems. Afterall, I have Grunt, Jack, *********, and whatever booby traps Zaheed set up. How big of a danger is a geth unit?
I knock on the door and EDI kindly slides it open for me. Legion is sitting crossed leg in a meditation position. His head downwards with his facelight barely lid. I don't think he is recharging.
"Legion?" I ask. He instantly shoots up and a blistering speed.
"Shepard Commander. We are pleased to see you" Legion's monotone voice disappeared. His manner of speaking went up and down but not what a normally conversation would be like. The geth's social skills need a lot of work. His body language is overexaggerating like a bad actor, although he feels welcoming, overly.
"Hi Legion. Are you in the middle of something?"
"This room."
"I mean was I interrupting you?"
"We are trying to sense tiny electromagnetic disturbances in the locations ********* advise we search. It is difficult."
"Right I get that. Did ********* come see you? Do you know where he is?"
"He came to us for information."
"What information?"
"Location of a forest on Rannoch away from inhabitants. There were many to choose from."
"Why?"
"He said he needed something there."
"Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Making string cordage by hand is so boring. No wonder the ancients made children do this. Besides their small fingers, this takes a while. I hope this will hold up. The cotton things I found in the woods are wild and not bred for fabric. I mean it's all cellulose and in the worst-case scenario, it falls apart and I replace it with actual cordage. I just wanted all the materials to be from Rannoch. I got a chunk of metal from the planet's core and snagged a dry stick the thickness of a finger from the forest floor. Better get out of here before a local shoots me.
While I'm out an about, I make a pitstop to the center of the galaxy. It's a chaotic environment of stars dying by violently being stretched like salt water taffy into the supermassive black hole. A single jet stream arises from an obsidian sphere. There's another on the opposite sides but I only need one. I'll place this little spacetime hole here on top for later and head back to the ship.
I teleport into the cargo bay of the Normandy. In the unlikely event Tali would look for me during her shift, some crates are intentionally misplaced, blocking visibility from the door. Time to get to work. Drill manifested Check. Oil and brush check. Saw and sandpaper check. Big lathe check. The stick I smuggled is inserted into the lathe and the bark slowly removed. For convenience I turn it into a rod shape. The plan is to make a series of curves like a uniform cloud. For each portion, I make two decorative lines on each side. A long thin strip of fine grid sandpaper smooths everything out. Look at all this sawdust. Wait, wood is more expensive here. I wonder what they would pay for this, but... I wonder if burning these chips smells different from earth wood. Nope it doesn't. I take the rod to the chop saw and make a series of cuts to break it down into individual portions. Next, I drill a large enough hold for cordage to easily pass through. Now I gently cover each bead in a protective oil and let it dry while working on the metal section.
The corner of my eye alerts me to the shiny masked wearing alien who walks out of my view, behind the stacked crates. I sprint to the other side, halting my surprise being ruined.
"No Tali don't I- oh it's you." I said to Tali's father.
"What are you doing here? You're never down here." he asked.
I replied "I only recently found out about this place. Why are you here?"
"I come down here to get away from the others for suit maintenance. It prevents reactions. What is that thing?" He points to the large shamrock green vintage style lathe.
"It's a tool that spins wood to make special shapes. I'm making Tali a present. Don't say anything." I order.
"Can't you just pull something out of the air?" he asked.
"I could but it wouldn't have the same meaning" I answered.
"Meaning?" he asked.
"Sure, I could manifest whatever I want, but that cheapens everything. Making something requires the time and tools to learn a skill and care to actually make a bracelet. Tali deserves the best. She deserves meaning."
"I see... it sounds like you two are… what do humans call it?" he asked.
"Serious?" I suggested.
"Ye-yes. Whatever is going on between you two, I am her father and if you do anything to hurt my little…" He said. I cross my arms and lean on the crates. Oh, I so want to hear this. Go on, say something. Let's see what he has in mind. Nothing saturates the air. Yeah that's right.
"I wouldn't dare to hurt Tali. I would disperse myself before I did anything to harm my sweetie." I said.
"Disperse?" he asked. I unfold one arm and convert it into energy. The light green appendage stretches outwards until it becomes increasingly erratic. This is far from the dangerous limits, and I could occupy a tremendously large region if I chose, this is just for teaching demonstration.
"There are safeguards in place, but if I chose to or was completely irresponsible with my energy, I wouldn't be able to maintain the strong bonds that make up me. Every part of me would separate into the basic components. No one knows exactly what happens to the you. Some people believe they become one with the omniverse and reach a new level of awareness, I think my consciousness, my soul is gone forever. Nothing being able to bring me back. Annihilation. Not awake, not asleep, complete nothingness" I explained.
"That can happen?" he asked.
"Yes but the chances are ridiculously close to zero so I have nothing to fear." I said.
"Huh. You must really love my girl if you would suggest doing something like that to yourself." he awkwardly said.
"I do. While I consider myself not having dated many people despite my age, Tali has blown all of my expectations out of the water. I never felt anything else like this before. If you have a problem with it, I don't care. Tali is the most important person to me and I will not ruin her happiness from anybody." I warned.
"I-I get the message. I do need to ask; this isn't a permanent bonding tradition in your species, is it?" He nervously asked.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa... whoa. I'm immortal. I like to take my time in these matters. Humans wear rings on our left hands. The fingie next to this little piggie. We are not at that stage. But if in the next five years I do decide to commit, how would I do that?" Five years I asked myself. I forget how the timelines change dating a material girl. I've seen cases where energy people date for centuries before deciding to stay together for infinity. That appeals to me.
"When quarians permanently bond, we give each other necklaces" He said. Shocked, my eyes widened then I gulped. Rael notices this and asks "what?"
"I uhhh I bought Tali a necklace on our first date. She doesn't think…"
"No. We know other races like to do that. The ones I'm describing look like these." Rael pulls out two necklaces from his pocket. Silver beaded chains adored with scrap metal carvings in various shapes. They look like people. The shine and the pill make it impossible to descern. My hand reaches out for one. Rael pulls his hand back. I can feel how important these are to him. My hand retracts. He returns them to this pocket and ensures the zipper is secure. Rael asks for a moment so he may work on his suit. I leave and focus on the metal part.
While I could make a forge and work the metal by hand, I don't think it's a good idea. I'm cheating and shaving the metal I took into a heart shape. On the left side is a barely noticeable little eye hook for the cordage to secure to and the right side is a large circle for the end piece cordage attached to a small rod to easily enter and secure around a quarian's wrist. My first thought was those little clip things where you use a fingernail to open and remove. It's more secure but with Tali's large fingers and gloved tips, I thought this option would be better. Now I place it in a nice black felt box. Rael leaves through the door. The beads are dry. My thick fingers make it hard to weave the cordage through the beads. A comically large sewing needle I thread makes the job way easier. I just need to push the sharp end through and pull it out the other side and move on to the next bead. I'm guesstimating since I don't have Tali's wrist measurement. I can always shorten it later. Finally, is the least fun part but with my work ethic, cleanup is so easy when you can erase everything.
Back in the present.
"Tali before you go. I have a surprise for you."
"You do?"
I hid the box inside an empty popcorn kernel tin. Tali's attempts to steal a look as I retrieve it. I ask her to sit on the bed. She does so. Her hands are pressed together and secured between her knees. I sit down next to her and hold the box for her. Tali takes it and slowly opens it, gasping.
"Oh ********* This is beautiful. Where did you get it?"
"I made it myself, by hand. No special tricks except for the metal heart."
"I love this. Quick! Put it on me." Tali eagerly holds her left hand out and I wrap my gift around her wrist.
"If this is too loose, I can shorten the string."
"No, it's perfect. I love this."
"What you are going to really love is everything is from Rannoch. I asked Legion where I should go to get what I needed, and he gave me the coordinates."
"WHAT!? This is from Rannoch?"
"Yes, and this is a little something extra." I press my finger onto the heart piece and a light comes from my wrist, down through my finger into the metal. A portion of my energy will be stored there. "Now wherever you go you'll have a piece of home and a piece of me."
Tali leaps forward and tightens her arms around my neck. She hugs me so hard a death penalty convict could make a case for cruel punishment. Tali softly sobs gleeful tears into my neck. I respond by caressing her back. Her knees shimmy forwards and in doing so force my spine to straighten up.
"Yo-you're my home." she said through her cries.
I have no words. This flurry storm of energy inside me leaves my brain unable to process it all. My body reacts for me and captures her in my arms and nuzzles into her shoulder. I'm never letting go of this spectacular woman.
