Alban Eiler - Druid festival of the Spring Equinox, means 'Light of the Earth' (Gaelic)

Alban Elfed - Druid festival of the Fall Equinox, means 'Light of the Water' (Gaelic)

Anam Cara - Soul Friend/Mate (Gaelic)

Beltane - Gaelic May Day festival; welcoming of Summer (Gaelic)

Janiris -Springtime fertility ritual, named for goddess Athame's guide Janiri. Marks the start of the Asari new year; frequently coincides with St Patrick's Day (Thessian; ME Wiki/CDN)

Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian/Source: CDN)

SILC - Synthetic Intelligence Life Codes (previously known as Geth)

Confessions of the Heart

Oasia, Ilos, Refuge – 20 Feb 2192

Shepard gradually overcame her self-imposed modesty and a soak in the hot tub after the morning workouts became a regular thing. Of course, it helped that she had shifted to keeping a swimsuit in her bag, so she wasn't butt-naked in the tub. But surprisingly – to her, at least – after a couple of weeks, she was wearing only the bottoms, leaving her well-developed chest completely bare. She realized Sal was surprised, but wisely said nothing and made a concerted effort to focus on Shepard's eyes whenever they were talking.

As Liara had promised a while back, she also made a few appearances, every few days making the early morning rounds with her Captain, to visit with the night-shift commandos as they came in for their 0600 meals at the end of their shift. And, since she was up early on those days anyway, she decided she may as well make the most of it and joined Shepard and Saleesha in their morning workouts… though, most definitely, exercising her biotics and staying far from the sword play.

Even so, Liara was a bit astonished the first time Samantha opted to get into the tub topless. Shepard felt her surprise and flashed her a grin. {What can I say? More Asari than I was a month ago? I've come to realize it really doesn't matter. Everyone here is so used to nakedness when they get in the water, it didn't even phase them. Though, I do believe I've received a few 'about damn time' head nods, instead of the 'why bother with a suit' eyerolls.}

That comment made Liara chuckle as she gave her siame an answering grin. {When we get home, the rest of the commandos will wonder if you're an imposter, though I can't imagine a body double of you, anywhere in the galaxy. Besides which, with your language skills, you would be nearly impossible to imitate without being found out.}

{Ha. Funny, T'Soni. Not to mention our link, which would be completely impossible to fake. Besides, I'm pretty confident they have already heard about it from the commandos here. Have you not noticed the increasing number of people who have opted to join us in the mornings? I'm sure it's because they've heard the tales and needed to see for themselves.}

{Maybe so, but I have to wonder which surprises them more? You naked, or me up before 0600.}

It was Shepard's turn to laugh, and she responded out loud, "You've got me there, Liara. You just might be right about that one." Everyone in the tub was so used to their 'private' discussions and their habit of finishing them out loud, they didn't even blink. Neither did they dare to inquire about the private part of the discussion by asking what Lady Liara was right about, knowing if it wasn't private, the conversation between their House leaders would have been audible.

It really wouldn't have mattered had they wanted to, because Oriana Lawson suddenly burst in the doorway of the spa area, disrupting all the conversations that were taking place by exclaiming, "It's the music! The language is in the music!"

Surprised, Liara looked up at the woman, panting from exertion. "Goddess, did you run all the way over here, Ori? And what do you mean, the language is in the music?"

"The Inusannon!" She looked at Shepard and added, "It's like the dolphins and great whales from home!" before turning back to Liara. "Sure, we can hear them sing… but much of their voice is out of our hearing range." She plopped down at the edge of the hot tub, grinning at both Shepard and Liara. "Let me start from the beginning. I was walking by the research center and found myself humming a counter-tune to what we all believed to be the melody of the music, and I felt like the timing was just… off… somehow. When I started listening more closely, I realized there was a subharmonic that was barely audible! That's their language… the subharmonic! The music is simply the carrier!"

Orianna shrugged and continued, "The Inusannon spoke and heard in an entirely different frequency range than us… well, almost…but there was enough of an overlap in our frequency range that my subconscious picked up little bits and pieces of it, causing me to hum the sub-harmony… and then, all of a sudden, it clicked, and I realized what I was hearing!"

Liara blasted out of the tub without a thought of Orianna seeing her naked, or being splashed by the water that came along with her. As she grabbed up her robe, she asked, "By the Goddess! And you relayed that to the SILC?"

"Absolutely!" Orianna nodded excitedly. "And they immediately confessed to being so focused on the patterns within the melody, they hadn't even begun to study the subharmonics yet… but they will be now! Studying the subharmonics, that is."

Liara slipped into her robe as she walked. "I need to get dressed and go speak with Vidan… this is incredibly exciting!" She suddenly stopped and turned. "Saleesha! Why are you still sitting in the tub? Let's go! You are the one who will be lead on this! I believe Ori may have just discovered the main topic for your upcoming thesis!"

Oasia Caverns, Ilos, Refuge – 16 Mar 2192

The next few weeks passed by them in a rush, in large part due to Sal's and Oriana's work with the Protheans and the SILC, regarding the Inusannon's musical language. Between that excitement and Liara, Shepard and Saleesha's new workout routine, they soon found themselves in the middle of March, very near to the time Liara would need to return to Thessia. As such, Liara, Rasha and Saleesha had just finished what Liara believed to be their last session on team management, with Liara's departure – being only two weeks away – looming on the near horizon.

Rasha, as always, had then taken her leave, knowing Liara always had some private words for Sal alone, as her lead doctoral student. Sal waited patiently while Liara finished putting her notes away, their final discussions always more personal and 'off the books,' as Shepard liked to say, than the joint session with Rasha. Sal knew Liara had already completed Rez' review, so hers was the only session remaining to be done before Doctor T'Soni could focus on their plans for the return to Thessia and the upcoming presentation.

"So," Liara began, once she had organized her thoughts. "Obviously, this is our last official session before I leave for Thessia on Wednesday. Serrice University's winter term officially ends next week, followed by the spring recess, then the first week of the spring term, which begins on the 26th. Then, my Ilos presentation with Samantha is scheduled for Thursday, April 12th. That said, any issues you, Rez or Rasha have, please know that I will be available full-time for questions, any time following that presentation. I will not pick up an actual class until the summer session, which begins in the middle of June, I believe on the 18th? With that… it will all depend on the schedule I receive, for both classes and office hours." She sighed at this point and admitted, "The latter of which I am most definitely not looking forward to."

"I don't blame you one bit, Liara… for being wary." Sal chuckled, "I'm sure you have to wonder what the ratio of students to fans or detractors may be. I will admit to not envying your position." Saleesha knew her time with Liara and Shepard was growing short, so was bold and reached across the work bench to lay her hand atop Liara's. "And you'll have Riana there, at the very least, along with Shepard and the Personal Guard not very far away, no doubt… all of whom I completely trust to keep you safe, for all of us. You know they are not the only ones who love you."

Liara paused for a moment, not necessarily because of what Sal had just said, but because of the expression on her face… and the tone of voice in which she said it. Shepard felt her own heart flutter in response to Liara's reaction, which poured through the link, unimpeded.

{Liara? You alright?}

{Hold that thought, Siame… and listen in, please. I'm not sure what's happening at the moment.}

"Sal… I…" Liara cleared her throat, but left her hand where it was, suddenly feeling very warm. "I sense a very… personal tone to your last statement. A tone which I am unsure you truly meant to convey?"

Saleesha felt her heart pounding hard in her chest, not realizing Liara would pick up on her tone… then realizing she was unwise to even think that. Liara had been an information broker for Goddess sake and surely was well schooled in innuendo and body language. "Goddess. Why do I suddenly feel as if all the bones in my body just turned into gel?" Saleesha closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tipped her head back for a moment. She finally blew it out and brought her head back up to squarely meet Liara's gaze.

"You are correct. I have been trying to keep that… something… from both you and Shepard, because… well, never mind why. I just know I can't do it anymore… not with your pending departure. The time has come to talk about it… privately. All three of us, I imagine. So, I would say, if it is okay with you and Shepard, we set a time to get together… possibly on the Aletheia?"

Liara's brow raised as she heard Saleesha's statement {Goddess… if she is saying what I think she's saying… What did we do wrong? Have we sent the wrong signals to her? What if she quits when we say no?}

{Stop, Liara. Don't jump to conclusions. If you're okay with it… I'm not so sure I would say no to such a thing anymore. I've grown accustomed to Asari behavior – including the sexual habits of our commandos, in particular – and it really doesn't bother me anymore, and… I honestly like Sal.}

Shepard's thoughts shocked Liara more than Sal's words and she almost shouted aloud but managed to contain her reaction. {What are you saying, Anam Cara? How did I not detect this major shift in your beliefs?}

{Because it's been extremely gradual… and I didn't really think about it until just now, when Sal said what she did. I mean… we need to at least talk about it… Don't we? Do you want to discuss it with her right now, so we at least know for sure what's on her mind?}

{Absolutely! I don't think this is something we can afford to put off… but not on my own. Meet us at the Aletheia?}

{Of course. I'll need maybe ten or fifteen minutes to get my gear stored and get to the parking apron. Need me to bring anything from the kitchen? I'll be going right by there…}

{No, we are almost completely packed for departure, so have everything we could possibly need on the ship. Just bring you… In the meantime, I'll fill Riana in and make sure we have the privacy aboard we will need for the coming conversation… and that Lus can stay with Michael a bit longer, seeing as she can't come to the ship right now anyway.}

{Roger that. I'll be on my way as soon as I can.}

As Liara returned her attention to Saleesha, she watched as a strange, almost wistful expression vanished from the Asari's face. Ignoring it for the moment, she simply said, "Shepard is getting ready… but needs some time to get all her gear stored. I also need time to speak with Riana, so we can make sure no one comes aboard during our private conversation; and I need to speak to Lus in order to let her know she'll need to watch Michael for a bit longer."

Saleesha released a long sigh. "Thank you, Liara… and even though I did not expect it to happen right now, sooner is better than later. Your remaining time on Ilos grows short. I truly do appreciate both the consideration and the willingness to hear me out at the spur of the moment."

"You're one of us, Sal… we'd do it for anyone on our team."

"Well… we'll see if you are still so willing to listen once I tell my tale."

Aletheia, Oasia, Ilos – 16 Mar 2192

Once they arrived at the ship, the night commandos left to grab dinner before beginning their shift. Riana let Liara know she would remain somewhere in the ship's perimeter, to ensure they remained undisturbed until told otherwise, and that she had contacted the day shift to either remain in the dining facility or find something else to do until they heard from her again.

After thanking her, then closing and securing the hatch, the threesome sat down at the table in the lounge. "I suppose, since I promised to tell my tale, I should begin." Saleesha looked at the two individuals sitting with her and sighed softly before beginning, "I have never been so happy as when I learned I had been accepted as a doctoral student by the famous Doctor T'Soni… child prodigy, dual doctorate, and war hero. I was awed when I read your biography… and felt extremely privileged. Then I met you… both of you… and realized that not only was I the luckiest person in the galaxy… but that I had also underestimated you both… grossly so. Heroes are generally made bigger than they truly are in real life, but I quickly realized, in this case, the reverse was true."

She paused and looked back and forth between the two. "Never have I met two kinder or more caring… and humble… people, while capable of so much. Yet, there you were, Liara, willing to take on not one, but two doctoral students. Most researchers in the field… and trust me on this, I've worked for a few now… pick up doctoral students so they can be used as free laborers. They honestly don't teach anything to those they see as their future competition. If you want to learn something from them, you do it by watching them as best you can while you complete whatever crap work you've been assigned. Your approach, however, has been refreshingly different and this experience has been better than anything either Rix or I ever anticipated."

"Thank you, Sal." Liara smiled softly. "I could never do that to anyone… even our crew on the Normandy was family… and the same could be said for those on the Knight Shade, after Shepard resigned from the Alliance to escape the conflicts of interest her dual position created. We have truly come to love all of you as family and would never ask any of you to do something we were not willing to do ourselves."

"No," Sal huffed. "Well, not like my family, anyway. Both of you treat me better than anyone in my family ever did, but that's something of a different story… and not one I care to dwell on."

Shepard's brow knit. "I'm truly sorry to hear that, Sal. My mother… well, she's always been kind, loving, and concerned for my wellbeing. My dad's death when I was a youngster likely had something to do with that, because all we had left was each other. Well, us and Karin Chakwas, my mother's best friend, who is like an aunt to me."

When Shepard left off, Liara immediately picked up the conversation with, "And I have already told you a few stories about how I felt so estranged from my mother… and that, until recently, I didn't even know who my father was. So, I think I can relate to how you felt about your family. I also think our family connections, or lack thereof, mold who we are and how we react to others. While it may be more pertinent to this discussion than you think… that is for you to decide. For now, let us focus on whatever your main purpose is today, and not get distracted by our histories. So, please… do continue."

"Thank you, both, for sharing those things…" Sal swallowed the lump in her throat and added, "… because that very thing… that openness… is a perfect demonstration of how you care for others and is what has put me in my current predicament."

Shepard truly wanted to ask, 'which is?' right at that moment, but refrained, knowing Sal would get to in in her own time. Her patience paid off faster than she could have imagined.

Sal drew a deep breath and continued. "Liara, before anything else, I want you to know how much I appreciate your teaching style… to demonstrate and simply step back, let me do, then learn from my own mistakes without you breathing down my neck and yelling at me for getting it wrong. The disappointment I saw on your face was penalty enough when I failed… but then, the happiness in your expressions when I tried again and succeeded… I started to work for that. I yearned to create that happiness every day we worked together… and it drove me to succeed."

She then looked at Shepard. "And you." She huffed out a little laugh. "You are the most well-rounded, capable fighting instructor… and the most determined sword student… I have ever met in my entire life. Your patience… your dedication… your willingness to repeat an exercise until you get it absolutely perfect is amazing to me."

She paused and raised her hands, palms up, to indicate the both of them as she continued. "More importantly, both of you honestly care about the success of others. You always put your teams first, regardless of what it costs you in personal time and effort. I don't want to count the number of times you have been late to dinner or some appointment because you simply needed to see someone get that last little thing correct on whatever skill you were teaching, or perfect whatever it was I was trying to demonstrate. Both of you are untiring because you honestly care. I am sure that is the one trait, out of the many you have, that made you survive the war and drove your ability to defeat the Reapers. You simply care too much to quit."

She actually grinned as she continued. "You make it impossible for me to say I can't do something. At first, you wouldn't let me quit until I got it right… then, you helped me find it within myself to not quit until I could show you that I could do it… whatever 'it' was." She paused for a long moment and closed her eyes as she whispered, "And these traits… the honesty, the kindness, the patience, the love you constantly demonstrate to those around you." She opened her eyes and glanced at both of them before staring down at the table. "They have all combined into something I can no longer deny. I dread Liara's new teaching job because it will pull both of you away from Ilos… and away from me."

Purposely misinterpreting Sal's words, in an attempt to give her an out, Liara spoke softly, "We won't be gone forever. You can still call us if something comes up and you need help… and we'll still be traveling back here for a week every quarter…" She paused, then added in a slightly louder, confident tone. "And you'll be fine running the job site, Sal. You'll be more than fine. You'll be a great site lead… and you'll have Rasha here to help you, so be sure to use her talents. I have complete faith in your ability to do this, or I wouldn't have offered you the job."

Sal glanced up, recognizing, yet not accepting Liara's offered 'out', and tears welled in her eyes. "Thank you, but you know it's not my confidence in my ability to do the job. It's you… and Shepard!" Her eyes darted between the two of them, as if she couldn't decide who to focus on. "Goddess! I was a skyball team captain, ready to go pro, yet I can't seem to manage to spit out my main point of this whole meeting!"

Shepard reached out and laid her hand on Sal's arm. "Just take a deep breath and tell us, Sal. Whatever it is we've done wrong, or not done correctly, one way or another we can figure it out… together… if you simply tell us what's going on."

"Goddess… it's not what you have or haven't done… either of you! This is all on me." Saleesha closed her eyes again, wondering if her world as she knew it was about to come to an end. "Regardless of where we are relative to our careers, we are all fairly close in age… and working so closely with the two of you on a daily basis has been beyond wonderful. To not have you both here will be torture for me because…" She paused again, reopening her eyes in tearful pleading for understanding as she whispered, "May the Goddess forgive me, but I love both of you… no, that's not it. The truth is I have fallen in love with you both! My greatest fear is that the two of you – so much in love with one another, just adopting your first child, and so far above me in station – will reject my love… and that is something that would simply break my heart."

Saleesha dipped her head and stared at the table as her tears began to fall; feeling like a prisoner accused of an irredeemable offense, she waited breathlessly for their judgment. Still staring at the table, she whispered, "And… for once in my life… I have absolutely no idea what to do next." Falling silent and reclosing her eyes, she wondered if her life as she knew it was about to come to an unhappy end.

Tears welled in Liara's eyes, and she reached over, gently placing her hand under Sal's chin in an effort to get her to look up at them, all to no avail; Sal refusing the gentle prod, stubbornly continuing to stare down at the table as she wept.

It was Shepard, clearing her throat in an attempt to get rid of the lump that had formed there, who slid her hand down Sal's arm until she got to her hand. Gently closing her fingers over the top, she finally managed to wiggle them underneath in order to clasp a trembling blue hand. "Hey. It's going to be okay, Sal… really."

Receiving little to no reaction, Shepard sighed. {I think I've got this, Liara… as crazy as that may sound… if you're okay with us giving this arrangement a try?}

{This is a significant change of heart for you, Siame… but, if you truly are willing to shift from monogamy, I do believe Sal will be good to us. She is a wonderful caring and devoted person. If you want to say yes, I am willing to try. You do realize this will be a first for me as well, yes?}

Shepard nodded in understanding and gave Saleesha's hand a gentle squeeze. "Sal… look at me."

Sal shook her head and whispered, "Just kill me quickly."

Shepard released a quiet combination of a huff and a sigh. "Sal, we're most certainly not going to kill you… nor do we care to break your heart. But, neither do we want to get your hopes up too high." With those words, she heard a sniffle and Sal's head popped up, the disbelief and surprise from the start of Shepard's reply obvious on her face. Shepard continued with only the slightest pause. "While this is all very new to me, to both of us, actually…" She drew a deep breath before finishing, "… we are both willing to give a relationship with you a try."

Saleesha would have leapt from her chair if not for Liara's hand having shifted from Sal's chin to her shoulder, along with Shepard's suddenly firm grip on her hand as she continued speaking. "But, Sal… you need to understand a couple of things. First, I have been a life-long, steadfast 'monogamist'… a word that isn't even in the Asari vocabulary and doesn't translate. It means I have never had more than a single partner at any one time… and I only ever had two other partners before I found Liara."

"As for me," Liara took up the explanation. "I did not have a typical Asari upbringing and have always been timid and shy. As a result, including through my doctoral years, I had never been with anyone… not until Samantha…" Liara shook her head, hardly believing they were even willing to consider this. Knowing Sal, however, and each caring for her in return, they owed it to themselves to figure out exactly how deep that caring went, and she said as much to the waiting Asari "… but we both love you as well, each in our own way, so neither of us can find it within our hearts to say 'no' to you. That said, neither can we guarantee the arrangement will work out… as we have some rather unique elements in our relationship… but we are certainly willing to give it our best effort."

With new tears streaming down her face to join the tracks left behind by those that had previously fallen, Sal finally rose, slowly and on trembling knees; following her lead, Shepard and Liara also stood. Turning first to Liara, as she was physically closer, Sal wrapped her in a firm embrace while whispering, "Thank you," in her ear, before turning and repeating the gesture with Shepard. "You have no idea what this means to me… and I promise to be a model of discretion. Not a peep regarding our arrangement will ever emerge from my lips without your approval, first… this I swear to you on my life. As for no guarantees, I ask you honestly… what relationship has ever had a guarantee? Certainly, none I have ever been a part of."

Liara nodded softly in agreement before adding, "You also need to know we have one major rule… there are no secrets in House T'Soni. So, we will make it known to those of our House who are here, then tell the rest when we get home. I will make it clear, however, this is news they are not to spread on their own. Who we tell, and when, is for us to decide."

Liara paused as a thought came through the link. "Our biggest test will very likely be this first separation… but during our next major holiday, Rasha will run the dig site and you will join us on Thessia, so we can spend some time together to figure out exactly who we are to one another."

"I'm not sure how that will work," Shepard chimed in. "We can announce to those here tomorrow night, at the start of our St Patrick's Day party… and we'll still be here for Janiris… and, by default, Alban Eiler… then we leave next Friday. Next is Beltane, but that's barely a month later."

Liara stopped her. "Okay… okay. You are correct, that would be too soon to pull Sal from her new position, so let us talk this through." She paused and opened her calendar. "Once June rolls around, my first class will be a short session… only eight weeks, rather than a full twelve, so will finish by the tenth of August. The new school year does not begin until the end of September… give me a second…" Liara paused and searched through her omnitool. "There it is – the 24th. So, I will have roughly six weeks off."

Shepard shrugged and shook her head. "That's pretty much what I feared. We miss Lughnasadh on August 1st, and the next holiday is Alban Elfed, on the 21st of September… which would be awfully tight on travel." She paused and grinned before adding, "Unless we want to take her to S'Vatyne with us, for our anniversary week…" She then looked at her own omnitool, continuing, "… which is already scheduled from August 13th through the 19th."

Liara actually laughed. "Goddess, that's perfect!"

"What?" Saleesha, on the other hand, was aghast at the suggestion. "The anniversary of your bonding? Are you crazy?"

Shepard didn't hesitate, replying immediately, "Certainly not crazy! What is an anniversary, but a celebration of love? It's the perfect date for us to discover if this will truly work. A solid week of absolutely no other duties, no distractions… a week dedicated to spending time with the one… or ones… that you love."

"And it's not like we go alone anyway," added Liara. "We bring the Personal Guard… and, this year, we'll bring Michael and, very likely, a few extras to help care for him." She chuckled. "What's one more… especially when she is someone we love and are considering adding to our relationship?"

Shepard spoke again, adding on, "And, with our summer schedule, other than the weeks we come back here – which we still need to add into the schedule – it's honestly the only real personal time we'll have the entire summer."

"We'll still have weekends, likely spent back at the Estate." Liara smiled at Shepard, adding, "Plenty of personal time to be had then."

"You say that now," chuckled Sal. "Wait until you start giving assignments, and your weekends are sucked up grading them!"

At that, Liara scoffed. "Are you kidding? I've known this was coming so, compliments of having a few tech wizards on the House T'Soni staff, we have designed a program to analyze and grade anything from a standard test to a ten-page paper in roughly five minutes. Everyone's work can be graded in under two hours. Then, all I need to do is adjust the comments and post the grades."

"That's cheating… assuming teachers can even be accused of such a thing." Sal's eyes suddenly lit up, considering the possible advantages to such a program. "As our advisor, will you pre-grade Rez' and my thesis papers, with comments, before we submit them to the Doctoral Board?"

Being facetious, Liara asked, "You really want all of your paper's flaws pointed out to the Board?"

"What? No!" She instantly realized Liara was joking when Shepard broke out in laughter. "Ugh! You got me. Not nice, Liara. Not nice at all!" Her words and the smile on her face were at odds with one another, so Liara chuckled.

"Sorry. I simply couldn't resist." Her chuckle faded to a smirk. "Are you sure you still want to attempt a relationship with us? Shepard has taught me all kinds of evil things like that… She is a never-ending fountain of practical jokes."

Sal gave her an understanding nod, still completely unable to remove the teeth-baring grin from her face as she spoke. "Don't I know it! I deal with her every other day in the gym."

Liara sighed. "And… now that we have that figured out, we need to figure out my Ilos schedule… mainly, when I'm coming back here for my first quarterly check in, which has to be slotted in sometime before June 18th."

"That's easy," replied Shepard, "because I've already been thinking about it. We'll come back after our Ilos presentation, the first week of May, then again after the summer session ends. My only unknown is if we will have time to personally escort Sal back here after our anniversary holiday. When does your next fall session start?"

"We'll have plenty of time to do that, as school doesn't begin until late September… whatever the last Monday is?"

"Okay, then." Shepard smiled. "So, we are back on Ilos the first week of May. Then, we send a shuttle to fetch Sal in mid-August, so we can enjoy our week at S'Vatyne together… after which, we fly her back to Ilos at the end of the vacation, arriving sometime on what? The 21st?"

"I do believe that will actually work… and we can worry about what comes after that once we get home." Liara nodded and smiled. "For now, I simply want to get to our residence here and have dinner…" She glanced at Sal as she finished, "… then sit back and contemplate how we're going to make tomorrow's announcement. Would you care to join us for that discussion?"

Saleesha grinned. "Somehow, Doctor T'Soni, I don't think I should even begin to contemplate 'no' as a possible answer to that question."

A/N: Hello, All! Thanks again for all the support, favs, follows and messages! I need to pass on that I have been having problems with the FF website as far as receiving update and comment notices, and I keep getting an e-mail rejection notice, even though the email opt-in bot is on my safe senders list. As such, I want you to know I also publish on Archive of Our Own (AO3 - a project of the Organization for Transformative Works) under the same pseud, Desert Sunrise. If you have been getting only intermittent notices, or are simply doing random checks to see if I have updated on my 2-week schedule, you can also set up an account on AO3 to receive dependable notices when I publish. Thank you for all the tremendous support you have given me as I come up on my 11th anniversary in Fan Fiction!