Chapter 29 - Reconciliation pt. 2

Nyreen
October 12th, 2188

"Mada…," I greeted sheepishly, smiling at the woman who answered the door, a spitting image of me, older and more age-worn, but certainly my mother.

Menevia Kandros took a double-take, keening loudly in a sob-like fashion, "My daughter… Oh, Spirits, you're alive! I… I thought you were dead…." She pulled me into her, touching her forehead against mine, her motherly instinct overriding the shock she was feeling.

After the embrace, my mother dragged me inside the house I remembered so distinctly from my childhood. The pictures that should've been lining the walls were gone, their hooks still embedded as stark reminders of what had been.

"I heard about Tiran, Mada…," I said. Menevia's cheerful facade shattered as she began to keen again, revealing the wounds of a broken woman. I guided my mother to a couch to sit down, crouching in front of her.

"You saw your father then? How is he?" There was a pain in her voice, indicating that she still cared for her former mate despite being separated.

"He's looked better. It looked like he spends every day drunk," I answered honestly.

Menevia nodded solemnly, "it's been that way since Tiran passed, and we split."

"Why did you tell him it was his fault I left and Tiran died?"

Her mother looked down in shame, "I was so angry… I didn't watch my tongue and drove away the last piece of my family." She looked up now, a hopeful undertone in her voice, "But you're here now. You're alright. Where have you been all this time?"

"Omega, mostly."

"Why were you in such an awful place?"

"For a while, just to survive, but now… now it's different. I feel like I have a purpose now. A calling to protect as many people on that station as possible," I managed a rueful smile, postponing the inevitable emotional breakdown I would have, "I'm sorry for leaving without saying goodbye."

"Oh, child… I was never mad at you for that. You did what you had to, and now you're back."

"I won't be staying for long, Mada. I came here to meet with the Primarch, but after that, I have to return to Omega."

"Are you taking care of yourself? Why are you going back there?" Menevia shrunk in on herself, looking as small and vulnerable as I had ever seen. It scared me to see my mother like this, only ever seeing an invincible woman in my childhood.

"People depend on me, Mada. I can't abandon them."

Menevia smiled, "I am so proud of you. You lost your way, but you found it again. I always knew you were destined to be a guardian. Just keep in touch, please. I don't think I can lose you again."

"I will, Mada. I promise."

Garrus
October 13th, 2188

"Miss Kandros, thank you for coming," Jason Stone said, standing from his chair in my office to shake her hand. Nyreen looked puzzled but caught on, gripping his hand and shaking. "I am Jason Stone, Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance. It's nice to meet you."

"Yes, Miss Kandros, thank you for coming," I interceded, seeing the questioning look on Nyreen's face.

She sat on the couch across from Jason, "So… What did you mean by 'the future'? You never elaborated the other day."

"We want to clean up the Terminus systems," Jason said.

A laugh burst from Nyreen's throat before she clamped down on it, "What? You can't be serious."

"We are," I said, "We know how difficult the task will be, but we know it has to be done. Those people deserve to be safe."

Nyreen stared at me, her emerald eyes boring into my blue, searching for any sign that I was lying, that I was simply trying to expand my territory, but she saw nothing. "Say I believe you. How do you plan on accomplishing this?"

"We'll start small, with Omega, if we come to an agreement here. You'll become a trading partner with us, an independent nation under your rule, not mine or Prime Minister Stone's. We'll trade you supplies and help train your defense forces. In exchange, Omega will be a resupply station for our navies, and you'll expel the criminal element that rules the station."

"And if I were to say no?"

"Nothing. Once our partnership ends, we'd leave you alone, but I know you want the people on Omega to be safe. Otherwise, you'd have let Aria back in."

"You're right about that," Nyreen hummed. "I never wanted to be a leader. It just fell into my lap."

"In my experience, that makes the leader even better. I think we're both familiar with that position."

"I agree," Jason added, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The less you want to lead, the better you are at the job."

Nyreen thought for a few moments, "Okay, I'm willing to try it. Those people deserve better than what Omega was."

"Excellent. As soon as the conflict with Aria is over, we can start. From what my men tell me, it should only be a few more months." Jason said, leaning back and becoming more relaxed in posture.

"I'll have the treaty drawn up, and we can make it official then," I said, standing and moving to the small table in the corner that two bottles of amber liquor stood on, pouring two glasses of one and one of the other. I handed the unique one to Jason and one of the other two to Nyreen.

Jason took a sip from his glass, "Wow, that's good… Where did you get this?"

"You'll have to ask Ame tonight. She brought me the bottle back from Vancouver," Turning my attention to Nyreen, I asked, "Can we expect you tonight? I think you and my mate would be fast friends."

"Yes, I will be there."

Nyreen
October 13th, 2188

Arriving at the Primarch's home, I didn't know what to expect. In every meeting we've had, I was treated equitably. I was starting to buy into the idea that he did indeed want what was best for everyone. Not just for the people on Palaven and other turian worlds, but even the rejects of the Galaxy slumming on Omega. He treated me like a friend, not just a tool.

I rapped on the door with one knuckle, lost in my thoughts until it swung open; a tall, svelte, muscular human woman wearing a gorgeous blue dress that perfectly matched the Vakarian face markings painted on her cheeks and nose stood in the entrance. She wore a bright smile on her face, stepping back from the door and waving me inside, "Hi! You must be Nyreen. I'm Ame. Nice to meet you."

"Hello," I said, taking the invitation to enter, "Nice to meet you too."

"Ah! There she is," Garrus said, seeing me as I stepped into the house proper, setting his drink down on the table next to where he stood, talking with Prime Minister Stone. "Nyreen, welcome. I see you've met my mate, Amelia, already."

"Garrus has told me a lot about you, Nyreen. I'd love to see what you've got biotics-wise sometime." Amelia flicked her finger, sending a faint pulse of blue energy up her arm with a smile.

"Sure," I said, happy to slip into a topic I was well-versed in.

Amelia
October 13th, 2188

"This is delicious, Ame," Jason told me, cutting another piece off his steak, jokingly saying, "Why didn't you make anything like this back on Mindoir?"

"Amazing as always, Amatra," Garrus concurred, using the turian word for beloved.

I smiled at my husband, "Glad you like it, and I didn't do it on Mindoir because I was busy doing other things." My voice dipped into a sultry pitch.

Jason gasped mockingly, "No! Poster child Ame would never!"

I burst out laughing, "No, I just didn't know how much I'd like it until I started doing it here. Before moving here, I lived on three square MREs a day for fourteen years."

Garrus chuckled, "Based on the smell of Gardner's food, I think the MREs were the right choice."

"Hey! It may have smelled bad-" I smiled, unable to keep a straight face, "-Ah, forget it, it tasted about as bad as it smelled. Still… Was it worse than the nutrient paste you and Tali ate?"

Garrus shivered exaggeratedly, "Spirits… Don't remind me about that crap."

I turned my attention to Nyreen, watching our exchange silently, "How do you like it?"

"It is delicious, Mrs. Vakarian."

I rolled my eyes half-heartedly and sighed, "This isn't a state dinner, Nyreen. Please call me Ame."

"I wouldn't fight her on it. She plays dirty," Jason advised, looking between Nyreen and me.

"Jace, I told you many times, I fight to win. If a few elbows get thrown around in the process…," I trailed off, "Maybe a broken nose or two…."

"See? Dirty!"

"I didn't see anyone complaining when it was Harbinger I was fighting!" I said exasperatedly despite the smile revealing how much I loved the banter. It was one of the things I really missed about navy life.

"You need all the advantages you can get when you're fighting a five-kilometer-tall machine with ship-killing lasers," Garrus said nonchalantly, taking another bite of his cudarae steak.

"See!" I exclaimed, gesturing at Garrus with my fork, "He gets it, Jace."

"Et tu, Garrus?" Jason asked.

"I learned it's best not to disagree with her — ow!" Garrus said, getting hit in the mandible with a roll, "See?" I smiled, declaring myself the victor and leaning back to bask in the camaraderie around me.

-0-

The food, drinks, and conversation continued to flow over the next hour, gradually dragging Nyreen out of her shell, getting her to tell her own stories rather than being a passive observer.

A while later, I stood and started to collect the dishes. "Let me help you with that," Nyreen said, grabbing her own and Jason's plates and following me into the kitchen.

"Thanks, but you didn't have to do that," I smiled over my shoulder, setting my stack of dishes into the sink.

Nyreen laughed, "Well, I had ulterior motives." I raised my eyebrow but stayed silent, turning towards Nyreen and leaning my hip onto the counter. After a moment, Nyreen continued, "I asked the Prim- ah… Garrus about the Cabal program. He said that you asked him to scrap it."

"I did. When I first moved to Palaven, I heard about it and told him. He knew of it but not how awful it was, and when he saw it, he ended it immediately."

"Why?"

"Well, you know I'm a biotic, so it offended me that turian biotics were treated as expendable pawns, but…," I trailed off, sucking in a deep breath, "I had a soldier under me, five or so years ago, he was a powerful biotic, but he was scarred from his time in a human program like the Cabals, called Jump Zero. He killed his trainer, a turian from the Cabal program. He broke his neck with a biotic kick after the trainer beat him half to death. I didn't have to go through that hell, but I saw firsthand what it did to people, so I had to do something about it. For him."

"What happened to that soldier?"

"He died. I failed him," I took a long, slow breath to steady myself, "I lost too many good people, but Kaiden's death hit me especially hard. We had to leave him behind. He manually detonated a nuclear bomb to destroy Saren's cloning base."

"Wait… Saren? Amelia… Spirits! You're Amelia Shepard?"

"The one and only… Well, maybe not," At her confused look, I waved her off, "A long story that I probably wouldn't even believe myself if I wasn't there. I am Amelia Shepard, although I do go by Vakarian now."

"I apologize for not recognizing you. I'm not the best at telling humans apart."

I laughed heartily, "No offense taken. I kinda like not being the center of attention. It's been a while since I was just another person in the crowd."

"This may seem like a stupid question, but do you trust Garrus?"

"Not exactly asking the most unbiased of sources, are you? Of course I trust him. I trust him with my life. He's the father of my children. He is my husband. He's been my best friend since we met five years ago. He never stepped away from my side when I needed him. Now, I know that isn't what you meant. If you're asking, 'Why should I trust Garrus?', the answer is that I believe there isn't a better man for the job. He really does want to help everyone. Whatever he told you really is the truth."

"That helps. Thank you, Amelia."

I smiled at my new friend, "Anytime, Nyreen."