Eden Prime was considered by many humans the crown jewel of their colonization projects. It was a verdant world, with a biosphere that was almost perfectly matched with that of Earth, and which made it an ideal colony to create what some said Earth could have been. Organized urbanization centered around enormous, space-efficient arcologies, which towered over manicured fertile fields of mixed produce. No extensive monocultures, susceptible to plagues and unforeseen climate events, no sprawling, energy-inefficient urbanization. Clean air, comfortable living, and nature never too far away. At first glance, it seemed strange that a planet so big had been colonized in such a narrow, organized way, but colony plans were made with centuries of growth in mind. Current population was nearing three million. It could grow to three billion and, if plans were followed, barely register an impact on the balanced ecology that was developing over the planet.

Given all that, there really was little need for heavy external investment to grow the colony. Population growth dictated expansion. While the initial spike of colonization had been substantial, the flow of new settlers was steady and, together with natural births, growth clocked at just over a hundred thousand extra souls per year. As such, twelve new arcologies were already under construction, and plans for further expansion weren't even in the horizon. They wouldn't be needed for another decade at the earliest.

Thus, the T'Soni family, under the guidance of Matriarch T'Lena, had really had to reach for truly creative ways to keep pouring credits into the planet as investment. Several research stations had appeared over the landscape, studying the possibility of incorporating non-Earth levo species into the ecosystem, the adaptability of asari agriculturally important crops and their possible integration into the primary industry production cycle of Eden Prime, the evolution of the ecosphere, the water cycle of the planet, anything and everything. Scientists were finding credits for their research under every rock. And after that, more money came in the form of investment for the creation of processed goods. Cheese, wine, other fermented and non-fermented pre-packaged drinks, even processed pre-packaged meals. It was a relatively simple and easy to implement value-adding step for the supply chain, one that created jobs and made credits flow in. And even more research into plant and animal products beyond the raw materials. As far as investments went, it was profitable enough, but hardly exciting. Barely good enough to hide any hidden agenda behind the efforts.

At first, all this meddling and interest had been eyed with suspicion, but Matriarch T'Lena was a very shrewd observer. She knew exactly how to turn the optics of everything she did. Companies she invested in cranked up their Public Relations. Industrial development was always shrouded in extensive environmental analysis and monitoring, very often unnecessarily so. Even the water table and the soil structure were regularly and extensively checked, with results always publicly available. That, together with the noticeable influx of extra credits to the economy, turned public perception little by little. And in the process, the areas around the inhabited regions of the colony were slowly but surely being mapped, analyzed, and probed.

Eventually, all that work paid off. A water level probe found an anomaly in one of the possible sites being considered for a second spaceport, one that could cope with the increased traffic all the new industry had brought to the planet. Further analyses showed the anomaly to be a hollow structure under a layer of sediment. More detailed scans proved without a shadow of a doubt that it was an artificial formation, and not a natural feature. It was this latter report that was quietly suppressed, and replaced with a fabricated one showing the hollowed formation to be a natural cave created by water erosion, which made the site ill-suited for a heavy structure such as a spaceport. Eyes turned away from the site to look for a more suitable emplacement. And, after a while, nobody even blinked at a group of asari wanting to explore the structure. Spelunking was not a popular sport on Eden Prime, not when so few places had the right soil composition for truly interesting exploration. A single cave garnered no attention.

For Liara, being out in the open again was a relief. A chance to get her mind off her near-death experience. Off Eva. Finding Shiala back in her life had been... strange, really. She had spent a lot of her youth with the Commando, she even taught her how to use her biotics, pushed her to get the most out of her potential. She loved Shiala as if she was her own family, of that there was no doubt. Feeling her mind once again, being close, would have been a joy, if only it had been in different circumstances. But she had been there, strong, understanding, fiercely protective. She felt under all that an undercurrent of sadness, shame even, for having failed to be there for Liara. She masked it well, but Liara had been able to sense it. The reunion had turned complicated, so complicated, at a time when she really wanted something simple.

The ability to forget.

Even now, being back in the field, surrounded by prothean tech, and with the prospect of a new mystery to crack, she couldn't help but feel the pain of Eva's treason once again. Dulled, more distant, but still there. The Systems Alliance would have to wait until she was well and truly ready to go back to Mars on her own time. Aethyta was about ready to tell them to go meld with a shark, but Liara knew they needed the information of that beacon. The Crucible, whatever it was. She knew more now than when she first started looking for it. At the time all the information was that it was a weapon that could destroy the reapers at the expense of the entire relay network. A weapon of catastrophic power. She still didn't know much more, other than the fact that it wasn't what she expected. The design was that of a very focused device. It did one, or a few, very specific things, it didn't just rain indiscriminate destruction. It required tremendous amounts of power, and a very complex control mechanism. Whatever it did, it, at least in part, depended on resonance, in a way that almost betrayed a very specific set of targets for its signal. More importantly, she still lacked a lot of details when it came to its construction, which could very well be a more pressing matter.

She mentally shook herself and brought her mind back to the task at hand. The entrance to the ruin had been dug on the side of a hill cut by a stream, deliberately made to look as natural and inconspicuous as possible. The walls had had to be heavily shored to retain the softer soil layers over them, until the dirt gave way to compacted gravel and rock. After that, what clearly seemed to be rubble from artificial structures. And finally, a large metallic wall, or door, where a hole had been cut tall enough for a single asari to walk through.

"Goddess," Liara breathed, looking at the opening. "What is all this?"

"We're pretty sure it was a huge bunker," Aethyta replied, stepping at the threshold and looking back at her daughter. Even in the dim light, Liara could see an expression of worry on her father's face, badly disguised under a smile. "Most of it has collapsed, someone made a deliberate effort to bury this place."

Aethyta led the way, squeezing tightly as her weapons caught on the wall a couple of times before she managed to go through. Liara herself was only armed with a pistol, not even carrying a shield generator with her. She moved past the opening with a lot more ease, and her breath caught in her chest as she looked. It looked like a very wide, open corridor, at least fifty meters long, and so tall she barely could see the top even with the searchlights pointed towards the sloping wall. There were numerous cracks all over the walls and roof, where soil had managed to break through, creating spills that made navigation difficult. Other than the lights, she could see that everything remained untouched. At that moment, she and her father were the only ones inside.

"What is this place?" Liara asked for a second time.

"That's what I'm hoping you can tell us Little Wing," Aethyta said. "Reminds you of somewhere?"

"A bit," Liara said. "That wall... It's almost- Pods! Just like the pods on Ilos!" She rushed towards the wall, where several embedded coffin-like pods could be seen. "Goddess, how many of these did the Protheans have?"

"Can't be too many," Aethyta replied. "With all the diggin' that's been done through the galaxy this is only the second lot we find."

"There were no outside clues to its location," Liara was saying. She had opened the large case she had brought with her, and was bringing the new fork of Vigil to life. The biometric locks on this new version were a lot stronger than the last one. Only Liara would be able to use it at any time, and it even had advanced medical scanners to detect if she was under duress. "Most prothean digs are done where someone finds evidence of an old, artificial structure where there shouldn't be one." The VI finally came to life, and Liara synced her omni-tool to it, giving it a few seconds to boot up the language package. "Come to think of it, how did you find it?"

"How did we find Ilos?" Aethyta replied cryptically. She looked at her daughter, and Liara nodded and smiled. "Yes. But this is not as exciting I'd say."

"I wouldn't be so sure. The Ilos facility was not built for the pods, they were added as an emergency. This place looks like it was purposely built for it. We could learn so much about long term cryopreservation."

She lifted her omni-tool and started to scan the pods, one by one. There were no signs of life, but there were signs of remnant organic matter inside. They had been occupied, too. So far, nobody had cracked open any of the pods on Ilos. Scans, X-rays, they had studied the contents thoroughly, but had left them as they were. It felt a lot like grave robbery otherwise. These pods were much the same. The biggest difference was that the scans reported more mass inside than they had found in the ones on Ilos. It wasn't just a corpse with a few clothes on.

"These pods... There are artifacts buried with the protheans," Liara said. "What could they have with them?"

"Change of clothes? Aethyta suggested, making Liara chuckle. "Why don't we pull one out and take a closer look?"

"Good idea. Do we have... Ah, yes." Her voice trailed off when she saw the equipment that had been prepared at the back of the bunker. Heavy lifting machinery, a large workbench, a portable, well stocked lab, everything she could need. "You didn't really need me at all, did you father?" Liara said, shaking her head.

"Of course we do," Aethyta retorted. "If it was me, I'd pull that thing out, shake it to see if there's something inside, and open it with a blowtorch." Aethyta laughed at Liara's horrified expression. "I don't have the patience girl, you do."

"Quarter krogan," Liara muttered, making Aethyta laugh again, and herself smiling at that. She took a step back, lazily running the scanner around as her mind prepared the task at hand. "We should first get more-" She stopped abruptly when the scanner made a faint buzzing noise.

"What?" Aethyta said.

"There's... No way." She looked at Aethyta with her mouth hanging open. "There's still power in one of them!"

She scrambled over a spill of dirt, nearly losing her footing, while keeping her omni-tool scanner up. Three dead pods, and on the fourth, the scanner buzzed higher. There it was. A pod. It still had power. Her hands flew over the interface of her omni-tool, and as reasults started to pour in, she gasped, and stood solidly in place for close to a minute, just staring at what the scanner was telling her.

"Liara?" Aethyta said after a while.

"Yes! Right! I can't just open the pod, there has to be safeties, how- of course! Vigil! No of course he can't hear me."

Liara strode over the spill, taking the case with the prothean VI and bringing it with her as she spoke, her tone hurried and absent. She couldn't see the look of amusement and relief on Aethyta's face, the spark in her eye as she watched her daughter come alive at last, after long weeks of both physical and mental recovery. Right now, her young daughter was in her element. Benezia had been right, one last chance at wonder for her daughter was not too much to ask.

She let her daughter work, finding a place to sit as the comfortable silence dragged on. Liara no longer spoke out loud, at best she mumbled something that, half the time, Aethyta was sure had to be prothean. Time passed in the forgotten bunker, hours even. Liara continued to work undeterred. She accepted both water and food, dried and salted fruits and fish, nothing she had to stop to eat, and could be had by pieces as she worked. Finally, Aethyta started to feel sleep start to call her. She could force herself to stay awake, Goddess knew she could stay awake for long when needed.

No need to push myself. Get some sleep while Liara is working, and guard her when she finally falls asleep herself.

With a yawn, she placed a comms call to let her two commandos know they were to guard the entrance, found one of the folding cots, and after making sure her weapons were within reach, she laid down and closed her eyes. Years of training let her fall asleep almost without thought. Sleep when you can, stay awake when you must. That was one of the first things she learned during her training.

She slept for what seemed like a very short time, and jerked up when a loud booming report startled her awake. Her hands were on her shotgun and her body stepped upright almost before conscious thought had even processed.

"Sorry!" Liara called. "I didn't know it'd drop!"

Aethyta sighed, a deep breath trying to calm down her heart. "Godess' tits Liara, you scared the blue out of my ass."

"Sorry," Liara said sheepishly, a slight grin betraying her amusement.

"Found something?" Aethyta said, blinking the daze away and walking towards Liara.

"Yes. Just ejected the pod," Liara said, and pointed at the now dislodged pod. It was on the floor, a god six feet from the wall where it had been resting. "It took the same signal that Vigil had prepared for the pods on Ilos. I had to request a data package through the comm buoys, took a while."

Aethyta furrowed her brow at that. "If you needed something from Ilos, it'd have been safer to fly there. No more than a couple of days for a round trip."

"I know, I know. I just didn't want to wait." As she spoke, Liara leaned down over the pod, and touched something. A control panel brightened up to life.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, opening it of course."

"What? That might not be-" A loud clanking noise interrupted Aethyta and, with a hiss, the pod opened, panels rising and sliding away from the pod. "Liara, step away."

"He might be disoriented," Liara said. It sounded like she was agreeing with Aethyta, who was a good ten feet away from the pod, but instead of moving away herself, the young asari leaned over the pod, looking at the contents. "By the goddess, he is-"

Aethyta felt the tingle of biotics an instant before a biotic blast shot from the open pod. Her trained instincts let her put up a barrier before she was hit, and she was merely pushed back, stumbling to regain her footing. Liara, on the other hand, was hit hard and thrown back a couple of meters before hitting the ground hard.

Something... someone sat up on the pod, stumbled out and fell to the ground. Aethyta saw a suit of bulky, red armor, and four eyes on a large, almost wedge-like head. The alien took a few uneasy steps, saw Liara sitting up, and without hesitation, suddenly lurched forward, grabbing Liara by the neck and slamming the asari to the ground.

Oh hell no!

"Let her go!" Aethyta yelled, putting her gun to her shoulder. She mentally cursed as she realized it was her shotgun, which was likely to hit both if she pulled the trigger. "I said let her go!"

Nothing happened. Neither of them seemed to even be struggling. She wreathed herself in biotics, rushed forward, and without even thinking about the consequences. landed a kick square on the alien's armored shoulder, sending him flying and crashing onto a mound of dirt and gravel.

Besides her, Liara gasped. It didn't sound like she was short of breath for being choked, it sounded like she had been shocked, surprised. "F-Father... Don't- I can't-"

"Asari," the alien said in a lightly accented voice. "You have evolved?"

He was speaking Thesserit, clear and without hesitation. He pushed himself to his feet, looking around, his heard darting left and right. Aethyta didn't know how that was possible, but the fact that he could understand her suit her just fine.

"You touch my little girl like that again and you won't get to see just how evolved we are."

"Father please, he was just..." Liara's voice trailed off. "I saw it. Your memories. The fall of the prothean empire. The reapers. How?"

"All life provides clues, for those who can read them. Experiences are their own biological markers. When we touched, we shared memories, you shared my experiences, it can work both ways. You saw my past, the fall of my people. I saw yours, learned your language. My people..." He trailed off looking around, as if taking his surroundings in for the first time. "My people. Did any others survive?"

"No," Liara replied, lowering her head. "No other pod had power. I'm sorry." She looked up and eyed the prothean cautiously. "You knew this was a possibility. I... saw your memory. Just you. You were to be the voice of your people."

"There was supposed to be a million of us. Ready to rebuild the empire after the reapers retreated to darkspace. But we were betrayed by our own kind."

"Indoctrination, just like Morgan said," Aethyta said. She had lowered her gun, though she still had it in her hands. The prothean seemed to be stabilizing, little by little, but she knew he could crack any second. For him, he had just walked into a pod while war raged around him.

"Yes. A faction of our own people wanted not to destroy, but to control the reapers. It was only at the end that we learned they had been indoctrinated." He looked at Aethyta, and took a few steps towards them, coming to rest just at arm's reach. Her fingers itched, but she managed not to raise her gun in response. "You know about the reapers. Your people, did they hear our warnings? Is the galaxy prepared?"

"Warnings?" Aethyta said, exchanging a surprised look with her daughter. Liara seemed as lost as she was. "No, what warnings?"

"The beacons! Our people hid beacons through the galaxy, close to primitive civilizations like yours, filled with information on the reapers! How did you not see them!"

"Hey, easy there," Aethyta said, pointedly walking back one step away from the raised hands of the prothean. "A few beacons have been found, yes, but it's been hell to try and understand them."

"Primitives," the prothean muttered in frustration. "How did you learn of the reapers? Have they returned?"

"No, not yet anyway. Best we can tell, they're about twelve years from coming back. Or at least that's what Morgan tells us, Goddess knows where he got his info from."

"Perhaps he did find a prothean warning," Liara offered. "It might explain his reluctance to share the origin of the information."

"Morgan? This is the second time you say that word. Another asari?" the prothean inquired.

"A human," Aethyta replied. "You protheans had an observation post on their system. Sol? They call their home planet Earth, not very creative that lot."

"The backup," the prothean said. "So they made it to the red planet? They were walking around in loincloths picking berries and hunting other mammals last time I saw them. Did you uplift them?"

"No, they made it out on their own."

"So let us speak to these humans. Are they preparing for the reapers?"

"We are..." Aethyta hesitated, looking at Liara. "We're preparing as best we can, for now."

The prothean didn't seem satisfied with this answer. He looked at Aethyta, at Liara, then looked around the remains of the bunker. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought. He then walked to Aethyta, his step determined, and grabbed her arms. Aethyta saw it coming, fought the urge to try and defend herself. She saw the image of the underground bunker as it was during the time of the protheans. The stasis pod. Stepping into the darkness in desperation, hoping that he would wake up one day.

"I sense the anger in you, the power you restrain. You only recently learned about the reapers. You are not ready. But you move in secret," he finally said. He let go and took a step back. His four eyes fixed on her, demanding answers. "Why?"

"We still don't know who can be trusted," Aethyta said. "You said it yourself, that your own people betrayed you. We're still trying to figure out how to identify indoctrination. Hell, we don't even have any evidence that the reapers are coming back, only the word of a human who seems to know a bit too much."

"They will return, they always return!" the prothean said. "The galaxy is built on death. All our technology came from those who came before us, the Inusannon. They, too, fell to the reapers."

"What I meant," Aethyta added, waving him down to try and calm him, "is that we have no proof that they'll be back in a bit over a decade, hell of a thing to get the galaxy to move when we don't have any evidence. Hell I don't even know if I believe it myself. And even if we could get them to move, I'm sure the salarians would do what you just did your people did and try to find a way to control the reapers."

"The salarians... The lizard people evolved too?"

"I believe they are amphibians," Liara said.

"They..." the prothean's voice hesitated, and after a moment, he simply walked off towards his pod. "They used to eat flies."

Aethyta watched him reach into the pod and start pulling guns out, clipping them to his armor. She looked at Liara, who was following the movements of the alien with wide, alert eyes, and gestured with her head towards him.

"Chance of a lifetime Little Wing, go chat him up."

"I- Father!" Liara hissed. Nevertheless, she complied. Out loud, she addressed the prothean. "Do you have a name? I'm Liara T'Soni, and that's my father, Matriarch Aethyta Telan."

"Just Aethyta will do," she added.

"I am... I was called Javik." He turned to look at them, and this time he was standing straight, a prideful pose full of aplomb. "Among my people, some were chosen as exemplars of a single virtue. The avatars. I was the avatar of vengeance." He looked around one last time, but his eyes didn't seem to linger on any one detail. "Let us leave, there is nothing but death left in this place."

"Y-Yes, of course!" Liara said, and gestured towards the excavated exit. "This way. I have so many questions."

"As do I," Javik said. "Starting with this, when can I meet this human of yours?"

Aethyta watched the two of them walk off, smiling to herself. She felt a little sorry for the prothean, he was going to get absolutely grilled with questions before the day was over, never mind the reaper invasion. But for now they had time. She knew preparing the galaxy for an invasion such as the one that had been described to her was going to be a huge ask. For now they were on a good path, every single power in the galaxy was cranking up their war machinery production, thanks to Benezia's political maneuvering. But it wouldn't last. A living prothean might be enough to push a little longer. Or it might just paint a huge target on his back. The denial ran deep in those who held the reins of power.

She tabled her mental discussion for later. For now, they'd keep the prothean secret, and find a good use for him once he had settled down. It was too dangerous to bring him in the open if the reapers, as Morgan had warned them, had agents working for them in the shadows. The outcome was still too unpredictable. With a mental shrug, she took off after her daughter, making one stop to pick up the prothean VI she had clearly completely forgotten about. And made a mental note to order the pod recovered. She might not like to think about it, but having a backup just like that one may not go amiss, specially if they learned from the protheans' mistakes about how it went so wrong for them.

Her thoughts veered off when she caught up with Liara and Javik. They were standing atop the hill, Liara looking somewhat uncomfortable, and Javik just looking at the horizon with what she could easily interpret as shock. No wonder. He had gone to sleep, and woken up to see his planet transformed by aliens. The arcologies in the distance, the cultivated fields, it was familiar for her, but who knew what it looked like to the prothean.

Maybe he was going to need more than a bit of time to adjust.

"Welcome! I'm Emily Wong, FCC News. Today, we have an exclusive interview with none other than Doctor Liara T'Soni." Emily turned to her guest, and the camera switched to focus on the asari. "Liara, it's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back Emily," Liara said blandly. There was a soft smile on her lips that didn't quite touch the rest of her face. "I like your new studio."

"Ah, thank you! Yes, having my own show, it's been quite exciting. I miss my old colleagues, but never mind that. This is about you, and I have to say, wow!"

Liara's brow raised minutely, her expression not changing. "Wow?"

"Yes, what an entrance you made!" She turned to look directly at the camera. "For those of you at home who missed the headlines, we have footage from C-Sec security cameras." The broadcast switched to pre-recorded footage from the camera. It was a little grainy, but showed part of the Presidium, near the Embassies wing and close to the lift to the tower. In the background, the Relay Monument suddenly came to life, its rings spinning as a spot in the center of it started to glow. "It was barely three in the morning, station time, when the relay monument suddenly seemed to activate, and moments later, this." A flash of light, and suddenly a shuttle appeared out of nowhere, shooting in the air twenty meters before stopping, and slowly coming to rest.

The camera now focused on Liara, whose expression hadn't changed.

"So." Emily turned to her guest. "There's so many questions. First of all, where did you come from?"

"Where else? Ilos."

"The lost prothean planet?" Emily said, her eyes opening wide. "How? Did you use the system's relay, or something else?"

"No, there is a relay on the world itself. Smaller than a regular relay." Liara spoke slowly, her voice calm, like she was delivering a lecture at the University. One where no impertinent questions could be asked, at that. "It was one of the first things that caught our eye when we arrived at the prothean facility on Ilos. At first we didn't know if it was even real."

"And it led you here? Could it have been used to travel somewhere else? Because you gave C-Sec a scare the likes of which I don't think they've ever had."

Liara chuckled in response. "No, it's a simple relay pair. As you know, relays either work in pairs, allowing travel across thousands of light years between two fixed points, or in groups, allowing multiple connections between groups of relays in close proximity. How were we supposed to know it would lead us to the Citadel? The one here is even smaller than the one on Ilos, we always thought of it as nothing but a sculpture. Prothean art, celebrating their ingenuity in creating the relay network."

"Shouldn't you have investigated first?"

"Live a little, Emily," Liara responded, her smile now turning a tad more mischievous. "We had an active relay, and we knew there was a live pair waiting somewhere out there in the cosmos."

The reporter responded in kind with a similar smile. "Now some people have said that it's a security risk to have an unknown relay like that next to the citadel tower, so there's talk of moving or even removing it. Have you been contacted by C-Sec about it?"

"More than that," Liara said, and laughed. "They actually arrested me."

"No way," Emily said. "On what charges?"

"They couldn't think of any. In the end they just charged us with boarding the citadel without proper authorization and fined me five hundred credits," Liara said, to numerous peals of laughter through the studio. "I think they are looking at their procedure book at the moment."

"I can imagine. But let's go back to Ilos. A Relay leading to the Citadel, are there any others?"

"No, just that one. According to our data, it was a prototype, possibly the first relay pair the protheans ever built."

"A prototype?"

"Yes. Ilos was a research facility after all. It would seem as if relay construction was one of the many things they were researching."

Emily's eyes went wide as saucers, almost comically so, and for a whole second, there was nothing but stunned silence. Liara just relaxed in her chair and looked at the human reporter. She liked her. It was easy to lead her to ask pertinent questions without being obvious, she was smart enough that she could connect dots on her own.

"Does... Does that mean you have prothean research on how to build relays?"

Liara's smile was now well and truly an open one. "Yes."

"That's extraordinary! That knowledge could change everything. Surely you must be excited!" Emily sounded like it, whereas Liara just gave her a nod in response. "What do you intend to do with that knowledge? You will be sharing it, I hope."

"Of course, it would be irresponsible to do otherwise. This discovery could change the way we travel through the galaxy, even open new possibilities to visit places that, so far, had been out of reach for any but the most dogged explorers. Caution is advisable, but that does not mean we should greedily hoard it. As I said in our last interview, we are open to share our discoveries with all parties, including the Council."

"And the Systems Alliance? You have worked with us before, how is your work on the Mars beacon going?"

Emily didn't miss the hardness in Liara's eyes as she asked the question, even though her mouth still kept a bland smile on. She fought to stay composed, winning the inner battle but internally scrambling to figure out where she had missed a step. It couldn't be its classified nature, she had openly admitted to it on her previous interview. Internal strife?

"We have made progress," Liara said. "I look forward to resuming my work there although, as you can see, I have many other matters to attend to."

"I can imagine," Emily replied. She was torn between digging further and looking for a topic that wouldn't spook her guest. It was always a balancing act. Shooting a barrage of uncomfortable questions might look good for the ratings, but rarely got anything productive gone. "Is there anything else you can share with us about your work? I mean, the beacon of Mars and now the Relays are big, I know, but there has to be so much more." Testing the waters. She would go back to the beacon as soon as she found the right opening.

"Of course. I am currently finishing my first publication on the protheans based on the information found on Ilos. I am hoping it will be a page turner."

Aethyta had only watched half the interview, spending the other half scanning through the crowd and making sure nobody did anything stupid. The studio crew were obviously not used to having armed people in their midst, much less a couple of heavily armed and armored commandos standing five paces away from the interviewee with polarized helmets and body language that screamed I will murder each and every last one of you.

She'd have rather had one of her girls as a backup, but Liara had grown quite attached to Shiala. Aethyta knew they had been close when Liara was younger, she had been a teacher and a mentor, but Aethyta couldn't forget that she had dumped her little girl, same as Benezia.

The interview had turned to Liara's upcoming publication. Wong had followed-up with pertinent questions and very showy enthusiasm, and Liara was replying with a little less so. That was one of the things that had her worried. It had been a month since they had found Javik, and Liara had spent much of that month with the prothean. The results were not what Aethyta had wanted, or expected.

The humans had a saying about that. They always did. Never meet your heroes. Liara's image of the protheans had more or less shattered with every discussion she had had with Javik. From the internal workings of the Prothean Empire, to the discussions they had about Athame. Turns out, it was the protheans who were uplifting them, not some unknown deity. She thought it was hilarious. Liara didn't. It hurt to see her daughter lose her innocence right before her eyes, but it was not something she could, or should, protect her from. And she had to admit, she liked the prothean, would have liked him more if his blunt, scathing remarks would have been directed at anyone other than Liara.

And if only he stopped calling them primitives.

The interview was being wrapped up, which put her, and by proxy Shiala, on alert. Aethyta hadn't liked the idea of giving the interview, but Liara thought it would make as big a splash as they wanted. At first, Aethyta was worried about having to put it all on her daughter's shoulders. She knew the necessity, but she worried nonetheless.

"Thank you again Liara, it's always great to have you on the show," Wong said.

"My pleasure," Liara replied with a graceful bow.

"Aaaaand we're out," the producer announced. Like it was a signal, an organized chaos of workers began to move, preparing the studio for the next segment. Aethyta and Shiala both moved to get closer to Liara.

"I hope you don't mind my asking," Wong was saying, leaning closer to Liara in a conspiratorial tone. "But I noticed your reaction when I mentioned Mars. Something happened with that project?"

"Emily," Liara gently chided her. "You know that's all quite classified."

"I know I know, but off the record? You know me, I just need to know, but I can keep secrets." She paused for a moment. "Otherwise I'll just have to dig."

"As an archeologist, I couldn't in good conscience stop you from digging."

Wong chuckled in response. "All right all right, but next time-" She stopped talking and brought her hand to her small earpiece. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Emily?" Liara prompted.

"I'm so sorry Liara. There seems to be some sort of protest in front of the studio," she said, looking at her and her faceless bodyguards. She was the only one who hadn't even flinched at the sight of them. "Mostly hanar," she added in an apologetic tone.

Aethyta took a hissing breath. Hanar religious protests. They had received a steady stream of protests based on their activities on Ilos, but other than routine checks to make sure nothing escalated, she hadn't given them special thought. Now they were gathering on the Citadel, when she barely had anyone looking after Liara. Either hearing her hiss, or following the same train of thought she had been riding, Liara looked at her.

"Not a good idea," Aethyta said. "Not like this."

"It's perfect," Liara retorted.

"What?" Emily said, looking at all of them with a lost but interested expression on her face. "We can get you out through the back door, security will help make sure you can leave in peace."

"No, it's not a problem," Liara said. "I'll be happy to talk to them."

Without any hesitation, Liara got up and walked off towards the exit, while a very flustered Emily Wong scrambled after them after finding, somewhere, a camera drone to follow them. She was speaking as she walked about what had transcribed, the protest, all while obviously filming their progress. That was inconvenient, to say the least.

As soon as they exited the building, a throng of protestors immediately pressed towards them, pushing against the few C-Sec officers that had made an improvised line. Mostly hanar, a few asari - there were always a few asari maidens in every protest - and she could even see one drell. Some held placards, calling for the removal of the heretics from the sacred site of the Enkindlers, others were protesting the hoarding of technology not being shared with the galaxy. It was odd to see such opposite sides of the same coin protesting together, but nothing united warring factions like a common enemy. As per usual, the protestors pressed and crowded towards them, but were otherwise completely silent. Before Liara could take another step, Aethyta grabbed her daughter's arm, but Liara just responded by tapping her hand lightly and pulling herself free.

She didn't like it, not one bit. FCC's studio was in one of the wider, open wards. Too many places for them to check. Too many open angles on her daughter.

"My name is Liara T'Soni," Liara said, addressing the crowd. "Is there one among you who would like to talk? If at all possible, I would very much like to address any concerns you may have."

One of the hanar slowly started to raise a tentacle. Not high, barely a foot had moved when Liara noticed. Aethyta noticed it, too, and almost bolted to grab her daughter and pull her to safety. That looked a lot more like a signal than a way to catch her daughter's attention. Liara walked closer to that hanar, and bowed respectfully.

"May I have your name?" Liara said. At least he had stopped moving. When no answer came, Liara insisted. "Words were the gift of the Enkindlers, would you not share them with me?"

"This one does not question the wisdom of the Enkindlers with their choice on who to bestow their gift to," the hanar said. In a roundabout way, he was saying that she had the gift, but damn if he was going to share it with her. The tentacle started to creep up once more.

"Your placard says the sites of the Enkindlers are sacred. Would you like to know that the words we found on Ilos are the reason we are studying and learning everything we can from there?"

The tentacle stopped. Its tip was now halfway between the tip of his other ones, and his main body. Aethyta's eyes were darting around, trying to find who the hanar was signalling to. IF it came down to it, she could try to put a barrier around Liara. It wouldn't be as good or effective as her own barrier, it would be at best something between a barrier and a stasis. If that tentacle moved but another inch she was ready to shoot the hanar right there and then. Next to her, she knew Shiala had seen the same, and was doing just as she did. Not even Liara could have missed that.

"This one would not speak such words, least this one condemns oneself for heresy. The sites of the Enkindlers are a monument to their wisdom, to disturb them in such fashion is to deface the very memory of their generosity. We were bestowed a gift beyond compare, so that it would elevate us to worthiness despite our failings."

Aethyta's back started to itch. That wasn't just a religious hanar, or a zealot. That sounded suspiciously like one of their hardline cults, the kind that went as far as to sabotage archeological digs and research when they could get away with it.

"I do not speak for others," Liara said. "But the work that we do is in following of the words the Enkindlers themselves left behind on Ilos," Liara replied. She paused for a moment. The tentacle stayed at the same height, but Aethyta thought it was trembling slightly. "Tell me, if the Enkindlers left behind a message with a task that needed to be completed, would you leave the message untouched, or would you follow their wishes?"

"This one knows of no such message ever been seen. This one is in doubt that our mere forms could understand the words of the Enkindlers."

"But it is," Liara insisted. "Tell you what, why don't I show you?" She paused, but the hanar didn't respond. His bioluminescent organs twitched and flashed, though, not a word but a show of... something. Excitement? Confusion? "I will personally extend an invitation to you, and any others you see fit to invite, to accompany us to Ilos and see for yourselves. If after your visit you still think we are being disrespectful, we will consider the wishes of the Illuminated Primacy."

There was a long pause. Liara didn't look around, but Aethyta did. For what she could see from the Asari protestors, there was a good amount of surprise, and interest. The hanar were crowding together, and while she couldn't hear any VI translation, she could see the flashing of colour on their skins. After that long, silent, tense pause, the hanar lowered the tentacle.

"This one would require a binding of honor, if such could be found in the one before me," the hanar said.

"If I can have your word that you will keep an open mind, you can have mine that I will listen to your concerns," Liara replied.

"It is agreed."

Aethyta nearly melted through the floor in relief.

"May I have your face-name?"

"This one is known as Speaks-of-the-Enkindlers," the hanar said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Liara replied. She raised her omni-tool, and with a few commands, sent a data package to the hanar. "I will wait for your message, Speaks-of-the-Enkindlers. Don't bring too many others with you, maybe no more than ten. I don't want to turn Ilos into a circus any more than you do."

With that, Liara bowed, the hanar returned the gesture, and a peal of applause surged through the crowd, coming from the Asari who had sided with the hanar. Aethyta took a step forward and very openly maneuvered her daughter towards the waiting aircar, an unmarked vehicle that was not the same they had taken on the way in. She almost pushed her daughter inside, stepping in after her, while Shiala went to take the controls.

"Athatme's tits Liara!" Aethyta snapped as soon as they were inside, pulling her helmet free. "Do you realize what just happened out there? He was ready to-"

"I saw," Liara interrupted. "I thought we agreed that the hanar were the best choice."

"Yes, and their embassy is right there in the Presidium! We could have a shipload of hanar right up our asses right now if we wanted."

"Father please," Liara said, blushing slightly. "This worked just as well. Emily was right there, everyone saw it."

Aethyta huffed and dropped on the seat next to her daughter with a grunt. "You're taking the idea of making a splash too far," she said.

"It's the right approach. You have to admit, that got even the protestors to clap. Emily will put that on the front page."

"And get everyone to see it, right," Aethyta said.

Without missing a beat, Liara picked up the bone her father had thrown, and chewed on it with vigor. "You know Javik is right. We should blow this whole thing open, and either they get on board, or get left behind."

"All in good time," Aethyta replied. "Hell, I don't disagree, but your mother's got the whole galaxy working overtime already, I don't see what good it'd do right now. We have time. Start with the leadership, see who's not gone, and go from there."

"And when we find that they are?"

"We deal with that. Hence the hanar." With a sigh, Aethyta put her arm around Liara, gathering her daughter close, and kissing her headcrest lightly. Liara responded with a similar sigh, relaxing in her arms. So much tension in her young body. "What's going on with you girl?" Aethyta said.

"You've seen it haven't you? The death. The... everything." The thought was right at the forefront, and Aethyta only had to do a light meld to feel it, recall the images from Liara's mind. Javik's memories. More of them. More than she had seen so far. There was a whole lifetime of them, the reapers slowly but relentlessly destroying everything he knew. "That's all he's ever known. Born into a war of extinction."

"You don't have to make his life your own," Aethyta said.

"That's why we're fighting."

"No, that's why he is fighting. I'm fighting because I don't want any of that shit for you. Find a better reason for yourself than his, Little Wing." She put her cheek on her daughter's headcrest, feeling the warmth. "Maybe you ought to invite this Emily Wong to Ilos. Show her the ruins, your room, I'll even leave a bottle of ryncol there for you two."

At least, Aethyta thought, I got her to laugh.

Author's Notes: After I was done with Liara's scenes for this chapter, I decided it was meaty enough to let them stand on their own and not distract the reader with other stuff. There's other scenes that are happening during the timeskip, and we'll get to them in the next chapter. As for this chapter, that's right, Javik is here. Now let's try to get him in the same room as Roy and see what happens. Also, I hope that, with the interview, now you know why Aethyta and Benezia were arguing in the previous chapter.

But wait, I hear you say, did Ilos really had plans for making mass relays? If we go by the idea that Vigil was kept safe, possibly. More importantly, who the hell cares, it's all about the plausible deniability! And what does Liara want with the hanar? I'm sure many of you can already guess.

Finally, I love how Liara goes all starry eyed "please Javik, tell me more about what a bunch of imperialist assholes the protheans were!" during ME3, so I figured I'd pick it up and run with it. Not sure if it'll end with a ship or not, but I'm hoping it'll have enough chemistry for a few interesting scenes I have in mind.

Anyway, chapter took a little longer to come out, but I hope that the fact that the previous one was faster out of the gate made up for it. Fair warning, I'm unlikely to do much updating during December. It's a good time to pick seasonal work and make some cash, so I'm probably going to be quite busy till mid-Jan or so. I'll try to at least put out a short update and wish everyone a happy new year ;)

Reviews time!

RIOSHO: Vigil himself never left Ilos, Liara carries around limited forks of it to help with language and bits. Which is what Cerberus now has!

Shoytahn: Look forward to more quarians in the future, they'll start to get their three-fingered mitts in everything, and yes, for good or bad, including Kun'Xale and Daro'Xen.

Pteaset: Thanks for all the reviews! Every time a new reader drops by and goes all the way through, dropping comments here and there, puts a smile on my face :)

Mandalore Requiem, Tom712: Believe it or not (not being more likely if you read Convergence) I actually hate when bad things happen to characters in my fics. I liked Anita, I wanted her last moments to be touching and memorable, so I'm hoping by the reactions that the scene did her justice. There's going to be repercussions and changes, of course, as the next envoy to the Citadel is chosen.

Uemei: I'm at a bit of a crossroads with the geth, which I'm hoping will get resolved once the rest of the galaxy start interacting with them more. Specially given my future plans. Muahahaha! But yeah, there's several fingers digging into that pie at the same time, the interactions could be rather explosive. Speaking of your game, did the murderhobos ever calm down? :D

Valor-Derdoz: Yeah, I can see why it'll feel like an AU. Most of the characters in ME1, 2 and 3, are just not there yet to really shine in the fic, so it'll take time to get there, and I've taken liberties with the characters I've shown. Hopefully it'll be good enough to keep your interest :)

BJ Hanssen: I have a lot of threads in the air right now. A big one: What are the Krogan up to? Huehuehue.

brandonack96: There's a saying that I think applies here. New ideas don't actually supersede old ideas, people with new ideas just become the majority as the older people die off. In a sense, the quarian situation would likely slide into more acceptance given enough time. They're on Rannoch, after all, and are not being chased by anyone. Give a couple of generations living happily and prospering on Rannoch, and they might very well drift away from geth hate. The unfortunate fact, though, is that you and me both know they don't have that kind of time.

Bolondka: Thanks!

Next time one or possibly two more scenes, involving either Sheppy, lots and lots of asari melding, or possibly both. Till then, thanks a lot for reading, following, favouriting, and if you feel like it, drop us a line as a review! Ta-ta!