Epilogue: The Changing of the Leaves

Much took place after the reunion of Liara and Victoria Shepard. A flurry of activity, missions, meetings and ultimately great battles. This tale is not about those things. This story was about two people. After the Reaper war came and went, the Galaxy saved, there was peace, at least for a time.

Liara had been true to her word, staying faithfully with her heart's desire, Shepard. After all was said and done, they finally had time for themselves. Liara was still a maiden though, and her desire to travel and know more could not be satiated. Shepard would follow her here and there, never complaining and always happy just to be at her side. Victoria had become a rock, stable and sure, that Liara had learned to rely on.

They saw much in their time together. The Quarian homeworld was restored, with Shepard and Liara even spending years with Tali helping to rebuild it. The beginnings of new Mass Relays were laid down and a new age of exploration dawned. All around the Galaxy was buzzing with renewed optimism, hope, and promise for great things.

Liara and Shepard found their romance growing deeper as time went on. Eventually, Liara took a step that caused many Asari some consternation by dropping "T'Soni" and taking Shepard as her family name. Yet, as time went on it became clear that, despite her cybernetics and medical advances, Shepard's life was reaching its end.

Before the waning of their time together, Liara and Shepard began a family. The Asari felt so greedy for Victoria's being that she would have had as many children as possible with Shepard, just to preserve part of the person she loved. In the end, they had three wonderful daughters. As much as the scientists would discount an Asari daughter having traits from their "fathers", she could not help to see much of her beloved in their children.

There was Irena, the curious one. Like her mother she was a scientist at heart and always wanted to explore "new lands". She loved when as a child Shepard would take her out on great hikes when they were on Earth. They would see mountains, rivers and "secret" places where Irena would plant a tattered, handmade flag, "claiming" the ground for great explorers everywhere. With new relays being built and old ones being reactivated, Irena could not resist the urge to explore the furthest fringes of the Galaxy and beyond. It had been over 100 years since Irena had left on a journey with her human bondmate, her goal to see "where it all began", the place where the first sparks of life took place in the Universe.

Talia was the soldier. She had a stern, but kind way about her, much like Shepard. In school, she always was the protector of the weak and seen as a leader in any groups and activities she took part in. Athletic, strong and surprisingly muscular for an Asari, she rose quickly in the military life and found her role eventually as a Justicar. In her own last days, Samara had taken time to mentor Talia, and as the circle of sentient races expanded, this offspring of the "hero of the Galaxy" would make her own name as someone who dispensed justice and maintained order.

Then there was Victoria, named after her "father". Originally, Shepard had wanted a different name, but Liara insisted. They said of Victoria that the young Asari lived as though "she had only the lifetime of a human to accomplish much". From a young age, she had showed great ambition and drive. When they lived on Earth, Liara had even grown frustrated with this fiery daughter, as she was constantly dwarfing even her mother's knowledge, especially of humankind. French, Latin, German, Ancient Greek, history, poetry, literature, the young Victoria absorbed it all. She even took to speaking in archaic human manner, very proper, refined and sounding like a noble of some bygone era. Eventually, when the Galaxy fell into turmoil again, she would, like her father before her, play a critical role in bringing order and stability through her leadership. Her story is for another time though, however glorious and resplendent in imperial grandeur that it was.

Shepard. She never lived to see the great things her daughters accomplished. Liara noticed when her companion began to slow down. Age was taking its toll even as Liara was just reaching her stride in her own lifetime. Near the end, Liara spent every moment by Shepard's side, their daughters regularly rotating in to visit as they adored their father. They had many offers from different organizations to "save" Shepard. One would have cloned her, rebuilt her just as Lazarus had done. Another would have given her a robotic body, to forever live as a sentient machine. In the end, the couple themselves decided it best to let Shepard's body go into a final rest. The one measure they did take was to let her memories, her consciousness, be uploaded into the extranet, itself having been reborn as a way for all sentient beings to share a collective mind like the Geth. Victoria Shepard would live in fragments, her spirit broken up into every living being that could receive a signal from the Milky Way. She would belong to everyone.

It was the hardest moment of her life watching Shepard leave her. Until the very end she held their minds linked together, her hands desperately holding on to her beloved, feeling as finally her love drifted into a void and realizing right when her consciousness contracted into nothing, only to expand and spread across a network that touched untold numbers of beings. Liara had never cried so much in her life, she was inconsolable. Her mourning would last over a century.

Yet, Liara had to move on. She continued her work, raised their daughters and sent them out to accomplish their goals, find their happiness. She took other lovers, eventually and reluctantly. A human woman, a Quarian female, and finally even another Asari in her later days. She never considered any of them a real bond mate though, none could ever take the place of her Shepard. In her heart, there would always be a secret and hidden place, impregnable, that would contain what she felt for her life's greatest romance. Even centuries after her companions passing, Liara would still, in the dark of night or when she was alone with her thoughts, feel an aching for her smell, her skin, her being…her Shepard…

The days would finally wind down for even Liara. The world all around her had changed. She had one last journey to make before she entered into her own final rest. Earth was where the physical remains of Shepard were laid. In some lonely monument, forgotten by most except historians and a few devotees, Liara would make her final pilgrimage. Up ancient stone steps and to the top of a temple-like structure, there was the figure of the love of her life. Like an ancient king, the coffin had a top shaped into the form of Shepard, its eyes empty and staring upwards. In her hands, she held a sword, upon her head was carved a wreath.

It was jarring really, to see this quiet place of reflection nestled among the massive spires of a megapolis, a city teeming with millions upon millions going about their business, most never aware of what Shepard had done for them as any who were alive in such days had long since passed on themselves. In the solitude of this place, Liara slowly climbed the steps that lay before her. On one arm was her daughter Talia, on the other was Victoria. Usually the latter daughter would wear extravagant clothing to symbolize her stature and position, but today she wore a thin, white robe and a simple tiara. Behind them walked Liara's Asari mate, who stood apart out of respect and behind her a procession of Guardsmen, dressed in black armor. They stopped, as the last few steps were the family's to take alone.

The wind was blowing that day, a cold winter afternoon. The sun was setting, its last rays seemingly highlighting the tomb before her, gently falling on the site of Shepard's final resting place. Liara approached, a veil covering her face and her own robe flapping in the wind. Pulling herself away from her daughters briefly, she ran her hands over the carved representation of the woman who had defined her life, saved the Galaxy. Her heart felt heavy, her eyes wet with tears that had not fallen in ages. She finally rested one hand on what was to be Shepard's face. The finest handiwork had been displayed on this monument, but it could not capture what Liara sought. She sought the feeling of flesh, warmth, not stone. She stood there, her daughters at her side. They themselves could little contain their sadness, who despite their youth when Shepard lived could never forget the remarkable parent she was, how she doted on them and poured her being into raising them up.

Liara did not know what to say. So much had changed. Nearly a thousand years of life, much of it spent without Shepard, yet none of it untouched by her. The aged Asari hoped she lived in a way that would make Victoria Shepard proud, one that would never bring dishonor to her name and would only serve as a fitting testament to what a beautiful person this human had been. She had been warned by others that loving too much, especially one whose race had such short lives would make her life a great tragedy. She had endured this, as bonding with Shepard was what she had always wanted, and though the scars of Shepard's passing would never heal, she bore such as a reminder of what was, not a burden.

They stayed at this place for some time. As the night finally claimed victory over the day, the procession moved on, Liara looking back one last time. She would never again return to this place alive, although her body would finally take its place beside Shepard's, as was always their intention. They would be together again, sleeping one final time by each other's sides.

The days had gone down. Liara would breathe her last, surrounded by loved ones, and she too would embrace the Eternity that lay before her. Her consciousness also would be given unto a greater collective, to offer the wisdom and insight of centuries of living. As she felt herself fragment and then flow into the rushing stream of billions of minds, as her body lay cold and empty, what was left of her, her individuality, felt something strange. While every other part of her being was flying into unknown directions, a single part of her, a single shimmering light one might say, felt what could only be described as warmth. Liara had no physical form anymore, but at this moment she felt someone join her, she felt something against her as if she was lying next to someone. Shepard. Some part of the human had been patiently waiting all these years! These fragments of being, indescribably small, were now were overflowing with something that could only be described as love. Across the Galaxy, countless numbers of minds were filled with comfort, with peace, and with the feeling that emptiness had been filled. Liara had found her Shepard again.

So long as there were atoms left of sentient life, so then would the two remain inseparable. Until all the stars had grown cold, planets barren, and black holes eventually swallowed all into nothingness, two lovers who had been distant would never again be apart.