[Citadel, Tayseri, Eight Street Temple] Community Day (Open)

Half of Eight street had been shutdown, the traffic-flow redirected and the otherwise busy street transformed into a promenade with stalls of all kinds selling their wares while street artist and entertainers competed for the attention and credits of the crowds. It looked like drell from all over the Citadel had managed to find their way to Eight street.

And the party was only getting started...

Inside the Eight street temple there was another spectacle was going on. A couple of the main lights, had broken due to a minor power surge courtesy of the mucking about with cables to power the festivities outside.

The time-honored tradition of handing rubbish jobs to the most junior member of whatever was observed and it was so that Hadas, being the most junior priest at the temple, was given a couple of lamps and told to fix the broken ones. The young priest, truth be told, didn't mind. He knew due's had to be paid and all that, besides he did ask his seniors if he could do anything else to help.

No, being told to fix them wasn't something he had issue with, being told how however he did. It was one of the busiest days of the year for the temple, and the one with the most first-time visitors and tourists, so best behavior and practices were expected. Meaning, no biotics, no climbing along the scaffold and doing acrobatics in the rafters, imagine if children see and try to imitate or if someone of the press takes a picture and posts it on the extranet. The galaxy and certainly the temple were not for the 'jumping priest' or 'ceiling priest' memes.

So there was Hadas on a creaky ladder, in full safety gear including ill-fitting helmet – he swore they just used the human or asari model and put "for drell" on the box – sighing as he switch yet another bulb. At least he had help... the ladder was being steadied by a couple of neighborhood kids, and what seemed like a whole platoon of turian kids, about seven years old if he had to guess. One of the nurturing centers had apparently received the invitation.

"You all right up there? We still have a couple of lamps to do." One of slightly older children asked him, it was at that point he understood that he was just the designated ladder climber and lamp replacer and that she – he hadn't even learned her name – had somehow managed to take charge of the operation.

"Yeah, this one is done."

"Good c'mon down and we'll move the ladder, Laphera, go tell Mr. Kitera we might be longer," she looked up at Hadas who in turn felt strangle spurred on to move a little faster.

Sarah needed a break from the drama that had a vise grip on her personal life. A community day at an alien temple seemed to be active enough, and the smell of the food seemed to be delicious enough to grab her attention away. Hadas- Hadas.. Find Hadas and say 'hi'. The woman wandered against the bustling crowd, her knee-length sundress marked with various flowers and colorful agricultural patterns.

My feet hurt.

The blonde woman eventually made her way into the temple, hugging a violin case against her chest. She took a moment to marvel at the interior of the temple, the omnitool of her wrist lighting up and catching a rapid series of photographs of the architecture and occupants inside.

"Wow, I had walked past this place maybe a dozen times but I've never thought it would be this pretty.." She spoke aloud, making her way down the rows of seating. Catching glimpse at the man on the top of the ladder, Sarah slung the harness of her case around her neck and eased her way to the crowd of children.

"Hi, kiddos! The woman spoke with a bubbly tone. "Mind if I help?"

Hadas was halfway down but that was too slow to greet Sarah, instead the future general, (if she didn't become Primarch first,) to be addressed the blond woman.

"We have everything under control, the priest," her eyes rolled towards Hadas, "is doing a thorough job." ('Thorough Job' being turian code for 'he's competent but slow')

It was at this point the red drell was back on the ground floor and could greet Sarah properly.

"Hello," he flashed a smile, "welcome to the Eight Street Temple, if there anything –" "Okay group, let's move this ladder to the next way-point, Appius, remember to lift with your legs not with your back. Remember, teamwork makes short-work of big problems." Someone had clearly been watching My Little Moxie.

"good, anyway, as I was asking, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Reminds me of a younger me. 'I must obtain these cheese fries.' 'Set up a pattern patrol around that dance floor.'" She adopted a hard, rigid tone to her voice and straightened her back to the best of her ability, before taking a seat to ease her feet. "I'm here to play music if you want me to, and to help at all with my biotics or just look pretty, whichever comes easiest for you." She held an elbow against her knee and leaned her chin into her palm.

"I've brought my violin, as you can see, and I thought it would be nice to play again for the attendees of the temple? If you have sheet music, I can play it."

Elsewhere amid the chaos, Laykalar was taking in the sights, cheerfully losing himself amidst the press of bodies and the snatches of conversation. Before and ahead of him floated the Learned Tathissyl, senior researcher for the Greater Encompassing, who had agreed - as part of the arrangement for keeping their pilgrim vessel docked at the station - to augment the official Primacy representation at the community day festival. Apparently the assignment merely involved being present and engaging people in conversation. Knowing that this was less a job description for Laykalar and more of a personal calling, Tathissyl had invited him to accompany her. Privately, she was hoping she wouldn't regret this.

Across a nearby wall, a complex of lights gently flashed a hanar-specific welcoming statement, in a form that was both universally understandable and yet sophisticated enough to avoid being crude. Certainly the temple had been courteous in its welcome. Beneath the lights, under the wary eye of a drell who was no doubt anticipating a random rewiring in the near future, stood three busy Keepers. One of them had a strange discoloured patch on its abdomen, as though someone had spilt something on it and it had only undertaken a cursory effort to clean itself. Elsewhere, beings of all races mingled or stood around watching the proceedings, a bubbling foam of potentiality that Laykalar couldn't wait to explore.

He thought now about the drells' origins. A people to whom the great comforting expanse of the waters was a distant mythological archetype, steeped in wonder and terror both. He knew that to the drell, the ocean and the afterlife were concepts intimately linked, and represented in their surviving pantheon by the same deity. He had wondered in the past what the implications might be for the modern drell culture, having been saved during the Condensation of The Burning Globe and brought to Kahje, a world covered in ocean. What he saw around him today, though, was a culture as vibrantly alive as any he'd experienced. Even before the Reapers, the drell had known what is was to cheat death. There was much, he thought happily, to learn from them.

Tathissyl glided over to a pair of drell, who inclined their heads respectfully.

"It humbly asks pardon for the interruption, and seeks permission to address an ordained member of the temple in an official capacity".

"Of course, noble hanar".

Laykalar had never actually thought about such things before, but now it bubbled into his mind like an air pocket erupting from a sunken structure. What would it be like to have a personal drell attendant? To be involved so intimately with an alien - one to which the ocean was not a comforting reality but instead a place as strange and fearful as the depths of space, yet who joined his kind there with pride - the idea sent thrills shimmering through him. With the exception of a long-term asari bonding, what greater opportunity to find illumination through alien exchange could there be?

Some hanar, he reflected, even shared their soul name with a drell.

Laykalar realized with a slight jolt that since the loss of his home banks during the Great Tempest, there was no being alive who knew his.

The drell chuckled, "Well, I have no doubt that in time she'll have people marching around the dance floor herself, she's a natural. My name's Hadas by the way, may I know your name? Music, we could use music if you would please follow me," he quickly showed her to one of the empty niche near the front of the main hall, grabbing a chair along the way, "The acoustics are best here; our throat-singers sing for the Goddess of music here."

He ducked inside the niche and rummaged around in a cupboard, "our musicians don't use sheet music, I mean they just need to read it once and they know it for life so," he came back with a datapad, the music started simple but the songs got real complex real fast.

"When someone comes along to learn music he just reads one of these, avoid the music meant for special occasions, and the ones dedicated to one particular god or goddess except music, nobody objects to a musician to praise any of them. But, whatever you do, do not play the ones without a name… especially the song 1, 3, 8, 11, 16, 21, 22, 23, 31, 36, 41, 44, 51, 53, 55, 61, 71, 76, 80, 81, from 90 to 99, 101, 103, 111, 114, 115, 121, 131, 138, 141, 142, 149, 151, 155, 159, 161, 170, 171, 172, 174, 180, 181, 188 and… right you won't remember so just don't play anything from 193 onwards. I'm serious, don't." If Sarah's translator had drell script installed, she would quickly see why, drell didn't mince words, and with gods of war, sex, death, fertility, city and nation states, those words and by extend the music wouldn't fit a family friendly event like the community day.

He looked around, "feel free to play any other song you know, maybe it would be best... and thank you for your help but I think I need to get back before she sends a search party." he smiled.

---

"Is the other one alright?" the drell asked Laykala as he was lost in thought, the man who had just become compacted himself, nodded towards a passing priest. "That one is a priest, this one is sure the noble hanar will find the answers with the other one."

Sarah gave a nod as the priest listed off a number of songs that shouldn't be played. She sat down in the chair he suggested and slipped off her shoes, opened the violin case and began to tune and set up her equipment- The body of the instrument resting on her shoulder, the bow testing the tune of the strings. "Okay.. Uh. Just mark the ones that are festive for the event and I'll play them. If you want, I can play something.."

She played a brief moment of Bach, before resting the bow on it's side. "Like this, but that's human music. I just thought people would like to hear some; I want to be as helpful and as tolerant as I can on your beautiful culture." She pointed the bow of the violin at the priest, then adjusted one of the straps of her dress.

Hadas chuckled again,, "Right that would probably be better, just a sec." Quickly he bookmarked some pages and handed the pad back.

"Don't worry about playing Bach, or any music, we adopt other cultures quickly and make them our own."

"Perfect." Sarah took the datapad, projected the information on it onto a panel on her omnitool, and began to play traditional drell music with her violin.

Arash had rarely seen a temple so filled with life. His usual worship was in a small shrine in his apartment and his work took him to holy sites long abandoned and dead. And even regular worship didn't equal this. Every species in C-Space was obviously present and more besides. Conversations bubbled and spilled over each other from every direction and the scent of food was everywhere. Arash's stomach protested it's empty state but he couldn't eat yet. There was work to do. He held a small box under his arm protectively and almost reverently as he picked his way through the crowds. He could have jumped about and made his way easily over people's heads, but the start of the festival seemed a poor time for that.

A few strains of Bach took him by surprise and he almost stumbled into a Turian tourist before sidestepping. The music died and shifted to an old Drell hymn as he honed in on the violin. The player looked beautiful, but then humans usually did when they engaged themselves in the arts. For a moment all he could do was watch. Some days a perfect memory was a terrifying thing. But often it was worth it for something like this.

Shaking out of his reverie Arash turned and bowed slightly to the red Drell in front of him.
"Sere Hadas Kronos I presume. I'm Arash Hari. I believe we spoke on the forums previously. How may I be of assistance? Oh and before I forget... He took the box from under his arm and pulled back the lid to reveal the ancient and fragile contents. "The pottery fragments, as promised. Where would you like me to take them? Oh and Lieutenant you play beautifully."

Hadas stayed motionless as he heard Sarah play, it was the first time had heard anyone use a string instrument to play the hymn but he hoped it wasn't the last. He was pulled back to reality when Arash made his entrance. "Beautiful," he almost whispered before turning.

"Ah you must be Arash Hari," the priest said, nodding his head ever so slightly, "Welcome to the Eight Street Temple, may the gods give you their blessing on this day."

His eyes widened as he looked at the fragments, "wow, they are stunning. We have a display case ready for them. We can keep them safe in there..." He looked around for a senior priest, and found that the turian pint-sized general had found one, only to enlist him into fixing the lamp.

"Afterwards we can begin with the real work, the kitchen could use some more hands, it's tedious work but nobody minds you 'tasting' while you help cooking."

Another series of strokes against the violin, and Sarah slowly rose, distracted by the mention (and smell) of food. She turned to the new arrival, grabbing the neck of her violin and the bow together against her palm. "Thank you. I would have brought the cello, but.." She gestured to her visibly pregnant waistline.

The blonde pulled her hair back and took a deep breath, locking the violin back in it's case. "I have got to eat or I am going to go crazy. I'll come back and keep playing- I haven't had a truly decent meal since this morning." She planted a hand against her hip and turned to the priest. "And I need like, a good seven decent meals a day nowadays."

Kayana did not normally wear a uniform, or expect her students to wear one-but today she was decked out in full traditional wear. Leaning on a quarterstaff-confiscated from a young student who had ignored her instructions not to fool around-she looked like she had stepped out of one of the martial texts.

Not least because she was smacking her hand into her palm and giving a lecture about Discipline! And Respect For The Art Put That Down...

She was currently overseeing two small groups of students-the younger ones, who would charm simply by virtue of their age (and their high, piping voices calling out Hai!, they were adorable) and the slightly older children, who were determined to kill (or at least inflict black eyes upon) each other before their weapon demonstration. With a sigh she divided them into two lines, matched each older child with one from the junior class, and instructed them to help the young ones practice their (simple, boring, harmless) routine.

"It would seem we are in accord then. To the kitchen! I'm not much of a cook but I can prep or boil or bake whatever you need as long as you tell me what to do. As for the fragments, I'm glad there is a display case for them. For far to long I've been the only one admiring them, and I don't think they have any more stories to tell me. Other's however may yet be inspired by them. So who should I hand them to?"

An asari, a quarian, and (in defiance of comedic tradition) another asari walked into the temple, chatting quietly.

"Over this way, I think," Eafina said, prompting Ana to shift her hand from Daia's arm.

"I'm being abducted, love," she said mildly, a hand going to the elbow Eafina discreetly offered.

"Can't help you, she's my boss too," Daia joked back, leaning across to quickly kiss the side of her helmet. "I'll be over this way, don't be long."

Momentarily on her own, Daia wandered in the direction of the music, just as the hymn was coming to a close. She was familiar with the style, if not the particular tune, but the instrument was one she didn't remember hearing in drell use before. Her curiosity was answered when she spotted the player closing her violin case.

"Sarah!" she said, approaching with a wide smile. "I got to hear you play at last. It's so good to see you again." She cast a glance at the others gathered around. "Sorry to intrude. I was just meandering through with my bondmate and our friend, I didn't expect to spot a familiar face."

Sarah perked up considerably, turning to give the asari a quick one-armed hug. "Hey, you! What brings you to the Citadel? I see you've brought Ana-" She turned, reaching to give the other woman a handshake. "This is a treat, I've been looking forward to meeting you finally in person. Who's this now?" She glanced over to the second Asari.

"I'm Sarah Thompson, I'm a friend of Daia's, I'm here because I heard they mentioned food on the flyer." She crossed her arms across her bump and raked her fingernails against an itch on her right forearm. "I take it you girls just got here? Have you been to the Hungry Tides or any place that isn't my ex wife's?" She spoke with a bluntness, but added a quick grin, as if she was trying to take it all in stride.

She snapped her fingers and moved her free hand to her chin in thought. "Where are my manners.."

"Let me see here.." She turned towards the priest. "I'm pretty sure this is Hadas.." and then to the archaeologist. "And this handsome fella is Arash, he's here to bring in items and keeps mentioning food, so I pretty much love him right now."

The children in training had gotten themselves a more unusual spectator this time. Perhaps they had noticed it by now, perhaps they hadn't. Experience dictated that once younger organics made notice of the platform, they either mobbed around it and began a battery of questions or fled to their guardians. Flash of Light preferred it's presence would not disturb this exercise.

Still, it had questions for the oldest drell in charge. Once she had given out the orders and had the children training, the geth approached her discreetly.

"Is it common for socio-religious events like these to include self-defense exercises?"

"Bliss Festival, naturally," Daia smiled, returning Sarah's hug. "We just got in this morning - it'll be mostly meetings the next few days, but then we'll have all the work done in time to enjoy the show without feeling guilty." She glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see Ana and Eafina, and reached out a hand to her bondmate.

"You stalking me now?" she whispered, grinning.

"That's what you get for appearing in scandalous films," Ana replied quietly, taking Sarah's hand with only the slightest of pauses, and speaking up to address her: "Likewise, Daia's spoken of you." Behind her Eafina gave a brief explanation of their quick return along the lines of 'thought it was this temple that had the frescoes', before stepping out and introducing herself.

"Eafina Meressus, a pleasure to meet you."

"Our boss," Daia added. "Owner of the Dusk Oasis, and chairwoman of the Sisterhood. Not Eclipse, the other one, for escorts." Eafina rolled her eyes and chuckled, then joined Daia and Ana in greeting the two drell.

"Arash?" Daia asked, after being introduced. "The collector, with the katana? Fancy meeting you here."

"You're the head of the escort union on Thessia?" Sarah asked Eafina, after a considerable amount of time trying to find the most PC terms to use. "And here I thought you guys just elected the strongest of you as moot-king." She shrugged, trying to pass off a dry joke.

She darted blue eyes over to the other Asari, holding out her free hand once again. "I'm Sarah Thompson, biotic and drama magnet."
She pointed over the woman's shoulders, eyes widening with the moment of recognition. "And that is a geth."

"Oh I'll take care of those fragments if you want, they have put me in charge of the 'old stuff'," he chuckled to himself, "I'm a traditionalist, so it fits I suppose."

He turned his attention back to Sarah, "I think I have some," he reached into his pocket and offered her an energy bar formulated for biotics, "I use these for pick-me-ups when the munchies hit. Food should be served soon or you can stalk for a footstall outside."


"Yes I am, Pleasure to meet you three," Hadas said with a smile, towards Daia, Ana and Eafina, "welcome to the festivities, we were just talking about heading towards to kitchen, to help and raid it simultaneously."

Hadas looked his shoulder towards the geth… talking to his wife, where most people would be worried he let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry, I doubt it is just here to enjoy the festival or look at us enjoying... and if it should get out of line I have no doubt my wife can kick its ass." He turned back to the group, "I can introduce you if you want."