[Illium, Magea Cliffs] Bird songs (closed)

Taleeze knew the scenery along the skyway quite well by now. Another day, another cab ride to the penthouse but in broad daylight and with a different objective.

It had taken way too long until she found the courage to finally contact Ana directly again. That first talk had left a heavier mark on her than she had admitted at first. Over time, bits and pieces were popping into her mind, combined with bits and pieces of talks with Daia and the impressions she got from the constantly tired and seemingly cranky quarian to form a dangerous cocktail of emotions and facts. She was about to contact her before the events with the table happened and Ana’s illness afterwards had come as a well timed excuse to Taleeze.

This realization led to a considerable amount of shame and … yes, pity, Ana had been partially right about that, but in fact she had pitied Ana, something that she had wanted to avoid from the beginning. This had her gather the energy to finally do something about all this and try to get rid of the toxic waste inside her mind. She had sent an in hindsight really stupid message but still. It was completely unlike Taleeze to be so insecure but Ana had triggered something that few people had. Granted, the calibre had been a heavy on that day.

Taleeze had spent a few hours thinking about this, and it was clear that Daia also had a bit to do with this as well. Taleeze felt like overstepping boundaries and Daia was delivering the Ana image in bundles of bubble wrap, all careful and delicate. It was as if Ana had become a porcelain image in Taleeze’s head, something that she most likely wasn’t, despite her injury and condition. Taleeze wanted to find out. You can’t have a second hand friendship.

She had picked up a few slices of sandwiches and something to drink for herself and two containers of purified water and two varieties of nutripaste for Ana. The grocery store near the hotel carried a selection of quarian food pasts and she just hoped one of them would be acceptable. Compared to last time at the penthouse she had a completely different get-up. Outdoor shorts, T-Shirt and boots, no girlish showing off necessary with Ana.

While playing with the bag in her lap, she mused that not only she had taken a lot of Daia's time lately but that Daia had also most of hers. At least she had been the biggest influence on her, the times with Vale or her new co-workers being limited and/or sexually motivated. She should spend more time with others and this may as well start today and especially with Ana, who she really wanted to be closer to, for some reason.

Maybe this whole situation was, because she had hoped that the search would progress faster but the few notes she had received from the network had been instantly recognizable false alarms, so she would have to exercise patience and a wider social life besides work would help, especially for a change with someone who was sexually taboo, like Ana. On the other hand... Oh, there already.

The Talbot was gone, the Jag was sitting alone on his spot. Just as intended. Taleeze stepped out of the cab, which left the platform behind her, into the bright sun of a Nos Astra early afternoon. She slung the bag over her shoulder and approached the door, triggering the signal.

"Taleeze Driana is present at the front door."

"Thanks, Sasha."

Under most circumstances this would not have been a good day to call on Ana'Therion; after an unexpectedly poor performance against Cerastes the previous night (and a commensurate amount of drinking) she had spent the morning rather hung over and a little dazed. Thankfully Daia had spent the previous night out, or else the asari would likely have been worried sick when Ana hadn't come home until morning; as it happened, she'd been fortunate enough to get home first. Either way, she'd had a bit of a headache and was as under-the-weather as usual.

Things were a little different today, though. Last night's conversation about her relationship had been...much more personal than they tended to be, thanks to the booze. Some things that she'd been reluctant to admit had surfaced, and while those truths had disturbed and frightened the quarian (who was easily prone to anxiety, let's face it), they had also given her a certain feeling of empowerment. With the problem out and acknowledged, it wasn't as much of an unknown - or unacknowledged, to be more realistic - factor. She could address it...somehow. Yeah, figuring out how to do that would take a little more work.

For this reason, Ana was feeling more optimistic and upbeat than usual, and the idea of a trip to the Cliffs sounded appealing. Taleeze had been a good friend to Daia, after all, and that was enough to make her okay by Ana'Therion (resentment over Daia's 'new best friend' notwithstanding). So she'd stashed a purified water canister on her belt, thrown on some comfortable boots with hiking sole fittings, and prepared to set off.

"Hi Taleeze," she said, opening the front door. "Daia's at Apricity, I think - I left her a note saying I'd be out with you." Hang on, manners. "Thanks for inviting me out. I haven't been to the Cliffs before, so this'll be interesting, I think. Did you want to take the Jag? I can't drive it, obviously, but..."

The offer was quite clear.

If Taleeze would have known she’d deal with a hung-over Ana today, maybe she would have given herself a facepalm for extra bad timing. But since she had no idea, we will never know.

“Hello, Ana! Did you rest well?” Taleeze hailed in a joyful voice, and gave an enthusiastic wave, just to make the intention of the motion clear. Ana looked like her usual self, at least not fresh out of bed or exceptionally tired, not more than she usually looked anyway. Just the seemingly more stable footwear was small difference.

“Oh, you know me… of course I’d love to take the Jag. I would never ask but also never decline the offer of course! It will be a pleasure.” Taleeze had indeed hoped for the small chance that Ana would want to take her sportscar but she wouldn’t have placed a bet on it.

She smiled like a kid as Ana unlocked the car and both climbed in, Taleeze on the right, where the controls were. She had never understood why the humans had varying positions for the control elements in their vehicles, Daia had explained it which the age of the models and varying cultural habits. Sill, odd.

The bag had found a spot behind the seats, the Jaguar being not as spacious as the Talbot. Taleeze was feeling the leathered steering wheel and where here bare thighs were making contact with the seat, she could eel the leather instantly warming to her skin, an exceptionally pleasant feeling each time.

“You have never been to the Cliffs with Daia?” Taleeze mused while starting the engine. A bit different than the Talbot, not the original motor anymore of course, but a custom mounted skycar drive. It was a tad more aggressive and the sound that the designer had implemented had very strong resemblance to that growl that underlined Ana’s own voice. Taleeze chuckled on the realization.
“I was wondering actually, since it was on a list of places outside Nos Astra that she gave me. But hey, so we both are new to the place, even better.”

The car lifted off and Taleeze entered a skyway with manual controls before handing over to autopilot. The handlings was very direct and a bit harder, more sporty. A very good feeling to have it follow her exact motions on the wheel. She synchronized her Omnitool with the navigation system and transmitted their destination, while continuing talking.

“I have a detailed map. There is a visitors parking area on one end of the cliff. We will arrive there but, if you don’t mind it, we can walk a couple of minutes to a spot that’s more across the middle area of the wall where the birds nests are. Looks pretty on the holos, there will be woods so we can decide to sit in the shadow or the sun. I have packed a blanket and a bit of provisions, you can check later it’s something for you. I got told by the shop assistant all nutripaste is tasting the same anyway but I assume, there are preferences we can’t really relate to I bought a couple…” Taleeze was making an indicating motion with her thumb over her shoulder, where the bag was. She was the looking at Ana’s boots. The quarian obvious seemed to have taken a bit of hiking into account.

“The trail should be smooth. But how is it for you on unknown terrain in general? Anything we would have to pay special attention to?”

Ana was determined to make this a good day. So far, they were off to a promising start; it was pleasantly warm in the skycar, and having not taken it out in forever, being able to hear the purr of the engine again was delightful. Good - the better everything went with Taleeze, the more likely that she could try talking to Daia soon. A little success, after all, was always encouraging.

Plus she didn't really know the asari beyond casual acquaintanceship. Well, that could be changed.

"I haven't been, although I know Daia has," she answered, having to raise her voice a bit to be heard over the Jag's thrumming. "Prior to the war, I didn't really go to Nos Astra often - uh, this Nos Astra, of course. I wish I had, heh. It would've made figuring out how to get around a lot easier in those first few months if I'd had a measure of familiarity with the city."

The Cliffs sounded like a nice diversion. It had been astute of Taleeze to pick an attraction that wasn't totally visual in nature. Ana chuckled a little at the thought of being taken to, say, the art museum, and the awkwardness that would follow. That line of thought ended quickly, though, as the asari mentioned the nutripaste.

"It...does more or less taste the same, really," Ana said. "But thanks. You're a dear. I have some water with me, but it'll be nice to not hike on an empty stomach. As far as stuff to watch for on the trail goes, well...it'll be slow going with me, unless you want to lead me along. I should be fine if it's just a trail, but if you could keep an eye out for loose gravel, branches, anything I can't really pick up on the sensors, that would be great. I'm hoping to finish this with under three 'Ana trips and wipes out' incidents."

As they settled into the parking lot and Taleeze turned off the engine, Ana climbed out and stretched her back. It was quiet for a moment as she listened to the distant calls of wildlife, and then at last: "Huh. Even from this distance, it sounds pretty. So, where to, Expedition Leader?"

Taleeze had taken the liberty of manually taking the car off the skyway and to the minor lines that crossed over to the wildlife area, kind of a park landscape just outside the city, a lot of woods with clearings, some of them containing small lakes and the spectacular, several hundred meter long and about forty, fifty meter high cliff of reddish stone. It’s natural cavings and ledges being the nesting place for the famous Tinas birds. That was what Taleeze was observing from above and Ana could not, as Taleeze realized painfully.

“No prob,” Taleeze replied at Ana's remark about the food. “I grabbed a few sandwiches so I needed something for my company. I also have some more purified water, just in case.” She let the matter about taste rest for now, maybe she could ask Ana about that later. She wondered if there was something of a traditional quarian cuisine left after the centuries.

She parked the skycar at the almost empty parking lot. Only two more cars were there and nobody else in sight, just as the Extranet had promised for this day and time.

Taleeze grabbed the bag and exited the car. Ana seemed to be in quite a good mood and relaxed, which in response made Taleeze feel good and relaxed herself. This was supposed to be about the two of them having a good day after all.

She checked her Omnitool. “As a matter of fact, the trail is leading north, quite straight and looks fairly clean.” Taleeze pointed with her extended arm. “Park Office seems to take care here. We aren’t supposed to divert too much into the wild anyway since it is a preserve.” She had no idea, if Ana wanted to be helped at all, she had never seen Daia leading Ana.

Taleeze's eyes wandered over to the swooping curve of the cliffs that rose over the woods. There she could make out a couple of dark spots circling and singing their long, wailing tunes, that mixed with the chirping and humming of the insects much closer.
“Yep, sounds magical. Kind of sad and speaking of promises at the same time. But wait until we are at the center of the amphitheater.”

“We have all the time, so no hurrying needed. I don’t know if you even like such kind of help from me but I’d gladly offer my arm.” She stood left-hand of the quarian and offered her the extended elbow and forearm. “No tripping or wiping necessary at all if you ask me.”

"Cool. Just let me know if you see a stick in the way or something, I suppose."

Ana reached out cautiously towards the person-sized tactile sensation and thankfully managed to avoid accidentally nudging Taleeze in the stomach or something equally embarrassing, catching onto her elbow on the first try. Carefully getting a more comfortable grip (she didn't want to get too familiar with the poor asari, after all, but not being able to see the person you were touching made it risky business), she linked arms with Taleeze and they started up the trail.

"This was a good idea," Ana began as the two set off. Her steps were hesitant at first, but quickly began to grow in confidence as she made it further and further without tripping on an errant gravel patch. "I mean...well, my disability makes me kind of a bad candidate for a lot of traditional rec activities, you know? There's some exceptions, mind - Daia was thinking about going to the theater in the future, and I'd be up for it since asari theater's as much a musical experience as a visual one. But the point is, I'm a pretty joyless person to catch a vid with, heh. This is nice, though; I'm really looking forward to hearing the birds. You'd be amazed how adept your hearing gets when you can't see."

That had been a bit much at once, and so the muscles in her face protested a little. Ana shook her helmet, swallowing (her mouth was dry from all the talking, ugh). Better to let Taleeze lead the conversation instead of monopolizing it - this outing had been her idea, after all, so she was technically the host.

"So how's it been going, Taleeze?" she asked, turning her head to 'glance' at the asari as they walked. "We don't really get a lot of opportunities to catch up, between conflicting work schedules and me sleeping constantly. Are you adjusting well to Nos Astra?"

Smiling, Taleeze observed Ana accepting the arm without much business about it. So relaxed. An evil in her mind had played with the idea that Ana would not accept the help and make a fuss, but none of that. The way the quarian was seeking the grip was very cautious, a bit as if feeling around in murky waters, unsure what you would find or touch. When Ana finally had adjusted comfortably, Taleeze realized that this was kind of the second time they really touched at all.
Feeling the sensitive fingers finally getting a firm but comfortable hold on her arm was a nice sensation for the asari. And off they marched.

Taleeze was happy that Ana obviously really liked this little adventure.
“I was in fact trying to find something that would have some value for you, and I really came across a lot of activities that are mostly visually oriented entertainment or have to do with food. This here had the distinct listening sensation as part of the attraction so I thought, I’d try it. I had no idea if you are something of a nature girl though.” Taleeze giggled a bit. “Sounds a bit funny, saying it like that. I for one, am, I grew up mostly outside and most of my life I spent on a scarcely populated planet, hanging out on the beach or so. I do like the rush of big cities though, but I need the possibility to take my time in a natural environment and that’s about more than just looks, it is the smell, the sounds, the feel of the ground under your feet, or, in my case often the water.” In fact, the air was completely different than in the city itself. A lot of plants were in constant bloom on warm Illium so there was a great mix of scents and accompanying that, the buzzing of insects. Those kept to themselves and the plants though, which was pleasing.
“So, I am happy the idea was a good one.”

“But, yeah, what about me, huh? I guess I have settled in Nos Astra quite well. It certainly has an asari metropolitan feeling about it, much more like my birthplace Monoi, than Astella, just by it’s size and buzzing. Daia has given me long lists and hints where to go and what to look at, I still couldn’t do it all. What’s mostly different is the amount of aliens like humans or batarians. You find them not so often deep in asari space.” She thought about Nevos, a holiday planet, but prior to the war still mostly for asari and turians. Humans were become a bigger factor now though, with them being physically so similar to asari, that adaptation was going to be easy probably.

“Working at the Apricity also helps. It was like getting introduced to a small family, all of them are helpful and nice. I like the work there pretty much, in fact it’s better than most arrangements I had on Nevos and I seriously thought about what to do about that when I return there.” When I return to Nevos
Taleeze cleared her throat.
“Yeah, that’s still the plan, although I have no idea, when this will be or… how this will turn out.” She added a dry laugh. “You know, to be really honest, I have no idea what’s going to happen with my fantastic idea to try and track Freh’ya down. I put a lot of hope in the network of the Sisterhood and everything else is patience for now. Not much I can do, other than wait for a lead. I cannot afford a real information broker – you know, any of the real good ones. I even thought about posting on CDN but that got canned pretty fast.” She laughed again, this time on a bit of a higher note.

“But actually, Nos Astra and a some of it’s inhabitants”, she squeezed Ana’s hand the tiniest bit on this remark “have left it’s mark on me already and in my future plans this place and you guys will always play a role.”

They had reached the woods by now. The sun was shining through the foliage overhead. After a small pause Taleeze continued.
“Daia has just become the best friend I had since ages.” Maybe this was a touchy subject but that’s why she had come here for.
“I just happened so naturally and so fast with her, it is just clicking whenever we plot something for the club or the show for example. She is the one to do all the girlish stuff, shopping, dresses, shoes… It is also the talks with her… I guess you know what I mean, she has a certain way to express her thoughts – and she has many – that just fire a good discussion. In the department of love and relationship I am sure there is probably no one better anyway. She encouraged me in a special way back then to start this search and to believe in my feelings, I grateful already, no matter what the outcome.” Taleeze laughed. “I guess I have taken on some of her attitude, ‘cause I can’t imagine it going wrong at all.”

“She had a positive influence in other ways, I am a bit more open to my own sensuality again. Your office manager could tell you about that probably. Plus, she’s a sportswoman and we go play a bit of biotic ball from time to time, I found a nice sporting ground on top of one of the skyscrapers.”

“So, all great and good in Nos Astra for Taleeze!” she added a small jump to that sentence only to realize she startled Ana. “Sorry, goddess, just joy! Everything okay! We are almost there anyway.”

She had been chatty and it had been a lot of really unimportant fluff. There was Ana beside her, a woman that had serious real problems. Had she been carried away a bit? But then, why not let Ana know that she felt good. No need for her to act all gloomy, just because. That was the honest Taleeze after all. And she decided to stick with it, happy to be able to be like that again.

The birds were circling above, not visible through the trees but audible. The wailing sounds being answered by chirping voices.

“But what about you? Daia told me you studied on Thessia! That sounds quite extraordinary, being a quarian – no offence, I am aware that your people was not really on the top of the list lately. How was the move to Illium for you?”

Daia was a good friend, wasn't she? It wasn't the first time Ana had heard a spiel along those lines - a lot of the asari's natural talents (honed as they were by her profession) parlayed into a talent for social interaction.

"She has that effect on people, yeah," she said, growing gradually more confident in her strides as they progressed down the trail. "I'm sure some of it is job experience, but a lot is just who she naturally is; she listens well and she goes out of her way to do things for people. Daia's a hell of a person to have on your side. Easy on the eyes, too." She snickered ruefully. It felt like forever since she'd seen her bondmate outside of a meld, but that unfortunate turn of phrase had been the first one that came to mind.

As an afterthought, she made a mental note to ask about Freh'ya later. Not right now, of course, the conversation was still light how-do-you-do type stuff. Maybe when they ate. Perhaps seeing Ana's interest in how the search was going would encourage Taleeze. As someone who'd undergone a period of separation herself, Ana'Therion knew better than some how much that sucked, and to not know whether your partner was even alive...mrrrgh.

"Well, regardless of whether you eventually move on, it's good to have friends. Not just Daia, but everybody at Apricity. You're right, they're a welcoming bunch; always nice to me back when I worked there, especially despite me needing a little more accommodation because of the quarian thing--" One of Taleeze's offhand comments registered just then, and she misstepped and nearly tripped. "Is that where Vale keeps going? Good to know she's keeping busy, at least. You know I kinda stole her for Envirometrics? It was technically accidental; she was my office manager in Health Directorate during the war, and then when I left to go private-sector again, I guess she wanted to follow. So one day a message shows up in my inbox asking if we need someone in a coordinator position, and well, personal experience kinda spoke for itself."

Huh. A thousand little coincidences, all around. Not hugely surprising, since Taleeze had been around the offices a couple times, so of course they would've met. Well, it was good. Vale needed some friends; she was a nice girl, but a bit overly intense about her job.

Thankfully, she felt Taleeze tense up a second before the asari leaped for joy (the gradually-upward tone of her sentence was another useful hint), and as such was ready and didn't fall over. As the birds began to chirp above them, Ana felt her shoulders dropping a little more. Nice and relaxing, just as she'd expected.

"It's actually not as extraordinary as it sounds," she admitted. "Higher learning has always been a little more inclusive in terms of racial inclusions - we'd like to say that we're totally past that kind of thing in the postdoc world, but that's not always true - and Erana in particular kinda put the 'liberal' in 'liberal arts'. I mean, my graduating class at the hooding was ten asari, seven salarians, two humans, me, and an elcor."

Idly, she wondered what had happened to said elcor. She would've probably been quite satisfied if she were aware of the truth.

"Anyway, my PSEE scores were pretty obscene, if you don't mind me bragging, and the head of the psych department was kind of a friend of a friend of a relative, so I figured I'd network and set up an introduction, and I guess I made a good enough impression that it influenced my acceptance. This was eight or nine years ago, mind, before...well, everything. It was a bit of a culture shock, and not terribly convenient (being dextro and all), but I learned a lot of things about myself, and I sure as hell published enough that they liked having me around, heh. Plus it made moving here easy enough; live on one asari world for six years and you're pretty much set for any asari world ever."

Although Ana had briefly considered regaling Taleeze with her publication history, she somehow restrained herself (with great difficulty; that was a strong urge for academics, ex- and otherwise). They had come out to have a nice trip to the Cliffs, not to sit through a ten minute story about properly modeling treatment implementation and how to code the results while staying internally valid.

Taleeze checked her Omnitool, it was just a couple of minutes more further down the trail. She did notice the choice of words from Ana.
“Easy on the eyes is no description. Even for an asari – you probably know that best – she has this bodily presence. So, whenever we are shopping, it can get funny when the clerk is talking to me but looking at her. My pride would be so hurt normally but not with her, strangely enough.” She looked over at Ana and down as she walked next her, naturally and stable, her head turning about, as if looking. Maybe the sensors gave a better impression when you where moving the emitter, she would have to ask about that later on. She was genuinely interested in the technology.
What she saw was quite a looker itself, the petite quarian was sporting all the attractive features that her people was known for. And she knew how Daia was talking about her.

“So Vale is your addition? Yes, she is indeed a very smart girl. I took her out that day when I had the Talbot, which really got her for me I think.” She remembered the two intense days down at the coast, Vale had been very passionate but had been on duty in time the next day as she had heard from Daia.
“She was all like – no way, you got the car of the BOSS – kind of all caps. It is a real casual thing, relaxing to be with her.”

“And, yeah, I think she enjoys the sporting activities. I’m, happy to keep your employees in good shape.” She giggled.

She thought for a moment about the comparison of Illium and the republics worlds she knew.

“Illium sure is like an asari world on the outside but the inner mechanics are quite a bit different from a republics world, I have noticed as much. It is a bit more … sinister in some places. Not that Nevos is all honest and neat. The planet is also a bit notorious for being a playground for shadowy organisations. Maybe that is the case everywhere where you have such large clusters of entertainment industry. I was just telling Skylar this when we talked about the Sisterhood, that I have seen a few quite dubious establishments and I think, Nevos could need the influence of the sisterhood as well. But all in all, Nevos isn’t as corporate as Illium of course.” Taleeze chuckled. “You probably know about the contracts thing being a bit infamous in the republics? It was kind of funny when Eafina offered me the contract, in the end it all came down to trust and personal judgement that Daia was not selling me or something.”

Ana had told her about her field of study. Taleeze knew that Ana had been a psychotherapist before. She didn’t know the reason why this had stopped, but she assumed the better pay as Dominatrix and in the end the injury had ended this career.

“To be honest, this is the first time I am walking with a psychotherapist arm in arm! Everyone expects a quarian to be an engineer of some sorts and look at us, you have the degree in psychology and I am the engineer and we both are pursuing different fields of activity now. But as a matter of fact I even got the chance to combine engineering with the entertainment world, since I am developing the hard- and software for the electronic costumes, based on tactical cloak and tech armour elements. I actually like it in more ways than one, as it is salvaged tech from the war that now gets a very definitive civil use. That’s an important aspect for me.”
The war… grand topic she never talked about with Daia. She couldn’t really since Daia had stayed civilian. She decided to take the full dive.

“You know, I actually never talk about the war and what I saw with Daia. This is the one thing that just never comes up. Daia is all about the civilian side of things, the bright future. It is a bit difficult though as it comes back sometimes, dreams or just everyday situations that give you a reminder about certain situations. Sometimes I wished I could talk, sometimes I am happy I don’t have to….”
She looked down directly at the opaque faceplate, hiding an everlasting memento of that war. Taleeze wondered, how Ana made sure that the faceplace not accidentally went to clear.

“Well…. I do wonder about your suit sensorium equipment to be honest. I’ll just be nosy now, so beat me, if it’s not okay! I don’t know much about those suits in general but I figured, and Daia told me a little bit, that you have a set of really advanced sensors in there? How does the transmission work, is that like audio or directly converted into brainwaves or something? You move along just normally, if I can say so. And granted, I was trying to avoid holes, but your movements are not that slow either, we made good time.”

Taleeze stopped, as they had reached the point where the Cliffs were swooping to each side at about the same distance, facing the woods in a concave manner as if forming a natural amphitheatre. A grassy area of about fifty meters lay between the vertical stone wall and the woods. The path was entering the open in a shallow righthand curve.
“We are there, this is the innermost spot of the amphitheatre, there is the best acoustic. I’ll prepare a blanket in the grass to sit on.”

She untangled the arm carefully and dropped her bag to a spot that was half sun, half shadow from the foliage and unpacked the picknick blanket. She flipped it open to spread and then guided Ana to the spot to sit down.

The birds where flying in and out of the crevices, chirping and wailing and going about their bird business, their sounds echoing from the walls, just as the guide had described, while the insects crawled and buzzed in the plants. Nobody had tripped.

Ana'Therion did not need to be reminded about the dubious nature of Illium's employment policies. Her experience with them was still fresh in the back of her mind.

"Trust me, I'm familiar with the indenturement approach," she murmured. "Health Directorate basically tried to enslave me when the war and cleanup ended - I had a traditionally asari position and they didn't want a quarian staying in it without a political safety measure. Hence, Envirometrics."

It wasn't bad. She was basically a glorified secretary, roughly on par with Vale in terms of job importance, but considering that most of Ana's skills and experience were difficult to fit into an Envirometrics position, it was the best she could've done.

"Technically, you're not actually walking with a psychotherapist, not anymore. You have to be board-licensed in order to practice, and I've been lapsed for...well, years now. But yeah, either way, I'm sure you could run rings around me if we talked engineering. I mean, being a quarian, of course I know some things - it's not like some kind of genetic thing, just that growing up on a ship you quickly learn how to help out with any basic engineering needs that need covering - but my expertise is limited to the basics. I think the specifics of the outfit you've designed would be a little over my head."

The trilling of birds overhead was becoming louder and more pronounced the further they went. Ana assumed there was something about the way the preserve was structured that amplified the acoustic effects. It was a pretty little cacophony, and not for the first time she was pleased with her decision to improve her audio firmware and speakers.

Speaking of which... "Ah, the suit?" Well, there was something they could make conversation on easily. "Not okay at all, get on the ground. No, just kidding. I wasn't really familiar with it when I first heard of it, apparently it was designed specifically for quarians with visual disabilities, which I can't imagine is a particularly wide market. Basically, the software works in conjunction with proximity scanners in the suit. The scanners send out a radar field in a three-meter radius around me, and anytime something breaks that field, the suit interfaces with my nervous system and delivers a simulated tactile sensation, kind of like it does when something touches the suit's exterior."

As Taleeze directed her to the blanket, Ana carefully sat down and stretched her legs out. Feeling around, she figured out the blanket's boundaries, then set her hands behind her and reclined a little.

"The intensity of the sensation is contingent on distance from whatever breaks the field, so I had to learn how to differentiate close objects from distant ones. That, combined with getting a three hundred sixty degree radius of input...I mean, I can change it to a cone instead of a sphere, but then I don't know if I'm about to back up into something...anyway, all of that at once made it a hell of a thing to get used to. But, I mean, what other options do I have? A cane, like it's the fucking iron age? The benefits make up for the learning curve, I think."

Ahhh, this was nice. She'd started to become a bit fatigued, so sitting down had been welcome, and here in the amphitheatre, the songs of the birds overhead were vivid, layered. Ana relaxed, listening to the trills and chirps overhead, and briefly lost herself in the canopy of sound.

Taleeze unpacked the container with the sandwiches, the tubes of nutripaste (Ana was right, words like “taste X” or flavor Y” weren’t anywhere on them, just the contents and nutrition facts) as well as the water containers. She placed it between the two of them.

“The water and food is here.” She made a waving motion over the things to indicate. “Help yourself.” Taleeze just took a gulp from her own water bottle, assuming that Ana would ask for help without hesitation if needed.

She stretched out her own legs and lay down on her back, the bag tucked under her head.

The nature sank in now, it was all very relaxing. There were actually two topics going on that interested Taleeze very much. Ana’s history and her position in life as well as her coping with the handicap and the suit. Out of the spur of the moment, after a few minutes of (relative) silence, Taleeze began describing the scenery.

“The sun is about one quarter down, coming from behind us, going down over the woods. That means, the shadow will crawl up to us but the vertical cliff in front of us is in bright sunlight, clouds are about one tenth or less. We are about forty, fifty meters away, the grass we are on reaches right to the stone wall. It is as if there was a rupture in a green carpet and a giant fold. The stone is very reddish, or a dark orange with dark gray sprinkles. It’s height at this point is forty meters – I have that from the extranet. There are currently seventy nesting pairs of birds in the crevices – and I think they all are singing at the same time. The cliff itself is a concave form, extending a few hundred meters left and right, descending to ground level, this provides a good arena of sound. There is not one other hiker in sight but the birds are constantly flying back and forth.”

She had no idea if this was worth anything but that’s just that with some things.

“The suit sounds fascinating.” Taleeze closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like. But this is something that’s not possible if you could just open your eyes at any point. “You see that’s one thing I never understood about the whole quarian bashing. I grew up with stories that went like “Oh, there is a quarian in town, hold on to your stuff!” This is ridiculous. I actually always liked your looks and the suits. A bit mysterious with the opaque faceplates and kind of always equipped, ready to take on anything, like a commando, or even more advanced – me being techie here. Plus, I have to admit, it might have to do with a preference for … tight clothing.” She chuckled. “I didn’t come across your stuff on the extranet by accident, I liked what I saw, guilty, Ma’am.” Taleeze raised both hand in a surrendering gesture that maybe was completely missing the purpose with the blind quarian. Turning her head over to Ana, she added: “That’s also one of the things that never come up with Daia, strangely enough. That is her protective side maybe, so I never talked about this with her.”

The whole trail of thoughts brought her back to beginning, to that first day.

“The way you got to me on our first day was hard for me. Maybe it was because of the angel like image I was getting from Daia, which might have been an bit exaggerated. I knew you’d be tougher.” She chuckled. “but seeing my self so reduced by you was unexpected and hurt a bit. It even made me reconsider my stance towards Daia. You maybe wouldn’t believe what an odd conversation we had on that boat that day.” Taleeze remembered it very well, but also the good ending. “Daia has become like the cool and best sister to me since then but honestly, I never really could gather my courage to ask you out like this or something. I should have done this some time ago already. It was genuine fear at some point even but today is such a beautiful day and you seem so much more relaxed and I am feeling good.” It was all falling in place. “But generally you don’t go out much, do you? I almost never hear Daia talk about something along those lines anyway.”
Now take the fast lane before something stupid comes out of this.
“You mentioned Theater earlier. I’d like to go sometime with the two of you, I know Nos Astra has a couple of really impressive houses and it’s almost a shame that so far I couldn’t get to any more cultural heights than an arts exhibition where Vale knew the gallery owner.”

“I’d like to enjoy some classical drama again. I liked language subjects at school, I liked reading the old dramas. I was a bit of an odd job as I combined mathematics with fine arts classes.” Taleeze remembered the days at her school and university when so many had just innocent dreams of what to make out of their lives. “What saved my stance as cool with the other students probably was, that I was a crack at sports.” She chuckled, again.

Time for a sandwich.

Taleeze's description of the landscape vaguely registered in Ana's head as she basked in the sunlight. Her mind's eye drew a surreal dreamscape, almost exaggerated in its proportions, with each new detail. It wasn't particularly close to the real deal - this wasn't Taleeze's fault, Ana was half-daydreaming and unfocused - but it helped her to relax a little more. Feeling around for a nutripaste tube, she slotted it into her helmet's intake port, but didn't release the seals quite yet.

"Eh, historically we tend to scavenge a lot," she mused, "and if that involves some less than totally fair deals or moving out some things that people wouldn't immediately miss, so be it. Not like the Fleet would be coming back anytime soon, y'know? With that said, those days are probably at an end - with Rannoch and all, there's less of a need to scrape together resources any possible way. Give it a couple generations and perceptions will probably be totally different." Twisting the tube, she popped its seal open and sucked down a mouthful of nutripaste. Bland, as always, but nothing she wasn't used to. "Yeah, at this point it seems like everybody I meet has seen those. It works in my favor, I think. Teaches them a little fear."

Under the visor, she half-smiled. It wouldn't do to go throwing that kind of joke around; people were liable to take it seriously. She did deadpan rather well, after all.

"That was a joke," Ana clarified. "You don't need to be afraid of me, regardless of the impressions you get from me. That first day was a misunderstanding, nothing more." She took another swallow of the paste. Even if the stuff wasn't much for taste, at least its texture was pleasant. "At the same time...I mean, of course Daia would've presented an image of me that was a little more idealized than reality. The point is, though, that you shouldn't really lean towards any particular extreme. I'm just a person. Barely that, even, these days - you're right that I don't really do much anymore. It's hard to get up the energy for it, a lot of the time."

Lying down, at least, was helping to stave off the tired feeling that usually crept in by now. Ana relaxed, and ignored the protests of her cheek muscles. Maybe once she had the food in her, she could use a couple painkillers.

"Nothing wrong with branching out a little. I was a sports/academics type too - psych and martial arts, so it was a little different, but yeah." Cautiously, the quarian rolled onto her side to 'look' at Taleeze, and rested the side of her head on a folded arm. "So how's the search for your girlfriend going? Anything I can help with yet, or...?"

Taleeze noted the almost sleepy relaxation of Ana, when she looked over. Physical wear out seemed to be extensive when she talked, given the nature of the injuries to the facial structure – Taleeze very vividly remembered Ana's description on their first meet – this was to be expected. Wasn’t there anyone who could really help her with the pain? Surgery was so advanced these days and was seemingly getting better by the day. She also made a mental note to check with Jolina on Sanves within the next days. In a combat the two of them shared, the other asari had lost both her legs, shot to pieces by a ravenger. The first attempt at cloning didn’t go as expected and she was still using mechanical assisted prostheses but was in a fairly good overall mood, the last time they spoke. Maybe she could relate to what Ana was going through.

It was really hard to imagine Ana as a salvager. Fitted into the corporate world of Illium as she was, and being settled in their spacious penthouse with someone like Daia, Ana seemed like an antithesis of the old quarian image. How much and how fast would time change this for the quarians in general? Would their numbers grow, their culture prosper and flourish again? If she’d get a chance, Taleeze would have loved to discuss aspects of quarian culture. But maybe the hurt of Ana would be too great, since most of it seemed lost for her now. Nonetheless Taleeze made a mental note about the fact that Ana had mentioned sport. She’d really like to know what the quarian was still capable of.

“I am not afraid of you.”Taleeze said very softly, turning her own head, to observe her mirror image in the visor. “Not exactly, as in you [/]doing[/i] anything to me, but more like me doing something to you. Doing something to hurt you I mean, and the fear of you thinking of me as if I’d try and screw around with, and befriend Daia was a bit much maybe. It is hard to see you lose your energy so fast and to have the feeling of adding to your wear out by annoying or angering you would be really the worst for me.”

“I’d rather do something that improves your well being in any way. I have the feeling this here adds to it, actually, so todays objective achieved, I guess, for both of us.”

She took a sip from her water.

“I don’t know if I tend to only see extremes. It is true that I am always approaching from the positive angle but that might be just nature.” And one of the things she shared with Daia, maybe not the same exuberance and extreme approach but still. She had to smile. “And don’t you talk to me about extremes. In that regard you may be a bad example yourself – but, yeah, on the other hand, maybe indeed a good adviser just because of that.” Maybe it had been a bad idea to watch Ana’s movies again so shortly before her departure to Illium back then – Shriek in particular maybe, but it had all been far too tempting.
Taleeze was past that crass image long now, despite in hindsight, the split portrayal in that particular piece added to certain facets of the whole picture by now, some puzzle pieces still being lose and might as well stay that way forever. She wondered if Daia would ever mention this thing to her. She knew better than to bring it up on her own.

“What I am trying to say is, I’d never do a thing that is bad for the two of you. Daia seems to be your best medicine and that’s just the truth.”

Ana had been asking about Freh’ya, which Taleeze noted as a nice touch. It sounded like genuine interest. She continued without much of a pause.

“Speaking of medicine, thanks for asking about Freh’ya.” Taleeze let out a sigh. “Yeah, I am kind of at a standstill, though I think about it a lot when I am on my own. The network is out there but nothing in yet that’s usable: There are a few occasional postings coming in but none legit so far. It is strange, I never gave the whole asari quantum entanglement thing a really big thought before the war. I mean, we asari do tend to hold lose contact with relatives with often long gaps in between. We always kind of know about their well being due to the connection that is left in us on the quantum level, all the leftovers from intense melds. I have no idea how much you are into all of this actually.”

Taleeze had no clue that she was talking to someone who’d rather not have so much experience with leftovers from melds.

“Anyway, intense melds or special techniques can leave connections on a quantum entanglement level, especially so between mother and child or sometimes between lovers – hah, that probably means, Freh and I must have melded quite heavily at one point.” She chuckled. “There is a whole genre of romance novels about this actually, quite popular in asari space but largely unknown and irrelevant elsewhere. So, to just get to the point, I do just know, she’s out there, the faintest feeling, unable to put a finger to it.” Saying this aloud made her actually feel a bit as if reenacting a romance novel, which was a bit of a cheesy feeling. “Do I sound like a hopeless romantic?” In a way she was, she admitted to herself, actually not ashamed of it.

“I don’t know if you can do something special, beyond what’s already done, but thanks for asking. The Terminus is so big and she could be anywhere doing anything.” Taleeze became a bit sad over the thought that Freh’ya maybe sat somewhere, thinking the same things, that vast empty void between them. She just couldn’t imagine otherwise. That would have been the part where she’d usually ask ‘did I ever show you a picture?’ A bit of a mute point in this case.
“What could it be that drives a well decorated republics commando away from all she has ties to? Away from all that made her world worth living in, made up her values of life? I cannot accept the explanation that she’s just fed up about the republics and has gotten adventurous or something.” She had sounded a bit more concerned than she wanted. “If you’ve been living with someone for twenty years, you think you know a bit about them, don’t you?”

"Fair enough. Yeah, people always tend to assume I'm fragile. It used to be a lot more maddening than it is now, but eventually I came to terms with not being quite as durable anymore."

Ana'Therion arched her back, stretching a little, and then relaxed back down to the ground.

"Not to say I'm ungrateful; I know people mean well. Still, the impression that other people naturally think of me as 'less than whole', along with...well, the feeling of being less than whole, kinda stuck in my throat for a long time. It still does, to some extent. But, you know, those are the breaks." She swallowed another gulp of nutripaste. Almost done with the tube, nice. "I appreciate you looking out for me, at least. This was a nice choice of locales."

So, the Freh'ya question. Ana hadn't considered the meld effect, but it framed the search in a more hopeful light - the surety that she wasn't searching in vain was a hell of an asset for Taleeze. It was certainly more than many people, in the exact same post-war situation, had to go on.

"I'm...familiar with the phenomenon, yes," she said, one lip curling with practiced distaste. "For what it's worth, I don't actually think you sound like a hopeless romantic - you sound like a hopeful one. Which is a good attitude to have in your situation. The residual melding effects give you an advantage, after all: you know she's out there somewhere. There's probably millions of other people looking for loved ones and they don't have that kind of certainty. You're very fortunate, and I think it's good that you're accordingly optimistic." Finishing off the tube of paste, she popped it out of the intake port, then sat up and pulled her knees close, resting her chin atop them. "That's not to say everything will turn out perfectly - it rarely does - but you're more fortunate than most. Nothing wrong with that."

At the same time, there was the possibility that completing her search might not leave Taleeze as satisfied as she expected.

"With regards to knowing her...well, if I knew someone for twenty years, I'd say yes, but twenty years for you is like a year for me. With that said," and here Ana'Therion paused, choosing her words carefully, "I don't think it's that you didn't know her as well as you thought you did. I think she might have changed a little from the person you knew. That's totally normal, of course; it's a part of going through life, and big events often leave a mark on somebody, especially ones like she's just been through." She turned her head to 'look' at the asari. "You said it yourself, the war left an impact on all of us. Maybe she had some kind of experience that changed her whole outlook or influenced her behavior in some way. I'm not saying she's going to be a totally different person or a post-traumatic wreck, but she might feel altogether different, and the idea of coming home to you might seem...awkward, I guess. After all, she might be afraid that you'd feel alienated by however she's changed."

Ana hugged her knees close, contemplating alternatives. "On the other hand, maybe she hasn't. I'm only talking statistically here; there's also a chance that she's perfectly fine and looking for you just as hard as you're looking for her." She smiled beneath the faceplate. "Maybe it's just a matter of time."

In reality, it was probably a combination of both, but Taleeze did not need her parade rained on, even slightly.

"Does any of that make sense?"

“Well, you know, I was like ‘no, I sure won’t treat her any different’ and all but reality can be a bit different sometimes and it just ended up that way. It feels good to finally talk this off.” Taleeze had really appreciated the compliment about the choice of activity. “Thanks, Ana.” She laughed happily.

Funny thing, how this was developing. As a matter of fact, nobody had ever talked like this to Taleeze about the whole Freh’ya thing and honestly, she had never asked anyone. Of course, if she’d ask Daia, the answer would be Daia-style. But then, maybe… Daia was also not unfamiliar with temporary losses. Maybe she should…

It felt extremely good to get a different perspective from Ana.

“You know, I have thought about this in many directions of course. But the twenty years is still the experience of twenty real years – a bit more than eleven Nevos years to be exact but they don’t really matter as we have almost no seasonal changes, all constant climate. Anyway, yeah, I have no idea what has happened and this leaves me at the same dead end all the time. So what you say makes very much sense.” She looked up from her lying perspective into the helmeted face.
“Freh’ya used to be a commando from her earliest day, she really never could imagine anything else.” She chuckled. “You should have seen her and you know why. She is a very impressive person in real live, a bit of a standout, tall and muscular. I guess she was just physically built for any challenge. So she decided to become a huntress and went to a monastry right after school. The martial arts and huntress techniques they thought her were just one thing. All the classic philosophy, the knowledge of the old ways…. This leaves a mark on you forever. You either come out a republics commando for the rest of your life or you break and leave. The huntresses monastry thing is the harshest you can get in that regard. She was also very good with her biotics but just for kicks she sometimes took on mock fights without even using them.”
Taleeze had no idea if Ana had an idea about asari schools of war, she had mentioned her own interest in martial arts though so maybe she knew something about it to make her own judgment.
“Anyway, so she was very loyal. The asari ways meant everything to her, there was no second possibility. She could be so dense and earnest sometime.” Taleeze laughed, thinking about a few really funny moments. “But Freh was so good natured and warm….When we finally decided to try a kind of life together she went in with the same commitment. We are both maidens though – although she is a century older than I am - and we never considered bonding as an option at our stage of life so we both had our liberties in this relationship. You know, we grew to one another as a safe place, an anchor everything revolved around. You could widen your orbit at any time but you’d never leave the gravitational forcefield. We always ended up together again.” Happier times.

“So she was posted with the Guards of the Rings – the Rings of Alune, if you ever heard of them, all standing Nevos commando unit were attached to a guards battalion. When the war began to heat up for us asari with the invasions in the big places and especially Thessia, Nevos was spared at first, being of no greater importance obviously. So all our commandos rushed to Thessia. The day she got shipped out was the last time I saw her or spoke to her.”
Taleeze remembered that day as if it had been yesterday.


“I was looking up the asari archives prior to even starting out for this. What I found out is that she arrived in the middle of the heat on Thessia and a lot of dying and unit changing and emergency ordering happened until she was moved to earth for that final attack on the reapers.

Then she suddenly emerges in a listing of war heroes, but the reason was first classified and later completely erased. Not even the Matriarch on Nevos could find out any more. Anyway, she still gets money to her account as if she never left duty but nobody seems to have her on the records anymore.

I was thinking about some black ops and all that even but… she never was into all of this. She had a vivid disliking for mercenaries and guns for hire, for any dirty job. This just is not her. I wish could find out more but who ever wanted the system to forget what happened on Thessia, did a good job.”

She surely had bored Ana now with lots of details and war stories.

“I am well aware that the truth could be devastating, Ana, and I do fear it a bit to be honest. Can you think of something that is so bad, so … evil, or… distressing that you must hide away from everything and everyone that is dear to you? Why can’t she just let me in….” tears were welling up in her eyes, her voice shaking a bit.
She curled up on the blanket, pulling her knees close.

“Sorry to bother you with all of this on this beautiful day, Ana….”

“--and I do fear it a bit to be honest. Can you think of something that is so bad, so … evil, or… distressing that you must hide away from everything and everyone that is dear to you--"

"Uh, yeah," said Ana'Therion, "but we're not here to talk about the shit I've done."

It had been a lot to sit through, but this was clearly a deeply personal issue for Taleeze, and Ana knew better than most that getting that kind of thing off your chest was important. Her search had to be the most frustrating thing in the galaxy at the moment - the quarian knew if she'd been separated from Daia, she'd be equally agonized.

"Listen, Taleeze," she began, resting a wary hand on the asari's shoulder, "I know it's hard to think about. You have all this downtime while you follow leads, and your mind ends up wandering, and you dwell on all these possibilities. What could've happened to her, why isn't she in touch, what if something's wrong, what if she's found somebody else, what if, what if, and so on. Trust me, this is far from unique; you're not crazy or paranoid for wondering about it. Just about anybody in your situation would be worrying too."

Despite having cast aside most of her empathy in the past couple years, Ana had recently found herself doing a lot of therapist-lite stuff. Not a surprise; she had the training for it, and that wasn't something that just disappeared, even when you were out of practice. With that said, if Taleeze were on the couch, it would've been a much longer period of listening and occasionally asking for clarification ("so how does that make you feeeeeeeel") - as it was, she didn't have much of a professional obligation to dig deep before offering at least some basic advice.

"I think a lot of that is not just due to the downtime, but the scope of the problem you're looking at. I mean, the Terminus is huge. It's a lot to deal with at once. So that's the trick: don't look at it like you're dealing with it all at once, because you're not. You can't, it'll drive you crazy. You have to look at it one step at a time. Search through this system, then this system, then this system, you know? Just focus on the system you're asking around in, that's all you need to worry about for the moment. It's kinda like..." She briefly floundered for an analogy, then the tube nudged at her thigh and inspiration struck. "It's like eating a ninety-meter tube of nutripaste. That's impossible to eat at once. You have to do it one bite at a time."

Her head cocked to one side slightly, a vestigial gesture from when she'd still used body language with anything approaching regularity.

"Does that make sense?"

Taleeze had to giggle and sniff, then giggle again on the ninety meter nutripaste.

“You ask that a lot, do you? But of course it does make sense…. Thanks for making me laugh.” She sniffed one last time, shifting into a more relaxing position again, careful not to just shrug off Ana’s hand. She wiped the tears away. Ana’s word had indeed soothed her mind, had been putting a structure to things that seemed to have none. I was so good to talk.

“You are right of course and… I do know that basically, but you know, the scope of things is big. Sometimes you lose focus and it all gets just overwhelming. You are already helpful, so, yes, there obviously is a thing you can do to help me with this endeavour.”

The sky was still bright and the birds were still singing about love and food and life in general maybe. Taleeze sighed to release further pressure. Sometimes, going to the brink of breaking down could give you renewed strength in the end. Doing it here under such circumstances added to the positive effect, Taleeze felt better now, and new self confidence came back..

“I think, I have just been emotionally distracted lately, in a positive way. All the good aspects of the life I found here in Nos Astra, and the influence of you people,” she was including Ana specifically, “has brought so many good things back to me. I could even enjoy life and be just happy and carefree again, while doing the patient waiting and reviewing of messages. Is it strange, when I say that you and Daia in a way inspire me? You are overcoming obstacles every day basically.

I know, I must give the Sisterhood network time. The more time passes, the more likely it is, Freh’ya will be seen somewhere. I should not cry my eyes out in the meantime, and mostly I don’t, anyway.” She chuckled “…when I am not completely losing it front of you. For example the thing with Vale; that was so unexpected but was feeling so good, it was kind of liberating. I am not looking for moral approval, but maybe you can relate a bit to the ways of life, Freh and I used to have. I just hope you can understand the sometimes difficult ways of inter asari relationships. Well, maybe not so difficult, but just… different.”
Taleeze chuckled. There was this fascinating blond human at the Apricity, Skylar. She really should try and get to know her better.

“Just, thanks for this, and I appreciate your patience. But say, what about yourself? How are you doing actually? You mentioned you used to be into martial arts and sports – you sure still look like it. So, I was asking myself if you kind of work out or maybe do some special physio now. Is there any sporty activity that you can pursue these days?

Again, not a simple topic I guess, but seriously, I would like to know about such things… maybe we could do something…. together even?”

Wait, did she screw my office manager?

It was...unsurprising, if frustrating. Ana's fondness for asari had always been tempered by the way it exposed her to the more inscrutable sides of the species; they were pliant, agreeable, and turned a delightful shade of violet when choked, but they were communal in a wholly different way from quarians, and part of that was that they had no sense of fidelity whatsoever. From a quarian mindset, it was maddening, particularly when you were bonded to one (as Ana had spent no short amount of time telling Cerastes).

"Well," she finally said, stretching out on her back once more and pillowing both arms behind her head, "it's good that you're keeping your spirits up while you search for Freh'ya. I'm sure Vale welcomes the distraction as well." She put just a little emphasis on the name of Taleeze's intended, but there was no changing deep-running societal attitudes. Trying to argue over it would be spitting in the wind. "I do understand, a little - it's an asari thing, the whole...libertine routine, and it's always been a bit difficult for me to grasp, culturally, but I get it. You don't like asari, live around them for years...and trust me, I love asari--" There was something faintly animalistic in the grin that accompanied that, and hints of it may have trickled in her tone for a moment. "--without figuring out a few things about the way they think."

Eventually, though, Taleeze steered the conversation in a less frustrating direction, one that held memories of better times. It was true that fatigue kept Ana'Therion from anything approaching intense regular exercise, but she still practiced calisthenics daily (or as close to daily as her ill health allowed). No reason not to stay in shape.

"I'm not sure I can spar anymore, in this condition," Ana murmured, "and I'm equally unsure you'd want to spar with me if I could." She'd never seen Taleeze, of course, and wondered idly what the asari looked like, what her limits were. She'd been a commando, she probably had a measure of flexibility, and she'd be trained not to yelp unless you really cranked on her...

All right, this line of thought was the exact same thing she'd been annoyed at asari the galaxy wide for. Redirect.

"My style's a human one, it's a ground-fighting technique from the nation where they train the N7s. Really effective, although I haven't actually rolled with another practitioner in years. Usually it was just Daia, and she's...well, she's energetic and she's very resistant to damage, but really, that was less actual martial arts and more me playing with my food, so to speak." Heat welled in her chest for a moment. Every once in a while, she fondly remembered those myriad victories, during the nights when she couldn't sleep and her mind wandered to the better days. A disabled sadist was still a sadist, after all. "Regardless, I can't envision doing it anymore. It's not strike-based, so the blindness isn't much of a problem, but I get tired easily and turning the wrong way hurts my face."

She paused a second to listen to a particularly loud bird. Whatever species it was, its comical warble was a fun contrast to the rest of the chorus.

"These days, I mostly just keep up a calisthenics routine. Keeps my muscles toned and my cardiovascular system healthy. It's actually based off a Republics system, since that was about all I could find on Illium, so you might be familiar with it. Go figure, huh."

Ana made it more than clear that she did understand but not particularly endorse some specifics of asari promiscuity. Taleeze was still centuries away from considering matronship where things might look different. Sometimes.

“I guess it’s hard to imagine that I am serious while screwing around, isn’t it? But I am, please believe me.” She wanted to add a comment about Daia being serious about Ana, but kept her mouth shut. Being Daia’s best friend was so hard when she had to see Ana hurting over these topics so much.

It was good to move along to another topic and Ana took the change with obvious relief.
“Well, I am not exactly a martial arts expert anyway, so I would expect you could maybe still spank my tzu in no time.” Gosh, that had come out awkward. “…considering maybe I wasn’t allowed to use biotics. When I volunteered, they sent us to a speed boot camp, but that was just a crash, really. I didn’t have a chance to catch any real moves up, I would say, and they put more emphasis in showing us a few military grade usages for the biotic forms each of us already knew. That one turned out best anyway; we weren’t supposed to see much hand – to – hand and keep a good distance to any hostile.”
Wait a minute, did Ana just say, ‘Daia is resistant to damage’? She had yet to discover how fit Daia was in regards to martial arts but that sounded like she used to be a sandbag for Ana. A couple of images from shriekcrossed Taleeze’s mind. Her stomach cramped a little bit. Other body parts reacted differently and she just hated that fact at this moment.
“So what I want to say is, I am more of a general fitness type. Swimming, running, dancing and lately, thanks to Vale, a little bit of pildavi again. I have been so out of shape in that regard!

The hotel that Daia booked me on, has a really beautiful garden; it obviously is a human style with water and trees, very calm. I am doing a few morning praises there almost each day, if you are familiar with the concept. The ‘praising of the morning tides’ mostly, gets you relaxed for the day and the tension is over time toning the muscles as well. Other than that, the work keeps me in shape quite well, some people pay a lot of money for dance or pole workouts; I get paid.” Taleeze shortly mused about the fact that maybe Ana also had been paid for another form of workout, she’d understand. “Calisthenics sounds good, there are quite a wide variety of different Thessian styles, are you into any specifically?” Taleeze looked at Ana’s legs. “I guess you’ll have to adapt some moves due to quarian’s different joints, though? You are exercising at home then, I guess. Dunno if you even would like to have company at all.” She briefly wondered, how exactly quarians dealt with sweat inside those suits. Did quarians even sweat?

“But what’s it with your stamina anyway? Is it a side effect of medication or does the tiring have a specific own issue? As a matter of fact, at least lately you seem to be a bit better in that regard, to a casual observer like me at least.” Taleeze had the impression that Ana somehow had the intention of at least getting out a bit more. The mentioning of the intention to visit the theatre had been another indication.

"Don't feel bad. In actual combat, 'stay the fuck away' is probably a much better idea than 'roll around on the ground and try to lock in a kimura'. Honestly my style's mostly just for sport and some very specific self-defense scenarios, and I can't really use it now anyway, being as I can't see."

That much had been brought keenly into focus; skill or no, that drell had outclassed her like mad. Ana frowned a little; thankfully, the rib and fingers had finally healed back up to something approximating 'normal', and the bruises had faded.

"It's good that you're keeping in shape, though," the quarian agreed. "Daia always has good judgment with that sort of thing, so I'm not surprised she suggested a place where you'd have a lot of outlets to work off your energy. Gotta get out and do stuff, after all, or else you'll end up like me." A rueful half-smile touched her lips, inside the helmet. The situation was, of course, much more complicated than that, but experience and facial pain had taught Ana'Therion to err on the side of brevity. It had done wonders for her conversational skills.

As far as specific workout routines went, she had experimented with a couple Thessian ones, but anatomical differences had caused all of them to end in comical failure (and slightly less comical knee pain for a few days). "I've tried Thessian styles, but you're right, there's simply too much of a structural difference." Those incidents were funny now, with the benefit of hindsight; they hadn't been quite as funny at the time. "Fortunately, there's plenty of Fleet-made programs. We usually don't have to do as much as other species, anyway...it's because of the envirosuits. Ever worn one? They're heavier than they look - a lot of the time, having one of these on adds a pretty considerable degree of difficulty to your average aerobics routine. It's part of the reason you don't often see overweight or out of shape quarians. One, we rarely eat anything other than nutrient paste, which is pretty much just protein and specific minerals distilled into tasteless goo, and two, we're constantly wearing something like a third of our body weight." She chuckled. "Small favors amid the drawbacks, I guess."

Ana paused as Taleeze asked about her lack of energy. It wasn't a touchy subject, just one she didn't often talk about - it was important to formulate an answer and not just ad-lib, in the interest of full disclosure.

"Some of both," she finally answered. "The burns are healed, of course, scarred over, but chronic pain from burn injuries can last a long time, and in my case it's been around for a year now. Dealing with that pain is...it's difficult sometimes. I can't really control when it's going to flare up, so sometimes it prevents me from sleeping, sometimes it hits me in the middle of work, that kind of thing. And having to constantly readjust around that wears me out, it's very fatiguing. I have drugs to handle some of it, but that's the other problem; see, I'm allergic to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, so they can't just do conventional drugs to reduce swelling and get the source of the problem. Instead I get a bunch of opioids and so on that aren't really meant to be used together, so they have interactions and come with their own set of problems."

Ancestors, did they ever. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was regale the asari with tales of drug-induced digestion problems, though, and so Ana moved on to the point.

"One of those, of course, is fatigue; having to juggle all those effects and interactions at once exhausts my system and I just don't have the energy to deal with as much stuff on a daily basis as most people do. Those two problems together are why I spend a lot of time trying to make up for lost sleep, reclining, that kind of thing." She paused, mulled it over, and then made a careful admission. "Part of it, though, is definitely psychological. After a long time of dealing with this sort of thing, some people tend to...despair a bit, I guess, and I'm one of them. You end up in sort of a self-reinforcing feedback loop of 'eh, what's the use'. I've been trying to work on that lately, though; like you said, I've decided to make myself go out a bit more. I don't necessarily want to, it's easier to just stay home and sleep, but that's not going to do anyone any good, including myself."

...Talking about it made the quarian acutely aware of how nice a nap would feel right now. This was neither the time nor place, of course, but perhaps when she got home she'd allow herself a half-hour.