The Romans Knew He'd Lost His Head When He Filled A Vacant Senate Seat With Mr. Ed

The pair of them walked at a sensible pace to the rendezvous. Alonso was wary, his head swivelling slowly to take in their surroundings. Odd things were happening in Tayseri lately; disturbing things. Alonso maintained contact with the ward's community of duct rats; he knew that something was up. No-one would attack an elcor, though, and Xuumo was quite confident. Not that he wasn't himself somewhat concerned, about other, unrelated matters.

“Sternly: Make sure you present no obvious weakness, Alonso. They will be scrutinizing you throughout. Expectantly: I’m sure you’ll conduct yourself well enough. With forceful warning: Do not become bored and lose focus".

The boy merely nodded, a satisfying response. He had been through a recent minor growth spurt, not that it made much difference from an elcor perspective. Still, Alonso was starting to show signs of physical maturation, the ungainly elongation of a male human entering adolescence. He was taking this seriously, face revealing nothing, mouth tight, but behind his eyes were occasional flashes of excited anticipation. This was almost a rite of passage.

They soon arrived at the usual meeting place. Emerging from the shadows was a familiar figure. The drell bodyguard fixed its dark, dead eyes upon Xuumo and Alonso, mouth pursing slightly at the sight of them. It was easily missed, but elcor were masters of subtle body language. Xuumo gave the slightest rumble in warning; it wasn’t this being's place to show displeasure. For his part, perceptive enough to catch the tension in the air, Alonso glared at the drell with those hard eyes of his, his stance confident but controlled. Xuumo was again pleased; the boy had overcome his tendency to lay it on too thick. He appeared tense but focused, rather than hiding behind childlike bravado. Xuumo released a pheromone cue of satisfaction, the equivalent of an appraising nod.

The drell inclined its head, its eyes taking longer than expected to break contact, the unspoken suspicion obvious. It moved forward and Xuumo followed, Alonso at his side. Drell biology was so committed to conserving water that they released little in the way of fluids or vapours, meaning few scent cues, which made them seem vaguely unreal. He had never learned this being's name.

The room was as dull and poorly-lit as ever. His two fellow members had once again arrived before him. Kuat Nom flipped his stubby arms in an exasperated gesture, a sort of “well? Must we wait for you every time?”

“I thought you weren’t coming. HSSSK. Again. What is that?”

Apparently it had taken him a few seconds to truly register Alonso's presence. Then again, former duct rats instinctively knew how to blend in, deflect attention, melt into the shadows. So far the boy was doing well.

“His Compacted human” said Semoslinthyl, tonelessly. “Why he has brought it, this one cannot imagine. It was not particularly intent upon seeing it”.

Alonso glared, his thumbs twitching. Quite how the bipeds managed to function with those arms hanging there by their sides Xuumo didn’t know. A thought for another time. He made a contemptuous sound, a puff of air.

“Acidly: Neither of you come here alone”. Indeed, along with Semoslinthyl’s drell attendant, the room contained two of Kuat Nom’s clansmen. Xuumo couldn’t tell if they were the same pair as last time. Under those suits, a volus could be anyone. He'd once entertained the idea that Kuat Nom was in fact an entire group of volus sharing an alias, though he didn’t think it likely. Few people could pull off such obnoxious mania.

“I’m Xuumo’s partner” said Alonso. “That’s all you need to know”.

Kuat Nom placed his hands on his hips. “Is this a joke?” he asked Xuumo.

“Distantly: Not at your expense”. Then he stepped forward, going as far as to raise a paw and point. "Guardedly: Perhaps you should not underestimate the degree to which a child can be an asset. He can enter more places and rouse less suspicion than an entourage of noisy accountants" - the paw gestured now to the hanar - "Snidely: or a member of the Citadel Endangered Species List whose very presence announces your own race's obvious involvement".

"Do you actually - HSSSK - have anything useful for us, Xuumo?"

“Faux-astonishment, hint of hubris: Well? Do neither of you have anything to say to the latest minor elcor celebrity and diplomat?"

There was a short silence.

“This one regrets that it is currently at a loss for appropriate words. It suspects, however, that the other will shortly supply an excess of them, in self-congratulatory fashion. Would this one be correct?"

"Caustic: At least I am actually achieving something, Semoslinthyl. I have regained favour with my government and will very shortly be in a position of genuine influence. I will soon be leaving for Nasurn”.

"I suppose you want to tell the two of us to get lost, then? Now that – HSSSK - you’re a big player and all”. The sarcasm was obvious, but so was the disappointment. Xuumo had been right; they needed this, perhaps more than he did.

Definitely more than he did.

He felt a surge of irritation, in spite of himself. Really, these two didn't deserve him. But circumstances had brought them together, and their bonds of mutual understanding and - yes - respect, however grudging, were not easily broken. Sometimes, it was a sheer relief to spend time in the company of those who saw sense.

And I didn't just think that, he thought darkly. What a galaxy, in which people like this were his best bet for a sensible perspective.

"Tightly: When we first formed our triad, we shared much with one another. I take that downpayment seriously". He used language that Kuat Nom would presumably appreciate. "Firmly: This can be a beginning as much as an end. A continuation, at least".

To his slight surprise, Semoslinthyl spoke up in support. "This one concurs. The Council exists for reasons transcending the matter of our baser fortunes. These ones are committed to a shared discourse. Rough tides are to be endured for the sake of a unified argument. These ones do not have to like each other to achieve this”. A pause. “This one can tolerate much crudity and blasphemous conduct for the sake of deeper goals”.

Xuumo bowed his head, in a gesture part-way between his own natural body language and a replica of a hanar bow. Deeper goals, indeed. Change in the galaxy, or at least (given events of recent years) change in attitudes among the Citadel leadership, was a long time in coming. Elcor excelled at the wait, at setting up the long-term investment; other races less so. Still, he had never really taken this “Council” business seriously. It was just a pressure release valve for those who found frustration in the way the galaxy was governed; the bland, self-serving, secular nature of the galaxy’s dominant body. How could they be trusted to run the markets and committees, to wield the power they did? How could they be trusted to truly speak for the less prominent races? It was well past time things began to shift toward a more sensible way of running things.

It had been a foolish but bitter dream, but there were those who shared it. Never had they actually thought they'd do anything here, private insistence to the contrary. It was a comforting lie, nothing more. Now, though... now perhaps they might take this somewhere. And perhaps his hanar acquaintance was starting to see the possibilities, too.

"With measured regard: I like what I hear, Semoslinthyl”.

The hanar was far too proud to acknowledge his gratitude. "Naturally. This one engages in thought prior to forming speech, unlike others of its acquaintance".

"That doesn’t explain why you’re passing that human off as a partner!" interrupted Kuat Nom, and Semoslinthyl flashed with a smug aurora of satisfaction. "How much does he know about all this? You say what we have here matters - HSSSK - yet you bring a human here. What's next, an asari?"

"Wearily: Alonso does not represent humanity. Snidely: I do, however, truly represent the elcor, and I’m his senior partner. Is this not progress by our measure?”

Alonso's tension was evident to Xuumo, but he doubted the others would pick up on it. Again, the boy was doing well.

Kuat Nom remained unimpressed, of course. "The humans sold out".

"And the volus didn't?" Alonso blurted. All eyes turned to him. For a moment Xuumo feared the boy would look stricken - look weak - but he fired out an argument with only the very slightest hesitation. “You don't even retain your sovereignty! The only difference between you and us is that humans managed to take power without having to turn things over to bigger races! The volus had to trade things away to the turians just to stay relevant. And the drell did the same with the hanar. All the races do it. Humans were just good enough to make the Three do it their way instead".

"This one thought the other’s Compactee didn't represent the humans" said Semoslinthyl, but it was more amused than caustic. Evidently it was enjoying seeing Kuat Nom shown up by a barely adolescent child.

Xuumo leant his head and whispered at the boy. "Bemused: I'm impressed that you know how to use the phrase "retain your sovereignty", Alonso".

"You work with that diplomatic stuff now. I do listen”.

"Meaningful implication: Yes. I'm seeing that you do".