Thessia

Quite some time later…

The afternoon sunlight spilled in waves of bright gold through the high windows of the room, creating ponds of warm luminescence over the soft carpet. Standing at the edge of one of the windows, one hand lightly gripping the curtain, the old asari Matriarch turned her liquid, faded blue eyes outward.

Down below, in a small courtyard, she saw Ferot shaking his head firmly as yet another petitioner pleaded to be allowed to see the Matriarch. Though she could not hear him from such a distance she knew what he would tell the flustered woman.

She is tired, he would say. Grand Matriarch T'Soni is not receiving any more visitors today. No. She is conducting no more business. Make an appointment. Come back tomorrow.

The petitioner protested. Ferot shook his head even more firmly, the sunlight winking over the rakir's horns. After a moment, the petitioner surrendered and strode away, frustrated.

Liara had no doubt if the petitioner's business was that pressing, she would take it to Irie instead, or perhaps even to Melara- depending on the nature of the business. Maybe even Ashley, if she wasn't too busy with Council business.

Tilting her head upward a bit, Liara closed her eyes, drinking in the Thessian sun. Only when she felt her knees begin to shake a little did she carefully draw the curtain shut, then turn away from the window.

"Ma'am?"

The young asari standing near the door looked at her with mute worry. Liara smiled at her.

Liara…

"Anise?"

"Your appointments for the afternoon have been cleared as you asked, though Gelvin Targ is insistent that you call him the moment you are free to do so."

"Gelvin Targ's complaint is about his property lines. He's been told before that the hill belongs to House Aswin and has for two hundred generations. He is free to complain about it again to House Aswin and the land commission if he so desires- complaining about it to me will do him no good."

Anise gave a hesitant, sheepish smile. "I tried to tell him that-"

"Goddess love the stubbornness of krogan," Liara said simply, and in an almost amused tone of voice, as if she were commenting on how lovely the wind bells were in the southern garden this year. Yet even her amusement could not hide the low tone of exhaustion in her voice.

"If he calls back-"

"Record what you told him and put him on a message loop. Set it to pick up and play the moment his ident appears. If that doesn't work and he decides to show up personally, send Ferot to glare at him until he leaves. If Targ wants to butt heads with a rakir he's free to try."

"Targ is a bit…small for a krogan," Anise said. Normally at such a comment her nose would have wrinkled in almost girlish amusement, but she could not seem to muster it today. Her eyes were too keen on Liara. "One butt from Ferot will send him across the courtyard."

Liara nodded. "As I said…he is free to try."

"Understood. Ma'am-"

"I think I will take a nap," Liara said lightly, almost more to herself than to her companion. Anise closed her mouth, then nodded.

"I will bring lunch up for you, something light," she replied.

"Not now," Liara said before she could move. "Perhaps after I have rested a bit."

Now Anise really hesitated. In her gaze Liara could now clearly see all the things that she dared not say. You look pale. You are shaking. Are you sure I should not bring some food? Perhaps some medicine? Would you like a doctor, Matriarch?

Before she could voice those concerns Liara gave her another smile. "I promise, some small rest is all I need. Thank you Anise."

Hey, Tianlán…

Anise looked at her a long moment more, and Liara could still see the thoughts all but swirling in the much younger asari's head, before she finally surrendered. Nodding her head in respect so deeply it was almost a bow, she turned and slipped out of the door, leaving Liara alone in the large bedroom.

Moving gingerly, Liara sat down on the bed almost as lightly as a puff of down drifting to rest. Her hand reached toward a book on the bedside stand, an old fashioned leather-bound volume with hundreds of paper pages. Most were filled with her tiny, neat handwriting.

She had only been keeping the journal for the last year or so. It was not anything really cohesive- a series of letters she penned to friends and relatives long dead. A few musing thoughts now and again, most rambling and growing more so the later in the book one read. Three of the last four pages were taken up with letters to her daughters. She had written them painstakingly two days before. As she picked the book up, she thought of those letters and the daughters to whom they were penned.

Melara and Irie were both old Matriarchs now too. Melara lived not too far away from Liara. Her estate was new in the relative scheme of all things Thessia, but it was now three hundred years old and would not be considered 'new' by the judgement of most of the universe.

In its walls, Mel had given up the life of a soldier when she reached the beginning of her Matriarchy, and had somewhat reluctantly taken up the reins of asari politics. She was now the Grand Matriarch of High Command, an advisor and director to the organizations of asari commando units, hunters and assassin's guilds, and the space-bound fleets.

She was also good at her job, her nose for strategy and puzzle solving serving her well in such a capacity, though Liara knew that her daughter yearned, even now, to be back on a ship of her own, taking on mercs and slavers and hostiles of every stripe with a hardsuit on her back and a rifle in her hands.

That yearning, it seemed, had dulled in the last six years- since Daenys' death Melara's itchy trigger finger and travelling feet had seemed to cool dramatically, and she had become far more introspective.

Mel was not alone on that grand estate, of course. Liara had six granddaughters and nearly two dozen great-granddaughters from Melara and Daenys, and the Goddess only knew how many rakir descendants of Aleu. Ferot was one of them, but Liara had long since lost official count.

Most of Mel's asari progeny had taken the name of their birth mother and technically belonged to the House of Navis, but two had adopted the name of Shepard, and passed it on to their own daughters. The House of Shepard would stand for a very long time to come- of that, Liara had no doubts.

Irie had also long retired from her work, and had taken up the burden of politics far more easily than her sister had. She was now Grand Matriarch of the Arts and Sciences, and under her influence asari history, literature, and scientific advancements were spreading not only through this galaxy, but nine others. She personally assured that every asari colony, no matter how far away it was, had a fully stocked observatory and library, built right alongside the farming units and atmo-regulators.

Irie's daughters- seven of them now, the youngest only 106, the precise age Liara had been when she'd first met Shepard and her life had started to get interesting- lived right along with Irie at the T'soni estate, keeping the T'soni name and traditions alive. Irie's retirement and return to this estate to live full time was in part, Liara suspected, to keep something of an eye on her elderly mother- but right now Irie was at a function for one of the largest libraries she'd helped to rebuild, and so it was Anise who was keeping said eye in her stead.

Anise, that youngest of Irie's daughters. The one who was the same age as Liara had been all those many distant centuries ago, in that sweltering cave, trapped in a cold blue bubble, when a human woman had come to her rescue.

Anise, who hadn't looked like she'd even halfway believed her grandmother when Liara had told her all she needed was a nap. Wanted to believe- oh yes, those eyes had really wanted to believe-but they hadn't.

Liara's own youngest, Ashley, had taken Karina V'Dess's place as Matriarch of the Milky Way Council (so specified now as there was a separate Council for business between the known galaxies) when V'Dess had retired. She was not nearly as old as her two elder sisters, of course- they had already been matrons when Ashley had been born-and she took a very pragmatic, typically 'asari' look to life in general. Just now becoming a matron herself, well settled into her career, she was also just now beginning to start a family. Her first daughter, Samantha, would be eleven in only a few months' time, and her second was due in four months.

Liara all but forcefully drew her mind off her children and returned them to the present. For the last year or so, her mind had seemed to slip into distraction and memory so easily, and only more and more reluctantly appeared to want to deal with the present. When she was tired, as she was now, it only happened more often, and only the more resisted her efforts to focus.

It did not matter much at the moment. She intended to nap, and if her mind wished to drift right now then who was she to stand in the way?

Perhaps I might drift a bit right along with it, she thought.

Sliding her fingers over the edges of the pages of the journal, Liara found a slightly wide spot between two of them, selected it, and drew the book open. Tucked within to create that spot was an ancient piece of paper. Upon it was a child's drawing. Scrawled on the back were the names of various men and women long, long dead. Part of the edge of the drawing had the marks of fire, of being slightly singed.

Liara had long ago sealed it to prevent it from decay, but even within its polymer bed it was yellow and faintly discolored with age. Beside it was a little paper flower, also sealed from age. Sam had given it to her on the day they had been bonded- had apparently rigorously studied origami on the extranet in order to be able to fold the bloom herself. It was such a simple yet such a deeply touching gift that Liara had been almost moved to tears by its sheepish presentation.

Play some blues. Something smooth.

Liara smiled a little. Sam had not been aware of much in the way of blues music before she'd met Liara, but Li had finally wheedled in an appreciation for some of it and had even turned her on to some of Flatwood- though by then the music was so incredibly dated barely anyone even remembered it.

She let the book lie there, still opened, touching her fingertips to the surface of her bedside stand to activate the music player, and then moved back on the bed until she could lay down. The weariness settled over her like a blanket, and every fiber of her body seemed to sigh in exhausted relief. Holding the picture to her chest with the same hand that carefully clutched the origami flower, she looked up at the ceiling as the music began softly, creeping like the growing afternoon sun into every corner of the room, joining her side like an old familiar friend.

Sleep seemed to tug at her almost instantly, digging in the moment her body had relaxed. She didn't fight it but sank into it with an eagerness bordering on urgency. The room melted away into darkness, the music pursuing her down in her exhaustion in warm, golden spirals that smelled faintly like leaves in autumn.

A soft touch on her cheek roused her a little, but sleep was reluctant to let go, determined to keep her bound in its cozy arms.

When the touch repeated, she drifted just close enough to wakefulness to murmur, "Del?"

A faint breath on her ear, a nearing warmth, the tender press of lips against her cheek as Shepard bent over her. Then, a gentle whisper.

"I love you, Tianlán."

A sleepy smile passed over Liara's face. She felt both heavy and light, weighted and yet as thin as smoke.

"I love you too, Shepard," she whispered back, sleep slowly melting back from her mind like ice in the warmth of a sun. As it loosed her, the feeling of lightness and warmth seemed to increase.

A gentle laugh. "C'mon, Blue. Open your eyes."

She opened her eyes, and the dark, the heavy, and the sleep broke away from her like old cobwebs, leaving only the light. She reached her hand out toward it and it was taken. She was pulled forward into a pair of arms and was suddenly standing upright in the sunlight. Soft sand shifted against her bare toes, and the breeze that lightly pulled at her clothes was rich with sea air.

Joy filled her so completely that she could not help but laugh, the joy overflowing and bubbling out of her like a wellspring. She clung to the woman who held her in her arms, laughing, her very being seeming to hum with rapture.

"Del," she finally gasped, burying her face into the side of a neck, tears as clear as light itself on her face. "Del!"

"Welcome home, Liara," Shepard whispered back. "My Sky Blue…welcome home."

THE END

Author's Note

I want to thank everyone who has made DE even a teensy portion of their life for the last three years. It feels kind of surreal looking back on everything that's happened since I started this story. Some of it I still can't believe- like meeting the love of my life (and soon to be wife!), and so many amazing people who helped bring DE to life.

A few quick things before I depart. Yes, I will be finishing DE: Citadel, though I cannot promise how quickly. I am continuing on my Wing Commander fic- The Human Heart, and look to see my next big series based on Dragon Age starting within the next week. As I did with DE, I am going to do a full series of Dragon Age stories following the games from Origins to Inquisition (and beyond, if more games have been released by the time I get to that point). As sad as it is to depart from characters that we have become very attached too over the last three years, I am looking forward to meeting entirely new characters that I, and hopefully you, can become just as deeply attached too in the years to come.

Thank you all.

Namaste.