That was the song the famous harper sang
but Odysseus, clutching his flaring sea-blue cape
in both powerful hands, drew it over his head
and buried his handsome face,
ashamed his hosts might see him shedding tears

- Odyssey, 8.99

For the first time in much, much too long, Shepard awoke feeling clear headed, relaxed, and well rested. Between her first shipwreck, Sha'ira's poisoning and the subsequent crash landing and rescue by Tali, she had not had a full, restful, uninterrupted night's sleep for weeks.

She felt good.

But for all the physical comfort, her mental torment was cast into sharp relief.

There was no more pain to distract her. No more challenges to be faced, with willpower, with strength, with cunning.

There was just... loneliness. There was a burning hole in her heart that ached for the presence of her lover, a hole that had been unfilled for much too long.

Sha'ira had told her Liara still yearned for Shepard... but was that true? She had not sent Liara a message for months. Liara probably thought she was dead... or worse, that the human had abandoned her.

There was no terminal in the small room she had slept in, but she would ask one of the quarians for permission to send a message as soon as she was able.

Gently cracking an eye, she saw the room filled with a rosy glow. It was unusual: such light was not normal on board a ship, but she realised that the quarians must gradually scale their on-board lights to replicate planetary conditions... an artificial dawn.

The effect, casting lights on the intricate symbols painted onto the walls of the room, was very pleasing, reminding her of the warm sunrise that cast beautiful lights through Liara's airy bedroom every morning, often as they made love to banish the solitude of sleep, to celebrate the new day they would spend together.

The thought both pulled her face into a warm smile and sent a wonderful flush throughout her body, and it took more than a little restraint to drag herself from the bed.

Her head spun momentarily as she stood, and her legs wavered, and she felt despair sink through her. She might be rested, but her body was still weary, and she could not yet depart. She did not want to have another accident like the last: if waiting another day or two to recover meant avoiding disaster, she would force herself to stomach the loneliness for just that little bit longer.

There were no showers on the Migrant Fleet; quarians sadly unable to use them, but she did find a small cleansing booth in her room which used weak mass effect fields to buffer away external dirt, leaving her feeling clean, if not relaxed. She arranged her pitch dark hair into her favoured style, braided about her head as if it were a crown, the familiar movements relaxing though it had been a long time since she had done it herself: Liara liked to be the one to do it, sitting behind her on their bed, deft fingers sending sparks down her spine as they played across her scalp.

Checking her robes for the final time, she felt ready to face the quarians again and, if they wished, tell her tale to them, to impress them enough that they might aid her on her journey home.

She opened the door and immediately collided with Tali, who was racing down the corridor, and caught the quarian girl before she fell over.

'Oh, Keelah... I'm sorry Shepard, I've been running around the ship all morning, telling as many people as I can that you're here, because I just know they'll want to hear your stories, I know I do anyway, but if you convince enough people then maybe you can get the help you need to get home!'

The girl strung her words together seemingly without breathing, and Shepard could not help but smile. 'Thank you, my friend, but you do not need to do so much for me!'

Tali ducked her head shyly. 'Well, I think I've already gotten just about everybody on the ship excited, so maybe I could stop now... Would you like me to take you to the gathering? My father said he got some better food for you from one of the other ships that recently entertained some human ambassadors, so you can at least eat something decent this time!'

Shepard bowed her head gracefully. 'I would be honoured, Tali'Zorah. Please, lead the way.'

As Tali led her through the tight corridors of the Tonbay, Shepard could not but notice how... empty... the ship seemed. The bustle of the previous night had her pressed against the wall more than once as quarians squeezed past, but today it was empty, allowing Shepard to see the beautiful characters daubed onto the walls in brightly coloured paints, those areas not painted covered by hanging cloth similar to the robes the quarians, and she, wore.

'Are all of your ships decorated like this?' She asked Tali, gesturing to the walls.

The quarian nodded. 'Since we have so little space for ornaments and mementos, we have to make best use of what we have to preserve our art and culture.'

'It's gorgeous... I feel privileged to see this, Tali, so again: thank you.'

'Y... you're welcome, Shepard.' the small figure suddenly hurried ahead. 'Come on, this way!'

After passing through an ornately decorated bulkhead, Shepard's breath caught in her throat. The room spread out wide ahead of her, richly furnished with benches and tables filling the majority of the room, mostly packed with quarians who had an assortment of items laid out ahead of them: food & drink, playing cards, pieces of tech, everything. At the very far end of the room stood a large stage, currently unoccupied, above which floated an enormous three dimensional hologram currently filled with a representation of the entire Flotilla, soaring gracefully through space.

The strangest features of the room, though, were in the four corners: there were large metal constructions, open sided, in each of which was a chair and control panel, as if for a ship, with a bank of monitors and a screen ahead of them.

Tali spoke quietly at her side. 'Each quarian ship has a single room like this where the entire crew can gather for celebrations. When it's not being used like this, we use the drapes to partition it off for living quarters.'

The room was amazing. So many people, so much colour - on the walls, the suits, every decoration - so much life, every square inch of the room singing with history and the unique culture of the quarians.

'And there is our guest!'

Rael'Zorah vas Rayya's voice rang through the hall, as he strode up to the platform at the far end of the room. It was clear that, despite Shala'Raan being the resident admiral on the Tonbay, Rael was the more respected of the two; Shepard did not know enough of the quarians to know if this was because of his gender, his age, or any other factor up to and including that he was simply the superior admiral, but would not admit her ignorance to her hosts, and simply played along with it.

Rael continued to speak as she made her way slowly towards the stage. 'This human has introduced herself as Shepard, and has been shipwrecked more than once on a journey to return to her home, and was rescued by one of our own: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

'And I will not have her return home with stories of anything other than the finest hospitality, of the quarian people!' He suddenly raised his voice, catching the ears of all in the hall. 'She has promised that she has a worthy story to tell, and I for one am interested to hear it! Tales of adventures, and the desire for home, are the reasons we celebrate our children going on pilgrimage, and we do that tradition no greater honour than to share it.' His voice suddenly fell solemn. 'So please, my people, welcome this stranger amongst us, and hear her tale with an open heart, when she deems best to tell it. And when she is rested, perhaps we can aid her home, as the quarians have often relied on the aid of others, when we venture out into the black. Keelah se'lai.'

The room echoed with the response as all of the quarians spoke seriously.

'Keelah se'lai'

Shepard devoured the food that had been placed before her. While she was no stranger to eating processed rations, she always preferred real food, and the quarians had somehow managed to procure a real steak, the embarrassed sounding chef saying it was leftover from a visit from some human ambassadors, and without any stoves as the humans would recognise them, he had grilled it using a flame program on his omni-tool.

It was gorgeous.

The slightly blackened exterior gave way to a beautifully pink and juicy piece of meat, and while she felt slightly embarrassed to be enjoying the food so much when the quarians around her were all limited to eating bland, processed paste from tubes, her hosts seemed to be taking great satisfaction in knowing their hospitality was appreciated, so her enjoyment was relatively unhindered.

After a short amount of time she might have been slightly ashamed of if she was in the presence of the more poised asari, she laid down her eating utensils onto her empty plate, and smiled to the quarians who were sitting around the table with her.

'That was gorgeous, my friends: thank you. I could not wish for better hospitality.'

Rael'Zorah nodded, body language speaking genuine pleasure. 'This is a time of celebration for us all, Shepard, and while we cannot enjoy food as you can, I hope we can now share an entertainment that all species appreciate.'

Another quarian male approached the table, this one also wearing an armoured enviro-suit, as did most males, though the gentle colour scheme did not speak to Shepard of a warrior, nor did his demure bearing. He stood by Rael'Zorah, who stood and softly clasped the man's arm, muttering gently, before turning to Shepard to speak clearly again. 'And here is our storyteller. Shepard, please welcome Veetor'Nara vas Neema. He is young, but knows all of our tales, and tells them with a passion his shy bearing does not suggest. I asked him to come over from the Neema in honour of your visit.'

Shepard bowed deeply in his direction. 'It is an honour, Veetor'Nara vas Neema. I look forward to hearing your tales.'

'T... thank you, Shepard.' spoke the quarian with a nervous stutter. Shepard was slightly surprised, but then considered that many of the best artists, musicians and more had poor social skills; the quarians would not present him as their finest without good reason. The young quarian turned back to Rael'Zorah, who nodded encouragingly, then Veetor walked to the stage without any further ceremony, and began to fiddle with a small console at the rear of the plateau. A hushed silence fell over the previously bustling hall, and after several seconds the lights dimmed, and the hologram above the platform changed to the image of two quarians, one male and the other female, embracing each other. To Shepard's slight surprise, Veetor did not turn, though his voice began to ring throughout the halls, artificially amplified by his suit as he remained facing the terminal, tapping away at the holo-keys.

'The pilgrimage of the quarians is about far more than finding a gift for the Flotilla. For many, it is about learning the value of home. For others, the adventure is a reward in itself, full of exploration, danger and passion, teaching a person the skills they will need for life with the fleet.'

His previously nervous voice was now free of any shakes, slightly higher pitched than she would have thought suitable for a master storyteller but his clear words rang straight through her, and she found herself drawing in short breaths in anticipation of his story, and how he would present it: it was clear the holograms floating above the hall were as much a part of the tale as the words.

He continued, voice deepening slightly and becoming sombre. 'For others still, it signals the end of their life with our people. Whether lost in the dark of space, or by choice, some do not return.' Heads bowed around the table, and Shepard too respectfully closed her eyes and slowly ducked her head.

'But for Lia'Vael nar Ulnay, and Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya, the pilgrimage was a tale of love that was lost, and the need to find it again.'

The two glowing figures suddenly began to float apart, each fading away into a darkness that stung Shepard's heart.

Veetor began to tell his tale in earnest; the story of two quarians who met early on in their pilgrimages, and faced an adversity that forced them to travel together, which led to them falling in love. As his words filled the otherwise silent hall, beautiful still images floated above the platform. Some places Shepard recognised: Omega, Illium, The Citadel, even one of Earth, and many more she did not, of bustling space stations, barren planets and aliens of every species. Their relationship was one Shepard knew well: forced together by circumstances outside of their control, but falling in love despite that, eventually enjoying a life, a happiness, together that neither had known before.

'But for our people, happiness does not come without cost.' His lilting voice suddenly turned harsh, and a huge boom sounded through the room, the image of an explosion filling the air, and Shepard's throat constricted.

'Disaster struck. Lia and Lemm were separated, by a disaster none foresaw.'

Shepard found herself choking back tears as Veetor continued: both survived, but did not know the other did, and travelled the stars alone for many months, seeking to fill the gaping wounds in their lives with adventure and danger, but finding nothing could replace the belonging that came with true companionship.

My Liara...

She was alone. She had missed Liara as she fulfilled Benezia's charge, but they had been in touch, with happy calls and teasing messages, and the knowledge that soon they would be reunited kept her going.

As she travelled home, facing down more trials than any one person should be expected to endure, that loneliness cast a heavy shadow over her. The end had never seemed in sight, and when she had crashed the first time, only to wake in Sha'ira's care, she had truly thought it over.

The emptiness rent her heart, filling her days with endless grief and pain, as her mind was addled by drugs, as Sha'ira whispered poison into her ear, she wept and tore herself apart, believing falsely that the love she shared with Liara had been shattered.

She tried to blink back the tears forming in her eyes as Veetor masterfully articulated the pain she was feeling, to keep her emotions from her gracious hosts, with only limited success as Tali placed a gentle hand onto Shepard's arm, not saying anything, simply supporting.

Shepard nodded gratefully, wiping her eyes on the back of her free hand as Veetor continued, telling of how both threw themselves into their search for a gift, as they decided their days of lonely wandering were over, images of two tiny, forlorn ships cast against the enormous, epic backdrop of space filling the room above the audience.

Veetor's voice grew stronger as he drew his tale to a close. 'As the pair returned to the Flotilla, their arrivals separated by only a day, they were welcomed with the most magnificent honours, for their gifts were greater than any the fleet had seen for many years. But the captains of their childhood ships did not know of their pain, for the suffering had been theirs alone to bear, and with great sadness both set out to find the ships they would serve as adults. Both had found great prizes, and had their pick of ships, for any captain would gratefully accept them.'

The familiar image of the Flotilla returned, overlaid with the images of the tragic pair.

'But for all of the choice available, both made their way to just one vessel, the ship both had agreed to live their lives together one, perhaps in the hope that a distant memory could be roused, and the holes in their hearts filled.

'And when both entered the ship, seeing each other for the first time in years, their breath caught. Time stopped around them, both disbelieving the truth of what they were seeing.'

Shepard, for the briefest moment, allowed herself to dream of the moment when her and Liara were reunited. Would it be like this? Eyes meeting across a room, the world around them disappearing? Or would she have gotten a message to Liara, causing her to wait at the spacestation? Maybe Liara would come to get her, maybe... maybe... maybe...

'Lemm was the first to act. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached up, to release his mask. Careless of the dangers, he showed his face to Lia for the first time, terrified that she may have moved on, may have forgotten him, may find him ugly; for even he had not seen his own reflection for many years.'

Would Liara treat her differently? Would she forgive Shepard's absence, the way she had been taken in by the deceptive Consort, convinced that Liara's love had ended?

'Lia reacted slowly. She took a step towards him, reaching out and taking his hand.' The image shifted, to an unusual shot of a quarian woman holding the hand of an unmasked man, the perspective from the floor, through the dropped visor.

'Lia lifted his hand to her own face, allowing him to remove her mask, and as it fell to the floor alongside Lemm's, the pair stared at each other, seeing the faces beneath the visors for the very first time. But as they did so, they realised that they did not need to see each other's faces, for they had already known each other, and loved each other, in a way only quarians can truly understand.'

The image faded, replaced by one very similar to the opening scene: the pair were embracing, though this time their masks were discarded to the floor, foreheads leaning against each other.

The silence permeated through the entire room, as Shepard's heart soared at the ending to the story, streaming tears, this time of joy, down her cheeks.

Perhaps she would know something similar to Lia and Lemm.

Perhaps, if Liara gifted her with the Union, Liara would see the love that never faded, that never died, despite the pain and misunderstanding.

Perhaps, soon, they could share that love again.

Shepard stayed silent, trying to stop herself from openly weeping at Veetor's beautifully told story, when Rael'Zorah stood and at a gesture, the lights turned back on. The large quarian crowd also stood, but did not erupt into a rapturous noise as the human expected they would - instead they solemnly bowed their heads, Shepard mimicking their moves, as Veetor left the stage and vacated the room. Tali leaned over, and whispered to Shepard: 'He does not like crowds or loud noises.'

Shepard nodded in understanding, her gaze following the shy quarian from the room. The style of storytelling, with the simple but powerful images, was very intense, and it had been a long time since she had enjoyed the spoken word so much... doubly so considering the story's almost uncanny parallel to her own situation.

As soon as the hatch closed behind Veetor, Rael'Zorah led a respectful round of applause, into which Shepard joined passionately. After several seconds, Rael took up place on the stage again, and spoke loudly. 'Let the games begin!'

A cheer rang through the room, and quarians male and female began to queue at the unusual artefacts in each corner of the room. Shepard turned to Tali, and asked 'What's going on?'

Tali turned excitedly. 'It's the games! Only a few ships have the equipment to do this, you're lucky we're on the Tonbay!'

'But... what are they? I've never seen anything like those before!'

To her surprise, Tali placed her hands on Shepard's shoulders and pushed her back down into her seat, sinking into the one beside her. 'You'll see; you'll love it!'

Shepard tried to shake her melancholy mood as the bustle in the corners slowly died down, and a single quarian took up a place in each of the machines in the corners of the room.

Suddenly the hologram above faded, replaced by the layout of a huge, semi-transparent, three dimensional asteroid field that filled the entire room, and a glowing representation of a small fighter appeared in each corner, one above each machine.

Mock dogfights!

Shepard felt a smile tug at her face, despite her woes about Liara. The whole set-up was ingenious. Each simulator was laid out like a fighter cockpit, allowing the "pilots" to practice in a safe environment that did not risk injury or damage to precious ships, and the huge representation above them allowed the audience to watch, and be entertained, by the fight!

The battle began. Shepard was pleasantly surprised to hear there were also audio simulations, something that would never actually be heard in space, and she found herself holding her breath at the fighters danced gracefully around the asteroids, firing pot shots at each other, using deception, agility, trickery to avoid the others.

The audio was incredibly complex, using widespread speaker systems: Shepard was startled as the roaring of the engines got louder as the little fighter holograms flew over her head, and quietened as they got further away.

It was several minutes before the first fighter was destroyed, another sending out timed, guided missiles to trick the victim into assuming their location, before sneaking up behind an asteroid. The attacking fighter fired, detonating its target right above Shepard's head with a loud explosion, and she instinctively ducked, pleased that at least the others on her table did the same thing.

The dogfight continued, another fighter quickly following the first into oblivion as the other two seemingly ganged up to remove it quickly, leaving just two small, brightly glowing fighters - which a whisper from Tali informed her were piloted by two of the best fighter pilots on the Tonbay - moving with a subtle grace that Shepard, who herself knew how to pilot, appreciated. The manoeuvres were very complex, using trickery, speed and deception to distract each other, but after close to ten minutes of heart pounding action, one of the fighters was clipped by a tiny asteroid as they rolled to avoid an enemy attack, and the resulting spin saw the other seizing the advantage, breaking their cover behind a loose field of stones and soaring in, a single, well placed shot detonating its final opponent, before it flew through the wreckage with a dramatic flourish, and again the hall erupted into cheers.

A quarian male was lifted from the simulator nearest Shepard onto the shoulders of several others, all cheering as he waved his arms in the air, before turning to her, shouting loudly across the room.

'Human!'

Shepard raised a brow in response.

'Can you fly?'

Shepard was truly not in the mood for competition: she was still overwhelmed with emotion from the story, and was enjoying simply watching others. 'I... can... but I do not wish to join you right now. Please, accept my apologies.'

'As I thought.' Shepard's heart froze at the words. 'I've not met a human worthy of the title pilot before!'

A hushed silence fell throughout the hall, Rael'Zorah beginning to stand, but was clearly allowing Shepard to work this out on her own, at least for now.

'Prazza, not now, you can see she's tired...' muttered Tali, but Shepard waved her quiet.

'I said, I don't want to.' she snarled at the arrogant quarian. 'Enjoy your victory, quarian, and leave me in peace.'

'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, I've never been beaten by a human when it comes to real combat, what do you expect when it comes to a practice?'

Shepard snapped. Despite her body screaming, exhausted limbs protesting and mind still foggy with thoughts of Liara, she stood, and fixed the quarian man's glowing gaze as he was lowered to the floor. 'I will not accept you insulting any soldiers, human or otherwise, quarian. Wars happen, and they are always tragic, but dead soldiers should be honoured, even by their enemies.'

'Then you'll battle?' he sounded eager, which sickened Shepard.

'Yes.'

The room again erupted into applause, and Tali led Shepard over to one of the other simulators as Prazza retook his position. It would be a one-on-one duel, Tali explained, and as Shepard slipped into the fake cockpit the quarian began talking endlessly about the controls and so on, which Shepard silenced with a smile. 'Don't worry, Tali, the controls look simple enough, and I wasn't lying when I said I can fly.' Her mood soured. 'I won't let him win.'

Tali nodded uncertainly, and stepped back.

Again the lights dimmed around Shepard, but this time she was focused entirely on the extensive data feeds before her. There was no space for actual physical layouts when piloting a ship; so complex was the process of absorbing all of the relevant data: scans, debris, fuel, thrust, and much more, that a visual representation such as that above the great hall was only of use to audiences.

She took a minute to familiarise herself with the slightly unusual, but still rather universal controls, before nodding to Tali, who nodded in turn to her father, who called out 'Begin!'

Shepard immediately checked her weapon stocks, pleased that the small fighter had a surprisingly wide variety of weapons, from torpedoes to missiles to several different countermeasures.

She could do a lot with a ship like this.

She had studied Prazza during the previous fight, and his tactics seemed to involve avoiding direct combat until he was sure he had the advantage, at which point he would expose himself for a heavy, devastating strike.

To defeat him, she would have to trick him into thinking he had her, and she grinned in anticipation as a tactic came to mind. It was incredibly dangerous, but she was confident she could pull it off.

Flying directly towards where her long range scans detected the residual signatures from his ship, feigning amateurish moves such as jerking her ship more than necessary rather than making graceful turns, and even tossing in a barrel roll which he would hopefully think was her showing off, she closed in.

He was close, likely hiding behind one of the asteroids. Her scans could not pinpoint him exactly, with the interference of the metal-heavy rocks, so she fired a single torpedo at one, blowing it apart.

He was not there, but a tiny trace signature, nearly unnoticeable amongst the immense readouts ahead of her, was detected almost directly behind her. She re-routed all shields to the rear, something she hoped he could not detect in time, and focused all of her external scanners to search for activity in that region, as she almost mindlessly blew up another asteroid ahead.

There!

Just in time, she detected a flash of energy at her rear, and made the necessary movement... a tiny shift, one that could almost have been accidental... causing his shot to only glance one of her heavily shielded engines, causing almost negligible damage, but she immediately cut the power to it, allowing her ship to float aimlessly in space, slowly turning towards his.

Just as she expected, she heard a loud laugh from across the room, and Prazza's ship finally showed itself, soaring towards her in a clear expression of arrogant victory.

A smirk spread across her face.

Prazza unloaded a huge wave of missiles and torpedoes, and with lightning swiftness Shepard repowered her ship, launched every countermeasure her ship had to distract the tracking systems in the intelligent weapons gliding towards her, and began to roll the ship to the side to avoid the weapons aimed only by thrusters; designed to fire straight forward and cause immense damage, as there was no need to install any target tracking computers.

The crowd around her gasped as she opened up with an intense barrage of return fire. Prazza's arrogant approach leaving him totally without cover, his immense weapon assault leaving him with barely any power in his shields.

A single missile impacted her ship, damaging one wing but leaving her intact, while her return fire tore Prazza's ship to piece in seconds. The match was over, in less than two minutes.

A shocked silence fell across the crowd, before they erupted into cheers, and Shepard released the tight breath in her throat. She had needed Prazza to fall for her bait, and had he been less arrogant, less eager to finish the battle quickly, he could have destroyed her easily.

But she had won.

Slowly, she hauled herself from the booth, trying not to stumble on unsteady legs as the quarians all celebrated around her, giving her companionable slaps on the back and handshakes, all the while Tali guiding her back to the table, but before she sat, she looked over to where Prazza was still seated in his simulator, looking shocked.

She approached, and spoke gently. 'Arrogance is unbecoming in a warrior. You have great skill which you should be proud of, but do not allow it to overcome your mind.'

Prazza stood, every movement speaking of anger. 'You were deceptive! You would never have won in a fair match!'

'Fair? There is nothing fair about war! I defeated you because I saw your weakness and exploited it.'

'I demand a rematch! There is no way-'

'Enough!' Admiral Zorah's heavy voice again rang through the hall, and the babbling crowd immediately calmed, Prazza included. 'Shepard defeated you, Prazza, and she was right to tell you why. You would do well to learn from her, rather than claim trickery. War is about more than pure strength, or impressive manoeuvres, it is about doing what is necessary to win. Had you been less haughty, you could have defeated her easily, but you were foolish in a drive to impress others. Think on these lessons, for I will have no more arguments on this day of celebration.'

The angry young quarian bristled, but eventually his shoulders slumped. 'Very well, Admiral. And... thank you...' The words sounded like poison, but Shepard knew how difficult it was for one such as he to admit defeat. 'For the tutorial, human.'

She bowed her head graciously, but did not say anything until he left the great hall, as a respectful silence again fell across the room.

'It seems Veetor wishes to tell another tale!' Admiral Raan's voice echoed throughout the room, and as Shepard looked up towards her, the admiral was looking towards her omni-tool, and the room immediately burst into an excited babble again, and Shepard felt the tension from her confrontation with Prazza begin to dissipate in favour of anticipation of hearing another of Veetor's stories.

Shala'Raan looked up again to Shepard, and spoke across the crowd of quarians. 'He says seeing you reminded him of a tale he heard only recently, of a human who helped one our people, just as Tali helped you. Shepard, would you hear this tale?'

'I would be honoured, Admiral, for Veetor's storytelling was a thing of mastery.'

'Then it shall be so!' Her voice rose to drown out all of the chattering quarians. 'Please take your places again, and Veetor will rejoin us!'

The quarians, eager to hear another story from their kinsman, immediately quieted and sat, shortly before the familiar form of Veetor again entered the room, proceeding directly to the stage with a ducked head.

This time there were no pictures. Veetor simply stood in the centre of the stage, hands clasped before him.

'I have no images for this story, for none exist, for this story has never been heard before. And that... is because it is my story. A tale of my own pilgrimage, when I was lost, and found by a human who showed me more kindness than any other alien before him.'

Veetor began his tale, a hauntingly simple story of him visiting a small human colony to work as an engineer, a colony was hit by a devastating tragedy; all of the humans dead, and he reduced to near-madness by grief. Emotion flowed thickly through every word, completely negating the need for petty images, for every syllable rang with grief and pain, at how he saw the colonists destroyed and abducted by what he only described as "monsters", rang with his absolute shame and fear regarding his hiding away as the attack tore apart his hosts, and he masterfully articulated the madness that rode through him as the monsters left him alone to his thoughts.

'Weeks passed. Or perhaps longer. Or it could have been just hours; so trapped was I within my own delusions, burning with guilt at my cowardice. Wracked with terror, at the fate of those I had come to know as family and friends, I raged and wept and fell into deep oblivion.'

She felt a tickling familiarity at the story. She had not heard it before, of course, but something about it seemed...

'Then he came.'

Suddenly everything clicked into place. Her father had mentioned how he had visited a colony, its residents mysteriously disappeared, the only life there a lone, traumatised quarian he had personally escorted back to the Flotilla.

Veetor continued his tale, telling of how her father had soothed his wounds, both the physical ones he had inflicted upon himself, and the emotional ones, before personally escorting him back to the quarian fleet... even going so far as to argue with the captain of the Neema that the data Veetor had managed to gather on the monsters was a worthy pilgrimage gift.

'I never learnt his name.' Veetor's desolate words rang through the deathly silent room. 'But he showed me what it means to be kind, to be selfless, to be strong, when nobody else would.'

Quiet permeated for several more minutes, everybody absorbing the message of the story, before Veetor spoke again, slightly more animatedly, regaining his old nervousness as his story ended. 'Our guest r-reminds me of him. So p-please, treat her well, for I think she has my saviour's heart.'

An approving muttering sounded in the room, and as Veetor took a step from the stage, the crowd parted before him.

As Veetor again made his way towards the exit, Shepard gently stood ahead of him, while still allowing the nervous quarian room to pass if he did wish to.

'Veetor, may I speak to you?'

The quarian raised his ducked head, looking at her curiously, then slightly towards Tali for reassurance, who Shepard could see nod out of the corner of her eye. The male then, with surprising vigour, nodded as well.

Shepard raised her voice slightly so the other quarians could hear, still aware that she needed to win the appreciation of these people, if she was to request their aid to return to Liara. 'I want to thank you, Veetor'Nara vas Neema, for the beautiful gift of your words.' She ducked her head slightly, not wanting to frighten the nervous quarian with what she knew could be her rather intimidating gaze. 'I never thought to enjoy the spoken word in such a way; you are truly skilled. I wish I could offer more than thanks... and perhaps some words of my own.'

'W... what do you mean?'

'If Rael'Zorah allows it, I will be telling my own tale, a tale of woe and adventure, of pain and joy, and I would be honoured if you would stay to listen, to perhaps one day pass it on with far greater skill than I ever could.'

A hushed silence had been held throughout the room as Shepard stopped Veetor, and she could almost feel the tension rise in the air, before the young man finally nodded enthusiastically, and Shepard broke into a wide smile as the mood in the room broke, and some people even began to clap quietly.

'Then let it be!' Rael'Zorah, back on the platform, spoke loudly with arms held high. 'Shepard, if you would be willing to grace us with your words then, please, finally end our suspense and tell us of your journeys!'

Shepard: Odysseus

Tali'Zorah: Nausicaa

Rael'Zorah: Alcinous

Shala'Raan: Arete

Veetor'Nara: Demodocus

Prazza: Laodamas

A/N: Happy New Year! I am very sorry for the delay in this: the holiday season has been rather hectic, leaving me little time to get this finished as I had planned to before Christmas!

Phew this was a tough one! But I also had, possibly, the most fun writing this of all chapters to date. Reimagining both how games such as wrestling, boxing, discus etc, and storytelling would work aboard a spaceship was a great exercise, I do hope you enjoyed reading :-)

One of the biggest decisions here was whether Veetor told a story of Shepard herself, as Demodocus did at Odysseus' prompting. In the end I grudgingly decided against it, as I had already established the quarians knew Shepard's name and so I struggled to think of a story of her with her identity unknown as happens in the Odyssey that she had not already referred to in internal monologue, but still kept the story personal to Shepard with her father being the one featured. I hope you still enjoy!

I also decided to completely abandon my skirting the borders of, let's say "realism" here, and am finding the words flow a lot easier for it. I have made the speech more archaic, the emotions more overblown, the heroes, as we shall soon see, more heroic, in keeping with the Epic! Also, from the next chapter I will be writing in third person unlimited rather than keeping it from Shepard's perspective, again to move closer to the source material. I have never written in such a style before, so I am both excited and a little nervous!

Finally... I sadly think I will no longer be able to keep up my planned weekly update schedule for this piece. Work has been getting busier, and writing two stories consecutively is proving rather difficult when I have no pre-written chapters as I did when I set out. At the moment my muse is sitting with my story "Without an End" but by no means consider this piece abandoned. We are just about to get to the adventures of Odysseus/Shepard, and I will not be leaving it here :-) Once I figure out a better way to write two stories than rushing one then the other, I will begin updating again!

-Bebus, 1st Feb 2013