Chapter 9: New Friends, Old Friends Pt. 2
"Goddess," T'Bayla grumbled, "I didn't know we'd ended up that far off course."
"Well," Shepard responded as she pointed down at the blue hologram projected by her Ghost, "I was more focused on getting us the hell away from the Cosmodrome." Which was true but that didn't stop it from hurting her pride. Cayde was going to have a field day with this. Instead of going south to Samarkand, they'd been forced to skirt the Cosmodrome and drift vaguely east. Now they seemed to be a few miles north of the M32 highway. She glanced at the highway and looked at Karluk. "I don't know about this…"
Karluk waved his hand, "I know, Shepard. The Fallen keep a close eye on the Highway. But they're already looking for you. They might even be looking for us." He trailed his finger down the highway, "Stealth has become a hindrance."
"Karluk is right, Guardian. We need speed. And we can double our speed using the Highway."
Shepard rubbed the back of her head. She went through all of her own plans and realized to her consternation that most of them were half-baked at best. She sighed and said, "It's what we got." The next half hour was spent on logistics and other subjects of importance. When they were done, Kulai told a messenger to send out the signal for final preparations. They had spent too much time in one place as it was and they had to leave before the Fallen could find them.
As the meeting separated, Shepard noticed that Karluk wasn't there. She turned to Amira, "Where did Karluk go?"
Her eyes widened when she heard Shepard ask, "I-I didn't even noticed he'd left." That was strange, Shepard thought, Karluk always told Amira where he was going.
"It's probably fine. I'll go find him." She pointed at her friend, "You get ready to ride."
Amira frowned but did as Shepard said. As she walked away, Shepard muttered to herself, "Now, if I was Kazakh nomad…"
She found him at the edge of the camp staring out into the Steppes. She walked towards him and as she got closer she saw him on the verge of tears.
"Karluk…" she said.
"My tribe has lived in this land for thousands of years. Before the Collapse." He shook his head, "Before even the Traveler." His eyes clenched shut, "And now I'm the one that has to abandon it."
Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. Karluk had never been the kind of man who clung to bravado like other young men his age. But he was right in one sense. His people had been here since the Before. They'd fought tooth and nail in the Dark Age and after to keep it. And now they couldn't. "Karluk," she said, "I know how it feels like to lose a place to the Fallen." For a moment, she closed her eyes and remembered Mindoir. "You're not being a coward by packing up the tribe and leaving, Karluk. You said it yourself. You won't survive another winter on the Steppes."
"She is right, Karluk." They both turned and saw Amira. Karluk's eyes widened as he spoke her name. She placed two fingers onto his lips, "The tribe is with you, Karluk." She took the fingers from his lips and brought her hand to his chin, "As am I." With that she smiled, took her hand from his face, and walked away.
Shepard looked over and saw Karluk staring at the retreating form of his wife. She smiled, "Wow, wife for the win."
He blushed, "Amira is, as in many things, right." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them she could see the glint of determination in his eyes. "We'd best get going if we're going to…" Karluk squinted and peeked over Shepard's shoulder. "I think that is one of yours."
-----
Tali rested on her knees as she dug out a little bit more dirt with the small trowel she'd borrowed from Liara. She was almost done. Just had to get a more shovelfuls of dirt out and then she could-
"Tali!"
She startled and turned her head to see Shepard and one of the Captains of the tribe coming forward to meet her. She climbed up onto her feet and tried to shield the hole from their sight. "Oh, hi Shepard. Elder."
"Uhh," Shepard said, "We were about to get ready to leave. What are you doing over here, Tali?"
Tali heard her suit's fans turn on to counteract the sudden increase in body temperature. "Oh, nothing I was just enjoying some free time."
One of Shepard's eyebrows shot up "On your knees?" Tali blushed. Oh, that thought was getting locked in the Vault to never see the light of day again. Shepard sighed and shook her head, "Tali, seriously, what are you up to?" She tried to peek around Tali's shoulder only for the quarian to lean to block her sight. Tali quickly realized she forgot about the nomad.
"It's a hole." He said.
Tali's eyes widened, "It's nothing I just…" Then Shepard did the worst thing she could have done. She put her hand on Tali's shoulder and…gave her a look. Not an impatient one. More the opposite.
"Tali…"
Tali felt tears prickle at the corners of her eyes as she turned around and showed them a small box. She opened it and showed them what was inside.
"I-It's for Garrus. In ca- In case he catches up."
Shepard frowned and shook her head, "Tali, Garrus is…"
"I know he's probably dead!" she yelled. She regretted it immediately and closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay. "But, we don't know that he is." Tali felt her insides fall apart. It was the first time she'd even thought of the word "dead" since Garrus hadn't come back from the Cosmodrome. She took a calming breath and tried to keep the quaking out of her voice. "I-if he made it then I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do anything to help him." Shepard opened her mouth to speak but Tali interrupted her, "It's just some food and a map of where we're going. The map is encrypted. Only Garrus would ever know how to unlock it!" She looked down at the ground. This was stupid.
"It's okay."
Tali's eyes left the ground and she saw Shepard gently shut the lid on the box. "Come on," she said, "sooner we get this done the sooner we can finish getting ready." She turned her head to look back at the Elder, "You go on ahead. We'll catch up."
Soon, it was only the two of them, kneeling down, patting down the patch of dirt. They didn't talk, preferring a sad silence only occasionally broken by the sounds of engines in the distance. Once they were finished, they both stood up.
"Thank you," Tali said.
Shepard brushed the dirt off her hands, "It was nothing." It became silent again for a few moments before Shepard started speaking, "It sucks."
Tali didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "My mother died when I was very little."
"That sounds awful." Shepard said. There was compassion in her voice but there was also a flatness to it. Tali wondered how familiar Shepard was with loss.
Tali smiled, "That's just it. It wasn't." Tali felt a familiar guilt wind through her chest, "Or it isn't. I don't remember much about my mother. When I think of her, it's as if I'm remembering a piece of scenery."
"So this is the first time you've felt this way." Shepard said and Tali nodded. Shepard sighed, "I'm not going to say it gets easier. Cause that's nowhere near as comforting as people think it is. But, you learn to…live with it. Eventually." Tali felt the pain in her heart. The same pain she'd lived with for weeks.
"That doesn't sound very good." Tali said shaking her head.
"I know."
Then, to Tali's horror and elation, Shepard pulled her into a hug. Keelah, she thought, why is she so warm? She sighed to herself and allowed herself to sink into Shepard's arms. It was with both relief and regret that Tali finally let go.
"You really should talk to your friends about this." Shepard said. A smile spread across her face, "I mean, I bet Wrex's hugs are awesome." Her smile turned into a smug grin, "Trust me, I can tell."
Dammit, Tali thought, she loved/hated how Shepard could always make her smile. They made their way to the camp where they parted ways. She found Nurbolat standing by his bike, a worn looking thing that seemed to have a similar design to Shepard's, and dressed in his environment suit. Upon seeing her he climbed onto the bike and waved at her. She ran up and jumped onto the bike. She looked around and all around her were bikes, each one holding a pair of travelers many of them were human-alien pairs, and trucks she knew were either filled with supplies or people.
Wrex's head poked out of the back of one of them. He'd been chosen to help defend the trucks since he was too heavy for one of the bikes. She waved at him and he gave her a quick nod before he pulled his head back into the truck. From the front of the caravan, Tali heard someone yell. She couldn't make out the words over the noise but she felt the bike shift into gear and soon they were speeding across the Steppes.
-----
She was coming upon the entrance to the Cosmodrome and she was already disappointed. The skeletons here were familiar to her. Hell, she'd given some of them names.
"Hi, Fred." She said to one of them. She wanted to leave already but she knew if she didn't at least get as far as the entrance she'd get paranoid about whether her Guardian was there or not. Just get to the entrance, she thought. Just get to the entrance and you can light out to the City. See what new vids or comics the Digital-Archaeologists had dug out of the Old Cloud. Do a quick survey of the Trials. Then maybe light out to Mars to see if there was anything in the ruins.
That's how it was to be a Ghost without a Guardian. Just go through the motions. Maybe she could talk to someone when she got back-
She saw…something on the roof of one of the cars. She got closer. It was nothing she'd ever seen before. Which was pretty amazing because she'd crisscrossed Sol multiple times. It was the same basic shape as most Earth-based sapients two legs and one head. It looked like it had had two arms but had lost the right one. Arc grenade if she was reading the burns correctly. But it reminded her a little bit of a bird. She looked at it closer. A plated bird. Multiple ropes lashed it to the roof. She didn't have to guess who did that. She began to scan it when...She turned her scanner off. T-That couldn't be right. She scanned him again. She saw it, beyond the Veil. A spark of light like a distant star.
"It's you!" she shouted. She closed her eye and bounced in the air, "It's you! It's you! It's you!" She began to examine him more closely, "I found you. Traveler's Light, I found you! I mean, you look weird but I don't care cause you're mine!"
She shook herself. Shouting at the top of her speakers near a Fallen stronghold. Wonderful idea. She calmed herself down. She did it. She'd found him. Now she had to bring him back. She took another look. It'd be easy since he was relatively fresh. First she used her utility laser to cut the ropes tying him to the car. She pushed him off the roof and he fell onto the ground. She rolled him onto his back.
Okay, now that she'd gotten him some dignity it was time. She felt her shell slowly come off of the core as she kindled the spark of her Light into a flame. The flame lit up the void that stretched beyond the Veil and across the expanse she saw the small Light of her Guardian brighten up into a Beacon. He was there before her. Now all she had to do was…
Reach out.
*****
Okay, this is finally done. Sorry that its late. I spent Monday and Tuesday dealing with employment stuff. Anyways, I like this a lot more than I like the first half. Anyway, see you guys next week.
