[Book Two] Chapter 14: Demon of the night winds

[Book Two] Chapter 14: Demon of the night windsChapter 14: Demon of the night winds

Samara’s quest being time sensitive, it has been the one Shepard decided to tackle. When the asari explained that she was after an Ardat-Yakshi, the commander had an in depth lesson on Asari’s culture.

“And there is no cure?”

“None, commander. The asari have been trying for several millennia to find one without any success.”

“That’s terrible.”

“A hardship of life.”

“And the asari kills them all?”

“Goddess no! The innocent ones are sent to live in some remote monasteries. Far away from any population. There, they meditate and learn to control their urges. It’s a strict life but it’s for everyone’s good, Ardat-Yakshi included.”

“And the one you’re after?”

“She’s... the worst.” Samara answered in a subtle painful tone that Shepard caught.

“Samara?”

“That Ardat-Yakshi... She's my daughter.”

That piece of information startled Shepard a lot. She couldn’t imagine what the justicar in front of her was thinking or feeling at the knowledge that her own child was a monster that she had to put down.

“Don’t underestimate her, commander. She’s been escaping me for 400 years. Her cunning is only equal to her savagery.”

“She’s the reason you became a justicar, isn’t she?”

“Not the only one. I have three daughters, all of them are Ardat-Yakshi. When we discovered that fact, I took them to a monastery where I intended to live with them in peace. But Morinth was too willful and too old, she didn’t accept our new life and ran away. I joined the justicar to have the means to chase her and put an end to her evil deeds.”

“Your three daughters are... How come? I thought it was a very rare genetic mutation.”

“Have you ever heard the term pureblood, commander?”

“Yes and not in a good way.”

“Because it isn’t. The gene responsible for the Ardat-Yakshi condition appeared from pureblood Asari. It’s a mutation. While not all purebloods have the mutation it only appears with them. Though the mutation is benign as it is a recessive gene. However when two purebloods with the recessive gene have a child together...”

“The gene becomes dominant.”

“Yes. My bondmate and I are both pureblood and none of us knew that we had the gene. I didn’t even know she was a pureblood until I found out about my daughters' condition. She had long passed away by then.”

“Didn’t the asari find a way to screen for this mutation?”

“We did but... Purebloods are very rare Shepard. One in a million or more perhaps so it’s not a standard test. Furthermore the prejudice against pureblood is very high. In the end the matriarchs chose to not enforce a mandatory test for their protection, after all they are innocent of their status and were born from love. That would have gone against the fundamental precepts of Asari's culture.”

“I see. Does Rick know?”

“He does. While he never encountered Morinth, he promised to help me if he could.” Samara answered with a smile.

“Good. It will make things easier, Morinth being on Omega.”

“How so?”

“Rick and Aria are close.”

“Aria T’loak? The crime boss?” the justicar asked in surprise.

“You didn’t know? While he’s tight-lipped about their relationship, I know they’ve known each other for years.”

“He never mentioned anything like that.”

“I can see why, with you being a justicar and Aria the head of a crime syndicate....”

“I don’t see Rick as a part of something like that.”

“Me neither but I don’t think he’s a member and he’s just helping Aria personally.”

“That’s more like him.”

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“I can find another place to sleep, you know.” Rick said as he carried Tali to bed. She couldn’t stay awake anymore, too tired.

“This is your room, I can’t really kick you out of it.”

“You only have to ask.”

“I know, and I won’t. That wouldn’t be right. If anyone should sleep elsewhere it should be me. I’m the guest here.”

“Non-sense, that room is as much yours as mine.”

Tali didn’t have an answer to that and just yawned as she positioned herself in a sleeping position. When she didn’t feel Rick joined her in bed behind her, she turned around and saw him changing his clothes and not readying himself for bed.

“What are you doing?”

“There is something I want to test with my biotics. Like a secret training, now that everyone is going to sleep, it’s the right time to practice.”

“I see. Good luck then.” Tali said as she yawned again.

When Rick left the room she had already fallen asleep. He felt bad for subjecting her to his own problems, that’s why he was staying up longer. If he went to sleep at the time he usually wakes up for the past week and half by the time he had nightmares Tali would be probably up. That was not a full proof idea. After all he would still be lacking sleep, but at least his friend would have a complete night of it. That’s what really mattered to him. As for dealing with bad dreams... He refused to acknowledge the solution to the matter. He considered the alternative, going to sleep with Miranda but there was no way she could handle him every night so it wasn’t really an option.

It was a matter he will have to deal with another time however. Right now he was focused on perfecting his control of his biotics through his feet. Using the four hours of missing to train for the past few days has been beneficial. Since the exercises were more or less the same as the ones for his hands the only thing he really had to train was his aim. That had not been difficult and as of this morning he estimated that he was more than good enough at hitting a target. A stationary one though. Only three things were left for him to train, first the curve shot, then moving target and finally to use them proficiently in an actual fight.

The curve shot was a pain in the ass. The ankle was not an articulation with the same movement that the wrist. After an hour of stubbornness and unproductive results he took a moment to think on how to resolve that particular problem. The only joint in the leg that could was the hip joint which had even more movement than the wrist. However it was far more distant from the point of release which forced him to change lots of things, that and the existence of two other joints on the way. Understanding that he couldn’t just adapt what he was doing with his hand to his feet he spent some time on the extranet trying to find fighting style focusing on the use of feet.

He saw many different martial arts, savate, capoeira, taekkyeon and much more but the one which he thought fit the bill the best was taekwondo. It requires a lot of flexibility which wasn’t a problem, as Aria made sure of that during his training and presented the opportunity to use a lot of circular movements with the legs. It wasn’t the only one of course but for the basics that’s the style he was going to begin with. He spent time studying the basic kicks one after the other. What part or parts of the body moved and how it moved. Once he had enough information began testing some of them on the dummy and had the bright idea to ask EDI for help. She could compare what he was doing with the martial arts masters on the videos he watched. The perk of having an AI supporting you was that she was deadly accurate in her correction and didn’t miss anything.

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Shepard was discussing with Joker when the Normandy’s sas opened, letting in Rick carrying a body draped in a white sheet followed by Samara. The atmosphere was somber. Without any form of acknowledgement the duo walked towards the elevator.

“Damn. Can’t imagine one day killing my own kid.”

“Me neither, Joker, me neither.” she replied as both were looking at retreating backs. Turning back to her people she gave him his new orders “We’re leaving for Tuchanka tomorrow morning.”

“Understood, commander.”

____________________________________________________________

They were both in the cargo bay, alone, where they had laid Morinth in a coffin they had taken from some crates that were on the side. Something that Rick had always found weird, having coffins on board, ready to be used in case it was needed.

“Why?”

“... I couldn’t let you do it.”

“She was my responsibility.”

“She wasn’t. She was an adult, she made her own choices.”

“She was a child when she left! I was responsible for her actions. It was up to me to...”

“It would have destroyed you.” he interrupted her.

“I made my peace with the need to take her life long ago.”

“A parent should never have to take their children’s life.”

“The code...”

“Fuck the code! None of the asari that wrote it were ever in your situation.”

“The code taught me how to prepare for it, how to overcome...”

“Accepting the need for her to die and doing it yourself are two different things, Samara. Trust me, it would have destroyed you. Sure you would have learned to smile again, perhaps even laugh, but inside... Inside the light would be gone. You’d spent the rest of your life faking it to everyone around you when in truth you’d only be a broken corpse walking.”

He turned around and began walking towards the elevator but Samara caught him by the arm and went around him to face him. She had noticed, those were the words of experience that she heard and that brought forth a question she needed to ask but dreaded doing so.

“What truly happened on Eden Prime?”

He looked at her in silence for a long moment, until he removed his helmet.

“Have a look for yourself.”

Putting her hands on the sides of his face she looked him in the eye and melded. It was brief but what she saw confirmed what she had been suspicious of. Putting a stop by breaking the link, she tried for a moment to deal with the knowledge she got while Rick put back his helmet on.

He was right. It would have destroyed me.

“She didn’t suffer. I used a modified version of the paralytic agent the Collectors’ swarm uses that I created with Mordin and then one projectile to the head. Quick and painless.”

Samara in an out of character way for her, hugged Rick, as a thank you but more as a support, understanding now why he was having nightmares. She would have too in his place.

Glancing one last time at her daughter’s coffin she walked by his side towards the elevator, thanking the Goddess for having put him on her path.

____________________________________________________________

The skeleton crew was already half way through their shift when Rick took the elevator. He didn’t have bad dreams this time, no this time he simply couldn’t sleep. Melding with Samara made him relived the events of Eden Prime, something he wished he could forget for good. He knew that would happen and did it anyway for his friend but now he was at the end of his rope. He had only one choice left and with everything at stake, he couldn’t deny and ignore the solution that he knew would work. Silently entering the room he made his way towards the bed. With one last moment of hesitation, he slithered in and cuddled to the warm body occupying it.