In the evening, within his family home, Mark Shepard was sitting at the dining table, hardly touching the homemade lasagna he’d made, as he stared at the empty chair at the end of the table. Briefly, he looked back on all those moments Hannah had sat there, beside an infant John and Luke, smiling and laughing as she spoon-fed them their baby food.

And he sighed. Damn it, she’d only been gone for eight days. And yet…his home just didn’t feel the same without her. Yes, it felt so empty and lifeless.

Like a song without a melody.

Sitting across from him, his sons were engaged in their usual banter, their youthful energy filling the room with much-needed liveliness.

John laughed. “Hey Tali! Check this out!” Briefly, a halo of blue light enveloped John as he tapped into his biotics, his eyes glowing with the same ethereal hue. With his biotics, he lifted a blob of water out of his drinking cup, his face scrunched up in concentration.

Until Luke, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, used his own biotics to send a small shockwave toward his brother.

As soon as John lost his focus, the blob of water lost its form and splashed onto his boy’s head, soaking his hair.

And Luke burst out laughing. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

Also laughing, John gave Luke a friendly punch on the arm. “Alright, alright, you got me this time. But you better watch out. I’ll get you back!”

He let out a weak chuckle, the sound hollow in the otherwise lively room. Just recently, he had started guiding his boys on how to control their biotics, teaching them the basics. Later, he’d definitely ensure they understood the immense responsibility that came with such powers and establish rules like no biotics in the house. But for now, he’d let this slide.

Safe and snug in her E-ball, Tali was cooing and giggling, throwing her hands in the air. Her joy was so infectious, and he couldn’t help but smile, as Maeru held her E-ball a little closer to his boys, as if giving her a better view of the silly humans before her.

Maeru laughed. “You’re so good at making Tali laugh, Yahn. ”

“Really?” John asked, smiling. He took a bite of his lasagna. “I love it when she laughs.”

Momentarily, he smiled, then took a bite of his food. You can say that again. Yes, ever since his wife had departed this world to go on her mission to Mindoir, Maeru and Tali had done a fantastic job of distracting his boys from their feelings. Indeed, John was so fascinated with Tali and seemed to relish every opportunity he got to make the quarian infant laugh or coo. And Luke, always the more introspective of the two, seemed to find solace in their shared joy and laughter.

Yes, once, Luke had even said, “ It’s like I have a new sister .”

And he couldn’t help but agree.

He laughed. “Alright, alright boys. Come on. Finish your food. It’s close to your bedtime.”

Yes, once they were asleep and Maeru’s friend, Io’Zorah, was watching over the house, he and Maeru would have to attend an evening meeting in the Forum Building between the colony council, the conclave, and the Prime Speaker in which they’d discuss joint projects and the beginnings of a cultural exchange program. In his wife’s absence, the colony council had elected him to be governor in her stead, and during the meeting, he’d have to navigate a damned political labyrinth or responsibilities and decisions.

John nodded. “Ok, daddy.”

Soon, the boys finished eating their lasagna, leaving their plates practically spotless. Meanwhile, Maeru took the last few slurps of her ‘nutrient paste’ inside some kind of tube.

“Alright boys,” he said, standing up, “bedtime.”

“Ok, Daddy,” they said, standing up.

After they followed him upstairs towards their bedroom, his boys went into the adjacent bathroom within, then changed into their pajamas and brushed their teeth. Then finally, he tucked them in.

“Daddy?” John asked.

He knelt by John’s bed. “Yes, buddy?”

“Do you think mommy’s going to be okay?” John asked.

“We miss her,” Luke said.

Looking at the ground, he sighed. “I miss her too boys. This house just isn’t the same without her. But you know what?”

“What?” his boys asked, their eyes wide with hope.

“Your mommy is a strong, strong woman,” he said, “and this isn’t the first time she’s done something dangerous.”

John and Luke’s eyes went wide.

“Really?” Luke asked.

He smiled. “Yes, really. Before you two were born, your mother and I were both officers in the Alliance Navy and always fought some very, very bad people.”

John and Luke’s eyes lit up with excitement, and both propped themselves up on one elbow.

“Who?” John asked.

“Who did you and Mommy fight?” Luke asked.

Closing his eyes, he exhaled. So we’re finally going to have this conversation…Ok. “We fought lots of pirates and people who wanted everything to go back to how things were before the Alliance, before the great war that nearly destroyed everyone and everything,” he said, “but worst of all, we fought this terrible group of people who calls themselves the Prophet’s Hand.”

John tilted his head. “The Praw-fet’ s Hand?”

“Who’s the Praw-fet , Daddy?” Luke asked. “And what’s so special about his hand?”

He laughed. Yes, sometimes, his boys were so innocent, so adorable. “The Prophet is just a name they use. And it’s not about his hand, it’s about what they believe he stands for.”

But oh, how he his old enemy well. In his prime, he had studied their ideology thoroughly, along with the Great Filter Prophet’s manifesto.

He cleared his throat. “Well, in school, I’m sure both of you have learned how about one hundred and seventy years ago the astronaut, Arthur Grissom, and his team discovered the Prothean Archives on Mars, right?”

“Yah, Daddy,” John said, “we learned that last week.”

“Well, after that,” he said, “one man named George Maxson – a military officer who’d later call himself the Great Filter Prophet – thought this was the scariest discovery ever.”

“Scary?” John asked as if it was crazy to even consider the discovery of the Prothean archives scary. “How?”

In reality, Grissom’s discovery thrust humanity into an existential crisis, rife with political, religious, and philosophical turmoil. Yes, it had not only shattered humanity’s belief in its own uniqueness, but it had also led to the most heated debates about the nature of life in the universe itself.

Amidst them, George Maxson and his followers argued that the archives were proof that the Great Filter was real, that it explained the Fermi Paradox, and that if humanity wasted time and resources on interstellar colonization, advancing their technology without limits, then humanity would careen into a Great Filter and go extinct.

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“Because it was proof that we’re not the only ones out there,” he said, “and that many races are a lot older and stronger than us and might be very, very mean.” Briefly, he looked at the ground, then pursed his lips. Damn it, how would his boys react to what he was going to tell them? “And because they’re so scared, the Prophet’s Hand…”

Briefly, he looked back on all those raids he’d lead on their hidden strongholds all over the Sol system, liberating their labor camps and ‘re-education centers’ of their filthy, starving prisoners. Fucking animals. “They’ve done a lot of very, very bad things and hurt a lot of innocent people.”

He sighed, looking back to when he’d put a gyro-jet round through Aedan Marlowe’s skull. Finally, he had ended that bastard’s reign of terror, having avenged everyone who’d died during his string of assassinations and bombings. Hope you’re burning in hell. “And you’re mommy and I served on the same ship – the SSV Centurion – while fighting them…”

Briefly, he looked at the ground and smiled. Yes, Aedan Marlowe’s death had forced the remainder of the Prophet’s Hand into hiding for the umpteenth time. But it had at least dealt them a vicious blow that would take them years to recover from. “Thankfully, they’re very weak now. Because I stopped their leader from hurting anyone ever again.”

“Wooooow, really?” John said. “That’s so cool!”

“Yeah,” Luke said, smiling, “you’re so cool, Daddy!”

He laughed. “Aw, thank you, boys.”

John cleared his throat. “But daddy?”

“Yes?”

“They’re wrong, right?” John asked.

“Wrong? You mean about aliens?”

“Yeah,” John said, “quarians are so nice.”

“And you said they’re our friends,” Luke added. “Right, Daddy?”

“Oh, of course,” he said. “Of course. The quarians are definitely our friends and will show everyone that the Prophet’s Hand was wrong.” Momentarily, he broke eye contact with them, then huffed through his nose. “But some people, boys…they’ll always be too scared to ever believe that.”

“Well, then they’re just stupid,” John said.

“Yeah,” Luke said, “they’re stupid.”

He smiled, then let out a weak chuckle “Yeah, they’re pretty dumb.” He kissed each of his sons on the forehead. “Goodnight. While you’re asleep, and I’m away at a meeting, Io is going to be watching over the house. So if you need anything, just tell her okay?”

“Ok,” John said, nuzzling himself under the covers. “Goodnight, Daddy.”

“Goodnight,” Luke said.

He stood up. “Sleep well, you two.” Finally, he shut off the lights in their room using the nearby holo-panel, then shut the door. In the adjacent hallway, he closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh. Another day, done and dusted. Yes, all that remained was the coming meeting, and he couldn’t help but feel excited to discuss what joint projects they’d discuss.

But first, he’d better check up on Maeru.

As he head downstairs, he spotted her eyeing the numerous holo-picts of him and his wife during their days in the Sol System, abound with so many smiles frozen in time. Some holo-picts showed him and his wife in their old officer uniforms, standing proud and resolute, whilst others captured their more intimate moments of laughter and love during their wedding and honeymoon. He smiled. A few were even holo-picts of John and Luke as infants, their innocent faces beaming at the holo-corder.

A warm sensation stirred in his chest, and he let out a weak laugh. Good times. Good times.

He stepped beside her, his gaze following hers. “If you’re wondering, most of these were taken back in the Sol System.”

“They are memories of your old home?” Maeru asked, her voice soft.

“Yeah…” he said. As much he loved his time with Hannah there, he had no regrets in making this world his new home. He pointed towards one of John and Luke’s baby pictures. “Except ones like this. They’re from this world.”

Maeru laughed. “Aw, they’re so cute.” For a moment, she studied all the pictures a little longer and her eyes softened. “Keelah…you must truly miss her.”

A cold sensation gripped his chest, and he pursed his lips. “Yeah…”

“I saw the way you and your…” She paused, as if trying to find the right word. “Ah, what was that human term you used for her?”

Did the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ not exist in the quarian language? “My wife?”

“Yes,” Maeru said, “just before she left for Mindoir with my lifemate, I saw the way that you and your wyfe held each other, with such love in your eyes. And it has only made me believe that our species have far more similarities than differences, that an alliance between our people against the darkness to come is what is best for us all.”

He smiled. “Thank you. The feeling is mutual.”

Indeed, in many ways, quarians were hardly alien at all. But what other differences did they have?

“But I’m curious,” he said, “why do quarians seem to call their spouse their ‘lifemate’ instead of a husband or wife?”

“Oh…” Maeru said, her glowing eyes wide behind her golden visor. “Do those terms not mean what I think they do?”

Scratching his beard, he crinkled his brow. Not mean what you think they do? “Honestly, the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ can mean different things depending on the context. But…” Maeru tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes. Damn it, she had no idea what he was talking about. Didn’t she? He cleared his throat. “But anyways, by ‘lifemate’, do you literally mean ‘mate for life’, or is it just an exaggeration?”

“An exaggeration?” she asked, as if he’d just spoken nonsense. She laughed. “Absolutely not, Mark’Shepard. The term is very literal.”

Momentarily, he looked at the ground, his eyes wide. Wow, so did quarians pair bond for life? If so, then just how deep was the connection between two lifemates? Once more, he looked at Maeru. “Honestly, that’s beautiful, Maeru.” He smiled. “Tell me, just how deep is the connection between two lifemates?”

Maeru let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Rael…he is like a part of me, like the other half of my soul, Mark’Shepard. Keelah, if something ever happened to him, then I…” Briefly, she looked at the ground and paused before looking back at him. “Then I would be lost…shattered into so many pieces that I would never feel complete ever again.”

Other half of your soul? Ah, so did lifemates share a profound, soul-deep connection? If so, then Maeru was probably terrified and missing Rael more than he could ever imagine. “So I guess your people have no concept of divorce or breaking up?”

“ Dee-vorse? ” she asked, tilting her head, “Breaking up?” She let out a weak laugh. “I have no idea what you are saying. But now, you’ve got me curious. Tell me, how do humans experience love and romance?”

He looked at the ground, his eyes wide. No concept of divorce? If that was true, then quarians must have very different brain chemistry and neural wiring than humans. He scratched his beard. “Well, I guess I’d say that we experience them in complex ways, not too different than your own kind, since our species have so much in common. But that quarian love and romance is a beautiful ideal we often strive for.”

Maeru tilted her head, her eyes wide with interest. “An ideal? Oooh, tell me more.”

He scratched his beard. Damn it, how was he going to explain this to her? “It’s…complicated, something we could discuss for hours. But if I had to describe it in just a few words, I’d say that most humans want a bond as deep and unbreakable as the one between quarian lifemates, but just don’t have the skills, knowledge, or luck needed for that to happen, for them to find somebody they can love that deeply.”

“Skills?” Maeru asked. “Knowledge? What do you mean?”

“I mean things like being able to understand your partner, to communicate effectively, and to compromise and regulate your emotions whenever disagreements happen,” he said. Briefly, he remembered his first girlfriend – a cute redhead named Natalie – and how he had fallen so madly in love with her, only for the relationship to crumble right after the honeymoon phase had ended.

“You never listen to me!”

“You’re always with your friends!”

Her voice echoed in his mind. Inwardly, he face-palmed. Goodness, he had been so young, brash, and naive, having made so many stupid mistakes.

But he knew better now.

Yes, Natalie was happy with her dorky, VI-Engineer husband.

And he had found the true love of his life in Hannah.

He pursed his lips, then gulped. “Fortunately, I was blessed to have found a woman like Hannah, somebody with whom the necessary skills I mentioned feel the easiest they’ll ever be for me. But most are not so lucky.”

“Keelah…” Maeru said. “Most humans must be so, so lonely then, and the skills you mentioned...are you telling me that humans actually have to put conscious effort into using them with their mate, into ‘maintaining’ their bond?”

“Uhm…” he said, scratching his beard. For goodness sake, could this get any more awkward? “Yeah. Pretty much. But still, there’s a lot more to it and I don’t think I’m the best person to explain all of this to you. It’s something I think a few cultural exchange programs will have to clarify.”

Maeru gripped her vocalizer with one hand. “Hhhm…I agree. Cultural exchange programs will indeed have to clarify a lot.

Soon, Maeru’s omni-tool beeped and she opened up a window on it.

“Something up?” he asked.

“Ah, it looks like Io has just arrived,” Maeru said.

And only seconds later, a quarian woman in vibrant orange cloths and a matching visor stepped inside through the front door. “Maeru?”

Maeru went and gave her a warm hug. “Ah, good to see you, Io. Good to see you.”

Io returned the gesture just as warmly. “Ah, likewise, Kle’ena , likewise.”

Io then approached him and extended her hand for a handshake. “Good to see you, Mark’Shepard . Rest assured that I will watch over your home and little ones as if they were my own.”

“Thank you, Io,” he said. At first, he had been reluctant to allow an alien to watch over his home and his boys whilst he was away. But John and Luke really liked her apparently and thought she was a great babysitter. “If anything happens, just contact Maeru. Ok?”

“Oh, of course,” Io said. “Of course.”

“Excellent,” Mark said. He looked at Maeru. “Well, follow me. We have a meeting to attend.”

“Lead the way,” Maeru said.

Finally, he left his home through the front door, with Maeru following him. Soon, he and Maeru got into his ground shuttle, and then he drove away towards the Forum Building.

During the ride, he couldn’t help but think of Hannah once more. Yes, how was she faring? Had she already arrived at Mindoir? And if so…

Then hopefully Mindoir’s governor would heed her warnings.