Chapter 128: All Our Angels

### Summary

The new rachni councilor Reflections-in-Deep-Waters tries to speak to Shepard regarding her being silent in the rachni web, and how obviously unwell she is (to rachni senses).  Although Reflections-in-Deep-Waters only wishes to help her, the act of communicating itself is painful and disorienting for Shepard. She does not react well to this, feeling profoundly unsafe, and rejects the over-eager Reflections overtures to provide assistance. The young rachni queen reaches out to her mother for assistance. Free-Flickering-Flame assures her daughter that she did not do anything wrong, but that they may have come too late to help Shepard Mothersinger.

Shepard escapes the young queen, feeling guilty about yelling at her and unsure what caused such a strong reaction. Once back to the apartment, Shepard discovers that Vi has mastered crawling and as a result Garrus has been chasing after her all day. The two discuss Kaidan and Jack’s recovery, Hackett’s news that Shepard’s father was the one who attempted to kill Aelianus, and Shepard’s ongoing headaches. Garrus attempts to usher her off to bed, but Shepard protests- her mother is in-system and will be joining them for dinner. Garrus insists that he and Verity will help with dinner so she can rest- causing a pain-driven spike of jealousy and anxiety to sweep through her. Shepard finds herself losing track of what is real and what is not as Garrus takes her up to bed. Her last coherent thought was that Verity insisting that her headaches had been getting better was wrong- but she could no longer be sure.

An hour later, Hannah checks in on her daughter. The rest has done her some good and the two women discuss the situation with Sol as well as the upcoming quick jaunt to Palaven. Hannah admonishes her daughter to relax- and threatens to have Garrus help Shepard if she won’t.

On Palaven, Akantha and Aelianus Vakarian have a passionate disagreement regarding the state of the Vakarian Manor. Akantha is appalled that the ancestral family home has not been repaired yet- especially in the light of his son’s upcoming bonding. Aelianus points out that as Primarch of Palaven, his energies have been going into their people as a whole, and that if Akantha was going to insist on following some traditions, she might well remember that he was the current head of the clan- not her. After she leaves in a huff, Aelianus’(Great-) Uncle Seneca points out that although she is being extremely unpleasant about it- something does need to be done about the seat of the clan. Seneca reminds Aelianus’ about the wonders of delegation, and offers to take care of the arrangements- and the funding. Though it doesn’t take much, Seneca successfully twists Aelianus’ arm into agreeing.

Five days later, Shepard, Garrus, and Vi are having a lovely dinner with Aelianus, Damien, and his bondmate Annet- whos specialty is political history. After Vi throws some food on her, Shepard excuses herself briefly to clean up. While in the bathroom, she experiences some strong vertigo and possibly a fainting spell- though she excuses the episode as a flashback. There is, unfortunately, no time to dig into what happened: The Citadel Council is having an emergency meeting due to the Salarian Union being overthrown.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

Ideal techniques for fighting Canada geese, doubting our collective grasp of the English language, and punting banana chips fifty kilometres away.