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  “So…” Yoruichi said awkwardly, just to open the conversation. Even if there was a rather large celebration around them, the faces of the women around the table were rather serious.

  "So..." Shepard added her own intelligent addition.

  "Of for Light’s sake, it’s not that serious.” Yrel was the one to break the stalemate. She’d always been a blunt one. Sometimes that was useful.

  “Agreed. It’s not like we didn’t see all this coming.” Edirah agreed.

  “Come now. It was such a nice awkward silence.” Tali laughed. She was now much calmer and more at ease with herself, as opposed to the rather awkward youngster she’d been in the past.

  “Thanks!” Yoruichi grinned. “I worked real hard to create it.”

  Unsurprisingly, everyone gathered here used to be Seraphiel's former lover. At least the women. No males were in attendance. Only those in Seraphiel's crew were involved, plus their two new Draenei friends. Their future participation was still unclear.

  “Ok, now that we are here, I’m curious. Tali, when did you get involved? I know it wasn’t on the first Normandy.” Shepard couldn’t stop her curiosity anymore.

  "Well, you remember the time you got abducted by Cerberus? Everyone thought you were dead. Well, most everyone at least. A lot happened in those two years. I was a bit adrift after the thing with Saren was done. I did go back to the Migrant Fleet eventually, but for a while, Seraphiel took care of me." Tali explained.

  “Took care of you.” Yoruichi grinned as she made quotation marks with her fingers. “I bet she did. Took real good care of you.”

  “Mmmh, she’s very good at taking care of people.” Rangiku made a rather indecent sound.

  “Agreed.” Edirah and Yrel nodded along.

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  “Well, let’s just say I wasn’t complaining.” Tali agreed, showing off her maturity by not getting embarrassed.

  “The interesting question is, do you want her to keep ‘taking care’ of you? Or have you since moved on?” Shepard asked a rather poignant question.

  "I haven't been chaste since then if that's what you're asking. I did my part for the restoration of my people. I even have kids, though they've all grown up. That said, now that I'm no longer required to be in a leadership position, I can't think of a better way to spend the next…oh, I don't know, a couple hundred years?" Tali's admission was a slight surprise to everyone except Shepard. Shepard had known about Tali's family, which is why she'd asked.

  “What about you?” Yoruichi asked Shepard.

  “I’ll always be there for her. Whether that’s as a lover, or just a friend is up to her.” Shepard replied simply. “And you? I got the impression that your relationship is a little more complicated.”

  Yoruichi grinned. “It is, and yet at the same time it’s not. We’ve always had fun together. I want to keep that going. I have no intention of hogging her to myself though. I think Rangiku feels similarly.” She looked towards the younger Shinigami, who just nodded in agreement.

  “And what about our Draenei duo?” Shepard turned to the Mage and Paladin.

  The two looked thoughtful and a little awkward. “I don’t know yet. It’s been a long time for us.” Edirah was the first to speak. “Even for Draenei, a few thousand years is a long time. I’m only just getting over the fact that she’s alive. I need time to think.”

  “Fair enough.” Shepard nodded. “You’re the newest to all this.”

  “I want to be with her again!” Yrel declared proudly. “I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care who else she's with. I never did. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to be with her back then either."

  “That’s a good view. And it seems there are those among us that would like to see her be with others.” Shepard looked at Yoruichi and Rangiku. “And I suspect there will be others that we’ll run into eventually.”

  “Oh, that’s almost a guarantee.” Yoruichi vehemently agreed.

  "I think we'll need to set down some rules though," Shepard suggested.

  “Assuming she’ll go by those rules…” Tali pointed out.

  "Yes, well, she seems to have calmed down in that regard. I think something happened after the Grail War." Shepard suggested.

  "The curse is gone," Yoruichi revealed. Most of them were at least somewhat aware of what she was talking about. "I don't think the curse really pushed her into anything she wasn't willing to do anyway. It just gave her the push to do it. She simply hasn't been feeling the push since. She'll get closer to how she used to be once she's used to not being affected by the curse."

  “So, this is like a rebound effect after the curse.” Shepard nodded in agreement.

  “What of the guys?” Rangiku asked. “I was under the impression that she was involved with some male Draenei as well.”

  Edirah laughed. "They're too scared to approach for now. They might gather their courage eventually, but for now, they're keeping their distance."

  "Sounds about right." Yoruichi agreed. "It's a bit similar to the Shinigami. The only guy that looked for her was Zaraki Kenpachi, and that was for fighting not fucking. He's a battle maniac. Somewhat similar to Wrex, only not as smart or wily."

  "Or jaded," Shepard added.

  “That as well.” Yoruichi nodded in agreement.

  “Do we have an issue with any of the guys approaching her?” Shepard honed in on the heart of the issue.

  “Not really, as long as they don’t make it into an issue.” Edirah was the one to voice that, tacitly already implying she’d also made up her mind, even if she was still not accepting it fully.

  "Then we have some tentative agreement. If some guy gets uppity, we can work together. Peace among us will go a long way to keeping the peace overall." Shepard declared. "Let's work on some ground rules…"