"And she's not a pushover at all!" I say. "She's just very shy and hides behind it. And, Hame, she likes you too, and I think she more than likes you."

"Really?" my brother is surprised and delighted.

"Wow! Yes, it's mutual!" there is surprise and a little envy in Deniska's emotions.

We sit on the grass in silence for a while.

"So!" Deniska smelled businesslike. "I have a plan!"

"What's the plan?" Hem asks suspiciously.

"How to arrange your date. Otherwise, you'll be beating around the bush, and you won't decide on anything! And she's even more so! Little fox, I'm going to need your help. Are you in business?!"

"Of course! Don't even doubt it," I reply.

"And my opinion, as it were, is not taken into account?" Hem is surprised.

"As if not! You're too indecisive", Deniska answers. "And your salvation is now in our hands!"

"That's what scares me," Hem mutters. However, he is actually very pleased.

"Anyway, listen up!" Deniska begins. "As far as I know, she goes to the city's preference club every morning to play the piano."

I must say that a real piano is a very scarce thing. It is clear that in the 24th century, for the most part, electronic analogues are used, but to learn how to play correctly, you need to play a real instrument. There was only one of them in our town, and it was in a local club. The club was organized on a shared basis by three reasonable people: a human, an azari and a krogan. On the ground floor, it was quite an ordinary entertainment venue: with a restaurant, a disco, a bar and a cabaret. And on the second floor there was the only preference club in the entire colony, and there was a grand piano. In the evenings, various respectable people gathered at the club, including the colony's management, my fathers and their friends, to paint a bullet or two. During the day, everyone was taught to play the piano there, for a fee, of course, albeit a small one.

"We wait for her on the way home, then you," Deniska points her finger at me, "and you invite her to the Mirror, under some normal pretext, with us. We're taking her to the lake, and then it's a matter of technique." I may not be able to do it very well, but if we take Vaska, then together we will definitely convince her.

My brother scratched his head. He ruffled his hair and answered.

So, we take the blue one, she definitely won't refuse to participate in such a case.

"Is there a place for me in your plans?" Hem asks indignantly.

"And so as not to scare you off, you will prepare a place with Tam! A table, juice, a cauldron and a heater for cooking mud crabs from you. As soon as we leave, I'll beep on your communicator, and you'll run off to the foothills and pick some flowers. Mud crabs, so be it, we'll all catch them together."

"What kind of flowers?"

"Yes, any kind, there are many different ones growing in the glades, you can pick a bouquet to suit your taste. We'll settle down for now, you'll be fine. Come back and give her this bouquet. She's not stupid, and she'll understand."

"Got it! Everything seems to be simple..."

Deniska takes the decanter, we sort the glasses, my brother pours the juice, raises his own.

"I have a toast! To the success of our event!"

"For success!" Hem and I talk in unison, clinking glasses together and drinking juice.

* * *

Two hours later, having mobilized all the young people in our village, including Naina, Gina and Ivan, having clarified and supplemented our plan, the whole company begins to implement it.

I fly behind Deniska's back to the town, and a memory of a year ago wakes up in my memory by itself. On the same day, exactly one year ago, I also flew to Leonov, but only behind Ham's back. Clinging tightly to my sworn brother's hot back, I cursed my gift of empathy. Being in large crowds of people became more and more painful for me. It was especially difficult at school, our kindergarten was actually called a junior school. So, being among classmates was akin to sophisticated torture, because children do not know how to restrain their emotions at all! And when there are eighteen of them! I told Ray and Mom about the problem. Mom burst into tears again, Ray said that going to school would have to wait. And I spent the whole of last May at home, alone. Kaadi looked after me, of course, but with only half an eye, because of her newly born baby.

Although, for obvious reasons, I didn't cause any problems. They only took me to the mnemograph, so that I would not lag behind the other children.

Then I decided that I wanted to know both Turian and Asari. We flew to our Galamarkt supermarket to buy summer clothes, underwear and other necessary junk. My thoughts were full of the darkest forebodings. If I had known then what kind of meeting awaits me at the store, I would have run there on foot with all my might!..

The Old Shaman

June 10, 2359

Listening to the Stars, Keeper of the memory of the Grey Stone Clan

He woke up at dawn with a clear feeling that something very important was going to happen today, something that would have a huge impact on the future. He sat down on the couch and stretched his aching legs with his hands. Old age had come, and his life was rapidly and inexorably heading towards its end. The realization of this fact did not spoil his mood, the life of his people is not different and has never been different. He is the shaman of the clan. And his purpose is to preserve the memory of the clan, the memory of millions of generations of Keepers like him. The time will come, and he will pass it on to the next shaman, and for a while the clan will have two Guardians. Then he, like his teacher and predecessor, will go into darkness, and his pupil will keep the wisdom of thousands of years. So it was, so it is, and so it will be! Until the TIME comes.

The big house was waking up: Through the curtain came the clink of dishes, women's and children's voices, and the smells of cooking. Sixteen years ago, it was he who convinced the women of the clan council to accept the humans' offer and settle on Mendoire. They did not lose money: during this time, the clan strengthened, became rich, grew in numbers, and, most importantly, for all sixteen years, not a single man was expelled from it. The Guardian had a lot to do with it. He got up from the couch and went into a small nook in the corner of the room, where there was a large bucket of clean water. Standing next to her, he picked up a long-handled ladle and began his much-loved morning ablution procedure. The icy water invigorated him, made the aged blood run faster through his veins, his body warmed up, his mind cleared of the remnants of sleep. After washing his face, he dried himself with a large fluffy towel he bought from people. He put on a shaman's robe, put on a mask that hid his face, leaving only his eyes open. He put on and fastened the hood, pulled on his boots and tightened the embroidered belt last. He took his staff and, throwing back the curtain, went out into the corridor.

He walked along the corridor, and people he met made way for him with a bow: women, children, teenagers — everyone who lives here greeted their Guardian.

Their feelings shone with sincere love and respect, even some kind of reverence. He's been used to it for a long time. The young girl bowed and asked if he wanted to eat, but he didn't have an appetite-the old man didn't need much. Bowing, he replied that he was not hungry, and went to the exit of the house. On the porch, he was greeted by the bright sun, the hot rays of which warmed him so pleasantly. He walked over to his chair, sat down, and looked around the courtyard filled with the morning bustle. Sitting in an armchair, he waited for the young men to gather in the city of people. They were supposed to be on a food truck trip for the entire clan today, and he was going to keep them company. A shadow obscured the sun, the old man looked up and saw a young man in loose clothes, looking lovingly at the shaman.

"Greetings, Wise One, we are going to the city, do you need to buy something from people?" he asked with a bow.

"No, my boy. I'll fly with you today."

"The wisest one?" The old man was overwhelmed by the youth's amazement. "Whatever you say, Wisest One! We have everything ready and we... We're about to fly over here!" and he ran deeper into the yard.

A woman wrapped in ceremonial turquoise-blue robes came out of a large house, approached the old man, and sat down in an identical chair next to him. Her face is hidden by a mask, only her yellow eyes are visible.

"Greetings, Guardian! What do you need from people in the city that our children can't bring? What makes the old Guardian fly by himself?"

"Health and longevity to you, Supreme! And what awaits me is not what, but WHO! My feelings told me that I needed to be there today!"

The woman's feelings flared with alarm.

"Do you feel something, old man? Are these times... are they coming AGAIN? Yes, you're right! That TIME is near, the ENEMY will awaken soon! And, as has happened before, the reasonable ones are not ready to meet him."

"But is there any hope?"

"It's ALWAYS there! Maybe in this cycle we will find the ENEMY's weak spot and in the future we will be able to stop him."

"Women are tired of waiting! Maybe this time, the people should join the fight?"

"I don't know, Supreme... WE don't have a definite answer yet."

"But he might show up!"

"Yes, it can! Or maybe not! Are women willing to risk all of us?"

It seemed to have gone out. She cringed, hugged herself. She stared into space with unblinking eyes. Fear cut through her feelings.

"Maybe we should tell the others."

"It's USELESS! IT'S DANGEROUS! They won't listen to us! They think we're savages! They won't hear us! And if the ENEMY finds out about us, he won't stop until he's exterminated every last one! And you know it, Supreme!"

"Are we going to stand aside and look at this again?!"

"If necessary, we will watch!"

"You probably won't see it, old man! You probably won't see it! And we'll see! And, most importantly, we will feel everything! We are afraid, Wisest One! The pain of one is excruciating! The pain and death of trillions is UNBEARABLE! You can't hide from it!"

"The ENEMY is still as strong as ever. We don't know where his heart is. And if we don't know where it is, we can't win."

"But maybe it's a STATION?"

"No! She's just a part, a tool! It has already been used! They thought they had won! But after years, the ENEMY returned and finished what he had started."

"Are they INUSANNON?"

"Yeas!"

A truck flew up, the door of the small passenger compartment attached to it opened, the young man jumped out of it and bowed to the old man. He got up heavily, and the conversation with the supreme awakened the shaman's soul. The whole nation has been asking itself the question for more than a hundred thousand cycles: "Are we right?" Under the quiet hum of the truck, sitting on a hard bench, the old man peered into the depths of his colossal memory and whispered: "Maybe we were mistaken? Maybe we didn't see something?" There was no response....

Here's a human city. The truck flew into the square in front of a large store, landed, the young men got out of it, with them was a man — a "master of goods". He bowed to the old man and asked if he would go with them. The shaman refused. He went out and looked around — the square was deserted, only there were bikes on the edge, and someone was sitting on one of them. The old man felt that this was exactly who he needed. As he got closer, he saw a person sitting, or rather, sitting — it was a human girl. With surprise, the old man realized that she was sentient... and not only sentient, but also gifted with power! Her eyes caught the old man's attention. Looking into them, he realized with a shudder: in front of him was another legend of his people, a legend that the people had encountered only once and carefully preserved the memory of it. The girl was one of THEM! In his people, people like her were called: THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED THROUGH DEATH!

Eugene

I was sitting on Ham's bike like a crow. The square in front of the store was deserted, with dry leaves and a single piece of paper blowing across it. The town seemed to have died out, although it was not surprising: adults were at work, and children were either at home or outside the city — in such heat, everyone preferred to be closer to the water. On the other side of the square, under the awning of the city club, a Krogan was sitting on a massive rocking chair, swaying slightly, reading something from a datapad, the chair creaking faintly under him. A purple-skinned Azari came out of the club, holding two tall glasses with some bright green liquid in her hands. She handed one to the Krogan and sat down in a nearby wicker chair. She said something, and the Krogan answered, and they both laughed. There was a sense of relaxation and contentment from the sensible ones — it looks like things are going well at the club!

There was a low hum. Is the freighter flying? And sure enough, a brightly and gaudily painted ore truck landed on the square, instead of a dump truck, there was an ordinary body on it, but with high sides. These were usually used by mining thieves. They bought a decommissioned truck, changed the body, put it in order, and drove it anywhere. Cheap and practical, and most importantly, the body is large.

The ore truck sat down. Three young men came out from behind him, thieves in gray hoodie clothes, but with brightly embroidered belts, followed by an older man, dressed a little better. They turned to someone standing behind the car, asked something, bowed, and scurried off to the store with a bird-like gait.

I was exhausted, I lifted the backrest on the seat and leaned on it, closed my eyes and seemed to doze off. I was awakened by the feeling of someone's attentive gaze. When I opened my eyes and looked around, I saw an amazing intelligent man. He was wearing a bright scarlet jumpsuit, somewhat similar to a ninja costume from Hollywood action movies, only covered with silver embroidery. There is a hood on his head, his face is hidden by a mask, only turquoise-blue eyes with vertical pupils are visible, without whites. His birdlike legs are encased in black shiny boots that fit like gloves. I looked into his eyes, and he flinched, but I didn't feel any emotion. I didn't feel him at all, as if no one was there!