Kadara: La Tierra Del Amor.

Compassion.

Ryder pulls away, Reyes almost bites the air as she does. "What is wrong, dove?" he asks as she moves past him to sit on the couch. He stands in front of her, taking his uncomfortable armour off.

"I'm just..." She pauses, feeling the tear well up in her eyes. "I'm depressed, Reyes," she finally admits. Reyes stops with his armour plate off, he drops it to the floor as he keeps a steady gaze on her.

"What are you depressed about?" Ryder laughs.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be depressed," she replies. Reyes smiles, kneeling in front of her.

"I guess you're right. Well, when did this start?" She laced their fingers together. Reyes was like her own personal water bottle, he was always so warm.

"After I spoke to Scott about three weeks ago," she answers. Reyes raises a brow at her.

"He's awake?" Ryder shakes her head, narrowing her brows.

"No, Scott has the same implant as me. SAM was able to connect to it and I spoke to him through that. But," she sniffles as looks down. Reyes pulls her chin up, trying to look at her. "I lied to him."

"About what?" he asks, wiping the falling tears.

"He asked about dad and the worlds we'd hoped to live on. I told him dad was on a mission and was still kicking," she cried. Reyes looks at her in surprise. "I even told him the golden worlds were fine and we've settled right in."

"Ryder..." he whispers. She pulls her hands away, throwing them over her face.

"I'm the worst sister ever. He is going to wake up and realise everything I told him was a huge lie. What do I do?" Reyes pulls her hands away, holding her wrists with a slight grip as he keeps a steady glare at her.

"Nothing, you can't at this point. But you did the right thing, I would have done the same," he says. He really would have, she could have made Scott worse if she told him the truth. "You were protecting him, Sara."

"I hate myself for it and everything went to shit with the Asari ark." Reyes stands back up, it was too painful to kneel in his armour.

"I thought you got it back? My contacts told me it docked with the Nexus last week?" Ryder nods, watching him pull his armour apart and pile it on the corner single-seater couch.

"We did, but the original, first-picked Pathfinder had died. We thought by the Kett attack, it turns out her own second in command left her to die for some Kett data she deemed necessary. SAM found the logs, her own Pathfinder begged for her help and she just left her to die." Ryder felt her fists turn white as she squeezed them. "I threw her right under the bus with the Captain, her other second in command, Vaderia was chosen to take over. She's a good person, kind and sweet. I helped her settle in before leaving."

"I thought only death could stop a Pathfinder.... pathfinding. SAM can't transfer?" Reyes didn't choose his words well, but it made Ryder smile.

"They can, my SAM can't. They are only connected through their implants. SAM literally has his own AI DNA linked to my own, he'd become useless if I died without proper transfer or if we were forced apart." Reyes shivered at the thought of someone pulling SAM and Ryder apart. "Anyway," she says, getting back on track. "Cora hated me throughout the entire mission, she used to run with an Asari squad in the MilkyWay and didn't shut the hell up about it. She constantly compared this to her own experience. I snapped and told her to shut the fuck up. Then sent her back to the Tempest and sent Jaal in her place."

"Wow, really. Cora cares for Asari, correct?"

"Yup, she's not spoken to me since." Ryder didn't care, she'd always had a stale relationship with Cora. She idolised Alec and was jealous of her relationship with Sara, but Scott was an exception. She had a crush on him. "She despises me," she adds.