Arashu's Gift

Chapter 10

As soon as he exited the shuttle and set foot on Tuchanka, the blast of hot air blowing directly on Thane's face made him smile. He breathed in as deeply as possible and ignored that painful limit his lungs always seemed to reach, which prevented him from breathing at his maximum capacity. Despite the ache that, for a moment, tightened his back and chest, the scorching air of this battered and alien land gave him new vitality. He could feel the breath of Tuchanka's sun running through his veins and penetrating every scale and organ of his body. With each step, he felt the hot soil through the soles of his boots. He closed his eyes and allowed the strength of the sun to caress his face. He smiled. He wished to stay perfectly still right there, absorbing the sun's rays, but he reminded himself of the reason they were on the krogan homeworld.

As he followed Shepard and Doctor Solus inside the territory of Clan Urdnot, Thane inevitably thought of his ancestors. His parents had been born on Kahje, but his grandparents remembered Rakhana with the accuracy of the perfect drell memory. In the few moments Thane had been able to spend enjoying a normal family life before being given to the Compact, he had listened to the tales of his grandparents about the drell homeworld.

Now, as he visited Tuchanka for the first time, he was amazed at how similar both planets seemed, even in their level of devastation. Today, Rakhana was no more than a shadow of the beautiful world it had once been, having become a victim of extreme industrialization. Tuchanka, meanwhile, showed her wounds through debris and wrecked buildings as if she were proud of her scars under this blurry orange sky, which was loaded with radiation and toxicity. Both worlds not only had their desert climate in common, but also their original inhabitants as the only ones responsible for their destruction.

Thane was no stranger to being the center of attention in most places in the galaxy where he let himself be seen. Drell stood out due to their striking colors; many considered them exotic, which was something he never knew exactly how to interpret. There was no way around it.

However, the looks his salarian squadmate was getting were quite different.

Immediately, some krogan growled aggressively as Thane and Doctor Solus walked behind Shepard, who was opening her way among the native population. The Commander spoke with the leader of Clan Urdnot and, based on what Thane could hear and see, they seemed to know each other well. The big krogan stood up from his stone throne and walked to meet Shepard as if she were an old and dear friend. The Commander shook his hand affectionately. As Thane watched her talking with the leader with such spontaneity and ease, he wondered how she had gained the friendship and collaboration of aliens, a feat which many humans considered difficult or impossible to achieve.

Even though she wore her usual N7 armor and helmet, the Commander looked small and fragile among so many krogan. In particular, the leader of Clan Urdnot was a few heads taller than her, a mass of power who could annihilate her with the strength of his fist alone. Under her armor she was still only human, even after the Cerberus upgrades Officer Lawson had admitted to using. Judging by their exchange, the krogan seemed happy to see her again, and he was more than willing to offer his help with whatever she needed.

They were in Tuchanka in search of an old student and colleague of Doctor Solus. His salarian teammate feared the worst, believing him kidnapped and fearing for his safety. The leader of Clan Urdnot advised them to speak with his chief scout.

Shepard spoke with the krogan, and they learned that the place the salarian was most likely to be was the territory of Clan Weyrloc. They borrowed a truck to navigate the distance between the two clans.

Once there, they would have to fight their way past the Blood Pack forces, the merc band formed of krogan and vorcha. The sun warmed Thane's back and head with a caress, and he felt full of new energy.