"That's why I wonder about the Tali she knows sometimes," she says ruefully. "I feel bad for her, honestly."

But thinking about that wasn't going to help anybody, much less Tali herself. Either of them.

"I don't want to confront her." She said it bluntly, more so than she usually would have. Maybe she didn't have the right to hear why Shepard didn't like aliens, but at the same time... "I don't think I want to know why, and I don't want to hear it in her voice.

"But I should just stay away from her from now on." That much was clear. "It's probably better for everybody."

Shepard, the one who really acted like her friend, was already here. There was no need to keep trying and keep feeling a little pathetic for doing so.

"I'm sorry she said that to you, though," she offered, her lip curling, voice raw. "You shouldn't have heard it either."