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sqweakieTitle: Bonds Beginning
Author: sqweakie
Recipient: ladyjax
Rating: PG
Warnings: unBeta'd
Word Count: over 12000
Prompt: A combination of 'AU. Use your imagination' and 'Courting'
Pairing: Rodney McKay/Teyla Emmagen
Summary: 'Rarer are love bonds, two people whether of the same or different genders that vow to stay together, to make one home and one life. Such bonds are not forged easily and they are harder still to break.'
Bond
select definitions from the Webster Dictionary
n. 3. a) a binding or uniting force; tie; link [the bonds of friendship]
b) a fastening or adhesion, as by glue, solder, etc.
4. a binding agreement; covenant
5. a duty or obligation imposed by a contract, promise, etc.
vi. to connect, hold together, or solidify by or as by a bond
oOo
Technology to the Athosians was always a subtle, forbidden art. It originally was a camouflaged by the leathers and the open fires, the rough tents that were lined with softly woven blankets and warm hearths. She remembered helping assemble the watcher fires that burned constant and unattended every night since they were first light. She remembered watching her mentor pause and explain different machines offworld when her father would always pull her away from the fascinating displays. She remembered when she was a little girl the last time they used the shield days before her mother was lost.
In her present time their advances were few and easily hidden from the Wraith. They had easy ways to start a fire, water purifiers that fit in a small bag and a large one that worked for the entire village,
She was the latest in a long line of women that kept the secrets of the abandoned city. She remembered as a small child her mentor taking her on long walks that took them into the secret entrances to the forbidden areas. There was a few precious books, what little knowledge that was saved from the Wraith. It was traditional for the women of the village to teach the children the ways of the Athosians, even those that most felt were best forgot and lost like the city in the fog.
Athosians focused on a simple life, taking care of the living while honoring the ways of their ancestors, careful not to grow too big or too advanced. Nothing they created was permanent, changing like the seasons and at the mercy of the wraith. A man was chosen to keep and lead the spiritual ways of the Athosians. Also according to tradition a woman was chosen to lead the entire village, to make sure children were taught, that plants were harvested when ready and when to slaughter parts of their herd for meat. It was also tradition for the leader, the wise woman as she was commonly know outside of her title, to be mother to the village, to lead negotiations, and to pray to the Ancestors for guidance apart and alone for her life as long or as short as it may be.
They also kept the secrets of Athos. The most important secret, the one no one knew except the chosen few girls in each generation was that that lost knowledge was found. Her mentor made her promise again and again to not let anyone know that she sought the knowledge of the past in the abandoned city. Each promise carried the warning that if she was caught near the city the consequences would be dire, more so if they found out exactly what she did alone in the forgotten rooms and ruined buildings.
These thoughts weighed on her many days since she first understood how her secrets were important to keep from her best friend Kanaan when he had tattle to his mother that she had built a small toy windmill, something not allowed in accordance to their most sacred laws. Her punishment was not as bad as the disappointed looks from her father.
She wished for a distraction from her thoughts and the tedious chores that let her mind wander. She often didn't believe in luck but today the Ancestors graced her wish. As she sat in the main gathering tent with the older women she could hear voices, some familiar and some not, outside. Idly, she wondered if it was the Genii, come to say they could help in the harvest this summer that they had originally said they couldn't help with. She missed Sora's visits the most, how it was nice to talk to someone her own age about things that didn't concern the village.
"Welcome Travelers, to the village of Magen of Athos," Halling greeted from somewhere outside. She sighed with relief, not who she wanted but still a welcome interruption. She set aside her weave work, tolerated only because it taught her fingers nimbleness and delicacy, useful in repair work of her found machines. There were few domestic tasks she was suited for and she didn't feel sorry for abandoning this one.
She took a settling breathe and rose to greet the strangers as they entered the tent. There were four in total, all men, the youngest probably a couple of seasons her junior while the oldest was crowned with graying hair and mistrust in his eyes. Of the other two the first was topped with wild black hair and the other had a thin topping of brown with the bluest eyes that caught her attention.
"This is the Emmagen," he introduced while she stood up. "She is the wise woman of the village," Halling clarified at their confused expressions.
"You look a little young for the title," the oldest remarked. The Emmagen was not as old as her title suggested. As a child she had been known only as Teyla or Torren's daughter or even rarely as the Emmagen's heir. As an adult she was short and slight and a sometime underestimated woman because of her lack of years. Though born in the village, she had lived here for the past eleven cycles. Before, when her mother was the Emmagen and her father alive, she had traveled all over the galaxy, trading on behalf of the Athosians on other planets and never staying still for long. Today was one of the days she wished she still did that.
"I have trained since I was a child for this position," she said quietly, anger not tingeing her words, mask of serenity fixed firmly in its place. "It is a title that has been held by me and my ancestors for over nine generations."
The man's lips quirked slightly at her pronouncement. They stared at each other for a time before he spoke.
"I am Colonel Marshall Sumner of Lantea," he finally told her. "These are my men: Major Sheppard, Lieutenant Ford and Doctor McKay." He motioned at each man in question, the first two giving her dazzling smiles while the last just nodded distractedly while he fiddled with the object in his hands.
"Perhaps you wouldn't mind showing Doctor McKay around while we talk with Mister Halling. He had been fascinated by your village since we arrived."
The blue eyed man looked up and gaped while the others went outside with Halling, the Major patting the Doctor's shoulder as they walked past. He started to stutter as the other left before he visibly wilted.
"That's a mark against him," one of the old women called out with a laugh.
"Charin," she admonished, not that she disagreed but it was inappropriate to say so in front of a stranger. Her mentor, closer to her than her birth mother ever was, just laughed again and returned to her stitching. Teyla stifled another urge to sigh and turned to the man dumped on her.
"I can not believe he just left me here," he said, not realizing Teyla had turned her attention back to him. "I thought it was bad when Sheppard dumped me with Ford and his buddies while he flirted with the local priestess but he never did this!"
"I have to say that was a first for me as well."
The man jumped and spun around, knocking a nearby hanging basket to the ground. He apologized frantically and bent down to pick up the fallen roots. She stooped down as well to help.
"It is alright," she soothed. "It is not the first nor the last time that will happen. I have tried to move this one multiple times but someone places right back here. It is hard to change once habits are formed."
"I'm Doctor McKay," he introduced. "Doctor Rodney McKay. I kind of missed your name."
She should feel insulted but after the clumsy display she didn't feel up to it. The poor man had been just as insulted by his companions as she and she could feel an almost kinship with him because of it.
"I am the Emmagen."
"Is that your only name or your first name or?"
"It is my title," she interrupted him. "I am just known as the Emmagen. It is more important than any name could be."
"Oh. I guess then every one will know who you are."
"Yes," she agreed. They then stood there, staring at one another for a time both at a loss.
"Would you like a tour of the village?" she offered, trying to ease the tension a little.
"That would be really nice. Their staring is getting creepy." He must have meant the last for her but Athosians all had very good hearing, even at an advanced age, and the women still seated around the table laughed. He blushed and she took pity, leading him outside to the show him around...and to get away from the busybodies still laughing behind them.
She led him in a wide circle around the village, pointing out various people and things that might interest him. As they walked she subtly interrogated him about his people. It took only a short time to get him talking, finding out that he was primarily a scientist that worked with machines and technology. In a not so subtle attempt of his own he asked about their own technological advances.
"Technology is forbidden," she told McKay as they walked to the perimeter. "Staying in a less advanced state and keeping our villages small has let us escape the heavier cullings. We only lose a dozen or so to the Wraith when they do appear and we have had generations without a major culling as a results."
"But how do you keep track of that without records or books or computers?" he asked, more curious than insulting.
"We have a strong oral tradition," she answered. "Perhaps you can stay and hear some of Halling's stories. He often recounts important events in our history at night after the last meal." Teyla neglected to tell him of the meticulous records she kept in the city, just as her mentor before her and the unknown women before that. She wouldn't trust a stranger with such knowledge even though he looked disappointed to find nothing of real interest to him in the village.
"Well, staying here isn't up to me," he said, glancing at the direction they had seen Sumner and Halling partway through their walk. She glanced the same way, not seeing the other men but thinking about them as well. She did not look forward to negotiations the coming morning when the colonel would find out she was the head negotiator, the woman he had ignored and insulted so readily.
"What are you doing here if you are not part of the negotiations?" she asked instead.
"Normally I study the technology of various planets we contact except there seems to be a glaring lack of said technology."
"As I said," she started to repeat herself.
"'Technology is forbidden'," he finished. "But you let us into your homes and we have technology. That seems a little hypocritical to me."
"What you carry is small and easily hidden. We tolerate it of our allies but it is strongly discouraged among the Athosians. What little we use is vital to our survival and that is it."
"Oh," he said. "Umm..."
"It is alright. I will not think of you badly if you think it is a stupid idea," she teased gently. She couldn't stop the small laugh when a blush spread across his cheeks.
"McKay!" a voice called out, interrupting their shared moment. Luckily it was one of the younger men, Sheppard if she remembered correctly. He was gesturing and waving at them from the gathering tent. She could feel her companion sigh and when she turned to look she could see that he was dejected.
"I guess I have to go," he told her, sounding just as disheartened as he looked.
"Perhaps we can talk tomorrow," she offered. He brightened immediately and smiled his crooked smile.
"Rodney!" the other man called again, irritated this time.
"Good day Doctor McKay."
"You can call me Rodney. You don't have to but if you want to, or McKay is alright, or Doctor," he babbled. She didn't stop grinning.
"Very well Rodney. Then you can call me Emma if you wish. It is my short name used by friends."
"Bye, Emma," he said, blushing brighter before he turned, tripping over a tent stake in his haste towards the group of Lanteans. She covered her laugh with a hand and waved when McKay turned back around to look at her.
oOo
Rodney collapsed on the too hard bedroll, exhausted from all the hiking they had done earlier in the day and the long walk before supper. He had no complaints about supper though, roasted mystery beast, a small collection of offplanet vegetables and the fruits the Lanteans had brought with them from the city. He didn't have a chance to talk to Emmagen again. She had disappeared during the meal and one of the other women had mentioned that she did that regularly. That she needed to prepare for tomorrow and to pray to the Ancestors for guidance in the upcoming negotiations. He had decided to turn in early after hearing that and his assigned guard dog had followed him back to the tents that the Athosians had offered for the night.
"Where is Colonel Sumner," he asked Sheppard as the other man secured the tent flap. "And why the hell couldn't we have used a Jumper on this trip? I swear I'm getting a whole new set of blisters this time."
"The exercise won't kill you, Rodney. And you know just as well as I do that we would have hit that huge tree parked right in front of the gate if we had taken a Jumper so don't ask if they are bringing one back."
"And our fearless leader?" he prodded.
"Sumner took Ford and the two of them were going to hike to the gate to report to Doctor Weir. If you had actually listened you would have heard about it."
"Fine," he huffed.
"Anyway, we heard rumors that the Athosians are huge technophobes so it's probably a good idea not to insult our hosts."
"Could have fooled me," Rodney groused as he peeled off too sweaty socks to reveal the blisters he knew were forming. Sheppard paused his own removal of his boots and looked up.
"What do you mean?" he asked as he returned to his footwear.
"Those watchfires burn too constantly not to be regulated. I also saw some of the women with small gadgets too, all easy to hide."
"You do know when you go on a romantic stroll with a girl you're supposed to be concentrating on the girl, right?"
Rodney kicked out but Sheppard easily rolled out of range and the last time he had thrown his pillow at the man, the jerk had kept it the rest of the mission. It may have been tiny and barely softer than the ground but it was his damn it! After contemplating using his dirty socks as deadly projectiles and what Sheppard would do in retaliation he just settled for glaring at the man. Hopefully Ronon would kick his ass extra hard in their next sparing session, after his fractured ankle healed up.
"So did you notice anything else?" the Major asked after he resettled on his own bedroll.
"You mean besides the ruined city on the far side of the lake? No." That finally got a reaction.
"What city?" Sheppard asked, suddenly all ears and paying full attention.
"Maybe I should wait till Sumner gets back since that's 'proper operating procedure'." He made sure to use air quotes for the last part of the statement.
"But I'm your team leader," he whined, actually whined. "Sumner only is here for the negotiations, I'm the one that goes on missions with you all the time."
"Fine," he relented, not wanting to watch the other man's whining turn into begging. It was really embarrassing because he usually sounded like an overtired five year old begging for ice cream. It reminded him of his sister at that age and he couldn't stand it.
"I was on the edge of the village with the Emmagen," he said, turning to face the other fully. "We were by the tent with this creepy green animal skin outside." Sheppard nodded and motioned impatiently. "While we were walking there, there was a break in the fog over the lake and for a minute I thought I saw ruins."
"Old ruins or Ancient ruins?" he asked for clarification.
"No idea," Rodney admitted. "Emma moved us back into the village when she saw the fog. I don't think they want us to know about it."
"So it's 'Emma' now?" he asked, focusing on the least important part of the sentence.
"Will you give it a rest," he snarled out. "Just because you have a girl on every planet doesn't mean the rest of us are like that."
"Hey! It was just the one time and I've told you a thousand times nothing happened."
"Yeah, yeah," he waved off the major. "Just keep telling yourself that."
"Whatever, McKay." By this point Sheppard laid down on his side of the tent and Rodney followed his example. Outside they could hear the sounds of people talking, the soft crackle of fire that became more and more familiar the longer he spent in Pegasus. He wondered if five years ago he would have believed that he would be in a whole different galaxy, flirting with a beautiful alien woman and being head scientist of an international expedition.
He probably wonder what hallucinogen the person telling him that had indulged in, and he probably would have wanted a sample if the hypothetical person had asked him during his lovely stay in the most remote part of Siberia.
"So McKay," Sheppard said again, drawing him back to the present moment. "How do you feel about being an amateur anthropologist tomorrow?"
"There is a reason we brought real anthropologists along," Rodney groused. "What do you want me to do, not that I'm agreeing to anything."
"Talk to the people, try to find out about stuff. They could be hiding Ancient tech. You know how much we need a ZPM."
"Or a dozen," he added. "I know exactly how much we need them since I'm the one harping about them at staff meetings."
"Then you know exactly what to ask," Sheppard pointed out. Then he smiled suggestively. "Then you also can spend more time with the Emmagen."
Rodney turned away to stare at the ceiling of the tent after that so he could ignore the Major.
In his own head he could admit that he wouldn't mind that at all. It was nice talking to someone outside the small group of command staff that wanted to talk to him. It was even more amazing when someone wanted to talk to him just to talk. No hidden agendas, no talk of the latest lab tests or of broken machines or of how Kavanaugh was trying to take over when he was off planet.
It was nice, was his last thought before he fell asleep. That and the Emmagen... and Emma's smile and laughing eyes.
oOo
If it was in her makeup she would be screaming or tearing her hair out by now. Colonel Marshall Sumner was an infuriating, stubborn, unbending man and she wished she could reach across the table and strangle him with his gun strap.
This was their second day of negotiations, a deceptively simple trade. Fresh and cured meats for certain herbs and the possibility of help in harvesting was the trade fare of the week. There was no talk of marriages or of fostering children offplanet or of strange rituals that must be followed.
But the man dissected each variation to the proposal and he haggled and kept adjusting things slightly, which required more time. It also didn't help that Sheppard, as nice as he was, was able to calculated all the adjusted amounts in his head. He was also able to change the amounts from Athosian eight counting to their own base ten math with only a spare piece of chalk and a spare flat stone slate.
And the worst part, the part that incited the urge to maim something was the fact that Sumner enjoyed it.
Once they had reached the bargaining table it hadn't mattered that she was a woman or that the Athosions were at a technological disadvantage to the Lanteans or that the Lanteans did not keep animals like their semi-tamed herd of Talupas for meat or fields of root vegetables and crops of fruit hidden under the canopy of trees. What mattered to Sumner was the challenge of the trade.
Somehow Charin had sensed the frustration and rage under her serene smile and called a break for the afternoon. She sat calmly as the other men took their leave, exiting into the half hidden sun and the wisps of fog that were legendary to the valley that the Magen village made their home in.
"He is enjoying this!" she hissed out at Charin as the older woman brought over a couple mugs of tea.
"Yes, Teyla." she agreed, stirring in a sweetening. "I have the feeling he normally does not get to match wits in a scenario that isn't life or death."
"How are you sure?" she asked.
"Because," Charin said with one of her ever-present smiles. "I overheard him telling the other man that at the mid-morning meal."
She rolled her eyes and slumped over the table in frustration. Maybe she would have to ask for a sample of herbs before they continued. She wouldn't mid some Nortespice for her headache or maybes some Sweetstraw to make the whole day disappear.
"Emmagen?" a new voice called out. Teyla lifted her head out of her hands, starting to smile. In the doorway stood Rodney McKay, looking awkward and out of place among the animal skins and leather walls. In one arm he clutched his computer tablet, holding on to the piece of technology like a child would hold a doll for comfort.
"Sheppard said that you were taking a break. I figured you wouldn't mind the company," he said before seeing Charin. Then he mumbled something she couldn't hear but she figured Sheppard had a good idea.
"You are getting bored of our village?" she asked, not even sure if she was joking or asking a serious question.
"No! No, umm. Watching people skin animals is always interesting."
She laughed. It wasn't malicious but she could easily see how the man was trying to be polite but failing miserably. She preferred his plain and honest talk of the day before. Deciding that they had enough time during their break, she stood up and stretched.
"Perhaps I can find something more of interest to show you."
He blushed at that, pink highlighting his cheeks and making him look much younger. He wasn't the most handsome man she had ever seen but he was the most intriguing, very smart and often vocal but sometimes his almost shyness like the moment before would blindside her.
"Go," Charin shooed her away towards the tent entrance. "I think we all need the time away to gain a fresh perspective." Her mentor pushed her and Rodney out the door and left the two of them together.
"What did you have in mind?" Rodney asked, shifting from foot to foot in nervous energy.
In answer she snagged his wrist and led him through the village to the edge of the lake and the one advancement she had worked on for the past two seasons. She led him to the contraption she had tinkered with. There was a large bin made of metal with pipes that led to a shallow well used by the entire village. The shyness disappeared when Rodney lifted up the bin's top to reveal a crude pump and the sand and minerals that filtered impurities out of the water before it passed through a very finely woven sheet to the pipes leading to the well.
He poked and prodded and started to make suggestions for improvements to the device. Some of the things were impossible to ask for, no electric in the village to power a more efficient pump and no way that the village would approve. But some of his other ideas on the other hand... perhaps Colonel Sumner would be willing to trade of the scientist's time for the extra meat he was angling for.
It was a small blow to her pride that she was unable to provide the things Doctor McKay suggested, that she could not make them happen but a stranger could. It bothered her but she would do anything in her power to protect and help her people, even if she had to work through others or in secret to do it. She worked out her plan as Rodney powered his tablet to start calculations and make rough blueprints for her.
It would be worth giving up the extra meat if he really could make it work and it would mean that she could see the man more often for something other than the berry harvest forty some odd days away.
oOo
The pale light barely penetrated the forest canopy, making everything dim and close and almost suffocating in the midday heat, much warmer that the first time they had visited the Athosians. The Emmagen led them on a faint path, talking and gently laughing with the people around her. Rodney huffed with exertion about halfway back in the line of Athosians and borrowed Lanteans. Ford was just ahead, talking to a girl Emma had introduced as Marta. Sheppard was just behind him and he assumed Ronon (who was healed enough to join them on missions) was near the rear of the pack, watching their sixes and being his normal diligent self.
This wasn't his first choice for an early morning (Lantean time) activity. He could be exploring some remote part of the city or working in a lab. Instead they were here to fulfill one of their trade requirements, helping harvest some sort of plant or fruit or for all he knew some sort of animal clinging for dear life to the native vegetation. The only good part was the promise of some sort of festival or party once they returned to the village and getting to sample the fresh produce.
Their guide finally stopped just ahead and everyone gathered around a large tree in a small clearing. As he looked up he could see shining bits of metal and glass hanging from its branches high above the ground. The wind gently tugged on the leaves and branches causing everything to spin and glitter and collide to make gentle chiming noises that filled the air.
Sheppard stepped up next to him as the last of the stragglers entered the clearing. The Emmagen raised her hands and everyone fell quiet, only birdlike song and chimes and the wind filling the silence. She let the quiet continue for a minute or two before she began speaking. He couldn't understand the words but the tone and serious let him guess this was some sort of prayer or requesting of blessing from the 'Ancestors'. The Major elbowed him hard in the side when he accidentally let out a soft snort at the idea that the Ancients would care if some small group of humans would have good luck finding food.
Finally the Emmagen ended her prayer and everyone was able to move and abandon the serious air that local customs and rituals brought out in people. A couple of the men that had come with began passing out woven baskets to the others. Rodney picked up and slung the strap of his offered basket over his shoulder. The light weaving bumped against his hip and he was glad that he was wearing his borrowed military uniform even on this hot day because he bet the rough edges of the basked would have rubbed his side raw.
"This will be our meeting spot. If you fill your basket bring it back here. Charin, can you keep time?" At the old woman's nod she continued. "Charin will signal when everyone should return. I want everyone to go in groups of at least two and remember to spread out so we are not trying to pick the same plants."
Sheppard immediately paired up with one of the beautiful women that had me them at the gate earlier that morning. Rodney lost track of Ronon at about the same time so he had no idea where the Satedan was or who he had disappeared with. Ford, surprisingly, abandoned Marta to help Charin and a young girl, Marta's little sister, just old enough to join in her first harvesting.
"Rodney," a voice jerked him around. "Would you care to join me?"
"Me?" he squeaked, actually squeaked. Emma nodded and waited. Rodney had returned three separate times since the first contact they had with the Athosians. Each time the Emmagen sought him out, spending more and more time with him and he found himself missing her when he left.
"I mean," he tried again, feeling the blush burning up his face like he was prone to do. "I would be honored, Emmagen. Emma."
She grabbed his elbow, a habit she seemed prone to, and dragged him and his basket off towards a small rise and the trees climbing it. He stumbled along behind her, trying his hardest just to keep up and not fall flat on his face.
"What's the hurry?" he asks as she pulls them to a spot halfway up the rise to the base of a tree with vines twisted around its trunk.
"Just first choice in food tonight if you bring in the heaviest basket," she tells him, eyes sparkling and laughing. That was a plan he could get behind.
"So what are we hunting for today?" Rodney asked, all of his attention on the task. Well, a good portion not taken up with the Emmagen anyway.
"We are collecting these," and the Emmagen reached up, fingers grasping something dark and red hanging from the vine. With her free hand she removed a knife from her belt and sliced through the thin stem connecting it to the vine. She then handed the thing over. He assumed it was the fruit or berry or whatever it was they were supposed to find. It reminded him of a hot pepper more than a piece of fruit, long and tapered, its skin the texture of thick paper.
"So what are these again?" he asked turning it over.
"Ruus Berries," she patiently told him. "They ripen over the next few weeks but this is the earliest we can pick them. Just make sure you don't squeeze them too tightly when you hold them. Otherwise they will burst and the juices will stain everything if you don't wash right away."
"Good advice," he agrees as he very, very gently placed the Ruus Berry in his basket.
"I always give good advise," she said with an impish smile. He found himself smiling back and not really caring anymore that he was stuck on a primitive planet, most of his technology banished to his pack a the village, doing the type of manual labor he detested.
His smile got even bigger when he caught sight of Ford just a short ways away. It seemed like Marta's sister had dared the lieutenant to try eating of the the fruits. What Emmagen failed to mention was the sickly sweet taste of the fresh fruit... and she wasn't kidding about the juice.
They both laughed until Emma hit him in the shoulder, mentioning they would not win if they stood around all day. With a smile on his face Rodney got back to work.
oOo
For all their proclaimed seriousness and spirituality and rejection of technology, the Athosians sure knew how to cut loose and throw a party. They made it back to Magen by the time the sun started to set, everyone laden with baskets of ripe fruit and the occasional juice stain. At the head of the line he could see their host walking side by side with Rodney.
John had some far off memories of a vineyard tour he had once taken with Nancy, seeing the huge arbors of grapes, of how they made the wine, the dark cave cut into the side of hill where they stored the curing wine. Everything had an air of sophistication and privilege that had always grated against his skin.
Today couldn't be any more different that the distant winery on Earth. The air was filled with loud voices and singing, everyone in high spirits and celebrating. The people that hadn't gone to pick the Ruus Berries were the ones who split the fruits open, letting the juice poor into wooden barrel while others laid the emptied husks onto screens to catch the remaining droplets and to let the fruit dry out for eating later.
People laughed and joked and gathered around the barrels as the Emmagen walked between each one, adding spices and other secret ingredients and tasting as she walked. She had explained earlier they would seal the barrels and eventually it would turn into very potent wine that they traded small amounts and used the rest for special events like today. Finally she proclaimed one barrel perfect and dipped her cup deep inside the liquid. She lifted it high in the air to cheering, excess juice spilling over the sides.
"Rodney, would you like to take the first cup?" the Emmagan asked after she lowered her arms. The village hushed at the question. McKay had that deer-in-the-headlights expression. The Emmagen held a small carved cup between her hands, looking shy when normally she radiated nothing but confidence and grace.
"Oh my," a soft voice said off to his left. He looked away as Rodney, looking equally as nervous, lifted the proffered cup to his lips.
"What's wrong," John asked the woman, Charin he recalled after a moment, as she continued to watch the spectacle in front of them.
"That, Major," she said as she motioned towards McKay and the Emmagen, "is a sign of intent."
"Good intent or bad intent," he asked, the woman having his full attention.
"It depends on how you see it," Charin said over the cheering of the group. McKay's response to the first sip of Ruus juice must have been favorable.
"Pairings between two adults happen at many levels," she lectured. "Many times a man and a woman will come together in a child bond, creating a son or a daughter that may be raised by only one parent alone or shared between two families.
"Many times two people will come together to create bonds between our village and one of the others spread out farther from the gate. Sometime it will even happen with people off planet."
"We have something similar where I come from but we call it arranged marriages," he told the Athosians. "It's rarer nowadays than it was in the past but it still happens."
"It is common both here and on other planets. It adds new blood to the prevent sickly children from being born. Rarer are love bonds, two people whether of the same or different genders that vow to stay together, to make one home and one life. Such bonds are not forged easily and they are harder still to break."
"So what exactly does that have to do with what just happened?" he asked, motioning at them.
"In love bonds one party must make a symbolic gesture to make their intent known. It is the beginning of Polkushka, the asking and seeking of love."
"Wooing. We call it wooing," he said absently before he got it. "She is wooing McKay?"
"This 'wooing' as you call it is quite mutual and performed by both parties," Charin told him. "I never thought she would actually seek this. I knew she felt an attraction for your Doctor McKay but I am just as surprised. I can not think of a recent case when an Emmagen sought a love bond."
"In other words, this could be trouble," he agreed, watching Rodney inexpertly flirt with the Emmagen... and her flirting back.
Definitely trouble.
oOo
Rodney fingered the blue and green bracelet in his hand as he walked towards the Emmagen's tent on their sixth visit to Athos. During their fifth visit he had been forced to find Halling to have the man explain reason for the giggles and suggestive comments by other villagers. He then received a three hour crash course in the courting rituals of the Athosians and an even worse Pegasus version of the Birds and the Bees that he wish he could block out. Halling eventually kicked him out of his tent, his son hiccupping due to laughter, with the admonishment to make a choice. By his next visit he was to either make a gift suitable for the leader of the Athosians or figure out a way to let her down gently without destroying relations with their people.
He rubbed the bracelet again, for the first time glad that Jeannie had forced him to learn how to braid friendship bracelets. He would have to add it to the list of strange skills that ended up coming in handy in the Pegasus Galaxy. It would probably end up somewhere between Stackhouse's yodeling ability or how Simpson could work and type while hanging upside down for over a half an hour.
He hadn't wanted to present his token in front of the rest of his team, knowing they would makes jokes and rude comments for weeks afterward. With an excuse to Sheppard, mumbling an excuse about needing to ask her a question on the behalf of a fictional botanist, he slipped out into the dark to find Emma.
He was only a couple meters from her tent on the farthest edge of the village when a slight figure slipped out of the far side. He recognized the Emmagen's tangle of braids and beads immediately and he almost called out but before he could she disappeared between the trees, slipping a pack over her shoulder as she walked.
He stopped, kind of confused. The Athosians always stayed out of the northern forest at night. The fog nearly choked the trees even during daylight hours. At night it was impossible to see the stars for navigation and it was too easy to get turned around. People had been lost to the fog according to Halling. Some wandered for days before finding their way out of the forest. Others had never returned.
None of the Lanteans had even entered this stretch of trees so close to Emmagen's tent and the lake. During the Ruus Harvest they searched the southern and eastern forests and one time Ronon and Sheppard helped a couple of men bring in a Talupas from the west forest.
Now Rodney stood frozen at the northern border by the foreboding trees that had swallowed the Emmagen whole. He probably would have stayed there all night in shock if it wasn't for his Life Signs Detector.
The quiet beep of the device startled him and he fumbled in his thigh pocket for it. Earlier Sheppard had played with it, setting it to monitor energy levels of the surrounding area knowing he had the only active power source within a ten kilometer radius. The Major used it to track him down at his hiding spot next to the weavers where he had tried to work on calculations on his tablet.
The LSD now was picking up a small energy spike north of his position just past the edge of the woods. He stared at it, knowing it wasn't Ronon's gun or any Lantean tech. The only thing that had batteries stronger than double AAs was the battery backup for his tablet. Sheppard had confiscated that and put all of the batteries in the pack doubling as the major's pillow. There shouldn't have been any other power sources on the planet but one blinked on his screen, slowly moving in the same direction the Emmagen had.
For a minute he contemplated calling Sheppard or someone else on the radio for backup. However, he bet by the time some one made it to where he was currently standing, the signal might move out of range. Instead, he stuffed the bracelet in his pants pocket and nervously pulled out his sidearm. The Athosians claimed none of the large predators would approach the Athosian village but he was leaving the safety of the watchfires and Athosian crossbows.
Taking a deep breath to try to calm the butterflies trying to escape his suddenly queasy stomach, he plunged into the fog. He was fairly certain, as he walked away from the settlement, that he could find his way back. He could either turn the LSD back to detecting lifesigns or he could turn it into a crude compass. He was pretty sure he could do it at least.
Rodney was curious as he followed the energy signature. As a small child he had taken apart toys and small kitchen appliances to discover how they worked. As a pre-teen he had been fascinated by how Object A affected Object B and if he could cause a new effect by adding Object C into the mix. Curiosity was why he had accepted the US Government's offer of a large research budget and cutting edge technology if he just signed the non-disclosure agreement and signed away the next ten years of his life.
It was that insatiable urge to find out how the universe worked that convinced him to accept the head scientist position on a one way trip to a different galaxy. And it was his curiosity that was dragging him through the forest on a whole other planet with an Ancient device in one hand and a pitifully small gun in his other.
He was so taking up Ford's offer to teach him how to use a P-90 the minute they got back to the city... if he didn't die a horrible death first.
Rodney trailed after the dot on his screen for a long time. Eventually he noticed he was tripping less over branches and roots until he stumbled out onto a dirt path worn into the forest floor. He looked down a the path, then to the LSD, then back to the path. It appeared to go in the same direction as the glowing dot so he followed it, picking up speed to close the distance.
It was only because of the fog that he did not see the city until he almost rand into the first building. It wasn't the largest building he had ever seen. It wasn't even the largest building in Pegasus but it definitely was the first permanent structure Rodney had found on Athos.
Cold pseudo-concrete formed its walls and metal shutters creaked high above the grown, some showing gaping blackness inside. It looked old and abandoned and nothing like the Ancient structures he knew of. He moved past the first building into a broken street that led deeper into the fog and the city and the elusive dot, stationary for the first time.
It was like walking through a ghost town or the aftermath of a catastrophe. He could see where the forest was winning its battle with the artificial structures, trees pushing up through the cracked surfaces of the road, vines finding purchases on walls into windows, doorways and balconies. Everything smelled like growing plants. It was like the buildings under the green plants were an illusion crafted by the fog.
Every step he took mad him more and more nervous, sweat trying to cool his neck and making his shirt stick to his back. He stayed on the road as long as he could, until it ended abruptly in front of and even larger building that blocked the road and wrapped back on both sides.
He looked across it's front no doorways visible at ground level but a set of narrow stairs towards the left led up to a likely entrance. He couldn't see any way around the building and he wasn't confident about trying a different street and braving a maze of roads and buildings. It was a lot harder to circle around an entire building that a tree.
He stuffed the LSD into his side pocket and made his way very carefully and very slowly up the metal stairs. Vines tried to trip him as he moved from step to groaning step. He breathed easier once he pushed through the door that hung half torn from its hinges and showing signs of warping from a scorch mark along its handle.
He had to dig out his small flashlight once he was able to squirm past the door, the faint moonlight that illuminated the fog and the forest unable to break through the tangled vegetation and solid walls of the ruins. Carefully he picked his way through the building, occasionally stopping to look at the LSD to double check his progress.
At his latest stop he picked up several more energy signatures, making him more excited about what may lay ahead. He moved forward eagerly, figuring that just ahead lay his goal and possibly the Emmagen.
That was that moment, so close to safety, when the floor decided a millennium of time and one Canadian was too much to handle. With an ominous grinding sound that left him no time to try to back away or attempt to catch himself, he fell with pseudo-concrete and vines into the dark.
Then he stopped just as suddenly, jarring his shoulder and clipping his head on an unseen surface. He laid for an unknowable time before he felt gentle hands ghosting over his skin.
"Rodney," a far away voice called. "Are you awake? Rodney?"
"Here," he croaked.
"So it seems," the voice said, still sounding so far off even though he could still feel hands and the heat of another person. He whimpered when the person turned him, inadvertently moving his arm.
"Call out if you need to. There is no one else here but me."
And he did cry out when the hands became less gentle, pressing cloth against his forehead while probing his shoulder simultaneously.
"Sorry," the voice told him. "I wouldn't move you but we are not safe here. The room is not stable and we need to move. I need to know where you are hurting."
"Everywhere," he groaned.
"Rodney," he was admonished. "I need to know exactly where before I can move you."
"Head and shoulder," he decided after a couple of minutes.
"What about your neck?" the voice continued to probe. "Your back?"
"Bruised. It hurts."
"I know." A hand gripped his less painful shoulder. Rodney was pretty sure he should know who was with him in this dark place but everything hurt too much and he wasn't able to think and he was pretty sure that the reason his head hurt was because he hit it again.
He heard something shift above him and the startled gasp of another person. He grunted when something pressed against him and the scent of clean soap and he heard the deceptively soft pattering of falling debris.
"You need to sit up. We need to get out of here and I can not carry you," the voice urged as hands pulled at him, helping him sit up.
"Okay," he gasped as they moved. He could barely open his eyes, stumbling as the person, the woman he know could identify if everything wasn't so blurry, so dark, so painful. They made their was down a derelict hallway, not stopping even when the rest of the ceiling collapsed behind them.
oOo
A saying of her father was true, never grow too used to the grass under your feet or the clouds in your sky. You may find one day that you did not see the cracks under the earth that may swallow you whole.
She had taken the trip to the city for granted, not paying complete attention to her surroundings and somehow leaving a trail for the other man to follow. Teyla thought that it was safe to slip away for a night to add the latest harvest into a crude database and to retrieve some small gadgets that Charin needed once she returned from offworld.
The problem was that she wasn't the one swallowed whole, Rodney was the one who literally fell through one of her father's theoretical cracks.
She tied off the last stitch on the gash and covered up her handiwork. Bruises radiated out from underneath the bandage and trailed down his chest and arm and back. Before that she had been forced to push his dislocated shoulder back into joint and bound the arm to his chest.
After one last check of bruises, his breathing and after getting a mumbled reply from gently shaking his good shoulder, she draped her softest blanket over the wayward scientist. With nothing else more to do, she left him for a minute to duck out into a hallway for a moment to compose herself. She didn't go far, just down the hallway a few feet to peer out a gaping window to the outside. Beyond the edge of the buildings she could see the fog rolling under the morning sun heralding morning meditations and chores and when she should have returned to Magen. No one knew she was here, Charin was offworld and she could not leave the injured Lantean to return to the village even if she could seek help.
During their very first meeting she had worried that Rodney had glimpsed the city through the fog his first visit but he had never mentioned it, never asked about it during his many questions and their various conversations. But there he was in the room behind her, dirty and bloody and very real in her bed and surrounded by pieces of Athos' technological past. His only good fortune so far was the fact that he had picked the building adjacent to her makeshift lab. She didn't think she could have dragged him any farther.
oOo
The first time he was really, really awake he first thought he was in Atlantis, accidentally falling asleep in his lab. Without moving he could hear the gentle white noise of exhaust fans and computers whirling and the gentle clinking of metal on metal. Normally Zelenka would kick is chair when he left for the night if he had drifted off to startle him awake.
It was only when he tried to sit up that his injuries made themselves painfully clear. He gasped as agony tore at his shoulder and unable to take a deep breath he started to panic. Hands pressed against his cheeks and a voice urged him to breath in and out. Air rattled in and out of his lungs but the prompting helped and eventually he opened his eyes, good hand brushing away tears and the pressure on his face. Looking up he could see the Emmagen, too close and dirty and ten kinds of worried.
"Just keep breathing. That is all I want you to do. Don't speak, don't move, just breathe in and out."
He nodded and the agony backed off step by painful step. She urged him to keep breathing until he snapped that he wasn't brain damaged and that he managed to do that particular task on his own for the past thirty odd years.
The Emmagen stepped out of his space. "I assumed you must have hit your head sometime before you fell since you were told since the first time you set foot on my planet that the old city was forbidden."
He suppressed a snort only because he figured it would be pure agony to attempt one. He settled for rolling his eyes. "And here I thought 'forbidden' meant that any one could come as long as it isn't daylight hours. You're here too."
"Rodney," she growled. "I am not to be here either. You following me had put us both in danger."
"Why?" he had to ask, not understanding the anger, the first time he had ever seen her show an emotion beyond smiles and a calm serene gaze.
"The fact that you fell through a floor in an ancient building should be enough proof," she snapped.
"I wanted to talk to you," he tried to explain.
"Why could it not wait until morning?" she asked, sounding every inch an exasperated parent with a child that woke them up just to say they wanted something that easily could have waited. He didn't tell her, injured, embarrassed, and feeling like an idiot to follow her all the way just to give her a stupid bracelet.
"It is too late to worry either way," she told him, letting her anger bled away. "You are here and I am here and we will have to wait until you are strong enough to return to Magen."
"Won't someone come looking for us?" he questioned the Athosians. She shook her head in dismay as she sat back down at a nearby table.
"They may search the forests but no one besides my mentor will think to search here," she admitted.
"So we just need to wait for your mentor?" he asked hopefully, not seeing the problem.
"My mentor is offworld and will not return for at least six days. I do not have provisions to last two people that long."
"Oh," was all he could say to that. "So we wait?"
"Unless you are ready to walk under your own power? Yes, we wait."
oOo
Finally her emergency supplies ran out and she was down to the last roll of bandages. There was no way Rodney would be able to walk out of the woods on his own two feet. However, the man was more stubborn than she was, not wanting to be left alone and not wanting to tolerate some sort of travois that she could have dragged behind her.
They stopped at the edge of the forest. Standing in a large semicircle were the adults of the village and Rodney's teammates. His team mates looked worried as they were held back by spears and crossbows. The Athosian men and women on the other hand were deadly serious. Some were disappointed and some angry but it was Halling that made her stop.
She had forgotten how tall and intimidating he could be when he stood to his full height, not slouching down to everyone else's level. He stood a couple steps closer to the forest than everyone else, hands holding a simple pair of scissors and a sad look curving his lips down and making his eyes shimmer.
"What's going on?" Rodney asked, also seeing the standoff happening a short distance ahead of them.
"You have done the forbidden Emmagen and Doctor McKay." Halling's voice was as hard and grim even though he looked moments from crying. Rodney hunched against her but she stayed still, not backing down or away, looking him in the eyes.
"I have done so for the people of Athos."
"You have done it for yourself," he snapped out. "You have gone to forbidden places and have forfeited your place as the Emmagen of Athosian village of Magen.."
"You know, as much fun as this is, injured man here," Rodny broke in, stopping the words that felt like a stab wound to the chest. "I'd really like some medical assistance. Can we save the shunning for later or maybe never?"
"We will not aid some one who broke one of the most sacred laws,"
"Then let me take him to the gate," she pleaded. It was partly her fault that Rodney was hurt but it was completely her fault that he found the city in the first place. She didn't want him punished for what she did.
"You can take him," Halling said, pausing and then having to restart.. "You can take him because you will be going there yourself. You are cast out of Magen and off of Athos."
Halling stepped forward too quickly for her to dodge as she was burdened with the injured scientist. A hand gripped her hair and with a sharp snicker she felt the tangles of beads and hair and braids be pulled away. He stepped away, hand still entangled with her severed hair, her sign of being the wise woman, of being the Emmagen.
As one the people, no longer her people, turned and walked back up the paths towards the village, leaving her and McKay standing on the path and Sheppard, Ronon and Ford ahead of them. They shook off their shock and pushed past the last of the silent Athosians to get to them. Sheppard rushed forward, bracing Rodney on his other side. The man groaned as his shoulder was jostled but there was no helping it.
"What was that, Emmagen?" Ford asked, as confused as the others.
"I am no longer that," she said, stunned. She couldn't answer the question, her chest aching and her mind unable to comprehend what to do now.
"Who are you then?" Ronon asked. She just shook her head, out of words.
"Can we get back home now and figure it out later?" They all looked at Rodney, sweating and pale and shaking due to stress and pain and the wind.
"Yeah," the major soothed. "Sure Rodney."
"Now what happens," Aiden asked, fingers nervous and restless on his gun. "Will they let us leave?"
"They expect us to," she forced herself to answer. "They will not bother us as long as neither Rodney nor I try to enter the village."
"Ronon, take point," Sheppard snapped out. "Make sure we have a clear path. Ford, watch our six. You sure they won't bother us?" he directed the last to her.
"No."
Because now she didn't exist. Twenty seven years and now she would be treated like one of the culled... gone.
And it was true. From time to time during the painful trip the gate she glimpsed one of the Athosians in the distance, watching but never coming nearer. She knew the other men were tensed and wary, expecting an attack but it was not the way of the Athosians. They were gatherers, hunters that worked together and the group was the most important aspect, not any individual person. Someone would be chosen to be the new Emmagen and they would tell their trading partners she was gone, hinting that she had been culled.
She had been culled, just by her human family instead of the Wraith.
oOo
It was dark and late, most people asleep in the city. He was awake and so was the Emmagen in an adjoining bed. There was a nurse somewhere nearby and guards outside the infirmary doors but Beckett and most every one had left hours ago.
"I have no family, no home," she said quietly. It was the first thing she had said in hours and it startled him out of his drugged stupor.
"Emmagen?" he asked. She shivered and looked over, shell shocked and looking so different with her hair a ragged line above her shoulders and wearing plain red scrubs. Her knees were bent up as she sat hunched with the white sheets pooling around her body.
"I am no longer the Emmagen," she said numbly.
"I know," he told her. "But I don't know what else to call you."
"I am not the Emmagen," she repeated again.
"What is your name," he asked, sounding slow and stupid due to the drugs for his shoulder. She looked at him finally. He shivered himself at the almost dead and lost look in her eyes.
"I," she started and halted again. "Teyla. I was born Teyla."
"Okay, Teyla. Teyla's a pretty name. Short, unique. I knew an Emma in school. She had tons of freckles and braces and threw up in the middle of my grade three Christmas Recital. When I was on the stage all you could smell was vomit and I ended up puking behind the curtain. At least not in front of everyone like she did.
"Hey Teyla. Do you like music?" He was rambling. Morphine always made him ramble on and on but he didn't want the painful silence any more and the one thing he always was good at was talking.
"Rodney?"
"Yes, Teyla? Teyla...Teyla...Teyla," he singsonged, liking the name more and more each time he said it. She finally cracked a small, sad smile.
"Go back to sleep," she ordered gently.
"Okay," he agreed. He was asleep within minutes, not knowing that Teyla would sit up the rest of the night to watch over him like she had the two days they had spent in the ruins on Athos.
oOo
oOo
She blinked at the screen in front of her, the words blurring in and out of focus as her last cup of coffee wore off. Lately she spent more and more time looking at numbers and figures and emails than her translations, more the bureaucrat than the grand leader that she had envisioned herself as when she was a little girl.
A knock on the glass thankfully drew her attention from the supply lists to the military's second in command. Sheppard entered with his normal grin and slouched on the edge of her desk. She moved a small statue out of the way when his fingers absently grabbed for it. He grinned a little wider but didn't try to go after it again.
"So how are those reports going?" he asked cheekily.
"They're not," she admitted. "Please distract me?"
"Now how can I do that?" Sheppard asked, waggling his eyebrows. She put up with the occasional flirting because it really meant nothing and it was a nice distraction. She would have preferred to talk about inconsequential things but her duties always came first.
"How is our guest settling in?" Elizabeth asked, honestly curious to find out if the Athosian was settling in.
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," he said, the charming smile dialed up a notch.
"No," she said immediately, stopping him. The last time he used that phrase the scientists threatened to revolt against Sheppard's idea. She wasn't all that eager for a distraction that would turn into a larger problem.
"Doctor Weir..." he started again.
"John," she warned.
"But Elizabeth," the whine started.
"We can offer her sanctuary on the mainland, like we have to the other refugees we have come in contact with. That is all."
"You let Ronon stay and join a gate team," he pointed out.
"That was a special case," she countered. "Ronon has invaluable knowledge of the Wraith. Not to sound callous but what can a village elder or what ever she was have to offer?"
"Have you actually talked to her?" the major asked seriously.
"John, you know as well as I do that she hasn't spoken to anyone but Rodney."
"That's because he's the only one not pushing her to leave or go somewhere where she knows no one. If you would have talked to her she could have told you how she's live on Athos full time for only the past ten years or so. Before that she went all over the galaxy with her father to trade. I'm willing to bet she knows of planets we may be able to barter or set up trade agreements with."
"How are her negotiation skills," she asked, starting to see what the Major was getting at. It wasn't some half-cooked idea by the way he leaned forward, completely intent on making his point, no flirting or charming smiles anymore.
"Colonel Sumner said she was one of the hardest bargainers he's met, both here and back home. Come on Elizabeth," he pleaded. "We could use another negotiator and maybe people would deal with us if we had a native speaking on our behalf."
"I'll consider it," she finally conceded.
"Thanks," he said with a grin.
"It's not final decision," she warned. "I need to talk to her, explain her options.
"I know."
"John," she said, voice lowered and displeased.
"I get it. No picking out permanent quarter yet."
"Now get out of my hair and find some real work," she ordered. With a wave he left and she returned to her staring contest with her computer screen. After a minute she turned it off and left herself to find the Athosian. John may want another Pegasus Native to join the expedition but the Emmagan was an unknown to her. She wanted to find out more about the woman before she decided what to do.
oOo
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Major Sheppard asked for the third time since they had taken off from the city.
Her fingers worried the blue and green bracelet wrapped around her wrist. The truth was she wasn't sure she was making the correct decision. Doctor Weir, the leader of the Lanteans, had given her few choices. She could have gated to any planet of her choosing, moved to the Lantea mainland with refugees like her, or she could stay in the city and work for them. She hadn't been malicious explaining things to Teyla, just telling things clearly and let her decide without pushing her one way or another.
Rodney had looked so heartbroken when she told him that she would not stay in the city. She needed to figure out what she would do now that she was no longer one of the Athosians. For her whole life her father trained her to take over her mother's duties as the Emmagen. Everything she learned was that goal, even what she worked on in the forbidden city was for her people.
She decided that she needed perspective, she needed to get away from everything that had tied her to Athos, even Rodney McKay. She thought it was a good idea but the guilt laid heavy the closer they moved towards the mainland and farther from the city.
He had given her the token, a bracelet he had made himself. Its colors reminding her of the green oceans of Ruthe and the blue almost the same shade as the oceans surrounding Atlantis. The gift had come at the end of a tour of the city, the man bouncing around and excited to show Teyla his home and work while she had worked up the nerve to tell him that she was leaving.
"What the hell is that?" Sheppard's quiet rasp made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and yanked her violently from her self-reflection.
"What's wrong?" she asked, scanning the sky.
"Do you see that line of clouds?" he asked, pointing out towards the right.
"Yes," she said, not understanding his concern. The clouds in the direction he pointed looked darker than the ones to the left but otherwise just appeared to be normal clouds.
"Those look like storm clouds but they're huge. We're going to head up and see how big that storm is."
The ship rose out of the atmosphere before turning to look down at the planet. She could see swirling clouds stretch across a large portion of the ocean below. The major cursed under his breath before they dove back down. Within minutes she could see the city in front of her, glittering on the waves. On the radio Sheppard conversed with one of the scientists, explaining about the storm sighting, the monster sized storm. Then Rodney came over on the radio and she didn't expect the lurch in her stomach.
"What is the problem?" she had to ask as they exited the Jumper, back in the city she had planned to leave.
"That storm is bigger than any of the storms I've seen on our planet and it looks like it is heading towards the mainland and towards the city." Sheppard explained about hurricanes on Earth and the damage those storms could cause. The one they had spotted in the distance appeared to be two to three times as large as those.
Things moved fast after that. She found herself helping Lieutenant Ford and one of the medical doctors ferrying the people she had planned to live with only a day before. In between trips she only got a single glance of Rodney, working frantically, trying to come up with a solution, bouncing ideas of another man with hair wilder than Sheppard's.
Everything moved faster and faster... until it didn't.
She went from rushing around to sitting trapped in a Jumper in the middle of the storm. All she could do was listen to the radio and wait and wait as the city was attacked and they lost contact with everyone.
"Just sit down lass," the doctor advised. "All your pacing is making me nervous."
"I am not used to just sitting here," she explained.
"Maybe you should try meditating Emm," Ford started before he cut himself off, not catching himself before he started to use his old title. That caused her to pace faster. When she was the Emmagen she was the one in chare, the one to make decisions for her people, the one to be in the middle of everything.
"Are you sure that Sheppard said it was the Genii attacking?"
"It's definitely the Genii. This is the kind of dirty trick they would pull," the lieutenant told her.
"I just don't understand how it can be the Genii. I have been to the world many times as a child and they to Athos afterwards. They also believe in a simple life. They are just farmers."
"They are a lot more than farmers," the doctor chipped in.
"Why do you say that?"
"They are a lot more advanced under the surface," Ford told her. "I mean literally. They built a whole underground city with electricity and weapons and a nuclear research program."
That I did not know," was all she could think of saying.
They lapped into uneasy silence after that. This was a new feeling, being trapped outside the action. She wanted to be back at the city to help, to be where she could keep track of Rodney and of Sheppard in the city and of Ronon who had travelled with the scientist to an off planet refuge. All she could was wait with Ford and the doctor and she did not like this feeling of helplessness and uselessness.
They all listened to the radio as they overheard bits and pieces of the Genii threats and Major Sheppard's reactions. It was a relief when the eye of the storm reached them and Ford ordered their return to the city. It felt even better when they reached the city and she could do something, to come to Sheppard's rescue, to help create a plan and to have a goal, to help provide a distraction to rescue Rodney and Doctor Weir.
Sheppard and Ford disappeared down a stairway while Teyla led Doctor Beckett back towards the jumpers. She asked more about the Genii as they moved upwards, trying to put the idea of the very peaceful and longtime allies of the Athosians with the idea of a heavily militaristic society that had invaded the city. She couldn't see how it was possible, until the doctor turned a corner and was dropped to the ground and Sora, a girl she had known for years, stood blocking their way.
It was hard to deny what the Lanteans told her when Sora took one look at her and then attacked in anger as lightning crashed above their heads heralding the main storm.
oOo
Rodney walked away, still forcing himself to grin because it was over. The city was safe, almost every one was okay and the Genii where beaten for the day.
The victory still made him feel hollow. He was glad that neither Sheppard nor Elizabeth questioned his first aid job and let him leave. He just didn't want to deal with anyone right now, not go down to the infirmary trashed by Genii insurgents or have anyone focus too much on the wound, of the small cut that almost lost them their home. He planned to head down the science lab for one more check and then crash for a couple days. He almost entered the transporter but the silhouette out on the balcony caught his attention. Instead he headed outside and leaned against the balcony railing overlooking a still turbulent ocean and cloud covered sky.
"I thought you would be on one of the jumpers to the settlement," he said to the ocean, not looking at the woman he stood next to. "The last ones left a while ago."
"I know," Teyla responded. "I have decided that I want to join Major Sheppard's team instead of living on the mainland."
"What?" he asked, completely floored and shocked enough to turn to look at her.. "But you said you had to go and discover yourself or some other mystic mumbojumbo. That's what you said when I asked you to stay the first time."
Her smile was large, the first he had seen in weeks.
"I did discover what I wanted, what I could do the first time I headed for the mainland. Someone needs to keep an eye on you."
"Hey," he said affronted. "I don't get into that much trouble.
"Rodney McKay," she said, becoming serious.
"Yes?" he asked, suddenly nervous again.
"I..." she stopped, looking down. Gingerly he reached up and patted her shoulder to awkwardly comfort her. A hand reached up to grip his, holding it in place.
"Would you be me girlfriend?" she looked up, smiling.
"What?!"
"That is what you asked me on the pier a couple days ago," Teyla reminded him. "I want to be yours and I want you to be mine."
"I can't be your girlfriend!" he blurted out. Her smile fell and she stepped away. He felt like an even bigger idiot when he realized how that sounded.
"No, wait, wait," he rushed around to block her. "I want you too but ah... the girl in a relationship is a girlfriend. I can be your boyfriend, it means the same thing except that I'm a guy."
"So that is a yes?"
"Yeah," he said, feeling surprised and something filled the hollow feeling left in his chest in the wake of a Genii's knife. It was sappy and cliché but it was at that moment that the last of the clouds parted and sunlight filled the air. Teyla glowed and looked so in peace and so beautiful. Then she reached up and pulled him down, kissing him for the first time.
It was weird and not quite perfect, their noses bumping hard that first time but they shifted and moved kiss was so worth the sore nose. It was a rough beginning but it was worth it.
END
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-06 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-07 12:09 am (UTC)