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musesmistressTitle: Past, Present and Future
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: General, suggested John/Elizabeth, Teyla/Lorne, Ronon/OFC
Summary: How things change.
Past, Present and Future (1/5) Teyla Emmagan
Past - Age 15
Teyla sprinted across the village square to her parent's tent, it had been three hours since she was last here and in that time the Wraith had attacked. She looked quickly around before darting further into the room and snatching up the bow and arrow and turning back to leave.
At 15, she was required to go on all the hunting trips with those in her class, the lesson today had been interrupted within the first hour as the humming of the Wraith's darts had flown extremely close. Halling, their teacher had seized her arm quickly preventing her from taking off back to their home in order to help her people.
Still too young to command the settlement, she had been included by her parents to take part in everything. Helping during an attack, with cleanup after the attack and even the construction of new buildings. She'd even been taught to set the camp fire at day break despite her constant protest at being woken so early.
Halling had moved them closer to the settlement as the attack had progressed and during the time she had argued extensively about needing to help and even employed the tactic of him needing to protect his wife and year old baby. It hadn't worked.
The closer they had come, the more noise reached their ears and Teyla had found herself becoming increasingly distressed by it. She should be doing something, not hiding in the bush waiting for it to pass; she should be out there fighting, purging her home of the horror that plagued them.
The screams of babies, the desperate cries of mothers who couldn't locate their children and the horrible nightmare creating, screech of the transport beam.
Standing on the edge of the forest, she had caught sight of her mother moments before she darted around the side of a house and moments later a dart had played its beam in that location.
Now, with the bow and arrow in her hand, that even in the back of her mind she knew were worthless, she ran as fast as she could to the side of the building.
"Mother," she called, as she stepped along the side of the house, "mother," she tried again and took the corner to stand behind it. Instead of finding the tall dark skinned woman who had birthed her, she found a Wraith.
She approached cautiously, seeing him still moving if only slightly for the time being. When she was standing close enough, she looked down at him and he glanced back at her before breaking into a hideous grin.
"Your mother," he said taking a deep and pain filled breath, "was my last meal," he took another sharp breath. "I enjoyed the taste of her," he said baring his teeth to her, "and the child she carried."
Shock rushed through her, but she kept her face carefully blank. He continued to watch her drawing hard and shaky breath after another. Slowly and without thinking too much about it, Teyla reached up behind her and slid an arrow from the pack on her back.
"They took her from me," he said and Teyla's eyes darted down to the stab wound in his stomach and the several other cuts and stab points that lined his torso, "before I could finish her."
She knocked the arrow into the string and pulled it back with all her strength listening instead to the words in her head instead of the words of the Wraith as he continued.
"I prey, my child, that you will never have to kill anyone, even a Wraith," her father had once told her. "But if you have to, if you have to draw your knife or nock an arrow, then make sure you remember this," she aimed the arrow at the Wraith still talking below her and tightened the muscles in her arm to pull it back more, "the eyes are the window to every creatures soul, if you can look it in the eye and see that it has done wrong, then it deserves to have its soul destroyed."
She took a deep breath and looked the fallen Wraith in the eye; she could see the glint there, the sign of fresh feeding; the satisfaction of having captured his pray and started to draw its life.
"For my lost brothers and sisters," she breathed before releasing the arrow and watching as it struck perfectly on target.
She sunk to the ground beside it, her eyes drawn to the ground in front of her and settling on the handle of the blade used to injure the monster at her side. She picked it up and examined it, it wasn't her mother blade.
"And my people," she breathed before standing up and moving back towards the centre of the village.
She stepped into the clearing and looked around the remains of another attack. She dropped her bow and arrows to the ground by the tent and moved across the way to a child who sat on her knees facing the still glowing fire.
"Where is your mother, Mayin?" she asked the small girl.
"I do not know," she said quietly and Teyla watched the tear that slid down her delicate face. "This was my first attack," she said, "I do not remember any others."
"Wait here," Teyla said just as quietly, "I will send the other children to sit with you."
She stood again and moved around the small settlement. She passed men and women who were righting their homes, mothers or father searching for their offspring and spouses. She asked each of them to gather by the fire and take anyone they passed with them.
It would be easier for families to find each other if they were all in one place. Something she remembered her grandmother telling her when she was very small, she had lost one small object in amongst several similar ones and had been frantically picking random ones out to find hers. As a result, they had been scattered across the floor and she had still not found her own item.
"Mallas," she heard Halling call as she came back to the fire now surrounded by people. "Mallas," he called again darting in between groups of people. "Has anyone seen my wife and son?"
To Teyla's left someone called to him, the woman held a small boy in her arms, but she was not the mother of this boy.
"Jinto," he cried in slight relief before he looked up at the woman who had been holding him, "where is Malla?"
"Halling," Teyla said carefully saving the old woman from having to find an answer. She held out the handle she had been carrying to show him. "I found this beside a dying Wraith," he said he had fed on her before the others had taken her."
She watched as Halling crumbled and Charin hastened to capture the child in his arms. She could almost feel his pain as he began to shudder and cry for the loose of her and Teyla momentarily wondered if it would be a wise idea to tell him she had been with child.
Deciding against it and watching as Jinto reached for his father, she took the few steps to him and dropped to her knees in front of the hunched and large man.
"I am sorry, Halling," she said, "I should have left the Wraith for you to kill, but I was looking for my mother," she placed her hands on his shoulder and her forehead against his before adding. "Jinto needs you now."
Unexpectedly he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a close hug. It took her a moment to take this in, no one in the village was brave enough to show affection towards Teyla in this fashion, being their leader's daughter people kept a professional distance from her. It was something she had always hated, but nonetheless something needed to be kept.
"Your father was fed on before my eyes," he whispered and she could hear the pain in his voice knowing only too well he did not wish to tell her this, "his body is in front of my tent."
It was a shock to hear it, but it for some reason it wasn't her biggest concern. Instead of having the wonderings about her mother that she should have had, or the thoughts about attending his location and offering a prey to the ancestors, she found herself more concerned with the rest of the villagers.
Fifteen was not the age to take her place as the leader of these people. For generations the village had passed to the new leader when they had reached 20. By this time, they reasoned, she would be mature enough to handle it and her parents to old to effectively run from the Wraith when they attacked.
But it seemed now, that she had no choice. There was no one else in her family who could step in for the few years it would take her to reach age of maturity and it would not be proper for anyone in the village to take that place.
Teyla Emmagan, Daughter of Tagan had just aged five years in one small Wraith attack.
There was no time anymore for petty squabbles, childhood dreams and hopes of a future where the Wraith didn't exist. She had a whole village of lost and afraid people to care for.
~~**~~**~~
Present - Age 27
No matter how much she thought about it there was no denying that Atlantis was much easier to deal with than her whole village back on Athos had been. For a start, she wasn't the highest person in the city. That honour fell to Elizabeth Weir, and even with all the support she could offer the woman, she wouldn't like to have as much power and control that her friend had.
When she had first let her people leave for the main land and taken a position in John Sheppard team, it had been frightening, she hadn't known these people, yet she trusted them without question.
Today, however, it was a blessing not to have to talk to her people and listen to their apologies about her parent's loss at such a young age. She herself had spent years since the day apologising to others, like Jinto, who didn't even remember the day only that it had some significance in their lives.
Only one person in the city of Atlantis knew about this day's significance to her and several of her people. Five people had been lost that day, which was a new low for them, but still it had made a considerable dent in their already depleted population.
Luckily, she would have something more entertaining to occupy her thoughts today. She had been tasked with training the civilian population, or at least a portion of it, Ronon had taken the other half. Together they would make sure that every non-military member of the expedition was able to defend themselves without a weapon.
She smiled at Elizabeth as she stopped outside the gym and watched as she walked with a slight bounce in her step towards her.
"Good morning," she said brightly and Teyla raised an eyebrow at the mix of emotion on her face, they were the complete opposite of the bounce in her step and cheer in her voice. "I'm not good at that am I?" she asked with embarrassment look around.
Teyla shook her head and opened the door to the gym and motioned for Elizabeth to enter first. She followed her into the room and sealed the door, leaving it unlocked would only add to the discomfort Elizabeth was obviously struggling to conceal. This, she reasoned, was why John had put her on Teyla's list instead of Ronon's. That and with Teyla she could get a private session whereas Ronon would simply add her to a large group where she would not only be uncomfortable with having to fight, but feel stupid about it too.
They got ready quickly and Teyla started by teaching her stretches that she would have to do before each session. It surprised her slightly to find that Elizabeth Weir, leader of Atlantis and diplomat was more flexible than she expected.
It was also a surprise to see her figure and muscles. Elizabeth was dressed in a pair of lose pants that showed nothing of her legs, but rested off her hips comfortably and a tight top, making Teyla think that the uniforms the expedition members wore were more unflattering than she previously thought.
Testing her new leader, Teyla took to a difficult stretch which Elizabeth managed just as gracefully.
"Have you done this before?" she asked with a quirked brow.
"I used to dance," she said honestly copying Teyla into another difficult position, "when I was eight," she said and Teyla chuckled at that declaration. "I do Yoga at whatever time I get up and again at whatever time I can get away from the control room."
"Yoga?" Teyla questioned. Even after three years there were things about these people that she would never understand.
"I'll show you some time," she said with a smile.
"I would like that," she offered manoeuvring into another position before straightening up to start their session. She opened her mouth to give the first instruction but found herself cut off by the speaker announcing an unauthorised gate activation.
Elizabeth grabbed her uniform top and pulled it on quickly before following Teyla from the room. They walked quickly to the control room and Teyla stood back as the woman took control.
"Major?" Elizabeth said over the radio and Teyla leaned back against the consol behind her.
"Sorry to interrupt your morning exercise," he said knowing only too well she had training today. The comment made Teyla smile for a moment before Elizabeth turned to give her a look. She was quick to set her face in order and not smirk at her before he continued, "but I thought that some members of Colonel Sheppard's team might want to see this obelisk in the town centre."
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, it's a monument to the people who died in a great plague ten years ago," he said, "one of the names on the list is Kylipa Emmagen."
Silence fell over the room and Teyla could feel all the eyes on her. She saw none of them, only managing to focus on the name Major Lorne had told them. It was her mother's name. She pulled back to reality as the major continued.
"There are a few other Athosian names on the list. They're all together under a section headed "Wraith refugees". I thought perhaps Teyla might want to see who's on it and let their families they escaped the Wraith."
"Even if it was to die from a plague," Teyla heard the voice of one of the others faintly in the background and hung her head. It wasn't well known to the people of the city, but there were a few who knew that to die for any reason other than Wraith feeding was a blessing.
At the very least, Teyla wanted to go to the planet, list all of those who had been lost over the years and return to hold a ceremony to honour them.
Beside her Elizabeth had spoken to Major Lorne and ended the transmission. She didn't notice this until Elizabeth hand came to rest on her arm and she looked up to find not only Elizabeth's sympathetic face, but John and Ronon's too.
"John," Elizabeth said, "why don't you and Teyla go meet with Major Lorne check this list out and we'll go from there."
"Sure," he said and turned to leave. Teyla hesitated for a moment searching her friends face before she turned and followed them.
*
She kept her head low; the voice of the young woman across the way from her was piecing her heart. Mayin had only been a child barely four years old when the Wraith had taken both her parents and she stood now at 16 the prettiest of the Athosian girls and with the voice of an angle.
This song was a prey, one of great trust to the ancestors and a plea that they would find and protect the lost souls of their friends and family. It was far from the usual song they sang when one of their own died naturally, but this was ten years too late for that.
Major Lorne stood to her left, his head bowed just as low, he had asked specifically if he could be here for this and she thanked him for it. Back on the planet he had hesitantly pointed out the name of her mother on the black stone obelisk that stood in the middle of a small town. He had also been the first to react when she had hung her head in an attempt to hide her tears.
She felt their sting in her eyes again, something she did not give into easily on most days and would have thought against them again today, had it not been for the small sob that escaped her lips and the Major's hand on her arm.
Across the way from her, behind Mayin, stood the remainder of the Athosian village, all the people who had survived the last twelve years and moved to Atlantis. Their number was small, but almost twice that of three years previous when John Sheppard had stumbled onto their world and brought them back to the city of the ancestors.
To her left, beyond Evan Lorne, was tall piece of wood, fashioned and framed by the scientists on Atlantis in honour of the ceremony. Halling and Jinto and several other teenage boys from the village had spent hours the previous day carving the names of all those lost to the plague on one side, and all those lost to the Wraith on the other.
It was those on this side of the structure that they honoured now, those who had missed their true ceremony; those who had been for whatever reason, unable to return home after their rescue.
On her other side, were all her new friends, Elizabeth and John had been stunned when she had asked them to attend, and had shown in their best for the occasion. John and all the military she had invited stood in their dress blues, and Elizabeth in a sleek black Athosian dress she had been gifted with for her birthday in their first year.
The song finished and Teyla lifted her head to fire in the middle of the gathering. Her eyes filled with tears as she whispered the goodbye she had been denied when she was less than Mayin's age.
"Your heart has returned home with father now," she breathed before allowing Evan to lead her from the ring.
~~**~~**~~
Future - Age 38
Dinner with Evan Lorne had always been delightful, for the past few years their relationship had sparked and Teyla had gone from finding him a great conversationalist to wishing she could spend more time with him than was currently available.
Their current leader, unfortunately not Elizabeth, had been attempting to keep anyone away from someone they enjoyed spending time with. He was pure military and even John found himself stuck with proper military procedure Elizabeth had let drop.
But for some reason, he disliked her relationship with Evan, granted he showed similar venom towards Ronon dating his assistant, but he’d always put more effort into stopping them. Evan himself had suggested it was because he was military.
“A distraction, on a mission I could stop and think about you and get myself killed,” he had tried to explain as they lay in bed one night shortly after the man’s arrival. She couldn’t truly understand, she had long ago realised there was something about the Earth members she would never understand.
Now however was not a good time to reflect on the bad administration of Atlantis. Dinner had finished over an hour ago and since then Teyla had been perched on the railing of the balcony while Evan painted her. Painting was something new to her as well, he’d tried to teach her the art, but that had turned into a very messy and playful experience.
A rumbling interrupted her musing and she turned, hopping off the railing to look up at the bubbling cloud that broke through the atmosphere. The Deadalus was back and with it came a new leader.
Curiously they made their way to the gate room, Evan took several attempts to wipe a smudge of black paint onto her arm but she dodged him.
A crowd had gathered and Teyla fought her way through the murmuring members. She hadn’t quite reached the front when the transport beam light indicated the arrival of the leader and return of John and Ronon.
Without giving Teyla a moment to push to the front a roar of applause went up and several of the expedition whistled. Carson, who she realised, had been standing just in front of him moved as she exchanged a look with Evan and she turned back to see Elizabeth in a hug with the doctor.
As they parted Teyla moved in and engulfed her, she’d never though the woman would return and it was a much welcomed thing. The rush of emotion kept her in place for several long moments and she looked up to find the current leader watching the group from the conference balcony.
She grinned, unable to stop herself as she raised her hand from Elizabeth’s back and gave him a little wave. She pulled back from Elizabeth slightly and whispered in her ear.
"Thank the ancestors."
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: General, suggested John/Elizabeth, Teyla/Lorne, Ronon/OFC
Summary: How things change.
Past, Present and Future (1/5) Teyla Emmagan
Past - Age 15
Teyla sprinted across the village square to her parent's tent, it had been three hours since she was last here and in that time the Wraith had attacked. She looked quickly around before darting further into the room and snatching up the bow and arrow and turning back to leave.
At 15, she was required to go on all the hunting trips with those in her class, the lesson today had been interrupted within the first hour as the humming of the Wraith's darts had flown extremely close. Halling, their teacher had seized her arm quickly preventing her from taking off back to their home in order to help her people.
Still too young to command the settlement, she had been included by her parents to take part in everything. Helping during an attack, with cleanup after the attack and even the construction of new buildings. She'd even been taught to set the camp fire at day break despite her constant protest at being woken so early.
Halling had moved them closer to the settlement as the attack had progressed and during the time she had argued extensively about needing to help and even employed the tactic of him needing to protect his wife and year old baby. It hadn't worked.
The closer they had come, the more noise reached their ears and Teyla had found herself becoming increasingly distressed by it. She should be doing something, not hiding in the bush waiting for it to pass; she should be out there fighting, purging her home of the horror that plagued them.
The screams of babies, the desperate cries of mothers who couldn't locate their children and the horrible nightmare creating, screech of the transport beam.
Standing on the edge of the forest, she had caught sight of her mother moments before she darted around the side of a house and moments later a dart had played its beam in that location.
Now, with the bow and arrow in her hand, that even in the back of her mind she knew were worthless, she ran as fast as she could to the side of the building.
"Mother," she called, as she stepped along the side of the house, "mother," she tried again and took the corner to stand behind it. Instead of finding the tall dark skinned woman who had birthed her, she found a Wraith.
She approached cautiously, seeing him still moving if only slightly for the time being. When she was standing close enough, she looked down at him and he glanced back at her before breaking into a hideous grin.
"Your mother," he said taking a deep and pain filled breath, "was my last meal," he took another sharp breath. "I enjoyed the taste of her," he said baring his teeth to her, "and the child she carried."
Shock rushed through her, but she kept her face carefully blank. He continued to watch her drawing hard and shaky breath after another. Slowly and without thinking too much about it, Teyla reached up behind her and slid an arrow from the pack on her back.
"They took her from me," he said and Teyla's eyes darted down to the stab wound in his stomach and the several other cuts and stab points that lined his torso, "before I could finish her."
She knocked the arrow into the string and pulled it back with all her strength listening instead to the words in her head instead of the words of the Wraith as he continued.
"I prey, my child, that you will never have to kill anyone, even a Wraith," her father had once told her. "But if you have to, if you have to draw your knife or nock an arrow, then make sure you remember this," she aimed the arrow at the Wraith still talking below her and tightened the muscles in her arm to pull it back more, "the eyes are the window to every creatures soul, if you can look it in the eye and see that it has done wrong, then it deserves to have its soul destroyed."
She took a deep breath and looked the fallen Wraith in the eye; she could see the glint there, the sign of fresh feeding; the satisfaction of having captured his pray and started to draw its life.
"For my lost brothers and sisters," she breathed before releasing the arrow and watching as it struck perfectly on target.
She sunk to the ground beside it, her eyes drawn to the ground in front of her and settling on the handle of the blade used to injure the monster at her side. She picked it up and examined it, it wasn't her mother blade.
"And my people," she breathed before standing up and moving back towards the centre of the village.
She stepped into the clearing and looked around the remains of another attack. She dropped her bow and arrows to the ground by the tent and moved across the way to a child who sat on her knees facing the still glowing fire.
"Where is your mother, Mayin?" she asked the small girl.
"I do not know," she said quietly and Teyla watched the tear that slid down her delicate face. "This was my first attack," she said, "I do not remember any others."
"Wait here," Teyla said just as quietly, "I will send the other children to sit with you."
She stood again and moved around the small settlement. She passed men and women who were righting their homes, mothers or father searching for their offspring and spouses. She asked each of them to gather by the fire and take anyone they passed with them.
It would be easier for families to find each other if they were all in one place. Something she remembered her grandmother telling her when she was very small, she had lost one small object in amongst several similar ones and had been frantically picking random ones out to find hers. As a result, they had been scattered across the floor and she had still not found her own item.
"Mallas," she heard Halling call as she came back to the fire now surrounded by people. "Mallas," he called again darting in between groups of people. "Has anyone seen my wife and son?"
To Teyla's left someone called to him, the woman held a small boy in her arms, but she was not the mother of this boy.
"Jinto," he cried in slight relief before he looked up at the woman who had been holding him, "where is Malla?"
"Halling," Teyla said carefully saving the old woman from having to find an answer. She held out the handle she had been carrying to show him. "I found this beside a dying Wraith," he said he had fed on her before the others had taken her."
She watched as Halling crumbled and Charin hastened to capture the child in his arms. She could almost feel his pain as he began to shudder and cry for the loose of her and Teyla momentarily wondered if it would be a wise idea to tell him she had been with child.
Deciding against it and watching as Jinto reached for his father, she took the few steps to him and dropped to her knees in front of the hunched and large man.
"I am sorry, Halling," she said, "I should have left the Wraith for you to kill, but I was looking for my mother," she placed her hands on his shoulder and her forehead against his before adding. "Jinto needs you now."
Unexpectedly he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a close hug. It took her a moment to take this in, no one in the village was brave enough to show affection towards Teyla in this fashion, being their leader's daughter people kept a professional distance from her. It was something she had always hated, but nonetheless something needed to be kept.
"Your father was fed on before my eyes," he whispered and she could hear the pain in his voice knowing only too well he did not wish to tell her this, "his body is in front of my tent."
It was a shock to hear it, but it for some reason it wasn't her biggest concern. Instead of having the wonderings about her mother that she should have had, or the thoughts about attending his location and offering a prey to the ancestors, she found herself more concerned with the rest of the villagers.
Fifteen was not the age to take her place as the leader of these people. For generations the village had passed to the new leader when they had reached 20. By this time, they reasoned, she would be mature enough to handle it and her parents to old to effectively run from the Wraith when they attacked.
But it seemed now, that she had no choice. There was no one else in her family who could step in for the few years it would take her to reach age of maturity and it would not be proper for anyone in the village to take that place.
Teyla Emmagan, Daughter of Tagan had just aged five years in one small Wraith attack.
There was no time anymore for petty squabbles, childhood dreams and hopes of a future where the Wraith didn't exist. She had a whole village of lost and afraid people to care for.
~~**~~**~~
Present - Age 27
No matter how much she thought about it there was no denying that Atlantis was much easier to deal with than her whole village back on Athos had been. For a start, she wasn't the highest person in the city. That honour fell to Elizabeth Weir, and even with all the support she could offer the woman, she wouldn't like to have as much power and control that her friend had.
When she had first let her people leave for the main land and taken a position in John Sheppard team, it had been frightening, she hadn't known these people, yet she trusted them without question.
Today, however, it was a blessing not to have to talk to her people and listen to their apologies about her parent's loss at such a young age. She herself had spent years since the day apologising to others, like Jinto, who didn't even remember the day only that it had some significance in their lives.
Only one person in the city of Atlantis knew about this day's significance to her and several of her people. Five people had been lost that day, which was a new low for them, but still it had made a considerable dent in their already depleted population.
Luckily, she would have something more entertaining to occupy her thoughts today. She had been tasked with training the civilian population, or at least a portion of it, Ronon had taken the other half. Together they would make sure that every non-military member of the expedition was able to defend themselves without a weapon.
She smiled at Elizabeth as she stopped outside the gym and watched as she walked with a slight bounce in her step towards her.
"Good morning," she said brightly and Teyla raised an eyebrow at the mix of emotion on her face, they were the complete opposite of the bounce in her step and cheer in her voice. "I'm not good at that am I?" she asked with embarrassment look around.
Teyla shook her head and opened the door to the gym and motioned for Elizabeth to enter first. She followed her into the room and sealed the door, leaving it unlocked would only add to the discomfort Elizabeth was obviously struggling to conceal. This, she reasoned, was why John had put her on Teyla's list instead of Ronon's. That and with Teyla she could get a private session whereas Ronon would simply add her to a large group where she would not only be uncomfortable with having to fight, but feel stupid about it too.
They got ready quickly and Teyla started by teaching her stretches that she would have to do before each session. It surprised her slightly to find that Elizabeth Weir, leader of Atlantis and diplomat was more flexible than she expected.
It was also a surprise to see her figure and muscles. Elizabeth was dressed in a pair of lose pants that showed nothing of her legs, but rested off her hips comfortably and a tight top, making Teyla think that the uniforms the expedition members wore were more unflattering than she previously thought.
Testing her new leader, Teyla took to a difficult stretch which Elizabeth managed just as gracefully.
"Have you done this before?" she asked with a quirked brow.
"I used to dance," she said honestly copying Teyla into another difficult position, "when I was eight," she said and Teyla chuckled at that declaration. "I do Yoga at whatever time I get up and again at whatever time I can get away from the control room."
"Yoga?" Teyla questioned. Even after three years there were things about these people that she would never understand.
"I'll show you some time," she said with a smile.
"I would like that," she offered manoeuvring into another position before straightening up to start their session. She opened her mouth to give the first instruction but found herself cut off by the speaker announcing an unauthorised gate activation.
Elizabeth grabbed her uniform top and pulled it on quickly before following Teyla from the room. They walked quickly to the control room and Teyla stood back as the woman took control.
"Major?" Elizabeth said over the radio and Teyla leaned back against the consol behind her.
"Sorry to interrupt your morning exercise," he said knowing only too well she had training today. The comment made Teyla smile for a moment before Elizabeth turned to give her a look. She was quick to set her face in order and not smirk at her before he continued, "but I thought that some members of Colonel Sheppard's team might want to see this obelisk in the town centre."
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, it's a monument to the people who died in a great plague ten years ago," he said, "one of the names on the list is Kylipa Emmagen."
Silence fell over the room and Teyla could feel all the eyes on her. She saw none of them, only managing to focus on the name Major Lorne had told them. It was her mother's name. She pulled back to reality as the major continued.
"There are a few other Athosian names on the list. They're all together under a section headed "Wraith refugees". I thought perhaps Teyla might want to see who's on it and let their families they escaped the Wraith."
"Even if it was to die from a plague," Teyla heard the voice of one of the others faintly in the background and hung her head. It wasn't well known to the people of the city, but there were a few who knew that to die for any reason other than Wraith feeding was a blessing.
At the very least, Teyla wanted to go to the planet, list all of those who had been lost over the years and return to hold a ceremony to honour them.
Beside her Elizabeth had spoken to Major Lorne and ended the transmission. She didn't notice this until Elizabeth hand came to rest on her arm and she looked up to find not only Elizabeth's sympathetic face, but John and Ronon's too.
"John," Elizabeth said, "why don't you and Teyla go meet with Major Lorne check this list out and we'll go from there."
"Sure," he said and turned to leave. Teyla hesitated for a moment searching her friends face before she turned and followed them.
*
She kept her head low; the voice of the young woman across the way from her was piecing her heart. Mayin had only been a child barely four years old when the Wraith had taken both her parents and she stood now at 16 the prettiest of the Athosian girls and with the voice of an angle.
This song was a prey, one of great trust to the ancestors and a plea that they would find and protect the lost souls of their friends and family. It was far from the usual song they sang when one of their own died naturally, but this was ten years too late for that.
Major Lorne stood to her left, his head bowed just as low, he had asked specifically if he could be here for this and she thanked him for it. Back on the planet he had hesitantly pointed out the name of her mother on the black stone obelisk that stood in the middle of a small town. He had also been the first to react when she had hung her head in an attempt to hide her tears.
She felt their sting in her eyes again, something she did not give into easily on most days and would have thought against them again today, had it not been for the small sob that escaped her lips and the Major's hand on her arm.
Across the way from her, behind Mayin, stood the remainder of the Athosian village, all the people who had survived the last twelve years and moved to Atlantis. Their number was small, but almost twice that of three years previous when John Sheppard had stumbled onto their world and brought them back to the city of the ancestors.
To her left, beyond Evan Lorne, was tall piece of wood, fashioned and framed by the scientists on Atlantis in honour of the ceremony. Halling and Jinto and several other teenage boys from the village had spent hours the previous day carving the names of all those lost to the plague on one side, and all those lost to the Wraith on the other.
It was those on this side of the structure that they honoured now, those who had missed their true ceremony; those who had been for whatever reason, unable to return home after their rescue.
On her other side, were all her new friends, Elizabeth and John had been stunned when she had asked them to attend, and had shown in their best for the occasion. John and all the military she had invited stood in their dress blues, and Elizabeth in a sleek black Athosian dress she had been gifted with for her birthday in their first year.
The song finished and Teyla lifted her head to fire in the middle of the gathering. Her eyes filled with tears as she whispered the goodbye she had been denied when she was less than Mayin's age.
"Your heart has returned home with father now," she breathed before allowing Evan to lead her from the ring.
~~**~~**~~
Future - Age 38
Dinner with Evan Lorne had always been delightful, for the past few years their relationship had sparked and Teyla had gone from finding him a great conversationalist to wishing she could spend more time with him than was currently available.
Their current leader, unfortunately not Elizabeth, had been attempting to keep anyone away from someone they enjoyed spending time with. He was pure military and even John found himself stuck with proper military procedure Elizabeth had let drop.
But for some reason, he disliked her relationship with Evan, granted he showed similar venom towards Ronon dating his assistant, but he’d always put more effort into stopping them. Evan himself had suggested it was because he was military.
“A distraction, on a mission I could stop and think about you and get myself killed,” he had tried to explain as they lay in bed one night shortly after the man’s arrival. She couldn’t truly understand, she had long ago realised there was something about the Earth members she would never understand.
Now however was not a good time to reflect on the bad administration of Atlantis. Dinner had finished over an hour ago and since then Teyla had been perched on the railing of the balcony while Evan painted her. Painting was something new to her as well, he’d tried to teach her the art, but that had turned into a very messy and playful experience.
A rumbling interrupted her musing and she turned, hopping off the railing to look up at the bubbling cloud that broke through the atmosphere. The Deadalus was back and with it came a new leader.
Curiously they made their way to the gate room, Evan took several attempts to wipe a smudge of black paint onto her arm but she dodged him.
A crowd had gathered and Teyla fought her way through the murmuring members. She hadn’t quite reached the front when the transport beam light indicated the arrival of the leader and return of John and Ronon.
Without giving Teyla a moment to push to the front a roar of applause went up and several of the expedition whistled. Carson, who she realised, had been standing just in front of him moved as she exchanged a look with Evan and she turned back to see Elizabeth in a hug with the doctor.
As they parted Teyla moved in and engulfed her, she’d never though the woman would return and it was a much welcomed thing. The rush of emotion kept her in place for several long moments and she looked up to find the current leader watching the group from the conference balcony.
She grinned, unable to stop herself as she raised her hand from Elizabeth’s back and gave him a little wave. She pulled back from Elizabeth slightly and whispered in her ear.
"Thank the ancestors."
