Title: The High Ride and the Low Road
Author: Silverkitsune1
Summary: Teyla and Ronon take a ride on a ferris wheel. Appearances by John and Carson.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis and no money was made from this.
Rating: PG
Warnings: No spoilers takes place in season two some place I suppose.
Thanks go to: my beta lj user samcandoit
Sheppard: Well, then, we'll, uh, have to get to know each other. Me, um... I like ferris wheels, and college football, anything that goes over 200 miles per hour.
Ford: Sir, that's not going to mean anything to them.
The sky was robin's egg blue. Clouds as thick and fat as well tended sheep meandered across the sky at a lazy pace, all of them too content or perhaps too stupid to understand that at any moment a wolf could be on them from above.
Telya locked her fingers together and stretched them above her head, palms up. The car she sat in swung back and forth gently, and as she tipped her head back the gears that ran the ride groaned and creaked. The wheel began to turn, and the car, dirty white in color with the roaring lioness painted across the safety bar, rose toward the sky. For a moment, it was as though the sky was flat against her palms and she was pushing the stretch of blue up, and away from those on the planet's surface.
"So this is supposed to be fun, right?"
Teyla turned an eye to Ronon who sat next to her, arms loosely draped across the back of the car.
"Colonel Sheppard has voiced a great liking for them," Teyla answered. "It is rather relaxing."
There was a scream much like that of a dying rabbit as breaks were applied and the Ferris wheel came to a standstill. Their car trembled once and then froze. Teyla peered over the side, and down at the patchy yellowed grass below. A woman puffing on a thinly wrapped cigarette leaned against the thick, stained rope that corralled the handful of locals waiting in line. When she saw Teyla staring she grinned and waved at her.
"I'm not having fun," Ronon grunted. He leaned back against the seat, and his weight caused the car to tip. Teyla grabbed onto the side and elbowed her companion in the ribs.
"Sorry."
"Hey guys!" Colonel Sheppard's voice sang out.
Teyla peered cautiously over her side of the car. John Sheppard was two cars below them. Carson sat next to him. The doctor had a white knuckle grip on the safety bar, and his fingers pressed against the fading image of a dog balancing atop a bright red ball.
"Isn't this great?" John shouted happily.
Teyla smiled politely, and raised her hand in greeting. Ronon crossed his arms over his chest and settled into a more comfortable position.
The Ferris wheel was only one of many rides offered at the town's summer fair, and below them the inhabitants scuttled to and from a variety of activities. An excited 'whoop' filled the air down near a booth that served as a shooting gallery, and the smell of grease and spun sugar filled the air. Women and men who claimed they could perform amazing feats of wonder wandered about the grounds spitting fire from their mouths and juggling colorful balls the size of Teyla's fist.
The ride started up again, and as their car crested over the last bit of empty sky Teyla looked out across the treetops and the slanted pink roofs that made up the town of Boqslw. Thick black smoke puffed from the chimney tangling with the fat sheep that grazed above. It was the town's crematorium, but it burned no bodies. The people here, known as the Kuzniares, burned the possessions of those who had been taken by the wraith in the hopes that these objects could be found again by their loved ones on their journey to the afterlife. The wind shepherded the smoke across the rooftops, and the wide expanse of open field that was sandwiched between the town and the fair.
This world had been culled over seven months ago, but survivors from smaller towns and villages still staggered in looking for aid, and the fires burned hot. The fair was a tradition that Boqslw's mayor, a painfully young woman named Mika who spoke with an even, but exhausted tone had told the Atlantis team about earlier. She hoped to raise the spirits of those who had survived.
The sun was warm against Teyla's skin. Next to her, Ronon tilted his head back, eyes closed, to soak in the rays.
"I think I'm going to get off," Ronon announced.
Teyla raised an eyebrow.
"All the spokes on this thing should make it an easy climb down," the big man explained.
"We are moments away from dissension," Teyla answered. "It would take you longer to climb down than it would to wait."
Ronon shook his head. "No, I was watching this thing while we were in line. We've got two, maybe three more rotations left before our car stops."
A large section of the fields beyond the fair had been corralled off with temporary fences. Horses ran and trotted across the stretch of grass. Their coats were an amalgam of colors, some dusty gold, others brown with white patches across their rumps, silver grey mares and one as black as the smoke that the crematorium puffed out of exhausted lungs. Horses were not a new creature to Teyla, but her people had preferred traveling with the aid of dogs to pull their possessions on sleds or the occasional pack mule to help them across rough terrain.
"You want to come with?" Ronon asked.
One horse, the color of warm honey, caught Teyla's attention as she trotted across the length of the temporary corral. The trot became a run and made her way down the length of the field, mane caught in the wind. Men and women were beginning to gather along the sides.
Teyla had heard talk of a horse race that was to occur later in the day. She wondered if this animal's owner would allow a stranger with a wealth of interesting goods to trade to ride across the grass and against the smoke singed wind. Teyla was nothing if not a skilled barterer, but the crowd around the fence was beginning to thicken and she suspected any bargain would have to be made soon.
"Lead the way."