Author's Note: This is very different from what I usually write; I read AU's, but this is one of my first legit attempts to write a good one. Please read, review, and be kind; after all, this is a pretty new thing. But I hope you like it! :D (and this is un-betaed so any mistakes are mine).
Chapter One
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The graying woman smiled at the gaggle of children that had followed her heavily pregnant daughter to her house. She raised an eyebrow knowingly at the beautiful expecting mother, who feigned innocence.
"And I suppose that you had no idea that they followed you here?" she questioned rather sarcastically. Her daughter shrugged.
"They were quiet," she replied.
"Tell us a story!" they clamored, knowing that she was the best of the best of all storytellers.
"Clearly, you never would have heard them."
"Oh, please, mother? They love your tales. And I'm sure that my baby would love to hear one too." she rubbed her belly. The woman sighed, running a hand through her silver-streaked red hair.
"What would you like to hear?" she asked, sitting down on the floor to be at their level.
"Tell my favorite," her daughter begged. "The one about heroes." And the woman knew instantly that this had all been planned.
"One day I will see fit to deny those pretty eyes of yours, Lacey," she said with mock severity.
"You always say that," she laughed, sitting in a comfortable chair.
"This story will take a long time, children," she warned the rest of her listeners. "I cannot finish it today."
"We'll come back," they promised; they knew that Lacey knew which stories her mother told best; and her favorite must be the best of the best.
She sighed again, bringing her mind all the way back to the beginning of the story, the day that everything had started.
"Once," she began, in a hushed voice, leaning forward and meeting each child's eyes, "there was a man called Ronon Dex..."
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Ronon took a deep breath of the fresh summer air. He loved Sateda with all his heart, but at his mother's country manor on Athos, he truly came alive. Athos did not possess the great cities or technology that they once did, having been culled more recently than Sateda. But some of his people still preferred the simplicity of the life that they enjoyed, and had bought land and built manors, escapes for themselves. The Athosians maintained a friendly relationship with them, while continuing on in simple lives that they so enjoyed.
Except for their art, he remembered. Their art was what made them what they were, what connected them. Whether their craft was in material or music or dancing or fighting or painting or anything, they were true artists in everything that they did.
That was one of the reasons that his mother loved Athos, but at nineteen Ronon cared very little for art, except for their fighting style, which he was working to master. But what drew him to Athos, again and again, was her.
Her name was Teyla. She was the daughter of the Athosian leader, and her grandfather was the head of the elders; and she had good standing both among her own people and the Satedans because of her family's status, and her skill as a warrior. At seventeen and two years his junior, she had already been a master for two years. But it wasn't because they feared her that they respected her; she was a lovely, gentle girl to everyone but an odd group of a few dozen Satedans that she simply seemed not to like. Which was both irritating and pleasantly challenging; it was a personal game of his to get her to laugh for real, to be happy with him.
He walked through the bright forest, content for the moment just tp dream about her. But unexpectedly, he heard her voice rise in a gentle laugh up ahead; and the soft deep murmur of a male voice replying. Quietly, not wanting to alert them to his presence, he stalked through the forest like a jaguar, until he could see the beautiful Athosian and her companion.
His lip curled in a silent snarl when he saw who she was with. His name was Halling, he was several years older than Ronon; but he was Teyla's best friend. And Ronon hated him for it.
He watched them talk and laugh, watched Halling kiss her and call her "my love". He watched her give hi that radiant smle that he was constantly failing to tease out of her. His hands curled into fists as he watched Halling caress her hair, her arms, her face; and he burned with angry jealousy. Halling was almost twenty-three; too old for her. He knew that the Athosians were much more lax than his people about age differences between couples--- on Sateda, no girl under twenty would see a man six years older than she was--- but even by their standards this seemed wrong to Ronon. Halling was too old; he should not be kissing her like that.
He watched them for a long time, just too far away to hear their conversation. Finally, Halling stood up and pulled her to her fet.
"I need to go back," he said apologetically, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"I will be back soon," she promised. Halling seemed to understand that she needed to be alone for a bit, because he nodded, smiling fondly.
"Alright, love" he kissed her lips quickly. "Be back before dark," he teased. Teyla just laughed and told him to go home.
Once he was gone, Teyla returned to her seat and for a while just sat there, singing and laughing softly to herself. Her gentle humming entranced Ronon, and that trance was broken only when he saw her face change, in the way that he knew meant that she was thinking about Halling. Ronon hated that the man could make her happy, when he couldn't.
Finally, as twilight began to fall, she started back. Ronon realized that she was going to pass within inches of his hiding spot, and was instantly terrified that she would find him. But just as suddenly, a crazy idea popped into his head, an idea that he couldn't resist.
As she passed him, he stepped out of the bushed, wrapped her tightly in his arms, and kissed her full on the lips. She froze, but Ronon felt safe, knowing that it was too dark for her to see who he was. He made the kiss deep and long and full of passion; and then he released her and fled, leaving her gasping for breath in the middle of the forest. He wished that he could have seen the look on her face, but he gladly settled for feeling her racing heart as he held her against him. And the knowledge that he was going to deck Halling later, That man definitely didn't deserve her.
Suddenly, he remembered that he was supposed to be home; his mother had planned something for tonight that he "needed" to be there for. He ran all the way back to her manor.
TBC
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A/N: Sorry if this is a little weird; but things will get explained further on, I promise. I'll try to update soon. :)