Title: A Wizard Should Know Better
Summary: A wizard should know better than to interfere with the follies of men.
Characters: McKay [&Sheppard]
Pairing: Again, I am doing PTB and letting you choose for yourself.
Rating: K
"A wizard should know better than to interfere with the follies of men."
Rodney rolled his eyes. Not for the first time, the head honcho of these Ancient worshipping villagers had interrupted him as he attempted to fix whatever it was the damned Genii had done wrong – again – and Rodney was growing a little exasperated.
"I already told you," he said as he motioned with his handheld tablet and turned disdainful eyes on the inanely adorned woman as she stood just inside the entrance of the temple, "I'm not a wizard or a sorcerer – I'm just a slightly advanced version of you."
The woman smiled pleasantly up at him in a way that told Rodney she was simply humouring him and Rodney sighed exasperatedly, turning back to the fried power conduit before him.
"Your leader is a powerful sorcerer."
Rodney sighed loudly and turned to the woman fully, letting his arm that held his tablet fall to his side.
"Really?" He asked with a slight roll of his head. "And how is that?"
The woman smiled conspiratorially as she took a step further into the room, staring at the markings on the wall of their temple. Rodney had seen the design replicated throughout the galaxy, but who was he to destroy these peoples' delusions of grandeur?
"I was often enthralled by these markings when I was a child," the woman continued, completely ignoring Rodney as she glided her wrinkled hand over the walls, her nails dragging across the soft stone. "For years, I have studied them but have never been able to understand them." She turned to Rodney, her grey eyes gleaming with hindered ambition and, had he had the time, he's sure he would have felt something akin to pity for her. As it was, he didn't and he quickly turned back to the power conduit, hoping she would get the hint. "Had I been younger, I would have tried to woo your leader."
Rodney sighed again and barely contained the urge to grunt.
"Well there's a surprise," he said instead as he pushed buttons on the tablet, watching the readings fluctuate with each passing second.
"His heart is pure, though there is darkness to him." Rodney tried to block her out but she drew closer to him, standing but a hair breadth away from him and Rodney grimaced at her as he turned to her. "I can feel the strength within him," she continued as she slinked by Rodney and he could barely suppress his shudder. "The city came to life when he arrived; it filled me with hope." She paused and turned back to him, a strange melancholy smile on her face and Rodney looked away. "But his heart is taken, snared by a woman a fifth my age and twice my beauty."
Rodney frowned at that.
"Really?"
She nodded as she took a step towards her.
"Yes." She trailed a finger down Rodney's shoulder and this time, he did shudder. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he stared at the elder before him, wondering just why this always happened to him. "He is weary, too."
Rodney raised an eyebrow and took a hesitant step backwards, feeling his shoulders connect with the wall behind him.
"Well we had a long walk before we reached your city," he stammered, pushing himself against the wall out of reach of her teasing smile.
She laughed, mirthful and airy, ducking her head before turning grandly, her robes swishing in the stale air.
"His heart is weary; it has felt too much distress." She turned back to Rodney and for an instant, he saw something glimmer around her, a youthful appearance taking over her face and in that moment, she was almost beautiful. "You all have." She stepped towards him again and Rodney held his breath. She reached out and stroked his cheek, her palm connecting delicately with his jaw line in a tender touch that soothed Rodney's soul.
This, he thought, was weird.
"I..."
She shushed him and closed her eyes and Rodney felt warmth spread through his body, felt a tingling in his toes and he took a breath, fighting for the oxygen that suddenly seemed to evacuate the vast room.
He thought then of Carson, of Jeannie, of the things he'd done. He thought of his mother, of Sheppard, of Teyla's missing people and he felt it. He thought of Todd and the Wraith and everything that had gone wrong since they'd arrived. He thought of Carson.
"A wizard should know better than to interfere with the follies of men," she repeated but Rodney wasn't sure she spoke. Her voice was faint, echo-y and he felt dizzy, cold and warm all at once his body responding to the contrast by shivering violently. "It is a truth your Ancestors learned long ago."
And then she was gone, and Rodney was alone panting in the quiet empty room watching the dust flutter to the floor. He looked about, left and right, but there was no sign of her, no trace that she had ever been there.
And then he felt it, that realisation and a calm crest washed over him, soothing him from the inside out.
Pausing for a moment to smile into the room, hoping that whoever she was could see him somehow, before turning back to the wall and sorting through the figures and data on the pad before him.
His calmness didn't last long and with a frustrated sigh and a few choice curses directed towards the absent Genii, he left the room, defeated.
But for a moment, he had felt it. The presence of the Ancients.
He felt strangely reassured.