Notes: This was written for the 2008 sga gen ficathon on LJ. Beta-read by Annie B.
Exposure
by Helen W.
Shortly after S4's 'Quarantine'...
Nothing about Anaa seemed familiar to Ronon until he saw the morro calf nibbling grass by the side of the path. White head, tan body, black tufts of hair behind its ears and on its forelegs... it was exactly the same.
Six or eight or more years ago he'd come through a gate and seen this animal's slightly older twin sleeping maybe fifty paces away. He'd slaughtered it in its sleep and eaten the meat from its shoulder raw, he'd been so hungry.
Harvesting its hide had had to wait until daylight; only then had he noticed three interlocking circles, going large to small, on its rear flank. And then there'd been a shout – a woman's voice, "What have you done!" – and without even getting a clear look at her he'd bolted to the gate's podium and dialed Xa, where the sun was so intense that nobody would be able to follow for long.
Now, years later, Ronon found his first impulse was, again, to run – make some excuse, head back to the gate and dial Atlantis. There was no reason for his whole team to be there; any one of them except maybe McKay would be perfectly safe solo on a place like Anaa. Even McKay if he'd keep his mouth shut.
There was no way he was going to run away again.
McKay, a little in front of him, paused and raised a hand. "Hold still, everyone," he said. "Do you hear ringing?"
"Yes," said Teyla. "Look there!"
A small boy was running over the hillside above the calf, jangling with every step. "There you are!" he yelled as soon as he spotted the calf. "Hey, Ma!"
At the boy's shout, the animal startled and bolted their way. Sheppard and McKay, unsurprisingly, let the thing run right past them. Figuring he'd better grab it before Teyla had a chance, Ronon blocked it with a side-step, then grabbed it around its neck. The animal stilled instantly.
"Thanks, mister!" said the child as he slipped a rope around the animal's neck. He then unhooked a small bell from his rope belt and gave it several hard shakes. "Hey, Ma! I got him!" he yelled.
The boy's mother jogged into view, her skirt raised, light shawl trailing. "Excellent, Ko!" she said. "And who else have you found?"
She quickly inspected the calf's rear quarter, nodded, then smiled at them and curtsied a greeting. Like the boy, her clothes were made of woven fabric, with the seams almost certainly machine-made, which implied a certain level of tech, or the wealth to engage in off-world trade. Their shoes, too, looked sturdy and relatively new, another sign of relative prosperity. And the woman's shawl was intricately knitted, which implied some combination of moderate wealth and leisure time.
So the society wasn't completely impoverished. Did that matter?
Teyla mirrored the woman's greeting curtsy, though she didn't sink as deep, whether out of distaste for the form or because of her belly, Ronon couldn't tell.
"We have come seeking the people of Athos," Teyla said. "We have heard that you have recently welcomed strangers?"
"Oh, yes!" the woman replied. She went on to say that, no, she did not know where this new group of migrants, numbering three or four hundred, had come from; and the name 'Athos' meant nothing to her, but that didn't necessarily mean anything; and if they wanted to walk to the land the newcomers had been allocated, down on the shore of Lake Eadm, they would have to be prepared to ford the River Balkne, utilize the rope bridge over the Glaz Gorge, and pass through, or circle around, Red Bug Swamp.
"Red Bug?" McKay asked.
"Ah, voracious things!" said the woman. "They're the main reason we keep to the plain, and the shores of the River Vel. But if the newcomers stay to the far shore of Lake Eadm they'll be fine. It's just the getting to and from it that's difficult. A two-day's walk at least, and impossible by morro cart or riding ryshans because of the roughness of the terrain."
Sheppard and McKay were both scratching their arms; it seemed as good a time as any to interrupt. "Uh, ma'am?" he started.
"Call me Meah, and my son is Ko," she replied, smiling like she was enjoying perturbing his teammates.
"Do you, uh, brand your animals here?"
"Yes, of course," she answered.
"Don't you keep them penned? Or have shepherds?"
"Yes, but they have a knack for escaping; in fact, this little fellow got away yesterday. And we haven't even marked him yet; waiting for the new greater moon, so we can have the full ceremony. It'll be his first new moon since his weaning. But they always make their way home."
"What's his brand going to be?"
"The three circles of the moons, greater to lesser, joined," she said. "My clan's symbol since before the culling of the eighth year of King Mashana's grandfather's grandmother's rule." She gave him a smile Ronon supposed she usually saved for the village idiot, then resumed ignoring him in favor of directing more words and hand-waves at Sheppard, McKay, and Teyla, now about the various times the bridge over the Glaz Gorge had failed.
There was a certain humor to it, but since there was no way they'd be doing the trip on foot it was pretty pointless, so he cleared this throat.
"Can't it wait, Dex?" Sheppard asked.
"Well, see, I, um, think I killed one of their animals," he said. He turned to Meah. "Your animals."
The woman took a step back and looked around as if she expected there to be a corpse on the hillside.
"Years ago," he hurried to explain. "I didn't know it wasn't wild. It was dark when I killed it and I was…"
He stopped himself. No excuses. "I'd like to pay someone back. I, um, I have things to give in trade now. Or some currency that you might be able to use."
"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of," McKay whispered – well, for McKay, it was a whisper, Ronon supposed - as they walked with Meah and her son to her family's homestead.
"The most ridiculous thing I've ever heard is you mooing to that animal," said Sheppard.
"Tell me you don't want to," said McKay, still keeping his voice low.
"So you were, um, attempting to imitate the calf just now?" Teyla asked. "How could you possibly do so? It has been silent." She paused and smiled. "Perhaps you should imitate it."
"Ha ha, very funny," said McKay. "Colonel, why are we following them home?"
"Well, Meah says she lives with a bunch of sisters and cousins and aunts. Seems like talking to them might get us intel less painfully than our usual bar fight."
"I concur," said Teyla. "And, often information obtained in taverns is not as reliable as I would wish."
"Okay, okay, we'll go talk to the nice natives. But are we going to really let Ronon keep on, what should we call it, spontaneously confessing?"
Ronon couldn't keep himself from smiling. "You going to stop me?"
"I've heard it's good for the soul," said Sheppard. "Didn't you go to Sunday School, Rodney?"
"Of course not," said McKay. "What I'm getting at is, if we're going to start spouting all of our sins… I just don't think that sets a good precedent."
"As in," Sheppard said, "You don't want to know the local penalty for destroying a solar system."
"Not so loud!" said McKay. "But, well, to put it bluntly, yes. I mean, think about it. We've all screwed up a thousand different ways…"
"We have?" asked Teyla.
"Well, let me think – yes, unprotected sex, there you go," said McKay.
That had to cross some line in every culture, even McKay's. Teyla's composure, however, didn't vary. "This pregnancy, while not planned, is welcomed," she said. "I believe it is a great gift."
"Well, um, yes, of course," McKay stammered; his loss of verbal momentum lasted about five seconds before he continued, "Okay, speaking just for the expedition, and the caveman here… we've made some pretty big Freshman errors, and the only way to possibly right them is to work our tails off, not throw ourselves on the mercy of stone-age farmers."
"I don't think there were stone-age farmers," said Sheppard.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure there were," said McKay. "Yes, of course there were."
Sheppard shrugged, then matched his stride with Ronon's. "My beef," he began, then gave a low snort. "My issue is that you didn't give me a heads-up before you spoke to Meah."
"Sorry," said Ronon.
"Teyla, what do you think?" asked McKay. "Is he being an idiot, or what?"
"It's not my habit to critique the actions of my friends publicly," she said.
Ronon matched his stride to hers. "I thought you'd understand," he said quietly.
"I do, I believe," said Teyla. "But our priorities are different."
Because Teyla really thought that her people were still alive, Ronon realized. She'd grown up with cullings, not complete destruction.
Ronon knew Teyla had her reasons for maintaining hope, but the Athosian people had been dead to him since the day Teyla and Keller had discovered their disappearance. Dead and mourned.
How did Teyla live with knowing that they were all just indulging her?
It didn't take long to reach the turn-off for Meah's family's property – a fork in the road that passed immediately under a wooden arch, from which hung a small placard bearing three joined circles, large to small. The exact mark of that morro calf. This was really the place.
Ko and his charge were sent off to wherever the stock was penned, and Ronon and his team followed Meah under a stone archway into a courtyard of green grass and flowering shrubs, bordered on two sides by a low wood-and-brick building. She told them to wait, then went to the building's entranceway and opened a wooden door, revealing a compartment that contained maybe ten metal bells. She removed several and started to sound them, the flicks of her wrist showing what was probably a lifetime of practice.
This, apparently, was how you summoned your kin on Anaa, because men and women of all ages, along with a few children, started to emerge from the building and enter through the archway. They seemed more curious than alarmed, so presumably Meah had conveyed both urgency and a lack of immediate danger.
As they arrived, Meah's people nodded greetings to Ronon and his teammates, then settled into what seemed to be customary positions: sitting on the low stone wall which wove through the courtyard, standing under one of several larger shade trees, leaning against the building's wall. Though they exchanged brief pleasantries with each other, none spoke to them; Ronon supposed it was their custom to get clan meetings started and over as quickly as possible so that everyone could get back to work. Well, that was absolutely fine with him.
It took surprisingly little time for the yard to fill; twenty-two adults and teens total, dressed for farming or household chores or other sorts of manual work, and a couple of babies and very young kids. None carried themselves like they'd been trained to use their bodies to do anything more than farm work; and none were obviously armed with more than whatever tools they'd been carrying when Meah had rung the bells.
Meah and an elderly woman who'd joined her at the center of the courtyard did a quick headcount. They conferred quietly for a moment or two more, and then Meah pulled a small bell from her pocket and rang it three times. The murmuring abruptly stopped.
"Thanks, everyone, for coming so quickly. I see we're missing Brother Obben and Brother Asz – I'm assuming they are in town? And Cousin Jeeliza was taking the children over at the Peaza farmstead, I believe."
"Obben's back, but was going to be working a team down on the lower acres," someone said.
Meah nodded. "That's fine. Enough of us are here.
"Family, I have gathered you this mid-morning on behalf of these visitors. They are seeking a group of refugees who may include their kin. The Athosians, this group calls itself, and its leader is a man called Halling. Does any of this ring the high bell of recognition? Did anyone have any dealings with that new group, the one which the Council and King deeded the far shore of Lake Eadm to?"
"I heard they were from Hoff," said an older woman.
"No, I'd have known if they were," said a mostly-grown girl.
"I would have, also," said Meah.
"Not if they were from, say, the southern continent," said the older woman. "They identify more by tribe. Identified, I guess."
"Yes, but…" began another woman; Meah rang the little bell again.
Teyla stepped forward. "I understand the new settlers number several hundred. My people, the Athosians, would make up only a part of it."
Meah looked around at her relatives, then turned back to Teyla. "I'm sorry. But none of us seem to be able to help you," she said.
There was a general murmur of agreement, and Teyla let slip a sigh so soft Ronon suspected only he heard it.
Meah turned back to her relatives. "Well, that's the first reason I rang the bells of assembly and inquiry," she said. "There's a second reason, though. This man," and she gestured toward Ronon, "believes that, perhaps a dozen circums of the sun ago, he killed a morro calf bearing our family brand, near the ring of the ancestors. He fed off it, and fled when he was discovered. Does this ring a high bell with anyone? I was probably on Hoff, at school…"
There was shuffling among the assembly, and one man reached for his hammer.
"I take it the answer's yes," McKay commented softly.
"Thank you, Doctor Obvious," said Sheppard.
"Like he says," said a woman seated near them. "We lost a calf to raiders during the last year of the rule of Queen Bolzom. It was a strong, tan thing, much like Meah's Ko's lesson calf. It was of Marcyl's herd."
"Not raiders," said Ronon. "Just me. Someone, uh, saw me…"
"That would have been Marcyl," said the woman. "Taken by Wraith right before last year's harvest."
"I'm sorry," said Ronon. "Um, sorry for everything. I'd like to make it right. I'd like to know how."
"Since our kinswoman Marcyl was first-owner, you owe restitution to Marcyl's son Asz, her heir; he's at market right now," said the older woman who had conferred with Meah before she'd addressed the group. "I can assure you he will abide by our decisions on this matter. We can set a form of restitution now, and you can appeal to the Council and the King if you feel this is unfair.
"However," and she now approached them, "that cannot be the end of the matter. On Anaa, we share freely, and do not hide away what is ours. But this system cannot work if property ownership, including animal ownership, is not, ultimately, respected. You must be punished for what you did, no matter your reason or any remorse you may feel now."
Sheppard stepped forward. "I'm his commanding officer. I'll see that he's punished when we return home."
"No, Sheppard," said Ronon.
"Let's at least make sure they don't plan to hang you, or chop off a hand, or something," said McKay.
Teyla shifted uncomfortably beside him, probably still contemplating wringing his neck for holding them all up by doing this, and Sheppard's and McKay's necks for acting like the local justice system was an opt-in. True, he'd probably skip out on a dismembering, but some things just went over better if you didn't actually say them.
"Don't worry, you'll emerge intact," said Meah. "Probably."
TBC
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