NOTES: I've been imagining the Atlantis crew in Joss Whedon's Firefly 'verse for some time now. Various mental incarnations later, and I finally felt as though I could do it justice.
Fly The Stars
-- walk the air--
Ronon remembered the days after Teyla got the scholarship to the Academy.
Taigan was so proud of his daughter he could barely speak. Half the time he looked as though he was about to burst with joy, and the other half of the time he seemed on the verge of tears at the prospect of the departure of his only daughter.
The whole of Athos closed down in celebration, preparing for a feast to which all were invited. Half of Hallan's ducks were sacrificed to siu ap while Charin spent nearly three days making enough bau to fill the bellies of not only Athos town but Gennia town as well. Marhenno brought out not one but four casks of his finest ale - as well as a dozen of the less-fine - and Taigan dug out a forty year-old bottle of Osiran Red that was the last of the crate gifted to him at his wedding by his grandfather.
And in the midst of the whirlwind of congratulations, Teyla had a smile as broad as the Athos river and a laugh that rippled out like a wave on the sea. She fairly danced her way in and out of the adults who wished her well. She giggled and whispered among the girls who spoke enviously of the fine young men who lived in the central worlds, and smiled serenely at the boys who eyed her with regretful expressions.
"If you come back too good for us, I'll have to thump you," Ronon said candidly the morning she left, squatting in the mud down by the river.
Teyla laughed. "You have never yet managed to beat me," she pointed out. "What makes you believe you'll be able to then - even assuming I need thumping?"
"I'll be bigger then," he said, believing in the power of might over the power of cunning with all the arrogance of an adolescent boy. "Bigger than you."
"Size is not everything," said Teyla with airy unconcern. "As you will learn when you grow older, Ronon."
He was maybe three years younger than her, but he understood well enough and his eyes narrowed. "So which of the guys should I beat up for teaching you that?"
She laughed and splashed him lightly. "You know I would not tell you that."
They hugged hard, there by the riverbank, a private farewell between the girl who had always lived among family and the boy who had lost his when the Reavers destroyed his town.
Ronon remembered the warm affection of her embrace long after the crowds had gone home and the ship had cleared atmo and Teyla was gone from Pegasus.
- tbc in ii: anchor in storms -