A/N: This story really isn't turning out exactly as I intended it to. I did at first intend for it to be a romance, but now the plot is thickening and the potential of this story is changing. I have changed the category to drama/suspense, as that classification seems to fit the overall theme better. I blame my beta, who has been AWOL the last couple of days during the creation of chapters 2 and 3. :)
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The palace guards gave me no trouble this time as I climbed the steps that led into the courtyard. The palace grounds were silent, the eerie stillness of the place only broken now and then by the sound of a guard's clinking armor as she occasionally walked past. Upon entering the council chambers, the administrative assistant on duty politely asked me to wait there for Her Highness to finish with other business.
Twenty minutes passed as I impatiently squirmed in my seat. I am not a overly patient person when it comes to matters of state, you see, and when someone sends me an urgent note to meet them this late in the evening, I expected that it be important enough that I would at least be given the courtesy of punctuality. But when the queen finally entered the chambers, motioning for me to follow her into the privacy of the administrative offices that were filled with endless bins and cabinets full of paperwork, she almost seemed bored, as if she could not be bothered with the trouble her messenger gone through to summon me at this hour.
I waited patiently for her to send me a signal that she wished me to begin my report, but for a long moment she simply stood there and studied me. It didn't make me uncomfortable, as she usually had a penchant for council sessions where the rest of the council was left waiting speechlessly as she simply sat in her throne-chair deeply pondering some issue at hand. This seemed to be another one of those moments.
"You spoke with those outlandish people," she said finally, her voice unemotional and flat. "Are they sophisticated and proper people?"
"Yes, Ma'am," I said, trying to be thoughtful and choosing my words carefully, but that was not always an easy thing to do around the queen. "They are sophisticated; their technology seems quite advanced. But their customs and manners are quite… backward."
"How so?" she demanded sharply.
This was when I started becoming uncomfortable. "I haven't completely sorted that out, as I was trying to be polite. But it seems to me that men are accorded the same respect and rights as women on their world."
"So they coddle their men and think they're better than we are," she commented with mild disgust as she folded her arms across her chest. "You have met one of them… Are their men truly that much different?"
"Different, yes," I affirmed softly. Was this really what she had summoned me so urgently for? "But many men seem alike, even those from other worlds"
She seemed to ponder this a bit more for a moment, then looked up at me strangely and straightened herself into a more authoritative pose. "Dismiss them from the city. I want no more dealings to be made with them."
I was aghast with shock. "But… Your Highness, these people have technology and medicines, and their weapons are much more advanced than our own. They have given me no reason to believe that they have any ulterior motives other than simply honest and fair trade!"
"If they are so advanced, what could they possibly want from us?" she asked surreptitiously, but then her demeanor softened a bit. I had never seen this side of her before. "Cousin, I am not prepared to risk giving them an opportunity to steal the Blessing of the Ancients from us. I can think of nothing else that they would have come here seeking. I will not give them an audience. Now, send them away."
"What if they will not leave?" I asked cautiously as she turned to go.
She did not turn back as she spoke. "I have confidence that you will appropriately handle such a situation, if it should arise."
"Yes, Ma'am," I acknowledged, but she was already out of earshot.
My passage back through the courtyard was quiet and uneventful. I was so deeply in thought as my boots passed through the crinkled fallen leaves that had coagulated in small piles in the alleys, that I did not even have a conscious memory of having passed through the courtyard gate back into the square. It was nearly dark, and the merchants and customers they haggled with had all but gone. Quiet was prevalent as the wind rustled the few leaves that were still left on the ancient and barren trees that lined the streets. The night watchmen were lighting the oil streetlamps that dotted the sides of the wider streets of the city, occasionally leaving oily smeared handprints on the walls of the buildings the lamps were mounted on.
As I yanked myself out of that trance-like state, the hospital stood before me. Something was different; the lights had been darkened already. I quietly looked around the various rooms, trying not to disturb the patients resting there, but saw no sign of Drae or Dr. Beckett except for his medical kit and bag, which rested on the floor near the table he had been using to keep notes about the patients he had seen. Soiled bandages littered the floor in front of one patient, including a bunched-up handful of gauze that reeked of the stench of Ether. I was somewhat dismayed that no one had thought to tidy up before leaving.
After volunteering myself for the task, I promptly left the hospital, half expecting Drae to be in the tavern enjoying a pint of brew with the others. But as I crossed the square again, I found that she was not there, either. Trying to shrug off my concern, it seemed a logical assumption that she must have had some urgent business elsewhere and had been forced to drop Beckett off and leave quickly. No matter. There would be an opportunity to catch up with her another time. At that moment, it was time for me to finish that unfortunate business of asking my new friends to leave, then to try and put it behind me.
I knocked on Teyla's door first. The fire had made the room a quite comfortable temperature, and thus when she answered the door I noticed that she had removed her vest and jacket. Upon seeing me she silently stepped aside to allow me entry. Inside, Sheppard, McKay, and Ronon sat in front of the fire in a rough circle, looking up at me as I came in. I was curious as to why Teyla seemed to be sharing her room with them, which was inconsistent with her insistence that the males were simply her 'friends' and nothing more. It was possible that I had misjudged them again, but it felt like it would have been impolite to ask her about it, and so I held my tongue and got right to the point.
"I have news from the queen," I said regretfully. "She has conveyed to me that she does not feel a trade agreement is in our best interests, and has directed me to ask you to leave."
Sheppard immediately jumped to his feet. "You can't be serious."
"I'm afraid I am," I confirmed bluntly. "It is getting late. You are welcome to rest here for the night, but I'm afraid that I must insist that you leave tomorrow."
"You seem like a reasonable person." I knew what he was going to ask me, but I couldn't bear to tell them the whole blunt truth, preferring instead to leave the possibility of future relations open should the queen change ever her mind. "Did we do something to offend you? Why would your queen decide not to at least hear what we have to offer?"
"I don't know," I answered with partial honesty, at least. "But I was not offended by you. The queen would not explain further than to say it was not in our best interests. I do hope that there will other opportunities to trade in the future, though. Should the queen ever change her mind, would you still remain open to the possibility?"
"Sure," he said resignedly, with a heavy sigh. "Where's Carson?"
"Dr. Beckett?" I was confused. "Is he not here?"
Sheppard gave me a puzzled look. "He was with you."
"I left him with a trusted friend of mine when I went to see the queen," I explained, feeling my stomach wretch as my concern for him grew. "She was instructed to bring Dr. Beckett back here when he was finished with his work."
"Well, he hasn't been back," he insisted. "And we are not leaving this planet without him."
Inwardly, I felt like I was about to panic, but I took a deep breath and attempted to control myself as best I could. I did not leave them there without a warning. "Stay here, and do not leave the inn without an escort. I will find him."
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They had found her body just after 3:00 am. She had apparently been dragged out of the hospital and into a dark alley where her neck was methodically broken, and was then left to die. It was a meaningless and horrific death, unworthy of the proud soldier that she had been.
Someone whose identity I don't seem to recall through the fog of my grief had come to find me not long after she was found. When I was told about the manner in which she had been brutally murdered, I could not stop the tears from flowing freely down my face. Drae'Naya, my best friend, was dead. And for what, to protect the secret identities of those who had kidnapped Dr. Beckett?
It infuriated me beyond reason, and I was now more than ever determined to find out who was responsible. As exhausted as I was, I wanted to continue looking for Beckett, even after Lota threatened to slug me over the head if I didn't sit down and have something to eat. I had forgotten to eat dinner that night. God, that woman was just too protective of me sometimes. So there I was sitting in Lota's tavern, which was virtually empty at that hour with the exception of the most stubborn of sots in the city, and staring down a steaming bowl of breakfast porridge, thinking about any number of things I could have done to prevent it from happening.
Lota had finally given up trying to console me, and was finishing up with the elbow work required to clean up the mess that the regulars would always leave in their wake, as usual. The late-night drinkers that milled around until the last minute were fairly obedient when told to go home and go to bed, but I was not ready to go to sleep yet. Not by a long shot. When Lota began to close shop, she didn't have to bother asking me if I was going home. She understood and simply closed the tavern door quietly behind her, leaving me alone inside. The doors to the inn and tavern were never locked; there were always people renting out rooms.
For a while, I wondered what Carson must have been going through at that very moment. Those thoughts stabbed at my heart like knives. Unless he had been drugged, I could well have imagined that his night would be as sleepless as I knew my own would be.
If you were to ask him now about what happened that night, you would probably get no answer other than 'I don't remember much of it'. I did find out later, though, that the wad of gauze that had smelled of Ether, the one I had found earlier on the floor in the hospital, had been used on him. You, my dear attentive listeners, should take heart to know that it was probably a blessing that he does not remember. He was not so lucky later on, as you will find out for yourselves soon enough.
I did not desire to dwell on such negative thoughts any longer. I had to continue looking, and, at almost 4:00 in the morning, I strode purposefully and determinedly through the door of the tavern into the streets to continue searching. It wasn't until well into the next day that I collapsed through sheer exhaustion, and even then, I rested only for a few short hours before waking again. The queen was in need of my services, but for a different task this time.
And when I tell you of task that she wanted me to perform for her, I think you will be as shocked as I was.
