A/N: The reviews have come at me like a tidal wave and the muses are having a blast surfing on 'em. Here we gooooooo!
Ch. 13
Iaret Cliffs
John slipped the bladed sticks into his belt before pulling on the heavy coat. Behind him, Maj bustled at the table placing a crust of dark brown bread, strips of salted meat, and a small jar of some sort of pickled fruit into a cloth sack next to bottle-like canteen of water. She tied the small sack off, and handed both it and the canteen over to John. Both items were small enough to fit in either pocket of the coat.
" You take it easy out there, John," Maj said. " It's not a long walk, but rest when you feel the need to, and don't overdo it on the exertion. It's your body that determines how much it wants to endure, not your mind."
John smiled at her. " I'll be good... mom."
Maj jabbed him in the shoulder with her finger and smirked. " You'd better be, young man. I'll not have my efforts to bring you back from the dead go to waste. Now you and that smart mouth of yours be off. Mr. Arvlan and the kids will be here soon."
John stepped through the back door from the caressing warmth into the assaulting cold that pricked at the skin of John's face and crawled down his throat to his lungs. He headed left around the house to stand right on the line between smooth pact road and wild earth bordered by dead grasses that bent and crunched under his feet. He waited there for what he guessed to be three to four minutes, hands in pockets fingering the food bundle and canteen, when he heard the clattering thump of six feet and the high-toned idle chatter of excited children. A minute later the tawny lyret drawn sledge piled high with skeletal carcasses moved into sight.
The two kids ran ahead of the sledge. The smaller one reached John first, and the taller one slowed with apparent caution.
" Mr. Sheppard!" Kari said, wrapping her small, mittened hands around John's arm and tugging. " Mr. Sheppard, Mr. Sheppard. This is my brother, Dev."
The boy resumed approaching but at a nonchalant walk. He looked around nine or ten, wiry, a head and a half taller than his sister, with wisps of dark brown hair sticking out under the black knit cap covering his head. He nodded a greeting to John, but didn't really say anything. Not out of bashfulness. Nothing about the boy struck John as being bashful. It was more along the lines of the boy refusing to speak until he was good and ready to. John didn't blame him. John was a stranger and an off-worlder to boot, and this kid wasn't naïve.
John nodded in return. " Dev."
The children's father finally caught up to them, tugging hard on the lyret's lead to keep the stubborn beast moving. Mr. Arvlan was shorter than John by half a foot, wiry, sharp-featured, and blue-eyed. He was dressed in a dark olive colored coat, heavy tan trousers, and had a wine-red knit cap covering his scalp.
" Morning!" he called. " You must be the famous Mr. Sheppard Kari hasn't stopped talking about."
John smiled. " Seeing as how I haven't run into any other Mr. Sheppards, I guess that would be me."
Mr. Arvlan held out one hand covered by a heavy leather glove. John took it, and the two clasped rather than shook. Two other men who'd remained partially unseen on the other side of the high pile of bones ragged with meat scraps stepped into John's line of sight. The man with the dark brown beard and Arvlan's height introduced himself as Arvlan's brother. The second, slightly taller man with the chest length black beard was a friend of Arvlan's and in the hide-tanning business.
With the introductions past, they proceeded up the road until they were walled in by the bare-limbed trees. The iaret kept turning its head toward the carcasses and Arvlan kept yanking it back. " Stop it, Kessle," he growled. " I'd like to thank you, Mr. Sheppard, for helping my daughter like you did. She told us what Leyn attempted."
John shrugged, keeping an informal pace on the other side of the stubborn lyret's head. " It's kind of a given that you don't stand by and let crap like that happen. Have you told anyone about it yet? Enforcers, the council?"
Arvlan glanced at the ground uncomfortably. " Not... Not quite yet."
John frowned. " Look, if the committee's hard up on needing proof, I'll gladly testify against this Leyn creep..."
" It's not that," Arvlan said. " I've been trying to rally a few other folk who've had grievances against Leyn, but they won't come forth about it. On the one hand, you have the brainless soft hearts who pity Leyn. As a boy, Leyn contracted a nasty illness, and most attribute his mental inabilities to the disease. But if you ask me, Leyn's never been right, and that over indulging mother of his only made it worse. Mrs. Leyn's boy can never do wrong in her sights. They all call Leyn an incompetent and say what he does can't be his fault, but Leyn is far bleedin' smarter than he lets on."
" The man's a thief!" Arvlan's brother snarled. " He comes into my shop, and come inventory, I'm missing several items. And it's only when Leyn comes. An incompetent wouldn't have the needed skills to slip off with so much."
John looked from one man to the other. " What's the other hand?"
" Leyn is Velek's older brother, and Velek is part of Jorsek's patrol. Folk get unnerved at the prospect of going up against one of the patrol. They're hard men, know how to fight, and Velek tends toward being overly protective of his 'invalid' brother," Arvlan stated flatly. " Leyn's also quite good at playing on folk's sympathies."
John's mind went back to what Maj had to say about Leyn. " Leyn is from the city, right?"
Arvlan nodded. " He is. I believe Leyn was in his teens when they came. I was barely out of childhood myself. I recall my mother tiring of hearing his mother go on and on about the illness Leyn survived. They were a rich family, so don't know why they came out here. Rumor has it that most who get tossed from the capital to the wilds did something to deserve it."
" So I've heard too," said John. " So there's basically nothing you can do?"
Arvlan shook his head. " Go to the committee, scrounge for proof. Your testimony might put Leyn in confinement for a time, but his family would fight it, plead for him using his incompetence."
John looked at Arvlan in alarm. " What the hell kind of justice as that? Maj told me Leyn's been incarcerated on more than one occasion. I'd think your council would start catching on to something being damn wrong by now and do something about it," he said, then added under his breath, " Or the town folk string him up themselves."
Arvlan shrugged and that was it. John had the feeling that Arvlan was out of options, but didn't want to all out admit it. John wanted to argue a little more motivation into Arvlan to do something that would put that Leyn guy away for good. Or at least toss the guy out on his ass in the wilds for the beasts to hunt down. One would think a village holding no compunctions toward jumping the nearest off-worlder that stepped out of line and skinning him would show just as little restraint in dealing with a pedophile.
John would have said he was missing something here, except that he wasn't. Both Maj and Arvlan had made it clear without stating it outright.
Life in the wilds was just as screwed up as it was in the city. The bad guys won because they played dirty, the good guys lost because they refused to. John had to admire Arvlan. The man wanted justice but was realistic about it. Doubtless it was eating him up inside, and doubtless he was trying to settle for just being glad that someone had interceded before any real harm was done to his daughter. Arvlan wasn't a spineless man, he was a cautious man.
" So you're an off-worlder?" Arvlan asked with a general fascinated inquisitiveness that was suspicion free. " Went off world once myself as a child. Lovely planet, nice weather and the most marvelous market – like being on multiple worlds at once. I never could understand folk's edginess about off-worlders after that. Friendly bunch for the most part. I recall one man selling rugs who had a tail, honest to goodness tail that he could pick up things with..."
It was amiable chatter all the way to the cliffs and Arvlan and his brother recounted everything they could remember about going off world. The path inclined so gradually that it was barely noticed by the naked eye, though felt by John's limbs being forced to put in the extra exertion. It went straight for a ways, then curved around with the incline becoming less gradual. The trees grew sparse and the ground more rocky until the remaining trees opened up onto the cliff edge and a wide panorama of the valley all the way to the blue-gray mountains frosted nearly to the base with snow.
Arvlan stopped seven feet from the edge, and hauled a basket of gristle and fat chunks from off the end of the sledge. " Here kids. Why don't you take Mr. Sheppard on up to the Lookout and show him how to feed the iarets."
John helped the kids drag the basket up the smaller incline to the upper part of the cliffs, passing through a small copes of young, naked trees. An outcropping of rock jutted like a spear head out over the ravine thirty feet below. John stepped onto this outcropping, peering down at the thin thread of dark silver water walled in by a wide, flat shore of rock. A path zig-sagged down along the cliff face, starting just at where the outcropping began.
The cliff face across the ravine was dotted with larges nests of branches and mud, set in alcoves that looked as though they'd been gouged into the rock face by claws. Within the nests were what appeared to be lumps, each nest occupied by a different colored lump. The sound of scraping pulled John's attention to the two kids dragging the basket of meat out onto the bluff. Kari grabbed what looked like a shredded haunch and joined Sheppard at the bluff's edge. Dev joined her carrying a lump of gristly meat in one hand. The other hand he brought to his mouth with the forefinger and pinky finger to his lips, and let out a shrill whistle that echoed like a shot off the canyon walls.
The lumps in the nests sprouted heads similar to Ris' head, except these creatures were nowhere near the size of Ris. The creatures reacted like startled birds, bursting into the air all at once with clicks and gutteral chirps. John stepped back in alarm, which made Kari giggle.
" It's all right, Mr. Sheppard," she said, and tossed the haunch as far as her little arms could chuck it. The haunch sailed out over the ravine. In the next instance, a red-brown body snatched it out of midair. Dev tossed his chunk higher and an iaret shot upward a foot from the cliff to grab it. Again, John stepped back, amazed and a little nervous. These creatures were the size of horses, with forearms the length of their hind legs, and wings that made the air buzz with each flap, air John felt gusting against him. He felt something tug his coat, and looked down at Kari holding up a chunk of meat for him.
" You try, Mr. Sheppard."
John gave her an uneasy smile, and took the slimy hunk of muscle and fat. He drew his arm back as he would when tossing a football, and hurled the meat putting a spiral to it. The meat nearly reached the other side of the ravine when it was snatched by a white and gold iaret. Kari squealed with laughter, and even Dev grinned.
" That was a good throw," the boy said, sincerely impressed.
John shrugged, crouching to grab another piece of meat. " I've tossed farther."
" If you hold the meat up high," Kari said, " they take it right out of your hand."
John gave her an incredulous look. " With or without taking your arm?"
" Just try it, Mr. Sheppard."
" Yeah," said Dev. " I've done it before."
Trepidatious but still curious, John shrugged and stretched his arm as high as he could without his ribs pulling. A blue-violet iaret whipped by close overhead, the gust of air from its wings pressing down on John's body when the creature took the meat from John's hand using its back claws, then dove straight down back to its nest. Wonder-induced adrenaline surged through John's body, making his heart pound and forcing an amazed smile on his face whether he liked it or not.
" That," he said, wagging a finger in the direction the iaret had gone, " was awesome."
They tossed more meat, making a game of it by seeing how far they could make the meat fly before it was grabbed. All the free food eventually attracted the iarets into landing, clinging to the sides of the outcrop or along the cliff-edge. John's apprehension was short lived when the children expressed no problems with this. They tossed meat straight into iaret mouths, or held it out for the iarets to take in their teeth. The large iarets – unlike their smaller cousins – didn't walk on two limbs but trundled around on four. A silver looking iaret gaped its mouth at John, croaking, and when John tossed it the meat, the iaret downed it like a seal swallowing a fish. John held out another chunk for it. When it took the meat in its teeth, John reached out to touch his fingers to the velvety snout. The creature snorted, swallowed the meat, croaked, and took off. John picked up another chunk, and jumped when a tawny iaret head snaked over his shoulder to grab it.
" They certainly aren't shy," John said.
" We give them food," Dev said. " Why would they be?"
" And no one is allowed to kill them," Kari said. " It would scare them off if we did. They keep away all the really bad beasts, and when the brigands come, they let us know by making a lot of noise. Brigands kill iarets for their skins."
" My dad says the iarets know the brigands because they smell like water and blood," Dev said. " Everyone keeps saying that all the disappearances are because of the brigands, except the iarets haven't been making any noise."
Smaller mini-iarets joined the larger in snagging meat scraps, and did the most landing. They clustered around the humans' feet, hopping up and down, chirping for pittance. John broke off smaller chunks and tossed them like tossing crumbs to ducks. He was able to recognize Ris amongst the little throng by the thin, leather collar around his neck.
John grinned and shook his head. " You little sneak." There were five others sporting collars, but of different makes and colors. " I'm surprised you two don't have one of these little guys."
" We do," said Dev with slight exasperation. " But she's gotten really fat and really old, so she doesn't do much."
" That's why I like Ris," said Kari. " Maj is good at training iarets, and Ris doesn't bite."
John snatched his hand back from the congregating fuzzy lizards. " You don't say?"
The wind from iaret wings buffeted them until not a scrap of meat was left. The three humans moved off the bluff with Dev hauling the basket behind him. Kari pulled moist rags from the small, leather pouch she carried at her waist and handed them out. The rags smelled faintly flowery. John smiled – homemade handwipes. With their hands blood, and germ, free, they were able to sit down to their lunch without the worry of potential bacterium. The kids' little meals tied up in small bundles were similar to John's – bread, meat, fruit, and a small canteen of water, but with a side of some kind of gray lump that smelled like swiss cheese. Out in the ravine, iaret calls resounded in a cacophony of shrills, whistles, croaks, barks, and high-pitched howls.
They sat around the edge of a wide, flat rock and laid their lunch out in the center on the sacks. Dev had brought a knife, and John was able to introduce them to what he considered to be the pinnacle of all culinary inventions – the sandwich.
" So we slice some of this kind of... gray cheese stuff, shred some meat, top it off with a few of these dark leafy green things, and there you go." John lifted the alien sandwich in both hands. " It's small, it's portable, and contains all the major food groups." John took a bite, and if he closed his eyes would have thought he was eating a roast beef sandwich with fresh spinach instead of lettuce. He nodded. " Not bad."
Kari found the entire lesson fascinating, as Dev attempted to pretend otherwise. They sliced bread, gray cheese, shredded meat, and stuck it all together. Dev's was a perfect replica of Sheppard's, Kari's was was dripping bits out the back as though it were trying to escape.
" Like this," Dev said, and fixed it for her.
" The meat was running away," Kari giggled, and John grinned.
Like typical kids, Kari and Dev peeled off the crusts as they ate and tossed it to the congregating mini-iarets.
It was when they were packing the leftovers away that Mr. Arvlan came up the small slope announcing that it was time to head home. John wiped his hands off onto his pants and heaved himself to his feet. Kari and Dev took up position on either side of him, with Kari taking his hand.
" Can you come with us the next time dad has to dump meat?" Kari asked.
John shrugged. " Maybe, if I'm still around."
Dev's head snapped around and up at John. " You're leaving?"
" Eventually. I really need to get back to my own world. They're people there who'll be looking for me."
" Your kids?" Kari asked.
John smiled and chuckled. " No. I don't have any kids."
" You don't act like it," Dev said, and John could only assume to take that as a compliment. He chuckled again.
" Well, I've been told on more than one occasion that I'm like a kid trapped in an adult's body."
Dev nodded pensively. " That could be."
" Did some machine make you grow up fast?" said Kari.
Now John laughed. " Although I've heard rumor that devices like that exist, no. It's just a comparison. I tend to be a little more silly than most grown ups."
Kari giggled and pulled on his hand as she swung back and forth on one heel. " Me too!"
Dev rolled his eyes. " You're not a grown-up, Kari."
" But she's obviously silly," John said with a smirk.
They joined up with Mr. Arvlan and the rest, and after a quick review of if the kids had a good time, they started off down the path back to the town.
" What's your world like, Mr. Sheppard?" Dev asked. " Kari said you live in a city surrounded by water. Is that for real?"
" Yup, miles and miles of water. Just don't ask me how. It's... technical stuff. Lots and lots of technical stuff. Okay to listen to if you want to fall asleep, bad if you're trying to stay awake."
That got Dev laughing a little, and Kari letting loose another shrill bout of giggling.
With the blood-slicked sledge no longer weighed down by carcasses, the trip back was a lot faster than the trip going. John told Kari and Dev about Puddle Jumpers, which had snagged Dev's undivided attention, especially the part about how they could go invisible. The boy was wide eyed with wonder and a sudden fountain of questions, such as how fast could they go, and if John would be able to fly one to Ioth to give the kids a ride.
" I doubt your government would be too happy about that," John said. " Although I suppose if I went stealth through the atmosphere rather than the gate," he grinned, " what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them."
Dev took a breath for yet another question, when everything around John seemed to come to a halt. The sledge had stopped, as had the men around it, all looking directly ahead. Beyond the three men approached a group of eight men in heavy coats with rifles on their shoulders. John identified two faces – one hard to miss with its pockmarked skin, the other vivid with auburn hair and beard. John felt the small grip on his hand tighten, and looked down to see the usually unflappable Kari retreat behind Sheppard, peering around his long legs, eyes flashing disdain and fear. Dev moved closer to his little sister, eyes burning with rage.
Jorsek was leading the way toward Arvlan, and as he neared raised his hand either in greeting or to forestall any considerations of violence before they could be acted on.
" Cav Arvlan," Jorsek called. " Thought I'd have to head on up to the cliffs to find you," he said, and smiled congenially.
From where John stood just behind and to the left of the sledge, he couldn't see Arvlan's face, but he could see the man's hand going white tightening on the lyret's lead.
" Jorsek," he said, his tone forcefully neutral. " Can I help you with something?"
Jorsek shook his head. " No no. We came by to make matters right. I believe there is someone who owes you an apology. Leyn!"
Leyn shuffled forward with downcast eyes and a forlorn expression on his messed-up face. Jorsek planted a meaty hand on the shorter man. " Leyn, I believe there's something that needs to be said to Mr. Arvlan here."
Leyn's eyes flicked up then snapped back down. " S-sorry... Mr... Arvlan."
Jorsek gave Arvlan a toothy smile. " There you go, Mr. Arvlan. Leyn is massively sorry for what he nearly did to your little girl there." Jorsek pointed in Kari's direction, and Kari ducked further back behind John's legs. " Been beating himself up for it since the day it happened. Took us a bit of cajoling to get him to come to you, but we knew it was for both your sakes. He's not a bad mad, Mr. Arvlan. The man's simply cursed to making more mistakes than average folk. It isn't his fault. I hope you can find it in your heart not to make claim of violence before the committee..."
So John was finally able to witness what it was Maj and Arvlan had been talking about, and it pissed him off.
" Stay here, you two," he said, and stepped forward until he was standing next to Arvlan. Leyn promptly recoiled and stepped away out of reach.
" ... imprisonment's yet to help his situation..." Jorsek's friendly smirk and hard gaze shifted onto John. " Why Mr. Sheppard. I suppose an apology is in order for you as well. Fortune favored you to intercede in time on little Kari's behalf. And double on Leyn that you didn't hurt him. He said you stormed in brandishing weapons."
John lifted his coat enough to hook his thumbs into the pockets of his pants, and to let the frosty daylight flash off the blades of the sticks. " I was advised not to leave home without them. Which turned out to be pretty good advice, considering."
Jorsek's smile remained plastered to his face, contrasting with the increase of cold in the man's eyes. " Not so much if poor Leyn had been injured."
" Yeah, about that, Jorsek, listen. I'm finding the load of bull concerning poor Leyn and his pathetic Rain Man act a little hard to swallow." John raised both hands in a placating manner. " Now, I won't argue that Leyn there might be a little touched in the head, because I don't really know. What I do know," he pointed stiffly at Leyn who took another step back, " is that that perverted bastard tried to rape a six year old girl. And from what I hear, it's kind of a hobby of his. Far be it from me to tell your world how to do things, but where I come from, people like that you either lock behind bars or stick in a mental institution. You don't force them to apologize like a kid who broke the car windshield then send him off to play. Scar face over there is hurting kids, and you're not doing a damn thing to stop him!"
A thick-bodied man with stringy dark hair that obviously hadn't been washed in a while surged forward, but was blocked by Jorsek's outstretched arm. The grin on Jorsek's face was twitching on the verge of failing, and the heat was overcoming the cold in his eyes. John was striking quite a few nerves, and he didn't care.
" Those are some rather vicious accusations, Sheppard. On this world, a man is not guilty until proven otherwise."
John spread his arms. " Then let's go get the council together and I'll prove it. I was there, I saw what he was about to do, and personally... I'm not satisfied with an apology. Leyn needs to be put away. And either you're blind to it, or just give more of a damn for your buddies than you do for children."
Jorsek's increasingly smoldering gaze turned on Arvlan. " Is that so?"
John knew a threat when he saw one, and stepped forward. " Yeah, that's so. If you have a problem with that, then convince me otherwise. Although at the extreme moment, I'm pretty certain you're going to be a little hard-pressed to make me see Leyn as anything but deviant rapist."
" That's it!" the younger Leyn snarled, and surged forward through Jorsek's suddenly slack arm straight at Sheppard. Since John's intent had been to focus all thoughts of violence off Arvlan and onto him, he was ready, and stepped slightly to the side a second before impact would have occurred. He grabbed the younger Leyn's arm as he plowed past, and twisted it around the man's back while at the same time bringing him to the ground where John pressed his knee into his back to hold him.
" I suggest you stop struggling and chill before your arm decides to pop out," John growled. He saw another man coming at him out of the corner of his eye, so kicked out, striking his booted foot into the man's chest. The man staggered back, but a third man came in from the side to grab him by the collar and haul him off the younger Leyn. The third man tossed John to the ground in the center of the patrol throng, and the men surged toward him. John kicked out again at the man stalking in at the front. Another grabbed his arm and yanked him painfully to his feet. John used the momentum to swing around and the slug the guy in the face. Then thick arms wrapped around John's chest, pinning his own arms to his side. He was finding this all vaguely familiar, but wasn't stupid enough to dwell on it, except to recall a move he quickly used on the bearded man advancing toward him with fist raised. Sheppard lifted both his feet and shoved them into the bearded man's stomach, then snapped his head back into the face of the man restraining him, which he knew he would regret later. The man released him, and John dropped into a crouch.
A quick glance around showed him a man coming in from behind – the younger Leyn – so John snapped his foot back, hitting Leyn's knee with a satisfying crunch. Leyn crumpled to the ground with a scream of pain, cradling the limb. John grinned and pushed off to tackle the guy charging in from the front. The two went down, and John slugged the man unconscious. Suddenly, another meaty hand snagged his collar and pulled him back hard to throw him to the ground. A boot flashed out of nowhere, about to stomp on his chest, when John grabbed it and shoved it back with all he had. The man yelped and fell to his own back.
Panting, heart pumping away like a revved up engine, John rolled onto his hands and knees. Another boot shot out, striking him right in the ribs. John cried out and fell to his side. Hands grabbed him, pulled him to his feet, and held him as the bearded man stepped up and slammed his fist into John's face, repeatedly – jaw, cheek, and nose. Black spots pulsed in John's vision, and a gray haze was trying to seep in like mist over his mind. Wet warmth slid from his nose and mouth, down his chin and jaw then onto his neck. Running on automatic, John kicked out in defense, getting a ten pointer in the groin. The man yelped and staggered back with hands covering his personal area. John grinned ferally, feeling a little punch drunk but getting over it fast thanks to another surge of adrenaline. He started struggling against the ones holding him, until an arm shot around his neck and pressed against his throat; not tight, just with the threat of tightening.
" I think that's enough play time, Mr. Sheppard. Don't you?" Jorsek's sour breath puffed against John's cheek. The arm tightened a little more.
Gun fire cracked the still air, the reverberations piercing and close together. " I suggest you unhand him, Jorsek." Maj was approaching from the house, accompanied by Gidel and another heavy-framed man with bright red hair and a handle-bar mustache. Arvlan was with them, having slipped off at some point and time for reinforcements.
John felt the arm around his throat slide away, and heard the crunch of dirt under heavy feet as Jorsek stepped back. John lurched forward away from the bruisers toward Maj. He waited for some predictable response from Jorsek such as how this didn't concern Maj or for her to mind her own business. Instead, he said nothing, and John found it eery. He glanced back at Jorsek. The man was standing casual with hands in pockets and most of his weight on one foot.
But weren't the eyes always the betrayer of the soul? Jorsek's gaze could have leveled buildings with the nuclear blast it was trying to levy out. Red had started creeping up the man's bull neck to spread into his face in splotches and lines. John had to admire the effort being put into the man's restraint.
More than that, John was confused by it. Jorsek's men out numbered Maj's little gang, and being patrol were probably far more armed to the teeth. John looked back at Maj, Gidel, Arvlan, and the red-head. They were stalk still, emotionless, and if John didn't know any better, relaxed. But he did know better. They weren't so much relaxed as loosened up enough to make a grab for their rifles should it come down to that.
What was it Gidel had said about settlers and the settled? The settled took what they could get from where they could get it, and preferred fending for themselves. Maj, Gidel, Arvlan, Arvlan's brother, friend, and their red-headed friend were of the settled. They were hunters, with the sharpened patience to wait out prey, and to move fast when that prey came. So it was safe to say that Maj and her kind were adept at moving fast, aiming fast, and with too much skill to miss.
Except there was still that pesky situation of being outnumbered. Fast as Maj and the others could probably shoot, at least one of Jorsek's boys would be able to let loose a shot of his own, right now and right into Sheppard's back if he wanted to. What it all came down to was that no one wanted a confrontation, and no one definitely wanted to die. This was a stalemate.
Which meant that, for Jorsek, this probably wasn't over. Sheppard was still screwed.
John cringed at the thought.
When John stumbled within reach, Maj took him by the arm to pull him to the house. A silent, tense second passed, then motion resumed with Jorsek and his boys heading one way, and Maj's back up going back toward the sledge. It had almost seemed rehearsed, as though stalemates weren't something the good folk of village 443 were shy to.
" Bye Mr. Sheppard!" John heard. He glanced over his shoulder to see Dev and Kari waving at him, so threw a small wave back.
Maj tugged John along into the house through the back door, and practically shoved him into a chair before moving off to the sink to fill the kettle. John's entire body pulsed with aches, his muscles trembled from too much use too soon, and yet exhausted enough to drop off right there and then as he felt, his heart wouldn't stop pounding. An eight-man beating was disconcerting. Maj's silence was down right terrifying. John winced and shrank back when she slammed the kettle onto the stove and twisted the knob to heat the coils. John cringed again when she brushed passed him leaving chilled air in her wake on her way to the pantry for the healing herbs.
John was amazed at himself. He was afraid of a little old woman. It was like being eight years old again and being forced to endure the mute fury of his mother as she went to get the first aid supplies because he'd finally fallen out of the tree she'd told him time and again not to climb. John started chuckling but choked it off when Maj shot him a cold look that could have withered a pine tree.
" Are you amused, John Sheppard?"
John was inexplicably glad Maj didn't know his middle name. " Uh... I was, uh, just remembering something... No, not really."
Maj got out a spoon from a drawer and scooped herbs into a bowl. " What happened?" she demanded.
John gulped. " Well, we were heading back when Jorsek and his boys showed up. They forced an apology out of Leyn, hoped Arvlan didn't have any hard feelings, I got pissed and told Jorsek what I thought about Leyn."
" Which involved what kind of words?"
John shrank a little more into his chair and cleared his throat. " Oh, well... I don't really recall now... Although I did say that Leyn was a, um, rapist, and a son of a bitch, and a bastard – I think – among other things."
The kettle started whistling. Maj covered her hand in a cloth mitt and took it from the stove. She poured the water into two bowls, one with the herbs and one without. " That wasn't very wise of you," she said, and moved the bowls over to the table. " That kind of blatant honesty can get a man killed."
John's child-like fear of Maj became smothered by a rising tide of irritation. " Yeah, well, sorry to say, but given the chance to do it over again, I'd only end up saying something just as blatantly honest. The man tried to rape a little girl, and Jorsek thinks an apology is going to make everything hunky-dory? Leyn needs to be put away where he can't hurt anyone else. And if Jorsek doesn't like it... well... obviously he didn't, but doesn't make me any less sorry that I said what I felt needed to be said."
Maj dipped a clean cloth into the herb-absent bowl and moved around the table to sit adjacent to John. She leaned forward, and gingerly wiped at the cut on John's eyebrow.
" I know," Maj said tersely. " But such words would have been better said before the council. John, I already told you that you needed to be careful, and so far you haven't exactly stuck very close to my advice. You're an outsider, John, an off-worlder. The things you said and the things you did Jorsek can now use against you. And I know, you were simply defending yourself. Still..." she moved the cloth from his eyebrow to his split lip.
John raised both eyebrows. " Will he?"
" Will he what?"
" Use this against me?"
Maj shrugged. " I don't know. He seemed angry enough. He may simply take matters into his own hand."
John grabbed Maj's wrist to halt her ministrations. " Bottom line, Maj – what do I need to worry about? Jorsek, Jorsek going to the council...? They going to throw me out into the wilds on my ass or toss me in a cold prison cell?"
Maj's face remained unreadable, like a mask before the paint, as though all emotion had been wiped away. " I don't know." She slipped her wrist free of John's grasp, and he let her. She dipped the cloth into the bowl and began wiping the blood from John's face and neck. " I've lived here all my life, John, and even I haven't peered into every nook and cranny of this village. What I've told you and what I can tell you are from mere observation alone, coupled with speculation. I don't know exactly what the repercussions of what happened will be. But John... You should have known better. You should have known the kind of effect your words would have. I warned you about Jorsek and his men, and know even you could tell that Jorsek was the kind who didn't hesitate to use violence. What were you thinking, John? He could have killed you, and would have found a way to be justified in it."
John kept his gaze level with Maj's but didn't have a response. What had he been thinking? Well, he'd been pissed beyond reason, for starters. Shoving Leyn in Arvlan's face for an apology was more like a spit in the face than a means to an end. Kari being forced to see her almost-rapist for a second time around hadn't helped matters any. Shooting his mouth off had come like an instinct because, hell, it's what he was good at. When he couldn't fight, when the anger got so bad he felt ready to explode, he mouthed off.
He also mouthed off when he wanted normally unwanted attention drawn to him. Opening his mouth without thinking first – that had been a mistake. The rest he'd kept up to keep Jorsek from thinking Arvlan had anything to do with John's opinions.
Maj was right, though. John had reacted without thinking, had pretty much exploded, and could have been killed for it. Although he didn't regret keeping the focus of Jorsek and thug's fury on him. No one needed to pay for his over-eager tongue.
John lowered his eyes to the table and his hand resting there. His knuckles were skinned, and a bruise was forming in an imperfect radius across his hand.
" Maj, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I listened to rage rather than common sense. I'm not... usually like that. I mean, I do make decisions that most people don't agree with, but I usually try to think things through." His lips twitched in a brief smile. " I once admitted to a friend that I'm lazy. And I am. I like to wait, hold off, plan things out, take in all options. Of course, you get me into a heat of the moment situation and I feel I still handle myself pretty well. The thing is, I'm not the kind of person who just goes off, gives in, acts then thinks. Maybe when I'm really tired, in a lot of pain, or hungry, but not like... now, with what just happened. I just got so pissed off that Jorsek would think a simple, ungrateful apology would solve anything. It didn't make sense. How the hell could he be so damned blind to what Leyn was doing?" John looked back up at Maj. " He's supposed to be protecting this village, so why's he screwing it over instead? Why's he doing this? Some kind of settled versus settler deal?"
Both of Maj's eyebrows shot up, but not in surprise. More thoughtful than anything else, as though realizing something. " Perhaps. It becomes obvious after living here long enough that you either drift toward one faction or the other – accept or deny. There's always been tension, and some hostility... I've seen my share of both, never becoming more, never diminishing to less. There's a balance. It shifts, at times, but rights itself in the end. Or at least I always suppose it does. People like Leyn and Jorsek always make you wonder if perhaps the scales are tipping in favor for the settlers. It depends on the village, really. I've seen some so totally overrun with settlers refusing to accept their lot in life that the town falls into decay. Other villages – mostly those farthest from the city – are every inch filled with the settled, and thrive quite nicely. Our village I'd prefer to think of as an in-between, but I suppose that's just me attempting to placate myself. I find myself sleeping better at night so long as I remain convinced that there is indeed a balance."
John was a little startled by that kind of confession. It didn't sound like Maj, or more like didn't fit into John's impression of her. Her tone was so... resigned, indifferent, like the tone of someone on the edge of giving up and contemplating stepping over.
It was just so... not Maj that it boggled Sheppard's mind.
Maj seemed to sense this, and patted John's arm, giving him a wan smile. " Don't be so troubled, John. The thing about us settled is that we more readily accept when it's time to move on, seek out villages more to our liking. But we're a stubborn lot and'll hold out for as long as we can. Since nothing's really changed for better or worse, there's been no real reason to move on. And I try to remain optimistic. Whatever the outcome, I'll keep on surviving as I've always done."
She smiled again, sadly, a little distantly, as though looking back. Sheppard had to wonder if she was thinking about her son, and the cruelty that is outliving one's own child. John didn't know why, but conversations centered around surviving and continuing existence always tended to dig up thoughts of the dead. All that 'why did I live and so and so didn't' as though only the dead deserved to live was nothing more than a circular argument. If roles had been reversed, the pining would have still remained. Only the living suffer the dead. Yet even that realization didn't make it any better.
It was the physical absence that hurt, and overcoming the habit of running into a room, expecting that person to be there, and remembering that they're not, that that time is over.
Maj hadn't really answered John's question concerning Jorsek's blatant disregard for the safety of this village. And it wasn't because she didn't know. She had tiptoed around the answer, going for vague, either because what she knew was based only on opinion, or because she knew something she'd rather not talk about. Whatever her secret, she didn't seem particularly worried about it. In fact, her smile had become a little less sad, and a lot more relaxed, leaving John utterly confused.
Maj set the cloth down and sat back to study her handiwork. " Better. At least now I know cuts from formerly blood-stained skin. Hold still so I can smooth on the poultice."
" You still mad at me?" John asked, slapping on the puppy-dog eyes that had saved his butt from many a berating. From the way Maj was smirking, she saw right through it, but didn't seem to care.
" If you learned a lesson from this then no. If not, I'll have no sympathy for you the second time around."
John twitched his head in a small nod. " Keep my big mouth shut. Got it."
Maj scooped a small amount of the poultice onto her finger and smeared it over the cut on John's eyebrow. " I will admit, though," she said. " You certainly know how to hold your own."
John's chest jerked in a silent laugh. " Never underestimate the skinny guy."
To which Maj replied, " Never underestimate anything."
SGA
A/N: There be whumping afoot. Much whumping indeed. Stay tuned.
