Note: Apologies for the delay since the last chapter – work has been crazy busy. But I'm back at the wheel and providing the last chapter in Day 22 of this story. Then its onto the next stage of this particular fic... I hope everyone remains well and safe.
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DAY 22 – The Challenge
Chapter 27 – Winter Memories
The woman's shoulders lifted and dropped as the athlete let out a strong breath, her eyes focused off into the distance as she prepared. Seeal watched the Earth woman rock her weight back onto one foot, shift forward again and then back once more. It was a motion that all of the javelin throwers had used before they took their run and released the long javelin in lengthy impressive arcs down the field ahead of them, the massive watching crowds cheering each attempt. The women, like all the competitors she and Oneakka had watched this afternoon, were impressive, and Seeal had enjoyed the hours of fascinating insight into another world in an entirely different galaxy.
Her borrowed pillow was a comfortable addition squished up against one side of her chair and she had settled into a weirdly comfortable sideways slouched position from which to watch the sports and debate the technique of each competitor with Oneakka.
The Earth athletes were very skilled, though some were clearly struggling with previous injuries and the stress of what had to be thousands of Earth people watching around the giant arena. Still, she couldn't help but imagine how the Elite would do in these competitions. Oneakka had certainly added some interesting commentary on the techniques used, confirming the stereotype that Elite were experts in pretty much anything that could be shot, thrown, or swung as a weapon. Though Oneakka had been far less approving of the footraces, seeming annoyed that there weren't any 'obstacles' during the races. He'd repeatedly complained that it wasn't realistic and not a true challenge. She'd pointed out that the whole point seemed to be that it was a run over flat ground to find the fastest runners, but Oneakka seemed to think it was "cheating" somehow. Apparently he felt there should be walls, pits, and mud to make it "at least viable". She'd just chuckled at his rather scoffing judgy tone and had suggested they move onto some other sport within the Olympics, which had led to a high jump competition, which had impressed Oneakka, and now the javelin throwing. Oneakka had commentated with far more respect in this sport and had already predicted his top three favourites to win.
Perhaps that was why he hadn't fallen into one of his usual afternoon naps yet, being too interested in the competition and seeing his favourites win. She'd have expected him to have been even sleepier than usual today considering how he'd overdone things earlier and his argument that his meds were too sedating, but he seemed oddly cheerful and animated about the sports.
Or maybe it was the powerful women's figures that were keeping his rapt attention?
She frowned at that random thought. She had certainly enjoyed the male runners' tight outfits; it wasn't often in life you got to see some strong male thighs on display. She chuckled quietly to herself against Oneakka's borrowed pillow as she watched the javelin thrower rock back on her heels again, eyes forward and focused.
And the commentator announced the javelin hit and the crowd shouted with approval.
Seeal snapped her eyes open. She'd missed the throw!
She blinked at the screen, watching as the Earth people jogged across the javelin field and began measuring the distance of the throw. Then the recording returned to the athlete as she waited to hear her distance. It was the same woman though, so Seeal had only missed a few seconds. She quickly sat up straight from the overly comfortable pillow and quickly glanced at Oneakka's profile, but he was focused only on the screen and was muttering about it having looked a good throw. Good, he hadn't noticed. Honestly, she was supposed to be 'on duty' looking after him, not falling asleep sprawled on one of his chairs!
It was just because she hadn't slept well last night.
"That was good. She's going to go through to the final easily with that throw," Oneakka declared looking round at her.
She nodded, pretending she could remember the other competitors' results.
"Good form and strength. Good focus," Oneakka continued with approval as he looked back to the displayed distance result, fortunately unaware of her own loss of focus.
"Yes, very good," she agreed as she ran her hands over her hair and adjusted her top slightly. She'd gotten far too relaxed, which was because she was so tired and that was all his fault.
After their huge argument yesterday, she hadn't slept much last night. With one too many drinks out at Myrtle's and constantly replaying the details of the argument, she'd laid awake for hours. She'd cursed Oneakka's stupid arrogance and lack of respect, muttered at his inappropriate insulting term of 'wife' and then had turned on herself for still being awake so long obsessing over it all. As the time display had shown hours of restlessness, she'd moved onto stewing over the fact that the galaxy was full of too many difficult males trying to dominate everything and get their own way, and why she kept finding herself attached to such stupid males: Ulfur, the annoying pit fight runners, Creass, and now the big oaf Oneakka.
Somewhere around the middle of the night, the angry tossing and turning had mutated into sad depressed embarrassment that she had reacted so dramatically to his insult. Madesh had made it clear in his overly kind way that she may, perhaps, have overreacted a fraction. She'd been insulted by the very worst in the galaxy before and she'd not cared, but Oneakka used one random insult and she had turned into a mad woman shouting at him and spending all night obsessing over it. It was horrifically embarrassing, not just that she had done it, but it was clear evidence for her that she had lost some control of the stupid soft little feelings for the big stupid Elite oaf. Just one word and she'd gotten so upset she couldn't sleep!
Then the terrible thought had occurred that Oneakka might have worked out the same from her dramatic reaction. So she'd tried to work out how she could bring up the subject of Pampata so that Oneakka would know that she knew about his lover, so it would be damn clear that she was in full control. For her, the line between them was nice and strong, and she just needed to find a way to make that clear without making it seem obvious. Because the last thing she wanted in her life was ending up in some sort of emotional servitude to another big dominating male who made her feel small and threw their overbearing weight around.
She'd never managed to formulate a plan on how to casually bring up the subject of Pampata as, somewhere in the early hours of the morning, she'd finally fallen asleep from pure exhaustion. The alarm had woken her after only a few hours of sleep, and she'd sat up on her bed feeling like she'd been through a long final pit fight. All because of one stupid argument.
What had happened to her?
She'd looked down at the pile of tear-stained tissues dropped on the floor beside her bed and the instinct to run had powered up through her. She'd been fighting that reaction since the first day she'd moved into the Facility, and each time she got close to giving into it, it was always because of Oneakka. He was a weakness and an infuriating soft trigger for her, and that was no good at all. But, tired, sad and annoyed with herself, she hadn't been able to do anything other than get up, dressed and into an early morning Project meeting.
She'd focused as best she could on the meeting, presenting a few small ideas she'd had, but as soon as the technically intense meeting had turned away from her own involvement, she'd called up Oneakka's rota on her pad and had contemplated how she could get out of this afternoon's shift with him. She'd started drafting a text link to Halling to get out of it, and in fact to remove herself from the rota completely going forward, but she hadn't been able to find an excuse that didn't seem completely transparent and embarrassingly obvious. Massa's repeated insinuating comments of late had echoed in her head too, now filled with the embarrassing conclusion that he was clearly aware of her stupid crush. Did Halling know too? Were they looking at her with pity all the time and now Oneakka would know too after her overreaction?
By the end of the long meeting, she'd made no headway with the text link and had still been on the rota for the afternoon's shift, so she'd deleted the draft message. At that point she'd realised that she'd not had any first meal, having completely forgotten to feed herself. Hungry and feeling uncharacteristically defeated, she'd headed for the canteen to eat, hoping desperately not to walk into Massa on the way.
Except, then something had happened in the busy Facility corridors that had finally slapped some sense into her. She'd been lost in her own self-pitying thoughts as she walked through the pretty busy hallways, when she'd heard a loud blast of angry shouting. The sound was pretty unusual in the Facility but overly familiar in her own life, and she'd looked back down the corridor to see two male Recruits locked in an altercation. The larger male with the clearly overdeveloped arm and shoulder muscles had the other teenage boy by the front of his top and was shouting about something having been taken from him and that he was due something. Fists started flying in a split-second, the smaller male forced to the ground and the larger one dropping down on him, fists pounding round and down with a flourish of speed that was as impressive as it was unnecessarily violent.
She'd reacted without thinking, it being far too instinctive for her. "Oi, you!" She'd ordered loudly with her Security Lead tone which had returned to her all too easily. "Back off, right now!" She pointed the bigger male away as she arrived at the fight.
And it had worked. The large man-child had instantly stopped his assault and had stepped up and away, possibly more from surprise than anything else.
"Does he look like a Wraith to you?" She demanded loudly as she pointed towards the bloodied other male. "Go take whatever issue you have to the gyms and spar it out properly, not cluttering up the corridor and splattering blood over the walls and passing staff members."
"Sorry," the bigger male had muttered, a confused looking frown creasing his teenage brow as he struggled to understand why he was listening to her.
"Go," she had repeated her order sternly, pointing down the corridor with her whole arm. "And I'll not report the blood splatter to the Elite."
The male had slinked away, several other Recruits, his friends presumably, following him.
She had turned back to the other male who had gotten up off the floor, his nose clearly broken and blood pouring down his shirt. "You," she had volunteered a watching nearby Recruit, "see him to the Healing Bay please." The young woman had nodded obediently and stepped up to take the male's arm.
"Thank you," the young male had muttered very reluctantly, or perhaps it had been a concussion dulling the words.
"Next time," Seeal had made sure to inform him, "if someone grabs your clothes, the fight's already started, so you better fight back."
The young Recruit had nodded and turned away.
The whole thing had taken barely a few seconds but it had been like a splash of cold water across her entire being. That was who she was, a woman who kept difficult dominating males in line, not ordered around and upset by them. She was Dreamstation's former Security Lead, not that sensitive wreck of a woman the night before. Confidence abruptly renewed, she'd held her head high and had stridden away down the corridor to her midday meal. Then, afterwards, she had headed to her shift with Oneakka with defiance and determination because she wasn't walked over by anyone.
Except she had arrived into Oneakka's quarters to find an exasperated looking Halling clearly in need of back-up.
Oneakka's difficult, grumpy and stubborn behaviour from yesterday had clearly continued overnight and Halling had become his latest target, so she'd not held back from arguing with him on the point of his medication plan. Halling had been far too ready to acquiesce to some weak middle ground, but she'd made sure to shut that down. Even when it hurt his own health, Oneakka seemed ready to do whatever he wanted without care.
Only, things had then started to head off in a more unexpected path.
Oneakka had gotten focused on being seen as 'weak', and suddenly she had realised what all his defiance had been about. He wasn't just frustrated and lashing out at people because of irritation, it was because he really was feeling acutely vulnerable and, for some reason, he felt that sticking with his medication plan only made him more so. And suddenly Oneakka had made sense to her again and a burst of relief had settled over her.
And it had put their own argument yesterday into a whole new light: It hadn't been about her.
All her resentment and embarrassment had vanished, and suddenly she'd been able to see the way to get him to agree to the medication plan. She'd used logic and challenge, two things she knew he valued, and it had played out just as she'd expected. Actually, he'd done far better than she'd predicted. Watching him stand alone and walk six painful-looking steps across his room had been pretty impressive. His pure will and strength had gotten him partway, but he was never going to make it and finally he'd had to admit defeat. He'd reacted with grumpy silence for a good hour afterwards, but she hadn't minded. Her place in the world had made sense again and she had no problem with sulking people. It was the violent difficult ones that she hated. Plus, Ulfur had turned sulking into an art-form that no one could surpass, so she'd simply focused on a task they could do together. As Sheppard's gift had slowly formed into an outline, Oneakka had managed over an hour of stubborn silence and angry glances out the corner of his eyes, but she'd just waited for him to start venting out what he needed to say. And, finally, he'd started slinging insults again, but, unlike yesterday, she hadn't taken any of it to heart.
Even when he'd used his annoying new weapon of using the 'w' word at her, she'd kept calm and in control of herself this time. Her patient lack of reaction had appeared to annoy him further, probably because it was only more evidence that he wasn't himself right now. But venting was good for him, so she'd thrown in a few comments to keep things on track and, without much prompting, he'd abruptly let slip some profound revelations about himself.
He'd clearly instantly regretted it a split second latter, looking away sharply, his whole body tightening up and screaming embarrassment and aching vulnerability.
It had almost made her cry, the brutal sight of the damage that this strong and powerful male had experienced. It hadn't just been the obvious grief at losing his people that had poured out in his spontaneous angry confession, but also that he questioned his life as an Elite, that he hated the things he'd seen, and even that he felt self-conscious about his facial scars.
She had never considered that a man as strong and confident as Oneakka would carry that kind of heartbreaking baggage. It made absolute sense that he would grieve forever for his people, but it hadn't occurred to her that the rest of his life since had been so filled with horrible things that he appeared to wish that he'd never left his homeworld. She imagined that admitting such things was the very last thing he'd ever want to do and seeing him wrestling with embarrassment at the raw exposure of his deepest wounds, she'd done the only thing she could think of to help: she'd let herself be vulnerable too.
She'd shared some of her own ghosts, told him about her loneliness as a little girl and the horrific haunting memory of finding Father dead on the blood-stained snow. And it had worked, as Oneakka had looked round, listening with cautious curiosity.
She knew what it was like to live life carrying horrible memories brewing under the surface, to question your own existence and the choices you made. So, she had told him about her earliest memories of stories about the Elite, how just the mention of the warriors had inspired her fellow street kids. That what he had decided to do with his life meant something to even the most ignored of people.
To let him know that he made a difference, just by being who he was and not having been lost with his people.
And he'd looked away up towards the protective frame holding his Ugun tapestry and he'd talked about letting go of the past. She'd watched him in fascination, clear emotions passing over his tattooed profile as he appeared to work through something profound in his silence.
While inside her, the soft feelings stirred to life again and, watching his handsome profile, she'd realised that denying those feelings existed was a truly hopeless task.
How could anyone not be amazed by him?
Everything he did was so big and bold, even vulnerability and grief he worked through at full volume and with brutal honesty.
How many times had he said those formerly annoying words "I am an Elite" to her? As if she had needed reminding, but, watching him then, she had realised how true it really was. All those seemingly fantastical stories she'd heard about the Elite as she grew up, they all were true. He was a hero who had gone through things no one should have to live through, and here he was, facing his demons directly. It was humbling and she felt pretty inferior considering her sleepless night of obsessing over one word he'd said. He'd been impaled while helping defeat an entire Hive of deadly Wraith and a killer Skerti. What was some grumpiness to what he could do?
And then, just to top off how unpredictable he continued to be, he'd looked round at her and apologised for his behaviour yesterday. She'd felt annoyingly uncomfortable at his gratitude and had made some teasing joke about how strong his meds were, but he'd smiled that disarming way he had and started bantering again.
Back to how they usually were...except everything felt different. He kind of looked different too, and she wasn't just talking about the new hairstyle and the jagged handsome new scar that ran back from his hairline. He looked like a weight had gone, the grumpiness evaporated and he'd suggested they watch the Earth sports together.
The day really couldn't have gone further off what she'd predicted during her late night freak out session last night.
He'd even offered her a pillow, which had felt like a further peace offering. A damn comfortable one too.
She stretched her back and kicked out her feet to wake her body up bit as she watched the next javelin competitor step forward. Glancing down at her timekeeping display, she was surprised to see that it was almost the end of her shift with him, so she just had to stay awake for a little longer. She just needed to do something active until then and found her gaze drawn to the long shelves lining the side wall of his quarters. She wondered if Halling or Massa finished off the dusting she'd started yesterday.
"Did anyone finish dusting your shelves?" She asked Oneakka, putting plenty of humorous caution in her voice since it had been such a contentious subject during yesterday's argument.
Oneakka looked round from the latest javelin result with a faintly wary look. "No," he confirmed.
"Can I finish it or are you going to get all territorial about your dust again?" She asked, keeping to the bantering tone to help soothe the subject.
He pulled a sarcastic expression, which was definitely a preferred reaction. "I'm not territorial about dust."
"You certainly seemed pretty attached to it when I started getting rid of it," she pushed.
His gaze slid to the lines of shelves behind her. "It is my dust in my quarters," he added, his blue eyes returning to her.
"I'm pretty sure that could be a textbook definition of being 'territorial'," she pointed out, feeling a little more confident now that it didn't seem like the subject was going to kick off another argument. If anything, she was pretty sure he was being careful with what he said now too.
"You wouldn't want me going into your quarters and moving around all your personal items without your permission, would you?" He asked.
"Well, firstly," she replied, "that wouldn't work because I don't have any personal items in my quarters," she told him only to glance aside realising that that hadn't sounded all that good a thing to brag about. Outside of her newly purchased wardrobe of clothes over the last months, she didn't have anything else from her past in her quarters here. It wasn't like she didn't have some old precious things hidden away in secure locations both in and outside of the Alliance, but she hadn't actually set about retrieving any of them. She guessed maybe that had something to do with the impulse to run. No point bringing her things here if she wasn't going to be staying. Except, she'd been here months already now and the project wasn't going to be over any time soon...
She shook her head and quickly dismissed the distracting self-reflection and focused back on her points. "And secondly," she continued to him, "you are more than welcome to clear up the dust in my quarters. It would save me a job."
He pulled a smile at her joke, but it didn't really reach his eyes.
She looked away to the long shelves. "But, I guess I wouldn't want you just turning up anytime, deciding to move my stuff around," she quoted him from the argument. She focused on the lines of Ugun items set along the shelves in front of the long line of books and scrolls. "Especially precious old things," she realised out loud. She'd been very careful about dusting around the Ugun artefacts yesterday, but she'd not realised how invasive that might have been. How protective he would feel about the old remnants of his people.
She was instantly cross with herself for having missed what was blatantly obvious.
"Sorry, I didn't think about that," she admitted as she looked back round at him. If he was big enough to apologise, then she would too.
"Did you just admit you were wrong about something?" He asked as if it was something amazing.
She felt a sudden flush of embarrassment at his teasing. "What? Yes. No."
He pulled a confused yet still teasing expression. "Yes no?"
"I was apologising," she explained. "Don't ruin it."
"Apologising because you did something wrong." He looked like he was enjoying getting the upper hand. Damn it.
"Do you want the shelves dusted or not?" She demanded.
He chuckled at her.
"I can admit when I'm wrong," she defended herself. "It just happens so rarely that I'm not used to it," she added smugly.
He rolled his eyes. "People say I'm stubborn."
"You are a whole new definition of 'stubborn'," she assured him.
"A definition you'd be included in," he countered with a smile.
"So you don't want the shelves dusted?" She pushed, annoyed at her warm flush at his teasing smile.
"Now that you've asked, yes, please dust them," he replied.
She blinked at that. "Oh," she realised yet more obvious facts that she'd completely missed. Was she losing her edge? "Because we've all been moving your things around without asking first."
"It's the polite thing to do."
"I'm sorry," she held her hands up, "are you arguing for being polite? You?"
"I respect politeness," he argued, clearly now the one on the back foot in the banter.
"You just don't follow it yourself," she countered as she got up from her chair and headed towards where she had spotted the dusting cloth folded up on the side. She suspected Halling had done that, as Massa didn't seem the type of man who neatly folded things.
"I can be polite," Oneakka argued from the bed as she headed for the point along the shelves where she estimated she had stopped yesterday.
"Please tell me when it happens so I can witness it," she responded as she located the very obvious line of dust. "I'll make sure to write it down for posterity."
"Fish hater," Oneakka muttered and she glared at him over her shoulder, but he was pretending not to notice as he focused on the javelin. "They've called up the list for the final. We can watch that tomorrow," he decided as he paused the recording. "But the female from the country of Cuba is going to win it."
"She already holds two major records, she's clearly a safe bet," Seeal replied as she worked the dusting cloth carefully around an Ugun cup.
Oneakka fell silent and she glanced over her shoulder to see that he was drinking down some more of the nutritional tonic Meiyo had sent him, and no nagging had been required. She turned back to her task.
After she covered a good metre of one shelf, she worked on the next one up, hearing Oneakka yawn. Good, it was about time he had his usual afternoon nap, so she kept quiet as she focused on her task, being obsessively careful with the Ugun items, moving slowly and carefully in case he was watching.
Only she heard the faint sounds of him digging through the box of Sheppard's game pieces, and she glanced round to see that he was back working on the game, his attention down in the box as he picked out several puzzle pieces. Pleased that he was relaxed and seemingly happy with her cleaning up now, she continued in silence.
And soon enough all the shelves were done and everything looked clean and tidy. "There, all done," she declared as she turned back to him.
"Thank you," he replied as he added a handful of puzzle pieces onto a new pile he had created on the table.
"How very polite of you," she commented as she folded the dusting cloth back up and set it back where she had found it, only abruptly the door into his quarters slid open announcing the end of her shift with him. She turned round towards the door, but it wasn't Massa for his shift, but Elite Nalla who entered instead.
"I'm really sorry," Oneakka abruptly blurted.
Seeal frowned round at him, but he was looking at Nalla, his eyes all wide.
"It is fine, Oneakka," the Pelydrian smiled as she continued into the room.
Seeal frowned back at Oneakka. "Have you been arguing with everybody?"
"No, there was no argument," Nalla was the one to answer though as she paused near the foot of Oneakka's bed, her violet gaze on Seeal now. "Just an honest mistake."
"It's my medication," Oneakka added to Nalla.
"Of course," Nalla replied, but it sounded like she was humouring him. "No one has been upset."
Upset? Clearly there was an interesting story here.
"To prove as much," Nalla continued, "I thought I would join you for late meal, if you do not mind?"
"Course not," Oneakka agreed looking noticeably relieved. Clearly whatever had happened had been significant, and obviously wasn't any of her business.
That was fine.
Seeal headed back towards the chair beside Oneakka to tidy up her things and clear the space for Nalla. Her borrowed pillow was still crushed up on the chair arm, so she plumped it back up as Nalla told Oneakka that she had ordered her own late meal to be delivered here along with his.
"Here's your pillow back," Seeal reached behind Oneakka's head to set the pillow on top of the rest, but he leaned forward to make space behind his back, so she pushed it in against his lower back for him, and then took the opportunity to rearrange a couple more of his pillows while she was there. He was talking with Nalla about the day's big Skerti hunt scouting missions, so he hadn't noticed the extra plumped and arranged pillows.
That sorted, she had nothing to do but leave. She picked up her electronic pad from the floor, idly noticing a displayed text link message from Massa telling her that Nalla would be taking the first couple of hours of his shift and then inviting her to have late meal with him and Halling in the usual canteen. Her stomach rumbled at the mere thought, clearly remembering that she'd missed a whole meal today.
She moved away from the chair, leaving it ready for Nalla, and the Pelydrian started towards it.
It felt a weird end to the very intimate and dramatic afternoon she'd shared with Oneakka and she couldn't help feeling a little resentful at the Elite female's interruption. Except the empathic Elite would sense that, so Seeal quickly focused her attention on Oneakka.
"Don't start watching that javelin final without me," she ordered him with the bantering note as she walked down the length of his bed towards the door.
"I might finish Sheppard's gift without you though," Oneakka replied like it was a counter challenge.
She turned to look at him as she backed towards the door, Nalla now sat at his side. "It's a thousand pieces, good luck with that," she mocked.
"By the end of this week, I'll walk all the way to the bathroom door by myself," he predicted with the return of his determined stubborn face.
"I have no doubt that you will," she smiled at him as she reached the door, hearing it slide open behind her shoulder.
"I will," Oneakka insisted.
"I'm agreeing with you," she emphasised from the doorway. "I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to start any more fights with people, okay?" She finished as she backed out into the corridor.
He smiled at that. Actually it looked like he sniggered too before the door slid shut cutting off her view of him.
Stupid soft feelings.
She turned her back to the closed door and her stomach rumbled again so loudly that it actually echoed in the corridor. So, she strode away from his quarters, chin held high, heading for the canteen and a very large meal.
Today had started horribly, but had turned out to be the exact opposite. They really did seem to have a good friendship, having been able to share some painful things and talk through the big argument, and the afternoon had ended with teasing and banter again. She was really pleased and relieved. She just needed to keep a bit tighter control over the wayward feelings. But, it was all understandable. She had a big muscular hero as her friend, so it was understandable that she had some appreciation for the impressive handsome warrior. What woman wouldn't? It was just something she had to accept and not dwell on. Besides, soon enough he'd be all recovered and would head off back on missions to fight Wraith and Skerti.
Until then, she was safe in the knowledge that he had Pampata, and she could just enjoy his friendship.
And suddenly she was at the canteen, the long corridors having passed in no time. She frowned around at the strangely empty canteen. Only a few lone Recruits were dotted around, which suggested there was another big exam or something due. She wondered if it also explained the tense Recruit incident she'd witnessed earlier. Tempers got high when people were stressed. Her and Oneakka's argument was testament enough to that.
Across the large room Massa lifted his arm to attract her attention. She smiled bemusedly at that since it was hardly like he needed to show her where he and Halling were sitting in the basically empty room.
She waved back and then indicated the food selection and headed there first. She quickly spotted the bean stew that Oneakka had had earlier – it had smelt amazing, so she spooned herself a large helping and some of that yummy Athosian sweetgrain bread. A large cup of her usual tea added to the tray, she headed towards the waiting Elite.
It looked like Halling and Massa had been sat at the table for awhile as there were two stacks of used trays and cups, and there were small splatters across one section of the table surface indicating where Aki had been fed. However, the little babe was currently fast asleep against Massa's shoulder, which was unusual of late given the poor little boy's teething issues.
She slid into the available side of the table and frowned around at the quiet canteen. "Few Recruits around."
"Big assessments tomorrow," Massa confirmed her guess as he leaned forward across the table towards her. "So, I hear you have actual magical powers."
She frowned at that bizarre comment. "Magical powers?"
"You got Oneakka to agree to stick to his entire medication plan," Massa explained.
"Oh, that," she shook her head as she picked up her spoon. "He saw sense."
"Sense?" Massa scoffed. "Trust me, sense and Oneakka are not close friends."
Seeal frowned at Massa's exaggerated insult as she scooped up a large helping of the stew. Wow, it tasted amazing. No wonder Oneakka had gobbled it down like it was his last meal. "He listens to reason," she defended Oneakka.
"On this one single occasion maybe," Massa argued. "But I don't think you understand what you've achieved today. He has never agreed to this before."
"You just need to know how to talk to him," she explained. "The problem is you two males let him push you around."
"Trust me, we've tried everything," Massa replied. "Emmagan, Si and Nalla fail too. He's never agreed to it before."
"As long as he does keep to his word," Halling added from his slightly slumped position at the end of the table between her and Massa. He looked a little off this evening to Seeal's eye, but maybe he was just tired from his own fight with Oneakka.
"He'll keep his word," Seeal stressed. "He's promised."
"One time he spat a medication tablet in my face," Massa reported dramatically.
"You were trying to force it into his mouth at the time," Halling added some relevant detail to the picture.
"Almost took my eye out," Massa complained.
"Well, sounds like you deserved it," Seeal countered and Massa pulled a face at her. She smiled back as she sipped at her tea.
"Of course," Massa said thoughtfully, but Seeal detected mischief in his tone. She glanced up from her glorious stew to see that he was leaning to his right towards Halling, drawing Halling's attention to him. "We've clearly been lacking the one thing that would have gotten him to agree: we've never looked like Seeal."
She rolled her eyes at Massa's insinuation and sparkling eyes. Though she did notice that Halling was obviously suppressing a smile as he glanced away. Oh great, Halling did know about her crush.
"No," she said firmly. "The reason is because you all give in too early and let him win."
"I'm not sure forcing tablets into his mouth is considered letting him win," Halling put in.
"I used a logical argument," she continued, "set the terms of the challenge he could chose to meet, and the rest was just him coming around to the obvious."
"Yes, because none of us have ever thought of using that approach before," Massa scoffed sarcastically. "It's never worked before."
"Well, clearly you were just doing it wrong," she concluded, rather weakly admittedly, but following this line of conversation was only creating distracting thoughts that maybe she did have a unique connection with Oneakka. The soft feelings didn't need any new ammunition today.
Massa muttered something that she didn't catch, but his tone implied it was suggestive.
"What was that?" She asked Massa.
"Nothing," Massa replied innocently as he sat back in his seat, one hand rhythmically patting Aki' little back.
"You said something," she pushed, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Just a cough," he replied with a grin. He patted his chest beside Aki and let out an extremely fake cough.
She rolled her eyes at him and focused on little Aki as a good distraction from this subject. Normally in the evenings the boy was fussing and grizzling. "Did you drug Aki or something?"
"No, it's purely down to an equally magical ability I like to call 'Nalla's touch'," Massa explained what clearly only made sense to him.
To the left, Halling looked away with a strange wince across his face.
Seeal considered the two males and their strange moods this evening. "Have you two been sat in here all afternoon?" She guessed.
"Most of it," Massa confirmed. "Aki' slept almost all day thanks to Nalla and I've had no classes to teach today as all Recruit years are on revision prep. Plus we're still waiting to hear news back on the first scouting mission."
She nodded. "When we likely to hear anything?" She asked as she tucked back into her stew and listened to Massa's answer. Halling still looked a little distracted, but he added some salient details here and there. As they talked, the conversation turning to a story about a particular mission from their past, she suddenly realised something...
That maybe Oneakka wasn't her only Elite warrior friend.
0000
The night had set in on Athos by the time Teyla had arrived back home, the winter months having brought short days and very dark nights. She didn't mind though, and had in fact enjoyed the quiet trek up from the Portal and through Tjaru by herself. Every home and closing shop front glowed warm light across the dark streets and the air had been invigoratingly sharp as she drew it in.
It appeared not to have snowed again today, instead the colder temperatures having frozen the previous days' trodden down layers of snow into a smooth thick ice underfoot. The scent of the liberally scattered grip salt across the icy roads and paths filled her nose as she walked, bringing with it warm memories from her childhood as it crunched under her boots. The grip salt recipe was widely used across Athos, though some regions had their own little additions to the traditional mix, but Tjaru' grip formula was the same as Mother had used to make in the old camp. It was part of every Athosian's life to meticulously make and scatter grip salt across the paths outside their home through the cold winter months and she had clear happy memories of sitting by Mother's knee and helping mix the salts and fine grit with the ground petals and roots. Each step today released the salt grip's familiar scents of lavender petals and the peppery edge of twisted dark root, the combined smell mixing with the sharp frosty scent of the cold air. It brought back so many good childhood memories.
As she made her way up along Tjaru' paths, there was only the occasional trader or City Guards moving around the city so late, so she let her mind wander on the old camp memories. As the incline increased slightly under her, she lifted her gaze up from under the edge of her thick coat's hood and smiled at the many glowing warm coloured windows of the Governing Complex up ahead. Most of the staff inside would be turning in to sleep, but she suspected Father would still be awake and working. Some days it was difficult to get him to retire to his bed at all, so focused and dedicated in his work as he was, so she decided she would go via his office on her way to her quarters to make sure he did retire for the evening.
The guards nodded politely to her from around the entrance to the Complex' entrance lobby, but she couldn't recognise their faces inside the thick hoods. She nodded back to each though and headed inside to the engulfing warm pleasure of home. As the lobby guards drew open the doors through to the main corridor that would take her deeper into the Complex, she unbuttoned her hood and let it down, feeling the faint frosty stiffness to the fabric. It would warm and soften soon enough, for the warmth of the Complex was wonderful. She unbuttoned the front of her thick coat, but decided to keep it on until she was warmed through.
The lighting was subdued due to the late hour and she could hardly hear any signs that the Complex staff were at work. Only a skeleton staff would be on duty overnight, as there was always some work to be done, though their shift was usually quiet and calm. Fishing out her personal pad from a protected inner pocket of her coat, Teyla considered the display as it synced in with the Complex's computer system. She had a few messages, one from Zabetha wishing her a good night and letting her know that she and Rhakshar would be leaving early tomorrow morning for a trip to see his family. Knowing the couple would be leaving early in the morning, Teyla made a note on her pad to wake her up in time to see her sister before she left. The trip to see Rhakshar's family would only last a few days, but Teyla would miss Zabetha. After all, it would not be too long until Teyla would be leaving on her next mission. Today had been a stark reminder of that fact.
She had spent most of the day locked in long conversations and link conferences with the rest of the Military Council, and it had been quite tiring for her. Yet, it had been a highly successful day. The scouting parties had all been sent out successfully to track down any clues of the Skerti and, as of the last two hours, the party tasked with investigating the Iratus insect's planet, the homeworld of the Wraith and presumably also the Skerti, had arrived as planned and begun their intense study of the planet. The planet was already within Alliance territory, but being on the edge of a quiet area of the outer territory, only sentry satellites and a nearby Fleet patrol had kept watch over it. However, as of today, a large investigative force of scientists and military assessors would begin combing the planet for signs of the Skerti, both recent or any evidence of their original occupancy.
The Military Council were focused and energised on the mission to hunt down the Skerti, but it was also clear that answers would not be immediately available. The rest of the scouting parties would take days still to reach their target locations, if not longer for some, and even once at their target, there was no guarantee of any immediate results. Unless the Skerti happened to immediately appear, which felt unlikely considering how secretive they had been so far, then it would still take further study and investigation by the scouting parties to find anything potentially helpful.
It was going to be a waiting game, which was something that all warriors understood, however the High Council were not as patient. They had repeatedly contacted the Military Council throughout the day for updates and with lists of questions demanding further information on the Skerti to alleviate their anxiety on the matter. It did not matter that nothing new had been found, but the High Council appeared ready to demand instant results every day until something was, hopefully, found. Patience was usually one of her skills, but it had been taxed considerably today during the discussions with the High Councillors and their staff. Still, ultimately the day had been successful and there had been good news that the Sythus should soon be ready for deployment.
At which point she would be back onboard and would join the search for, and eventual engagement with, the Skerti.
Which would take her away from John.
It wasn't as if she hadn't seen him, for she had been in the Facility when Atlantis had delivered their reports and conferred with Halling daily on various points regarding Earth's 'mythical' vampires. John had even sent her a few messages via text link and had kindly sent through some entertainment for Oneakka while he was bedbound. During the more official links discussions with Atlantis via the Portal, John had been very careful with his body language and had been very polite and careful not to grin happily at her for his superiors to see. Still, even seeing him that way, almost every day, had helped while not physically being in each other's presence, but once she was back on assignment, it would be unlikely that she could speak to him so regularly. And if the Sythus was sent out on battle engagement, no links transmissions outside high level contact with the Fleet or the Facility would be allowed. Which meant that, soon enough, she would have to go without seeing him in person or over link for quite some time.
It wasn't as if that was anything new for them. They had spent more time apart than they had together through the time they had known each other, but since they had become lovers again and been able to spend regular shared time living together, it had cemented him as a vital constant in her life. A constant that she would have to be without when she was on mission.
The thought of it hung heavy in her heart making even the warm incense lingering through the Complex' hallways less enjoyable. She had wondered if it could be argued that Atlantis should have a representative on the Sythus during the upcoming mission, but since there was no exact target or mission yet assigned to the Sythus, then the argument was rather weak. Plus, the thought of John having to face a Skerti... Watching the re-enactment of Halling's battle against the Skerti Queen had been terrifying to watch, and the possibility of John being in Halling's position in the future...it worried at her. No, she would prefer to have him safe in Atlantis, or as safe as he could manage considering his own warrior life.
"Honoured Elite," a voice cut through her rather depressed thoughts and she stopped and looked round to see Hakon walking towards her with a warm smile across his face.
"Good evening, Hakon," she smiled back at him. "You are up late," she added, glancing down to the ever-present large computer pad supported against his inner forearm.
"I am soon to retire to bed," he replied, but she was not entirely sure she believed him. As Father's assistant, he worked just as hard as Father. "Leader Torren is in his study still, if you are looking for him."
Teyla smiled at his subtle message and faint smile. It appeared that Father was denying himself sleep as usual then. "I shall visit him now," she smiled. Her coat was growing overly warm now, but she held off from removing yet. Doing so required her to remove the single sword and its harness from her back which was something of a fuss. So, she drew open the two sides of her coat to allow out the growing warmth inside the thick winter coat.
"I am certain he will be pleased to see you," Hakon replied as he bowed. "Honoured Elite."
"Sleep well, Hakon," she replied with a touch of firmness in her voice.
"Yes, Honoured Elite," he replied as he bobbed his head again, turned and headed down the corridor away from her. The administration offices were down that way, so clearly he was not directly retiring yet.
The flush of heat inside her coat was most uncomfortable now, so she took two hurried turns round some corners until she reached the smaller less public corridors that would lead towards Father's office, and she paused in a nice empty stretch of hallway. She reached quickly round to her back to release the sword harness and roughly began drawing if off her back. Honestly, she felt so hot now that she felt the faintest wave of dizziness. Though, that was possibly also due to that unsavoury Satedan nettle grass stew she had foolishly tried for late meal at the Military Council offices. It clearly had not agreed with her stomach.
The harness and sword off her and quickly dropped to the floor, she wrestled off her winter coat in a rush and let out a loud breath of relief as the relatively cooler air of the corridor surrounded her. She was still dressed in several layers but the coat had been far too much. Perhaps it had been her thinking about John too much, which always had the ability to make her feel warm, on top of the long walk here and the heat of the Facility in comparison to the cold outside. Whatever the reason, she felt much better now.
Taking another few seconds to enjoy the cooler air, she collected up her sword in its harness and slung it over her right shoulder and draped her thick coat over her left arm. Calm and cool once more, she continued on towards Father's office.
As she turned the last corner, she spied the door to his office ahead was open a fraction, the candlelight inside dancing into the darker corridor. Despite the electric lighting, Father still liked to burn candles in his study and quarters. As she reached the door, she knocked lightly before pushing the door open further.
"Come," Father called from across the room and, as she entered, she saw that he was digging through a large box on the floor to the far left of the room. "Hakon, have you seen the trade agreement I signed last week for the-" he looked up and over his shoulder and his frown became a large smile. "Teyla," he straightened up from the box, dropping an armful of scrolls back into it before heading towards her.
"I have not seen the trade agreement in question," she joked as she reached him, their hands falling on each other's shoulders. She pressed her forehead to his. "The hour is late, why are you looking for trade agreements?"
"The Representative is raising an 'error'," Father replied with an exaggerated sigh. "Come, there is fresh tea."
"It is also late for tea, Father," she added, but she headed for one of the comfortable chairs in the corner and the small table and covered teapot.
"It is lavender petal tea," Father added as he returned to the box of scrolls.
"That is very apt," Teyla smiled as she dropped into the soft chair's seat with a burst of relief, dropping the sword and coat to the floor beside her. "I have just been enjoying the scent of grip salt on the way up here," she told him as she poured out a cup of the tea and then topped up what appeared to be his half-finished cup across from her.
"It is icy out there," Father muttered as he dug both his arms into the big box of scrolls. She frowned at the box, surprised at the arrangement; Father and Hakon were normally far more organised. "You must make sure you wear a warm enough coat," Father added from the depths of the box. "Ahh, here it is," he smiled as he straightened up.
Teyla decided not to point out that him telling her to dress warmly once she had come in from the cold was obviously unnecessary, but she rather enjoyed when he said such caring things to her. It made no difference to him that she was an Elite warrior and that she had fought through freezing weather or had walked across a ship's hull in the cold vacuum of space with only the layer of a spacesuit to protect her.
She instead lifted her teacup to her nose and drew in the scent of warm lavender petal tea. "The scent reminds me of mixing the recipe with Mother," she smiled.
She heard Father chuckle and she looked round to where he was now behind his desk and was setting the trade agreement scroll amongst a further large pile of work. "It was one of the first things both you and Zabetha learnt to do. Your Mother loved to prepare it. She used to make far too much of it, the bins of extra stores scenting out our tent for months."
Teyla frowned at that. "I did not realise that."
"It is probably why you remember the smell so well," Father smiled as he looked across his desk at her, only to frown slightly. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."
She was thrown by the question and his sudden worried frown. "Yes," she confirmed. "Though," she confessed, "I tried some Satedan nettle grass stew for late meal and it really did not agree with my stomach."
Father nodded, his frown disappearing. "I rarely eat anything Satedan. They flavour their food like their demands in trade and military agreements: overpowering."
Teyla laughed at the comparison.
"The lavender petal tea should help soothe your stomach," he continued. "As will do some good news, and explanation for the state of my office," he gestured to his heavily laden desk and the box of scrolls.
"Oh?" she asked, settling back against the comfortable thick back of her chair.
"I have agreed a day to visit Atlantis," he grinned.
"Truly?" Teyla grinned back, not just because she knew that visiting the Ancestral City was a lifelong dream of his, but that the visit would afford her the chance to see John again in person. "When?"
"Five days time," Father replied. "You can book your day free?"
"I will do it now," she set down her tea and reached to her coat to pull out her pad.
"Zabetha will be back from visiting Rhakshar's family in time and Hakon and I have brought forward the visiting day's planned work, hence the extra work here."
"Do you need any assistance with Zabetha away?" Teyla asked as she looked up from her pad.
"Elkaska is helping, which remains a blessing, and I am planning to leave him in charge with Hakon when we visit Atlantis."
Teyla smiled at the bemused tone to Father's voice. It remained a surprise to all the family that her uncle remained on Athos still, his itching trader's feet not yet having taken him on his usual constant travels off-world. She knew it was also something of a surprise to Father that Elkaska had been so helpful in the trading aspect of the governing work, though perhaps much of the reason was Uncle's eagerness to be the primary trader working with Atlantis.
"I am surprised Elkaska has agreed not to visit Atlantis with us," she noted as she tapped in a quick text link to Nalla, asking her if she would cover the Military Council assignment in five days' time.
"I have not told him yet," Father confessed as he moved scrolls around and scribbled something down with an Earth writing implement. "I am certain Elkaska will be able to arrange his own personal visit to Atlantis another time. He seems to have developed a good working relationship with Mr Woolsey."
"Is that your argument to convince him to stay behind on the day?" Teyla smiled. The lavender tea appeared to already be calming the Satedan stew reaction, which was a relief.
Father smiled as he wrote something else down, his attention drifting to his work. "I suspect Elkaska's ultimate aim is to visit Earth itself."
Teyla chuckled at the theory, but then she found herself imagining a scenario in which she could also accompany him on an official visit to John's world. John had shown her many images of his planet, and spoke of it with such love and affection. He had told her of the many differing climates where he had been on military assignment, and then wonderful places where he had taken his time off rotation. One particular description had lingered in her mind, of steep snowy peaks of mountains and a small wooden cabin with a roaring fireplace inside. He had whispered the fantasy of them there together, wrapped up in a big blanket sat in front of the fire while the snow fell outside.
She let out a sigh at such a wonderful picture. She imagined there would be a lovely big bed in the cabin too, with thick covers so that they could lie naked together but keep warm from the cold outside. And there were no Wraith on his galaxy, no chance of any. She sighed again at such a wonderful thought.
She realised that her attention had wandered for some time into her pictured fantasy with John. She looked round to Father's desk to see that he was working quietly, his attention flowing between a long scroll, a large electronic pad, and his handwritten notes.
Memories of being younger returned again, but now older ones from after Mother's death and when Father had become the elected leader of the Athosian worlds. The family had moved here to the Complex, and so often had she and Zabetha sat and worked on their school assignments in this exact office while Father had worked. Of course a great deal had changed since then, but just sitting quietly with Father as he worked remained a happy activity for her. And would also be one that she would miss when she next left on the Sythus.
It felt like each time she left on mission that there was more that she was leaving behind and feared she would never see again.
Still, it would be some days yet until the Sythus would be ready and the scouting parties had found a target for them, so, until then, she had time to enjoy her family and at least one opportunity to visit John again in person.
She looked past Father's desk towards the glass door at the far end of the room which looked out on the small personal courtyard outside his office and she watched as large flakes of snow began to fall.
Cupping her warm cup of lavender petal tea against her chest, she watched the snow fall in happy silence, her mind wandering back into the beautiful warm fantasies of time alone with John in that imagined cabin.
Only her stomach stirred a little again, remaining unhappy at her unfortunate choice of Satedan stew, so she sipped at her tea.
She would have to remember to stay well away from Satedan food for awhile.
0000
TBC