"Do you have someone in mind for that?" Ronon asked quietly, indicating the small silver ring Siria was turning over and over in her hands.
They were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying something of a change of scenery after so many days in Cam's room. The woman herself was dozing on the sofa in front of a fire, cold despite the warm temperature outside. Neither Siria nor Ronon complained about the heat in the room.
Siria gazed down at the small object. "Yes. My betrothed lives on Manicore."
"He Satedan too?"
Siria nodded, a small sad smile on her face. "Cam approves of him. I had wanted her to perform our Rite of Union but…" She trailed off.
Ronon just nodded, putting his hand out toward her and she slowly laid the ring in his palm. He recognized it of course. It had been his fathers.
"If you, um, want it. I understand. It's yours by tradition." She said quietly but sincerely. She sat straight beside him, practiced and poised, clear dark eyes staring steadily at him. She reminded him of Fairan. She reminded him of Teyla.
Ronon shook his head, placing the ring back in her hand. "She gave it to you. It's yours." He paused and then caught her gaze. "You're as much her daughter as I am her son."
Siria bit her lip and looked down at her hands again, trying to hide tears that sprang to her eyes.
"Thank you."
Ronon shifted slightly, glancing over toward the sofa when Camaiya shifted in her sleep.
"She must have been glad when you told her you were taking the old vows." Ronon said, changing the subject.
Siria smiled. "Not as much as you might think. I think she worries about me. She's been alone a long time."
Ronon snorted. "We argued for years over why she wouldn't allow another man to court her. Always refused. So when Melena and I were married without the vows I thought she'd approve." He shook his head at the memory, the only mar on an otherwise perfectly wonderful wedding day. "She was not."
Siria nodded. "She is a complex woman."
"She can hear you."
Ronon and Siria both looked up but Cam's eyes were still closed, but a tell tale smile was creeping across her lips.
Ronon dipped his head toward the girl beside him and stage whispered, "Excellent hearing too."
Siria laughed lightly and they both got up, moving to join Cam in the living space as she sat up and fussed at the hair that had fallen out of her bun.
"What were you two whispering about over there?" Cam asked, raising an eyebrow at them both.
Ronon grinned. "I thought you could hear us?"
Cam sighed, shaking her head and then gestured toward a box on top of the mantle. "Siria, will you give that to me?"
Ronon watched Siria retrieve the small brown box, he didn't recognize it but did recognize a few Satedan symbols inscribed in the wood. His mother rummaged around in it for a moment before beckoning him to come sit beside her.
"For the next time." She said, holding out a small leather pouch to him. "Because I have no doubt there will be a next time for you."
Ronon gave her a confused look, then glanced at Siria. The younger woman's face revealed nothing so he pulled on the drawstring of the pouch and turned it over, causing a small red jewel on a leather cord to fall into his palm. It was the necklace she'd been wearing the day he found her.
Her Promise Jewel. The one his father gave her when they were to be wed.
"Mai," Ronon croaked, knowing there was only one reason she could be giving this to him. She didn't think she would be around much longer to wear it. "I-I don't…"
"Shh, little one," Cam folded his fingers over the jewel and then wrapped her hands around his. "I do."
He looked at her then. There was no fear, no sorrow in her green eyes. So sadness in the laugh lines around in her skin. She was smiling, some bravado in the gesture, but also genuine acceptance. Peace. He made a point of returning her look with as much strength as he could muster. When the darkness followed, which he knew inevitably it would, he would try to tell himself he was happy they'd had the chance to have this moment.
He hoped he would believe it.
"I do." She repeated, nodding.
Ronon heard Siria sniffing over his mothers shoulder and forced a deep breath.
"I love you, Mai."
Camaiya reached up and cupped Ronon's cheek again. The gesture was so familiar, so tender, it brought back a rush of childhood memories that broke his heart and he had to swallow hard to keep his composure.
"I love you too, Little One."
SGASGASGA
Jen carefully pushed the door to the small house open when her fifth knock still did not bring an answer and she found it wasn't locked.
"Ronon?" She called out, eyes traveling over the great room. It was tidy but unlit and clearly empty. She dropped her medical kit by the door and strained to hear any movement that might indicate occupancy.
"Siria? Camiaya?" She tried. Entering the room further she found everything in the kitchen carefully put away and the fireplace dark and cold.
"Anybody?" She walked to Cam's door and knocked. When there was no answer she pushed the door open and was startled at what she saw.
The bed was neatly made and empty. Around the room the few personal effects Jen had observed in her previous visit had been cleared away. It was as if no one had been there at all.
Her gut twisted as she realized what the empty house meant. As quickly as the sadness of Camaiya's loss washed over her, it began to be pushed aside by confusion and then worry.
Where was Ronon?
Frowning, Jen peeked into the other bedroom, but found it in a similar state to the first.
"Ronon?" She tried again in the great room, this time louder. But there was no answer.
After a little bit of arguing with herself and checking the rooms once more, Jen picked up her bag by the door and stepped out into the alley, closing the door behind her.
As she made her way back to the gate, she tried to tell herself the cold pit in her stomach was from grief over Camaiya and not getting a chance to say a proper goodbye. Or perhaps an appropriate colleague level of concern for Ronon's whereabouts.
But, since she was alone, and had a twenty minute walk back to the gate, she allowed a little bit of truth to creep into her mind.
She'd only ever felt this way when SGA1 missed check in after disappearing through the gate on an ill-advised mission to some Wraith infested outpost.
And this time he was alone.
He didn't have Sheppard and Teyla and Rodney backing him up.
Rodney.
The thought of the man's face round and red and uncertain, except when he was absolutely certain, bloomed in her mind's eye. Boyish and immature, but also dazzlingly brilliant. Jen had been so secure in her choice. Rodney was safe. He made sense. He was like her. Brilliant beyond his years and shaped by a lifetime of being a genius outcast.
They were the same.
And Rodney really had needed her. After Katie, he'd been so consumed by work he was sometimes a danger to himself. And while he was unrivaled in the respect he commanded from the rest of the expedition, he didn't have many friends. Aside from SGA1 there were very few people the scientist felt comfortable with, even fewer he called friend.
I hope you need him as much as he needs you.
Ronon's words echoed in her head. The side of her face tingled where his fingers had brushed her cheek when he pushed her hair behind her ear.
Jen bit her lip as she approached the DHD and dialed Atlantis.
Rodney had needed her then. Maybe needed her still.
But she realized, as she stepped through the puddle, that might not be enough anymore.
SGASGASGA
John was restless with worry. Standing and sitting in turn, angry and red faced as he argued against things Woolsey wasn't quite saying.
"I've had this conversation before and if you think I'm any less inclined to scour the galaxy for a member of team now than I was three years ago or even last year then you've got another thing coming."
"Colonel if you would-" Woolsey tried, seated behind his desk.
"John I believe-" Teyla attempted to lay a calming hand on John's arm when his pacing brought him in front of her chair but he kept moving, sliding easily out of her grasp.
"And I'll tell you something else Woolsey I honestly can't believe the IOA would want me to let one of my best friends just rot out there and do nothing when he has never once hesitated to stand at my side when I needed him." John continued, not hearing either of them.
"Colonel please I just-"
"Not to mention the number of times he's saved their asses. Between helping stop replicator plots to take over Atlantis and stopping a wraith invasion of Earth not once, but twice! He's not even from Earth but he didn't hesitate to do what needed to be done. And they would have me leave him out there alone when he needs us most?" John jammed a finger down in the middle of Woolsey's desk, eyes black with rage. "Even the IOA wouldn't be that cruel." He finished in a low voice, his gaze boring into the seated man.
Richard exhaled and pursed his lips, not willing to admit out loud that he felt as betrayed by the IOA's directive as John did. As soon as Jennifer returned from the planet and told them that it appeared Ronon's mother had succumbed to her illness and Ronon was nowhere to be found, he'd immediately reached out to his contacts at the SGC to get the approval rolling for a mission to locate the Satedan.
The denial had come through before John had even come barreling into his office, demanding to lead his team off world.
Woolsey was then saved from having to answer and bear the rest of the Colonel's temper by Teyla who stood, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.
"John." Teyla said in that tone that always seemed to drain a little bit of tension from the young Colonel. "I know how you feel."
John's shoulders dropped slightly, but he didn't pull his eyes off of Woolsey.
"He needs us, Teyla." He said quietly, looking at Woolsey but speaking only to her.
She nodded. "And we will be here for him when he returns." She tugged on John's shoulder again and he relented, breaking eye contact and straightening, though the action seemed to cost him.
He dropped his eyes to the floor and Teyla took the opportunity to put her other hand on his opposite shoulder and turn him toward her.
"Ronon must be allowed to grieve in his own way." She continued. "But when he is ready, he will come back to Atlantis. When he does, we will be here for him."
Slowly, John raised his eyes to hers and, taking comfort in her certainty, he nodded.
"Alright. We'll give him some time to come back on his own. But if he doesn't then we're going to go find him ourselves." He turned to look at Woolsey. "And I won't be asking the IOA for permission."
With that John turned on his heel and strode out of Woolsey's office in a few quick staccato steps fueled by worry and anger that didn't have an outlet. Before turning to follow Teyla looked at Woolsey.
"Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Emmagen."
"It was the truth." Teyla glanced toward the stairs where John was descending and parting marines in his path with a look. "I believe Ronon will return soon."
"I hope you're right." Woolsey folded his hands on top of his desk. "For all our sakes."
TBC