A/N: The story now skips ahead in time to after Misbegotten. Let the whump begin.
Chapter 2
A Little Drop of Poison
Teyla loved the art of negotiation. She loved the mechanics of bartering. She loved how the words meant one thing and the body language another. All the nuances hid the true terms of the agreement until the trust cemented and the two parties understood one another.
She loved her position on her team and in Atlantis as a whole, but Teyla missed her people.
She looked up at the sagging ceiling of the opulent tent before letting her we have just struck a bargain smile spread across her face. This dance was like most others she had performed in her pre-Atlantis life and even in her post-Atlantis life. In pre-Atlantis, she would have had her advisors with her. In post-Atlantis, she usually had her team with her. Sometimes her talents were used for both peoples, sometimes only for hers, and even sometimes just for the Earthlings.
Her faith in the Earthlings and her trust in their decision making had been shaken by the use of the retro-virus. However, now was not the time for such thoughts. She let the notions work their way to the back of her mind and focused on her task at hand and the face before her.
She was excited because this time she was bartering for guarve-- a sweet, pulpy fruit used in many ceremonial dishes of the Athosian people. It had a rich orange flesh and spiky outer skin. The juice was fermented into a sweet wine. The seeds were used to make rattles for children and ceremonies. The flesh was used in an assorted number of pastries, puddings and soups. It was an essential part of ritualistic life.
In two weeks time, the celebration of the Cornerstone was to take place. It was the day that the remnants of Teyla's people rose from the ashes of the Great Culling and began their society again. Their lifestyle was forever changed and their existence was not entirely assured, but their strength to overcome such devastation forged her people anew. They decided to celebrate the new life afforded to them instead of mourning the one lost. It was a high holy day and it needed to be celebrated properly.
She really needed this trade to go well. She needed to feel the connection once again with her people. She needed to remind herself that she was one of them as well as a resident of Atlantis. She needed to reestablish her place in the universe, her small universe that consisted of her leadership of the Athosian clan. Her place had slipped and her role muted by absence. She needed to reconnect to that which made her whole.
Such a celebration might reestablish her people's link with the past and propel them courageously towards an uncertain future. It seemed the cycle continued in these modern times with the displacement of her people from their ancestral home on Athos, so the celebration seemed extremely relevant. Maybe one day, they would be able to build a new city free of Wraith interference. Maybe one day her people could have what Col. Sheppard's world had achieved as well as Ronon's. That was where her place on Col. Sheppard's team and in Atlantis would hopefully lead. Her people needed to remind themselves of why they undertook the journey and why they maintained the struggle for survival. A simple fruit would aid her in that quest.
Chieftain Morai Nei of the Chell returned her we have just struck a bargain smile. It was a forced smile in the wake of a cranky, soaked and annoyed Dr. Rodney McKay's entrance. Morai leveled his gaze at her and maintained his calm at the blustery entrance of the good doctor. Her glare did nothing to quell Rodney's snide remarks as he tried to wipe the mud off of his boots on the appropriate rug. If he lost her this deal, she was going to make him pay in anyway imaginable and she had a very good imagination.
"Umbrellas! Has no one every heard of umbrellas in this galaxy? Paved roads either, what could the Wraith have against paved roads that no one has even tried to achieve such a significant technological advance?" He shook the rain off of his poncho spraying Sheppard and Teyla who sat closest to the door. Her eyebrow arched and she knew a twitch was about to form in her cheek. Thank the Ancestors Col. Sheppard interceded before she smothered McKay with one of the many pillows in the enclosure.
"McKaaay…sit down and shut up. We're about through so be a good little retriever and pull up a pillow." Sheppard glared at him and McKay cowed as much as McKay could to a non-lethal opponent.
"I'm just saying…Hey wait, did you just call me a dog?"
"Now McKay or no fruit for you," Sheppard barked through clenched teeth.
Morai held his tongue which surprised Teyla. He was a strict negotiator and one who would suffer no form of insult. However, trading partners were harder to find and fewer in number so she figured it was desperation on his part for the grain they had been growing on the mainland. Also, the Atlantians needed information on a few artifacts and ruins that Morai's people had found on one of their unsuccessful trading missions.
The Chell had left to deliver fruit to the Antha. Unfortunately for the Chell, and more so for the Antha, they had been completely culled by the Wraith. The entire settlement was destroyed leaving no one. The Chell searched for any survivors and came across ruins and artifacts of the Ancestors instead. Remembering that Teyla had ties with the Atlantians, they contacted her through mutual acquaintances.
Rodney would have stayed home to deal with all manner of crises if not for the chance of discovery. She found herself wishing he had. He had his customary complaints about the hike, the rain, the blisters from wet socks, and so on, but he also derided their food (not the guarve), his accommodations, and his necessary trek to where the devices were being kept. She let none of her irritability show in the presence of Morai. She was too skilled for that, but it ate at her.
She also did not want Morai to know of the extra security in place at the Ring. Since they had been burned before (Col. Sheppard's term), Stackhouse and his team guarded the Ring as back-up. Teyla sensed no deception and Morai had known and traded with her father for many seasons. They were not friends but well-established business acquaintances so a certain foundation of trust had been constructed. Once again though, old friends had turned out to be enemies and she would not blindly enter any agreement again. Damned were the Genii for making her cynical in the face of her trusted trading alliances. It was just another reason she needed the guarve, to reassure her of her traditions
"Dr. McKay, how did your visit go?" Teyla asked trying to squash the acidic back and forth before it degenerated farther.
"The crystals they brought back are useless, but if your little song and dance goes well, their descriptions of the ruins might hold promise of more useful items."
Teyla was very proud of him. He kept it civil.
"As much promise as any mud-caked, hole-in-the-wall, ass backwards world could show in the understanding of things eons beyond their current level of 'ugh, the wheel turns good' knowledge."
Then again, maybe not.
Teyla, Morai, and Sheppard bristled at the statement but nothing was refuted or even commented on as the tent flaps moved again. Her final teammate's entrance quieted any reactions.
Ronon grunted a greeting as he entered dripping wet behind McKay. They both stepped past Sheppard and behind Teyla's wooden chair to sit squishily on floor pillows. Soft smacking sounds were soon heard as they sampled some of the fruit.
She inhaled loudly and returned her full attention to Morai. "I have made a generous offer and I can see you think so as well. Let us bind our deal with the ceremonial exchange and agree to a time table."
Morai shifted in his heavily carved wooden chair. The pillow he sat on made soft poofing sounds as he exaggerated his contemplations on the deal. He adjusted the pillow and shifted to the other side of the chair to mull over all angles of the deal they were striking.
While she waited for the leader's agreement with the proposal, she looked at Sheppard as he stared out of the tent flaps serenely. She listened as McKay sniffed and mumbled about whether or not the epi-pens would be needed if he ate some more of the fruit. And she listened as Ronon continued to smack noisily, yet happily, making pleased sounds behind her. She liked the normalcy and the ease it brought.
She had not been comfortable with any of them since Michael. Her trust, not only in them but in herself, had been deeply shaken. Her people, except for Halling, knew nothing of her weakness. They knew nothing of how Michael had controlled her so easily. While that did scare her, the mere fact that the Atlantians held within their hands the power only a god should wield was terrifying.
Teyla was unsure of her place in this fight anymore. She fled to the mainland after Taranis for reflection and counsel only to end up with more questions. Then Michael returned and now there was a chance that a colony of previously changed Wraith was out there somewhere-- she did not know what to think. She realized she hated and pitied them at the same time.
In the meantime, she hoped that Rodney could keep his mouth shut for just five more minutes until the exchange, and then he could be as belligerent as he wanted to be out of earshot of Morai.
As Morai dragged out his deliberations, laughter reached her ears from outside of the tent. The sounds of children enjoying the downpour and the puddles it created made her feel a warmth that was sadly lacking in her recently.
She turned in her chair to look at McKay. "You see Dr. McKay even the…" The worried frown on his face stopped her comment. The click of a safety switching off made her turn back around the other way. Her own rising temper and banal thoughts once again pushed to the back of her mind as she watched Col. Sheppard rise off of his floor pillow with his P90 ready for action.
That warmth was always so fleeting.
Fruit thudding softly on the carpeted floor of the tent did not distract her as her other two teammates rose with their team leader. Sheppard focused his sight completely on the tent flaps and took one step back into the tent.
Voices prodded the children to get out of the rain and to the safety of shelter.
Morai's annoyance with McKay changed to confusion as he watched Sheppard continue his slow retreat farther into the dark recesses of the tent with his weapon upraised.
"The children," whispered McKay, "He's having one of those moments."
The children protested loudly as if they had heard McKay, "Why?" and "Oh, you're no fun!"
Ronon moved slowly up to Sheppard's right side. "It's just children playing, Sheppard."
"Lessons have just ended," Morai added still very confused. "They're just very excited. Is something wrong with that?"
"Now!" The voice from outside commanded the children. The urgency seemed a little harsh for the situation.
Morai winced.
Sheppard's stare darkened and Morai's advisors also stood up off of their pillows. His eyes darted in their direction but the aim of the weapon never left the flaps of the tent. "That's not it. Not entirely," he answered with little emotion.
Teyla made no move for her weapons and tried to diffuse a tense atmosphere that had taken her quite by surprise. "No, Chieftain Morai, their laughter startled him on such a dreary day. It is a lovely sound. Is that not right Col. Sheppard?" She tilted her head Sheppard's way without ever losing eye contact with Morai. Her gaze only shifted after the advisors started fidgeting nervously.
Sheppard did not answer and kept backing up from the entrance a centimeter at a time. She broke eye contact to become a little more forceful in demanding an answer when Sheppard winced and squinted through both of his eyes.
"Ow," Rodney stated matter-of-factly from the other side of the tent at the same time.
"McKay?" Ronon's voice attained an uncharacteristic nervous edge. He turned his head enough not to lose Sheppard in his peripheral vision and to acquire McKay in his other.
"Headache," answered McKay while rubbing his temple.
Sheppard made no more attempts to explain his actions and Rodney continued to rub the side of his face. That was when Teyla sensed a change of attitude in the room. The advisors attempted to exchange covert glances between each other and then shoved their hands under their ceremonial robes.
"Please, let us return to the bargaining chairs and finish what we have started," Morai requested a little too overzealously for Teyla's comfort level. His eyes shifting from Sheppard, to the entrance, and finally back to Teyla.
"Morai, I believe we have reached an agreement. I need to return my teammates to our home. Please, let me conclude the negotiations and return for any final additions." She worried because McKay was too quiet and Sheppard was too nervous. She hoped that these old trading partners had not sabotaged the fruit that McKay and Ronon had been sampling. Something had changed in the room and she needed to get her team out now.
The laughing and complaining children receded until all was quiet outside. Next, the familiar cold sensation punched her in the stomach as hard as it ever had. The sudden onset meant the Wraith had just jumped into this solar system or exited the Gate en masse.
"The Wraith, the Wraith are here Morai!" She spat. She had wanted to believe that the Genii were an exception to her allies and trading partners. The radios crackling to life with Sgt. Stackhouse's warnings of Gate activation and the whine of darts in the distance reaffirmed her statement. The silence of the Chell outside and inside screamed of the betrayal.
"I know," replied Morai never removing his eyes from her.
Those two little words screamed it louder than the silence. Teyla's heart sank as another old acquaintance disappointed her. All warmth completely left her and Teyla felt alone in her own galaxy.
"And, it is worse than that daughter of Tagan." The chieftain's face turned from one of confusion to one of dark contemplations. His advisors fumbled in their robes apparently searching for their weapons. However, they were not fighters; they were farmers out of their element. "They will spare some of my people if we hand you over."
Ronon stunned them before any could produce a single weapon. Morai reached under the pillow on his throne and too fell to Ronon's beloved. Rodney ran over and pushed Morai from his chair. He held up two devices that the chieftain was reaching for under the pillow.
"Wraith stunner and…hello…Wraith transmitter." He punctuated his contempt with a pointed scowl on his face. He flinched and squinted at Teyla and Sheppard waiting for a reaction.
"The others had stunners as well," added Ronon kneeling next to one of the advisors and moving the robes to the side.
"Time to go," Sheppard ordered mechanically while his eyes never left the opening of the tent. He too flinched and squinted in synch with McKay's tics.
Ronon left the stunned bodies and stepped up beside Sheppard at the rear of the tent. He produced one of his ever-present knives and slit a backdoor into the fabric. The sound of heavy footsteps and hissing approached the front of the tent as the team slipped out of the back.
Sheppard stopped suddenly. "We can't leave them even if they are assholes." His voice was low and full of implication.
"Col. Sheppard, they had a plan that did not include our escape. We're in danger and need to go. They chose their own death." She grabbed him by the arm and pushed him towards Ronon who held the tear open. Rodney grabbed him on the other side and pulled him toward the side of another tent.
Teyla took one last look at another trading ally turned traitor and then followed her team into the rain.
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