The crisp early morning air felt cool and humid against her skin. The forest lay quiet since no birds had yet arisen. The sky remained dark, lit only by starlight through the light layer of clouds and just the hint of refracted light over the Eastern horizon. Aceso walked down to the well in the center of the Athosian village, looking for something to do to occupy herself during these in-between moments.
She cared for her human friends, but felt left out sometimes when her needs differed from theirs. In this case, their need to sleep for many more hours per day than she did made her feel out of place. Left to her own sleep schedule, she would naturally drift toward finding a cold dark place during the brightest part of the day and sleeping then, however the way these humans structured their lives prevented her from adhering to that schedule.
When she stayed in Atlantis, she had more latitude about when to sleep. At least there, having an awkward sleeping habit was actually somewhat normal. She wouldn't be considered strange to go to the mess hall in the middle of the night for breakfast, since a dozen other people would be doing the same thing. Here, she didn't have that luxury. She would have to wait until the sky became a little bit brighter before lighting a fire to cook so as not to disturb anyone.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted someone, a man exit his tent carrying a bow. He looked around as if searching for someone, then headed straight off into the forest, following a well-used trail that the Athosians used for hunting and gathering.
She found this odd, but dismissed it, rightfully so as it really wasn't her business. Aceso operated the well pump, which brought water out of the well and into her pitcher. She walked back to her tent and sat down at the main table.
This tent didn't exactly belong to her, however one of the villagers used it seasonally, and he agreed to let her use it when he was gone in return for maintaining it.
She reclined, letting her mind drift onto various things. Colonel Sheppard knew about her problem of being up at this time of night, and so lent her a few things to help. A deck of playing cards, some books that he'd finished reading, and a battery operated CD player.
She opted for music this time, playing softly so as not to wake anyone. Earth music was interesting to say the least. Far more complex and varied than any she'd heard before. The genre wasn't important to her, just that there was something to fill the absolute silence. It was a luxury she'd never had before.
Woolsey had been giving her more responsibility and latitude in her time on Atlantis. In the past month, she had been sent on six missions with various science and research teams. Her job had been to act as a cultural expert in the galaxy's cultures, a service she'd been happy to provide.
Woolsey had surprised her just the previous day by suggesting that she could take a leadership role with one of the missions, should she want it.
Aceso felt that things had moved rather quickly in that regard. How she had gone from a suspicious alien, to trusted leader in only a year felt remarkable. Already, she had proposed to Woolsey a mission of particular importance to her, although it was based on scant data, making its approval uncertain.
If only the Athosians had the same view of her. While many trusted her, some viewed her with suspicion and contempt. Those that did not like her spread rumors about her, speculating about what she did in private.
Already a rumor had reached her that she was talking with other wraith telepathically. No one seemed to know that she was too far away from other wraith to communicate with them. Only those humans with wraith ancestry could speak to her telepathically, and of those, only Teyla had trained her mind enough to do so.
As the morning went on, Aceso took to cleaning the rugs inside the tent, emptying the woodstove of ash, and preparing breakfast.
She had fresh eggs and bread available, and so got the ingredients ready to put together. She looked forward to the day ahead because there was a berry picking event being hosted by one of the village women. She'd invited anyone who wanted to come along for a trip to a 'secret' grove of legoon berry trees. The event was meant to take advantage of the bountiful crop this year in the narrow window they had to harvest them and preserve them.
As the sky became lighter, she caught the first whiff of wood smoke, and she took that as permission to cook breakfast.
She prepared the eggs and warmed the bread in the oven. She had to make sure to eat well at the start of the day, especially before a big trip, otherwise her mood could be a bit down.
After quickly eating breakfast, she braided her hair in a single rope braid. She put on a first layer of a simple dress, then followed that up with a wool button-down sweater, and linen pants. She chose to wear the high boots in preparation for encountering mud.
Finally, taking a basket for the berries, she walked toward the gathering place where she saw a number of the village members gathered. It was mostly women, but a few men had decided to show up too.
As she approached, all eyes settled on her, and the mood changed instantly. She could feel the collective judgement and attention on her.
The woman who had organized the event approached. Her name was Saral.
"What are you doing here?" Saral asked, confronting her.
Aceso looked among them, confused. "I was told that there was a berry-picking event today."
Saral scowled. "There is—it's private."
Aceso took a step back, holding the basket to her chest. "I'm sorry, I heard that anyone could come."
"Easy mistake to make," Saral said. "You should go on now." She crossed her arms.
Aceso backed away slowly. All eyes were on her, and she very suddenly felt very attacked.
She turned around and went straight back to her tent, throwing the basket on the chair and going straight to her bed to lay down.
She stared at the tent ceiling for a little while, but after a few minutes of thinking. She knew that she hadn't misunderstood the event invitation. She knew that Saral had deliberately excluded her in that moment.
It hurt—badly that there was nothing she could do or say to ingratiate herself to them. Normally the approval of others didn't mean much to her, but she needed the Athosians to like her. Her survival and happiness depended on it. Not only did it upset her, but it felt like a threat to her stability if she didn't please others.
Taking her basket from the chair, she went out again in the early morning sunlight to go to a grove to pick another type of purple berry that grew on low bushes. No matter what the others said, she wanted to make preserves for herself to enjoy.
She liked these berries well enough, but she felt a little raw at the emotions of being pushed away like that. Getting her mind off of that by doing something else would help. The birds were singing in earnest now, their songs waxing along with the morning sunlight.
She went out picking berries for around an hour before the atmosphere in the camp changed. She could sense it in the psychic field that everyone in the village collectively emanated. Something was wrong back there.
She took her fruit and went back to the village hurriedly, wondering what the problem was.
As she arrived she was shocked to see most of the camp gathered together in the village meeting area. She stepped through a small crowd of people.
"What happened?" she asked the nearest person she could see.
"A young man has gone missing," An older gentleman said. He had a beard, but was bald on the top of his head.
"Missing?" she repeated. She wondered if this had something to do with the young man she'd seen travel into the forest.
"It's her!" one of the men said. "I saw her skulking about while it was still dark."
The crowd collectively turned their attention to her. Suddenly, she felt quite threatened.
"What are you saying?" she asked, her voice breaking into its natural timbre.
"What did you do with Temmin?" the man asked.
She couldn't understand why they would accuse her of anything.
Finally, something snapped within her. Her temperament would have to break—just a little. "Why should I be accused of anything?" Aceso demanded. "I have hurt no one!"
She glared around the group of gathered people. "If you would simply ask me, I could tell you that I saw a man wander into the forest toward the hunting shelter early this morning before light."
"What were you doing outside?" the same man from earlier asked.
"Getting water to drink from the well!" she snapped back.
The same bald man from earlier stepped up. "I think we should make a search party," the man said, trying to placate the group. "Let's start with searching near the hunting shelter."
The group backed off a little, and a few began forming into groups.
"Thank you," she said to the bald man.
"Sure," he smiled. "I'm Cered by the way."
"Pleasure," she said perfunctorily.
"Don't let them get to you," he said. "Most of these people are nosing into other people's business. They get bored and have to invent conspiracies."
She smiled. "I see."
"Anyway, we should follow the trail and try to find this missing fellow."
"I can help," she offered.
"Let's go," Cered said, pointing the way. They walked along, following the trail to the hunting shelter. It was a rough trail that was haphazardly cut into the densest part of the forest. The hunting shelter was meant to aid in finding large forest birds, but their territory was also the most treacherous part of the forest.
Other search parties called the missing man's name, trying to get his attention.
Aceso thought quickly and realized that she could speed this whole process by connecting with the mind of the missing man. It was a tricky proposition to connect with a human mind under ideal circumstances, even trickier to do so at a distance without knowing who they were first.
Even so, Aceso stopped walking to close her eyes. She reached out with her mind and sought the mind of someone experiencing distress from being lost.
"What are you doing?" Cered asked
"Finding the missing man," she explained. Nothing about this was easy. She searched and cleared her mind, but she couldn't quite separate a unique mind from the others nearby.
"How will you do that?" he asked.
"By connecting with him using telepathy. I can see through his eyes and perhaps find his location."
"Can you do that?" Cered asked.
Aceso nodded but didn't respond verbally. Her mind had already started to find someone that she believed to be missing man. She sensed confusion.
The mind which she had found became aware of her presence and began to panic. She regretted having to fight past him to enter his thoughts, but she couldn't find him otherwise.
She saw his location on a steep slope surrounded by a variety of trees which grew tall and straight. He carried a bow with him.
She felt his fear growing as her presence became more intrusive on his mind. One thing she could tell for sure was that he wasn't in any danger or distress.
She broke that connection and opened her eyes, feeling stunned and a little embarrassed.
"I saw where he was," Aceso reported to Cered.
"Where?" he asked.
"His is climbing the mountain uphill of the hunting shelter. He is not in any danger, merely hunting."
Cered nodded. "This is good news."
Aceso crossed her arms and hugged herself. This was anything but good news for herself. She knew invading someone's mind was an intrusive and often traumatic thing. She never would have done it without a good reason, like trying to save someone's life. Now that there was no danger, she would have to explain herself—a task for which she had many things to answer for, and precious few excuses.
Cered told a few others what she'd seen, and they set off uphill to locate him.
One of the groups did eventually find the man. He was not in fact lost, but a miscommunication meant that no one knew what time he meant to set out, making it seem as though he disappeared.
Aceso tried to keep to the background as the groups went back to the village, but eventually, the formerly missing man found her, stopping her in her tracks.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded of her, stopping in front of her. A handful of people stood by, watching the drama unfold right there on the trail.
"I…" she stuttered in embarrassment.
"I know you did something. I could feel it in my mind."
"I tried to find where you were," Aceso explained. "I connected with your mind."
The man became red in the face. "Listen to me wraith. I have been tolerant of you because I respect the judgement of Teyla and Halling. That being said, I will not tolerate such an invasion of my privacy."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. From the moment she'd connected with him, she knew she had made a mistake.
Those gathered watched silently.
The man continued to get worked up, his anger feeding back into itself. He looked to those gathered. "I think we need to reconsider our tolerance of this wraith. How can we continue to desecrate the memory of those lost to us at the hands of the wraith by allowing this thing to live among us."
"Temmin!" Cered yelled. "You cannot treat an accepted member of the clan this way!"
The larger hunter squared off with the older man. "How can you defend her and dare to call this alien a member of the clan?"
"Did you not see the names of those she has lost at the remembrance?" Cered asked. "If you had paid attention, you would know many of her own family were also killed by wraith. She is here with us because wraith are hunting her."
Temmin couldn't answer to his points, but maintained his hostility. "That just means she is an outcast."
"Outcast only because of her generosity and kindness," Cered said, his anger simmering. "Have you not seen how Aceso helps the village?"
Temmin huffed, as if to scoff at her.
Cered answered calmly. "I realize her ways are foreign to us, however I believe we all should recognize how this situation was simply a misunderstanding. She told us exactly where to find you. If you had been lost or injured, this would have been an immense help."
"It wasn't," Temmin said coldly. "My trip was ruined, my privacy invaded." He turned to the group. "If this wraith can read our minds—intrude on our most private thoughts—how can we trust her?"
Aceso wanted to shrink and disappear. She moved to speak, but could think of nothing to say. This was her fault, and there was no way to say otherwise.
"How do we know that she is not giving information about us to her wraith brethren?"
"Stop!," Cered yelled. "You are out of line."
"Am I?" Temmin said, moving to look her in the eyes. He squinted in disgust when he saw her eyes. "What have you shared with them?"
Cered took her by the arm and moved her away from the irate hunter.
"No more of this baseless nonsense!" Cered said. "She has apologized. No one is hurt, no property is damaged. We are leaving!"
With that, Cered led her away. She looked at her footfalls, stunned at the anger she'd received. She had wanted to feel proud about using her gifts to help, but now it seemed as though no one else wanted that. She had never heard the suspicions against her verbalized in such a dramatic way.
"Temmin was very wrong to speak to you that way," Cered said after going out of sight of the others. "Taking such a tone is unusual between members of our clan."
Aceso didn't know what else to add, and so stayed silent for the rest of the walk. Cered walked with her all the way back to her tent. She didn't know what motivated him to do this. Her mind had closed off completely, and she wanted to sense nothing from anyone.
She paused at the entrance of the tent, knowing that even this place didn't belong to her. Feeling out of place had been a lifelong struggle, but she scarcely remembered feeling it more strongly than now.
"Is there something wrong?" Cered asked.
She didn't know what to say and stared blankly at the ground.
"I know that look," Cered said. "My daughter has the same look when she's about to have a good cry."
Aceso chuckled a bit as her eyes watered up and tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry yourself about that hunter," Cered said. "He is a loudmouth, full of suspicion and nonsense. I'll see what I can do. If I can get the elders to approve, he might be forced to apologize, or undergo some other penalty."
"A penalty?" she asked.
"Of course!" Cered said. "He just accused you of collaborating with wraith—to your face—in front of witnesses. You are within your rights to challenge him, either by combat, or by tribunal. I can say with certainty that you would win either way."
Aceso gestured to herself. "How can I deny collaboration with wraith if I am one!" tears flowed freely down her cheeks as if her emotions were laid bare on her face.
Cered put his hand on her shoulder. "He isn't accusing you of being a wraith. He is accusing you of collaborating with the enemy."
Aceso understood that it was a great insult to be considered a wraith collaborator.
"Such talk has in the past been a prelude rallying support for banishment or death," Cered said. "Temmin has made a serious accusation for which he has no evidence. I do not believe he wants to escalate this to a tribunal, which makes his talk even more absurd. You, as an accepted member of the Athosian clan have the right to challenge his accusation."
His words meant a lot to her. Just hearing him say that she was a member of the clan made her feel better.
"Thank you," Aceso said.
"Good," Cered said. "Now think no more about this. Let me take care of that imbecile while you focus on doing something you enjoy."
She smiled, fully appreciating his kindness.
"Eat, drink, be merry!" he said, turning away.
Aceso returned into her tent. While It disheartened her to know that many within the camp shared the hostile sentiments of the hunter, she relaxed knowing that others were willing to accept her as she was. Having someone affirm that she was a part of the clan felt gratifying.