The Fall

by Wedjatqi

ALLIANCE FIC – 2 weeks after the events of 'Interlude 4' and Atlantis continues to search for Janus' secret lab; Teyla, still feeling slightly unwell, is aboard the Sythus on its way to hunt down the elusive Skerti out beyond the Alliance border. And in the Training Facility, Oneakka continues his recovery while struggling with new developments regarding Seeal.

45. Act 2 - Uncovered

ACT 2 – TRUTH

Chapter 45 – Uncovered

It had been a soft simple dream, but the details of it flittered away as Seeal drifted slowly into vague conscious awareness.

Aware now of light against the outside of her eyelids, she tried to resist the steady march towards waking up. The intrusive light invading her snoozing was definitely coming from a certain direction, so she rolled away from it, her arm thumping up against something. The warm darkness of feeling enclosed returned though, so she burrowed her head further into the soft warmth of the covers, and willed the dream to return.

Deeper sleep didn't drift back, though the sensation of being warm and comfy was nice and pleasant, so she happily dozed.

Though…her hand was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

Pretty uncomfortable actually, and it drew her right up and awake.

Blinking open her eyes into the warm darkness, she frowned at something solid a mere two inches from her face. Drawing her head back, the covers falling from around her hair, she blinked at the painted wood wall she was all but hugging. Frowning up and along the unidentified wall, barely half a foot from her face, she spied her own arm extended straight up against the wall. She realised the discomfort was because her hand was almost numb, held up that high, gravity was fighting against blood reaching her fingers.

Quickly trying to clench and unclench her hand, she pushed herself away from the wall, her arm dropping free. Shaking out her tingling arm, she sleepily peered round to find a large pillow behind her. Beyond it, she could see a wooden door standing partially open, letting in gentle sunlight and the distant twitter of birds.

Oh right, yes, this was Pelydr, but this wasn't her hut. Instead, she'd fallen asleep in Oneakka's cabin last night while he'd read her Ugun literature…

Though, she realised as she pushed herself up enough to see over the deep pillow, there was currently a distinct lack of Oneakka in his cabin. Which was probably fortunate given the wall hugging she'd been doing.

Sitting up properly, the warm covers falling around her waist, she pushed her hair out of her face and frowned at the overtly tidy other side of the cabin. Oneakka was not only gone, but he'd folded his duvets along the far wall and his side's pillows were all stacked tidily.

Peering back towards the partly open door, she realised she had absolutely no idea what time it was. He had said he was leaving to visit his parents' friends after First Meal, so that probably meant he'd gone. Or had she slept right through to the afternoon already? She certainly felt like she had slept for many long, fortunately nightmare-free, hours in here.

Not that it mattered, she reminded herself; she was on holiday and she could get up anytime she wanted….though he'd said he was going to make pancakes before he left…

Pancakes sounded really good.

Rolling forward onto her hands and knees, she crawled to the door and pushed it fully open.

Like last night, the action brought in lots of lovely fresh real planetary air, and she drank it in with deep grateful breaths.

Her body still feeling half-asleep, she clambered awkwardly upright, using the doorframe to help her, and grunted herself into an upright position, her ankle protesting slightly as she stepped out onto the top step outside the cabin door. Stretching her arms up high above her and arching her back, she groaned at the satisfying clicks along her spine and the rush of more blood through her muscles and her formerly numb hand.

Sighing happily, she dropped her arms and shook out her legs as she took in the stunning view again. It was just as beautiful as yesterday, though there was a faint 'morning' sort of vibe to the warm bright sunshine lighting the mountains, the angle of the light implying it wasn't yet midday. So hopefully that meant she'd not slept through the day and that there would be the promised pancake batter in the kitchen.

Though she should probably change her clothes before eating. Peering down at herself, she lifted the top of Oneakka's former shirt and sniffed at it. Yes, she and the shirt definitely needed a wash. She'd washed her hair yesterday, but it was clearly time to try out the open-air Pelydrian showers and that underground washing machine Oneakka had shown her.

And then, she'd seek out the pancake promise.

The wooden steps were wonderfully, satisfyingly warm under her bare soles as she padded down the steps, only to notice there was something on the third stair up from the ground. It was a tall covered metal cup stood on a small circular metal plate. She padded down towards it, wondering if it was Oneakka's…he'd said he used the nearby chair as a table and sat and drank a tea on the steps in the mornings.

Was he perhaps still here then? She glanced around as she reached the cup, but saw no sign of him. Maybe he'd left it for her when he'd gone off to visit his family friends?

She reached down and picked up the cup, hearing the plate under it click lightly and a small light shut off. She lifted the cup's lid to find it full of tea…and it smelt like her favourite tea.

Wow, he was really working this apology!

She set the lid down by the plate and sipped at the tea. Oh yes, definitely her tea and it was still nice and hot, presumably thanks to the heat plate. The considerate tea leaving implied that that pancake batter would also be waiting for her. She could definitely get used to Apologising Oneakka.

As she took another enjoyable big gulp of tea, she glanced off to the right along the path that would take her to the showers. She'd head there after- A sound registered, from off to the left.

She knew that particular sound: a metal pipe under stress. It was an old noise she knew all too well from the pit fights and the hollow metal bars that had surrounded the fighting pits. She'd also heard that sound a lot recently too in the Facility's Gyms where the Recruits did all their workouts.

Which would mean…

She rose up on her toes and peered down towards the left end of the Retreat space, where there was that workout area that the Pelydrians may or may not have installed for Oneakka specifically. However, given the slope to the main Retreat area, she couldn't see the workout frames from here, so she padded back up a few of Oneakka's cabin steps, tea in hand, and rose up on her toes again and, sure enough, abruptly she could see Oneakka's hair as he appeared at the top of the tallest climbing bar. She headed up the last couple of steps back up to the cabin to get a better angle, but Oneakka was now lowering further out of view.

She paused and, sure enough, he reappeared a few seconds later, pulling himself up to the high bar, his back to her.

As he got his upper chest level with the bar, he shifted his grip slightly and drew himself up higher, arms, back and shoulders flexing as he lifted himself higher until his middle touched the bar, and then he started slowly lowering himself again.

She didn't know how much he weighed, but he was far from light, especially after he'd put all that muscle back on after his injury. To be able to lift that kind of weight so slowly and controlled was very impressive, even without considering his recent injury.

She wasn't sure he needed to be shirtless to do it though…just like he'd been in the Rehab Gym when she'd confronted him about Smee.

He lowered himself, slow and controlled, down out of view again until only his pale strong hands gripping the bar were left in sight.

She waited for him to appear again.

He almost immediately lifted back up into view, muscles all straining across his back and shoulders. And around his back left ribs, the stripes of Elite tattoos shifted as he moved, the black ink markings all the more obvious against his pale skin.

She lifted the tea to her lips and drank down another gulp as he reached the top of the bar and started the push-up part, thick muscular arms straining.

Males weren't supposed to actually look like that; all smooth strong muscles, flexing with sharp definition and strength, all strong and glistening like that-

She snapped her eyes away from all the impressive flexing.

"Get a grip of yourself, woman," she muttered as she focused on drinking some more of the tea.

She quickly padded back down the steps to stop herself watching the show. She'd just go have a shower and, clearly he hadn't left yet, so maybe the pancake batter wasn't ready yet.

Back down to the mug-heating plate, she took another sip, and her eyes traitorously drifted back off to the left to see if she could spot anything of the show from here…

Except he was now very much in view, walking up and across the sloping Retreat lawn, clearly having spotted her. He could at least have put a shirt on, because the small towel slung casually over one wide, very naked shoulder, hid absolutely nothing. The workout had clearly put a light glistening layer of sweat over his bare chest and middle, which should imply sweaty smelliness, but instead just made all the stupidly attractive shape of him all the more eye-catching.

And he was wearing shorts, she suddenly realised. They weren't tight at all, but they hugged the sides of his hips and thighs a little too well as he walked. He'd clearly been using chalk on the workout bar, because there was an elongated handprint in chalk brushed absently against the front of one thick thigh. The shorts at least covered his thighs, stopping just above his knees, but that only drew the eyes to his long, thick calves and then strong bare male feet beneath.

"For goodness sake," she muttered at the spectacle as she looked away, focusing on descending the final steps, pretending she needed to pay attention to stepping down onto the sandy path from his cabin to meet him on the main path.

She just needed to be casual and just look at his face.

Yes, because that was so unattractive.

"Surprised to see you awake, Raven," he called while he was still several metres away.

"It's today then?" She joked as she forced herself to look him in the eye and not at that light smattering of chest hair near the large Ugun glyph tattooed over his heart.

It meant 'orphan', which was sad and depressing, and worth remembering with all the muscular stuff going on.

"Still today," he confirmed with a big smile as he approached. He was clearly still in his relaxed holiday mode, with added nakedness today.

"I hope this tea was for me," she held up the mug, "because I've drunk most of it already."

She was pretty sure the air felt warmer compared to yesterday, because of the sun, not anything else…

"I left it for you, yes," he confirmed as he neared, getting all the more wider the closer he got.

She remembered thinking in the Rehab Gym that he'd seemed oddly bigger without a shirt on, which made absolutely no sense, but she found herself concluding the same now. He was a very stocky built male, not the tallest Elite, barely an inch taller than her, but he was annoyingly very well proportioned. Wide shoulders, long body and long legs. All of him was that strong, healthy muscle that was built from use, rather than vanity. Muscle with healthy smooth flesh over it, not the thin sharpness she'd seen in pit fighters and those scum on Dream who were barely getting enough to eat around their criminal work. No, Oneakka was a career military Warrior, who'd probably started on regimented workouts from his first day as a child Recruit. Decades of a body built and maintained to be strong yet fast and resilient in battle.

Wait, what had he said?

He stopped a few feet from her.

"Thank you," she replied, assuming she'd not missed anything else since the tea confirmation. The tea that she was thankful for, not thankful for anything else in front of her right now.

She fixed her gaze to his eyes. "So, a workout before you're about to go on a six hour walk?" She pointed in the direction of the climbing frame. "Think that's a smart idea?" That had come out far more challenging than she'd intended.

He smiled though. "It's a three hour walk there, then a couple of hours sat talking, and then three hours back. It's all a leisurely walking," he shrugged.

She'd never seen him shrug without a shirt on before…it was a very different experience.

It was definitely warmer today and she should really go have that shower she'd intended….maybe a cold one. At which point she abruptly remembered that she was not only wearing his old shirt in full view, but that she wasn't wearing any support under the thin soft material.

"Leisurely?" She repeated his term, trying not to feel so suddenly aware of her breasts. "Not sure you know how to do anything leisurely, Oneakka." Okay, what had that been for?

"I'm all leisurely here," he replied with another one of those distracting shrugs. "I'm on holiday."

And he smiled.

She suddenly had the worrying suspicion that maybe, just maybe, he could tell he was a little distracting being all nearly naked.

She narrowed her eyes at him, unsure.

If he thought she got uncomfortable around naked males, he had that very wrong. She'd run security of the lower levels of Dream for ten years, seen all kinds of naked…some of which she wished she could forget and had made her feel acutely sad for the prostitutes' life choices. So a bit of bare-chested male did not faze her.

Though, admittedly, she couldn't remember any males back then who looked anything as good as Oneakka. But he wasn't to know that.

"Glad to see you're still enjoying my shirt," he announced though, pointing towards her unsupported chest.

Okay, he was amused about that, not anything else. Good…well, not all good.

She crossed her arms over the shirt, desperately glad for the excuse to cover her breasts a little. "It smells actually," she blurted and internally cursed herself. "I was going to put it in the washing machine and have a shower, though if you're about to use the shower…?"

"No, I was going to make our pancakes first," he indicated off in the vague direction of the kitchen trench. "Feel free to use the shower first and I'll have the pancakes ready for when you're all done."

Wow, he really was working the apology holiday service.

Not that she was complaining.

"Okay," she agreed. "Thank you."

"You want some more tea too?" He asked as he indicated the mug she'd completely forgotten she was holding.

She blinked down at it. "Um, yes, thank you," she lifted it and quickly drank down the last dregs and held out the empty mug.

He stepped up closer to take it and the soft morning air drew with it not a shred of body odour towards her. He just smelt like fresh glistening male nakedness.

"You remember how to use the washing machine?" He asked as he took the mug from her, just a fraction too close to be comfortable, but she held her ground.

"Yes, I remember the two simple controls on the device," she confirmed, focusing on the conversation, not anything else.

"Not like in the kitchen and the heating instructions," he teased.

His eyes were dark this morning, his mohawk slightly spiked upwards with sweat and a touch of chalk mixed in. As well as having wiped his chalky hands on his limited clothing, he'd also clearly rubbed sweat from his brow at some point as there was a light layer of the white dust partly covering one black forehead tattoo.

"You've got chalk on your face," she told him instead of rising to the food heating teasing. "I'll have flower honey on my pancakes," she told him as she turned to walk away. Best to get away from all the distraction while she had the upper hand.

She wondered if she could ask him to put a shirt on while he cooked their First Meal…

"Sliced kita fruit too?" He suggested just before she moved away.

She paused and considered that. "Okay, thank you," she agreed. "But still with flower honey on top too."

"Coming right up," he angled his head with a smile and turned away.

Okay good, he could go focus on that and she'd go wash this damn shirt that kept getting her into trouble and make herself smell better.

She hurried along the path as casually as possible, making sure not to give into the urge to look back around in case half-naked Oneakka was still in view.

Fortunately, she made it to the gap in the trees that led through to the washing areas without losing control of herself. Moving through the gap in the treeline and out into the open air on the other side, she made her way down the sloping path through the sunshine. She had just turned onto the short lefthand path up to the fenced off openair shower facilities when she realised that she was barefoot, that she'd left her sandals back at Oneakka's cabin. Oh well, it didn't matter. She'd pick them up on her way back. It wasn't like the Retreat had dirty ground and she could easily clean her feet later.

At the entrance to the shower and it's blind turn entrance, she paused and peered back towards the treeline, checking for certain that the trees did make a good privacy screen. Oneakka was not the kind of male who would try to break her privacy, but there were accidental mistakes… But no, the trees were a good screen wall, so she headed into the changing area that also provided access to the underground washing machine. She pulled off her soft loose trousers and the offending favourite shirt. Pulling open the washing machine door she dropped them inside and then, with a brief check back towards the entrance, she slipped off her underwear and added them in too. She shut the machine door with a satisfying click. There were only a few settings you could select with the first control on the panel above the door. She selected what seemed the most standard setting and then triggered the second control. She heard a whirring noise inside the machine, a metallic clunk, and then the recognisable sound of water entering the machine. That all sounded positive and, besides, it was Pelydr where apparently things didn't break because the locals knew they would break ahead of time.

That still made very little sense to her, but pleased at the success of starting the washing machine, she moved into the main shower area. As she walked she gathered her hair into a long tail and rolled and curled it up into a knot at the back of her head. Happy it was secure, she headed for the closest showerhead. The large controls were simple: one for pressure and one for temperature. She adjusted both controls, testing the falling water with one hand before she finally stepped into the tumbling water.

Sighing with delight, she turned under the blissfully hot water, letting its strong pressure drum against her upper back and shoulders, helping massage Saoka's station's adventures out of her muscles. The shower was good in the Facility, but she was pretty sure this one was better.

Blinking open her eyes, she remembered she was supposed to actually clean herself. Beside the shower controls, there were a variety of containers filled with various different washing products. She consulted the three that were labelled as bodywashes and picked one that sounded the closest to what she used back in the Facility. She held her hand under the dispenser and two large dollops of clear foamy liquid dropped into her palm. Lifting it to her nose, she smiled at the nice delicate smell. She could really get used to staying on Pelydr.

She set about soaping herself down, massaging her arms and legs as she went to aid with the recovering muscles, and then rinsed off. She finished with increasing the pressure of the water a little bit more and turning to let it massage her upper back again.

Feeling refreshed, smelling good again, and with nicely relaxed shoulders and back, she triggered off the water and…

She suddenly realised she'd not brought her towel with her!

It was back on the damn towel tree outside her cabin where she'd left it after doing her hair yesterday!

She quickly turned on the spot, checking all the corners of the large showering area, but there was no nice helpful cabinet of spare towels in view.

Wraith shit!

Oneakka had reminded her twice yesterday about picking up her towel from the towel tree on the way to wash. Damn it to all Wraith shitty hells!

Maybe there had been a hidden cupboard in the changing area that she'd somehow missed? She padded damply back into it, but there was just the simple bench and the washing machine. Oneakka had said the machines took a couple of hours as they dried as well as cleaned your clothes. So, that would be far too long for her to just wait for it to finish…

She peered into the glass door of the washing machine, but her clothes had disappeared into a deeper area and she could hear the water churning away. Damn it.

There was nothing in the changing area that she could use to cover herself. From memory, there wasn't any towel storage in the toiletry hut either at the far end of this area of the Retreat… She tried peeking up over the top of the fence around the changing area, but it was too high, so she padded back into the main shower area where the floor sloped down to the centre. Padding wetly up to the outlining fence of the shower, she peered over the small surrounding meadow. There were no helpful things that could help cover her…not even any fallen branches that she could maybe makeshift into something.

She frowned at the tree screen. Even if she could pull down a branch, she had nothing to cut it with and she'd have to walk naked to the trees first anyway…

She ran her gaze to the gap in the treeline through which she could see the main area of the Retreat. The bottom steps of the first two cabins were just about in view, and she could easily see their towel trees stood out front in the sunshine. One held Oneakka's towel, hanging there, all useful and dry…and too far away. Her own cabin and towel tree were too far along the Retreat path for her to even see from here.

Which meant she had two options.

She could just run naked to her cabin where anyone passing by could see her, including Oneakka cooking their First Meal. Though, the kitchen trench was set down in the slope, so there was a chance he'd not see her…but he'd no doubt hear her running and that kind of thing drew the attention of an Elite Warrior. She could just walk naked to her cabin, but that increased the time during which someone could see her…and Oneakka didn't miss much, damn half-naked male!

The second option was the only one then.

Wraith shitty shit.

She walked along the inside of the wooden fence line until she was in the corner of the shower area, the closest point to the gap in the trees. She assessed how tall she was in relation to the fence. It reached her upper chest, so she folded her arms on top of each other on the fence and pressed in close against the warm wood, covering herself as much as possible.

Then, rolling her eyes at herself, she took a breath. "Oneakka!" She called loudly. "On-eak-kaa!" She repeated, making sure to use a singsong tone so he'd know she wasn't in any immediate danger or anything.

"On-eakkk-aaaa!" She repeated louder, trying not to wince at herself as she watched the open patch between the trees where he'd presumably appear….if he could hear her.

"Oneeee-akkkk-aaaa" She called, keeping her voice casual and not at all embarrassed.

He side-stepped into view beyond the gap in the trees, a bemused confused frown on his face.

He was still without a shirt, but she could hardly complain about that now given her own current state, which she felt all too aware of right now.

"Hi," she grinned brightly at him, making sure to call loudly so he could hear her across the twenty or so metres from the shower to the trees.

He moved through the gap in the trees, still looking bemused at her summoning him.

"I forgot your good advice yesterday," she called to him as he stopped at the top of the path from the treeline, "and forgot my towel, and my nightclothes are in the washing machine."

His confused bemusement transformed into amusement in an instant.

"It's not funny," she pointed out as he was obviously now chuckling at her unfortunate situation.

"There's no one around to see you," he called back loudly.

She frowned at that point; he was presumably not including himself in that evaluation.

"You said there was another Retreat on this mountain," she pointed out.

"On the far other side," he called back dismissively.

"Well, there could be hikers nearby," she argued her thinking.

"No one hikes around here, only people who use this Retreat, namely just us," he replied.

"What about ships flying overhead or observation satellites?" She argued, pointing upwards with one arm, only to quickly return it to its covering duties, not that Oneakka could see that much given where he was currently stood.

He looked up towards the blue sky overhead. "Can't see anything."

Males, even grown heroic Elite ones, never grew out of this kind of teasing boyish behaviour.

"And there aren't any low orbital satellites over Pelydr either," he continued. "What other satellites there are, would never be used to spy on people."

"Yes, great, thank you for the Pelydrian information," she glared at him across the distance. "A true friend would be trying to help me here," she pointed out loudly.

"That's not my experience of true friends," he answered though, a playful grin still on his smug, still partly chalk-dusted, face. "In fact, there are things I did decades ago that Massa still teases me about, and I have never let him forget the time he got so drunk on moonshine we stole from the older Recruits that he fell face-first through that glass table."

A sudden worried thought hit her. "You're not going to tell Massa about this are you?"

Oneakka set his hands on his hips and made an elaborate display of thinking about it. "Might do," he replied.

This wasn't getting her anywhere and decidedly no drier or covered than before.

"Oneakka," she told him with her best authoritative voice. "Will you please bring me my towel from the towel tree outside my cabin?"

He looked over his right shoulder in the direction of said unseen towel tree.

Then he looked back at her.

And didn't move.

For a horrible moment, she feared he was going to refuse! And abruptly remembered Massa's surprising intel that he, Oneakka, and Kane used to play pranks on people when they'd been younger…

"Okay," Oneakka fortunately agreed and turned, starting away back through the gap in the trees to fetch her towel.

She let out a big breath of relief as soon as his back was turned. As he disappeared along the path further into the Retreat, she pressed herself tighter up against the fence and rearranged her arms on top. After a minute or so, he reappeared along the path, her large towel in his hands.

She waited as patiently as she could as he moved back through the trees, clearly not in any hurry!

But, rather than follow the path, he started across the grass directly towards the shower fence instead, moving up the slight slope towards her.

"You know it would make more sense if they put the towel trees on this side of the treeline," she pointed out as he walked towards her.

"They get more sun through the day on the other side," Oneakka replied, not doing a very good job at hiding his ongoing amusement as he neared.

And the closer he got, the more aware she was that she was completely naked behind the fence. Annoyed and a tad embarrassed, she focused her attention on her promised towel in his hands. As he finally started to get close, she reached out one bare damp arm, stretching forward so he would stop further away from the fence.

The second he was within stretching reach of her hand, she grabbed at the towel, lifting it quickly up and to her, dumping it in one big pile on top of her chest and arm on the fence. But she didn't step back to wrap it around her yet, because he was too close.

"Thank you," she told him politely.

"You're welcome," he smiled back…not moving away.

She could see the obvious playful sparkle in his eyes mixed with that ingrained male enjoyment of knowing when a female was naked.

She'd never seen that look on him before, but it was one all females could recognise.

He at least kept his eyes holding hers, not trying to see past the pile of towel on top of the fence.

All his wide bare chest and middle now felt all too reflective of her own nakedness.

"Need anything else?" He asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him, unsure at the tone he'd used.

"You're not going to tell Massa, are you?" She checked.

"Of course not," he replied with a reassuring smile.

"Okay good, thank you," she replied gratefully. Not that it mattered. It had been a simple mistake and there was no need to go telling people about it.

He hadn't moved away yet.

"You can go now," she told him.

"Okay," he agreed amicably with another smile, clearly finding it all very funny. "Pancakes will be ready soon," he added as he turned and started walking away, all bare-naked muscular back.

It turned out the dark shorts hugged his backside pretty well.

She frowned at herself and focused instead on the towel, waiting for him to disappear from view.

As he reached the gap in the treeline, moving through it, she was surprised that he didn't glance back again. Which was surprisingly polite of him.

She waited a beat longer though once he was out of view, then quickly pulled back from the fence, shook out the towel and wrapped it around her.

That was better.

She set about patting herself dry, though admittedly the warm morning air had done some of the work while she'd been waiting for the towel. Once dry enough, and suppressing the lingering embarrassment, she secured the towel around her - making sure it was properly in place above her breasts without any chance of falling down - and headed for the exit out of the shower.

Like Oneakka, this time she ignored the path and instead headed across the grass, the meadow nice and crisp under her bare feet.

At the gap in the trees, she gripped the top of the towel just to be doubly sure there would be no further accidental nakedness, and she headed out along the path into the Retreat.

Head held high and calm, she kept her attention forward, and did not glance down towards the kitchen trench as she passed by it.

The scent of cooking pancakes drifted in the air as she reached Oneakka's cabin and she quickly jogged up the steps to retrieve her sandals from the top step and then quickly hurried back down to the main path, holding the edges of the towel closed around her.

Then, head still high in case he was watching, she headed on through the sunshine towards her own cabin.

Where her clothes waited and, most especially, some underwear.

0000

"This is the last box, Dr McKay," a voice reported from Rodney's right as another small crate of Ancient crystals was set down on the edge of his view.

"Okay," Rodney nodded vaguely, keeping his eyes on the control crystal in front of him.

He'd followed the latest stage of Janus' instructions to the letter, so all he had to do was wait, switching his attention from the laptop he had hooked into an Ancient crystal interface and the latest glowing crystal slotted inside the interface that was being reprogrammed. To say the instructions were easy to follow was beyond an understatement, so much so that Rodney was pretty sure even a toddler could follow them. Well, maybe not any toddler, but certainly a genius level toddler like he'd been.

The laptop abruptly displayed the crystal interface's feedback confirming the process successful and the interface went dark.

Another crystal successfully reprogrammed!

Rodney carefully drew out the crystal and stood up, turning to the large table on which he'd started laying out the reprogrammed crystals and coils of Ancient cabling that would eventually make up the inside of their Jump Drive prototype. He consulted the two large screens on the far side of the big lab table, the images displaying the relevant magnified sections of Janus' blueprints, and then the large whiteboard on which he'd annotated the final crystal layout with further notes. Happy with what he saw, he carefully reached forward and set the latest reprogrammed crystal down in its allotted spot on the table surface. He then picked up a marker pen and scribbled brief notes next to the crystal, writing directly on the table itself.

Okay, good.

He moved his gaze to the next empty outline where the next crystal would go. He was about a quarter of the way through prepping the required reprogrammed crystals as per Janus' instructions.

Returning to his seat, he pulled his second laptop towards him and scrolled on to the requirements for the next crystal. This one needed to be a slightly bigger crystal, which, of course, Janus had set out in almost exquisite detail, including the exact measurements, shape, and design.

Rodney turned to the boxes of collected crystals. Along with hundreds of feet of coiled Ancient cabling, the crystals had been retrieved from various unused areas of the City; Ancient workspaces that hadn't had any specific function that anyone had found out so far, but, for today, their consoles had been gutted in hopes that they'd produce enough Ancient tech to put the prototype together. Rodney considered the boxes in front of him; there had to be a hundred crystals across the five or so boxes, each delivered from a different team sent out by Carter earlier this morning.

Rodney started pawing through the first box, repeatedly glancing back at Janus' specifications for the crystal. It was one of the larger designs, capable of processing far more data. However, there were none like that in this first box, so Rodney pushed it aside and pulled the next box forward.

His vision swam a little as he peered into the collection inside. He'd managed to get some sleep earlier. After he'd established teams to start work on the prototype build, which had included accepting Radek's offer to oversee the build of the Drive's metal casing, Carter had ordered him to his quarters. He'd actually slept a bit, lying directly on top of his made bed and wishing he couldn't still smell Katie's shampoo on the pillow. It had only been four hours of sleep, but he felt a bit better for it.

Though…

He glanced up from the crystals, squinting round his workstation in this new prototype construction lab. He spotted his coffee mug off in the far right corner and reached for it, his eyes dropping into the latest box of crystals close to it. The right size crystal sat on the top in the box. He snatched it up, turning back to the blueprint and instructions…yes, this all matched.

He slid the crystal into the interface box and pulled up Janus' precise reprogramming instructions for this next crystal. Typing carefully, he entered the step-by-step details into the laptop plugged into the interface.

After doublechecking what he'd entered, he tapped 'submit' and the interface lit up as the reprogramming ran.

As 'simple' as that.

Rodney frowned faintly down into the glowing box.

After too many days and nights spent battling to crack into the barest outer edges of Janus' database, it felt oddly weird how easy this all was. Well, not 'easy', you had to have at least two PhD's to understand what Janus instructed, but this Jump Drive build…

He'd not admit it out loud, but whatever Ancient science was behind how this Jump Drive was supposed to work made absolutely no sense to him. He'd hoped to understand it from reading through the Drive construction, but even though he understood the components – all beautifully laid out in clear categorised lists just as Rodney would have written himself – he still didn't actually see how the Jump Drive made any sense.

Which wasn't entirely new here in Atlantis. As genius as he was, a lot of what the Ancients had developed was just too advanced for where science was right now.

And Janus, well he had been a genius even to the Ancients themselves, so it was okay that Rodney didn't get how this Drive worked.

The only thing that had made him feel a bit better about that, had been the equally confused frown Carter had given him after she'd looked through it all with him. He'd just smiled back, pretending it was all fine.

It'd make sense once he could study the final prototype, he was sure of it…mostly.

And it was okay that he was starting to feel a bit like a puppet, just following Janus' overly detailed instructions without understanding how all this was going to work. He guessed this must be how 'normal' brained people spent their lives; after all kids could use smartphones without having any clue how the things worked. So…

He frowned back to the other laptop and tapped through the next stages of Janus' instructions. All set out step-by-step, everything set out to simply be inputted into the reprogramming programme Rodney had installed on the laptop from the Ancient database on Janus' instructions…Janus' little Human puppet.

Abruptly, off to the right, something heavy loudly clattered to the floor and someone swore.

"Going well?" Sheppard's voice abruptly announced behind Rodney's right shoulder.

"What?!" Rodney jumped in his seat. "Don't sneak up on people," he protested. "I'm doing careful work here," he gestured to the crystal interface which was still glowing.

"Did you actually get some sleep like Carter ordered?" Sheppard asked as he loudly dragged a stool up next to Rodney.

"Yes," Rodney stressed as he peered at the laptop controlling the reprogramming. This one was taking longer to reprogramme, or the delay could mean that this particular crystal wasn't going to take the new configuration. So far he'd had a 10% failure rating of the crystals gathered.

"So, how's it going?" Sheppard repeated his question, and Rodney heard one of the crystal boxes being moved.

"Be careful," Rodney looked round, frowning at the boxes. "We've only got a limited amount of available crystals."

"I'm being careful, McKay," Sheppard answered.

"Just be more careful," Rodney pressed, not all that sure why he was really. "And it's going well."

"Really?" Sheppard asked, clearly surprised at that for some strange reason.

"You'd prefer a different answer?" Rodney frowned round at him.

"No, no," Sheppard shook his head. Actually he was looking like he'd should have had some extra sleep after the Jump Drive meeting. "It's just, you know, unusual." Sheppard frowned around at the lab. Rodney glanced around the room, unsure what was 'unusual' in Sheppard's view.

Rodney had picked one of the large outlying rooms in the City for the Drive build, just in case anything went wrong and something exploded. Not that it would…presumably. As well as the reduced population nearby, the long room allowed for them to section off the far end as a 'clean room' for when they put the Drive components together, and, as it was on the City's 'ground level', there was a wide doorway that opened up to an outside space which they were setting up as the welding area for the construction of the Drive's metal casing.

"We're on an advanced alien city spacecraft sitting on a vast ocean in another galaxy, 'unusual' is pretty normal for us," Rodney pointed out.

"True," Sheppard conceded looking back round. "But when was the last time we got to build Ancient tech from scratch?"

Well, that was true enough. Especially following such detailed instructions…honestly, Rodney had seen more complicated Lego manuals.

And after how hard it had been to just find Janus' Bat Cave in the first place, and all the hours spent trying to decrypt just the bare minimum percentage of what was saved in its database. The reality was that it was probably going to take years to break into all of Janus' work; and some of it Rodney doubted they'd ever break into. That Janus' Mum's favourite recipe one for example…

"Well, sure," Rodney offered vaguely, "but this is different," he waved at the laptop that was still running the reprogramming. Why was it taking so long?

"Exactly," Sheppard stressed. "Janus is handing this to us on a plate."

Rodney looked round at him. "You're the one he turned up to in person, told us to find his lab. That was…kind of similar…"

Sheppard frowned doubtfully.

"What? So he's actually giving us what we need," Rodney replied, feeling unnerved by Sheppard's point. Even if it was, kind of, echoing some doubts Rodney had had himself. "How is this a bad thing?" He pointed out. "The Ancients actually helping us out for once."

After having decidedly not helped for thousands of years…and they'd seen how stringently the ascended Ancients had policed their own in that time, including Sheppard's Ancient-ex who was still exiled to live her ascended life out on that backwater planet.

What was that financial phrase? That past performance doesn't dictate future results… Maybe the Ancients had changed their tune? Jackson said Janus had been a maverick back in his day, so maybe he still was while being ascended?

He glanced worriedly into the crystal interface again, the reprogramming still running.

"It's just I can't help thinking about that scene from Jurassic Park," Sheppard uttered, his voice lowered a bit now.

"Which scene?" Rodney frowned at him. "It's an iconic movie, you need to narrow it down a bit. Or are you anticipating a poison-spitting dinosaur to come flying out of the Jump Drive the second we-"

"I mean," Sheppard interrupted him, "the not stop to think if we should scene."

Rodney sighed. "We're not bringing dangerous extinct animals back from the dead here."

"We are bringing dangerous extinct tech back from the dead," Sheppard argued.

"You can't compare them," Rodney sighed tiredly. "Look the whole point of why we came to Pegasus was to find ourselves Ancient and alien tech. Well, here it is," he gestured to the table and the screens displaying Janus' blueprints.

"It just…it feels weird," Sheppard uttered, frowning. "This isn't how the Ancients usually roll."

"So, what we should just ignore all this?" Rodney pushed. "Not build it?" Sheppard was starting to sound like General O'Neill; when were the military suddenly so cautious?

"No, I'm just," Sheppard sighed tiredly. "I guess I just-"

The crystal interface abruptly shut down and Rodney snapped his eyes to the laptop. Success! The overly long reprogramming had apparently worked.

"Is that a good thing?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, unless you're afraid of dinosaurs attacking us," Rodney muttered as he carefully pulled the crystal out of the interface and got up, turning to the big table.

"Come on," Sheppard uttered though, following Rodney to the table. "You've got to admit this is strange."

Rodney peered at the screens and the whiteboard and then set the larger crystal down in its place on the table layout.

"The whole point of Janus' lab was to hide his tech; well, this is some of it," Rodney indicated the table with the marker pen before he scribbled a few notes next to the new crystal.

"And nothing seems…off to you?" Sheppard asked, his voice lowered again.

Rodney clipped the marker's lid back on and straightened up. "I don't know what you want me to say. Yes, it is weird that Janus' is handing this to us," he admitted, slightly frustrated. "How is that a bad thing?" He asked.

Sheppard glanced away over his shoulder. Rodney frowned over his own shoulder to see what the issue was, but there was just the team at the far end of the room hanging up plastic sheeting to section off the clean area, and two Airmen who were walking back and forth through the room, carrying metal bars and sheet metal out to the outside welding area.

"I just wanted to check," Sheppard asked as he turned back to the table, his voice lowering as he leaned closer. "That there's nothing here that might make you…you know, suspicious?"

Rodney frowned at him. "Suspicious?" He repeated.

"Yeah, you know like, maybe this is fake or something?" Sheppard waved his hand towards the screens.

Rodney pulled a face at him. "Fake?! What do you mean fake?"

"I just…" Sheppard shrugged.

"You think someone somehow snuck into Janus' completely hidden secret lab under our noses, broke into his near-impenetrable fortress of solitude database-"

"No, I'm not-"

"And then somehow left top-secret blueprints and instructions which, quite frankly, only someone who had been involved in designing the tech could probably put together," Rodney gestured to the crystals and coils of cabling laid out in front of them. "With detailed instructions how to adapt existing Ancient tech-"

"Forget I asked," Sheppard held up a hand.

"And then put Janus' style encryption on top of it all," Rodney finished. "All to leave us a fake to what? What would be the point exactly?"

"I don't know," Sheppard sighed. "It's just," he glanced aside and back, "it's just feeling a little too easy, you know."

"That, for once, we get exactly what we need?" Rodney asked grumpily. "With exact detailed instructions," he waved his hand at his two laptops, "that are so specific that it makes you start to…" He winced, annoyed at himself for almost saying it.

"Start to what?" Sheppard pressed.

Rodney sighed and caught himself now glancing over his shoulder in case anyone was listening.

"Start to what?" Sheppard repeated his question, his shoulder bumping against Rodney's.

Rodney sighed again. He should have gotten more sleep.

"It's nothing, it's just…" He trailed off. He was going to sound mad.

"What, McKay?" Sheppard asked quietly.

Rodney glanced over his shoulder and then back to the table. "It's just, sometimes, the way Janus wrote all this out, the lists, the details…" He trailed off. It was probably just in his imagination. "It's like," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "it's like he's written them for me, personally."

Sheppard shifted closer, their combined backs to the room, both of them seemingly just looking at the table. "What do you mean?"

"It's like the list of components we need," Rodney pointed to the whiteboard where some of the components were listed out. " They're set out in categories that I use, the way I've always organised these things. And in the instructions," he pulled round the second laptop to show the next stage instructions. "The way he's written them, it's like he knew what questions I'd have and answered them."

He looked round at Sheppard with a wince, knowing it sounded stupid. "I know that sounds crazy."

Sheppard frowned at the laptop screen. "Maybe it isn't," he replied though.

"Why not?" Rodney asked, latching onto a possible answer and relieved that Sheppard hadn't just laughed at him.

Sheppard shifted in place, leaning one hip against the edge of the lab table, crossing his arms. "If Janus wanted us to build this, then he knows you'd be the one to lead the project."

"But, he wrote his database thousands of years ago," Rodney pointed out.

"He said to me that he'd 'tidied things up' in the lab," Sheppard replied quickly. "We know things disappeared from some of the lab's tables from the shapes left in the dust, and you and Jackson said there are no timestamps anywhere in his database, right?" Rodney nodded. "So, why couldn't he also have added some things to his database while he was there recently?"

"So he wrote these instructions in a way I'd best understand?" Rodney frowned down at the laptop. So, this wasn't just an easy instruction manual, it was an 'easy for Rodney to understand' manual….? He felt immediately insulted at the simplicity of it.

And also oddly unnerved, like he was maybe being watched…

He glanced up and round, peering into the high ceilings of the big room, looking for any telltale glowing white clouds that the ascended Ancients for some reason turned into. "So, maybe Janus is watching us right now?" Rodney asked worriedly.

"Maybe," Sheppard was glancing round too now. "Or, you know, maybe it's just a being ascended thing; that they just know stuff."

And this was how Janus felt Rodney should be shown the workings of the Jump Drive? He could have used far higher level explanations and Rodney would have easily gotten it! What did Janus think he was? Some school kid putting a build-a-bear together?!

"Which would imply," Sheppard continued with a thoughtful tone, "that Janus maybe knows that this is going to work for us…"

"So they see the future too from their ascended playland?" Rodney asked doubtfully.

"Maybe," Sheppard considered.

"I don't think that's how it works."

"And you'd know that, how?" Sheppard asked. "Maybe Janus has been to the future. Wasn't he the one who built a time machine? Helped Elizabeth save the City the first time we apparently came here."

"The other Ancients didn't allow him to use that time machine," Rodney pointed out, but it was sounding a weak argument. After all, they knew another time machine had been left back in the Milky Way…and there could be more hidden somewhere here in Pegasus…

Or it could just be that Janus had watched how things were done here, peering invisibly over Rodney's shoulder. As disturbing a thought as that was, it seemed the most likely.

"It's beside the point anyway," he stated to Sheppard. "This is Ancient tech," he pointed to the table of crystals. "It's probably Janus tech, and if he wants to help us, then, as the saying goes, don't look a gift horse, you know, in the mouth."

Sheppard gave him a look. "Isn't the point that you should really look that gift horse in the mouth?"

"Whatever," Rodney was really needing some coffee now. "The point is we're building it."

Sheppard nodded. "Right. Okay, I feel better. Thanks."

Rodney frowned at him. "You do? I helped?"

"Sure," Sheppard nodded with a smile, pushing away from the table, slightly jostling the crystals as he did. Rodney frowned at the table, but nothing had been moved or damaged.

"How did I help, exactly?" Rodney felt he should check.

"Because if Janus left you those instructions, then that means it's not fake," Sheppard declared his logic.

"How did you ever think it was a fake?" Rodney pressed. "It's from Janus' secret encrypted database in his secret lab."

"Thanks, McKay," Sheppard ignored him though and, with an abrupt slap on the back of Rodney's shoulder, started away.

Rodney turned to watch him leave, aware that Sheppard was walking with a bounce in his step. "Can you bring me some coffee?" Rodney called hurriedly. "And donuts if there's any left!"

Sheppard gestured over his shoulder, which may or may not have been confirmation about the coffee and donuts, and disappeared out through the door.

Alone again to focus on his work, Rodney sat back down in his chair.

"Fake?" He scoffed loudly, shaking his head at the idea as he consulted Janus' instructions for the next crystal to be reprogrammed…and tried desperately to ignore the niggle on the back of his neck that could be Janus hovering unseen behind him, all ascended and reading over his shoulder.

00000

It was another beautiful day on Pelydr, with only thin light clouds scattered across the deep blue sky, and a fresh breeze in the air.

Oneakka drew in the scent of distant flowers and the woody grassy smell of the valley. The walk thus far had been easy, the gentle breeze helping keep him cool during the trip. He'd stopped for a snack along the valley lake's edge, drinking down a good helping of the flask of tea he'd brought with him and he'd eaten the slices of sweetgrain bread he'd lightly toasted in the remains of the pancake batter this morning.

The first two hours of the walk had gone surprisingly quickly, his mind mostly elsewhere, replaying the amusing start to his day. He truly hadn't expected Raven to wake up before he'd left, given their late-night falling asleep. When he'd woken up, Raven had been burrowed under her covers, sleeping away under her duvet. She'd done the same when she'd stayed on that spare bed in his Sythus quarters and the previous night in her Facility bed, so he was starting to suspect it was a Glisi thing; naturally burrowing down into the warmest area of the bed. She'd clearly been able to breathe okay in there, so he'd quietly set about tidying the cabin and had headed out to run through his morning's scheduled Rehab workout.

He'd started with the newly enhanced stretching part of the routine and then the rest focused on strength building and maintenance. He'd just finished, when he'd turned back to the cabin to see Raven making her way down the cabin steps. Surprised at her earlier than expected appearance, he'd headed across the Retreat to meet her.

Her hair had been an attractive loose wild arrangement around her head and shoulders, telling him that she'd only just woken up. She had looked remarkably refreshed from her sleep too, which implied the rest of her night had been free from nightmares of falling out of Glisi trees or from orbit. In fact, she'd looked very comfortable in the sunshine, dressed in his old shirt, which he hadn't actually spotted on her last night when she'd crawled into his cabin.

However, her relaxation hadn't seemed to last all that long. She had seemed somewhat defensive as he'd approached her, which had possibly been due to some embarrassment at her having fallen asleep in his cabin, and the flush to her cheeks could have been due to having slept burrowed into the deepest warmth of her bedding.

Or, maybe, just maybe, it had all been due to the approving feminine looks she'd been giving him. She had probably thought she'd concealed all the quick glances at his chest and arms, but she hadn't.

To test his theory, he'd stepped closer to take her finished cup from her, and she'd definitely seemed more flustered from the move.

It wasn't often that Raven was thrown from her casual indifference façade, and the tingle of electricity in the air had been very interesting.

Especially as they usually did their best to avoid such moments.

Which had possibly been the reason for her mistake afterwards.

He'd been preparing the pancake batter when he'd heard her calling for him.

He'd initially worried that she had turned her already sprained ankle, but as he'd headed up through the kitchen trench, her tone had started to sound more amused and singsong. And as each rendition of his name became more drawn out, he'd excluded the ankle explanation.

As he'd reached the gap in the trees, able to see through to the washing side of the Retreat, he'd immediately spotted her in the nearest corner of the shower area, the tops of her shoulders and arms naked in the sunshine.

For a second…one brief foolish second…he hadn't been sure what was going on.

Then she'd called out her explanation and he'd barely been able to stop himself laughing at her. He had warned her multiple times about not forgetting her towel, because he'd done the exact same thing many times before. Usually he just walked naked from the shower to the towel tree, sometimes practically already dry by the time he got to his towel. But, he understood why she'd not wanted to do that, not understanding there was no one else around, which he'd explained to her across the lawn.

Her frown had reminded him that he was also around.

As if he'd have been upset at glancing round in the kitchen to see a naked Raven walking past…

But clearly she'd not wanted to do that, and the flush to her face at the time had been very obviously due to embarrassment at her predicament. He'd still taken a few moments to tease her a little before retrieving her towel for her.

Though, as he'd headed up the grass, holding her sun-warmed towel, he'd realised that she'd made another slight mistake. She'd pressed herself up against the fence, reaching out desperately for her towel, which had still left the entire expanse of her bare neck, shoulders, collarbones and upper chest on show. Though he was only an inch or so taller than her, he was still taller and it had afforded him further sight of the upper swells of her breasts pressed against her own folded arm on the fence.

It had hardly been that much of her really, probably showing little more than if she had been wearing a strapless, low neckline top, but normally he made sure not to look below her collarbones, or sometimes not below her chin in times when he'd been in particular denial.

But that old denial was long shattered now, and keeping to his former rule was getting difficult…besides, she'd had an eyeful of him outside the cabin just before.

And she'd been all glistening with water from her shower, her shoulders elegantly wide and strong. She'd somehow knotted her long hair up at the back of her head for her shower, but a few long black tendrils had fallen free, framing her face and sticking slightly to her wet shoulders.

Then he'd gotten close enough that she'd been able to grab her towel and pile it on top of the fence, cutting off most of the view.

Leaving them with just a fence between them.

Which had been a stupid thought really; he'd just spent the night sleeping about a foot away from her with just a pillow between them. And clothing was always a usual barrier between people, which were far thinner layers than a fence. So it wasn't logical really to have found the moment sexy, because she was always naked under her clothes, as he was…

And maybe there had been something just a little too endearing about her forced confidence, clearly embarrassed at having left her towel behind and needing him to bring it to her while she was naked.

For a passing moment, stood there with her, he'd considered advancing up to the line again, wondering if some flirtation might work to test the boundary just a little more. But, he'd rejected the idea almost instantly. If she'd seemed a little on the backfoot outside his cabin before, she'd been majorly so in the shower. The moment hadn't been right, despite parts of him thinking differently. He wanted his offer to be met with honest consideration, not delivered while she was feeling off centre and vulnerable. As important as strategy was, seduction had different rules to battle. Against an enemy, you looked for and actively created moments of vulnerability in order to exploit them; but Raven wasn't his enemy.

Not for a long time.

He wanted her to be comfortable and ready to properly consider matters when he declared his interest.

So, he'd turned away and headed off to make their pancakes. Though, it had taken all of his Elite training to not peek back over his shoulder.

Back in the kitchen, he'd taken a couple of minutes to let his blood cool, and had then focused on the food. As he got the first pancake cooking, he had been aware of a passing flash of colour up beyond the kitchen trench as she passed by, but he had kept his eyes on his work.

He'd made about six pancakes when she'd appeared, all dressed and making casual conversation in a way that made it clear to him that there was to be no mentioning of the embarrassing towel-forgetfulness. He'd kept to the silent request, but it was going to be useful teasing material for the future.

She'd helped with the First Meal prep by slicing up the kita fruit for them, talking almost constantly about the shower facilities on Dream. He'd listened and asked questions, then she'd chosen to sit on the kitchen bench to eat her pancakes, rather than taking them away to the sofa while he'd been still in the kitchen. It had felt like another good sign as he'd set about making the lightly battered sweetgrain slices for his snack. He'd made a couple extra and had put them aside for her to try later while he was gone.

Then, time had run out and he'd had to focus on eating up his First Meal, prepping his flask of tea and packing up his bag to leave for Mareta and Pauldron's as he'd planned.

After a quick shower of his own, he'd donned his packed bag and had found Raven sat on her new favourite spot on the end of the long sofa. She'd seemed very happy about being left alone at the Retreat, which was good because it meant she felt comfortable, but it had implied that she was also happy for him to be gone for a bit. No doubt so she could forget the towel incident.

Amused, he'd said goodbye to her – decidedly not mentioning the various towel comments and jokes he'd thought of while packing his bag – then he'd started down the steep path from the Retreat to the valley below.

That had been over two hours ago and he realised he hadn't stopped thinking about her the entire time.

Shaking his head at himself, he turned off the worn path leading out of the valley and headed across the open sloped meadow towards the foot of Red Ground Mountain. He was making good time, and his wound was only now starting to feel tight inside. He'd decided he would definitely ask Mareta for some of her Pelydrian healing on his wound. He'd never accepted the offer from her or any other Pelydrian Healer before, but reading the Physical Therapist's notes from his failed medical review had been a depressing reminder that he was getting older. Still young and strong enough to recover – and gain some appreciative glances from a certain Raven – but this injury had been deep and significant…so maybe now was the time to actually accept some Pelydrian help.

Time to let the last final resentment go.

Resentment that had started out so bitter and angry towards Pelydr all those years ago.

He'd first visited Pelydr after his people had been lost. He'd still been recovering from his near-death in avenging his world, his face freshly scarred and his life shattered. The entire Elder Circle had been convened to meet him and he'd asked all the bitter demanding questions he'd wanted. Had thrown all his accusations at them for not having warned his people about their violent end, which surely the Pelydrian Seers must have foreseen.

He'd shouted and vented at the Elders on that sunny morning, tears streaming from his teenage eyes, his heart broken and full of fury.

And they'd taken it all, tears rolling down their own faces.

Once he'd gotten out the sharpest angry poison, having had thrown some language at them that he'd rarely ever used in his life before or since, he'd ended up sat exhausted on the grass under the tree within the Elder Circle. Then, they'd started explaining their reasons for non-interference in other worlds' natural destinies, had explained that Seers, though powerful, could not see exact dates and times of events. And they'd reported the grisly fact that Pelydr knew the horrific fate of many people and worlds still to come; that it was a burden they had to carry.

Though, they had told him that they'd warned his people to be prepared for a Wraith attack from the sky, but how would that have sounded any different to any other culling? The Wraith always arrived via the Portal or descended from the sky; quite often both.

Besides, the truth was that nothing short of the planet being evacuated would have saved his people, and he knew they would never have agreed to leave their world. He had been the only Ugun to do so, and that fact alone had saved him. The last living Ugun.

He'd not wanted to hear it at the time, of course, had not wanted to accept that the Pelydrians had their reasons.

They'd offered him use of Pelydr, of any service they could provide, but he'd flat out refused, saying he wasn't going to let them mitigate their guilt. And he'd refused any healing on his damaged face. His scars were forever reminders of his blood vengeance, of the loss of his people and what he'd survived.

Mareta and Pauldron had been there that fateful emotional day in the Elder Circle, having already reached out to him during his initial recovery, as other off-worlder friends of his parents had done. But the large parkland around the Circle had been packed with other Pelydrians that day, all there to hear his anger…and to bring him things from Ugun. Many of them had visited Ugun, had had friends there, had been given Ugun gifts of tools, books, cloth and jewellery. And all were laid by his tired, emotional feet, then all piled under that tree to be transported back to the old training Facility for him.

And through that horrible, exhausting day, as he'd witnessed their openly displayed grief, he'd had to reluctantly let some of his boiling anger at them slip. He'd listened to their whispered stories of lost Ugun friends, even a few lovers lost, as further Ugun treasures had been handed over to him. He'd realised then that each of the items given to him had held a story of Ugun, that they were to be preserved, remembered.

That Pelydr grieved with him and promised to forever remember his people.

Mareta and Pauldron had stayed by his side in the circle all day, taking care of recording and moving the gifted items, and had brought him food and drink. Until, eventually, at the end of that long painful day, they had escorted him to the Retreat for the first time.

He'd only agreed to stay at the Retreat for those first two weeks because he'd so craved some isolation, but also because he'd wanted all of Pelydr to be aware that the last Ugun alive was on their planet.

Judging them.

But through those two weeks, alone in the Retreat yet ravaged by ghosts and pain, he'd started to pull himself back together.

And on the last day, when he'd arrived back at the Portal, the parkland had again been filled with Pelydrians to see him. The Elders had again reminded him that all their services across the planet were available to him for the rest of his life. Back then, he'd taken that to mean they didn't think he'd live a long time, so he'd simply stated that he'd take the two week stay at the Retreat each yearly cycle and nothing else.

Every yearly cycle he visited, Elders always met him at the Portal and gave him something to commemorate his people and, each time, they offered him again the resources of their world.

And he never took up the offer.

But, now that the years had passed, during which he'd had to make his own horrific decisions in war that had cost some innocents their lives to help save a greater battle…the faces of those he'd had to leave behind, forever burned into his memory…the lingering resentment towards Pelydr had faded.

He'd occasionally wondered what Pelydr would do if he did ask for something extreme from them. They had strict religious beliefs and those constructed rules about interference in other worlds' "destinies", but what would they do if he demanded a Seer be permanently assigned to the Elite?

Up until recently, Oneakka hadn't seen any benefit to prophecy. After all, the Elders had explained how unclear such powers were about predicting specific events, so what good could Seers be? He'd only seen the power of Seers as a horrific burden; seeing death and destruction, but unable to change events.

Yet, Sitayi' gift had helped saved Halling, and the events on the Rogue Hive had subsequently provided vital intel and tech from the Skerti…

But, Mareta and Pauldron had no seer gifts and he didn't need to think about such complicated, difficult things today. Today, he was meeting his parents' old friends, who each year welcomed him to their home. And that Mareta was a Healer, well, he would feel more comfortable asking for his first ever Pelydrian healing from her.

As he started up the incline of a lush familiar meadow, not too far from their home, his mind turned to thoughts of his parents, as they always did on this particular visit. But, today, the moment struck a little differently.

Everything about his family felt different since his vision. Since the field. Since he'd felt their hands on his back, encouraging him away from the precipice and back towards the voices of his Whisperers calling him back to life.

He absently realised that the ground was turning a dusty red under his boots and he was breathing harder, the incline having increased. His muscles were working harder and he could feel his wound twinging deep inside. He paused to take a break, looking around him at the trees established on the foothills of the Mountain. They were narrow trunked, pale white trees with orangey brown densely packed leaves. They made a nice rustling sound in the breeze as he turned on the spot, taking in any changes since he had been here last year. It appeared one larger tree had fallen, the stump all that remained. There was no sign of the rest of the tree itself, so it had been taken away to be used. Perhaps even by Mareta and Pauldron themselves to use for furniture.

Pushing on, willing some relaxation into his wound, he moved on up through the denser patches of trees, crossing in and out of shade and sunlight until he reached the worn old path up a rocky section of ground. Just up from here was the plateau on which Mareta and Pauldron's small home copse of trees stood, and he could already see some of the tree canopy up above that was the roof of their home.

Smiling, he made his way up the short path to the plateau, climbing up onto it with a breath of relief.

The section of dense trees that was their home was off to the left, encircled by a large ring of small white stones and a narrow band of Mareta's flowerbeds just inside that outer circle. The encircling bed held a massive variety of medicinal flowers, herbs, and shrubs that she grew for her healing work. Though she was technically a retired Healer, apparently Pelydrian Healers never truly retired.

The Healer in question was currently sweeping the open ground under the outer edge of the trees, her back to him.

Oneakka watched her work. In typical Pelydrian fashion, there was no way to know how old she and Pauldron actually were, but that they had grown adult children who had children of their own, suggested they were both of elder years. For Pelydrians, that could mean anything from eighty years onwards, no one truly knew outside this world. But, if that was Mareta's age, she did not show it.

Hearing his boots crunching on sandy ground as he headed towards their home, Mareta glanced round and straightened, a bright smile on her face. Oneakka held up one hand and waved to her, quickening his steps for the last stretch.

"He's here!" Mareta called into the enclosed grove of trees.

"Who?" Pauldron's voice called back from inside the trees.

"What do you mean, who?" Mareta called back to her mate with a frown that made Oneakka chuckle as he approached. "The Son of Ugun. Who we've been waiting to visit today. Honestly," Mareta muttered as she turned back around. "Into the cleansing circle, Oneakka," she instructed, pointing one purple arm in the direction of the smaller circle set just outside the larger home circle.

"I know, I know," Oneakka grinned as he called back, already on his way towards it.

Pelydrians did not like violence of any kind and, according to Mareta, his life of warfare left a mark on him. So, before he was allowed into their home circle, he always had to go through an initial ritual in the separate little cleansing circle. Apparently, she used it for all of her healings, but he had to go into it immediately upon arriving to visit them. He might not entirely understand why it was necessary for Mareta, but he respected the ritual and was very used to it after all these years.

He reached the small ring of white stones and stepped inside it, placed his bag down by his feet, and turned to face towards Mareta and Pauldron's home. To his eye, the treetops looked a little denser today. Last year, Pauldron had said they had had to make some adjustments to how they trimmed their home's natural roof and clearly it had worked.

Mareta emerged back out from the trees, carrying her usual ritual wicker basket full of her ceremonial items. "Stay standing," she instructed him as she headed across the grass inside the home circle towards him.

"I know how it goes," he teased her.

"Good, good," she smiled up from her basket as she walked, a small branch in her hand ready for the ritual, only she abruptly slowed to a stop, her smile disappearing into what looked like shock.

He frowned worriedly at her. Was she okay?

Mareta's violet eyes were wide and her jaw was hanging open.

"Mareta?" Oneakka called to her, wondering if he should break her rule and move into the home circle.

She blinked and started forward towards him again, her eyes were locked with his.

"Are you okay?" He asked as she approached.

She stopped on the other side of the swaying medicinal flowerbed between them. "I hear your parents' voices in your ears," she whispered.

He blinked, now the one shocked.

"What?" He uttered.

Did she mean his vision? How could she know that?

"You crossed the threshold," she stated.

That he'd briefly died? How could she…?

"You were hurt," she frowned, her eyes moving down him. "Your stomach?" She asked with a heavy frown towards his belly.

How could she know that? He was wearing a shirt, the wound's scars well hidden. But, she was Pelydrian, he reminded himself. He'd respected her natural gifts, but he'd not realised she could tell things like this…

His hand touched against his lower belly, feeling the scars through the material. "Yes," he confirmed for her. He could feel the hairs on his arms standing up, sharply aware of the breeze over his skin. "I'm healed up inside," he told her. "But my flexibility is taking time to return."

She nodded, her eyes moving over the rest of him in her more usual way, though now he truly had to wonder what she was seeing or sensing when she did this.

"In fact," he added. "I was wondering if I could have some healing from you for the wound; anything you feel comfortable giving," he added, not sure how far the offer to him extended. No curing the incurable, as the old phrase was said to be.

Mareta's eyes snapped up to his and all her worried and critical assessment vanished into a large, almost excited smile. "Of course," she declared. "But first the cleansing," she stated, returning her attention to her wicker basket, which she set down on the grass inside the home circle.

Beyond her, Oneakka saw Pauldron finally appear from the trees, a tray in his hands holding a large pot, several cups and a plate of food. Around his waist, Pauldron wore his old 'carrying belt' one hook on which held the small folding table Oneakka had seen them use for years.

Only Oneakka saw Pauldron stop in his tracks as well, his eyes also widening as he saw Oneakka. So, it wasn't just a 'healer' insight then, because Pauldron did not share the same gifts as his wife.

Mareta glanced round to her husband. "He crossed the threshold, but is mostly recovered now," she updated Pauldron. "But he wants some healing," she added all excited again.

"I see," Pauldron nodded, his former shock now a smile directed to his mate, as he continued towards them. "How were you hurt, Oneakka? In a battle with the Wraith?" Pauldron asked as he neared.

"Yes," Oneakka confirmed as Mareta started her ritual, dipping the small branch into a pot of water and aromatic oils, which she proceeded to flick at him with the small twig and leaves. "But my injury was from a fall," Oneakka continued, water splattering against one cheek. "I was impaled through when I landed."

Pauldron pulled a sympathetic wince as he paused on the grass, the tray lifted to balance against his shoulder as he reached down to unhook the small table. He flicked the table open with impressive experience and set the tray down on it.

"Such a dangerous life," Mareta muttered disapprovingly as she moved around outside the cleansing circle, droplets now lightly pattering against Oneakka's back. "Your Mother would worry so much at such a life."

Oneakka smiled round at her. "Wasn't Mother a renowned wrestling champion on Ugun when she was younger?"

Mareta muttered about dangerous things again as she disappeared further around behind him, starting on his other side.

Pauldron chuckled in the sunlight. "Your mother was certainly as strong-willed as your father."

"You take after her too much some days," Mareta added as she moved around his right side, almost having completed her circle of water splashing.

"I take that as a compliment," Oneakka pointed out.

Pauldron chuckled again. "So Ugun."

"It is, of course, a compliment," Mareta announced as she stood in front of him again and flicked a large splatter of fragrant water over his face.

Oneakka smiled as he wiped the moisture from one eye.

"It is so good to see you, Oneakka," Pauldron added. "And especially to hear that you survived such a horrific ordeal."

"I had good people around me," Oneakka replied as he watched Mareta putting away her water and drawing out the thick bundle of herbs she'd now burn to blow smoke over him.

"We have heard of the return of the ancient threat named the Skerti," Pauldron reported as Mareta started lighting the herb bundle with a small device.

"Yes," Oneakka nodded to Pauldron. "But, we have new allies to help us in that fight."

"Atlantis," Mareta nodded, informing him just how aware even retired Pelydrians were about bigger events. "It's no small thing that the Ancestral city has returned." She had the herbs alight now and blew on the glowing end. "Have you met their people personally?" She asked as she wafted the herbal smoke.

"Yes, several," he confirmed.

"Some of them have visited Pelydr," Pauldron added as Mareta started heading around Oneakka again, this time waving the strong smelling smoke over him. "But neither of us have met them directly. What are they like?"

"Like anyone else," Oneakka shrugged and coughed a little as he inadvertently breathed in some of the smoke. She always said it was safe, that it was beneficial for him, but it always smelled weird, rather like old childhood medicine. "They seem very well trained, work well together in combat, and have helped considerably in some battles against the Wraith."

Pauldron nodded.

"And how are they as people not just warriors?" Mareta asked pointedly as she completed her circle around the cleansing circle and wafted one last curl of smoke at his face.

"Those I've met seem good people," Oneakka confirmed for her.

"Good," she nodded before bending down and stubbing out the burning bundle just outside the circle. She straightened and held open her arms. "You can come in now."

Oneakka stepped forward through the stems of the flowerbed and into her embrace, wrapping his arms around her. She squeezed him tightly, as she always did, rocking one way and the other, always seeming full of excitement even in her elder years. She also had a surprisingly strong hug for a petite female.

Released by her, Oneakka grinned as he straightened and turned to Pauldron, stepping into his hug.

"Welcome again to our home, Oneakka," Pauldron stated within the embrace, his warm hands rubbing Oneakka's back in a way that felt more comforting than usual.

In that moment, it struck Oneakka how often both of them had hugged his parents all those years ago, and, as he and Pauldron let go of each other, he wondered if his own hug reminded them of his family's embrace.

"Come now, sit," Pauldron drew him towards the table and tray. "I have made up some drinks and some little sweet treats for us to enjoy before our mid meal."

"Thank you," Oneakka smiled as he crouched down, unable to stop himself from wincing as he sat on the grass, his wound pulling tight from the walk. Maybe Raven had been right and doing his morning workout beforehand hadn't been the smartest decision.

But, now down on the grass, he settled comfortably, crossing his legs easily, though he saw Mareta's raised eyebrow; she hadn't missed the wince.

"Here you go," Pauldron handed over a steaming ceramic mug. "You still enjoy Pelydrian bark root, I assume?"

"Always," Oneakka confirmed, taking the offered drink.

"So," Mareta said, as she settled on the grass, one hand patting Oneakka's closest knee. "Tell us of your year since we last saw you."

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TBC