A Myth from the Darkness: Teyla and the Constellations
When Teyla was a child many people lost their way traveling between towns and new places. Trees would overgrow old paths, or rain would flood rivers and lakes. Teyla helped as many people as she could, but still more remained lost and unfound. Tired of hearing the same stories from so many mouths, Teyla made up her mind to leave home and find a way she could help everyone who went astray. So she strapped her favorite doll to her hip and her fighting sticks to her back, and she wandered into the woods.
Woods back then were terrifying places. They continued to grow despite the lack of light, and, in summer, their leaves were so thick that no light from any of the seven stars could pierce through at all. But Teyla, alone and without a lamp of any kind, did not fear. For, even surrounded by the deepest darkness, she always knew where to set her feet.
Teyla walked until time lost meaning. She hungered; she ate. She tired; she slept. And always she walked, following the path her heart knew was true.
One night, her feet led her to a clearing deep within the wood. That night, when she lay down to sleep, she could see the seven stars, the seven souls who had carried John and whom he loved. The star for which she'd been named, the Emmagan, was the seventh. Emma had been a young woman who had become pregnant shortly after John pulled her away from the darkness and granted her another year of life. She spent her last breaths giving birth to her daughter, and John used the very last of her breath to create her star in the sky.
Though only a child, Teyla was wise, and she could well-imagine the pain Emma might have felt, dying just as her daughter began to cry. She remembered many young mothers and fathers weeping over children who had, at one moment been playing, and at the other missing. And, Teyla began singing. She sang of lost people, of dark nights and days, of nightmares and fear, and separation. She sang out her loneliness, her tiredness, and her ceaseless determination.
And her song reached the stars, building a ladder only her hands and feet could find. Teyla climbed three days and nights until she reached the seven stars. She held counsel with the stars, though she's forever kept secret what was said and sold. And, after long many nights of negotiation, the stars all shed some of their souls and shine for Teyla spread across the sky. Two years passed as she made long treks across the heavens, spreading out pathways to guide those walking below.
When she finally returned home, a young woman bare of doll and sticks, she still shone, bits of star stuck in her eyes and hair, smile and skin. She taught her people how to read the pathways hidden in the stars and call them all by name.
Woods back then were terrifying places. They continued to grow despite the lack of light, and, in summer, their leaves were so thick that no light from any of the seven stars could pierce through at all. But Teyla, alone and without a lamp of any kind, did not fear. For, even surrounded by the deepest darkness, she always knew where to set her feet.
Teyla walked until time lost meaning. She hungered; she ate. She tired; she slept. And always she walked, following the path her heart knew was true.
One night, her feet led her to a clearing deep within the wood. That night, when she lay down to sleep, she could see the seven stars, the seven souls who had carried John and whom he loved. The star for which she'd been named, the Emmagan, was the seventh. Emma had been a young woman who had become pregnant shortly after John pulled her away from the darkness and granted her another year of life. She spent her last breaths giving birth to her daughter, and John used the very last of her breath to create her star in the sky.
Though only a child, Teyla was wise, and she could well-imagine the pain Emma might have felt, dying just as her daughter began to cry. She remembered many young mothers and fathers weeping over children who had, at one moment been playing, and at the other missing. And, Teyla began singing. She sang of lost people, of dark nights and days, of nightmares and fear, and separation. She sang out her loneliness, her tiredness, and her ceaseless determination.
And her song reached the stars, building a ladder only her hands and feet could find. Teyla climbed three days and nights until she reached the seven stars. She held counsel with the stars, though she's forever kept secret what was said and sold. And, after long many nights of negotiation, the stars all shed some of their souls and shine for Teyla spread across the sky. Two years passed as she made long treks across the heavens, spreading out pathways to guide those walking below.
When she finally returned home, a young woman bare of doll and sticks, she still shone, bits of star stuck in her eyes and hair, smile and skin. She taught her people how to read the pathways hidden in the stars and call them all by name.