fic: Renewal by tielan [Mission Report Challenge]
TITLE: Renewal
AUTHOR: tielan
SUMMARY: Wild women do, and they don't regret it...much.
CATEGORY: Drama, humour.
RATING: PG-13
CHARACTERS: Teyla, Elizabeth, Kate, Laura, Ronon, Sheppard
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Unfortunately.
Renewal
We went to Mazani for the rite of renewal and were among the honoured guests of the evening. There were various misunderstandings during the night but they were soon cleared up in favour of celebration, and I believe our standing among the Mazani and their allies is favourable after attending the rite.
--
"You know," John mentioned at the end of their sparring, "That report you gave on the Mazani renewal thing was pretty short, even for you."
Teyla had just been about to sip from her waterskin. She took a moment to avoid choking before she answered him evenly. "There is little to be said about the celebration. We went and observed the rite. Agreements were reached with several cultures, and the Mazani were pleased to have hosted us."
Her sparring partner eyed her with no small amount of scepticism. "Is that so?"
When the challenge in his expression didn't change, she added, "I indicated so in the report."
John smiled slightly. "I read it. But you're not always big on detail."
Teyla began to distrust that smile. "Dr. Weir, Dr. Heightmeyer, and Lieutenant Cadman wrote reports as well."
"Yes, they did. However, they weren't big on detail either." The smile did not abate, although it gained a more meaningful intent. "And that's not normal."
Teyla was beginning to feel cornered by his expression. She turned to put the waterskin away, careful to keep her voice composed as she lightly suggested, "Perhaps you should ask Elizabeth or Lieutenant Cadman about their reports."
"Perhaps I should." John said, coming closer. "But I can't help thinking that they've got something to hide - which is why their reports are scarce on the details."
Teyla avoided looking at him as she packed away her sticks.
"Teyla..."
"If you believe that they are lying--"
"Oh, I don't think they're lying," he replied. "But I think a lot more happened than any of you put in the reports."
And Teyla had to admit that he was correct about that.
-- -- -- -- -- --
"You're sure this isn't going to cause...trouble?" Elizabeth murmured as the black-clad Mazani began offering the guest-cups to the honoured guests. It was plain that she was concerned by the prospect of intoxication while beyond the city. Regular reminders were issued to the outgoing teams from Atlantis that they should be careful of the local customs and the food and drink.
Teyla had carefully been through the customs of the Mazani rite of renewal, both in Atlantis and when they arrived on the planet. The Mazani were easy-going in most things, but this rite was special to them, sacred to everything they held dear. That the Lanteans had been accepted as guests was as much due to the influence of Teyla's people, as for Teyla's conversations with the Mazani mother-elder who had met with her and her team-mates to discuss the possibility of Lantean inclusion in the rite.
"It is not strong," Teyla told the Atlantis leader as the guest-cup approached them, held in the hands of the Mazani mother-elder Patali Arkanaya. "Most of the participants and celebrants will imbibe many times before the distillation takes effect. I have never heard of anyone affected after only one cup."
'Renewal' was a broad word as the Mazani interpreted it - not merely the renewing of population, or the celebration of pleasure and propagation of numbers, but a renewing of relationships - friendships, partnerships, alliances - whether through seed or word.
Last time Teyla attended the Mazani rite of renewal, she had been younger, willing to be coaxed into participation by a man who'd seemed as enamoured of she as she had been of him. Her memories of that night were sweet and treasured, but Teyla did not intend to repeat them this time.
Even from so long ago, the taste of the liquor echoed spicy across her tongue. Teyla didn't hesitate, but drained the cup in a single gulp, the way she had been taught and handed it back to the mother-elder for refilling and passing on.
With uncertain glances but sure movements, the other women followed her lead. Elizabeth drank slow but without pause, and Laura drank quickly and blew out a long breath when she'd finished. Dr. Heightmeyer nearly choked on hers, and when she lowered the cup, there were tears in her eyes, but she handed back the guest-cup for refilling and Patali nodded her head with pleasure and approval before moving on to offer Ronon the cup.
Later, Teyla consoled herself that there was no way of knowing that Lantean physiology could not process this particular liquor.
Not the most comforting of consolations.
--
When Laura approached her, Teyla was in conversation with the Tibali representars. "Please, excuse us," Teyla asked them, and was treated to warm assurances before the representars moved away, allowing her some degree of privacy in the swiftly-shifting crowd. "Laura?"
"Who were those people?"
"Tibali." The name would mean nothing to Laura, so Teyla briefly elaborated. "Their world is rich in the kinds of metals Dr. Abayen mentioned that you need."
"Ah. Potential trading partners. You're moving fast this evening." Laura smirked, then took a deep breath. The usually composed young woman seemed nervous. "Look, you're sure they're not expecting us to actually...be involved in the rites?" A slight flush rode high on her cheeks as she glanced around them. A young man strutting past in nothing more than long black leg-hugging trousers paused to grin knowingly at both women.
Teyla smiled back but made no gesture of invitation, showing appreciation but no active interest. "Your clothing indicates you are a celebrant, not a participant," she said. "Had you indicated your willingness to participate, the garments provided by the Mazani would not have included your trousers."
Laura glanced down at the sash-tied robe, her eyes widening as she realised the import of Teyla's words. "Oh." Then she looked at the people moving around them, at the chattering representatives of a hundred worlds. "So the women don't wear trousers to show their...uh...availability? And the men....?"
"The male participants in the rite do not wear the overrobes," Teyla pointed out, indicating a man sauntering by, bare-chested, with a bare-legged woman in tow. The pair was laughing as they moved to one of the tents set at the edge of the clearing, seeking privacy for their pleasure.
"Which is why Ronon..." Laura stopped mid-sentence, flushing again. "I'm just...I think I might be interpreting things wrong and I'm not sure if it's me or...or just what I know is happening at the rite, and all these guys keep smiling at me - although they haven't tried anything and if they did, I'd have to kick their asses, because, you know, there's Carson back in Atlantis and I think I'm more nervous about this than I thought I'd be because I'm talking way more than I usually do."
Teyla touched her arm. "They smile because they are eager to find renewal with you," she told Laura, choosing to be frank. "But they would not dare push you beyond what you desire - consent should always be actively given. The Ancestors would not bless a union that happened against the will of one of the partners."
"The Ancestors wouldn't have anything to do with it."
She would not deny that. "Yet tonight, their beliefs will dictate their actions."
The other woman ran a hand through her loose blonde hair. "You know, I'm beginning to think Colonel Sheppard assigned me to this out of spite."
Teyla was tempted to ask why. Instead, she indicated the crowds. "Do you wish me to accompany you?"
"No." She took a deep breath and summoned up a smile that, to Teyla, was merely a covering for her nervousness. "Okay. I can do this. I think."
And with a brief, genuine smile at Teyla, she vanished into the crowd.
--
The afternoon had settled to warm evening, brilliant with a spattering of crystalline stars in a shading blue sky. Teyla was in a three-way conversation with a Mazani mother-elder and a Kuleppan Ceiltdhe discussing the actions Mazani and Kuleppan had taken in the face of the increased Wraith cullings.
Neither culture was yet willing to actively fight back, although both professed an interest in the efforts of the Lanteans and wished to know more about Teyla's time among them. Teyla was willing enough to share her experiences with the Lanteans, stressing the features of their culture and personalities that she had come to admire, and leaving out the less-pleasant aspects.
Elizabeth called it 'tact'. Colonel Sheppard considered it 'putting your best foot forward'. Rodney called it 'lying to make people feel better and stupid because they'd just find out later'.
Teyla thought of it as preparing the ground for sowing seeds of friendship.
When voices rose in heated argument and heads turned, Teyla was not initially concerned. With so many people from so many cultures at the rite, it was expected that some old antipathies would be stirred in the evening. After generations of holding these gatherings, the Mazani were expert at dealing with those who came to the rite of renewal with intent to disrupt.
Something about the inflection of the raised voice caught at her ear and she broke off in mid-sentence.
"...not a piece of property to be handled!"
"He was making no protest!"
"Maybe that's because you weren't looking at his face!"
Teyla eased her way through the crowd, the silk of her overrobe making the process delicately sensuous as the material slid over her skin. She hardly noticed, her attention was focused on the quarrel and the people involved.
A glimpse of Ronon's dreadlocks at the centre of the trouble only confirmed what she had thought she'd heard. And yet what she had heard was so preposterous...
She broke into the arena of the argument, breaking through the spectator circle. "Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth was facing off against a voluptuous redhead whose dark robe enhanced the creamy pale of her skin - and she was showing a great deal of skin. The stiffness of the Lantean leader's pose gave away her anger, the tension that Teyla had seen few times and which the men in Atlantis feared.
She repeated her friend's name.
"Teyla, don't interfere." The cool voice carried a barbed end, sharp as a whip, and stinging.
A little hurt by the reprimand, Teyla looked at Ronon, standing behind and beside Elizabeth, restrained with a single hand pressing light against his thigh. He shrugged, indicating that he was no more conversant with what was happening.
Teyla noted that he had not yet chosen to defuse the situation by moving away.
On one hand, she trusted Elizabeth's decision to intervene, on the other...this was not behaviour she would ever have expected of the Lantean leader. A subtler warning, perhaps; but this spectacle? No.
By contrast, the redhead was casual and insolent as fiery gold hair dripped over her nearly-bare shoulder as her voice dripped scorn. "Are you even aware of what the rite entails? If he is willing to participate, then you have no right to interfere with his renewal." The redhead flashed a venomous look at the hand lying against Ronon's thigh - in warning or possession? "Unless you plan to use him yourself?"
Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort, then paused as Ronon shifted uncomfortably.
What leathers usually restrained, black silk did not. Teyla fought back a laugh as Ronon's body made clear his interest in the matter, and Elizabeth went scarlet as the redhead bristled with jealousy.
Ronon took control of the situation, grabbing Elizabeth's hand from his thigh and dragging her from the circle, ignoring her yelp of dismay and the protests that were muffled by the laughter and teasing of the crowd as they retreated from the site of conflict.
Teyla considered further intervention, but thinking of Elizabeth's reprimand, she decided against it. Desire was one thing, intimacy another. Ronon understood the rules of the Mazani rite as well as those of Atlantis, and Elizabeth would never countenance such a union.
Doubtless, she would soon see Elizabeth back in conversation with another set of representatives from another world, while Ronon would mingle among the other participants with his lazy, knowing smile. The incident would be laughed off and forgotten.
Doubtless.
--
"And you lived in Atlantis for...nearly a year?" Nievaal of the Mazani regarded her with admiration. "To have lived in the fabled city of the Ancestors, even for so short a time... You must have many tales to tell."
"Life has been...varied...since meeting the Lanteans," Teyla admitted. She tried not to let Nievaal's admiration go to her head but it was difficult. The Mazani men were prized as partners and lovers by the more bold of women in Pegasus - respect and desire in delicate balance without any leavening of their masculinity. Contrary to the jokes passed around Atlantis about matriarchies castrating their males, the Mazani males were both respectful and admiring of their womenfolk, sure of their own place in the culture and of their capabilities.
To say the initial meeting between Teyla's team-mates and the Mazani had been 'interesting' was like describing a supernova as a candleflame.
"It is well known that you have allied your people with them," Nievaal murmured. "The rumours say that you are accepted among them as one of their own." He offered her a small plate of finger food, taken from a servitor who passed by them.
"They are a generous people when they are minded," she said, thinking of many things - Colonel Sheppard's inclusion of her, Dr. Weir's acceptance of her presence, Aiden Ford's willingness to show her how to use the Earth weapons as she had taught John staves.
By the light of the bonfires, Nievaal's eyes were sharp on her face. "And when they are not?" Then he shook his head and brushed his hand past hers. "Forgive me. I should not be so bold." Dark lashes lowered before flicking up to her face again.
"On this night, boldness is a virtue," she reminded him with a smile. There was a pleasure in the flirtation - something that she refrained from doing in Atlantis.
Yet it seemed Nievaal had more in mind than mere flirtation. "Then I shall boldly ask...is it merely your people who are allied to the Lanteans, or have you...contracted a personal alliance with them?" His eyes studied her features, most likely noting how she flushed and looked away.
"I..." Teyla was not sure how to answer such inquiry. She had come here for the renewal of relationships, not for the kind of intimacy Nievaal seemed to be offering. And yet to participate in the rite, to give glory to life and living in the most basic of ways...
As she lifted her eyes, trying to determine how she would answer, she spotted Laura with a hawklike young man - and stared.
The two were quite occupied, and, judging by their behaviour, insensible of the others around them. And if the young man did not keep his hands from Laura, neither was Laura playing coy.
It was certainly not the 'ass kicking' Laura had promised.
"Please excuse me," she said to Nievaal, touching him lightly on the shoulder in apology before she went to 'rescue' the Marine.
The pair was engaged so thoroughly that it took them a moment to break apart when Teyla reached them.
Laura ran a hand through her hair, drawing it off her face with a slight grimace. "Hey, Teyla, what's up?"
Taken aback at such a cavalier response, Teyla hesitated a moment, during which the young man began whispering in Laura's ear, and she began giggling.
Teyla fixed her most polite smile on her face. "Have you seen Elizabeth or Kate?"
"No. They're probably off enjoying themselves somewhere." She eyed someone beyond Teyla's shoulder while her friend traced his fingers across hers. "You should do the same, you know. Loosen up. Get laid."
She decided it was time to take more severe measures.
"Dr. Beckett said the same thing," she told Laura, bluntly.
Her words were not without a grain of truthfulness. While Carson had hidden his initial concern over Laura's inclusion in the rite of renewal, Rodney's description of it as, "the Pegasus orgy" had not helped his state of mind. Teyla had been careful to assuage his unease, explaining the rite and the Mazani customs until he seemed reassured. In the end, he had wished her luck and a relaxing evening.
The other woman's expression changed at the mention of Carson. Her eyes widened as she pushed the young man away with a slightly revolted look. "I...I... Oh, God, Teyla, I'm sorry. I didn't think that... It was just the moment and..." She turned to the young man. "I can't. I've got... There's someone... Shit. I'm a dumbass."
Her companion stared at her for a long moment, disappointment and hurt flickering across his face. Then he bent close to murmur something and touched his lips to hers in brief passion before stepping back and walking away with quick, stiff strides. He was lost in the throng within moment.
Laura stared after him with a mix of longing and regret, before she turned back to Teyla, embarrassed. "You probably think I'm such a bitch after that."
"I think that you are slightly intoxicated," Teyla corrected, taking her arm. "Did you drink of the guest cup again?"
"No! I mean, it was just a sip and..." One long-fingered hand pressed against her forehead and she was silent a moment. "God. I. Am. An. Idiot." Then, in a much smaller voice, she asked, "Are you going to tell Carson?"
While Teyla was uncertain of the exact definition of the relationship between doctor and Marine, it was plain that they cared for each other. Nothing good would come of reporting this small indiscretion - particularly since Laura regretted it.
"No," she said and watched the other woman relax a little.
"Thanks." Laura's hand didn't move from her forehead. "God, I didn't even think of... And..." She hesitated.
"Laura?"
"And I'm not feeling so good..." Her shoulders heaved, and she suddenly yanked herself away from Teyla, stumbling through the crowds.
Teyla followed, only to find Laura on the outskirts of the rite, being sick.
Kneeling down, she pulled the blonde hair out of the way. "Laura?"
Dark eyes lifted slowly to look at her, and even by the torchlight, the pale skin had an odd tinge to it. "I thought it was just the alcohol - sometimes I get headaches after I've drunk too fast... My head hurts."
Teyla sighed to herself. It seemed that the celebrations would go no further for her and for Laura. "Then we should find somewhere for you to rest."
It seemed that her renewal - and Laura's - was done for the night.
She could only hope that Elizabeth and Kate were doing better.
--
Even in the warmth of the morning, the water of the river was still cool enough to shiver across Teyla's skin as she took the proffered bucket, scooped up the water and tipped it over her head and body in the last stage of the rite of renewal.
Only the women gathered down by the river in the morning, to the steady rhythm of the drums carried in the still air, with much laughter and teasing of those who had participated in the rite - and those who had not intended participation, but who had found themselves drawn in all the same.
Not every woman who had participated in the rite was here, many were either still with their last partner of the evening, or sleeping off the effects of over indulgence.
"Teyla of the Athosians," the mother-elder Patali waded over to her. "Renewal to you."
"And to you, mother-elder," she answered with a smile. "May your renewal be fruitful."
Come another year, many of the women around Teyla would have children to show for tonight - one of the more tangible aspects of the rite.
"Let us hope that the Ancestors will it so." Patali held out her hand for the bucket, imperious as a mother-elder had the right to be. "May your renewals be fruitful also," she said as she dipped the container in the river, neatly catching the herbs bobbing on the surface before pouring it over her own large head.
Teyla frowned in the act of scraping back her wet hair from her face. The phrase was more commonly used for cultures whose people had participated in the rite. And while Ronon had certainly participated, Atlantis would not know of any children he had fathered tonight. Still, politeness made her respond, "Ancestors will it."
Not for nothing was Patali a mother-elder. She caught Teyla's hesitation. "Did you not know the actions of your companions last night?"
Teyla did not. This morning, she had left Laura sleeping in the tent among others too wearied by the night to join in with the morning ritual. Elizabeth, she had met emerging from a beribboned tent halfway to the river.
She had not seen Kate since they went their separate ways the previous night.
"What do you mean?"
Patali's sly smile was reminiscent of Ronon's smirk. "The blonde one - not your younger friend - I saw her emerge from a tent this morning in the company of not one but two of the male participants." The mother-elder was clearly tickled by Kate's involvement in the rite. "And both men seemed more than satisfied - your friend walked away, but they watched her go. She must be quite a woman! Ah, to be so young again! I remember in my own youth..."
Teyla listened to the mother-elder's reminiscences, a little shocked at Patali's revelation of Kate's evening. Multiple partners were not unknown among the cultures of Pegasus; but she had gathered it was less acceptable among the Lanteans.
Elizabeth's outburst during the evening, Laura's reckless actions, Kate's liaisons of the night... Although the behaviour of her friends last night was well within those expected of participants in the right, it went at odds with what Teyla knew of Lantean behaviours.
It made her quiet and thoughtful when she climbed from the river's final renewal and returned to the tent where the others were already changing.
"Teyla, that drink they gave us is either really potent or really drugged," Laura said as she entered. "I haven't felt this awful since..." She paused, flushed, glanced at the two older women and mumbled something about not saying anything that might incriminate her.
"I believe it may be too late for that already," Teyla collected up her clothing and stepped behind the screen, stripping off her garments of the previous evening and changing swiftly.
"Sowing wild oats, Lieutenant?" Kate asked.
"Oh, and you can talk, Doctor," Laura retorted. "This morning there were all these people talking about 'the blonde Lantean with two guys' - and thanks to Teyla, I'm sure it wasn't me!"
Silence pooled out on the other side of the screen.
"Okay," Elizabeth said. "We aren't going to mention anything that happened last night when we get home," Her voice overrode whatever protests the other two had planned to make. "Not in the reports, not in conversation, not in casual reference." From what Teyla could hear of the leader's voice, she was still embarrassed by her ferocious defence of Ronon - and Ronon's response to it.
Teyla fought back a smile. It was nothing as obvious as having material with which to tease Ronon; rather, it was the simple and subtle pleasure of knowing and of his knowing that she knew.
"Are you asking us to commit perjury, Dr. Weir?" Laura asked with interest.
"No," Elizabeth replied with a touch of humour. "You'd have to take an oath to commit perjury."
"And we don't need rumours making the rounds of the city," Kate was saying as Teyla stepped out from the changing screen.
"You mean, the expedition psychologist doesn't need it rumoured around the base that she likes two guys at once?"
Kate looked as though she were holding her temper back by a fine thread when Teyla entered the conversation. She spoke before Laura could add insult to injury, or Kate could snap back since Elizabeth was tugging on her boots and not apparently about to intervene. "I do not believe it would be...helpful...to relate all the occurrences of last night," she said. "I am in agreement with Elizabeth - beyond the people we spoke to about alliance and friendship, the other events of the night need not be detailed." And since she had nothing to hide, her assessment would be more acceptable to all three women.
Certainly, both Elizabeth and Kate seemed relieved by her support, and after a moment, Laura nodded in agreement.
"We came, we participa-- attended the rite of renewal, spoke with representatives from many worlds, and went home again." Even with the flush touching her cheeks, Elizabeth was brisk and businesslike. "I'll have a word with Ronon about it later."
"Speaking of which," Laura added, "where is Ronon?"
"I haven't seen him since he dragged Elizabeth off last night," Kate said, giving their leader a mischievous look that turned to innocence. "Well, we're not back home yet."
"Ronon won't talk," said Laura confidently. "Hell, it's hard enough getting a conversation out of him most of the time anyway, let alone gossip."
Teyla agreed.
She was grateful that their own foibles occupied them, however selfish the thought. It meant they had no opportunity to question her as to her own actions last night - the actions undertaken after Laura passed out.
Nievaal of the Mazani might be bold, but he also knew how to be persuasive.
Teyla allowed herself a satisfied smile.
However, as Elizabeth and Kate debated the degree of detail required in their reports, Teyla reflected that Colonel Sheppard would almost certainly fail to be content with the edited result. John was tenacious when he chose to be - as Rodney was curious.
At least, she thought, it was unlikely he would come to her for the details.
-- -- -- -- -- --
John was moving in closer, like a predator to the kill. He was directly beside her now, standing very close. She could feel his eyes upon her. "Teyla."
There was a drawn-out warning to his voice, and Teyla sighed as she surreptitiously moved away. "If they have kept information back, then are you not asking me to betray trust in revealing it to you?"
"Let's just say, I have my concerns."
She met his gaze without flinching, looking him in the eye so he should be in no doubt that she was not dissembling. "Whatever happened at the Mazani celebration is...personal. It is no threat to this city, John."
He measured her words, weighing them as the traders in the marketplaces weighed out spices and dyes. And for all that she knew he trusted her, it was a long moment before he answered. "You're sure?"
"I am sure."
"And you're not going to tell me what you really got up to with the Mazani?"
Her mouth twitched slightly. "If you wish to find out what happens, then perhaps next time you will submit to being the 'offering' for the rite?"
John's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. "Ahhh... No."
"Ronon enjoyed it." Teyla bit back a smile at John's sour expression.
His gaze stayed on her face as he asked, "So, did you...?"
"I enjoyed the celebrations." She bit back the laughter at his clumsy attempt to determine if she had also 'indulged' at the Mazani rite. He would never know from her - as he would never know of the others' indiscretions from her.
"Teyla..." It was a tone she more often heard him use on Rodney - exasperated and warning.
"John."
He huffed, frustrated by her silence. "You could at least hint at what happened."
"I could," she agreed before appropriating a saying she had heard among the Lanteans before the rite. "But what happens among the Mazani, stays among the Mazani, John."
With that, he would have to be content.
- fin -
AUTHOR: tielan
SUMMARY: Wild women do, and they don't regret it...much.
CATEGORY: Drama, humour.
RATING: PG-13
CHARACTERS: Teyla, Elizabeth, Kate, Laura, Ronon, Sheppard
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Unfortunately.
Renewal
We went to Mazani for the rite of renewal and were among the honoured guests of the evening. There were various misunderstandings during the night but they were soon cleared up in favour of celebration, and I believe our standing among the Mazani and their allies is favourable after attending the rite.
--
"You know," John mentioned at the end of their sparring, "That report you gave on the Mazani renewal thing was pretty short, even for you."
Teyla had just been about to sip from her waterskin. She took a moment to avoid choking before she answered him evenly. "There is little to be said about the celebration. We went and observed the rite. Agreements were reached with several cultures, and the Mazani were pleased to have hosted us."
Her sparring partner eyed her with no small amount of scepticism. "Is that so?"
When the challenge in his expression didn't change, she added, "I indicated so in the report."
John smiled slightly. "I read it. But you're not always big on detail."
Teyla began to distrust that smile. "Dr. Weir, Dr. Heightmeyer, and Lieutenant Cadman wrote reports as well."
"Yes, they did. However, they weren't big on detail either." The smile did not abate, although it gained a more meaningful intent. "And that's not normal."
Teyla was beginning to feel cornered by his expression. She turned to put the waterskin away, careful to keep her voice composed as she lightly suggested, "Perhaps you should ask Elizabeth or Lieutenant Cadman about their reports."
"Perhaps I should." John said, coming closer. "But I can't help thinking that they've got something to hide - which is why their reports are scarce on the details."
Teyla avoided looking at him as she packed away her sticks.
"Teyla..."
"If you believe that they are lying--"
"Oh, I don't think they're lying," he replied. "But I think a lot more happened than any of you put in the reports."
And Teyla had to admit that he was correct about that.
-- -- -- -- -- --
"You're sure this isn't going to cause...trouble?" Elizabeth murmured as the black-clad Mazani began offering the guest-cups to the honoured guests. It was plain that she was concerned by the prospect of intoxication while beyond the city. Regular reminders were issued to the outgoing teams from Atlantis that they should be careful of the local customs and the food and drink.
Teyla had carefully been through the customs of the Mazani rite of renewal, both in Atlantis and when they arrived on the planet. The Mazani were easy-going in most things, but this rite was special to them, sacred to everything they held dear. That the Lanteans had been accepted as guests was as much due to the influence of Teyla's people, as for Teyla's conversations with the Mazani mother-elder who had met with her and her team-mates to discuss the possibility of Lantean inclusion in the rite.
"It is not strong," Teyla told the Atlantis leader as the guest-cup approached them, held in the hands of the Mazani mother-elder Patali Arkanaya. "Most of the participants and celebrants will imbibe many times before the distillation takes effect. I have never heard of anyone affected after only one cup."
'Renewal' was a broad word as the Mazani interpreted it - not merely the renewing of population, or the celebration of pleasure and propagation of numbers, but a renewing of relationships - friendships, partnerships, alliances - whether through seed or word.
Last time Teyla attended the Mazani rite of renewal, she had been younger, willing to be coaxed into participation by a man who'd seemed as enamoured of she as she had been of him. Her memories of that night were sweet and treasured, but Teyla did not intend to repeat them this time.
Even from so long ago, the taste of the liquor echoed spicy across her tongue. Teyla didn't hesitate, but drained the cup in a single gulp, the way she had been taught and handed it back to the mother-elder for refilling and passing on.
With uncertain glances but sure movements, the other women followed her lead. Elizabeth drank slow but without pause, and Laura drank quickly and blew out a long breath when she'd finished. Dr. Heightmeyer nearly choked on hers, and when she lowered the cup, there were tears in her eyes, but she handed back the guest-cup for refilling and Patali nodded her head with pleasure and approval before moving on to offer Ronon the cup.
Later, Teyla consoled herself that there was no way of knowing that Lantean physiology could not process this particular liquor.
Not the most comforting of consolations.
--
When Laura approached her, Teyla was in conversation with the Tibali representars. "Please, excuse us," Teyla asked them, and was treated to warm assurances before the representars moved away, allowing her some degree of privacy in the swiftly-shifting crowd. "Laura?"
"Who were those people?"
"Tibali." The name would mean nothing to Laura, so Teyla briefly elaborated. "Their world is rich in the kinds of metals Dr. Abayen mentioned that you need."
"Ah. Potential trading partners. You're moving fast this evening." Laura smirked, then took a deep breath. The usually composed young woman seemed nervous. "Look, you're sure they're not expecting us to actually...be involved in the rites?" A slight flush rode high on her cheeks as she glanced around them. A young man strutting past in nothing more than long black leg-hugging trousers paused to grin knowingly at both women.
Teyla smiled back but made no gesture of invitation, showing appreciation but no active interest. "Your clothing indicates you are a celebrant, not a participant," she said. "Had you indicated your willingness to participate, the garments provided by the Mazani would not have included your trousers."
Laura glanced down at the sash-tied robe, her eyes widening as she realised the import of Teyla's words. "Oh." Then she looked at the people moving around them, at the chattering representatives of a hundred worlds. "So the women don't wear trousers to show their...uh...availability? And the men....?"
"The male participants in the rite do not wear the overrobes," Teyla pointed out, indicating a man sauntering by, bare-chested, with a bare-legged woman in tow. The pair was laughing as they moved to one of the tents set at the edge of the clearing, seeking privacy for their pleasure.
"Which is why Ronon..." Laura stopped mid-sentence, flushing again. "I'm just...I think I might be interpreting things wrong and I'm not sure if it's me or...or just what I know is happening at the rite, and all these guys keep smiling at me - although they haven't tried anything and if they did, I'd have to kick their asses, because, you know, there's Carson back in Atlantis and I think I'm more nervous about this than I thought I'd be because I'm talking way more than I usually do."
Teyla touched her arm. "They smile because they are eager to find renewal with you," she told Laura, choosing to be frank. "But they would not dare push you beyond what you desire - consent should always be actively given. The Ancestors would not bless a union that happened against the will of one of the partners."
"The Ancestors wouldn't have anything to do with it."
She would not deny that. "Yet tonight, their beliefs will dictate their actions."
The other woman ran a hand through her loose blonde hair. "You know, I'm beginning to think Colonel Sheppard assigned me to this out of spite."
Teyla was tempted to ask why. Instead, she indicated the crowds. "Do you wish me to accompany you?"
"No." She took a deep breath and summoned up a smile that, to Teyla, was merely a covering for her nervousness. "Okay. I can do this. I think."
And with a brief, genuine smile at Teyla, she vanished into the crowd.
--
The afternoon had settled to warm evening, brilliant with a spattering of crystalline stars in a shading blue sky. Teyla was in a three-way conversation with a Mazani mother-elder and a Kuleppan Ceiltdhe discussing the actions Mazani and Kuleppan had taken in the face of the increased Wraith cullings.
Neither culture was yet willing to actively fight back, although both professed an interest in the efforts of the Lanteans and wished to know more about Teyla's time among them. Teyla was willing enough to share her experiences with the Lanteans, stressing the features of their culture and personalities that she had come to admire, and leaving out the less-pleasant aspects.
Elizabeth called it 'tact'. Colonel Sheppard considered it 'putting your best foot forward'. Rodney called it 'lying to make people feel better and stupid because they'd just find out later'.
Teyla thought of it as preparing the ground for sowing seeds of friendship.
When voices rose in heated argument and heads turned, Teyla was not initially concerned. With so many people from so many cultures at the rite, it was expected that some old antipathies would be stirred in the evening. After generations of holding these gatherings, the Mazani were expert at dealing with those who came to the rite of renewal with intent to disrupt.
Something about the inflection of the raised voice caught at her ear and she broke off in mid-sentence.
"...not a piece of property to be handled!"
"He was making no protest!"
"Maybe that's because you weren't looking at his face!"
Teyla eased her way through the crowd, the silk of her overrobe making the process delicately sensuous as the material slid over her skin. She hardly noticed, her attention was focused on the quarrel and the people involved.
A glimpse of Ronon's dreadlocks at the centre of the trouble only confirmed what she had thought she'd heard. And yet what she had heard was so preposterous...
She broke into the arena of the argument, breaking through the spectator circle. "Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth was facing off against a voluptuous redhead whose dark robe enhanced the creamy pale of her skin - and she was showing a great deal of skin. The stiffness of the Lantean leader's pose gave away her anger, the tension that Teyla had seen few times and which the men in Atlantis feared.
She repeated her friend's name.
"Teyla, don't interfere." The cool voice carried a barbed end, sharp as a whip, and stinging.
A little hurt by the reprimand, Teyla looked at Ronon, standing behind and beside Elizabeth, restrained with a single hand pressing light against his thigh. He shrugged, indicating that he was no more conversant with what was happening.
Teyla noted that he had not yet chosen to defuse the situation by moving away.
On one hand, she trusted Elizabeth's decision to intervene, on the other...this was not behaviour she would ever have expected of the Lantean leader. A subtler warning, perhaps; but this spectacle? No.
By contrast, the redhead was casual and insolent as fiery gold hair dripped over her nearly-bare shoulder as her voice dripped scorn. "Are you even aware of what the rite entails? If he is willing to participate, then you have no right to interfere with his renewal." The redhead flashed a venomous look at the hand lying against Ronon's thigh - in warning or possession? "Unless you plan to use him yourself?"
Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort, then paused as Ronon shifted uncomfortably.
What leathers usually restrained, black silk did not. Teyla fought back a laugh as Ronon's body made clear his interest in the matter, and Elizabeth went scarlet as the redhead bristled with jealousy.
Ronon took control of the situation, grabbing Elizabeth's hand from his thigh and dragging her from the circle, ignoring her yelp of dismay and the protests that were muffled by the laughter and teasing of the crowd as they retreated from the site of conflict.
Teyla considered further intervention, but thinking of Elizabeth's reprimand, she decided against it. Desire was one thing, intimacy another. Ronon understood the rules of the Mazani rite as well as those of Atlantis, and Elizabeth would never countenance such a union.
Doubtless, she would soon see Elizabeth back in conversation with another set of representatives from another world, while Ronon would mingle among the other participants with his lazy, knowing smile. The incident would be laughed off and forgotten.
Doubtless.
--
"And you lived in Atlantis for...nearly a year?" Nievaal of the Mazani regarded her with admiration. "To have lived in the fabled city of the Ancestors, even for so short a time... You must have many tales to tell."
"Life has been...varied...since meeting the Lanteans," Teyla admitted. She tried not to let Nievaal's admiration go to her head but it was difficult. The Mazani men were prized as partners and lovers by the more bold of women in Pegasus - respect and desire in delicate balance without any leavening of their masculinity. Contrary to the jokes passed around Atlantis about matriarchies castrating their males, the Mazani males were both respectful and admiring of their womenfolk, sure of their own place in the culture and of their capabilities.
To say the initial meeting between Teyla's team-mates and the Mazani had been 'interesting' was like describing a supernova as a candleflame.
"It is well known that you have allied your people with them," Nievaal murmured. "The rumours say that you are accepted among them as one of their own." He offered her a small plate of finger food, taken from a servitor who passed by them.
"They are a generous people when they are minded," she said, thinking of many things - Colonel Sheppard's inclusion of her, Dr. Weir's acceptance of her presence, Aiden Ford's willingness to show her how to use the Earth weapons as she had taught John staves.
By the light of the bonfires, Nievaal's eyes were sharp on her face. "And when they are not?" Then he shook his head and brushed his hand past hers. "Forgive me. I should not be so bold." Dark lashes lowered before flicking up to her face again.
"On this night, boldness is a virtue," she reminded him with a smile. There was a pleasure in the flirtation - something that she refrained from doing in Atlantis.
Yet it seemed Nievaal had more in mind than mere flirtation. "Then I shall boldly ask...is it merely your people who are allied to the Lanteans, or have you...contracted a personal alliance with them?" His eyes studied her features, most likely noting how she flushed and looked away.
"I..." Teyla was not sure how to answer such inquiry. She had come here for the renewal of relationships, not for the kind of intimacy Nievaal seemed to be offering. And yet to participate in the rite, to give glory to life and living in the most basic of ways...
As she lifted her eyes, trying to determine how she would answer, she spotted Laura with a hawklike young man - and stared.
The two were quite occupied, and, judging by their behaviour, insensible of the others around them. And if the young man did not keep his hands from Laura, neither was Laura playing coy.
It was certainly not the 'ass kicking' Laura had promised.
"Please excuse me," she said to Nievaal, touching him lightly on the shoulder in apology before she went to 'rescue' the Marine.
The pair was engaged so thoroughly that it took them a moment to break apart when Teyla reached them.
Laura ran a hand through her hair, drawing it off her face with a slight grimace. "Hey, Teyla, what's up?"
Taken aback at such a cavalier response, Teyla hesitated a moment, during which the young man began whispering in Laura's ear, and she began giggling.
Teyla fixed her most polite smile on her face. "Have you seen Elizabeth or Kate?"
"No. They're probably off enjoying themselves somewhere." She eyed someone beyond Teyla's shoulder while her friend traced his fingers across hers. "You should do the same, you know. Loosen up. Get laid."
She decided it was time to take more severe measures.
"Dr. Beckett said the same thing," she told Laura, bluntly.
Her words were not without a grain of truthfulness. While Carson had hidden his initial concern over Laura's inclusion in the rite of renewal, Rodney's description of it as, "the Pegasus orgy" had not helped his state of mind. Teyla had been careful to assuage his unease, explaining the rite and the Mazani customs until he seemed reassured. In the end, he had wished her luck and a relaxing evening.
The other woman's expression changed at the mention of Carson. Her eyes widened as she pushed the young man away with a slightly revolted look. "I...I... Oh, God, Teyla, I'm sorry. I didn't think that... It was just the moment and..." She turned to the young man. "I can't. I've got... There's someone... Shit. I'm a dumbass."
Her companion stared at her for a long moment, disappointment and hurt flickering across his face. Then he bent close to murmur something and touched his lips to hers in brief passion before stepping back and walking away with quick, stiff strides. He was lost in the throng within moment.
Laura stared after him with a mix of longing and regret, before she turned back to Teyla, embarrassed. "You probably think I'm such a bitch after that."
"I think that you are slightly intoxicated," Teyla corrected, taking her arm. "Did you drink of the guest cup again?"
"No! I mean, it was just a sip and..." One long-fingered hand pressed against her forehead and she was silent a moment. "God. I. Am. An. Idiot." Then, in a much smaller voice, she asked, "Are you going to tell Carson?"
While Teyla was uncertain of the exact definition of the relationship between doctor and Marine, it was plain that they cared for each other. Nothing good would come of reporting this small indiscretion - particularly since Laura regretted it.
"No," she said and watched the other woman relax a little.
"Thanks." Laura's hand didn't move from her forehead. "God, I didn't even think of... And..." She hesitated.
"Laura?"
"And I'm not feeling so good..." Her shoulders heaved, and she suddenly yanked herself away from Teyla, stumbling through the crowds.
Teyla followed, only to find Laura on the outskirts of the rite, being sick.
Kneeling down, she pulled the blonde hair out of the way. "Laura?"
Dark eyes lifted slowly to look at her, and even by the torchlight, the pale skin had an odd tinge to it. "I thought it was just the alcohol - sometimes I get headaches after I've drunk too fast... My head hurts."
Teyla sighed to herself. It seemed that the celebrations would go no further for her and for Laura. "Then we should find somewhere for you to rest."
It seemed that her renewal - and Laura's - was done for the night.
She could only hope that Elizabeth and Kate were doing better.
--
Even in the warmth of the morning, the water of the river was still cool enough to shiver across Teyla's skin as she took the proffered bucket, scooped up the water and tipped it over her head and body in the last stage of the rite of renewal.
Only the women gathered down by the river in the morning, to the steady rhythm of the drums carried in the still air, with much laughter and teasing of those who had participated in the rite - and those who had not intended participation, but who had found themselves drawn in all the same.
Not every woman who had participated in the rite was here, many were either still with their last partner of the evening, or sleeping off the effects of over indulgence.
"Teyla of the Athosians," the mother-elder Patali waded over to her. "Renewal to you."
"And to you, mother-elder," she answered with a smile. "May your renewal be fruitful."
Come another year, many of the women around Teyla would have children to show for tonight - one of the more tangible aspects of the rite.
"Let us hope that the Ancestors will it so." Patali held out her hand for the bucket, imperious as a mother-elder had the right to be. "May your renewals be fruitful also," she said as she dipped the container in the river, neatly catching the herbs bobbing on the surface before pouring it over her own large head.
Teyla frowned in the act of scraping back her wet hair from her face. The phrase was more commonly used for cultures whose people had participated in the rite. And while Ronon had certainly participated, Atlantis would not know of any children he had fathered tonight. Still, politeness made her respond, "Ancestors will it."
Not for nothing was Patali a mother-elder. She caught Teyla's hesitation. "Did you not know the actions of your companions last night?"
Teyla did not. This morning, she had left Laura sleeping in the tent among others too wearied by the night to join in with the morning ritual. Elizabeth, she had met emerging from a beribboned tent halfway to the river.
She had not seen Kate since they went their separate ways the previous night.
"What do you mean?"
Patali's sly smile was reminiscent of Ronon's smirk. "The blonde one - not your younger friend - I saw her emerge from a tent this morning in the company of not one but two of the male participants." The mother-elder was clearly tickled by Kate's involvement in the rite. "And both men seemed more than satisfied - your friend walked away, but they watched her go. She must be quite a woman! Ah, to be so young again! I remember in my own youth..."
Teyla listened to the mother-elder's reminiscences, a little shocked at Patali's revelation of Kate's evening. Multiple partners were not unknown among the cultures of Pegasus; but she had gathered it was less acceptable among the Lanteans.
Elizabeth's outburst during the evening, Laura's reckless actions, Kate's liaisons of the night... Although the behaviour of her friends last night was well within those expected of participants in the right, it went at odds with what Teyla knew of Lantean behaviours.
It made her quiet and thoughtful when she climbed from the river's final renewal and returned to the tent where the others were already changing.
"Teyla, that drink they gave us is either really potent or really drugged," Laura said as she entered. "I haven't felt this awful since..." She paused, flushed, glanced at the two older women and mumbled something about not saying anything that might incriminate her.
"I believe it may be too late for that already," Teyla collected up her clothing and stepped behind the screen, stripping off her garments of the previous evening and changing swiftly.
"Sowing wild oats, Lieutenant?" Kate asked.
"Oh, and you can talk, Doctor," Laura retorted. "This morning there were all these people talking about 'the blonde Lantean with two guys' - and thanks to Teyla, I'm sure it wasn't me!"
Silence pooled out on the other side of the screen.
"Okay," Elizabeth said. "We aren't going to mention anything that happened last night when we get home," Her voice overrode whatever protests the other two had planned to make. "Not in the reports, not in conversation, not in casual reference." From what Teyla could hear of the leader's voice, she was still embarrassed by her ferocious defence of Ronon - and Ronon's response to it.
Teyla fought back a smile. It was nothing as obvious as having material with which to tease Ronon; rather, it was the simple and subtle pleasure of knowing and of his knowing that she knew.
"Are you asking us to commit perjury, Dr. Weir?" Laura asked with interest.
"No," Elizabeth replied with a touch of humour. "You'd have to take an oath to commit perjury."
"And we don't need rumours making the rounds of the city," Kate was saying as Teyla stepped out from the changing screen.
"You mean, the expedition psychologist doesn't need it rumoured around the base that she likes two guys at once?"
Kate looked as though she were holding her temper back by a fine thread when Teyla entered the conversation. She spoke before Laura could add insult to injury, or Kate could snap back since Elizabeth was tugging on her boots and not apparently about to intervene. "I do not believe it would be...helpful...to relate all the occurrences of last night," she said. "I am in agreement with Elizabeth - beyond the people we spoke to about alliance and friendship, the other events of the night need not be detailed." And since she had nothing to hide, her assessment would be more acceptable to all three women.
Certainly, both Elizabeth and Kate seemed relieved by her support, and after a moment, Laura nodded in agreement.
"We came, we participa-- attended the rite of renewal, spoke with representatives from many worlds, and went home again." Even with the flush touching her cheeks, Elizabeth was brisk and businesslike. "I'll have a word with Ronon about it later."
"Speaking of which," Laura added, "where is Ronon?"
"I haven't seen him since he dragged Elizabeth off last night," Kate said, giving their leader a mischievous look that turned to innocence. "Well, we're not back home yet."
"Ronon won't talk," said Laura confidently. "Hell, it's hard enough getting a conversation out of him most of the time anyway, let alone gossip."
Teyla agreed.
She was grateful that their own foibles occupied them, however selfish the thought. It meant they had no opportunity to question her as to her own actions last night - the actions undertaken after Laura passed out.
Nievaal of the Mazani might be bold, but he also knew how to be persuasive.
Teyla allowed herself a satisfied smile.
However, as Elizabeth and Kate debated the degree of detail required in their reports, Teyla reflected that Colonel Sheppard would almost certainly fail to be content with the edited result. John was tenacious when he chose to be - as Rodney was curious.
At least, she thought, it was unlikely he would come to her for the details.
-- -- -- -- -- --
John was moving in closer, like a predator to the kill. He was directly beside her now, standing very close. She could feel his eyes upon her. "Teyla."
There was a drawn-out warning to his voice, and Teyla sighed as she surreptitiously moved away. "If they have kept information back, then are you not asking me to betray trust in revealing it to you?"
"Let's just say, I have my concerns."
She met his gaze without flinching, looking him in the eye so he should be in no doubt that she was not dissembling. "Whatever happened at the Mazani celebration is...personal. It is no threat to this city, John."
He measured her words, weighing them as the traders in the marketplaces weighed out spices and dyes. And for all that she knew he trusted her, it was a long moment before he answered. "You're sure?"
"I am sure."
"And you're not going to tell me what you really got up to with the Mazani?"
Her mouth twitched slightly. "If you wish to find out what happens, then perhaps next time you will submit to being the 'offering' for the rite?"
John's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. "Ahhh... No."
"Ronon enjoyed it." Teyla bit back a smile at John's sour expression.
His gaze stayed on her face as he asked, "So, did you...?"
"I enjoyed the celebrations." She bit back the laughter at his clumsy attempt to determine if she had also 'indulged' at the Mazani rite. He would never know from her - as he would never know of the others' indiscretions from her.
"Teyla..." It was a tone she more often heard him use on Rodney - exasperated and warning.
"John."
He huffed, frustrated by her silence. "You could at least hint at what happened."
"I could," she agreed before appropriating a saying she had heard among the Lanteans before the rite. "But what happens among the Mazani, stays among the Mazani, John."
With that, he would have to be content.
- fin -