Fic: Walk in the Woods (Gen, PG13)

[sgasesa_admin]

Title: Walk in the Woods
Author: ladysorka
Recipient: frith_in_thorns
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These people are not mine. Sadly.
Author's Notes: For frith_in_thorns, who requested Teyla/Jennifer being awesome and doing action-y things together. I didn't quite manage Teyla/Jennifer, but I hope you like it anyway.
Summary: In which Teyla and Jennifer trek through the jungle, are attacked by monsters, and drink tea.

---

"I'm sorry, what?" Jennifer said, staring at the Matriarch. She felt Teyla stiffen beside her and gripped her teacup harder, getting ready to throw the hot liquid in the Matriarch's face and run if Teyla gave the word.

Matriarch Sareesay frowned. "You must travel to the tower in the center of the forest and rescue your companions. Did I say something wrong?"

"What," Teyla said very calmly, "have you done with our people?"

"Oh. Oh!" Sareesay flushed. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot you wouldn't be familiar with the ritual. It's something all of our daughters go through. Your friends are perfectly safe. Colonel Sheppard actually made me promise to give you something," Sareesay said. She looked through a bag she'd brought with her and pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it on the table in front of Teyla. Jennifer turned her head to look at it. It was written in Colonel Sheppard's familiar chicken scratch and just said Have fun storming the castle! Jennifer smiled, and she felt Teyla begin to relax.

"So what is this ritual, exactly?" Jennifer asked.

"You simply travel on the ground to the tower and make it there to meet your companions by sundown. It's traditional that if we wish to continue trading with a world, we ask that their women make the journey. We find that it gives us a good idea of which cultures are actually capable of dealing with the Matriarchy long term." Sareesay smiled wryly. "I apologize for making you go through it, but the Elders wouldn't allow us to let a people go untested."

"What is the challenge in simply walking to a building so easily seen?" Teyla asked. The tower stood high above the forest canopy and was easily the most striking thing around.

"The canopy is very dense and you can't see the tower from the ground. And most of our young people are used to taking the treewalks and spend very little time below, making it much more of a challenge for them," Sareesay said and laughed. "I know that most people don't have networks of bridges in their trees, but it is what our children are accustomed to."

Jennifer had seen the treewalks as they flew from the gate to the village yesterday afternoon - endless bridges of metal planks high above the forest floor like a solid, permanent canopy walk, all leading to the central tower. She'd much rather keep her feet on the ground than walk around on those, thank you very much. Just being in a village that was basically a gigantic tree house was bad enough.

"That's it?" She asked. "All we have to do is walk to the tower?"

The Matriarch nodded. "Yes, but the vegetation on the floor is thick, and it is very slow going. We'll give you a map marked with landmarks to guide your way and there is an old path, but you will be on your own. You must simply walk to the tower and reach it by the deadline."

"What happens if we fail?" Teyla asked.

"Nothing, other the fact that we will not be establishing trade relations," Sareesay said. "If you haven't reached the tower by sundown, we'll send out a search party and then send you on your way."

"I understand," Teyla said. "When do you wish us to leave?"

"Shortly after you finish breaking your fast. You'll have time to gather what belongings you wish to bring with you, but you really should leave as soon as possible." The Matriarch stood, inclined her head at Jennifer and Teyla, and left the room.

"Sounds easy enough," Jennifer said. She reached for a piece of fruit and peeled off the bright red skin, revealing the juicy meat below.

"We can only hope so," Teyla said, as she tore a piece of bread and dipped it in nut paste.

--

"The vegetation is thick, she said. The vegetation is thick?" Jennifer stared incredulously as she and Teyla descended from the treetop village the Malerans called home. It was like a stereotype of the deep jungle, with thick vines along every surface and the upper canopy so dense that almost no light fell through it. The vines almost seemed to be moving in the flickering twilight. At least, she hoped they weren't actually moving.

"It is certainly... foreboding," Teyla said, frowning at the same vines that had caught Jennifer's eye. "But we have a map, and the Matriarch did say this is a journey all their daughters take. They would not risk their children on a quest they might not return from."

"Unless the journey is how they weed out the weak children," Jennifer said, finally reaching the ground, her boot landing in the mud with a squelch. "Oh, ew."

Teyla followed her down, and avoided the mud, looking down at the ground. "There is an old stone pathway here, leading in the direction of the tower."

Jennifer followed her gaze and saw the stones, covered in some sort of faintly yellow moss. Weeds and occasionally small trees pushed their way up through them. "We have to follow the yellow brick road? Really?"

Teyla laughed, having seen Wizard of Oz just the previous week at movie night. "Let us hope we don't run into any witches or fields of poppies."

"I don't think there're going to be fields of anything down here," Jennifer said. Something tugged at her ankle, and she jerked back, barely managing to stay on her feet. She looked down and saw a vine twisting its way onto her boot and yelped, lifting up her foot to shake it off. It held fast, and she stopped it with her other foot, managing to cut it apart with her heel. God, she hated vines. They looked too much like tentacles. "I'd buy witches, though."

Teyla looked to their left, peering out into the darkness. "I believe more of those creeping vines are approaching, as well as something much larger. We should get moving."

"Larger?" Jennifer shuddered, finding it all to easy to imagine what could be waiting for them in the thick, dark jungle ahead. "Right. Let's just... go."

"I'm sure it will be fine." Teyla smiled at her reassuringly, and set off down the path. Jennifer hurried to follow her. There was so little light that it would be easy to lose her, and Jennifer had no delusions that she'd make it out of here safely by herself.

The path was rough and slow going. In the low light it was difficult to see where stones had been pushed up by the heave of the dirt, and she had to constantly watch her feet in order to keep from tripping. She could hear animals moving around in the brush, and every so often she'd look down and see another vine creeping out, waiting for one of them to stand still so it could latch on. There were insects everywhere, and Jennifer had to keep swatting them out of her eyes.

She began to hear a dull roar in the distance, getting steadily louder as they walked forward. It was also getting brighter, a little sunlight actually reaching the ground and spreading outwards. Teyla stopped and Jennifer came up beside her, looking out at the river that cut through the path. It was eerie. While there was more sun reaching the ground, the trees' upper branches extended the canopy almost entirely over the broad riverbed. There were shafts of direct sunlight in places over the water, highlighting its dark brown color, but nowhere did it illuminate more than a few feet of the river. The water was moving swiftly, and Jennifer was caught watching it fall over a steep waterfall a few hundred feet from where they stood, the mist forming a rainbow in one of the few shafts of direct sunlight. It was beautiful, in a creepy sort of way.

"Do you know how to swim?" Teyla asked. Jennifer followed her gaze to the stone bridge, which looked like it fallen only yesterday, and closed her eyes.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? We have no idea what could be in that water. Not to mention the bacteria and parasites," Jennifer said.

"I do not believe we have a choice," Teyla replied, removing her jacket.

Jennifer stared at the rushing water. "Next time you guys decide to trade pediatric exams for something, I'm making Marie do it."

"Jennifer," Teyla said, and looked at her with a glare she'd obviously been practicing on Torren.

"Right." Jennifer sighed, shrugged off her backpack, and took off her own jacket. Hopefully the river would be shallow enough to wade and she could just hold them over head.

Teyla eased down the bank, and carefully stepped into the water. She gasped but kept moving forward, and Jennifer watched as the water slowly came up to her waist, her chest, and finally up to her chin. "I do not believe it will get much deeper!" Teyla called, and Jennifer followed her into the water.

She could see why Teyla had gasped. The water was freezing. A river in a jungle should not remind her of the one time her father had managed to talk her into joining his polar bear club. But she pushed on against the icy current and tried not to lose her footing on the sandy bottom. Something brushed past her leg, and she sped up, walking as fast as she could without breaking into a run. She was more than halfway across, and all she wanted was to get out of the water.

Whatever it was brushed past her legs again, and then something curled around her leg, trying to pull her under. Jennifer cried out and tossed her pack towards the bank but couldn't see if it landed before she was yanked under the murky water. She kicked out, hoping to hit something, anything, but the grip of whatever had attacked her only tightened. Oh god, she was going to die. She was going to drown and then be eaten by an evil alien octogator. She tried to fight her way to the surface to take a breath, but she couldn't tell the top from the bottom and a second appendage had started to wrap itself around her waist.

Just as suddenly as it had attacked her, the beast let go, and a pair of arms grabbed her and brought her to the surface. Jennifer gasped and started coughing, and Teyla dragged her to the river bank and out of the water. Jennifer fell on her hands and knees and vomited the water that she'd swallowed. God, she was going to have to give herself so many parasite screenings.

"Jennifer! Jennifer, are you all right?" Teyla knelt beside her and put her hand lightly on Jennifer's back.

"Seriously, you get Marie next time," Jennifer said weakly, and Teyla smiled at her, relieved. "It stole my shoe."

Teyla looked down at Jennifer's left foot, now bare except for a sock that still clung to her toes. "You are lucky it was only a shoe."

"Yeah, but now I have to walk through the jungle with just one shoe," Jennifer said, sighing. She sat down, wrung out her hair, and looked through the pack that had miraculously made it to shore for a spare hairband. She wished she had something to protect her foot from any potential burrowing insects, but bandages wouldn't keep them out any more than the sock would. Thankfully the air was warm, if humid, so at least they didn't have to worry about hypothermia.

"Perhaps we won't have to run, and it will just be a minor hindrance," Teyla said slyly as she handed Jennifer a bottle of water.

Jennifer stared at her. "Well great, now you've jinxed us."

Teyla laughed, her eyes twinkling in the small amount of sunlight that glinted off the water. "According to the map we are over halfway to the tower. Surely that will be our only misadventure on a journey they send children on."

"Sure, you say that now. You're not going to be laughing after we get attacked by bears," Jennifer said as she stood up. She placed her sock-clad foot onto the uneven stones and took a few test steps, glad that the moss wasn't slippery. It was awkward, but not horribly so.

"If we are attacked by bears, you may have my cookie at dinner tomorrow," Teyla said, eyes still laughing.

Jennifer pointed at her. "Oh, you are so on."

They started again into the dark forest. The vines twisted and curled on the side of the path, and they had to walk even slower now that Jennifer had a slight one-shoe induced limp, but they still made good time. The light seemed to be getting even dimmer, and she looked up to see that the forest canopy had, if anything, thickened further. If it got any darker, they were going to need flashlights.

The insect chittering was getting louder, almost to the point of distraction, which made it all the more noticeable when it abruptly silenced. Teyla stopped ahead of her and slowly turned around, trying to see what had caused the sudden silence. As she faced Jennifer, her eyes widened.

"Jennifer, run," Teyla said quietly and began running backwards before turning around and flying down the path.

Jennifer didn't stop to look around; she just began to run. It was awkward and uncomfortable with only one shoe and she was probably going to sprain her ankle, but as she turned her head to take a quick look behind, she started running as fast as she could manage.

Behind them was what looked like a cross between a scorpion and a saber-tooth tiger, and it was at least six feet long. It had a mouth full of sharp teeth and two giant fangs, a hard exoskeleton, six legs, a giant tail with what looked like a stinger at the end of it, and it was fast. Really, really fast. It was gaining on her a lot more quickly than she was comfortable with. Jennifer heard the snap of branches as its tail slashed through the low hanging ones above her head and the crack of its legs hitting the moss-covered stones. She was never going offworld again. Seriously, saber-toothed scorpions were the last straw.

Her shoeless foot suddenly got caught on an uneven stone, and she fell flat on her face. Jennifer scrambled to get up again, but it was almost on top of her and there was no way she could run far enough away in time. "Why does everything always want to kill me?" she asked as she scrambled to find something she could fight back with. She grabbed a large fallen branch, hoped there was nothing poisonous living on it, and swung it at the scorpion's head. The scorpion reared back and made a loud noise that was the most disturbing thing Jennifer had ever heard in her life. It was both a high-pitched ear piercing whine and a deep, bone-shaking rumble, and Jennifer took the moment of its anger to start running again.

She almost ran into Teyla, who was running back, pulling the pin off a grenade. Teyla tossed it at the scorpion, grabbed Jennifer's hand, and they ran as fast they could. There was a loud explosion, the heat of the fire sudden against their backs. The noise came again, louder and deeper than before, and Jennifer risked a glance back to see that two more scorpions had joined the first, both almost double its size. She screamed and ran faster than she'd ever run before in her life, holding tightly to Teyla's hand. They were not going to be separated in this.

"I believe we are almost to the tower!" Teyla cried, as she pulled the pin off a second grenade and tossed it behind them. Again the jungle lit with the fire of the explosion, and again the eerie noise got louder as even more scorpions joined the other three.

Suddenly, Jennifer could see the tower in front of them, its wall almost blending into the now almost black forest. They put on another burst of speed Jennifer didn't even know she had as the keening grew steadily louder. They were almost there. Teyla cried out, and Jennifer risked a glance at her and saw that one of the scorpions' fangs had grazed Teyla's shoulder, but there was nothing Jennifer could do to help her until they were inside the tower. She looked for the door and grabbed the handle, yanking it open, running through, and slamming it shut behind them. She dragged Teyla to the only thing in the room, a round platform in the floor surrounded by railings.

The moment they stepped on it the platform began to rise and just in time, as the door broke open and the scorpions tried to fit their wide bulk through the small door, stinging the metal to try and make it let them through. Jennifer began to breathe as the elevator took them out of the scorpion's reach. "Teyla? Teyla, talk to me. Are you okay?"

"I. I believe I will be fine," Teyla said. "It only scratched the skin."

Jennifer nodded. "I'm going to wait to take a look at it until we get where this takes us. Hopefully the Malerans will be able to to tell us if that thing was poisonous." Teyla squeezed Jennifer's hand and finally let go. Jennifer hadn't even noticed she was still gripping it.

Above them the ceiling swirled open and bright light fell onto the platform. Jennifer squinted in the sudden sunlight and finally let herself start to relax as they rose into a room and she spotted Sheppard, Rodney, and Ronon. They were sitting with Sareesay and stood up as the platform settled.

"Hey kids. Did you have a good... time?" Sheppard asked, as he took in their bedraggled appearance. Their hair was still sopping wet and muddy, and Jennifer knew she must be covered in scrapes. Teyla was equally muddy and her shoulder was bleeding sluggishly. "What the hell happened out there?"

Sareesay was frowning. "The path is rough, but not normally dangerous."

"What, except for the giant saber-toothed scorpion things? You make your children do that?" Jennifer yelled.

"Saber-toothed scorpions?" Rodney yelped.

Sareesay gaped. "Oh, ancestors. We're well out of the Howler's normal territory. They should not be here."

"Well, they're definitely here now. And by here, I mean they pushed the door open downstairs and tried to follow us in," Jennifer said, more calmly. There was a pause as Sareesay and all three men stared at the floor as if they could see through it. Ronon glanced at the platform and seemed to be debating going down to check them out for himself.

"Also, your bridge is out," Teyla said. She stood, gripping her shoulder. Sheppard and Sareesay hurried over and helped them both to chairs and Sareesay poured tea.

"You have my sincerest apologies, Dr. Keller, Teyla Emmagan," Sareesay said, bowing her head. "Please tell me if there's anything I or my people can do to make it up to you."

Jennifer smiled wryly and started to help Teyla out of her jacket before her hands were batted away and Ronon took over. "If you could just bring me some clean water and tell me if that thing's fangs are poisonous, I think we'll be okay. You didn't mean to send us out to be eaten."

Sareesay shook her head. "The fangs are not poisonous, only the tail. But the wounds can be painful, and I'll bring you the traditional remedy for that as well." She bowed deeply and left the room.

Jennifer worked on cleaning Teyla's shoulder while Ronon helped, Sheppard stood helplessly, and Rodney fretted until he finally broke the silence and asked "Jennifer? What happened to your shoe?"

"Oh, that was the Octogator in the river," she replied, beginning to wrap the shoulder.

"Octogator?" Rodney blanched, and Sheppard covered his face with his hand.

Ronon just looked interested. "Man, I have got to check out this forest."