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A Kind Talk (PG)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Title: A Kind Talk.
Author: Keenir.
Rating: PG.
Pairings: Weir/Sheppard.
Spoilers: Underground, Childhood’s End, Irresistable, Irresponsible.
Written For: Kim (angelqueen04)
Prompt: Post-ep for Irresponsible (S3), John and Elizabeth deal with the Kolya situation. Optional: established relationship, dealing also with the reappearance of Lucius.
Thanks to: Fififolle for her awesome beta work, and the folks at www.alternatehistory.com for the information about nodding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vrei Nuu was the leader of Atlantis’ oldest - and most reliable - trading partner. So when he sent a missive to Dr. Elizabeth Weir, asking to speak with her, she came swiftly; she arrived alone, as there was mutual trust between the Leader of Atlantis and Vrei Nuu.
He led her to a residence in the center of town, taking her up to a room partitioned by iron bars. And, on the other side of the bars, seated in an oak rocking-chair, “Kolya.”
Kolya glanced up. “So good to see you again, Doctor Weir,” he replied in kind. “My thanks, Vrei Nuu.”
She turned and confronted Vrei Nuu; at the look upon her face, the local leader said, “You will talk, converse with him.” Sensing recalcitrance to do so, “If you do not, then we are ended.” What that meant was simple: all relations and contact between here and Atlantis would be severed with brutal finality - and Weir knew it.
“Very well,” she said grudgingly.
“Your door is unlocked, doctor,”” the Vrei Nuu said, leaving, shutting the door.
“Please, have a seat, Doctor Weir,” Kolya invited.
There were certainly an abundance of chairs, benches, and ottomans. “I’ll stand.”
Kolya didn’t nod - not surprising, really: even on Earth, nods didn’t translate well from one culture to another; likewise here in Pegasus. “Very well,” dabbing at his face - an incongruous sight to her - removing the sheen of sweat with a hanky. “I trust Colonel Sheppard has informed you of the events recently which resulted in further fighting between our forces.”
“He has,” Elizabeth said. “Are you telling me you had me come all this way just to ask me that?” Surely not. “What did you do to elicit the Vrei Nuu’s reaction? Threaten his children?”
“He is my brother-in-law, Doctor Weir.”
She sat down.
“Thank you. To answer your question, no, that is not why I requested your presence. As I have learned how your people tend to regard *all* armed engagements as cumulative, I wanted to let you know that neither I nor any other Genii regard that … fight … as an escalation of our prior relationship. Do you understand?”
“I understand, though I’m left wondering if you don’t regard it as an escalation because you didn’t win, and thus didn’t improve your situation.”
“Then you don’t understand. I’d have found it understandable if Doctor McKay had said so; not so for Colonel Sheppard or yourself.”
“Why is that?” she asked, interested; most people took John’s feigning dumb as truth.
“You trained as a diplomat. As for Colonel Sheppard, a soldier who does not grasp the reasons of foreigners is a soon-to-be-dead soldier.”
“Okay. Then, if not for the reason I’ve supposed, why isn’t it an escalation?”
“Because we each were backing a side in a personal feud. Colonel Sheppard, throwing his support behind a man he’d like to kill personally - yes, I’ve heard of his attempted seizure of Atlantis; terrible form.”
Weir didn’t bother herself to ask what exactly constituted good form. Probably stems from the concepts of honor and sportsmanship back on his homeworld. Not unlike the British. she supposed.
“Myself and my men, we backed a group who asked for Genii help.” And Kolya fell silent, hand dropping to his side.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I appreciate your concern,” Kolya said gratefully. “I’ll need to return to Juno soon.”
“I take it that this Juno’s a friend of yours?”
“The best friend any Genii has. Your Ancients made the air breathable, but they did nothing to change the nature of the worlds.”
“Oh I don’t know, they’ve always seemed to me to be pretty good terraformers.”
In answer, he held out the hanky. “My people have spent the last eight thousand years on a granite continent ringed by active basalts in a sea so iron-rich that even Genii cannot swim in it. Other planets’ populations are shaped by plague, ritual, and Wraith; on Juno, we were shaped by radiation winnowing us.”
“None of the Atlantis teams who went to Juno -”
“That Juno’s radiation levels are low enough that traders and visitors are not affected, not with how short a time they were there. Genii, though, live there.”
“’That Juno’?” Weir asked, suspecting he was playing games with her, not about to put such a thing past him. Though she knew equally well that things weren’t always as they first appear, and sometimes some background information helps -- ie, with John’s young friends, thinking of the world where nobody lived past their early 20s. “So it’s not your homeworld?”
He looked at her, and realized that, for her, ‘homeworld’ could only be singular. “It is one of the few homeworlds we have,” Kolya said. “Juno is the rock that keeps us grounded, the holdfast we all need.”
I know the feeling, Elizabeth thought, on both sides of the equation. Without me, Atlantis would flounder and fail, crashing into the shoals of unextricable troubles; and without John, I don’t think I could have lasted as long as I have. “ Thank you for telling me all of this,” though I suspect there’s an element of tit-for-tat involved. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes, two matters of import. When you return to Atlantis, could you enquire of Stargate Command if there are any Junos in your own galaxy?”
“I’ll ask.”
“Gracias,” a word that sent a cold shiver down her spine: for him to have learned that word and its meaning…
“In addition,” Kolya said, “you have the blessings of the Genii.”
“What exactly are you blessing me in regards to?”
“Your deru with John Sheppard. If there comes any trouble with you advancing to the next stage of intimacy with him, know that the Genii are backing you.”
’Intimacy’? We haven’t even kissed yet. Then again, maybe that’s what he’s referring to. “How do you -?”
“Know? Genii have eyes everywhere. That and you hide your emotions much better than he does, and he goes everywhere.” Wiping his forehead again, “I think we should both depart. You may go first.”
“Thank you.”
If it was honesty or sarcasm, Kolya treated it as the former rather than the latter. “De nada.
“Oh, and tell your irderu to try not to defend people he finds vile… you and I know that it doesn’t reflect his true character, but others might well draw the wrong conclusions about his moral nature.”
“I’ll do that,” Elizabeth says.
“Good day, Elizabeth Weir.”
“Good day, Augustus Kolya.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End.
In the original concept-draft, Vrei Nuu was both a name and a title…like what some of us used to think about Teyla Emmagan. (which is where I derived “vrei nuu” from)
Title: A Kind Talk.
Author: Keenir.
Rating: PG.
Pairings: Weir/Sheppard.
Spoilers: Underground, Childhood’s End, Irresistable, Irresponsible.
Written For: Kim (angelqueen04)
Prompt: Post-ep for Irresponsible (S3), John and Elizabeth deal with the Kolya situation. Optional: established relationship, dealing also with the reappearance of Lucius.
Thanks to: Fififolle for her awesome beta work, and the folks at www.alternatehistory.com for the information about nodding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vrei Nuu was the leader of Atlantis’ oldest - and most reliable - trading partner. So when he sent a missive to Dr. Elizabeth Weir, asking to speak with her, she came swiftly; she arrived alone, as there was mutual trust between the Leader of Atlantis and Vrei Nuu.
He led her to a residence in the center of town, taking her up to a room partitioned by iron bars. And, on the other side of the bars, seated in an oak rocking-chair, “Kolya.”
Kolya glanced up. “So good to see you again, Doctor Weir,” he replied in kind. “My thanks, Vrei Nuu.”
She turned and confronted Vrei Nuu; at the look upon her face, the local leader said, “You will talk, converse with him.” Sensing recalcitrance to do so, “If you do not, then we are ended.” What that meant was simple: all relations and contact between here and Atlantis would be severed with brutal finality - and Weir knew it.
“Very well,” she said grudgingly.
“Your door is unlocked, doctor,”” the Vrei Nuu said, leaving, shutting the door.
“Please, have a seat, Doctor Weir,” Kolya invited.
There were certainly an abundance of chairs, benches, and ottomans. “I’ll stand.”
Kolya didn’t nod - not surprising, really: even on Earth, nods didn’t translate well from one culture to another; likewise here in Pegasus. “Very well,” dabbing at his face - an incongruous sight to her - removing the sheen of sweat with a hanky. “I trust Colonel Sheppard has informed you of the events recently which resulted in further fighting between our forces.”
“He has,” Elizabeth said. “Are you telling me you had me come all this way just to ask me that?” Surely not. “What did you do to elicit the Vrei Nuu’s reaction? Threaten his children?”
“He is my brother-in-law, Doctor Weir.”
She sat down.
“Thank you. To answer your question, no, that is not why I requested your presence. As I have learned how your people tend to regard *all* armed engagements as cumulative, I wanted to let you know that neither I nor any other Genii regard that … fight … as an escalation of our prior relationship. Do you understand?”
“I understand, though I’m left wondering if you don’t regard it as an escalation because you didn’t win, and thus didn’t improve your situation.”
“Then you don’t understand. I’d have found it understandable if Doctor McKay had said so; not so for Colonel Sheppard or yourself.”
“Why is that?” she asked, interested; most people took John’s feigning dumb as truth.
“You trained as a diplomat. As for Colonel Sheppard, a soldier who does not grasp the reasons of foreigners is a soon-to-be-dead soldier.”
“Okay. Then, if not for the reason I’ve supposed, why isn’t it an escalation?”
“Because we each were backing a side in a personal feud. Colonel Sheppard, throwing his support behind a man he’d like to kill personally - yes, I’ve heard of his attempted seizure of Atlantis; terrible form.”
Weir didn’t bother herself to ask what exactly constituted good form. Probably stems from the concepts of honor and sportsmanship back on his homeworld. Not unlike the British. she supposed.
“Myself and my men, we backed a group who asked for Genii help.” And Kolya fell silent, hand dropping to his side.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I appreciate your concern,” Kolya said gratefully. “I’ll need to return to Juno soon.”
“I take it that this Juno’s a friend of yours?”
“The best friend any Genii has. Your Ancients made the air breathable, but they did nothing to change the nature of the worlds.”
“Oh I don’t know, they’ve always seemed to me to be pretty good terraformers.”
In answer, he held out the hanky. “My people have spent the last eight thousand years on a granite continent ringed by active basalts in a sea so iron-rich that even Genii cannot swim in it. Other planets’ populations are shaped by plague, ritual, and Wraith; on Juno, we were shaped by radiation winnowing us.”
“None of the Atlantis teams who went to Juno -”
“That Juno’s radiation levels are low enough that traders and visitors are not affected, not with how short a time they were there. Genii, though, live there.”
“’That Juno’?” Weir asked, suspecting he was playing games with her, not about to put such a thing past him. Though she knew equally well that things weren’t always as they first appear, and sometimes some background information helps -- ie, with John’s young friends, thinking of the world where nobody lived past their early 20s. “So it’s not your homeworld?”
He looked at her, and realized that, for her, ‘homeworld’ could only be singular. “It is one of the few homeworlds we have,” Kolya said. “Juno is the rock that keeps us grounded, the holdfast we all need.”
I know the feeling, Elizabeth thought, on both sides of the equation. Without me, Atlantis would flounder and fail, crashing into the shoals of unextricable troubles; and without John, I don’t think I could have lasted as long as I have. “ Thank you for telling me all of this,” though I suspect there’s an element of tit-for-tat involved. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes, two matters of import. When you return to Atlantis, could you enquire of Stargate Command if there are any Junos in your own galaxy?”
“I’ll ask.”
“Gracias,” a word that sent a cold shiver down her spine: for him to have learned that word and its meaning…
“In addition,” Kolya said, “you have the blessings of the Genii.”
“What exactly are you blessing me in regards to?”
“Your deru with John Sheppard. If there comes any trouble with you advancing to the next stage of intimacy with him, know that the Genii are backing you.”
’Intimacy’? We haven’t even kissed yet. Then again, maybe that’s what he’s referring to. “How do you -?”
“Know? Genii have eyes everywhere. That and you hide your emotions much better than he does, and he goes everywhere.” Wiping his forehead again, “I think we should both depart. You may go first.”
“Thank you.”
If it was honesty or sarcasm, Kolya treated it as the former rather than the latter. “De nada.
“Oh, and tell your irderu to try not to defend people he finds vile… you and I know that it doesn’t reflect his true character, but others might well draw the wrong conclusions about his moral nature.”
“I’ll do that,” Elizabeth says.
“Good day, Elizabeth Weir.”
“Good day, Augustus Kolya.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End.
In the original concept-draft, Vrei Nuu was both a name and a title…like what some of us used to think about Teyla Emmagan. (which is where I derived “vrei nuu” from)