Ring Out The Bells by Zulu (Building and food challenge)

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Title: Ring Out The Bells
Author: queenzulu
Rating: G
Pairing: Sora/Teyla
Length: 800 words
Author's Notes: I'm very proud that there are both buildings and food. With thanks to daemonluna, who let me adopt her plotbunny and then betaed it for me; troutkitty also gets a nod for pointing out stuff I'd missed. All remaining faults are my own; concrit is welcome.


Summary: Summer has come and passed; the innocent can never last.


Genia was beautiful in autumn. Brilliant sunlight ripened the tava, and warmed the soil and harvesters alike. Sweat and loam and the rich scent of drying beans: Sora loved them all, loved the long days spent scything, and the nights of laughter and new beer. In seventeen summers she hadn't yet counted all the shades of bronze, of copper, of gold: the earth between the village houses, the falling leaves, and the sheaves of sweet hay. She partnered her twig broom across the dancing square. Heat soaked through her clothes, but she tasted the promise of frost in the air.

***

Sora raced her shadow to the ancestral ring, lifting her skirts and running, breathless and laughing, like a child. She waited, watching the clouds shape themselves, until the great wheel rippled blue.

Tagan stepped through first, hands open and weaponless, his smile wide as the sky. "Sora," he said. "It has been many days."

She smiled. "Too many." More followed him--Halling and three young hunters, with poles across their shoulders, supporting a wapiti between them; Doran, carrying bundles of fur and leatherwork; and, last, Teyla.

Teyla, who lifted her face to Genia's sun, eyes closed, and smiled her joy.

***

"Sora!" Teyla placed her hands on Sora's shoulders. Her forehead was warm, and her smile was very close. Sora breathed in the sage and wild grasses that perfumed Teyla's skin. It was still high summer on Athos.

But autumn suited Teyla. She melted into the pattern of trees and reeds: burnished bronze, from skin to leathers. The smoothed sticks looped through her belt beat time against her hip as she walked, with a hunter's silence and a hunter's grace. The sun painted her with Genia's colours.

Teyla might disappear entirely, unless someone watched her; Sora watched her very closely indeed.

***

The table bent under the weight of the feast. Calabash stews, roast wapiti, tava in soups and porridges and baked into chewy bread; and tumblers of mulled ale, spiced and steaming. Minister Cowen made speeches of welcome, and Tagan honoured them with toasts.

Sora bit into an Athosian fruit, red and firm-fleshed. The spurt of tartness shocked her. She caught Teyla's eyes across the table and licked the juice from her fingers. Her heart tripped over itself, racing.

Teyla's leg brushed hers beneath the table. Sora smiled into her first taste of liquor, its heat proof against the chill night.

***

Bonfires and torches flared, bringing the dancing square alight. Sora took Teyla's hands, showing her the pattern of a reel. Teyla whirled easily through the steps, and returned to Sora's arms, laughing.

"Show me an Athosian dance," Sora said. Teyla held her arms and moved her through fluid poses, one after another. "This is how my people practice with staves," she said. "Even in our celebrations we fight the Wraith."

"Do you always practice so closely?" Sora asked, burning with boldness and liquor.

"No," Teyla said, and her eyes were bright. "We only practice one thing as closely as this."

***

Kisses flavoured with wine and fruit made it easy to forget the world existed. A moan rose in Sora's throat. Despite the night, she was warm; Teyla's fingers cupped her jaw, her neck. Her hoop skirt forced too much space between them, and Sora wished for clothes like Teyla's, that moved as naturally as she did.

"Did you expect this, tonight?" Teyla asked.

"No," she laughed, "but," and kissed her again.

The path beyond the village led under the forest's eaves. Its only use must be moments like this. "Meet me," Sora said into Teyla's mouth. "Soon, oh please, soon."

***

Tirus grabbed Sora's arm as she eased beyond the circle of torchlight. "Sora. Come with me."

"But, Father--where are we--" Teyla was waiting.

He didn't speak. The metal hatch in the barn, the massive chambers beneath the ground--they spoke for him.

Minister Cowen presented Commander Kolya. Sora said nothing. Her throat ached, tight and impassable. Their words were meaningless sounds: soldier, secret, killer of Wraith.

"You have been chosen," Cowen said. "It's an honour."

"You are mine, now," Kolya said. "Your loyalty is to me."

And, as they left, Tirus said, "You are Genii, Sora. She is not."

***

"I worried that you would not come." Teyla stepped into the path, dappled with moonlight.

Sora shook her head. "I'm sorry." She reached for Teyla's hands; her own were icy cold.

"Are you certain...?" Teyla bent down, but this time it was not to touch their foreheads together. She was closer than she had ever been.

"I'm fine," Sora whispered. They lay on the cool grass, with the autumn wind rustling the drifts of fallen leaves. Teyla kissed her, and Sora tasted her warmth.

And beneath them, the metal bones of the earth reached for her, as coldly as winter.

Comments

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Oh, a beautiful look at Sora. You've used two of my favourite things to eplore a character: landscape and the seasons. Her and Teyla go along wonderfully together - I've never even considered the pairing before, but now I think it's canon for me. And the forshadowing here:

And beneath them, the metal bones of the earth reached for her, as coldly as winter.

Chilling, but still strangely lovely.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think Sora and Teyla's relationship is very complex--witness, if you will, their knife fight in The Eye--where Teyla doesn't really want to kill Sora, and the only thing making Sora want to kill Teyla is her honour and her loyalty to her people. (On the inside, she's a big ol' softie, I swear). And the fact that Teyla never knew about the Genii except as farmers--and the smile on Sora's face in Underground when they greet each other--yeah, it's so canon! (P.S. The plotbunny of "and then they kept Sora in a holding cell for months and months and only Teyla remembered" is currently eating my brain.)

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

The plotbunny of "and then they kept Sora in a holding cell for months and months and only Teyla remembered" is currently eating my brain.

...If you write that, I will have to have your babies or something. Seriously. ^_^

[fenris_wolf0]

Oh very nice... and powerfully elliptical.

Please write more.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and...I probably will. It's weird; I read McKay/Sheppard pretty much exclusively, but when I write, it's usually Teyla. Huh. Just realized that.

[fenris_wolf0]

Excellent: and don't worry about it, Teyla is a great character. I mean, I love McKay/Sheppard stories and often feel that there are not enough of them, but Teyla is a fascinating character and well worth writing about as often as you like!

[ex-zombieham605.livejournal.com]

Ohh, this was so pretty.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Eeee, thanks muchly! Glad you liked.

[scififreak.livejournal.com]

I've been waiting for someone to do the obvious (at least to me) and write a Teyla/Sora fic. Thanks! This is lovely and sad.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

It is obvious to the world, man! The world! And yeah, sad: I think the Genii are very sympathetic, simply because their paranoia and independence make them so unsympathetic in the eyes of Earth-type people. Teyla gets it, though--just like she did with Ronon killing Kel in Trinity.

[scififreak.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. Teyla understood Sora and where she was coming from: Her anger over her father's death and the Genii situation. It's obvious that she's not a bad person, just angry and bitter. And am I the only person who wonders what the hell they did with her! Has she been hanging out in the brig all year!? Did they banish her to the mainland? Is she hanging out with Eldon in that place where all your missing socks go?

[scap3goat.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! Very sad.
It's a whole new layer to the characters.
Very nice story!

[zulu.livejournal.com]

They're like parfaits: they have layers! Thanks.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a beautiful piece, yes.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous and autumnal--I'm very glad you adopted this plot bunny.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

It still wants to be yours! It yearns for you! It wants you to write more of itself!

I went scrunching through the leaves the other day--it smelled wonderful and was very inspiring.

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

You do realize that you're dooming the plot bunny to languish in half-finished uncompletedness for years on end?

Plus, I'm still pondering Kavanaugh. Scary, I know. And! TiW! (inarticulate gesturing to half-finishedness)

[apatheia-jane.livejournal.com]

Really liked Sora's joy, at running to the gate, and wishing she didn't have the hoop skirt.

& yep, Teyla/Sora is defn canon. & I'm grouchy at the writers for forgetting about Sora.

After long silence...

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Yes. Bad writers! Bad.

Also, I have a similar feeling towards skirts in general, so.

Glad you liked.

[joran.livejournal.com]

Someone recommended this to me, at exactly the right time, and it's so lovely, but the setting, oh, the setting. The food and wine I could taste, the chill in the air that I could feel. Oh yes.

"No," Teyla said, and her eyes were bright. "We only practice one thing as closely as this."

The best line. The characterization is lovely. People never look closely enough at Teyla.

Belatedly:

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *snicker* That's my favourite line, too.

Re: Belatedly:

[joran.livejournal.com]

What have you been doing for three months? ;)

Re: Belatedly:

[zulu.livejournal.com]

That is an excellent question.

*blinks*

How did I get here again?

Re: Belatedly:

[joran.livejournal.com]

Wormhole.

(So I hear)

[m-phoenix.livejournal.com]

As I said I've never seen SGA so I had no background at all for this fic, but in spite of that I could enjoy it simply for the writing. It was deeply evocative, all the sights, sounds, smells of the place closely observed, and it was clear how much the character loved them, how much a part of her they were. It felt very much like a story set in the Dark ages or even earlier as well as one set in a different universe, and it was fun for me to read you writing about something so different from your B/F fics. I loved the way your style changed to match that, it was nicely lyrical. Enjoyed the growing attraction between the two women, subtle but charged. And the ending was a definite -- ouch. Duty before love. I'm sure if I knew the character that would have a lot more resonance but it still worked. As for the fate of the other girl, I'm assuming a wraith got her? Terribly sad.

Your writing -- as always -- has made me happy.

I am a bad feedbacker of feedback, clearly.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

See, I wasn't sure if *because* it's set long before SGA-the-series starts, whether it would be more or less accessible to folks who didn't have canon to back them up. I think, upon reflection, that having the canon helps, but I'm glad the writing works for you, here, too. Because I write about what I know, you know? Like, Sora's happiness for the fall and dancing and so on; that's how I feel. To a certain extent, then, it's a self-insertion (but I fail to care! Bwahahaha.)

Anyway. It's been forever, sorry, but I wanted to say thanks for reading.

Ring Out the Bells (SGA)

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

I came to this story via the remix, and just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your use of language here: everything's very ripe and sensuous and autumnal, particularly:

the sage and wild grasses that perfumed Teyla's skin. [...] autumn suited Teyla. She melted into the pattern of trees and reeds: burnished bronze, from skin to leathers. The smoothed sticks looped through her belt beat time against her hip as she walked, with a hunter's silence and a hunter's grace. The sun painted her with Genia's colours.

I'm not fond of canon-Sora, but you make her appealing here in passages such as:

Sora raced her shadow to the ancestral ring, lifting her skirts and running, breathless and laughing, like a child. She waited, watching the clouds shape themselves, until the great wheel rippled blue.

I also enjoyed the shift in the idea of the coming of winter for Sora, how it becomes more ominous as she renounces Teyla and the sun---the progression from the bright promise of frost in the air to the chill of cool grass, with the autumn wind rustling the drifts of fallen leaves [...] the metal bones of the earth reached for her, as coldly as winter.

Thanks for writing!

~

Re: Ring Out the Bells (SGA)

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for the detailed feedback. I really love what fairestcat did with the remix. I'm glad I could make Sora sympathetic, too.

[million-moments.livejournal.com]

OMG it exsists! I found Teyla/Sora fic, and I found a wonderful one. I never really thought about their reletionship pre-series, but this displays what could have been beautifully!

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Isn't it always great to find a pairing you never thought you would? daemonluna pointed out the Teyla/Sora subtext to me when we were watching Underground, and this is the result. Others have done some great stuff, too--I particularly love The Trouble You're In (http://lilysaid.livejournal.com/221827.html), by lilysaid. Also, there's this (http://remix.illuminatedtext.com/dbfiction.php?fiction_id=653) remix of Ring Out The Bells by fairestcat that's well definitely worth a read. And, yay for feedback. Thank you!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Dear goddess, how did you ever think of a line so fine as that last?

*defers to your awesomeness*

[zulu.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you very much! Oh man, this takes me back. It's so great to hear from someone years after writing a fic--I get to reread it. For the last line, I just felt that Sora was so trapped by her culture, and the "buildings" part of the challenge was that underground bunker refusing to let her go.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. It's so nice to know that long after the initial comment-frenzy has died down, somebody still thinks that what you wrote matters. I love fb on older pieces.

You may be getting some more in the future as I plan to rec this on my journal. Eventually. When I stop hacking up a lung. :)