Beginnings by Riva [Dark Side Challenge]
Jul. 29th, 2006 02:12 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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sga_flashficTitle: Beginnings
Author: Riva (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
riva_today)
Challenge: Dark Side
Length: ~928 words
Spoilers: S9 SG-1, implied "Allies"
Rating: G (Gen-ish)
Summary: Blessed are the Ori
In the end, it was the Ori who defeated the Wraith. Everyone knew that, the story of Their Coming. Everyone knew a lot of things nowadays. She turned away from the window, folding her arms over her chest. It seemed it was going to be another long day, and she had business to attend to. Idle hands do the devil's work--an old saying no less true for all that had happened. Soft chimes echoed, calling everyone to morning Prostration. As she walked the familiar path to their gathering area, the city was coming to life around her. As if on cue, Finn and Elsa spilled out of their doorway laughing.
"Tal!" Elsa cried upon seeing her. "Glad you could join us this morning. We thought you'd still be off-world." Finn smiled warmly as he fell into step with her and his wife.
"Well, things cleared up a lot sooner than we'd thought, thank the Ori." She pulled her long sweater a bit closer about her, and tucked her hands in the pockets.
"Well, that is what we're going to be doing," Finn chimed in. Elsa gave him a smile and swatted at his arm. Tal just smiled slightly and drew a deep breath.
She stopped suddenly and turned. "Crap," she muttered, patting down her pants and sweater.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked, stepping to the side so as to not block the way.
"I forgot my copy of the Book of Origin." She sighed and flicked her eyes back the way she had come. She'd bet it was on the windowsill.
"That's okay, you can use one of ours. We'll share." Tal thanked him with a smile as Finn dug his dog-eared copy out of his jacket and passed it to her.
The flickering braziers stood sentry on either side of the doorway as the three filtered into the room. People milled about chatting quietly but amiably. Salen was slouched against one wall, eyes closed. Waving to Finn and Elsa, Tal slipped though the people, murmuring greetings and parsing out smiles. She sidled up next to the man against the wall just as he yawned jaw-crackingly wide. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. He shifted to face her. "Didn't see you there."
"I doubt you would have, what with your eyes closed." She resisted the urge to smooth his bad case of bed-head. "Long night?"
"I was distracted by some of the new technology that Prior Olmus wanted me to integrate..." he trailed off. "Anyways, I was awake almost all night."
"Well, after Prostration, I hereby give you permission to take a long nap." She grinned at him.
His answer was cut off by the final chime sounding as the Prior walked in. Adjusting her sweater, she lowered herself to her knees. As services began, the voice rumbling the virtues of sacred fire and holy brimstone above her, she focused on the leather bound book before her. Rubbing her thumb over the cover--worn, but not old--she traced the golden lettering with the edge of her fingernail. Blessed are the Ori. She chanted in time with the room as her fingers continued their path over the embossed phrase. Blessed are the Ori.
She dragged the chair from her desk over to the window afterwards, and draped her favorite deep red blanket over her drawn-up knees. Finn's book was back safely in his possession and her own copy of Origin, just as old, but in better condition, was now tucked into one of her desk drawers. She had always loved this window for its view. The waves, so far, but almost within reach of her fingertips as they pressed against the panes, crashed against the storm walls around the city. This had always been her place to remember. The terror of the Wraith: so blatant in their theft of lives, so subtle in their machinations. The fear for the people she called family here on this new world she had come to, trying desperately to hold things together when the very walls seemed to shake apart, not to mention their own souls. And last--the triumphant Coming of the Ori. She feared them at first, as had so many others. Their powers were not mere showmanship and their will was implacable. But the Ori had proven themselves: gods, ascended beings, it didn't matter what you called them as long as you called upon them. The price of the destruction of the Wraith, a mistake of the Ancients to begin with, was cheap compared to any other she had paid. No one ever said that the Ori were not just.
Blessed are the Ori. Tal remembered many things. Some were things that everyone knew. Others were hers alone. She remembered the adjustment period (the Ori were fair in that regard; they allowed for acclimation--they could afford to) and the emissary of the Ori who came to help everyone who would be helped. She remembered the compassion of the Prior as he suggested gently, that she divorce herself from her earlier life on the wrong path, astray. Throw yourself upon the mercy of the Blessed Ones and answer them as they call to you. Tal let her head fall to her knees as the window panes blurred.
As she always did in these lonely moments, she began to recite the things that she remembered lest she forget, whispering into the silence when even the Flame was deaf. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth Ann Weir, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka, Laura Cadman..."
Author: Riva (
riva_today)Challenge: Dark Side
Length: ~928 words
Spoilers: S9 SG-1, implied "Allies"
Rating: G (Gen-ish)
Summary: Blessed are the Ori
In the end, it was the Ori who defeated the Wraith. Everyone knew that, the story of Their Coming. Everyone knew a lot of things nowadays. She turned away from the window, folding her arms over her chest. It seemed it was going to be another long day, and she had business to attend to. Idle hands do the devil's work--an old saying no less true for all that had happened. Soft chimes echoed, calling everyone to morning Prostration. As she walked the familiar path to their gathering area, the city was coming to life around her. As if on cue, Finn and Elsa spilled out of their doorway laughing.
"Tal!" Elsa cried upon seeing her. "Glad you could join us this morning. We thought you'd still be off-world." Finn smiled warmly as he fell into step with her and his wife.
"Well, things cleared up a lot sooner than we'd thought, thank the Ori." She pulled her long sweater a bit closer about her, and tucked her hands in the pockets.
"Well, that is what we're going to be doing," Finn chimed in. Elsa gave him a smile and swatted at his arm. Tal just smiled slightly and drew a deep breath.
She stopped suddenly and turned. "Crap," she muttered, patting down her pants and sweater.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked, stepping to the side so as to not block the way.
"I forgot my copy of the Book of Origin." She sighed and flicked her eyes back the way she had come. She'd bet it was on the windowsill.
"That's okay, you can use one of ours. We'll share." Tal thanked him with a smile as Finn dug his dog-eared copy out of his jacket and passed it to her.
The flickering braziers stood sentry on either side of the doorway as the three filtered into the room. People milled about chatting quietly but amiably. Salen was slouched against one wall, eyes closed. Waving to Finn and Elsa, Tal slipped though the people, murmuring greetings and parsing out smiles. She sidled up next to the man against the wall just as he yawned jaw-crackingly wide. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. He shifted to face her. "Didn't see you there."
"I doubt you would have, what with your eyes closed." She resisted the urge to smooth his bad case of bed-head. "Long night?"
"I was distracted by some of the new technology that Prior Olmus wanted me to integrate..." he trailed off. "Anyways, I was awake almost all night."
"Well, after Prostration, I hereby give you permission to take a long nap." She grinned at him.
His answer was cut off by the final chime sounding as the Prior walked in. Adjusting her sweater, she lowered herself to her knees. As services began, the voice rumbling the virtues of sacred fire and holy brimstone above her, she focused on the leather bound book before her. Rubbing her thumb over the cover--worn, but not old--she traced the golden lettering with the edge of her fingernail. Blessed are the Ori. She chanted in time with the room as her fingers continued their path over the embossed phrase. Blessed are the Ori.
She dragged the chair from her desk over to the window afterwards, and draped her favorite deep red blanket over her drawn-up knees. Finn's book was back safely in his possession and her own copy of Origin, just as old, but in better condition, was now tucked into one of her desk drawers. She had always loved this window for its view. The waves, so far, but almost within reach of her fingertips as they pressed against the panes, crashed against the storm walls around the city. This had always been her place to remember. The terror of the Wraith: so blatant in their theft of lives, so subtle in their machinations. The fear for the people she called family here on this new world she had come to, trying desperately to hold things together when the very walls seemed to shake apart, not to mention their own souls. And last--the triumphant Coming of the Ori. She feared them at first, as had so many others. Their powers were not mere showmanship and their will was implacable. But the Ori had proven themselves: gods, ascended beings, it didn't matter what you called them as long as you called upon them. The price of the destruction of the Wraith, a mistake of the Ancients to begin with, was cheap compared to any other she had paid. No one ever said that the Ori were not just.
Blessed are the Ori. Tal remembered many things. Some were things that everyone knew. Others were hers alone. She remembered the adjustment period (the Ori were fair in that regard; they allowed for acclimation--they could afford to) and the emissary of the Ori who came to help everyone who would be helped. She remembered the compassion of the Prior as he suggested gently, that she divorce herself from her earlier life on the wrong path, astray. Throw yourself upon the mercy of the Blessed Ones and answer them as they call to you. Tal let her head fall to her knees as the window panes blurred.
As she always did in these lonely moments, she began to recite the things that she remembered lest she forget, whispering into the silence when even the Flame was deaf. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth Ann Weir, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka, Laura Cadman..."