OMG I'm Really Posting Once a Year, Geez
Working Title: Surrender by Conquest 4/?
Crossover: SGA/Anne Bishop's Blood Realms
Pairing: eventual John/Ronon
Rating: PG-13 for slavery and sexual themes
Author's Note: Knowledge of both universes helpful but not necessary (I think, feel free to contradict in comments).
Chapter 4
"A Blood Jewel is like a depository of power, a visible outside symbol of the reserves inside. When you use it you draw on it and the Jewel shows that it's depleted by darkening, breaking the Jewel will destroy your ability to access the power. The darker the Jewel, the deeper the well of power and the more powerful the spells that you cast. There are direct applications of power, just striking out with Craft and there are spells that work at one level removed. Sometimes you'll use physical elements for your spells. These are the basics of the Jewels and of Craft."
"It's simple."
He knows he's growling. Maybe not the smartest thing, McKay is not only a free man, he outranks him (his Jewels outrank Ronon’s). There's no way to be sure what Jewels McKay wears without seeing them but they've been working on Craft for two days now and he's brushed up against the other man's inner barriers enough to get a taste of the power inside, it's darker than Sapphire, his own Jewel. Not to mention that McKay and Sheppard are ... close, or something. Sheppard values him, that's obvious. And it all adds up to the fact that growling at McKay is not a smart move.
Picking him up by the scruff of his neck and throwing him off the roof would be even less smart. Darkness help him if McKay asks to touch his Sapphire Jewels again, higher rank or not he's going right off that roof. Besides, there’s a strategy to this, act timid and they'll walk all over you, scare them and you've got a chance, a space.
They've been at this nine hours.
"If it's your power why would you lose it without the Jewel? If it's your power why can't you use it fully until you descend to it? That makes no sense!" McKay shouts.
He went from talking to shouting ten minutes into the discussion and has yet to stop. Ronon has no idea where he gets the energy.
"Because that's how it works!" Ronon growls.
"There has to be a reason for it!" McKay insists.
“Can you save up the power? If you don’t use Craft for a year or so, will you have more power available then you started with? If you have two Jewels, your birthright and your full one can you keep one in reserve, storing power for years? Is there any limit to how much you can accumulate?” McKay asks.
“Yes of course there’s a limit. A Jewel holds as much as it holds, each Jewel is a certain strength, it’s as dark as it is. You wear a Jewel, you should know that. If you use too much power you deplete the energy, with rest you will regain full power. You can’t ever get more than that. You have one chance, at the Offering, whatever Jewel you receive then is the one you’ll have the rest of your life.” Ronon says.
“Hmm.”
There’s a blessed period of silence for five minutes or so as McKay scribbles on papers and looks dissatisfied. Ronon takes advantage of the opportunity to rest. McKay is the most exhausting man he has ever met.
He hears footsteps and knows it’s not John.
Lorne doesn’t knock.
“Excuse me. Rodney, we need you for a moment or ten.” Lorne says. He’s very very pleasant, it’s strange to see in a guard.
“Hmm?” McKay stares blankly for two seconds before he rushes out.
“We’ll pick this back up soon. Try thinking about how Jewels work, in some way that makes sense.” McKay says, abrupt and condescending.
Ronon should be glad to be alone. He wonders what happened between John and Kareen and if there’s going to be trouble. He thinks there’s going to be trouble.
Five hours later he’s getting seriously frustrated. No one has spoken to him in five hours, he hasn’t seen any of them in five hours. Five hours isn’t long. It feels long. He feels shut out, a stranger, which he is, of course he is.
He lasts another two hours before he threatens to knock the door down. Technically he’s knocking. The door to the library is good, heavy wood but Ronon’s fist wrapped in Sapphire power is making a dent.
John is the one who answers, John is the one Ronon was expecting.
“Hey” he says softly.
“What’s going on?” Ronon asks.
John purses his lips slightly.
“We have a small problem. We’ll figure it out but it’ll take some time.”
Ronon would say something if he could think of a damn thing to say. He’ll be damned if he volunteers for any damn thing to the man who’s bought him. He’ll be damned if he’ll be locked out of whatever is making John pale under his smile. He is damned. For years now. He doesn’t know what to say or what he wants.
They’re both silent for a full minute.
John smiles again. The man radiates harmlessness and careless charm. It’s a mask, clearly a mask. The question is what the mask is for. (There’s softness there. Softness towards Ronon, why for Darkness sake?)
“Hey. Come on; let’s take a walk. I could use a break.”
He can hear McKay’s voice rise but John leaves to come with Ronon anyway.
They go into the backyard and being outside releases a thin layer of tension in Ronon’s gut. They walk in circles around the small backyard, matching strides. There are half a dozen trees and some bushes, vivid green during these summer months but it’s the dirt beneath and the sky above that are tonic for his heart. The trees are different in every territory but the sky and earth are close enough to fool the senses.
“Is there a problem?” John asks.
Yes. No. Maybe. Certainly.
“You said there was,” Ronon replied.
“Ha. Well, we do have a problem, a small problem that is going to be solved soon. We actually have several problems, some more urgent than others and some more complicated.”
“But I’d like to know if you are having a problem as well.”
“And what are you going to do if I am?”
“Try to solve it.”
That might be a threat or might not be.
“Ronon, I know that this situation isn’t very fair to you, you’re among strangers, you don’t know what’s going on and none of us can spare the time to” John finally paused, at a loss for words.
“To do much of anything actually. But”
“Isn’t fair” Ronon interrupted. He’s settled on anger as the appropriate emotion, you rarely went wrong with anger. He spoke slowly so that John wouldn’t miss anything.
“This situation isn’t fair to me. That’s funny. My Lord, my problem, my real problem is that Coleman was ever born, that Saeteda was destroyed as a territory and as a people. That everyone I ever knew or loved is gone, that my Jewels and my body are not my own.” He leaned closer to John.
“My problem is you and the way you can’t make up your mind whether you trust me or not, though the Gods know why you would, that you’re pushing me away and pushing me into your world and your problems at the same time and my current problem is that no one will tell what the hell is going on.”
“What do you want from me?” Ronon snarls.
“Can you tell me that?”
“What possessed you to buy a warrior from a strange race in a strange territory?”
John doesn't seem to be intimidated. Is that because of the Ring of Obedience or because John has powers Ronon doesn't know about? Or because he doesn't think Ronon is dangerous? Hell.
“That’s a more complicated question than it sounds. Let’s say I bought you because I had a hunch we could use, a warrior.” John says in measured tones.
Ronon bares his teeth.
“Can’t be much use blind. Unless you’re planning to tell me who to kill.”
“We don’t want you to kill anyone. We could use some help getting out of here. Kareen isn’t going to want to let us leave. It’s a long story.”
Ronon stays silent and John tells him about the way the dormant Altar next to the Gate at Hoath had come awake at something John and his people have done. Kareen thinks it is powerful and thinks John will make it work for her.
They want to leave tonight and head to Zorran. There are guards watching the house and at the two nearest points where the Winds are. Those seem to be the important points.
John is uncomfortable about something but not about asking Ronon for help in their get away. Ronon doesn’t ask why John doesn’t have more people with him. He’s not interested and has no right to know.
The topic of the Ring of Obedience and the debilitating pain it could produce in John’s hands hadn’t come up once during the entire conversation.
Two hours later Ronon is in the library. It isn’t a big room and seems smaller for the old, mostly empty shelves crowding every wall. The colors are dark red and worn maple. The surprise is the stacks of books covering the desks. Who consulted old books to get ready for battle?
It is distinctly unlike any other counsel readying for battle he’s been in. John is the King and these people serve him, there should be no question. Yet if he couldn’t feel the psychic currents in the room he would even know that John and McKay are in charge. They squabble like children. They all talk too much but eventually a workable plan emerges. Lorne is sensible and Cadman is very funny and John and McKay work remarkably well together. It’s strange and uncomfortable to work with them but good to be active again.
They break for dinner during which talk of the plan is banned and Cadman and McKay dominate the conversation by squabbling very loudly about nothing.
Lorne cleans up, which is eases Ronon’s nerves.
They reconvene for an hour in the evening to go over the plan. It isn’t necessary except to ease nerves, the plan isn't that complicated. The Atlantians stay for another hour to speak privately after Ronon leaves for bed.
Crossover: SGA/Anne Bishop's Blood Realms
Pairing: eventual John/Ronon
Rating: PG-13 for slavery and sexual themes
Author's Note: Knowledge of both universes helpful but not necessary (I think, feel free to contradict in comments).
Chapter 4
"A Blood Jewel is like a depository of power, a visible outside symbol of the reserves inside. When you use it you draw on it and the Jewel shows that it's depleted by darkening, breaking the Jewel will destroy your ability to access the power. The darker the Jewel, the deeper the well of power and the more powerful the spells that you cast. There are direct applications of power, just striking out with Craft and there are spells that work at one level removed. Sometimes you'll use physical elements for your spells. These are the basics of the Jewels and of Craft."
"It's simple."
He knows he's growling. Maybe not the smartest thing, McKay is not only a free man, he outranks him (his Jewels outrank Ronon’s). There's no way to be sure what Jewels McKay wears without seeing them but they've been working on Craft for two days now and he's brushed up against the other man's inner barriers enough to get a taste of the power inside, it's darker than Sapphire, his own Jewel. Not to mention that McKay and Sheppard are ... close, or something. Sheppard values him, that's obvious. And it all adds up to the fact that growling at McKay is not a smart move.
Picking him up by the scruff of his neck and throwing him off the roof would be even less smart. Darkness help him if McKay asks to touch his Sapphire Jewels again, higher rank or not he's going right off that roof. Besides, there’s a strategy to this, act timid and they'll walk all over you, scare them and you've got a chance, a space.
They've been at this nine hours.
"If it's your power why would you lose it without the Jewel? If it's your power why can't you use it fully until you descend to it? That makes no sense!" McKay shouts.
He went from talking to shouting ten minutes into the discussion and has yet to stop. Ronon has no idea where he gets the energy.
"Because that's how it works!" Ronon growls.
"There has to be a reason for it!" McKay insists.
“Can you save up the power? If you don’t use Craft for a year or so, will you have more power available then you started with? If you have two Jewels, your birthright and your full one can you keep one in reserve, storing power for years? Is there any limit to how much you can accumulate?” McKay asks.
“Yes of course there’s a limit. A Jewel holds as much as it holds, each Jewel is a certain strength, it’s as dark as it is. You wear a Jewel, you should know that. If you use too much power you deplete the energy, with rest you will regain full power. You can’t ever get more than that. You have one chance, at the Offering, whatever Jewel you receive then is the one you’ll have the rest of your life.” Ronon says.
“Hmm.”
There’s a blessed period of silence for five minutes or so as McKay scribbles on papers and looks dissatisfied. Ronon takes advantage of the opportunity to rest. McKay is the most exhausting man he has ever met.
He hears footsteps and knows it’s not John.
Lorne doesn’t knock.
“Excuse me. Rodney, we need you for a moment or ten.” Lorne says. He’s very very pleasant, it’s strange to see in a guard.
“Hmm?” McKay stares blankly for two seconds before he rushes out.
“We’ll pick this back up soon. Try thinking about how Jewels work, in some way that makes sense.” McKay says, abrupt and condescending.
Ronon should be glad to be alone. He wonders what happened between John and Kareen and if there’s going to be trouble. He thinks there’s going to be trouble.
Five hours later he’s getting seriously frustrated. No one has spoken to him in five hours, he hasn’t seen any of them in five hours. Five hours isn’t long. It feels long. He feels shut out, a stranger, which he is, of course he is.
He lasts another two hours before he threatens to knock the door down. Technically he’s knocking. The door to the library is good, heavy wood but Ronon’s fist wrapped in Sapphire power is making a dent.
John is the one who answers, John is the one Ronon was expecting.
“Hey” he says softly.
“What’s going on?” Ronon asks.
John purses his lips slightly.
“We have a small problem. We’ll figure it out but it’ll take some time.”
Ronon would say something if he could think of a damn thing to say. He’ll be damned if he volunteers for any damn thing to the man who’s bought him. He’ll be damned if he’ll be locked out of whatever is making John pale under his smile. He is damned. For years now. He doesn’t know what to say or what he wants.
They’re both silent for a full minute.
John smiles again. The man radiates harmlessness and careless charm. It’s a mask, clearly a mask. The question is what the mask is for. (There’s softness there. Softness towards Ronon, why for Darkness sake?)
“Hey. Come on; let’s take a walk. I could use a break.”
He can hear McKay’s voice rise but John leaves to come with Ronon anyway.
They go into the backyard and being outside releases a thin layer of tension in Ronon’s gut. They walk in circles around the small backyard, matching strides. There are half a dozen trees and some bushes, vivid green during these summer months but it’s the dirt beneath and the sky above that are tonic for his heart. The trees are different in every territory but the sky and earth are close enough to fool the senses.
“Is there a problem?” John asks.
Yes. No. Maybe. Certainly.
“You said there was,” Ronon replied.
“Ha. Well, we do have a problem, a small problem that is going to be solved soon. We actually have several problems, some more urgent than others and some more complicated.”
“But I’d like to know if you are having a problem as well.”
“And what are you going to do if I am?”
“Try to solve it.”
That might be a threat or might not be.
“Ronon, I know that this situation isn’t very fair to you, you’re among strangers, you don’t know what’s going on and none of us can spare the time to” John finally paused, at a loss for words.
“To do much of anything actually. But”
“Isn’t fair” Ronon interrupted. He’s settled on anger as the appropriate emotion, you rarely went wrong with anger. He spoke slowly so that John wouldn’t miss anything.
“This situation isn’t fair to me. That’s funny. My Lord, my problem, my real problem is that Coleman was ever born, that Saeteda was destroyed as a territory and as a people. That everyone I ever knew or loved is gone, that my Jewels and my body are not my own.” He leaned closer to John.
“My problem is you and the way you can’t make up your mind whether you trust me or not, though the Gods know why you would, that you’re pushing me away and pushing me into your world and your problems at the same time and my current problem is that no one will tell what the hell is going on.”
“What do you want from me?” Ronon snarls.
“Can you tell me that?”
“What possessed you to buy a warrior from a strange race in a strange territory?”
John doesn't seem to be intimidated. Is that because of the Ring of Obedience or because John has powers Ronon doesn't know about? Or because he doesn't think Ronon is dangerous? Hell.
“That’s a more complicated question than it sounds. Let’s say I bought you because I had a hunch we could use, a warrior.” John says in measured tones.
Ronon bares his teeth.
“Can’t be much use blind. Unless you’re planning to tell me who to kill.”
“We don’t want you to kill anyone. We could use some help getting out of here. Kareen isn’t going to want to let us leave. It’s a long story.”
Ronon stays silent and John tells him about the way the dormant Altar next to the Gate at Hoath had come awake at something John and his people have done. Kareen thinks it is powerful and thinks John will make it work for her.
They want to leave tonight and head to Zorran. There are guards watching the house and at the two nearest points where the Winds are. Those seem to be the important points.
John is uncomfortable about something but not about asking Ronon for help in their get away. Ronon doesn’t ask why John doesn’t have more people with him. He’s not interested and has no right to know.
The topic of the Ring of Obedience and the debilitating pain it could produce in John’s hands hadn’t come up once during the entire conversation.
Two hours later Ronon is in the library. It isn’t a big room and seems smaller for the old, mostly empty shelves crowding every wall. The colors are dark red and worn maple. The surprise is the stacks of books covering the desks. Who consulted old books to get ready for battle?
It is distinctly unlike any other counsel readying for battle he’s been in. John is the King and these people serve him, there should be no question. Yet if he couldn’t feel the psychic currents in the room he would even know that John and McKay are in charge. They squabble like children. They all talk too much but eventually a workable plan emerges. Lorne is sensible and Cadman is very funny and John and McKay work remarkably well together. It’s strange and uncomfortable to work with them but good to be active again.
They break for dinner during which talk of the plan is banned and Cadman and McKay dominate the conversation by squabbling very loudly about nothing.
Lorne cleans up, which is eases Ronon’s nerves.
They reconvene for an hour in the evening to go over the plan. It isn’t necessary except to ease nerves, the plan isn't that complicated. The Atlantians stay for another hour to speak privately after Ronon leaves for bed.