Ficlet: Intergalactic Penpal (PG; Atlantis, SG-1)

[jedibuttercup]

PG; SGA/SG-1, 600 words. A Teyla and Teal'c ficlet, set roughly late season 2 of SGA.

Teyla wonders, at times, that one of her dear friends should be a man she's never met, separated from her by unimaginably distant boundaries.

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Title: Intergalactic Penpal
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the Stargate-verse is not.
Rating: PG
Summary: Teyla wonders, at times, that one of her dear friends should be a man she's never met, separated from her by unimaginably distant boundaries. 600 words.

Notes: A Teyla and Teal'c teenyfic, started years ago before SG-1's visit to Atlantis and the invention of the gate bridge. Set in that timeframe; cleaned up and posted while clearing out my scrapfile of old ideas.

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Teyla wonders, at times, that one of her dear friends should be a man she's never met, separated from her by unimaginably distant physical, cultural, and even species boundaries.

Of course, there are also times when she wishes that the Gate had never opened from Atlantis, disgorging the kind, careless strangers who trail both hope and destruction in their wake.

But that is a futile thought. Each time it comes, she takes a deep breath and rebalances herself, letting it disperse unheeded. To live is to change; the Wraith always come, if not in one lifetime then the next, and it has taught her people both flexibility and strength. One does not question one's anchors in this life, or deny the inevitabilities with which one is faced: one simply accepts, and builds anew with the materials at hand.

And such materials! There are many reasons, Colonel Sheppard and his team not least among them, why she has stayed in the Ancestors' city rather than join the new Athosian settlement.

Fortunately, she is not alone in such perceptions, nor the first leader of a people to be caught up in the incandescent wake of travelers from Earth-- the Tau'ri. Each new letter from her "penpal", as John wryly refers to her correspondent, has reaffirmed that; each moment of camaraderie thus shared a gift beyond price.

It had been difficult for Teyla, that long year before the arrival of the Daedalus. She had been forced, of necessity, to cede day-to-day responsibility for her people to Halling; she had not been able to turn to him with the concerns and questions each new day in Atlantis brought without endangering their respective roles. Nor could she share them fully with Elizabeth, or John or Rodney, or any of the other scientists and soldiers who staked their claim on the Ancestors' city; they were all surprisingly alike of mindset despite widely varying appearances and personalities, convinced at a level below thought that their homeworld was the center of the universe.

For all their professed open-mindedness, these newcomers simply did not see so much that was plain to Teyla's eyes, and she had not been able to find the right words to strip that blindness from them. Ronon's arrival had relieved that in some ways, but not completely; though he understood much that eluded the others, he listened with the ears of a soldier and a follower, not a guardian.

Teal'c had understood what the others did not. For many long years, he had fought alongside the Tau'ri to free his people from their oppressors; and when at long last their struggles had been successful, he had been given the highest honor the Jaffa observed. But despite his valor, they had also deemed him irrevocably othered-- divorced from his culture by the time he'd spent among their human allies.

There will come a time, Teyla is sure, when she will face the same consequences; when she must either recommit to her people or admit that she is fully Athosian no longer. Her competing duties-- and her long understanding with Kanaan-- will not permit her to remain in this in-between state forever. But the press of her troubles are made less weighty by sharing them with a friend; and she believes it helps Teal'c as well, isolated as he often is from even the others of his kind who have made similar choices.

Perhaps, one day, they will affirm their friendship face-to-face. But even should that never occur, she remains grateful to Elizabeth for suggesting the contact, and looks forward to each databurst with a glad heart.


(x-posted to passintotheblue)

Comments

[sulien.livejournal.com]

I love this to pieces. I've often wondered about these things that Teyla thinks of in this piece and they were never really covered in either series to a sufficient extent. I think Teyla and Teal'c have much in common despite their differences and firmly believe that they would likely have developed a close friendship, much like you describe here, if given any opportunity to do so.

Again, I'm left wishing that TPTB had considered this and covered it in both series and, as always, thank you for sharing! :)

[jedibuttercup]

Glad you enjoyed it! I've always wondered what the 'aliens' really thought about Earth-humans; we never get more than glimpses of it on-screen. One thing that really frustrated me was the complete lack of elaboration on what it meant for Teyla and Ronon to just go to the Milky Way with the rest of the Atlanteans at the end of SGA Season 5; that was a huge dangling end that'll never get resolved, now. I'll have to buy the books that are supposed to cover 'what comes next', I suppose.

[mulder200.livejournal.com]

Oh lovely! This makes me wish that the two had met and talked on the series.

I think they would have much in common and would have been great friends.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! Yes, I thought so; their characters developed in different ways, but they had more in common than they didn't, and I was disappointed they chose to have Teal'c spend time with Ronon instead of Teyla the one time he crossed over.

[flyingcarpet.livejournal.com]

Great Teyla voice here, I know she can be hard to write. And what a perfect idea for the two of them to write to each other. :)

[jedibuttercup]

Thanks! It was something I really wish they'd spent time on in the series, rather than have Teal'c and Ronon vent testosterone at each other.

[wildecate.livejournal.com]

How beautifully written.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[revdorothyl.livejournal.com]

Nice insight about Ronon having the mindset of a soldier, as opposed to Teyla's guardian role, and about how hard it is to make a dent in the ethnocentric assumptions of the expedition from Earth.

[jedibuttercup]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, she and Ronon don't automatically have the same viewpoint because they're both Pegasus natives; but I bet they do both shake their heads sometimes over their new friends are, and what their self-confident attitude means about Earth culture-- rich, privileged, and so on by comparison to any world they know.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

It's a very valid point when looked at by a non American. We do shake our heads sometimes :)

[raiining.livejournal.com]

Oh beautiful! I would never have thought of this, but well done!

[jedibuttercup]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[siljamus]

This is really lovely.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[duonoaikouka.livejournal.com]

A very well done look at two people who are caught between worlds and trying to balance their lives. I don't think I've seen this analyzed in fic before and am glad you wrote. You did a fantastic job seeing how Teyla and Teal'c deal with being a part of no one culture.

Really liked Teyla's POV. She's vivid and very in character, something very hard to get in fic, I think. Loved her insights into Tau'ri culture as well as trying to balance it with her own.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you-- I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. I always wished we got more glimpses of how the native Pegasans saw their new powerful but sometimes fickle neighbors.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Lovely piece, thoughtful and I can see this totally from both Teyla's and Teal'c's (is that how you'd write it?) POV even though you never wrote Teal'c into it.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! I appreciate that, and your other comment too; I forget sometimes that much of my flist isn't as American as I am. I'm glad to hear that the story works across cultural lines, considering the subject matter. =)