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Dec. 12th, 2008 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sam_gamgeeGaijin, Part 10/40
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
Three days after the successful repulsion of the Korsans, the Laprans had a feast to celebrate their success.
Rodney had been surprised when, instead of returning to their normal schedule, the Laprans began to prepare for the feast as soon as he and the others returned. But he hadn’t had much time to dwell on it because as soon as he had finished eating, Jillian took the empty plate out of his hands and gently pushed him over. By the time his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.
He tried to help in whatever way he could, but no one would hear of it – insisting that since he had been responsible for their rebellion he was the guest of honor. As such, he was prohibited from doing anything. Rodney was also surprised at how many people came up to him and thanked him for what he had done and how much everyone was talking about what had happened.
“This is insanity,” he said to Kelly on the second afternoon as he watched everyone getting ready.
“What?” Kelly asked, amused. “That everyone’s excited about and happy for what you’ve done for them?”
“Yes. Granted, I came up with the idea and basically goaded everyone into going along with it, but they actually did the hard part.”
“Maybe so. But you’ve given us hope, Rodney-chan.”
“Hope for what?” Rodney asked, incredulous.
“That things could get better. The Korsans haven’t come back.”
“It’s hardly been two days. They’re probably biding their time. There are times when waiting before retaliating is as good as retaliating right away. Besides,” he muttered, “we don’t know how long it’ll take them to fix what I did to their dialing device.”
“*If* they can fix it,” Kelly amended. “I thought you had more confidence in your work.”
“Normally I do, but normally I also have a chance to actually work on and study what I’m playing with before I start fiddling with it.”
“Ah. Well, at least now we may have time to get ready for their return. The others want me to ask you to help us step-up our staff training so we can actually fight and not just do it ceremoniously.”
“I don’t know,” Rodney said hesitantly. “I don’t really know that much.”
“But you know something,” Kelly replied firmly. “If you’d like, I’ll help you.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Not a problem,” Kelly replied with a smile.
Rodney also struggled with the attention. A small part of him reveled in it and accepted it as his just due. But, for the most part, he had become accustomed to not being in the limelight. Between not being given a chance to be in the limelight and having so much of his former self stripped away and laid to rest, it felt odd and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
The Laprans seemed to find his unease with their praise endearing and Rodney did his best to be as gracious as possible with them and their gratitude when all he wanted to do was get away from it.
“What’s wrong, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked the next morning as they settled in for Rodney’s meditation session.
Rodney shrugged before replying, “I’m just not sure how to deal with the attention. I used to love it, but after being away from situations that would bring me attention for so long, it feels weird.”
“It’s good, though, that you’re recognizing that change. Let’s get started.”
When the feast was over, Rodney breathed a sigh of relief. Now things would get back to normal and the next day he and the other students reported to the silk borough.
“Okay, everyone,” Lucy said when they had assembled with their partners before her. “Starting today, you are going to be officially learning the job of your partner and not learning the whole. For some of you, that will be weaving. For others, it will be one of the steps of the thread’s production. Now, let’s get started. We have quite a list of orders from the festival that need to be filled.”
Finding Laura, Rodney said, “Okay, so what are we doing today?”
Going to her loom, Laura picked up a small device. “We have a portion of the orders that came in that we need to fill. You have a few, starting with some very easy ones and then they slowly get harder, based on the average schedule of advancement that previous students have gone through.”
“Where am I going to do them?” Rodney asked, looking around the fairly crowded space.
Laura rolled her eyes and laughed. “On a hand loom. You didn’t think you were going to get one of the big looms to start with, did you?”
“I didn’t know what to think,” Rodney huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “The details have been rather sparse.”
Laura rolled her eyes again and, as she handed Rodney a loom, Rodney couldn’t help but compare her to Laura Cadman for a second. She showed him how to set up the loom for his first project – a set of napkins – and got him started before listening to the details of her project, a wedding dress.
Rodney found the napkins to be an easy project and sailed through them. The next project – placemats – was a bit trickier, but once he got the hang of it, he sailed through them as well. He also watched Laura’s progress with interest, intrigued with how she made the dress even if he wasn’t completely sure how she did it.
As he and the kids progressed through their projects, Rodney found himself slowly becoming more and more frustrated. Either the thread wouldn’t obey him or his fingers wouldn’t. The kids, on the other hand, seemed to be passing through their assignments with ease and Rodney marveled at their ability.
“It’s just because their fingers are smaller that they move so quickly,” Laura whispered to him, when she caught Rodney growl slightly as he watched Michael and Lisa work on their projects. “They still have to redo much of their work.”
“It’s still frustrating,” Rodney replied. He set his loom aside. “I need to take a break.”
Without waiting for a reply, he left. Not sure where he was going, nevertheless, Rodney wasn’t surprised when he ended up in the caves at the yaks’ pen. One came over to see if he had any treats and to get attention.
“Is everything okay, Rodney-chan?” Kelly asked, concern etched on his face as he came over.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Rodney replied absently, rubbing the yak’s nose. “I’m just frustrated with my work.”
Kelly laughed. “Everyone feels that way at one point or another.”
“I never felt that way,” Rodney replied. “Well, not before. Sure, I got frustrated that the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, but never during the learning process. Not even when I was learning to play the piano. Why can’t I be a healer full-time, like Kirby?”
“Because we still have Kirby,” Kelly replied as he leaned against the fence. “It’s considered bad luck for the apprentice to practice full-time after until the current healer has passed. And Kirby practiced another trade while he was training, as did his apprentice. I’m sure you understand the necessity of everyone pulling their weight here.”
“Really?” Rodney wasn’t sure why he felt so surprised – it did make sense. “I can’t see Kirby as anything other than the healer.”
“He has that effect on a lot of people. So, feeling any better?”
Rodney shrugged. “I’m not looking forward to going back. What if I can’t get the hang of this, Kelly?”
“I’m sure you will, Rodney-chan. I have faith in you.”
“But if I don’t, I can change guilds, right?”
Kelly laughed. “You’re kidding, right?” At Rodney’s glare, he said, “I’m sorry, Rodney-chan, but once you’ve been taken into a guild, there’s no changing guilds unless the circumstances are severe. And, trust me, everyone goes through a panic phase with their training. I know the kids do. I know Jillian did.”
“I doubt you did,” Rodney huffed.
“Oh, I did,” Kelly replied. “Right when I was helping my father deliver a breech birth. But when the calf finally came out okay, I knew that there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do. I know that at some point you’ll hit that moment too.”
Rodney took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I certainly hope so. I’d better go back or Laura will have to come get me and I doubt she’ll be happy about that.” At Kelly’s questioning look, he continued, “When she gets into a groove with her weaving, she hates to be interrupted.”
“Then you better get going,” Kelly replied, waving him off. “And I meant what I said.”
Rodney went back to his weaving with a sigh. Laura didn’t say anything, merely raised an eyebrow as he sat down, and she started weaving her shuttle through another row. Rodney was actually grateful that she didn’t say anything as he resumed his work and found it went much easier.
As they were playing a game of dice after dinner, Jillian said, “Kelly told me you’re having doubts about your training with the silk guild, Rodney.”
“Yes, well,” he started before rolling his dice and smiling at the result while Jillian groaned. “I was assured that such doubts are completely normal and that everyone goes through them at one point or another.” He picked up his dice to roll them again.
Jillian groaned again as Rodney got another high roll. “Did Kelly tell you his was with the breech birth?”
“He did,” Rodney replied as Jillian picked up the dice. “Was he lying or something?”
“Or something,” she said with a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “He tells that story to everyone. It’s almost become lore here. He’s taken a lot of good-natured ribbing for it.”
“What about you?” Rodney asked as Jillian grimaced at the outcome of her roll.
“Oh, my training was completely perfect,” she replied dismissively as she rolled again, huffing at the outcome. “It was afterwards that was the problem. During my first real commission, I had to make a set of glasses and I found out after they had all been finished that each had a hairline fracture that rendered them unusable. I had gone through a lot of hard work and stress to make them –”
“And you were understandably pissed when they had to be remade.” Rodney smiled as his second roll was as good as the first.
“You have no idea. But things got better after that and now I’m easily producing things that I once thought were impossible to make. Given what you’ve said about your previous work, I know you’ll be the same way. I know I can’t begin to know what your old profession was like, but it seems to be much the same – working with your hands and mind to create something of value.” She huffed as her second roll turned out poorly and handed over the dice with a scowl.
“Eh, not quite, but I’m not going to argue,” Rodney replied as he took the dice from her. “But you’re right in that I do enjoy the challenge. And seeing the things that Laura’s working on is amazing. She makes it seem so easy.”
As Rodney rolled another perfect pair, Jillian glared at Rodney and said, “I give up – you win.” She brightened a little as she continued with, “But one of these days you’ll have an apprentice saying the same thing about you.”
“Yeah, that’ll be the day,” he replied dryly as he picked up the dice and they headed into their quarters. “Usually the only things the people under me say are bad things behind my back after they’ve run away either crying or fuming.”
She looked at him perplexed as she knelt by the fire to add some dried dung. “That’s surprising, considering I’ve only heard nice things since you’ve been here.”
“Well,” Rodney replied, shrugging his eyebrows and pursing his lips, “this isn’t exactly my natural environment.”
Kirby entered the room and sank down on his cot with a weary sigh. “Rodney – would you mind going to check on Henry? For some reason, his leg didn’t heal properly from the gash and it’s been giving him some pain.”
“Sure,” Rodney replied, taking the offered medicine bag. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Kirby replied, looking at both Rodney and Jillian with a tired smile. “Just starting to feel my age a bit. And Lilly had a difficult birth today. Thankfully, both she and the baby are fine.”
Without another word, Rodney slung the bag over his shoulder and headed out. Both Henry and his wife, Ginny, seemed to be greatly relieved to see him. They asked after Rodney’s health and if he needed anything to drink or eat, both of which Rodney politely declined. It was only once Rodney settled on a stool that Henry broached the subject of his leg.
Rodney listened attentively to Henry’s description of the pain, as well as what Kirby had been doing to treat it. Once Henry was done, Rodney said, “Okay, then. Let’s have a look at it.”
Henry lifted his leg and put his right foot gingerly in Rodney’s lap. Rodney pushed Henry’s pant leg up to reveal a deep red circle in the middle of the outside of his calf. He gently touched around it, and Henry flinched, but didn’t let out a sound. “How long has it been like this?” he asked, looking up at Henry, who looked like he was doing his best to not let on how much it hurt.
“For a while,” Henry admitted. “It was fine after Kirby-sensei originally treated it, but then it started hurting, which never seemed to go away completely. Then this started.”
“It looks like your leg’s abscessing,” Rodney replied, remember seeing Carson treat a Marine with an abscess on his arm once when he was stuck in the infirmary, “which means that somehow it wasn’t totally cleaned out when the glass incident happened. Ginny, I’m going to need some fresh water and any clean rags or cloth that you can spare.”
She nodded and slipped out to retrieve the water.
Rodney gently moved Henry’s leg out of the way so he could get into Kirby’s medicine bag. “Okay, we’re going to need to cut this open and drain it, and then we’ll need to clean it out. Once that’s done, we can see how it looks and go from there.”
Rodney took out a small knife and sterilized it with the juice of one of the plants. To Ginny, who had just reentered, he said, “Okay, I need you to put some of that water over the fire to get warm.”
“Will he be all right?” she asked, concern evident in her voice as she poured some of the water into a clean pot and hung it over the fire.
“I believe so,” Rodney replied as he gratefully accepted the rest of the water and the rags. “Okay, Henry, I’m going to need your leg again.”
Ginny sat down next to Henry as he put his leg back in Rodney’s lap. Rodney carefully sterilized his hands and Henry’s leg before using another plant to numb the area. When everything was ready, he said, “Now, even though the pain is going to be reduced, this is going to hurt and I need you to be as still as possible. If my hand slips because you jerked your leg, this could get worse in a number of different ways.”
Henry nodded mutely and tightened his grip on Ginny’s hand. Rodney placed a steadying hand on Henry’s leg before carefully cutting into the abscess. Almost immediately, pus began draining out. Rodney carefully made sure all the pus was cleaned out of the incision before packing some of the rags inside and against it and then wrapping Henry’s leg.
“Okay,” he said, letting Henry put his leg down and began cleaning up his instruments. “I want you to put a warm compress over the cut and keep your leg up, both of which will help it heal.” Rodney pulled a packet of leaves out of the bag and handed them over to Ginny. “Brew these into a tea and they’ll help heal the cut as well. And I’d like you to change the bandage every few hours to help keep it clean and keep an eye on it. I’ll be by tomorrow to check on you and see how things are going. But let me know right away if anything happens.”
“Thank you very much, Rodney-sensei.” The relief on Henry’s face was enough for Rodney to know that so far things had gone right. The use of the appellation surprised Rodney, but he didn’t comment on it.
“You’re welcome,” Rodney replied as he stood and slung the bag over his shoulder. “I’ll see you two tomorrow.”
Harry was waiting for Rodney when he exited Henry and Ginny’s quarters, a troubled expression on his face.
“What can I do for you, Harry?” Rodney asked as Harry fell in step with him. He hadn’t had much interaction with the lanky teenager, as the two of them lived in different boroughs and worked different trades, but from the little interaction they’d had, he liked him.
“I need to speak with you privately, Rodney-sensei,” Harry replied quietly.
“Okay,” Rodney replied. “Walk with me, then. We can speak in the corridor.” Once they’d gotten far enough away from the common, Rodney stopped and turned to Harry. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I’ve woken up a few times with…well, with,” he lowered his voice, “with down there hard. Is that normal?”
Rodney tried hard not to laugh. “Yes,” he replied, seriously. “It’s very normal, Harry, and nothing to worry about.”
Harry glanced around them before asking, “Then what should I do about it?”
“Well, you have two options. One is to wait until it goes away. The other option is to masturbate.”
Harry looked at him confused. “M-m-masturbate? What’s that?”
Rodney wiped a hand over his face and sighed. “It’s when you stroke your penis until you orgasm.”
“Does it hurt?” Harry asked, concerned.
“No, it doesn’t. It feels really good, actually.” Rodney tried not to laugh at the oddness of the conversation they were having. “But if other people are around, you probably don’t want to do that. It tends to be viewed as a private thing.”
Harry took a deep breath while he processed everything. “Okay, I think I got it,” he said with a small smile. “Thanks, Rodney-sensei.” He went back to his borough looking more confident than when they had left it.
“How did it go?” Kirby asked when Rodney got back.
“It went fine, though his leg is abscessing,” Rodney replied as he handed the bag back to Kirby. “I opened it up and cleaned it out and gave him some tiri leaves to help with the infection. I’ll go back tomorrow and check on it.”
“That’s good,” Kirby replied. “Though, I don’t know why it could’ve happened.”
“I’m sure it could be any number of reasons – all of them normally harmless,” Rodney replied. “But he’s getting the treatment he needs, so he’ll be fine.”
“Yes, he will,” Kirby replied with a smile. “You’ll make a fine healer one day, Rodney-kun.”
Rodney blushed slightly. “Thank you, Kirby.”
The next day went better and Rodney felt better about his weaving and his progress. And he and Laura laughed quietly when one of the boys had a slight meltdown over the state of his project.
“See, you’re not the only one,” Laura told him quietly.
“Yes, that makes me feel marginally better,” Rodney replied slightly sarcastically. But it did actually make him feel better to know that he wasn’t the only one in that position and that the kids were handling it about the same that he was. They might have actually been handling it a bit worse because after lunch, three of the girls started crying over how things were turning out.
“Just remember this the next time you want to quit,” Laura told him gravely, before letting a smile ruin the seriousness of her tone. “You’ve picked this up quickly and I’m sure you’ll do well – just as you did with your healer training.”
“I’m glad someone has faith in me,” he murmured.
“A lot of us do, Rodney-kun,” she said, her smile warming. “And one of these days you’ll have it in yourself.”
“Should I start keeping a tally of how many trite clichés we’re going to hit today?” Rodney asked sarcastically. “Because if we get any more saccharine, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand it.”
Laura laughed, but didn’t respond, and they worked quietly for the rest of the afternoon.
That evening after dinner, Rodney went back to check on Henry’s leg. As soon as he stepped into the commons area, Harry was upon him.
“It happened this morning, so I, um, I tried what you suggested,” Harry replied quietly, but he was excited and flushed. “I was careful and quiet – you know, didn’t let anyone see or know I was doing it.”
“Good for you,” Rodney replied cautiously. “And how was it?”
Harry practically glowed. “It was *amazing*. I didn’t know touching myself that way could feel like that. Do I have to wait for that to happen again to do it again?”
Rodney opened his mouth to reply, before quickly shut it again. He knew that his response now had the potential to seriously alter the way the Laprans did things further down the road. And for all he knew, it could already be moving out of hand, depending on who Harry had told and what he had said. Making his decision, he replied, “Yes, yes you do. It’s a very special thing and you don’t want to degrade that. Also, you can’t tell anyone about it. Your parents and the other elders might get mad at you for doing it, and the other kids might get confused.”
Harry looked at him confused. “But if it feels so good –”
Rodney put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and Harry immediately clammed up. “I know how it feels,” he replied quietly. “And I understand your confusion. But, believe me, it’s better this way if you keep it under wraps for now. And you can come to me if you have any other similar questions or concerns, okay?”
Harry nodded. “Okay,” he acquiesced. “I promise. You probably need to be getting to checking up on Henry. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney wasn’t sure why, but he felt bad for clamping down on what would probably be any sexual exploration that the kid would ever know. Taking his hand from Harry’s shoulder, he said, “I didn’t mean it like that, Harry. I just don’t want you getting into any trouble.”
The truth was, Rodney wasn’t even completely sure *what* the Laprans’ take on sex was, since they never talked about it. A few things he could figure out for himself, given the small population, but it was still weird. Even on Atlantis – with its population of approximately two hundred that first year – the topic of sex seemed to come up on a regular basis.
“No, I understand,” Harry added, sounding a little brighter and looking like he just might have an idea brewing. “I’ll see you later, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney shook his head with a small smile as Harry trotted off and he crossed the commons to Henry and Ginny’s quarters. It seemed like teenagers were the same regardless of the galaxy or planet.
“Henry? Ginny? It’s Rodney.”
Ginny opened the flap for him and smiled as she politely made a shallow bow. “Please, come in, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney returned the bow and entered. “How are you feeling?” he asked Henry, who was lounging on his cot with his feet propped up, as he crossed over to him.
“Much better, Rodney-sensei,” Henry replied with a grin and a nod of his head. “The pain is almost gone and it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did this time yesterday.”
“It really does look better,” Ginny added as she brought a stool over for Rodney to sit on. “Do you need anything? Would you like something to eat or drink?”
“No, thank you,” Rodney replied with a smile as he sat down. It still amazed him that the Laprans, who had so little, were so willing to be so generous. “Okay, let’s see that leg, Henry.”
Henry shifted so he could stretch out his leg towards Rodney. Rodney took Henry’s foot in his lap again and pushed up the leg of his pants. The bandage looked clean and there wasn’t an odor, so Rodney took it as a good sign.
“When was the last time you changed this?” he asked, looking at Ginny.
“Not long ago,” Ginny replied. “About two hours. The wound looked good. The waste on the old bandage looked like it was mostly clear and Henry didn’t complain of any pain when I cleaned the wound. He’s also been drinking the tiri tea like you told him to.”
“Good,” Rodney replied. He cleaned his hands before he carefully took off the bandage and inspected the wound, carefully pressing around the wound, but Henry didn’t flinch or try to pull away. The wound did look a lot better and Rodney could tell it was already starting to heal. He replaced the bandage with a clean one that Ginny handed him and said, “It looks good. I want you to do the same thing for the next two days. After that, I want you to keep the wound bandaged and clean until it heals completely, but you’ll be able to move around after that.” Handing over some more leaves, he said, “And here’s some more tiri leaves. I want you to keep drinking this as a tea until you’ve completely exhausted them, okay?”
“Thank you, Rodney-sensei,” Ginny replied with a relieved grin. “There’s no way we could thank you enough.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rodney said as he packed up the medical supplies. “I’m glad I could help.” To Henry, he said, “In three days, I want you to come by and let Kirby check you out, okay?”
“Okay,” Henry replied with a nod. “Thank you, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney took his leave and headed back to his borough, feeling good about what he had done. But on the way, he felt a niggling in the back of his mind that there was something he was forgetting. He worked his way back over the evening to figure out what it was, but nothing pinged until he went over his conversation with Harry. He hadn’t given Atlantis any thought in – he went back further in his memories – in… he wasn’t quite sure when and he felt guilty for not doing so.
When he reached his borough, Rodney silently handed Kirby’s medicine bag back to him and told him what had transpired with Henry at Kirby’s prompting. He was grateful that neither Kirby nor Jillian pressed him to talk any further and that Kelly was nowhere to be found.
He went into their quarters and sat down with his back against his cot, drew his legs into a half-lotus, and placed his hands in his lap. Rodney took a few calming breaths as he stared at the floor just beyond his legs.
He knew for a fact that they had given up looking for him and found that that thought didn’t hurt as much as it once might’ve. It was understandable, really. He had been gone for a little over twenty months now and they couldn’t keep expending their resources, regardless of how much they might need him. John probably would’ve searched longer, Rodney was sure, but even after a period of time he would’ve faced reality and stopped as well. Elizabeth probably would’ve had to declare him either MIA or KIA, though the SGC probably had their own designation for situations like this.
Rodney wondered what they were doing and how they were faring. Had Teyla, Ronon, and John found a replacement for their team, or were they going out as a three-man team? Had Elizabeth forced them to find a fourth member of their team? Would she? Were they even still around? Rodney had always snickered when people mentioned knowing deep down whether or not someone close to them had passed, thinking that it was just their desire to cling to a desperate hope, but right now, knowing the odds that Atlantis had against the Wraith, even he, at his most cynical, couldn’t believe that they were gone.
He wished he knew for certain how they were doing – just to ease his mind. He’d have to ask again if he could go back, even for a visit under guard, or – at the very least – to send some sort of letter through and allow another one to come back. He hated knowing that they, or at the very least John, had held on to hope that he had somehow survived considering their uncharacteristically good odds at surviving, but didn’t know what had happened to him. He let out a breath slowly, determined to request some sort of contact with Atlantis.
Rodney ended up having to wait a few days to find the right opportunity to ask Jean about making contact with Atlantis. In the interim, Kirby pronounced Henry’s leg to be healing excellently and praised Rodney highly for the job he did on it. Kirby also had Rodney shoulder a bit more of the load. Rodney was surprised at the amount of people who needed some form of medical care, even though he knew in the back of his mind that, statistically speaking, a diverse population could present anything and it seemed that against all odds, the Laprans were doing just that. Plus, there was also the tenth-month festival to factor in with all of the various germs, bacteria, viruses, infections, and who-knows-what-else being passed around between the different tribes.
Rodney also had a number of people come up to him and ask him intimate questions or for relationship advice. He figured that Harry had something to do with it, since he doubted that they all would’ve come up with it on their own at the same time. He was surprised at the array of questions he was asked – some of it for very basic information – and wondered why the Laprans weren’t given more detailed information. There had to be a better alternative to no information at all while still keeping certain behaviors in check.
“What can I do for you, Rodney-kun?” Jean asked with a warm smile as he sat down next to her at lunch one day.
“I need to ask something of you,” he replied, fiddling with his spoon. “I would like to contact Atlantis to let them know I’m okay and see how they’re doing.”
The smile disappeared and a look of trepidation crossed her face. “I don’t think you’ll be able to do that, Rodney. You know our rules.”
“Why not?” he asked. “I promise to not try to return to them or let any of them through. Besides, if they were planning to come through with the intent to harm they would’ve already done it. That’s how I got here in the first place, remember? I just –” he let out a breath, “I just want to see how they’re doing and make sure that they’re okay. They were the first real family I had, considering my blood relations didn’t want me, so…” He trailed off, not sure how to get across that he missed them and simply wanted to know that they were okay.
Jean sighed. “We’ve never made an exception, Rodney. You seem to grasp our need for safety better than most.”
“I know that. But I would think that since I’ve been here for two full cycles and you all know me that you would believe me when I say that I just want to get in touch with them.”
“And we do know and trust you, Rodney-kun,” she replied, her look softening. “We wouldn’t accept you as our next healer if we didn’t.”
“Then –”
Jean held up a hand and Rodney stopped talking. “I’ll speak to the other elders and to Kirby and see what they say. I’ll let you know, all right?”
Rodney nodded mutely. “Okay,” he replied. “Thank you, Jean.”
That evening as they finished dinner, Kelly asked, “Dice or staffs, Rodney-chan?”
Rodney shrugged. “I could go for either.”
“Okay, let me rephrase then. Which do you prefer for talking?”
“Heavy talking or light talking?” Rodney asked, knowing Kelly’s penchant for keeping the two as separate as possible.
“Heavy-ish,” Kelly replied.
“Let’s go for the staffs then.” Rodney grinned. “That way you can beat the crap out of me if you don’t like my answers.”
Kelly shook his head as he took a hold of the edge of the curtain. “Your sense of humor is definitely something else, Rodney-chan. Give me a moment to get my staff.”
Rodney grabbed his own staff before heading out into the commons. He was curious what Kelly needed to talk to him about. The thought that he’d decided on someone to propose to and was going to take the plunge flitted by, but Rodney quickly squashed that idea – he would have definitely heard about it before now.
The two men walked down to the practice cave quietly and Rodney was somewhat happy that it was empty when they arrived. He hoped it would stay that way until they finished.
After they went through their warm up, Rodney asked, “So, what’s up?”
“Are you happy here?” Kelly asked as they began their practice.
Rodney thought about it for a moment. “I am,” he replied truthfully as they went through their forms. “There are a few things I’d do differently if I had come here of my own free will, but yes, I am. Why?”
“I heard you ask Jean about talking to your people from Atlantis. And I thought that you might be trying to leave.”
“Well, that would be the optimum goal,” Rodney admitted, “but I’ll settle – and started out with – asking to be allowed to see if they’re okay and let them know I am.” It suddenly hit him and he took a step back. “You’re afraid I’m going to leave you, aren’t you?”
Kelly shrugged, defeated, not looking at Rodney. “It’s not so hard to see why, though, is it? My first bond friend was sent to marry a Morykon. My second bond friend is from beyond the Ring and, understandably, wants to go home. I’m over thirty cycles and I’ve not been married. It’s not so hard to see why I’m worrying, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Rodney replied, leaning on his staff. “If it’s any consolation, it really isn’t personal. I like you a lot and I’m honored that you want me as your bond friend. It’s just that it’s getting to the point where I need closure on that part of my life if I’m going to be able to live here happily. I don’t have to leave to do it, I just need to talk to them.”
“None of us ever did take an interest in where you were from, did we?” Kelly asked softly. “I remember you spoke of them often in the beginning, though.”
“In a way, it’s understandable, though,” Rodney replied. “You’re in a precarious situation here and too many changes at one time could severely mess things up.”
“But we haven’t changed anything in generations until you had us stand up to the Korsans.”
“Which I’m glad I did – you all should have done that a long time ago.” Rodney didn’t admit that sometimes he did worry that the Korsans would find a way to retaliate and come down hard on them.
“Rodney,” Jillian’s voice called from the entrance to the cave and both men turned to look at her. “There’s someone here to see you.”
Rodney shrugged his eyebrows and let out a sigh. “Sorry,” he told Kelly apologetically.
“It’s okay,” Kelly replied with a small smile as they headed up. “You’re the healer’s apprentice. I guess I should start expecting this.”
Charlie was waiting for Rodney when they emerged, an anxious look on his face and his hands clenched together.
“What can I do for you?” Rodney asked as he met Charlie and they walked to a secluded spot along the wall.
“I was hoping you could give me some advice,” Charlie replied and Rodney looked at him expectantly. “I would like to know how to better please my wife.”
Rodney blinked for a moment before replying, “Well, there are a lot of ways you can do that. Why don’t the two of you come by tomorrow after dinner and we’ll discuss it?”
Charlie looked relieved and said, “Thank you, Rodney-sensei. We will see you tomorrow.”
Kirby watched Rodney as Charlie left and he went over to get a drink of water. “Everyone seems to be taking to you very well,” he commented.
“I know, it’s surprising,” Rodney replied. “Back on Atlantis, I wasn’t so good with people.”
“I’m glad that my expectations for you are coming to fruition. I knew you would do well in this role.”
Rodney smiled slightly as he sat down at Kirby’s feet.
“You aren’t letting your past hold you back from your present, are you?” Kirby asked and Rodney knew that this was the moment he had been subconsciously waiting for.
“No,” Rodney replied. “I simply think that it would be good for me to get in contact with my friends to let them know I’m okay. And I need to know that they’re okay.”
“But you know why we can’t let you do that, right?”
Rodney sighed inwardly and fixed his gaze on the floor in front of him as he said, “Yes, Kirby, I do.”
“Now, tomorrow, I want you to do Lillian and her baby’s check-up. She asked for you specifically.”
Rodney agreed automatically, as he felt his chest tighten. He took a steadying breath and slowly released it. It wouldn’t do him any good to throw a tantrum about something they felt justified in doing. But it still stung knowing that they, who seemed to be all about living in the now and letting go of the past weren’t allowing him the ability to do so himself.
Continue to Part 11
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
Three days after the successful repulsion of the Korsans, the Laprans had a feast to celebrate their success.
Rodney had been surprised when, instead of returning to their normal schedule, the Laprans began to prepare for the feast as soon as he and the others returned. But he hadn’t had much time to dwell on it because as soon as he had finished eating, Jillian took the empty plate out of his hands and gently pushed him over. By the time his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.
He tried to help in whatever way he could, but no one would hear of it – insisting that since he had been responsible for their rebellion he was the guest of honor. As such, he was prohibited from doing anything. Rodney was also surprised at how many people came up to him and thanked him for what he had done and how much everyone was talking about what had happened.
“This is insanity,” he said to Kelly on the second afternoon as he watched everyone getting ready.
“What?” Kelly asked, amused. “That everyone’s excited about and happy for what you’ve done for them?”
“Yes. Granted, I came up with the idea and basically goaded everyone into going along with it, but they actually did the hard part.”
“Maybe so. But you’ve given us hope, Rodney-chan.”
“Hope for what?” Rodney asked, incredulous.
“That things could get better. The Korsans haven’t come back.”
“It’s hardly been two days. They’re probably biding their time. There are times when waiting before retaliating is as good as retaliating right away. Besides,” he muttered, “we don’t know how long it’ll take them to fix what I did to their dialing device.”
“*If* they can fix it,” Kelly amended. “I thought you had more confidence in your work.”
“Normally I do, but normally I also have a chance to actually work on and study what I’m playing with before I start fiddling with it.”
“Ah. Well, at least now we may have time to get ready for their return. The others want me to ask you to help us step-up our staff training so we can actually fight and not just do it ceremoniously.”
“I don’t know,” Rodney said hesitantly. “I don’t really know that much.”
“But you know something,” Kelly replied firmly. “If you’d like, I’ll help you.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Not a problem,” Kelly replied with a smile.
Rodney also struggled with the attention. A small part of him reveled in it and accepted it as his just due. But, for the most part, he had become accustomed to not being in the limelight. Between not being given a chance to be in the limelight and having so much of his former self stripped away and laid to rest, it felt odd and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
The Laprans seemed to find his unease with their praise endearing and Rodney did his best to be as gracious as possible with them and their gratitude when all he wanted to do was get away from it.
“What’s wrong, Rodney-kun?” Kirby asked the next morning as they settled in for Rodney’s meditation session.
Rodney shrugged before replying, “I’m just not sure how to deal with the attention. I used to love it, but after being away from situations that would bring me attention for so long, it feels weird.”
“It’s good, though, that you’re recognizing that change. Let’s get started.”
When the feast was over, Rodney breathed a sigh of relief. Now things would get back to normal and the next day he and the other students reported to the silk borough.
“Okay, everyone,” Lucy said when they had assembled with their partners before her. “Starting today, you are going to be officially learning the job of your partner and not learning the whole. For some of you, that will be weaving. For others, it will be one of the steps of the thread’s production. Now, let’s get started. We have quite a list of orders from the festival that need to be filled.”
Finding Laura, Rodney said, “Okay, so what are we doing today?”
Going to her loom, Laura picked up a small device. “We have a portion of the orders that came in that we need to fill. You have a few, starting with some very easy ones and then they slowly get harder, based on the average schedule of advancement that previous students have gone through.”
“Where am I going to do them?” Rodney asked, looking around the fairly crowded space.
Laura rolled her eyes and laughed. “On a hand loom. You didn’t think you were going to get one of the big looms to start with, did you?”
“I didn’t know what to think,” Rodney huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “The details have been rather sparse.”
Laura rolled her eyes again and, as she handed Rodney a loom, Rodney couldn’t help but compare her to Laura Cadman for a second. She showed him how to set up the loom for his first project – a set of napkins – and got him started before listening to the details of her project, a wedding dress.
Rodney found the napkins to be an easy project and sailed through them. The next project – placemats – was a bit trickier, but once he got the hang of it, he sailed through them as well. He also watched Laura’s progress with interest, intrigued with how she made the dress even if he wasn’t completely sure how she did it.
As he and the kids progressed through their projects, Rodney found himself slowly becoming more and more frustrated. Either the thread wouldn’t obey him or his fingers wouldn’t. The kids, on the other hand, seemed to be passing through their assignments with ease and Rodney marveled at their ability.
“It’s just because their fingers are smaller that they move so quickly,” Laura whispered to him, when she caught Rodney growl slightly as he watched Michael and Lisa work on their projects. “They still have to redo much of their work.”
“It’s still frustrating,” Rodney replied. He set his loom aside. “I need to take a break.”
Without waiting for a reply, he left. Not sure where he was going, nevertheless, Rodney wasn’t surprised when he ended up in the caves at the yaks’ pen. One came over to see if he had any treats and to get attention.
“Is everything okay, Rodney-chan?” Kelly asked, concern etched on his face as he came over.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Rodney replied absently, rubbing the yak’s nose. “I’m just frustrated with my work.”
Kelly laughed. “Everyone feels that way at one point or another.”
“I never felt that way,” Rodney replied. “Well, not before. Sure, I got frustrated that the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, but never during the learning process. Not even when I was learning to play the piano. Why can’t I be a healer full-time, like Kirby?”
“Because we still have Kirby,” Kelly replied as he leaned against the fence. “It’s considered bad luck for the apprentice to practice full-time after until the current healer has passed. And Kirby practiced another trade while he was training, as did his apprentice. I’m sure you understand the necessity of everyone pulling their weight here.”
“Really?” Rodney wasn’t sure why he felt so surprised – it did make sense. “I can’t see Kirby as anything other than the healer.”
“He has that effect on a lot of people. So, feeling any better?”
Rodney shrugged. “I’m not looking forward to going back. What if I can’t get the hang of this, Kelly?”
“I’m sure you will, Rodney-chan. I have faith in you.”
“But if I don’t, I can change guilds, right?”
Kelly laughed. “You’re kidding, right?” At Rodney’s glare, he said, “I’m sorry, Rodney-chan, but once you’ve been taken into a guild, there’s no changing guilds unless the circumstances are severe. And, trust me, everyone goes through a panic phase with their training. I know the kids do. I know Jillian did.”
“I doubt you did,” Rodney huffed.
“Oh, I did,” Kelly replied. “Right when I was helping my father deliver a breech birth. But when the calf finally came out okay, I knew that there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do. I know that at some point you’ll hit that moment too.”
Rodney took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I certainly hope so. I’d better go back or Laura will have to come get me and I doubt she’ll be happy about that.” At Kelly’s questioning look, he continued, “When she gets into a groove with her weaving, she hates to be interrupted.”
“Then you better get going,” Kelly replied, waving him off. “And I meant what I said.”
Rodney went back to his weaving with a sigh. Laura didn’t say anything, merely raised an eyebrow as he sat down, and she started weaving her shuttle through another row. Rodney was actually grateful that she didn’t say anything as he resumed his work and found it went much easier.
As they were playing a game of dice after dinner, Jillian said, “Kelly told me you’re having doubts about your training with the silk guild, Rodney.”
“Yes, well,” he started before rolling his dice and smiling at the result while Jillian groaned. “I was assured that such doubts are completely normal and that everyone goes through them at one point or another.” He picked up his dice to roll them again.
Jillian groaned again as Rodney got another high roll. “Did Kelly tell you his was with the breech birth?”
“He did,” Rodney replied as Jillian picked up the dice. “Was he lying or something?”
“Or something,” she said with a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “He tells that story to everyone. It’s almost become lore here. He’s taken a lot of good-natured ribbing for it.”
“What about you?” Rodney asked as Jillian grimaced at the outcome of her roll.
“Oh, my training was completely perfect,” she replied dismissively as she rolled again, huffing at the outcome. “It was afterwards that was the problem. During my first real commission, I had to make a set of glasses and I found out after they had all been finished that each had a hairline fracture that rendered them unusable. I had gone through a lot of hard work and stress to make them –”
“And you were understandably pissed when they had to be remade.” Rodney smiled as his second roll was as good as the first.
“You have no idea. But things got better after that and now I’m easily producing things that I once thought were impossible to make. Given what you’ve said about your previous work, I know you’ll be the same way. I know I can’t begin to know what your old profession was like, but it seems to be much the same – working with your hands and mind to create something of value.” She huffed as her second roll turned out poorly and handed over the dice with a scowl.
“Eh, not quite, but I’m not going to argue,” Rodney replied as he took the dice from her. “But you’re right in that I do enjoy the challenge. And seeing the things that Laura’s working on is amazing. She makes it seem so easy.”
As Rodney rolled another perfect pair, Jillian glared at Rodney and said, “I give up – you win.” She brightened a little as she continued with, “But one of these days you’ll have an apprentice saying the same thing about you.”
“Yeah, that’ll be the day,” he replied dryly as he picked up the dice and they headed into their quarters. “Usually the only things the people under me say are bad things behind my back after they’ve run away either crying or fuming.”
She looked at him perplexed as she knelt by the fire to add some dried dung. “That’s surprising, considering I’ve only heard nice things since you’ve been here.”
“Well,” Rodney replied, shrugging his eyebrows and pursing his lips, “this isn’t exactly my natural environment.”
Kirby entered the room and sank down on his cot with a weary sigh. “Rodney – would you mind going to check on Henry? For some reason, his leg didn’t heal properly from the gash and it’s been giving him some pain.”
“Sure,” Rodney replied, taking the offered medicine bag. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Kirby replied, looking at both Rodney and Jillian with a tired smile. “Just starting to feel my age a bit. And Lilly had a difficult birth today. Thankfully, both she and the baby are fine.”
Without another word, Rodney slung the bag over his shoulder and headed out. Both Henry and his wife, Ginny, seemed to be greatly relieved to see him. They asked after Rodney’s health and if he needed anything to drink or eat, both of which Rodney politely declined. It was only once Rodney settled on a stool that Henry broached the subject of his leg.
Rodney listened attentively to Henry’s description of the pain, as well as what Kirby had been doing to treat it. Once Henry was done, Rodney said, “Okay, then. Let’s have a look at it.”
Henry lifted his leg and put his right foot gingerly in Rodney’s lap. Rodney pushed Henry’s pant leg up to reveal a deep red circle in the middle of the outside of his calf. He gently touched around it, and Henry flinched, but didn’t let out a sound. “How long has it been like this?” he asked, looking up at Henry, who looked like he was doing his best to not let on how much it hurt.
“For a while,” Henry admitted. “It was fine after Kirby-sensei originally treated it, but then it started hurting, which never seemed to go away completely. Then this started.”
“It looks like your leg’s abscessing,” Rodney replied, remember seeing Carson treat a Marine with an abscess on his arm once when he was stuck in the infirmary, “which means that somehow it wasn’t totally cleaned out when the glass incident happened. Ginny, I’m going to need some fresh water and any clean rags or cloth that you can spare.”
She nodded and slipped out to retrieve the water.
Rodney gently moved Henry’s leg out of the way so he could get into Kirby’s medicine bag. “Okay, we’re going to need to cut this open and drain it, and then we’ll need to clean it out. Once that’s done, we can see how it looks and go from there.”
Rodney took out a small knife and sterilized it with the juice of one of the plants. To Ginny, who had just reentered, he said, “Okay, I need you to put some of that water over the fire to get warm.”
“Will he be all right?” she asked, concern evident in her voice as she poured some of the water into a clean pot and hung it over the fire.
“I believe so,” Rodney replied as he gratefully accepted the rest of the water and the rags. “Okay, Henry, I’m going to need your leg again.”
Ginny sat down next to Henry as he put his leg back in Rodney’s lap. Rodney carefully sterilized his hands and Henry’s leg before using another plant to numb the area. When everything was ready, he said, “Now, even though the pain is going to be reduced, this is going to hurt and I need you to be as still as possible. If my hand slips because you jerked your leg, this could get worse in a number of different ways.”
Henry nodded mutely and tightened his grip on Ginny’s hand. Rodney placed a steadying hand on Henry’s leg before carefully cutting into the abscess. Almost immediately, pus began draining out. Rodney carefully made sure all the pus was cleaned out of the incision before packing some of the rags inside and against it and then wrapping Henry’s leg.
“Okay,” he said, letting Henry put his leg down and began cleaning up his instruments. “I want you to put a warm compress over the cut and keep your leg up, both of which will help it heal.” Rodney pulled a packet of leaves out of the bag and handed them over to Ginny. “Brew these into a tea and they’ll help heal the cut as well. And I’d like you to change the bandage every few hours to help keep it clean and keep an eye on it. I’ll be by tomorrow to check on you and see how things are going. But let me know right away if anything happens.”
“Thank you very much, Rodney-sensei.” The relief on Henry’s face was enough for Rodney to know that so far things had gone right. The use of the appellation surprised Rodney, but he didn’t comment on it.
“You’re welcome,” Rodney replied as he stood and slung the bag over his shoulder. “I’ll see you two tomorrow.”
Harry was waiting for Rodney when he exited Henry and Ginny’s quarters, a troubled expression on his face.
“What can I do for you, Harry?” Rodney asked as Harry fell in step with him. He hadn’t had much interaction with the lanky teenager, as the two of them lived in different boroughs and worked different trades, but from the little interaction they’d had, he liked him.
“I need to speak with you privately, Rodney-sensei,” Harry replied quietly.
“Okay,” Rodney replied. “Walk with me, then. We can speak in the corridor.” Once they’d gotten far enough away from the common, Rodney stopped and turned to Harry. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I’ve woken up a few times with…well, with,” he lowered his voice, “with down there hard. Is that normal?”
Rodney tried hard not to laugh. “Yes,” he replied, seriously. “It’s very normal, Harry, and nothing to worry about.”
Harry glanced around them before asking, “Then what should I do about it?”
“Well, you have two options. One is to wait until it goes away. The other option is to masturbate.”
Harry looked at him confused. “M-m-masturbate? What’s that?”
Rodney wiped a hand over his face and sighed. “It’s when you stroke your penis until you orgasm.”
“Does it hurt?” Harry asked, concerned.
“No, it doesn’t. It feels really good, actually.” Rodney tried not to laugh at the oddness of the conversation they were having. “But if other people are around, you probably don’t want to do that. It tends to be viewed as a private thing.”
Harry took a deep breath while he processed everything. “Okay, I think I got it,” he said with a small smile. “Thanks, Rodney-sensei.” He went back to his borough looking more confident than when they had left it.
“How did it go?” Kirby asked when Rodney got back.
“It went fine, though his leg is abscessing,” Rodney replied as he handed the bag back to Kirby. “I opened it up and cleaned it out and gave him some tiri leaves to help with the infection. I’ll go back tomorrow and check on it.”
“That’s good,” Kirby replied. “Though, I don’t know why it could’ve happened.”
“I’m sure it could be any number of reasons – all of them normally harmless,” Rodney replied. “But he’s getting the treatment he needs, so he’ll be fine.”
“Yes, he will,” Kirby replied with a smile. “You’ll make a fine healer one day, Rodney-kun.”
Rodney blushed slightly. “Thank you, Kirby.”
The next day went better and Rodney felt better about his weaving and his progress. And he and Laura laughed quietly when one of the boys had a slight meltdown over the state of his project.
“See, you’re not the only one,” Laura told him quietly.
“Yes, that makes me feel marginally better,” Rodney replied slightly sarcastically. But it did actually make him feel better to know that he wasn’t the only one in that position and that the kids were handling it about the same that he was. They might have actually been handling it a bit worse because after lunch, three of the girls started crying over how things were turning out.
“Just remember this the next time you want to quit,” Laura told him gravely, before letting a smile ruin the seriousness of her tone. “You’ve picked this up quickly and I’m sure you’ll do well – just as you did with your healer training.”
“I’m glad someone has faith in me,” he murmured.
“A lot of us do, Rodney-kun,” she said, her smile warming. “And one of these days you’ll have it in yourself.”
“Should I start keeping a tally of how many trite clichés we’re going to hit today?” Rodney asked sarcastically. “Because if we get any more saccharine, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand it.”
Laura laughed, but didn’t respond, and they worked quietly for the rest of the afternoon.
That evening after dinner, Rodney went back to check on Henry’s leg. As soon as he stepped into the commons area, Harry was upon him.
“It happened this morning, so I, um, I tried what you suggested,” Harry replied quietly, but he was excited and flushed. “I was careful and quiet – you know, didn’t let anyone see or know I was doing it.”
“Good for you,” Rodney replied cautiously. “And how was it?”
Harry practically glowed. “It was *amazing*. I didn’t know touching myself that way could feel like that. Do I have to wait for that to happen again to do it again?”
Rodney opened his mouth to reply, before quickly shut it again. He knew that his response now had the potential to seriously alter the way the Laprans did things further down the road. And for all he knew, it could already be moving out of hand, depending on who Harry had told and what he had said. Making his decision, he replied, “Yes, yes you do. It’s a very special thing and you don’t want to degrade that. Also, you can’t tell anyone about it. Your parents and the other elders might get mad at you for doing it, and the other kids might get confused.”
Harry looked at him confused. “But if it feels so good –”
Rodney put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and Harry immediately clammed up. “I know how it feels,” he replied quietly. “And I understand your confusion. But, believe me, it’s better this way if you keep it under wraps for now. And you can come to me if you have any other similar questions or concerns, okay?”
Harry nodded. “Okay,” he acquiesced. “I promise. You probably need to be getting to checking up on Henry. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney wasn’t sure why, but he felt bad for clamping down on what would probably be any sexual exploration that the kid would ever know. Taking his hand from Harry’s shoulder, he said, “I didn’t mean it like that, Harry. I just don’t want you getting into any trouble.”
The truth was, Rodney wasn’t even completely sure *what* the Laprans’ take on sex was, since they never talked about it. A few things he could figure out for himself, given the small population, but it was still weird. Even on Atlantis – with its population of approximately two hundred that first year – the topic of sex seemed to come up on a regular basis.
“No, I understand,” Harry added, sounding a little brighter and looking like he just might have an idea brewing. “I’ll see you later, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney shook his head with a small smile as Harry trotted off and he crossed the commons to Henry and Ginny’s quarters. It seemed like teenagers were the same regardless of the galaxy or planet.
“Henry? Ginny? It’s Rodney.”
Ginny opened the flap for him and smiled as she politely made a shallow bow. “Please, come in, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney returned the bow and entered. “How are you feeling?” he asked Henry, who was lounging on his cot with his feet propped up, as he crossed over to him.
“Much better, Rodney-sensei,” Henry replied with a grin and a nod of his head. “The pain is almost gone and it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did this time yesterday.”
“It really does look better,” Ginny added as she brought a stool over for Rodney to sit on. “Do you need anything? Would you like something to eat or drink?”
“No, thank you,” Rodney replied with a smile as he sat down. It still amazed him that the Laprans, who had so little, were so willing to be so generous. “Okay, let’s see that leg, Henry.”
Henry shifted so he could stretch out his leg towards Rodney. Rodney took Henry’s foot in his lap again and pushed up the leg of his pants. The bandage looked clean and there wasn’t an odor, so Rodney took it as a good sign.
“When was the last time you changed this?” he asked, looking at Ginny.
“Not long ago,” Ginny replied. “About two hours. The wound looked good. The waste on the old bandage looked like it was mostly clear and Henry didn’t complain of any pain when I cleaned the wound. He’s also been drinking the tiri tea like you told him to.”
“Good,” Rodney replied. He cleaned his hands before he carefully took off the bandage and inspected the wound, carefully pressing around the wound, but Henry didn’t flinch or try to pull away. The wound did look a lot better and Rodney could tell it was already starting to heal. He replaced the bandage with a clean one that Ginny handed him and said, “It looks good. I want you to do the same thing for the next two days. After that, I want you to keep the wound bandaged and clean until it heals completely, but you’ll be able to move around after that.” Handing over some more leaves, he said, “And here’s some more tiri leaves. I want you to keep drinking this as a tea until you’ve completely exhausted them, okay?”
“Thank you, Rodney-sensei,” Ginny replied with a relieved grin. “There’s no way we could thank you enough.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rodney said as he packed up the medical supplies. “I’m glad I could help.” To Henry, he said, “In three days, I want you to come by and let Kirby check you out, okay?”
“Okay,” Henry replied with a nod. “Thank you, Rodney-sensei.”
Rodney took his leave and headed back to his borough, feeling good about what he had done. But on the way, he felt a niggling in the back of his mind that there was something he was forgetting. He worked his way back over the evening to figure out what it was, but nothing pinged until he went over his conversation with Harry. He hadn’t given Atlantis any thought in – he went back further in his memories – in… he wasn’t quite sure when and he felt guilty for not doing so.
When he reached his borough, Rodney silently handed Kirby’s medicine bag back to him and told him what had transpired with Henry at Kirby’s prompting. He was grateful that neither Kirby nor Jillian pressed him to talk any further and that Kelly was nowhere to be found.
He went into their quarters and sat down with his back against his cot, drew his legs into a half-lotus, and placed his hands in his lap. Rodney took a few calming breaths as he stared at the floor just beyond his legs.
He knew for a fact that they had given up looking for him and found that that thought didn’t hurt as much as it once might’ve. It was understandable, really. He had been gone for a little over twenty months now and they couldn’t keep expending their resources, regardless of how much they might need him. John probably would’ve searched longer, Rodney was sure, but even after a period of time he would’ve faced reality and stopped as well. Elizabeth probably would’ve had to declare him either MIA or KIA, though the SGC probably had their own designation for situations like this.
Rodney wondered what they were doing and how they were faring. Had Teyla, Ronon, and John found a replacement for their team, or were they going out as a three-man team? Had Elizabeth forced them to find a fourth member of their team? Would she? Were they even still around? Rodney had always snickered when people mentioned knowing deep down whether or not someone close to them had passed, thinking that it was just their desire to cling to a desperate hope, but right now, knowing the odds that Atlantis had against the Wraith, even he, at his most cynical, couldn’t believe that they were gone.
He wished he knew for certain how they were doing – just to ease his mind. He’d have to ask again if he could go back, even for a visit under guard, or – at the very least – to send some sort of letter through and allow another one to come back. He hated knowing that they, or at the very least John, had held on to hope that he had somehow survived considering their uncharacteristically good odds at surviving, but didn’t know what had happened to him. He let out a breath slowly, determined to request some sort of contact with Atlantis.
Rodney ended up having to wait a few days to find the right opportunity to ask Jean about making contact with Atlantis. In the interim, Kirby pronounced Henry’s leg to be healing excellently and praised Rodney highly for the job he did on it. Kirby also had Rodney shoulder a bit more of the load. Rodney was surprised at the amount of people who needed some form of medical care, even though he knew in the back of his mind that, statistically speaking, a diverse population could present anything and it seemed that against all odds, the Laprans were doing just that. Plus, there was also the tenth-month festival to factor in with all of the various germs, bacteria, viruses, infections, and who-knows-what-else being passed around between the different tribes.
Rodney also had a number of people come up to him and ask him intimate questions or for relationship advice. He figured that Harry had something to do with it, since he doubted that they all would’ve come up with it on their own at the same time. He was surprised at the array of questions he was asked – some of it for very basic information – and wondered why the Laprans weren’t given more detailed information. There had to be a better alternative to no information at all while still keeping certain behaviors in check.
“What can I do for you, Rodney-kun?” Jean asked with a warm smile as he sat down next to her at lunch one day.
“I need to ask something of you,” he replied, fiddling with his spoon. “I would like to contact Atlantis to let them know I’m okay and see how they’re doing.”
The smile disappeared and a look of trepidation crossed her face. “I don’t think you’ll be able to do that, Rodney. You know our rules.”
“Why not?” he asked. “I promise to not try to return to them or let any of them through. Besides, if they were planning to come through with the intent to harm they would’ve already done it. That’s how I got here in the first place, remember? I just –” he let out a breath, “I just want to see how they’re doing and make sure that they’re okay. They were the first real family I had, considering my blood relations didn’t want me, so…” He trailed off, not sure how to get across that he missed them and simply wanted to know that they were okay.
Jean sighed. “We’ve never made an exception, Rodney. You seem to grasp our need for safety better than most.”
“I know that. But I would think that since I’ve been here for two full cycles and you all know me that you would believe me when I say that I just want to get in touch with them.”
“And we do know and trust you, Rodney-kun,” she replied, her look softening. “We wouldn’t accept you as our next healer if we didn’t.”
“Then –”
Jean held up a hand and Rodney stopped talking. “I’ll speak to the other elders and to Kirby and see what they say. I’ll let you know, all right?”
Rodney nodded mutely. “Okay,” he replied. “Thank you, Jean.”
That evening as they finished dinner, Kelly asked, “Dice or staffs, Rodney-chan?”
Rodney shrugged. “I could go for either.”
“Okay, let me rephrase then. Which do you prefer for talking?”
“Heavy talking or light talking?” Rodney asked, knowing Kelly’s penchant for keeping the two as separate as possible.
“Heavy-ish,” Kelly replied.
“Let’s go for the staffs then.” Rodney grinned. “That way you can beat the crap out of me if you don’t like my answers.”
Kelly shook his head as he took a hold of the edge of the curtain. “Your sense of humor is definitely something else, Rodney-chan. Give me a moment to get my staff.”
Rodney grabbed his own staff before heading out into the commons. He was curious what Kelly needed to talk to him about. The thought that he’d decided on someone to propose to and was going to take the plunge flitted by, but Rodney quickly squashed that idea – he would have definitely heard about it before now.
The two men walked down to the practice cave quietly and Rodney was somewhat happy that it was empty when they arrived. He hoped it would stay that way until they finished.
After they went through their warm up, Rodney asked, “So, what’s up?”
“Are you happy here?” Kelly asked as they began their practice.
Rodney thought about it for a moment. “I am,” he replied truthfully as they went through their forms. “There are a few things I’d do differently if I had come here of my own free will, but yes, I am. Why?”
“I heard you ask Jean about talking to your people from Atlantis. And I thought that you might be trying to leave.”
“Well, that would be the optimum goal,” Rodney admitted, “but I’ll settle – and started out with – asking to be allowed to see if they’re okay and let them know I am.” It suddenly hit him and he took a step back. “You’re afraid I’m going to leave you, aren’t you?”
Kelly shrugged, defeated, not looking at Rodney. “It’s not so hard to see why, though, is it? My first bond friend was sent to marry a Morykon. My second bond friend is from beyond the Ring and, understandably, wants to go home. I’m over thirty cycles and I’ve not been married. It’s not so hard to see why I’m worrying, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Rodney replied, leaning on his staff. “If it’s any consolation, it really isn’t personal. I like you a lot and I’m honored that you want me as your bond friend. It’s just that it’s getting to the point where I need closure on that part of my life if I’m going to be able to live here happily. I don’t have to leave to do it, I just need to talk to them.”
“None of us ever did take an interest in where you were from, did we?” Kelly asked softly. “I remember you spoke of them often in the beginning, though.”
“In a way, it’s understandable, though,” Rodney replied. “You’re in a precarious situation here and too many changes at one time could severely mess things up.”
“But we haven’t changed anything in generations until you had us stand up to the Korsans.”
“Which I’m glad I did – you all should have done that a long time ago.” Rodney didn’t admit that sometimes he did worry that the Korsans would find a way to retaliate and come down hard on them.
“Rodney,” Jillian’s voice called from the entrance to the cave and both men turned to look at her. “There’s someone here to see you.”
Rodney shrugged his eyebrows and let out a sigh. “Sorry,” he told Kelly apologetically.
“It’s okay,” Kelly replied with a small smile as they headed up. “You’re the healer’s apprentice. I guess I should start expecting this.”
Charlie was waiting for Rodney when they emerged, an anxious look on his face and his hands clenched together.
“What can I do for you?” Rodney asked as he met Charlie and they walked to a secluded spot along the wall.
“I was hoping you could give me some advice,” Charlie replied and Rodney looked at him expectantly. “I would like to know how to better please my wife.”
Rodney blinked for a moment before replying, “Well, there are a lot of ways you can do that. Why don’t the two of you come by tomorrow after dinner and we’ll discuss it?”
Charlie looked relieved and said, “Thank you, Rodney-sensei. We will see you tomorrow.”
Kirby watched Rodney as Charlie left and he went over to get a drink of water. “Everyone seems to be taking to you very well,” he commented.
“I know, it’s surprising,” Rodney replied. “Back on Atlantis, I wasn’t so good with people.”
“I’m glad that my expectations for you are coming to fruition. I knew you would do well in this role.”
Rodney smiled slightly as he sat down at Kirby’s feet.
“You aren’t letting your past hold you back from your present, are you?” Kirby asked and Rodney knew that this was the moment he had been subconsciously waiting for.
“No,” Rodney replied. “I simply think that it would be good for me to get in contact with my friends to let them know I’m okay. And I need to know that they’re okay.”
“But you know why we can’t let you do that, right?”
Rodney sighed inwardly and fixed his gaze on the floor in front of him as he said, “Yes, Kirby, I do.”
“Now, tomorrow, I want you to do Lillian and her baby’s check-up. She asked for you specifically.”
Rodney agreed automatically, as he felt his chest tighten. He took a steadying breath and slowly released it. It wouldn’t do him any good to throw a tantrum about something they felt justified in doing. But it still stung knowing that they, who seemed to be all about living in the now and letting go of the past weren’t allowing him the ability to do so himself.
Continue to Part 11
