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TITLE: To Serve A Queen
PAIRING: Elizabeth Weir/Ronan Dex
RATING: R
NOTES: And another bit.
To Serve A Queen: Part Four
[And then it became time for a bit of Elizabeth's POV...]
Elizabeth felt...restless. Itchy beneath her skin.
In contrast, Teyla slouched in the high-backed chair, stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankles. She looked utterly relaxed and Elizabeth envied her the casual pose.
It had been an unsettling day. First the journey to Belka, then the negotiations, then the return trip. Belka Territory had been very different in Elizabeth's imagination, and the difference had grated on her nerves all day.
Be honest with yourself, she told herself quietly. It's not Belka Territory that disturbs you but the man you brought back.
"He is wary and suspicious, which is no surprise," said the Black Widow calmly, continuing the conversation which had been going only moments before. "I gather he has been a slave for many years."
"At least five," Elizabeth murmured, stirring the tea in her cup. "Probably more." The hatred in his gaze had been like a blow, no less than the message he'd sent her: You will never have my soul.
However long he'd been enslaved, brutalised with the ring around his cock, Elizabeth didn't know. How he'd survived it, she couldn't imagine. But she'd looked into him and seen a man who clung to his own honour and would see it taken from him over his own dead body.
He deserved much more than slavery.
[These first few chapters sometimes feel a little more dramatic than I like. Sorta *nail hand to forehead* kind of dramatic. It becomes a bit annoying, to be honest. But I was still trying to feel my way towards the characters and how they were going to interact. Once I had that, it was easier.]
"Well, he is now free," said Teyla. "Although how he will adjust to the court is another matter." She set her chin in her hand and regarded her friend. "Were you thinking of taking him into your service?"
"I...don't know." Elizabeth paused and struggled to fight down the blush that rose in her cheeks. She cursed the paleness of her complexion as Teyla peered curiously at her. "After everything he's been through, I don't think he'll want to serve in a court."
Especially not mine.
Teyla looked surprised. "He is a Blood male, Elizabeth - a dark-jewelled Warlord Prince. They need a Queen to serve."
"There are other Queens in Atlantis," Elizabeth pointed out. "He has a choice."
"But only one other with dark Jewels," said Teyla, reasonably. "And you are attracted to him."
The statement was matter-of-fact, and Elizabeth grimaced. Teyla rarely hedged around matters.
[I love making Teyla the matter-of-fact person in this story. Serenely (and yet with secret glee) pointing out the things that people are going to gloss over because they don't want to think about it. It's okay. If I ever get the prequel to this story done, then she'll have all kinds turmoil to get through.]
"Has Carson been going on about the Consort's position again?"
"He is correct," Teyla said, albeit with more gentleness than usual. "You have been without a Consort for two years. And in that time, you have only called upon the services of a male of the court twice."
[The number of people who asked exactly who Elizabeth had called on... Oy. Anyway. Caldwell once, and someone else once. The only thing I know is that it wasn't John. When he and Elizabeth were younger, they considered it, and then decided it wasn't something either of them wanted and just left it. A little while later, Teyla was called to Atlantis court to weave a Tangled Web for the then-Queen of Atlantis, Lady Melia, and John's interest was caught.]
Feeling more than a little picked upon, Elizabeth set her cup down on the table and resisted the urge to snap that it was two more males than Teyla had called upon in the last two years.
Of course, it wasn't Teyla's court.
"I cared about Simon--"
"Simon left your service two years ago, Elizabeth. You are a Queen with a woman's desires and a court full of men, most of whom would be only too happy to be called to your bed. This...this Ronan Dex is new, and if he is not court-trained, he is aware of the laws and Protocols of the Blood - and you are aware of him as you have not been of any man since Simon."
[In my mind, Simon's a Jewelled Prince. I don't know what colour Jewels he wears, though. Maybe the Opal.]
Elizabeth wished her body hadn't been so swift to respond to Ronan Dex - or that Teyla wasn't so observant. And she hoped that the Warlord Prince hadn't picked up on her interest: she had kept her response as controlled as was possible at the end of a long and tiring day.
"You have been speaking with Carson."
"He is the Steward of the Court," Teyla pointed out. "And I am correct. A Warlord Prince will want to serve a Queen capable of handling him. You have bought him from slavery. That incurs a debt, even if only in his own mind, that he will wish to pay back by whatever means lies open to him."
Elizabeth knew she didn't have to explain that there was no need for repayment. She'd seen a Warlord Prince with the potential for honourable service, abused and suffering, and her instincts screamed that he should be set free. She'd paid the price without asking, content to allow Heleri to believe that she wanted him for cruelty, willing to allow Ronan to believe the same.
She didn't want 'repayment' from him.
[Oh, yes, she does!]
Of course, Teyla knew that, already. The person that Elizabeth had to convince was the Warlord Prince who knew nothing of her or her court; only what he would trust of the Protocols that dictated the interaction between the castes of the Blood.
"He is...handsome," Elizabeth said after a moment. "Well-built." The other woman grinned and Elizabeth held up a hand. "Don't start."
"I said nothing."
"You didn't need to. He is attractive - and you know it."
Teyla just sat there with a smile hovering about her lips and Elizabeth tossed the empty teacup at her, piqued.
With a laugh, Teyla caught the cup midair, holding it aloft with a thread of Grey power before returning it to Elizabeth's saucer. "He has a warrior's instincts and the body to match. Whatever they set him to do in Belka, he was originally trained as a guard."
Elizabeth thought of the sharply-defined musculature of the naked man; from shoulders and biceps, to chest and abdomen, to the clear definition of thighs and calves. She had looked and courtesy had required her to touch him to remove the ring of obedience. She could have done it without laying a finger upon him, but it seemed discourteous not to afford him the honesty of contact.
[One thing that I like about this story is the way I feel I managed to get a lot of sensuality into the description: the experience of this story should be rich, voluptuous, sensual - the way I see the Blood. I feel that I managed it - at least, as an author - and I hope it conveyed adequately to the readers. That's something I don't always know when I write a story; just how it's going to turn out in tone and voice and description.]
However, the heat she felt from him - the heat she had felt in her own body, pooling between her thighs - that had been unexpected.
"Sorry?" Elizabeth was jolted from her memory, suddenly aware that Teyla had asked a question she hadn't even heard.
This time, Teyla didn't hide her smile, and Elizabeth flushed harder as the other woman repeated, "I said that John might find him an interesting opponent in the yards."
"If they don't kill each other first." She remembered the intent look in John's eyes as he came out to greet them. She was almost surprised he'd obeyed her at all - he'd been furious when she announced that she was going into Belka Territory without either him or Caldwell to protect her.
There was good reason to leave the Warlord Princes behind, though; they were too volatile, too edged to take into a Territory that was, if not precisely an enemy, certainly not a friend. Two Warlords, a Prince, and another two Blood males were sufficient guard force to take into Belka, and when she first saw the 'entertainment' that her host had provided for her, she was glad she'd left the Warlord Princes behind. Even she could not have contained them, then.
She had barely managed to contain John when he was faced with a rival Warlord Prince.
"Have you seen John since we returned?"
Teyla shook her head. "Other than his appearance in the courtyard, no. He will not be happy, wherever he is."
Elizabeth felt she could safely guess where her First Escort would be found, but she said nothing to Teyla. The other woman would find out soon enough. "He's still angry that I didn't take him into Belka."
"We would now be at war with Belka if you had," Teyla said. "If not over his actions, then over him."
"I'll tell John you said that."
[At this point in writing the story, John and Teyla weren't an item. They didn't actually concretely become one until the party. The problem with having them in a UST situation was that their issues and conflict threatened to seep over into this story, which I didn't want. So I wrote this scene, imagining that John and Teyla were casual lovers in need and desire, and only later realised that the establishment of them as a definite couple was advantageous for storyline and emotional purposes. Result? A prequel.]
"He knows it already." Teyla leaned her head back against one of the side wings of the chair. "At the least, Ronan Dex will remain in the house as a guest for a week, then he is free to make of himself what he desires. Seek out employment, earn a wage, or court a woman he likes." A stealthy smile crept across her face.
Elizabeth wondered why she distrusted the smile so much. "What?"
"I am simply thinking that there may be some competition for his attention among the women in the villages," Teyla said. "He is...distinctive."
The question slipped out before she could censor it. "Not interested yourself?"
The answer was immediate and not over-definite. "No. He distrusts the Hourglass coven." Teyla was matter-of-fact about it; she had become accustomed to the suspicion and concern over her abilities.
[Another thing that wasn't properly explained. Teyla's a natural Black Widow - as Ronon notes in Part 3, that's a witch who can weave tangled webs of the mind and uses spells to see visions. The 'Hourglass coven' is the term for the Black Widows of a Territory who meet to train up young witches in the skills of their caste. A witch doesn't need to be a natural Black Widow to train with the Hourglass, although it helps.]
"He'll learn to deal with it if he's going to stay in Atlantis," Elizabeth said firmly. Her mother had been of the Hourglass and while Elizabeth had no training in the coven, she respected their work and their skills. And Teyla was a friend, First Circle and trusted.
Teyla's eyes opened to look at Elizabeth. "And if he isn't?"
"Then he'll learn to deal with it anyway."
The other woman smiled. "So you will consider him in service, then?"
Elizabeth paused. She supposed she would, but it would depend on Ronan Dex himself and his own decisions. She suspected that he'd been a slave too long to give over the choices of his life to anyone else. "Maybe. We'll see how he copes with the court tomorrow."
Teyla laughed and stood, stretching. "Very well. Carson also wished me to remind you that Lady Sora is to visit us the day after tomorrow."
"Yes, I remember." Elizabeth grimaced a little. "I don't suppose you'd care to look a few days into the future?"
"Chaos, trouble, and difficulty," Teyla replied. "I need no tangled web to show me that." She twinkled at her friend as she picked up the books she was borrowing from Elizabeth's library. "Sleep well. Dream of handsome former slaves."
[One thing that the show hasn't done - and which I'm just waiting for - is an episode where Teyla and Elizabeth really have to work together to solve something. Either to get the guys out of trouble or to negotiate something or just having a cup of coffee and laughing at the last situation that the boys got themselves into. Something. Because this show has heaps of 'guy bonding' moments but nary a whimper on the girl bonding. And they need some, dammit!]
Elizabeth made a sour expression at Teyla. For that, she wasn't going to warn Teyla who she'd likely find waiting in her rooms. "Get out," she said with good-natured disgust.
[Again, the reference to John being in Teyla's rooms implied that they weren't regular lovers, while later on in the story it's implied that their relationship is established and acknowledged by the court.]
After the door had shut, Elizabeth sighed to herself and poked her feet out from beneath the old flannel gown she wore to bed.
As she climbed into her own bed, extinguishing the witchflame candles with a thought, she considered the problem of Ronan Dex.
Purchasing Ronan from Lady Heleri's court had been risky for more reasons than merely the deception of another Queen. Not all people made the successful transition from slavery to freedom. Without the restraining ring and with no sense of the Protocols that defined the Blood, some males set their lives to abuse, passing on the cruelty that they had known in the courts.
And yet, she had seen the spark of rebellion in him, a Warlord Prince with honour denied. And she had known her decision to be right from the moment he cast back at her that she could purchase his body, but his soul remained his own.
He had spoken the truth although he didn't realise it.
Elizabeth had bought his body free from the Belkans, but she wouldn't lay claim to his soul. He was his own man, free to do what he wished. She wouldn't stand in his way.
The last remnants of witchlight dimmed and faded, and the night - and sleep - claimed her.
--
PAIRING: Elizabeth Weir/Ronan Dex
RATING: R
NOTES: And another bit.
To Serve A Queen: Part Four
[And then it became time for a bit of Elizabeth's POV...]
Elizabeth felt...restless. Itchy beneath her skin.
In contrast, Teyla slouched in the high-backed chair, stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankles. She looked utterly relaxed and Elizabeth envied her the casual pose.
It had been an unsettling day. First the journey to Belka, then the negotiations, then the return trip. Belka Territory had been very different in Elizabeth's imagination, and the difference had grated on her nerves all day.
Be honest with yourself, she told herself quietly. It's not Belka Territory that disturbs you but the man you brought back.
"He is wary and suspicious, which is no surprise," said the Black Widow calmly, continuing the conversation which had been going only moments before. "I gather he has been a slave for many years."
"At least five," Elizabeth murmured, stirring the tea in her cup. "Probably more." The hatred in his gaze had been like a blow, no less than the message he'd sent her: You will never have my soul.
However long he'd been enslaved, brutalised with the ring around his cock, Elizabeth didn't know. How he'd survived it, she couldn't imagine. But she'd looked into him and seen a man who clung to his own honour and would see it taken from him over his own dead body.
He deserved much more than slavery.
[These first few chapters sometimes feel a little more dramatic than I like. Sorta *nail hand to forehead* kind of dramatic. It becomes a bit annoying, to be honest. But I was still trying to feel my way towards the characters and how they were going to interact. Once I had that, it was easier.]
"Well, he is now free," said Teyla. "Although how he will adjust to the court is another matter." She set her chin in her hand and regarded her friend. "Were you thinking of taking him into your service?"
"I...don't know." Elizabeth paused and struggled to fight down the blush that rose in her cheeks. She cursed the paleness of her complexion as Teyla peered curiously at her. "After everything he's been through, I don't think he'll want to serve in a court."
Especially not mine.
Teyla looked surprised. "He is a Blood male, Elizabeth - a dark-jewelled Warlord Prince. They need a Queen to serve."
"There are other Queens in Atlantis," Elizabeth pointed out. "He has a choice."
"But only one other with dark Jewels," said Teyla, reasonably. "And you are attracted to him."
The statement was matter-of-fact, and Elizabeth grimaced. Teyla rarely hedged around matters.
[I love making Teyla the matter-of-fact person in this story. Serenely (and yet with secret glee) pointing out the things that people are going to gloss over because they don't want to think about it. It's okay. If I ever get the prequel to this story done, then she'll have all kinds turmoil to get through.]
"Has Carson been going on about the Consort's position again?"
"He is correct," Teyla said, albeit with more gentleness than usual. "You have been without a Consort for two years. And in that time, you have only called upon the services of a male of the court twice."
[The number of people who asked exactly who Elizabeth had called on... Oy. Anyway. Caldwell once, and someone else once. The only thing I know is that it wasn't John. When he and Elizabeth were younger, they considered it, and then decided it wasn't something either of them wanted and just left it. A little while later, Teyla was called to Atlantis court to weave a Tangled Web for the then-Queen of Atlantis, Lady Melia, and John's interest was caught.]
Feeling more than a little picked upon, Elizabeth set her cup down on the table and resisted the urge to snap that it was two more males than Teyla had called upon in the last two years.
Of course, it wasn't Teyla's court.
"I cared about Simon--"
"Simon left your service two years ago, Elizabeth. You are a Queen with a woman's desires and a court full of men, most of whom would be only too happy to be called to your bed. This...this Ronan Dex is new, and if he is not court-trained, he is aware of the laws and Protocols of the Blood - and you are aware of him as you have not been of any man since Simon."
[In my mind, Simon's a Jewelled Prince. I don't know what colour Jewels he wears, though. Maybe the Opal.]
Elizabeth wished her body hadn't been so swift to respond to Ronan Dex - or that Teyla wasn't so observant. And she hoped that the Warlord Prince hadn't picked up on her interest: she had kept her response as controlled as was possible at the end of a long and tiring day.
"You have been speaking with Carson."
"He is the Steward of the Court," Teyla pointed out. "And I am correct. A Warlord Prince will want to serve a Queen capable of handling him. You have bought him from slavery. That incurs a debt, even if only in his own mind, that he will wish to pay back by whatever means lies open to him."
Elizabeth knew she didn't have to explain that there was no need for repayment. She'd seen a Warlord Prince with the potential for honourable service, abused and suffering, and her instincts screamed that he should be set free. She'd paid the price without asking, content to allow Heleri to believe that she wanted him for cruelty, willing to allow Ronan to believe the same.
She didn't want 'repayment' from him.
[Oh, yes, she does!]
Of course, Teyla knew that, already. The person that Elizabeth had to convince was the Warlord Prince who knew nothing of her or her court; only what he would trust of the Protocols that dictated the interaction between the castes of the Blood.
"He is...handsome," Elizabeth said after a moment. "Well-built." The other woman grinned and Elizabeth held up a hand. "Don't start."
"I said nothing."
"You didn't need to. He is attractive - and you know it."
Teyla just sat there with a smile hovering about her lips and Elizabeth tossed the empty teacup at her, piqued.
With a laugh, Teyla caught the cup midair, holding it aloft with a thread of Grey power before returning it to Elizabeth's saucer. "He has a warrior's instincts and the body to match. Whatever they set him to do in Belka, he was originally trained as a guard."
Elizabeth thought of the sharply-defined musculature of the naked man; from shoulders and biceps, to chest and abdomen, to the clear definition of thighs and calves. She had looked and courtesy had required her to touch him to remove the ring of obedience. She could have done it without laying a finger upon him, but it seemed discourteous not to afford him the honesty of contact.
[One thing that I like about this story is the way I feel I managed to get a lot of sensuality into the description: the experience of this story should be rich, voluptuous, sensual - the way I see the Blood. I feel that I managed it - at least, as an author - and I hope it conveyed adequately to the readers. That's something I don't always know when I write a story; just how it's going to turn out in tone and voice and description.]
However, the heat she felt from him - the heat she had felt in her own body, pooling between her thighs - that had been unexpected.
"Sorry?" Elizabeth was jolted from her memory, suddenly aware that Teyla had asked a question she hadn't even heard.
This time, Teyla didn't hide her smile, and Elizabeth flushed harder as the other woman repeated, "I said that John might find him an interesting opponent in the yards."
"If they don't kill each other first." She remembered the intent look in John's eyes as he came out to greet them. She was almost surprised he'd obeyed her at all - he'd been furious when she announced that she was going into Belka Territory without either him or Caldwell to protect her.
There was good reason to leave the Warlord Princes behind, though; they were too volatile, too edged to take into a Territory that was, if not precisely an enemy, certainly not a friend. Two Warlords, a Prince, and another two Blood males were sufficient guard force to take into Belka, and when she first saw the 'entertainment' that her host had provided for her, she was glad she'd left the Warlord Princes behind. Even she could not have contained them, then.
She had barely managed to contain John when he was faced with a rival Warlord Prince.
"Have you seen John since we returned?"
Teyla shook her head. "Other than his appearance in the courtyard, no. He will not be happy, wherever he is."
Elizabeth felt she could safely guess where her First Escort would be found, but she said nothing to Teyla. The other woman would find out soon enough. "He's still angry that I didn't take him into Belka."
"We would now be at war with Belka if you had," Teyla said. "If not over his actions, then over him."
"I'll tell John you said that."
[At this point in writing the story, John and Teyla weren't an item. They didn't actually concretely become one until the party. The problem with having them in a UST situation was that their issues and conflict threatened to seep over into this story, which I didn't want. So I wrote this scene, imagining that John and Teyla were casual lovers in need and desire, and only later realised that the establishment of them as a definite couple was advantageous for storyline and emotional purposes. Result? A prequel.]
"He knows it already." Teyla leaned her head back against one of the side wings of the chair. "At the least, Ronan Dex will remain in the house as a guest for a week, then he is free to make of himself what he desires. Seek out employment, earn a wage, or court a woman he likes." A stealthy smile crept across her face.
Elizabeth wondered why she distrusted the smile so much. "What?"
"I am simply thinking that there may be some competition for his attention among the women in the villages," Teyla said. "He is...distinctive."
The question slipped out before she could censor it. "Not interested yourself?"
The answer was immediate and not over-definite. "No. He distrusts the Hourglass coven." Teyla was matter-of-fact about it; she had become accustomed to the suspicion and concern over her abilities.
[Another thing that wasn't properly explained. Teyla's a natural Black Widow - as Ronon notes in Part 3, that's a witch who can weave tangled webs of the mind and uses spells to see visions. The 'Hourglass coven' is the term for the Black Widows of a Territory who meet to train up young witches in the skills of their caste. A witch doesn't need to be a natural Black Widow to train with the Hourglass, although it helps.]
"He'll learn to deal with it if he's going to stay in Atlantis," Elizabeth said firmly. Her mother had been of the Hourglass and while Elizabeth had no training in the coven, she respected their work and their skills. And Teyla was a friend, First Circle and trusted.
Teyla's eyes opened to look at Elizabeth. "And if he isn't?"
"Then he'll learn to deal with it anyway."
The other woman smiled. "So you will consider him in service, then?"
Elizabeth paused. She supposed she would, but it would depend on Ronan Dex himself and his own decisions. She suspected that he'd been a slave too long to give over the choices of his life to anyone else. "Maybe. We'll see how he copes with the court tomorrow."
Teyla laughed and stood, stretching. "Very well. Carson also wished me to remind you that Lady Sora is to visit us the day after tomorrow."
"Yes, I remember." Elizabeth grimaced a little. "I don't suppose you'd care to look a few days into the future?"
"Chaos, trouble, and difficulty," Teyla replied. "I need no tangled web to show me that." She twinkled at her friend as she picked up the books she was borrowing from Elizabeth's library. "Sleep well. Dream of handsome former slaves."
[One thing that the show hasn't done - and which I'm just waiting for - is an episode where Teyla and Elizabeth really have to work together to solve something. Either to get the guys out of trouble or to negotiate something or just having a cup of coffee and laughing at the last situation that the boys got themselves into. Something. Because this show has heaps of 'guy bonding' moments but nary a whimper on the girl bonding. And they need some, dammit!]
Elizabeth made a sour expression at Teyla. For that, she wasn't going to warn Teyla who she'd likely find waiting in her rooms. "Get out," she said with good-natured disgust.
[Again, the reference to John being in Teyla's rooms implied that they weren't regular lovers, while later on in the story it's implied that their relationship is established and acknowledged by the court.]
After the door had shut, Elizabeth sighed to herself and poked her feet out from beneath the old flannel gown she wore to bed.
As she climbed into her own bed, extinguishing the witchflame candles with a thought, she considered the problem of Ronan Dex.
Purchasing Ronan from Lady Heleri's court had been risky for more reasons than merely the deception of another Queen. Not all people made the successful transition from slavery to freedom. Without the restraining ring and with no sense of the Protocols that defined the Blood, some males set their lives to abuse, passing on the cruelty that they had known in the courts.
And yet, she had seen the spark of rebellion in him, a Warlord Prince with honour denied. And she had known her decision to be right from the moment he cast back at her that she could purchase his body, but his soul remained his own.
He had spoken the truth although he didn't realise it.
Elizabeth had bought his body free from the Belkans, but she wouldn't lay claim to his soul. He was his own man, free to do what he wished. She wouldn't stand in his way.
The last remnants of witchlight dimmed and faded, and the night - and sleep - claimed her.
--
To Serve a Queen Commentary
I DO HOPE YOU WRITE a PREQUEL...John/Teyla centered of coarse....