Teyla stepped towards the girl ladling out the evening meal, her shoulders squared against the eyes of the drivers. When the other slaves waiting in line saw her approach, they shuffled to the side, eyes tracking her form, respectfully letting her step to the front of the line. Teyla smiled a little, guilt-ridden by this special treatment, but reminding herself that their reverence meant that she needed to respond in kind, as a true leader... as a symbol.

She held her bowl out to the young woman who smiled shyly before casting her eyes down and serving her a ladleful of stew. Teyla dipped her head. “Thank you.” The girl smiled again in return and Teyla strode purposefully over to an empty seat at a table. She watched the drivers share a fleeting look then begin to whisper amongst themselves. She didn’t need to hear what they were saying – their eyes spoke for them.

Binti glanced to her, worry on her face. Teyla met her gaze then gave her a brief, comforting smile before taking a bite of her stew.

Later that night, as she and Binti lay down to sleep in their barracks, Binti clung to her in a desperate hug. “They are going to punish you.”

Teyla relaxed against her friend but did not hug her back. “I know.”

“I cannot bear knowing it.” Binti pulled away to look Teyla in the eye. “They may kill you.”

Teyla studied her friend at length then climbed to her feet, raising her voice. “These men know only how to govern through fear.” Those still awake looked to her, nudging their fellows out of sleep to listen. Teyla waited a moment as she heard their shifting. “...Were they suited for any other work they would not be here as drivers. They are here by choice while we are not... but we always have a choice.” She paused, somewhat surprised someone hadn’t asked her to keep her voice down. “Any day now the drivers will attempt to punish me. They see me as your leader. When that time comes... it will be our moment to rise up, as one, and reclaim the freedom that is guarded from us by prods and whips and torture and rape... and I promise you, the next time you sing, your lungs will be full of the breath of hope.”

“They already are,” one man spoke and several others murmured their agreement. “...But how do you expect us to fight? We have no weapons.”

She looked in his general direction, the light too dim to see him, recalling both Ronon’s words about the drivers loving submission and her own observations. “They want us to be afraid, so we shall use that to our advantage.”

Ronon tossed the bound grain up to Curtis, who stacked it in the back of the wagon. Sam the donkey rested one hoof, his ears back, his eyes drooping in the sun. Ronon grabbed another green bushel and tossed it up to Curtis, pausing to swat at a fly that was buzzing about his bare, sweat-slicked torso. Both men were working in a rhythm, no words needed, lifting and hauling, lifting and hauling.

Liliana had sent Bo and Brianna out to bring them some water. Bo skipped ahead once she caught sight of them but Brianna nearly tripped over the hem of her dress and was suddenly shy, wishing to the gods that she wasn’t the one holding the pail of water. She began to blush the moment she saw her father and Ronon notice her.

Bo had already bounded over and grabbed a bushel of grain that was bigger than she was. Curtis and Ronon laughed as she tried to lift it up to her father, determined to help. Ronon took an end for her and lifted it up to Curtis, who winked at him. “Why thank you, Bo.”

The little girl hurried to grab another bushel and Ronon laughed as she carried it back, but it was so big that she couldn’t see where she was going and began wandering off in the opposite direction. “We’re over here, Butterfly.”

Bo looked over her shoulder. “Oh!” She tried to run towards them and tripped but climbed right back to her feet and began her trek once more.

Curtis grinned at Brianna as she approached. “Hey there, princess. What’re you two up to?”

“Momma said to bring you guys some water.”

Ronon went to help Bo lift her armful of grain but instead lifted her whole body for an aerial grain drop. She laughed then he seated her on the end of the wagon beside him as he took a seat. She looked up at him, her eyes scrunching up in the sun. “Are ya thirsty?”

“I’m parched,” Curtis sighed, taking off his hat to wipe at his brow. He was about to reach for the ladle when Brianna suddenly strode past him and offered the water to Ronon first. Curtis tried not to scowl at being ignored by his own daughter but realized that with Ronon around, he might as well get used to it. He’d never seen Brianna being so composed around her sister for so long, which at least was a nice relief from their usual little quarrels.

Ronon didn’t notice and drank several large gulps before handing it back to Brianna, who was pretending that she was very interested in the grain on the ground and not him. As Brianna carried the pail back over to her father, Bo leaned over to peer at Ronon’s back. Ronon noticed and craned his neck to look at her.

“It’s all bumpy....”

“Yeah,” he responded, a small part of himself having to be steeled against the child’s innocent curiosity, his pride in check.

“Can I touch it?”

“I’m all sweaty and gross, but sure.”

Bo delicately poked at a few of the scars with the tip of her finger. “They don’t hurt, do they?”

Ronon shook his head, his hair tied back in a small ponytail.

“I have a scar that kinda looks like that, too,” she stated as she straightened and pulled up her pant leg, struggling to bunch the material up enough to reveal her knee.

Ronon hissed when he saw the small scar on her knee, pretending it looked worse than it was. “Ooo, that looks like it hurt.”

“It did.”

“How’d you get it?”

“Brianna pushed me and I slipped in the river.”

Brianna looked horrified. “I did not!”

“Yes you did, you pushed me, don’t lie.”

“I barely touched you and you fell.”

“I wouldn’t’ve fallen if you hadn’t touched me!”

Brianna looked as if she wanted to say something more but clenched her jaw, looking away. Curtis was impressed and hoped that Ronon could stay forever as argument repellent.

Bo had already moved on and was fingering the little curls of Ronon’s ponytail. “Can I play with your hair later?”

Ronon smirked lopsidedly as Curtis laughed. “Uh... I guess so.”

“He’s a boy, Isabeau.” Brianna stated, in case she’d forgotten.

“Yeah but he likes it.” Bo suddenly gasped with an idea. “If you shaved off your beard I could make you look like a girl!”

Ronon’s expression was a cross between amusement and horror that made Bo laugh. Brianna was red in the face. “He looks fine how he is.”

Curtis’ eyes widened and he had to cough to hide his surprise at his daughter’s statement. Brianna seemed to catch how forward she’d just been and glanced fleetingly around before looking down to her pail then back to the men. “Well do you want more water or not?”

Both were still thirsty, but for the sake of Brianna’s pride they both declined and allowed her to offer the rest of the water to Sam then march back to the house.

“Can I help some more?” Bo asked as Ronon helped her off the wagon, knowing that she was a little small for her age but loving how lightweight she was.

“Of course,” Curtis said. “How ‘bout you start making piles of the grain over there so that it’ll be ready when we get to it?”

“Okay!” Bo dashed off in that direction.

“They’re really something else, aren’t they?”

“You’re a blessed man, Curtis.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, looking over at Bo who already had three bushels in her first stack. “I really am.”

Teyla looked to the ground as the driver approached, two others flanking him. He coiled the whip in his hands. “You’re coming with me.” She kept her gaze downcast as she followed the men into one of their sleeping quarters, only casting Binti a brief look of acknowledgement as one of the men loosened his belt. The door was slammed behind her.

Curtis tapped his foot on the wood of the porch for a moment before he pulled his bow across the strings of the fiddle, beginning a warm tune. Bo and Sanura were chasing fireflies with a net and a jar and turned to look at their father as he started up a new tune. Liliana began to clap in time to the music with a little cheer as Bo and Sanura became more frantic in their firefly chase, laughing and stumbling in time with the music. Ronon and Brianna were seated on the steps of the porch, both resting after a feast, including several pies made from the berries they’d picked earlier in the day. Brianna looked over at Ronon with a smile and he laughed back: her two little sisters were now jumping about wildly and Liliana started cracking up at their antics.

Curtis had to take a break after the piece he just played, getting a drink of water and chuckling as Sanura teetered on the spot, dizzy. Bo took her hand and led her off the grass and over to their mother, who scooped her up. After a few moments’ rest, Curtis started up another lively tune. Liliana took a seat on a nearby rocking chair with Sanura in her lap then nudged at both Ronon and Brianna with her foot. “Go dance!”

“Yeah, like this!” Bo said as she leapt off the steps then began to wobble about in circles. Ronon and Brianna laughed and he got to his feet when Lilianna’s foot digging into his back got annoying.

He gave the older woman a mock-offended look. “I don’t know how to dance.”

“Brianna will teach you.”

“Yeah, c’mon,” Brianna replied as she grabbed his hand and led him down the steps.

Ronon sighed, trying to tell himself that it was alright if he looked like an idiot since he did most of the time anyway.

Brianna took each of his hands in hers then laughed as she looked up at him. “Well, you’re too tall...”

He smirked at her. “Thanks a lot. I’m gonna go cry now.”

She giggled, unable to stop smiling, then began a box step. Her strides were so small in comparison to Ronon’s that the Satedan figured he didn’t actually need to move, but stepped along with her anyway, picking up on the pattern to the movement.

“Looking good!” Curtis shouted over the noise of his fiddle. Ronon shot him an embarrassed look that clearly said “shut up.” Curtis laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself – I was talking about Bri.”

Just then Bo smacked into the two as she weaved about, so dizzy that she couldn’t walk straight.

“Bo, watch it. We’re trying to dance.”

“Ugh,” Bo made an unhappy sound. “...I don’ like this...” She held her head in an attempt to stop it from spinning.

“Just go in circles the opposite direction,” Lilliana shouted and Bo did as she was told, smirking when it helped a little.

Brianna and Ronon continued their waltz and Bri looked down at their feet after she accidentally stepped on his toes. “Sorry!”

“You should be – I’ll never walk again!”

She didn’t have time to blush as she laughed and Ronon smirked. When the music picked up, Ronon took the lead and began to move faster across the meadowgrass and Brianna laughed again, running to keep up as he danced her about in circles and figure eights while Bo ran laps around them, stripping off her shirt and flinging it into the air behind her, making the two laugh again. Ronon grabbed Bri by the waist and spun quickly about with her, making her squeal and laugh. She giggled and brushed her hair off her face after he set her down.

Bo charged into him and clomped onto his leg. “Dance with me, now!”

“You bet, Butterfly.” He scooped her up and tossed her into the air and she shrieked as she flew, belly-laughing once he caught her.

Bri laughed, stepping aside as she caught her breath and cooled down. Ronon smiled at her. “Thanks for the dance, pretty lady.”

She beamed and nodded as Ronon turned away to twirl with Isabeau.

Brianna stepped back over to the porch to take a break while Liliana stepped out with Sanura, dancing with the toddler. Bo was screaming wildly as Ronon held her by the arms and spun in circles, making her fly.

It took a long while to calm down after their festivities that evening, and Liliana had the girls sit with her while she read from a storybook, trying to get them tired. Ronon eventually wandered in and sat down with them, listening to the story as well, and the sight of him sitting cross legged on the floor with the three blondes was too much and Liliana kept laughing as she read. “This is boring,” Bo sighed. “I want a different story.”

“I’ll tell you a story,” Ronon said as he lay down on his stomach, resting his face in his hands.

“It better be appropriate,” Liliana said dryly.

Ronon rose his brows innocently. Bo looked between the two. “Apopiate?”

“Appropriate,” Liliana corrected. “That means it won’t give you bad dreams.”

“Tell the story,” Bri said, lying down on her tummy as well, adjusting her nightgown.

“Okay, once there were these three little girls and they lived out in the woods and ate apples all day.”

“What?!” Bo interrupted.

“They really liked them.” Ronon shrugged. “And their names were Brianna, Isabeau, and Sanura.”

“Then one day Sanura farted and they all died. The end.” Bo went red in the face from laughing at her own joke.

Ronon couldn’t breathe he was laughing so hard, along with the others, and Liliana took that as her cue. “Okay, story time’s over. Get your little booties in bed.”

“But I want to hear the end of Ronon’s story,” Brianna giggled.

“Um...” Ronon tried to speak again through his laughter. “One day this tall man came to visit.”

“And his name was Ronon!” Bo added.

“Yes,” Ronon continued. “And one day he and Brianna –”

“And he had even worse farts than Sanura and they all died again!”

Ronon laughed once more, giving Bo a look that clearly said “you’re a hambone.”

Liliana picked up Bo and began walking her towards the bathroom. “You are too wound up.”

Ronon climbed to his feet and picked up Sanura, who looked about to fall asleep. Brianna rose, as well, and if he’d looked to her he would’ve seen how desperate she was to hear the rest of his story, but she held her tongue when he chuckled as Sanura’s head thunked against his shoulder and she fussily buried her face in his shirt.

He smiled at Bri. “Sweet dreams, pretty lady.”

She grinned then hugged him. “Sweet dreams.” He ruffled her hair then she scurried off to the room she and Bo shared, diving onto her bed, her face still alight with a smile. Curtis was still out checking on the animals and Ronon could hear Bo giggling as Liliana tried to get her to cooperate and brush her teeth so he stayed in the living room with Sanura until she could come fetch her youngest.

Brianna was still smiling when Liliana finally tucked Bo in and bid them both goodnight before taking the sleepy toddler from Ronon with a smile and kissing his cheek with a “sleep tight.” Brianna rolled over onto her side, biting her lip. He’d called her “pretty lady,” twice. He’d obviously nicknamed her that because he thought that she was pretty. And that dance... she sighed, feeling for sure that Ronon was going to end the story with, “And one day he and Brianna got married.” It took her hours to fall asleep.

Branded Heart

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