Challenges

Author: ShaViva

Rating: K

Season: 5

Summary: One-shot Lorne centric short stories. Challenge One: Sometimes maintaining good relationships with the natives requires you to do the unexpected.

Classifications: General

Pairings: None

Spoilers for: None

Disclaimer: I am unfortunately not associated in any way with the creators, owners, or producers of Stargate or any of its media franchises. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, equipment, etc are the property of whoever owns them. Any original characters, plot, settings, and anything else I made up are the property of me, the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

Copyright (c) 2010 ShaViva

Authors Note:

At my RPG group site we sometimes do word challenges where someone offers up a theme or a set of words. I have three Lorne centric ones so far I'll post in this one story, with maybe more to follow. This is marked as complete because each chapter can stand on its own. I'll tell you what the challenge was at the end of each. I was going more for the fun side of writing Lorne so hopefully that comes over!

Challenge One - Bedtime Story

Major Evan Lorne sat in front of the fire, the other members of his team spread out amongst the villagers as they shared the evening meal. It wasn't the first time they'd been to Scaida and it wouldn't be the last, the village one of their regular stops for fresh supplies. Even with the regular schedule of visits from the Daedalus Atlantis still needed to rely on the Pegasus galaxy to fully meet all it's needs.

One of Evan's jobs was to maintain their trade agreements, which meant lots of 'cuddling up' with the natives - eating the food, showing acceptance for the culture, being accommodating as much as possible. Normally he didn't have a problem with that, but normally he wasn't asked to tell the local children a bed time story either.
　
Out of the corner of his eye he could see his 2IC, Sergeant Coughlin, smirking, the other man's expression one of anticipation. He thought Evan wouldn't be able to do it ... but then he didn't know Lorne had two nephews back home. He'd done the Uncle thing, babysat when his sister and her husband needed a night off ... when he'd been around that was. It'd been three years since he'd had easy access to his nephews though, so his story telling powers were probably a little rusty.
　
"Ah ... sure," he told the village leader, looking around the circle and then back to where the children all sat expectantly. "Okay ... first up we always start our stories with the words 'once upon a time'," Evan's voice dropped into a slower, deeper cadence as he shifted into storyteller mode.

"Once upon a time there was a princess ... her name was Katherine but everyone called her Cat on account of her green eyes. Anyway, Cat's thirteenth birthday was approaching - on Earth that's a big deal for most kids - and nobles from all the neighbouring villages were coming to the palace every day, leaving gifts for the Princess's big day. Each time a present was dropped off, the giver would remind Cat that she couldn't open it until her birthday." Lorne paused, glancing around at his audience to make sure they were with him before continuing.
　
"One day, about a week before the big day, an old man arrived at the palace and gave Cat a large square package. He was a weasel of a man - scrunched up face, sour expression - not the kind you'd think would be interested in a child's birthday. Cat took the gift, thanking him for his consideration. That's when he said the same thing that everyone had said. Don't open the gift before your birthday. Unlike all the others, he gave a warning as well. If Cat did open the gift before her big day, the palace and everything in it would be turned into Gingerbread."
　
"What's gingerbread?" one of the children asked.
　
"It's a kind of biscuit - sweet, like your dulcis - very tasty," Evan added with a smile. "So the old man's given his warning and they're all wondering if they should take him seriously ... and then he makes Cat's parents an offer. If they gave him a thousand dollars," Evan paused when he realised the local children wouldn't know what that was either, "ah, a dollar is money - like one of your gold coins," he explained, getting nods from his listeners. "Right, so if Cat gave the old man a thousand gold coins he'd lift the curse on the gift, take away the consequences. Of course they refused - said a gift should be given freely. The old man laughed, muttering under his breath that they'd regret it as he was ushered out the door."
　
"Now Cat was a good girl but a week is a long time for a twelve year old to wait ... she tried but she couldn't resist. While her parents slept she crept down to the present room, thinking to open just one gift. Surely no one would mind that. There were a lot of gifts there - big ones, small ones, wrapped in a rainbow of colours ... and for a while Cat stood in the doorway just looking. That's when she heard it ... the sound. A ticking sound ... like a clock." Lorne paused again - another Earth reference they wouldn't get. "Clocks help us keep track of the time," he explained. "They make a sound ... tick tock tick tock ... usually you don't notice it but at night when it's really quiet you can hear them."
　
Again the children in his audience nodded, their parents smiling as the visitor from Atlantis entertained their offspring.
　
"So Cat's standing in the doorway and she hears the ticking and thinks 'that one - that's the gift I'll open'." Lorne smiled as he looked at his listeners. "You know which gift it was, right?"
　
"The old man's!" more than one of them shouted in reply.
　
"That's right - the old man's," Evan confirmed. "Cat opened that gift and well ... that was the end of the story." He sat back with a satisfied smile.
　
"No it wasn't!" the children protested. "What happened next?"
　
"You really want to know?" Evan waited for the children to nod emphatically.

"Yes!" they cried out, some almost bouncing in anticipation.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," Evan's eyed twinkled as he looked at their expectant faces. "Turns out the curse was real ... when Cat opened the box, the palace and everything in it was turned into gingerbread. The chairs? Gingerbread. The beds? Gingerbread. Everything was gingerbread. In fact the only thing that wasn't was the people. Cat's parents were furious - the entire wealth of their family had been reduced to nothing more than food and there was no way to change it back. All for the sake of a thousand dollars. Cat of course thought it was the best birthday gift ever - what little girl wouldn't want to live in a gingerbread palace?!"

The children giggled, all the girls nodding. They all wanted more and there were protests as their parents rose to take them to their beds, each stopping to thank Evan for his efforts.
　
"An interesting story Major," the village leader commented once Evan had finished acknowledging the children. "Is there a morale ... a meaning inherent in its telling?"
　
"What, besides 'don't make up a story on the spot'?" Coughlin asked jokingly.
　
"Charity begins at home," Evan said simply, ignoring the jest. "The old man might have looked like a weasely unpleasant kind of individual but if Cat's parents had looked closer they would have seen that life had made him that way. He was poor, his clothing threadbare. The only thing he had left was his pride - rather than ask for a donation outright he sought to give something in return, pleading with the God he still believed in to give power to his warning. If they'd just given him the money he'd have walked away and maybe made something different from his life."
　
"Ah," the leader smiled. "A worthy story indeed, and one I believe your people live by."
　
"We try," Lorne agreed with dignity.

The End!

Authors Note:

The word challenge, from our Ronon player at my RPG site, was to use the following words in a story. Clock; Dollar; Cat; Weasel; and Gingerbread.

This is different from my usual offerings so please let me know what you think. If people like the format I could always try to write more *grins*. Thanks for reading.