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It was supposed to be a low-risk mission just dipping their toes back in the water. And of course it's not. There's wraith there and they have to run. The manage to dial fine, they even manage to get to the gate but as they're jumping through several wraith shots hit the gate and something goes strange. The normally smooth passage of the wormhole twists alarmingly and it's normal teal green shifts to a much more menacing red. And when they're finally spat out. They certainly aren't back at Atlantis.
SGA-1 finds themselves at the site of a demon summoning
not_so_golden_retriever
"Unfortunately. We are making progress but it's an uphill fight they were the premier power in our galaxy for thousands of years."
from-the-land
"Doing better than we have, then. Sounds like if our positions were reversed I'd be offering to help pretty immediately."
not_so_golden_retriever
"I appreciate the sentiment. We're certainly interested in helping I'm just not sure how would be best to do that. Also there's the whole maybe we'll be executed thing. And the thing where there's people depending on us back home."
from-the-land
"The Plotter... damn, I should have asked one of the priests to tell you the names on holy ground, if only so you recognize them if you hear them - makes a lot of things harder. Trust chief among them. I think only the vampire-blooded issue with Miss Teyla is going to keep us nervous about any of your actions for any length of time but I won't make you promises I can't keep."
He knows more than that but you'd have to be pretty sharp at reading people to notice. All this man's ranks in Bluff are for hiding that he knows things.
not_so_golden_retriever
Sheppard is not that good at people. But he's generally a bit suspicious of authority so he isn't fully convinced. "I guess we'll have to just wait and see then."
from-the-land
"I don't think you'll be waiting long. We're not big on subtlety or plotting."
They've passed through another garden and are back at the same canal from earlier, further east. As they cross the bridge, the architecture changes again - a lot more half-timber framing and roofs more likely to be peaked and slanted than rounded and sloped.
"These gentlemen... Maybe a little moreso. Welcome to the Imperial Quarter."
not_so_golden_retriever
"A whole quarter for your southern neighbor quite the statement that if it's literal."
from-the-land
"It's the biggest foreign quarter, but no, I think it's only about a twentieth of the city. About the same size as the cannoneer's district and the Elven quarter. Bigger than the Bretonnian, which we passed earlier, or the Tilean, which we didn't."
The inhabitants are basically-German like Kislev is basically-Russian and the Bretonnians were basically-French. Mostly in the extremely flamboyantly-dressed Landsknecht variety, though more are merchants and bureaucrats than actual soldiers, mercenary or otherwise.
not_so_golden_retriever
"Is there a lot of population exchange or do people here tend to stay here?"
from-the-land
"Hmm. Here I think they mostly come and go after a few years, setting down roots is more for near the land border. But that's just a guess."
from-the-land
"You know, there's not much else to see and we're just retracing our steps past here." He waves to a building with a large coat of arms with gold gryphons supporting a silver hammer on a red field. "Probably we should just hire a carriage back."
There haven't been many of those on the streets, but a few, and there was an unmarked one sitting idle about a block back.
first_chair
Rodney isn't going to object to less walking even if he's in fairly good shape at this point.
Kislev.
Then a carriage can be hired and they can get back 'home' in much less time. They still avoid the Elven Quarter, just in case.
There are still guards on the place, and they salute Teodor, but don't seem on edge and everyone goes in smoothly. It's mid-afternoon, probably, not quite a full day since they arrived on this planet.
from-the-land
"Unless you want to ask me anything, I think I'm going to take rooftop duty for a while."
not_so_golden_retriever
"I think we exhausted all the topics I could think of. And I expect we'll have more time in the future if I think of more."
first_chair
Rodney retrieves a larger device downloads the output of the scanner and sets himself to analyzing his scans in more depth.
not_so_golden_retriever
The team will pass the time until dinner or any other sort of interruption with quiet conversation.
from-the-land
And an hour or more later, Teodor is very pleased, because he can see the Winds moving around Teisiya, as she rides up to the house.
Alone, rather than with a pair of Frost Maidens flanking her.
"My Lady's on her way, and with good news. I'll go down to meet her and send someone up."
"So, my lady?"
of-the-ice-and-snow
"Her Majesty trusts my judgment with a few lines set that I would have followed anyway. Watch the woman for necromantic corruption, be slow about any release of information into the wild where it might serve the Changer, but treat them as what they appear to be, which is extremely useful potential allies whose arrival may have been the influence of Chaos but whose actions will not be."
"Also, you're explicitly commended for your investigation and for interrupting the summoning in sufficient force and time. You'll have the respect of the Ice Court soon, at this rate."
from-the-land
"Well, won't that be something," he says, and briefly ducks to kiss her hand, "They'll be setting out dinner in a little while, tell them then?"
