Chapter 10: Elders

[[The title creeps me out, no idea why...O.o]]

Sheppard's team walked into the village and were instantly stunned at what they saw around them. Wooden huts were built high in trees, and as they watched, two young children scurried up rope ladders that were thrown down to them. The strangest thing was that none of the people that they saw were over the age of about sixteen or seventeen.

All the children were going about business that you would see in a normal village: cutting firewood, sawing and nailing boards to repair huts, sorting fruits and vegetables. Akire glanced at her team. Sheppard and Ford were looking around in awe, McKay was watching the children with distaste, and Teyla--where was Teyla?

"Major." Teyla was bent over by a pile of large metal scraps on a mound of earth nearby. Akire, followed by the rest of the team, walked hesitantly over. The metal scraps were not laid at random, they had a certain pattern. With a shock, she realized that the metal pieces were parts of armor, and within this armor lay the skeleton of a Wraith.

"Now where'd they get that?" Ford asked.

"It looks like a shrine." Teyla was examining a bracelet on the wrist of the dead Wraith.

"You mean they worship them?" Akire asked, shocked.

"That would be a first," Sheppard said.

"It'd be disturbing," McKay agreed.

"Wraith bones." The boy who had lead them to the village had walked silently over to them.

"Yeah, we know," said Sheppard, turning his gaze to the boy.

"Why are they here?" Akire asked.

"It's death bird fell out of the sky years ago. We keep it here to remind us of how life used to be," the boy said. He had a strange way of speaking, almost as if he was much older than his sixteen years.

"Used to be?" Teyla asked.

"Before," the boy answered. There was a pause, and then the boy spoke again. "The Elders are ready for you."

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The inside of the hut was dark. Akire had climbed up into it through a rope ladder that was thrown down, and now she looked around her, getting her bearings. Two young men, looking about the same age as Ford, stood opposite them.

Sheppard spoke first. "Hi. Nice to meet you."

One of the men, wearing a headdress made of knitted vines, answered him. "I am Keras, one of the village elders. This is Ares."

"Nice to meet you," Sheppard answered. "I'm Sheppard, and this is Teyla, Rodney, and....you say you are one of the elders?"

"Yes," answered Keras.

"How old are you?" said Sheppard.

"Twenty-four."

"And that makes you an Elder?"

"How did you get here, Sheppard?" Keras asked.

"We used the Stargate to travel from our world to yours." Keras looked puzzled. "You know," Sheppard searched for the right words. "The big....circle thingy."

"No one has come through the Well for five thousand years," Keras said, looking around at Ares. The other man was staring at them with a hostile look in his eyes. Akire shifted slightly so that she stood behind Ford.

"Can I ask a question," McKay interjected. "Why is it that all of your...people are children?"

Keras studied each of the team members in turn. Akire looked uncomfortably back at the Elder.

"Please, sit," Keras admonished, settling himself on a vine-covered bench. The team followed his lead.

"Many years ago, the Wraith used to farm our planet, as we used to farm livestock and beasts of burden, except we were their herd," the young man began.

"Yeah, they seem to do that everywhere," Akire spoke up.

"Our ancestors fought them but our weapons were not strong enough. Our people tried to hide from them, but they were always found. None died peacefully. None could enter into the Eternal Rest. To die at the hands of the Wraith -- to breathe your last breath among such hatred and evil -- there's no way to move peacefully into the next world."

Akire nodded her head, understanding. Teyla seemed to be holding back tears, and McKay was trying, unsuccessfully, to arrange himself comfortably on the bench.

"Our ancestors decided that, to beat the Wraith, we must learn to think as they think. We ensured that we would never provide the Wraith with a crop worth picking," Keras galnced at Ares, who's eyes were narrowed.

The team looked at each other in confusion. "Defeat the Wraith by doing what?" Teyla asked.

"None of us passes the age of twenty four," Keras explained, which only puzzled the Atlantians further.

"And how do you manage that?" McKay said with typical skepticism.

"On the eve of our twenty fifth year, we make the Sacrifice, both for our people and for our own safe passage into the Eternal Rest." Keras's voice was steady.

McKay expressed his consternation rather loudly. "What?! You kill each other?!"

Keras looked at McKay with the air of an adult explaining a simple concept to a small child. "No. We take our own lives. And so the Wraith have not returned for nearby five hundred years."

Suicidal children, Akire thought. Wonderful...