My Love Among the Stars - Chapter 1
On the planet of Kailos, in the Pegasus galaxy, lay a modest kingdom. In this kingdom there lived a king, a queen, and four princesses. The thing that set them apart were their psychic abilities to manipulate a material that they called delai with their minds. Delai was prevalent within the planet and distributed to everyone in the kingdom from the common people to the military to the royal family.
Today was a special day, a celebration for the ages. The eldest princess, Elani, was having her coronation. The lower village was bustling with talk, decorations, and people preparing for the festival after the coronation.
Aridelle, the youngest princess, couldn’t sit still with the excitement that tickled every nerve in her body. She hardly slept the night before and she raced to her wardrobe. She opened it up and took out her dark cloak along with a plain dress that she used whenever she wanted to sneak around the town without being noticed by the people. She slipped out of her nightgown and into the plainly designed navy blue dress. After, she pulled the cloak around her shoulders and tied the string to secure it.
She brought her hand to her delai necklace and closed her fingers around it, pulling it away from the chain. She turned her knuckles down and opened her fist, morphing the delai into a platform large enough for her to step on. She walked over to the windowsill while focusing on floating the delai in her hand. She pushed it past the window and stepped onto the sill.
The princess leapt onto the platform and eased herself down to the ground. She walked off the platform she made and brought her hands together, making the delai come together into a ball. Aridelle picked it up and joined it together with her chain once more, allowing it to drop onto her chest.
She pulled her cloak closer and pulled the hood up, allowing it to drape around her face for cover. The princess briskly walked out of the courtyard and disappeared into the garden. She sneaked through a hole in the foliage and opened up a hole large enough in the gate made of delai, closing it back up once she was through. She charged into the bustling lower village and a smile spread across her lips.
Aridelle’s eyes searched and studied the people as they went about their business whilst decorating and getting things prepared for the coronation and the festival celebrations thereafter. She strolled over to a merchant stand where they sold a purple pear shaped fruit. “Morning. I’ll take one, please.” She reached into her inner cloak pocket and took out a gold coin, handing it to the merchant for one fruit on the stand.
She nodded a ‘thank you’ before she took a bite of the sweet ripe fruit. She walked backwards from the stand before continuing on the main dirt path. As she walked further into the village, the closer she arrived at the outskirts where the Stargate was. Aridelle finished devouring the fruit and tossed the core into the forest surrounding it.
Her people had come here via the Stargate many, many moons ago to escape the Wraith. Her great great great grandparents were the ones who led her people to this planet, to safety for the time being. The Wraith hadn’t arrived on the planet in centuries, nor did she think that they would soon return because of their defenses they now possessed with the delai.
She couldn’t be certain, but she knew that one day that she would lead their forces to protect the kingdom in their military. They trained the young princess in the way of self-defense, offensive fighting techniques, and close quarters combat. She could defend herself and fight off intruders if some were to come around. They had trained her since she was a little girl and trained in other matters as well.
Aridelle made her way over towards the dialing device. Her blue eyes studied the glyphs, and she traced her fingers along the glass covered symbols. Her father informed her of what this pedestal did, and she knew that the glyphs had something to do with the ring that allowed their soldiers to travel, but she had no idea which glyphs in what sequence to lead where. Before she could conduct her own experiments with the dialing pedestal, the gate activated.
A buzzing sound came from the ring, and a water-like substance filled the center of the ring. A column jutted out for a moment before falling back into the rippling center.
Aridelle promptly ducked behind the pedestal the moment she saw four people come out of the wormhole. Three males and one woman. The male that led the small group had stubble on his face, wore black glasses that covered his eyes, a black t-shirt and a matching pocketed vest over it, along with light grey pants. He held up a weapon and after he surveyed the place. When he deemed it safe, he lowered his weapon and turned to the rest of the group.
The other male dressed similarly to him had short brown hair and a receding hairline. He appeared to be complaining, but he lowered his weapon after the leader had. “This seems to be the outskirts of a village or something. I wonder what kind of people live here. Did anyone bring any protein bars? I’m a little peckish.”
“You didn’t pack any? You always pack some.” The male in the sunglasses remarked smartly with a slight glare in his direction.
“I’m sorry. Colonel Carter didn’t exactly allow us a lot of time to pack before she sent us through the gate.” The brown-haired male retorted quickly in defense of himself. He threw his hand up in the air before he slapped it against his thigh.
“You don’t ever stop, do ya?” The leader scrunched his nose for a moment in disgust, putting his hands on his hips.
The brown-haired male opened his mouth to say something when the female spoke up. “Please. Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard. Let us not bicker continually. I am sure that we can find some sort of food in the village if we quit bickering.” The female wore a similar outfit to the two males who were arguing with one another.
The last male was larger than all of them as far as muscle mass went. He had large light brown hair tied back into a ponytail. He had a few tattoos; one stood out to the princess, the marking on the side of his neck. His sharp eyes locked onto the DHD since they walked through it. “You can come out now.” He had his blaster primed, and armed in the pedestal's direction at whatever was to come out from behind it, ready to shoot at it if it wanted to hurt himself or his friends.
Aridelle clenched her eyes shut for a moment, and her blood ran cold in her veins. She opened her eyes and stood up, holding her hands in defense. “I mean you no harm.” Her cloak still covered her face and when she noticed that they weren’t Wraith, she dropped her hood to reveal her wavy chestnut hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her bangs tied behind her head, out of her face. “Who are you people?”
The male who wore the sunglasses on his face took them off and hung them from his vest before he went through and introduced everyone while gesturing towards them. The leader with the dark hair was Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, the brown-haired male who complained was Doctor Rodney McKay, the male with the neck tattoo was Ronon Dex, and lastly the female with them was Teyla.
“And who may you be?” Teyla questioned politely as she stepped closer to the female. “Also, where are we?”
“I’m Aridelle and this planet is called Kailos. Please, allow me to give you a tour. It is a grand day, after all. The eldest princess is having her coronation today, and the village is preparing for the celebrations thereafter the ceremony.” The princess introduced, taking a moment to gesture over to the village entrance. “If you don’t mind following me. I know my way around this village quite well and I could introduce you to–”
“Aridelle! We have been searching all over for you!” A pair of female voices called out in unison, “Mother and father sent us to come look for you. You are going to be late for Elani’s coronation because of you running off to the village.” Lenai remarked sternly, and Daime nodded her head.
“Who are these people?” Daime, the second eldest, questioned after she brought her attention from her youngest sister to the group of four who all seemed confused.
Ronon quickly connected the dots and chuckled deeply. “You’re a princess, huh.” It came out as more of a statement than a question. “Figures.” He commented, glancing over towards Sheppard with a smirk curling on his lips.
Aridelle sighed softly. She was trying not to have them find out about her status because she had the chance to be treated like everyone else with these new people and they seemed to be explorers. “That is right. I am a princess…the youngest of my three other siblings. But I was attempting to withhold that information from the four of you so I would not be treated differently because of my title.”
She turned to her older sisters, gesturing towards the people. “These people are travelers that came through the ring.” She pointed to everyone as she introduced them, “This is Colonel John Sheppard, Teyla, Doctor Rodney McKay, and Ronon Dex.”
“Stargate. It’s called a Stargate. Not a ring.” Rodney corrected, clearing his throat after he had. He awkwardly glanced between the three princesses as they were all rather beautiful.
Aridelle appeared to be in her mid to late twenties while her sisters were in their thirties. All the princesses had the same chestnut color hair, but styled different because of the coronation to take place.
“Excuse Rodney, but he’s a bit awkward with the ladies. He doesn’t really know how to talk to them.” John remarked teasingly, purposefully poking fun at his colleague. He walked up to the princesses and offered them a charming smile. “Why don’t we get to that coronation? I’m sure that we don’t want to be holding up the ceremony or the party.”
Teyla walked up just behind Sheppard and gleaned a friendly smile. “We would love to see what your culture is like, if you will have us. As princess Aridelle said, we are travelers, explorers if you will.”
Daime looked to Lenai, considering if they should trust these people and if they should allow them in the village to join in their festivities. Her eyes landed on the Colonel, bowing her head slightly. “You are the leader, yes?” To her question, she received a nod in response from John Sheppard. “Then I would suggest that you and your friends put your weapons away to not startle the people or the guards at the castle the moment we arrive.”
“Of course,” John said with a brief nod. He turned to his team and was the first to put away his weapon. “Weapons down, please.” He ordered with a curt nod, watching as Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla stowed away their guns. He turned his attention back to the three princesses. “Lead the way, your majesties.” He nodded his head, clearing his throat gently.
Daime promptly led the way into the village and to the castle for the coronation with Lenai behind her, followed by Aridelle and John Sheppard, then Rodney and Teyla with Ronon taking up the rear.
The castle was a medieval design with grey bricks and towering over the kingdom. Colorful flowers strung together and hung around all the archways of the castle.
Once inside, servants were finishing up the last of the preparations along with the decorations. “Aridelle, get dressed in your formal attire right away. We will take our guests to the ballroom for the coronation and see to giving them seats after speaking with mother and father.” Lenai advised, placing a hand on Aridelle’s back and urged her towards the steps upstairs to their quarters.
Aridelle nodded her head slowly. “Please stall mother and father until I arrive in the ballroom for the coronation. I shouldn’t be long.” With that, she ran up the stairs to her quarters and hastily changed into her formal ceremonial dress. This dress was a pale blue with black accents and gold inlay outlining the accents. She slipped into a pair of black flats and secured her silver tiara in place upon her head. She checked her appearance in the mirror, running her hands over the front of her dress to straighten it out before she rushed out of her bedroom straight to the ballroom.
Aridelle quickly found her parents and apologized to them for the delay. “We will speak later. Go take your place next to your sister, Lenai, and we shall proceed with the coronation.” The King instructed his youngest daughter, pointing to the stage and his third heir.
The princess nodded her head, following her father’s instructions, and took her place. As the coronation began, Aridelle couldn’t help but search the crowd for the team that came through the Stargate. It took her a few minutes to find them as they sat near the back towards the middle. Her lips curled into a small smile when she locked eyes with John Sheppard.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Rodney remarked in disbelief, sighing heavily.
“What? I can’t help it, she was looking for us in the crowd and locked eyes with me.” John said half-heartedly without breaking contact with Aridelle, his lips forming a smile. He raised his hand and waved his hand, mouthing a ‘hey’ to the brunette.
Aridelle couldn’t help but crack a smile, and her hand raised to her lips for a moment while she chuckled softly. She broke the stare and returned her attention to her eldest sister, Elani.
John’s lips curled into a bit of a proud smirk and turned his head towards Rodney to see the annoyance contorting his face, chuckling a little.
“You’re flirting with her? She’s gotta be what…like ten years younger than you. Maybe a little less, but ten years at least.” Rodney stammered, glancing between John and Aridelle. “Why do you have to get all the women? What do you have that I don’t? What makes you so special?”
“First,” John held up his index finger. “I’m not flirting with her and second,” He lowered his hand. “I can’t help it if I’ve got good looks and that I’m easy on the eyes.”
An amused chuckle slipped out of Ronon’s throat and a grin to match at the banter between the two men. He glanced in Teyla’s direction to see her reaction to their innocent fighting over the affections of the young princess.
“Colonel Sheppard. Doctor McKay. I would suggest that the two of you refrain from speaking until the coronation is over.” Teyla scolded while staring the men down.
“Sorry…” John and Rodney apologized, both looking down at the floor like they were caught doing something that they shouldn’t by their mothers.
After the coronation concluded, the king stood from his seat to make an announcement. “Thank you all who could attend the coronation of my eldest daughter. I shall dismiss us to join in the celebrations in the village. But first, allow me to introduce your future queen, Queen Elani of Kailos.” He turned to his eldest daughter and gave her a hug. A cheer erupted from the room in a roar accompanied by an applause.
John rose an eyebrow curiously as he glanced around the room cautiously while the room rose for a standing ovation. He turned towards his team, “You don’t suppose we should clap, should we?”
“It would be rude if we didn’t. We should show our support by following along. We know little about these people and how they would react if we just sat here watching them.” Teyla advised while meeting the gaze of her commanding officer.
“Fine by me.” Ronon slapped his hands against his thighs and heaved himself up to his feet. He surveyed the room as he clapped.
Rodney followed along with some hesitation; rising to his feet and clapping his hands together. Teyla and John were next to join the standing ovation.
This only lasted for a few moments, but it felt like several minutes with the slowly rising tension that crept into the room. The crowd halted their clapping and dismissed themselves to head to the lower village where the festival was taking place.
After the guests emptied the room, all who remained in the room were the royal family, John, Teyla, Rodney, and Ronon. Aridelle raced from her spot next to her older sisters, straight to John and his team. “What did you think of the coronation?” She questioned, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
“It was a lovely ceremony. Thank you for inviting us to see it.” Teyla answered delicately, folding her hands in front of herself.
Rodney subtly rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Yes, yes. It was good.” The temptation to ask about the earlier flirtation with Sheppard grew on the tip of his tongue as it jutted against the inner side of his bottom lip. He quickly glanced around the room and folded his arms across his chest. His fingers tapped anxiously against his arm with a slight bounce in his standing step. “Say…when you were up there with your sisters…were you just looking for us or were you intentionally flirting with Colonel Sheppard?”
John slapped him across the back of the head, causing the doctor to rub where the colonel’s hand connected with his head; uttering an ‘ow’ under his breath. “Rodney! What the hell kinda question is that?!” He asked, irritation clear in his voice for the interrogative questioning.
Ronon could hardly hold in his chuckle. “Rodney means well. He’s just jealous at how much of a chick magnet Sheppard is.” He remarked, giving the young princess a smile.
“You need to apologize, Rodney. That was rather uncalled for.” Teyla admonished. She urged the doctor forward to make his apology.
Aridelle’s mouth sat slightly open while she watched the interaction between the four unfold after Rodney’s question. She closed her mouth for a moment, thinking of her answer. She rocked on her feet nervously as she opened her mouth to answer when the King and Queen came up to them.
Rodney scoffed and held up his hand, “She has to think of an answer so-that she was definitely looking at Colonel Sheppard. Not just looking for all of us. I should’ve known–”
“Welcome honored guests to our kingdom and our castle.” The King’s voice bellowed deeply and sternly as he placed a hand on his youngest daughter’s back and the other on his wife’s. “We would like to learn more about you, as I am certain that the reverse is true. Please join us in getting refreshments in our dining hall before leaving for the festival in the lower village.”
John cleared his throat, stepping forward while glancing backwards to Rodney; mouthing ‘You are apologizing later to the princess’ before he turned his full attention to the King and Queen.
The King shared the same black hair as his first three children while the Queen shared her brunette hair with Aridelle. The King had broad shoulders, a heavier build that was more muscle mass than fat, a stern commanding piercing blue gaze. The Queen held a softer and caring way about her that was a stark contrast to the King.
“We would love to join you. Thank you for your hospitality,” John said while his lips curled into a friendly smile. “Please, lead the way.” He held out his hand to the exit and gave a small nod.
The King took his hands from the Queen and princess’ back then led the way out of the ballroom to the dining hall inside the castle with the Queen. Aridelle turned on her heels to face the four, placing her attention to Rodney. “I was merely looking for the four of you in the crowd. I was not looking for Colonel John Sheppard specifically to answer your question from earlier before my father interrupted us.” She answered quickly before she left the room.
John flashed Rodney a knowing, ‘I told you so.’ look before taking the lead amongst them to follow the King, Queen, and princess to the dining hall with Ronon and Teyla not far behind. Rodney let out an annoyed sigh before he followed them, before he lost them.
Once in the dining hall and everyone took a seat. Servants filled the room carrying silver platters of what looked to different varieties of exotic looking fruits and vegetables. They set the platters on the table before taking their leave.
“What brings you to Kailos?” The Queen asked, giving the guests a soft smile before adding, “Dig in, please. It is all very good. Locally sourced fruits and vegetables from the gardens.”
As a sign of faith and as it seemed like these people were trustworthy as they offered to share a meal together, the Colonel explained their situation while leaving out certain details like how they woke up the Wraith.
While he was doing this, he loaded the plate in front of him with the fruits and vegetables. The rest of the team followed along and they took turns in explaining certain details.
After finishing the food on his plate, the King leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest, “It is humorous that you mention the Wraith. Because we fled to this planet long ago from the Wraith to prevent our people from being culled. We fled using the Stargate and as we soon found out, we have certain…abilities to mold, shape, and control a material that we have called delai. We have used delai to give our people's power to defend themselves and everyone else. We all have a bit on us at all times. Working together, we should be able to protect ourselves if the Wraith finds us again.”
Rodney swallowed the last of the food that was in his mouth before speaking up, “Do you think we could have a demonstration of delai in use?”
The Queen stood from her chair, “Of course.” She wrapped her fingers around the sphere of delai around her neck.
“Please mother. Allow me.” Aridelle interrupted as she shot up from her chair. “I would like to show them if you don’t mind.” She would be lying to herself if she didn’t have intentions of showing off her skills to the newcomers. Her eyes shifted between her mother and the four people across the table to the Colonel.
A particular sparkle claimed the princess’ eyes when they came upon the leader of their guests. One that did not go unnoticed by the Queen and a knowing smile split her lips. She nodded briefly, “Very well. You may show them.” The Queen recognized that sparkle as the one that her father held when they fell in love. She sat back down in her seat.
“Thank you, mother.” Aridelle curled her fingers around the delai sphere around her neck and pulled it off with ease. She opened her palm to show the sphere detached from the chain.
She tossed the sphere up into the air and held her hand underneath the delai, making it hover a few inches above her hand. She moved her hands behind the sphere and touched her index fingers together, pulling them apart to make the delai form a string. With a wiggle of her fingers, the delai weaved betwixt her digits. The princess rotated her wrist and waved her fingers, making the delai return to a sphere. She squished the semi-liquid semi-solid material in her hand. She opened up her hand and tossed it into the air. She pressed her index fingers and thumbs in a triangle before moving them apart. The delai formed into a mock Stargate.
She brought her hands together around the Stargate shaped delai. She closed one fist over the other and pulled them apart to form a bendable bow staff until she twisted her fists the opposite direction to solidify the delai staff. The princess stepped away from the table and twirled the staff around with the expertise of a well-trained fighter.
“Show off.” Rodney huffed under his breath, shaking his head in disapproval before he continued to watch the demonstration. “But it is interesting. You-You said that you can control this because of a-a psychic link, right?” He questioned while his curiosity peaked.
“That is correct, Doctor McKay.” The King answered, giving him a nod. “You may stop now, Aridelle. I am sure that our guests would like to see the festival in the lower village.”
“Of course, father.” Aridelle tapped the staff against the ground and took her hands off of it, allowing it to drop onto the floor in a silvery puddle. She held her hand over the puddle and snapped her wrist upward. The puddle rose to her hand in a sphere. She held the edge of the sphere to her chain and attached it to one link.
A smile curled on the ends of her lips as she saw the impressed looks on the faces of John, Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney. “Let us go join in the festivities.” The princess led them to the lower city and as soon as they had; Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney excused themselves to partake in some festival games.
That left the Colonel and the princess to wander the lower village. Aridelle placed her hands behind her back, lacing her fingers together while she walked next to the dark-haired male. “Colonel Sheppard. I have a pressing question for you, if you wouldn’t mind answering.”
John nodded his head, turning his head in her direction. “Uh, sure. Ask away.” He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets.
Aridelle took a moment to consider how she would properly word her question before asking it. She didn’t wish to seem desperate or appear she was rushing into anything. From the stories she heard from them as they explained all about the Atlantis program and the city, all she desired to do was to join them in their explorations. “Would you let me join your ranks? Or rather join what you and your people are doing in Atlantis? I would love to explore other planets in the galaxy and get to know your people.”
John let out a slow sigh. “Oh, I don’t know…” He rubbed the back of his head and his eyes drifted to the side, avoiding her gaze. “You would be an asset to the city and the people on it with your skill set, but I don’t think that your father would be too happy about you leaving. He seems overprotective with all of his daughters, including you.”
Aridelle hung her head and sighed softly. “I had a feeling that you would say that and you are right…my father won’t allow me to go through the Stargate unless I am leading our soldiers to retrieve resources from the other planets nearby.” She explained, her eyes wandering over the game stands.
“Leading the soldiers? I didn’t think that your father would be into that sort of thing.”
“No…he wasn’t.” She chuckled a small bit and turned her head to the Colonel. “Not at first, anyway. Sure, I trained to defend myself since I was a little girl. The same with my older sisters. I begged him for years to let me learn the ropes to lead our military forces, and he finally let me. I just haven’t gotten permission from him to travel through the Stargate with our soldiers.”
“Ah. I’m sure that he means well.” John pointed out. He stopped walking and looked at her.
When Aridelle realized that he stopped, she did as well and turned around towards him. “I’m sure that he does too, but I just can’t wait to see what other planets offer. I’ve heard stories from the soldiers and the anticipation is far too great to have adventures of my own off of Kailos.”
“And I’m sure that you’ll get your chance to do that. …For now,” John looked around at the variety of stands to find one that he may figure out how to play with some explanation from the princess. “How about we celebrate your sister’s coronation with some games?”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Colonel.”
They spent several hours taking turns playing a variety of the games. They talked, laughed, and had a grand old time. They both had their fair share of wins and losses. The Colonel won Aridelle a small brown hand-knit bear, and the princess won John Sheppard a little musical box made from delai. Between games, they talked about simple things like their hobbies and stories about their lives.
Night fell, and it was time for the Colonel and his team to take their leave back to Atlantis. Aridelle walked with them to the gate. Rodney dialed the gate address into the DHD.
Her eyes locked onto the symbols that the doctor punched into the pedestal, memorizing the glyphs as they lit up. She brought a hand to her necklace and carefully etched the gate address onto the back of it.
Rodney pressed the large blue button at the center. The Stargate came to life; the symbols lit up as it spun around until the eight glyph reached the top, lighting up. The gate connected with the Stargate on Atlantis, and the wormhole opened in the center of the gate.
“I had fun, Colonel Sheppard. Thank you.” Aridelle said, tucking some strands of her brunette hair behind her ear.
“You’re welcome. I hope that we can do it again sometime.” John couldn’t help himself as a smile curled on the corners of his lips.
Ronon watched as Teyla and Rodney went through the gate. He turned his head towards Sheppard. He noticed how fondly the two spoke to one another and chuckled a bit. A knowing smile curled on his lips, “Hey Sheppard! You coming or not?” He called out.
John turned his head back a little to look at Ronon and waved his head. “Yeah! I’m coming.” He returned his attention to the princess with a smile. “That’s my cue to leave. Catch you around sometime, yeah?”
“I hope so. Goodbye Colonel John Sheppard.”
With that, John went through the gate with Ronon and the wormhole closed behind them, leaving the young princess by herself. She took her necklace and flipped it around to look at the upside down gate address engraved into the silver metal. She pressed the end of the delai pendant to her lips with a smile on her lips.
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