Here we are!
There isn’t too much left Ronon-wise to go. This post and maybe one more, to be honest, for this book anyways. After that I may go onto Jennifer and Rodney’s relationship because…ouch.
I should bring up the other people we haven’t seen in awhile, like Hocken, Cadmen, Radek and such.
We’ll see.
For now!
The peeps have gone to investigate a planet where Teyla believes a ZPM resides. An almost fully charged ZPM at that. Radek was supposed to go along, but Sheppard had already told McKay that when he was cleared for duty he was back on the team.
Carson cleared Rodney and though Teyla makes her position very clear quickly (she is all for Rodney joining them), Ronon is another matter.
It takes a pointed look from Sheppard and a reminder that they had had to trust Ronon again after he’d been addicted to the Wraith enzyme, to get his hackles down enough to get going.
I like how Sheppard handles this situation. He desperately wants his team back and I think he weighs a lot more than just Rodney’s well-being. He can’t leave Rodney behind, that’ll break something that won’t be able to be fixed, and he can’t ignore Ronon’s well-being either. In this situation, there’s no reason why Rodney can’t come along.
What’s interesting, actually, is that Ronon doesn’t seem to be seeing the parallels between himself and Rodney. After being addicted to the Wraith enzyme he had to have been in a bad place mentally about whether his teammates would trust him again or even want him on the team (of course they did, but the fear would be there for a while). Rodney is going through the same thing now and Ronon would be the perfect person to talk to about it.
Except that they can’t because of Ronon’s hatred of the Wraith.
Which makes the next moment we speak of interesting.
Locals send the team to ‘The Shrine of the Bride’ to see if she can help them. She can, actually, because she’s Guide’s daughter, Alabaster.
You know, the dead one?
Turns out she (obviously) didn’t die because her crew sacrificed themselves so she could live. The people of the planet she landed on helped her and have kept her and her son safe for twenty-one years.
Side note!! Darling (Alabaster’s son) looks about five years old. Wraith age REALLY slowly. We knew that of course, but this is a great reminder because we’ve only really seen Ellia as a representative of Wraith children. And she wasn’t really a child since she already had a feeding mouth.
The shock of seeing a child makes everyone react differently.
But we only care about Ronon right now and boy, does he react.
He keeps his gun aimed at the Wraith even after Sheppard and Teyla tell him to back off. He calls them ‘parasites’ and asks how many people Alabaster’s killed.
The answer, is zero.
Not surprising. She is Guide’s daughter after all and not stupid. She later tells Teyla that there are two reasons she hasn’t killed anyone (and Teyla can choose which one she believes) she would be hunted if she had, and how would the years have gone by with only her son as company?
Ronon doesn’t believe her. Sheppard has to stand between the gun and the child before Ronon stalks off.
Sheppard follows, of course, and finds him on the edge of a cliff. Not about to jump, don’t worry, he’s just having a tough time. Understandably.
The best Sheppard can do is tell Ronon that he’ll have to figure out who he wants to be now. He isn’t a Satedan Imperial, a runner or even a Wraith hunter. He’s grown too much and come too far to be any of that now. It’s not easy, never is, but Sheppard is still around because he believes they still need him. Because he believes there are people and places worth staying around for.
Ronon just needs to find his Gate, like O’Neill helped Sheppard find his.
With that, I’m going to leave you until next week because I work in the morning again.
See ya’ll later!
The Dark Library 