Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 154

Chapter 154 - Self Inflected Pains

Somehow Eventus just knew that somewhere in the higher dimensional plans one or more Ascended beings were taking great joy at his current self-inflicted misery. Because the Jaffa were amazingly even worse at coming to political agreements with each other than the humans had been.

The first hour of them arguing had been annoying but understandable given everything they had facing them. The second hour had seen an annoyed Ishta walk out, something the Lantean appreciated at the time as it had let him commandeer her chair. The third hour had seen Teal'c drag his chair over to join Eventus sitting up against the wall.

The fourth through seventh hours had involved both of them falling asleep while pretending to meditate. 

“Do you think they would care if we stepped out for dinner?” Eventus asked, cracking an eye open to see the various arguments still going on.

“Unlikely.” Teal'c replied after a moment. “The last debate of this ferocity lasted several days.”

Taking a few seconds to stretch out the kinks that had formed in this back, Eventus rose to his feet. “Great, then I'd really appreciate it if you'd show me to the closest place with some local Jaffa cuisine.”

“There is a place in the outer city that serves roasted dak-lizard.” Teal'c put forward as he stood. 

Eventus motioned for the Jaffa to lead the way. “Don't know what that is, but at this point I'm willing to give pretty much anything a try.”

They made their way out of the council chamber without any objections, which was more than a little depressing since it reinforced the fact that this was apparently considered a normal enough occurrence that their choice to step out wasn't particularly noteworthy.

“You know,” He began as they walked. “The more politics I deal with the more I'm left wondering why I didn't just run off like Moros thought I was going to do.”

“Why did you not?” Teal'c inquired with a slight hint of curiosity in his tone.

“Can you keep a secret?” Eventus asked, continuing when the Jaffa inclined his head in the affirmative. “I heard enough about the future from an accidental time traveler that my general feelings of responsibility wouldn't allow me to risk screwing things up for the Atlantis expedition.”

Sighing he gave a self pitying shake of his head. “And since I've woken up it's been a combination of running away from the depression over being one of the last of my people, and a gnawing feeling of guilt at the thought that everything going on right now can be traced back to my peoples bad decisions.”

That wasn’t entirely fair to his people of course since he didn’t really know the circumstances that had led up to them making a lot of those decisions. But it made him feel better to have someone to blame for all the bullshit going on.

“A great man once said that with great power comes great responsibility.” Teal'c offered sagely. “And I can commiserate with your desire to make up for your people's past mistakes.”

“My people had a similar saying.” Eventus admitted, not deigning to inform the Jaffa that he was aware of just which comic that particular quote had originated from. 

“With great ability comes great ability to act,” He quoted his own people’s version, pausing for a moment after before adding in the second part of the phrase. “And with great ability to act must come the wisdom of when to actually do so.”

“Could that not be used as an excuse for ignoring the plight of others?” Teal’c inquired with a slight frown.

“It could and was.” Eventus confirmed. “And while I was firmly on the side of those who thought we could be doing more, that was an argument of what you would likely consider minor degrees of difference at best.”

“I see.” Teal’c acknowledged.

The city being built up around the stargate’s amphitheatre wasn’t particularly far along, only really seeming to be made up of a single stone street circling the central area bordered by a couple dozen buildings of an Arabic like design with a handful more that looked to be under active construction.

“How long has development been going on?” Eventus asked.

“Less than two months.” Teal'c said as the smell of cooking meat began to reach Eventus's nose. “The arguments about which world to make our capital were quite extensive.”

Eventus couldn't help the grin that formed at the opening. “That's one of the reasons we made our capital into a spaceship.”

Following Teal’c into a mid-sized two story building, he was once again reminded of how convergent design evolution tended to have certain types of locations look the same no matter the culture it was a part of. Restaurants, bars, cafes, or pretty much any location that lent itself towards the serving of food or found inevitably found themselves gravitating towards a general open floor for guests with maybe a few partial side rooms for those who wanted a more private experience.

And the Jaffa were no exception.

“Teal'c!” Ishta's instantly recognizable voice called out, drawing their attention to an otherwise empty table in the corner of the room that the woman seemed to have seized for her own. “Come! Sit with me.”

Teal'c glanced over at Eventus, and he gave a permissive nod to the idea since the two interacting was almost surely to be entertaining on several levels given what Bra'tac had mentioned earlier.

“I did not expect to see you here.” Teal'c admitted as they took a seat. 

“Where else would I be?” Ishta scoffed, taking a large swig from her mug before slamming it down on the table with an annoyed growl. “Returning to the Hak'tyl's chambers while debate is still ongoing would just get me lectured by Ka'lel. And I already suffered more than enough of that upon my insistence to attend today.”

Eventus’s shoulders slumped at the reminder. “Be glad you have others able and willing to take over the responsibilities you would rather avoid. Because the only option for delegation I’m likely to have for the next few months is a mad scientist who willingly gave himself brain damage.”

And there was no way in hell he was going to put Janus back in a position of authority.

Looking around the somewhat dimly lit hall, Eventus zeroed in on a large wooden placard at the front of the bar equivalent and then frowned at the realization that the only text on display was the Goa’uld version of Hieratic.

Grabbing his interface off his belt, he took a quick scan of the placard and then ran the resulting text through the device's basic translation matrix.

It was, as he had suspected given its placement, a rather basic menu. Roast, stew, soup, water, and something the matrix labeled as a brewed alcoholic beverage. All with corresponding prices next to a currency indicator of some kind.

“I suppose I’ll try that roasted dak-lizard you suggested, Teal’c.”

“Ah,” Ishta chuckled. “Then you do not subsist solely on morning dew collected at the first rays of dawn. Neith will be disappointed yet another of her stories proved an exaggeration."

“I'm not even a vegetarian." Eventus confessed, unable to keep the grin off his face at the thought of the various myths that might have led to that story popping up.

Ishta frowned before glancing over at Teal'c with a questioning look in her eyes.

“A Tau'ri term for one who does not partake of meat.” He explained helpfully. “They receive much derision from their military.”

“Functionally speaking we're really not that different from normal humans.” Eventus told her. “A bit stronger, a good deal more resistant to various radiations, a little longer lived, with improved senses, and enhanced mental capabilities. Outside of that however we eat the same general sorts of things, drink a wide variety of similar beverages, use the bathroom at about the same rate, and even reproduce the same way.”

“That last features quite heavily in various stories of your people.” Ishta offered with another chuckle.  

Eventus’s shoulders slumped as the realization of just what the two things together likely suggested hit him in full. “Most of these stories are romantic adventure epic’s, aren’t they?”

“Indeed.” Teal’c confirmed, his lips twitching slightly in obvious amusement at the look of exasperation that came over Eventus’s features at the acknowledgement.

Focusing on Ishta who also seemed to be finding amusement in the current conversation's turn, Eventus let out a sigh. “I really wish I could just say outright that those stories are completely made up. But one of my people spent decades running around the galaxy pretending to be a wizard while being chased by another member of my people who was pretending to be an evil sorceress. So who the heck knows.”

He held up a finger. “Just know that I’m currently sort of seeing someone, so not really interested in rescuing any princesses in exchange for their hands in marriage.”

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Author’s Notes: They were basically the Jaffa equivalent of Greek epics, but well, there’s a lot of horny in those.