And then, of course, someone had to go and die on one of them.

There was nowhere for a breeze to come from.

When he was ten years old, Ronon Dex, along with thirty four other ten-year-olds, was shepherded through the Ring of the Ancestors in hopes of receiving a Gift. Everyone knew that those with Gifts lived longer, and had more opportunities in almost any field they chose to go into, and so it had been a tradition for centuries that children on the cusp of puberty would go through the gate to a planet with one of the ancient temples and make a pilgrimage. The shepherds, a mixed group of priests and teachers, would accompany each group to the temple and back. Afterwards, if any child showed signs of a Gift, they and their parents would report to the nearest shrine or temple on Sateda, where they would be tested by a Seer, then passed on to someone with the appropriate Gift for training. Out of the thirty five children who passed through the gate in that group, only eleven awoke with Gifts, and Ronon was disgusted to find that he had one of the most useless gifts he could think of. What use was a Knight of Blood? He didn't want to be a matchmaker, or a couples mind healer! He wanted to be a mighty warrior! A proud soldier of Sateda! Someone who could fight and defend his home and his family, and be a hero! Nothing his trainer said could convince him that Blood was a Gift that was well suited for his dream; he'd seen too many vids, and heard too many stories that all led to the conclusion that Blood was a weak gift, given to the soft hearted and those incapable of fighting. He hated it, and so, he locked his awareness of it away, throwing himself into trying to become the ideal Satedan man. It wasn't until the wraith attacked Sateda and he felt the bonds between himself and his cohort, and himself and Melena fray and snap that he understood. And by then, it was too late.

"Doctor Farmer?" Elizabeth tapped gently on the door frame with her knuckles, then poked her head into the office. It looked like a tornado had hit the room. There were books in piles on the floor, loose sheets of paper covering every flat surface, (including the walls) and a couple of whiteboards stood across the room from each other, covered in sloppy writing in what looked like four different languages. "Yes?" A head popped out from behind the desk nearest the back wall, and a broad smile broke out across the man's face as he scrambled to his feet. "Doctor Weir! How nice to see you! You're here for your patch, yes? I remember, I remember! I've got it around here somewhere." Elizabeth raised one eyebrow as the short, slightly dumpy man bounced happily across the room, shoved a pile of paper off a shoebox sized box, opened it, and started to rummage through it. "My patch?" She asked, and he paused, peering at her through the thick lenses of his glasses. "Yes, your patch! You came in, two, no three, days ago, and asked if I would mind finding you one like I had for Peter!" Doctor Farmer was starting to look a bit worried now, and Elizabeth frowned. She did want a patch, but she hadn't come down to ask him to make her one. That was why she was coming down now. She'd only seen Peter's patch an hour ago. "Of course." she said, and let her gaze rest thoughtfully on the teal symbol the man wore on his right shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'd forgotten." The man waved her apology away and cheerfully went back to digging through the box which was, she saw now, full of patches in all kinds of shapes and colors. "Would you mind telling me about them?" she asked, "How did you come up with the designs?" "Well," Farmer hummed thoughtfully, "it's my job, in a way! I'm a linguist, you know, and the Mind wants to understand things! So I Looked and Looked, and I found the concepts- the things that make us, us! And the concepts came with names and signs of their own, just like the aspects did!" "I see..." Doctor Weir (who did not, in fact, see,) said, and tilted her head slightly so that she could see into the box more easily. "When did you find the time to make all of these?" Farmer looked surprised, then he laughed, "No no! I didn't make them! Before, when we were on Earth, I knew we would want them eventually, so I went out and had them custom made! Ah-ha!" He grinned triumphantly as he held up a patch with a pair of teal swords crossed over a golden shield. "This one! This one is yours!" "What does it mean?" She asked curiously, taking it and running her fingers over the embroidered blades of the swords. "Oh, many things. Many things." Doctor Farmer said airily, hopping up to sit on the desk facing her, "That you are a protector. That you will fight to defend yourself, or your home, or your people. That you will use your most valuable weapon in the defense of what is precious to you. That you will use other weapons to defend your most prized possession." Elizabeth frowned slightly, looking up from the patch to watch the man, who's smile had faded to a wry twist of his lips. "I will be honest, Doctor Weir." He said, and shifted slightly so that Elizabeth could see the patch on his left shoulder. "You are a Knight. Protection is what you do. It is a part of you, and I need your help." he gestured at the patch, an open eye, with the teal symbol from his right shoulder replacing the iris and pupil, "I am a Seer. I see many things, but I am not a fool. You did not come in three days ago. Peter only got his patch yesterday. But he could have gotten it three days ago, and you would have been here, in my office, asking me similar questions, and receiving similar answers." Farmer sighed, "I am a Seer of Mind. I see the outcomes of decisions, and there are many and more decisions being made, every minute of every day. I see the meaning behind words, and deeds, and words and deeds are being spoken and done every minute of every day. It is... very difficult to keep track of what has happened, what has yet to happen, and what will not happen anymore." Elizabeth's frown deepened with concern. "What do you need me to do?" Doctor Farmer lit up, and he slid off the desk, "So you'll do it! Wonderful! Thank you so-" "Hold up!" Elizabeth said, raising one hand to cut him off, "First, explain. What would I need to do to help you?" "You are a Knight!" Farmer said, as though that explained everything, "Protection is your thing! Your schtick! It will come to you like a fish drinks water!" "Uh-huh­." Elizabeth raised one eyebrow skeptically, then sighed as Farmer started to droop with disappointment. "No, don't- all right, fine. I'll try. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try." She had to resist rolling her eyes as the man immediately brightened back up and stared at her expectantly. She'd been telling the truth, she really didn't have any idea how to go about doing this. The only clue she'd ever had that she actually had an ability was an uncanny knack at telling if someone was the host of a Goa’uld or not, and the driving desire to keep something with the symbol she'd been sketching obsessively close. Protection, he'd said. A knight. Knights wielded swords, but they also used shields. She already knew her sign was Mind, so that meant... what? That she protected minds? That she protected people with her mind? Well, that was certainly true, in a sense. Even before she'd gotten her ability she'd been doing her best to keep people safe by using her brains, rather than any brawn. But how would that help Doctor Farmer? His sign was Mind, too. But it was like he couldn't filter it properly? Could that be it? Something niggled at the back of her head, and her eyes narrowed. That had felt... distinct. Cautiously, she prodded at the feeling, like she was trying to remember something just at the tip of her tongue, and slowly, what felt like another sense unfurled. "Holy-" she gasped, and took a step backwards, her eyes wide. She could feel everyone. Every mind in Atlantis glowed in her mind's eye, and the rush of (protectlovecaredefendsupport) almost knocked her flat on her back. Carefully, she tried to draw her mind back, reeling in her awareness of the minds around her until all she could 'see' was Doctor Farmer's teal tinted presence in front of her. It looked ragged, at the edges. Like it was being pulled in too many directions, and when she peered at him with her physical eyes, she finally noticed the bags under his eyes and paleness of his skin. He looked stressed in both views, and it was making the back of her mind itch, so she did the only thing she could think of. Carefully, so, so carefully, she reached out, and wrapped a thin layer of...something, around him, creating a barrier between his mind and everything else. It wouldn't keep out everything, she could tell, but it would act like a sort of buffer. Elizabeth pulled that weird awareness back all the way, packing it away in the back of her head and wondering how she'd missed it's presence all this time. When she finally looked back at Doctor Farmer, he was beaming at her. "Thank you, thank you! It feels so much better already! But I know," he said quickly, "I know. I'll talk to someone soon enough! I just needed a breather!" And before Elizabeth could even blink, she found herself hustled out of the office by a chattering whirlwind, and the door shut firmly behind her.