The Traveller's Song Epilogue
by Shipscat
This is the story of Aeryn's parents as I imagined it.
I have no claim to Farscape, but please don't use my original characters, places , peoples and inventions without permission.
Many people gave me invaluable help. My thanks to MALar for listening to me as I told this story every night. thansk to Capt. clueless for much the same thing. Thanks to my son, groovybob, for proofreading,and to both of my kids for allowing me to use them as props. Thanks to everyone who read and encouraged me, and thanks to Kalliope for providing a copy of my story after it was eaten by my computer.
The Traveller's Song Epilogue (pt. 1)
This is just a little (well, not so little) continuation of the story to bring it up to the Farscape timeline. Disclaimers and acknowledgments are at the beginning of the story.
John Crichton walked through the Traveller's camp looking for maps. He was amused by the name the translator microbes had given to the group, because he knew that 'Travellers' were what tinkers were called in Ireland. he supposed that the translation was literal though, because traveling was definitely what travelers did. He could tell that the camp he was walking through was strictly temporary. Most of the group seemed to be Sebacean, although there was an occasional odd-looking Sebacean or someone from another species entirely. Children and pets ran underfoot.Aeryn hadn't arrived yet.She was coming down in her prowler, while John had gone ahead in the transport pod so he could keep an eye on Fric and Frac, who were having a fine time inspecting anything that was up for sale or up for grabs, not being nailed down tightly enough. Everyone he had asked in the camp told him that he would have to ask the clan chief if he could purchase maps. The purchase of maps appeared to be a more serious business than the purchase of the trinkets or oddities available at some of the campsites.
John found the camp that he had been directed to. It looked comfy with chairs and a large log surrounding a fire with a cauldron over it. A woman who looked only a few years older than Aeryn was feeding the fire. A young girl with long brown hair who looked like she was about twelve years old was sitting quietly to one side, carving something with a small knife. She looked up as the visitors got closer, but then returned calmly to what she was doing.
John introduced himself and asked if the clan chief lived here.
"That would be me," the woman said, straightening and dusting her hands on her skirt. She was wearing a low cut black blouse and the skirt was pulled up on one side and tucked into her belt, revealing a nice leg with a pulse pistol strapped to it. John was not surprised to find that she was attractive-hell, he wasn't sure there was such a thing as an ugly Sebacean woman-but she was the first person he had met since he left earth that looked vaguely familiar to him.
"Did you want something?" she said, looking askance at Chiana and Rygel.
"I was told that Travellers have the best maps of the Uncharted Territories," Crichton started.
"And we are prepared to pay handsomely for them," Rygel chimed in, giving the Traveller woman his best honest face.
The woman looked all three of them over carefully. "I will talk to *you*," she said to Crichton. "there's a woman two tents over who deals in junk..um. I mean antiques," she said, looking at Chiana. "She has lots of baubles."
"If it's okay with you," Chiana said, deferring to John.
"Go ahead."
"She's Hynerian," She said, looking pointedly at Rygel.
"Hynerian? It's been centuries..I mean it's been a long time since I've met another Hynerian. I think I'll just join Chiana. I'm sure you can handle this transaction, Crichton," Rygel said, speeding off in his chair.
"Well, you got rid of my companions quickly enough. What did you want to talk about?"
"Where are you from?" she asked, tossing her long dark hair back and propping her foot up on a piece of wood. John noticed that her hand was resting on her pulse pistol.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Umhmm," she said, squinting her eyes at him. "Would you bring some more of that wood over here for me, please?"
"Yes, Ma'am," John politely fetched some of the wood she indicated but he kept an eye on her and the pulse pistol while he did it. She watched him intently.
As he moved closer to the young girl, the boulder that she had been resting her arm on lifted its great furry head and looked at him with intelligent eyes.
John froze, and stayed that way as the great beast arose and came towards him. He wasn't sure if he would categorize it as catlike or bearlike, but it looked like all the lions and tigers and bears rolled into one to him. It came closer, sniffed the air around him delicately and then moved over to the woman's side. 'Wolf like' he decided , as the animal yawned, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth, and looked at the woman.
"He's very...large," John said hesitantly.
"It's a good thing we have a good-sized home," she replied. The wolf-like animal looked askance at her.
"Well, L'ari, you do have a tendency to knock things over with your tail." L'ari whimpered and wrapped the offending tail around his front legs. John chuckled a little. The woman turned her attention back to him.
"You were never a Peacekeeper," she said, relaxing a little.
John took in the scars on her face and arm, the way she stood, and the long knife she had tucked in her belt that was a duplicate of the one he had seen buried in Aeryn's torso.
"You were," he stated.
She gave him a small smile. "In another life," she said.
After giving him another of those long appraising looks she said, "You won't be able to understand our maps, but I might be able to code them into your navigational system. What are you flying?""A Leviathan," he shrugged.
She shook her head in disbelief.
"No control collar. No Peacekeeper devices. She's an ex-Peacekeeper, like yourself."
"Well, that should be easy enough," she said, going over and peering at the bubbling pot. "About payment..."
"I really don't know what we have that you'd want," John admitted. "You sent my wheelers and dealers away."
"Wheelers and dealers," she repeated softly. "Good. maybe I'll get a better deal this way," she said smugly.
She reached out and gave the contents of the pot a hesitant stir. "I wish he'd get out here," she said as if to herself. "I don't know if this is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Does this look good to you?"
John looked over into the pot and found himself looking at a nice amount of cleavage. The head of the clan caught him looking and gave him a skeptical and amused look. He looked away quickly.
"It's fine, Mom," the young girl said. "As long as it doesn't boil dry."
"Alright. How's your chanter coming along?"
"I'm doing it right, I think."
"I'll look at it in a microt, sweetie." she turned to John. "Come back tomorrow and I'm sure we can work something out."
John was about to take his leave when a familiar voice rang out. "Crichton. There you are. I've been looking all over hezmana for you."
"Aeryn. Let me introduce you. These people can help us out with some maps."
Aeryn stopped dead in her tracks in front of the Traveller woman. Identical looks of shock were on both faces. After an infinitesimal amount of time that felt like an eternity, Aeryn broke the silence.
"You're dead," she said with finality and accusation both.
"It was a good death," the Traveller woman said quietly.
"Geez, Aeryn, is this someone you know?" John could sense that Aeryn was going from shock to anger.
The other woman looked as if she was struggling with tears for a moment, then a brilliant and familiar smile came over her face like dawn had just broken. "Talyn! "she cried out. "Come quick."
A man came out of the ship next to them that John had assumed was some kind of transport pod. He was carrying a sleeping infant on his chest. "What is it, Meara? I just got the baby to sleep."
John had one of those moments when the picture completely changed. All at the same time he took in the name, the way the woman seemed so familiar, the man's profile, and the daughter that looked like an unfinished version of Aeryn.
"It's our daughter," the woman said, still disbelieving. "It's Aeryn."
Simultaneously Aeryn pulled at John's arm and tried to drag him away. "We don't need anything from these people," she said through gritted teeth, exerting a considerable amount of pull on his arm.
"Oh my God, Aeryn," John said, resisting her pull. "These are your parents. Both of them. And you have siblings- a sister."
"I want to leave, John," Aeryn wasn't sounding angry now. She had the same note of panic in her voice he had heard in the past when they had gotten too close and she had withdrawn.
John looked back at the little family. The daughter had run up and put her arms around her mother. The man also was holding on to her. He could hear the daughter asking if that was really her sister, the one who had been lost to the Peacekeepers. "Just give us a moment, folks. We'll be right back."
John allowed Aeryn to draw him away from the campsite. A short distance away he stopped her and said, "Aeryn. These are your parents, right? Aren't you the least bit curious about them?"
"No," Aeryn said, shaking her head.
"Well, I am. And I am going back to that campsite to talk to them whether you go or not."
He could see fear and longing both written on her features.
"I'll be right there with you, ok? There's nothing we can't face together, not even long lost relatives, hmm?" he tilted his head and smiled. She nodded assent.
John and Aeryn walked back to the campsite . John had Aeryn's hand held firmly in his and she followed behind him almost to the point where she was hidden.
Talyn was looking around for a place to put the baby. He finally settled on shifting the infant to the crook of his arm and sitting on the large log. John noticed that while Aeryn's mom didn't seem to be able to keep her eyes off her, her father avoided looking at her at all.
"Would you like to eat with us?" Meara asked timidly. "It's good. I didn't make it," she wasn't begging, but she did look like she might follow them out of the camp if they refused.
"We'd love to," John said, locking Aeryn's arm in his. "I'm sure whatever you're having would be fine."
"You wouldn't want to eat what I made," Meara said, "Everything I make comes out tasting like food cubes."
John managed a small laugh.
The little girl looked at him and said dryly, "She's not kidding. Dad does all the cooking."
John and Aeryn sat on the chairs on the other side of the campfire that Meara indicated. Meara still stood, looking at them uncertainly.
"I'll serve, okay, Mom?" the little girl said cheerfully, breaking the silence.
"Thank, you, Merisa," Meara said, and sat down by her husband, still looking shocked. L'ari padded over and laid on the ground beside her. John took the brief time it took for Merisa to gather bowls and silverware to call Chiana and Rygel and tell them to go back without them. He also called D'argo to tell him they would be delayed getting back to the ship, finishing with," Meeting the parents. I'll explain later."
John made small talk about the meal while they ate, noticing that L'ari was served in the same dish and ate the same food as the rest of the family. Aeryn remained silent and her parents responded only with monosyllables. For a moment he thought about asking Aeryn's sister to cut the tension with the knife she was using for the bread, but decided that it probably wasn't a good time for a stupid joke.
Meara started, having evidently found her voice again. "I'm very happy to see you," she said, addressing Aeryn. "I've wondered all this time what happened to you."
"How could you say that to me?" Aeryn burst out. "I was trying to live down the fact that my parents were deviants and my father was a traitor." She got up from her chair, knocking over her uneaten food. "I worked extra hard to be a good Peacekeeper and make myself the perfect soldier. I never fit in no matter how much I tried. Why did you tell me that stuff? I made so -"
"Aeryn!" John stopped her, getting in her face. "Aeryn," he repeated softly. "That really isn't relevant to your life now, is it? You aren't a Peacekeeper anymore."
Meara had shrunk into herself and appeared to be on the verge of tears. "I didn't mean it that way. I wasn't trying to make it harder for you."
"I.." Aeryn looked over at them, Meara sitting with Talyn's free arm around her waist, and turned back to John. "Why did they make me? How could they have me if they knew they couldn't keep me?"
John put his arms around her and held her until she stopped shaking, then gently led her back to her chair.
Talyn and Meara were both watching this interaction. They exchanged glances with each other and Meara said, "I can't explain, but I can tell you what happened, if you want to hear it."
John looked over at Aeryn. She nodded. "Yes, I want to hear it."
"Mom, can I listen, too? " Merisa asked. "Even if it gets past my bedtime?"
"Yes. I think you're old enough now to hear about how we met."
Merisa scampered over to where John and Aeryn were sitting and sat on the ground at Aeryn's feet, smiling up at her.
"Your mother is the storyteller in the family," Talyn said, looking fondly at Meara.
"Talyn paints the walls on our Stumble. Um.. Where should I start? I think I'll start with the first time I met Talyn..."
-------
John was impressed with the way Meara told the story. She didn't evade or gloss over or try to make herself seem better than she was. Her recall of the events and what she thought and felt was impressive. Aeryn kept her Peacekeeper-neutral face on while she listened, but there were a couple of times when he was sure she would break his fingers. At other times when the story was a little slow, he noticed her glancing down curiously at her young sister, who was listening with rapt concentration.
The story was interrupted when the baby started stirring in Talyn's arms, moving its head back and forth with its mouth wide open. Talyn handed it over to Meara without comment. John realized why the blouse was so low-cut, as with a smile and a few soft words for her baby, Meara slid the shoulder of the blouse down, baring one breast. Her entire countenance relaxed as the baby started sucking noisily. Talyn shifted position slightly so that Meara could lean against him, and she resumed talking.
Aeryn glanced sharply at John to see if he was going to say 'Shazam' or anything like it. He had a mushy look on his face and a little "aaw" escaped his lips. She decided that was almost as bad and smacked him anyway.
After the baby finished nursing John asked if he could hold it. After a worried glance at Talyn, Meara brought the baby over to him.
"You have to support her head," Meara explained. "And don't hold her too close to the fire. Babies are more susceptible to heat. And-"
"Meara," Talyn said calmly, a single warning note in his voice. Meara went back over and sat down beside him. She clamped her lips together firmly and put her hands between her knees.
"Hi, Megi," Merisa said offhandedly, ruffling the baby's sparse blonde hair.
John laid the infant on his knees facing him and made cooing noises, his fingers laced under her head.
"You sound ridiculous," Aeryn said scornfully, coming closer to get a better look. She gingerly stroked the baby's arm with one finger, her face full of wonder. "Are they always this small?"
"Think of their poor mothers if they weren't," John said, leaning closer so that their heads were touching as they looked at the infant together. "This is what it would look like if you had a baby," he said, his voice almost as soft as the one he used on Megi.
"Wouldn't it make a difference who the father was?" Aeryn asked uncertainly.
"I had blonde hair when I was little," John said. Aeryn smiled tenderly at him.
"Merisa had blonde hair when she was younger. It got darker as she grew up," Meara added. "You do look like you know what you're doing," she conceded.
"I have two little sisters," John said, jiggling the baby gently. Her sky blue eyes were focused on Aeryn's face.
Mollified, Meara resumed. Talyn grabbed up his now cold food and ate while she finished the story. After she got to the part where she talked to the child Aeryn, she stopped.
After a moment of silence, Aeryn asked, "Well? What happened next? How did you find each other?"
Meara smiled. "Well, actually, I got to the Gathering Place first, because I went straight there. Talyn joined up with the first group of Travellers he found on Nargallia and took his own sweet time getting there."
I traded the Prowler for something long range, not pretty, and it had no weapons. Got rid of the uniform, tossed my ident chip out the airlock-it must still be floating around in space somewhere," she said, looking up at the night sky, "and got there before the gathering. Luckily there are a few hardy people who make it their home all year long. So I was looking for him in every group of Travellers that came in, and when he *finally* showed up, he was really surprised to see me."
"I was not," Talyn denied. "I knew she would be there."
"Ha," she said, looking at him impishly. "You were so surprised you fell right over backwards."
"You *knocked* me over backwards."
"If you hadn't been surprised, I wouldn't have been able to. I wasn't trying to knock you over."
"And then someone offered us a room so we could have some privacy."
"Talyn! Not in front of the children." He cuddled up closer to her and whispered in her ear, "You were trying to rip my clothes off."
"I was Not!" Meara said, loudly, but she giggled, to John's astonishment. He didn't think he'd ever heard Aeryn do that.
"I love it when you get like that," Talyn whispered. Meara looked up at him and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. "I love you, too. Now stop it."
Merisa looked at Aeryn and rolled her eyes heavenward. "They do that all the time. I wish they would just be like everyone else's parents."
John couldn't help laughing at that. Aeryn quirked an eyebrow and pursed her lips, seeming to think that they had all been hit by a silly stick.
"And then we got married. Imagine my surprise when I found out the Travellers had a ceremony for it. Of course, we have ceremonies for everything, and I have to be at all of them," Meara finished, in an exasperated tone.
"Then when we had Theron, your mother was a basketcase. She saw enemies coming out of nowhere, and she wouldn't let anyone near the baby, not even me."
"It's true," Meara admitted. "But it's gotten better with each baby."
"Does that mean we can stop having kids now?" Talyn asked. Meara flashed him a wounded look. "You said six."
"I didn't mean it, love. I said as many as you want. We can have just as many babies as you want," he promised her.
"So, you have three children?" John asked, confused.
He was now the recipient of the hurt look. "Four. We've had four children."
"Five," Talyn corrected. "Aeryn, Ansel, Theron, Merisa and Megi."
"Five," Meara agreed. "Ansel's not ours. He's Broc's and Trevinia's, the blue-haired woman."
"His mother left him with the Travellers and ran off somewhere. He attached himself to us right away because Trevinia told him his father was a peacekeeper. I guess Broc didn't pay any attention when I tried to tell him the local girls probably weren't as baby-proofed as Peacekeeper women."
"Honestly, she was such a trelk I don't know how she could have known who the father was." Meara said, critically.
"Meara, you have to admit he looks just like Broc now."
"The blue hair and eyes go together nicely, I think. He married someone in the clan. We had to have a clan meeting before they would allow it but since, neither Broc nor Trevinia were related to anyone here, we got a dispensation. "
"Usually the men marry out. In a small group like this, you have to do something to avoid inbreeding," Talyn explained.
"That's how I got to be Chief. They voted me in when Eldric married again and left."
"Theron joined a colony-"
"I cannot believe that I gave birth to a colonist. Those must be your genes. He's on some rock and I won't see him again for another two cycles."
"I know, Meara," Talyn said comfortingly, "but it was the only way he could learn what he wanted to."
"I am sure you've heard enough about us," Meara said suddenly to Aeryn and John, who were vainly trying to keep up with the flow of conversation.
"Elleth said you wouldn't be a Peacekeeper forever. How is it that you're here now, with each other?"
Merisa looked up at them curiously. Aeryn, the baby's hand wrapped around her finger, looked over at John and nodded. He gave them a brief description of how he and Aeryn had met, and why she wasn't a Peacekeeper anymore. He also told them a little about Moya and their traveling companions, and a very mild description of the kind of adventures they had been through.
After listening to this, Meara spoke up. "You could join us. That's an official invitation. The clan chief has to approve new additions to the clan."
"I would be too much of a danger to you," John said, looking at the baby that had fallen asleep again on his lap. "Aeryn?" he said, looking at her.
Aeryn looked at him incredulously. "I have no intention of leaving you, um, I mean, Moya."
Instead of being disappointed, Meara looked satisfied. "If you change your minds, the invitation is always open."
"I know this is probably the least important thing on everyone's minds, but about the navigational charts?" John asked, feeling that the evening was drawing to a close. Merisa was leaning heavily against Aeryn's legs and John suspected that she might have fallen asleep.
"Anything you want. Anything you need,"
"A ride in the prowler," Talyn interrupted. "The price is that you have to give your mom a ride in your prowler. Non-negotiable."
Aeryn, looking doubtful, agreed. Talyn came over to where she was sitting and said," I think I'd better get Merisa to bed."
"She's a little big to be carried to bed," Meara said.
"She's littler than you are," Talyn said with a grin as he picked up his second oldest daughter. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said sleepily, "I want to go on Aeryn's Prowler, too."
Talyn looked questioningly at Aeryn. She nodded.
"Okay, sweetie," he said, swinging her around so Meara could give her a kiss. "Nite, Risa. Love you."
"Love you, too, Mom. Mom, can I get an outfit like Aeryn's?"
"No," her mother said definitively. She glanced over at Aeryn. "Um, I mean, you're a little too young. Maybe when you're older."
When Talyn came back out, he asked John if they could speak alone. With a haunting feeling of familiarity, John agreed. He was sure that he was going to get the Sebacean version of the 'What are your intentions towards my daughter?' talk. Meara was busy cleaning up around the campsite, so he asked Aeryn to hold the baby for a minute.
Aeryn shook her head, "Oh. No. I don't know how."
"Hold out your arms. Now bend your elbows," he placed the baby in her arms carefully and molded her arms around the sleeping child. "Perfect," he said, pausing for a minute to admire the picture he had made. Since her arms were full and she couldn't do anything about it, he planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Crichton!" Aeryn said, turning around in her chair. "Don't you dare leave me like this!"
"Be right back," he said, with a dismissing wave.
"It might be a little longer than he thinks," Meara said. "Talyn can talk like you wouldn't believe."
"Oh, well, he's met his match this time. I've never met anyone who talks as much as Crichton does."
"We may never see them again." Meara said, feebly attempting a joke.