Fourteen Years by Hth (R)

[kylielee1000.livejournal.com]

Fandom: STARGATE ATLANTIS
Pairing: Ronon Dex character study; includes multiple pairings, het (Teyla/m) and slash (McKay/Sheppard and Dex/Sheppard)
Author on LJ: hth_the_first
Author Web site: Hth at Gatefiction
Why this must be read: This wonderful Ronon character study was originally written for the Seven Deadly Sins challenge over at sga_flashfic. The story starts with canon Ronon, but the timeline moves into the future of the source text. Sections that describe his past as a Runner—evading the Wraith as they hunt him—alternate with sections describing his time on Atlantis, in terms that not only contrast his experiences but also inform his change in character. Hth's summary, "Seven in, seven out," refers to the number of years described: seven for Ronon's time as a Runner, and seven for his years on Atlantis. And the seven deadly sins, neatly subsumed in the narrative, provide an extra layer of resonance. This fic provides a wholly believable account of the elements that comprise (or will comprise) Ronon, and how experience shapes who we are. Hth has a beautiful writing style, as this snippet shows:

He was vaguely amazed by his own body, by the things he’d never known he could do with it. He’d always been tall and graceful, but he watched himself put layers of lean muscle between his skin and bones, watched himself climb and roll and jump and swim and fight as easily as he could walk, and sometimes when he caught his reflection in a still pond or ran his hand under his shirt in the dark and felt the ridges of muscle there, he wondered if he could have been this all along, any time he wanted, or if his life had to bring him here to turn him into this.

Fourteen Years by Hth (R)