The more they learn about Jaffa culture and lifestyles, the more Sam appreciates that Teal'c consistently treats her as an equal.
It's not until they travel to Chulak for the second time and meet Drey'auc and Ry'ac and Bra'tac that Sam begins to understand how very unusual Teal'c's egalitarianism actually is. Drey'auc is fierce and fights like a wildcat when her son is threatened, but she is clearly subordinate to Teal'c -- not only as his wife, but also as a woman. The dripping contempt in Bra'tac's voice when he sneers at Sam tells her the same thing: among the Jaffa, women are second-class and do not fight side-by-side with the men.
They change his mind before they leave, or at least plant the seeds of a grudging respect. She thinks Bra'tac is more impressed than he cares to admit that she and Daniel dared to steal a symbiote from the temple. And while Bra'tac is still impatient and abrasive when they meet him again in their own solar system, he works with them willingly and departs from Earth with what seems to be a genuine respect for every member of SG-1.
It takes time for Bra'tac to make that transition, though, and Sam wonders what causes Teal'c to see her as a fellow warrior rather than a female. It's certainly not from typical Jaffa upbringing, and Bra'tac's initial response to her presence on the team shows that Teal'c didn't learn it from his canny old mentor, either. She idly speculates with Daniel on the subject, and he suggests that Teal'c might not have actually realized that she's a woman when they first met. Most cultures, he says, determine the status of strangers by evaluating their dress and behavior.
"You wear the same uniform and carry the same weapons as everyone else," Daniel points out. "And your hairstyle is short enough to pass for male in Jaffa culture -- every woman we met on Chulak was long-haired."
"With your hair, you might be considered a woman," Sam teases him, and chuckles as he snorts at this regular joke between them. "And anyway, wouldn't I have to be bald to qualify as a Jaffa-type warrior?"
Daniel quirks his eyebrows at her. "Oh, very funny."
"I thought so," Sam says cheerfully.
"You certainly fight as well as everyone else, Captain Carter -- or better," he adds with a wry grin, and ducks her friendly swat at his head. "So in that crazy scramble to get off Chulak, why should Teal'c imagine that you're a woman?"
"He had a good look when he came through the Gate to the SGC and I met him on the ramp," Sam objects.
"But by that point," Daniel says triumphantly, "his opinion of you as a warrior was already established. Why should that change just because you're female?"
Sam gives him an affectionate poke. It's very Daniel to think like that. She doesn't bother to point out that even in academia, where credentials are technically more important than gender, there's still a regular undercurrent of patronization to women. The military... well, official policy is one thing, and she will readily concede that a lot of soldiers certainly try, but skills and accomplishments will never remove the stigma of being female in the eyes of too many officers.
She doesn't approach the colonel and ask him to help her explain it, even though he and Teal'c have a definite rapport of brother warriors and he might have some deeper understanding into Teal'c's attitude. It wouldn't be fair. Any question regarding Teal'c's opinion of her will automatically demand that he also specify the degrees of woman and soldier that he perceives. Her professional relationship with Colonel O'Neill is a good one right now; she doesn't want to jeopardize it with unnecessary awkwardness.
But even as Sam rejects the possibility of talking to the colonel, she wonders if her CO's attitudes might explain Teal'c's as well. Colonel O'Neill accepts not only a woman, but also a civilian as a teammate. For Teal'c, maybe accepting the Tau'ri, with their slow healing and susceptibility to disease and lesser strength, is all of a whole. There's a much greater degree of weakness between Teal'c and the colonel than there is between the colonel and herself, after all.
One day, Sam hopes, she'll be comfortable enough with Teal'c to ask him point-blank. She can just picture the slight tilt to his head, that extra gleam of amusement that will come into his eyes as he answers her with grave courtesy. For now, though, Sam will treasure the warmth of the memory of walking back up the ramp towards Teal'c on that first tumultuous day, and his steady scrutiny of her face before gravely and wordlessly offering her his staff weapon.
It was a grand beginning to a most unusual friendship. And Sam feels sure that it's only going to get better.
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by Fig NewtonKapitel Bemerkung:
Sam reflects on her working relationship and friendship with Teal'c. Set in early S2, with some spoilers for COTG and Bloodlines.Site Navigation
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