snakeling (snakeling) wrote in snakelingsrecs, @ 2008-03-16 18:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | fandom:torchwood, gen:torchwood, rating:r |
Kingdom of Air, by Karen
[Torchwood]
Title: Kingdom of Air
Author: Karen lookninjas
Summary: The Torchwood Team is sent to the Himalayas by Harold Saxon.
Characters: Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Rating: R
Absolutely gorgeous, amazing story! It's very difficult to write a team fic, where all the roles are balanced out and nobody's neglected, but Karen pulls it off masterly.
As much as it is a team fic, it's also a Ianto fic: Ianto is thrust into the role of leader, by virtue of being the only one with climbing experience, and he has to cope through horrific situations. The dichotomy between his private emotions and what he lets show is written very well, as unsettling for the reader as it is for Ianto.
Probably one of the best Torchwood fics, highly recommended.
Ianto sets a coffee down by Gwen’s elbow and waits for her to acknowledge him. When she finally looks up, her eyes are red. “What if he doesn’t come back? He said he was looking for the right kind of Doctor...”
The Doctor. Ianto picks one of the pictures up, looks at it. He can’t help but feel just a little foolish. Torchwood exists because of the Doctor, for the Doctor, and he met the man twice and never knew it. “He’ll come back, Gwen.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“He’ll come back.” He studies the picture for a little longer, then carefully sets it back down. “It’s just that the Doctor needs him more right now; that’s all.”
Gwen shifts fractionally in her seat, leaning closer to him. Ianto knows he ought to tell her to go home. He ought to tell her to spend some time with Rhys, to hang on to her life with both hands before it gets stolen away from her. But he’s not her Captain; he’s not Jack, so he doesn’t. “So we just get along without him?”
“We keep going,” Ianto says, and lets his hand rest on her shoulder. “Keep the home fires burning. He’ll be back.”
She doesn’t ask him how he can be so sure, and he’s grateful for that. He can’t explain it. But he knows Jack is coming home someday. He knows it.