Stories for the solstice...

Two stories I first linked to several years but very much enjoyed re-reading.

dduane's Invictus - a small hero holds back the dark.

And for SGA fans, a wonderful team story from the middle of season 4 - Midwinter Burning by rhymer23

"The seed that is planted in the frozen ground will come again in spring," she told those fierce and unknowable spirits that were her team-mates. "Frost and snow give way to the green. The dead live on in memory, and from death, comes life. A fire awakens from the ashes of the old."

And a new short story, nothing to do with the time of year, but featuring two female characters I've learnt to like very much over the last year.

Amicitia by Siria
Pepper and Natasha: together, they fight crime.