<Speech> - telepathic communication
Adorata - adored
Amat wyn – my love
Amat - love
Daughters of the Queen
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Coreegadon
“Come on, Martouf, you and Lantash have
to get up. It’s almost daylight, and we have
to get up and get breakfast. We need to
get up and around. The mission’s due to
start in a few hours,” Sam shook Martouf’s shoulder and heard Lantash mumble in
response.
Across the temple, she heard the
sultry, dark laugh that belonged to Kat.
She groaned. Good grief. They had all ended up here last night. Kat and Daniel had danced in the fire, and it
had drawn her and Martouf like moths to a flame. They had gathered their things for the
mission and come to the temple. It had
the same effect on Gwennetha and Malek.
They had turned up shortly after Sam and Martouf. Kat had sent the men back for more bed furs,
dividers, and something more to fix for breakfast. The women had decided who would take which
part of the
Sam frowned. There had been no question of anyone
leaving. Almost as if they were
performing some ancient rite, they had carefully laid out the bed furs and put
up the screens that the men brought.
Looking at the spots they had chosen, she was surprised. They were in a perfect triangle. She shook her head. Surely, it was just a coincidence. They didn’t really put them exactly this way
for any real reason. Then why had it
felt like a ritual as well as a magnificent night of making love? At times, it had seemed almost
transcendental. They had played in the
fire and touched the universe, become one as only the fire can accomplish.
Once they all settled into their beds,
Kat began to call the fire, and she had pulled it for each of them. Sam and Gwennetha had also called theirs; the
energy in the room had been off the scale, of that Sam was sure. She’d never experienced anything quite like
making love in that cocoon of energy. It
had been an indescribable sensation.
They’d only been able to savor and luxuriate in it at that level
once. It had left them completely sated
and relaxed.
She’d lost count of the times Kat had
summoned it for herself and Daniel. Of
course, she was pretty sure that they didn’t make love each time, but
still. And, if she hadn’t kept falling
asleep, she probably could have kept count better. She grinned at herself as she nudged Martouf
again. “Come on, lazy. Let’s go.
It’s almost daylight. Day’s
a-burnin’.”
“Samantha, you are well aware that we
are not early morning risers. Give us a
moment or two to open our eyes, at least.
There is no emergency that would cause us to leap from our nice, warm
bed. We will be more awake in a moment. I promise.”
Lantash was mumbling as Martouf refused to awaken enough to talk
yet. He forced Martouf’s eyes open. “You are out of bed. Perhaps if you came back, we could persuade
Martouf that there is sufficient reason for him too awaken before daylight.”
“Why, you smooth talker, you. How can I resist such an invitation?”
“By all means, Sam, please do accept
his invitation, so that we can be free of his whining. We do not need to arise yet. Breakfast will be simple. But soon, I agree.” Kataya added her opinion from the wall
nearest the front entrance, where muffled chuckling could be heard, along with
the rustling of rugs and blankets.
Directly across from them, suspicious sounds arose from behind the
screen standing there. Giggles were
heard, only to be quickly hushed.
Sam laughed again and settled back down
beside Lantash and Martouf. “Now that we
have awoken everyone else, I suppose that I can come back for a few
minutes. Just long enough to make you
wish that you hadn’t invited me.”
“You are a torturer, my love. I believe that you enjoy making us suffer,”
Lantash answered laughingly. Then he
sobered, and his eyes lost their sparkle as he looked at her somberly, “May you
torture us every day for the remainder of our lives, our Samantha, for even
that will not be long enough to experience all the sweetness of lying in your
embrace that we desire.” She sighed
softly as his lips claimed hers in a soft kiss of promise.
“Maybe we don’t have to leave quite as
soon as I thought that we did, Lantash.
We have a little while before it’s full daylight. Everyone else is either back to sleep, or
busy enjoying themselves. We could, ah,
good morning, Martouf, I see that Lantash was able to convince you that there
was a good reason to wake up before daylight.
I was just explaining to him that we could…”
“Yes, Samantha, so we could, if, that
is,” he kissed her shoulder, “you could find it,” he kissed her other shoulder,
“in your heart,” he kissed her throat, “to remain,” he kissed her lips, “silent
long enough.”
Sam’s only response was with her hands,
lips, and tiny gasps.
“Hey campers, how is everyone? Little mothers both going with us?” Jack O’Neill looked to Artereos standing
quietly in the background and asked firmly, “Is that a good idea? Should they be, you know, taken apart by this
thing and put back together in their condition?
What if it puts something in the wrong place?”
Artereos came forward and clasped Jack
O’Neill’s arm in the typical warrior’s greeting, one hand clasping his forearm
as his other hand clasped his shoulder.
He respected Jack, regardless of his prejudices against other
races. He truly didn’t realize what he
felt, and most of it was simple misunderstanding and distrust. He had lost much in his life, but the day
would come when he found something to cherish and believe in again. It would change him, but that time was not
yet, and until then, one accepted him as he was.
“We have traveled through the portal
since the Ancients, as you call them, erected them, and they made sure that
they were safe for all manner of creatures.
That does not preclude accidents, of course, which I am sure that you
know, for they do happen, but then, accidents can happen even at one’s
home. It is no more likely here, than
there.”
Jack frowned. “How did you guys travel from one place to
another before the Stargates were put up?
In ships? That long ago?” He seemed skeptical.
“No, we simply made our own portals
with our, ah, manipulation of energy, and the use of our crystals. However, it took a great deal of our energy,
and many had to use some of our best priests and priestesses to open one if the
travel was far. Some of us were able to
do what was needed ourselves, however.”
Artereos smiled, remembering days when things were not as simple as they
were today.
“I remember that. We were trained to do that almost as soon as
we could walk. It does take a great deal
of energy. I remember the first time
that I was able to make a path to Dragmyst.
I was so excited, and then you would not let me go alone, and Dayillon
would not go with me because he was reading about some musty old Elvin wars and
translating the Legends about the wars that were to come.”
Kat paled. Then gasped.
“Daniel, I remember you
translating the Legends. There are more
of them, I know there are. We were no
more than ten, if that. And, I remember lying on the floor kicking my feet,
trying to get your attention, being so very bored, but nothing, absolutely
nothing, would get you to stop reading.
Then you looked up at me and your eyes, they were glowing with excitement,
and you smiled the sweetest smile at me.
My heart and soul recognized you, and I fell in love with you that
day. You started reading the Legends
aloud to me, and soon, we were both translating them.” She laughed.
“How could I have forgotten that?”
Daniel smiled, but his was soft, wistful. “I went with you later, after we finished
translating one of the scrolls that talked about the beauty of the world called
Dragmyst and the Dragons that dwelt there.
You were exhausted from making the first portal, and we got really,
really distracted-”
“You got really, really
distracted.”
“-and the portal closed and you didn’t
have enough energy to make another one to get us home. You had a ferocious temper, even at that age,
Kataya.” Daniel looked rueful.
“What happened?” Gwennetha looked avidly from one to the
other. She had never heard this story
from her mother’s childhood.
Daniel flushed. “We were waiting for her energy to return,
and she was meditating, you know, pulling energy. Even then, your mom could pull in some pretty
impressive amounts of energy when she was calm and serene, while she
meditated. Unfortunately, she was sort
of, err, upset about the portal closing, so she wasn’t able to really tune into
the energy around her, and it wasn’t going well. I was acting as conduit. So I was sitting with my arms around her, and
my head was on her shoulder. I was
asleep,” he continued defensively.
“Hell, I was only ten or so. How
amorous can a ten-year-old bookworm be?
I’m not sure that I even knew what sex was yet!”
Suddenly Kataya giggled. “A portal opened and Merdwin came thundering
through it, all anger and fire and retribution.
He took one look, and I thought that he was going to kill Daniel.”
“Yes, and at ten years of age, you were
as formidable an opponent as you are today, adorata,”
announced a voice from behind them.
“You did not think that I would allow you to make this first mission
without me, did you?” Merdwin sauntered
forward, completely at ease, his usual lazily dilettante air at full
force.
He turned toward his daughter, “To
finish the tale, Gwennetha, your mother slowly rose to her feet, lowering
Daniel’s sleeping form to the ground and placing a protective shield around
him; one which I could have blown away with one flick of my finger, but it was
the act that caught my attention and calmed my ire. She then turned to face me with her hands on
her hips and her jaw set.”
“And she proceeded to say to me, “If you have come to help me renew my
energy, so that I can complete a passage home quicker, then you are welcome
here, and I will gladly accept your help.
If you have come to yell and be an annoyingly unhelpful, loud, and
unperceptive nuisance, then you may just turn yourself around and return the
way you came.”
“Please tell my father,
and Daniel’s, that I apologize for our tardy return, but I forgot the time,
during our exploration of Dragmyst, and our portal closed. I will return Daniel, unharmed, to his
parents as soon as my energy is renewed and I can summon a new portal. You may go, Merdwin.”
He laughed, “She had pulled rank on me,
the devious little darling, but that would not have stopped me, if I truly had
believed there was a need to remain angry.
But, by the time she had finished her coldly calm and rational statement
of intent, I was aware that Daniel had become fascinated by something, lost
track of time, and she would not force him to leave, nor would she leave
without him.”
So, I bowed graciously. Indicated that I had indeed come to help them
and escort them back, if they wished to return.
She woke Daniel up, and we returned home. Daniel’s father sighed over Daniel’s
absent-mindedness, and Kataya’s praised her for remaining beside her friend and
defending him…and for being able to defuse a dangerous situation without harm to
either side, as well as courage for standing up to me, a larger and obviously
stronger foe.”
“Her more intensive, formal training as
a warrior started the next day. A thing
that she had been requesting for quite some time. She never looked back, and when she walked
into the fire to forge her soul a few scant years later, she pledged herself to
fight the evil within the universe, but more specifically, the Goa’uld, even
though their coming was still far into the future.”
“And now, I believe that we have a
mission to execute. Should we not gather
ourselves and our equipment, so that we might be on our way?”
“We are still waiting for Valynara and
a few of the hosts, Merdwin. Janet, I’m
glad that you decided to come. Are you
going through with us?” Sam asked,
smiling and hugging her friend. She
would think about the story that she’d just heard later. There was food for thought there. It was insight into her Furling family, a
rare look at her sister’s childhood and a younger Merdwin and Daniel. Artereos as well, of course.
“Yes, I had today off, so Merdwin and I
decided to come along. I wanted to be
here to monitor you and Gwennetha. Yes,
I know everyone says that you will be okay, but I want to see for myself,
okay?”
“And I wanted to go along just to be
there. To see if we found anything, of
course, and, if we did, then I didn’t want to miss the excitement. I mean, this is the most exciting thing to
find. The lost children of a race. A chance for them to become what they were
ultimately meant to be. In a way, it’s
like birth, Sam, the possible birth of hundreds of new beings. The more I thought about it, the more I just
couldn’t stay away.”
“Oh, God, Janet, you have no idea. I’m exactly the same. I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it. I think we all are. I wish you and Merdwin had come last night.”
“Why?
What happened?”
“Well, Kataya and Daniel decided to
spend the night in the
“Are you kidding? Does a Furling know how to mind link?”
“Then you know what it does during, um,
sex. You know how incredible that it
makes it. Anyway, back to what I was
saying. Martouf and I had the same
idea. We’d spend the night here and be
ready first thing in the morning. There
was just something about the idea of being here when the sun came up that
sounded right to us. So, we came down
and Kat and Daniel were already here.
Luckily, they were already redre-, well, never mind, but anyway, we told
them what we felt we wanted to do, so they asked us to join them.”
“Daniel said that at first, they were
just going to come down and dance in the fire, but then, they decided that they
might as well stay all night, so they grabbed a couple of rugs, and the stuff
that they would need for the mission.
Then we turned up with our stuff, and shortly after us, Malek and
Gwennetha came in with all of their stuff.
We had a nice evening, and then the guys went back for the dividers and
more food. After that, it was a great
night, as you can imagine. We think that
Daniel and Kat pulling all that energy drew us all here, but Kat thinks that it
was something else. Some deeper thing
within the universe that is beyond simple conscious recognition.” Sam shrugged.
“What do you think, Sam? Really think?” Janet asked softly.
Sam’s mouth opened to say that it was
just the fire calling them on a subconscious level, but she closed it before
she could get the words out. She tried
again. “I realized this morning that
we’d chosen spots for our beds in an exact triangle. We set candles at each corner of each screen,
also forming triangles. Our beds were
made in such a way that when we were lying on the bed, we completed a triangle
with the two sides of the screen. I don’t
know what I think. I’m a
scientist.” She finally answered almost
roughly.
“Don’t discount anything, Sam. There are so many things that we’ve learned
lately that we would have put down as fairy tales and magik not long ago. They are
what we, and they themselves, call sorcerers and magik wielders. You, yourself, are becoming more adept at
it. No, Sam, there is no point in
denying it to me. This is Janet,
here. No secrets between us. You are still Samantha Carter, remember? No matter what you learn to do, no matter
what special talent you may develop, you have always been, and will always be,
Samantha Carter, US Air Force Officer, Friend, and Colleague. Don’t ever forget that.”
“I won’t, Janet. Thank heavens that you’re still here to keep
me grounded. Sometimes, I think that my
life is just a story in a book. Then I
look at Martouf, or touch my abdomen, and realize that if it is a dream, I
don’t want to wake up from it, ever.”
“Me either, I like this dream,” Janet
answered, glancing over at Merdwin where he stood, talking amiably to Jacob and
Jocasta.
“Samantha,” Martouf stepped up behind
her, “Valynara has arrived. They have
brought ten of the volunteers with them.
The others will, she feels sure, begin to arrive shortly, not waiting for
the summons as they should.”
Sam nodded, “That’s to be expected, I
suppose. I hope that they aren’t all
disappointed if we don’t find anything.”
Sighing, she added, “I hope that we aren’t either. Anything could have happened, you know. They could have been discovered, a predator
could have evolved. The planet’s surface
and climate might have changed.”
Martouf reached out and laid a calming
hand around her waist. “Come, there is
no reason to go over these many and sundry disasters that might, I repeat, might
have occurred. Now come.”
“Yes, come on, Sam. I’m so excited that I can’t hardly stand
still.”
Sam grabbed their hands and started
toward the group at the front in the huddle, discussing something.
Jack O’Neill was shaking his head. “I see no point in all of us going through
until we are sure that there is no threat there. We’ll take a team through to
secure the gate and do a quick recon.
Then radio the condition of the world.”
“If it’s okay, then that second wave
comes through. That would be Marty,
Malek, Jocasta, Janet, etc. Then, we
head out looking for this
“Their new lifemate, Jack. We call them lifemates.” Daniel threw out the information as he made
sure that he had everything that he might need and checked his side arm, to be
sure that it was where it should be.
“Kataya, Sam, Gwennetha, and I will go
through first, Jack. We will erect a
shield in front of the gate for safety’s sake.”
Merdwin said from where he lounged against the wall nearby.
Jack nodded his agreement. One usually didn’t argue with Merdwin, unless
it was a very important point. First,
because his percentage of being right was something that one didn’t bet
against, and second, it was similar to running into a brick wall repeatedly
without a helmet and when it ended, you had a headache, were exhausted, and
most likely, still doing it his way.
“In that case, I will go through when
Samantha goes through.”
Another voice that had no wiggle room
added itself to his, “Yes, and I shall go through with Gwennetha.”
“Fine.” Jack snapped. Again, he didn’t bother to argue. He should have known that Martouf and Malek
would never leave their women’s sides and had almost expected the announcement.
“Daniel, Brialek, and Jacob, you’re
with me.”
“Stevenson, Fraiser, and Teal’c, you’ll
stay with Valynara and be the escort to the lake, or whatever the body of water
is, if we find what we are looking for.
I’ll contact you to bring them through.
Any questions, anyone?” He nodded
when no one had any.
Jack then looked around at the
unnaturally calm faces of the ten possible hosts. “If you have any questions about the
Stargate, or what’s going to happen when you go through, this would be the time
to talk to these people about it.
They’ve all been through it bunches of time and can tell you what to
expect, and how it’ll feel. Piece of
cake.”
He readied his weapon as he stepped
toward the Stargate. Nodding at Merdwin,
he watched as Artereos come forward and waved his hand. How did they Do that?
The first of the team stepped
through. Once on the other side, a large
area of shield was set up, but the landscape was totally devoid of any thing
that appeared threatening. Kat shrugged
at Merdwin. “We should not be overly
confident, but I think that it will be safe for the rest. I will contact them to come through.”
Kat and Sam stepped forward, slowly
walking, beginning to examine the area closely.
Sam and Martouf began to slowly circle outward, while Kataya stayed in
an almost completely straight line. Gwennetha and Malek had taken another
section and Merdwin was approaching Kataya.
As he reached her, she suddenly stopped
and raised her arm to halt all forward movement. At the same time, Jack and the remainder of
the team came through the Chaappa’ai. It
shut down behind them. Once they found what they were looking for, they would
reestablish contact with the
Kataya lowered her arm, turned back,
and walked toward the group that had come through, obviously not on any kind of
alert. Whatever she had heard, seen, or
felt had passed. “Daniel, you have the
words? Lantash, you feel that you can
sing and repeat these words, poems, and songs?”
“Yes, of course, but first, we must
find the water on this planet. It does
not seem particularly hospitable, just as we were told,” Martouf stated as he
moved closer with Samantha by his side.
“True.”
Sam turned and headed back toward where Kataya had been stopped. “I believe that we should go this way.” Martouf fell into step beside her, wondering if
she knew where she was going, or if she was simply taking the most obvious
course. There were no paths of any kind
that could be seen, so obviously, whatever indigenous wild life lived here was
either not abundant, or did not use the same trails as they moved.
Kataya and Daniel moved to walk behind
them. <You sense it as well,
Samantha?> Kat asked Sam through
their link.
<Yes, but what is it?>
<I believe that it is the presence
of symbiotes and naquadah in the water.
The others should feel it soon.
When did you start to notice it?>
<Not until you stopped us, so that
we would all remain silent. I still
wasn’t sure what it was until you named it.
Then, once I thought about it, I realized that it was much the same as I
feel when other symbiotes are around.
Not just one or two, but several, and I can’t distinguish one from the
other. When did you feel it?>
Kat glanced at her and then to the
landscape ahead of them. They were
almost there. That next rise would
reveal it all to them, she felt sure.
<I felt it as soon as I stepped though the Chaappa’ai. They are here. Many, many, Samantha. I stopped everyone when
I did because I was not sure how close the Tok’Ra could get before they, too,
would feel them. I wished for them all
to be here when they felt it. Now that
they are here, I felt we could proceed.
They should sense it soon.>
Sam nodded, but was startled from her
link, when an exclamation from Lantash brought them up sharply. “They are here. I can feel them. Stars of Fire, Samantha, there are so many of
them that you can feel them before you approach the water.” He turned back to the others and motioned to
Selmak, Brialek, Malek, and Jocasta to join them.
As they stood waiting, Kataya wandered
a few feet into the forest. It was thick
and could not be seen through. It had
been the same way at the clearing where the Chaappa’ai stood. “Sam.
Sam, come here, please,” Kat called to her as she started back toward
the others.
“What is it, Kat? What’s wrong?” Sam stood quietly, absorbing the sense of the
water and symbiotes. “I don’t think that
we should go over the hills. It isn’t
the straightest line from the Stargate.”
“I agree, Sam, I do not believe that it
is either. Let us return to where the
others are standing and look back toward the Chaappa’ai.”
“Let’s go.” Sam nodded, as they strode out of the forest.
As they walked into the open, Daniel
and Lantash turned to them. “We believe
that we are going the wrong way, amat wyn,
and should, in fact, not traverse the tops of these hills, but travel around
the bottom and make our way through the forest.
The line from the Chaappa’ai has turned since we left it.”
Sam smiled at him and kissed him firmly
before nodding, “Yeah, I think that you’re right. We’ll do that. I’m glad you caught that, amat.
Do we really need to follow the hills at all? Can’t we just cut through the forest? It’s thick, which in itself is odd, but Kat
believes that it’s not very wide, and that the water is pretty close to us.”
“We should keep to the edge of the
forest. That way if the two part
company, we’ll know and correct for it.”
Jack suggested bluntly. “I don’t
want anyone wandering off and getting lost or anything. This place may seem like there aren’t any
threats, but we haven’t been here long, and we don’t know if there’s any animal
life, insect life, or even snakes, scorpions, or spiders that could be
dangerous. Daniel, don’t touch anything, until Carter or I can check it out.”
The normal caution, coming so naturally
out of Jack’s mouth, caused the SG-1 teammates to laugh and smile at one
another. When the questioning looks were
intercepted, they began relaying many of the times that Jack had told Daniel to
touch nothing and then done so himself, usually to the detriment of one, or
all, of them.
They talked quietly as they walked
forward, their senses attuned to any outside intrusion, but not on high
alert. They came upon the edge of the
forest abruptly. There was no thinning
to indicate the edge was near, no increasing of low growing shrubs, nothing, in
fact, to alert them to what they would come upon.
Martouf, walking a short way in front
with Sam, Jacob, and Malek, came to a halt, standing so still, he could have
been carved in stone, the same glorious dazzling stone that the
Sam took his hand. “It answers the description in the song. The red-blood flowers surround it. The white sand beaches are in front and lead
off in both directions. If I’m not
wrong, there are what looks to be golden statues in the
“You are correct, of course, my
Samantha, it is simply a little over whelming.
We must go at once to the water’s edge as well. If your team will take the
Sam nodded and turned to Jack, who
headed at once toward the beautiful
Walking across the field, she watched
the group of Tok’Ra as they made their way toward the water. What would they find there? They would find something. She knew that they would. She, Kataya, and all of the Tok’Ra couldn’t
be that wrong.
Of course, she supposed that there
could be enough naquadah in the water to set all their senses humming. But she didn’t believe that. They would know soon now. With a last look, she entered the
Merdwin and Gwennetha had elected to
come with them, so there were six of them, including Daniel and Sam. Well, it wouldn’t take more than that to
secure this building.
As
When he reached his side, it was to see
Daniel standing with hands in pockets and reading some sort of text that looked
like nothing so much as chicken scratches.
“What’s it saying, Daniel?
Anything we should know?”
“Maybe.
I’m glad that I brought my camera.
Not that we can’t come back if we need to, but I want to be sure that I
get it all, in case we aren’t here long enough for me to finish the
translations. And, of course, I’ll want
them for recording purposes,” he finished speaking as he took out his camera
and proceeded to take pictures of every bit of writing on the walls, identifying
each section in some code that only Daniel would understand.
Sam walked over to them and waited for
him to finish before touching his arm.
“I think that there are some things over here that don’t fit in with the
Daniel smiled at her, and then leaning
in and kissing her temple in a perfectly natural gesture, he put his arm around
her to escort her back. Jack
followed. The wall that they were
looking at was set aside from the main temple and was secluded. It had obviously been added later. There were golden statues scattered
throughout the
Searching quickly, Daniel found what he
was looking for. “Well, this is proof
positive. This is the
“According to these, well, instructions,
for lack of anything better to call them; the prospective host approaches the
water’s edge and sits down either in or very near the edge. The symbiotes will swim to the edge of the
water.”
“At that time, the host should put
their hands in the water and the symbiotes will swim by them, “allowing their
instinct to guide them”. The host should
do the same. A feeling of uneasiness
with a symbiote that stops and touches them indicates incompatibility, and the
host should pull away and that symbiote will withdraw and continue on. If two symbiotes remain, they will allow the
host to pick them up and hold them. If
there is still no definite decision by the host or the symbiotes, then the
symbiotes come to a decision, and one will relinquish claim. According to this, that rarely happens.”
“Assuming that there is only one
symbiote, he approaches the host and wraps around their wrist, only to
immediately unwind and stretch out. This
is a promise to the host to never shackle his body.”
“Then the symbiote will swim under the
host’s hand and lift it from the water, indicating that he will always support
and care for his host.”
“Then he takes the host’s hand in his
mouth and presses down, but doesn’t bite, indicating that he will not harm
him.”
“And lastly, the symbiote will swim
onto the palm of the host’s hand and curl up there indicating that he is
willing to trust him and become one being with him, accepting all that it
entails.”
“According to this, once the symbiote and
host have made their lifemate choices, then whoever is overseeing the, ah,
birthing, their word for what the blending is, will open the waterways so that
the symbiote can enter the chamber and blend with their, in this case, first
host.
“Promises are to be made to one
another. The symbiote will show his
continued agreement by allowing help as he removes his outer body covering, so
that only the soft new skin and much smaller body is all that’s left for
blending.”
“Once that’s done, he’ll approach his
life mate. To show that they are both
content and determined to blend and give birth to a new being, two into one,
the symbiote swims into and rests in the host’s hand once again.”
“The host strokes the symbiote, and
then releases it, lies down on the stone couch, shuts his eyes, and opens his
mouth, at which point the ceremony and vows are complete. The symbiote ‘takes’ its new mate as gently as possible, dispersing any pain as
it goes. After they introduce
themselves, and the host feels ready to stand, the birth is declared a success, and they are free to begin their new
life together.”
“So the words of the song mean more
than just pretty words. The prospective
hosts must come here to blend. Not a
major matter, and in the long run, it will make the bonding more intimate for
the two of them.” Merdwin said softly,
before turning to Kataya as she entered the
“You and Siesha went through a ritual
before blending, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
She stopped to read and absorb the writing. “She did shed her outer skin, leaving it
within her dying host, and we did agree verbally with certain words. As I stated, her host was dying. We had to blend quickly. Later, we went through a ceremony on her
homeworld, except for the actual blending.
It is a time that I will cherish always in my heart. This ceremony will be a good way to blend
them to their new partners, I agree. And
I like the idea of calling it a birthing.
In one way, it is indeed the birth of a new being, after all.”
“I wonder what is going on out
there. They have been gone a long
time. Maybe we should go see.” Gwennetha said.
“I am sure that you are right.” Kataya agreed. “When I left, they were still undecided on
how to sing the songs, and say the poem.
I’m sure that they will decide by tonight. Hopefully, before the purple night fades to
daylight.”
The group left the
“Okay, guys, here’s the deal. The
“So, there’re things that you’ll need
to do to prepare the symbiote, and there’re things that the host must do to
show that he agrees to blend. I suggest
that you go up and take a good look at it, and then come back and make a quick
decision. We have all day to organize
getting a bunch of people here, but it could take all day before one of the
symbiotes hears us.”
“One of you, whoever the one that’s
gonna try calling them, better get started on that. First thing that we need to know, is if there
are still any sn, err, of them here.
Because if there are, and if I’m understanding Daniel right, the people
back at the other
Selmak turned back, before going to the
Lantash nodded. “I believe that you are correct. That might be the best way to approach the
situation. Selmak, I believe that if
Daniel has returned to the
He threw his arm in the direction of the
horizon. “There is no way to tell how
large this body of water is, but it could be days or weeks before one of our
brethren is within range of hearing us.
I cannot believe that Egeria would have gone to this much effort, and
then not left another way to at least summon her children to come close enough
to hear if a true summons was being made.”
Selmak looked thoughtful. “Yes, I see your point. I will inquire it of Daniel. Perhaps Merdwin, Kataya, and Gwennetha might
have some ability to sense something as well.
We will explore other avenues as well, Lantash.”
Lantash nodded and turned back to the
water to begin his part of this quest.
It was time to start work. He
sensed Samantha walk up behind him and slide her arms around him. “I think that it will work well,
Lantash. There is bound to be a little
confusion at first, but once we’ve done a few, it will start to go much
better.” She hugged him gently, then
caressed his shoulders, and he felt himself relax as he began to sing.
“Daniel, Lantash suggested that there
might be some sort of device that would summon the symbiotes, if not up to the
shore, then in close enough to see if the remainder of the summoning would be
heard. He asked if you would mind seeing
if you could find anything like that first.”
Daniel looked up at Selmak from his
position, where he was kneeling on the floor in front of a panel. He grinned up at him. “I was just coming to find you guys. I think that I may have found something to do
with that, but I’m not sure yet. Give me
a little time to look it over. I’m just
now beginning the translation work. I
had the same thought, y’know, after looking at the size of that lake out there. There’s no way they can hear you just by
singing.”
“Selmak, I don’t know how big a body of
water is out there, but, if Egeria managed to come here more than once, there
could be a lot of symbiotes in there.”
“We can only hope, Daniel. Certainly the size is…” Selmak shook his
head, and turned away, leaving to head back toward Merdwin where he stood,
talking to Kataya, Malek, and Gwennetha.
When Daniel had his head buried inside ancient text trying to decipher
it, there was no point in trying to hold a conversation. He wouldn’t hear a word that was said to him
unless one forced his attention.”
Halfway across the room, he heard the
exclamation from behind him. It was a
shout of triumph. He swung back towards
Daniel in time to see him race to the door and yell for Sam, motioning her to
come to the
Daniel had found something. Evidently, something important.
TBC
Chapter
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