She came when all was still with snow
One starlit winter night,
As silently as creeps the dawn
When bringing in the light.
The woods were dead beneath their pall,
The birds had gone away,
Nor was there any friendly place
Where-in a breeze might play.
**
TAKEN FROM THE MEMORY RECORDS OF ANEDREE:-
**
No one knew where she came from exactly, only that she appeared through the ring of stone. Actually, I don't think she herself knew where she came from, she seemed so horribly confused.
The day she arrived, when I had just passed Ten Turns in age, a group of us were playing by the ring, pushing each other into the stream that was nearby and ran all the way through the fields to our village. We had never thought of the ring as anything other than something big and ever present. There were stories that the ring was the source of all evil, but it never did anything but stand there.
Until that day. All of a sudden, the inner circle of the ring had started to rotate and it had begun clanking in a frightening manner. We did what was instinctive for us, most of the younger ones hid down the bank of the stream and in bushes, while one of the older children ran off back to the village to tell them that something was happening with the ring.
The center of the ring flashed with blue light and caused one of the very little ones to scream and start crying. Her older brother pulled her into his arms and tried to get her to quiet down. If it really was evil coming through the gate, we didn't want to attract attention.
Then, through the swirling energy in the ring, a solitary figure appeared, and the energy disappeared, leaving the ring looking as if nothing had ever happened to it. Apart from delivering a visitor to us that is.
She looked like we did, two arms, two legs, two eyes, and had short blonde hair that looked like it had been cut by her herself, uneven and ragged, and in a hurry, and as she glanced around, her face seemed to fall in disappointment. As if she had hoped to find something else here.
It was the beginning of the cold season, and the air was crisp and caused breath to mist, and she shivered, looking as if she were very cold. The green clothing she wore looked like it might have once protected her from the cold, but it was worn to threads in some places. She carried a long staff in her hand, and seemed to be leaning on it for support as she sagged in disappointment.
Someone must have made some noise then, for she looked over in our direction unerringly and smiled in a friendly manner. She said something in a language I had never heard before, or since, but her tone was warm and unthreatening. It didn't make any of us creep out of our hiding places though.
She tried again, saying something again unfamiliar and holding out her hand for one of us to take. We started whispering between ourselves. Who was this woman? Was she a danger?
Our questions were put on hold as two of the village elders, who had been summoned by the older children who had bolted for them at the first sign of the ring's strange behaviour. They held out their hands in the traditional welcoming gesture, and greeted the stranger.
I have no idea whether or not she understood, but the miming of the elders might have shown her what they were trying to convey, and she accepted the hospitality they offered her, following them back to the village, the small group of us children tagging along behind, taking notice of everything that the visitor said or did.
**
As one of the children, I wasn't allowed to sit with the elders at the meal held for the visitor, but it didn't mean that I couldn't lurk outside the circle, in the darkness of the shadows that weren't illuminated from the huge bonfire. Our village has no buildings large enough to hold all the grown-ups, so large meals are held out of doors. It was an opportunity for me to hide near the visitor and observe her.
My family says I shouldn't watch people so much, that I have a devious streak in me. Maybe, but it serves me well on occasion.
It was about half-way through the meal when it happened. In spite of the fact that she spoke a different language, the visitor seemed to be enjoying herself, munching on some of the sweetroots that had been handed to her as a snack that many elders indulged in at odd points during meals. When all of a sudden, her head snapped around and locked onto someone in the crowds.
I recognised him. He was a farmer in the fields beyond the village named Khuy, and looked younger than he actually was. For a second, a saw a burst of hope in the visitor's eyes and she whispered a single word: "Jack", but then her face fell, as if she realised that Khuy was a stranger to her and she took a half-hearted bite out of her sweetroot.
She remained like that for the rest of the meal.
**
I stayed up long after the village had gone to sleep, intent on doing this without anyone knowing about me. I'd been told so many times by the elders not to do this without asking first, but she looked so lost, and she was asleep anyway, even if she had been able to understand what my speech had been. My people have mind-gifts, but at ten, I wasn't quite familiar with the courtesies involved with scanning someone.
Quietly, I entered the hut where the visitor lay sleeping and crept forward like a little tunnelsnake heading for her prey, except I didn't intend to hurt her, just placed one night-cooled hand on her forehead. She seemed to still abruptly and I sent out a tendril of my mind to brush hers.
The images and sensations she was broadcasting were almost over-powering, but I slipped around them to the core of her distress, what was causing her anguish and nightmares.
I could see, through her eyes, stepping through a ring and arriving somewhere unfamiliar. But it wasn't our planet, it was someone else, more mountainous and rocky. I could sense her controlled panic as her companions, her 'SG team' (as her mind labelled them), her friends, were attacked by bursts of light from weapons similar to the one that she carried when she had appeared through the ring.
She had been struck, and had felt pain through most of her body as she collapsed to the ground, only half-awake. She had been awake enough to see her team frantically trying to escape, and one of them had tried to go back for her, but had been hauled through the ring by a large dark male, who, along with the other male, seemed convinced she was dead.
She had wanted to scream to them that she was alive, but the ring (the Stargate, whispered the visitor's mind) had returned to its normal state, and she had been captured.
The rest of the memories for a long period of time were blurred, as if she had consciously blocked them out, but I could get the sense of barely suppressed physical and mental pain. She had managed to escape after a long time, grabbing the staff she had brought with her, and running to the Gate.
But her captivity had affected her memories. She couldn't remember the... symbols to get home. She had hit the keys in what she had hoped was the right order and jumped through the Gate.
When she had arrived at a new world, she had found that it wasn't the place she wanted, and had collapsed, crying. She had been searching ever since.
I pulled back my hand, consciously disassociating myself from her mind.
She was sobbing, sounding heartbroken. "Jack..." she was repeating over and over. "Jack..."
I have no idea what a Jack is, and still don't.
**
When the other children and I were awoken the next morning, we discovered that the visitor was getting ready to leave. She had been seen dressed fully in the clothing she had arrived in, and had been bidding farewell to the elders. At least that's what they guessed her utterances meant.
I don't know what seized me to run after her, but I did, and managed to catch up to her; in spite of her lead, I was quick and new all the short-cuts that not even the elders knew about. I ran up to her and grabbed her hand as she reached forward to start hitting the object in front of the ring.
She looked down at me and spoke softly to me, shaking her head and trying to extricate her hand from my grasp, probably thinking I wanted her to stay. That wasn't what I wanted, not by a long shot, I just wanted to tell her something that I had been thinking about ever since I had touched her mind.
"I hope you find what you are looking for." I told her solemnly in my ten turn fashion. I have no idea whether she understood me, but her face seemed to soften, she touched my cheek and then turned to the thing in front of the ring and hit seven of the symbols, in an apparently random selection. The ring burst into life and she stepped through it without looking back.
**
She went as gently as she came,
We could not bid her stay,
So sweetly did she smile adieu,
So gladly slipt away,
The moving of the rushes
Was the sigh she breathed so deep,
The stillness of the river
Was the stillness of her sleep.
**
-Fini
Story Notes: The song is a lovely (in my opinion) choral piece called "The Visitor" and was composed by Eric Thirman. It provided the inspiration for this story.
The mice will nibble until you cave! Spare yourselves and send me feedback!!
The mice will nibble until you cave! Spare yourselves and send me feedback!!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]