The next morning was quite interesting. Sam felt quite at home in a t shirt and her pants under the robe she had been given the night before, Teal’c seemed quite at home, and Daniel didn’t seem too perturbed. Sam wondered if his time on Abydos had accustomed him to wearing robes. Jack, however…
“It’s a freaking dress! How am I supposed to move in this thing? It tangles in my legs!”
Everyone looked amused. “You get used to it, Sir,” Carter replied, suppressing a smile.
“Yeah, well… It sucks.”
“I don’t know, Jack, the breeze is kinda nice.”
Jack shot Daniel a look. “You know something Danny-boy? Sometimes you really make me wonder about your sanity.”
Daniel was interrupted in his reply, by Sparhawk showing up, in full black armour with his sword around his waist, and accompanied by Khalad, and a slightly grumpy looking Kalten.
“Good morning.” Sparhawk greeted everyone. They all said ‘Good morning’ back, except Teal’c, who simply inclined his head.
“You know how to put the swords on?” Khalad asked.
Everyone looked a bit blank.
Khalad sighed. “Here.” He walked up, and buckled the sword belt of each person in turn.
“Put your hoods up.” He instructed. Everyone put their hoods up. “We have some horses waiting for you downstairs, but figured you might want to eat first. We haven’t been able to find you any clothes, but we can find some at the palace.”
“What about our weapons?” O’Neill asked.
“You can leave them in my room.” Sparhawk replied. “It’s always guarded, and I can lock the door. They’ll be safe there.”
O’Neill merely grunted in response, but let Khalad take their weapons.
“Lets head down for a nice, plain breakfast, shall we?” Kalten asked.
“Is food always your priority?”
“No. Just most of the time.”
Sparhawk turned to SG-1. “When we were ever on a long trip, we used Kalten’s stomach to gauge the time of day.”
“I’m a big man. I need to eat a lot.” Kalten defended himself.
“Then, by no means, lead the way. I wouldn’t want you to waste away in front of my eyes.”
“Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good, you know that, Sparhawk?”
“So you’ve told me. Repeatedly.”
“Because it’s true.”
SG-1 followed Sparhawk and Kalten to the refectory, listening to their banter. They were obviously very good friends and knew each other quite well. Sam leaned over to Teal’c. “It’s like listening to the colonel and Daniel, but with the roles reversed, isn’t it?”
Teal’c nodded his agreement, with a slight smile.
The meal in the refectory, as Kalten had said, was quite plain. After they had finished, they all rose and filed out of the room, to the stables outside, breaking off from a line filing elsewhere in the building.
“Who’d you put in charge of the sermons?” Kalten asked.
“Berit. He’s devout enough.”
“That’s God’s own truth. Remember him walking around with his eyes closed to avoid looking at Elysoun?”
“He got over it. I had to step in.”
“You stepped in?”
“I figured it was time he got some education. Apparently she was a good teacher.”
“Do you reckon her kid really was Sarabian’s?”
“Yes. Apparently there was some potion she took. She never took it with Sarabian.”
“That explains a lot.”
Sparhawk stopped at the stables. “These horses are for you.” He gestured at four horses saddled in the yard. He walked up to a large, ugly roan, with a long face, and flat, vicious eyes. “Hello Faran.” The horse stared back at him.
Sparhawk turned to the stable keeper. “Did he give you much trouble?”
“No more than usual. Tried to step on my foot and bite me, but I’ve learned how to bribe him. He’s not too serious about it anymore.”
“Good to hear.” He mounted up. “Shall we head out?”
Everyone mounted on their horses, as the stable keeper opened the gate. Sparhawk led the way, Faran prancing. “Stop that.” He told the horse. Faran flicked his ears, and ignored him. “You big old fool.”
The ride to the palace was uneventful. Everyone seemed to recognise Sparhawk, and stepped aside for him and his companions. Even the gate guards let them pass without a word, though one did smile and wave to Sparhawk.
At the palace stables, they all dismounted, and Sparhawk gave specific instructions to the keeper there about Faran. He looked apprehensively at the horse. Sparhawk turned to Faran. “Go with this man. No biting him, pinning him to the side of your stall, kicking him, or stepping on his feet. Understood?”
Faran stared back, then snorted. “Good. I’ll see you alter.” He laid one hand on his neck, then turned to his companions. “Let’s go see the Queen.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Queen Ehlana was seated on a couch, wearing a pale blue satin dress with her pale blonde hair cascading down over one shoulder, and a discreet tiara in her hair. Her posture was regal, and it was quite obvious she had positioned her gown to accentuate that. On her lap was her daughter, Danae, who was sleeping.
“So these are the visitors.” She said as they entered.
Sparhawk walked over and kissed her, being careful not to disturb Danae. “Are Vanion and Sephrenia here?”
She nodded. “They’ve gone to get some tea. I offered to have some sent up, but I think Sephrenia wanted to check on Alean. She’s not too far off now.”
“Speaking of which, Kalten accompanied us. He headed off to see her as soon as we got here.”
“Oh good. Oh, from what Sephrenia told me yesterday, Alean could go into labour any day now. Kalten really shouldn’t run off like that. He could miss out if he does.”
“You know Kalten.”
Ehlana shifted slightly. “Now, I want to meet these strangers. Sephrenia says they’re from another world.”
“Yes dear.”
Everyone threw back their hoods.
“This is Samantha Carter, Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, and Teal’c.”
“Teal’c. What a strange name.” Ehlana pursed her lips. “I’d say we should pass him off as half Atan. Not many people know much about the Atans, except not to cross them, so that should avoid any questions. You other three could pass as Elenes.” She thought for a moment. “You’re friends we met on our trip to see Sarabian, coming to visit.”
“Is all this really necessary, dear?”
“Palace gossip, dear. If we have a story, no one will know any different.” She frowned again. “What’s that mark on your forehead?” She asked Teal’c.
“It was given to me upon my ascension as First Prime.”
“So a status symbol?”
He nodded.
“Good, we’ll pass you off as a commander then.”
She looked at the other three. “How long have you two been together?” She asked Carter and O’Neill.
O’Neill started coughing, and Carter went bright red. “We’re uh, we’re not actually together.”
“Oh. You acted like you were. I apologize.” Again, she pursed her lips. “Would you be offended if I passed you off as a married couple? Women travelling in the company of men are sometimes looked down upon. You could be a Count and a Countess.”
Carter and O’Neill looked at each other. O’Neill shrugged. “Why not? It’s your story.”
“Oh good!” She looked at Daniel. “A margrave, I think. Margrave Daniel. It suits you.” Daniel looked a little flustered, but nodded.
“Good. Now, we’ve got the stories set out for court, I don’t think we have much to worry about.”
At that moment, Sephrenia entered the room, unannounced. “Alean’s in labour, Ehlana. She just had her first contraction. She asked me to come get you.”
Immediately, Ehlana sat up. “She is?” She woke up Danae, who yawned. “Alean’s in labour, dear. I have to go see her. Stay with your father.”
Danae yawned again, and nodded. “Yes, Mother.”
Ehlana left the room.
Shortly after the door had closed behind Ehlana, Sparhawk turned to Danae. “You didn’t happen to have anything to do with this, did you?”
“Sparhawk, why do you always assume I have a hand in everything? Alean’s been out of sorts more the last few days because her body was preparing for labour. It’s a complicated process.”
Sparhawk let that pass.
“Any news yet?” O’Neill asked, a bit uncomfortable speaking to this child this way.
“Yes, as a matter of fact. It seems you have caused a rift between your world and ours.” She pursed her lips. “How much do you understand about dimensions?”
Three people turned to face Carter. She shrugged. “I’m an astrophysicist. And we’ve been to alternate dimensions, but they’ve always been alternates of our own.”
“Alright. You caused a dimensional rift between our universe, and that of your own. We’re not parallel to yours, however. We’re quite different.” Aphrael went on with a detailed description of what had happened, with Carter occasionally interjecting for clarification.
When they had finished the discussion, O’Neill turned to Carter. “Care to translate?”
“Yes, Sir. We’ve created a rift between this dimension, and this world, which is a completely different dimension. Aphrael said she went through the rift, and saw our world. Apparently, the rift can’t be closed.”
“Can we go back home?”
“Yes, Sir, but it’s going to take some time.”
“How much time?”
Aphrael shrugged. “I need some help from the others. I can’t say for certain. Just stay here, I’ll sort it all out.”
Teal’c suddenly asked a question. “I am most curious to know: It is said that you altered Ehlana’s destiny to make her able to have children, though she is still infertile, and you had a lot of trouble overcoming that. Could you not repair the damage done by the poison?”
“No. The Elene God wouldn’t let me. Apparently I was meddling enough as it was.”
Carter looked thoughtful. “If only we could see if there’s something we could do with our technology. Perhaps the healing device might work.”
Danae suddenly looked hopeful. “Maybe we can arrange that.” She turned to Carter and O’Neill. “When I went through the rift, I learned a bit about where you were from. I don’t understand why the two of you won’t get together.”
“Well, there’s regulations against that, for one thing.”
She snorted. “And you think there wasn’t with Vanion and Sephrenia? They were together a long time before anyone cared to notice. I overheard a conversation between a woman named Janet and another woman named Shari. Apparently they thought it was so sad the two of you couldn’t be together. Shari said anyone with eyes could see how you felt about each other.”
O’Neill cleared his throat. “Could we talk about something else?
“Of course. The weather, maybe?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was much later. They had spent the hours since Aphrael’s revelation talking about all sorts of different things. Comparing cultures, Aphrael had started to teach Daniel Styric, and Sparhawk and O’Neill had swapped war stories. All of a sudden, the door opened, and Ehlana rushed into her husband’s arms. “It’s a girl! Alean had a girl! Oh, you should come her, she’s just beautiful!” She looked around at everyone in the room, her face and grey eyes alight. “You should all come see her. Alean would love to meet you all.”
A bit bemused, SG-1 followed the excited Queen out of the room and to the room where Alean had just given birth. A petite woman was lying in a bed, holding a tiny bundle in her arms. She raised her face as they entered, and they saw she was a very pretty doe-eyed young woman. Her face was radiant as she looked down at her child. Kalten sat beside her, with the proud father crossed with confusion look on his face. Jack recognized the look.
“Have you chosen a name, yet?” Ehlana asked.
“We’re thinking on one. We’d like to name her after Aphrael, but Aphrael is, well, you know, and Flute isn’t appropriate.” She blushed.
“Tualatora” Sparhawk supplied. Both looked at him, puzzled. “The Styric word for ‘flute’ is ‘tualatora’.”
Kalten and Alean looked down at their little girl “It’s perfect.” Alean breathed. O’Neill looked over at Danae. She was smiling.
He looked at the rest of his team. Teal’c was actually beaming, of course, he had a son himself, so he’d understand the feeling. Daniel and Carter both had identical looks on their faces. Happy and smiling, but slightly wistful. He could understand Daniel, but Carter… Maybe she wanted children of her own someday? He shook his head, and focused back on the child, who had opened her eyes, and was looking up at her mother. Then, she opened her mouth and started to cry. He remembered that sound all too well. “Maybe we should give her some privacy” He murmured to his team. They all nodded and left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was much later that night. They had all been given rooms to stay in at the palace, the VIP rooms, judging from the décor. To keep up the illusion Ehlana had decided to create, Carter and O’Neill had been given the same rooms. Carter had immediately began looking at all the rooms, whereas O’Neill had just sat on a couch, his head in his hands.
“Sir?”
He looked up to see Carter looking down at him. “Yes, Carter?”
“There’s only one bed.”
Head, meet hands again.
“But there’s an upside.”
He looked up again.
“It’s huge. We won’t have to worry about being all cramped in.”
“Oh, well, that’s just peachy.”
Carter took a deep breath. Here we go.
“We should probably get some sleep, Sir. It’s been a long day.”
“Ok, first off… I think you should just call me ‘Jack’. It might look strange, and we need to keep up Ehlana’s illusion, don’t we?”
She smiled. “Whatever you say, Jack. Anyway, I’m going to climb in. I need some sleep. Have a good night, Jack.”
“Night Sam.” He mumbled from between his hands. He wondered if he was getting a headache.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was the next morning. Jack woke to find Sam curled against him, his legs entangled in hers. He wondered if that’s what had woken him, until he heard a noise. Beside him, Sam stirred. “Uhhmm…”
“Carter.” He whispered. No response, other than her snuggling back down.
“Carter!” She came awake with a bit of a start. “Wha…? Oh, sorry Si- Jack.”
“Someone’s in here.”
Carter untangled herself from him, and got up. “It’s probably a maid or something. I’ll go check.”
Jack also got up. “I’ll come with you.”
Out in the main area, they saw a woman placing some boxes on a table, along with a platter that his nostrils told him was breakfast. She turned quickly upon hearing them, and cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry, My Lord, My Lady. I didn’t mean to wake you. The Queen told me to bring these to you” She gestured to the boxes. “And also some breakfast.”
“Thank you…” Jack left it hanging.
“Sarana. I’m one of the Queen’s maids.” Her eyes were still downcast.
“Thank you, Sarana. It’s much appreciated.”
“Is there anything else you need, My Lord?”
‘A way home?’ He thought. Instead he said, “No, thank you. We’ll be fine.”
Sarana curtsied. “My Lord, My Lady.” She turned and left the room.
Sam and Jack headed to the table. Lifting the lid on the platter, they saw bread, bacon, butter, sausages, jam, and other things associated with breakfast. “No coffee.” Carter pointed out, sounding slightly disappointed.
“I think there’s some in the ration packs. And anyway, there’s some tea here, maybe that’ll satisfy your caffeine cravings.”
She chuckled.
After they’d eaten more than was really good for them, they opened the boxes from Ehlana. Each had a note inside, saying it was to help them fit in more. In Sam’s box was a beautiful light blue dress, similar to the one Ehlana had been wearing the day before. “Oh, it’s beautiful!” She exclaimed. The fabric was a fine satin, with ribbons, and layers that swished when she moved it. Definitely an improvement on the Shavadai dress. Included were matching shoes.
Jack’s box contained tights and a weird looking top, along with soft leather boots. He held up the tights. “What the…?”
Carter looked over and laughed. “Oh, doublet and hose. Of course. At least they’re black and silver.”
“How the hell do these go on? Seriously,” He said, catching her look. “They look like panty hose.”
“I’ll help you. It takes a while to get the knack of them. Oh, I hope you aren’t wearing boxers. If so, they’ll have to go.” She said the last line with a slight wince.
“I brought briefs. I’ll go get them.”
As he headed to their room he thought that getting Carter to help him would definitely be better than having her laugh at hearing him try to put those damn things on. Thankfully, their packs had been brought to them the night before, so they had them on them. He grabbed the set of briefs, and turned around. Carter was standing behind him.
“The bed’s the easiest place to put them on on.” She explained.
“Well, can I have some privacy to change my underwear?”
“Of course.” She turned around. When he had stripped down and changed into only his briefs, he told her to turn around. At least he’d get a laugh from her embarrassment.
She turned bright red as she looked him up and down. “Ok, um, well, sit down on the edge of the, um, bed.” She stammered slightly.
He sat.
“Now, you roll them up like so.” She scrunched them up until the toes were up near the crotch. “Hold out your leg.”
He poked a leg out. She placed one side of the hose onto his foot and moved it up to his knee. “Now the other one.” She repeated the motion on the other leg. “Now stand up.”
He stood.
“Now, you pull them up like normal jeans, but just, more… stretchy.”
“Thanks Carter, that’s really descriptive.”
“Sam.” She corrected.
“What? Oh, right.” He did as she’d instructed noting as he did so what she meant by ‘stretchy’.
“How on earth do you women handle these things?”
“I prefer ones with suspenders. Just above the knee and held in place. And of course, they make you feel a little bit sexier.”
“You wear that with your dress uniform?”
“Of course.”
‘Oh God,’ He thought. ‘She’s actually enjoying this.’
“Ok, I think the doublet is pretty easy. Now, if I can have a little privacy to get into this dress…”
“Of course.” He said, noting she’d brought it in. He pulled the doublet over his head, and looked at Sam. “How do I look?”
“Like something out of Robin Hood.”
“Thanks.”
He turned and left the room, feeling a little ridiculous as he pulled on the leather boots on the couch out in the main room. He could hear what sounded like the sounds of struggle, then, “Jack, can I have some help?”
He grinned. Payback time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After helping Sam into her dress, they decided to go see Danae and Ehlana. Opening the door, they found Daniel and Teal’c also leaving their rooms, similarly attired. He couldn’t say anything for Teal’c, but Daniel looked a bit mussed. Jack nearly laughed out loud imagining Daniel trying to get his hose on. Daniel’s attire was blue, with a similar flecking to his own of red, instead of silver, and Teal’c’s was green with the same silver flecking.
“Nice outfits, huh?” He asked his team. They all laughed, a bit nervously. “Let’s go see Ehlana and Danae.”
They wandered down the corridor until they found a maid. “Excuse me,” Sam asked. “But could you direct us to the Queen’s rooms, please?”
“Of course, My Lady. Follow me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ehlana was sitting on a couch in her rooms, Danae on her lap, talking with both her daughter, and Sparhawk. She smiled when she saw them. “Come in.”
The maid excused herself, and closed the door behind her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Very well. The beds were very comfortable.”
Ehlana suddenly stood. “Oh, how silly of me. I forgot to send the cloaks.” She grabbed four boxes off a table off to one side, and opening each handed one to the person it was meant for.
“Thank you.” They all said.
“Father,” Danae said. “Don’t you think we need to do something about Sam’s hair?”
“Like what?”
“Maybe make it longer? It looks a bit strange short.”
“How do you expect me to do that?”
“Maaaagic.” She wiggled her fingers at him.
He laughed. “You didn’t ask her first.”
Danae turned to Sam. “Is it ok to make your hair long? It looks a bit strange short, and I think if it was long it would look a lot better.”
Sam thought on it. She could always cut when they got back to base, she decided. “Ok, sure.”
Sparhawk began to speak in Styric, waving his fingers as he did so. Sam felt her hair suddenly start to grow, until it reached her waist. “Long enough?” He asked his daughter. “I think so. It looks good long.” She added, with a smile.
Daniel leaned in to whisper in Sam’s ear “He just gave a formal request to Aphrael. I think that’s what Styric magic is. A request to Aphrael.”
To Daniel’s surprise, he heard Aphrael’s voice in his ear. “There’s one thousand of us.”
He shuddered at the thought of remembering all their names.
They talked for a while about various things, until Ehlana excused herself. “I’m going to check on Alean. Would you like to come, Danae?”
“Yes, Mother, but I want to ask father something first. I know the way.”
“I love you.” Ehlana said, as she swept her daughter up for a hug and a kiss.
After Ehlana had left the room, Danae’s expression turned serious. “I’ve spoken to the others. They’ve agreed to help me get you home. But there’s one thing. The only safe way we’ve found is two-way. At least we can visit each other. And I’ve done some more research, and found out how to dial, as you say, from your end, and ours. But we’ll need some time. We have to get everything ready.”
She then turned to Sam and Jack. “I need to talk to you two. Alone. Now.” She pointed to a door. “In there.”
She walked into the room, and Sam and Jack followed. Daniel and Teal’c looked at Sparhawk. He shrugged. “She’s playing matchmaker. Leave her be, she knows what she’s doing.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once in the room, which turned out to be Danae’s bedroom, she turned to face them. “We need to talk.”
She took a breath. “Shari was right. Anyone with eyes can see how you feel about each other. Vanion and Sephrenia were the same. It’s ok. If other people say it isn’t ok to be together, then be together behind their backs. Vanion and Sephrenia did.” She frowned slightly “Of course, they didn’t hide it so well. Vanion kept slipping up. But anyway, do you get what I’m saying?”
“Yes.” Jack answered.
“Yes.” Sam answered.
“Good, than it’s all settled!” Aphrael grinned, and held up her arms to Jack for a hug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She’s playing matchmaker?” Daniel exclaimed. “On those two? Oh God.” He groaned.
“I concur, Daniel Jackson.”
“What’s the matter?” Sparhawk asked.
“Oh, nothing much. Just that those two have been fighting themselves for a while now.” ‘I just hope I win the pool.’ Daniel thought.
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Author's Notes: A little longer, a little weirder, and still... more time! This kept bugging me and bugging me... the chapter would not finish! But here it is. Complete with... pantyhose!!!! Please, please please review!
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 ]