Fic: Ambit (Scully, Part 6/6)
And finally, the End!
The interrogation that follows is frustrating to Scully and Mulder, but they are familiar with the process and able to see through Rastin and his colleagues' techniques. Tellan, too, must have had at least secondhand experience with this kind of questioning, although his response is mostly to maintain a dignified silence. Thus, it is at least as frustrating to the soldiers as it is to the detainees. Part of this, of course, is due to the refusal of Mulder, Scully, or Tellan to agree that they have done anything to merit suspicion, much less arrest.
“But what was your purpose in coming here to Elis?” Commander Rastin insists again, after nearly a half hour in which they all have told their stories. Both Mulder and Scully have left out several details, including the rather large facts of Mulder's having been a seer, and the tail end of how Scully had gotten Mulder away from Esana, and other things that felt too personal. Tellan, who was questioned last, has taken his cue from them and kept it to other relevant details, including the custody argument but not anything he might have heard about the attempted attack near the Clan's border. Only the barest facts have been given about Esana's raid on Tith, as well.
Now, finally, Mulder's patience seems to have worn out. “Look, Commander. Both Scully and I have told you, we don't know how we got here. We'd like to know, which is part of why we were reading the village's records today. Do you have any legal reason to keep us here?”
The Commander stares at him. “I have the authority to keep you here until I am convinced you are not a threat.”
“And how much more will that take?” Mulder leaves off any kind of respectful title, which Scully can see irritates the man still further. “I don't think anyone here has heard anything about us being a danger to anyone.”
“You cannot just come into Elis, or blunder into the clans, without a knowledge of our customs! It's stupidity like that that will get you captured and enslaved,” one of the other (as yet unnamed) soldiers spits at Mulder. “And that led to danger to citizens of Elis, in this case.”
Scully sees Mulder flinch just slightly at the man's mention of enslavement, and she wants nothing more than to belt the soldier across the face. “How dare you accuse Mulder of any wrongdoing?”
“Lieutenant Brok,” the commander says warningly. He turns back to the detainees. “Since you insist that your... appearance in this world was an accident, and you had no control over where you appeared, there cannot have been any neglect or oversight on your part, Mulder.”
“I appreciate that,” Mulder says through gritted teeth.
His sarcasm is not entirely lost on Rastin, who visibly clenches his own jaw before going on. “But my lieutenant does have a good point. Elis is a peaceful nation, and the Council generally does not have to worry about its people acting unpredictably. But you, all three of you, in fact-”
“We're different, and that's bad?” Mulder interrupts. “Wonderful.”
Rastin stands. “That's not what I said. And do not interrupt me! I am in charge of this interview, and I am not used to dealing with this kind of insubordination.”
“Yeah, well, Commander, I have news for you: as you just said, we're not citizens of Elis. I'm not your subordinate,” Mulder snaps. “Neither is Scully. Tellan, maybe you want to become a citizen - if that's even allowed.”
Tellan speaks in a careful tone that nonetheless shows his own aggravation. “I have felt drawn to people like the villagers here. Their way of life would be a good fit for me, I believe, if I am permitted to go back to it.”
Rastin's eyes have widened, and he appears to disregard Tellan's statement completely. “Are you saying you refuse to acknowledge my authority? The authority of the Council?”
“Commander Rastin,” Scully cuts in, before Mulder can make another inflammatory remark, “we're simply saying that we've broken no law, as far as we can gather, so this interview-” here she places an ironic emphasis to show just what she thinks of the man's euphemism- “is a waste of everyone's time. Certainly yours and your troops'.” She stands, fed up with the entire situation. “I don't know about my companions, but I think I'll be leaving now.” She can feel the adrenaline pumping through her system, and finds that she almost wants the soldiers to call her bluff. After all, she knows from experience that if she pays enough attention, even their guns don't have to be a problem.
Mulder, who by now is smiling, joins her. “You coming, Tellan?”
Tellan is about to reply when the Commander gets over his shock. “All of you, sit down!” He puts his hand to his holster, and his men do the same.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Mulder says, glancing at Scully and still smirking. “You know we have two healers here, right? Well, maybe you haven't been - privileged to see what happens when you try to attack an angry healer. I have, though. And let me tell you, I was half-blind at the time, and it was still impressive.”
Scully feels color rise to her cheeks, but does not allow her composure to be shaken. Tellan looks at the two of them, and stands to walk the few feet over to them. There is a pause, during which the two junior officers have paled noticeably, and continue to glance at Rastin for guidance, hands still on their weapons.
Rastin swallows. Then he sighs and lowers his hand, as does Brok and the other man. “Very well. I have no wish to provoke a battle.”
“Yeah, especially one you won't win,” Mulder remarks.
He reddens slightly but lets it go. “Healer Dana, Mulder, might I assume that you're trying to get back to your home world?”
“That's our plan,” Scully confirms.
“Good,” Rastin nods. “See that you do. If there are anymore incidents worthy of a report from Larsal before you leave, I will return with a larger force, and then, healers or no, there will be a... confrontation.”
“And am I to be allowed to stay?” Tellan asks.
“This village deserves a healer,” Scully adds.
Rastin considers for a moment. “Again, if there are any further incidents with Clan Esana, I will be forced to intervene.”
“I can deal with the Clan Leader if he chooses to risk another attack,” Tellan says firmly.
“You may go. And you can tell the villagers that we will be leaving to give our report to the Council before the day is over,” Rastin says.
As the three of them finally leave the building, Mulder leans over to speak into Scully's ear. “It's too bad, Scully. I wouldn't have minded seeing you work your kung-fu again one more time before it's gone.” When she raises an eyebrow, he backpedals quickly. “Not that you don't have plenty of kung-fu anyway, no matter what world you're in.”
She laughs, releasing the tension that has been building in her all day. “Thanks, Mulder,” she says drily, in reality quite pleased. “That's so sweet of you.”
~~~~~~
Two days later, late in the morning, Scully and Mulder say their farewells to Tannen's family in the hopes that their plans for the day will be successful. They sit around the table, after the light conversation of breakfast has faded. All of them have been preparing for this - it's not a shock to anyone - but no one seems to want to actually begin the process.
Finally, Axel breaks the pause. “Mulder, Healer Dana, we have all been honored and pleased to know you.”
“It's been a privilege to have you here,” Faryn adds, nodding.
Alun speaks, too, looking gloomy. “It won't be the same without you.”
Scully smiles. “Thanks. And thank you all, so much, for your hospitality and kindness.” She hopes they know how much it has meant to have a home here, even when things have been so foreign.
“Of course,” Tannen says.
Mulder exchanges a few words with each family member, too. He shakes Axel's hand last. “Thanks for showing me the good side of being a seer. Take care of your village.” Axel nods. He looks touched.
Tysan is out on an excursion with some of the boys from Tith, they learn as they prepare to head out, but Mulder has spoken to him a few more times in the past few days. They both make sure to pass on their farewells to him through Alun, nonetheless. Then, at last, it is time to go. Tellan, who has been keeping discreetly aside throughout their goodbyes, joins them as they set out.
It only takes about twenty minutes of travel before Scully and Tellan stand in the rocky pass where Scully first found herself in this world. Soon, Scully is starting to feel very silly. Mulder is watching, and so far he hasn't made any comments, but she still feels ridiculous standing there, using her healing vision to stare at nothing. “Anything?” she asks Tellan.
“Nothing,” is his dispiriting answer.
“Maybe if you try looking closer, at a deeper level?” Mulder suggests.
She tries not to sigh. “Yeah,” she says shortly. Of course this has occurred to her. But it's hard to focus more strongly on something that is for all intents and purposes not there - namely, the air. They aren't even completely sure that this is the right place, although Scully has tried her best to remember (the area where Mulder appeared is, of course, out of the question to revisit).
She finally stops and returns to normal vision. Her eyes are starting to feel tired, and she thinks she might get a headache soon. “This isn't working,” she says, rubbing her hand across her eyes and sitting down on a nearby rock.
Tellan blinks and makes the same gesture. “I am starting to feel that this Healer Jass must have had some other gift, or that his healing gift was of another sort, at least.”
Scully closes her eyes and concentrates on relaxing the muscles she has been straining. It helps, but she knows she's just going to have to start it up again.
“Tired, Scully?” Mulder asks, coming up beside her and touching her shoulder.
“Just my eyes,” she says, opening them to look up at him. “It's like I've been staring at a computer screen all day. It's better now, but if neither Tellan nor I can find this thing, we'll just keep wasting our energy and time.”
Tellan's faintly puzzled look at the first part of what Scully says changes to a resigned expression. “Well, I am ready to try again if you are.”
They both stand again, and Scully's vision switches over once more. She tries to remember the elements and compounds that the air is made of - nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, water - thinking that it might help her to see at a closer range. Still, for a full minute, she accomplishes nothing but beginning the eye strain again.
Just as she is starting to think she needs another break, however, something shifts and there are suddenly hundreds of tiny objects floating in front of her. She cries out, stumbling a little at no longer seeing the rocks and sky in front of her.
“Scully?” she hears Mulder ask, though it is strangely muffled.
“Um,” she says, and her voice is also oddly muted, “I think I'm... looking deeper. It's disorienting.” She pauses for a moment, searching. “I still don't see any hole, or door, or whatever.”
Tellan speaks. “How? That is, if you can even offer an explanation.”
“I was focusing on what makes up the air, trying to see that,” Scully says, not sure how much detail Tellan would grasp.
There is another pause, and then Tellan makes a startled exclamation of his own. “I see what you meant, Healer Dana. This is... very strange.”
“Okay, good,” Mulder says.
Scully spares a thought of compassion for him, stuck watching with nothing else to do to help. “Any sign of the portal?” she asks Tellan.
“I...” He trails off. “Perhaps I do see something! These... pieces of the air that seem to be my left, they're moving much faster, as if they are going somewhere. I cannot tell where.”
Scully attempts to turn to her left, toward the other healer, although the lack of visual referents is still confusing. “I don't... wait! I think I see it, too.” What she has taken for molecules, or some small component of the air, in any case, do seem to be moving particularly fast in one area.
“What is it like?” Mulder asks.
“It's like the molecules, if that's what I'm seeing, are getting sucked into something,” Scully tells him. “This could be it, Mulder.”
“So, how does it open?” he wonders.
“It seems like it would be difficult to do, looking at it this closely.” She frowns. “Tellan, don't lose it. I'm going to try to go back to normal healing vision now that I know where it is, and maybe I can still see it.” She pulls back slowly. Somewhere in between her usual depth and the more extreme one they've just discovered, she pauses. “I think I see where it would open. It's... a little above you, and to the left, Tellan.”
He turns slightly, but she can tell his perspective will make it hard to focus in the right place. She ponders for a moment. “Do you see it?”
“I'm afraid I do not see more than I have been seeing,” he replies.
That is the response she has expected. Finally, after some awkward maneuvering, including Scully receiving permission to position Tellan's arm so that he points where she has been looking, he is looking right at it. “It does not look much like any door I have ever seen,” he says.
“Can you describe it?” Mulder asks, ever-curious, speaking for the first time in a few minutes.
“It looks more like... a mouth, I suppose,” he finally says. “Barely open at all.”
“I can kind of see that,” Scully agrees.
“So, we just have to get it to open,” Mulder states. “And by 'we', I of course mean you two get to try some 'open sesame' magic.”
Scully spares her partner a smile, although she can't turn to look at him. “Sorry to leave you out of this, Mulder. And yes, I guess we just try to focus on opening...” She trails off, suiting mental actions to words. After a minute, she begins to notice pressure similar to hers, coming from another source. She figures it must be Tellan, although she doesn't have anything to judge it against to be sure. Yet it somehow reminds her of him, in a way she would not be able to describe if asked.
Even with them working together, knowing that this must be it, nothing seems to be happening for several long minutes. Scully begins to wonder if there is actually any way to make this portal open, or if it might just open at random intervals - in which case, she and Mulder might be stuck here.
“Anything?” says Mulder.
“Not that I can tell,” is Scully's dispirited reply. This whole day is seeming like an exercise in futility. She is about to suggest a break when suddenly something gives. The loss of resistance to her pressure almost makes her lose her balance, and she gasps.
“You felt that, Healer Dana?” Tellan asks.
She nods. The mouth, or door, or whatever, is starting to open, and she tells Mulder so. Interestingly, though she vaguely expects a vacuum, nothing in the surroundings acts as if the opening is having that effect. She continues to focus on widening the opening, since it is certainly not big enough (and rather too high off the path, she notes with some dismay) for any person to get through. There is resistance again, and the process is hard enough work that she also notes the beginnings of a headache. She is certain she would not have been able to do this without Tellan's help.
And then, just as she has finished that thought, there is another sudden drop in resistance, and it is as if the bottom lip of the mouth falls open. This time, there is a small answering breeze that carries a few dead leaves toward the portal, and Mulder lets out a whoop. “I see it now!”
“What does it look like to you?” Scully wants to know.
“Just a sort of... shimmering spot in the air in front of us, like Axel's book said,” Mulder explains. “I might not notice it if I weren't looking for it.”
Tellan speaks up again. “I do not know how you feel about this, Healer Dana, but to me it feels as though the portal wants to close again.”
Scully considers. Though the final opening had been smooth enough, it does feel like it would rather be closed. “I agree. Mulder, looks like we've got to go. And I guess you'll be going first. Tellan and I will keep it open until I go after you.”
Mulder sounds worried, and he gets closer to her. “Are you sure, Scully? That sounds a little risky.”
She grimaces. “I know. But I don't think we have any other option.”
Mulder sighs. “All right. Tellan...” he pauses. “I appreciate what you've done for us, for both of us. As far as I'm concerned, you've paid your debt. And Tith will have a good healer.”
Sounding not unmoved, Tellan returns, “It has been my honor to know you, Mulder. I wish you a safe journey to your home.”
“Thanks. And, uh, tell everyone at Tannen's house thanks again, from us.” His voice is nearer to her briefly. “See you on the other side, Scully.”
“Good luck, Mulder. I'll be right behind you,” she says, and feels him clasp her hand. It is disorienting to watch him approach the portal, an out-of-focus figure that she nonetheless would know anywhere. He takes one more step and disappears, and she has to fight to keep her focus. But she does keep holding on. “Healer Tellan,” she says, and it is probably the first time she has addressed him as such, “I'm glad my first impression of you has changed. I agree with Mulder that Tith is in good hands for its healer. Thank you for all your help.”
“You are welcome, Healer Dana. It has certainly been my privilege to know you, as well. May your journey be safe.”
She starts forward. This is going to be tricky. It doesn't feel like it should be possible to walk while holding something down to the ground, and it takes a lot of concentration. When she trips because of not being able to see her surroundings in the normal way, the mouth of the portal wobbles and they almost lose it right there. “Sorry,” she mutters. But the distance is short, and she reaches it. “I'll let go in just a second. Are you ready?”
“I am,” Tellan confirms.
She takes the final step, simultaneously letting go and telling him that she has. In an instant, she has switched over to normal vision, just in time to see a final glimpse of that world before everything flashes dark, and then she is standing in the middle of her apartment with a pounding headache.
She takes a breath, looks at the clock, and then realizes she doesn't know what day it is. It's 6:23 PM, though, whatever that means. She picks up her phone and dials Mulder, frowning when his home phone doesn't pick up. His cell phone goes to voicemail, too, and now she's alarmed. “Come on, Mulder, where'd you go?” she asks.
Scully allows herself the time to take some Tylenol, and then dials his cell again. This time, he answers. “Hey, Scully, I guess you made it through all right.”
“Yeah, fine. Where were you, Mulder?”
He snorts a laugh. “I ended up outside my building. Thing is, I had to ask my landlord to let me into my apartment, since dimensional travel doesn't seem to include things like keys. Why, where'd you come out?”
“Right inside my apartment,” she says, smiling.
He lets out a dramatic sigh. “Once again, you get all the luck.”
“I guess I do,” she agrees. “So, Mulder, you have any plans for dinner?”
“Well, Scully, I believe I'm free. You asking me on a date?” At her amused confirmation, he continues, “Sounds good. I can pick you up... and then maybe we can both try to figure out what day it is and how much trouble we're going to be in with Skinner.”
Scully thinks about their boss's probable reaction to their disappearance and has to chuckle. “This will be a new excuse, even for us.”
“What, you don't think he'll go for the old, 'Sorry, we just accidentally slipped into another dimension' ploy?”
“I look forward to finding out,” she says, only half-joking. After all they've been through recently, the AD's incredulity and annoyance is hardly enough to worry her. She and Mulder will face it together, as always.
Even besides that, Scully reflects as she prepares for a quick shower in water without a trace of raki in it, the exciting prospects she and Mulder have in front of them must outweigh any repercussions of being gone. She's not looking forward to whatever kind of detox she'll have to go through, of course. Once that's over with, though, the two of them can finally think about a family with as much assurance of success as anyone has. And that is truly something miraculous.
~~~~~~
And once Mulder's POV is posted, that will really be the End - although there might be some more Authors' Notes.