Daddy's Little Girl -- SG-1 - Part the Five
Title: Daddy's Little Girl
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, and original characters
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: Daniel and DJ learn the truth about who she is, and make progress in the struggle to understand the puzzle of Merlin.
Part the One, Part the Two, Part the Three, and Part the Four
One more day proved to be a better option anyway, as the day didn’t dawn so much as crawl from night into downpour. Daniel and Teal’c waited for DJ and Sam in the front entrance of the house, their boots clean and polished better than when they had left the SGC. A young man only slightly older than DJ had introduced himself as Ashen, the Chancellor’s son, then excused himself to make sure that their preparations had been made.
Daniel was eager to get started. He had found it difficult to sleep after he and DJ had finally parted the night before, having spent an hour or more discussing the possibilities that may await them in this library. Sam had requested permission to study the architecture in their absence, to which the Chancellor had offered the accompaniment of his daughter, Reva.
“Carter, come in.” Daniel started as his radio came to life, then again as he got the echo of Sam’s voice from the radio and her entrance to the room.
“Go ahead.”
“Just checking in. How’s things.”
“Fine, sir. Daniel and DJ are going to visit the library. I’m staying around the village to look at their buildings.”
“Sounds like fun.” Mitchell paused, then spoke again. “Major Pierce and I will be joining you in the village. We have a base camp set up here and the rest of SG-4 will be maintaining it while we look around.”
“Understood.”
Sam lifted her eyebrows at Daniel as DJ slipped into her boots. “You sure you guys won’t need me?”
Daniel chuckled. “You do your thing Sam, DJ and I will do ours.”
“What’s Teal’c going to do?” DJ asked, looking up at the Jaffa with a grin.
“I shall do what I do.” Teal’c responded, the faintest smile on his face.
“And that is…?” Daniel said, looking at his friend.
“I shall accompany you.” Teal’c said. “I was directed by O’Neill to keep you safe.”
“What about me?” Sam asked, looking slightly hurt.
Teal’c bowed slightly in her direction. “O’Neill said that you could take care of yourself, but Daniel Jackson tends to find trouble, and that trait may be hereditary.” Teal’c winked at DJ who laughed quietly.
Daniel sighed exasperated. “I do not always find trouble.” Daniel said. “I haven’t gotten hurt in months.”
“And it’s been a year since you died last.” Sam added with a snicker.
“Nearly three years since you last found yourself married.” Teal’c contributed, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, but wasn’t it just a few weeks ago you ended up in a cell when we were supposed to be working out a trade agreement?”
“That wasn’t my fault.” Daniel said, shaking his head. The others laughed and eventually he did as well. “Not really, anyway,” he said to DJ. Ashen reappeared with a bow, wrapped in a cloak that looked mostly waterproof.
“We are prepared. I have cloaks for each of you, and horses for the bulk of the journey. We will have to walk the last small way, as domestics are not permitted on the grounds.”
“We’re ready too, I guess.” Daniel said, looking to DJ for confirmation. She nodded and finished tying her boots.
“My sister will be with you shortly, Dr. Carter. She was delayed this morning with other duties.”
DJ translated, then looked at Sam. “How are you going to do with the language barrier?”
Sam shrugged. “Hand signals? I’ll work something out. You guys have fun.”
Daniel and DJ fell in behind Ashen, with Teal’c behind them. They didn’t head out the front entrance, but down a corridor that was darker than the rest of the house they’d seen. Eventually they emerged on the side of the house, under a canopy where servants waited with the promised cloaks and horses.
The day was cool and wet, and the horses made sloppy, sucking noises as they marched out a side gate that led them directly out of the village and onto a path that led east toward the building they had assumed was a temple. Okay, so Daniel had assumed it was a temple. DJ had expressed doubts, as the people these were supposedly descended from seldom had buildings for sacred purposes. They were more likely to have stone circles and sacred groves.
The rain lightened to a constant drizzle as they made their way into the trees, and Daniel was grateful for the borrowed cloak, which was warmer than their standard issue rain gear. The journey was longer than he imagined, through the trees and back into open space as they climbed the hill. They could see the Stargate, several white tents in the space outside the circle of stones, and two tiny dots that must be Mitchell and Pierce.
Then Ashen was calling a halt and dismounting. Daniel and the others followed suit, handing off the horses to the servant who had accompanied him. “We go by foot from here. There will be hot tea and an opportunity to clean and rest ourselves once we reach the library.”
It was a half-hour’s walk, through more trees, then into the clearing where the building rose out of the muddy ground. The size of it surprised him, the white stone that seemed to be the native building material rising up easily three stories. A wide porch surrounded the sides and front of the building, wide, casual steps leading up to it. The large double doors were open, spilling soft golden light out into the dismal gray of the day. Several servants appeared as they approached, each holding a towel and slippers. Ashen led them up the stairs and stopped in front of one of the servants. The man bowed, handed Ashen the towel, then knelt to remove the young man’s shoes.
Daniel followed his example, rubbing his face and head with the towel to remove the worst of the rain. Once his boots had been removed and replaced with soft, warm slippers, he was allowed to step into the building, landing in an open lobby that wasn’t dissimilar from the Chancellor’s home. A roaring fire provided the warm glow that permeated the room, and chairs braced either side of it, Ashen already claiming one. Daniel followed, welcoming the warmth. He hadn’t realized how cold the rain had made him.
As DJ and Teal’c joined him, two servants appeared with trays filled with steaming tea pots and plates of biscuits. It was nice, but Daniel wanted to get to work. He could tell with a glance that DJ did as well. He sipped at his tea for a few moments, trying to decide his best course of action.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Ashen smiled. “You would rather be looking through old books than sitting here by the fire, I gather,” he said. “Come, I will show you.” He set aside his tea and rose, DJ and Daniel right behind him.
“I will remain and drink my tea.” Teal’c said.
DJ snickered. “What if the big, bad books attack us?”
“Then you will yell, and I will come to your aid.” Teal’c said, though the smile belayed the dry tone with which he said it.
Ashen led them through a door and down a hall. “This is the index room. All of our volumes are recorded here.” The room was filled with long tables stacked with record books. “The earliest are here.” He pointed to the left side of the row. “They progress to the right. The last book contains the records of the most recent volumes, from Merlin’s last visit here.”
“Last visit?”
Ashen smiled. “He lived here, and one day returned to his people. He returns, from time to time. He was last here 200 years ago.” He touched the book with reverence then looked up again. “The volumes themselves lie below us and above us.” He moved then to a door that opened to a spiraling staircase that ascended the levels above them and descended into the depths of the hill. They went down a single level and stepped into a cavernous room lined with shelves. “All the book chambers are similarly adorned. I will leave you to your search. If you have need of anything, I will be available. Just send a servant to find me.”
“Thank you.” Daniel said absently, his hands already rising to run reverently over the books nearest him.
DJ didn’t even wait for Ashen to leave the room before she had one open. She navigated to the nearest chair without even looking up, her mouth moving slightly as she read. “I think we should probably take a look at their indexing and see if we can get a head start.” Daniel said. DJ nodded but didn’t look up. “DJ?”
“Hmmm?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Index, head start. Yep. You gotta see this.”
“What is it?”
“I think it’s the Vedas, though translated into really old English.”
He frowned and came to stand beside her. “That’s…that is…so not what we’re looking for.”
She grinned up at him. “No, but fun!”
He took the book from her and put it back on the shelf. “Fun later, work now.”
DJ had lost track of the time long before she realized that the dialect in the books she was sifting through had changed slightly. She looked up, moving books until she could see Daniel. He was likewise hidden behind a stack of books, his eyes skimming over text.
So far she’d skimmed through books that covered such diverse topics as religion, biology and several volumes of folk remedies, poetry and a treatise on war that had fascinated her. In front of her now was the first that could be considered a history. Most of it was very similar to that which she already knew about early life on the British Isles.
“Aha.” Daniel said suddenly, licking his lips as his fingers began sliding over the text.
“Aha?”
“Arthur.”
“Aha.” She stood and stretched before coming around the table to peer over his shoulder. “And in those days Arthur consulted with Merlin in the forest for a day and a night, and Merlin took his leave in the small hours of the day, taking with him the last vestiges of the Old Ones and all was silent for three days.”
They looked at each other. “Okay, that’s abstract.” DJ said with a sigh.
“Yeah.” Daniel closed the book. “This is frustrating.”
DJ picked up the next book in Daniel’s stack. It had no writing on the cover or spine, but it’s leather cover was in better shape that many of the others of the same era. She opened it, then frowned. “Well, here’s a first.”
“Hmmm?”
“A book I can’t read.” She held the book for Daniel to see. “Does this look like a language you know?”
Daniel’s brow wrinkled as he squinted and took the book from her. “It’s Ancient.”
“Huh.” She looked over his shoulder while he read.
“This could be useful.” Daniel flipped the pages. “It could-Oh.” He looked up at her, surprise and hope vying for room on his face. “It’s a journal…it talks about the ones left behind.”
“The Ori?”
Daniel shrugged. “It will take some time to translate it to know for sure.”
“Daniel Jackson.”
Both Daniel and DJ jumped and looked up to see Teal’c in the door way. DJ recovered first, crossing her arms with a smile on her face. “No book attacks yet, Teal’c.”
“Indeed. Ashen has indicated that there is food prepared should you wish to join us.”
“Food is good.” Daniel said, setting the book down and pushing his chair back. “We could use the break.”
As they emerged from the index room into the main sitting room of the ground floor, DJ was surprised to see the weak, late afternoon sun out the large windows. “How late is it?”
“Well past midday, Dr. Moore.” Teal’c answered, showing them to the table that had been set up while they had been down below.
“Are you ever going to call me DJ?”
Daniel chuckled. “Don’t count on it.”
Teal’c held the chair for DJ and took a seat beside her as Ashen bustled in followed by a handful of servants carrying food. A steaming stew filled with something not unlike potatoes and a meat that tasted a good deal like lamb was served with a hearty bread. Daniel’s stomach rumbled in response and DJ smiled. “My mother once told me that you could go days without eating unless someone else suggested food.”
Daniel smiled, remember the nights Colleen had smuggled food into the library so that he would actually eat. “I forget sometimes, when I’m busy.”
“I have often observed that O’Neill is particularly skilled in reminding you, Daniel Jackson.”
Daniel blushed a little and cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s just Jack being bossy.”
“Are you finding what you are looking for?” Ashen asked as silence fell between them.
“Starting to,” Daniel said. “Maybe you could give us a little more to go on. Tell us about Merlin?”
“What do you wish to know?”
“Well, you said that he returns?”
“From time to time. He came here with the first settlers of our world, from your own. He disappeared after ensuring the safety of the people. He was gone for many years. When he returned he brought with him great Knights and they built this place for his work. After several years the Knights went away, through the gate, and Merlin followed shortly after. He returned every 50 or 100 years and brought with him books and people and he would take an apprentice who would study with him for as long as he remained with us.”
“And he was last here 200 years ago?”
Ashen nodded. “It is said that he would not return, that it had become too difficult for him to continue his work. He disappeared on the morning of the Spring festival and has not been seen again.”
“Maybe I should take a look at the stuff from his last visit.” DJ offered. “If we work from both ends we might meet somewhere in the middle.”
Daniel nodded, then looked to Teal’c. “Any word from Sam or Mitchell?”
Teal’c set down his bowl and nodded. “Indeed. Col. Carter has found some interesting information regarding the technology of the village and Col. Mitchell is apparently teaching the children of the town a game.”
“You really don’t have to stay here with us, Teal’c. We’re probably going to be all night, maybe most of the day tomorrow.”
“I find it peaceful here.” Teal’c countered.
“Suit yourself.” Daniel finished off his bowl of stew and stood. “Not that I want to seem anti-social or anything, but I should get back.”
“Me too.” DJ followed him, though she stopped in the index room while he headed for the stairs.
“Let me know if you find anything.” Daniel said as she flipped open the record and started perusing it.
“I will.”
Daniel could hear his name being whispered, teasing him from his sleep. The book in his hand hung precariously, heavily pulling against the grip that kept it perched on his lap. He inhaled sharply and looked around. He was alone, but could swear he heard his name. He put the book back on the table and went to the stairs, listening again.
It was quiet, and since he could use the exercise to wake himself up, he climbed the stairs from the second level below ground, up past the index room and up the final three floors. He almost ran into DJ as she emerged, also sleepy, from the room into the stairwell. She yawned and shook her head. “Did you call me?”
“No, I thought you called me.” There it was again. Daniel glanced at the final stairs, that presumably emerged atop the building. He looked at DJ. Together they moved to the stairs, and up.
The roof was surrounded by half walls, open to the sky and from the western side they could see out over the village, the fields and out into the stone circle. In fact, it seemed they were lined up specifically with the entrance to the cave. Sunrise was still hours away, but the sky full of stars and one of the biggest moons Daniel had ever seen shed enough light that they could make out the dark masses of the standing stones. Then, in the dark of the cave a soft light, swirling and tendril like, familiar, though it took Daniel a moment to place it.
“What is that?” DJ asked breathlessly.
“I can’t be positive, but it looks like an Ascended, an Ancient.” He crossed his arms and stared, uncertain if he was curious, or angry.
“I thought they didn’t interfere.”
Daniel sighed. “From what I’ve been reading that isn’t always true, or wasn’t. From what I know of my time among them they’re currently pretty strict.”
“So…why here? Why now?”
Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. But it looks like we’re going to find out.” They watched as the glowing figure emerged from the cave and began moving toward them. It moved steadily, and for a long moment Daniel got the impression it was Oma DeSalla, though he’d last seen her engaging the partially ascended Anubis in a battle that would keep them both occupied forever.
As the figure came closer he could tell it wasn’t Oma, though there was still some familiarity about it as it swirled around them several times before settling, first into a bundle of energy, then a slowly emerging face. DJ grabbed Daniel’s hand and he glanced at her sharply. There were tears in her eyes and her grip was almost painful. Daniel looked back to the Ancient, now appearing mostly human.
“Mom.” DJ choked, reaching for Daniel now with her other hand. Daniel pried his hand free and slipped his arm around her back for comfort and support.
“Colleen?”
She smiled. “Hello Daniel, DJ.”
“I’m a little confused.” DJ choked out, tears streaming down her face.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” Daniel said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.
She came a step closer. “I can explain, though it will take us all too long to do it conventionally.”
Daniel nodded, familiar with what she was proposing. DJ however wasn’t and just looked at him. “They have a way of sharing information that is much faster. It isn’t painful, but it can be disturbing.”
Colleen moved closer, her hand raising up to not quite touch DJ’s face. “I don’t have long before I have to go.”
DJ straightened up and inhaled deeply. “What do I do?”
Colleen smiled. “So brave. Just close your eyes, I’ll do the rest. Daniel, move closer.”
Daniel moved so that his face was only centimeters from DJs and closed his eyes. In seconds he could feel the warm glow surround them, and he opened his eyes to find them surrounded by soft grey clouds, instantly aware of more than he could have dreamed.
It was over nearly as fast as it began. Daniel felt his stomach lurch as she released them, and his arm tightened around DJ as her knees buckled. “That is all I dare give you for now. In a few days I will return. Meet me in the circle, in the cave. There is so much more.”
“Wait!” DJ called as Colleen’s body slowly vanished into the swirling energy of her true form. “Mom!”
“Three days, DJ. I’ll be back.” She smiled, then disappeared over the wall. Just like that, she was gone.
DJ turned to him with a tear stained face. He opened his arms and she came, burying her head into his shoulder. For a long time he held her and sorted through the new information. It was an assortment of personal memories and information and important facts regarding the Ori, the Ancients and the artifacts they had found in Glastonbury.
He had thought himself past the point of being shocked by personal revelations anymore, but he hadn’t been prepared for the truth about his daughter. The canvas of his entire life had just been repainted. Colleen had descended on earth as a young girl. By the time he had met her she had forgotten all but the most basic elements of her mission there, her draw to the legends of Arthur and Merlin, intuition that served her well in the field. As she lay dying, Oma had come for her, as had been promised from the beginning.
Oma, and the others who followed her, and, he now realized, who she followed, had sent her to find one of their own, one who had reason to hide from the others. Just like Daniel and DJ, they searched for Merlin and Arthur.
DJ stirred in his arms and he stepped back a little. “You okay?”
She nodded shakily, one hand wiping at the tears. “I…I wasn’t ready for that.”
“Me either.” Daniel touched her face with a soft smile.
“I don’t mean just seeing her.”
“I know.”
“I-I’m not even sure what to say.”
“Let it process. It’s going to take time.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance and Daniel took her hand. “Let’s get back to work. Some of the information she gave us should help.”
She nodded and followed as he lead her to the stairs. The new knowledge was swimming around in her head…memories of people and places she had never known vied for attention alongside the new understandings of her own memories.
She didn’t really understand the whole Ascension thing, though Daniel had explained it. Until tonight it had been information she had filed away in the “Accepter, but not Understood” file in her brain. Tonight, watching grey-white tendrils of light and energy coalesce into her mother had brought it back to the front.
Daniel left her where he had found her and she returned to the books she had abandoned when she’d heard her name being called. Of course, everthi8ng was different now. History and myth she had thought she’d known had changed, and the books spread out across the table suddenly had new meaning.
She lifted one, a journal purported to be a record of Merlin’s last sojourn among these people. Her eyes skimmed the page. If Merlin had been here only 200 years before, where had he gone? Why hadn’t he returned as he had in times past? What secrets was he keeping from even his own people?
The words in the book were hand written, a variation of the local Gaelic dialect. Her translation was a bit spotty and so far it had yielded very little of value. The first part of the book was filled with a recap of the history of the people coming to the planet.
She looked up, her eyes darting around the table until they fell on a similar book. It date to nearly 100 years prior to the one in her hand. It too included a recap of the history of the people who had come to this planet. She picked it up and laid the two side by side. Her eyes shifted back and forth between them, comparing the handwriting, the language, the style. She flipped them both back to the first page. The beginnings of a theory began to form. She stood and searched the shelves around her for the journal which dated to the next visitation back, then the next.
DJ cleared a space on the table and opened all four books to their first pages. Four distinctly different handwriting styles, four subtly different dialects. She darted out to the stairwell and leaned over the railing. “Daniel!” she called, unable to keep the note of excitement out of her voice. The name echoed down the metal stairs and Daniel’s face appeared below her. “Come here. I think I found something.” She waved her hand to encourage him, then moved back to stand in front of the books. When Daniel appeared breathlessly beside her a few minutes later, she touched the book closest to her. “Look at these and tell me what you see.”
Daniel pursed his lips as he skimmed the pages. He couldn’t translate all of it, but he picked out words…very similar words. “Four books telling basically the same story?”
“Yes, all supposedly written by Merlin…but each one is written in a different hand, with differences in the language, minor changes in the telling. If they were all written by one man…”
“Why the differences.” Daniel finished for her. “And, for that matter, why is the first one written in Ancient, while these aren’t.”
“You can almost see the evolution of the language.” DJ said.
Daniel flipped through the nearest book…then picked it up. “What’s this?” He squinted at the page, then tilted the book for her to see the lower right hand corner of the page. A gate symbol was scribed neatly almost as if it were a page number. DJ quickly flipped the other three books to their last pages. All four bore different symbols.
“That’s weird.” DJ picked up the third journal, running her finger over a phrase a few times.
“What is?”
“Prometheus.”
“What?”
“This…And in all things I leave now to Prometheus, and return unto him the work he first began, until the time I am free of this mortal veil.”
“Prometheus?”
She passed the book off to him and reached for another, biting her lip as she rushed the translation through her head. “The time has come and I pass all I have found to Saraswati, for the fruition of knowledge.”
She looked to Daniel, as he put down the Prometheus book and ran his eyes over the final page of the other one he held. “Enki.”
“So we’ve got Greece, India, Sumeria and England. Want to bet there are more?”
Two hours later, DJ and Daniel had a collection of the journals, fourteen symbols and seven names, seven cultures of ancient earth. Benzai-ten of Japan, Okasta of the Cherokee, and Chih-Yu of China rounded out the list of names.
“A combination of magicians, and patrons of knowledge and wisdom.” Daniel mused, looking at their list. “And…a bunch of gate symbols…with a nearly endless combination of possible addressed.”
DJ dropped into her seat, rubbing at her eyes. “My head hurts…and we’re well out of the are of my expertise.”
Daniel exhaled slowly. “Mine too. Let’s take a break…see if Ashen has any insight.”
“And food.” DJ agreed, looking up at him. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, and original characters
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: Daniel and DJ learn the truth about who she is, and make progress in the struggle to understand the puzzle of Merlin.
Part the One, Part the Two, Part the Three, and Part the Four
One more day proved to be a better option anyway, as the day didn’t dawn so much as crawl from night into downpour. Daniel and Teal’c waited for DJ and Sam in the front entrance of the house, their boots clean and polished better than when they had left the SGC. A young man only slightly older than DJ had introduced himself as Ashen, the Chancellor’s son, then excused himself to make sure that their preparations had been made.
Daniel was eager to get started. He had found it difficult to sleep after he and DJ had finally parted the night before, having spent an hour or more discussing the possibilities that may await them in this library. Sam had requested permission to study the architecture in their absence, to which the Chancellor had offered the accompaniment of his daughter, Reva.
“Carter, come in.” Daniel started as his radio came to life, then again as he got the echo of Sam’s voice from the radio and her entrance to the room.
“Go ahead.”
“Just checking in. How’s things.”
“Fine, sir. Daniel and DJ are going to visit the library. I’m staying around the village to look at their buildings.”
“Sounds like fun.” Mitchell paused, then spoke again. “Major Pierce and I will be joining you in the village. We have a base camp set up here and the rest of SG-4 will be maintaining it while we look around.”
“Understood.”
Sam lifted her eyebrows at Daniel as DJ slipped into her boots. “You sure you guys won’t need me?”
Daniel chuckled. “You do your thing Sam, DJ and I will do ours.”
“What’s Teal’c going to do?” DJ asked, looking up at the Jaffa with a grin.
“I shall do what I do.” Teal’c responded, the faintest smile on his face.
“And that is…?” Daniel said, looking at his friend.
“I shall accompany you.” Teal’c said. “I was directed by O’Neill to keep you safe.”
“What about me?” Sam asked, looking slightly hurt.
Teal’c bowed slightly in her direction. “O’Neill said that you could take care of yourself, but Daniel Jackson tends to find trouble, and that trait may be hereditary.” Teal’c winked at DJ who laughed quietly.
Daniel sighed exasperated. “I do not always find trouble.” Daniel said. “I haven’t gotten hurt in months.”
“And it’s been a year since you died last.” Sam added with a snicker.
“Nearly three years since you last found yourself married.” Teal’c contributed, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, but wasn’t it just a few weeks ago you ended up in a cell when we were supposed to be working out a trade agreement?”
“That wasn’t my fault.” Daniel said, shaking his head. The others laughed and eventually he did as well. “Not really, anyway,” he said to DJ. Ashen reappeared with a bow, wrapped in a cloak that looked mostly waterproof.
“We are prepared. I have cloaks for each of you, and horses for the bulk of the journey. We will have to walk the last small way, as domestics are not permitted on the grounds.”
“We’re ready too, I guess.” Daniel said, looking to DJ for confirmation. She nodded and finished tying her boots.
“My sister will be with you shortly, Dr. Carter. She was delayed this morning with other duties.”
DJ translated, then looked at Sam. “How are you going to do with the language barrier?”
Sam shrugged. “Hand signals? I’ll work something out. You guys have fun.”
Daniel and DJ fell in behind Ashen, with Teal’c behind them. They didn’t head out the front entrance, but down a corridor that was darker than the rest of the house they’d seen. Eventually they emerged on the side of the house, under a canopy where servants waited with the promised cloaks and horses.
The day was cool and wet, and the horses made sloppy, sucking noises as they marched out a side gate that led them directly out of the village and onto a path that led east toward the building they had assumed was a temple. Okay, so Daniel had assumed it was a temple. DJ had expressed doubts, as the people these were supposedly descended from seldom had buildings for sacred purposes. They were more likely to have stone circles and sacred groves.
The rain lightened to a constant drizzle as they made their way into the trees, and Daniel was grateful for the borrowed cloak, which was warmer than their standard issue rain gear. The journey was longer than he imagined, through the trees and back into open space as they climbed the hill. They could see the Stargate, several white tents in the space outside the circle of stones, and two tiny dots that must be Mitchell and Pierce.
Then Ashen was calling a halt and dismounting. Daniel and the others followed suit, handing off the horses to the servant who had accompanied him. “We go by foot from here. There will be hot tea and an opportunity to clean and rest ourselves once we reach the library.”
It was a half-hour’s walk, through more trees, then into the clearing where the building rose out of the muddy ground. The size of it surprised him, the white stone that seemed to be the native building material rising up easily three stories. A wide porch surrounded the sides and front of the building, wide, casual steps leading up to it. The large double doors were open, spilling soft golden light out into the dismal gray of the day. Several servants appeared as they approached, each holding a towel and slippers. Ashen led them up the stairs and stopped in front of one of the servants. The man bowed, handed Ashen the towel, then knelt to remove the young man’s shoes.
Daniel followed his example, rubbing his face and head with the towel to remove the worst of the rain. Once his boots had been removed and replaced with soft, warm slippers, he was allowed to step into the building, landing in an open lobby that wasn’t dissimilar from the Chancellor’s home. A roaring fire provided the warm glow that permeated the room, and chairs braced either side of it, Ashen already claiming one. Daniel followed, welcoming the warmth. He hadn’t realized how cold the rain had made him.
As DJ and Teal’c joined him, two servants appeared with trays filled with steaming tea pots and plates of biscuits. It was nice, but Daniel wanted to get to work. He could tell with a glance that DJ did as well. He sipped at his tea for a few moments, trying to decide his best course of action.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Ashen smiled. “You would rather be looking through old books than sitting here by the fire, I gather,” he said. “Come, I will show you.” He set aside his tea and rose, DJ and Daniel right behind him.
“I will remain and drink my tea.” Teal’c said.
DJ snickered. “What if the big, bad books attack us?”
“Then you will yell, and I will come to your aid.” Teal’c said, though the smile belayed the dry tone with which he said it.
Ashen led them through a door and down a hall. “This is the index room. All of our volumes are recorded here.” The room was filled with long tables stacked with record books. “The earliest are here.” He pointed to the left side of the row. “They progress to the right. The last book contains the records of the most recent volumes, from Merlin’s last visit here.”
“Last visit?”
Ashen smiled. “He lived here, and one day returned to his people. He returns, from time to time. He was last here 200 years ago.” He touched the book with reverence then looked up again. “The volumes themselves lie below us and above us.” He moved then to a door that opened to a spiraling staircase that ascended the levels above them and descended into the depths of the hill. They went down a single level and stepped into a cavernous room lined with shelves. “All the book chambers are similarly adorned. I will leave you to your search. If you have need of anything, I will be available. Just send a servant to find me.”
“Thank you.” Daniel said absently, his hands already rising to run reverently over the books nearest him.
DJ didn’t even wait for Ashen to leave the room before she had one open. She navigated to the nearest chair without even looking up, her mouth moving slightly as she read. “I think we should probably take a look at their indexing and see if we can get a head start.” Daniel said. DJ nodded but didn’t look up. “DJ?”
“Hmmm?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Index, head start. Yep. You gotta see this.”
“What is it?”
“I think it’s the Vedas, though translated into really old English.”
He frowned and came to stand beside her. “That’s…that is…so not what we’re looking for.”
She grinned up at him. “No, but fun!”
He took the book from her and put it back on the shelf. “Fun later, work now.”
DJ had lost track of the time long before she realized that the dialect in the books she was sifting through had changed slightly. She looked up, moving books until she could see Daniel. He was likewise hidden behind a stack of books, his eyes skimming over text.
So far she’d skimmed through books that covered such diverse topics as religion, biology and several volumes of folk remedies, poetry and a treatise on war that had fascinated her. In front of her now was the first that could be considered a history. Most of it was very similar to that which she already knew about early life on the British Isles.
“Aha.” Daniel said suddenly, licking his lips as his fingers began sliding over the text.
“Aha?”
“Arthur.”
“Aha.” She stood and stretched before coming around the table to peer over his shoulder. “And in those days Arthur consulted with Merlin in the forest for a day and a night, and Merlin took his leave in the small hours of the day, taking with him the last vestiges of the Old Ones and all was silent for three days.”
They looked at each other. “Okay, that’s abstract.” DJ said with a sigh.
“Yeah.” Daniel closed the book. “This is frustrating.”
DJ picked up the next book in Daniel’s stack. It had no writing on the cover or spine, but it’s leather cover was in better shape that many of the others of the same era. She opened it, then frowned. “Well, here’s a first.”
“Hmmm?”
“A book I can’t read.” She held the book for Daniel to see. “Does this look like a language you know?”
Daniel’s brow wrinkled as he squinted and took the book from her. “It’s Ancient.”
“Huh.” She looked over his shoulder while he read.
“This could be useful.” Daniel flipped the pages. “It could-Oh.” He looked up at her, surprise and hope vying for room on his face. “It’s a journal…it talks about the ones left behind.”
“The Ori?”
Daniel shrugged. “It will take some time to translate it to know for sure.”
“Daniel Jackson.”
Both Daniel and DJ jumped and looked up to see Teal’c in the door way. DJ recovered first, crossing her arms with a smile on her face. “No book attacks yet, Teal’c.”
“Indeed. Ashen has indicated that there is food prepared should you wish to join us.”
“Food is good.” Daniel said, setting the book down and pushing his chair back. “We could use the break.”
As they emerged from the index room into the main sitting room of the ground floor, DJ was surprised to see the weak, late afternoon sun out the large windows. “How late is it?”
“Well past midday, Dr. Moore.” Teal’c answered, showing them to the table that had been set up while they had been down below.
“Are you ever going to call me DJ?”
Daniel chuckled. “Don’t count on it.”
Teal’c held the chair for DJ and took a seat beside her as Ashen bustled in followed by a handful of servants carrying food. A steaming stew filled with something not unlike potatoes and a meat that tasted a good deal like lamb was served with a hearty bread. Daniel’s stomach rumbled in response and DJ smiled. “My mother once told me that you could go days without eating unless someone else suggested food.”
Daniel smiled, remember the nights Colleen had smuggled food into the library so that he would actually eat. “I forget sometimes, when I’m busy.”
“I have often observed that O’Neill is particularly skilled in reminding you, Daniel Jackson.”
Daniel blushed a little and cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s just Jack being bossy.”
“Are you finding what you are looking for?” Ashen asked as silence fell between them.
“Starting to,” Daniel said. “Maybe you could give us a little more to go on. Tell us about Merlin?”
“What do you wish to know?”
“Well, you said that he returns?”
“From time to time. He came here with the first settlers of our world, from your own. He disappeared after ensuring the safety of the people. He was gone for many years. When he returned he brought with him great Knights and they built this place for his work. After several years the Knights went away, through the gate, and Merlin followed shortly after. He returned every 50 or 100 years and brought with him books and people and he would take an apprentice who would study with him for as long as he remained with us.”
“And he was last here 200 years ago?”
Ashen nodded. “It is said that he would not return, that it had become too difficult for him to continue his work. He disappeared on the morning of the Spring festival and has not been seen again.”
“Maybe I should take a look at the stuff from his last visit.” DJ offered. “If we work from both ends we might meet somewhere in the middle.”
Daniel nodded, then looked to Teal’c. “Any word from Sam or Mitchell?”
Teal’c set down his bowl and nodded. “Indeed. Col. Carter has found some interesting information regarding the technology of the village and Col. Mitchell is apparently teaching the children of the town a game.”
“You really don’t have to stay here with us, Teal’c. We’re probably going to be all night, maybe most of the day tomorrow.”
“I find it peaceful here.” Teal’c countered.
“Suit yourself.” Daniel finished off his bowl of stew and stood. “Not that I want to seem anti-social or anything, but I should get back.”
“Me too.” DJ followed him, though she stopped in the index room while he headed for the stairs.
“Let me know if you find anything.” Daniel said as she flipped open the record and started perusing it.
“I will.”
Daniel could hear his name being whispered, teasing him from his sleep. The book in his hand hung precariously, heavily pulling against the grip that kept it perched on his lap. He inhaled sharply and looked around. He was alone, but could swear he heard his name. He put the book back on the table and went to the stairs, listening again.
It was quiet, and since he could use the exercise to wake himself up, he climbed the stairs from the second level below ground, up past the index room and up the final three floors. He almost ran into DJ as she emerged, also sleepy, from the room into the stairwell. She yawned and shook her head. “Did you call me?”
“No, I thought you called me.” There it was again. Daniel glanced at the final stairs, that presumably emerged atop the building. He looked at DJ. Together they moved to the stairs, and up.
The roof was surrounded by half walls, open to the sky and from the western side they could see out over the village, the fields and out into the stone circle. In fact, it seemed they were lined up specifically with the entrance to the cave. Sunrise was still hours away, but the sky full of stars and one of the biggest moons Daniel had ever seen shed enough light that they could make out the dark masses of the standing stones. Then, in the dark of the cave a soft light, swirling and tendril like, familiar, though it took Daniel a moment to place it.
“What is that?” DJ asked breathlessly.
“I can’t be positive, but it looks like an Ascended, an Ancient.” He crossed his arms and stared, uncertain if he was curious, or angry.
“I thought they didn’t interfere.”
Daniel sighed. “From what I’ve been reading that isn’t always true, or wasn’t. From what I know of my time among them they’re currently pretty strict.”
“So…why here? Why now?”
Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. But it looks like we’re going to find out.” They watched as the glowing figure emerged from the cave and began moving toward them. It moved steadily, and for a long moment Daniel got the impression it was Oma DeSalla, though he’d last seen her engaging the partially ascended Anubis in a battle that would keep them both occupied forever.
As the figure came closer he could tell it wasn’t Oma, though there was still some familiarity about it as it swirled around them several times before settling, first into a bundle of energy, then a slowly emerging face. DJ grabbed Daniel’s hand and he glanced at her sharply. There were tears in her eyes and her grip was almost painful. Daniel looked back to the Ancient, now appearing mostly human.
“Mom.” DJ choked, reaching for Daniel now with her other hand. Daniel pried his hand free and slipped his arm around her back for comfort and support.
“Colleen?”
She smiled. “Hello Daniel, DJ.”
“I’m a little confused.” DJ choked out, tears streaming down her face.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” Daniel said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.
She came a step closer. “I can explain, though it will take us all too long to do it conventionally.”
Daniel nodded, familiar with what she was proposing. DJ however wasn’t and just looked at him. “They have a way of sharing information that is much faster. It isn’t painful, but it can be disturbing.”
Colleen moved closer, her hand raising up to not quite touch DJ’s face. “I don’t have long before I have to go.”
DJ straightened up and inhaled deeply. “What do I do?”
Colleen smiled. “So brave. Just close your eyes, I’ll do the rest. Daniel, move closer.”
Daniel moved so that his face was only centimeters from DJs and closed his eyes. In seconds he could feel the warm glow surround them, and he opened his eyes to find them surrounded by soft grey clouds, instantly aware of more than he could have dreamed.
It was over nearly as fast as it began. Daniel felt his stomach lurch as she released them, and his arm tightened around DJ as her knees buckled. “That is all I dare give you for now. In a few days I will return. Meet me in the circle, in the cave. There is so much more.”
“Wait!” DJ called as Colleen’s body slowly vanished into the swirling energy of her true form. “Mom!”
“Three days, DJ. I’ll be back.” She smiled, then disappeared over the wall. Just like that, she was gone.
DJ turned to him with a tear stained face. He opened his arms and she came, burying her head into his shoulder. For a long time he held her and sorted through the new information. It was an assortment of personal memories and information and important facts regarding the Ori, the Ancients and the artifacts they had found in Glastonbury.
He had thought himself past the point of being shocked by personal revelations anymore, but he hadn’t been prepared for the truth about his daughter. The canvas of his entire life had just been repainted. Colleen had descended on earth as a young girl. By the time he had met her she had forgotten all but the most basic elements of her mission there, her draw to the legends of Arthur and Merlin, intuition that served her well in the field. As she lay dying, Oma had come for her, as had been promised from the beginning.
Oma, and the others who followed her, and, he now realized, who she followed, had sent her to find one of their own, one who had reason to hide from the others. Just like Daniel and DJ, they searched for Merlin and Arthur.
DJ stirred in his arms and he stepped back a little. “You okay?”
She nodded shakily, one hand wiping at the tears. “I…I wasn’t ready for that.”
“Me either.” Daniel touched her face with a soft smile.
“I don’t mean just seeing her.”
“I know.”
“I-I’m not even sure what to say.”
“Let it process. It’s going to take time.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance and Daniel took her hand. “Let’s get back to work. Some of the information she gave us should help.”
She nodded and followed as he lead her to the stairs. The new knowledge was swimming around in her head…memories of people and places she had never known vied for attention alongside the new understandings of her own memories.
She didn’t really understand the whole Ascension thing, though Daniel had explained it. Until tonight it had been information she had filed away in the “Accepter, but not Understood” file in her brain. Tonight, watching grey-white tendrils of light and energy coalesce into her mother had brought it back to the front.
Daniel left her where he had found her and she returned to the books she had abandoned when she’d heard her name being called. Of course, everthi8ng was different now. History and myth she had thought she’d known had changed, and the books spread out across the table suddenly had new meaning.
She lifted one, a journal purported to be a record of Merlin’s last sojourn among these people. Her eyes skimmed the page. If Merlin had been here only 200 years before, where had he gone? Why hadn’t he returned as he had in times past? What secrets was he keeping from even his own people?
The words in the book were hand written, a variation of the local Gaelic dialect. Her translation was a bit spotty and so far it had yielded very little of value. The first part of the book was filled with a recap of the history of the people coming to the planet.
She looked up, her eyes darting around the table until they fell on a similar book. It date to nearly 100 years prior to the one in her hand. It too included a recap of the history of the people who had come to this planet. She picked it up and laid the two side by side. Her eyes shifted back and forth between them, comparing the handwriting, the language, the style. She flipped them both back to the first page. The beginnings of a theory began to form. She stood and searched the shelves around her for the journal which dated to the next visitation back, then the next.
DJ cleared a space on the table and opened all four books to their first pages. Four distinctly different handwriting styles, four subtly different dialects. She darted out to the stairwell and leaned over the railing. “Daniel!” she called, unable to keep the note of excitement out of her voice. The name echoed down the metal stairs and Daniel’s face appeared below her. “Come here. I think I found something.” She waved her hand to encourage him, then moved back to stand in front of the books. When Daniel appeared breathlessly beside her a few minutes later, she touched the book closest to her. “Look at these and tell me what you see.”
Daniel pursed his lips as he skimmed the pages. He couldn’t translate all of it, but he picked out words…very similar words. “Four books telling basically the same story?”
“Yes, all supposedly written by Merlin…but each one is written in a different hand, with differences in the language, minor changes in the telling. If they were all written by one man…”
“Why the differences.” Daniel finished for her. “And, for that matter, why is the first one written in Ancient, while these aren’t.”
“You can almost see the evolution of the language.” DJ said.
Daniel flipped through the nearest book…then picked it up. “What’s this?” He squinted at the page, then tilted the book for her to see the lower right hand corner of the page. A gate symbol was scribed neatly almost as if it were a page number. DJ quickly flipped the other three books to their last pages. All four bore different symbols.
“That’s weird.” DJ picked up the third journal, running her finger over a phrase a few times.
“What is?”
“Prometheus.”
“What?”
“This…And in all things I leave now to Prometheus, and return unto him the work he first began, until the time I am free of this mortal veil.”
“Prometheus?”
She passed the book off to him and reached for another, biting her lip as she rushed the translation through her head. “The time has come and I pass all I have found to Saraswati, for the fruition of knowledge.”
She looked to Daniel, as he put down the Prometheus book and ran his eyes over the final page of the other one he held. “Enki.”
“So we’ve got Greece, India, Sumeria and England. Want to bet there are more?”
Two hours later, DJ and Daniel had a collection of the journals, fourteen symbols and seven names, seven cultures of ancient earth. Benzai-ten of Japan, Okasta of the Cherokee, and Chih-Yu of China rounded out the list of names.
“A combination of magicians, and patrons of knowledge and wisdom.” Daniel mused, looking at their list. “And…a bunch of gate symbols…with a nearly endless combination of possible addressed.”
DJ dropped into her seat, rubbing at her eyes. “My head hurts…and we’re well out of the are of my expertise.”
Daniel exhaled slowly. “Mine too. Let’s take a break…see if Ashen has any insight.”
“And food.” DJ agreed, looking up at him. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”