'Resurrection Meriet', SG-1, PG
Here's my story for the spook_me ficathon! 4,300 words, gen team, PG.
Beta duties chillingly provided by the eerie jd_junkie and the haunting lolmac .
Resurrection Meriet
-or-
P3X-Let’s Not Talk About It
It was sunny and pleasantly cool when SG-1 arrived on P3X-814. The Stargate stood in a small clearing in the midst of a grove of precisely spaced trees. Someone had been cutting the grass and had left the job half-done. The mowing machine was pushed up against the side of the dais and a scythe, loosely wrapped in water-repellent cloth lay next to it.
A path, wide enough to walk three abreast, but not four, led straight ahead past the DHD.
“The UAV showed a village two klicks in this direction,” Sam said, pointing slightly to the right.
“We’ll assume the road curves,” Jack responded, settling his cap more securely. “To Oz?”
Teal’c wordlessly took point and they set out into the trees. The canopy of branches overhead filtered the sunlight, but the trees were widely enough spaced that the ground they were walking on was more than adequately lit. The first fallen leaves of autumn rustled beneath their boots.
“Getting any interesting readings, Carter?”
“No, sir. No heaping deposits of naquadah, no signs so far of any sort of advanced technology. Or of any technology at all, really.”
Jack shrugged. “Well, it’s a nice day for a stroll.”
“You’re in an unusually good mood,” Daniel said, with an amused glance at Sam.
“One of my stocks doubled its dividend. Made my whole week.” Just thinking about it apparently was enough to make Jack smile.
“That’s very nice, Jack. Did you hear that, Teal’c?”
“I believe I heard that O’Neill will be purchasing dinner for us all,” Teal’c said over his shoulder.
“I think I heard that, too,” Sam said, grinning.
“So, did you want to pick the restaurant, Jack? Or should we just go ahead and choose?” Daniel teased.
“You’re all so amusing.”
“What do you think, Sam?”
“Italian’s always nice.”
“You and I can split a bottle of wine. Chianti Classico?” Daniel suggested.
“Perfect. I’ll split a tiramisu with you, too.”
“Tiramisu is one of Earth’s finest confections. I shall not be sharing any of mine.”
“So it’s all planned, then.” Daniel rubbed his hands together. “Right, Jack?”
Jack pretended to think and then nodded. “Dinner at Luigi’s.”
“Oh, that figures. You’re such a cheapskate. We might as well just order out for pizza,” Daniel grumbled.
“What? Luigi’s has wine.” Jack was clearly enjoying himself now that he’d regained the upper hand.
“His Chianti isn’t exactly Classico,” Daniel said, making a face.
“Spumoni instead of tiramisu,” Sam mourned.
“Teal’c? Talk to him.”
“I will address this matter with O’Neill at a later time, never fear,” Teal’c promised.
“I have the feeling we’ll get our tiramisu yet,” Daniel told Sam.
“What, you think I’m that easily intimidated?” Jack complained.
Daniel turned towards him, saying, “If you know what’s good for….” He broke off.
“What?” Jack spun to look into the trees beside him.
“I thought I saw something move,” Daniel answered quietly.
The three of them waited, staring, while Teal’c kept watch along the path.
“I don’t see anything now.”
“It could have been an animal,” Sam suggested.
A bird twittered.
“Keep your eyes open and less talking,” Jack ordered. “Just in case.”
Every crunch of dead leaf was louder now that they were silent, and the sudden flapping of wings as a bird took off from a branch directly over the path startled them all.
“Anyone else had enough of trees?” Jack grumbled, lowering his weapon.
“There is greater sunlight visible up ahead, O’Neill.”
“Really? What say we pick up the pace just a tad?”
They soon reached a spot where the path began to curve to the right, as Jack had assumed it must. As they rounded the curve, the pattern of trees changed, until it was evident that they were leaving the carefully landscaped grove. When the path straightened out again it began to widen until, a very short distance ahead, it could be properly called a road.
And that road lay in bright sunshine, as the woodland on the right was set back from its edge by a few yards, and the trees on the left ended abruptly, having been cleared to make way for arable farmland. The sun-dried dirt of the road kicked up in little clouds around their boots as they walked along it.
“This is more like it,” Jack enthused. He took a deep breath. “Oh, yeah. Just smell that!”
“It is not pleasing.”
“It’s manure, Jack,” Daniel said. “And that Minnesota farm boy act isn’t going to cut it.”
“Act? Act?”
“Bet you can’t identify even one crop, sir.”
“It’s… alien stuff,” Jack responded, waving a dismissive hand.
“These are runner beans. That’s kale further back,” a voice responded.
They all whirled around.
“Greetings.” The young dark-haired woman standing at the edge of the road, on the wooded side, smiled at them. A kerchief was tied around her head, and she was wearing a brown and white dress with elbow-length sleeves, made from some sort of thin, summery fabric. The skirt reached to just above her ankles, and she wore sandals on her feet. The weapons pointed at her seemed to be having no effect on her friendliness. “Welcome to Arbania.”
“Hello,” Jack said warily.
“I am called Meriet. What are your names?”
“Oh. Meriet? Hello. Um, I’m Daniel, this is Major Carter, Colonel O’Neill, and Teal’c. It’s very nice to meet you. Is Arbania the name of this world?”
“It is. I have never seen such a thing,” Meriet said, looking at Teal’c and touching her forehead.
“It was a mark placed upon me by my former masters.”
“Oh, so dreadful! Is it painful?”
“It is not,” Teal’c answered, inclining his head.
“I am glad to hear that. Very glad! Have you all come from very far away?”
“Yes, very far,” Sam said.
“Yes, through the Portal.” Meriet nodded. “Not many visitors come to us.”
“And apparently none of them are snakes,” Jack said quietly, with a tilt of his head in Teal’c’s direction.
“Do your people ever use the Portal to go other places?” Daniel asked.
“Where would we go?” Meriet asked simply.
“Well… “ Daniel began.
“Are you on the way to the village?”
“That’s right,” Jack said. “Thought we’d just drop in and say ‘Howdy’.”
“May I walk along with you? I would so enjoy your company.”
Daniel looked at Jack. “Yes, of course. We’d enjoy your company, too. And we’d love to hear a little bit about your people and your culture.”
“You will be sorry! I will talk your left ear off! So my mother always said.” A shadow clouded Meriet’s sunny, open face, but only briefly. “Such a nice day we have for our walk. If only it were a bit warmer it would be perfect.”
“You’re not dressed very warmly, Meriet,” Sam said. “Are you cold?”
Meriet rubbed her arms and looked down at her sandaled feet. “I am, a little. The seasons come and go so quickly.”
“Would you like to borrow my jacket?” Daniel asked.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Meriet answered, smiling gratefully.
Daniel began to unbuckle and unzip his TAC vest, while Sam moved around behind him to help him ease it off. He unzipped his jacket and shrugged out of it, handing it to Meriet.
“Thank you, Daniel,” she said, sliding her arms into the sleeves.
Sam held up the vest for Daniel to put back on over his T-shirt.
“You’re welcome, Meriet. Thank you, Sam.”
“You’re welcome, Daniel.”
“Shall we?” Jack invited, lips quirking.
“Yes, I am ready,” Meriet answered, fussing with the jacket sleeves.
They set out.
“What would you like to know about my people, Daniel?”
“Everything. History of your planet, of this region. All about your village. Your people’s customs and beliefs.”
“Customs?” Meriet asked with a sidelong glance. “Would marriage customs interest you?”
“Of course,” Daniel answered. Jack threw him a pointed glance. “Among many other things.”
“Shall I tell you of my bride day that is to be? That is very, very soon to be? What my betrothed will say to me and what I will say to him and what I will wear and how our friends will stand beside us, and how the sanctuary will be filled with flowers and the children’s choir will sing for us?”
“Um, sure.”
“I have a feeling we couldn’t stop you if we wanted to,” Sam laughed. “I’d certainly enjoy hearing all about it.”
Jack rolled his eyes at her and then smiled kindly at Meriet. “Do tell.”
“Well, certainly I must begin at the beginning, and that would be when my darling Roznar asked me to become his wife and mother to his children. Now, my Roznar is strong and tall and handsome. I think him very handsome. He is quite the handsomest man in the village, to my way of thinking. Of course he just laughs at me when I talk about him so, but I tell him he is overly modest, and that he must accustom himself to hearing good things said about himself dawn, zenith and nightfall. I would think myself a most improper wife were I not to have good things to say about my husband at all hours and to all who will listen!
“And he says the sweetest things to me, too, of course.” Meriet blushed enchantingly.
“I’m sure he does,” Daniel said gently.
“He is such a good man. I find myself the luckiest young woman on Arbania, truly I do.”
“Your Roznar sounds to be a most fortunate young man, as well,” Teal’c said.
“Do you think so? You are very kind, Teal’c. I hope to be all he could wish for in a wife, because certainly he deserves no less. I plan… I hope to give him five children. Five! Three strong boys and two sweet girls.”
“That’s nice,” Sam said, “but you know that you can’t…?”
“Oh, we will take what comes! We must have at least two children, though, I really believe that. I am an only child, as is Roznar, and we both insist on having two children at the very least. Boys or girls. We’ll rejoice either way.” Meriet held her head high. “We are not old-fashioned, you understand. Boys or girls, each equally worthy of our care and love.”
“Good for you,” Sam said, grinning at Daniel.
“But that is in the happy future,” Meriet said. “First will be my bride day. I shall wear white, down to my shoes, everything white. And Heziah… Heziah, she is my friend and teacher and landlady and employer and all that I could ever need. I am alone, you see, and she gives me a place to sleep and my food, and I sew and make cloth at the loom and keep my room clean and wash the pots and plates after we all eat… she has three children and a husband, who is very particular about things… I do not know quite how she puts up with it, and I am heartily glad that my Roznar is of a more gentle character altogether… what was I going to say?”
“Something about your landlady and your bride day?” Sam guessed.
“Oh! Yes, of course, that is what I was going to tell you. About my bride clothes, and about how Heziah has made for me the most beautiful veil to wear in my hair. So fine and delicate a lace I have never held in my hands before. She has been so good to me in all things, but if I did not love her so much already, I would love her just for my beautiful veil.”
“What will Roznar wear?” Sam asked.
“Ah! He will not tell me. No, he will not! I tease and tease, but he is silent. ‘The bride is not to know what her betrothed dons until the bride day arrives,’ he says to me.
“‘But we, you and I, we are not old-fashioned,’ I say to him. But it does not answer; he will not talk. Quiet as the grave, my Roznar, when he wants to be.” Meriet pouted.
“I’m sure he’ll look very handsome, whatever he’s wearing,” Sam said soothingly.
Meriet beamed at her. “Yes, that is certain. Many things in living can be uncertain, but of that I am confident.”
“So, on your bride day, you and Roznar will be in the flower-filled sanctuary…?” Daniel prompted.
“The air will be so sweet,” Meriet murmured with a faraway look in her eyes.
There was a short silence as they continued walking.
“Heziah and her oldest daughter will stand with me,” Meriet continued dreamily. “And my two very best, very dearest friends; friends from childhood through girlhood, and now on into motherhood. Clorilde and Ammisel, they are named. And with Roznar will stand his two male cousins and his employer and his oldest friend, Rezikel. You would scarce believe the amount of trouble Roznar and Rezikel have gotten into over the years! It is quite scandalous, I promise you. I am forced to frown at him sometimes, I really am.”
“I think my people would say that the two of them ‘sowed their wild oats’ together,” Daniel said.
“I like that,” Meriet said. “’Sowed their wild oats’. The strange part is that Roznar’s mother adores Rezikel.”
“Why is that strange?” Sam asked.
“Oh, she can be hard to please. And she holds Roznar to a very high standard. It just surprises me that she would not blame Rezikel for all the times…” Meriet laughed. “For all the times Roznar did not quite meet those standards. Well, but it is so. Rezikel is her pet.”
Jack gave her an inquisitive look. “Mother-in-law problems?”
Meriet looked back at him. “She is not overly fond of me, I am afraid. But I am going to win her over! I am going to be such a good wife, and such a good daughter to her that I shall win her heart entirely.”
“Good for you!” Sam said. “That’s the right attitude.”
“Yes,” Meriet said, biting her lip. “The only problem is that I am not a very good cook. Not yet! Heziah is teaching me, and I try very hard, but sometimes I am afraid that the meat gets scorched.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jack said, staring ahead. “Roznar isn’t going to care. And you’ll get the hang of it.”
“I will!” Meriet vowed. “And I can already sew and clean and take care of children, even a very small baby.”
“You will do very well,” Teal’c said solemnly.
They were approaching the outskirts of the village.
“I have talked and talked,” Meriet said. “You must all check to be certain that you still possess your left ears! And I never even told you about the words of the bride ceremony, where we promise to love each other eternally and be faithful and supportive and raise our children to be upright and wise and good.”
“Those sound like very good vows,” Sam said.
“Many of the marriage rites on our own planet have very similar vows between the bride and her spouse,” Daniel added.
“Is that so? What do the brides wear?” Meriet asked with wide eyes, standing stock-still.
Daniel was forced to stop as well. Jack had already moved up alongside Teal’c, and now Sam passed them with a grin tossed over her shoulder. “Ah, it varies,” he answered. “In the country I live in, most brides wear white, but in some places on our planet they wear red or black or multi-colored clothing.” He turned his head to see how far ahead the rest of the group was getting.
“Excuse me,” Meriet said, touching Daniel’s bare arm with a hand which felt cold even though his skin was slightly chilled. “I need to fix my sandal strap….” She smiled at him and bent down.
“Oh, okay, sure.” Daniel turned back to the others and called, “Hey, guys, wait up a minute.”
They stopped and looked back.
“Meriet just had to, um….” Daniel gestured over his shoulder.
Jack raised his eyebrows. “Had to what?”
“Where’d she go?” Sam asked.
“What?” Daniel spun around.
Meriet was nowhere in sight.
Jack approached, with the others close behind him. “Daniel?”
“She said she had to fix her sandal,” Daniel said blankly. “Well. She must….” He waved at the trees that lined the side of the road.
“Apparently ‘I need to fix my sandal’ means ‘excuse me while I pee’,” Jack said. “An interesting cultural… thing. Right?”
“I suppose,” Daniel said, still staring into the trees.
“We have nearly reached the village,” Teal’c said, frowning. “Why would she not wait?”
“We don’t know what their sanitation system is like,” Sam said. “Anyway, sometimes a girl can’t wait, you know?”
Jack made a face. “Well, fascinating as this discussion is, I suggest we get on with what we came here for. Come on, Daniel.”
Daniel looked at him, startled. “Shouldn’t we wait for her?”
Jack jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “New York City this isn’t. She’ll find us. And it seems kinda rude to stand around here waiting for her to finish her business.”
“She still has my jacket,” Daniel protested.
“Anything in the pockets?” Jack asked quickly.
“What? Oh. No, nothing but a couple of power bars. Everything else is here in my TAC vest.”
“She’ll find us,” Jack repeated.
Except she didn’t.
They were sitting at a table, underneath a shady tree outside the village’s small tavern. Citizens surrounded them, goggling and jostling and whispering and giggling. The headman, the schoolteacher, the pastor, the sheriff and the tavernkeeper were all pressing them to have a second mug of ale.
They were wasting their time. There wasn’t anything of value here. Just some nice folks and some tasty brew.
“Sorry,” Jack said. “One’s my limit when I’m hiking. We should be getting back before it starts getting dark, kids.”
Daniel broke off his conversation with the schoolteacher. “Um, my jacket? You were… you know. Wrong.”
“It happens,” Jack said haughtily. “Yeah, about that, folks. Maybe someone can help my friend out. He loaned his jacket to a young lady we met on the way into town, and then poof. We haven’t seen her or the jacket either in quite a while.”
The pastor covered his mouth while his eyes grew wide. The headman exclaimed. The sheriff frowned.
“Whoa,” Jack said, surprised by their reactions.
The tavernkeeper took a long swig of his fine product and set the mug down with a thump. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and grinned. “Meriet!”
“That’s….” Daniel looked at Jack. “That’s right. Uh, can you tell us where we can find her?”
“Oh, yes. Anyone in the village could tell you where to find her.” The tavernkeeper was still grinning. The sheriff appeared to be growling.
“What’s the story here?” Jack said impatiently. “Let us in on it.”
“Meriet is our resident ghost,” the schoolteacher said. He wasn’t smiling.
“Excuse me?”
“What?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“There are no such things.”
“Yeah, what the big guy said,” Jack added, indicating Teal’c.
“She told you all about her planned marriage, her beloved Roznar?”
“She did,” Teal’c answered with narrowed eyes.
“That’s, um, that’s basically all she could talk about.”
“The marriage never took place,” the pastor told them. “It was a terrible thing. Terrible.”
“She was murdered,” said the sheriff. “Killed in her own bed.”
“It was a brutal crime,” said the headman, shaking his head. “There had never been anything like it in the village. Thanks be, there has never been anything like it since.”
Jack rubbed a hand over his face and looked at Daniel, who raised his shoulders an inch.
“It wasn’t Roznar, was it?” Sam asked, and then ignored the looks her teammates gave her.
“No! Oh, no. Roznar loved her with all his soul,” the pastor said, apparently shocked at the question.
“It was his mother,” the sheriff said. “Stabbed the girl over and over.”
“She didn’t want her son to marry and leave her,” the schoolteacher added.
“Cut out her heart.” The sheriff sounded positively ghoulish.
“Oh!” Sam exclaimed.
“She paid the price for it, of course,” the sheriff continued. “They made quick work of her after the trial.”
“Our laws have been changed, rewritten since then,” the headman inserted. “It was absolutely barbaric.”
“She was executed?” Daniel asked, wincing.
“Cut in three,” the tavernkeeper said, shivering dramatically.
“Beheaded and then….” The sheriff indicated a line from neck to groin.
The members of SG-1 all made faces.
“That would never be allowed today,” the headman repeated, obviously wanting his village to be seen to be enlightened.
“And Meriet?” Sam’s teammates didn’t give her the eye this time - they were all too intent on listening to the answer.
“It was ten days later that Meriet walked for the first time. What would have been her bride day. Several people saw her on the sanctuary porch. She looked like she was waiting for the doors to be opened and the ceremony to begin.” The pastor was looking pale. “I’ve seen her there myself. She still comes, but not necessarily on that date any more.”
“There’s an old joke,” the schoolteacher said, looking apologetic. “When someone mistakes the day or misses an appointment… or a husband forgets an anniversary, we say they’re using Meriet’s calendar. Apparently ghosts don’t keep track of time very well.”
Daniel shifted uneasily. “How long ago was this?”
“Forty cycles?” The schoolteacher looked around. “More or less. Forty cycles on, and Meriet is still planning and dreaming of her bride day.” He shook his head, appearing to be quite disturbed. “We see her from time to time, you understand, but none of us has spoken with her. It’s only the rare visitor who meets her on the road that she can tell her story to; that doesn’t know who… what she is.”
The pastor abruptly stood up. “I’ll take you to her.”
Daniel opened his mouth and looked at Jack. Teal’c stood. Sam smiled at the pastor uneasily and stood.
“Yeah, okay,” Jack mumbled.
“Thank you,” Daniel added weakly.
As they walked down the lane to the village church and cemetery, the schoolteacher, who had joined them, recounted experiences that other visitors had reported over the years. It all sounded very familiar.
They also learned what had happened to Roznar. “He left the village immediately after the trial, moved to a larger town, many miles distant. He had cousins in his father’s line who went there sometimes to visit him, but he never came back himself. He married about five years later. When word reached the village, the pastor of that day held a prayer service, and afterwards many laid flowers on Meriet’s grave. Roznar and his wife are still together and happy as far as anyone knows.”
The pastor opened the gate to the churchyard. “The children of those cousins tend her grave now. The poor thing had no family other than the one she would have married into.”
“Are we likely to see her here?” Daniel asked softly.
The pastor smiled wryly. “It’s the one place where Meriet has never been seen.”
“But where she can always be found. A children’s riddle,” the schoolteacher explained.
“Ah!” Jack responded. “How charming.”
“The oldest burial section is at the rear of the church,” the pastor said, pointing. “The newest graves are across the road. Those from Meriet’s day are down this way.”
They followed the pastor along the little path that wound and looped throughout the graveyard. The stone grave markers were low to the ground and mostly plain-looking, with an occasional ornate border found here and there. A few squirrels scampered off to their right as they walked. The same woods that ran along the side of the road leading from the Stargate loomed up ahead.
Meriet’s burial plot was nearly at the fence which marked the cemetery as separate from the woods. Potted flowers bloomed on either side of the grave, which had been cleared of fallen leaves. Her unadorned gravestone was larger than most of the others they’d seen.
Daniel’s jacket was draped over it.
~~~~
They were quiet as they retraced their steps along the road, each presumably busy with their own thoughts, or perhaps busy avoiding their own thoughts. The sun was slanting low in the sky, and the clouds glimpsed above the trees were pink and orange.
The wind had picked up considerably and the warmth of the day was rapidly disappearing. Daniel was finally forced to give in and put his jacket on.
Just before they reached the curve in the road that would take them into the grove surrounding the Stargate, Jack called a halt. The dust of the road swirled around their feet as a gust of wind swept past.
Jack unzipped an inner pocket of his vest and fished out a quarter. He held it up. “Heads we keep her out of our report?”
“I’ll go along with that,” Sam said, biting her lip.
“I, as well.”
Daniel tucked his hands underneath his arms and nodded.
Jack flipped the coin. It spun through the air, glinting a few times as it caught and reflected a beam of departing sunlight. The wind sighed in the trees. The quarter landed in the dust very near the spot where they had first encountered Meriet. They all stared down at it.
Daniel lifted his head and looked around. “It’s getting awfully late.”
“We should not linger,” Teal’c agreed.
Sam stood suddenly straight and turned her head towards the trees as though she had heard something, or as though she were making sure that she hadn’t.
“It’ll be dark in the grove,” Daniel said, watching Sam.
“Right,” Jack said, bending swiftly to pick up the coin. “Best two out of three, then?”
Beta duties chillingly provided by the eerie jd_junkie and the haunting lolmac .
Resurrection Meriet
-or-
P3X-Let’s Not Talk About It
It was sunny and pleasantly cool when SG-1 arrived on P3X-814. The Stargate stood in a small clearing in the midst of a grove of precisely spaced trees. Someone had been cutting the grass and had left the job half-done. The mowing machine was pushed up against the side of the dais and a scythe, loosely wrapped in water-repellent cloth lay next to it.
A path, wide enough to walk three abreast, but not four, led straight ahead past the DHD.
“The UAV showed a village two klicks in this direction,” Sam said, pointing slightly to the right.
“We’ll assume the road curves,” Jack responded, settling his cap more securely. “To Oz?”
Teal’c wordlessly took point and they set out into the trees. The canopy of branches overhead filtered the sunlight, but the trees were widely enough spaced that the ground they were walking on was more than adequately lit. The first fallen leaves of autumn rustled beneath their boots.
“Getting any interesting readings, Carter?”
“No, sir. No heaping deposits of naquadah, no signs so far of any sort of advanced technology. Or of any technology at all, really.”
Jack shrugged. “Well, it’s a nice day for a stroll.”
“You’re in an unusually good mood,” Daniel said, with an amused glance at Sam.
“One of my stocks doubled its dividend. Made my whole week.” Just thinking about it apparently was enough to make Jack smile.
“That’s very nice, Jack. Did you hear that, Teal’c?”
“I believe I heard that O’Neill will be purchasing dinner for us all,” Teal’c said over his shoulder.
“I think I heard that, too,” Sam said, grinning.
“So, did you want to pick the restaurant, Jack? Or should we just go ahead and choose?” Daniel teased.
“You’re all so amusing.”
“What do you think, Sam?”
“Italian’s always nice.”
“You and I can split a bottle of wine. Chianti Classico?” Daniel suggested.
“Perfect. I’ll split a tiramisu with you, too.”
“Tiramisu is one of Earth’s finest confections. I shall not be sharing any of mine.”
“So it’s all planned, then.” Daniel rubbed his hands together. “Right, Jack?”
Jack pretended to think and then nodded. “Dinner at Luigi’s.”
“Oh, that figures. You’re such a cheapskate. We might as well just order out for pizza,” Daniel grumbled.
“What? Luigi’s has wine.” Jack was clearly enjoying himself now that he’d regained the upper hand.
“His Chianti isn’t exactly Classico,” Daniel said, making a face.
“Spumoni instead of tiramisu,” Sam mourned.
“Teal’c? Talk to him.”
“I will address this matter with O’Neill at a later time, never fear,” Teal’c promised.
“I have the feeling we’ll get our tiramisu yet,” Daniel told Sam.
“What, you think I’m that easily intimidated?” Jack complained.
Daniel turned towards him, saying, “If you know what’s good for….” He broke off.
“What?” Jack spun to look into the trees beside him.
“I thought I saw something move,” Daniel answered quietly.
The three of them waited, staring, while Teal’c kept watch along the path.
“I don’t see anything now.”
“It could have been an animal,” Sam suggested.
A bird twittered.
“Keep your eyes open and less talking,” Jack ordered. “Just in case.”
Every crunch of dead leaf was louder now that they were silent, and the sudden flapping of wings as a bird took off from a branch directly over the path startled them all.
“Anyone else had enough of trees?” Jack grumbled, lowering his weapon.
“There is greater sunlight visible up ahead, O’Neill.”
“Really? What say we pick up the pace just a tad?”
They soon reached a spot where the path began to curve to the right, as Jack had assumed it must. As they rounded the curve, the pattern of trees changed, until it was evident that they were leaving the carefully landscaped grove. When the path straightened out again it began to widen until, a very short distance ahead, it could be properly called a road.
And that road lay in bright sunshine, as the woodland on the right was set back from its edge by a few yards, and the trees on the left ended abruptly, having been cleared to make way for arable farmland. The sun-dried dirt of the road kicked up in little clouds around their boots as they walked along it.
“This is more like it,” Jack enthused. He took a deep breath. “Oh, yeah. Just smell that!”
“It is not pleasing.”
“It’s manure, Jack,” Daniel said. “And that Minnesota farm boy act isn’t going to cut it.”
“Act? Act?”
“Bet you can’t identify even one crop, sir.”
“It’s… alien stuff,” Jack responded, waving a dismissive hand.
“These are runner beans. That’s kale further back,” a voice responded.
They all whirled around.
“Greetings.” The young dark-haired woman standing at the edge of the road, on the wooded side, smiled at them. A kerchief was tied around her head, and she was wearing a brown and white dress with elbow-length sleeves, made from some sort of thin, summery fabric. The skirt reached to just above her ankles, and she wore sandals on her feet. The weapons pointed at her seemed to be having no effect on her friendliness. “Welcome to Arbania.”
“Hello,” Jack said warily.
“I am called Meriet. What are your names?”
“Oh. Meriet? Hello. Um, I’m Daniel, this is Major Carter, Colonel O’Neill, and Teal’c. It’s very nice to meet you. Is Arbania the name of this world?”
“It is. I have never seen such a thing,” Meriet said, looking at Teal’c and touching her forehead.
“It was a mark placed upon me by my former masters.”
“Oh, so dreadful! Is it painful?”
“It is not,” Teal’c answered, inclining his head.
“I am glad to hear that. Very glad! Have you all come from very far away?”
“Yes, very far,” Sam said.
“Yes, through the Portal.” Meriet nodded. “Not many visitors come to us.”
“And apparently none of them are snakes,” Jack said quietly, with a tilt of his head in Teal’c’s direction.
“Do your people ever use the Portal to go other places?” Daniel asked.
“Where would we go?” Meriet asked simply.
“Well… “ Daniel began.
“Are you on the way to the village?”
“That’s right,” Jack said. “Thought we’d just drop in and say ‘Howdy’.”
“May I walk along with you? I would so enjoy your company.”
Daniel looked at Jack. “Yes, of course. We’d enjoy your company, too. And we’d love to hear a little bit about your people and your culture.”
“You will be sorry! I will talk your left ear off! So my mother always said.” A shadow clouded Meriet’s sunny, open face, but only briefly. “Such a nice day we have for our walk. If only it were a bit warmer it would be perfect.”
“You’re not dressed very warmly, Meriet,” Sam said. “Are you cold?”
Meriet rubbed her arms and looked down at her sandaled feet. “I am, a little. The seasons come and go so quickly.”
“Would you like to borrow my jacket?” Daniel asked.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Meriet answered, smiling gratefully.
Daniel began to unbuckle and unzip his TAC vest, while Sam moved around behind him to help him ease it off. He unzipped his jacket and shrugged out of it, handing it to Meriet.
“Thank you, Daniel,” she said, sliding her arms into the sleeves.
Sam held up the vest for Daniel to put back on over his T-shirt.
“You’re welcome, Meriet. Thank you, Sam.”
“You’re welcome, Daniel.”
“Shall we?” Jack invited, lips quirking.
“Yes, I am ready,” Meriet answered, fussing with the jacket sleeves.
They set out.
“What would you like to know about my people, Daniel?”
“Everything. History of your planet, of this region. All about your village. Your people’s customs and beliefs.”
“Customs?” Meriet asked with a sidelong glance. “Would marriage customs interest you?”
“Of course,” Daniel answered. Jack threw him a pointed glance. “Among many other things.”
“Shall I tell you of my bride day that is to be? That is very, very soon to be? What my betrothed will say to me and what I will say to him and what I will wear and how our friends will stand beside us, and how the sanctuary will be filled with flowers and the children’s choir will sing for us?”
“Um, sure.”
“I have a feeling we couldn’t stop you if we wanted to,” Sam laughed. “I’d certainly enjoy hearing all about it.”
Jack rolled his eyes at her and then smiled kindly at Meriet. “Do tell.”
“Well, certainly I must begin at the beginning, and that would be when my darling Roznar asked me to become his wife and mother to his children. Now, my Roznar is strong and tall and handsome. I think him very handsome. He is quite the handsomest man in the village, to my way of thinking. Of course he just laughs at me when I talk about him so, but I tell him he is overly modest, and that he must accustom himself to hearing good things said about himself dawn, zenith and nightfall. I would think myself a most improper wife were I not to have good things to say about my husband at all hours and to all who will listen!
“And he says the sweetest things to me, too, of course.” Meriet blushed enchantingly.
“I’m sure he does,” Daniel said gently.
“He is such a good man. I find myself the luckiest young woman on Arbania, truly I do.”
“Your Roznar sounds to be a most fortunate young man, as well,” Teal’c said.
“Do you think so? You are very kind, Teal’c. I hope to be all he could wish for in a wife, because certainly he deserves no less. I plan… I hope to give him five children. Five! Three strong boys and two sweet girls.”
“That’s nice,” Sam said, “but you know that you can’t…?”
“Oh, we will take what comes! We must have at least two children, though, I really believe that. I am an only child, as is Roznar, and we both insist on having two children at the very least. Boys or girls. We’ll rejoice either way.” Meriet held her head high. “We are not old-fashioned, you understand. Boys or girls, each equally worthy of our care and love.”
“Good for you,” Sam said, grinning at Daniel.
“But that is in the happy future,” Meriet said. “First will be my bride day. I shall wear white, down to my shoes, everything white. And Heziah… Heziah, she is my friend and teacher and landlady and employer and all that I could ever need. I am alone, you see, and she gives me a place to sleep and my food, and I sew and make cloth at the loom and keep my room clean and wash the pots and plates after we all eat… she has three children and a husband, who is very particular about things… I do not know quite how she puts up with it, and I am heartily glad that my Roznar is of a more gentle character altogether… what was I going to say?”
“Something about your landlady and your bride day?” Sam guessed.
“Oh! Yes, of course, that is what I was going to tell you. About my bride clothes, and about how Heziah has made for me the most beautiful veil to wear in my hair. So fine and delicate a lace I have never held in my hands before. She has been so good to me in all things, but if I did not love her so much already, I would love her just for my beautiful veil.”
“What will Roznar wear?” Sam asked.
“Ah! He will not tell me. No, he will not! I tease and tease, but he is silent. ‘The bride is not to know what her betrothed dons until the bride day arrives,’ he says to me.
“‘But we, you and I, we are not old-fashioned,’ I say to him. But it does not answer; he will not talk. Quiet as the grave, my Roznar, when he wants to be.” Meriet pouted.
“I’m sure he’ll look very handsome, whatever he’s wearing,” Sam said soothingly.
Meriet beamed at her. “Yes, that is certain. Many things in living can be uncertain, but of that I am confident.”
“So, on your bride day, you and Roznar will be in the flower-filled sanctuary…?” Daniel prompted.
“The air will be so sweet,” Meriet murmured with a faraway look in her eyes.
There was a short silence as they continued walking.
“Heziah and her oldest daughter will stand with me,” Meriet continued dreamily. “And my two very best, very dearest friends; friends from childhood through girlhood, and now on into motherhood. Clorilde and Ammisel, they are named. And with Roznar will stand his two male cousins and his employer and his oldest friend, Rezikel. You would scarce believe the amount of trouble Roznar and Rezikel have gotten into over the years! It is quite scandalous, I promise you. I am forced to frown at him sometimes, I really am.”
“I think my people would say that the two of them ‘sowed their wild oats’ together,” Daniel said.
“I like that,” Meriet said. “’Sowed their wild oats’. The strange part is that Roznar’s mother adores Rezikel.”
“Why is that strange?” Sam asked.
“Oh, she can be hard to please. And she holds Roznar to a very high standard. It just surprises me that she would not blame Rezikel for all the times…” Meriet laughed. “For all the times Roznar did not quite meet those standards. Well, but it is so. Rezikel is her pet.”
Jack gave her an inquisitive look. “Mother-in-law problems?”
Meriet looked back at him. “She is not overly fond of me, I am afraid. But I am going to win her over! I am going to be such a good wife, and such a good daughter to her that I shall win her heart entirely.”
“Good for you!” Sam said. “That’s the right attitude.”
“Yes,” Meriet said, biting her lip. “The only problem is that I am not a very good cook. Not yet! Heziah is teaching me, and I try very hard, but sometimes I am afraid that the meat gets scorched.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jack said, staring ahead. “Roznar isn’t going to care. And you’ll get the hang of it.”
“I will!” Meriet vowed. “And I can already sew and clean and take care of children, even a very small baby.”
“You will do very well,” Teal’c said solemnly.
They were approaching the outskirts of the village.
“I have talked and talked,” Meriet said. “You must all check to be certain that you still possess your left ears! And I never even told you about the words of the bride ceremony, where we promise to love each other eternally and be faithful and supportive and raise our children to be upright and wise and good.”
“Those sound like very good vows,” Sam said.
“Many of the marriage rites on our own planet have very similar vows between the bride and her spouse,” Daniel added.
“Is that so? What do the brides wear?” Meriet asked with wide eyes, standing stock-still.
Daniel was forced to stop as well. Jack had already moved up alongside Teal’c, and now Sam passed them with a grin tossed over her shoulder. “Ah, it varies,” he answered. “In the country I live in, most brides wear white, but in some places on our planet they wear red or black or multi-colored clothing.” He turned his head to see how far ahead the rest of the group was getting.
“Excuse me,” Meriet said, touching Daniel’s bare arm with a hand which felt cold even though his skin was slightly chilled. “I need to fix my sandal strap….” She smiled at him and bent down.
“Oh, okay, sure.” Daniel turned back to the others and called, “Hey, guys, wait up a minute.”
They stopped and looked back.
“Meriet just had to, um….” Daniel gestured over his shoulder.
Jack raised his eyebrows. “Had to what?”
“Where’d she go?” Sam asked.
“What?” Daniel spun around.
Meriet was nowhere in sight.
Jack approached, with the others close behind him. “Daniel?”
“She said she had to fix her sandal,” Daniel said blankly. “Well. She must….” He waved at the trees that lined the side of the road.
“Apparently ‘I need to fix my sandal’ means ‘excuse me while I pee’,” Jack said. “An interesting cultural… thing. Right?”
“I suppose,” Daniel said, still staring into the trees.
“We have nearly reached the village,” Teal’c said, frowning. “Why would she not wait?”
“We don’t know what their sanitation system is like,” Sam said. “Anyway, sometimes a girl can’t wait, you know?”
Jack made a face. “Well, fascinating as this discussion is, I suggest we get on with what we came here for. Come on, Daniel.”
Daniel looked at him, startled. “Shouldn’t we wait for her?”
Jack jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “New York City this isn’t. She’ll find us. And it seems kinda rude to stand around here waiting for her to finish her business.”
“She still has my jacket,” Daniel protested.
“Anything in the pockets?” Jack asked quickly.
“What? Oh. No, nothing but a couple of power bars. Everything else is here in my TAC vest.”
“She’ll find us,” Jack repeated.
Except she didn’t.
They were sitting at a table, underneath a shady tree outside the village’s small tavern. Citizens surrounded them, goggling and jostling and whispering and giggling. The headman, the schoolteacher, the pastor, the sheriff and the tavernkeeper were all pressing them to have a second mug of ale.
They were wasting their time. There wasn’t anything of value here. Just some nice folks and some tasty brew.
“Sorry,” Jack said. “One’s my limit when I’m hiking. We should be getting back before it starts getting dark, kids.”
Daniel broke off his conversation with the schoolteacher. “Um, my jacket? You were… you know. Wrong.”
“It happens,” Jack said haughtily. “Yeah, about that, folks. Maybe someone can help my friend out. He loaned his jacket to a young lady we met on the way into town, and then poof. We haven’t seen her or the jacket either in quite a while.”
The pastor covered his mouth while his eyes grew wide. The headman exclaimed. The sheriff frowned.
“Whoa,” Jack said, surprised by their reactions.
The tavernkeeper took a long swig of his fine product and set the mug down with a thump. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and grinned. “Meriet!”
“That’s….” Daniel looked at Jack. “That’s right. Uh, can you tell us where we can find her?”
“Oh, yes. Anyone in the village could tell you where to find her.” The tavernkeeper was still grinning. The sheriff appeared to be growling.
“What’s the story here?” Jack said impatiently. “Let us in on it.”
“Meriet is our resident ghost,” the schoolteacher said. He wasn’t smiling.
“Excuse me?”
“What?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“There are no such things.”
“Yeah, what the big guy said,” Jack added, indicating Teal’c.
“She told you all about her planned marriage, her beloved Roznar?”
“She did,” Teal’c answered with narrowed eyes.
“That’s, um, that’s basically all she could talk about.”
“The marriage never took place,” the pastor told them. “It was a terrible thing. Terrible.”
“She was murdered,” said the sheriff. “Killed in her own bed.”
“It was a brutal crime,” said the headman, shaking his head. “There had never been anything like it in the village. Thanks be, there has never been anything like it since.”
Jack rubbed a hand over his face and looked at Daniel, who raised his shoulders an inch.
“It wasn’t Roznar, was it?” Sam asked, and then ignored the looks her teammates gave her.
“No! Oh, no. Roznar loved her with all his soul,” the pastor said, apparently shocked at the question.
“It was his mother,” the sheriff said. “Stabbed the girl over and over.”
“She didn’t want her son to marry and leave her,” the schoolteacher added.
“Cut out her heart.” The sheriff sounded positively ghoulish.
“Oh!” Sam exclaimed.
“She paid the price for it, of course,” the sheriff continued. “They made quick work of her after the trial.”
“Our laws have been changed, rewritten since then,” the headman inserted. “It was absolutely barbaric.”
“She was executed?” Daniel asked, wincing.
“Cut in three,” the tavernkeeper said, shivering dramatically.
“Beheaded and then….” The sheriff indicated a line from neck to groin.
The members of SG-1 all made faces.
“That would never be allowed today,” the headman repeated, obviously wanting his village to be seen to be enlightened.
“And Meriet?” Sam’s teammates didn’t give her the eye this time - they were all too intent on listening to the answer.
“It was ten days later that Meriet walked for the first time. What would have been her bride day. Several people saw her on the sanctuary porch. She looked like she was waiting for the doors to be opened and the ceremony to begin.” The pastor was looking pale. “I’ve seen her there myself. She still comes, but not necessarily on that date any more.”
“There’s an old joke,” the schoolteacher said, looking apologetic. “When someone mistakes the day or misses an appointment… or a husband forgets an anniversary, we say they’re using Meriet’s calendar. Apparently ghosts don’t keep track of time very well.”
Daniel shifted uneasily. “How long ago was this?”
“Forty cycles?” The schoolteacher looked around. “More or less. Forty cycles on, and Meriet is still planning and dreaming of her bride day.” He shook his head, appearing to be quite disturbed. “We see her from time to time, you understand, but none of us has spoken with her. It’s only the rare visitor who meets her on the road that she can tell her story to; that doesn’t know who… what she is.”
The pastor abruptly stood up. “I’ll take you to her.”
Daniel opened his mouth and looked at Jack. Teal’c stood. Sam smiled at the pastor uneasily and stood.
“Yeah, okay,” Jack mumbled.
“Thank you,” Daniel added weakly.
As they walked down the lane to the village church and cemetery, the schoolteacher, who had joined them, recounted experiences that other visitors had reported over the years. It all sounded very familiar.
They also learned what had happened to Roznar. “He left the village immediately after the trial, moved to a larger town, many miles distant. He had cousins in his father’s line who went there sometimes to visit him, but he never came back himself. He married about five years later. When word reached the village, the pastor of that day held a prayer service, and afterwards many laid flowers on Meriet’s grave. Roznar and his wife are still together and happy as far as anyone knows.”
The pastor opened the gate to the churchyard. “The children of those cousins tend her grave now. The poor thing had no family other than the one she would have married into.”
“Are we likely to see her here?” Daniel asked softly.
The pastor smiled wryly. “It’s the one place where Meriet has never been seen.”
“But where she can always be found. A children’s riddle,” the schoolteacher explained.
“Ah!” Jack responded. “How charming.”
“The oldest burial section is at the rear of the church,” the pastor said, pointing. “The newest graves are across the road. Those from Meriet’s day are down this way.”
They followed the pastor along the little path that wound and looped throughout the graveyard. The stone grave markers were low to the ground and mostly plain-looking, with an occasional ornate border found here and there. A few squirrels scampered off to their right as they walked. The same woods that ran along the side of the road leading from the Stargate loomed up ahead.
Meriet’s burial plot was nearly at the fence which marked the cemetery as separate from the woods. Potted flowers bloomed on either side of the grave, which had been cleared of fallen leaves. Her unadorned gravestone was larger than most of the others they’d seen.
Daniel’s jacket was draped over it.
~~~~
They were quiet as they retraced their steps along the road, each presumably busy with their own thoughts, or perhaps busy avoiding their own thoughts. The sun was slanting low in the sky, and the clouds glimpsed above the trees were pink and orange.
The wind had picked up considerably and the warmth of the day was rapidly disappearing. Daniel was finally forced to give in and put his jacket on.
Just before they reached the curve in the road that would take them into the grove surrounding the Stargate, Jack called a halt. The dust of the road swirled around their feet as a gust of wind swept past.
Jack unzipped an inner pocket of his vest and fished out a quarter. He held it up. “Heads we keep her out of our report?”
“I’ll go along with that,” Sam said, biting her lip.
“I, as well.”
Daniel tucked his hands underneath his arms and nodded.
Jack flipped the coin. It spun through the air, glinting a few times as it caught and reflected a beam of departing sunlight. The wind sighed in the trees. The quarter landed in the dust very near the spot where they had first encountered Meriet. They all stared down at it.
Daniel lifted his head and looked around. “It’s getting awfully late.”
“We should not linger,” Teal’c agreed.
Sam stood suddenly straight and turned her head towards the trees as though she had heard something, or as though she were making sure that she hadn’t.
“It’ll be dark in the grove,” Daniel said, watching Sam.
“Right,” Jack said, bending swiftly to pick up the coin. “Best two out of three, then?”