Title: On Heroism and the (Lack of) Moral Ascended Beings
Character/Relationships: Daniel Jackson, Oma Desala
Warnings: Nil
Disclaimer: Sadly, all recognisable characters…are not mine *breaks down in tears*
Daniel was just getting used to life in the SGC. He felt comfortable in his room, recognised the artefacts in his lab and got everyone's name right most of the time. In fact, he had established a routine. Or, perhaps, relearned his old one. That was the reason why he knew something was strange when he awoke in the middle of the night to find a tall, beautiful, glowing woman standing by his bed.
"Hello?" he said out loud, thinking that he was quite obviously dreaming.
"Hello Daniel. It is good to see you again, or rather, to talk to you again." The woman said in a calm and soothing voice. It was deeper than the voices of most women, but authoritative and knowing.
"Do I know you?" he asked, recognising the familiar felling of knowing he should, but didn't, remember something important.
"Though we cannot walk backwards on the past, we can glimpse the places we have travelled." She said in a reserved and annoyingly cryptic manner.
His frustration at the confusing metaphor she had presented him with was the reason he was able to recall who she was. "Oma Desala."
"Yes."
His frustration caused him to recall further details in relation to his ascension. "You stopped me from destroying Anubis." He accused. The bits and pieces he did remember allowing him to infer what had occurred prior to his desscension. "Why."
"A fool swims against the current to reach the river bank. A wise man follows the current to reach safe harbour later." She said. Her role was obviously to be vending machine of ridiculously uninterpretable sayings.
"So the others made you?" Figuring out what she meant was harder than deciphering Ancient.
"Why was I not allowed to prevent a partially ascended being using the knowledge he gained as an ascended being?" He asked.
She remained silent, obviously not inclined to tell him. That or she couldn't think up a metaphor cryptic enough.
"Why are you talking to me?" He asked, curious as to why she would visit him now.
"The path exists only if you see it. When fog obscures it, the smoothest track is forest."
There was silence for several minutes as Daniel tried to interpret her latest saying. "If I don't remember, it doesn't count as interfering."
She smiled slightly. He took that as an affirmative. "Got any more explanations I won't remember?"
"He, who seeks the glory of a battle, forgets that cunning wins wars. The warrior dies a noble death, the spy lives on and changes worlds." With this, her final impartation, she faded out of existence (or his perception of what existed), leaving him to ponder what she said.
Several sleepless hours later he finally realised her intention. In fact, it had stunned him as much as being smacked full on in the face.
Oma Desala wasn't there to answer his questions, she was there to teach him a lesson. That lesson being that confronting Anubis directly, though flashy and honourable had resulted in his desscension. Wrong choice. The right choice? Undoing a couple of screws so the weapon wouldn't work. Much more effective. Unfortunately, as soon as this epiphany occurred, he forgot all he had learnt about choosing cunning over courage.
"What was I doing up again?"