Title: A Special Sunday
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Summary: Vala goes on a special, lone outing on a Sunday morning to investigate the ways of Earth.
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Vala Mal Doran
Length: 2,000 words
Genres: spiritual
A/N: A special note on this story! The themes of this story are of a highly religious/spiritual nature. It's nothing overbearingly heavy, but the themes are still on the deep side. I'm NOT looking to start a war over spirituality, and if you want to, don't bring it to me. I am a very deeply believing Christian myself, and this flowed out of a personal study on the names of God. I used an "article" of sorts by Lambert Dolphin for reference, if anyone's curious. Since FF won't let me post a link, just go to Google and search for The Names of God by Lambert Dolphin.

A Special Sunday

It was out of curiosity (and perhaps a little boredom as well) that Vala Mal Doran left the SGC one Sunday morning. Some time before, she'd noticed a sign in town that piqued her interest, and so this morning, she'd finally decided to check out the goings-on advertised by the sign. She might've asked someone to go with her (Daniel was, of course, her first choice), but she felt like anyone she asked might laugh at her suggestion. And she decided not to risk it.

A few eyebrows were raised when she left the SGC in such dress as she did – from what little information she had gathered on the subject, formal clothes were an important tradition – but for once, she didn't answer any of the eyebrows, knowing that she might give herself away. She just let them wonder.

Of course, she happened to arrive late and things had already started by the time she got there.

As she slipped in the door, she caught a few glances, but most people looked at her only briefly and returned their attention forward. Surveying the room briefly, she slid into an open space on the very last row. She sat for a while the others stood, but shortly she too rose to her feet.

The words to the song they were singing were projected on a screen at the front of the room, but Vala was too nervous to attempt singing along. Instead, she simply observed – what she had really come to do. She'd spent enough time with scientists – Daniel, Sam, the other million-bajillion ones the SGC employed – to know about observation and study of a subject.

After two or three more songs, they sat down and Vala followed suit.

Then a short, round-faced but rather jolly man stepped up onto the stage at the front of the room. After a few short words, he called for an "offering."

Something inside of Vala, remembering "offerings" that were forced out of followers of Qetesh and brought to her, instantly balked at the notion, but she kept her face straight. A trait she had learned from scientists – blend in: never let your observation know it was being observed.

Baskets were passed through the people gathered and a good portion of the people dropped coins and stuffed envelopes into them. There appeared to be no outside pressure forcing them to do so, like there had been pushed on the people under Qetesh. These people simply did so; certainly, not all of them appeared happy, some even being goaded by spouses, but they gave anyway. This willingness surprised Vala, though somewhat mildly. She… supposed she could understand that.

And then the little man climbed back up onto the stage, settling himself in behind a great wooden pulpit that had to have been built for someone else as it dwarfed this man. He talked for a few minutes, making announcements, welcoming visitors (Vala wondered if, in a group this size, he could tell that she was a visitor), and just making general small-talk.

Though he was friendly, Vala only half-listened. She'd come hoping to observe what really went on here, what made this place different. She hadn't come to hear a man simply be friendly and chatty on a stage and the people around laugh and be merry. That wasn't different or interesting.

Finally, the man became serious and Vala became attentive. "Beloved, I bring to you a very different message today." He smiled lightly. "You know of the false gods of the Bible – Baal, Ashtoreth or Ishtar…"

Vala could have laughed. Yes, she knew them all too well. Having spent the vast majority of her life in the world of the Goa'uld who called themselves gods, she had lots of experience with that. Having been a so-called goddess herself once, she knew the horrid hypocrisy of the "gods" who enslaved masses of innocent humans. Being with SG-1, she had more or less declared open war against those "gods."

That these people openly and frankly called them false made Vala very happy and very attentive.

"But Beloved, I did not come to you today to preach about those gods," the man continued.

Vala's spirits sagged slightly, but she reminded herself of her curiosity and focused in on the man behind the pulpit again. She had come here to observe the ways of these people, and nothing would deter her.

"I came to talk to you about something greater than those gods," he went on. "I come to you to tell you about the names of the One True God."

Something within Vala balked again. The idea of gods still didn't sit well with her, it seemed. Remembering having been one and the knowledge of the imminent destruction of the Ori's followers, hearing of people's strong devotion to a god sat ill on her stomach. In some ways, it made her want to save them from the fate of Goa'uld followers that she had seen fall into destruction – many with her very own eyes – and the Ori followers, who wreaked destruction on others but would fall into it themselves in the end. Yet this was exactly what she had come here to observe, she told herself. She'd come here to see who exactly these people followed, and she had to stay, had to watch.

She let her eyes slide closed, attempting to compose herself internally and externally.

The man on the pulpit spoke on. "In the Bible, God has many names," he said. "Not just the English adapted titles we give Him like 'King of Kings' and 'Lord of Lords.' He has many Hebrew and Greek names by which He is called." He paused for a moment. "There are so many facets of God, so many names by which to call Him. I want to list a few for you, then I'll explain them."

Vala's eyes stayed closed, and she listened closely. She expected to know many of these names. Thanks to Qetesh, her knowledge of the Goa'uld was vast.

"Our God, the God of the Bible," the man continued, "is Yahweh, first and foremost."

Vala frowned. That name, she didn't know. She'd never heard that one, ever. She guessed maybe the Goa'uld went by a different name abroad. Or maybe it was just coincidence that she didn't know… even though the man had said it was the primary name of their God.

"He is Jehovah," he continued. "He is El. He's Adonai, Elohim, and El Shaddai. El Elyon, Abhir, Kadosh, Shaphat, El Roi, Palet, Yesha, Gaol, Magen, Eyaluth, Tsaddiq, El-Olam, El-Berith, El-Gibhor, Zur, and Melekh."

The frown on Vala's face deepened and her eyes opened. None of those names were familiar to her either. She couldn't ever recall hearing a Goa'uld by any of those names – or anything near any of those names. Now she was beginning to doubt the coincidence. How could she not have heard of any of the names of their God? With her knowledge, it was all but impossible that this person by all these names – or any of these numerous persons by any singular name – was unknown to her.

It baffled her. Truly, it did.

Was there some major Goa'uld going around out there that she didn't know about? It wasn't likely. And besides, she was sure that Daniel would know about these names of gods and he'd know about the Goa'ulds to which they belonged. And if Daniel had knowledge about all of these Goa'ulds, why wouldn't he have told her?

"And I know that's an awful lot of names, but that's not all," the man continued. There was Spirit in his voice now and a smile on his face. "He is Jehovah, but He isn't just Jehovah alone. He's Jehovah-Jireh. He's Jehovah-Rophe. He's Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah-M'kaddesh, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, Jehovah-Rohi, Jehovah-Shammah, and Jehovah-Sabaoth. So, so many things."

Despair gripped Vala's heart. She didn't recognize any of those either! Not one!

Something wasn't right. She was certain of that. This was not what she had come here to find out. She was certain of that too.

"I know that's a lot of names to take in," the man continued. "A lot of information, much of it's new news."

You have no idea, Vala thought silently.

"But now, Beloved, I want to give you even more information," he said. "I want to tell you what those names mean. El – God. Elohim, Creator and Preserver. El Shaddai, God All-Sufficient. Adonai, Lord and Master. Jehovah, God the I Am." He continued rapidly from there on, punctuating each name with his finger and pronouncing each word with passion, "Provider, Healer, Banner, Sanctifier, Peace, Righteousness, Shepherd. Lord Who is There, Lord of Hosts. Most High. Mighty One. Holy One. Judge. God of Vision. Deliverer. Savior. Redeemer. Shield. Strength. Righteous One. Everlasting. God of the Covenant. God the Warrior. God our Rock. And King."

If at all possible, Vala's frown deepened. Some of those sounded like names a Goa'uld would call themselves – master, mighty, judge, warrior. But the vast majority of the names did not sound like a Goa'uld in the least.

Preserver? Provider? Redeemer? Peace?

Since when were Goa'uld any of those things? Even under the "generous" masquerade that a few of them provided, they would never call themselves by most of those names.

The man was nearly breathless now, but he spoke without breath, continuing on anyway. "And just think, Beloved, all of that is in One Being."

Vala's sharp intake of breath was just quiet enough to attract no attention.

Surely, no Goa'uld would call themselves all of those things.Definitely not. There were some of those names that she couldn't imagine them touching, and claiming them all would be just about the most un-Goa'uld-like thing that Vala could possibly imagine.

Maybe, she thought for the first time, this really wasn't a Goa'uld. Maybe this great being of which these people spoke wasn't a Goa'uld at all…

A great vacuum had been left in her young life when she first realized that the Goa'uld weren't really gods. When she became so personally injured by the deeds of Qetesh, it had more or less covered that vacuum with a giant scab. She'd sealed off huge chunks of her being to keep herself from getting hurt even further. That had manifested in many different areas of her life, reaching so deep it was impossible to really comprehend the depth.

One by one, a lot of those areas had been reopened again. Time with SG-1 had reawakened some sense of morality in her life, to the point that she'd even sacrificed herself once to keep her friends – her family – safe. Finally, walls had broken down and she'd begun to form relationships with people again, reopening her heart. As time and circumstance had gone by, lots of areas of her being that had been shut off were revived, brought back to life. She'd begun to live a more or less normal life again.

Still, spirituality was not one of the doors that she had reopened. She hadn't necessarily rejected it completely so much as ignored it altogether. She wasn't entirely sure that she was even ready to open the door to something major now, even after all that had changed in her life. Even sitting here amongst people who apparently believed very strongly in a God greater than anything.

She swallowed quietly.

Looking back at the most recent events of her life, though, she had to concede that, from what little (yet much) she'd heard of this God, He might be possible. If He was almighty, she supposed they believed He controlled everything. It would make sense. And there had been an awful lot of "coincidences" in her life that turned out for good and had brought her into better places. Had changed her for the better.

Even if she wasn't ready for full-fledged faith quite yet, she would concede the possibility. And if He existed, if He was really out there, she would have to offer Him an awful lot of thanks for looking out for her and putting people in her life who would come to look out for her too. No many how many arguments she made to the contrary, she really had been getting awfully tired of looking out for herself. It was nice not to be alone.

THE END