A/N: Thank you to those who pointed out that this chapter did not format correctly. Hopefully this fixed it. Thank you for reading!

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Chapter 2: Pancakes, But Hold the Whipped Cream

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Daniel awoke in an unfamiliar room. It was small, but very bright. He was in a simple bed underneath a colorful if faded quilt, lying beneath a large open window. White curtains fluttered softly above him in the breeze. The room was sparingly furnished; a simple brown desk on the wall next to the head of the bed and beyond that a wooden door. There was a chair on the opposite wall and a bookshelf filled with dusty books nestled in the far corner of the room. It was quiet, but Daniel felt anything but peace. He could still hear the cries of the dying on that nameless planet.

Daniel sat up slowly. For supposedly being Ascended, his body felt like it had been through the wringer. He wondered if it was worth yelling for Oma this time. He knew she was here, somewhere. She'd show when she was ready. Not that he wasn't still royally pissed with what she pulled taking him to that planet, but he couldn't summon her any more than he could go back home.

The door opened, but it wasn't Oma who walked through, it was another woman. She was young, with blond hair pulled into a carefully braided updo. "I am Tawhida." Her voice was almost soothing; soft and calm as it was. She sat gracefully in the chair by the bookcase and folded her hands neatly in her lap. "I am here to answer your questions. But remember, Daniel Jackson, a candle cannot burn without fire."

Daniel moved to the edge of the bed, nodding. "And a thousand candles can be lighted with a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened." He could play this game.

Tawhida nodded sagely, taking his point. "You are wise, Daniel Jackson."

"Tawhida, where are we?"

She cocked her head to the side slightly, as if just now taking in her surroundings. "What does it matter where we are?"

Daniel sighed. That wasn't the right question, apparently. "Okay, why I am I here?"

"That is only for you decide, Daniel Jackson. Only you know your own path."

This was going to be harder than Daniel thought. "Really? I didn't choose to watch those people die. I didn't decide to come here. Certainly seems like someone else is controlling my 'path' right now."

Tawhida grimaced. Daniel wondered if she might provide any straightforward answers at all. "Yes, Oma prefers to ensure her charges receive some…training…before fully joining the Ascended."

Daniel sat back, shocked both at the admission, and at the fact that the answer hadn't been given in some riddle or proverb. "So that's what this is? Training? Ascended boot camp?" Daniel paused. Ascended boot camp? He'd been spending too much time around Jack. Not that that was going to much of an issue anymore, he cringed at the thought.

Tawhida smiled. "Something to that effect. You are young, and headstrong. I fear it will take some time for you to understand."

"And you? How long did it take for you to 'understand'?"

She smiled, almost forlornly. "Much too long for Oma's liking."

"So, you're one of Oma's…charges, too? She 'changed' your path?" Daniel asked carefully, hoping he could keep the riddles out of the conversation as long as possible.

"She...helped me to Ascend as she did with you. That is why she sent me to speak with you."

"What happened? Why did she help you?"

Tawhida stood, and the room faded around them. Suddenly, they were in a large tent lined with cots. Most of the cots were filled with people – some sleeping, others awake and obviously in pain, and some still just simply lying there. Men and women flitted around, carrying supplies and pushing carts.

Daniel looked around, taking it in. "We're in a hospital."

"Yes," Tawhida nodded and walked forward, towards one of the cots. "This was my homeworld. There was a war between the nations. Many people died."

When they came upon the cot, Daniel saw a young boy sleeping. Or unconscious, Daniel thought. There was a woman bent over the bed, holding desperately onto the boy's hand. She looked up for a moment, and Daniel realized it was Tawhida. Slightly younger, face covered in tear-streaked dirt, but unmistakably the woman standing next to him. Quietly, he asked, "who was he?" Although he had a sickening feeling he already knew the answer.

"My son. Caught in an explosion. The Par'a'ins were trying to create a diversion before one of their biggest attacks. Needless to say, it worked." Despair twisted her voice, and Daniel saw the humanity overcome her. She was like him, not airy and distant as Oma seemed to be. Almost, anyway.

"I'm so sorry. Did he…?" He didn't know how to finish the question. He felt like he probably shouldn't have asked it in the first place.

"He died in the night. He never woke up." Tears choked her voice, her face flush. "I joined my people, the E'naley, in their fight against the Par'a'ins. I was mortally wounded in a battle two months after I lost...him. And then Oma showed up."

"Why?"

The question brought her out of her reverie, and she turned to him with her eyes still bright with unshed tears. "Why?"

Daniel grimaced, knowing he probably was coming off too harsh. "Look, I'm sorry about what you went through, I really am, but why? Why did Oma choose you? Why did she choose me? Why does she do this, when we all apparently have our own 'paths' anyway? What's the point?"

The field hospital disappeared around them and suddenly they were in a diner. Tawhida sat across Daniel in one of the red shiny booths while people ate breakfast and drank coffee in other ones around the restaurant. Someone came in the door and a bell chimed.

Daniel's eyes widened in realization. "I know this place."

"Yes, you do." Tawhida left it at that, then shifted in her seat. "Daniel Jackson, my son did not ascend. When Oma chose me, she took me on a different path than my son."

"And do you...wish she hadn't? Wouldn't you rather be with your son?" Suddenly Daniel thought of all the people who probably wouldn't ascend either. Shar'e, Jack, Sam, his parents? For the first time, Daniel truly felt like he had made a mistake choosing Ascension, his stomach clenching at the thought.

Tawhida truly looked as though she was thinking over what she wanted to say. "I am satisfied with my journey," she announced softly, as though she still didn't quite believe it herself but was trying to. "Yes, I miss my child, my family, but I had worked towards enlightenment during my time on my homeworld. When Oma came and offered it to me, she said I had become the closest to Ascension anyone had in generations from my world." Tawhida's eyes lit up with pride at the statement, but suddenly they clouded over. "But the battle that mortally wounded me cut my journey short. It would have changed my path from Ascension - I had not yet gotten close enough, I had not truly found enlightenment."

Daniel mulled over her words. "So, Oma didn't so much change your path as prevent it from being changed."

"Yes...and no. Do you believe in fate, Daniel Jackson?"

"I don't know," he replied slowly, "should I?"

Tawhida opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, a woman appeared at the table.

"Anything I can get for you two?" Daniel looked up to see Oma. This time, she was dressed in a blue button down uniform with a white apron tied around her waist. She held a notebook in one hand while she pulled a pencil from behind her ear with the other. "Coffee? Pancakes?"

Tawhida didn't miss a beat. "Both please, thank you, Oma. And extra syrup on the side."

"And you?" Oma turned to look at Daniel.

"What? I…"

"He'll have the same. Hold the whipped cream. Right, Daniel?" Tawhida looked over.

Eyebrows knitted in confusion, Daniel nodded. "Um, yeah, I guess. But what - " He couldn't finish his question, however, as Oma had already turned on her heels and headed for the kitchen. He didn't know what to make of these two. One minute, it felt like Tawhida and he were simply talking, and then he felt like he'd been benched at the kickball game on some Ascended playground.

"Tawhida, what was that?" There was only so much of this confusion Daniel could take. Before Oma had shown up, he felt like he was actually getting somewhere with Tawhida.

She shook her head. "I answered too much. I'm sorry."

"Answered too much? No, no, I felt like I was just getting things cleared up a little."

Sighing, Tawhida picked up a salt shaker and twirled it in her hand. "Some answers you must come by yourself, Daniel Jackson."

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A/N: Chapter 3 is almost ready! R and R and all that jazz... :)