Lessons Never Learned –
Spacegypsy1
Lesson Ten - Never Kiss a Gift…ah…on the Mouth
A/N: Rated PG. It's a little longer than the rest. And a special thanks to Mrs.Pollifax! For the beta.
It was a large yurt, reminiscent of the Abydonians, the Hak'tyl and the Shavadai, but much more richly appointed. Tribal rugs, elaborate pillows and silken pallets piled with ornate covers and exotic furs were spread around the interior.
Vala grinned appreciatively as the foursome stopped just inside the yurt.
Sam felt uncomfortable in her dirty BDU's - and there was a decidedly peculiar frown on her face.
"I guess the locals consider us honored guests. This place is real swanky." Mitchell unhooked his P-90 and set it on a gold inlayed wooden table, just inside the doorway.
Finger pointing in succession, Vala counted the sleeping pallets, disappointed to find five. There will be no accidentally sleeping with Daniel tonight. She let out a disgruntled sigh.
"What princess? This place is just your style." Mitchell started forward, but his advance was quickly stopped with an arm across his chest.
"Cam. Boots. They're covered in mud. Look at this." Sam indicated the opulence with a sweep of her hand. "Maybe we should clean up a bit?"
"Right." The Colonel jabbed a finger behind him. "I'll just go check with Jackson and see if he can find out where the local bathhouse is."
"You seem uncomfortable, ColonelCarter." Teal'c, hand holding back the tent flap, had yet to fully enter.
"It reminds me of Shavadai." With a distasteful grimace, Sam stepped backwards out of the yurt.
"Well, I think it's marvelous!" Vala followed Sam out, brushing at the dried mud on her BDUs.
xxxxxx
Daniel sat cross-legged by the fire in the center of the village, surrounded by the tribal Elders, two men and three women. The women kept eyeing him and giggling.
His face hurt from grinning as the Council tried unsuccessfully to learn his language. It'd been a long time since he'd sat like this, around a fire, stars thick in the night sky, doing what he loved best. Teaching. Learning. Speaking an ancient language. One of the Elders kept patting him on the back and thanking him for ridding them of the Ori soldiers, and they would not listen when he tried to tell them it wasn't him alone, but his team who'd won the long battle.
The council fire blazed late into the night as the villagers celebrated all around them. Hours had passed since Mitchell and Teal'c had been sent off with one of the female Elders towards a small tent erected over a hot springs, and Daniel still chuckled at what that scene must have been. Both Teal'c and Mitchell, as part of the honored guests, were treated to a bath with thirteen of the tribe's most eligible women.
Some time later, both men, dressed in clean tribal robes, had passed by, headed for the guest quarters. Teal'c looked serene and comfortable, and Mitchell looked like he just wrestled a bear.
It had taken Daniel quite a while to glean information on the ritual associated with the women of his team. Just about an hour ago he'd seen both Vala and Sam, surrounded by a troop of older women, being led by the Elder woman to the red tent far off from the rest of the village.
xxxxxx
Her skin itched and Vala longed for her turn at being bathed and anointed with oils.
She sat dejected on a stack of pillows as the women fussed over Samantha and her blond hair.
Once clean, Sam tried to refuse the silk robes, but in the end realized that they were much better than her dirty BDUs. Vala laughed as the Colonel recounted her adventures on Simarka with the boy named Abu.
The Elder woman chatted in her odd language and, with many hand gestures and much innuendo, she and Vala seemed to be communicating.
As Sam dressed, the Elder kept indicated someone tall and broad and then she circled a spot on her forehead and grinned, pointing to Sam.
"Oh. Oh no!" Vala laughed, shaking her head.
The Elder frowned and thought a moment before indicating a shorter man, crinkling her own eyes and pinching the skin around them.
Vala's head went back with laughter. "Mitchell? No." She shook her head so emphatically that her own pigtails slapped her face.
With a look of consternation, the woman held out her palms as if to say, 'then who?' Vala pointed towards the sky, and the woman nodded in understanding.
Then the woman began an elaborate sequence of gestures and words directed to Vala, ending with fingers about her eyes signifying Daniel's glasses.
Vala grinned, pulling her cupped hands to her chest, scrunching her shoulders and nodding. "Ah, yes, Daniel. I adore him!"
The Elder dismissed all but a handful of the women, and she and the others paraded a sleepy, relaxed Sam out of the red yurt.
While the water was changed in the elaborate tub, Vala patiently anticipated the long, hot, oil scented bath. She watched the young men carry the tub out. Removing her boots and socks, Vala pulled her knees to her chest and waited. "This could take a while."
xxxxxx
Judging by the stars, the night would soon be over. Excitement had kept him awake, and even now, as it appeared the council was breaking up, Daniel felt energized. The Elder woman who had left the circle returned, taking his hand and guiding him through the village. He looked around, finding that no one else followed.
"What? No gaggle of women for me?" He laughed, and the Elder eyed him in question. He'd had the good sense to speak in English. Switching to the ancient language, so much like Abydonian it made his heart ache, he told her quietly, "I asked where we are going."
She smiled so sweetly, Daniel could not help but respond with a broad grin. "A gift." The woman answered and he followed intrigued. They did not go to the bathhouse as he expected, but instead he was led to a small sweat lodge where the two male Elders awaited.
When the woman returned nearly thirty minutes later, Daniel had adorned rich blue robes, and he followed her again just as the first pink of dawn lit the horizon. Pulling back the tent flap, the woman gestured him inside the red yurt. What he saw stopped him in his tracks and he stared, wide-eyed and mesmerized.
The opening dropped closed behind him. Vala, naked back to him, turned her head, while she had one foot in the steaming tub. Her face held a strange expression, and an arm crossed her chest. "Daniel?"
"Ahm…ah…sorry." He pivoted, feeling the need to run. When his head poked out of the tent, the Elder frowned.
"Your gift. You do not like it?"
"Umm…yes. Of course. Of course." He ducked back inside keeping his face averted from the tub. This was all too familiar, and he fought to squelch the panic.
He knew she settled into the water from the sounds that filled the room. The scent of jasmine wafted around him.
xxxxxx
"Where's Vala?" Mitchell looked up from his card game with Teal'c as Sam entered.
"Waiting up for us?" Sam grinned.
"Yeah, you missed your curfew, you're grounded."
Teal'c stood. "ColonelCarter, you look lovely in your…"
Sam held up a warning finger and Teal'c nodded, sitting once again. Mitchell ducked his head smirking. "Cam," she warned.
"Okay, back to the original question. Where's Vala?"
"Being pampered. I'm sleepy." Sam chose a pallet and settled into it with a heavy sigh.
"We're not waiting up for her?"
"Mmm. Not me. Where's Daniel?"
"DanielJackson remains with the Council of Elders."
Sam's soft breathing had both of them smiling. Mitchell tossed his cards on the thick rug. "Yeah, I guess it's time to get a little shut-eye." He yawned, trying to right the fabric of his much-hated outfit.
"Good night, ColonelMitchell." Teal'c rose and went to the entrance, pulling back the flap and watching the soft sunrise filter through the trees. His eyes wandered across the quiet deserted village to the dying embers of the council fire before coming to rest on the red tent in the distance.
xxxxxx
"Daniel, stop being silly; you've seen me naked before. Come and wash my back." Vala's head rested against the tub. When he didn't move she smiled. "Alright, but the least you can do is hand me that little pail so I can wash my hair."
Eyes averted, he held the pail out.
"Daniel."
He had no idea what possessed him, but he turned.
The intensity of his blue eyes was startling, and she held her breath a moment to recover. As if she could cleanse the memory of that look from her soul, Vala dumped a pail of water over her head, took the soap and lathered her thick mane, sputtering when the suds burned her eyes.
Her hands went out wildly, seeking the towel she'd left on the side of the tub. She found it attached to his hand. As she wiped at her face, she felt his hand take her neck and guide her head back. The pail pinged against the side of the brass tub before she felt the warm water run through her hair. With a deep trusting sigh she relaxed in his hand.
He kept his eyes on her hair as he methodically rinsed the suds long past the need to do so. Then one wayward glance he could not stop burned in his head like the fires of Celestis. At last, coming to some sense of normality, he stopped, setting the pail aside and stood up behind her.
Vala looked over her shoulder, her eyes lifting to his and finding them still too intense to hold. "Join me?" her throaty whisper begged. She turned away, not wanting to see the rejection that would cloud the blue orbs.
The rustle of clothing was unmistakable. Her breath caught in her throat, Vala waited nervously. When he stepped in behind her, she scooted forward with a deep sigh.
He pulled her back against his chest, smoothing the dark wet hair from her face. "Better?" He asked softly.
"Much." Again she sighed, resting one palm on each of his thighs.
He turned her face to his, placing his mouth lightly on her grinning lips.
xxxxxx
"Okay, we're missin' one archeologist and one former thief." Mitchell shook his BDU pants out the doorway, and then donned them under his robe before removing it. Shrugging into his black T-shirt, Cam frowned, eyeing Daniel's and Vala's vests.
Teal'c, already dressed, opened his eyes from meditation. "Perhaps they came and have already left."
"Sam! Wake up, sleepy-head, time to rise and shine." Cam shook her shoulder.
With a dreamy smile, Sam's eyes fluttered open. "Hmm?" Sitting up, she blinked the sleep from her eyes.
"Come on. Upsie-daisy," Cam hauled her up.
Both Cam and Teal'c turned away, busying themselves with mundane tasks as she changed.
"Look, guys, we need to go. We'll spread out and locate them. Landry's expecting us within the hour." Mitchell closed his vest. "Let's go."
"I will check the red tent." Teal'c stood and made for the door.
"Fine. Sam, you check with the Elders, me, I'm gonna canvas the village."
Ducking through the opening the three set out.
xxxxxx
Quietly and very slowly, Teal'c separated the flap of the red tent. There they were, entwined under the furs. ValaMalDoran's head lay upon his chest, and DanielJackson's arm held her there. Teal'c let the flap close, standing like a sentry at the entrance.
Though they had become close, like brothers, there had always been the ghost of Sha're between himself and DanielJackson. But, recently, Teal'c had witnessed great love and joy between ValaMalDoran and his friend - for more than fifty years. He knew it was not ValaMalDoran his friend did not trust. He loved her, but did not trust his own heart. That seemed to have changed. A smile drifted briefly across his face. "DanielJackson!" He called.