Disclaimer: I own no characters from Stargate SG-1 or Stargate: Atlantis, and have no affiliations with its creators. Sage Griswold and the aspects of her world were invented by me.

CHAPTER 11: CARD TRICK BIG BOYS

"To order – I hereby call this meeting of the Sylphaen of the Colorado area to order. I will now read the minutes for the benefit of our honored representatives from the Council of Winnipeg:

"First matter and related side issues – The Cuckoo Child case of the witch Nana Sage and her Griswold counterpart, Sage, ah, Griswold. Related side issues include the manipulation of imitation ley lines by the United States Military and associates and the subsequent inter-planetary – explorations – by the same… And also their contact with the three extra terrestrial races represented here today.

"Sage Griswold, we understand that you are under a quite powerful curse, and that being in this reality is affecting your magic in unexpected ways?"

"That's right."

"Well, first of all, we shall need an exact accounting of how your lives differ, and a detailed explanation of your intact curse and your broken one. Who wishes to begin?"

"With all due respect, since this is my native reality, I think I ought to start."

"Recognized, Nana Sage. Proceed."

"I was kept a prisoner of the Necromancer Solaiada for the first twelve years of my life. Since Solaiada was a witch in life, she was able to drain my potentia to fuel her own power. With the help of my selkie, Rook, I was able to defeat her and finally send her over the border between death and life for good, but not before she cursed me. She said since I chose my selkie over her, that he would be the only one who would ever truly trust me – "

"Did you wish to say something, Sage Griswold?"

"No, sir."

"Right then, continue, Nana Sage."

"Thank you sir. Rook and I escaped into the forest by our raven forms and were eventually found and fostered by Baba Yaga. We stayed with her until her death and then we traveled until we came up with the idea of the universal ley lines. We've been in what the humans refer to as the Pegasus Galaxy for the past couple years."

"Is that all you have to say? Don't think for a minute that we are unaware of the circumstances surrounding your passage through the ley line – Kash Kash is a bad witch to cross, Nana Sage, and let's not forget your other two traveling companions. An elopement between a Hindu spirit and a Celtic Sidhe being pursued by both annulment determined mothers? A fearful prospect, Nana Sage. "

"…"

"Quite so, Nana Sage. Sage Griswold, might we hear your story now? And I would encourage you to be a bit more flush on your details; we might not know your story as well as your counterpart's, but we can check up on what you tell us, and we'll be twice as ticked off – excuse me, as aggravated with you as we are with her."

"Yes sir. I was raised by Solaiada, too. In near total isolation, Solaiada was the only person I had contact with until I found my own selkie. Hob wasn't a raven, though, he was a fox. Solaiada drained my potentia as well, but apparently that would have been alright with you since I'm a Griswold."

"Do not try our patience, Sage Griswold. Our methods of handling deviant Sylphaen are not the issue at hand. Proceed with your story."

"Yes sir. Once I realized not only what Solaiada was doing to me, but also what she was doing with my power, I decided to leave with Hob – "

"Your selkie."

"Yes. Thinking about it, I suppose the ability to fly – or lack thereof – must have been one of the deciding factors in my fate. The escape was a dismal failure, and I was forced to fight for not only my life but for Hob's as well. I managed to defeat her, but not before she cursed me, too, and Hob was the curse's first victim."

"And what were the terms of the curse?"

" 'As you abandon me, so will you be abandoned by everyone you would not wish to lose.' "

"And did he abandon you? Your selkie?"

"He died, sir."

"Then I don't see – "

"Death is a form of abandonment."

"Ah. Quite so. Proceed."

"I had never been out of Solaiada's house before, and I couldn't get a bird's eye view in order to navigate, so I didn't even try not be lost, I just kept walking. Eventually, I had the misfortune to be picked up by a rabid werewolf pack, who in turn sucked my potentia into their pack magic. It was maybe four, four and a half years before they finally overstepped their bounds and a cleanup crew from the far north came down to where we were in the Pacific Northwest. One of the new wolves happened to be a friend of the only other living Griswold, so he took me there. His name was Togs, and he took care of me until he decided I needed more help than he could give me, so he sent me to study with Baba Yaga. I was about eighteen by then."

"What caused him to think that you were in need of special – training?"

"…"

"Sage Griswold?"

"I had become… involved. At this point, I knew I had Telemorphic abilities, but my chameleonism was still a mystery to me. The young man I was… involved with knew about the curse and said he didn't care. Togs was doing as much research on my skill-sets as he could manage, and he figured out that I must be capable of some level of emotional manipulation. Apparently that was more than he bargained for."

"Who, Togs?"

"No, the young man I was – "

"– Involved with, yes."

"I… didn't handle it well. That's when Togs sent me to Baba Yaga. She gave me this charm to help suppress the stronger manipulations I'd been unconsciously programmed to emit. It's supposed to suppress the telemorphism, too, unless I particularly want to change for some reason, but it hasn't seemed to work right since crossing realities."

"Then are we to assume that it is failing in its chameleonism suppression too? Ah. I see that aspect of the situation had not occurred to you. Well, never mind, the wards we have set up in here haven't affected your telemorphic appearance, but they would not allow anyone else to be influenced by undue suggestions. Your chameleonism won't help you here. Continue your story."

"There's not much more. I stayed with Baba Yaga until she died a witch's death and left me the house and her guardian spirits."

"When you say she died a witch's death, you mean she…?"

"Yes. The humans call it ascending."

"Hah. How very poetic."

"In my home 'verse, the structure is a little… different. The leaders of the magical world – Sidhe, mostly – offered the Stargate Program a partnership, with the view of a joint unveiling. When the program decided that the human world was ready for outer space aliens, they'd also be ready for their non-human earth neighbors. I was one of the first magical advisors in the program."

"And how did you come to need sanctuary here?"

"…I – one of the skills I have is a limited seer ability."

"Pre-determined or fluctuating?"

"That's just it, I've had some of both."

"Indeed. Griswolds are just chock full of surprises are they not?"

"Yes sir. Over the years, I've worked out a rough system – if I see the same vision more than once, it means it's pre-determined and it's going to happen no matter what anybody does – or so the theory goes. If I only see it once, I might have a chance to change the outcome."

"And?"

"And I'd had a vision of myself drowning in freezing water a total of three times before it happened. And I didn't die."

"Ah. The pre-determined destiny of the universe was disrupted, and began trying to right itself any way it knew how: Sage Griswold must either die or disappear from the fabric of the universe. How was it that one little Griswold was able to escape her fate and so royally screw up the natural order of things?"

"…"

"Sage Griswold, I will only warn you one more time – "

"I became involved with someone… again."

"Ah."

"Someone from the Stargate Program, someone who gained the ability to ascend and did so. Apparently ascended beings have the ability to… royally screw up the natural order of things, but not to clean up the fall-out."

"Yes, well, setting that aside for the time being, I would like to hear from Nana Sage once again. In Sage Griswold's story I have noticed her curse fulfilling itself in several instances, but it occurs to me that Nana Sage neglected to inform us how it came to be that her curse was broken."

"Mine was different than hers."

"We are aware, Nana Sage."

"Although not as different as they seem, maybe. I think they're both finding-the-right-person curses. My curse was that no one but rook would ever think me trustworthy. I found someone out in the Pegasus Galaxy who was willing to trust me. She needs to find someone who will either not abandon her, or who will come back if they do."

"An interesting theory. At any rate, I have been made aware that our honored representatives from the Council of Winnipeg wish to speak with the head human and the extra terrestrial… ambassadors in private. I therefore call an adjournment to this meeting."

Sage filled a glass with tap water, trying not to notice how badly her hand was shaking. She wished she was better able to handle the incongruities of the situation. A formal meeting of some of the most important magical leaders of the North American continent, replete with asininely proper language structures… in the gym of a local community center. With folding chairs. Unbelievable.

In the kitchenette now, she had slipped away to get a drink of water. When she turned, she was glad that she already set the glass down, because she surely would have dropped it otherwise. "Hello, Nana." She said resignedly, grateful her voice didn't shake as badly as her hand.

"That was an interesting story you told."

That tone is waaaaay to conversational. Even people who are having a conversation don't sound that conversational. "More so living it – not always in a good way."

"Mmm," Nana groaned sympathetically.

Sage gave her a cold look.

"It's not working, is it?"

"You know me too well." I'm getting pretty good at this killer sarcasm thing.

"What, was that supposed to be killer sarcasm or something?"

"Yeah, or something." Grrr.

"I was curious about… about the things Baba Yaga left you."

"What about them? Hey, we should get both our sets of guardian spirits together – that'd be whiz, huh?" I don't like that look why is she giving me that look that's not a good look to be getting…

"She didn't leave me anything."

"Oh." That would explain the look. Change the subject. "I've been thinking about my telemorphic/chameleon problem."

"Yeah?"

"Um, it just seems the harder I try, the worse things get, so do you think switching realities could have somehow reversed the charm's effectiveness?"

Nana strolled across the wide patch of linoleum she'd been keeping between them and reached a finger out to test the charm necklace's potency. "Hm. I don't think so; I think it's just been cancelled out."

"Then I might as well take it off." As Sage slipped the cord over her head, she was hit by a strong wave of disorientation and gripped the counter gasping.

"Huh, whuduyuknow," Nana said dispassionately. "You know, those colors don't really go together."

Sage looked down, still feeling a little wobbly. "I'd forgotten what colors they were originally." Oh, hell. It was pushing me in the wrong direction. That means any friends I might have thought I made have probably only been responding to that damned chameleon manipulation. What if they hate me now? Maybe I'll just run away.

"Griswold!" Jack hissed from the door. Both women turned to look at him. He had sounded urgent to begin with, but now he stood open mouthed, looking between them. "Uh, makeover much? Anyway, forget that now. The powwow between General Hammond and the card-trick big boys ain't going so well. Sheppard and I are supposed to get you out of here."

Sage noticed the Atlantis team leader out in the hallway, doing a credible job of lookout under the cover of loitering. Nana spoke in her ear, "They're right. Go. If you don't know what they think of Griswolds by now…"

"What about you?" Sage remembered some of the comments the Sylpaen – judge? Secretary? – had made about Nana. "You seem to have your own enemies around here."

Nana shrugged. "I'll be fine. I've got to go find Rook anyway, but I'll be in touch."

She looked at Jack, and he motioned for her to walk ahead of him. Sheppard set off down the hallway in the lead. Just as he was about to open an outside door, Sage grabbed his arm. "Wait!"

After giving her a strange look he stood aside, but she barely noticed. She was busy checking the heavily warded door, trying to see if they'd set off an alarm by going through. Sinking her mind down into the workings of the spell, she realized that she would. It was programmed to catch her as she went through, and send her to an iron laced holding cell. And just as she figured that out, the spell became aware of her presence. Pulling back just in time, she watched the red EXIT sign glow bright and then dim.

"Well?" asked Jack.

"I'll need some hair from one of you – yours, because it's longer."

Sheppard grimaced. "What for?"

"I won't be able to get through otherwise. The hair, please." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack shrug and then nod. At least he still seemed to be on her side.

Taking a few strands of her own hair, she made two identical knot patterns, connecting everything in a series of loops. She handed one to him. "Put this under your tongue."

"What?"

"Hey, it's not any nicer for me; do you want to do your job and get me out of here or not?" Her nerves were making her snappy, she realized. "It will confuse the spell on the door, okay?"

Watching suspiciously as she placed her own charm under her tongue, he did the same.

"Great," said Jack. "Can we go now?"

Sheppard motioned sourly that he'd go first. The sign above the door glowed briefly, but let him through. It did the same for Sage, and as Jack stepped out into the night last and let the door swing closed, she fished her charm out.

"How long do we – " Sheppard saw that she'd already gotten rid of hers and spat his own out.

"All right, let's get a move on, I think someone was coming down the hallway." Jack motioned toward a side street that would take them back to the parking lot. As the two men started moving off, Sage hesitated. There was a familiar smell on the air, one that made her shudder down to the bone. Sheppard turned to chivy her along and she shot out her hand, pushing a front of raw magic that flattened him to the wall. The werewolf's fur actually brushed him as it passed, snapping its teeth shut where his neck had been. Training brought his hand gun up and out, but the monster was between him and the others now, and moving so fast he wasn't sure he could get a clean shot off.

Sage seemed to be in shock after her initial quick reaction, and was just standing there looking dazed. After a moment she said in a high, thin voice, "There are more of them!" and three more wolves came pouring into the community center's small back alley. Cursing, O'Neill grabbed Sage's arm and started dragging her toward one of the clear side streets.

Glancing around him, Sheppard caught peripheral movement just in time to shoot point blank into the face of a werewolf. The beast fell back snarling, pawing its snout like a dog just stung by bee. When it looked back up at him and growled, its own blood mixing with saliva to drop strand like on the pavement Sheppard decided that he probably wasn't going to survive this encounter. The beast leapt, and Sheppard emptied the rest of his clip into it, but this time the wolf didn't even slow down. At the last moment he dodged, and the teeth sank deep into his shoulder, muffling a deep growl that vibrated his entire arm. He heard O'Neill shouting, but was too busy being in pain and hitting the wolf about the head with his empty gun to pay attention. He sensed that the wolf was getting ready to exchange its hold for a deadlier one when a sudden flash of red fur catapulted against his chest. He had a brief glimpse of luminous golden eyes, and then the fox was away, running along the wolf's back and clawing its eyes deeply in passing. The werewolf tore its teeth away, nearly taking Sheppard's arm with it. Two of the other wolves were already hot on the fox's trail, and the third charging across the pavement toward the alleyway where it had disappeared. The wolf squinted through its damaged eyes after them, and glanced back at Sheppard.

Instincts dulled by pain and unable to predict its parting shot, Sheppard felt the skin on his neck shred as the wolf snapped wildly. He sank down to the sidewalk as the creature pattered after its companions, dripping blood after it. Dimly, he felt O'Neill grab his shoulder, but the streetlamps that had been casting an orange glow over the battlefield seemed to be failing now, and Sheppard found it hard to concentrate as his throbbing shoulder and neck wound started to numb over. His last sensation before passing out was a burning white hot coldness that made the blood begin to sing in his veins.