Chapter 13

Liyah half stumbled into her suite, her vision blurred from the amount of joie she had consumed the past night. Adeline and Nadine, apparently fresh with a night of sleep, helped Liyah out of the dress and wings. She half fell half lunged for the bed before being caught by a third set of hands. A masculine voice spoke to the two women about the amount of alcohol she consumed. One of the two women suggested something and it was accepted as Liyah was guided over to the bed. She passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.

Time had passed, that was easy to tell just by the sun light that shone into the suite. Rubbing her eyes in the attempt to chase off sleep, Liyah shifted under the covers and nearly flared herself out of the bed. Recovering, she saw the still slumbering form of Henri. Relaxing back on her pillows, Liyah closed her eyes for a few seconds before feeling a hand on the shoulder nearest the edge of the bed.

"Your highness, Prince Rolande is requesting your presence."

Liyah sighed and sat up in bed, the covers pooling in her lap to reveal she had been placed in bed fully undressed. Her staff was already at work prepping the day's outfit. This was one of those days that she wished she had a comfortable tee shirt and sweat pants. It was something she would have to speak with the tailor about. In minutes she was in a dress and walked the corridors of the quiet palace with Nadine at her side. Thoughts of why the Dauphin had wanted to speak with her so early – or was it late – in the day ran through her mind. Passing some nobles who had gotten an earlier start to the day compared to her, Liyah wasn't sure if her stomach was wanting food or if her mind was still affected by the large amount of joie she had the night before. She finally decided it was a mixture of both when arriving at Rolande's office.

Admitted by one of his personal guards, Liyah stepped in to see her foster father sitting behind his desk with papers in front of him. Waving Nadine off to a side, Liyah sat down in one of the two chairs facing the desk. Instead of taking up the posture of a straight back, she had slouched and allowed her legs to be opened a little more that may have been accepted within the court of Terre d'Ange. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes I do. I wanted to…" Rolande looked up from his papers and took in Liyah's posture. "Wanted to speak with you about a wedding."

"Between whom?" Liyah straightened in the chair.

"Houses Courcel and L'Envers."

She held in a sigh. "So soon?"

Rolande stood from the desk and gestured Liyah to follow him a balcony. "The Skaldi have been testing our borders again, and there will be a time when it would fall to me and several others to led the counterattack and drive them back into the depths of the Skaldi lands on the eastern side of the Camaeline Mountains."

Liyah pushed herself out of the chair and followed along. On the balcony, she looked out over a garden that lay barren with yellowed stalks poking out of the snow. Since winter fell over the continent of Europe, she had been surprised that while it was similar to what she had experienced in Colorado Springs, the winter in Novia was cleaner. It didn't have all the pollution that Earth had from emissions from factories, plants, and who knew how many different vehicles. "And what would that mean for me?"

"You are to stay here and do what you will."

Her mind brought up the image of seeing Henri asleep in her bed. Something told her that seeing that for the foreseeable future wouldn't be a bad idea. Besides, why would she let her uncle and Daniel have all the fun with members of the opposite gender on different worlds? "If I was to … take a lover, you wouldn't be against it?" A breeze brushed against her exposed skin, causing her to shiver slightly.

Rolande laughed. "Why would I speak against that? To do so would violate Elua's precept." He turned and walked back into the office. "Who did you have in mind?"

"Someone I met last night. I really think there's something between us." Liyah turned and made her way back into the warm room. She didn't want to explain how she believed she had fallen for a Shahrizai.

"I hope to meet him before the wedding."

"How…How soon were you and Isabel thinking of having it?"

"The spring; possibly after the thaw."

If her gauge of how time was tracked was right, and that was a big if, Liyah figured she had about three months until the wedding. Could she figure out how to get home before then?

"Are you okay, Liyah?"

She blinked a couple of times before focusing on Rolande. "Yeah, just got dazed. I haven't eaten yet."

"Why didn't you say something? I would have something brought for you." Rolande guided her into a chair before going off.

Liyah tapped a finger against the armrest in the attempt to remember something that was still fuzzed over by alcohol. It had something to do with the Gate and the Gao'uld. Gao'uld were parasites…weren't original builders of the Gate…Door of the Gods...Why couldn't she remember what was in that book? In all the times she's gone through the Gate and encountered primitive culture, the team's been called gods. That was due to the Gao'uld taking on the persona of Earth deities. Even here in Terre d'Ange, the Gate was believed to be a door that gods used to leave the planet.

"There's going to be some food coming up soon," Rolande assured her as he returned.

"You didn't have to do that," Liyah told him.

"Taking care of family."

She paced the floor as she flipped through the book. Sam and Daniel would have a field day with all the information that was in it. The Alterans were indeed the original Gate builders and had traveled from a distant galaxy and spread throughout the Milky Way. Some had arrived on this particular. Their travels mirrored the Eluian cycle that she had been told; or was it the other way around? Whatever way the story mirrored, these Alterans had basically sown the seeds of an entire nation before being discovered by their fellows. The years went on and the bloodlines merged.

"You're going to wear a hole if you keep doing that, Princess."

She stopped and looked up from the book. Propped up in the bed, half covered, Henri had his striking blue eyes on her. "It's something Anafiel gave me a while back. Figured there's not much else to do since the day's half gone."

"What's it about?"

Liyah closed the book before crossing over to side on the edge of the bed. "Nothing important, he figured it'd give me something to do."

"Whatever it is, you were so enthroned with it. Nadine told me that Prince Rolande spoke with you. What about?"

"He and Isabel are working on a spring wedding." Liyah leaned in and gave Henri a peck on the lips. "And he wants to meet you before the event."

"I wait for the day. Now…" Henri took the book from Liyah and set it aside. "Do you want to continue what we were doing last night?"

It was an enticing offer, and how could she say no to what was before her. She had no true duties as second in line for the throne, and her knowledge of the political structure of Terre d'Ange has been growing ever since being strained on the planet. "I want to look around the palace, actually. You're free to join me if you care to get dressed." Standing, she dove into the wardrobe and fished out one of a few pencils she kept with her uniform before leaving the suite. She figured if Henri really wanted to spend time with her, he'll catch up to her eventually. Besides, she needed time to figure things out on her own.

The corridor had a visible layer of dust and she kicked up even more with every step. The walls had a décor that stood out from the rest of the palace. The lights illuminated her path whenever she reached a shadowed area, as if her motion activated them. Passing by a door, she expected it to remain shut like the half dozen that was behind her. It opened with a hiss, causing her to let out a gasp and jumped back a step. Recovering from the shock, she peered into the room. Finding nothing that would threaten her life, she stepped into the room. The light activated as she approached the center, revealing four pillars around a raised platform and a single chair in the center. Flipping through the book, she found the designs of what was before her and designs on a page with a language that she still didn't understand. She'll tackle that at a later date.

Stepping up onto the platform, she eased herself into the chair. The back of it and the leg moved, causing her to grab hold of the arm rests in shock. A display that she could only describe as holograph appeared before her face. More of the language appeared on the hologram, and not for the first time she wished she had the basic understand of it that Daniel had.

"Who comes to use this technology?"

The chair reverted back to the upright position, allowing her to get to her feet. There was no obvious source of the voice before a projection stood a few feet away.

"Uh…I do. Who's asking?"

The projection, a man who was clearly old enough to be her grandfather and then some, turn its attention to her. "You are not of this world. Yet you have activated the chair. How is this possible?"

"You tell me." She held up the book. "I was given this by someone of this world, but I can't make out the language."

Silence came from the projection. The possibility that she put up a question that probably wasn't put into the database ran through her mind. With a shake of her head, she started for the door. "I knew this would be a waste of time."

"Wait!"

Stopping in the threshold, she turned back around and looked at the projection. "Please tell me I just didn't hear a hologram asking me to wait."

"I am Merlin."

"As in the wizard, Merlin?" Her uncle's wit was coming through with ease. "I thought all that was a myth. But who's to say if it wasn't at one point. Oh my God." And there was Daniel coming through right on cue. She would have to do something about that. "I'm Liyah, Liyah O'Neill of the Tau'ri."

"I will give you the basics of the language you hold." Merlin waved a hand before disappearing.

She watched a terminal light up and displayed what looked like an alphabet. Finding a blank page in the book, she jotted down the alphabet, hoping she was getting the strokes right.