Chapter Twenty: Reunion
Jason and Sawyer returned to the League headquarters late that night, meeting the rest of the group in Gray's extensive library. To Jason's surprise, there was a newcomer among the familiar faces- an auburn-haired woman with gray-green eyes that glittered much like Dorou's had. She was the first to look up from the conversation she was holding with Jekyll, Nemo, Mina, and Skinner.
Sawyer stopped dead in his tracks. "Daria?" he asked, looking stunned. "What are ya doin' here?"
"I'm replacing Dorou permanently," she said with a smile. "Special dispensation from my superiors."
The American, after hesitating for a brief moment, grinned at her. "Well, good t' have ya back," he said, taking a seat. Jason noticed that he took one about as far away from Daria as he could manage while still remaining within the 'circle' of the group.
Her jewel-like gaze tracked onto the mage now. "Well, it's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Fisher," she said, inclining her head in a deep nod. "Please join us- Mina sent for tea. It should be here soon."
"And you," Jason replied, now recognizing Daria as the League member he'd spoken to at the All Hallow's Eve celebration. He'd heard the others talk about her. He took the only other available seat, one between Nemo and Skinner.
"I wish to thank you for coming forward with the information you had about Nebthet's cult," she told him. "If you hadn't informed the League, there's no telling what sort of damage she could have caused here. The Tau'ka- and your own people, for that matter- owe you a debt of gratitude."
Jason had to look away at that, blushing slightly. "It was nothing," he muttered demurely.
"What did the pair of you find?" Nemo asked. "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Skinner were just telling us about a fourth body they found."
"The cult was using it as bait for a trap," Jekyll said. "Skinner and I would have been killed if Daria hadn't shown up."
"How did you find them?" Mina asked the Tau'ka.
"There's only one person who leaves this mansion in bare feet," Daria replied. "The tracks were fresh, and I wanted to know what could possible make Henry and Skinner leave together at that hour. Since Henry had contacted me with news of the cult and Dorou's death, I was certain it couldn't be anything good."
Sawyer frowned. "Jekyll called you?" he asked.
"Yes," Jekyll answered. "She gave me a- what did you call it?" he asked, glancing at her.
"A long-range communication device," she said.
"Yes. She gave it to me before we left Verris. After Dorou was killed, I used it to contact her."
"At which point I convinced the Council to permanently assign me here, with the understanding that they would send me after the Black Hawks or on other missions as needed."
Jason watched the pair with mild fascination. It was clear to him that Jekyll and Daria had become a couple. Water being the Element of emotions, Jason could often instinctively intuit what other people felt. The way the two automatically mimicked each other's body language- though the doctor seemed 'shyer' about it than she was- gave physical evidence to back up his intuition. He smiled. Having her around would do Jekyll good. Nemo wasn't the only one who'd noticed how tired and frayed he was looking.
The door opened to admit a maidservant bearing tea and cups. She crossed to a small table in the middle of the circle of chairs, eyes nervously downcast, and set her tray on it.
"Thank you," Daria said kindly. She wondered which of her companions had spooked the staff so much that they crept around like mice. Probably Skinner or Nemo. Or Dorou.
The maidservant looked up, startled. Her brown eyes widened in shock. "M-Mistress Nelson?" she squeaked.
Daria gaped, recognizing the girl who'd been on her staff while she'd tried to track down her brothers. "Danielle?"
"Nelson?" Skinner asked, looking from one woman to the other.
Mina raised an eyebrow. "You two have met?"
The Tau'ka nodded. "Danielle used to work for me," she explained. She turned her gaze back to the startled young servant. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
Danielle looked at her feet. "You disappeared, Miss," she said nervously. "No one heard anything from you for weeks, an' then the police started sniffin' around, saying you was wanted for the murder of your uncle. The staff broke up not long after that, lookin' for other work. I've been here since November, Miss."
Daria smiled gently. "You didn't do anything wrong," she reassured the girl. "I never got the chance to say I was going to be away. I do some special work with these people," she indicated the other League members, "that sometimes requires that I have to leave for long periods of time. I'm glad that you managed to find your way here- you always did look after me well."
Danielle went pink. "It wasn't hard," she said. "You're an easy mistress, even if you do have a bit of a temper, if you don't mind me saying."
The Tau'ka laughed. "I said that you and the others were saints for putting up with me when it rained!" she said. "But I would prefer that you call me by my real name now- Daria Noclaf."
Danielle nodded and bobbed a curtsy. "Yes, Mistress Ne- Noclaf," she said. "Will there be anythin' else?"
"No, thank you," Jekyll said with a nod. Danielle curtsied again and left.
"Murder?" Nemo inquired as the door swung shut.
"Sainthoods for rain?" Mina said with an arched eyebrow.
"Nelson?" Skinner repeated.
Daria rolled her eyes. "When I came back, I didn't realize I was signing up for an interrogation!" she laughed. "You all know that I was on Earth tracking the Black Hawks- a couple of nasty anti-human terrorists," she added for Jason's benefit. "For about a year before M recruited me for the League. Danielle was on my staff. I'm ashamed to admit that I got a bit testy when it rained and I couldn't get out and work. You know how I am about water." She shuddered slightly. "Danielle and the others were very good about putting up with me. While I was here, I was assigned to work with a Shadow Agent named Terref Nielsaan. I played his niece and went by the name Maria Nelson. I later discovered that Terref was allied with the Hawks and he was…" She hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to bring Sherlock Holmes's name into this. "He was killed shortly after I found out. I tried to cover, but apparently my disappearance so soon after his was a bit suspicious to Scotland Yard." She shrugged ironically. "I should be safe- Maria Nelson doesn't exist anymore, and I can walk faster than most London policemen can run. They mistook me for a footpad once while I was scouting- I turned into a cat and escaped without any trouble."
Jason frowned. "You turned into a cat?" he repeated incredulously.
Daria nodded. "I'm a shapeshifter," she said.
"Ah."
"What did you two find?" Mina asked the mage as she began pouring out tea.
"We found where the Goa'uld are from," Sawyer said. "We managed to trace how they'd gotten here, and Fisher contacted a friend of his at the Museum."
The Museum of London. Daria's eyes widened. "That's it!" she said suddenly.
The others stared at her. "What is 'it'?" Mina asked.
"The weapon used to kill Dorou and the other victims- it was a col'kenthe gauntlet," Daria said. "Only System Lords and high-level Goa'uld carry them- I was wondering how the low-ranker we came across tonight managed to get one. The Black Hawks were behind a number of thefts from the Egyptian department of the Museum, including several col'kenthe gauntlets."
"The Hawks were working with Nebthet and Kheti?" Nemo asked.
Daria shook her head fervently. "Oh no. They hate the Goa'uld as much as they hate humans. They'd never work with them. But if Kheti or Nebthet managed to find wherever my brothers stored what they stole from the Museum, that would explain how they got their hands on Goa'uld technology like the staff weapons and col'kenthes. I wondered what happened to those artifacts. Now, you said you figured out how the Goa'uld got to England?"
Jason nodded. He liked Daria better than Dorou already- she didn't have the Shadow Agent's overt arrogance or temper, and she didn't seem to think herself better than her companions. "We think they were somehow being maintained in some canopic jars I shipped last year," he said. "They were found broken, with no signs that they had ever held the organs they were supposed to."
"They were," Daria said. "Canopic jars were originally designed as stasis units to hold a Goa'uld symbiote in hibernation while it wasn't in a host. The Egyptians adopted them for their funerary practices." She thought for a moment, taking no notice of the confused looks her companions were giving her. "So the jars break in transport, the Goa'uld escape, take new hosts, and travel to England where they set up their nasty little cult. Yes?"
"That's what we thought," Sawyer said. "Fisher's friends with the Museum curator- he told us where the jars were found. There was a temple discovered near the Valley of the Queens near Luxor not too long ago. They were uncovered there- the temple's supposed to be one of the oldest ever found."
Daria nodded again. "Makes sense- the Goa'uld's occupation of Earth predates the ensuing pharaohs by about a thousand years. Ta-Set-Nefaru- what you call the Valley of the Queens- was first built to contain temples for the worship of the Goa'uld"
"Even better," Sawyer went on. "I've heard that Kheti is going to make his cultists travel to the temple to present them to Nebthet. They're all going."
"How many?"
"I think about a hundred," the American said. He looked around at his companions. "Anyone up for a trip to Egypt?"
"My Nautilus cannot make it up the Nile," Nemo said. "The river is too shallow."
Daria frowned, suddenly looking rather puzzled. "Wait, Ta-Set-Nefaru is near the city of Thebes…" she said in confusion.
Jason smiled gently at the Tau'ka. "Luxor was built over the remains of Thebes, Miss Noclaf," he explained.
She thought this over for a moment, mentally updating what she knew about modern Egypt. Strange that she'd missed that particular tidbit of information. Terref hadn't mentioned it in her briefing at all when she'd gotten to Earth.
"So what do we do if we can't get up the Nile?" Jekyll asked.
"There is more than one way to reach Egypt by water," Mina pointed out.
Nemo nodded in agreement. Rising from his chair, he located a map of Africa and unrolled it on a table. "If we travel through the Suez Canal, we can go south via the Red Sea," he said. "The quickest way would be to take the Nautilus to the city of Quseir and then overland to Dendera. From there, we can go south to Luxor."
"Dendera?" Daria asked curiously, coming over to look at the map.
The League spent the next hour discussing plans to get to Luxor. Sawyer wanted them to travel up the Nile River via hired boat, but Nemo and the others overruled him. It would take easily six weeks to follow the river to their destination once they got to Alexandria. If they took the Nautilus through the recently completed Suez Canal, however, they could pass through the Red sea and reach the trade-city of Quseir in a little over a week. From there, a week of overland travel would take them to Dendera, and Luxor was only a few days south from there. Nebthet and Kheti could do a lot less damage in two and a half weeks, they reasoned, than in six. Sawyer finally caved.
Once that had been decided, Nemo left to instruct his crew to prepare for the upcoming voyage.
"You're comin' with us, right?" Sawyer asked Jason.
The mage started in surprise. "Oh, well, I suppose so," he said.
"We wouldn't have known about the Goa'uld if it weren't for you," Mina pointed out.
He nodded slowly. "In that case, I had best leave no to go and get ready. When do we leave?"
"Noon tomorrow," Sawyer said. "We'll meet ya here and take ya to the Nautilus."
Jason left them then, and the other League members scattered to make their own preparations. Mina nodded politely to Daria as the vampiress went up to her room.
"I'm glad to have you back," she said with a faint smile. "It will be pleasant to have another female to talk to."
The Tau'ka nodded in return, stifling a yawn as she left the library. She hadn't quite had a chance to adjust her wake/sleep schedule, and the pace of the long day was starting to tell on her.
Her room was as she had left it in November. Daria smiled. Her friends clearly hadn't given up on her, and she felt touched by their loyalty. It was the same determined steadfastness that characterized the Tau'ka- loyalty was perhaps the single most valued trait of her race. That was why they prosecuted traitors like the Hawks so harshly.
Her ears caught the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs to her level, and she opened the door just as the newcomer raised his hand to knock.
"Henry," she said with a small smile.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing," he said shyly.
The Tau'ka stood aside and gestured for him to enter. Jekyll hesitated for a second, unsure of how 'proper' coming in to her rooms would be, but Daria was insistent. He took up a position near the door, hands clasped behind his back. Those gray-green eyes were fixed on him, waiting for him to speak. He cleared his throat nervously.
"Th-thank you for coming after us," he said at last. "Skinner and I would have been dead if you hadn't."
Daria nodded, and an awkward silence fell. The Tau'ka was suddenly keenly aware of the incredible differences in their respective societies- by all rights, Henry shouldn't even be here talking to her alone. In contrast, her people were less strict about male-female relationships. All that was really asked of a Tau'ka pair was that they didn't bother others with their courting, and that they tried to keep things reasonably amenable if the relationship dissolved. Of course, partnering with a human was generally frowned upon, but it still happened on a fairly regular basis.
The Tau'ri, on the other hand, had some very odd ideas of what was proper for an unmarried couple. The maze of customs and taboos were enough to make any Tau'ka's head spin in confusion.
It's amazing they allow a pair to be alone long enough to reproduce! Daria thought dryly. With us, each partner keeps their own property and passes it to any resulting children of the same gender, or the opposite if there is none of the same. We keep our names, and the only real significance of the Bonding Ceremony is to let the populace know that two people are 'off the market', so to speak. The Tau'ri have all this nonsense with property and trade deals and dowries and marrying into classes…it's crazy!
So why do I want to stay here so badly?
The answer to that question was pretty obvious- Henry. By nature gentle, but life had made him outwardly fragile. Shy but brilliant, with an inner strength and will to do right that few people saw, a perfect counter to her own outgoing personality. And he obviously cared deeply for her.
Meanwhile, Jekyll was watching her and trying hard not to make it seem like he was staring. It was true that Daria didn't exactly conform to his society's standards of beauty- she was certainly not a pale little waif who fainted every time she moved because her corsets were too tight!- but she certainly had her own attractiveness. It was the eyes, he thought. They showed a vital, powerful personality, self-assured and quirky at the same time. And such a remarkable color…
He realized he was staring and looked away, trying to interest himself in reading the titles of several books she must have borrowed from the mansion's library the last time she was here.
"You took care of that cultist?" he finally asked.
Daria nodded. "I had to," she said. "There wasn't anything else I could do…"
"I know," he replied, though the thought made him slightly sick. Daria managed to make herself so comfortable with him and the rest of the League that it was easy to forget the aggression and deadly nature bred into her kind. It wasn't even like the way Hyde killed- Hyde took immense pleasure in killing, simply because he could. Jekyll knew that from experience. How many times had he been forced to watch as his later ego took perverse joy in a particularly gruesome murder? On the other hand, the Tau'ka took more joy from the fighting then from the actual kill- though he'd seen the look of hot triumph on her face when she dispatched an enemy back in Mongolia. He could understand that too. But the cold dispassion she'd shown when she'd decided that the cultist had to die… that was harder to forget.
Daria studied Jekyll's face. She knew what he was thinking- she had definitely shaken him. "I'm sorry," she said. "Henry, I hate having to do that sort of thing, I really do…" But she'd had no choice- the man would have been dead within a week. "I made sure he didn't suffer," she added. "I made it quick and as painless as I could."
He nodded. "I'm certain you did," he replied slowly. Now that he thought about it, she had been as merciful as she could in the circumstances. The coldness had been a front- a way to try and protect herself from the moral pain that came with having to execute someone who was, by her standards, an innocent caught in the middle. "Thank you."
She crossed the room to take his hands in hers. "Thank you for understanding."