My apologies that this one took so much later to get up! I've been gone all day, so I put it up as soon as possible . . . I'm rather exhausted at the moment as well, so I do realize that there might be mistakes and I'm very sorry about that. I know this is a chapter that has been greatly anticipated, however, so enjoy, and please tell me what you think!
Chiara stared at the tablet. Sometimes she would be able to figure out a word, or spot a letter . . . but it was all so different . . . More and more Amara heard Chiara muttering to herself in Ancient, trying to familiarize herself as much as possible with her home-language. As she reminded herself of the various sounds, different words it became clearer . . . She would occasionally be able to figure out a sentence straight on instead of spending hours agonizing over each-and-every word. So far it had been rather boring . . . reports on crop production, apparently. Some of the worlds Chiara knew the names of, some she didn't, but regardless, she placed the translation on the tablet as well.
After several days of intense concentration only interrupted by sleep when necessary, Chiara grew quite tired all the translating, her mind seemed completely unable of focusing on the tablet. With a sigh Chiara placed it on the floor, rubbing her temples slightly as she leaned back against the wall. Free from the all-consuming task involved in the tablet, her mind quickly began wandering all over the place and thoughts which before Chiara had stowed away never-to-be-thought-of-again became thoughts that floated down around her, grasping for her attention. It was as if a door had been opened by concentrating on the tablet for so long . . . questions seem to pour down from everywhere. But she didn't want to answer questions. She wanted . . . Chiara thought. What did she want? Always before if she had been asked she would have said "escape" without a second thought, but now . . . she wasn't as sure. If she did escape, where would she go? Her people, everyone she had ever known was dead. Before, with Esmora, it had been different, she had known Esmora and she would have at least had Aerlyn. But now . . . now she wanted . . . Chiara thought. At this moment what would be the best thing that could happen? Chiara sighed, looking at Amara again. The best thing would probably be having Aerlyn come to see her again. She hadn't seen her daughter in who knew how long . . . and she missed her, even if she had been betrayed. Chiara turned to Amara.
"Where is Aerlyn?" she asked, hoping to receive a real answer this time.
"I do not know," Amara responded, turning away. Chiara sighed and took out her pit, throwing it against the wall. Amara still wasn't talking. Questions, worries, uncertainty, the best thing that could happen would be for all that to just disappear. Which would leave her with what? Chiara had no idea how to respond to this question. It would leave her . . . alone, away from the Wraith, away from everything and everyone. It would leave her as nothing.
"Thunk . . . thunk . . . thunk . . ." Chiara counted how many times the pit bounced against the wall, completely procrastinating about going back to the dreaded tablet . . . 36,432 . . . 36,433 . . . 36,434 . . . She stopped counting, her head jerking up at the sound of a noise. It was a short, loud almost "rat-a-tat-tat," except a ways off. Chiara listened further . . . What was it? It definitely wasn't a normal sound on a Wraith hive. Amara was gone . . . Chiara reminded herself to ask her when she got back what it was. The sounds continued though and were joined by the sounds of Wraith stunners. What?! Someone was fighting the Wraith?! Chiara stood, listening, but the fighting was moving even farther away. She summoned all her energy and tried to follow the sounds with her mind. There were four of them . . . humans, with odd weapons; she had never seen anything like them before. They were losing, although they had already taken out quite a few of the Wraith. One of them fell, shot in the head by a Wraith stunner. Chiara watched as one-by-one they all fell, at which point and the Wraith dragged them away; simply four more humans to feed upon.
Chiara waited awhile longer and Amara came back in, carrying a tray of food in one hand. Chiara looked at Amara's face; but Amara looked away as she saw Chiara glancing at her. Chiara watched her keenly though . . .
"What happened?" Chiara asked. Amara glared at her. One of the things she least liked about Chiara was her way of knowing whatever Amara was feeling by the look on her face. She drew out her arm, which was bound with a strip of cloth but obviously was hurting a great deal, also evidenced by the growing spot of red around the bandage. Chiara looked at it and then at Amara's face.
"Come here," Chiara said. Amara took a step away.
"I can help, come here," Chiara repeated. Amara took a few gingerly steps forward and stood near Chiara. Chiara nodded for her to sit down which Amara did. Chiara looked at the arm again. What was she thinking of doing?! This was Amara, the one who had attempted her murder! But then Chiara saw the look of pain on Amara's face again and Chiara's heart softened somewhat. She almost roughly took the injured arm and un-wrapped the makeshift bandage. Chiara looked at the wound. There was something stuck inside her arm, Chiara placed her hand over the small hole and with her mind managed to force the small object up. Amara grimaced and gave a short yell as it came up. Chiara looked at the object; it was a small, long piece of metal that came to a point at one end. Chiara put it down and placed her hand on Amara's arm again. Amara grimaced and sighed in relief as Chiara closed the wound with her mind, leaving Amara's arm looking completely untouched. Amara looked at Chiara, her eyes full of relief. She stood and moved back to her original seat, where she examined her arm.
"You're welcome," Chiara said, although she didn't care about the lack of gratefulness, she was so tired from the use of telepathy and healing that she was on the verge of passing out. She leaned against the wall, allowing the blackness to envelope her.
Chiara awoke to Amara leaning over her, not quite looking worried, but slightly concerned.
"You have been sleeping for quite a few hours," Amara informed her. Chiara closed her eyes slightly, in a way, the complete rest had felt good. She sat up and looked oddly at Amara.
"It's a different cell," she commented.
"Yes," Amara responded. Chiara examined it and noted four others in the cell. After a moment a bell rung slightly in Chiara's head . . . they were the four humans who had been fighting the Wraith . . . As she watched the four humans one of them stood and walked over, a man of around medium height.
"Hi," he said, "I'm Colonel John Sheppard and this would be my team, McKay, Teyla, and Ronon . . ." he said this looking inquisitively at Chiara who was thinking it through. Why had she been placed with them? She had always been in single confinement before . . . well, single confinement excepting the presence of Amara. With a small start, Chiara realized that the humans were staring at her, awaiting a response.
"It's a pleasure to meet you . . ." Chiara said rather uncomfortably. She had never developed the greatest of trust for humans . . . and she wasn't quite willing to divulge all the questions quite blatantly shown in the faces of her new cell-mates.
"And your name would be . . ." the called McKay said. Chiara gave a short glare at him. And then thought for a second . . . a name couldn't do much harm . . . with a sigh she relented.
"Chiara Elata," she stated rather firmly.
"Chiara Elata . . . that's an Ancient name!" McKay said, surprise showing in his voice. Chiara nodded.
"Yes, my people greatly respected them," Chiara responded simply.
"Yeah . . . don't we all love those Ancients . . ." Sheppard said with a small smile. Chiara returned the smile, laughing within herself slightly. Much to her surprise, Chiara actually found herself enjoying them slightly . . . or at least the feeling of others talking to her. Gently, Chiara placed some of her guard down slightly.
"How did both of you become captured? Through a culling?" the woman, Teyla, asked. Chiara thought for a little while.
"My people fought and resisted the Wraith to the best of our ability. During that time I was sent on a mission to another world, and was captured." Chiara swallowed at the memory.
"Sounds rather familiar," Sheppard said. Chiara twisted her head slightly as she looked at him.
"You oppose the Wraith?" she asked curiously. From what she had seen earlier, she guessed the answer was . . . but she was curious to see how they would answer.
"Yes," Ronon, the largest of them stated firmly. Chiara examined the man as he spoke. He had a slightly un-kempt appearance, with long, brown hair which was in dread-locks, a style which Chiara was not overly-fond-of. As she looked at the four of them though, Chiara noted differences between them.
"You are not all of the same world," Chiara stated matter-of-factly. Sheppard gave his rather odd smile again.
"You're good, and no, not all of us . . ." as he spoke he craned his head slightly, looking through the web-like doors that this cell had. Chiara started slightly at the sound of the heavy-thudding of Wraith steps. Chiara noted her four companions growing tense as the Wraith grew nearer, soon coming into view. The door opened and all four stood back, although Sheppard stood forward slightly. From the way he looked at the Wraith Chiara knew he was about to speak . . . Chiara looked at the Wraith Commander, who was examining each of them. He glanced at Chiara but then nodded to Amara, who obediently stepped forward, following the Wraith Commander and his two guards out of the cell. As they left Chiara could almost feel the relief emanating from the team. Teyla turned to Chiara after a moment though.
"Are you friends?" she asked, referring to Amara. Chiara grimaced slightly.
"No." The word came out firm and almost sharp from her mouth. The four of them gave a slightly confused look in her direction.
"She serves, worships, the Wraith. No, we are not friends," Chiara explained firmly.
