Beyond the Gate

by Xeir Zith

The last thing Tanith remembered was Cameron cracking a very bad joke and Daniel cracking up in laughter. The next thing she knows is that she has a splitting headache and is in the dark, literally. As she unravels where she is, she finds out things she would rather not know. The SGC and Atlantis learn more of who the Furlings really are, and where they were hiding all that time

15. Cayran 2

Beyond the Gate

Chapter 15 New Options

Ascretta

One Hour Later

I found myself alone with my thoughts after several moments of intense work on setting up some kind of infirmary with Jellylorum and jennyanydots. Skimble asked me about my Ori staff, and after briefly thinking about it, I said that I'd try and get him one. He said he'd feel safer with a weapon in the case it'd be needed. I smiled, his words made a lot of sense. "You going to be OK here for a bit ?" I asked him. He nodded. So I went and got him one, but I also was given an additional Asgard shield and also another kull blaster.

Skimble greatfully acepted the weapons and shield and I helped him put the vambraces on before putting the braclet asgard shield on his arm, the asgard shield device actually looked like a proper wrist watch. After that I was alone for several hours.

I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes everything was hazy. A thick fog and plexus pattern danced at the edges of my vision. But I wasnt alone. "We look good" Said a voice from behind me, I turned and saw who spoke, a cat. No larger than a common housecat, stood upon her hind legs. Looking up at me.

With her was, well, me as I was from ancient days. My name in this ancient form apparently was Cara. And by her looks alone I was a soldier, but I also had a southern flare to myself too. Finally there was me. As Claire, in my Air Force camo uniform. My Dress Blues so to speak.

"All three of us ?" I mused thoughtfully.

"Mhm" replied Cayran, "You, me, and Cara, three of us, but we all look, well, by using your body, like me" She pointed at herself. Her red and white stripes, like a proper tabby cat

"So a triad of minds in a single body ?" I said in thought.

Cara said nothing, apparently she was a quiet girl or just couldnt speak ? Then I found out why and wished I hadnt, the damned pollicles cut out her tongue to keep their secrets from being spilled, I guess I was lucky that I still had mine. And Cara still had her secrets. Which I had acces to. "Alright, so now what ?" I asked turning to Cayran.

"Well, you're us, in a way, so that means you get the body and my colors, but also all of our knowledge and memories." Cay explained then what she felt of how it worked. I tried to remember it as she told it to me. "Somehow, at some point the Furlings had to flee Ascretta thanks to the Pollicles. As a result we fled to earth, our souls followed as kittens were born of the original twenty five members of the tribe. However at some point two thousand years or so ago, a split took place that turned the Furlings into a split of human and cat."

Hiding us so to speak among humans perfectly. While the cats were allowed to go free. "So what happens now ?" I asked as Cay finished her sort of explination to me. Looking back on it, and also the shistory crystals everyone kept finding, it began to make more sense.

"That's up to you, we're going to follow your lead." Cay replied to me

"As much as I like the sentiment, I cant exactly work with that, there has to be something both of you want ?" I told them.

"Well, there is one thing." Cay said coyly.

I sighed softly. Cay was a shy girl a truth soputhern girl for that matter. I smiled softly "And that is ?" I asked her.

"To put it bluntly I want my name to be used, not yours, But, I will conceed to being from Lansing, it sounds like a wonderful place where you grew up." Cay told me.

"So basically we use your name but my body ?" Cay nodded.

"Something like that yeah" Cay smiled at me. I couldnt help but smile in return. Just looking back on her memories, she was such a sweet girl.

I turned to Cara "What about you ? Cant you speak in here ?" Instead of speaking, Cara projected a mental image of what she wanted. Simply to be able to share her knowledge of the Pollicles most important secrets with Tanith and the others.

"With my secrets and your voice, we can share what the Pollicles tried to hide" She said to me in the mental projection. According t oone scene she projected, Tanith and Cara were apparently cousins and both of them worked in different branches of the Furling army.

This whole idea gave me new options and ideas that I never thought possible. Cayran was born in South Carolina, a southern belle through and through, I was born in south lansing, and Cara was born somewhere on the South side of the continet on this planet itself! So it actually worked for all three of us.

That meant that if we could do it, we could easily make it work. "Alright", I finally said, "We use your name, Cayran, but we go with my memories of where we grew up, agreed ?" I personally had never been to New York City before. But Cay grew up there after moving from South Carolina

Cara simply nodded her agreement as Cayran said "Agreed" So that was settled, so as I stood I wondered what to do next.

"So what happens now ?" I asked, shouldnt we have easily just faded back to the land of the living with me as Cayran ? Or was something else going on keeping us in this limbo state ?

"I... dont know actually" Cay replied confused as she stood on her hindlegs, since we agreed to terms she had grown in size to match my hieght. She... I... looked gorgeous. "From what I understand, we come to some sort of agreement and then we fade out of here and you wake up with me as your main name" Cay tried to explain

It didnt make a lot of sense. So I then deduced. "I think I fell asleep"

"More then likely possible" Cara spoke up, we turned to her. "Perhaps I shuold share one of the secrets between us three alone ?" That was a entertaining thought, also kind of scary thought too.

"Depends on how secret the secret is, how important is it ?" I replied

"Important enough for the Pollicles to cut my tongue out to keep me from telling it after they spilled everything at me once it was told they could not have me tell anyone else. So they silenced me" Cara however sounded dang proud of what she went through.

It terrified me, and yet Cara sounded and looked damn proud so I figured, why not ask ? "So what happened ? Why silence you ?" I asked

"The Pollicles had a plan, a temporal pincer was going to get used to eliminate the Furlings at the Citadel on the other side of the planet. But the teleporting to Earth occurred before they could put it into motion. And unfortunately, they were unable to do the move. By that point the planet reacted to us being gone. And I was killed" Cara exdplained how the temporal move was to work.

"Time would haver been tangled to the point where nothing would work properly." Cay mused. Her southern thinking mind began to put logic into gear before losing track entirely.

"Entropy of time related items, backwards, would have destroyed their only source of labor." Cara said, so once they spilled the beans about the cause and effect to her, from what Cara told me, they then cut out her tongue to keep others from learning of the spell. But it was never put into effect so the removal of her tounge really just silenced the tortured shrieking she'd have done when the pollicles would have had her way.

"What do you remember about the teleport spell used to get the others to Earth ?" I then asked.

"From what I could understand, the teleport spell was more or less similar to using a stargate, but when the twenty five were sent, they were cut off from it entirely, they couldnt get to it, either the Milky Way gate or the Pegasus gate. So the wizards used a teleport spell to mimic a stargate and transported the twenty five members. Munkus, Bomba, Tugger, the whole lot." Cara explained, since she had witnessed the whole event she projected it for Cayran and I.

The spell she also explained was only used once, but it was so damn powerful that two wizards imploded as if they never exisisted, the Pollicles had no idea it occurred because she could not speak and tell them what she had witnessed. So they killed her for it right there in the meadow where we woke up with Tanith over us.

"What do you remember of Tanith ?" I then asked

"Tanith ?" Cara asked me in reply as Cay simply looked at me confused, who was Tanith and why did she sound so hauntingly familiar ? "There is a name I havent heard in a long time" According to Cara, Tanith was one of the Scout Generals, a battlefield commander skilled in recon work, sabotage, assassinations, stealth strikes and complete elimination missions. Cara explained that her job was with the intelligence branch, an entirely seperate group of Furlings trained by Tantomile and also a nobleman named Redtail. Her job was spywork so deep undercover she sometimes would forget who she was really working for.

Tanith I was told, was also Caras closest confadant and when Cara lost her tongue, it was Tanith who nursed her back to health, Tanith had no siblings whatsoever, but had married, or rather joined with, Tharon, an orange and white tabby male of another scout unit.

The interesting part was that Tanith was buried where she died, somehow. Caras body was somehow transported to the same tomb. All their clothing and supplies we'd need were also placed in antechambers of the same tomb.

But then Cara mentioned a calico tom, a cat named Tarfur. Who odd as it sounded was buried in the same place where Tanith fell in battle. Did that make them siblings or was Tanith protecting the scholar ? "He might have been a sibling, adopted maybe, but she said she was a single child in the litter her mother had" Cara clarified for me when I asked if Tarfur and Tanith were siblings.

"That clears that up" I mumbled, Cara smiled as Caytran chuckled

"This is great and all, but we're still in this place. Claire, what exactly did you do before waking up here ?" Cay spoke up suddenly, suddenly wanting to wake up. As if the mindscape was getting to her.

"I was in the US Air Force" I replied to her. "My commanding officer, John Sheppard, was showing me around base, and I was trying to figure out where to make my new home when the lightning bolt hit" Cay looked shy "What is it ?"

"I want to apologise for the fight we had when we first woke up, who we were and whatnot. I was scared." Cay admitted, she looked at the seemingly ground, mist floated around us and under us. I could tell clearly she was upset at how she acted.

"Oh, its alright, dont go beating yourself up about it" I told her. The last thing I wanted was for her to be beating herself up over something trivial. We at least agreed of where we grew up. In this case south Lansing in Michigan. She brightened a bit at my words. Then the mist grew thicker and I couldnt see Cay or Cara. But I did feel a hand on my shoulder. A gentle yet firm hand.

A minute or so later and I woke up to Skmble looking at me, worried. "Are you alright lass ?" He asked me, he had a bit of a scottish baroque to his voice. He reminded me heavily of Dr Beckett. He had a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.

I nodded I was laying on the floor for some reason, my Ori staff next to me. Apparently Skimble had the idea of moving me out of the way of the hallway. "I'm alright. Please, call me Cayran, or Cay, either will do" I said, I did after all agree with myself, in this case Cayran, to use her name, but with my memories.

Skimble smiled. He held out a hand to me, I gratelyfully took it, and picked up my staff while he helped me up. "That's good, you had me worried when you were asleep at your post for so long." He said, he took up his own post outside the infirmary across from me. I felt shamed briefly, for being in the Air Force, as a Major, I'd normally be alert and ready for action at the drop of a hat. Instead, according to Skimble, who felt like the dad I had lost in combat. I had fallen asleep, so he took up the watch and let me rest.

I still felt ashamed for falling asleep on duty. I should have clocked out. Then I found myself laughing at my shame because we didnt have a clock to clock in or out with. Seeing me laughing out of the blue, Skimble looked towards me, "You alright lass ?"

I waved him off. "Yeah, I'm fine, its just, aheh. I was just thinking of clocking in for work, in this case guard duty. But there's no way of doing that, no clock to clock in or clock out with" I said, once more chuckling, which caused Skimble to start laughing too when he realised he didnt ever clock out of the show.

Then again he did clock out when the lighting took them all here. Skimble looked to me in thought. We had places to sit by the door. "What do youk now of this planet ?" He asked to me, his voice had a hint of wonderment about it.

I sighed. That was a good question. "Not a lot, admittedly. I just know we used to live here. And its got two stargates." I said I described what the stargate was to Skimble, he whistled as he tried to envision it.

"So that vessel that Tanith controls and can fly, and which, you also can control, and also that Tharon fellow controls, can fit through it ?" Skimble asked, he was in awe, somehow I wanted to show him how the stargate worked.

"That's right. The ship is called, by the builder line, a Gateship, but we called it a Puddlejumper because of the event horizon that the stargate makes, it looks like a puddle on its side, a puddle so to speak" I explained as best I could how it worked, most of the physics went over my head.

Skimble smiled, "Maybe some food will do us good. Give me a moment." He said, he stood up from his post and activated the door. It slid open and Jenny stood nearby. Skimble went to her and spoke a bit between her and him. A second or so later, and he came out, a broad smile on his face. "Shall we get something to eat ?" He offered his arm to me, I picked up my staff and took his offered arm. The two of us then headed for somewhere there was food. Leaving Jenny, Jelly and Tunia in the infirmary.

A few minutes later

At a general eating area

Tanith or Zane or even Zackary had gone hunting. Food was already prepared on the table ready to be eaten. So I took a handgful of various meats and what had to be cheeses that Zackary found. Skimble found himself highly critical fo the condition of the food. "What is it ?" I asked him

"I seem to be thinking of before we went to Earth so long ago, Apparently I oversaw the foodstores, as well as the weaponry upkeep, the condition of the grounds as a whole. The whole lot" Skimble replied, Apparently he had once been the quartermaster of the twenty five. Which enabled them all to survive on Earth easier.

"That might be why you're so critical of the conditions we're eating in ?" I mused making him chuckle in response.

"That might be it lass, that might be it" He said, we ate for long moments in silence. Finally Skimble asked me. "What did you do in the Air Force before Atlantis ?" I had told him about the city, that I could see at least. Plus what I did on Earth.

"I started in the National Guard" I said to him as I explained what I used to do on Earth, "After I served my time there I decided to join the air force, shortly after I joined up, my dad died in a Ori attack" I said to him. It hurt to think about it sure, but overall, it was worth talking about it, it made me feel better.

"Ori ? You mean the makers of these staffs of ours ?" Skimble asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, religious fanatics the lot of them," I replied before going silent, I had been part of the Air Force really since I was twenty, and dad died shortly after my twenty third birthday. And then I joined the SGC and got assigned to atlantis six years later. It was all a huge rush really. And now I was on another planet, in the Pegasus galaxy, as a catwoman. Rodney made me a little nervous though when I reunited with the team.

"There was also that weird thing concerning a plague, a pandemic really, back on Earth" Skimble mused, it had canceled for two years the tour before it could pick back up. It was at the finale of the same tour when Skimble and the others were transported back to Ascretta to their true forms.

"What do you remember ?" I asked him then "Of before waking up here I mean"

He thought a long moment, then said "I remember the show, the last show of the tour, we were in Miami. The tour started in California, Sacremento area, and then traveled across the country as well as up into Canada thanks to a faulty compass" Skimble seemed to weave a story as he spoke of his memories of that fateful night.

"The weather report said there was storms brewing, but we didnt know how bad that'd be. Only they were coming, and fast. But the good news was that the theatre we were in was safe and the audience couldnt be harmed. We had all trained for what to do in the case of a tornado or a hurricane." He sighed then.

"But it wasnt a hurricane or a tornado was it ?" I asked him

He shook his head. "No, this was nothing like that." He replied. He sat back in his chair. "The storm we were hit with started with pouring rain, like a hurricane you might say. Drenching heavy rain at that. The typical stuff for Miami of course at that time of year. At least, at first" He took a bite of meat. Then continued.

"We had just finished and were getting a standing ovation when the first alarms started going off, they werent the tornado or hurricane alarms either, they were the smoke and fire alarms. Something was triggered in the building. Next thing I could remember I'm diving for cover as the light beam above me is coming straight down on me. Then everything went blindingly white. And we woke up here. Naked as the day we were born." He said. I regarded him carefully. He actually looked good in the clothing he had managed to find so far. He wore a dark orange and gray overrobe with a pair of brown breeches. He actually looked pretty good. Kinda like a samurai without his armor.

"But you were a quartermaster here" I said thoughtfully, I smiled at him. "That has to count for something, right ?"

"Yeah I was, and that is what confuses me. I myself, I no military training, zero, nada, zip, and yet this old me, the guy I'm supposed to be" He said, dismissively waved off at something unseen "He's got all this weaponry training, short swords, long swords, spathas, you name it he trained with it. But not me, hell I'm actually nervous of having to use this new staff you got me" He pointed a thumb at the ori staff laying on the table.

He pointed at me as he popped a piece of fruit into his mouth. "You on the other hand, are a military woman, a Major in the Air Force or so you told Munkus. You have military training, Tanith has military training, and somehow. Quaxo too has military training, which is confusing on many many levels." From what Skimble explained to me, I was able to decern the gist of it. Quaxo was Mistos alter ego in some of the shows, played by the same person until Misto is formally introduced as Misto in the show. Quaxo was more a background character.

But here he was two different people, Misto, a much smaller catman compared to Quaxo who reminded me a hell of a lot like Teal'c back on Earth. That and I only knew him as Chief Thomas of the Alpa Site. But he insisted on being called Quaxo, as if his mind was made up right from the start.

It took me two days to make up my mind on what my name was, who I was. And what I would be come still remained to be seen. But Quaxo, I liked him, seemed to make up his mind quicker than expected.

I made a mental note to ask him about it.

In my train of thought, Skimble then asked. "So, what is your plan now ?"

I was confused of what to do next. I hadnt really thought of it until that moment. I sighed in thought. "I'm actually not really sure." I admitted. One moment I was more concerned with my own survival, just like how Tanith had everyone else hide until further notice. I am glad she did. The note of the possiblty of Pollicles on the planet with us only made my blood boil.

"Want to talk about it ?" He asked me.

I looked at him then sighed. "At first I wanted to wake up in bed like this was all a nightmare. Its what it still feels like truth be told." I said to him. I went quiet, fiddling with my food briefly. "One moment I wanted to find the stargate, find a way home. Then its like, Taniths right there she can help me. Then I find out Im this" I gestured at myself. My tone alone told Skimble volumes of what he was seeking to hear.

He was quiet for a moment, then another. "I am not exactly a scholar, but I do try to remain in the know and give advice were possible. Espeically to the newer members of the troupe." He said to me. He looked me over carefully. "But Something tells me, thought, that you saw one of your old human friends, and not in a dream ?"

I nodded, "Yeah, my boss, Col Shepard, and his team showed up, one of their members is still by the stargate. Monitoring for energy surges like the ones that took us from Miami for you guys, Atlantis for me." I said to him.

"Atlantis ?" Skimble asked me, confusion on his face. I noidded, then he remembered and smiled. I jst smiled.

"Yeah," I replied

"The lost city of greek legend ?" Skimble asked, I nodded again as he said "You mentioned it a few times" He was thoughtful. "You think I could visit ?"

"In a way" I replied. "Its not greek, but it is the lost city of those legends." I explained as best I could about the Ancients, their cityships, and similar technologies, I pointed out the glass windows towards the jumper in the courtyard taking off as ancient designed yet Furling made technology.

I explained a bit further then realised "Wait, was that leaving ? Where is Tanith going ?" I saw storms in the distance.

"It is possible she sensed others in the storm ?" Skimble offered, we went back to eating, and he also brought extra as we headed back to the informary.

Three hours later

Infirmary

The doors slid open and Munkus and Tanith came in, a injured young catboy of a sort I guess, was between them. I saw his leg had been broken, along with his ankle that wasnt good.

I saw Munkus had a concerned expression on his face. Tunia took instantly to the two boys. Fiddlestix, and Benoi, somewhow, Benoi sounded hauntingly familiar. He looked at me confused when he saw me. Blinked twice. "Cayran ?" He asked

"You know me ?" I asked him in reply

"Technically" Skimble spoke up, "He asked first" while pointing at Benoi.

I heard Tanith snicker and saw Munkus smile as I quipped at Skimble, "Who's askin' you ?" I looked back at Benoi.

He jerked a thumb at Skimble, "He's got a point" He said

I finally couldnt help it and laughed briefly. I shook my head. "Yes, I'm Cayran." I finally said to him. I looked at him, "So who are you two ?"

"I'm Benoi, that's my brother, Fiddlestix" He later explained to me that his name was Tim, and his brother was named Mike.

"What happened out there ?" It was Munkus who asked the question. He gave Tanith a look that said a dozen more questions, but she silently nodded to him, what was going on ?

"It ws raining, Tanith found us and some others in a cave on the other side of a mountain range. We werent aware there were others here." Benoi said, he went onto explaining how his brother had broken his leg and what they could last remember. Munkus soon left, leaving me with them both. Tunia took to both boys quicker than expected.

I left the infirmary once I was sure both boys would be alright, and soon quickly met up with Blaze and her brothers. Ceaser and Carwyn were in awe at the room they were guided to by Tharon. The other two cats, a teacher and principal, all seven of the new arrivals, all from the same location.

A high school in Iowa. Which was weird. I cornered Tanith after she was done with Munkus grilling her over suddenly leaving to rescue the six new arrivals. "They're all from one place" I said to her in thought.

"Yeah, a high school in Iowa somewhere" Tanith replied, she looked thoughtful and upset. Then she chuckled. "Tunia mentioned being a parent. I am not sure that is possible for me, I considered adoption, but that would be really it." She said to me.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her in thought. "So you basically just rescued your new family ?" I offered, meaning either Benoi and Fiddlestix, or Blaze, Ceaser, and Carwyn. Turned out I felt something of a sibling bond with Benoi and Fiddlestix.

Tanith chuckled some more. "Something like that" Tanith replied. "It all depends on the bill of health Jellylorum gives them, if that." We both looked in the direction of the Infirmary.

I smiled, "Jellylorum is a healer, and so is Jenny according to what Skimble told me. If anything, those guys will be healither than either of us." I looked Tanith over, she was perfectly dry, but Fiddlestix and Benoi and the others were all drenching wet. "Where the hell did you go ?"

"The puddlejumper was tracking a huge storm on its radar, at the same time it had tracked all seven of them in one place. I was torn on going to where there might be pollicles, or going to find those seven instead." Tanith told me

"So you went after the group in the storm ?" I said in thought.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What made you do that ?" I asked her. Not even I would go and rescue others like that, and then I remembered that I, as Claire, would have readily done just what Tanith did, regardless of the concequences at the time. Even after Tanith was grilled by Munkus, somehow it worked out.

"Not what" Tanith replied to me. I looked at her confused. "Who" She corrected, she had a smile on her face.

"Alright, who made you do that ?" I asked her with the corrected word.

"Tharon did, the six life signs we could find of other Furlings amid a mass of red, We cant get there in one piece and expect to easily walk out as if nothing happened. But the other seven. Tharon got me thinking it would be better to follow my heart instead" Tanith explained.

I let it go at that. It was all too confusing. But it made sense. Tanith had just gone out, more then likely without telling Munkus, and rescued five kids and two adults. And by look of things, Tanith was so pressed for time that she had to rush to get there, so she might have even really pushed the Jumper in terms of speeds. She sighed in relief. The storm clouds, according to Ben, did not contain any energy sources similar to the one, or so he said, that brought me here from Atlantis.

I smirked, "How fast did it go ?" I asked her. She looked at me confused. I looked tyowards the Jumper on the courtyard grass landing pad. "The puddlejumper, how fast did you go ?"

"I dont know, several hundred kilometers an hour ?" Tanith suggested. She shook her head. "My main goal was rescuing those kids. Those two adults with them, they're a teacher and their principal." Tanith said to me.

"So we know that they all came from the same place, a high school." I said in thought, Tanith started pacing in thought as I spoke "But that doesnt make sense. Were they all in the same room or just the same building ?"

Tanith shrugged. "Couldnt hope to tell you" she said, then she sighed. "I cant help but wonder if their families would wonder what happened to them." She held up something for me to see, it was the jumpers glass key. "We might need to get more weapons. I told Munkus I need to go to where I woke up, you're welcome to join me if you'd like."

"After you going out there as quickly as possible, Munkus is gonna let you go again ?" I asked her

"Let us go again, yes" She corrected me, I smiled and chuckled, I nodded then.

"Alright, lets go." I picked up my Ori staff and the two of us headed for the jumper.

We headed to where Tanith had woken up. According to Tanith she had woken up inside a tomb, and when I arrived, she had noticed another body was missing. And she felt it was quite more then possible that the last remaining female was Blaze. And two of the males were Blaze's brothers.

That meant that clothing for Blaze and both Ceaser and Carwyn was in that tomb somewhere. Weapons too. But I saw the jumper was stocked with Ori staff weapons, and also four more Kull armor sets, and finally, a sniper rifle I hadnt seen in what felt like ages. "Where did you find that ?" I pointed at the antitank sniper rifle that sat on a bench it was also tied down against the wall.

"An armory run. According to Ben our codes are still valid until we want them shut out. But he said he'd override that if it came to it." Tanith told me. I looked at her in shock, this was news to me.,

My face brightened. "You got word back home ?" I asked her

"Yeah, and not just word back home, but also word through Atlantis, Rodney more then likely confirmed we are alive here. And we need those armories for first aid kits, weapons, you name it." Tanith told me.

We flew at several thousand feet above ground, heading for the tomb Tanith woke up in, it was quite the flight, we soon quickly lost track of the city we took as our home in the peir of the shipyard.

Finally we landed. Tanith hit the hatch controls, we went out into bright sunlight edged in clouds, "It might rain soon" Tanith said seeing the cloud cover. The tomb entry was only a few feet away. "Come on, this wont take long"

With the flashlights from the armories, we entered the tomb and began exploring, in the main chamber where she woke up Tanith had stopped. "I thought so" She said upon sight of three more bodies gone, the lone female, and two of the male mummies had crumbled to dust

"What is this place ?" I asked as I covered my nose from the stink of dead

"This is where we were laid to rest it seems long ago. I woke up there, on the floor" Tanith shined her flashlight beam onto a spot on the floor, there were mummy wrappings scattered upon the stonework. "You were on either one of these two tables" She shined her light on first one, then another table. "That table, that's the scholar, Tarfur, I dont think he's going to be getting up any time soon though" Tanith then said.

The lone male mummy was wrapped in rags and sued. What looked to be a small parcel was with it. I made to pick it up. "Leave it, thats his journal, I feel its best between him and that journal alone" Tanith said to me. I nodded and stepped away.

We found the antechamber where Tanith found the clothing. Two shelves were empty, one had just what we sought. "This is almost too easy" I said as I carried one of the bundles of clothing to the jumper. "Its like we're on a predestined timetable or something.

Tanith nodded. "I know what you mean, but it wont be easy." She said to me. "Somehow, it was like I knew what dress to pick up for me, and then for you, and now for Blaze it looks like." the parcel was the last remainbing gown and leggings and boots in the atenchamber, the breeches and bandoliers I carried had everything else for Blazes brothers.

We put the stuff in the jumper. Tanith then lifted off. "We got everything we can get out of there." She said to me as she closed the hatch, I sat down next to her in the copilots chair.

Seeing what she was doing as she turned us towards the tomb enterance. I asked her. "You better not be thinking of what I think you're thinking" I said to her.

"If you think I am thinking of burying that tomb with a few pulse shots, why yes, that is what I am thinking" Tanith said, that said, two pulse shots later and the tomb was buried again. We headed back to the peir city, it almost felt like we had buried someone alive.

But something also told me that Tarfur wasnt going to be waking up anytime soon. "What a rush" I mumbled. I relaxed in my chair.

It was a good hour later when we returned to the city proper and Tanith went for landing, she however was not landing in the courtyard like normal, instead she found someplace else she could park

"Where are we going ?" I asked when I saw we werent going to the courtyard. "Courtyard's that way"

"I know," Tanith replied, she took us to the structure in front of us and headed us onto the rooftop. Parking silently she decloaked. "We're here." She said, somehow it felt better to have the jumper on the roof, easier access to the penthouse, or so it felt, that we had picked to live in.

She handed me the dress for Blaze, and took the two parcels of breeches and banoliers for Ceaser and Carwyn. "Get that to Blaze, I'll get these to her brothers." she stepped from the jumper.

Tunia had taken Ceaser and Carwyn to our penthouse and showed them a room they could use. The two brothers picked their place on the first floor, below my room. Blaze I found looking around in my bedroom. "Oh good, found you." I said upon sight of her. She felt hauntingly familiar. I held out the parcel to her. "Here, put this on" I told her

Blaze took the dark gold dress and put it on, it was like my own dress, and that of Taniths, tight fit to the body, yet snug and gorgeous all at once. It went perfect with her flame himalian patterned fur. "How does it feel ?"

"Like I died and went to heaven and briefly had a stint in hell" Blaze replied. She then said "My orginial name is Amber, back on Earth, but the only name that I could think of on a whim when I met up with my brothers Tom and Jack, was Blaze, and they came up with Ceaser and Carwyn respectively." Blaze told me a bit more of what she could last remember.

I sat on the bed in slight shock. "Disappeared from outside a school" I mumbled aloud.

"My brothers and I ran for cover when the tornado sirens went off. As I was diving into a ditch, I was blinded by complete whiteness, I woke up in a river." Blaze told me, it made me smile at what she said. Waking up in a river ? I woke up in a meadow.

I snickered, "At least you got a bath out of it" I joked. She laughed after struggling not to do just that. A few moments after a good belly laugh got us losened up and helped break the ice. I spoke up. "So, have you decided where you'd like to sleep ?" I wasnt exactly the penhouse owner ,that was Tanith.

Blaze was thoughtful. "I was kind of wondering if it would be alright for me to stay in here, with you" She said to me shyly, she wasnt in heat and I knew that. But there was a fact she was still scared of being in a new place such as where we now found ourselves.

I smiled, "Sure" I said in reply. It was easier than saying she had to be with her brothers down stairs, both boys crashed the minute they laid eyes on their new beds. "You can share this room with me. I dont mind." From what I could see, Tunia was about to spend a lot of time in the Infirmary helping Jenny and Jelly. There were two beds in the room anyhow.

Part of the parcel included weapons, swords, in this case the last two swords that were in the tomb, a bunch of throwing knives, and finally at the end of all of it, a stack of shirukin. Blaze somehow knew how to put it all on. And she did so with gusto.

Finally she had it all and turned to me as I held out the asgard personal shield bracelet. Tanith wore hers more like a choker necklace, I wore mine like a watch once I saw how cool it looked when Skimble put his on. She stood there and put the bracelet on her left arm like a watch. Then looked at me. "How do I look ?" Blaze asked me

"Like a walking armory." I replied truthfully. From what Cara could remember, Scouts were easily the ninjas of the Furling race as a whole they could go anywehere, be anything, kill anything, all without getting noticed. Twin swords was where it started, then from there it included throwing knives, throwing stars, shirurikin and similar thrown weapons. From what I recalled, since we were at the time a highly Samurai esq culture before we fled to Earth. We were also skilled in the use of the long bow. However I remembered that Tanith had seven sword hilts on her person, and dozens of throwing knives too

But the Ori staff weapon that I held out to Blaze could take the place of the longbow easily. Blaze took the ori staff and examined it. "Im not familiar with this" she said to me thoughtfully. She looked at me. "What is it ?"

"Tanith called it an Ori staff weapon, its similar to a Jaffa staff weapon, only this case much more stable, and more painful." I tried then to explain to Blaze what a jaffa staff weapon looked like, and it only made her moire confused. "Point is," I said at last. "A crystal base energy source, fires a blue pulse of energy at a target. Its not exactly a sniper rifle or hunting rifle, but it'll do." I told her, Tanith had told me that Blaze had been learning to become a police officer. So police academy training included shooting range on a daily basis

She took that at face value and it worked. Somehow I knew I was going to enjoy my time with her