Ardeth was relieved to see Frank's reaction to their resemblance; it was a good sign. "Ahlan," he greeted Frank, inclining his head towards him.

Frank was shocked at the sight of Ardeth. "Ahlan wa sahlan," he replied.

Ardeth came further into the tent, impressed that he knew the correct response. "Ezai salama?" he asked, inquiring about Frank's health.

Frank smiled slightly. "Bi kheyr?" Like he'll believe that I feel 'fine'.

Ardeth chuckled.

Frank's team looked at them and each other, baffled.

"English?" Cody requested.

Ardeth hid a smile as he sat on the sand near Frank. "I am Ardeth Bay. This is my second-in-command, Safti."

Frank's mind was still fuzzy, and he didn't quite catch the second man's name. "Softy?" he said.

Safti's eyebrows flew up, and he started to laugh. Ardeth shook his head, smiling, while Frank's team tried to hide their laughter in, to no avail.

Poor Frank just lay there, blinking, trying to force away the disorientation still lingering in his brain.

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday?" Ardeth asked him.

Frank frowned, and shook his head. 

"We told him some of it," Alex said.

Ardeth nodded, and proceeded to repeat the entire story. By the time he was done, Frank was speechless; a reaction his team hardly ever saw in him.

They were silent as they all watched him, waiting to see what he had to say.

A jolt of pain suddenly shot through Frank before he had a chance to speak, and he tried to not let it show as he closed his eyes. He failed, for they all noticed the sharp intake of breath, and the fact that he held it instead of letting it out.

"Frank?" Alex said, touching his arm.

He couldn't speak at first, and didn't hear them all scoot closer. He opened his eyes though, when he noticed the voices calling him starting to sound panicky. Finally he let the breath out, in a gasp he couldn't stifle.

"Frank?"

"I'm all right," he said, his voice sounding weaker.

Safti looked at Ardeth. How alike the two are, he thought.

"This…amulet," Frank said, blinking away lightheadedness. "You said it belongs to you?"

Ardeth nodded. He pulled his out of his robes, and handed the other to Frank.

The minute Frank's hand touched it, the tingling sensation he'd felt when he'd been given it by the old man started again. Running up his arm, into his chest…making him feel dizzy…

His team saw the strange look come over his face, but before they got to say anything, they heard Safti say, "Ardeth?"

Turning to see, they saw the same look on the Med-jai's face. He blinked his eyes repeatedly, and frowned.

Safti put a hand on his arm, to steady him, and looked to Frank, who was holding the amulet to his chest, eyes closed, breathing heavily.

Acting on impulse, Safti reached over and took the amulet from around Ardeth's neck, pulling it off him. A second later, Ardeth exhaled loudly, and looked at him, puzzled.

"Same thing as that day?" Safti asked.

Ardeth nodded. "When we both hold the amulets at the same time…there is some kind of link established…" He looked at Frank to see him blinking dazedly. "Donovan?"

Frank let out his breath in a heavy sigh, still clutching the amulet. "I'm fine. Call me Frank; we do, after all, share the same soul," he said, with a slight smile, the strange occurrence obviously making him accept the situation as indeed being fact.

Ardeth returned the smile. He reached to take his amulet back from Safti, before realizing what that would result in. He thought for a minute. "This 'link' may serve a purpose," he said.

"Purpose?" said Jake. "It made you both zone out!"

Zone out? "It may be that we were not expecting it, and did not wait long enough for it to possibly diminish." Ardeth looked at Frank again.

Frank seemed to know what he was asking, and nodded at him. He tried to reach up and put the amulet around his neck with his uninjured arm.

Monica saw his struggle, and took it, gently putting it around his neck for him.

Frank smiled his thanks at her.

Ardeth took his amulet back from Safti, and put it around his own neck. Instantly the reaction happened again, but this time he was expecting it, and he closed his eyes and breathed deeply and slowly. Something in his mind told him to tell Frank to do the same, for it seemed to be helping, and he managed to open his eyes to see that Frank was already doing it. He closed his eyes again as it continued, and then, as he suspected, it started to lessen. He opened his eyes and looked at Frank, who opened his a minute later, obviously struggling with a worse reaction then Ardeth, due to his poor health.

"Frank?" said Alex.

"Ardeth?" said Safti.

Everyone looked at the two of them, waiting for one of them to speak.

"It appears to have worked," Ardeth finally said. "Dono—Frank, do you feel different in any way?"

Frank almost laughed at that. Different? He felt like crap.

Ardeth realized his mistake in asking such a question; especially when he saw Frank's eyes keep drifting closed and opening again in a valiant attempt to remain awake. He had more questions he wanted to ask, but he saw that they needed to be saved for a later time. "We will leave you to your rest," he told Frank.

Frank nodded his thanks, and fell right to sleep.

********************

"I can not believe what my husband has told me."

Jake and Cody looked at Suhaylah, as she walked beside them, through the camp.

"Pretty hard to believe, huh?" said Jake.

Suhaylah sighed. "You must succeed in saving him. Ardeth is our greatest leader; without him the Med-jai would be lost."

"Heh, no pressure," Cody muttered.

They were silent for most of the time, as they questioned one Med-jai after another. Many seemed surprised and upset over the 'rumor' that had been heard around Cairo, that someone was after their Chief. Others shrugged it off, saying that many threats had been made and hardly any ever followed through.

When they were finished, they we still at square one, having learned nothing. They all stood there for a minute, not sure what to do next. A cooling wind suddenly blew, chilling the sweat on their faces.

"Ahh!" Cody said, "That feels great!" He turned his face directly into the wind, facing Suhaylah, and suddenly noticing something he hadn't noticed earlier. "Oh hey! When are you due?"

Suhaylah looked at him strangely. "Due for what?"

"Oh, uh, um…" Cody said, gesturing to her stomach, which they could see protruding, now that the wind was blowing against her robes.

"Ah," she said. "Soon."

"Congratulations," said Jake, shaking his head at Cody's lack of tact.

"Shukran," Suhaylah said, smilingly shyly. "Safti and I have waited a long time." She paused, suddenly looking very sad. "I hope that Ardeth lives to see it, he is nearly as excited as Safti."

Cody and Jake looked at each other, and sighed.

"We'll do our best to make sure he does," said Jake, not knowing what else to say.