Mala mumbled under her breath as she sat as far away from her brothers and the rest of the congregation as she could. Althan, the wizened Elder who was telling them of the evils of the Wraith and how they owed their lives to the Chosen, was getting on in years. Not only did he have to stop often and have someone prompt him with what he was going to say, he would suddenly and inexplicably fall asleep in the middle of a sentence.
This was the sort of thing they expected the people of Felus to adhere to? Ancient laws and traditions that were so old, they didn't apply any more? No, it was simply the way the Chosen of the Elders kept themselves in charge. By keeping the more novel ideas at bay with stagnation and threats of a fairy tale creature.
Mala shifted in her seat and looked down at the ground, pretending peity when everyone else bowed their heads to give thanks to the ones who had given them the Chosen for protection. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. The fools didn't even know what they were saying. They had no idea that the Chosen were theirs literally.
Finally, the ceremony was over. Mala jumped to her feet and was about to rush out, to go back to her lookout so she could see when McKay returned, when she was stopped by Thal. He was Mate to Ether, the eldest of the Chosen. She shivered, but met the strange gaze in that timeless face that the Mates and Chosen shared.
"You are restless, young Mala," Thal murmured, "That is not good in one who wishes to become Mate. Serenity is needed in order to make the Chosen one feel safe and secure. He will be quite agitated enough without yours to add on top of it. And he may not choose you as his mate."
"I understand and obey, Master," Mala intoned, already bored with the conversation. How could she not be chosen as mate? The Chosen had to choose. That was it.
Thal shook his head sadly and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You are very young, my child, and though I may have had many seasons past my own youth, I do know that it will pass."
"Yes, of course," Mala agreed, starting to feel uncomfortable with his presence. Everyone was staring at her, and she couldn't just leave now with a quick excuse.
Thal sighed softly, then put his hand on her cheek and turned and left. Mala breathed a sigh of relief before running out and straight towards the spot she knew she could take in order to get to her lookout. Thal and Ether would be immediately put down, she promised herself, the instant she took over. They were behind most of the outdated traditions, and once they were out of the picture, it would pave the way for her own ambitions.
Now if only McKay would return...
Fratoh watched Mala from his own secret look-out, tail twitching in irritation. The girl gave him bad vibes, and he wasn't afraid to voice them, unlike some of the other, younger Chosen. It did not matter that it was wrong to speak out against a potential Mate. In his eyes, he did not see her as such. She was too ambitious, too impatient.
He wasn't supposed to have allowed McKay to escape, only the others, but he had anyway, in the hopes that there was someone far more suitable than Mala on McKay's own planet. The Chosen could do nothing if a Mate had already been initialized...because there was no way to reverse the process...and no way to choose another Mate even if it were.
He took the fact that McKay hadn't returned as a very good sign. Although, he was a little concerned that he may have inadvertantly hurt someone in the first few important stages until he found his Mate. Not to mention the training period that would help him to get to know his new self. Still, it was worth the punishment he'd recieved to see Mala thwarted at least for a little while. And he was absolutely certain they'd bring him back. Those people would want an explanation on what was going on. Especially if McKay did find his Mate among them...
He watched her a little longer, until she disappeared from site and then stood and stretched languidly before transforming. The special cloth that made his robes transformed with him, keeping modesty in tact. He supposed McKay was probably mortified by now...having so many strangers see him in his natural form. Again, it was worth it.
The strange men had seemed extremely versatile. The one had marched for a long distance with a broken arm, and hadn't complained a bit. Many of the young people of Felus would not have even suffered a broke arm without pitching a fit.
He made his way down to the small hut where he and his Mate had been estranged to; his punishment for speaking out against a potential Mate. He winced. He hadn't wanted Fana to endure this with him, but knew she would gladly pay the price he did. She thought the same thing.
"Fratoh, are you causing trouble again?" Fana, amusement and annoyance lacing her tone, "Because I don't want to be shunned again for a very long time."
"You love it," he retorted, "Because you can have me all to yourself without the others watching." As he spoke he lazily wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
A Mate was closer to their Chosen than any other living being, in spirit and physically. However, since the living area of the Chosen was shared by all, the physical was not practiced very much. The Felunians were a modest people, and loved their privacy.
Which was what made being a Chosen so difficult sometimes...and why Fratoh knew Mala would never make a good Mate.
"Mmmm..." Fana agreed, "But it would be much better if you were paying attention to me instead of thinking about what's going on. That's what got you in trouble in the first place you know."
Fratoh smiled in sheepish aknowledgment, as her slight displeasure washed over him. "Yes, love," he murmured, "It's just that..."
"I happen to agree with you," Fana stated, putting a finger over his lips, "But I would much rather not discuss it just now."
Fratoh grinned as other, more primal feelings washed over him. It was moments like this when he was very glad of being Chosen.
Elizabeth frowned as she was brought out of a deep sleep by a sudden feeling of panic and anger. Threatening growls and shrill whistles rang through the air. She sat up and stared as five men attempted to wrestle a bird to the ground, while a giant white cat tried to knock them aside without injuring them.
It took her sleep-riddled mind a few seconds to come up with a semi-coherent explanation from half-formed memories. Leman was the bird, a phoenix that Rodney had befriended, and who had also adopted Elizabeth. The cat was...Rodney. She didn't know how she knew that, but somewhere deep inside her she knew.
But what was she doing in the infirmary? And why was all this happening. Her frown deepened and she cleared her throat. The cat instantly stopped its batting and turned to look at her, silver eyes intent upon her own. She swallowed as a feeling of concern and something else that she refused to identify nearly overtook her in its intensity. It was by far more powerful than anything Leman had sent her. It was almost as though it were a part of her.
The big cat jumped up onto the bed with her and gently laid its head on her lap, taking care not to gouge her with the horns this time, and began purring loudly. She smiled slighly and absently ran her fingers through the fine, lush fur at his neck, before looking up at the five soldiers questioningly.
They traded looks with each other, before Sergeant Adams spoke up, "Dr. Beckett called us here because something happened. Well, then he told us never mind that it was all taken care of..."
"Where is Carson?" She interrupted suddenly, looking around for the doctor.
"Uh...he's unconscious. Like his" he jerked his chin in Rodney's direction, "Guards. Major Sheppard figured it was the bird that did it, and not Dr. McKay and soon after he said, he went unconscious too...so we tried to get the bird out of her by using a smoke bomb. Since everyone was already out of it," he said quickly, "Anyway, we caught it, but then he woke up, and that woke the bird up and then you woke up."
Elizabeth nodded, feeling oddly calm through all of this. Leman gave an irritated squawk, then fluttered to the bed where she sat regally and began methodically cleaning her feathers.
"That will be all then, Sergeant...I'm sure Dr. Beckett and Major Sheppard will wake when whatever Leman did to them is lifted. Go on about your business. Go on," she urged, when he hesitated. Then, he shrugged, and motioned for the others to follow him out.
She eyed the bird after they were gone. "You made it so that they wouldn't see Rodney as a threat, didn't you?"
Leman paused in her ministrations to give Elizabeth a look out of her beady black eye that said it all. Elizabeth felt a laugh bubbling up in her, a laugh of hysteria. All of this was just way too much for her to handle.
A cold, wet nose nudged her hand, and that feeling that she didn't want to think about flooded through her again. She smiled as she stared into Kitty Rodney's pretty silver eyes. Everything was going to be just fine....no! No, everything was not going to be just fine! She was acting completely unlike herself!
The cat jumped down from the bed, and she watched as he carefully stepped around the bodies lying on the floor (ouch, that must be uncomfortable), then jumped up onto the other bed and crawled beneath the covers. A second later, Rodney's familiar face was staring out at her, the blanket covering him up to his chest.
"Well, this is going to be difficult," he muttered angrily, "I can't tell when I'm going to transform again, until it's fixing to happen and I may not have a blanket or a set of clothes just laying handily by. Do you know what's going on Elizabeth? Because no one else would tell me anything. Well, not that they could with Leman knocking them out left and right but..."
Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "No. I don't even know how I got into the infirmary...or why I'm here."
"Me too," he mused, "I wonder if its connected somehow? If you get the sudden urge to change, just remember to keep something to cover yourself in case you change back."
"It is a bit too much of a coincidence..." She paused and looked at him searchingly, an idea having occurred to her, "You know more than what you're saying," she accused.
Rodney opened his mouth to protest, closed it, opened it again and then closed with a snap before sliding his eyes away from hers. He cleared his throat and muttered something about Leman.
"Leman has something to do with this?"
"No," he looked back at her in annoyance, "Leman said that we were connected. And somehow, my being able to understand her thought-speak is an idication of the change. You don't seem to be able to understand, because you haven't answered any of her questions." He tilted his head slightly, as though trying to listen to something, then flushed slightly. "But she can hear your thoughts where she couldn't before...and she has no concept of the term 'confidentiallity' by the way."
Elizabeth blinked and then flushed herself, as she tried to recall exactly what she'd been thinking. "I see..." she muttered.
Their conversation was put on brief hold as a groan interrupted them. Then Sheppard sat up, clutching his head with his good hand and looking around. "That damn bird," he muttered, "had better be gone before I finish counting to ten. One..."
"Actually, Major," Elizabeth interjected, "Leman may be able to help us out. But first, do you know anything of what's going on?"
John was scowling at Leman, who just gave him a haughty look in return. He shrugged at Elizabeth's question. "Uh...besides the obvious?"
"No, we always have to have the obvious stated for us," Rodney put it, "Yes, besides the obvious! We have no memory of anything that's happened and somehow we uh...uh..." here, the scientist faltered and gave Elizabeth a guilty, nervous look.
John didn't seem to have noticed. He frowned at them. "You mean, neither one of you can remember? Shit, the doc was right that whatever those horns had in them weren't any good. Are you experiencing any other symptoms, Dr. Weir? Like is the volume of my voice okay?"
"Now that you mention it, it is a little too loud for my tastes," Rodney said, "So if you could just lower it...oh. Go on Elizabeth."
Elizabeth turned from giving him a steely glare to shaking her head at John. "No, it sounds normal to me."
"Anything smell too strongly?"
"No."
"Yes, the...fine! I'll just turn over and go to sleep. I know when I'm not wanted. You two just keep on chatting, forgetting that I'm even in the room..."
"We will," John answered cheerily, "Okay then. What was the point of that stuff then?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "What stuff?"
"McKay accidentally scratched you with those horns of his when he was in his kitten form," John said quickly, "Or maybe it wasn't an accident, I don't know. Obviously its affected you, and not just to knock you out for a little bit."
Elizabeth stared at him, remembering those feelings that hadn't been hers, and yet had been. Like the feelings she was getting now. Was that a part of it?
tbc....