"They what!?!"
"I am sorry Jack but-"
"No, no. No sorry. You just make sure you go back there and you get us to go home."
"I cannot do that. I am sorry but the council has decided."
"Right.....I don´t think so."
"It does not matter what you think, only what is. And the decision is made."
"What are we supposed to do here? Farm? Raise horses?"
"You will go back to the Loshati, they will give you a place to live."
"Like I said, I. Don´t. Think. So."
"What would you have me do? Would you have me go against thousands of years of tradition and simply ignore a direct order from our council?"
"Well.....it might work."
"I will not do that! I tried, hard. Most of the council agreed, you cannot be allowed to cross to the Gyffin lands, not now. I am sorry, but you are not going home."
"Like hell we´re not."
O´Neill tried to get past Kaia, but she simply stood in his way and pushed him back. The girl was determined, he could see it in his eyes but, so was he. He needed to get home, he wasn´t about to just accept the fact that a group of people he´d never even seen before had decided that they just wouldn´t let them go home. He tried to get past Kaia again, this time Kaia grabbed him by the throat, threw him down to the floor, pressed her knee on his chest and held him there. O´Neill tried to get up, he struggled, wriggled, even hit Kaia but the girl would not let go. He could breath with some difficulty and as he felt his vision start to grow dim Kaia spoke up.
"I cannot let you go, Jack. I understand the decision the council has made is hard to accept but you must. You cannot go home, not with the new situation that has arisen."
Gasping, O´Neill managed two words, "What.....situation.....?"
Kaia loosened her grip and stood up. Sam immediately went to help O´Neill up. He coughed a few times. His chest hurt.
"The Sailen attacked the Borderlands between the Gyffin and the Dragon lands. They took it. It is now Sailen territory and it is the only way to the Stardoor."
"Okey, so how do we get across it?"
"You are a stubborn man, Jack. You cannot cross it. I may not agree with the decision the council has made but I will not risk you and your team being captured by the Sailen, or found out by the humans. We must look to our own lands now. Please understand this. A great army is being assembled, it will meet at midday tomorrow, messengers have been sent. Every Niseos, Padeos, Gyffin, Sabaki and human able to bare arms must be ready for battle. The Sailen people cannot be allowed to keep the Borderlands, it is too close to Nok, to the Land of Light. They are risking our very existence."
O´Neill was still trying to make several parts of his body stop hurting. He looked at Kaia, it wasn´t that he didn´t believe her, it was that he could not believe the bad timing they had.....as usual. Catastrophes always seemed to wait for SG-1 to arrive on a planet to wreak havoc. Finally it was Daniel who spoke up.
"Okey then.....how can we help?"
"You cannot. Unfortunately, the humans cannot be allowed to discover you."
"Why?"
"Because, the man who leads them now will only see the oportunity to gain more power by having you in his hands. He will take you, promise you to return you home and never will. He is not wholly evil but.....he believes all the Chitkina people should serve under humans, he says that what we do is simply keep men ignorant and powerless, so that we may control everything."
"Okey.....so we pretend to be of your people."
"It is not that simple, Daniel. Humans may be mostly ignorant about our ways but they will still know what you are and if we are asked directly, we will not be able to lie. No, you must not be discovered by men."
"Is that why they´re not letting us go?"
"In part yes but, there is more. Some of the council believed that if you were to go to the humans of this world you might be persuaded to see things their way and you may be tempted to help them. I have learned much of your world by seeing it in you and by speaking with you, if you were to ally with the humans, then we would have no choice but to fight them or serve them and we.....serve no man."
"What if we promise we won´t help them?"
"Your intentions are not evil, I know this but, even if you did not help them, they would still use the fact that we hid you for three days as an excuse. Men are growing strong and that is no crime. It is the man that is making them strong that is the problem. He is not to be trusted."
"Well then, there has to be another way. We can´t go, we can´t help, we can´t stay here. There must be another way."
"I do not know," Kaia looked down at the ground. O´Neill knew she was keeping something from them, "there is always another way. That is what hope is. One of the members of the council agrees with you. You must go home. He wishes to meet with you."
"Is he gonna be able to get us home?"
"Possibly. He is wise even though he is young, he will at the very least, try to help."
"Okey then. Take us to....."
"Chilaviek. His name is Chilaviek."
SG-1 stepped out of the room they´d been put in as soon as they arrived. It was inside a large cave which had three main halls and several different rooms which had been made, according to Kaia, centuries before. Everything was cold and damp but no one seemed to mind. Torches lit the way but it was still very dark. SG-1 stumbled several times on the slippery and uneven floor but no one else did. Daniel suspected it was because, aside from their psychic abilities, the Padeos possesed something like hightened senses, they seemed to hear, smell and see better.
They had arrived a few hours after the sun had risen. They were all very tired. SG-1 had discovered that the group they were traveling with needed no more than four hours in a whole day and they had been unwilling to stop for the strangers. Iablaka was to blame for this, she had pushed so that they kept on going. During the night, it had started to rain, pour really and once they were soaked and freezing, it started to hail. They hadn´t stopped. Finally, numb, soaked, tired, hungry and in very foul moods, they had arrived at a village. The vrigda was received by several cheering people but the festivities didn´t last long for SG-1. They were quickly led into the cave, into a cold room and told to stay in there while Kaia went to speak to the council. They weren´t even given a change of clothes. It had been at least four or five more hours before Kaia came back. She had changed and she brought dry clothes for SG-1, identical to the ones they were already wearing. When they had finally changed, Kaia told them of the council´s decision. O´Neill was pissed.
Now, they were walking down a long hall, it seemed to lead deeper into the caves. Only Kaia went with them, Vozem has chosen to stay outside: Niseos did not like caves. Alma and Koshka had run off to the tree line, by themselves. Malinki had disappeared somewhere, presumably with Iablaka. They walked for several minutes, until they came to the end of the hall. A great door stood there, it was made of think, heavy wood. Kaia didn´t knock, she simply pushed it open. It creaked and cracked and let out a wonderful smell: food.
The place were they where was in fact something like the kitchen. There were dozens of shelves, all filled with food and containers. In the very center there was a roaring fire and several pots hanging over it. There was something like a natural rock formation which took the shape of a table, on it sat several glasses and barrels of liquid. Kaia served each of them some of that and offered them food. SG-1 took some of it, but hungry as they were, their first priority was to meet this Chilaviek.
"So where is he?"
"He will be here soon."
"So, he´s a member of this council, right?"
"Yes. He is one of the most important members of the council in fact. He is also a great master."
"Wait.....he´s a dragon?"
"Yes."
"We´re actually meeting a.....dragon?"
"Yes and no. He is one but he will not appear as one. He will take the form of a man, as he always does when he is in the company of men."
At this moment, Daniel started believing that maybe there weren´t actually any mythical creatures on this planet. Maybe they were just humans and the people around them believed they were Dragons or Loshati or whatever other kind they had on the planet. He had to admit he was a bit dissapointed.
"You are wrong, Daniel. They are not humans. They are our masters."
"Yes of course I simply.....on Earth we have several cultures which believe their leaders to be descendant from creatures such as dragons I only thought-"
"You think because we will not show you our true selves then we are humans?"
Everyone turned. There, at the door, stood a man. He was somewhere around 35, he had dark hair and the most piercing green eyes they´d ever seen. He walked gracefully and slowly. He smiled but not out of kindness, it was as if he understood some great joke and the rest of the room did not. Kaia immediately bowed down, palms up. Chilaviek smiled.
"Get up Kaia. You knew me for so long while I was so young and foolish, you need not be so formal now." Kaia rose, Chilaviek closed the distance between them and hugged her. "I was worried about you when I heard what happened at the Stardoor. You are reckless Kaia, luck must always be by your side."
Kaia smiled. O´Neill was in no mood.
"Sorry to interrupt this lovely reunion but....."
"Yes, you are Jack." Chilaviek locked eyes with Kaia, something happened, a light shone on both of them and suddenly, Chilaviek blinked and the light was gone. "I have learned much about you from Kaia. You are a good man but impatient. Patience is of great value to us and is of much use to most people."
"Right.....well patience isn´t really what I´m worried about right now."
"I understand. You wish to go home, correct?"
"Ah.....yeah."
"You cannot. The council has decided. Kaia already informed you of this."
"Yes she did but it´s unacceptable. I love what you´ve done with the place and all but, we can´t stay here."
"I agree. You do not belong here."
"So....."
"We must find another choice. You will not be allowed to leave this place on your own. You cannot fight with us in the war, you are humans. The choice is then simple."
"Well would ya mind explaining it to me anyway?"
"Very well. The only way you will go home is if you manage to cross the Borderlands, which is impossible." O´Neill was still waiting for an explanation, "The Borderlands must be reconquered. They will. Already a greater army than what the Sailen peole brought to these lands is assembled at this very village. Tomorrow, more will come. Even the humans have joined our army. If you manage to survive, then you may go home."
O´Neill thought this was a good plan. They were, after all, military officers (mostly) and even Daniel had seen his good share of war and death. But he couldn´t help it, he was missing something. Sam took the liberty of pointing out what it was.
"I thought you said we couldn´t figh because we´re humans."
There it was! The perfect hole which shot the plan appart. Chilaviek smiled and poured himself a glass of the liquid that had been served to them but that they had, so far, ignored.
"That is true. You cannot fight as humans."
It dawned on them. All of them. There were simply no words-
"Like hell! You are not turning us into anything."
Apparently, there were words.
After that, Chilaviek and O´Neill launched into a heated argument which ended in several refernces to Chilavek´s mother and several words which O´Neill couldn´t understand, but could guess what they meant. In the end, it was of no use. There were only three choices: to stay, to try to leave and be captured and locked up or, to allow Chilaviek and Kaia to help them.
"Okey say that, for the sake of the argument, we allow you to......you know. What happens when we go home?"
"I have thought about this Jack. I am much, much older than I look now and much wiser than any human I have yet to meet.....the effects will be either temporary or not as strong as in a normal Padeos because, you will not undergo the normal ritual."
"You mean they could be temporary or not? Hell no!"
"It is your only other choice! You will undergo the ritual, Kaia will perform it. Bolshoi´s spirit lives withing her but not completely. The blessing will not be as strong and so.....it may be either temporary or not as strong as normal."
"See, that´s the problem right there. You don´t understand what you´re doing and we´re not just going to sit by while we´re turned into guinea pigs for your little-"
"No you do not understand, human! It is the only way. Once you are of us, you may go to the field of battle. If you win honor then you may go freely, if you do not, then you will still be one of our people and the right to go to the Gyffin lands will not be denied to you! The Gyffins will decide wether they let you go through the Stardoor or not but, you will be much closer to getting home than by staying here."
O´Neill ran a hand through his hair. He turned to his team. They were all there, waiting for him to make the decision. It was his call but he still looked to them for their opinion.
"Carter?"
"Sir, I think it´s a longshot but.....it does seem to be the only way. I don´t quite feel up to taking up an entire people if we can do this."
"Yeah and besides.....even if the effects aren´t temporary or are lessened, how bad could it be? I mean, they say they can control the whole "mind reading" ability so we can learn plus, we could be immune to any Goa´uld implantation so.....it´s not that bad, is it? I mean, think about it, we do this and we could hold the key to a –natural defence- against the Goa´uld."
"Indeed. I do believe DanielJackson has a point. This could be most profitable to our cause."
O´Neill hated when his team thought like that. He liked his humanity, he wasn´t too sure about giving it up just to please a bunch of wise-ass people. He turned back to Chilaviek.
"Allright, what do we have to do."
"You have to do nothing or.....almost nothing. You must change your clothes, eat well and.....wash. You smell of human." Chilaviek walked away. Kaia smirked but O´Neill simply could not hold his tongue.
"Hey! You don´t exactly smell like roses either!"
Chilaviek stopped. Turned. Came back.
"I am not human."
He raised his arms and began to change. His clothes blenden into his skin, his eyes grew in size and changed shape. His teeth became pointy and stuck out beneath his lips. His back expanded, wings came from it. His legs hunched and his arms became shorter and thicker. With a great growl, claws substituted his fingernails and small horns grew on the side of his head. His hair turned into scales. He took a deep breath.
Chilaviek now stood in his true form, something he´d never done in front of any human. He was about four times the size of a horse, he had great wings which he streched out and then folded back, resting them on his side. His skin had turned to skales and they were a color between brown and green. He got down on the floor, resting his head on the cool stone. Never looking away from O´Neill who, for once, was truly without words.
The rest of SG-1 fared no better. Daniel managed to mutter an "Oh my....." but no one else made a sound. Teal´c was surprised, he had heard legends, stories about the evil beings which had tried to take the power of the Goa´uld once. He had said nothing to his teamates, but he suspected those legends had come from this place. After a few minutes Chilaviek took a deep breath. The air coming from his nostrils was foul, but not as much as the sent that reeked out when he spoke, which was soon after that.
"You must do as you are asked. Do not question it, it all has a reason for being. Kaia has agreed to take you into her house, you will be her and Bolshoi´s kin. The Jaffa cannot go through this but, Kaia has agreed to accept him as kin nontheless. It is her right as the only surviving member of the House of Bolshoi and as a leader of the Stewards of the Padeos. None of this will be challenged. The ritual must be perfomed today, in the afternoon. You will most likely sleep all through the night and when you wake, there will be pain. All the memories and knowledge of Kaia, Bolshoi and all the people around you will be made clear in your mind. All the knowledge of the Padeos will be there. You must search your minds and your hearts. Remember this. You must search for the way to control it or you will go mad. I will see you when you arrive at the encampment." He stood on all fours. He extended his wings and bowed his head, "May the Fortunes of Fate, the Wisdom of Knowledge and the Strength of Courage go with you."
Kaia bowed down as well, but no one noticed. The dragon now turned and walked out, opening both doors with little effort. The doors creaked shut behind him. O´Neill was shocked. Sam, Daniel and Teal´c had begun to wonder: what had they just gotten themselves into?
Kaia stood in front of them, took their glasses and set them back on the stone table. That shook them out of their shock a little. She went to the door and opened it.
"Come. You must begin to prepare for the ritual. We have little time."
SG-1 came in silence. Kaia only heard O´Neill mutter something under his breath before he walked into the hall.
"That was cool."
"I am sorry Jack but-"
"No, no. No sorry. You just make sure you go back there and you get us to go home."
"I cannot do that. I am sorry but the council has decided."
"Right.....I don´t think so."
"It does not matter what you think, only what is. And the decision is made."
"What are we supposed to do here? Farm? Raise horses?"
"You will go back to the Loshati, they will give you a place to live."
"Like I said, I. Don´t. Think. So."
"What would you have me do? Would you have me go against thousands of years of tradition and simply ignore a direct order from our council?"
"Well.....it might work."
"I will not do that! I tried, hard. Most of the council agreed, you cannot be allowed to cross to the Gyffin lands, not now. I am sorry, but you are not going home."
"Like hell we´re not."
O´Neill tried to get past Kaia, but she simply stood in his way and pushed him back. The girl was determined, he could see it in his eyes but, so was he. He needed to get home, he wasn´t about to just accept the fact that a group of people he´d never even seen before had decided that they just wouldn´t let them go home. He tried to get past Kaia again, this time Kaia grabbed him by the throat, threw him down to the floor, pressed her knee on his chest and held him there. O´Neill tried to get up, he struggled, wriggled, even hit Kaia but the girl would not let go. He could breath with some difficulty and as he felt his vision start to grow dim Kaia spoke up.
"I cannot let you go, Jack. I understand the decision the council has made is hard to accept but you must. You cannot go home, not with the new situation that has arisen."
Gasping, O´Neill managed two words, "What.....situation.....?"
Kaia loosened her grip and stood up. Sam immediately went to help O´Neill up. He coughed a few times. His chest hurt.
"The Sailen attacked the Borderlands between the Gyffin and the Dragon lands. They took it. It is now Sailen territory and it is the only way to the Stardoor."
"Okey, so how do we get across it?"
"You are a stubborn man, Jack. You cannot cross it. I may not agree with the decision the council has made but I will not risk you and your team being captured by the Sailen, or found out by the humans. We must look to our own lands now. Please understand this. A great army is being assembled, it will meet at midday tomorrow, messengers have been sent. Every Niseos, Padeos, Gyffin, Sabaki and human able to bare arms must be ready for battle. The Sailen people cannot be allowed to keep the Borderlands, it is too close to Nok, to the Land of Light. They are risking our very existence."
O´Neill was still trying to make several parts of his body stop hurting. He looked at Kaia, it wasn´t that he didn´t believe her, it was that he could not believe the bad timing they had.....as usual. Catastrophes always seemed to wait for SG-1 to arrive on a planet to wreak havoc. Finally it was Daniel who spoke up.
"Okey then.....how can we help?"
"You cannot. Unfortunately, the humans cannot be allowed to discover you."
"Why?"
"Because, the man who leads them now will only see the oportunity to gain more power by having you in his hands. He will take you, promise you to return you home and never will. He is not wholly evil but.....he believes all the Chitkina people should serve under humans, he says that what we do is simply keep men ignorant and powerless, so that we may control everything."
"Okey.....so we pretend to be of your people."
"It is not that simple, Daniel. Humans may be mostly ignorant about our ways but they will still know what you are and if we are asked directly, we will not be able to lie. No, you must not be discovered by men."
"Is that why they´re not letting us go?"
"In part yes but, there is more. Some of the council believed that if you were to go to the humans of this world you might be persuaded to see things their way and you may be tempted to help them. I have learned much of your world by seeing it in you and by speaking with you, if you were to ally with the humans, then we would have no choice but to fight them or serve them and we.....serve no man."
"What if we promise we won´t help them?"
"Your intentions are not evil, I know this but, even if you did not help them, they would still use the fact that we hid you for three days as an excuse. Men are growing strong and that is no crime. It is the man that is making them strong that is the problem. He is not to be trusted."
"Well then, there has to be another way. We can´t go, we can´t help, we can´t stay here. There must be another way."
"I do not know," Kaia looked down at the ground. O´Neill knew she was keeping something from them, "there is always another way. That is what hope is. One of the members of the council agrees with you. You must go home. He wishes to meet with you."
"Is he gonna be able to get us home?"
"Possibly. He is wise even though he is young, he will at the very least, try to help."
"Okey then. Take us to....."
"Chilaviek. His name is Chilaviek."
SG-1 stepped out of the room they´d been put in as soon as they arrived. It was inside a large cave which had three main halls and several different rooms which had been made, according to Kaia, centuries before. Everything was cold and damp but no one seemed to mind. Torches lit the way but it was still very dark. SG-1 stumbled several times on the slippery and uneven floor but no one else did. Daniel suspected it was because, aside from their psychic abilities, the Padeos possesed something like hightened senses, they seemed to hear, smell and see better.
They had arrived a few hours after the sun had risen. They were all very tired. SG-1 had discovered that the group they were traveling with needed no more than four hours in a whole day and they had been unwilling to stop for the strangers. Iablaka was to blame for this, she had pushed so that they kept on going. During the night, it had started to rain, pour really and once they were soaked and freezing, it started to hail. They hadn´t stopped. Finally, numb, soaked, tired, hungry and in very foul moods, they had arrived at a village. The vrigda was received by several cheering people but the festivities didn´t last long for SG-1. They were quickly led into the cave, into a cold room and told to stay in there while Kaia went to speak to the council. They weren´t even given a change of clothes. It had been at least four or five more hours before Kaia came back. She had changed and she brought dry clothes for SG-1, identical to the ones they were already wearing. When they had finally changed, Kaia told them of the council´s decision. O´Neill was pissed.
Now, they were walking down a long hall, it seemed to lead deeper into the caves. Only Kaia went with them, Vozem has chosen to stay outside: Niseos did not like caves. Alma and Koshka had run off to the tree line, by themselves. Malinki had disappeared somewhere, presumably with Iablaka. They walked for several minutes, until they came to the end of the hall. A great door stood there, it was made of think, heavy wood. Kaia didn´t knock, she simply pushed it open. It creaked and cracked and let out a wonderful smell: food.
The place were they where was in fact something like the kitchen. There were dozens of shelves, all filled with food and containers. In the very center there was a roaring fire and several pots hanging over it. There was something like a natural rock formation which took the shape of a table, on it sat several glasses and barrels of liquid. Kaia served each of them some of that and offered them food. SG-1 took some of it, but hungry as they were, their first priority was to meet this Chilaviek.
"So where is he?"
"He will be here soon."
"So, he´s a member of this council, right?"
"Yes. He is one of the most important members of the council in fact. He is also a great master."
"Wait.....he´s a dragon?"
"Yes."
"We´re actually meeting a.....dragon?"
"Yes and no. He is one but he will not appear as one. He will take the form of a man, as he always does when he is in the company of men."
At this moment, Daniel started believing that maybe there weren´t actually any mythical creatures on this planet. Maybe they were just humans and the people around them believed they were Dragons or Loshati or whatever other kind they had on the planet. He had to admit he was a bit dissapointed.
"You are wrong, Daniel. They are not humans. They are our masters."
"Yes of course I simply.....on Earth we have several cultures which believe their leaders to be descendant from creatures such as dragons I only thought-"
"You think because we will not show you our true selves then we are humans?"
Everyone turned. There, at the door, stood a man. He was somewhere around 35, he had dark hair and the most piercing green eyes they´d ever seen. He walked gracefully and slowly. He smiled but not out of kindness, it was as if he understood some great joke and the rest of the room did not. Kaia immediately bowed down, palms up. Chilaviek smiled.
"Get up Kaia. You knew me for so long while I was so young and foolish, you need not be so formal now." Kaia rose, Chilaviek closed the distance between them and hugged her. "I was worried about you when I heard what happened at the Stardoor. You are reckless Kaia, luck must always be by your side."
Kaia smiled. O´Neill was in no mood.
"Sorry to interrupt this lovely reunion but....."
"Yes, you are Jack." Chilaviek locked eyes with Kaia, something happened, a light shone on both of them and suddenly, Chilaviek blinked and the light was gone. "I have learned much about you from Kaia. You are a good man but impatient. Patience is of great value to us and is of much use to most people."
"Right.....well patience isn´t really what I´m worried about right now."
"I understand. You wish to go home, correct?"
"Ah.....yeah."
"You cannot. The council has decided. Kaia already informed you of this."
"Yes she did but it´s unacceptable. I love what you´ve done with the place and all but, we can´t stay here."
"I agree. You do not belong here."
"So....."
"We must find another choice. You will not be allowed to leave this place on your own. You cannot fight with us in the war, you are humans. The choice is then simple."
"Well would ya mind explaining it to me anyway?"
"Very well. The only way you will go home is if you manage to cross the Borderlands, which is impossible." O´Neill was still waiting for an explanation, "The Borderlands must be reconquered. They will. Already a greater army than what the Sailen peole brought to these lands is assembled at this very village. Tomorrow, more will come. Even the humans have joined our army. If you manage to survive, then you may go home."
O´Neill thought this was a good plan. They were, after all, military officers (mostly) and even Daniel had seen his good share of war and death. But he couldn´t help it, he was missing something. Sam took the liberty of pointing out what it was.
"I thought you said we couldn´t figh because we´re humans."
There it was! The perfect hole which shot the plan appart. Chilaviek smiled and poured himself a glass of the liquid that had been served to them but that they had, so far, ignored.
"That is true. You cannot fight as humans."
It dawned on them. All of them. There were simply no words-
"Like hell! You are not turning us into anything."
Apparently, there were words.
After that, Chilaviek and O´Neill launched into a heated argument which ended in several refernces to Chilavek´s mother and several words which O´Neill couldn´t understand, but could guess what they meant. In the end, it was of no use. There were only three choices: to stay, to try to leave and be captured and locked up or, to allow Chilaviek and Kaia to help them.
"Okey say that, for the sake of the argument, we allow you to......you know. What happens when we go home?"
"I have thought about this Jack. I am much, much older than I look now and much wiser than any human I have yet to meet.....the effects will be either temporary or not as strong as in a normal Padeos because, you will not undergo the normal ritual."
"You mean they could be temporary or not? Hell no!"
"It is your only other choice! You will undergo the ritual, Kaia will perform it. Bolshoi´s spirit lives withing her but not completely. The blessing will not be as strong and so.....it may be either temporary or not as strong as normal."
"See, that´s the problem right there. You don´t understand what you´re doing and we´re not just going to sit by while we´re turned into guinea pigs for your little-"
"No you do not understand, human! It is the only way. Once you are of us, you may go to the field of battle. If you win honor then you may go freely, if you do not, then you will still be one of our people and the right to go to the Gyffin lands will not be denied to you! The Gyffins will decide wether they let you go through the Stardoor or not but, you will be much closer to getting home than by staying here."
O´Neill ran a hand through his hair. He turned to his team. They were all there, waiting for him to make the decision. It was his call but he still looked to them for their opinion.
"Carter?"
"Sir, I think it´s a longshot but.....it does seem to be the only way. I don´t quite feel up to taking up an entire people if we can do this."
"Yeah and besides.....even if the effects aren´t temporary or are lessened, how bad could it be? I mean, they say they can control the whole "mind reading" ability so we can learn plus, we could be immune to any Goa´uld implantation so.....it´s not that bad, is it? I mean, think about it, we do this and we could hold the key to a –natural defence- against the Goa´uld."
"Indeed. I do believe DanielJackson has a point. This could be most profitable to our cause."
O´Neill hated when his team thought like that. He liked his humanity, he wasn´t too sure about giving it up just to please a bunch of wise-ass people. He turned back to Chilaviek.
"Allright, what do we have to do."
"You have to do nothing or.....almost nothing. You must change your clothes, eat well and.....wash. You smell of human." Chilaviek walked away. Kaia smirked but O´Neill simply could not hold his tongue.
"Hey! You don´t exactly smell like roses either!"
Chilaviek stopped. Turned. Came back.
"I am not human."
He raised his arms and began to change. His clothes blenden into his skin, his eyes grew in size and changed shape. His teeth became pointy and stuck out beneath his lips. His back expanded, wings came from it. His legs hunched and his arms became shorter and thicker. With a great growl, claws substituted his fingernails and small horns grew on the side of his head. His hair turned into scales. He took a deep breath.
Chilaviek now stood in his true form, something he´d never done in front of any human. He was about four times the size of a horse, he had great wings which he streched out and then folded back, resting them on his side. His skin had turned to skales and they were a color between brown and green. He got down on the floor, resting his head on the cool stone. Never looking away from O´Neill who, for once, was truly without words.
The rest of SG-1 fared no better. Daniel managed to mutter an "Oh my....." but no one else made a sound. Teal´c was surprised, he had heard legends, stories about the evil beings which had tried to take the power of the Goa´uld once. He had said nothing to his teamates, but he suspected those legends had come from this place. After a few minutes Chilaviek took a deep breath. The air coming from his nostrils was foul, but not as much as the sent that reeked out when he spoke, which was soon after that.
"You must do as you are asked. Do not question it, it all has a reason for being. Kaia has agreed to take you into her house, you will be her and Bolshoi´s kin. The Jaffa cannot go through this but, Kaia has agreed to accept him as kin nontheless. It is her right as the only surviving member of the House of Bolshoi and as a leader of the Stewards of the Padeos. None of this will be challenged. The ritual must be perfomed today, in the afternoon. You will most likely sleep all through the night and when you wake, there will be pain. All the memories and knowledge of Kaia, Bolshoi and all the people around you will be made clear in your mind. All the knowledge of the Padeos will be there. You must search your minds and your hearts. Remember this. You must search for the way to control it or you will go mad. I will see you when you arrive at the encampment." He stood on all fours. He extended his wings and bowed his head, "May the Fortunes of Fate, the Wisdom of Knowledge and the Strength of Courage go with you."
Kaia bowed down as well, but no one noticed. The dragon now turned and walked out, opening both doors with little effort. The doors creaked shut behind him. O´Neill was shocked. Sam, Daniel and Teal´c had begun to wonder: what had they just gotten themselves into?
Kaia stood in front of them, took their glasses and set them back on the stone table. That shook them out of their shock a little. She went to the door and opened it.
"Come. You must begin to prepare for the ritual. We have little time."
SG-1 came in silence. Kaia only heard O´Neill mutter something under his breath before he walked into the hall.
"That was cool."
