After leaving Daniel's office, Danei decided to explore more of the strange place she had been brought to. Dr. Frasier said that she was allowed to wander wherever she liked (Daniel translated of course) as long as it wasn't any place behind any locked doors, for they would have been locked for a reason.
She found herself down a dimly lit hallway with light every few feet. Though the walls were gray and the place seemed boring and bleak, every corner was a new adventure for her, being as she was someone who hadn't explored anything for many a year. She smiled to herself and she ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the wall as she walked. She came to a corner and peered around, to find herself in a hallway very different from any other. The floor and walls were constructed of tile and there was a strong bitter smell in the air. Down the end of the hall was another corner and the reflection of light off water dancing on the walls and floor.
She started to walk down the hall, her neck craned out in front of her, still running her fingers against the wall. She heard a splash come from the opening down near the end, and stopped walking.
Water? She thought.
She kept walking, every now and then looking behind her in case wherever she was going was one of the places she was not supposed to be. She came out to the end of the hall and looked into a large blue room with a hole in the floor filled with water. She saw someone swimming in it as well. She had short blonde hair and was wearing a black bathing suit.
Sam.
She walked into the room, her bare feet making no noise on the tile floor, every now and then stepping in a small puddle of water. She walked to the edge of the hole and bent down, running her fingers over the surface of the water. It was very warm, and she smiled a little. Below her, Sam started to rise up from beneath the water.
"Oh!" she said, wiping the water out of her eyes, after she surfaced. "You scared me!"
Danei looked at Sam for a moment, and then sat cross-legged at the edge of the hole.
"Main es taes?" she asked.
Sam shrugged. She was disappointed that she couldn't understand her. "I-I don't…"
Danei gestured around as if to question "what is this?"
"Oh," Sam said, now realizing what she had said. "It's called a Pool."
"Pool," Danei replied after a short pause. She dipped her hand into the water and lifted some up, letting it fall back into the pool. "Minel," she said.
"Minel," Sam replied, letting the word soak it. It was a beautiful language and she envied Daniel for being able to speak it and understand it. "Water," she told Danei.
"Water," she said after a pause, gazing into the clear-blue water once more.
Sam thought for a moment, after noticing the look in her eyes. Well, I do have a spare…
"Do you want to come in?" Sam asked, knowing very well that Danei couldn't understand her, but gesturing just enough so that she might understand her meaning.
Danei looked at her warily. "E honn d'nom…"
Sam smiled to herself, and climbed out of the pool, standing up beside Danei. "C'mon," she said, taking Danei's hand and helping her up. She started to guide Danei back out of the large room and down the tile hallway, only to bring her down another tile hallway directly across from the other.
She brought Danei into a small room with many small metal doors and small benches in front of them. She opened one of the doors, and started rummaging through a red bag. She pulled out two pieces of red clothing.
"It's called a bathing suit. It's not like I ever wore it, my dad bought it for me and it's not really my style," she said, handing it to Danei and guiding her to a small stall with a curtain.
Danei closed the curtain, and without surprising difficulty, she managed to remove her black gown and put on the small red bathing suit, only stopping for a moment to ask Sam to help tie the back of the top piece. It was a half size too big, but it looked okay all the same.
"C'mon," Sam said, and brought Danei back to the pool. She gestured for her to go in, but Danei didn't seem up to it. But then she got an idea. She walked back to the far wall, and faced the pool. "God, I feel like a child again…"
Then, Sam ran over to the pool and jumped in, splashing Danei a little bit. She popped her head back out of the water to see Danei giggling. Sam laughed too.
"Try it!" she said, and beckoned Danei to join her.
For a split second before Danei decided to jump in, Sam took notice of the particular irony of the scene that played before her. Danei's face resembled that of a 16-year-old, but also, at the same time, it looked as if it had seen as many years as an Ancient or longer. And the length of her black hair also added to that particular feature and seeing someone that mysterious in a slightly-too-big red bathing suit made her laugh silently.
Danei smiled and ran into the pool, scrunching up her eyes and nose before she hit the water, sending waves of it onto the tile floor. After coming back up to the surface she was overcome with laughter. Sam started laughing too.
Then, out of nowhere, Danei splashed Sam. "Why, you…" she said, and splashed her back and after a few minutes they were both engaged in a water fight, Danei speaking long sentences in her language making Sam even more jealous of Daniel, wondering what kinds of funny childish taunts she was throwing at her.
Sam started to tickle Danei, and she quickly evaded her grasp, climbing out of the pool, sprawled out of the tile floor, seemingly exhausted. Laughter would not give either of them a day's rest.
"Hey," they both heard a voice say. They looked over to the pool entrance and saw Jack watching them.
"Aeilo, Jack," Danei laughed, squeezing some of the water out of her hair.
"Hi," he said. "Carter?" he asked, giving her his What-the hell-are-you-doing? look.
"Sorry, sir, she looked bored," Sam laughed.
Jack smiled. "Yeah, well, get her outta that and dry her off. Janet wants her."
"What for?" Sam asked.
"Dunno. Something about hypnosis and how to get her memory back…" he said, his last words echoing down the hall as he left.
"Yes, sir," Carter replied as Danei and her shared another fit of laughter.