Chapter Fourteen (Present Day, SGC)
Alana sat in Teal'c's quarters a few hours after the request for the crystals was sent. Teal'c was teaching her how to meditate to possibly relieve some of her violent outbursts.
"Imagine the center of your mind..." Alana imagined the epicenter of her thoughts as a small black marble.
"...now, remove that center so that it is before you..." The skin around her eyes clenched shut as she drew the marble out before her eyes.
"...imagine all of the energies in your body flowing out, being cleansed, and flowing back in." Small streams of orange leapt out of her extremities and flowed back in as cool blue shimmers. That was how she imagined it at least. She opened her eyes and looked enigmatically ahead of herself.
"Is there something the matter?" Teal'c asked. The young woman sitting before him had not blinked. She had the solemnity of a first prime.
"No, there is nothing wrong. However, this meditation has soothed my instincts." Alterran phrasing was similar to that of Jaffa. In that fact, the explanations were technical and often used more descriptive words for a situation.
"My mood is lightened in the knowledge that you feel that way."
"Do you perform this type of meditation every day?"
"It was formerly a part of a daily ritual. However, due to the fact that I no longer carry a symbiote, it is no longer necessary."
Alana thought back to the meditation. She found something she couldn't explain. While in the relaxed state she saw herself walking through an Alterran laboratory. The door had a carving on it that said "Atlantis". A data terminal was turned on and the screen was streaming with characters. A voice sounded behind her and said
Accept the gift of your intelligence, child. Accept your calling. She turned around in the dream-like state and saw a woman that looked very much like herself. The woman disappeared when Alana opened her mouth to say something, and that was when she had snapped awake.
The young woman seemed to be nice enough. But there was something about her eyes, the color or the natural sparkle to them gave Teal'c a rather disconcerted feeling. That in it self disconcerted Teal'c, because of the simple fact that very few things could rattle him.
Alana, legs still crossed, stood up and then unhooked her ankles. She bowed slightly and then turned on her heel. Her quiet formal manner impressed Teal'c and the next day he gave her one of his prized candles as a token of cooperation between Alana and the SGC. The small candle was placed in her bag and carried around all the time.
She was never separate from the canvas sack.