Hovering over him as she was, he knew exactly when her eyes unfocused and she slipped into a trance. He gripped her arms to support her, but remained still for the few seconds she was out of it.

She blinked at him, bringing him back into focus. He pulled himself into a sitting position and brushed the fine curls from her eyes. "Are you all right?" His softly spoken words brought her attention back to him.

"Yes. I will be fine in a few minutes." She pulled away from him and left the lean-to.

"Ashling, what happened?" Daniel followed her into the cold, foggy morning.

"I have the gift. I saw a vision from the future."

Daniel came up behind her, turned her around and pulled her into a hug. She leaned into his comforting embrace and received his protection briefly, welcoming his strength and warmth. She took a deep breath, and stepped away from him. "It was… disturbing."

He flashed a quick reassuring grin at her. "I gathered that. Do your visions always come true?"

"Yes, and no. I can frequently warn people and I have prevented many accidents, but sometimes I can't change things. I fear this was one of those visions." She closed her eyes fleetingly and when she opened them, Daniel no longer saw fear in the grey depths, just determination.

"We must leave quickly. My brother's men will be here very soon now that the sun is up."

There was very little to pack up and it only took a few minutes. Daniel wrote a note and taped it to the broken DHD in case someone came through the gate looking for him.

Ashling led them into the forest and headed for a small rippling stream where, Daniel assumed, they might be able to loose the mercenaries her brother had sent after her. He maintained silence during their trek, having finally learned from all those years with Jack that there is a good reason to be quiet while hiding from the enemy.

She stopped after a couple of hours and motioned for him to sit. "How is your arm feeling?"

"It's fine." Daniel opened his canteen and took a long drink of water. He offered her some, since she wasn't carrying any drinking water with her. She accepted with a nod of thanks and returned it to him after several short sips.

"Where are we headed?"

"To the village of my parents' family. They will accept me there and not turn me over to my brother."

"Won't your brother look for you among relatives?" Daniel batted at a gnat hovering around his face.

"He wouldn't dare harm family. Our father would disown him immediately."

"Wait. He's trying to kill you! Why won't your father interfere and stop him?"

She stood up and took a step away from Daniel, her back to him. "Iollan has fooled many people over the years. He has a great sense of humor and a way of looking you directly in the eye that makes most people believe him, even when he's lying. He never loses his temper around people, but I've seen him destroy every object in a room when he doesn't get his way. Our father dotes on him. He is the only boy out of seven children and I do believe that Father was greatly disappointed when his firstborn child was a female, me."

"Iollan. Doesn't that mean 'worships another god'? That seems a very appropriate name for him since he brought the Prior to your planet."

"Yes, you are correct. He wants to change the ways of our people. We have existed in Aeire for almost two thousand years and have prospered, but Iollan wants to bring in strange men and strange ways to Aeire. I am not against progress, but it must come from within our people, not be forced upon us by outsiders." She turned abruptly back to Daniel, twisting a curl hanging by her temple between the fingers of her left hand.

"What does your father think about the Prior?" Daniel watched as she continued to play with her hair and chew on her lower lip before responding to his question.

"My father does not trust this stranger, but because my brother brought him into our home, he feels obligated to extend every courtesy to the man. He will not easily evict the Prior." She crossed one arm over her waist and rested the other elbow on it, fingers still twirling the loose hair. Daniel became fascinated with the movement of her graceful fingers in her hair. He could almost feel the texture of the silken hair between his own fingers as she stood in front of him.

She looked down and started when she noticed Daniel. "I think I should take a look at your arm before we continue."

"It's fine. You can check it tonight." Daniel stood, ready to continue their hike. "You know, I just realized that I haven't eaten since morning yesterday and I know you didn't eat dinner last night, nor breakfast this morning. We really should find something to eat." He looked around at the plants surrounding them and wondered what was safe to eat. "You should be able to find us something edible in this forest."

"If we keep walking, we'll be at my family's village by noon today and then we can have a true feast."

She turned and continued to lead Daniel through the forest.

XXXXXXXXXX

They reached the village just as the sun reached its highest point in the heavens. She led them through the tiny village, just a collection of a dozen huts, to a large stone hut with a thatched roof. She rapped several times on the wood-plank door, and then entered, ducking her head to avoid the low lintel.

"Aintin Neala? Uncail Tomas? Anyone home?" Ashling's quick scan of the room revealed someone kneeling by the stone hearth, stirring the black iron kettle hanging over the open fire. The figure rose slowly, wiping long fingered hands on her apron and turned around.

"Ashing? Come in, come in, neacht! You have come just in time for the noon meal. And who is this strapping young man you've brought with you? A suitor, perhaps?" She strode across the room and enveloped Ashling in a hug that resulted in all but total disappearance of the young woman. "It has been far too long since you have visited. Come, sit."

Ashling allowed herself and Daniel to be led to the only two chairs in the room. "Aintin Neala, this is Daniel Jackson. He claims to be a traveler from another world. I found him near the cloch ciorcal."

Neala turned a thoughtful gaze upon Daniel. He squirmed briefly in the wooden chair, then stood, bowed his head slightly, and offered his hand. "I am Daniel Jackson from the planet Earth. I am a peaceful explorer who has become separated from my companions. Thank you for your hospitality and generosity."

Neala scrubbed her hand off in her apron again and took Daniel's in a firm grip. She continued to hold onto his hand and seemed to bore into his thoughts and feelings with her eyes. She finally released his hand and turned to her niece. "There is much more to this man than it seems. Ashling, he is the one."

Ashling's mouth dropped open as she focus on her aunt's grey eyes. "He cannot be, Aintin, he came through the cloch ciorcal. Only evil has ever come through in the past."

Neala only nodded and lifted an eyebrow. "When have you ever known me to be wrong in matters that are of such importance?"

"Never, Aintin. That is what scares me." Ashling turned her eyes back to Daniel, who was still standing. His expression showed that he understood the words, but not the meaning of what had passed between the two women. He looked back to Ashling and lifted an eyebrow in question, challenging her to explain.

Neala gave Ashling a reassuring pat on the shoulder and then left the hut to call the rest of the family in for the noon meal. Ashling sighed and gestured for Daniel to sit back down.

"In my family, the royal family, it is the tradition for the eldest sister of the father, in this case my Aintin Neala, to pick the future spouse of the eldest daughter, me. She has chosen you." Ashling lowered her eyes to her hands, which were busy pick at invisible lint on her leggings.

"I don't know what to say. Ashling, surely you know that I will not be staying here in Aeire. As soon as my friends find a way, I'll be leaving Aeire and going back to my home." Daniel reached over and laid his left hand over her's, quieting her nervous movements.

"Daniel, we know nothing of each other, but in my world that is often the way it is with royal marriages. My parents did not see each other until the marriage ceremony, but they had a happy marriage until my mother died in childbirth fifteen years ago. My father misses her to this day. It is possible for two people to become comfortable with each other."

(He waited in a tent and the woman was pushed through the opening flap. He tried to push her back out. He saw the panicked look in her eyes and understood that it would not go well for her if he were to refuse her as a gift. He put his arm around her, smiling and nodding; he let her father know that he was satisfied with the gift.)

"She…Sha're… was a gift to you. You did not know your wife until she was presented to you as a gift by her father." Ashling's voice wavered as she saw the shadows pass across his face. He withdrew his hand from hers, pulled his glasses off and pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes in an effort to stop the torrent of memories.

Ashling slid off her chair and knelt next to Daniel, placing her hands on his knees, offering her support. Daniel stood quickly, put his glasses back on and began pacing in the limited open area of the room.

"She… How, um, how did you know about her? I never told you about Sha're. I've only spoken about her with my closest friends."

Ashling grasped the arms of the chair to steady herself as she knelt beside him. "When I first was watching you build the shelter…when you finished…you were sitting so still…I had a vision of you with her. Of you helping her give birth to a child that was not yours…of her violent death and you lying beside her. Daniel, my visions not only allow me to see what happened, but how you felt. I know how much you loved her because I felt it myself."

He stood and turned his back to her, sucking in deep, shaky breaths.

"Daniel, I am sorry if I have intruded in your personal life. I do not choose my visions. I cannot control them. They come, or they do not." She stood and moved behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You are the only person outside my family I have ever had a vision of. That is what surprised me so much in the tree. I almost fell out."

He gave a quick snort of a laugh as he remembered his first sight of her perched on the tree branch. He turned to face her, capturing her hand between his two. "It's okay. It's okay. I just…I never… Well, I just don't share my feelings with people very well. There are only a few people I know well enough to trust like that. It's hard for me to allow that kind of… that kind of intimacy."

Neala entered the hut, followed by a pack of enthusiastic children and one tall, dark man who gave Ashling a huge smile.

"Ashing, my neacht! You must never stay away so long again." He glanced over at Daniel, nodded briefly at him, and turned back to Ashling. "We must talk. After the meal. You, me, Neala and Daniel."

Aintin aunt

Uncail uncle

Nia nephew

Neacht niece

Tomas means twin (Irish form of Thomas)

Neala means female champion (female form of Neil)