Ivy was rather uncomfortable. Sam, however did not care. It was clearly the first time the girl had been on a proper "girl's only" shopping trip for essentials. Janet had let her know that Ivy was apparently a bit...oblivious...on certain things that most girls generally learned from their mothers.
She didn't need the sex talk, thank god for small mercies, but the little things that most women generally taught their daughters once they hit puberty were a must. Like how to tell when it was time to update the wardrobe...especially in the underwear department.
Since Sam was utterly fascinated with the possibility of magic, and since Ivy became a tad more guarded around medical personnel, it was an arrangement that worked out for everyone.
Sam was also taking the opportunity to update Ivy's wardrobe. If she was going to be trained to act as Earth's official ambassador she would need to dress the part. They could work on adjusting the way she held herself later.
Jack had told Sam about how few outfits he'd seen Ivy actually wear. She needed the nudge from someone she trusted.
In the SGC...
Hammond had no complaints about Ivy's work ethic. While her status as the official SGC ambassador was in name only, it would only take one incident to make it serious. When that did, things would move and move fast, and it would take a considerable amount of negotiating and showing Ivy was taking this duty seriously would help her case a lot.
He knew none of the higher ups were taking the idea seriously. Ivy was a minor by their laws, the program was too new, and far too few were aware of the hornet's nest they had already stirred with the System Lords.
Ivy was a paranoid kid, but with the right training and guidance it was a more of a healthy paranoia rather than a baseless one. Most of the soldiers enjoyed having her around and considered her one of them.
One of the things she had done, without anyone suggesting it first, was to approach Teal'c to learn more about the culture and their language. Considering the Jaffa spoke a dialect of ancient Egyptian that Daniel was familiar with, he made a point to sit in on those lessons to help translate the phrases and explain their meaning.
As a side effect Daniel would switch the Norse he was already teaching her with the Egyptian that the System Lords favored.
With her nightmares, Teal'c had also taken to teaching Ivy about the meditation style his people favored as well as staff fighting.
This was it, the first real mission she would be taking off world. Ivy had been drilled extensively by Jack and many in the SGC to insure she didn't do anything stupid.
It was mostly to get her used to traveling through it, and Hammond had deemed her 'acceptable' enough to participate with what should be a simple recon mission since she did have high grades with handling magical creatures, and they were attempting to investigate one.
Bruni was in a special pocket, since he could be very useful as a distraction if needed. Jack heavily attested to this, as his fire trick was very distracting when you weren't expecting this.
The fact they were under pressure to bring back alien technology was not helping.
"That...was extremely disorienting," said Ivy after a moment.
"You get used to it," said Jack. "At least you didn't throw up. How's the Brune-miester doing?"
Said lizard poked his head out when he heard his name and stuck out his tongue at Jack. Jack snorted.
"So this creature can render itself invisible?" said Ivy.
"It could be a natural disillusionment charm," said Daniel. Since being outed, he didn't try overly hard to hide his status as a half-blood. It was something of a relief, actually.
"Or it could be the alien equivalent of a demi-guise," said Ivy. "In any case I'd rather like to meet it."
"Just remember...stay with either me or Teal'c, and don't do anything unless we tell you to unless the situation calls for it," said Jack.
"Yes, sir," she said. That had been drilled into her extensively.
As they went into the woodlands, Ivy slowly began to tense. Something was wrong, she could feel it. There was someone watching them.
They had only been there an hour and a half when it happened. The System lord Teal'c had served and who had kidnapped Daniel's wife appeared with an entire team of men with him.
Ivy didn't hesitate. The second she saw Daniel attack Apophis, she ducked behind a tree that hid her slim frame, cast a near-silent disillusionment charm, and pulled out her Firebolt and went to the sky.
Very rarely did anyone look up, especially if there wasn't anything to tell them something was there.
By the time she was safely above, wand in hand, she saw Teal'c disappear before Apophis could kill him.
Thanks to the tracking charms on the team, she was able to follow them.
Rather than assume the worst, she waited to see what was going on. When her charm alerted her that the team was being treated, she cautiously landed and after a brief scan of the surroundings, removed the charm that kept her hidden.
They were not surprised she was there. She kept her hands up in a well known gesture showing she was not planning to attack unprovoked.
One of the older females looked approving at the gesture.
"Considering the fact that I highly doubt any creature would bother to hide the gate so quickly after our arrival, I can only assume you are the ones responsible," said Ivy. "Thank you for treating them."
One of the people there, the older female approached but did not come too close.
"You are very welcome young one. You do not seem like your companions."
"They are explorers. I was simply brought along to acclimate myself to gate travel and to share my limited expertise with the creatures that are able to disappear. It doesn't help two of my companions have a rather valid reason to be upset with the leader of that particular group."
Namely the fact he had taken Daniel's wife and was using Teal'c people as brainwashed slaves.
"Your companions will be well...however we will not allow them to keep their weapons," said the woman.
"That is acceptable, they brought that on themselves," said Ivy. She had zero issues with the no weapons rule. "My name is Ivy, what's yours?"
"I am Lya."
"What are your people called?" asked Ivy, making polite conversation. Mostly because she was honestly curious.
Lya smiled.
"We are called the Nox, young one."
While Ivy waited for the others to wake, she continued talking pleasantly with Lya about the Nox, their beliefs and honest curiosity about their culture. Lya seemed openly pleased by her curiosity and her willingness to listen.
A child's curiosity, she explained patiently, should be fostered and nurtured.
Jack was among the first to wake, and he was not happy. Ivy politely broke off her conversation with Lya and went to check on him.
"What happened?"
"You had your arses handed to you because Daniel jumped the gun, and nearly got the team killed," she said flatly. "The natives were not pleased by the fact you were so quick to break out weapons against someone who didn't attack first, so they've been confiscated without prejudice."
Jack blinked, and looked at her.
"Say what now?"
"First off, the people of this world are pacifists and didn't appreciate the fact that we were hostile to the 'other' visitors," clarified Ivy. "They are the ones responsible for the creature being hidden, not the other way around. They also hid the gate because sometimes visitors act foolishly."
Jack sensed this was important.
"How did you escape?"
"Well for one thing, when Daniel started attacking I hid and took to the sky rather than fight," deadpanned Ivy. "I'm not so foolish as to attack someone with an unknown technology on them unless I know something of what I'll be dealing with first. Luckily those trackers I placed on you allowed me to find you with time to spare. The Nox were kind enough to save you even though the team behaved so badly on their planet."
She made sure to say that loud enough for Daniel to hear, and he looked suitably chastised.
Ivy went to check on Teal'c, who was trying to convince the other Jaffa that Apophis was a false god.
"Teal'c, it's pointless," she said gently. "No matter what you say, he is not ready to listen."
Teal'c looked disappointed.
Unnoticed, Lya watched the whole thing with approval.
Ivy went to Lya, who she could tell was something of a leader among the Nox.
"With your permission, I would like to cast a minor trick on this particular young one."
"May I ask why?" asked Lya.
"While it would be acceptable for him to know he encountered our group, I sincerely doubt you or your people would want the headache of his leader coming back to challenge you. I'm afraid this particular group of beings does not suffer potential rivals, and our presence will have agitated them," explained Ivy politely. "At most I would make him think he encountered us, but the conflict allowed the creature to disappear and we managed to slip away in the process."
Lya considered this, and nodded briefly. Ivy carefully used the spell, the dropped the young Jaffa far enough away from the Nox that he would not remember them, and went back to her friends.
Daniel wasn't happy, Jack was a bit annoyed at the lost weapons, but more importantly Ivy had just proven her worth as a potential ambassador for their planet by the fact she had an invitation by the clearly advanced beings to come and learn more about their people and their ways by Lya. Apparently she had impressed them with her polite manners and willingness to learn from them without making demands.
Well, that and they were rather curious about her magic.
Back on Earth...
"So let me get this straight... you went on a mission to find an animal that can hide itself, only to encounter Apophis and potential allies?" said Hammond.
Daniel looked a tad embarrassed about the reminder.
"Apparently Ivy impressed them to the point they were at least willing to let her return to learn about them."
"And what are these people called?" asked Hammond.
"They call themselves the Nox. They're firmly pacifists from what I can tell and want nothing to do with our problem with the system lords...but considering they were able to heal SG-1 after receiving mortal wounds so quickly we might be able to learn medicinal and possibly shielding technology with them later if we do things right," said Ivy. "Not every war is won with bullets...sometimes the right medicine can make all the difference."
Hammond looked satisfied by that response.
"Entirely too true," he agreed. "I expect mission reports by the end of the day...have one of the team help you with yours."
"Yes sir," said Ivy.
"And Ivy, you made the right move hiding when you did. You don't have nearly as much training in a fire fight like that and you haven't had any training in handling a fire arm. You behaved exactly as you should have, and you earned us a potential ally in the process."
Ivy ducked her head, embarrassed but happy. It was nice to be appreciated. Jack ruffled her hair, which didn't hurt either.
After the way she handled the Nox, Ivy's training as diplomat was kicked up a notch. Her tutors left nothing but glowing reviews as she soaked up everything they had to teach her like a sponge.
Hammond was rather glad of this, because while the first time was an accident, he wanted the next one to be deliberate.
One of the people Ivy started having regular contact with was the poor fellow who acted as the bridge between MACUSA and the mundane government. If things didn't work out with the SGC, she would likely have a job in his department.
Ivy was rather surprised how much she enjoyed the work. Even better, enough of the red tape had been cleared that professional ward masters were checking over the compound to see what would be needed to add some security wards.
Since it was manned mostly by the no-maj, they couldn't put down some of the heavy-duty ones... however Hammond would have been just as happy with some alert wards and protections against unwanted intrusions from magicals, which were a lot easier to do.
The thing that was really throwing things off was the Stargate. The ward masters were enjoying the challenge, even if they had to sign a magical NDA before they were allowed near the thing.