Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate, but I do own the Dragconans. The language used was created by Miget X and I have her permission to use it.
Chapter two: The crystal city
Sam glared at the Dragconan woman, Talivana. Talivana was in the control room typing in the address code to her home planet. Teal'c stood next to Sam, not looking that comfortable in the woman's presence. Jack and Daniel were watching Talivana enter the address. The gate started to dial out and soon, the wormhole had established itself. Talivana stared at the Stargate and whispered,
"Come, it is time to go." They followed Talivana into the gate room. She looked at the team and walked up the ramp. Jack looked uncomfortable without a weapon, so the others had to hold weapons for him. Talivana hadn't seemed surprised when they asked if they could take weapons with them. She never seemed to be surprised. SG1 stood with the Dragconan Princess, who smiled at them and stepped through the gate. Jake and Daniel paused, and then they went through. Teal'c scowled and then stepped through. Sam looked back at General Hammond and then stepped through the gate. Sam felt the pause before reaching a destination and then suddenly felt warmth and could see light again. She gasped. The rest of SG1 stood next to her and Talivana was grinning. Before them lay the most beautiful city they had ever seen. The buildings were made of real crystal that refracted the light spectrum into the surrounding area. The buildings were also inlaid with pure gold so it seemed as if the buildings were crying a golden liquid. Nearly everywhere you looked there were ponds with crystal fountains and waterfalls that created rainbows. Flowering trees and flowers were to be seen everywhere as if they could to grow anywhere. Some of the buildings were tall, others small, but they were all different, no two ever the same. The paths were also inlaid with gold, silver and jewels of every colour you could think of. There was one word to describe it: Beautiful. Talivana stepped down and waved one hand at the city,
"Welcome to Dragcona, our home city, the jewel of our race. No race has set eyes on this beautiful city in thousands of years, consider yourself lucky."
Sam gapped. She, too, stepped down. A small delicate flower was on the floor in front of her. The tiny lavender flower had the sweetest of smells and made one forget their worries. Sam looked around and saw that there were bushes with that same flower. Talivana smiled.
"Would you like to go to the palace now?" They nodded. They started walking and they saw other Dragconans looking at them curiously, whispering to each other. One of them shouted out, raising their fist in a war stance and then bowing,
"Tabel dieft rohe!" Jack looked confused, but did not say anything. Other Dragconans started saying stuff to them and bowing to them as they passed. Talivana smiled and said,
"Don't worry, they are only praising you." Sam exchanged a look with the Colonel, but didn't say anything. A small girl ran up to them, holding one of the lavender flowers and, wordlessly, she handed it to Sam. She said,
"Rof fu." And then ran off again. Sam then looked about. That was the only child she could see. Strange. She caught up with Talivana and asked,
"I can only see one child, where are the others?" Talivana smiled sadly and replied,
"As we live for so long, we have few children. It is considered a great honour to have a child. Everyone cares for that child and teaches them in the proper ways, and they are given what they want until they learn to fend for themselves. We only have two or three a year. The one that has to have a child is the Queen, if not, the royal line would not continue." Sam stared at her and then dropped back to Daniel and told him what she had learned. He blinked and asked,
"Only two or three?" Sam nodded and then looked at the crowd of curious Dragconans. Most of the females were dressed as Talivana was, but in silver, not gold. The men wore trousers, but no top which revealed muscled torsos. They also had the same devices as Talivana had on her arm, but theirs was in silver, not gold. Talivana lead them through the city which was extremely impressive. One building stood taller then the others around it. It had a winding staircase on the outside leading up. Through the staircase was a massive waterfall that created several rainbows. This building was made by crystal of different colours of the spectrum and was stunning.
"What is that building?" Jack asked. Talivana looked at the building and replied,
"That is our library; it contains all the knowledge and history of our race, your race and many others, including the Ancients." Daniel looked at her sharply.
"History? Of the Ancients and us?"
"Yes, Daniel."
"Can I see it one time?"
"Of course."
Daniel looked at the building until they turned the corner and it was gone from sight. Sam looked around. Talivana stopped and looked back at Jack. She looked at his arm and said mildly,
"We'll have to deal with that before we get to the place. I'll get someone, a healer, to deal with it." She looked at the crowd and one Dragconan approached them, staring at Sam and her friends. Talivana cupped her hand under the chin of the smaller female and made the woman looked at her, she them said in a low voice,
"Oo alehre soaple." The woman nodded and scuttled off on her errand. She then turned to them and said,
"A healer should be along soon. He may seem unhealthy compared with the others here, but he has an extremely clever mind and he knows what he is doing." Jack twitched and laid his hand on his injured arm. A grumbling could be heard and a Male Dragconan approached them. He was fat and wore trousers like the other males and the silver arm devices, except he had different coloured crystals on them- mainly green. His head was shaven and his black eyes showed his intelligence. He stopped a few yards away and asked,
"Yi?" Talivana cleared her throat and said,
"Bra'kin, this is SG1. Their leader, Colonel Jack O'Neill, is injured and needs your expert help in healing. Will you help him?" the man looked at them, in astonishment.
"No wonder everyone's in such excitement, SG1, the great warriors, are here. Welcome." He said in awe, bowing low to them. He them stood straight, beaming at them.
"Follow me!" He boomed. Talivana waved them in front of her and reluctantly, they followed the man, Bra'kin. He led them to a small crystal building surrounded by a garden of flowers and what looked like cherry trees that were in bloom. There were little ponds with fish in along with waterfalls and crystal fountains. Bra'kin went to the entrance, there was no door, and went in. Sam and the others followed in. Sam gasped, the furniture was either made of crystal of from some natural material that was carved in the most beautiful shapes. Bra'kin waved them to the seats. They sat down on the surprisingly comfortable seats. He disappeared into another room and they could hear him grumbling in his language. He them returned later with a steaming mug and handed it to Jack saying,
"This medicine will help dull the pain in your arm."
Jack eyed it suspiciously and took a small sip. He swallowed it and grimaced.
"Why does it have to taste so horrible?" Bra'kin laughed heartily and replied,
"If it didn't taste good, then it won't work would it? Other healers seem to think that medicine should taste nice, but I think that if some ill person had nice medicine then they would stay sick just for the medicine, right?" He chuckled and added, "I like you Colonel; you're quite a character." He then took Jack's finished cup and disappeared into the other room again. Jack looked at Sam and shrugged. Bra'kin came in again and approached Jack. He un-slung Jack's injured arm and put the sleeve up to Jack's shoulder and gently held it out in his left hand. He studied the bare arm for a minute, clicking his tongue.
"This is indeed a bad break, Colonel. Can I call you Jack? Yes? Thankyou." He said absently. He raised his right hand over Jack's arm until it was an inch away. Bra'kin took a breath and the crystal on the palm glowed with a pure green light. He ran the glowing crystal up and down Jack's arm for about five minutes. He then sighed and removed his hands. Jack bent the arm and pressed the bone. Astonishment showed on his face.
"It's healed." he said softly. Bra'kin smiled and said,
"Yes, the whole bone is healed. I gave you that medicine so that your arm would not hurt during the procedure." Jack nodded and said,
"Thankyou."
"My pleasure, Jack."
Talivana stood up and said,
"Sorry we can't stay longer, but we need to get to the palace and the Queen."
Bra'kin nodded and only said as they walked out of the building,
"Come visit me sometime!"
They walked away from the healer's home with Jack flexing his arm and grinning. Sam rolled her eyes and Daniel laughed. Thankfully, Jack did not notice. Talivana, after walking a few minutes in silence stopped and pointed at the most impressive building yet. It was taller than the library and made of just as many colours with huge gardens and waterfalls coming off the building itself into huge lakes with a large amount of fish.
"This," Talivana said formally, "Is the Dragconan palace." She then walked forward and walked them through the garden. The fish in the lakes watched them as they passed with interest and then they would flick a tail and dive underneath the water to make room for other fish to see. Talivana led them to the entrance were two male guards stood attentively. A shadow passed over them and Sam looked up. A huge creature flew over them, but she didn't have a chance to look at it closely. They walked through the entrance and Talivana led them through a long corridor to a set of crystal door. They opened as Talivana neared and they walked through. They were in the throne room. Dragconans were standing about, watching them with large eyes. In front of them on black crystal thrones, sat the Queen and King. The Queen was dressed as Talivana was; in gold. The King was dressed as a normal male, but his clothes were gold as well. The Queen stood up, staring at SG1. She smiled and flung out her arms.
"Welcome, SG1. My home is humbled by your presence; you shall stay in the palace as you stay here. You may go out, but Talivana shall accompany you. You shall be given anything you desire as you are the royal quests. Just ask and we shall give." Then she sat down. The King turned to her and spoke briefly in Dragconan before summoning a servant. The servant came in and the king spoke to him and them he hurried off.
The king turned to SG1 and said,
"Sorry about that, I was telling the servant to inform the Aquarians you have arrived. You shall meet them in due course. Is there anything you wish?"
Jack shook his head, but Daniel said,
"I wish to see your Library." The king laughed.
"That Library is free for all to use, just help yourself. But be careful, some of those books are old." Daniel nodded his head. Talivana stepped forward and said,
"When I rescued SG1, I discovered that the rogue Anubis has become a Goa'uld Lord and has a lot of power. He will resist." The Queen looked at her daughter and replied, smiling.
"We shall deal with him, he is no match for us."
Talivana shrugged and motioned to SG1 and they followed her out of the crystal thrown room. And out of the palace. She turned to them and asked,
"Would you like to see more of the city, or do you wish to rest?"
Daniel scratched his neck and replied,
"Well, I want to see more of the city." The others nodded, this city was amazing. Talivana smiled and turned. She walked into the city with them trailing behind. The passing Dragconans all greeted them and bowed. Talivana would smile back at them and say something in her strange language.
She showed them all kinds of wonders about the city and she described it to them. At one point, the little girl who had given Sam the flower joined them and watched them with wide eyes. They entered a building that was where their scrolls were made and entered a long corridor.
"Interesting place." Observed Sam. Her voice echoed about. Jack chuckled and he said.
"There's an echo!" He them yelped as the little girl poked him.
"What you do that for!" he demanded.
"Eko" She said, poking him again.
"E-C-H-O. Echo." Jack explained. The girl stared at him, her eyes wide and innocent.
"Fu ya ot eko fu." She said innocently. Talivana laughed. Jack glared at the woman. She stopped laughing and said.
"You told her to poke you, that's what she said. 'Echo' sounds similar to the word we use as 'poke' so she thought you said for her to poke you."
Jack glared at her and continued walking. The little girl laughed and ran to catch up with him. She walked beside him repeating the word 'Eko'.
When the golden sun had settled, Talivana lead them back to the palace. They attended the feast held in their honour and was then escorted to their rooms. They were lavish, everything was made of crystal, gold and silver. Even the beds were made of gold.
"Opulent." Daniel said. They all settled down and talked about the crystal city and it's occupants. Sam stood by the window and looked out at all the crystal buildings and the forest that surrounded the strange city. She looked at the mountains in the far north and saw that they shimmered slightly in the glow of the planets two moons. Sam frowned slightly and then turned to the others. After a brief consultation, they went to bed to sleep, and they hoped that there were no more surprises for them the next morning.
So, what do you think? Like it? R&R please!