DISCLAIMER – Stargate: Atlantis belongs to MGM/UA and associated companies, not to me. I am writing this for fun not money.
RATING – This story is rated T
SPOILERS – None that I'm aware of.
A/N – Well, here's a really long chapter for those of you who like long chapters. I've got a few Czech words in this chapter too. Translations are at the end.
Any narrative blocks written in present tense and italicized are flashback scenes.
I'm about to go all McCoy-esque on you and state for the record that I'm a lawyer not a doctor, and therefore know nothing about medicine. If my version of Carson Beckett sounds like he doesn't know exactly what he's talking about, blame it on me! No other notes, really. Thanks to everyone who replied to the last chapter. You guys are awesome!
Still beta-less.
The Song Of Silent Rivers
7. The River Spirit In Atlantis
The watcher was terrified.
For a while, she had been following the strange man in the white garment who was taking away the one the watcher had rescued. She had intended to go with them until they reached their final destination, but she had been overcome by curiosity on the way. So much about this place was unusual and new to her, and she wanted to look at everything. Once, she'd stopped to read some of the Ancestors' writing on the wall. When she looked up again, the two strangers had disappeared around a corner and out of her field of view. She'd tried to get her bearings after that, and had put her hand on the wall.
When the wall turned out to be a door and began to slide open, the watcher became so startled that she momentarily forgot to concentrate on remaining concealed. It was in that brief time that the man appeared. He'd taken one look at her, and lunged to grab her. Another man appeared and touched a device on his ear. Soon, the large room began to fill with people.
The man who'd captured the watcher was much stronger than she. He held her tightly and no matter how she struggled, she could not escape. This, she thought grimly, might be the place where she died. She cursed her own curious nature and wished she had trusted her instinct to stay on her own world. She doubted even the spirit of her father and all the Ancestors could protect her now.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Elizabeth got to the 'jumper bay, one of the most bizarre sights she'd ever seen met her eyes. There were at least a dozen soldiers in the room, including Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne. She noticed a few of the Marines had their weapons out. The subject of all this commotion was being held tight in the arms of a burly Marine with a bristling auburn crew cut and a determined expression.
"Colonel Sheppard! Major Lorne! What's going on?" Elizabeth demanded.
"We've apprehended the intruder, ma'am," Lorne said, as he came to attention. "What would you like us to do with her?"
Major Lorne's 'intruder' was a young woman with unruly light brown hair and large brown eyes. Elizabeth guessed the woman couldn't possibly be any older than nineteen or twenty. She was clothed in a ragged dress and a belt that held a knife and a small bag, but she wasn't wearing any shoes. The young woman seemed wild, and she reminded Elizabeth vaguely of Ronon Dex. The glaring difference between the girl and Ronon, other than the obvious discrepancy of gender and size, was that the girl looked positively frightened to death, an emotion Elizabeth suspected was completely foreign to Ronon. The girl was trying as hard as she could to get free of the grip Master Sergeant O'Connor had on her. Elizabeth couldn't help staring.
"Who is she?" Elizabeth asked.
"Unknown, ma'am," said Lorne. "She's not Athosian, and we figure the only way she could've gotten into the city is through the Stargate."
"Nobody saw her come through the Stargate," Elizabeth pointed out. "Are you saying she came from M4X-382?"
"She couldn't have," John interjected. "That planet is supposed to be uninhabited, and we didn't see any recent signs of civilization. I mean, I know we were in a bit of a hurry to get back here, but I'm pretty sure we would've noticed her coming through the 'Gate with us. Anyway, we would have picked up something on the life signs detector if she'd been on the planet. Right?"
Elizabeth approached the woman. She said, "Who are you? Can you tell us how you got here?"
The woman glared at Elizabeth and said nothing.
"She's not going to tell you, Elizabeth," John said. "Lorne and I already asked."
"She might feel more inclined to talk, later," Elizabeth said. "Sergeant O'Connor, I want you and Major Lorne to take our…guest to some suitable quarters, and keep a close eye on her."
"Understood," Lorne said. He glanced at O'Connor. "Okay, Ryan. You heard the lady."
"Yes, sir," said O'Connor. He tried to manoeuvre the girl into a position where he could walk and still keep her secured. The girl wriggled in his grasp. She clawed at him, and when he tried to adjust his hold on her, she sunk her teeth into the flesh of his forearm.
O'Connor yelped and immediately let go. Before anyone could react, the girl slipped past Elizabeth and Colonel Sheppard, and sprinted out of the 'jumper bay.
"Find her," Elizabeth commanded the soldiers.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Concealed.
The watcher crouched in a corner, and stroked the Ancient writing on her necklace. She had managed to get away from the man who'd grabbed her, and afterwards she had run as fast as she could. All the time she ran, she thought only of concealing herself. By the time she stopped, she realized she hadn't been paying enough attention to her surroundings. Now, she was completely lost.
She hadn't wanted to weep since she'd been a very young child, but she felt like weeping now. These strangers wanted to hurt her. She was sure they wanted to make her their prisoner. She did not want to be a prisoner, because she knew prisoners were tortured and eaten. The death of a prisoner was slow and painful. The watcher wanted to live.
She had to find the man she had saved from the river. He would help her. If he was honourable, he would have no choice. She had preserved his life, and he owed her no less than to preserve hers. She hated the idea of having to bargain with him this way, but what choice did she have?
Slowly, she got to her feet. Her legs and back felt stiff from being curled into the corner. The floors and walls of this place were cold and hard, not warm and comfortable like the grasses and trees of her world. She had no idea how long she'd been running and hiding, but it felt like an eternity to her. She could not see the sky, and she did not know if it was day or night. She rubbed at an ache in her leg and tried to decide in which direction she should go. Making up her mind at last, she began walking.
She peeked through dozens of doorways before she finally saw the man from the river. He was in an odd, white room, and he was in bed. At least, the watcher thought it was a bed. It was nothing like the cot she remembered from her own childhood, but there was a pillow beneath the man's head and a blanket over his body. The beds were peculiar on this world, she decided, just like everything else. Cautiously, the watcher entered the room and approached the bed. The man was asleep. She observed the steady rise and fall of his chest.
Some impulse made her want to touch him, and she reached out with tentative fingers to stroke his cheek just as she had done beside the river on her world. In his sleep, the man turned his face toward the caress. The watcher's heart beat faster when she saw the man's lips part slightly, but he only smiled and went on sleeping. Not knowing what possessed her to do so, the watcher climbed onto the bed beside the man. She lay next to him and rested her head on his chest.
Reassured by the beating of his heart, she too allowed herself to drift into the place of dreams.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Radek is glad to be back in Prague. He's glad to be away from the country and his grandmother's house and his horrible Uncle Viktor. School starts in another week, and Radek is happy about that, too. He likes school. His mother teases him and says he isn't the same as other nine-year-old boys, most of whom would do anything to get out of going to school. Mother's teasing is good-natured, though. Radek knows she's pleased that he likes school. He always tells her he's going to be an engineer when he grows up, and he's going to build things like airplanes and radios. He says he might travel to other countries, too. Maybe he'll even go to America. His cousin Dušana says if Radek goes to America when he grows up, he has to take her with him. Radek would love that. Cousin Dušana is one of his favourite people in the whole world. She's sixteen and she's practically a grown-up, but she always treats Radek like an equal. She never thinks he's silly. She likes ghost stories as much as Radek does, and one of their favourite things to do together is to go ghost-hunting in the Mala Strana. That's another reason why Radek is glad to be back in Prague. All the most interesting ghosts are in Prague.
This is a beautiful August afternoon. It's not too warm and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Radek is walking down the sidewalk with his sister Milena, his friend Mirek and Mirek's four-year-old sister Jirina. They're on their way to play games at the house of another friend. Radek thinks the afternoon would be perfect if only Mirek would stop complaining about having to watch his little sister.
Mirek doesn't want Jirina around. He says she's in the way. Sometimes Jirina does get in the way, but Radek doesn't see how that could possibly be true today. The more players they have in their game, the better it will be. Jirina isn't very good at a lot of games, but that doesn't matter. To Radek, games are for having fun. He doesn't care who's the best player and it doesn't really make a difference who wins. Mirek, of course, doesn't see it this way.
"Jirina, for the millionth time, you can't come!" Mirek is saying now. "Stop following us."
"Why can't I come?" Jirina says. She's practically running to keep up with the rest of them.
"Because we're going to Alexander and Tatiana's house to play 'capture the flag'. You're too little for that game," Mirek says.
"I am not!" Jirina shouts. "I'll tell Mother you won't let me play with you."
Mirek stops and turns around to face Jirina. Radek and Milena stop, too. Mirek fixes Jirina with a defiant look, and says, "Go ahead. Tell her."
"Why can't she come, Mirek?" Radek says. "If's not fair to tell her she can't play with us. Anyway, your mother said you have to watch her this afternoon."
"Mother is punishing me. This is my punishment."
"I'm telling Mother you said that, Mirek!" Jirina wails. "I'm telling—"
"Shut up, Jirina! You're not going to tell Mother anything!" Mirek yells. He pushes his little sister away, hard. Jirina catches the heel of her shoe on the edge of the sidewalk. She topples over and lands on her bottom. Immediately, she begins to cry.
Radek is furious. He can feel heat rushing over his face. He glares at Mirek, and for the first time in his life he wants to start a fight. He's sure his anger makes him strong enough to win any battle right now. He says to Mirek, "Why did you do that? She wasn't hurting you."
"She's a nuisance," says Mirek.
"She is not!" Radek says.
"Yes, she is." Milena cannot leave well enough alone, and has to insert her own opinion. "She's a cry-baby and she's a big pain in the neck."
"You're a pain in the neck," Radek tells his sister.
Milena sticks out her tongue at him. "If I'm a pain in the neck, then you're a bigger one." She puts her hands in the pockets of her skirt and turns away from him. She says,. "Come on, Mirek. Let's go. Radek can stay here with the cry-baby if he wants to."
Mirek says nothing. He runs after Milena in the direction of Tatiana and Alexander's house. Radek kneels on the sidewalk beside Jirina, who is still crying. He puts his arms around her and pulls her in close to himself. He whispers, "Are you okay?"
"Mirek is mean," Jirina sniffles.
"I know," Radek says. "Do you want to go back to my house? I can show you the feathers I found when I was at Babička's house, or we can look at some of Uncle Jaromir's books."
"I want to see the feathers," she says.
"All right," he agrees.
He gets up and holds out his hand to her. She takes the offered hand, and they start down the sidewalk together. When they reach Radek's house, Cousin Dušana gives them milk and cookies, and then they look at Radek's collection of feathers. Jirina thinks the feathers are pretty. She asks Radek what kinds of birds the feathers came from, and he tells her the ones that he knows. He says he'll have to ask Father or Uncle Jaromir about the others.
Afterwards they go to the backyard and sit in the shade under the gnarled old tree. Radek tells Jirina the tree has been there since Babička was a little girl. It's a good climbing-tree, and Radek loves to perch in the branches. He can see most of the houses on his street if he climbs high enough. Today, though, he's content to stay on the ground. Jirina is too little to climb and he doesn't want her to hurt herself.
Jirina leans against his side. "Tell me a story," she says.
"How about a ghost story? Uncle Jaromir told me one about the ghost of a fat man who wanders around the Mala Strana after dark. Dušana says maybe we'll see him next time we go walking."
"No." Jirina clings to him and rests her head on his shoulder. "I don't like ghost stories. They're too scary. Tell me a nice story, Radek."
"All right," Radek says. He tries to think of a tale that doesn't involve ghosts, but those are the ones he likes the best, and he discovers they're the only ones he really remembers. He decides he'll have to make one up. It'll probably be terribly silly, but he's sure Jirina won't care. He takes a deep breath and begins, "Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a big castle, which was not haunted by any ghosts."
"What was her name?" Jirina asks.
"Her name was Jirina," Radek says. "Princess Jirina, and she was the most beautiful princess in all of Europe and all the princes and knights wanted to marry her."
"Did the princes and knights have names?"
"Of course they did. Everyone's got a name."
"Well, what were the knights called?"
"I don't know. There were a bunch of brave knights all over the place. The princess said she would promise to marry the one who could kill the dragon that kept coming around her castle and scaring her."
"What was the dragon's name?"
In a rare flash of vindictiveness Radek says, "The dragon's name was Mirek. All the knights wanted to marry the princess, but only one of them was willing to challenge Mirek the Dragon."
"I know what his name was," says Jirina.
"Do you?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, what was his name, then?"
Jirina tilts her head so she can whisper in his ear, "His name was Radek."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Carson Beckett couldn't say it hadn't been an eventful day, first with Colonel Sheppard's team returning with an injured member, and then with Sergeant O'Connor being bitten by the intruder. Carson shook his head. The Marines still hadn't found their mysterious visitor, the last he'd heard. Well, he was sure the Marines would catch the person eventually. Carson was too busy with taking care of his patients and writing reports to join in the search himself, but that wasn't his job anyway. The Marines, he was sure, could handle it.
Carson was in his office, working on the aforementioned reports when he thought he heard a noise in the main part of the infirmary. The only patient actually staying in the Infirmary at the moment was Radek Zelenka, and when Carson had last checked on him, the Czech engineer had been sleeping. Carson had to wake him every couple of hours, but he didn't like to disturb him if it wasn't necessary. Still, hearing that unfamiliar sound made Carson think he should err on the side of caution this time.
He abandoned his desk and left his office. When he reached Radek's bed, all he could do for a second was stare. He didn't know whether he should laugh or be annoyed. Lying next to the engineer, on top of the blankets, was a young woman. The infirmary beds weren't really wide enough to accommodate more than one person, yet somehow the lass had managed it. She was tucked neatly against Radek with one arm trailing over the engineer's middle and her head resting on his chest.
Carson studied the two figures in the bed for a few moments. If he didn't know better, he might have said they were related. They had the same delicate bone structure, the same sort of slender bodies and narrow faces. The lass had wild, light brown hair, just like Radek. Her eyelids were closed, but Carson suspected that beneath those translucent lids, the eyes were a peculiar shade of Atlantis-ocean blue. Carson shook his head and ultimately failed to hide his amusement. He didn't recognize the lass, and so he had to assume this was the intruder everyone was so keen on tracking down. He didn't see anything threatening about her. She looked undernourished and exhausted, though she seemed to be resting comfortably enough. Surely, she wasn't dangerous.
As Carson came closer to the bed, the lass stirred. For a moment Carson was concerned he'd awakened her, but then he realized she was already awake. She raised her head and peered at him. Carson smiled. For some odd reason, he was just as delighted to discover he'd been wrong about the colour of her eyes, as he would have been to discover he'd been right. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown. Carson thought maybe she sensed his delight because she returned his smile with one of her own.
"You've got the whole population of Atlantis looking for you, lass," Carson said to her. "Do you know that?"
She gave no indication whatsoever that she understood his words, though she must have sensed that he meant her no harm. She didn't try to run or hide. She kept her gaze locked with his for another few seconds before she turned her attention to Radek. She lowered her head to the engineer's chest again, almost as if she were trying to reassure herself that his heart was still beating in there.
Carson decided to try a more practical approach. "My name is Carson," he said, as he pointed to himself. Then he pointed at her. "What's your name?"
She didn't answer him, so he tried again. He rested a hand lightly on her forearm before pointing to himself again. "I'm Carson. Do you have a name?"
The poor thing stared at him with a look of consternation so profound that it made him give up for the moment on the idea of trying to learn her name. Instead, he tried to coax her into a bed of her own. She was happy enough, curled up with Radek, but that was not the way Carson Beckett liked his infirmary to be run. One patient to one bed was his rule. He finally convinced her to climb onto the bed adjacent to Radek's by offering her some water and an assortment of power bars. He even managed to tuck her beneath the covers.
Lying on her side beneath the blankets, nibbling daintily on a power bar, the lass spared little more consideration for Carson. Apparently, she had eyes only for Radek Zelenka. She refused to look anywhere else but at the sleeping engineer. When Carson tried to speak to her again, she ignored the doctor outright.
"All right." Carson sighed. 'I'll deal with you later, then. Perhaps you'll want to talk after you've eaten and rested a bit."
"Doctor Beckett?"
The soft, sleepy voice startled Carson, and he turned around to find Radek stirring awake. The engineer's eyes were still closed, but the expression on his face was one of polite curiosity. Carson went to him, and left the lass to tend her own affairs. "Well, Radek, it's nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?"
"Hmm…been better," the engineer said, "but I have also been much worse. Who were you talking to?"
"Mystery patient," Carson said. "Now really, how do you feel?"
"Tired. I'm very thirsty, too," Radek said. He raised his eyelids to half-mast, which was a testament to the fact he wasn't' quite fully awake yet. After a moment's thought, he added, "You have mystery patient?"
"Evidently, Colonel Sheppard brought back a stowaway," Carson explained. He filled a cup with water from the pitcher on the table beside Radek's bed. He inserted one of the ubiquitous bendable straws in the cup, and then held the whole thing for the engineer while he drank. "She caused quite the uproar. Here, don't swallow too much of that at a time, or you're liable to start coughing, and we wouldn't want that, now would we? Do you know, my mystery patient led the Marines on a merry chase around Atlantis before she finally ended up here."
Radek seemed satisfied after only a few swallows of water. "Thank you. So, where is mystery patient, now?"
"Right next to you, actually," Carson told him.
"Really?" Radek tried to shift his position in bed so that he could see around Carson. He let out a hiss of pain when he moved in a way his body wasn't quite ready for.
"Easy, lad," Carson admonished him. "I'm glad to know you're feeling well enough to be inquisitive, but you've got to take things slowly. Here, satisfy your curiosity, if you like."
Carson stepped away so that his body was no longer obstructing the sight line between Radek's bed and the bed of the "mystery patient". The doctor wasn't' sure what he'd expected to happen, but he knew he hadn't counted on the brilliant smile that lit Radek's features when he caught sight of the lass.
"Jirina," Radek said happily.
Carson stared. "This is Jirina?"
"Well…no." Radek said, suddenly looking embarrassed. "I don't know. She didn't tell me her name. I call her that because she…reminds me of…of someone."
"I see," said Carson.
"She's the river spirit. She rescued me, and then she disappeared."
"On the planet?"
"On the planet, yes." said Radek. "And now she is here. I thought…"
"You thought you'd been hallucinating?" It was Carson's turn to feel embarrassed. "I have to confess, we thought you might have been hallucinating, too. You asked for her earlier, but you weren't making a great lot of sense.
"Is okay," Radek said. "I hope I did not say anything shocking."
"Not in the least," Carson said. He laughed. "If you'd said anything shocking, we probably wouldn't have understood much of it anyway."
"Oh," Radek said. He offered up a sheepish expression. "Speaking other languages is useful at times."
"It makes me wish I spoke another one."
"You only speak English?"
"I'm afraid so," Carson said. "How many languages do you speak, Radek?"
Radek held up four fingers. "Čtyři. I speak four." He glanced at the young woman in the next bed, and sighed. "I wish I knew how to speak her language."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I want to be able to thank her."
TBC
--------------------
Babička -- Grandmother
Čtyři -- four
A/N #2 -- So, my mum is all into the idea of Grace's arrival. She's acting like she's going to have a grand-child. It's actually really cute. Grace is supposed to be coming home on 4 September, which is a little before my birthday, but I'm sure you all know how it is... hehe
Sunday is always a busy day for me, so I might not get to update the story till Monday. I hope everyone has a great, super-awesome weekend!
