Well, after getting himself kidnapped by an Unas, who seemed to be his friend now, Daniel was not killed by Sujanha or Ragnar for the utter trouble he had managed to get himself into while off with the SGC. Did he get a look and a lecture from Sha're? Yes. Did he get a lecture from Ragnar about the use of his gauntlets? Yes. A very extensive one. Did he get a look from Sujanha that made him feel more than a little guilty? Yes. Did it sound like there would be more adventures without SG1's presence without a bodyguard of his own? No. Most definitely not.
Daniel ended up grounded at the SGC for about a week before Janet and the Furling healers cleared him for gate travel and he was able to return to Uslisgas. Once back in the capital, he was sent straight to the healers at the Halls, and they placed him on medical leave for at least two more weeks. Brains were not something that the Furling healers liked messing around with, even with their healing devices, and the lingering propensity to headaches from his concussion made working on his tablet, especially, and sometimes even reading books and writing in his notebooks painful. Daniel was still recovering his strength after his … adventures, and heavy exertion, occasionally even just chasing after Shifu, who could move quite quickly on his short little legs, made him cough and just exhausted him annoyingly quickly. Coughs were always the last thing to go after a respiratory infection.
No work.
No tablet.
Limited books.
Daniel almost felt at loose ends with his usual work and scholarly pastimes outlawed for the moment. Playing with Shifu for hours and hours was wonderful, but eventually they both wore out. Spending uninterrupted hours with Sha're was terrific. Daniel was used to going hither and thither, doing things, reading, studying, helping, not sitting around. Being on medical leave was rather boring compared to what he had become used to. Considering it was winter, doing things outside was limited. It was too cold to spend a lot of time in the Great Market, talking with the traders who had outdoor carts and hearing what new stories and tales they had learned. The outdoor food markets had been moved inside, and some days the Great Fountain even froze, which was an admittedly interesting sight.
Shifu did not seem to be sure what to think of snow.
Sha're loved watching the falling snow. She just hated the cold and hated having to be outside in it for more than a few minutes. Daniel had found a beautiful, heavy embroidered shawl at one of the shops for her, which helped keep the chill off some, and Sujanha had been more than happy to crank the thermostat up. She was used to the heat after growing up on Drehond, and Daniel had spent enough time in desert climates that he could get used to about anything. Except humidity. He'd been in South America a couple of times during his career, and the thick, cloying humidity there was not something he thought he would ever get used to. Like living in a sauna.
Maybe we need a vacation.
The more Daniel thought about it, the more he liked the idea. A vacation sounded like a wonderful idea. Sujanha was largely off in Avalon with the fleet and reappeared mainly only briefly and at random intervals while she dealt with whatever campaigns were ongoing at the moment. Fleet business was something she was steadfastly refusing to talk to him about until he was better and cleared for full-duty. With her away, Sha're was not going to feel reluctant to leave, wanting to stay and make sure Sujanha was taken care of.
I've been here for over 2-years, and I have never been outside the capital.
Sha're's been here for over six months, and I've never taken her any place yet.
That needed to be rectified, and what better time to do it than now, assuming they could find a place warm enough. Somewhere near the equator or in the other hemisphere should work.
Hoping to surprise Sha're, Daniel asked Sujanha for advice one evening while his wife was off upstairs giving Shifu an impromptu bath after an accident with his bowl had left about as much soup on the two-year-old as in him. Well, not quite, but … thankfully, it wasn't hot enough to burn. Daniel also added that the healers wanted him to get more fresh air, but that winter was putting a damper on that plan.
Sujanha, who was back only for the day and would leave again early the next morning, leaned back in her chair and drummed her claws on the table, a very human gesture. "The difficulty of temperature is easily dealt with. Aezura …"
Daniel gave her a blank look before she could even finish her second sentence. "What?"
Sujanha gave him a strange look. "The continent we're on?"
"Oh." Now I feel stupid. "I have looked at a map since I arrived here. I just don't remember it having continent names."
"The less detailed ones do not," Sujanha acknowledged. She spoke a quick command to the house AI, and a glowing globe appeared beside her, tilted slightly and spinning slowly on its axis. "Aezura is the continent on which Uslisgas is located." She enlarged the globe and shoved it so that it was hovering over the table between them.
Uslisgas (the planet, not the capital city) had two main continents, which she highlighted. Aezura was larger than both Europe and Asia combined, or so it looked, and was located almost entirely above the equator. Uslisgas (the capital) was located more towards the north, which explained the temperatures. Adith, the other main continent, was about as half as big again as the Americas and located on the other side of the planet. Only about one-third of Adith lay above the equator, and it was widest, east-west, around the area of the equator. There were two other much smaller continents—maybe Greenland size, not small … just small compared to Aezura and Adith—and multiple island chains and other isolated islands, whose names Sujanha did not give.
That's a lot of water. Explains all the fish in the Great Market.
"We're in the north," Sujanha continued. "The south of Aezura and most of Adith are warmer. What would you both enjoy seeing?"
Daniel paused and thought for a second before replying. "Animals for Shifu, definitely. Scenery, since we've never been outside Uslisgas or the outskirts thereof. Water for Sha're. Water was hard to come by on Abydos, since it was a desert world. Something like the ocean or water creatures or even a body of water big enough to swim in would be amazing for her to see."
Sujanha nodded along with evident understanding but cringed slightly at the mention of swimming. On earth, panthers and leopards can swim. I think. Right? But some cats hate water. I suppose, growing up on Drehond, she wouldn't be used to much water either, though.
"But," Daniel added hastily, "for anything with water, we could really use something for Shifu. He's moving so fast, and I don't want to be terrified if he gets away from us for two seconds or we look away for a split second."
She smirked slightly. "Children have a way of aging their guardians before their time." Her smile went bittersweet. Was she thinking of her nephew, the one that had died young? Or her brother's other children? Her eyes lightened again after a moment. "I should have something. Give me a minute."
Sujanha had moved most of her boxes that had been in the other upstairs room into long-term storage elsewhere, but she had moved a few boxes downstairs into her home office. It was into that room she disappeared. While she was gone, Sha're brought Shifu down to say good night. They traded off on who did the bed-time routine—bath, brushing teeth, changing clothes, reading stories. Both Daniel and Sha're tried to be present for as much as possible every night, but sometimes the one not on-duty had other responsibilities.
And I need to finish talking to Sujanha while Sha're's occupied.
Sujanha returned within ten minutes, carrying what looked like a personal shield and a second control stone. She set both on the table next to their tea mugs and retook her seat. "We often use personal shields to protect wayward children around water, as they can be modified easily to become impervious to water. These child-protection shields are automatically set to that. You would place the stone on Shifu, preferably underneath a jacket or other article of clothing to keep him from fussing with it, and keep the control stone with you. The control stone allows you to track him or turn the shield on and off. It automatically forms a bubble shield around the chest, neck, and head, but leave the arms and legs outside the shield for ease of movement and play." She grinned toothily. "This also prevents some from putting everything they find in their mouths."
Daniel cringed. "He tried to taste dirt recently." Why, I don't know. We feed the boy!
She chuckled softly. "There are sensors built into the shield array, and if he were to go into water that reached his chest height, the shield would automatically expand into a large, full bubble-shield around his entire body and send your control stone a warning tone. There is enough power in this shield to form a bubble big enough for a child Shifu's size to breathe for hours, even if fully submerged."
Daniel shuddered at the very thought. I really don't want to know how they figured that out. "Thanks."
Sujanha nodded. "I'll think tonight, and I'll leave a list of suggested places on your tablet before I leave tomorrow."
"Thank you."
The house was quiet when Daniel rose, early the next morning. Sha're was still asleep, her hair like a curly cloud around her head, her face peaceful and lax. Shifu was still asleep, as well. Sometimes if he woke early, Daniel could get to him before his noises woke his wife. Downstairs, it was quiet, too. There were signs of life—dishes soaking in the sink, spiced tea in the warming pot, Sujanha's stuff gone from the entrance-way table. The Commander herself had already left. She did leave early. It was late when she went to bed. I hope she actually got some sleep. If she had stayed up late just making that list for him, he was going to be really annoyed.
Daniel made himself some breakfast and poured himself a mug of tea and then sat down at the table to read the waiting document Sujanha had sent him while he ate. As promised, there was a list of suggested visiting spots, and every suggestion was annotated with lengthy comments. All had grid coordinates for beaming included, and the first and last had links to the Furling version of the internet for checking what appeared to be the weather.
Raeninjip.[1]
For warmth, water, and animals, Raeninjip is most suitable. It is the tallest, though not the broadest, waterfall on the planet and is located near the Equator in Adith. The mountains here are the tallest save in the Yormuth (see below), and Raeninjip is an at elevation of—about the same as Denver on earth, once Daniel did the conversions. There is a Boii mountain city visible from the river bank, located on the heights past the waterfall.[2] It is quite amazing for the sheer architectural daring, though I hope you are not afraid of heights. That made Daniel very curious. There are often Boii children down at the river, fishing or collecting. The side of the river on which those coordinates are located is inhabited and safe. Do not cross the river, however, as there are wild creatures there, some of the colorful variety. They cannot cross the river, so you are safe on the nearer shore. The waterfall is quite loud right at the base, but a little way downriver, where those coordinates are for, the river is calm and good for wading and collecting shells in the shallows.
The Ocean.[3]
This beach is on the western side of Adith, a day's walk south from Raeninjip if you went straight west from it towards the coast. This particular beach is located on a bend in the cliffs where the waves have hewn out a depression over the past ages. Few go there, so you are likely to have the area all to yourselves. The water is very blue, and there are many tidepools where you can gather shells or see other interesting creatures and plants. The land slopes quickly offshore, so be wary of how far out into the water you go. There are many sea creatures often visible off-shore that might be of interest, as well.
The Yormuth.[4]
If you wish to brave the cold, the Yormuth is always an impressive sight. It is a massive mountain range that cuts across the continent—Aezura—on the western side. It is set farther north than Uslisgas for the most part, so the cold is severe, especially at higher elevations. The birds and flowers in the lower valleys are quite beautiful in warmer months. For now, you might see Yarthes or Mavaris in the valleys or, on the lower slopes, even a Jorkash. There are risks for snow-slides and ice-falls in the Yormuth, so do not stray past the immediate vicinity of these coordinates without a guide. Dress warmly. There was an addition of several figures for the highest peaks in the mountain range. It took Daniel a moment to convert the Furling measurements into the American imperial system, but once he had, his eyes almost bugged out. The Yormuth had peaks—not one but, at least, three—that were over a mile taller than Everest in the Himalayas. Yikes! I wonder if mountain climbing is a sport here. What the animals were Sujanha had mentioned, Daniel did not know. A surprise.
There was an extra note added at the end. It is simple enough to beam back and forth at meal-times. Either Raeninjip or the beach would make an excellent place to, as you say, picnic. There is also a case of Asgard ration tablets that you could grab some of for snacks. Make sure you get a camera in the market.
A second note was tacked on after the first addition. Do not spend too much studying this list, or you might give yourself a headache.
Sha're appeared an hour later, hands skillfully putting up her hair even as she moved. "Good morning, my Dan'yel."
"Morning, love." He stood to kiss her. "How did you sleep?"
"Well. Did Sujanha leave already?"
Daniel nodded. "Before I got up this morning."
Sha're's gaze went to his tablet, still sitting on the table. She gave him a look. "My Dan'yel, you will give yourself a headache …"
You sound like Sujanha.
Daniel grinned. "I was just reading through something Sujanha left for me quickly."
Sha're hummed a question as she turned away to begin making herself breakfast and preparing something for Shifu to eat once he got up or once they got him up, if he was a sleepyhead. Not usually a problem.
"How would you like a vacation?"
First, Daniel had to explain to Sha're what on earth a vacation was. She had not been on Uslisgas that long comparatively, and on a planet like Abydos, 'vacations' were not a thing, nor was there a word in Abydonian for such without smashing separate words and separate concepts together into a Frankenstein word that might … probably wouldn't … make sense to the Abydonians even if Daniel created it. The same went for ancient Egyptian.
Once he had explained his idea, however, Sha're eagerly agreed. There was no work to be done around the house, and with beaming technology available, popping off to another continent for a day off was easy, instead of a very, very, very long flight. Shifu awoke as they finished talking. While Sha're fed him breakfast and got him dressed, Daniel left for the Great Market to buy a picnic lunch and a 'camera' at the shops. If there had been more time, Sha're might have wanted to make the picnic food herself, but this was a vacation. On vacations, she should have the day off from cooking, as much as she actually liked to haggle for ingredients and then cook.
By late-morning, they were off, suitably attired, picnic-basket in hand, camera in pocket, with Shifu well-protected with his little shield.
Beaming had become so familiar to Daniel after years among the Furlings, and disappearing from one place and reappearing in a totally different one was rather normal and not particularly noteworthy … if the place you ended up in was similar (building to building) or familiar scenery. If not, it was still jarring.
This was jarring … in an excellent way.
There was an old saying on earth: "Familiarity breeds contempt." Daniel was not necessarily sure about the "contempt" part, though he definitely understood the point of the proverb. At the very least, with familiarity came a loss of wonder, a classifying of fill-in-the-blank as old hat and not worthy of the same attention it once had drawn. Maybe that was contempt in a way.
Daniel had seen Niagara Falls more than once in his life. It was beautiful and loud. The roaring falls. The sun glistening on the water. The sheer power. The expanse. It was impressive.
Raeninjip, however?
Daniel's jaw dropped open as soon as his little family appeared on the riverbank and he caught sight of the waterfall, maybe a mile or so upstream.
Raeninjip made Niagara Falls look puny, absolutely puny. It was only … maybe a quarter as wide as the entirety of the horse-shoe shaped waterfall in New York, if he remembered right, but it roared down from a … prodigious height, dropping what looked to be thousands of feet until it crashed headlong like a torrent into a massive lake. It's lower in elevation than we are. That was probably why the river was so much calmer here. Even from this distance, the water glistened in the sunlight.
Sha're was even more shocked, standing slack-jawed and wide-eyed beside him, staring at the river, the lake, the waterfall with almost disbelief in her eyes. Shifu squirmed in her arms, and she soothed him automatically with a quiet murmur.
If this scene was impressive to Daniel, how much more had it to be for Sha're, coming from a planet where water was a highly valued, hard to come by resource, never to be squandered. There was no Nile to draw from on Abydos, no Delta. Oases were scattered across the desert surrounding Nagada, but otherwise, wells it was. Even a bath to soak in would be a waste of water.
There were almost tears in her eyes. "Such abundance," she murmured.
What the noise level was near the base of the waterfall, Daniel preferred not to imagine, though deafening would probably be a reasonable guess. The broad expanse of the river, flowing out from the lake at the base of the waterfall, flowed slowly by them. There was a stony, sandy bank on this side of the river, dotted with small inlets, and they were standing on a flat stone outcropping, a foot or two higher than the rest of the bank. Daniel understood immediately why Sujanha had warned against crossing the river, not that he would have been inclined to. The far shore was maybe 100 yards away. The far bank, which fell sharply down from the forest beyond, was covered by a tangled morass of plants, stones, and copious amounts of mud. Stretching right to the top of that sharp decline above the bank was an imposing Amazon-like jungle, trees and vines so thick that Daniel could barely see beyond the outer row of trees. The air was warm but not too warm, and it was somewhat humid, but not oppressively so. The elevation probably kept Raeninjip's weather from feeling like actual jungle conditions. It was all a far cry from the grasslands and forests, among which Uslisgas had been built.
"What is that?" Sha're suddenly asked, voice almost as shocked as before.
Daniel tore his eyes away from studying their surroundings and followed her gesturing hand to the cliff-heights past the waterfall. He suddenly understood why Sujanha had referred to the nearby Boii city as a "mountain city" and "architecturally daring." Daniel had never been prone to acrophobia or claustrophobia. Being an archaeologist meant getting into and onto all sorts of weird spots, but staring at the city made him a little queasy, even with his feet firmly planted on the ground. When Sujanha had called it a "mountain city," Daniel's archaeological brain had kicked in, and he had been expecting something like the Acropolis or another citadel built for defense. This was not even not like the Imperial Palace where a few buildings had been constructed over the edge and down the cliff-face of the Acropolis of Uslisgas. No, this entire city was built on? into? the essentially sheer cliff-face, as if defying the law of gravity itself.
How? How does that even work?
"Dan'yel?"
"That's the Boii city Sujanha's note mentioned. It has to be." Daniel was still staring wide-eyed, trying to figure out how that city even worked architecturally. He had seen plenty of marvels, but the overhangs, the weight … how does that work? "The Boii's homeworld Aquileia is very mountainous, I've heard, so maybe they prefer living on the heights. How that works to build there, I don't have a clue."
It would always amaze him what resourcefulness, ingenuity, and pure architectural genius could create without the necessity of fancy technology like the Nox's anti-grav generators.
There was a small inlet (a stone's throw down the river) which was shallow and clear, and they settled on the bank there, finding a large dry stone on which to spread a thick blanket and set their picnic basket on for later. (And because the Furlings had a very strange mixture of old-world and very normal technology and very sci-fi-ish stuff, their picnic basket, which looked like a normal earth picnic basket on the outside, had its own high-tech interior and own power source so the food stayed cold.)
Sha're set Shifu down by the edge of the little pool, giving the squirming two-year-old his desire at long last. (Daniel had already activated the shield around him, and the inlet was small and shallow.) Shifu plopped down at the edge of the water and started patting it with his hands. That entertained him for a minute, and then it was on to sand. Boys and dirt. At least, the shield will help with lessening the laundry to do later.
It was very peaceful and quiet and exquisitely beautiful.
Daniel glanced across the river, trying to visually judge the speed of the current in the middle. If something like a branch were floating downriver, it would have been easier. He wondered what exactly kept the wild animals on the far bank actually on the other side of the river. He could hear bird calls. Could they fly across? Even if they could, flight birds were not generally a threat, not earth flight birds, at least. But this is Uslisgas, but Sujanha said it was safe here, so I'm not going to worry.
Sha're's eyes flitted between Shifu, still playing at the edge of the pool, and the river and the waterfall. "Dan'yel," she finally asked, "where does all the water come from? How does it not run out?"
Daniel blinked. "Uh, rain. Rainforest and jungles like this can get a lot of rain on earth. Groundwater, maybe. Springs or an underground aquifer or something. Lakes, maybe. There's a really impressive waterfall on earth that's fed by four massive lakes."
How does one explain the water cycle?
One of the joys of being on vacation and having nothing pressing to do was just being able to talk about anything and everything. The conversation between Daniel and Sha're rabbit-trailed, as the saying went on earth, over the next few hours, ranging from his fumbling attempts to explain the water cycle—an attempt that required him to dig up the vestiges of memory of his high school science classes—I could explain the source of the Nile better—to their plans for the future, both near and not so-near, to Shifu, to more mundane things related to the house, and to Sujanha herself, who still needed to take better care of herself, Sha're thought.
At one point during those wide-ranging discussions, a member of the local fauna—a bird that looked like an eagle-sized parrot with feathers a hideous shade of green—flew over the river back towards the far shore, giving a screeching cry that made Sha're clap her hands across her ears. Shifu promptly started crying, startled by the bird and its cry. Once he was soothed and happily playing again, the bird's fleeting appearance led Daniel down a rabbit-trail of a rabbit-trail, telling Sha're about earth parrots and how some people would train their 'pets' to talk.
She thought that was … strange.
Lunch was delightful. Daniel had not known what was in the picnic basket, having bought it on faith from Alaric, who ran Sujanha's favorite food-cart in the Great Market, who had promised to pack picnic foods. There were sandwiches (of the kinds they usually bought, but with some new types, too); fruit (multiple kinds); roasted wedges of a vegetable that was very potato-like … if Daniel closed his eyes so he couldn't see the color; and sweets, including something that approximated cookies and a tub of a dish that was similar to flavored shaved ice.
And Sha're didn't have to cook any of it.
And she seems to be enjoying what we ended up with, too.
Win, win.
A troop of (almost certainly) Boii children appeared upriver, a stone's throw or two away, not long after lunch. There were … one, two, four, six, nine … of them. Four looked to be mid-to-upper teens by earth standards, not that necessarily meant much here in Asteria. (It was not always clear to Daniel whether the Asterian 'humans' were human-human or near-human, even aside from the interspecies marriages. Still not sure how that works. Might not want to know. All of the 'human' races he knew of in Asteria were longer lived than humans in the Milky-Way, which made age approximations difficult.) The other four looked to be single digits, with the youngest … maybe 6-ish. Two of the older children carried fishing poles over one shoulder and were lugging a large box between them. To hold fish? One of the other bigger children was carrying a large basket perched on one hip. Given the angle at which he was leaning in the opposite direction, it was apparently quite heavy.
An animal that vaguely looked like a mountain goat, if mountain goats had oversized tails and very weird ears, followed them. Daniel had vaguely wondered occasionally if having pets was a thing here. It was one of those questions that he had never gotten around to asking Ruarc.
And now I never can.
Someone among the pack of children spotted them, and several waved. Sha're waved back, and Daniel did so, too, a beat behind, once he dragged his mind out of bittersweet memories of his old friend. May he find peace.
The children settled themselves, laughing and splashing and running along the bank, while one of the fishers started fishing. Their voices drifted down on the slight breeze. They were speaking Furling, somewhat accented. All Daniel could catch was something about a boat. A few minutes later, one of the big kids split off and started making … her … way downstream to where Daniel and Sha're were sitting at the little inlet.
The girl was tall and lanky, with light brown skin, bright features, and a long, thick rope of dark hair that fell over one shoulder. She was barefoot and moved across the wet stones with ease, not even slipping once or even looking concerned for her balance. She stopped a polite distance away and sketched a little bow that went from something into the Furling style after a brief blip in the middle. "Missus, sir"—it was interesting she acknowledged Sha're first—"my little kinsmen have come down to collect shells and play with their boats, while the others fish. If your boy would like to come play with us, he'd be welcome. We've got Sisi to take care of us." She made a motion back over her shoulder. Could she be referring to the goat? Well, I've heard of dogs babysitting. "We won't let him go past the shallows."
Sha're looked at Daniel with a question in her eyes. He nodded slightly. "What's your name, child?" She asked.
The girl's eyes went wide, and she slapped a hand across her mouth, before whispering, "Sorry, missus. I'm called R'Kinuk. My brother Vrinuvik is one of the big ones fishing."
Sha're favored the girl with a smile that made her beam and then looked down to Shifu, who had stopped making a pile of sand and was watching the newcomer quietly. "Shifu, would you like to play?"
That got their son's attention. "Play?" He nodded vigorously.
A beaming smile broke across R'Kinuk's face, and she promptly offered Shifu a hand. He studied it for a moment and then took it, and the two walked hand in hand back up the bank, even though that involved R'Kinuk walking half bent over.
"He needs other children to play with," Sha're said quietly, her eyes tracking them up the beach. "That is one thing he does not have here." There were other children his age on Abydos, but not here, not that they had met yet, at least.
"I know," Daniel replied, a frown glancing across his face. "I know. We'll figure something out." Maybe this meeting would provide a way.
Daniel learned a lot about Boii culture that day, including the fact that an alien-version of Xenia[5] was key to their culture. Shifu spent the rest of the afternoon until nap-time playing happily with the Boii children, being led around to collect shells, making sand-castles, getting splashed with water, pushing boats around in the river, and laughing with sheer delight as he did so. The mountain-goat-like creature definitely seemed to be a proverbial watch-dog as it dragged one child back out of the water by the back of its shirt when the kid went out (what the goat considered to be) too deep. (The bellows of laughter made it seem like great fun.)
It's the goat-version of a Newfie!
Eventually, Shifu began to droop, though he was trying to fight off the sleepies, and R'Kinuk carried him back, yawning and bleary-eyed, down the riverbank. Once Shifu was deposited in his mother's arms (where he promptly fell asleep despite the fact that, if he had been older, he would probably have been saying, "I'm not tired!"), R'Kinuk invited them back to the Boii city, also named Raeninjip. By the end of the day, when Daniel and Sha're finally went home, Daniel had a lot of new information for his journals and more to research in the library in my abundance of spare time, and Sha're and Shifu both had multiple new friends, which made Daniel very happy.
Next, they took two days off to lounge at home, an at-home vacation, a staycation, after their fun but tiring adventures, but then they went to the beach. The waves had hewn out a rough semi-circle, which was perhaps a hundred yards across at its widest point. Roughhewn stone cliffs rose precipitously from the beach, dotted with green vegetation here and there. The water was, as Sujanha had said, extremely blue. There were tide-pools to explore and sea-shells to collect, including some which Shifu seemed to want to take to Sujanha, given the way he clutched them and kept repeating "Baba," his name for her, which had stuck fast. Sha're was even more amazed by the ocean—the expanse of water that went on and on and on as far as the eye could see, and she could see farther than Daniel could—than she had been by the waterfall earlier that week. Daniel liked the beach—it was not something that he had done as a kid with his foster families—but he wasn't quite so fond of some of the sea creatures a ways offshore. Dolphins were cool. Some whales were interesting.
That big thing looked like it belonged in the Cretaceous period.
The Yormuth Mountain Range was last on the list of vacation spots, as they had gone to the sites in the order Sujanha had given them. On their last day of vacation, which they had stretched out over his last week of medical leave, Daniel and Sha're bundled themselves into their warmest clothes and warmest coats and then did the same for Shifu until he looked like a miniature Pillsbury Doughboy. If he had fallen, he might have bounced. We're not actually vacationing. We're just visiting, maybe very briefly, to see the snow and peaks bigger than Everest.
The Yormuth, at least the valley in which Sujanha's coordinates were located, was probably nicer in summer. Right now, it was much too cold, and there was much too much snow for two adults who had spent much of their lives in desert conditions.
The towering peaks were staggeringly tall, rising up and up and up and up until some disappeared into the clouds. There were probably some people on earth who would pay a lot to have a go at climbing some of these peaks. It had not been that many years ago on earth that the story of the Everest climb gone wrong[6] had made the news around the world, and even Daniel did not have his nose buried so deep in his books that he had not heard about the tragedy.
There was some very interesting wildlife to see. There was a herd of creatures on the valley-floor—they were on a large outcropping abutting a cave maybe thirty feet up the valley wall—which looked like a cross between long-horned oxen and buffalo, except that the foot-prints they left in the snow were quite a bit larger than either earth creature. I guess they're either the Yarthes or the Mavaris.
"Dress warmly," Sujanha had said. They had dressed warmly, and it was still too cold, and they went home after an interesting, if frigid, fifteen minutes.
What Jorkash were would be a question for another day, along with whichever of the Yarthes or Mavaris those 'oxen' were not.
Sujanha did not return to Uslisgas again before Daniel's return to duty, so it was not until he rejoined her on the Valhalla that he was able to thank her for her help in making their family vacation a thing. He told her enthusiastically how Sha're and Shifu had enjoyed the different places and about all they had seen and collected, with copious pictures for her to enjoy, as well.
"It was all breathtaking, even the Yormuth, though it was freezing cold." Daniel gave a shiver as he said those words, just remembering the cold. That had been a quick trip. "Your choices were wonderful."
Sujanha gave a quiet, bittersweet smile, and her eyes were shadowed. "I simply chose what my brother-son enjoyed all those years ago."
[1] Look Up: Salto de Angel in Venezuela
[2] See cross-posting on A03 for links.
[3] See cross-posting on A03 for links.
[4] Look up: Himalayas.
[5] Look up: Xenia (Greek hospitality).
[6] Look up: 1996 Mount Everest Disaster.
