Author's Note #1: Wow, another chapter! I love Christmas break. Don't expect me to keep up this pace.

Author's Note #2: Please read and enjoy. I hope you'll review. I read all reviews, and they are very encouraging.


Xeux, 6545 A.S. (Mid-June, 1999)
Ardea, Asteria Galaxy

Sha're awoke from a deep sleep, the last wisps of a pleasant dream of home fading from her mind. Without opening her eyes more than a crack, she rolled over, pulling the bed coverings up to her chin to keep off the chill in the air. A long, long moment passed before the enormity of her actions sunk in, and when it did, Sha're came to her senses with a start and sat up. She had awoken. She had fussed with the bed coverings. She had sat up. Not the demon.

With her heart in her throat, Sha're looked around her prison chamber as she struggled to stay calm. Her cell was the same it had been when the demon had took them to bed hours before: the same illusions that made her chamber look like her father's tent on Abydos, illusions, that soothed and increased her homesickness at the same time. Sha're rubbed her fingertips across her night-dress, feeling and reveling in the roughness of home-spun fabric on her fingertips, a simple action and simple sensations that she had never valued so highly until she had lost control of her own body. Sha're could feel the demon's horrible presence at the back of her mind, a slimy sensation like fruit gone bad that made her skin crawl. The demon slept … but just for now. Sha're had no idea how long her reprieve would last.

Sha're pushed back the covers on her bed and rose to her feet. Goose bumps sprang up on her arms within moments. The room was unusually chilly, but for the moment, Sha're didn't care. She could feel. After appropriating one of the smaller coverlets as a shawl, she padded across the room to her cell's doorway. Her captors had given her a small clock and taught her how to tell time, and she knew one of her guards would be coming by her cells on her rounds very soon.

Sha're had four female guards who took turns guarding her cell. Each guard was present two days out of every week. They made their rounds every half-hour during the day and every two hours at night, though one was always nearby and always came if Amaunet shouted and raged. The Furlings had treated her well for all the months she had been confined in their keeping after her Dan'yel had taken her from Abydos to keep her safe and she had given birth to Shifu. They ignored Amaunet's raging and fits of temper, never treated her harshly even when Amaunet lashed out, spoke to Sha're with kindness and brought her favorite foods. They even gave her simple things to read that Amaunet occasionally even read when the boredom became too strong. They kept her separate from the Jaffa and Goa'uld prisoners—for her safety, they emphasized—but Sha're did not lack for human contact. Dan'yel came. Her guards would speak to her, and there were others who came, figures with strange faces like great creatures who spoke to her and looked on her with pity.

Sha're wondered how her son was faring, where he was now, how big he was. Dan'yel came by often to see her, but in her cruelty and pettiness now that her power had been taken away, the demon let her have a glimpse of her husband and then locked her away in their mind until Dan'yel had departed. Sha're longed for news of her family and wondered of Skaara's fate.

Clutching her make-shift shawl tightly to her shoulders, Sha're waited at her cell door just inside the energy barrier, like on the demon's kara kesh, that blocked her from exiting her cell unless the barrier was lowered. Not long after she heard footsteps, and her guard, S'Manatek, appeared around the corner. A tall, thin human, with dark grey hair and eyes, she was one of the Boii.

S'Manatek stopped dead as she came around the corner, surprised to see Sha're by her cell's entrance. "Are you in need of anything, Amaunet?" The guard asked, assuming that it was the demon in control.

"May I have some water, please?" Sha're asked quietly. The demon had been in a dark mood that evening and had eaten and drunk little at the evening meal. Sha're felt quite thirsty as a result.

S'Manatek's surprise only increased, if the look on her face was anything to go by, when Sha're, not Amaunet, answered. The demon, unlike some among the System Lords, never used the host's voice. "Sha're?" The guard asked cautiously in English, approaching a few steps on silent feet. Most of the guards spoke to Sha're in English, though a few of the non-regulars could only address her in Goa'uld.

"Yes," Sha're replied with a hesitant smile at the kind guard, "I awoke, but the demon sleeps … for a time."

S'Manatek just looked at her for another long moment, her face cycling through a range of emotions, "There are small mercies in the darkest of times. I will return in a moment."

The guard went back the way she had came but returned shortly carrying a new pitcher of water in one hand and a blanket draped across the other arm. She put both items on a small platform just outside the cell-door, and then in a flash of light, they appeared inside Sha're's cell.

"I am sorry for the chill in the air," S'Manatek said, as Sha're wrapped the blanket, warm as if it had been lying in the sun, around her shoulders and then poured herself a cup of water, "There have been problems with the ventilation because of recent weather. It should be fixed soon."

Sha're nodded, her attention focused on the cup of cool water. Water had always been precious on Abydos, a desert world, but she had never appreciated such simple pleasures so much before.

"Do you know of my Dan'yel?" She asked, after a few minutes had passed. "Of my son?"

S'Manatek starred at Sha're for a long moment, her face puzzled and uncomprehending. "I do not understand," she said, "Daniel Jackson comes often to see you. I thought … hosts knew what occurs even when not in control."

Sha're eased herself down to the floor and tucked her feet underneath herself. "I usually do," she replied softly, "but my demon is cruel. She hurts me, but still I fight, so when my Dan'yel comes and tells me about my child, she locks me away so I cannot see or hear."

S'Manatek's expressive face twisted with horror. "I do not know much," she replied, "but I will tell what I know."

After making a few strange motions with her hands, she moved back to lean against the wall across from Sha're cell and began to speak. S'Manatek did not have a gift for storytelling but had a clear voice and a direct and simple manner of speech. She spoke of Daniel and the boy from what she had overheard in Daniel's conversations with Sha're, of the great commander and hunter who helped lead the fight against the demons in a far distant land, of the progress of the war and the demons who had fallen (Sha're was sure that her demon would be pleased to hear of the enemies of her pharaoh who had perished), and of many other things as well.

As S'Manatek came towards the end of her tale, Sha're felt the demon begin to stir in the back of their mind. Something must have showed in her face for S'Manatek abruptly fell silent, before speaking a few final words, "One day you will be free. We swear to it on our honor."

Sha're was calm. When she had awoken, the thought of the demon taking back control had frightened her, but now she had hope, more than she had had before, after hearing of the downfall of the demons. Her family and her people would be safe. Her demon could not hurt anyone else any longer. One day she did believe that she would be free again, and until that day came, she could wait with hope and peace in her heart.


Next Time on Ripples in the Deep:

Chapter 14: My Foes, They Unite Against Me - The Furling conquest of the Goa'uld 'Empire' continues. But will danger threaten the Furling advance when three of the most powerful and feared Goa'uld form an alliance to oppose the Furlings?

Chapter 15: A Fork in the Road (Sujanha's POV)

Chapter 16: Aftermath