Author's Note: I only own the OC's.
It was that stupid nightmare again, Egeria was being punished by Ra for trying to overthrow him. Wait - it seemed different somehow...Where was Ra? I could only see Egeria, and she seemed to be, hmm, not in pain per se, but almost weak, like she was fighting for each breath...
As I expected, they weren't pleased to learn about Egeria.
Thankfully it wasn't necessary to stay with them while they discussed what to do with us, although they did make certain I was well guarded. As I sat on a log and watched the Sodan train, something strange came over me, like the world was tilting on its axis, and the next thing I knew Colonel Mitchell and Jolan were coming towards me. One of them had said something I guess, probably an admonition to stay near them. I waited, and finally Colonel Mitchell looked at Jolan, who I could've sworn hesitated before telling me it was decided that I would stick with them for the time being. That was all right with me, although I did ask if they had any writing implements I might borrow. This appeared to surprise Jolan for some reason, and in due course writing implements were found and I had some way to while away the hours spent watching Colonel Mitchell get his arse kicked.
For the most part I wrote poetry or wrote about what was happening (i.e. Colonel Mitchell getting whumped again by Jolan for umpteenth time, or some of the mothers seeming to decide after an incident with one of the more unruly kids that I should be left in charge of them sometimes, yikes), but occasionally I wrote down the dreams I had been having. All right, maybe nightmares would be a better description, as they always seemed to revolve around Egeria and that horrible feeling I had that something was terribly wrong with her. She had yet to awaken, and that worried me more than anything as I had finally realized what was going on.
A similar incident with Colonel Samantha Carter's father Jacob Carter + Selmak, wherein he somehow ended up in a coma and both of them died. As near as I could recall it was partly because Selmak was too old to take a host by the time he met Jacob, and in using so much of his strength to - what was it again? Something about the Replicators? Yeah, some Ancient device on Dakara was used to take them all out and it was too much for Selmak or something.
Anyway, the point is that I had kind of forgotten that when I saved Egeria, and I realized that I would probably die too. Then again, if I only had a short amount of time left then I had better get cracking somehow to help them with whatever I could, and search for a cure for Egeria on the side. But how? They weren't likely to trust me too much, although apparently Colonel Mitchell that Sam and Daniel had seen enough of my face when I took Egeria away for him to identify me, so that was a point on my favor a little. It did little to help, however, as I still thought there might be a way to save her and fretted constantly about it.
Colonel Mitchell and Jolan very kindly allowed me to roam about while they were training (I tried not to think about that too much as I knew what was coming after they finished), I just had to stay within hearing range. Recently I had discovered some books and was in the process of figuring how to read Ancient when the Prior came for the first time. Wisely (in my opinion at least), I kept out of sight and climbed a tree to continue my attempts at reading Ancient. Most of the books were records of the Sodan village and their doings, etc., but some appeared to be almost like fairy tales (my favorite), and some seemed to be prophecies (those gave a me a little trouble as I was still trying to figure the whole language, much less their idioms and such). All in all it proved to be very interesting reading, to the point that sometimes I didn't hear when they called (and that was never a good thing, though they did appear to understand). As far as I could find out a lot of them had come true already, but there was one that seemed to mention the coming of the Prior and that people of a distant planet would find a way to stop him or something.
I already knew about the whole thing, but it was still fascinating to read something someone had written centuries ago and watching it come to pass.
Well, the day had finally come for Colonel Mitchell's trial thingy (while I knew it was fake didn't make it any easier to watch), and I went out to the forest with Jolan to 'preform the rites' or whatever. They had asked me ahead of time if I wanted to stay with the Sodan or go with Colonel Mitchell, and though I had somewhat enjoyed my time with the Sodan I really wanted to help any way I could (and also to see if there was a way to save Egeria, there had been nothing in the few books they had that mentioned anything helpful) and I couldn't really do that with the Sodan. I did want to warn Volnak when I reached the SGC to be wary on all his travels of the Priors and to never let them see him, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to so I just told Jolan to warn him. He probably thought I was nuts, but he did promise to tell his brother and I left feeling slightly better. Now, all I had to do was find a way to help Egeria, who had awakened a few days before we left and been a great help in translating the Ancient. It was a lot more fun reading with her, and not wondering when or if she would ever wake up.
The journey through the Stargate was - well, to be honest, I haven't the faintest idea how to describe it, so let's say it was phantasmagorical and leave it at that.
Everything else was as I remember seeing it on the TV show, the Gate room and such, it was oddly comforting. The rest of SG-1 was waiting for Colonel Mitchell at the end of the ramp looking extremely relieved and happy to see him. I hung back a little, waiting to be introduced and whatever else had to happen when newcomers came through the Gate (it probably involved getting looked over by a doctor), and also trying to contain my inner fangirl because this was just SO COOL!
Calm down. Egeria's voice, though still a tad weak, sounded amused and I could almost see her laughing at me.
Oh hush. This is amazing!
"Who's this?" General Landry looked exactly as he had in the show. Okay, that was a bit unnerving.
"Oh, yeah. General Landry, Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, this is Caroline Montgomery."
"Oh my God," Sam and Daniel stepped forward to get a better look at me, and Teal'c did his usual head tilt.
"Recognize her, do you, Sam?" Most everyone looked really confused now, and I smiled slightly.
"Yes. She saved Dr. Fraser's life."
O-kay, NOT what I was expecting...