Child of the Mind

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Four

Zi

Yong led Daniel down the village's streets. Each person they passed by stopped and stared at Daniel. People would asked him, "What is that? Why does he have glass on his eyes? Is he dangerous?"

Yong politely answered, "He is harmless."

Daniel was so happy. The town was filled with different smells, and noises and people. He made sure to say hello to each person they passed. They would silently stare at him and quickly walk away.

Yong brought Daniel to the very back of the town. He pointed to a house sitting in front of the wall. It was a small brown house, nothing special. But Yong and Zi loved it because it was theirs. "This is my home, Daniel."

Daniel saw a small porch in front of the house. Taking him up the steps, Yong stopped on the porch.

Yong took his hands, he looked deep into his eyes. "Daniel, I want you to stay here. I need to tell Zi that you are here." He softly whispered, "I hope she will not be mad."

He pointed down, "Stay here."

Daniel took a step forward. He tapped his glasses up on his nose and softly said, "Okay."

Satisfied, Yong worriedly rung his hands. Taking in a deep breath, he opened the door to his home and stepped inside. His house was not as large as Guotin's. There was a large room to sit and eat, and two rooms to sleep. He saw Zi was washing clothes in a wooden sink. Yong cleared his throat.

Zi whirled around. She quickly walked up to Yong and stopped in front of him. Smiling she said, "You are still alive."

"I am sorry, but I am," he replied. It was the way they greeted each other when he came back from a hunt. Smiling, they tightly hugged each other.

"Welcome home, my husband." Breaking off the hug she asked him, "Did the hunt go well? Did you catch anything big?" She looked behind him, she frowned when she saw nothing from the hunt.

Yong looked back, "Yes, we managed to get a walker. It will feed the town for at least a week." Yong cleared his throat. "Zi, there was something we found in the jungle. He was injured, I couldn't leave him there." He took Zi by the shoulders. "Zi, I brought him home with me."

Zi rolled her eyes. "Yong, do not tell me you brought another injured animal home. You know how hard it was for you to release the last one back into the jungle."

"Zi, this is not a jungle animal that I found." He could see she was getting upset. "Here, let me show you."

He started pushing her to the door. "Now do not be frightened. He will not hurt you. In his mind, he is like a child."

"What did you bring home, Yong?" Zi said. Now she was getting curious, what kind of animal did he bring back with him? Yong pushed the door open, Zi saw a giant man standing on her porch. She screamed and jumped back, the man jumped too.

"You scared me," Daniel said. He saw a woman with long black hair dressed in white. She stood next to Yong. He saw Yong urging him to say something.

Bowing at the waist, Daniel said, "Hello, my name is, Daniel." Standing he smiled at her.

Zi was frightened. Standing on her porch was a tall man with glass over his large blue eyes. His skin was pale, his hair, she'd never seen that color before. Everything about him was different. Then he spoke, it was a gentle voice. Though he sounded different, she understood every word he said. It was when he smiled, that her fears washed away. It was a beautiful smile, his eyes also smiled at her. She somehow felt that she had nothing to fear from this giant.

Yong stood by Daniel's side. "Zi, this is Daniel. Daniel, this is my wife, Zi."

Daniel bowed his head. "Hello, Zi."

It was then that Zi noticed a bandage around Daniel's head. She saw blood on his bandage.

Daniel touched his head and scrunched his face. "It hurts, can you help me?" Patting his stomach he said, "This hurts too."

His voice was so tender, and she could see he was in pain. Her mother always told her that a healer heals, no matter who was hurt, friend or foe. But deep inside she knew the strange man was a friend. She decided to help this giant with blue eyes.

Zi brought out her hand. "You are hurt. Come, Daniel. I can help you with your head. Let me look at it."

"Then you are fine with him being here?" Yong asked her.

"For now, husband." She whispered, "We will talk later."

She motioned Daniel to enter her home. Daniel happily walked forward and bumped his head at the top of the doorway.

"Ow, I'm too big," he said, with a chuckle.

Zi laughed with him. "Yes, you are."

Yong held his breath, it was the first time he heard her laugh in many months. Zi took Daniel's hand. "Bow down, Daniel. I do not want you to hurt your head again."

Daniel's ever-present grin was back. Bowing, he walked into the house. He was grateful that the ceiling was tall enough that he could stand up straight. Zi led him into a large room. She asked him to sit at its center. Daniel saw no chair to sit on, so he sat on the floor. Crossing his legs, he looked around the room.

Yong smiled as he sat next to him. He wanted him to feel comfortable in his home. He was so happy Zi accepted him so quickly.

Zi took a bowl and filled it with water. Daniel's eyes stopped on a small wooden carving that sat on a windowsill. "I like that, who is he?" It was the carving of a small boy.

Yong sadly looked at the statue. "That was our son, Junjie."

Daniel's eyes curved in sadness. "Was?" he asked.

"Yes," Yong said. "It is why we wear white, for our son. He has been gone for four months. We will grieve his loss for a year."

Bowing his head, Daniel tenderly said, "I am sorry." He felt soft fingers take his chin. Lifting his head, he saw Zi smiling at him.

"Daniel, he is not really gone, he is here," she pointed to her heart, then at the carving. "He watches over us." She showed him a medallion that hung on her neck. On it was carved a goat. "This was Junjie's. It is a mythical creature called a goat. It was his sign. It is said those born under the sign are pure and kind of heart. That was our Junjie. Now let me take care of your wound."

She kneeled on the floor and began taking the bandage off Daniel's head. She cleaned the dried blood from the wound. "Do you remember how this happened?"

Daniel shook his head. Zi grabbed it, "You must hold still."

Daniel's eyes grew wide. "Sorry," he said. He tried to hold his head as still as possible as she cleaned out the injury. She put a white cream on the lesion and wrapped his head with clean bandages.

Sitting back on her heels, she looked at him for approval. "There, is that better?"

Daniel kept his head still. "You can move now," she said, with a laugh. Daniel nodded his head. "Yes, much better, thank you."

"Zi is a healer," Yong said. "As was her mother, and her mother. She is the best in our village. Your head will be feeling much better soon."

Zi was startled when she heard a growling noise. Daniel touched his stomach, "Can you heal that too?"

Zi quickly stood up, "You stay here. I have some rice left from this morning and some fruit."

She quickly fetched something for Daniel to eat. As Daniel ate, Zi pulled Yong up and took him to the side. "Yong, what are we going to do with him? We do not know if he is dangerous. Are you sure he is not one of the oppressors that Lord Qi Zia warned us about?"

"His eyes may be a different color, but they do not glow." Yong stared at Daniel. Looking at Yong, he gave him a contented grin. "He will not harm us, Zi. I can feel it in my heart. I do not know why, Zi. But I have a feeling that we need to take care of him. That we need to protect him."

"Your feelings," Zi said. She sadly looked at the carving. "If I had listened to them our Junjie would be with us."

"No, Zi, it is not your fault. We did not know what would happen that morning."

Zi looked at Daniel, she saw his eyes starting to droop. "I'm sleepy," Daniel said. He widely yawned. "I am not hungry anymore, but now I am so tired."

Yong looked at Zi. "Is it all right?"

Zi nodded her consent. "Let him rest there, it is all right, husband. I am sure Junjie would not mind."

Yong took Daniel's hand. "If you are tired, you can sleep in Junjie's room."

Getting up, Yong led Daniel to a small room. A blanket and pillow lay over a straw mat on the floor. Yong pulled the blanket away. "Lay down, Daniel. You can sleep here."

Laying down, Daniel took his glasses off. He looked up at Yong. "Thank you, for helping me." He smiled at Zi, "Thank you for fixing my head. The fruit was delicious."

"You are most welcome," Yong and Zi said.

"Now sleep well," Yong said. "Do not worry, you are safe here."

Closing his eyes Daniel went to sleep. Yong tried to cover Daniel with the small blanket. He managed to cover him to his waist. He saw Zi staring at Daniel in the doorway. He walked to her and put his arm on her shoulder.

"Yong, why is he here?" she whispered. "Our Junjie has not been gone long. I look into his eyes, and I see him. I see the gentleness and goodness that was in our Junjie's heart."

Yong stared at Daniel, "I see it too, Zi. In the jungle, when I heard him cry, I heard our Junjie telling me to help him."

Zi nodded her head, "When I saw him on the porch, I heard him too. Rest, Daniel," Zi sighed. "Our Junjie watches over you, too."

Teal'c brought his hand up. Cameron and Sam stopped. He quietly moved back. "I see a wall made of wood. I believe that is where Daniel Jackson was taken."

"I'm guessing the walls protects the town from the jungle," Cameron whispered. "Any idea how many inside?"

Teal'c shook his head. "I am sorry, Cameron Mitchell. My skills on tracking cannot determine how many live within the confines of the walls."

Sam listened. "Sounds like there are a lot of people inside. More than we can handle."

"We have to make sure Daniel is in there," Cameron said. "Let's walk around, get an idea just how big this town is. If I know my walls, there's always another way in"

They quietly moved around the walled in town. They could hear shouting and laughter. There was a bustling town behind the wooden walls. Keeping close to the barrier, they searched for a way inside. The town was huge. The wood they used to make the wall was almost as hard as stone. They had no idea how old this town was, Daniel was the one that would figure that out. It took them three hours to walk around the town. Coming back to where they started, they looked at the wall.

"Cam," Sam said. "What do you think?"

"I guess I don't know my walls. We found no weaknesses in the wood. The way I see it, we got two maybe three choices, Carter. We stay here and wait for dark. Sneak in and find Daniel. Or, we go back to stargate command and get more soldiers to force them to tell us if they have Daniel."

"What's the maybe three?" Carter asked him.

"We'll see our Daniel come walking through the gate after making friends with the natives."

Sam softly smiled, "I wouldn't be surprised."

"I would agree to the first option," Teal'c said. "We should wait until dark."

"Me too," Cameron said. He looked at Sam, "Do I hear a me three?"

"Yes, I agree," Carter said. "Cam, I saw a tree growing near the wall. One of its branches is close to the wall. I think we can use it to sneak in undetected."

"I was just about to suggest that, Carter. We'll head out there when the sun sets. Then we'll get Daniel out of there. For now." Cameron pulled out his binoculars. "I'm going to take a look inside. I saw a market just past the gates. It's a good place for surveillance."

Cameron stared through the binoculars. "God only knows what they're doing to him in there."