Sam woke with a start. She'd been dreaming about…something. The harder she tried to remember, the further the memory slipped. She remembered sand…and jaffa… and wondered if it was one of her memories, or one of Jolinar's. The more time passed the harder it was becoming to distinguish between the two.
Well, while I'm awake, she thought as she stood. Dozens of other women and children were huddled with her in a large tent, which itself was little more than a piece of canvas stretched over poles. She wasn't complaining though, because it was one of the few places that was actually warm. A pit of coals was in the center, coals that through some miracle continued to give off heat hours after they'd been laid.
At the entrance to the tent Sam paused. It was a clear night, and she knew that if it wasn't, they might have been snowed on. A stiff breeze blew through the tent, making her shiver and pull the heavy cloak Eowyn had lended her closer, and wish the hood had pull ties so she could keep her ears from freezing. Steeling herself, she let the flap close behind her and walked towards the bathroom. Or what passed as the bathroom, which at the moment was a large hole dug into the partially frozen ground a short distance away from the camp; close enough to raise the alarm if necessary, but far enough away to not stink up the place.
That done, Sam began walking around the edges of the camp, hoping for a glimpse of their usually insomniac colonel, or Teal'c, or even Daniel. It had been a while since she'd sat down and talked with them, or joked with them. Their time since loosing the hobbits had been spent either tracking or helping others. Even during the walk to Helm's Deep she'd been pulled away to help the other women in dealing with the children and elderly.
"I wouldn't have though you'd brave the cold."
Sam spun around, slipped, and fell on her butt with a muffled "Ow."
"Are you all right Samantha?" Legolas kneeled in front of her, concerned. "I didn't mean to frighten you."
"I'm fine," Sam said, shifting her weight slightly. "That's what the padding's for."
He looked confused. "Padding?"
Some perverse part of her wanted to reach around and pat his padding for clarification, but she fought against it. Air Force officers did not act like that.
But your not in the Air Force right now, are you?
Great, the Bitch was back. Didn't I tell you to jump off a cliff and die?
Sure, you just didn't say when.
"Never mind," she muttered, fixing herself so she was seated comfortably, or as comfortably as someone could get on permafrost. "I was looking for my team, but I guess they turned in already.
Legolas nodded. " Your companions decided it would be best to sleep in the tents this night. Aragorn has followed suit, more or less." He gestured to one of the long structures, and she thought she could see a lump awash with steam outside of one of them.
" What time is it?"
The elf looked to the sky. "Past third watch. Four hours till dawn. The changing of the watch must have awakened you."
When given an easy out. "Yeah." She turned a critical eye to her companion. "Don't you sleep?" the question had bothered her since their first week traveling together. No matter the time, day or night, the elf always seemed to be up and alert.
"I have. Elves can survive on a handful of hours if necessary."
"Okay, this is gonna be a weird question, but… do you dream?"
Legolas settled beside her. "All creatures dream, Samantha, at one time or another."
"Even if you only sleep for two hours? Consistently?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Because its one of the reasons humans need a lot of sleep." She could feel herself slipping to lecture mode, but couldn't stop. "We need to dream. If we don't we start hallucinating. Our brains decided we need to dream, whether or not we're actually asleep. You see it all has to do with alpha waves in the brain," Sam stopped. There was no way she could explain this to the elf in terms that would make sense. It wasn't even her field. "I'm lecturing. I'll stop."
"You are embarrassed by your intelligence?"
"No!" Sam pushed the hood of her cloak back a little, she was starting to get warm. "Most people just get bored listening to techno-babble, umm… in-depth explanation."
The two sat in silence for a moment, until Sam couldn't take it anymore. She never was found of companionable silences. "Pretty night," she said, gesturing with one hand to the stars.
"The Valar have graced us with clear skies these many weeks." He looked up at the stars. "They think well of our journey."
"Gandalf tried to explain your theology to me, I just wasn't paying attention. Who are the Valar?"
Legolas smiled. "They are the spirits who gave Middle Earth its form, who readied the world for the coming of elves and men."
"And they're still here?"
He nodded, looking out over the plain. "They watch always, though they do not interfere needlessly. They are our guardians." He turned to her. "The stars are their eyes."
"A lot of human myths from our world are kind of similar." Sam said, drawing her knees up to her chest. "The stars were the places where the dead went, where they could watch their loved ones. Daniel could probably tell you more about that than I could. I used to stare at the sky for hours when I was a kid, look at the constellations." She looked down and fought the blush moving steadily up her face. What the hell had made her say that? "I haven't done that in years, not since joining the Stargate program." She glanced at the elf, then back to the sky. "The stars are so bright here I haven't been able to find any patterns."
Legolas looked to the sky and pointed. "Do you see those star, they almost form a wedge. That is Soronúmë, the eagle." Sam nodded. The 'wings' were a large V of stars, with two groupings of stars beneath them that could be two sets of talons. With a little imagination she could see it, a giant eagle about to grab the world in mid-flight.
"Cool."
"You are not speaking of the cold?" Legolas asked. When she shook her head he smiled. "I have been asking Jack to help me understand your idioms. It is very difficult."
Samantha laughed. "You should ask Teal'c, he's been trying to get it right since we picked him up."
The elf nodded gravely. "He has been most forthcoming, especially on Jack's insistence on comparing things to his backside. It seems to be a fixation of his."
It took about two seconds for Sam to get the joke and start chuckling. Another five before she was on her back laughing like a loon.
"I see the joke worked."
Sam sat up, wiping tears from her eyes. It felt good to laugh. "Yeah, it did. Did Teal'c put you up to it?"
"No, he only brought it to my attention," Legolas pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Your eyes lighten when you laugh, your cares disappear."
Bingo, now, jump on him before he gets away! Sam ignored the voice and forced down a small tingle. He was just being friendly. "Thanks," she said, brushing the remaining hair behind her ear.
The two sat for a moment, neither speaking, each looking at the other, until Sam broke the silence again. "So, are there any other constellations up there?" she pointed to the sky.
The elf tilted his head, then turned back to the sky. "Remmirath, the sisters, are there," he pointed to a bright cluster of stars. " The legends of my people say there were once the daughters of an elvish lord. Once they were of age he began to arrange for their marriages, but they could not bear to be parted, so Elbereth set them in the skies, to shine together for all time. And there," he pointed to the north. "That is Menelvagor, the swordsman."
Sam had to search for a moment before she found it, and she froze. That was… no, it couldn't be. "Swordsman?" she asked.
Legolas nodded. "There is his sheath," he pointed to a string of stars. "And there his belt. He holds his sword ready to protect the world from evils without."
Sam studied it again, counting the visible stars. It was flipped upside down and reversed, and in the wrong part of the sky, but there was no doubting it. She was looking at Orion. She looked back to Remmirath. Seven stars clustered together. It was the Pleiades.
They were on Earth.
"Are you all right, Samantha?"'
Sam shivered, wondering what she should do. She should wake the others and let them know that they weren't on some strange planet light-years away from home. They were home, just not their home.
Oh, come on. You wanna break the mood just to let them know something that could wait until morning?
They need to know. We're on Earth for God sake! What use is a Stargate to get somewhere we already are?
Oh, stop whining! Is there a stargate near here?
No.
Will waking them up do anything other than make them worry about something that cant be changed in the first place?
No
Then do us both a favor and shut the hell up and let him seduce us!
He's not trying to seduce us!
Yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that!
"Samantha?"
A soft hand was on her shoulder, and she shook herself. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"You appeared to be far away for a moment. Do you think so hard often?"
More often than she needs to- Will you shut up! "I get lost in my own head." She touched her temple. "My dad used to say one day he'd have to send a search party to find me."
"I doubt very much anyone would loath the idea of finding you."
Sam blushed. She was about to say something she knew she'd regret later when there was a muffled shout behind them. Legolas was kneeling in an instant, knife in hand, but it was only one of the soldiers stumbling in the dark. "I'd better go," she said and stood hastily, shaking the worst of the grass from her cloak. "Someone might wake up and worry about me."
"Good night then, Samantha," Legolas said as he stood and bowed.
Sam forced herself not to run back to the tent, aware the whole time of his eyes on her. This is not good, honey. This is so not good.
The only bad part was she didn't know to what she was referring, what she'd just found out, or what she was starting to suspect.
Aragorn watched the two separate and sighed. Legolas watched Samantha until she disappeared into her tent, then turned and walked to the other end of their camp. Trust the elf to waste such an opportunity.
"He's a lovesick fool, isn't he?"
The ranger rolled over. Gimli had used his axe to prop up part of the tent, allowing the warm air to wash over him as he spied on their friends. "Unfortunately one who doesn't know how to listen to his heart, Master Dwarf."
"Where's the pointy-eared elf now?"
Aragorn lifted his head slightly and scanned the area. He couldn't see much, stuck between a bluff and a tent. "Probably gone off to convince himself that nothing could have happened, and more importantly that he didn't want anything to happen."
Gimli snorted. "Didn't even have the stones to kiss her, did he?"
"Legolas is as stubborn as they come, Gimli. Hopefully, he'll come to his senses soon."
"About as quickly as a mule would," the dwarf muttered. "You plannin' on staying out there all night, or are you going to slip under here?"
Aragorn crawled back into the tent with a heavy heart. Apparently, their friend was already on the right path, all he needed was a subtle push.
Or a good kick in the rear.
Déjà vu.
Daniel couldn't remember how many times they had to guide panic stricken people to safety. Behind him he could hear the sound of steel clashing against steel, and was just as relieved to be away from there as he was pissed that Jack thought he couldn't hold his own. Then again, Sam was right here with him, pushing people in the right direction, throwing children onto carts, and he knew she could handle herself.
Helms Deep was little more than a mile away, and they were ambushed.
"Hurry up! Move it!" he pushed a young man to get him moving again before he turned to see what had him frozen. A big something had crested the hill behind them and was charging."Sam!" he pulled out his gun and tried to calm himself. Remember, squeeze, don't pull, he said to himself, recalling every lesson Jack had given him on shooting. He had one clip left, he needed to make it count.
It took four bullets to bring it down, throwing the rider in the process. Whatever it was, it was roughly the size of a bear.
"Oh, God," Sam was next to him, watching the hill where the men were still battling warily.
He pushed her towards the women. "Help them get everyone to the Keep, I'll watch our back."
She looked like she was about to protest when the sounds of fighting got louder. The battle was coming to them. She nodded and sprinted back to the group. "All right, everybody, lets hustle! Drop everything you don't need!" she started pulling bundles out of one of the larger carts.
Daniel crouched behind the dead monster and watched the horizon. Twice what looked like orcs tried to head in their direction, but he still had bullets. It wasn't until the gun emptied that he started to worry. He looked behind him. The women were out of sight, hopefully they were at the Deep by then.
He turned around in time to narrowly miss a sword flying at his head, rolling to the side as the sword came down again. He made a grab for the orcs sword arm, gagging internally at the slick feel of its skin. It kept pushing forward, and he felt himself slipping on the frozen ground.
Suddenly, the thing kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards as it pulled back, the sword cutting into his face. Daniel rolled and gained his feet again, blinking blood out of one eye and reaching blindly for his long knife. The orc charged him again and he changed tactics, turning to the side and letting the creatures momentum throw them both to the ground with him on top. He ignored the slicing pain in his side and thrust the weapon as hard as he could at the thing's throat, not releasing his hold on its sword arm until it stopped gurgling.
Daniel rolled off it, waiting for the sky to right itself. He was still bleeding, and if the warm wet sensation in his side was any indication, he was bleeding from there as well, more freely than was good. The sounds of the battle were fading, and as he closed his eyes he hoped they'd given the people enough time to reach Helm's Deep.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for reading my drivel!!!!! Apologies all around for taking so long to update :::hangs head in shame::::
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