The elders had finally decided that Daniel could best be used by teaching new farming skills, so he found himself in the fields most days. He showed them how to dig irrigation ditches, to bring water to the crops without having to carry it by hand in buckets. Because it was their summer season, it was past the time of the inundation and harvest and they could spend time preparing for the next rise of the river.
He showed them how to construct a reservoir, to save the water for the dry season. They made a shaduf to lift the water from the ditches to the fields and learned about the wheel. The wheel had limited use in the soft sands of the desert, but in areas around the river where the earth was packed hard, they learned to use carts to carry supplies.
Sha're waited every evening for his return. He would come home filthy and exhausted from the physical labor, but content that he was contributing to his people. She would strip off his robes and wash him from head to toe. When he worked in the fields he only wore a small loincloth as the robe would get in the way. She loved the rich tan he had everywhere but his backside. She'd tease him and say that she didn't need a lamp at night, she could see with the glow from his white bottom. He'd laugh and gather her in his arms to tickle her in retaliation.
Sometimes he could get away from the fields and explore the area around the pyramid and temple. He often planned these trips away from Sha're during the middle of her cycle, when she was the most likely to become pregnant. He hated deceiving her, but she'd never understand why he didn't want her to become pregnant just yet. He was protecting her, keeping her safe. And occasionally he might admit to himself that he didn't want to share her, even with his own child.
It was only about a month after O'Neill and his team had returned to Earth that Daniel first discovered what he later named the Map Chamber. He knew that in Egypt the pyramids were surrounded by temple complexes and he figured that it wouldn't be any different on Abydos.
He taught Skaara and several of the other young men to copy down the all cartouches, especially those up high on the walls that he couldn't see. Sha're was accepting of his "hobby" at first, but eventually began to become impatient with his absences.
He came home one evening, several months later, after two weeks exploring to find an irritated wife.
"Hello, my husband."
Daniel's eyebrows flew up when he heard the unwelcoming tone to her words. She'd never shown the slightest annoyance with him before.
"Uh…hello?" Daniel wasn't certain he wanted to hear what was coming next. Maggie sat by her master's side and cocked her head at Sha're. This was new and she was curious to see what would happen next.
Sha're returned to her work of sewing a new robe for Skaara. Her younger brother was very hard on his clothes, with all the traipsing around her husband had him doing. She took a deep breath and relaxed the muscles in her face so that she presented Daniel with a neutral expression.
"Um, Sha're? Is something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?" Daniel could feel her stiff posture from across the room.
"No, my husband. Why would I possibly be annoyed with you? You are the perfect husband." She chewed on her lower lip, carefully choosing her next words. "No wife has the right to be angered by her husband's absences. She must always strive to make a good home that he would want to come home to. If he does not wish to come home, then it is her fault."
Daniel knew that what he said next could very well determine if his marriage would remain happy or turn sour. He'd never lived with a woman before, his longest relationship had been with Amy and that had ended over twelve years before. Two months dating Sarah hardly seemed like a "relationship."
He quietly sat down on their bed and tried to make sense of her obvious anger with him. He remembered how Ruby would seem to take George's occasional short term assignments away from home. Daniel couldn't remember Ruby becoming upset or giving George the cold shoulder when he came back. He didn't understand why Sha're was upset. He'd only been gone two weeks.
Daniel weighted each carefully word before he dared to open his mouth. "There's nothing I love more than coming home to you."
Maggie sat between them, tired after her travels with Daniel, swinging her head back and forth. She wondered if she could make Daniel happy. She moved over to Daniel and placed her head in his lap, looking up at him worshipfully. Daniel absentmindedly scratched the dog on the top of her head.
Sha're slowly placed her sewing down next to her. She turned to face her husband. "I am glad to hear that. Then next time my father's sisters give me suggestions for keeping you happy, I can tell them their advice isn't needed. That their suggestion of allowing you to marry a second, younger wife to make you more satisfied and keep you at home, isn't the problem."
Daniel suddenly realized what his wandering habits had meant for her. He thought he was protecting her from becoming pregnant so young, but the village women thought she wasn't being a good wife. They thought he was staying away because he wasn't happy with Sha're. He was staying away because he knew he'd never be able to keep his hands off her.
Maggie sensed his confusion and glumness and tried to help by nudging his hand with her snout. She wanted him to know that she was here for him.
Sha're stood and slowly walked over to Daniel. She knelt in front of him, petting Maggie as a way to sooth herself. Taking a cleansing breath, she began, "If you wish to take another wife…a younger wife…a wife who can give you a child…to make you happy, then I will agree."
Daniel was stunned. "Oh my god! I don't want another wife! I want no child but yours. I love you. You make me happy." He reached down for her, took her face between his hands and leaning down he kissed her slowly and gently. "No one else could ever make me as happy as you do."
Sha're accepted his kiss, but didn't believe his words. He was gone too much for a newly wed man who loved his wife. "Then why do you leave me?"
Daniel pulled her up next to him on the bed, pushing Maggie aside. "Sha're, on my home world, I was a man who spent all my time with books and learning about the past on Earth. I thought very little about other people, because there was no one else to think about. Just me."
He tugged her a little closer and inhaled the scent of her. It rushed to his head and throughout his body, reminding him why he stayed away from her. "I'm not used to being accountable to anyone else. The way you live here on Abydos is strange for me. It isn't just sharing space with you, I love that, but there is no privacy here. Everyone does everything together. You eat together. You bathe together. Hell, you even go to the bathroom together! There's only a curtain that keeps us from the whole town. They hear everything that happens in our room."
He blushed at remembering some of the things that others must have heard. No wonder Skaara teased him with moans and groans some mornings. "Sometimes I just have to get away and be alone. I need to do that to keep sane. I need to learn about the places I've found as much as I need food…and almost as much as I need you."
He pushed her down on the bed. He'd been gone for two weeks and he wanted her. "I need you, Sha're. As much as I need to breathe."
Maggie plopped down in her corner and closed her eyes. She knew what was coming next and she wasn't interested.
XXXXXXXXXX
Daniel tried to be more attentive to Sha're after that. He tried to keep his wanderings down to just a few days, but eventually he was back to being gone for a week or two at a time. He continued share his knowledge of useable technology with Kasuf and the elders and they began to have more respect for him. The people loved him for his gentle ways and for his intelligence. But they still laughed softly at his odd habits and treated him as if he were a pampered child.
It had been almost a year Abydos time and Daniel was beginning to get restless. He loved his life here, but longed to share what he had found with someone who understood. Sha're was bright and wonderful, but she was frequently bewildered by his excitement over mundane objects and daily life in the small desert community.
Sha're decided that if she wanted to spend more time with him, then she'd have to learn some of his ways and not expect him to always conform to hers. She started going with him on his wanderings and learned how to transcribe some of the writings he discovered. She learned that when he was focused on the writings, he was living in his own world and she began to understand what he had told her about how isolated he had been.
One evening, when they were at home, Sha're approached him just after dinner.
"Husband, I have a question."
"Of course. Sit here, next to me." Daniel patted the bed; the only piece of furniture in their small room.
She settled herself next to him and leaned back against the wall. Maggie unobtrusively slithered up on the bed, and laid her head in Daniel's lap. She had sensed Sha're's mood and knew that Daniel would need her support.
"What would you like to know?" Daniel assumed it would be something related to either his work or what he was teaching the people of the town. He was please to know that illness had decreased when he taught them to wash their hands and not use a communal cleaning brush in the bathrooms. The thought of that made him shudder mentally in horror.
"I know much about your work on Earth, but you have never spoken at all about a family. I wish to know about your parents and brothers and sisters. What games did you play as a child? A couple of times you have mentioned a place called school. Tell me about yours." She leaned forward and grasped his hand in hers. "I want to know more about you, my Dan-yel."
Daniel scooted back to lean against the wall next to her. He'd never purposely avoided talking about his life with her. Back on Earth, he learned to keep his past to himself as it made other people uncomfortable around him. He felt that they treated him differently. It was bad enough trying to show them that he could do his job with limited vision, but once they heard he had been orphaned, they treated him like a fragile child. He hated that.
"Where do I start?" Daniel had told her about Earth and tried to help her understand how different it was from Abydos, but he knew she'd never understand about airplanes or computers or even electric ovens. He spent the next couple of hours telling her about his life before and after his parents' deaths.
She never interrupted to ask questions, but just let him talk. She'd never heard him speak so much about himself in the year they'd been together. She smiled to herself as she realized that he could talk for hours about some building he'd found or a pot shard, but he never talked about himself.
When he'd finally finished, she didn't say a word, just pulled his head onto her shoulder and held him until they both fell asleep with Maggie curled up next to her beloved master.