Title: Salvation
Chapter rating: K+
Pairing: none so far
Spoilers: Yes
Length: Multi-chapter

Summary: A Sodan healer takes Mitchell in after he is shot by Volnek. And oh boy, it is a start of a beautiful friendship, sort of anyway.

Warnings: Minor gore, some bad language.

Disclaimer: If you reg. I do not own.

Chapter 01. The Healer

Do'Lene watched as her guest slowly regained consciousness. The Tau'ri male had been in bad shape. Not only had he a wound the size of her fist on his side, but a rather nasty bump to the head, and a fever that wrapped it all up quite nicely. Now, Do'Lene was not one to mourn over spilled milk, but she had fought to keep the male alive for three whole days, and now the all powerful warriors of this lost land wanted to kill him of in Kel shak lo.

Sometimes she really, really, wanted to tell the proud Sodan her mind. Did they honestly not realize how incredibly frustrating this was. "Fix him Do'Le, heal him Do'Le.. So we can KILL him Do'Le..." She muttered as she continued grounding the acidic smelling herbs in her small stone mortar. Of course, it was their way. Who was she to tell them how to live their lives?

"Who want's kill me? I mean.. this time?" Her guest suddenly asked.

She nearly dropped the mortar and the almost finished tea powder. "Oh my dearest, you have startled me." She put the mortar away. "But I am glad you are awake." Do'Lene gathered her many skirts and made her way to his bedside. She touched his brow lightly and found it to be cooler than the night before, but still warm enough to tell her he wasn't out of the woods yet, "You are healing." She commented with a smile.

"Great." He groaned. "So about the killing thing..?"

"Oh yes, they say you shot Volnek. You really should have not, the Sodan are very one minded when it comes to vengeance. I suspect they are preparing the Kel shak lo as we speak."

"Somehow that doesn't sound very good to me."

"Perhaps it is so, because it is a ritual where only one of the two whom take part survives?"

"Yep, that'd be it."

She chuckled at his attempt of humor. "I am Do'Lene. A healer of this village."

"Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Earth." He looked around the dim lit room. It wasn't a large space. Cozy and warm colored, with dried plants and herbs of all sort hanging from the walls and ceiling. Sunlight was filtered by green curtains. A sweet smell mixed with spice and lingered in the air.

"It is a pleasure, although I fear a short lived one, to meet you Colonel Cameron Mitchell of Earth." She bowed her head in a very Jaffa like manner, but he could see the mischief in her twinkling whiskey colored eyes. Yep, this woman was probably a handful behind that cool and gathered exterior. And the odd thing was; he had been trying to guess her age since he had managed to focus his eyesight enough, but he just couldn't do it. She talked and acted like his mother, but besides the long greywhite hair, she looked to be around the same age as he was. Her skin was white, not caucasian, but really white. Cam could bet his wings that she wasn't a Jaffa, or Sodan, or what ever the hell these people called themselves.

She handed him a mug containing clear liquid. He raised an eyebrow in question. "It is water." She smiled as he drank. "You do not trust many, yes?"

"Come's with the job. Why am I not tied?"

"Do you wish to be?"

"No, not really." Cam answered.

"There you have it then." She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "Sometimes you ask the oddest of questions." Do'Lene shook her head in amusement. "Once a child asked me if I could make him smell better so that the females would enjoy his company more. I told him to bathe more often. He actually paid me a chick for the advice. Silly child." She took the mug he had emptied and filled it again. "Drink, you have lost a lot of fluids."

"Yeah yeah.." He muttered, but did as he was told. The woman had an air of authority around her that really didn't leave any room for discussion.

"And if you are willing, after you finish, I will re-dress the wound."

"Yeah, about that... You wouldn't happen to have any kickass painkillers would you?"

"I can always make you sleep, if you wish." She offered as she took the now empty mug from him.

He thought about it for a moment. "Nah, nevermind."

"As you wish." Do'Lene gathered her equipment and kneeled next to Cam. "I am not going to lie to you Colonel, this is a very serious wound. When they brought you to me I was not sure if there was anything I could do." While she talked she peeled of the leaves that acted as bandages. "Sorry sorry." She muttered when he let out a pained groan, but continued with practiced ease.

"The hell..?" He muttered as she plucked out a few well fed white maggots from the leaves. His eyes grew large as he realized that the ticklish feeling hadn't just been his imagination. "Get them off me!" He swatted his hand down to the wound, only to be stopped by her hand. Cold fingers wrapped around his wrist and gently pulled his hand back up to his chest.

"Stop it." She said in calm voice. "They are helping you heal."

"But.. It's.. They're maggots!"

"They eat dead flesh." She probed the wound, looking for signs of infection spreading. She found none. "It seems to be healing better than I expected." She washed the surrounding skin before re-dressing the wound, maggots and all.

"That is disgusting."

"Yes. But it works." She shrugged.

"Why do you bother if they're just going to kill me anyway?" Cam asked as she helped him sat up. Do'Lene sat in front of him and crossed her legs. She spread an array of herbal medicines to her lap and reached her hands to the back of his head to feel if the bump she suspected had been the reason it had taken days for him to wake up. The swelling was down. He tensed when her fingers ran through the rough spot on scabbing. A cooling feeling followed as she gently tapped an ointment to the sore skin.

"Because you are alive." She smiled and brought her palms to the sides of his head. She ran her thumb gently over the cut on his cheek. It almost felt like a caress. Do'Lene narrowed her eyes a bit as he focused his gaze to her face. It had been awhile since she had last seen blue eyes. "And this is what I do. Now, look to left, good, and right, good. Up. Down, good. Do you feel any dizziness?"

"Some." He answered truthfully.

"Nausea?"

"No."

"How may fingers?" She held up three.

"Three." He took a hold of the said fingers. "Thank you."

"You are welcome Colonel."

"Cam."

"You are welcome, Cam. You may call me Do'Le if you wish." She bowed her head slightly and was just about to ask him if he was hungry, when the green rug that acted as the door was flung aside almost violently. A tall, dark skinned man stepped inside and stopped dead on his tracks when he saw the pair on the cot holding hands. Do'Lene seemed oblivious to the snarl on the newcomers face, but Cam had met his fare share of jealous boyfriends to recognize the look. Oh boy, he was screwed.

"Hey man, it's not what it looks like." He offered, but it sounded lame even in his own ears. "Dolly was just.. She.."

"Jolan." Do'Lene smiled as she stood up. She had always been fond of the this warrior. He had a good head on his shoulders.

"Healer." Jolan greeted the grey haired woman with a curt nod. "He ready?"

"No dearest, he is not. A day or two still." She answered with a sigh. Oh how she detested the raw violence of these people. How could a community that loved it's people so much, be so perverted when it came to vengeance. There was no trial, no explanations. Eye for an eye. Life for a life. Oh yes, she most definitely did not like this side of the life with the Sodan people.

"He needs to learn jomo se telek if he is to use the krantu." The warrior muttered, but Do'Lene wouldn't bend.

"He has time to learn when he is healed. If you take him now the wound will just get infected again. He will die before you have the chance to get him to the arena."

"Hey, I'm right here." Cam tried, but was effectively silenced by a glare from both Do'lene and Jolan. "Yeah ok." He held his hands up in a surrendering manner.

"Come back after two days." Do'Lene said the final word, to which Jolan answered again with a curt nod. Somehow the small woman had bested the big burly warrior. Hell, it seemed the man was even smiling.

"Wow, he actually listened to you."

"He really has no choice. I am the village healer after all. I brought him to this world and I will be damned if I let him ever force me to do his bidding if I wish not to." She smiled. "Now, are you hungry?"

…

TBC