Grief.

chapter three

It had taken much longer than she had thought and a lot more energy and muscle than she thought herself capable of...to get the injured man to his current resting place. the storm had arrived just as she had rigged the hammock to Odan's harness. The ground had turned muddy fast and had made the trip harder.

Once she had him settled, she administered to her own injury. She had suffered a deep gash on her arm from ragged metal just outside the magical room. She had bound it right away with cloth she found within the room, but it had been sometime ago. She was dismayed to find the wound still oozing blood, the site red and inflamed.

The house had been just too far to go for poor grieving Odan, so instead she had opted to bring the man to the underground shelter which was nearer to the edge of the field, hidden by a stand of trees. It was dry and had bed rolls and supplies already there. It had been built long ago to keep them safe from the Wraith if they came to cull. She thought back to the only time, in her lifetime, when she had been in this very shelter, with her parents. She had been a small child when the Wraith had come. Her father had hurriedly carried her while her mother carried a cache of food to the shelter while the Wraith ships noisily flew above. They had remained there for many days, until her father was sure the Wraith were gone. The shelter was well hidden, purposely so, so that no Wraith seeking more victims would be led to this hiding place.

She had not really had time to look at the injured man too closely as her attentions had been focused on getting him to the shelter, away from the magical room. She had been thankful the man was not large, or she would not have been able to move him at all. Though he was heavy enough, even if his build suggested different. Now that she had time to look, the familiarity struck her like a lightning bolt. This man before her, closely resembled her mate, the man she had been grieving for these last few weeks. This man's build was comparable to her beloved's as was his coloring and his age seemed similar. His dark hair was shorter and stood out at odd angles. He was very handsome and she blushed at the thought. She was still in mourning, but that did not stop her from appreciating another man's pleasant features. She shook herself from such thoughts and busied herself as she looked after his injuries.

Uliana stayed in the shelter all day and all night, tending to the injured man. He had yet to fully awaken, though he had surfaced a few times. Incoherent for the most part, she had only been able to get him to drink some water. He was feverish due to his injuries and she had added the sasson berry juice to the water to help reduce the fever and fight the infection from his injuries.

So intent on caring for the man, she had not taken care of her own injury properly. She had ignored the building pain and the fever that accompanied it. Fatigue consumed her as the fever took hold.

She was unaware of the activity going on outside, in the field where the mysterious room was.

-OooooooooOooooooooO-

Major Lorne headed the rescue mission. Once it was determined that Colonel Sheppard, Dr Bushnell and Jumper One were missing, his team headed out immediately. It hadnt taken long to find the downed jumper's tracker. Sadly, they found Dr Bushnell dead inside, apparently fatally injured after being thrown head first into the bulkhead door. Alarmingly, the Colonel was missing, though blood was evident around and on the pilot seat.

The jumper had been cloaked and had remained that way after impact. They had found it with the rear hatch door opened. If the Colonel had exited, his tracks were erased by the heavy rain that had fallen.

Ronon was frantically trying to pick up a trail but had been unsuccessful thus far. No one was home at the house near the field. They had been there several times over the last 24 hours. It was definitely someone's current home, but they had yet to return, which was curious, as the livestock were still there, unattended in a barn near the house. One large mule type animal, wore a harness that was still damp.

Rodney busied himself trying to fix the power conduit relay which he had identified as the reason for the puddlejumper to crash. Rodney was saddend by the death of his colleague and his worry over his friend being injured and missing was making him irritable and cranky. Everyone was keeping their distance, even Teyla, who chose to keep an eye on her fellow teammates as they tried to work out what had happened and where the Colonel might be. Her own concerns about the Colonel barely manageable as time passed. It made no sense. He could not have gone far, not on his own. The occupants of the home were absent and though there were a multitude of reasons that may explain that, the most likely reason was they were with the Colonel. But where?!

TBC