The comforting silver-blue glare of the wormhole's event horizon shimmers across the walls like liquid light. Jack stands in the control room behind Silar and Walter, his arms crossed over his chest. He sighs.
"Don't feel so bad, Colonel," Walter says reassuringly, clicking away at his keys, shifting from monitor to monitor in his swivel chair. "She creeps the hell outta us, too," Silar added.
Jack smiles cynically. From the shimmering silver pool then comes a figure. Jack averts his gaze to a spot near Walter's busy fingers. He can already feel his comfort diminishing. He reluctantly turns his gaze back. The Accasre walks gracefully down the on-ramp, head held high, picking up her green dress as she descends the stairs. She pushes her long raven hair behind her as she is met by Sam. Sam smiles and both women embrace each other in a tight hug. Jack is shocked to see Norestes smiling...sort of. There is no real change in the dimensions of her fairytale face, but he...can tell she is happy to see Sam. They pull away from each other and Norestes turns to shake Hammond's hand, her face still somehow portraying an air of calm and contentedness.
Jack watches as Sam and Hammond speak words he cannot hear, and he sees Norestes's face falter for only a moment. She blinks and turns her face upwards, towards Jack. She glares at him right in the eye. A chill runs up his spine, giving him goosebumps.
A really great day. Really.
Norestes turns her head away and follows Sam and the General out of the room. A few seconds pass and Jack sees Sam in his peripheral vision walk up the stairs to the control room, followed by Hammond. Jack closes his eyes in discomfort when the Accasre enters the room. But he knows he can't be obviously rude to this woman; it would be worse than slighting the Asgard. Even though bravado doesn't matter; she can see right through him in a way no one ever has, like she has perfect vision, able to see through all the bullshit. He sucks it up and turns to face her.
Norestes's hair is still extremely lengthy, hanging down past her waist, a lustery onyx amongst blonde and gray. She is wearing a light green gown this time, a few hundred shades lighter than her eyes, which are still the vibrant green Jack remembered them to be. The idea of Emerald City will never give him the full comfort it used to, and will always remind him of the way her face is too naturally shaped. The smooth bones of her skull are perfectly curved to create what Jack perceives as the most graceful-looking creature to walk the earth and back. It is within these features that he finds no solace, regardless of how beautiful she is.
"Jack," she says, her voice like a grand piano on the wind. She bows her head in respect.
"Nora," he returns, shifting uncomfortably.
"I offer my condolences, Colonel," she says gracefully.
Daniel's not dead yet, Jack thinks, irate.
"Where is this device you told me of?" She asks Sam, in a voice slightly more feminine.
Sam does not reply and instead beckons for Nora to follow her. They pass Jack to ascend the stairs, and Nora's eyes catch Jack's off-guard. The moment lasts only less than a second, but in that second her eyes peirce his soul, knowing too much. He shakes himself of the heebie-jeebies when her back is turned and follows behind General Hammond.