Hello! Sorry I took so long ?

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter 17

She blinked several times when the woman returned telling her things she didn't understand and looked at her as she was some sort of miracle or salvation. She wasn't sure which one.

"Weyo! Jur Malaki…"

"Weyo?" she asked twirling the container. The woman crooked her head and smiled as if she was listening to the first words of a child.

"Jur," she pointed the water. And Sam repeated the world confirming what it meant. Then the woman pointed to herself, "Fewashi,"

"Fewashi," Sam nodded and pointed to the woman who nodded, "Sam," she said pointing to herself. The woman snorted.

"Yelemi Sam," she grinned, making Carter frown, why would she not be Sam? "Yanite Malachi," Fewashi told her as it made all the sense of the world.

"Sam." She attempted again

"El Fewashi, yanite Malachi."

"Sam."

"Malachi."

"Okay, you win… only because my head is still pounding," Sam told her with a sigh, and then she remembered mocking Daniel for doing exactly what she just did. Speaking English when he knew the others didn't understand a word. 'Oh, but I do," he told her once, "and it is least frustrating when I can vent at my inability to understand them.' She grimaced, if Daniel got frustrated, she couldn't imagine how bad it would be for her to learn it enough to find a way to return.

Fewashi saw her wince and walked away. Sam used that time to look at the woman, the things that caught the Colonel's attention were her skin tone, which was a dark gray, and her hands, she had four fingers, tree long ones that she remembered saw before and a short one, a thumb. Her hair was a bubble gum pink, and her teeth were oil black. And she had caught herself from staring too much into her eyes, the two layers of blink were quite disturbing. She wasn't tall, standing along her she probably would reach Sam below her breasts, but she was bulky and reminded her of one cartoon she had seen growing up… Street Sharks she remembered. Yes, she smiled to herself, if you could put her head over the body of one of the sharks, that would be Fewashi.

"Mewisede Malachi, mewisede," Fewashi told her, after placing a couple of drops in the water container, and pushed the bowl towards Sam's lips again. And Carter understood. When she finished, the older woman took the vase and placed on the light table and caressed Sam's hair in a motherly way until her eyes finally dropped.

She dreamt, or more likely, recalled a memory vividly. She was cuddled all over Jack on a lounge chair by the lake in MInessota, as he caressed her back languidly with one hand. A fishing cane occupied the other one. The sun was starting to rise, and only birds were heard.

"Jack…" she began but stopped herself not wanting to break the first moments of peace of their mini holidays. He hummed in response, and as she didn't continue, he moved to search her eyes. She sighed, "I… why did you lose faith in us while in Edora?" He sighed.

"I didn't. Not really." He shook his head and picked the cane placing it to the side.

"Then?" She asked with a frown; he caressed her forehead softly to make it go away.

"It was a complicated situation, you know? I knew my chances, and they were low; we almost lost Teal'c on the rescue. But it wasn't that; I couldn't sit and do nothing while I was there, there were lots to do to restore the town to what it was before. So, I would wake up early in the morning, and help the man until lunch; then I worked myself trying to find the gate. In the nights, I was so bone tired that a couple of times I fell asleep on the table." She caressed his hair with one hand.

"I knew I couldn't keep that kind of life for long; I'm not young enough to go for months at the rhythm. Laira walked with me, and she told me she once took a hundred days without leaving the house nor speaking to mourn the death of her husband. And I asked her, then what? And she answered simple, then I I walked out and spoke to people. My mourning was different, I know what is like to lose someone close to your heart, but I didn't lose one. I lost all of you, at once. And I took to count; I figured that if you didn't come by the first month, I would be difficult to convince the higher ups to keep trying. I mean, they left me behind for a longer time before and they didn't care. Why this time would have been any different?"

She opened her mouth to speak, and he placed a finger over her lips and kissed her temple.

"I know because there was you, and Daniel and Teal'c and even dad. I should have known that if you didn't manage to break through with that death beam of yours, you would kidnap a tel'tak to find me. I know that know…" he kissed her softly and brushed the tear which she didn't feel had fallen out of her cheek.

"But anyway, it was … the rhythm of Edora slowly started to settle on me, my routine was becoming that, and my memories began to falter, and I forgot." He lowered his head ashamed, "I forgot the little things first, like how Walter looks when opening the gate, the smell of the embarking room. The way Daniel liked his coffee, or how exactly Teal'c grunts when he gets hit while sparring. I started to worry when I didn't remember how high your eyebrow goes when you are surprised, or how deep you frown when concentrated. And then, somehow, I stopped thinking at all. I had not much to remember all of you, and I could have a decent life, a final retirement of sorts, and Laira was patient enough with me. I liked her, and she was patient and kind and worried about me. It wasn't you… but she was there."

When she woke up, feeling slightly dizzy, she listened to the world. She looked around and figured it was more advanced than she first gave it credit for. The flap she heard was in fact tent looking doors, but they were part of a building, the things she saw scattered around told her she was in some sort of infirmary, and that the woman, Fewashi was the town's Doctor.

A couple of days happened, or so she thought until she was moved to the house part of Fewashi's building. She was surprised when she noticed it had almost the same layout as the Minnesota home. Two bedrooms a bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen of sorts. Although, meals were held in a different building. She understood Fewashi had some privileges since she had to keep her things cold and also, she could have patients who needed quick sustenance or had weird schedules while sick.

Once she could keep herself awake for longer periods, Fewashi helped her to get to a bath where she got rid of all the green slush in which she was covered, only to be covered by a new fresh layer of it afterward. She didn't complain about it, since cleaning herself was painful due to the burns she had sustained, and the green thing was calming.

Then, one day, she joined Fewashi, on the meal building. Still green, and with her hair standing at odd angles. She felt a reminiscence of the many first days as the new girl in the school she had endured during her youth. But soon, the room was loud again, and she was given the meal. Outside the sun was starting to set, or at least she thought so, and she decided this was her first official dinner in this tribe. Then, she joined them on the next one and noticed that while on one side the sun was an hour or two away from setting, on the other side, the sun was starting to shine. And she figured that a couple of hours later heat would be too much to stand. When they left the mess hall, the temperature had raised a couple of degrees. And they hurried to her home.

When only one sun was out there, the elders searched for Fewashi; there was a discussion, one Sam didn't quite understand but knew it had to do with her. At least, if as she imagined she was the only "Malachi" out there. Fewashi looked bewildered when she came looking out for Sam. She extended her a hand, and they both walked towards a trailer which was parked in the middle of the tribe.