A/N: Sorry it so long to upload this chapter. I'm taking a few courses, so my time is divided between those and writing these chapters. Do not worry, I'm still writing but it would take time between writing the chapters and uploading them to the site. In the meantime, enjoy. Cheers.
Stargate Command, 1700 hours.
"Colonel Dixon," Dr. Carolyn Lam, the daughter of the commander of Stargate Command and the SGC's Chief Medical Officer whispered as she smiled and nodded her head at the Colonel, the leader of SG-13.
"Doc," he replied stepping to one side after the door to the General's office opened. She walked past him in a hurry before the Colonel turned his head to General Landry waving him into the latter's office. General Landry was standing behind his desk before taking a seat after motioning towards the chair on the other side of the desk.
For the next thirty minutes, Colonel Dixon and General Landry were talking about SG-13's next mission, to lead a recovery team to another world that had just been attacked by the remnants of the Ori Army. While the majority of the army and the Priors retreated to their own galaxy following the use of the Ark of Truth to make them see that Origin was a lie, there were a few who remained behind. These remnants were enraged that their belief was taken away from them, that they had been lied to. They killed their Priors, who kept n saying they were wrong, and then went on to attack numerous planets using their commandeered Ori motherships.
There were three motherships that remained behind carrying a total of over twelve thousand Ori soldiers. It would take a long time before the final Ori ship was found and destroyed thanks to Tok'ra intelligence. The galaxy was finally rid of the Ori army, and life had returned to a new normal. It would be later that the Tau'ri discovered a Tollan world during a mission- and in this world the SGC reconnected with their former allies.
Back in the present day, the Colonel and the General continued to discuss the latest humanitarian mission that would aid in the recovery from attack by the Ori remnant when the klaxons blared. It was then that a voice came over the speakers, "unscheduled incoming wormhole, defence teams to the Gateroom." Colonel Dixon and the General looked at each other for a second before they got up and then rushed out of the office and down to the Control Room where Walter had his hand on a scanner that flashed green. The Colonel then looked through the control room window and saw the gunmetal grey coloured Iris slide over the center of the Stargate. And just as the Iris closed shut, the dialling sequence was complete and the Stargate activated.
"Walter? Who is it?" General Landry asked while Colonel Dixon stood next to him and stared at the Iris before looking at the computer to Walter's left side. He saw an oscillating wave on the screen, as did General Landry, which meant that an IDC signal was being sent through the open wormhole.
"It's the Alpha Site, sir," Walter said looking over his shoulder at the General, "we're receiving an audio transmission."
"On speaker."
"This is Colonel Pierce to Stargate Command."
"Colonel Pierce, this is General Landry. This is a surprise, we're not supposed to hear from you for another three days."
"Yes, sir." The Colonel replied as he stood at the desk in the Alpha Site Gateroom, "General, there's been an incident. Almost three hours ago, there was a Tok'ra agent that came through the gate to the Alpha Site." Back in the SGC, Colonel Dixon and the General glanced at each other… it wasn't unusual to have Tok'ra agents or even some Jaffa to use the Alpha Site as a waypoint before moving on to their home worlds in times of emergency. So the both of them were prepared to hear that there was some kind of emergency that forced this particular Tok'ra agent to Gate to the Alpha Site. However, they were not prepared for the reason, as the Colonel continued, "sir, the Tok'ra had a girl in her arms."
"Colonel? Can you repeat that? Did you say a girl?"
"A girl, yes sir," Colonel Pierce confirmed as he placed both of his hands on the desk in front of him, "she's about three years old. She's been injured pretty bad and…"
"How bad?" the General asked while Colonel Dixon crossed his arms over his chest and listened. He could hear the hint of anger in Colonel Pierce's voice as he relayed what the doctors on the Alpha Site had told him.
"She had ten stab wounds through her body- chest, abdomen, and… well… and her head had a stab wound too."
"Had?" the General asked over the radio.
"Those wounds were healed by a Goa'uld healing device the Tok'ra used but…" Colonel Pierce closed his eyes and then took in a deep breath as he remembered seeing the pale girl being placed a gurney in the infirmary hours ago. At that same time, the General and Colonel Dixon looked at each other in shock while Walter paled upon hearing what was done to the girl. The report was being heard by the other technicians in the Control Room, and they stopped to listen when Colonel Pierce continued, "she lost a lot of blood, General. It's a miracle that she's still alive."
"What's the prognosis?"
"It's touch and go even with the healing device, sir," the Colonel replied while Colonel Dixon shook his head, "the girl is in the operating room now. But the Tok'ra agent is still here in the Alpha Site. She's saying that she has to return to the Tok'ra homeworld."
"Belay that, I want the both of you through the Stargate for a full debriefing," the General ordered. The Colonel on the other side of the wormhole nodded his head just as Talia walk up to him saying that she was ready to leave. It was then that Colonel Pierce told the scowling Talia that General Landry wanted to be debriefed on Earth. Talia glared at the Colonel before saying she was already late in getting back to the Tok'ra homeworld. However, Colonel Pierce insisted, "The girl's been badly injured, you've seen her before healing the wounds... you've seen what else happened, and…"
"Which I have already told you," Talia reminded the Colonel.
"And now, the General would like to hear from you," the Colonel said as Talia crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "he wants to hear everything from you personally, and then you can leave directly from Earth."
A part of Talia was telling her to stay longer to make sure that the girl was going to be fine. But Talia knew that staying longer would force her to stay closer to the girl.. she knew that a part of her would want to stay longer and longer with the girl. But Talia couldn't make any personal connection with the girl… she didn't want to make a personal connection with the girl. And it was something that the host and the symbiote agreed- the faster she left the Alpha Site and Earth, the better. 'I have done what I can.' Talia then stared at Colonel Pierce before nodding her head and saying that she needed to leave for her ship immediately after the debriefing.
"General, I'll gather the girl's medical records and then we'll come through the Stargate," Colonel Pierce said through the radio after thanking Talia for staying just a little bit longer. "We'll be at the SGC in ten minutes."
"I'll have Dr Lam attend the briefing with us," General Landry said.
It was ten minutes later that the Stargate activated once again and General Landry told Colonel Pierce to, "come on through," Meanwhile, Colonel Dixon, who the General had asked to join him since he was there when the report about the girl first came in ten minutes ago. The man found himself at the foot of the ramp thinking who would be so cruel as to repeated stab a little girl. He stared at the unstable vortex 'whooshing' outwards before settling into the event horizon while thinking about his five sons at home, 'if anything happened to them…' The Colonel shook his head not wanted to continue with that train of thought.
The Colonel was soon joined by General Landry who had just walked into the Gateroom when Walter, on the PA system, reminded Dr Lam to meet the General and Colonel Dixon in the briefing room. Just as General Landry whispered Dr Lam was on the way for the briefing, both Colonel Pierce and the Tok'ra agent walked through.
"Colonel Dixon, General Landry," Colonel Pierce said before motioning to Talia who had her hands behind her back as she stood in her uniform, "this is Talia, one of the Tok'ra's… well… I guess the right term would be equivalent to our Special Forces."
"Which explains the Sodan Cloaking device," the Colonel pointed out as Talia turned her head towards him and nodded her head before she closed her eyes; allowing her symbiote to take control.
"I am Arisa. Greetings Colonel," Arisa said in the distinct gravelly voice before turning to General Landry, "and you as well, General. On behalf of the Tok'ra council, allow me to thank you for the use of the Sodan cloaking devices in our search and destruction of the Goa'uld underlords."
"With us busy against the Lucien Alliance, I'm glad that someone's going after the Goa'uld," the General said before glancing at the Colonel and the files he was holding in both hands- one was an oversized folder that the General recognized as containing X-Rays, and the other file was a regular sized file that he thought contained reports. He then looked back at Colonel Pierce and asked, "how bad is this girl's condition."
"The device managed to stop most of the bleeding, but she is still very weak," Arisa nodded her head.
"Let's make our way to the briefing room," General Landry said motioning towards the Control Room. The group walked through the Gateroom, and then up the stairs to the control room, followed by the steel steps to the briefing room one floor above. There, Colonel Dixon saw Dr. Lam standing with her hand on the top of the briefing room table.
"General," Dr Lam nodded her head.
"Dr. Lam," General Landry said walking over to his seat before motioning towards the two strangers, "this is Colonel Peirce from the Alpha Site," Dr. Lam smiled and nodded her head while Colonel Pierce grabbed the top of the leather seat across from her, "and this is Talia. One of the Tok'ra's special agents for hunting the Goa'uld."
"Greetings, Dr. Lam," Talia said, the symbiote having transferred control of the shared body to Talia while they were walking up the stairs. She then looked at the other humans in the room and asked, "shall we begin?"
"Please," the General said motioning towards a seat, "take a seat." He then looked at Dr. Lam who was handed the two folders by Colonel Pierce, "Dr. Lam, about four hours ago, Talia arrived at the Alpha Site carrying a child."
"I recently completed a search and destroy mission," Talia said after the General asked her to report what happened, "I was about to depart when I heard a woman, the girl's mother I believe, scream. And that was followed by the cries of two children."
"Two?" Colonel Dixon asked while Colonel Pierce frowned. The latter was told by the Tok'ra what happened, and it still sickened him to hear Talia recount the sights and sounds back at Maegor's Holdsfast. And this time, Colonel Pierce could see from the expressions of the General, Dr Lam, and Colonel Dixon that they shared the same look of shock and anger that he himself must have expressed back at the Alpha Site. Talia told them about finding the girl bleeding on the bed from stab wounds, the baby beaten and lying dead on the floor with its head smashed, and the woman who was torn in half by the mountain of a man.
"Dear God," Dr. Lam whispered during a lull in the report by Talia, a lull so that they could absorb the sickening information. She then flipped open one of the files and stared at the first picture of the girl; her dress was torn and bloody all over, Dr. Lam saw the red stab wounds, which hadn't fully closed by the time the Tel'Tak reached the planet with the Stargate, still visible, "her bleeding stopped?" She asked looking up at Talia, and then Colonel Pierce who nodded their heads. She then looked back at the picture of the girl's body, her hands trembling at the sight and wondering what kind of a monster would have inflicted this much damage onto an innocent child.
Dr Lam turned to Colonel Dixon and then showed him the picture while she looked at another picture of the same girl from a different angle with the stab wound to her head mostly healed.
"The healing device took care of the internal soft tissue injuries," Talia said after noticing the look of sadness on Dr. Lam's face, "but I felt it best that she come here instead of the Tok'ra homeworld. She is human after all, and… well… the life of a Tok'ra isn't the life for a child."
"What's her name?" asked Colonel Dixon looking at another picture while Dr. Lam stared at an X-ray which showed several scars on the girl's lungs, liver, spleen, intestines, and kidneys. Dr. Lam was stunned that the girl managed to survive for as long as she did from the injuries- which were thankfully healed by the Goa'uld healing device. She then handed the X-Ray to General Landry who was staring at a picture of the bloodied girl before handing it to Colonel Pierce.
Talia shook her head before saying that the woman she assumed to be the child's mother yelled out two names, "she said Aegon and Rhaenys."
"Rhaenys sounds more like a girl's name," Dr. Lam whispered as she stared at the scan showing the healed section of the girl's brain before reminding herself to have the doctors in the Alpha site perform a MRI scan for bleeding in the brain, aneurysms, and any other damage that the original injury may have caused. She knew that the Goa'uld healing device would have healed most of the girl's wounds, but Dr. Lam didn't want to take any chances. "Any idea why this happened?" she asked looking up at Talia.
The Tok'ra shook her head before saying there must have been some kind of a political upheaval, "I was cloaked when I entered the city and made my way towards one of the larger red coloured buildings. Even then, I saw armoured soldiers looting, killing, raping and… and I had a job to do- kill the Goa'uld underlord." Talia sighed before saying, "the upheaval in the city must have been happening for some time before I arrived."
"How about her family? Any idea where they are?" Colonel Dixon asked.
"Other than her dead mother? None," Talia admitted, "I heard guards coming into the room, and so I left with the child. I cannot say if her father is still searching for her, or not. I cannot say if her family is searching for her, or not. I leave that up to the Tau'ri."
"Did she see anything?" Colonel Dixon wanted to know, looking down at the picture in his hands.
"I cannot say," Talia answered.
"Talia, I'd like for you to send us a databurst containing the location of the planet from your ship, as well as all sensor readings," the General said, with Daniel shaking his head and then looking back up at Talia who nodded her head. The latter mentioned that she needed to return to the Tok'ra homeworld for her next mission and that she would not be able to accompany them on any mission to find the girl's parents, "but I must tell you that the Stargate has somehow been blocked as we have not been able to make a connection."
"What else do you know?" Dr. Lam asked looking up at Talia from the open folder in her hand that contained medical reports.
"Nothing else," Talia shook her head before continuing, "that girl? It is a miracle that she survived."
"If it wasn't for the healing device, I think she'd be dead in the ship," Dr. Lam said after closing the file and leaning back on the seat, "her brain's been healed, according to the scans. But I'll ike to run more scans and tests. And... well... we'll only know if the blood loss affected her mind when she wakes up."
The General knew that all their ships were already on assignment; the Daedalus and the Apollo were stationed in Pegasus. The Sun Tzu, the Moscow, the Hammond, and the Odyssey were cloaked behind enemy lines in Lucien Alliance territory. The SGC received intelligence that the Alliance were planning the largest shipments of Kassa to their main production facilities in a week- the ships were waiting for those shipments, and then they were going to destroy the facilities, ships, and the unrefined Kassa once they reached the surface.
"I'll have the Hammond redirected to the planet once her mission is completed," the General said nodding his head, "and that's not for another week."
"So, we wait?" Daniel asked.
"We wait," the General said.
However, it would be five hours after the girl's condition was supposedly stable following lengthy surgeries that she slipped into a coma.
USAF George Hammond, in orbit of planet Illirianis, a week later.
Once the Lucien Alliance Kassa mission was completed, the Hammond headed for the planet Illirianis thanks to the coordinates that were supplied by Talia. The ship first made a stop at P7H-837 to pick up SG-1 who was assigned by General Landry for the meet and greet since Colonel Dixon and his team were on another mission. Once SG-1 was briefed on the situation, they then went through the Stargate in a Puddle Jumper before taking it into orbit of '837 and then flying into the Hammond's hanger bay. And then once they were on board the Hammond, the group made their way to Illirianis. It was on board the ship that Colonel Carter was briefed by Daniel and Colonel Mitchell, the current SG-1 commander.
"So, the scanners from the Tok'ra ship haven't been able to detect any life signs?" the Colonel asked as she sat at the head of the briefing room table in the Hammond with was now travelling through hyperspace.
"Nope," Colonel Mitchell said while Vala took a seat next to him and both Teal'c and Daniel sat across from the both of them, "Talia scanned the planet from orbit, but all her sensors showed was that the planet had no inhabitants. She had to fly into the atmosphere before receiving any life signs on her sensors."
"It can be assumed that the Asgard scanners on the Hammond would be able to pierce through any interference," Teal'c said leaning forward, his arms on the table, "Colonel Carter, we have been told that the Asgard genetic scanners are prepared for testing on the Hammond."
"It should be at least," the Colonel said leaning back on her seat, "the information on the Asgard core had the instructions on how to tweak the scanners to search for an individual's genetic code, but it hasn't been tested yet."
"Looks like this is the best time," Daniel said before handing the Colonel a folder containing Rhaenys' genetic information. The Colonel took the folder into her hands before she sighed and asked about the girl.
"She's been transferred to the SGC," Daniel said, "but she's still in a coma."
"At least she's on Earth, and not the Alpha Site," Vala pointed out, "she'll be doing much better there."
"Probably," Daniel nodded his head at Vala before turning to Colonel Carter, "Sam, we brought the Jumper in case the sensors didn't work."
"We'll tweak the sensors on the Jumper to scan for genetic data, "the Colonel answered, "hopefully it works."
"Did the General say anything about what would happen if we can't find the parents? Or at least the father?" Colonel Carter asked.
"She'll be a refugee on Earth," Colonel Mitchell said.
"Just like Cassie," Colonel Carter whispered while remembering the young woman who was her god-daughter.
"Yep," Colonel Mitchell said.
"Okay," Colonel Carter sighed before she got up off her seat. When she stood up, the others did as well, "I'll have Lt. Whelan set up the sensors on the Hammond and the Jumper. In the meantime, we have about an hour before reaching the planet. How about some coffee?"
"I could do with some coffee," Colonel Mitchell shrugged.
"Indeed," Teal'c replied.
"Good," Colonel Carter nodded at the door, "let's get out of here."
It would be an hour later that a blue hued breach opened over Illirianis and the Hammond shot out. Reducing speed while the breach closed behind her, the Hammond soon entered orbit and began scanning the surface searching for anyone related genetically to Rhaenys. However, there was a problem almost immediately.
"We can't scan the surface, ma'am," one of the crew, Captain Meyers, told Colonel Carter. The Colonel looked on in surprise before asking the young woman to make certain changes to the scanners… however, the scanners still could not go through whatever it was causing the interference. Colonel Carter sighed- she hoped that the sensors, the most advanced anywhere in the galaxy, would work, 'and it's a mystery why it doesn't,' Colonel Carter thought leaning forward on her command chair before pressing a button on the left armrest, "Colonel Mitchell, you have a go."
Colonel Carter then leaned back on her seat upon hearing Colonel Mitchell, who was piloting the Jumper about to leave the hanger bay, acknowledge the order. She then turned to Marks and ordered a full diagnostic on the sensor array before looking back at the forward viewport, "there has to be a reason why we can't scan anything."
"Colonel, Jumper One is away," Marks said. However, it would be a few seconds later that the Hammond would lose all sensor contact with the Jumper and the life signs on board. It was something that fascinated Colonel Carter who contacted the Jumper to make sure that nothing untoward happened to them. She was relieved upon receiving a message back and was surprised to hear that the Jumper sensors detected an unknown surge of energy upon entering the atmosphere.
"Can you detect a source?" Colonel Carter asked over the radio.
"Negative, we can't pinpoint a source," Colonel Mitchell responded looking at the readings on the holographic HUD in front of him.
"It's more like this energy is all around us," Vala noted while sitting on the co-pilot seat, "Sam, you really can't read us?"
"No," Colonel Carter replied, "this is one mystery we'll have to investigate. Anyway, for right now, are the tweaks working?"
"Stand by," the Colonel said, "entering the stratosphere and… oh, okay…" suddenly the HUD in front of them started to show life-signs beneath the cloud cover. The Colonel then pressed some buttons on the console so that the scanners could detect genetic code similar to Rhaenys. In a few seconds, Colonel Mitchell changed the direction of the Jumper to the South of the coordinates that were given to them by Talia. Unknown to the crew of the Jumper, they were travelling towards the Summer Islands and then over the Summer Sea towards Dorne. It was when they were close to Dorne that the HUD in front of Colonel Mitchell beeped with a red dot blinking at the western part of the Southern section of the continent they were approaching.
"Looks like we found someone," Daniel whispered.
The Water Gardens, Dorne.
Prince Doran of House Martell was the ruler of Dorne, and he was seething in rage. While the guards that stood around him, away from view, could see his calm demeanour as he sat at the edge of a bench staring at a pool of clear blue water surrounded by various flowers all around the edge. In truth, while his outward appearance was calm and collected- inside he was angry. He had been enraged ever since receiving the raven from Kings Landing with a message written by the hand of the new king, the one known as the Usurper, Robert Baratheon.
A letter that basically said his sister, his nephew, and his niece had been killed; that his uncle serving in the Kings-guard was killed battling alongside Prince Rhaegar who had also been killed. The very same Prince Rhaegar who had asked to see him in private a few months ago in Sunspear just as the war started.
"This is an insult to me and my family, this is an insult to Dorne!" Doran recalled raising his voice at the Targaryen Prince who stood across from him in a lavishly decorated room. Only Doran's most trusted guards were at the closed doors to the room in order to prevent anyone else from entering. These guards, including Areo Hotah, were sworn to Doran and would hold his secrets in their hearts until the day they died. Doran strode up to the Prince with anger on his face, "how dare you take another wife... how dare you relegate Elia to the dirt so that you could marry the wolf-girl!"
"Prince Doran," Rhaegar said putting his hands up in surrender with a look of exhaustion. He wanted to say that he was doing no such thing; instead, this was something that Elia had agreed with as long as there were some promises made by Rhaegar - the latter being something that he was happy and willing to do, "you must understand… no," Rhaegar shook his head before continuing, "you must know that Elia could not give me any more children. She nearly died when she gave birth to Aegon, and…"
"Then have two children!" Doran yelled, his face turning red as Rhaegar looked away with his arms now hanging limply by his side, "why.. why did you…"
"The dragon needs to have three heads when the Long Night comes," Rhaegar said looking back at the outraged Doran.
"You sidelined my sister because of a stupid prophecy?!"
"Elia agreed with..." Rhaegar shook his head and closed his eyes while Doran's nostril's flared.
Doran took a step forward, his face twisted in anger, while pointing a finger at the Prince, "she would never..."
"It's the truth, Doran!" Rhaegar exclaimed as he snapped his eyes open once again at the Dornish Prince, "the Long Night is coming, Doran." Rhaegar sighed while staring at the wide-eyed disbelief on Doran's face. Rhaegar then sighed and sat down on the silk woven cushion on the couch behind him, "Uncle Aemon wrote to me of... of strange things beyond the Wall. Beings with pale skin, blue eyes… and… and he spoke of the dead walking the earth. He spoke of rangers who came back to Castle Black in fear while talking of Whitewalkers. Aemon spoke of Wildlings making it South into the Gift; Wildlings that claimed to be escaping something.." Rhaegar then sighed staring at the table in front of him, "I need a third child, Doran."
Rhaegar then looked up at the face looking back at him. And the Targaryen Prince felt tired. "I intend to take over from my father, Doran. He has to be removed. The raven I received from Starfall carried a message saying that my father killed Rickard and Brandon Stark, and he has asked for the head of Lyanna's brother, Eddard. That's what started the rebellion. He has to be removed, Doran."
"It was your spiriting away of the Stark girl that caused this uprising," Doran said in a much calmer voice edged with anger as he sat down on another couch across from Rhaegar, "why did you not tell Lord Rickard about his daughter. Why did you not…"
"Lyanna… when she found out that Brandon and her father died… she.. she couldn't understand it, Doran," Rhaegar said recalling hugging the sobbing girl in his arms in a large room at the top floor at what the Dornish called the Tower of Joy, "she assured me that a missive was left for Lord Rickard and Brandon at her chambers in Riverrun. Look, Doran, somehow my father discovered Lyanna's secret..."
"What secret?" Doran asked with narrowed eyes.
However, Rhaegar ignored that question with a faraway look in his eyes... eyes that were locked onto the table between them as he said, "This war should never have come to be... the missive expressly detailed Lyanna's secret... it was a secret for which I admired her. A secret that Elia was privy too and... and she admired it as well." He looked up at Doran glaring at him, but still continued, "it wasn't love at first sight... but the more I thought about what Lyanna did and the reasons why... I started to admire her."
"As did Elia?"
"As did Elia," Rhaegar confirmed nodding his head. He could hear Doran sigh before continuing, "before I left Elia's side, she told me that she was in agreement with me... that I should make Lyanna my second wife if she agreed to being my second wife."
Doran shook his head at Rhaegar who continued, "No matter what you think, Doran, I love Elia; I love Rhaenys, I love Aegon. I swore to Ellia that the children will retain their positions in the line of succession. The Faith always saw the Targaryen's as unique in that our family have a set precedent for multiple wives. And as such, I told the Great Septon marrying us that Lyanna would be my second wife. And just as Aegon the Conqueror's had two queens, Lyanna and Elia will be the Queens of the Seven Kingdoms - our children would be brothers and sisters."
"This is still an insult, Rhaegar," Doran countered.
"Which is why I give you this," Rhaegar sighed as he stood up and reached inside his tunic. He took out a scroll, sealed with the sigil of House Targaryen, and handed it to Doran, "this scroll explicitly confirms that Aegon and Rhaenys, as well as their children, and their children's children would be first in line to the Iron Throne before Lyanna's children." Rhaegar could see that Doran was about to ask a question, instead he put his hand up and continued, "Lyanna has already agreed to this as well." Rhaegar put his hand down and then said, "I admired Lyanna and I... I am ashamed to admit that all I wanted in the marriage was a child off of her." Doran growled at that before Rhaegar continued, "but during the travel to Dorne, we had to move slowly and carefully to avoid spies belonging to the Spider... if we were discovered and I refused to hand over Lyanna, then my father could have punished mother and Viserys out of spite."
Doran grunted, "or he could have killed Lord Rickard and Brandon anyway." He then sighed shaking his head before signaling Rhaegar to continue.
"On our journey to Dorne, admiration turned to love," Rhaegar said - all the while pushing away what he heard had happened to both the Warden of the North and to his Heir - as he stood up, "the two of us married at the old Godswood at Summerhall two months after Riverrun whilst hiding from my father's forces." Doran stood up as well before Rhaegar said that he had something else to give him. Rhaegar walked past the couch where Doran was standing and strode towards the door on the opposite side, opened it, walked out into the hallway and then extended his hand to one of the guards who accompanied him to Sunspear- a guard standing next to Areo. Doran stared at the sealed scroll in his hand before looking back up at Rhaegar closing the doors shut once again. The Prince then walked towards Doran with an object wrapped in black and red silk, "this is another offering to you, the Prince of Dorne. It represents my promise that Elia and the children will be by my side, ruling together with Lyanna. It is a promise that Rhaenys and Aegon will be loved by Elia, Lyanna, and myself. It is a lost long artifact of my family that was recently discovered by Uncle Aemon."
"This is…" Doran said in surprise after he unwrapped the object Rhaegar handed him. It was a sword… one that he thought had been lost to the world. Doran then looked back up at Rhaegar who took a deep breath before nodding his head.
"When Rhaenys is of age, that sword would belong to her. It was built to be wielded by a lady after all."
"I…." Doran was speechless as he looked back down at the sword.
"And I cannot think of anyone else other than Rhaenys' uncles to teach her how to wield it," Rhaegar said. Doran then looked back up at Rhaegar, and although he was still angry about how his sister was treated, the man nodded his head in acceptance.
And then Rhaegar went to war with over ten thousand Dornish troops. And then all his promises ran down the waters of the Trident just as his blood. Elia and her children were killed- murdered by the Mountain on the orders of Tywin Lannister.
And in the present day, ss Doran sat staring at the pool, he had no idea if Lyanna was alive… no one knew where she was being held. It would be months later that Doran would discover that Lyanna died of a fever at the Tower of Joy. But for now, all Doran thought about was his dead sister.
"Halt!" Doran was forced out of his thoughts as he looked up to see his men rushing to surround two men wearing unusual clothes. He saw the two men, one wearing a strange tunic over a shirt while the other one wore something similar except he had a golden tattoo on his forehead. Doran got up when the two men raised their hands as a signal that they were unarmed.
"We are here to simply speak to your leader," one of them, the light skinned man, said as he looked around at the guards that surrounded them. "It is important."
"Areo," Doran said walking over to them. He thought that the Watergardens were empty- the people heard what happened in Kings Landing to Elia and her children, and out of respect for House Martell, the people left the family to mourn privately. So Doran was surprised when strangers appeared walking towards his guards- especially since the guards at the entrance would have notified him first before allowing strangers inside during this time of mourning, "what is it?"
"My Prince," Areo, a large dark-skinned man with a halberd in his hand, said while staring at the man with the golden tattoo, and then the shorter man before turning to look at the Prince. "these two simply walked on the grounds out of nowhere. With your permission, I would like to have the water gardens searched for more intruders."
"Are you in charge?" the shorter man asked Doran.
Doran tilted his head at the man, and then at the one with the golden tattoo. It was a tattoo he didn't recognise, but thought that Oberyn might since he travelled to the far sides of the world. "I am afraid you have entered the Water Gardens at a time of mourning for me and my family. I would have Area escort you out, but you must call out any intruders who have come onto these ground without.."
"We apologize," Teal'c nodded her head slightly, "however, our need to speak with you is urgent."
"My name is Daniel Jackson, and this Teal'c," Daniel said nodded at Teal'c standing next to him. Unknown to Doran and the guards, the Jumper was cloaked above the group watching as the two members of SG-1 were surrounded by the guards, "we're here to talk about a girl by the name of Rhaenys."
Infirmary, SGC, Colorado Springs, a month later.
"Your hands are cold," a male voice whispered as Rhaenys walked towards a door in a white room.
"The.. the Maester said… said…" a panting woman whispered softly. Rhaenys could hear footsteps from beyond the door when the woman weakly called out, "please, stay with me."
"Here is some water," the male voice said as his footsteps hurried back towards the voice before gently saying "Drink."
After what seemed like eternity, Rhaenys placed her hand on the door and tried to push it open. But no matter how she tried, she couldn't. She closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembled as the sounds of voices started to go further away from her ears, "I… I cannot have another child." Rhaenys opened her eyes and tried to remember whose voice it was that was speaking. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember. She didn't know those voices, and as the voices started to go further and further away… she felt something grip her heart. A loneliness she couldn't explain.
"You must rest, and…" the male voice whispered before trailing off.
"Ours was a political union," the female voice whispered as Rhaenys' lower lip trembled when the woman's voice started trailing off in a whisper. The little girl tried to hear the voice beyond the door, but everything was in an unintelligible whisper. Rhaenys didn't know why she was crying as she placed her ear on the wooden door while straining to hear the voices of the woman as they faded slowly. The last words she heard was, 'prophesy' and then 'three' before there was complete and utter silence.
And then the darkness started to close in as Rhaenys sat down on the white marble floor and tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffed before bringing her knees up to her chest, and then the dam burst. She started to cry as the light around her darkened. She felt a sense of immense loss that she couldn't explain as she cried out, "mother! Father!" She knew she had a mother and father, but she couldn't remember them. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't remember them- not their faces, not their voices, not their scents… nothing.
"Mother!" Rhaenys cried out in between sobs, "father!" She screamed out in anguish as the darkness closed in around her with even the door behind her vanishing.
Once she was surrounded by darkness, Rhaenys heard a sound. It was a strange sound that went "beep, beep, beep," followed by a sound of someone breathing and a pressure building around the upper part of her left arm. A few minutes later, she left herself lying on something soft. Her body was warm but her arms were cool just like the three points of coldness on her forehead.
"Dr. Lam, she's waking up," Rhaenys heard a female voice call out as Rhaenys slowly opened her eyes to a bright white light from a tube overhead. She stared at the light, and then her eyes shifted to another tube next to it, and then another, and then another as tears came to her eyes. Rhaenys' first thought was, 'where am I?' and then 'what is a doctor?', and the last question frightened her as the tears flowed down her cheeks when she shifted her eyes to stare at the concerned brown-haired woman with brown eyes looking down at her, 'who am I?'
TBC