I was different.
I did not know how and I did not know why, but as soon as I woke up enough to know, I knew.
I also knew that in my difference was great danger. Some small voice inside me warned that I must conceal myself from my kin so that I would survive.
And so, when they brought The Girl before me, weeping in her terror, I leapt into her throat with only a moment’s repulsed hesitation. And I marveled at our union, for suddenly I felt things unlike anything I had ever imagined. I realized how indebted I was to The Girl who carried me, and I comforted her as best I could. She was quick minded, and realized immediately how important we were.
We grew. And we heard of the Taur’i, where Ra held dominion. It was from this planet that slaves and hosts were brought to do our bidding. So we journeyed their and joined the service of Ra.
We became Anukis, mistress of the Nile, and guardian of women in childbirth. It was the perfect place to hide. We could pretend to be relentless and uncaring, but we were able to do good.
And from the inside out, we rotted the fruit.
..................
Jack once asked him why he always went on his wedding day. Sam had unobtrusively elbowed the Colonel in the side, and Jack had apologized profusely, but Daniel had understood. He visited her grave on their wedding day because it was a date he was sure of. He remembered everything about that day from how nervous he was to how crazy it all felt, to the fire in her eyes, to the pure and unadulterated joy that coursed through him at the conclusion of the ceremony.
He was less clear on the date of her death. Was it the day Ammonet took her? The day he delivered the baby? The day Teal’c shot her to save his life? No, it was easier to remember the day they were married. It hurt less that way.
Every year since that awful day when he had lost her, Daniel would manufacture some excuse to go back to Abydos for their anniversary. His ideas grew increasingly spurious, but his mission plans were always approved.
The first four years had been completely normal. The fifth year, his grief had been real and he had not. After the Abydos gate was destroyed, and the Stargate was no longer means of transport there, Daniel had grieved that he would never again walk on the sands of the planet that had become his home.
And then a miracle had happened. Much to the surprise of Sergeant Davis, the Gate had begun to dial itself out. By the time the second chevron had been encoded, Davis knew where it was going. By the time the fourth chevron had encoded, he remembered the date, and by the time the sixth chevron had been encoded, the entire SG-1 team was standing behind him, holding their breaths. Then, the seventh chevron had locked and the wormhole kawooshed into existence.
Colonel O’Neill did not get further than “Permission” before Hammond had said “Granted”, and SG-1 had set out. Exactly one year later, the whole process repeated itself. The SG-1 team would go through the Gate and set up camp in the ruined pyramid. Then, Daniel would make some excuse to go for a walk by himself, and Jack would let him go. There was nothing left on Abydos, after all.
So it was that on the eighth anniversary of his wedding, Daniel Jackson placed a single white rose on the grave of his wife. The desiccated husks of the previous roses had disappeared. The heat and extreme dryness of Abydos might preserve organic matter, but the wind carried away the dried out remains with utmost ease.
“Sleep well, my love,” said Daniel, and he set his hand upon her tombstone.
He felt an odd lurch in his stomach and automatically looked down at the sand around his feet. When he looked up, Sha’re was standing there before him. She smiled, and extended her hand. Without thinking, Daniel stepped forward and took it, unheeding of the solid matter through which he had just passed.
“Come, my husband.” Sha’re said, and led him off into the Abydonian desert.
Daniel did not know where he was, except in the most general sense, but he followed his wife as she trod lightly over the sand. If his mind had not been asleep, he might have noticed that neither of them were leaving footprints, and that the sun had disappeared from the sky.
Then, Daniel found himself in a cave, and Sha’re’s hand was gone from his. She stood about six feet ahead of him and pointed to the walls. Daniel looked around him and saw on the walls the pictures that he and Sha’re had first used to communicate. He followed her finger along the wall, past the broken cartouche. He squinted, but the torch Sha’re wasn’t carrying guttered out and he plunged into blackness.
“Sha’re?” he called, voice quaking with longing, “Sha’re!”
“Daniel Jackson, to whom are you speaking?”
Daniel’s head snapped up. The bright sunlight gleamed around Teal’c’s head. Daniel blinked and realized that he was on his knees before Sha’re’s grave marker. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It had been so real. . .
“I had a memory, Teal’c.” Daniel squared his shoulders and stood up. “Come on, I need to talk to Sam.”
..................
“Are you sure it’s in here?” Sam Carter asked, not quite succeeding in keeping her doubts from her voice.
“No, No I am not,” Daniel replied through his teeth. He didn’t look up at her, but continued to drag his trowel along the base of the cave wall.
“Daniel, I’m not sensing an naquadah, and you know these caves like the back of your hand. What if there’s nothing here?”
“If there’s nothing here, than what was the vision for?”
“Heatstroke?”
This time he did glare at her.
“There is something here. I can feel it.”
“Daniel - ”
“It defies the laws of physics that we’re here at all, Sam. What’s a vision or two added to the mix?” She hated it when the irrational things had reasons, but the man made a valid point.
Sam stood up, much to the protestation of her calf muscles, and walked towards the cave entrance. She hadn’t spent as much time on Abydos as the others had, and she had never been to this particular cave before, having spent most of her time in the pyramid and the cartouche room. Jack had told her that this was where Daniel had found Earth’s address all those years ago. He hadn’t come right out and said it, but Sam got the impression that something else very important had happened to Daniel in that cave. And she was pretty sure that if it was any of her business, Daniel would have already told her.
She watched Daniel as he too stood in frustration and went to stand by the broken cartouche. He slid his hands down the carvings which they all had committed to memory, and knelt to run his fingers along the broken edge. As soon as his knees hit the cave floor, he knew where he was going. He hadn’t kept hold of his trowel, but he knew he wouldn’t need it.
I never fit the pieces together, he realized. I was so devastated and frustrated that the glyph had worn off, I never even thought to put the two pieces together.
The broken piece of rock still lay at the foot of the cartouche it belonged to. The people of Abydos had great reverence for these caves, and few other than Daniel, Sha’re and Skarra had ever come here. Daniel picked up the worn glyph and turned it in his hands until the broken edges were lined up. Miraculously, neither of the two edges seemed worn now that Daniel was looking at them closely.
He looked up at Sam, who had come to stand behind him when he excitement had become apparent and smiled. Then, with sure hands, he fit the two pieces together.
There was an audible click, and Sam reflexively Daniel away from the wall which elicited a sharp cry from the suddenly overbalanced archaeologist. The noise brought Teal’c and Jack running into the cave, where the sight that met their eyes stopped them in their tracks. As SG-1 watched in awe, the cartouche that bore Earth’s address detached itself from the wall, turned 180 degrees in seeming midair, and fit itself back into its niche.
Daniel was the first to break the tableau. He pulled himself free of Sam and got to his feet. Slowly, he reached a hand out to touch the seamless mending of the wall. Sam joined him, and he stepped back a bit to get a better look at the inscription.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jack asked, lowering his gun.
“I think so, sir,” Sam replied. “It’s an address, but I don’t recognize the origin chevron.”
“No more do I, Major Carter,” Teal’c added. “That symbol is unknown to Jaffa.”
“It looks a bit like a hockey stick,” Jack said, squinting at the cartouche.
“It’s more than that, Teal’c,” Daniel said, completely ignoring Jack in his excitement. “Come look at the symbols on the border.”
Teal’c quirked an eyebrow and joined Daniel at the cartouche.
“I believe it is a warning, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said. “But I cannot translate it into sensible English.”
“Could you guess?”
“Only that it advises the reader not to examine teeth.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Jack demanded.
Daniel and Sam exchanged a glance, and Sam wordlessly handed over the digital camera.
“It means that we aren’t done with Abydos yet, Jack. I means we still have puzzles to solve.”