New Perspectives New Truths

8/3/2019 New Perspectives New Truths

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New Perspectives,New Truths

by Jenn Calaelen

an SG-1 story

for Ladies Big Bang 2011



Copyright 2011 by Jenn Calaelen

A not-for-profit transformative work based on the television series Stargate:SG-1,owned by MGM.

Written for Ladies Big Bang 2011, <ladiesbigbang.dreamwidth.org>

Author’s Website: <jenn_calaelen.dreamwidth.org>Fandom: Stargate SG:1Characters: Various Tok’ra including Jalen, Delek and ZarinPosting Date: 7 November 2011Beta: Cesy

Colophon: Designed and bound by shadytail. Text was set in Garamond andBerlin Sans and printed on 20 lb. copy paper with a laser printer. The book isbound as a flexible binding on single raised cords with hand-sewn silk headbandsand covered in blue bookcloth. This binding is not archival.



Headers

Content Notes: Some spoilers for the Tok'ra and Tollan episodes of

SG:1, although this is more for background world building

material than for plot; original characters and minor canon

characters; discussion of issues around becoming a Tok'ra host

and violence.Rating: Teen

Summary: Why would a Tollan become host to a Tok'ra symbiote?

Rila faces the choice between sickness and life as a host. Her

decision change things for herself and the Tok'ra. A look at the

backstory of the Tollan-Tok'ra alliance. Set a long time before the

series.

Notes: For many of the Tok'ra in the show there is only one name

given, and often that of the symbiote, because of this many of the

hosts here are original characters - or arguably very minor canon

character. I don't know which it really counts as because if only

the symbiote talks in the show and the host is never even given a

name, do they count as a canon character?

Thanks: This story was beta read by Cesy, who volunteered to help me at

the last minute. I am very grateful. Any remaining mistakes are my

own fault.

Ladies Big Bang mods for organising the challenge, which gave

me the motivation to actually finish this story.

Shdaytail for turning it into a book





1

New Perspectives,

New Truths“Are you saying that you can’t cure me?” Rila stared up at

the health officer.

He looked away, clearing the screen of the data from her

health implant.

“Yes.”

She got up and walked away, without saying anything

further. She knew it was rude, but expected that he wouldn’t

take offence, after all this was a very unusual situation — and

she was sure that he would have done a full psychologicalprofile on her before giving her the news. She was due back

at work at once, but there didn’t seem to be much point in it,

so she returned home instead. The thoughts raced around her

head — how could it be their medicine could cure anything,

except apparently this which they couldn’t or wouldn’t even

give it a name.

Her door opened automatically for her.

“Voice responses off,” she ordered quickly and waited for

the door to close, before crossing to the screen and starting

to manually enter data looking for alternate cures. Data

scrolled past her on the screen, showing various illnesses with

similar symptoms to her and the different ways that the

health officers had tried to cure them in the past, but it all

seemed to be references to things that had been thoroughly



J ENN C ALAELEN

2

debunked, until her eyes caught a reference that appeared not

to be explained there — Tok’ra.

She set out a search for that reference, and ordered herself a drink, getting up to retrieve it from the output slot — the

mixture was supposed to be soothing according to all the

medical theories, but to her it only seemed to taste pleasant.

She settled down to look through the information, going

backwards in chronological order – meetings, requests for

help, trade deals, help settling their world, and so forth. Shehad saved separately all medical references, wanting to

understand the background before finding out whether they

might be able to help her.

She read for hours, trying to become certain, but there

wasn’t enough to information for her to even make an

informed guess, but there was enough to give her hope.Finally she finished all the available information. She cleared

the screen, and got up, stretching slowly, thinking that she

should get food and sleep, but she realised that she had not

apologised for missing work. As she turned back to the

screen to do so — it was much easier to seem calm if she did

it in writing — the door screen flickered into action showing two strangers outside. She commanded the door to open,

realising at once that one of them was one of the Curia. She

recognised his image, but wondered why ever he would want

to talk to someone as undistinguished as her.

“Councillor,” she hesitated as she couldn’t remember his

name, “May I welcome you to my home?”

“Certainly. A recent records search that you have

conducted and your personal data suggested that I should talk

to you.”



N EW P ERSPECTIVES , N EW T RUTHS

3

They came in and sat down, “You seem to be considering

becoming a host for the Tok’ra?”

“Yes.” She clamped down on the urge to explain, waiting to see what he was going to say.

“Given your background, we are prepared to let you do

this, although we urge you to consider it carefully first. The

lifestyle of the Tok’ra is harsh and very dangerous. They will

tell you about the long life span and health benefits to being a

host but they don’t tell you how many of them, and especially

the hosts, die young and horribly at the hands of the

Goa’uld.”

“I understand the risks. Will you put me into contact with

them?” Rila said, trying to keep her voice as level as she

could, although she was wondering why he was trying todissuade her — after all he wasn’t facing a life of pain without

this chance.

“Yes.” He rose, “We are expecting a trade delegation in a

few days; I will arrange for you to meet them, and I’ve

arranged with your work to have you replaced — you will

need the time to sort yourself out and prepare.”

“Thank you!” She showed them out, then sat down again,

shaking slightly at the effort.

***

Two days later, Rila was busy sorting through her files, asshe wanted everything in order if she was to leave, when the

communication system beeped. She jumped up as the screen

turned on.



J ENN C ALAELEN

4

“Who is it?” she asked, as she didn’t recognise the man

personally, but he wore the uniform for security. She was

frantically thinking of what she might have done wrong to

attract their attention.

“You are requested to come to the secondary diplomatic

suit to meet with the representatives of the Tok’ra.” He

signed off without waiting for her reply.

She swallowed, then went through to the bathroom,

quickly checking how she looked; she knew there were no

outward signs of her illness, but she wanted to make a good

impression.

She hesitated outside the room, before pulling herself

together to face what she hoped was her future. She knocked

and entered, not waiting for a reply as she was expected. She

looked around the room, taking in the two figures standing

by the window, who turned to face her at once.

“Hello. I am Rila. You are the representatives of the

Tok’ra?”

“Yes, I am Jalen, and this is Delek.” the woman said,

smiling at her.

“You are the one who has volunteered to be a host?” He

said abruptly, “What is wrong with you?”

Rila noticed their voices were distorted as the recordsindicated they would be when the symbiotes were talking.

“I did volunteer,” she hesitated, uncertain of how to

answer his question.




5

“Don’t scare her, Delek.” Jalen moved away from the

window towards the chairs, “Please sit down. Would you like

some tea?”

“Yes, please.” Rila sat down opposite her, and waited as

Jalen poured out the tea. Jalen handed her a cup, and Rila

took a sip.

“Delek asked that because your people very rarely

volunteer to be hosts, and then only if they are dying.”

“I’m not dieing, or at least not as far as our health officers

can tell. However, I am ill.” She looked down, suddenly aware

that she was being selfish by expecting them to care or help

her. “I didn’t mean to be selfish, but I only found out while

looking for alternatives after our current medical science had

failed me.” She blinked and tried not to cry, feeling that herlast hope was slipping away from her.

“It is not necessarily selfish. Do you understand what it is

to be Tok’ra?”

“A little, I think. I’ve read everything about you that I can

find — you know that all documents are open here — butthere wasn’t a lot. However, I did find enough that I feel that

I can consent to it.”

“Perhaps you do. However, we would expect you to come

about stay in our tunnels for a while first, and learn more

than I believe your records would tell you. It will also give us

a chance to get to know you and work out what yourpersonality is and who would do well blending with you.

There isn’t anyone urgently needing a new host at the

moment and outside of emergencies we try to match the



J ENN C ALAELEN

6

hosts and symbiotes so that their personalities and interests

work well together.”

“Do you know about the Goa’uld?” Delek’s voice cutacross their conversation.

“A little — I know that they are the main enemy that our

ion cannons are to protect us against, and what I have learnt

from my reading. They are the same species as you?”

“Yes.” He sat opposite Rila. “How are you ill?”

“The health officers can’t tell — just that there appear to

be malfunctions in my brain chemistry causing problems with

pain and coordination. From my research there is no reason

why a symbiote wouldn’t be able to cure that.”

“And you are prepared to remain a host after this hashappened? We aren’t a service for healing people.”

Rila wondered why he seemed so angry.

“Yes.” She took a deep breath, “I know that I will be

giving up on my life here, but really there isn’t much to it — I

do a make-work job, have a few friends, most of whom havefloated away while I’ve been ill. People just can’t cope with it

— it is so unusual now. I understand that what you do is

dangerous and complicated, but it also seems that it is part of

what has kept my people safe for so long. I am volunteering,

will you accept me?”

The two Tok’ra looked at each other, then nodded.

“Yes, we accept. We are here to trade for a day or so,

depending on how long it takes to negotiate the agreement.

Then we’ll set out. Can you be ready by then? We generally




7

try to avoid accumulating too many personal belongings

because we need to be ready to destroy our bases and move

on at any time. You may bring the amount of belongings that

you can carry. We will provide you with uniforms and the

requirements for life — you need only bring items of

sentimental value.”

“Yes. I’ll be ready.” Rila got up, “When I am there I will

be told more?”

“Of course. When we have people preparing to be hosts

we teach them about our life — in order that they can have a

better understanding of what is going to happen. Then you

will gain all the knowledge of the symbiote you blend with.”

She nodded, eagerly. “It sounds like an interesting

experience.”

***

Two days later she met them at the Chappa’ai, carrying

two bags — she had adjusted her packing given their

information, but had brought some of her clothes and

gadgets in order to have things feel like home. It would beher first trip through the Chappa’ai but she was trying not to

show her apprehension, although she expected that it showed

through.

“Ready?”

“Yes.” As they dialed the Chappa’ai she took one last look around

at her planet, trying to memorise the details. After the gate

opened they stepped through it.



J ENN C ALAELEN

8

They emerged on a hot dry planet, not quite barren

enough to be called a desert, but Rila couldn’t think of the

right word for it. She stumbled as she arrived; Jalen reached

out and balanced her. Delek walked on ahead seemingly

ignoring them.

“You’ll get used to it in time,” she said with a smile, “at

least you understand the principles of it — many of our

hosts come from planets that are so backward that they take a

lot of convincing that it isn’t magic.”

She bowed her head and spoke with an undistorted voice,

“I remember my first trip — I thought it must be the

portal to heaven, no matter how much Jalen tried to convince

me otherwise.”

Rila smiled back.

“You are Jalen’s host?” She asked even though she knew

the answer — it seemed more polite to ask that than to ask

her name.

“Yes, I am Kyria. Unlike you I came from a very backward

planet — Cronos has ruled it for centuries and ensured that

we stayed in the early stages of development, the better to

worship him.”

Rila nodded.

“Cronos is a Goa’uld?”

“Yes. You will soon learn a lot about him, and the other

System Lords, but for now, it is time for you to see our base.”




9

Kyria pulled her forward, so that the three of them were

standing close together. Rila assumed that it must be for one

of the systems of matter transport, but wondered how they

knew where to stand, as she couldn’t see any markers — or

for that matter any way of operating the rings that came up

around them.

As soon as they arrived, she looked around in fascination.

They appeared to be underground, presumably in the grown

tunnels that she had read about. The blue colour wasamazing, and the symmetry was greater than in any natural

tunnels that she had seen.

“Come on, I’ll take you to our infirmary to get you check

out. We will see if we can heal you without a symbiote and

see if there is anyone in need of a host.” Jalen seemed to be

back in control, as indicated by the change in her voice.

Rila followed her, slowly, through the twisting corridors

— thinking that it would take a long time before she knew

her way around the base, and whether the Tok’ra made the

new bases in the same design as the old to aid memory, or

whether having a symbiote enhanced their memory.

“Here we are.” Kyria pulled her into the room, Rila looked

around, there was nothing to make it an infirmary in her eyes

— only a few beds, but no sign of any medical equipment.

“No one here — that’s good news. Lie down on this bed.”

As Rila lay down, Kyria crossed the room and picked up a

hand sized metal and crystal item. She returned and activating

it so that the crystal glowed ran it along the length of Rila’s

body without touching her.



J ENN C ALAELEN

10

“Your left knee and shoulders are hurting the worst at the

moment, and you have some reduced motion in many of

your muscles. Let me see if this will heal it for now.”

Rila could feel the immediate effect.

“It is definitely helping, but you think that this is

temporary?”

“Yes, given that you will probably be blended soon, it is

better to do this for now — I don’t have the skill to heal it,and while others might, they may be needed for other

things.”

“That makes sense.” Rila sat up and stretched, “Well,

thank you very much for this. It is already much better than

my people could do.”

“Right, let’s see if we can get you settled for now — I

don’t know if there are many other potential hosts here at the

moment. Over the next few days, we’ll be evaluating your

personality to try and ensure a good match if possible — we

don’t always have the choice, but we find that the best

blending are where the two personalities balance each otherand have at least some of the same interests, especially

regarding work.”

“That makes a lot of sense — sort of like a marriage, but

even closer, given that you probably have practically no

privacy.”

“Yes, there is very little privacy when sharing a mind —

although we generally try not to pry into details of the past of

the other. However, among the Tok’ra in general we aren’t

that much for privacy, as you might have noticed by the lack




11

of doors. Hopefully you’ll get used to it in time. We have

curtains to put on the entrances to the guest quarters, so you

can have some privacy while you learn to adjust to our ways. I

know how scary all the changes can be.”

Rila got up and followed Kyria out of the infirmary, aware

that she was being swept along and hardly feeling in any

control, but relieved not to think about everything. They

wound through corridors; Rila got the impression that they

were going in the opposite way to the entrance.

After a few twists and turns they came to a relatively large

room. It was the first room that Rila had seen that had

personal belongings scattered around it. Three young men

were sitting in a group in the centre. As Kyria and Rila

entered they got up, turning towards them as if expecting

news. Rila had a moment to look at them as Jalen introducedher. She knew her standards were probably out but two of

them looked older than her, and the other about a decade

younger — and none of them had anything immediately

physically wrong with them, except the evidence of having

lived without proper health care.

“You are the prospective hosts?” Jalen asked; Rila could

tell that it was hardly a question. “This is Rila. She is to join

your number. Please make her welcome here.”

They looked at her for a moment, before asking, “Where

are you from? Your clothes look strange.” It was the oldest

looking of them who asked, who was more dark skinned thananyone Rila had seen before.

“I am Tollan,” she replied.



J ENN C ALAELEN

12

“Let me show you around,” one of the others offered,

smiling at her in a way that she didn’t really like. “This area is

designated for the humans preparing to be hosts. The three

of us have taken the areas, well, rooms I suppose, along that

side, so you have a choice of the others. Each room has a

sleeping and bathing area of its own, as the Tok’ra accept that

we might want privacy. If you look inside the doors there are

curtains to pull across to have some privacy, but sound does

carry out here, so it isn’t worth much. However, it is accepted

protocol not to disturb someone with the curtain closedunless they are needed for something important.” He paused

for a second.

Rila quickly cut in, “How long have you all been here?”

She noticed while they were talking that Jalen/Kyria had

left.

“I have been here three months now.”

“Several days,” said the third one softly. Rila smiled at

him, wondering if he felt overpowered by the others as they

seemed much more ebullient.

“Anyway, the Tok’ra come by every so often to ensure

that we are learning and to check on us — there have been

several other hosts taken in the time that I’ve been here.”

As he was talking, Rila walked over to the doorway on the

opposite side to where the others had their rooms and went

in, putting her bags down on the floor. She looked aroundthe room, which contained a sleeping shelf and a few other

shelves. She crossed to the inner door and looked in at the

bathing facilities — it was a lot more basic that what she was

used to, however, it seemed adequate — at least there was




13

running hot water! It didn’t seem worth unpacking her bags

for now. She glanced back at the doorway and saw the others

watching her.

“You probably won’t be here long. There have not been

any women here in the time that we have been here — and

there seem to be a lot of the Tok’ra who have female hosts,

so you will probably be the first choice to replace one of

those.”

Rila nodded, then she reached across to the curtain.

“Look, it is good to meet you and I look forward to

getting to know you better, but I’m tired and I would like to

rest now.”

“But it is afternoon here.”

“Would you like to be woken up when it is dinner time?”

the quiet one asked.

“Yes, please,” she said and firmly pulled the curtain across,

blocking out their protests.

She lay down on the sleeping platform, surprised by how cold it was, but before she had time of anything to do about it

she fell asleep.

***

“Dinnertime!”



J ENN C ALAELEN

14

She jerked awake at the unfamiliar voice, and wondered

where she was, why it was so cold and why she wasn’t stiff all

over. She got up and adjusted her clothing. It felt like she had

hardly slept at all. Stretching she went through into the

washroom and splashed water on her face and eyes. She

opened the curtain and stepped out into the main room. The

three of them were sitting around a table covered in food.

She walked over and sat down in an empty space at the end

of the table and looked at the food — it didn’t look like any

meal that she had seem — there were dishes in the middlefull of food, seemingly for them to help themselves from, as

the others seemed to be doing. The food seemed to be a kind

of stew, bread and fruit. She wondered how she was

supposed to know the right amounts of each to eat to get the

right nutrients.

“Here — help yourself — there is plenty to go round. By

the way, my name is Therin.”

“Maric.”

“Ivarr.”

“Rila. Although I think Jalen told you that already.”

“She did. Help yourself to food — it is really quite good,

although it does get dull after a while. There is plenty to go

around.”

“Thank you. How do you tell the right amount and

proportions to eat to ensure correct nutrition?”

They stared at her for a moment, seemingly completely

bemused by this.




15

“Well, I don’t know what your people do, but generally

one just eats what you want and knows approximately the

right amount to eat to make you not hungry.”

“That seems very inefficient,” she said as she took one of

the dishes and helped herself to a small amount of the food.

“You want more than that,” Therin reached across and

put about the same amount of stew again into her dish. “That

is a better portion. Have some bread as well.” He put two

slices on a plate and passed it over to her. She took it

automatically. Watching the others, she used the bread to

soak up the liquid of the stew and a spoon to eat the rest

without formality. She poured herself water from the jug at

the table, hoping that it had been tested to ensure that it was

safe to drink.

“Where does the food come from?”

“We bring it up from the kitchen to eat here; then take the

dishes back after dinner and help clean up. We are supposed

to help with the cooking, but we’ve been exempted from that

because we kept screwing up, well, except for Ivarr — he

helps with the cooking, and the rest of us help with thecleaning. I suppose at some point they’ll decide what you are

going to do. But for today, if you are up to it, it would be

polite for you to help with the clearing as you are eating the

food.”

She nodded. Then picked a piece of fruit and bit into it

cautiously — it had purple flesh and lighter skin, and was

quite tart, but was good at clearing her mouth from the

weight of the stew.



J ENN C ALAELEN

16

As they were finishing eating, Jalen/Kyria returned, as she

entered Rila thought that Jalen was in control and that turned

out to be the case when she spoke.

“Rila, enjoying your meal?”

“It was certainly educational,” she said, “but the food was

pleasant.”

“Will you come with me so that I can start your testing?”

“Certainly.” Rila got to her feet.

“See, you’ll probably be out of here before any of us,”

Therin said, as they were leaving.

“I was wondering if gender an important aspect of

matching? It seems from what the others were saying that itis.”

“Well, it matters. For those of us symbiotes who identify

as male or female it is jarring to be in a host that doesn’t

match that, but for a lot of symbiotes it doesn’t matter. They

haven’t a strong sense of their gender so pick hosts on other

factors. Unless it is an extreme emergency you will get to talk to the symbiote before and both of you will have a choice of

whether to blend or not. Part of the point of taking willing

hosts is to get a friend, so the host and symbiote have to feel

that they will get along well and work together. Remember a

blending can last hundreds of years.”

“Is that why Therin has been there the longest?”

Jalen bowed her head and Kyria looked up and said,




17

“Well, really would you want to share your mind with

him? Although I think there are some of the council that he

would get along well with, but as they are the ones that stay

out of danger, theydon’t need to change hosts so often.”

Rila laughed at that. Kyria guided her into a small room.

“Now I know you are better with technology than most of

our prospective hosts, so I’ll start you off on our computer

— the question is whether you can use our systems.” She

gestured to the screens.

“I might be, but my grasp of your language isn’t very good

yet.”

Kyria blinked, “I didn’t notice that we had switched —

although we must have as you were talking to the others in a

language that they understand. How did you learn?”

“My people have files on it, which include some details of

your society, but given the source I don’t know how much it

can be relied on. However, the language files are fairly good

because of the necessity of understanding the Goa’uld

languages — my people wanted to be sure that they couldunderstand any intercepted communications.”

Rila paused to look at the screen, reading through the text,

then looking at the console to find the right sequence to put

in. It was asking questions regarding various skills and

personality traits. She went through the questions slowly,

aware of Jalen watching her, but after a while she turned away and started working on something. The questions started with

simple practical skills and their impacts on personality, before

going into psychological depth, then coming back out of that



J ENN C ALAELEN

18

into science and technology. After the first few of these

questions she stopped, and said,

“These questions are wrong.”

Jalen glanced up and looked slightly confused. “Which

questions?”

“I’ve got onto the science ones — look, this one relies on

the Experiential Theory of Super-Strings to be true and that

was proven incorrect by Zatrol over one hundred years ago.”

Jalen stared at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I remember it from school — one of the classes I

took was about the progress of scientific theories and the

history of scientific thought — basically a science class for

non-scientists. I don’t remember a lot from it, but I’m sure Igot that right — I had a sheet of theories and when and by

whom they were dis-proven for the oral exam, so I learnt

those very well.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll have some of our scientists here to talk to

you. It is far too late at night to get into all of this now. Let

me show you back — unless you think you can find your

own way?”

“I doubt it — I’m not used to this tunnels yet.”

When she got back the room, the others were apparently

asleep.

“Goodnight,” she said to Kyria/Jalen as they turned away.

She watched them leave before crossing to her room and

pulling the curtain closed. She dug into her bag and got out




19

her hygiene kit. She went through to the washroom, cleaned

and bathed thoroughly, before digging out a nightgown and

her winter coat. She put on the nightgown, lay down on the

bed and draped the coat over her, realising that she should

have asked Kyria if it was possible to get a cover of some sort

— she wished for the controlled conditions at home where

this would not be necessary.

When Rila woke up, it felt like it should be morning. She

reached out to where she had put her timepiece the night

before. Activating the display, she saw that it was still early by

that, although she wasn’t sure how well it would have

adjusted to being on another planet — it was supposed to be

able to sync to surrounding timepieces and update itself.

However, as she no longer felt tired, she got up and got

ready for the day. After that, she opened her curtain and

stepped out into the main room. She saw Ivarr sitting in one

of the chairs looking at a device of some sort. He looked up

as she entered.

“Good morning, Rila. It is still early. You do not have tobe up this early, unless Jalen has assigned you to help with

breakfast.”

“Good morning. She hasn’t, but as I’m up I can help if

you show me how,” she replied, realising that she would have

no idea what to do — after all food preparation was

automated back home, and the work of developing new

dishes was very specialised.

He smiled at her as he put the device down.



J ENN C ALAELEN

20

“Well, come with me. The work is simple, and I am sure

that you, unlike the others, can pay attention to what you are

told and follow simple instructions.”

She smiled at that and hoped that she lived up to this —

she shivered slightly at the thought of how low tech some

things seemed to be here. It was like living in much earlier

times, although for most Tok’ra given the control the

symbiote seemed to have over all the automatic systems of

the body there was probably much less danger of healthproblems — for them at least.

He got up and walked towards the door, “I’ll show you

the way, this base can be very confusing — there was nothing

like it on my world.”

“What is your world like?” she asked as she walked withhim from the room.

“From what I can tell, mostly average. Agricultural, with

not much technology, my parents were farmers on the sea

coast, working on ways to farm fish to save the effort of

fishing as fish were becoming rarer. It is a beautiful planet,

and the people often trade with the Tok’ra. Since coming here I have learned that it is protected from the Goa’uld by

the Asgard.”

“Who are they?”

“The Asgard? Another race of aliens — they protect some

of the planets in this galaxy and provide some technology andhelp in forms hidden from the inhabitants — look, I know

that they are posing as gods, but not in the same way as the

Goa’uld as they are there to help and don’t harm any of the

people who live there.”




21

Rila blinked. As far as she could tell she hadn’t said

anything to provoke that, but presumably other people had, it

sounded like a response to an expected reaction.

“That makes sense to me.”

“Here we are — you can set up the urns over there to heat

up. Once they are hot the first two should be transferred to

the eating room once the teas have been added.” He turned

away and started getting food out.

Rila walked across and identified the switches to turn the

urns on and did so.

“Where is the tea?”

“In caddies built in under the urns — open the lower

doors, take a scoop full of each and add it to the upper door.”

“I wonder why this process is not automated?”

“Probably because the Goa’uld have plenty of slaves and

so it doesn’t matter that they have to work, and the Tok’ra

have higher priorities. These are relatively standard

equipment, except that it doesn’t have the coatings to make itappear magic to the users.”

“Are some of the Goa’uld food designers then?” she asked

as she followed the instructions.

“Many powerful Goa’uld have lesser Goa’uld in their

service and certainly some of those are responsible fordeveloping new dishes for their banquets as well as

overseeing the running of their courts.”



J ENN C ALAELEN

22

“I had never thought of that. Now how are the urns

transferred?” Rila wondered at that — it did not seem to fit

the simple picture that her people gave of the Goa’uld as all

bloodthirsty conquerors.

“There is a button on the left it turns them through into

the next room. Now if you’ll get that bread from the racks

and slice it — there are knives over there.”

She looked at the array of knives.

“Which one should I use?”

“A bread knife.” He glanced across, seeming to notice her

confusion, “The third one on the left.”

She picked it up cautiously.

“Cut the slices about this thick.”

He held up his hand with the first finger and thumb

separated for the measure. She realised that it was about the

thickness that the slices had been the previous night. Rila

started slicing the bread, slowly, being careful not to cut her

fingers. Once she felt that she knew what she was doing wellenough for it not to require her entire concentration, she

asked, “Do all of the Tok’ra eat here?”

“All of those that are stationed on this base do, or at least

retrieve the food from here. We, as prospective hosts, do not,

because they think that we should not know all of their

secrets, or something.” He shook his head slightly, “Anyway,they are rather intimidating. Perhaps when I get to know

them better as individuals I will find it less so.”




23

“I can imagine — when I first went to talk to them it was

the hardest thing that I had done in my life — although Jalen

was friendly from the first, Delek seemed not to trust me at

all.”

“He is one of the councillors?”

“Yes, and was there for trade negotiations with my

people.”

“And you didn’t know of the Tok’ra before? My peopleknew of them as traders and aliens (well, elves is what they

called them).”

“I only found out when I was looking for a cure for my

illness.”

He looked sharply across at her.

“You don’t look ill. Have they treated you for it?”

“Yes, but only temporarily. My people could measure the

pain, but not do much to treat it.”

“I’m sorry.”“I’m not sure that I am. This seems interesting and I

wonder if I would be doing more by being here than I would

at home.” She thought of mentioning her conversation about

science, but suspected that it would be over his head, but

wished that she had someone to confide in.

“Anyway, all that bread done?”

“Yes, put it onto the server there on the plates, it will

transfer them as needed.”



J ENN C ALAELEN

24

“Very clever,” she said with a smile.

“It is a good system — the area is protected to keep food

fresh and its original temperature; it only brings the foodthrough are required — it allows for much less waste.”

“I had never thought about that. Food came from

dispensers at home, and I must admit that I had never

thought much about the process.”

“Put the knife over there.” He gestured to where theimplements he had used were. “As you have helped with this,

don’t let the others tell you that you should help them clear

up.”

“Who does this when there are no waiting hosts?”

“I don’t know — mostly they try to have a few aroundfrom what I’ve been told. So you decided to become a host

because of your illness?”

“Yes — there is no cure there but a symbiote may well

have no problem with it, at least I hope so. What about you?”

“I always wanted to travel, but I started developing allergies to something at home — it started mildly, but got

worse and worse. When my parents met with the Tok’ra they

begged him to heal me — he tried to, using a hand device.

While it eased the symptoms, he explained that the only way

to heal me was to remove the allergen, but there was no way

to find it, so after that he explained that getting away fromthe planet might help and that I could do so by becoming a

host or that he could try to re-home me on a different planet.

I chose this because it seemed more exciting than farming,




25

but I know it isn’t a game — I’ve seen small scale raids and

battles before.”

“Your people still fight each other?” she asked, thensilently swore at herself — it sounded so condescending.

“Yes, although when you consider the Goa’uld doing so,

you can hardly argue that it is our level of technology.”

She nodded.

“Anyway, we should take food for our breakfasts, the

others will be waiting for us.” He gestured to some of the

fruit, bread, and some sort of cooked grain that he had put to

one side. He picked up two trays and put the food and dishes

onto them, then handed one to her. They started walking

back.

“It is hard to understand — I had been brought up to

believe that fighting was something uncivilised. My people

felt that having a set of defensive weapons was enough and

that aggression was something that should be discouraged as

much as possible.”

“The Goa’uld have just left them alone to develop this

technology?”

“Apparently so, they have tried to attack a few times since

our first defences when active and have been beaten back

each time — now they generally do not try as our ion

cannons are strong enough to defeat a Ha’tak with one shot.”“That does not seem much like the Goa’uld — is your

Chappa’ai protected from them?”



J ENN C ALAELEN

26

“We have energy weapons around it, anyone coming

through with hostile intent would not survive the experience,

but those defences are only about fifty years old, before that

the gate was less well defended.”

“Perhaps they didn’t know the address?”

“That is possible, but I am beginning to wonder if the

Tok’ra have protected us from them.”

“That would make sense, but why? I mean, why your world, they don’t protect everyone against the Goa’uld?”

“I don’t know. I feel like there is something to this, but I

suppose I’ll work it out or find out in time.”

They turned back into the room where the others were

now waiting, looking half awake. They set the food down onthe table and everyone sat down around it. Rila was glad that

neither of the others were awake enough to make

conversation and Ivarr didn’t seem to want to continue their

last one in front of the others.

Following breakfast Rila was taken away by Jalen to talk to

several of the Tok’ra scientists. Rila returned for lunch, very

glad that they seemed to have realised that they had got to the

end of her conscious knowledge. The others were already

sitting around the table when she returned and she sank into

her usual seat. She helped herself to food and started eating.“Have they been having you do their tests this morning?”

Therin asked.

“In a way,” she replied.




27

“It seems that these tests take a random amount of time

dependent on the person. Mine were done in a single

afternoon, whereas it sounds like you do not think that they

have finished with you. Possibly it depends more on the

tester than the subject as I have observed that the tests appear

to be carried out by whichever Tok’ra recruits you. I suspect

that the tests are therefore not standard and thus that the

results are biased. This would explain why some people get

chosen as hosts so quickly while others of us are left here for

so long.”

Rila interrupted, “Why did you volunteer to be a host?”

“I was the village headsman on an insignificant planted at

the edge of Bastet’s domains, then the planet was conquered

by Ba’al. His ships arrived and the Jaffa started rounding up

people to be slaves, one of them seized my wife. I attackedhim with my rake, I had been about to rake the vegetables

when they arrived. They were not expecting any resistance,

there were only three of them in the village at that time, and

when my friends saw me attacking him they all joined in —

we managed to killed two of the but the third escaped. We

feared that he would return with more and so ran away intothe woods. They chased us there and bombed the land from

above, within a few days I was the only one left alive. I was

found by the Tok’ra about a month later, and they offered me

the chance to come here, saying that I would not be safe to

remain there, as my face would be known — I believed them

as I had thought already that there might be a bounty out on

my head and so I had not approached any of the other

villages, even though they had only been touched lightly.”



J ENN C ALAELEN

28

The others had continued eating while he was talking, so

Rila assumed that they had heard the story before, but she

stopped as she was starting to feel guilty for reacting so badly

to him when he had come here by a much harder way than

hers.

“Rila?”

She blinked at her name, realising that she had stopped

listening.

“Sorry.”

“Are you all right? Do you need help?”

“No, nothing is wrong — I just lost track of the

conversation. I’m tired because of all the testing this

morning.”

“You should rest, they will probably be back for you

soon.” Ivarr said quickly.

She nodded as she got up slowly and stretched.

“What else of the base have you seen?” she asked as shesat down on a bench and leant against the wall.

“This area, testing rooms, kitchen, infirmary, training

rooms and a lot of corridors. It all looks the same, I don’t

know what else there is.”

“Training rooms?”

“For physical exercise. They encourage us to exercise a bit,

although they don’t seem to be teaching us fighting skills, at




29

least not yet. If you are not needed and want to, you can

come with us this afternoon.”

“Thank you.”

The days fell into that sort of pattern, tests and questions

in the morning, helping with meals, exercising and sleeping. It

felt as if her life was on hold, waiting for something to

happen, and as it was waiting for someone to die it felt very odd.

On the fourth day, just as they were finishing up breakfast,

Delek arrived abruptly.

“All of you to the infirmary now!”

They jumped up and quickly followed him.

“One of our operatives just got back, very badly injured.

He has been a prisoner of Cronos and was tortured but

escaped. His host is dying and Zarin needs a new hosturgently.”

“How long does he have?”

“They were trying to stabilise him. If they succeed we

might have about half of the day, if not it will be very quick.

In the worst case he will not be able to choose and we will

have to make a choice for him.”

Rila wondered if she was the only one who saw his eyes

cross to Maric. She wondered why she had been brought



J ENN C ALAELEN

30

along, it sounded like they were looking for a male host. They

entered the infirmary, where there were two Tok’ra leaning

over a figure on one of the beds.

“Is he conscious?”

“Yes, and stable for now. He will probably have most of

the day — given that all of you are basically healthy.”

“Zarin, here are the prospective hosts — we have given

you their details, here they are.” He moved aside and let themapproach the bed. The man lying there was clearly injured,

but looked up at them. To Rila’s eyes he looked in his mid

forties, fairly young but definitely fully grown up and he had

dark hair and light grey eyes all of which she noticed absently

as the others pushed forward to introduce themselves. She

hung back, assuming that he would prefer his new host to bemale. She watched them, not listening to all the information

that they were trying to tell him, and found herself looking at

Zarin who seemed to be amused by it, despite his pain.

“I hear you are Tollan, and have been helping our

scientists. That is good for a change, most of your people are

very secretive,” he said to her.

The others turned to look at her at that comment.

“I’ve been trying, but I’m not a scientist,” she hesitated.

“In fact if I was I doubt that my government would have let

me come.”

“Why do you think that?” Delek said harshly.

“Well, from various things that had happened here I had

been thinking about how they don’t seem to be sharing




31

knowledge with you and I remembered something that the

councillor said when he visited me to discuss becoming a

host. He something along the lines that they would let me go

because of my job. At the time I thought that it meant only

that I wasn’t important enough for them to worry about

losing my skills.”

“That would be against our treaties with them. They

agreed to allow any citizens to become hosts if they wished to

and to inform people of the choice in appropriate situations. As well as to share technological advances.”

Rila gasped, shocked at that. “I find it very hard to believe,

openness in the key to our government. I can hardly believe

that they would lie to us so much. The information about the

Tok’ra is there in the database if you look for it, but no one

told me anything. Indeed it appears that they had a mark on itto see what had happened when anyone accessed it.”

“How much do you know about the origins of your

people?” one of the other Tok’ra asked.

“We settled on an isolated world to ensure our safety by

cutting ourselves off from the rest of the galaxy.”

“Yet your people did not bury their Chappa’ai.”

“No.”

“The Tok’ra settled your people there to protect them

from the Goa’uld and gave them technology in the hope thatthey would come to be allied in the war against the Goa’uld.”

Rila sat down on the nearby bed and tried to calm herself.

It seemed to make sense from the Tok’ra perspective and



J ENN C ALAELEN

32

they would have no reason to lie to her, but that implied that

the central basis for their government was totally misleading.

“Do you believe us?” Zarin asked.

“Yes, but I am very shocked at what it implies about the

government that I have believed in all my life.”

“I’m sorry that we have to disillusion you too. There are

many things that are false and most of our hosts have to

come to terms with the problems of their worlds. It is just asurprise to us as well, to learn that we have been betrayed by

our allies.”

“Thank you. I would rather know the truth and perhaps in

time I can help my people come to believe it.”

“It might be hard to get the council to allow you to if they really are concealing this.”

Rila nodded.

After a moment, Zarin said, “There was nothing on your

file about your attitude to undercover missions. Have you

been asked if you would be willing to go on long termundercover missions?”

“I hadn’t been asked. I think the testing got left to a side

with the interest in my scientific knowledge. I suppose it

would mean long stretches of time when I could not be in

control, more danger, and having to live like a Goa’uld.” She

paused. “I think I would be accept such an assignment. It ishard to say never having been in a comparable situation, but

really it is more suited to my skills than being a scientist. I am




33

good with details, and I would have thought that it would

help with intelligence gathering.”

Zarin smiled at her and the others started looking betweenthen, Rila suddenly realised what seemed to be about to

happen.

“Rila, will you consent to being my host?”

“Yes,” she said quickly, realising that although she knew a

lot less about Zarin than she had expected she felt that they would be suited.

“We should blend now then, Juris is dying — I’ve been

holding him to life, but it is time for me to let him go. Come

here.”

She remembered the instructions that she had been given,and came and lay down next to him, and slowly moved in to

kiss him, feeling really awkward, especially with so many

witnesses. She felt something moving in her mouth, then a

very sharp pain in her throat. She gasped, but the pain

vanished. She felt something in her head, then heard her own

voice saying, “It has worked. I must rest now.”

*Rila, are you okay?* A voice in her head — she was

surprised that it appeared to have the distorted effect that she

associated with symbiotes.

*I think so. It feels strange, but I expect it will get better as

I become used to it.* The thought carefully forming the words, but without speaking aloud.



J ENN C ALAELEN

34

*We should both rest, I can send you to sleep. I can see

the reasons for your sickness, but I am too tired from keeping

Juris alive to heal it at the moment.*

*You will be able to later?*

*Yes. Now sleep.*

Her sight cut out as he closed her eyes, and with that she

fell asleep.

***

Rila woke suddenly several hours later. She lay there for a

moment before trying to move, unsure whether it had been a

dream or if she was really blended. She tried reaching into her

mind and became vaguely aware of Zarin’s dreams. She

couldn’t see what they were but it seemed that he was stilldeeply asleep. She tried opening her eyes and it worked. She

was still in the infirmary, but lying flat on a different bed.

Juris’s body lay covered on one of the other beds. Rila gasped

as a wave of sadness flowed over her, full of memories of his

life. She started crying, moved by his sacrifices for the Tok’ra

and mourning his sharp wits. She sat up and looked aroundfor something to dry her eyes. However, she couldn’t see

anything, so she used the sleeve of her dress. She realised that

she was alone. She glanced at the door and wondered what

would happen if she just got up and walked out the door. She

suddenly knew the whole layout of the base. She got up,

slowly, thinking that sudden movements were more likely to

wake Zarin, and aware that he still needed rest. She wondered

what she should do. She walked away, towards her quarters,

hoping that the others wouldn’t be awake to talk to her.

Thankfully they weren’t. She realised that it must be very late




35

at night — living in the tunnels it was easy to get cut off from

the idea of days and nights as more than purely abstract

concepts. She went into her room and closed the curtain,

then looked around. She wondered if she should sleep more,

but didn’t feel tired. She started gathering up her stuff, first

washing and putting on fresh clothes, although she expected

that when Zarin woke up he would want her to wear the

Tok’ra uniform. She started packing up the pictures and

ornaments from the shelves around the bed.

*Hello.*

*Zarin! You’re awake!* She felt a surge of worry. Had she

done something wrong by getting up? Would Zarin not

appreciate the blending now?

*There is no reason to worry.*

She felt a surge of comfort, not only mental but in some

way physical, like a hug or being wrapped in a warm blanket.

*I am glad I chose you as my host. I think we will suit

each other very well.*

*You know that from a few minutes conversation?*

*As we blended and while I slept I saw a portion of your

memories, just like you have probably been aware of mine

since you woke up.*

*I see. I noticed that I had gained some of your knowledge

already.*

*What you have gained was triggered by your thoughts.*

*Is that how it is going to work now?*



J ENN C ALAELEN

36

*Only when one of us is asleep or unconscious. When we

are both conscious we will share memories and knowledge in

a more controlled fashion.*

*So what are we supposed to be doing now?*

*Barring emergencies we will not be assigned a mission for

at least a month, and no long term mission for at least six

months.*

*But there are always emergencies.*

*Yes.*

Rila felt another rush of warmth like a hug.

*How do you do that?*

*In how much detail?* Zarin sounded like he was teasing

her.

*General principles.*

*Stimulate your nervous system with touch receptors and

hormones.*

*So how do I hug you back?*

*Anyway you want.*

Rila smiled at that.

*Would you like to be in control?*

*Yes — if you don’t mind.*

Rila relaxed and tried to remain calm as she felt control

slipping away. She could still see and hear clearly.




37

*Would you try touching something?*

Zarin reached out and touched the wall; Rila could feel the

stone under her hand, but the sensation was muffled, like wearing gloves, but totally different.

*Generally touch, smell and taste aren’t the same, but sight

and hearing are, except for being able to direct them.*

Rila laughed.

*Sorry to be predictable. How many times have you gone

through this before?*

*I’ve had three previous hosts.*

Rila could feel her sadness at their loss, and see the

memories coming out, two male hosts and a female: the firstspecially selected for her by Egeria, as one of the tests of the

first batch of Tok’ra symbiotes; the second encountered as

she was dying on a planet ruled by the Goa’uld, who thought

that she was a god and that she would be enveloped into

becoming an aspect of her; and the third who had offered

when he had returned badly injured from a mission —

scarred and angry at the Goa’uld for letting his people die in a

famine while demanding a tithe of the crops.

*Stop,* she whispered.

The flow of memories slowed, then stopped.

*Are you all right?*

*Yes. Just a lot to take in at one time. Give me time to get

use to it. Do you wish to go back to the infirmary to see to

Juris’s body?*



J ENN C ALAELEN

38

*In time. The funeral will be tomorrow, barring

emergencies, so there will be time for that later.*

*So what now?*

*Moving your belongings to my quarters and settling in.

Sharing knowledge and memories in a controlled way;

allowing you to meet those of my friends who are around;

sorting out temporary duties here.*

*If you give me back control, I’ll pack up my belongings,and you can show me memories while I do that?*

*Very sensible.*

Rila felt herself fall forwards mentally as Zarin relaxed her

control. She gasped, and was surprised to hear the sound

come out of her mouth. She stretched out, and started tofinish up the packing.

*Which memories would you like to start with?*

*I don’t know, something happy I suppose.* Rila said

softly, aware of Zarin’s, and her, deep grief at the death of

his? last host. *Wait a moment, which gender would youprefer me to refer to you as?*

*It makes most sense for it to be female to match the

body I’m in.*

*It won’t confuse people that you’ve changed?*

*Not really, it is fairly normal around here.*




39

*I suppose it would be.* Rila smiled at the thought.

*There will be a lot for me to get used to. You’ll prompt me

on everything when I’m talking to other Tok’ra?*

*Of course. But everyone expects some mistakes of that

sort. Anyway memories.*

The first memory Zarin showed her was of a tank of water

with several other symbiotes swimming around in it. Ria

could see them and knew that they were her family. The tank

jolted and moved, Zarin wondered what was going on and

hoped that it would be interesting, more than all the tests and

being told to access all of the genetic memories. The air

moved strangely with echoing noises around them. Then it

smelt different and the air was hot and dry, beating against

the water of the tank. She swam to the bottom to hide from

it. Suddenly the sensations vanished, then the air wasdifferent again, cool wet, smelling of different things. She

tried to work out what they were, but suddenly the tank

tipped up, pouring them into a larger body of water. The

symbiotes swam off in all different directions, the pool

seemed as large as a whole world and there were plants

handing over it and growing in it. Zarin swam aroundmapping out the edges of the pool. Her memories told her

the scale of it, and identified the trees and several types of

flowers and ferns. As the other symbiotes swam closer they

each exchanged information about what they had found. For

the first time there were things to do and places to go. They

swam around dancing in the sunbeams, then hid in the dark

and surprised each other.

*Amazing! I had never thought that you would remember

events before you had a host.*



J ENN C ALAELEN

40

*Well, if not how would our species have evolved enough

to take hosts in the first place?*

*True. Do you have a name for your species, most textson my world call it Goa’uld, but I suspect that you wouldn’t?*

*Certainly not!* Zarin’s mental voice vibrated with disgust.

*We don’t have a separate name for the species. It would be

sensible to have one, but I suppose we never thought of that,

just used Goa’uld or Tok’ra as appropriate, or symbiote for

general.*

*Symbiote works as a general term until you find another

symbiotic race.*

*Well, I know of several others, but none of them are

sentient.*

*So back to the original point. You could do with a proper

species name. Anyway, it is fascinating to see you as a young

symbiote — is that how all Tok’ra were brought up?*

*No — after my batch worked out, the young symbiotes

all grew up in open pools like that from the start, rather than

spending time in tanks being tested, but Egeria was so

worried about whether we would turn out all right as she

wasn’t sure that passing on her memories and emotions

would be enough to prevent us from being Goa’uld.*

*What was it like that early on? Everything must have

been very different.* Rila’s mind picked up on that, trying notto think about the fact that Zarin must be over one thousand

five hundred years old.




41

*It was! When I was born Egeria was still one of Ra’s

queens, a secret rebel. She ruled a small domain under him

and had to hide the fact the she was spawning and so didn’t

dare to use any of the Jaffa as incubators as they might be

loyal to Ra. She built up loyalty among her human followers

and got volunteer hosts for the first batch of symbiotes. Let

me show you.*

The memory flooded Rila’s mind as she put her coat into

the bag, she sat down on the bench.

***

A tall women, very beautiful in the dark Egyptian style,

but relatively simply dressed, leant over the pool. All the

symbiotes swam closer, swam towards their mother, knowing

that she was there to see them. She reached over and pickedup one of the others, gently talking to him. Zarin could see all

their minders standing back, nervously. She wondered what

was wrong, and why all the others just seemed excited.

After a few moments, they went away, without returning

the symbiote. The rest of them swam around and around,

speculating what had happened — they knew that he hadprobably been given a host, but no idea whether it had been

successful or not. After a while, they turned back to their

normal activities.

As it was starting to get dark, a young man came down to

the side of the pool. Zarin swam over to see who it was, as

she got close she realised that he was the symbiote who had

been taken away.

“Hello sister, coming to see me.” He said as he put his

hand down into the water the way their minders had.



J ENN C ALAELEN

42

She swam up and nibbled his fingers.

“I now have a name — I am Per’sus, and my host is

Garius.”

Zarin swam around his hand.

“Would you like to be next?”

Zarin thought about it for a moment, knowing that it

would be a big change and for a moment she was terrified,but then excited.

“Yes.” She squeaked.

He reached into the water and picked her out. He carried

her into a large room, Zarin could see Egeria sitting at the

end with several others surrounding her.

“Egeria, I have returned — my sister is brave and wants to

be the next to have a host.”

The three talking turned to face him.

“I said we would try another tomorrow if it worked. I did

not say that you should go and fetch a symbiote now.” Egeriasaid, frowning slightly. She reached out and took Zarin from

him, and looked closely at her. “However, she seems to be

unharmed. Very well, we will do this now. Selmak, Jolinar, I

will return to this later.”

She got up and carried Zarin into a nearby room. A young

woman sat on the bed there combing her hair. She was dark

haired and pale skinned, beautiful as most Goa’uld personal

slaves were.




43

“Daughter, this is Camilla. She has offered to be a host to

one of my daughters. As my lotar she travels with me, but I

can mask the signal from her symbiote so long as she remains

near me. It would be a job where you have to remain hidden

a lot of the time, but where you would be there to protect me

should anything go wrong. I would need you to learn combat

skills and to be ready to use them.” She paused. “I don’t want

to use my daughter like this, but Jolinar insists that I need a

bodyguard whenever I’m going into Gao’uld circles.”

Camilla had stood up and looked at Zarin as Zarin looked

about at her, Camila raised her head to face Egeria.

“I am ready. You have told me of all the dangers and I am

prepared to do this.” She licked her lips slightly and her voice

quavered.

Zarin squeaked acceptance. Egeria sighed and held her out

towards Camila.

“Will she be able to heal the entrance scar? Otherwise it

would be easy for them to notice that I have a symbiote.”

Egeria paused.

“I don’t believe it would be possible, otherwise the

Goa’uld would have given their demands for perfect hosts.”

“Could she enter through my mouth? Then any scar

would be hidden on my throat.”

“Possibly. I see no reason why not, but it might not work in practice. Lie down.”

Camila lay down on the bed and Egeria put Zarin down

next to her. Camila opened her mouth wide, Zarin wriggled



J ENN C ALAELEN

44

forward into it. She could tell where she had to get to — the

back of the neck and brain binding in to the nerves and brain

functions. She dived through the back of the throat and

quickly found it. She tapped into the functions and felt pain

from the entrance wound in her throat. Quickly she numbed

the nerves and worked on repairing the tissues. Only after

this did she move toward the mind of Camila. She reached

out slowly.

*Hello.*

*Hello, is that you, symbiote? Do you have a name?*

*Yes, it is me, and I don’t think I have a name.*

*Your mother should give you one.*

*Yes. May I talk to her?*

*Naturally.*

Zarin hesitated, not sure how to take control gently.

*Go on!* Camila seemed to draw her mind back, Zarin

could see where she needed to be and pushed forward.*Ow. That was quite rough.*

*I’m so sorry. Do you want control back?*

*No. Ask your question.*

She felt Camila smile at her encouragingly.

“Mother, Camila says that you should give me a name.”




45

“Yes, you should, daughter. I had thought to call my first

daughter Zarin. Would you like that name?”

Zarin nodded and smiled.

*See, now I have a name. Now you should talk to mother

— prove that I’m not Goa’uld.* She moved back, pushing

Camila forward, trying to be as gentle as possible.

“My lady, the blending has worked.” Camila tried to sit up,

but her co-ordination was off.

Egeria pushed her back.

“Wonderful. Now rest. After blending it is hard for ether

of you to control the body properly at first. Let yourselves

blend and then it should work.”

Camila obediently lay back.

“Zarin. See if you can make both of you sleep for now.”

Zarin remembering how this was done did so, whispering.

*Goodnight Camila.*

*Goodnight Zarin* came the soft reply as she fell asleep.

***

*Amazing,* Rila said softly as she surfaced from the

memory.

Zarin smiled at her.



J ENN C ALAELEN

*It was, and there is so much more for you to see, but for

now let us get this to my quarters. Then perhaps a nap before

breakfast.*

*Sounds like a good plan. You can have control for this as

you know where you are going.*

*Thank you.* Zarin said as she took control. *I am so glad

you become my host. It feels like we are just beginning and

there is so much ahead for both of us to learn and do.*

The End

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