#furling

Kyrie had recovered from the previous time she had been summoned into her Dreamscape, but her Krewe leader had not been pleased at the way she had simply collapsed at the work site. She sincerely hoped that she would have advanced warning before she was summoned again the next time and that it would not coincide with work at all. 

She was in the sea when she felt the pull this time. Kyrie had gone to the Tethyos City Cube for the weekend to see her family and visit the sea, which still held a special place in her heart. The pull of the Fragment was strong in her chest as she made for the shore, and it nearly took her breath away as she tried to get to the nearest teleporter. She made hurried apologies to everyone she ran into as she ran for the teleporter and typed a hurried message to Elder Rhea, hoping that the Elder could intervene on her behalf if she stayed in the Fragment longer than she meant to.

Soon Kyrie was stumbling out of the teleporter and towards the Fragment grove. It was far too familiar to her now, and she barely waved towards the Tender as she tried to get to the trees. Her chest was burning from exertion and some unknown pain alike. She was still dripping sea water when she burst through the trees into a utilitarian room that she had never seen before. She was not in her Dreamscape or anywhere that she recognised, and she was still wearing the jumpsuit that she had been swimming in.

“By the Alchemy, Daniel,” she said, when her eyes alighted on him. He held the stone in his hand, looking a little sheepish as he looked her over.

“Bad timing?”

“I was in the sea swimming when I first felt the summoning. It felt like my chest was on fire by the time I finally got to the grove. I’m probably going to have to make a public apology when I get back, sprinting through town to the teleporter in swimming clothes and knocking people out of the way. I contacted an Elder on the way, but…” Kyrie trailed off. She looked around her again, then asked, “Where are we now? I don’t recognise it.”

“Stargate Command, in my personal quarters. I begged off from the end of debriefing so I could summon you. I figured you wouldn’t take kindly to being summoned into a room of strangers.”

“You would be correct. Why have you summoned me, though? Is everything okay?”

“You don’t know why you’ve been called?”

“I don’t follow every detail of your life, Daniel. That would be weird. I know big events, but I generally wait for you or the Timeline to inform me of smaller things. So no, I don’t know why I’m here.”

“We made contact with the Asgard for the first time. With the real Asgard, not just their technology or their holograms.”

“And you want to know what I know about them?”

“A hint of what we are dealing with would be nice.”

“Surely your interactions with them would have given you enough of an indication already.”

“Well, not exactly…” Daniel hedged. Kyrie crossed her arms.

“What did you do?”

“It’s not what we did. It’s more what we haven’t done. They don’t think that we’re advanced enough to bother with yet.”

“Did they call you a race of children?”

“That’s...almost exactly what they called us. How did you know?”

“It’s just very on charactre for them. But at least they say what they mean outright, unlike the Nox.,” Kyrie said with a hint of a snicker in her voice. She wouldn’t tell Daniel that she somewhat agreed with the Asgard’s opinion of the Tau’ri. They were advancing quickly, yes, but they were still children in the eyes of the older races. 

“...true,” Daniel admitted. The Nox had spoken more in riddles than in straight truth when they had met the strange race. “Are the Nox on the same level as the Asgard?”

“Yes, though they did not explore the universe as the Asgard did. They stuck to their world and developed their technologies. Shared them, to an extent, but...they did not disperse for reasons.”

“So you’re familiar with the Asgard?”

“Very. My people have had an alliance with them for millennia. We haven’t been in direct contact with them for a long time, since we withdrew, but they suspect that we are still around. They have no concrete proof, of course, but they have their suspicions. They are a noble race. They will not harm you. They are monitoring you as you advance, and eventually they will reevaluate their opinion of your...status.”

“So you won’t intervene on our behalf?”

“No.”

“We need their help now, though. Just like we need your help. Neither of you are viewing us with the levity that you should be.”

“I cannot speak for the Asgard, but I am only one person. I do not make decisions for my community or governing Elders. You have only met one person from my people,” Kyrie said sharply. “When I say that you are not ready, you have to take me for my word. The decision to introduce you, and your team, to my Elders, is not one that I can make lightly. The Asgard have a difficult decision to make of their own right now, too. If you cannot recognise that, then maybe their declaration that you are still a race of children is correct.” 

Daniel winced at this. “The Goa’uld are posing a serious threat to us, Kyrie. We need help against them if we are to survive.”

“I understand that and validate your struggles. I cannot make decisions for the Asgard or for my Elders, however. I can pass along your concerns as I have been, but that is all I can do. And you should give yourself more credit than you have thus far. You have held your own against a race that once enslaved you.”

“We’re losing ground,” Daniel said quietly. 

“Not for long,” Kyrie hinted. Daniel looked up at this, his eyes quizzical. “And that is all I will say.” A knock sounded on the door, and Kyrie backed away. “I must go. Try not to be so forceful in summoning me next time. Let go of the stone.” 

Daniel did as he was commanded and set the stone on a side table. He opened the door, and Jack entered. “Talking to yourself again?” he asked.

“Something like that,” Daniel mumbled to himself.

-

Kyrie was getting better at not stumbling out of the forest. Elder Rhea met her at the fringes with a robe. 

“They’ve made contact with the Asgard. The Asgard told them that they are but a child race still. They are asking for help. I promised nothing.”

“The Asgard will come around soon,” Elder Rhea said quietly. Kyrie tilted her head towards the older woman.

“What did you See?”

“Their battle with the Replicators is not going well. They will be forced to make a decision between the humans they vowed to protect and the battle in their home galaxy. The Tau’ri will come into play.”

“What about us?”

“We will not involve ourselves in the matter. It is for the Tau’ri to prove themselves to the Asgard, not for us to intervene. We will not risk the Replicators coming to our world.”

“But if we reveal ourselves to the Tau’ri, surely we must reveal ourselves to the Asgard as well?”

“Yes, we must, but the time is not yet here for us to reveal ourselves to anyone. There may come a time when you must introduce yourself to Daniel Jackson’s team but conceal your true identity.” The thought of this made Kyrie feel uncomfortable. She thought they had an obligation to help their ally of old, and she did not wish to lie to anyone, but she could not go against the orders of an Elder.

“I...understand.”

-

Kyrie had explained as much as she could about her ‘extra duties’ as a Seer to her Krewe Leader after giving the summoning stone to Daniel, and they understood...partially. Kyrie suspected that Elder Rhea and perhaps even the Elder from her Krewe Leader’s House had intervened on her behalf so that when she felt the pull of the Fragment again while on a worksite and had to sprint off, they were surprisingly good-natured about her disappearance.

It had only been a few months, and Kyrie thought that this was a very short amount of time for the Asgard to change their minds about the Tau’ri. She would just have to wait and see. She was closer to the Fragment this time, but the journey there did not hurt as badly as it had before. Perhaps Daniel was being gentler in his summoning, or perhaps she was getting used to the sensation.

The Tender merely waved her on as she entered the trees. She came out in the same room as before. Daniel was pacing back and forth when she appeared.

“You look nervous,” Kyrie said by way of greeting.

“There are three Goa’uld System Lords sitting in a boardroom several levels above our head, so yes I am nervous.”

“That’s...a development,” Kyrie commented.

“A development,” Daniel said harshly. “They’re debating whether to attack us. Thor was trying to argue on our behalf, but Teal’c, and another one of their kind, Sokar, were found injured. They think we attacked them.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“I don’t know, argue on our behalf, bring a ship here to defend us, tell the Asgard to step up and defend us? You said you had a treaty with them.”

“The Asgard have far bigger problems in their home galaxy than the squabble of System Lords in the Milky Way.”

“That’s what they told us before they left.”

“You have to prove to them that you were not responsible for the attack and hope that they then decide not to attack.”

“What do you think we’ve been doing?” Kyrie said nothing. “Your silence is not reassuring.”

“If the Furling were meant to interfere in this, the Elders would have shown up to the meeting between you, the Asgard, and the System Lords.” Daniel gave a long sigh.

“I was afraid you’d say that. You know, what good are you?” Kyrie closed her eyes and gave a sigh of her own.

“One day I will be able to help you in the way that you desire, but…”

“But today is not that day?”

“Correct.”

Daniel shook his head ruefully, and before Kyrie could say anything else, he released the stone, and Kyrie vanished. Kyrie exited the grove, frustration in her heart. She wished she could do more for Daniel, but there was nothing to be done. Elder Rhea had made it clear that for a while, the path was for the Asgard and the Tau’ri to tread alone. She could only bide her time until her part in the matter was made clearer to her.

--

I have been writing stories about Kyrie, a Furling, and Daniel for years now, but I am just now sharing them with people. I have always been fascinated by what little we know about the Furlings, and my mind naturally began to fill the gaps. I hope that you all enjoy my take on them. 

These stories will be heavy on Kyrie at first as I establish more information about the Furlings. At some point, I will also publish a “cheat sheet” to the Furlings that I will continually update, but it’s a work in progress at the moment.

-

Kyrie was nervous. It didn’t feel like her Pinning, when a girl’s long hair was pinned up in a grown up’s style, had already happened a year ago now. She was now waiting to face the Fragment, to see her sacred geometry, and for her future to become her present. A number of Thirteens all milled around the room with her, dressed in the same white tunic and leggings. When they exited the Fragment, they would accept their veils and officially become part of the Community. 

The veils were largely ceremonial these days. The Furlings rarely had outside visitors, and when they did, they were kept to certain areas. Besides, only the Seers and the Elders were really required to veil in the presence of strangers. Still, accepting your veil was an important step in becoming a productive member of the Community.

Kyrie had been waiting for this day for thirteen whole Cycles, or so it had felt. Every child looked forward to the day when they would see their sacred geometry and the path that their adult lives would take. The Fragment was older than the Furlings themselves, and the Furlings were old. They were one of the original Four Races, and their history stretched back for eons. But the Fragment superseded that, and so for eons, the Furlings had been sending their children into the Fragment to come out as adults with an idea of how their lives would shape up. Kyrie didn’t know what would happen when she set foot inside the Fragment- most adults wouldn’t talk of it, if they could remember it at all. They just came out knowing that they were supposed to join this Krewe or that or attend this College over that one. Occasionally a Furling would come out of the Fragment talking about what they had seen, and they would be sternly reminded that it was a private experience not to be shared with everyone. Kyrie secretly hoped that she would be among those who remembered her experience within the Fragment.

Kyrie bounced on the balls of her feet as she stood outside the vast forest-like structure that the Fragment materialised as. Heron, who had been born just before her in her Cycle, was within the Fragment now. As soon as he exited, it would be her turn to enter. Heron stumbled out of the trees, looking disoriented. As he gained awareness of his surroundings, his parents approached him tentatively. He straightened and strode towards them, reuniting with them. Kyrie didn’t watch the rest of their exchange. Her mind was focused solely on the Fragment. An ancient Tender approached her.

“Kyrie, of House Tethyos, are you ready to enter the Fragment and see your sacred geometry?” the Tender asked her. Kyrie took a deep breath and stopped bouncing. “I need a verbal yes, Kyrie.”

“Yes, Tender, I am ready.”

“You may enter the Fragment, Kyrie. The Eternal Alchemy awaits you.”

Kyrie walked towards the forest, and as soon as she entered the trees, they exploded around her in great balls of light and sound. She shielded her eyes as her stomach dropped along with the ground beneath her feet. She was falling among a sea of purple stars, the trees and ground beneath her both completely gone. She fell none too gently into a golden bough of light that constantly shifted beneath her vision and touch. Slowly, she stood, standing amongst the shifting gold and the pattern of purple stars beyond. White lines appeared beneath her feet, drawing pictures and words in a path that moved beyond her as she began to walk.

My sacred geometry, Kyrie thought to herself, looking down at the pictures and words as she walked. The signs for Scholar appeared amidst the pictures, as did the symbol for the College of Statics. A triangular symbol with a dot at the top appeared multiple times amongst the pictures. Words in a strange language punctuated the text that told her of her future. It was familiar, but she could not decipher it. Yet. 

At once, the words and pictures stopped, and Kyrie found herself facing a golden door that glowed faintly. The end. Except...the patterns on the ground continued beyond the door. She could see them slipping beneath the threshold and going on for a long time beyond. If she could just get to the other side without going through the door, which she knew would lead her back to reality. 

A golden hexagon appeared just to the left of the door. Curiously, Kyrie tested her foot on the hexagon, hanging onto the side of the door. The hexagon gave beneath her foot, and she gripped the door a little harder. Another hexagon appeared, and she put her other foot on it. It was like she was walking across a watery surface. She was going to have to let go of the door if she wanted to go farther. The shimmering path of hexagons continued, and Kyrie shakily made her way across them until they met back up with the path of white figures, and she stepped onto firm ground again. The figures were all in that strange language now, and a purple door appeared in front of her. She was reasonably certain that it did not lead back to home, so she pushed it open and stepped through. 

The space she entered was white at first, but then things began to materialise around her. She was in a comfortable garden similar to the one that was outside her house. She could see a boy sitting in it with his back turned to her. She tried to get his attention, but her voice was gone. In fact, there was no sound at all. The boy began to age before her eyes, and soon he was a man, entering his own profession as she would one day. Something told Kyrie that this man was not a Furling. He was of the strange language and the triangular symbol with the dot on top. She reached out for him, but he evaporated beneath her touch. The garden evaporated, and she was on the path again. 

A green door materialised, and she pushed through this one, stepping into a boardroom of sorts. She was standing next to an Asgard. She had seen one, once, when she was younger. A delegation had come to Illyria, the Furling homeworld, and she had been at the market with her mother when they walked through. She had been fascinated. This Asgard was oblivious to her presence, as was everyone in the room. She looked down at her clothes. She was dressed as a diplomat. The man from her prior vision was there, sitting a little down the table. This vision evaporated before she could make much sense of it. 

A red door materialised, and at this point, she wasn’t going to shy away from a door. She stepped through and found herself in a medical bay. She looked on in horror as the man from her visions lay dying in front of her, bleeding through the many layers of bandages that covered his body. Kyrie backed away as far as the vision would let her, which wasn’t far. She was forced to look at those blue eyes as they pleaded for deliverance from his pain. Was that why she was there? For deliverance? But there was a glowing light on the other side of him. It held a faint humanoid shape in it. She narrowed her eyes at it. She wasn’t old enough to remember the Ancients, but she knew the stories and had seen the pictures. She was facing an ascended Ancient in this vision. Before she could figure out why or what they were squaring off over, the vision evaporated, and a blue door appeared in front of her.

Kyrie approached this blue door tentatively. She remembered the horror that had lain behind the red door and was not eager to repeat the experience, so she pushed through hesitantly. Everything was blindingly white. She blinked rapidly to adjust her vision to the starkness of the place. A figure in ivory robes stood with their back to her. They turned when the door slammed shut behind her. It was the man, and he glowed faintly the way the illustrations of ascended Ancients did. Kyrie looked down at her hands, the hands of a grown woman. She was dressed as a Seer, fully veiled, hands gloved. Suddenly she knew what she and the Ancient had been fighting over. This man’s body. By now she had figured out that she and the man had a bond of some sort, and clearly he had chosen to ascend instead of take the offer of a Furling reincarnation. Rage filled her body, and the vision faded.

Kyrie stumbled on the white path, chest heaving. The golden glow and the purple stars pulsed around her body. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Blood dripped from her nose and onto her white tunic as the pulsing grew sharper. She could hear her heart beating in her ears, a heavy thrumming. The golden door appeared before her, and this time she knew she had to leave. She pushed through, and she was stumbling out of the trees. Kyrie tripped on a root and went sprawling, hitting the ground as stars exploded behind her eyes. She could hear screaming, but she couldn’t connect that fact to the fact that it was her doing the screaming. She pressed her hands to her eyes. Everything was suddenly overbright, and the stars behind her eyes were vicious and blinding.

Hands lifted her from the ground as she continued to scream and press her hands to her eyes. They tried to pry her hands away, and she heard a shocked murmur when a light flashed in her eyes. She felt a sharp prick in her neck, and merciful darkness swept her away to elsewhere.

-

Kyrie walked through the garden that had appeared in her vision, but this time, she knew that she was in her dreams. Her hair hung loosely about her head, free of its usual pinned up plaits. She fingered it in wonder, noticing that grey was streaked through its usual auburn. Her eyes had stopped hurting at least, which was a blessing. She looked for the boy who had been in the garden before, but he was absent. She was drawn to the sound of running water and went over to the small pool that the water flowed down into. She blinked once, twice, unsure of what she was seeing. Her green eyes were gone, replaced by a milky, blind white.

Dreamscape. That’s what this place was. She had created a Dreamscape.

-

“She’s waking.” The voice was quiet, but Kyrie could hear it as she stirred. She tried to sit up, but gentle hands pressed her back into the bed. She sucked in a breath, and the air smelled like antiseptic. When she opened her eyes, there was nothing but darkness, and she panicked. She began to struggle against the hands that held her down.

“I can’t see!” she cried, tears running down her face.

“Hush, now, child, you are fine,” an old voice said. Gentle hands removed something from over her eyes, and then she felt the metallic band of a veil being fitted over her head. “Start at 0, and gradually go higher until you can see just a little. Don’t go too high all at once. Your eyes can’t handle it.” Kyrie sucked in deep breaths, doing as she was told, manipulating the veil until it lightened gradually. It was dark, but she could still see. She tried to calm herself. I can still see.

“What happened?” she asked, looking around her. Her parents stood by her bed, as did a medic, and...an Elder? Her parents looked nervously at the Elder for the explanation.

“I am Elder Rhea of House Jezerinac,” the Elder said, introducing herself. “You spent too long in the Fragment. I believe that...I believe that with some confirmation of what you experienced there, we can put together the missing pieces.”

“But we aren’t supposed to talk about what we experienced in the Fragment,” Kyrie said, a little dumbly.

“It’s okay to talk about it when an Elder is asking you, Kyrie,” her mother said, a little sharpness leaking into her tone despite her worry.

“Kyrie, did you go through the door when it was first presented to you?” Elder Rhea asked. Kyrie blinked at her, but of course the woman could not see that through the veil.

“No,” she said slowly. “The sacred geometry- it continued beyond the door. I couldn’t understand it. It was in a language I didn’t know, but there was a path around the door. I took it so I could continue the path.” Elder Rhea nodded behind her own veil as if this made sense.

“Then what happened?”

“There were doors that the path led to. I went through them, and they showed me visions. I- there was a boy, but then he became a man. I couldn’t talk to him, but he was in all of the visions. He wasn’t a Furling, I could tell. The language and the symbol were always around him. And there was an Asgard, and an...an...an Ancient. I was angry because he went with the Ancient in the end instead of with me. And then the golden door appeared again, and I knew that if I didn’t go through it the second time, I wouldn’t leave the Fragment. But when I was dreaming before, the garden from my first vision was back. I think I created a Dreamscape.”

Everyone was silent. Elder Rhea dismissed the medic. “Kyrie, most people cannot just dismiss the exit door like you did. Nor do they see things in their Fragment journey or their dreams. Yes, I know you saw things in your dreams just before you woke. You know that House Jezerinac is known for its Seers, just as House Tethyos is known for its control of the seas? Your sacred geometry has revealed you to be a Seer.”

“But House Tethyos has not had a Seer for over five generations,” Kyrie’s mother interrupted. “How is that possible? Bloodlines don’t just split like that.”

“The Eternal Alchemy doesn’t always choose vessels based on bloodlines,” Elder Rhea explained patiently. 

“Vessel?” Kyrie asked. “Seer?” Her mind was in chaos.

“You are a Seer, Kyrie. Your visions in the Fragment prove as much. And my own visions foresaw that the one who would bring the Tau’ri to the Furling would come in the next Cycle. You are the one who will shepherd the Tau’ri here. The man you saw in your visions is a Tau’ri, an Earthling, a member of the Fifth Race. I cannot tell you when- only you know that- but you will bring him and his people here.”

Kyrie was glad for the veil so that no one could see the shock and fear on her face. People feared Seers for the power they held. And she was supposed to shepherd an entire race in meeting her people for the first time? How was she supposed to do that? She was supposed to attend the College of Statics and become a Scholar. That was what the sacred geometry had said. If she hadn’t strayed from the path and had just gone through the first door, would any of this be happening?

“I know that you are afraid, all of you, especially you, Kyrie. But you will not be left alone to wander this path alone. You will meet with other Seers weekly to hone your skills and to make friends who understand your gift. And it is a gift, not a burden as many people would lead you to believe. You will still attend the College your sacred geometry indicated. You will still lead the life it set out for you. You will just have an...extra duty. And it will make itself known to you as the time is right. I will continue to check in on you. Does this make sense to you?”

Kyrie’s parents looked nervous and drawn, but they nodded in assent to Elder Rhea’s words. Kyrie, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. She was silent for a long while. “I don’t know,” she said at long last. 

“None of the young Seers, myself included, were sure at first, if that helps. Sureness comes with time. Yours will come in time.” Finally, Kyrie nodded. “Practise with your veil. Your eyes are still adjusting. I know that you saw them in your dream. It will take time to get used to them. And your hair will eventually all turn. I am sorry for the change. It takes us all in the end. Nobody knows why it affects the Seers so. I will be in contact with you later this week.” 

And with that, Elder Rhea was gone. Kyrie desperately wished it was all a dream, but the wisps of grey hair in the corners of her vision reminded her that it was real. 

--

I’m tagging everyone who liked/responded to my post about publishing writing about Furlings/Kyrie/Daniel Jackson, in case you’re wondering where this tag is from.