Chapter One

There’s my baby
lost that’s all
once I’m begging you
Save her little soul
Golden Years
David Bowie

The Final Days of an Olympian are not like those of a normal human being.  No, Fate is not that kind to those who are special or unique. Calla aged at the rate of a year a day, calculating in the average 5,000 year life span of an Olympian and Daniel came up with thirteen years, give or take. Thirteen years in which to find a cure and hopefully a way to even reverse the process which threatened to take his Wife from him.  Daniel gave up his professorship at the university and returned to the SGC as a full-time consultant.  This gave him access to all of their information as well as to the Stargate.   He spent many hours of many days of many weeks locked away in his study with his computers and his books.  Daniel traveled the world and the stars chasing lead after lead and clue after clue but nothing came of it.  As the months went by and she aged before his eyes his determination only grew stronger.   He spent more and more time away from home for the most part he left her in the care of David, who had resumed his place in the main house and Ares, who now had a small home of his own here in Altair Ain leaving his cave and his island paradise behind.  Nicholas wasn’t dealing well with his Mother’s pending Fate and he spent a lot of time off world with SG-1.

Like Father, Like Son.  Each of them threw themselves into their work hoping, in Daniel’s case to solve the problem and in Nicholas’ simply to avoid it or so Daniel had come to believe.

At first Daniel thought the answer was easy he would just offer up some of his new Olympian power to her, give her some of his energy to heal her and bring her back to them. Calla refused saying that it was too much to ask of him and Morgan said it would only be a temporary fix at best.  Morgan likened Calla’s condition to a colander or a damn with many holes in it.  She said that one could keep pouring water into either of them but, at least eventually it would only seep out again unless a way could be found to plug up the holes.

Needless to say those with a scientific mind among the UPs—every alchemist, botanist, potion maker, spell caster, wizard and sorceress, stopped working on their fertility problem and turned all of their time, attention and knowledge toward finding a way to save their Queen.  This disturbed Calla to no end as she thought they should be working on finding a way to bring New Life to the kingdom and not worry about saving her old one.  She’d even decreed, as Queen of Altair Ain, that such work be stopped immediately as her fondest wish was to see babies running around the kingdom before she died.  However, in secret places she was silently overridden and while during the day if she happened to pop by their laboratories to check on their progress she would find them working away on the fertility problem but night was a different story.  Under cover darkness they gathered and worked into the small hours of the morning with their amulets, their talismans, the potions and their ancient books full of ancient knowledge with one goal in mind; saving Queen Calla.

Along with the UPs and several of Earth’s more mortal scientists the Asgard and the Nox were also employed to work on the problem. Lord Thor didn’t hesitate to offer one of their clones for Calla assuring them that their technology had come a long way since the clone for Callestah had been created. They would simply transfer Calla’s consciousness into a new body.  Calla didn’t immediately reject the idea but she did spend quite a bit of time holed with Ares discussing it and in the end she decided against it. Maeve returned to Earth and took up residence with Duncan and Morgan which created quite a bit of discord in the MacLeod household.  Calla wanted nothing to do with Maeve and refused to take her company when she came to call.  She went so far as to tell Morgan that she would kick the old faerie out of the kingdom if it was what Morgan desired.  Morgan was more interested in finding a way to help the aging woman she’d come to call Daughter and to that end she tried to put her differences and the past behind them.

Every day that passed Calla got a little worse and grew a little older.  By Mortal standards she was a 69 year-old woman, a lioness approaching winter, and she looked almost every day of it. Now her lovely red hair was far more silver than auburn. A fading fire whose embers burn brighter than its flame.  Morgan took her to the finest salon in Paris and there they had it cut short so that it hung just to her shoulders in layered wisps. Daniel hated it but he understood the need for it. All of that hair, all of that lovely golden fire hair, was now a burden. It was too much to care for any longer and so it had to go. Not that it mattered in the end, Calla aged at a year a day and her hair grew at the same rate. It wasn’t long before it had all grown back and had to be cut again.  Now they just sat her down every few days or so and cut it off before it could grow so long she tripped over it.

There were lines around her emerald eyes and her full lips.  Her hands were still slender and graceful but they were papery smooth like an old woman’s.  Her walk was unsteady and he often caught her reaching out for nearby objects, table or chair, to keep steady and going forward.  More often than not he caught her sitting down in her morning shower and she seemed to be having a harder time getting up when she was done.

When he told David about this, David built her a special seat that was covered in tile to match the bathroom and which folded easily when she wasn’t using it. Daniel smiled at the added touch of folding David knew that Calla was more likely to balk at the idea if she thought it would be in Daniel’s way when he used the shower.  When the seat was down no one even knew it was there so no one would be aware that the Queen needed a little extra help with her hygiene routine. Even when it was up the damn thing looked as though it belonged and may have always been there.  It could be a wide shelf for soaps, salts, shampoos or candles for all anyone knew. It was discreet and Calla was very thankful to David for his thoughtfulness and his ingenuity.  David blushed when she kissed him.

Some days were better than others. On cold days or days with extended dampness she would rub her shoulder or her knee as her old injuries began to flare up and ache with arthritis.  In winter when it was very cold her feet might knot up so tightly they looked as though they’d been bound by a Chinese Foot Doctor.  It could be an hour or more before the muscles finally released and her feet began to relax.  Like in the early days when they were first together, Calla was often cold. Only on the brightest sunniest days did the chill stay away. Other than that was apt to be found with a shawl around her shoulders or a blanket over her legs to keep the chill from settling into her aging bones. Calla tried not to complain.  She was the Queen she could have an entire kingdom waiting on her hand and foot attending to her every ache and pain but she had no such thing and wouldn’t even hear of it when Annie broached the subject one day.

Annie had been in charge of Calla’s health for the last few years and she thought a massage therapist might be useful.  She also thought a little electric scooter would be useful.  Unlike the chair David built, those things were not discreet. As such, Calla thought both of those things would make her appear weak and that was something a Queen could not afford.  The UPs would lose faith in her if she were seen riding around on one of those things, they’d know she had trouble walking under her own power.  It wasn’t that bad, Calla had said, she could still walk even if she had some trouble with the stairs lately.  Annie had been bold enough to suggest one of those stair rail chairs at that point and Calla walked out of their appointment. What was next? One of those stupid little monitors around her neck! “Help me I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” She mimicked as she stormed out of Annie’s office. Leaving the good doctor speechless behind her.

Calla would take the pills that Annie prescribed and she would do the little exercises for her joints when she was alone but she wouldn’t have any contraptions, not even a cane.  David always felt guilty on those days when he saw her limping around and favoring that knee.  That injury was his fault, he’d never forget it but he never thought he’d have to remember it so vividly and so often. There was no way to take it back or make it better but she seemed to like it when he would offer her his arm and walk her to wherever it was she wanted to go. As such, and in absence of her Son and her Husband, when they were away she was often seen walking about Altair Ain in the nice weather on David’s arm.

This small act ticked off Ares to no end and every time he saw them he would walk up to them and take her away from him to escort her to her desired destination. She might trust him and Jackson might trust him but Ares did not and he hated the idea that they allowed David to live in the house.  Yet Calla insisted that the man stay close by her. Ares thought she was as stubborn as her Grandfather and Daniel thought that was funny because his opinion was that Calla was as stubborn as Ares. Over the three years Ares lived in the kingdom, in a house very close to the manner house, Daniel and he had developed a good respect for each other. They’d always had this one common goal in mind but usually they were coming at it from opposite ends.  Now it drew them together in something that bordered on friendship.  Although Ares was very Fatherly with Calla he never once overstepped his bounds in that department and since as far as Daniel was aware the man couldn’t perform at all since he had no appendage suitable for the job he felt very comfortable leaving her with Ares when he went off on his trips around the world and to the stars. Not that it would have mattered much if he did. Ares truly never had been anything near sexual with Calla over the years. He touched her often he kissed her a lot on the cheek or very briefly on the lips.  He liked to hold her and brush her hair but he didn’t cross the line or even dangle his toes near it. For Daniel, it was good to know that someone close by was keeping a less biased eye on David.

Other than her fading body her mind was still sharp and Calla went to every Council meeting and she still held a private Court every Wednesday.  The closest thing Calla had to a Throne was a lounge chair she liked to sit in when she was on the lanai. So it was in a quiet cozy and unassuming room in the east wing that the UPs brought her their problems that couldn’t be solved amicably by any other means and she would make a decision.  So far her judgment did not seem impaired and she was very careful to tell Daniel that if the time came when he thought that she was making improper decisions he was to come to her right away and tell her.  When that time came she would consider stepping down as Queen of Altair Ain and Colleen would rule with her Father.  Nicholas flat out refused to take the throne and so Calla had no choice but to pass him over in the line of succession.   Not that Colleen wanted it but with Nick out of the picture that would leave Aiden and while he was seventeen now he was still a child and therefore not fit to sit on the throne. For this reason alone Colleen agreed to take her Mother’s place when and if the time came.

They hoped it never would.

In the meantime Calla simply forged ahead.  The triplets, along with Lilly and Brigid had been sent off to the schools and colleges of their choice.  They were good kids, far away as they were they kept in touch with their Mother by phone and by the Internet which Calla loved because she could see and talk to them.  Each was doing well in their studies and learning to try out their wings.  That was as it should be.

The house was empty and it was quiet in their absence. Calla built her gallery and her school, for four months out of the year she taught the art of painting to six students from around the world. Six very lucky and talented people were hand selected by her out of the thousands that applied each year. Each year Calla agonized over the final cut wanting to work with only the brightest and most talented artists she could find. Age and money were no objects as Calla’s Art College offered generous loans and scholarships.

During their stay in Altair Ain Calla’s students shared a large loft style room over the gallery for the summer they would spend in Altair Ain.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday they painted together in a group and Calla offered each of them guidance with their tools.  Tuesday was lecture day, each month a different artist was discussed in-depth and at the end of the month their assignment was to create a painting emulating that month’s artist. At the end of the year they would be asked a long detailed essay on the artist of their choice and to produce a painting taking whatever the student considered to be the best each artist had to offer and create something that was uniquely their own using those inspirations.  Thursday was individual day and Calla spent two hours alone with each student giving private lessons going over the strengths and weaknesses of each student while helping them sort out just what type of artist they wanted to be.

Her Art College was hugely successful and it produced six very talented and high acclaimed artists over the three years of its existence.  As for Calla’s own paintings she’d returned to taking the images from her dreams and putting them on canvas with oils. As always, this gave her creations that incredible feeling of near vertigo when the view looked upon them in all of their surreal and dream-like authenticity.

Calla, Queen of Altair Ain held one showing a year. On Halloween night here in the kingdom at what had to be thee yearly culminating event of the Art community she offered only her finest works for sale along with the finest works of that year’s students. It was their official debut to the Art World.  The event was by invitation only and a ticket was a highly prized item indeed.  Everyone who was anyone in the art world held their breath and kissed her ass hoping for an invitation as did politicians, heads of state, thespians and songsters. When Lady Calla, Queen of Altair Ain, threw a party she did it up right. The event was always a masquerade ball where the finest foods and drinks were served cooked by some of the finest chef’s and bakers the world had to offer. 

Calla didn’t hold the event for the great press coverage though it did help to bolster the kingdom in the eyes of the general public who had come to tolerate and even like the idea of having the UPs living with them.  It also helped her students bring in a little money and get their names out there. No, Calla did it for the money because at these events her paintings sold for grand sums.  Calla was dying and the world knew it, therefore, each showing could be their last chance to own an original Calla Jackson.  The money that Calla’s work brought in, which the Art World so easily handed over, went into the kingdom’s treasury helping to ensure the future of its citizens.  Though Ares thought it a very strange and possibly even blasphemous idea, Calla thought there was nothing wrong with Royal Family paying its own way and not simply relying on the citizens to carry the burden.  

Yet on the other days of the year her gallery was open Calla was known to just give a painting to some one who happened by one day and admired it to such a degree she felt they simply had to have it as it must have been painted especially for them.  It was always made a great amount of joy whenever someone truly connected with something she’d created. It was worth far more than money to see someone’s face light up like that and they were always so grateful and unsure when she said they could take the painting with them.  Often she would receive thank you notes in the mail and sometimes they contained checks for various amounts of money but those checks were always returned as she felt a gift given should not be paid for. Like her Art College, Calla wanted her own works to be part of her legacy and to touch as many people as she could with whatever part of her she was able before she left this world for the next.

 When Daniel was off on one of his sojourns and the school was closed for the remainder of the year she spent a lot of time down there in her gallery. On good nights Calla painted for hours and on bad nights she just sat in front of the canvas holding her aching hand while she wondered when Hades would make his appearance and put an end to this life for her.  The last thing she wanted was to leave her family but Calla made peace with the fact that she was going to die much sooner than expected. It was the price she paid for touching death so many times but Daniel, like Nicholas, still did not accept the fact that they were going to lose her.  She hated it when Daniel went away she’d much prefer it if he would just stay here with her and enjoy what time they had left simply by being together.

On the nights that Daniel was home Calla curled up on his side after making love, which they still engaged in most readily. Calla might be getting older but she was still beautiful and she was still vibrant and desirable though their days of swinging-from-the-rafters-sex were over they still make love to the wanton satisfaction of each. She would lie in his arms and fell off to sleep he would sit up awake, holding her tight, stroking her hair and praying that she woke the next day. That the next day would be a Good Day, the sun would shine and her aches would subside.  She’d be young again.

Oh God, please?

So far that prayer had gone unanswered. If things kept on this way, Daniel feared the last two or three years of her life would be nothing but misery for her.  Eventually her body would just stop cooperating and she would require total 24 hour a day care.  He wasn’t going to let that happen. She wasn’t going to slip away from him like grains of sand through his fingers. He wasn’t just going to stand here and watch her die.

To everyone’s surprise a few weeks ago Nicholas managed to re-open negotiations with the people of Sengul who were understandably miffed and a little put-off by having been deceived the first time around and the loss of the Elixir of Life.  It took him almost a month and a half, along with a few gestures of good faith on his part, but they finally agreed to allow the Real Daniel Jackson to come to the planet and discuss matters.

Ever since this little meeting was set up Daniel had been picking David’s brain with regard to his meetings with the Sengali and their Vedic. David was most helpful and remembered even the smallest details from his visit. He insisted he’d make a good envoy if someone gave him the chance then changed his mind saying it was all too mind-numblingly boring.  He told Daniel all about their previous offer and demands and of how they believed themselves to be descendants of Arthur. David told of how they were so interested in having Nicholas stay behind. He also told him that the Sengal population seemed a little off in favor of outrageously good looking females. Daniel would have to start taking the same compound that David had to and that Nicholas currently was but there was a snag; the time frame didn’t allow for enough of it to build up in his system to be of any use to him.  The Xerinium would have an adverse but hopefully manageable effect on Daniel Jackson as he negotiated his way through this most important treaty.

The government, of course, was still most interested in the turning water into naquada aspect of things but Daniel hoped they would offer up any knowledge they had to solve the UPs fertility problem and maybe even help Calla. The UPs agreed to give the Sengul’s Arthur’s body along with the Book of Shadows. Morgan even agreed to go and live on the planet for a time teaching them how to work the magick in the ancient spell book so long as Duncan could go with her. Daniel would offer up Excalibur. In order to ensure the things which most benefited them, everything that Altair Ain possessed that belonged to Arthur or to Camelot would be offered up as payment on behalf of the kingdom.  What the rest of the world threw into the pot and what they got out of it was up to them. If the Sengali considered the payment enough for them to reveal all of their secrets to the citizens of Altair Ain then they in turn would give the mortals the knowledge regarding water and naquada.  No charge.

Daniel spent almost as much time with Morgan Le Fey trying to understand why the Senguli thought themselves to be descendants of Arthur and if that was even possible. Granted he was an important historic figure here on Earth but what did that have to do with anything that the Sengali might want?  Why would they want to wake the old king if they could?

Morgan told the true Arthurian tale to Daniel Jackson and it wasn’t quite what historians agreed upon.  Morgan and Arthur were half-brother and sister.  They shared the same father; Uther Pendragon.  Merlin, a wizard of the highest order, knew that Uther desired Morgan’s mother but she did not have eyes for the king.  In return for his first born son, Merlin agreed to enchant Uther so that he appeared as Gorlios, most beloved husband of Igraine a faerie queen.  Having no son and not likely to have any in the near future since Uther’s own wife. On that night Morgan Le Fey was conceived. Shortly after Gorlios fell in battle and Uther took Ingraine as his wife.  Having what he wanted, Uther no longer wanted it and soon engaged in many illicit affairs.  One of which was with none other than the Goddess Brigid. Needless to say this did not please Brigid’s husband, Bres, a king and long time enemy of Uther.  Brigid bore the child in secret and gave Arthur to Uther and Ingraine to rear as their own. When Uther fell in battle Merlin claimed the young Arthur and took him away only to return him when the time was right and Arthur had been well schooled in the old traditions.  “To wake Arthur is to wake a God,” Morgan concluded. “Many say that Arthur and I hated each other but that is not true,” she asserted, “I loved my brother but I hated his views on religion. I saw no reason to bend a knee to Rome and leave behind our legacy and all we knew to be true and worship a false god.”

“But Arthur did?”

“Arthur hated what he was,” Morgan said softly, “always he hated being half a god. Like her,” Morgan who was sitting in Daniel’s study at the time raised her eyes to the ceiling indicating Calla who was sleeping in the bedroom above them, “all he ever wanted was to be normal and live a peaceful life. At least that’s what he said but I always wondered. When Rome came busting down the door of kingdom after kingdom Arthur went to their aid at first but as he negotiated with the Romans he came to understand about their One God. If there was only one True God then Arthur couldn’t possibly be the offspring of a goddess. He would be human, he would whole or so he thought. That’s what drove him on. I, however, have no problem with my faerie lineage and I’m quite proud of it.  I would not turn my back on it this was the point that brought me to war with my brother.”  Even after all the centuries that passed Morgan was still sore over this fact.  It seemed to her that Arthur turned traitor to his own people and his own kind when he threw in with Rome. “To answer your question, as far as I know, Arthur had no children.  Perhaps what the Sengal say is true, perhaps Guinevere was pregnant when she went to the nunnery.” Morgan turned to look at Daniel and chose her words carefully some old wounds should never be reopened. “She did flee this planet that much I know. She returned some years later and she never spoke of her time away. If she bore a child then it is just as likely that child belonged to Lancelot and the Sengal’s are mistaken.”  Morgan looked toward the window at the fading light and sighed.  There was so much more to this story but this part of the tale was not hers to reveal.  Daniel was intelligent, he would go to the planet and he would look around and make discoveries.  If he needed a little help grasping them then she would be here to answer those questions when and if the time came. “Arthur and his quest to prove that he was no god,” she said wistfully, “it cost him everything, Daniel, just because he couldn’t accept the truth. He became obsessed with it with finding the Holy Grail and some concrete proof that the One God Religion was the Right Religion that he forgot what was most important in this life; his wife and his kingdom.  He left her alone for years at a time and they called her act treason.  I told Arthur he was the treasonous one and she had only done what any other woman in her place would do when she took Lancelot to her bed.” Now Morgan looked directly at Daniel. “She didn’t do it to hurt Arthur or to spite him.”

“I’m I hearing a little hidden advice in there for me?” Daniel inquired and leaned forward.

“You hear what you need to hear,” Morgan said easily. “I would hate to see you become so involved in the quest to save Calla’s life that it passes you by.  I know you, Daniel, if she should pass between the worlds while you are off looking for a way to save her you will never forgive yourself.”

No, he wouldn’t and the thought kept him awake at night wondering if he was doing the right thing when he took off on his travels. Even if he had the best of intentions in mind the worst of results could still come to pass. “Everyone, including her, you’ve all given up. I don’t understand.” Daniel complained bitterly. “It’s not over, all of you talk like it is but it’s not.”

Morgan sighed. “You can’t cheat Death forever.” She said softly, “How many times have both of you done exactly that now? She knew what she was doing when she healed Hades and David so soon after.  It’s what she wanted. Just because she appears to have accepted her Fate doesn’t mean she’s given up, Daniel.  Calla has lived more in her short lifetime than most women ever do, she’s tired. Perhaps she would rather spend her remaining years safe in the bosom of her family than risk being alone.” Morgan let Daniel think on her words for a few moments before she returned to the main subject they had been discussing. “After the last battle I brought Arthur’s body to Avalon and that is where I and most of my kind stayed until you and Calla came to my kingdom seeking Achilles’ aid.”  Morgan sighed and folded her hands in her lap.

“And Guinevere?” Daniel prodded.

“Guinevere returned to Earth and eventually died in Avalon.” That was true enough but it wasn’t the whole truth. “What does any of it matter now anyway? It’s ancient history long dead and mostly forgotten by all but those who lived it. As far as the Sengali are concerned without the Elixir they can have Arthur’s body but they cannot wake him.”

“Maybe they can make more.” Daniel suggested.  “If they can, will that help Calla?”

“I can make more,” Morgan asserted, “finding the ingredients is difficult but it can be done.  No, it won’t help her.  The Elixir takes a hundred year to sit before it is ready to use, Daniel, and, as we all know, she doesn’t have that much time.” Morgan leaned forward and took Daniel’s hands which had been folded on the desk. “Just give them whatever they want.”

No, Calla didn’t have much time but there was still time enough for him stay on his quest. Maybe if more Elixir could be made then a way could be found to speed up the fermentation process or whatever it was.  If she thought that was possible then Morgan would surely suggest it.  For all the stones he’d over turned maybe he wasn’t looking in the right places. “Morgan?” He watched her eyebrows rise up at the question in his voice. “You know that thing she’s always chanting when she prays?” He asked quietly and didn’t see any recognition on her face. “Father, Brother, Husband, Lover…did you teach her that?”

“No.”

“Do you know what it means? Do you know why there’s no ‘Son’ in the chant? I mean, if it’s supposed to represent the different aspects of a man’s life and all.” All these years he’d heard her whisper it over and over whenever she was scared or stressed out, Daniel always assumed—right or wrong—that she was actually calling to ONE man or God and the different aspects of him.  In the Underworld Kanan took it literally when he pointed out and named the men who’d come to rescue her. In his heart it bothered him to have a Husband and a Sa’Tan was one thing but, four men? That seemed a little much to him. Still, as Kanan was so kind to point out, the bases were covered except for the Lover but as Calla pointed out to Kanan, Daniel was both Husband and Lover.  That wasn’t right, she lied but not to deceive but rather because she wanted it to be true. If he couldn’t be Husband and Sa’Tan, how could be Husband and Lover?  Her whispered chant just kept turning itself over and over in his mind like a broken record and it just wouldn’t stop. There had to be a reason for that.

“Every man starts life as someone’s Son, Daniel, it is the only title that is given him” she said and rose to her feet.  “The rest, in their own ways, must be earned.”

Although that sounded enlightening it did nothing to stop the chant from repeating in his head.  “Good night, Morgan.” He said as he rose and saw her out the front door.

“Perhaps you would like to inquire of Maeve regarding the chant.” Morgan suggested as she walked out the door then turned back before descending the stairs. “You could always ask Calla.”

“I did,” Daniel replied. Of course he asked her. “She just said it was something she always did, she couldn’t seem to remember who taught it to her or why.” Daniel thought that was odd but she wasn’t lying to him.  He hoped Calla’s little lapse in memory wasn’t the first symptom of a larger problem already settling in. One night Daniel even went and asked Ares about it but the God of War didn’t have any idea either.  When Daniel told him that Calla often chanted it when she prayed to him, hoping to find him when she first returned to Earth, he just shook his head.

In two day’s time he was going to Sengul leaving Calla here with David and Ares for at least a few days.  That wasn’t anything new so why did he have a bad feeling about it as he laid here in his bed with his sleeping Wife in his arms?  It seemed that, more often than not, if he went away she got into trouble—sometimes it was very big trouble. Yet, he’d gone away more three dozen times over the last five years and nothing happened then.  When he came back everything was just the way he left it except for Calla who was a little older than the last time he saw her and she would be again. Daniel pulled the blanket around her shoulders to keep the chill of the early October night from settling in and kissed her forehead.  “Nothing’s going to happen to you while I’m gone. It’s going to be a quick trip.” He promised while she slept.

Through it all there was another shadow looming over them just as dark and frightening as the shadow of her impending death. That shadow had a name; Wolfgar.  By now the boy was sixteen and ready to cross the threshold to manhood.  If history was any gauge then Wolfgar would do it just as exactly as Kanan told Calla he would. The boy would arrive here one day and make his bid to lay waste to all they had built.  Although Calla had forbid it, Hades, Ares, Morpheus and Poseidon hunted the Earth looking for the boy so they could destroy him while he was still young and weak.  No luck was to be had and the boy, Tula and Raven Lightfoot eluded them.

End of Chapter One of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Two