Lantash

Expressions

-Lantash-

Narim gets up before I am ready. I was still resting. I also still had a headache.

I am the one in control anyway. He moves quickly down the hall, and returns to the main room. "Samantha, I looked outside and-"

She's asleep, I say as soon as I notice.

Her eyes open. "Dad?"

"Sorry, no."

Samantha blinks. "I had a dream about my dad and Selmak."

Narim nods lightly, but changes the subject. "I found nothing of importance outside. I am going to check on our friends down below."

She glances to the pool. "How many times have you been up and down that?"

"A couple round trips. Pary is the one who brought the rope up. Since then, we've brought up the supplies with it. I'll be back soon." Narim and I didn't like leaving her alone when she was sick, but we had no choice.

-Samantha-

I watch Narim leave, and then look to the cup of water Lantash brought earlier. Water sounds good. I pick it up, and finish the cup. I shiver slightly, feeling worse than I did this morning.

I look to the computer. I really should check on it, and perhaps send out another message. I roll over to get up, and feel dizzy. Okay, I'll check on the computer in a few minutes. For now I'll just close my eyes, and...

-x-x-x-

I hear someone approaching, and open my eyes. When did I fall asleep?

"Samantha."

I turn over, and see Lantash looking at me. He's upset. "What's wrong."

"Pary and Hovar are dead."

What? "What?" This can't be true. I must have heard wrong.

"Pete says they just collapsed without warning."

"I'm sorry," I say, not sure what else to say. I am not even sure how good of friends they were, but I can see that he's upset about this.

He makes no response, and instead gathers more food and water, setting it all next to me. "Keep up your strength." I don't think anyone else could tell, but his voice has more worry in it.

-Lantash-

It's been a few days since Pary/Hovar's death, and I have no idea what the cause was. I hope the cause has nothing to do with my persistent headache. I've spent most of my time below with Pete to ensure he is safe from the other prisoners. Samantha insisted.

Right now I'm with her. "Samantha."

"Yes?"

"How did you know it was me?"

"What?"

"I mean, when you first came to the prison. You knew who I was."

Samantha smiled. "You have certain facial expressions, and changing hosts doesn't mask them. Most people can't see your frowns and smiles when you hide them. They're too subtle."

"But you can."

"Jolinar could. When I first came to the prison, you had a look of worry that we've never seen with anyone but you."

I feel almost foolish for not realizing all that. "No wonder Jolinar and Rosha always knew when I was worried about them."

She smiled again. "The 'worried frown.'"

I'm surprised. "How many frowns do I have?"

"You have one for being worried, angry or annoyed, disappointed, in pain, and a few when you are arguing. Those are all the subtle frowns that no one else notices. The obvious and rarely used frowns are really angry and in a lot of pain."

"Really? I had no idea. How many smiles do I have?" I hope I don't have more frowns than smiles.

"All your smiles can be subtle or obvious, though you hardly ever make it obvious. People should see those smiles more often." She smiles, and I wonder if she personally has ever seen an 'obvious smile.'

"Well," she continues, "there is the generally happy smile, the 'I just won an argument' smile, which is also the gloating smile." She chuckles. "There is the accomplished smile, which is very similar to the gloating smile. The relaxed smile, and the...the 'I'm with the person I love' smile."

I smile.

"Yeah, that would be the one."

I try not to smile, but end up smiling more. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. You've been smiling the same way for hundreds of years, and besides I just said you should smile more." She gives me a certain look. "Martouf smiled more, but you have more types."

"What were his types?"

"The generally happy smile, the 'I'm with the person I love' smile, and the 'I'm annoyed but not going to appear annoyed' smile."

"I bet he had that last smile a lot whenever talking to O'Neill."

"I don't think Martouf ever didn't have that smile when talking to him."

I nod lightly, and it's quiet for a moment, The conversation about frowns and smiles has closed. Everyone seems to be in thought. Soon though, she speaks again. "You should probably check on Pete."

I nod. "Yes." I get up, and give Narim control.

"We'll check on Pete," Narim says. He smiles politely, and then heads to the tunnel.

-Samantha-

As I watch them walk away, I think about the conversation. I remember the 'expressions of Lantash and Martouf' information from Jolinar, and she learned it because she loved them. I realize that not only it wasn't until recently that I remembered all the details of their expressions, but I'm starting to learn Narim's expressions as well.

In fact, I can read each of them better than I can read Pete.

That doesn't mean anything.

Does it?

To be continued...