Protecting the Protector
Black Sanctuary, 8th May 2004
“Harry?”
“Yes?”
“When are you going to give us more friends?”
“Huh. What, Luna? Sorry. I don’t understand.”
“More friends, Harry, like Sai’yo.”
“The Jaffa? I think it’ll have to wait for some time. We don’t know enough about him yet. And from what I understand from his whole race, I think he’s the exception, not the norm. I mean, I’m sure he can defend himself well, but others mightn’t be… sciency, or tinkery, and I prefer this to… some war-type. There’s no war to fight, here and now. I’m tired of wars.”
“But what would the others feel if you wait for years and years to introduce them to us, Harry? They would be sad, wouldn’t they?”
“Oh. Erh. Umm. Ah, Luna, can we talk about this later? There are so many things going on right now, you know that. We’ve just discussed it all. You and Neville want your magical explorations; Hermione wants to start making things with her groupies of geniuses; George wants to nab Sai’yo and Hermione wants him too; I want to get us out of the Ministry’s eye and explore watever and… well, get the Jaffa out of their dependency; Susan and Justin want us to focus more on developing the school here….”
“And Blaise wants more Jaffa to protect you.”
“Luna….”
“Blaise is half right, Harry. If the other Jaffa are not integrated now, they will never be so, and they will despise Sai’yo for being so close to you, in so unfair a manner. Do you hate Sai’yo that much?”
“Uh, erm, no, not at all, really. No. Why?”
“Sai’yo will be the target of bullying, even assassination, if you wait for much longer to release the Jaffa. – No, hear me, Harry. I asked Teal’c much about his society as a whole, disregarding whichever lord or lady any faction is attached to, when you were all busy outfitting him, before we sent him off. My main study may be magical so-called non-sentients… but magical and mundane so-called sentients are not far different.”
“And?”
“The Jaffa have been conditioned for thousands of years and more to a feudal, warrior-centric life, Harry. You never gain progress about Sai’yo calling you other than a lord because, to him, you are his lord. The position of First Prime, it is not only about leading an army in battle, but being a… trusted advisor, to one’s lord or lady, as well as the foremost personal bodyguard, with the authority much more than a Lotar, who is the foremost personal servant of the said lord or lady. – Well, a lotar is a human, usually, a human slave, but that is not the point. The point is, the position of First Prime is a highly coveted one, and you being so close to Sai’yo would be perceived as the other Jaffa never having a chance to advance in rank to that position. You are positioning him as their cultural leader, your Lotar and your First Prime, all in one, but without proclaiming it to anybody, and… well, Teal’c once told me about a fight to the death to determine the leadership that is in dispute.”
I cringe. “No fighting! And I’m not building an army!” It’s bad enough that more than a few of the Residents apparently joined British armed forces to gain knowledge and experience for my own nonexistent armed forces, as I heard one proud mother confess just this morning. I needn’t a bunch of Jaffa doing the same! And worse, Fawkes deposited the second – larger – load of that bunch just last week, only to go back to Teal’c with an even larger trunk with triple the number of the stasis disks, all courtesy of Hermione and….
Luna.
Luna helped Hermione enable Teal’c to… do whatever nefarious thing churning in his mind!
I narrow my eyes at the young woman seated across from me in the room that the Residents have designated as my office in the school building.
She looks back at me with a calm, beatific smile on her dreamy countenance.
“Luna….”
“Yes, Harry?”
“What did you, Hermione and Teal’c plot about me regarding the Jaffa?”
“What made you think you would get that answered, if we indeed plotted about or against you as you said just now?”
“Luna, come on. No joking, please. You’ve put me under enough stress already.”
“Oh. Nobody meant that, Harry. Forgive us.”
“And who is ‘us’?”
“Your friends, your family – your people.”
“So all of you are into it?”
“We would love to protect you, Harry, with how much you have done for us.”
“I…. It’s my duties, you know, and my pleasure, and I never hoped something in return.”
“And that is why we would like to protect you. You are precious to us.”
“Lunaaa!”
“It is true, Harry. Why are you blushing so red? I hope you are not angry with me for telling the truth?”
“Argh! Lunaaa!”
“Yes, Harry?”
“Just tell me, would you? – I thought we were going to free the Jaffa from a must to fight for anybody else and depend on putting Goa’uld babies in their bellies. I thought, too, that we were going to reintegrate the Residents into the greater community.”
“Why do you think we cannot achieve both while protecting you?”
I open my mouth, but then close it again, several times.
Luna smiles sadly at me. I look away.
“The Residents are reintegrating, Harry,” she explains, gently. “You focused on the soldiers, but not all of them are soldiers. You met the scientists, but not all of them are scientists, either. And all of them are free to choose those occupations, family urging notwithstanding, because even in the greater community it does play a role. Daddy wanted me to have babies, for example.”
“Luna…,” I sigh and wipe a hand over my face, unable to prevent myself from chuckling at her tag-on point.
She smiles again, wider and brighter this time, and migrates to the couch that I’ve been occupying. Hugging me sidewise, she continues, “It might be a little different with the Jaffa, who knows… but you will never know if you don’t do anything, if you don’t observe them yourself, Harry. And if you worry for Sai’yo about his people, perhaps you could tell him and ask for his opinion?”
And then, pecking me on the brow, right on my faded lightning-bolt scar, she finishes with a small grin and twinkling eyes, “By the way, Blaise contacted their father, and they contacted your mother. A contingent of milaðen will arrive soon with the sole task of protecting and caring for you.”
“Is there nothing left to be kept to my own self?” I call to her retreating back, as she scampers out of the open door with a little laugh.
“Your own self, of course!” she calls back, peeking briefly back into the room, before vanishing down the hall.
I slump into the couch, sliding farther and farther down till I am seated sprawled on the carpeted floor.
The life as I know it will be ending all too soon.
Unbelievable. And yet, all too believable.
Damn. I must run away soon if I wish for any kind of peace.