Todd continued laughing as Daniel assured the guards over and over than everything was fine and slowly shooed them out the door one by one. By the time Daniel was about try resuming the conversation, Todd's laughter had died down to a chuckle and a disturbing grin.

"What exactly is so funny?" Daniel asked. First the wraith was taking things too seriously, now he was laughing randomly. He almost thought Todd was doing this on purpose.

"You want so badly for me to believe that you care about me the away you would a human," Todd said. "And who would you throw in my cell to keep me alive?"

"Well, I can't really—"

"Human convictions fall apart so easily from your morals, don't they?" Todd asked.

Daniel didn't have an answer. He didn't want to. It would just be more irrelevant explanations and likely Todd would see holes in half of them.

"I do wish to say that yours are much more… comforting than Sheppard's."

"Thanks," Daniel said. Todd had essentially said he only trusted Daniel as far as he could throw him, but that he could throw him farther than he could John, to continue the analogy. However, this now meant he had an obligation to keep and that he should stop acting like John. He had stalled on his most important question out of politeness at first and had continued due to the cultural barrier that seemed to grow like kudzu vines. He might as well take a whack at it, though; he might actually hit the proverbial plant. "I've been wondering: What do wraith believe about ascension?"

There was a long pause as Todd considered the question, his gaze drifting over the table and soon settling on the coloring book, as if considering the colors while pondering an answer. "It would be easier to answer another question, first."

"Alright," Daniel consented. An answer was an answer and if he felt he needed, he could always just remind Todd he wanted to know more about ascension. Todd had made it clear that the closer they were, the looser with etiquette he liked to be. Daniel just hoped this went no further than putting feet on the couch and forgoing formalities.

"We cannot see the patterns on each other's clothes, let lone the blood and dirt we tend to accumulate on them," Todd said. "They are meant to clothe the wearer for the most part; the patterns are only there for those who would be allowed to touch them."

"I don't think I understand how that's relevant," Daniel said.

"We barely have personal interest in other wraith," Todd said calmly, though wishing he didn't have to practically hold Daniel's hand and spell out the connection. "Why would we have one with another species, as interesting or helpful as they may seem at the time?"

"I see," Daniel said, not hiding his disappointment. There was no need to around Todd, who likely suspected he wanted some sort of new philosophy or religion as an answer. The wraith didn't even have a word for it. It was… there. That was it. They didn't care what the ancients did because they left. No more food, but also no more fighting. It wasn't something to investigate; it was something to ignore. Daniel realized he might have asked a fish about air.

"What is it?" Todd asked with honest curiosity. "The ancients seemed to grow more and more obsessed with it, and now more and more of you are interested. What do you achieve with it?"

"Enlightenment," Daniel said, almost instantly. As long as his answer avoided mentioning super-powers, he was fine.

"That is it?" Todd asked. He had found more interest in the color green.

"Mostly," Daniel said. "You ascend to another plane of existence."

"This is desirable?" Todd asked.

"For the ancients and some people, yes," Daniel said. "It's a spiritual and mental achievement. You can know everything that is happening in the galaxy."

"I don't care for this galaxy." Todd said. "If the ancients from the Pegasus Galaxy knew what was happening, why did they do nothing?"

"They can't; they aren't allowed."

"So it is a point of stagnation," Todd said, obviously coming to his own conclusion of what ascension was.

"Well, it…" Daniel started. He really didn't have anything beyond that. "Uh…" That didn't count, did it?

"Were the unable to prevent others from suffering the same fate?" Todd asked. Truly ascension had to be a mistake, just as his kind sought earth as a feeding ground only for it to be revealed how heavily armed even a small piece of the planet was.

"Um… I don't think you understand."

"I am unsure of that," Todd said. "All I know is that I cannot see what you see, like many of these… crayons." He was still unused to the word. Then again, he never knew so many tools were used to put pictures and writing to paper, especially when they were given to him by those who used computers for everything, including signs above doors. They were nothing but cylindrical bars of wax, nothing but blues and light gold with many shades of white and black among them. Yet, they were still a testament against this 'ascension' itself as any mere thing, from blood and dirt and ones hand to thousands of years of science just to create colored liquid had produced images even he found himself in awe of. Such things left behind by more primitive people surpassed those of the wraith in abilities to shape and influence a complete stranger's mind.

"How would one avoid ascension?" Todd asked. "It sounds…." Although the wraith spoke the same language as the humans that had intruded upon their galaxy and caused them no end of problems since, the two groups did not share all words, despite feeling similar about each other overall. The wraith had developed without a religion. Their ancestors looked at the stars and thought they were pretty and things to navigate by and the thoughts never changed over the generations. There was no sense of hell, no purgatory, nothing beyond death, and—though many would be able to understand the concept without the mysticism involved—of hell. "I have no words."

"But you have… an idea," Daniel asked.

"Not one you would…appreciate," Todd said.

"Ah," Daniel said, ultimately disappointed. "I just thought…" Daniel could understand perfectly, as he himself couldn't just sit in the state of ascension and do nothing, but he hoped Todd would have something new to say about ascension.

"What did you hope to learn of it?" Todd asked. To him, it really was like describing air to a fish, except this fish knew he couldn't breathe it.

"We've met several races and most of them saw ascension as the greatest, penultimate thing there was to achieve in life. They all had different interpretations of it, but they all felt ascension was something good. Despite things that seem similar, the wraith are the most alien species we've encountered that knows about ascension. I just thought there might be a bit more to it for you than… just that."

"I cannot offer you more than that," Todd said. "I have no friendly words for it and of al the brethren I've known for so many centuries know less than I do now. We thought the ancients ran away in cowardice, and it appears we were right."

"That's not quite true," Daniel replied.

"I am interested in how you would know," Todd said. It was true to him. It was true to his people. While that didn't mean it was true to the universe, it was the truth so far. Daniel, so far, wasn't presenting anything that could say it was false.

"It's not about running away," Daniel said. "It's about… transcending, moving past fear."

"You have seen it, then?" Todd asked.

"I've ascended," Daniel said. "Twice." Todd was interested, but if he was interested in it for power, he was amazingly skilled at lying about it. He sounded and acted confused, the conversation had no definite direction, and Daniel was leading it. Daniel had already explained that when ascended, one cannot use powers—which hadn't even been mentioned yet. Todd was either merely curious or was smart enough not to have gotten himself stuck on earth n the first place.

"You managed to escape, then," Todd said.

"I left voluntarily," Daniel explained.

"You said that wasn't allowed."

"You can't use anything you gained while ascended," Daniel said. "I just… went back to being human."

Todd was quiet for a few moments as he pondered the statement. His expression was that of someone who had tasted coffee for the first time, unsure of the flavor, trying to shut out the bitterness, and yet curious enough to try more. "Why did the ancients not return after the wraith decided to hibernate?"

"I have no idea; I didn't ascend in that galaxy," Daniel said. It was a good question, actually. "I don't think they'd tell me if asked, them."

"Can one force me to ascend?" Todd asked. Again, he was either a great liar or he wasn't understanding as his voice hinted on fear of this misrevelation.

"No, one has to do themselves," Daniel said. "Although, just choosing to doesn't make it happen. It's… It can be difficult for many people."

"What if one fails?" Todd asked, obviously expecting some version of torture to be involved.

"It depends on how close you are to enlightenment," Daniel said. "Either nothing happens, or you just die."

"You are sure that it is enlightenment?" Todd asked.

"It..." As Daniel struggled for words, he began the metaphor of teaching a fish was becoming more and more literal. There was no way a fish could experience air the way something with lungs could. It wasn't just a tactile impossibility, but completely different mental phenomenon. To accomplish it would take the ability to transfer unconscious thoughts from one person to the next, and the only things capable of that—"Todd isn't your real name, is it?" Daniel asked.