Mitchell turned.

"Colonel John Sheppard, meet Johvon… Johvon, meet Colonel John Sheppard."

Johvon gave a slight nod in Sheppard's direction, but his attention was on Teal'c, who was – of course – watching him intently.

"You are a Jaffa?"

If the question startled Teal'c, he didn't let it show.

"I am."

The others, of course, were very curious, since they knew he hadn't gotten that information from Melony. She wasn't all that open when it came to strangers, and they knew she wouldn't have discussed Teal'c. Not in the short amount of time she'd been gone.

"How did you know that?" Mitchell asked, confirming what they'd all suspected.

"Because you know it."

"You've been in my mind…"

"Through your dreams, yes." He looked at Teyla and Rodney – and then at Ronon and Sheppard. "In all of your minds."

"I did not dream," Teal'c said.

Johvon nodded.

"True enough. What little I know of your people I learned from Colonel Mitchell – who cares very much for them."

Mitchell scowled – although it wasn't really a secret that she was protective of the Jaffa – and their future.

"So you sent the dreams?" Rodney asked.

"They are a part of you," Johvon told him. "I merely set them into motion. Your minds took over from there."

"Why would you do that?" Sheppard asked, just a bit annoyed. He had, after all had a very intimate dream shared with someone that he liked, and respected, but honestly didn't feel he held any romantic interest in. "Just to get your kicks?"

Johvon clearly didn't understand the phrase, but he could see and anticipate Sheppard's anger.

"I needed to learn of you. To learn what kind of people had come to my planet."

"We do not mean you any harm…" Teyla said, wondering why she'd been dragged into McKay's dream when she hadn't even had a clue what Star Trek was before that moment.

Johvon nodded.

"I know that now, but I did not then. Not all humans can be trusted, and I did not understand the extra life force I felt in Teal'c and Colonel Mitchell."

"So… what did you learn?" McKay asked, curiously.

"Your people are very passionate, which is not always a good thing, since anger and hatred are also manifestations of passion."

Which was fairly apt, really, Mitchell had to admit. She was hardly a saint when it came to forgive and forget, after all. Look at what she'd done to the Goa'uld – and to the Wraith, for that matter – and only because of a burning need for revenge.

Not only because of that… Talon corrected, reminding her that what they'd done to the Goa'uld had been done to free the Jaffa as well, and what the Wraith had faced they'd deserved for their atrocities over generations.

"Yet you deem us to be peaceful," Teyla replied before anyone else could answer.

"I did not say peaceful, Teyla Emmagan," Johvon corrected. "I said I believe you not to mean me or my people any harm."

"It's pretty close to the same thing," Sheppard said. "We've established that we're not going to hurt you."

"You have people here?" Rodney asked, changing the subject completely. "Where? We haven't seen anyone – or any sign of a settlement…"

"My people are hidden," Johvon told them. "This has long been the only way I could safeguard them from the Wraith."

"But the Wraith are no more," Teyla said. "Why do they still hide?"

"There are still Wraith," Johvon disagreed. "Just not in the numbers there once were. I will not risk a chance encounter with even one who survived the purge, for my people are few – and very dear to my heart."

"You're their leader?" Ronon asked, still needing a definition of what exactly Johvon was.

"And much more – although I do not ask for it. It is simply what I must do."

"Why?"

"What are you?" Melony asked, again.

"What are your plans for this planet?" Johvon asked, ignoring the question.

"We don't have any plans for it," Sheppard said, annoyed that he'd evaded a direct question by asking another one. Of course, it annoyed him when anyone did that, so it wasn't anything new. "We were just looking around."

"The dreams made us stay," Teyla said. "We are a very curious people."

There was a hint of a smile on Johvon's face as he nodded.

"I've noticed that in humans."

"Are your people not humans, then?" Teal'c asked.

"They are."

"But you're not?" Mitchell asked.

"No."

"How many people do you know that glow?" McKay asked, just this side of sarcastic – even though he was usually far more careful about annoying Mitchell than he was with others, especially when Teal'c was around to scowl at him. "For that matter, how many people do you know that can get into your head and make you have dreams?"

Teal'c scowled, but Melony ignored McKay, more intent on finally getting an answer.

"You said you'd explain it," she reminded Johvon – which also reminded him, obliquely, that he owed her for the nightmare she'd had at his hands.

"That is true," Johvon agreed. "Please, sit down and be comfortable, and I will tell you a tale of a people who are far, far older than the Wraith."

"You mean the Ancients?" McKay asked. "We already know about them."

For the first time there was a hint of annoyance from their visitor.

"And do you also know of those who came before the Ancients?" he asked. "Those who taught them?"

McKay was floored. He hadn't even considered that there had been anyone before the Ancients. What would they be? The Ancienter Ancients?

"Um… no. We don't know about them…" he admitted, almost humbly.

"Is there such a race?" Teyla asked, as the group walked over to the fire. All except Teal'c, who hesitated between curiosity about a people he'd never heard of and the need to guard his companions against whatever might come upon them while they were otherwise engaged.

"There was," Johvon said. He looked at the Jaffa, and gestured for him to join them. "Come, Teal'c. Nothing will harm us, and you will be interested in hearing this story, I think…"

Teal'c looked at Mitchell, who nodded. She kept her weapon close by, however – as had Sheppard and Dex – in doing so reminding Teal'c that they were all warriors as well, with reflexes and training that would keep them from being surprised by anything that may happen.

He walked over and stood near the fire, but wasn't able to relax enough to sit down, and if he hovered just a little protectively in the area that Mitchell and Teyla were seated in, well, who could blame him? And who would dare tell him to move?