Teyla hurried down the hallway to her quarters with a wide grin on her face. Kanaan had come to visit and she was very eager to see both him and Torren. When she opened the door to her room she stopped short because Kanaan was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to Sheppard. The Colonel turned and waved at Teyla as Kanaan gestured that he needed another moment with the other man. "Please Teyla, I need to discuss something with the Colonel. It will only take a second."

"Of course," she said as she backed out of the room. It worried her that whatever Kanaan had to say couldn't be said in front of her. She wandered slowly down the hall and sat on one of the benches in the junction to wait. Wondering what could possibly be troubling Kanaan so much, she fretted until the door slid back open and John walked out, pausing at the door to clasp hands with Kanaan and reassure him that he would do his best.

"He's all yours now Teyla, sorry to take up your alone time," Sheppard joked as he walked past her into the city.

She stared after him until he rounded the corner and then went back into her room. Kanaan now greeted her with a grin and wrapped her in his arms. "I am sorry about that. I had something I needed to discuss with the Colonel." He looked down at the frown on her face and said, "It is something private, for a friend."

"I thought we were not going to keep secrets from one another." Teyla said as she lay her head against his chest.

"I am not keeping a secret from you. I am just trying to help someone and I cannot do it, so I have asked Colonel Sheppard to look into the matter." Kanaan kissed her on the top of her head. "Just let it be Teyla. Oh, how I have missed you."

XxXxXxXx

John Sheppard pondered what Kanaan had said earlier as he walked through the hallways of the city. The absurdity of the situation amused him even though it wasn't a laughing matter. Just knowing the people it was affecting made his shoulders ache so he'd better put his business mask on and go find Ronon.

When he finally did find his friend, staring out over the pier from one of the balconies on the tower, he didn't hesitate to present the matter at hand. "Ronon, I just got done talking to Kanaan and I think you might want to hear what he said."

The taller man looked at his commander and waited for him to proceed. "Well, it seems like something that got said or happened between you and Ashara a while back shook her up pretty badly. She's been having a rough time of it and Kanaan and Halling are getting pretty worried about her. Any idea what might have set her off?"

Ronon scowled at Sheppard and tugged at his beard, "What do you mean having a rough time?" He was saddened by her avoidance of him since his capture by the Wraith and the sorrow of it was starting to wear on him. He didn't think that she, of all people, would turn her back on him after the incident but she had. She'd left the medical bay and never looked back. Perhaps she couldn't face him now that he'd been under the Wraith's influence, knowing that he'd violated every ounce of trust he'd once held with her. Whatever the factor that tipped the scales against him, he regretted it with an ache in his heart he hadn't felt since Sateda.

"Well, he said she's been keeping to herself a lot, you know, going off hunting for days at a time. Oh and she isn't eating, lost a lot of weight."

The taller man turned his back on Sheppard and leaned heavily against the railing as he pondered what Sheppard had told him. It wasn't like Ashara to be distant from people. She had lots of friends among the Athosians as well as here in the city. As for not eating, well that could be any number of problems but he couldn't pinpoint any of them. "I don't know Sheppard. I mean I haven't seen her in about a month. It could be anything." He stopped for a second and looked over his shoulder, "Why are you asking me this?"

"Well, you seem to have some sort of a connection with her, I guess the whole runner thing puts you two on the same page." Sheppard paused and studied the other man's face looking for some indication that Ronon knew an answer to this problem. "Look, I don't know what is or isn't going on between you two, but someone needs to get her some help. She's left New Athos and hasn't been back in nearly a week so someone needs to track her down. You're the go to tracker guy here so I'd really appreciate it if you'd find her. Please."

Ronon looked over his shoulder at the word "please" and saw the pleading look in Sheppard's eyes. So he nodded and turned on his heal to go get his gear. Ashara may be angry at him, but that didn't mean he couldn't still help her. And maybe, if he explained himself enough, she'd be his friend once more, even knowing what he had become for a time.