John seemed pleased with whatever he and Cualli had been doing when they returned hours later. To Rodney's relief, John didn't feel like recapping what happened to him. To John's disappointment, Cualli then offered to talk to Daniel, showing him around the city. To further his disappointment, Cualli saw nothing strange about Daniel dragging Todd along.

In John's absence, Rodney had convinced Todd to remove the bones from the datapad so he could work on it. Since then nothing anyone did distracted him, as he didn't want to know what they were doing or talking out… until now. John had brought with him the one thing that could tear Rodney away from something short of an imminent life-threatening disaster: food. No matter what it was made of, Rodney knew food when he smelled it.

"So much for all the clues that this place is dangerous for wraith," John muttered, setting the food—something obviously spicy wrapped in thin bread.

"Should I be worried this has meat in it?" Rodney asked nervously.

"They've got… rabbit-mole things; don't worry about it," John said, barely paying attention. "How can people so creepy be so friendly?"

"I'm just wondering when we leave," Rodney managed between bites.

"She said she had to go back to the other planet tomorrow, so if we can come up with an excuse, we get leave then. It's not like we're coming back or she'll follow us… at least successfully."

"Excuse?" Rodney slurred. The need for food and knowledge for safety was equal, but the need to communicate well was swiftly dwindling.

"She likes it; and me," John said.

Rodney gave John a look, one that said 'are you sure?' to it. It was handy to have friends who understood nuances when you were starving.

"She said she did," john said. Sadly, other than her being interested in their next date, he had little to talk about… that he wanted to talk about. "Why would she have anything to do with Daniel, do you think?"

"Something about history or stuff," Rodney answered. "He tried to explain things to Todd about monkeys or something, but he didn't care either."

"Monkeys?" John asked, confused. "Did he mention clowns?"

"No, but I think some people set themselves on fire," Rodney said, turning back to the datapad now that he'd finished eating.

"Not quite as scary," John said.

….

Daniel had long ago forgotten hunger in the wake of exploring the pyramid. Cualli noticed he avoided the blood-stained steps and the top until last in his examination, but kept silent and distant. Instead, her focus was on Todd, who was silent and obedient as he followed Daniel all over as the man explored insignificant nooks and crannies and gibberish graffiti. She answered every question immediately and truthfully; the only knowledge she denied him was what she herself did not know.

When he did move on, he walked past the blood stains to the top of the pyramid. Todd stayed at the bottom, where Cualli finally ignored him. She had been most intrigued by Todd taking pictures. He attempted to be discreet and Daniel had turned off the flash, but Cualli knew of everything he was recording for his human.

Daniel was now admiring how the sunset colored the city to resemble a bonfire and contemplating if it was intentional.

Cualli cast one last glance at the wraith, who didn't seem to notice her as he stood in front of the pyramid, and climbed up after Daniel.

"Why do you ask all these questions?" she asked, sitting next to him. "Why would knowing all those useless things be important?"

"Because even the smallest detail can change everything we know about a culture," Daniel said.

"Do you study other cultures?" Cualli asked.

"I've been studying other cultures since I was a child," Daniel said happily.

"Do you enjoy it?" she asked, her stoicism changing to honest curiosity now.

"I've always enjoyed it," he said. "What are the teotl to you? Personally, I mean. What do you think of them?"

"They are…" she said awkwardly. "there." She shrugged. She hadn't expected him to catch her off guard like that. "They are convenient; that is all. I leave killing them to the priests.

"What are they to you?"

"Mysterious," Daniel said, looking down at Todd as Cualli leaned her head on his shoulder. "They defy study, but at the same time, they expect all their secrets to be discovered if you look close enough and work hard enough."

"He does what you say," she said, confused, yet unable to chase away how much the words frightened her. "What mystery is there anymore?"

"Learning about him is why he acts that way," Daniel said, hoping she didn't catch on to his discomfort. At least it technically wasn't a lie.

"Doesn't that give them power over you?" she asked, almost frightened.

"It shouldn't," he said. It wasn't an answer. It was a realization.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting her hand to his chest in worry and affection.

"It's just the cold," he replied. He didn't move her hand as his chest suddenly felt empty. He had realized that only now had he understood the plight of the wraith here. The planet earth was nearly two hundred million square miles of land and sea. This planet was more or less the same. Every one of those hundreds of thousands of square miles of land that could hold a city was filled with hundreds—perhaps thousands—of wraith.

Worshipped though they may be, they were not just hurt to serve the needs of the humans. They were not a people always being crushed under a boot of tyranny, but a people deprived f their own identity. While other wraith had no past and faced an unchanging or nonexistent future, these were removed from time. Everything that Daniel studied, everything important that made a culture and defined a people in their own collective identity, had been deprived from these wraith for generations. They depended upon their cruel masters for everything, shelter, food, safety, language, even the presence of each other. There was no power over the humans that they could achieve. The alternative was to be meaningless and alone. Could even wraith survive that?