"Hurry, Papa! We have to hurry! I want to see Calab and Orin before they start the bonfire!"

Aaroon laughed as his son, Tannin, tugged urgently at his hand to try and rush the entire group forward faster. Pella and Gabrae, the youngest of the clan except for Banith, ran in excited circles several feet ahead of the group. They all walked together towards the village; Aaroon and his family and SG-1. And Jack. He forgot once in awhile that he wasn't part of SG-1 anymore.

"You couldn't have chosen a better time to come to Calla Hills, Jack. Tonight's bonfire and meal begins a three day celebration for the coming Ornorean."

Jack groaned internally. SG-1 and off world celebrations never seemed to bode well. Someone either ends up drunker than a skunk and hornier than a college freshman, or full of alien nano-things, or betrothed. He glanced back to see where Daniel was, to find out what he knew about it, but saw Daniel and Tella deep in conversation. The young girl was fascinated by every word he said, and Daniel didn't stop talking. Jack couldn't blame him. It wasn't often Daniel had a completely captive audience. Cornering Teal'c in his lab didn't count.

"Celebration, huh? So, what happens at this celebration?" he asked of Aaroon. They were approaching the center of the Calla Hills Community, a cluster of buildings gathered in the shape of a horseshoe. It reminded him of the town from Little House on the Prairie. All they needed was Olsen's Mercantile, and they'd be all set.

"Everyone gathers together here in the village, and we enjoy three days of rest from our work. We eat good food. Dance. Celebrate."

"Anything weird happen?"

Aaroon looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Weird?"

"Yeah, weird. Uh... out of the ordinary. Do things you wouldn't do otherwise."

Aaroon smiled. "No, I don't believe so, Jack. The Ornorean brings a period of bountiful crops and good health, and we simply celebrate it by enjoying time with our family and friends."

"Kind of like a holiday."

"Yes. Please, continue to the meeting hall. We will join you shortly. I would just like to tell my brother Aeric that we have arrived."

He paused in the road, watching Aaroon and his substantial family move towards one of the buildings, Aaroon's hand linked with Sarai's. Jack rotated in a circle, taking in the surroundings. He wanted to find something wrong with the planet, and its people. That chink in their armor, but as of yet, he hadn't seen or even suspected anything. And Sam had been here four times before. Her radar for the freaky was just as honed as his, and she hadn't suspected a thing. They just seemed to be good people living happy lives, willing to share with outsiders. It wasn't some idyllic paradise that screamed 'too good to be true'. It wasn't a hellhole with half the population needing salvation from the other half. It was... nice.

Which, while that should have made him feel better, it just left him waiting for the second shoe to drop.

"Sir?"

Jack spun around to face Sam.

"Something wrong?"

He shook his head, but not with any conviction. "What do you know about this Ora Nora thing Aaroon is talking about?"

Sam pursed her lips slightly and shook her head. "I don't think it's anything to worry about. Daniel has spoken with several community members, and he's read some of their histories. It's a natural phenomenon – kind of like our Haley's Comet. It comes by the planet every one hundred of their years, and by what I hear, it's beautiful. They claim that the harvests are more bountiful, as are the births--"

"Like Aaroon needs any help."

She smiled her 'I-can't-believe-you-said-that-Jack' smile. "Anyway. I don't believe it's anything to be concerned over."

Jack shrugged one shoulder. "Good enough for me." Sam lifted her chin to look up at him, a small and slow smile bowing her lips. "So, hear anything good about this celebration?"

"Think Thanksgiving for three days."

"Sweeeet. Think they have cake?"

"In some form, I'm sure. Want to check out the spread, sir?"

"Lead the way, Colonel." He grinned and swept his hand towards the meeting hall. They turned together and walked towards where Daniel and Teal'c stood. "Oh, and Carter. Do me one favor?"

"Yes, sir?"

He did something then that he hadn't done in a very long time. He put his hand on her shoulder and patted it once before squeezing gently. "Don't drink anything funky. We all know how you get."

Sam stopped short, spinning to glare up at him with her eyes wide and her mouth open. "That was eight years ago, sir. Eight years! Are you ever going to let me live it down?"

Jack let his hand fall from her shoulder. "Probably not."

"And you know, I'm not the only one who has gotten into trouble eating odd things on strange planets. Or have you forgotten Kynth--"

"Ah!" Jack shot his hand up, palm to her. "Stop right there, Carter. That's an order." Sam chuckled softly, and shook her head, making a soft click in her cheek. "Besides, it's more fun to tease you."

Sam shook her head again, but the smile on her lips let him know she didn't mind. Without another word, they turned and headed for the meeting hall.

The stack of kindling and logs gathered for the bonfire had to reach at least fifteen feet in height, and the heat thrown off by the massive flames made Sam's cheeks burn hot even while the back of her arms felt the cold of the evening air. Music and laughter filtered to her from the darkness where figures and structures disappeared outside the ring of light from the fire.

The crowd had thinned some, with the youngest of the children having been tucked away to sleep in the tents set up around the area. Apparently, for the three days of the celebration no one left except to see to the necessary needs of their livestock. It truly was a gathering of the community.

"Are you finding it to be an enjoyable evening, Colonel Carter?"

Sam turned enough to see Teal'c standing near by, just far enough into the firelight that she could see his face. The orange flames made his golden tattoo glow.

"Yes, I am. It's almost like a vacation."

Teal'c smiled and dipped his head, stepping closer until he stood beside her. "It has been, as you would say, like old times to have O'Neill accompany us off world. Is it not?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, like old times. He couldn't have picked a better mission to come on. Last I saw him, he was having another helping of Kakaoah cake."

"It is a celebration like none I have seen."

They slipped into a comfortable silence as Sam watched the flames and the citizens of Calla Hills as they gathered near the warmth to talk. Some danced to the music being played by four or five adults on instruments that reminded Sam of fiddles and guitars on Earth. The sound was the same.

"Teal'c, can I ask you something?" Sam said after several moments of no conversation.

"Indeed, Colonel Carter."

"Does the General seem – that is, before we came here – did he seem off to you?"

"Off? What would he have been on that he is now off?"

"I mean different. Not himself."

"O'Neill is who he has always been, it is those things around him that have changed."

Sam looked at Teal'c, thinking about what he said. She took in a breath and turned to face him. "Teal'c, I just wonder if... how being General has... Oh, forget it. I don't even know what I'm asking."

"Perhaps the best place to find answers would be with O'Neill."

She shrugged, having to agree at least mentally with Teal'c. If she thought she'd get a straight answer, and could ask without crossing that invisible yet obvious line they had established years before, she might just ask him.

"I believe I saw O'Neill walking north of the encampment not fifteen minutes ago."

"Thanks, Teal'c." Before she had time to think of why, Sam stepped out of the circle of light and headed north.

She found him ten minutes later, sitting on the crest of a small hill looking down on the bonfire below. He had his ankles crossed and his legs drawn up with his elbows on his knees, a broken branch twirling in his fingers. Once she left the light of the fire, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and could see his form outlined by the light of the triple moons. Sam didn't say anything, but approached him and sat down beside him Indian style. She figured he had known she was coming a good hundred feet or so before she got there. After all, she had known where he was right about then.

"Daniel and T having a good time?" he finally asked.

"Well, Tella hasn't left Daniel's side all day and I think he's finally getting a clue about her interest. And Teal'c is just taking it all in. You know Teal'c."

"Yeah, I do." He tossed the branch aside.

"What about you, sir? Having a good time?"

"Hell, yeah. These guys may not have any use for a Naquida mine, but they sure do know how to cook. So, you learn anything else about this thing they're celebrating?"

"Nothing much. Just that it's a natural phenomenon. Has been happening longer than recorded history. There are some adults in the community who have never experienced it, and some that this is their second time. Like Aaroon. He was only about seven cycles old when it last happened."

"So, it's once, maybe twice in a lifetime kind of stuff."

Sam nodded. "I guess tonight will be when it starts to appear, growing stronger for the next three days to its highest intensity."

"Cool. Carter, check this out."

She glanced in his direction, surprised to realize he had lain back on the grassy hillside without her ever hearing or feeling the shift of his body. "Check what out, sir."

"The sky."

She looked up. The stars were bright, but other than the three moons that overlapped visually over the horizon, she saw nothing spectacular. Sam gasped as Jack grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back onto the grass beside him.

"Now look."

Sam was speechless, and could barely breathe. Silver filaments of light swirled across the sky like ribbons of glitter on black velvet. They shifted slowly, intertwining and dancing around each other reminding her of clouds on a breezy day. Lazy motion. Dazzling beauty. Some of the filaments shifted in hue from silver to a pale pink, and then to purple.

"Wow," she finally managed to say.

"And they say this gets better each day?"

Sam nodded, her head rustling against the grass beneath it. "At it's most intense, I heard it's partially visible during the day. But mostly at night."

"This I'm gonna have to see."

She turned her head towards him, and smiled at the soft glow from the Ornorean as it touched his profile. His lips were apart and his eyes wide open as he watched the sky. After all they had seen, and the things they had done – and despite the sometimes rough face he put on – Jack O'Neill was entranced by an evening light show. Then he turned and their stares met, and Sam's breath stopped.

The brown depth of his eyes made them look almost black in the moonlight, and for several beats of her heart they just looked at each other. It was hard to be sure in the low light, but Sam thought Jack's stare shifted away from her eyes to the vicinity of her mouth before coming back again. The cold that had chilled her skin was suddenly gone, and she had to tell herself to take a breath.

Then Jack snapped his head away and rolled up off the ground in one long, fluid motion. He dusted off his pants quickly before offering her his hand to help her stand. As soon as she was on her feet, he released her hand and snagged his hat from the grass.

"We should get back before Daniel finds himself betrothed again," Jack said, his voice heavy in the still silence.

Sam just nodded, not trusting her voice to be strong enough to speak, and followed him down the embankment towards the fire.