The two carloads had decided to meet up just inside the front gates of Seaworld—the parking-lot was too big an area, and there were benches and shade inside. Brian and Jacob had kept up an animated conversation all the way there, and Mary and Alyson had joined in as soon as they arrived. So it was not until they were actually starting off together that Jacob noticed one of their group was missing.

"Where's Lee'al?" he asked Sam.

"I don't know."

"She didn't come," Alyson said. "She wanted to have a private chat with Mark, and figured that today was her best opportunity."

"She what?" Jacob twisted around to face his daughter-in-law. "And how come I'm only finding out about this now?" A hundred scenarios of possible confrontations between Mark and Lee'al flashed through his head, none of them pleasant. What did she possibly think she could say that he and Sam hadn't already tried? A horrible thought occurred to him, a very good reason why Lee'al would have wanted Jacob on the other side of San Diego, safely out of interference range, for this conversation. No, she wouldn't would she?

"She didn't want you to worry." Alyson sighed. "Look, I know I've tried talking sense into Mark, and it hasn't worked. He won't even listen to you and Sam. The one person who hasn't tried talking him around is your girlfriend, and I guess she figures it's her turn now. We talked it over last night, and the way things stand, she can't make things any worse, now can she?"

"I should go back and--"

Alyson laid a hand on his arm. "No, you shouldn't," she said gently. "We know for certain that Mark won't listen if you're there. Relax. Let her try. If things blow up, there's time enough t deal with it later. This morning, you're taking your grandchildren to Seaworld."

##Besides,## Selmak said, ##given the length of time it takes to drive in this city, by the time you got back she would already be done telling him about Nelaris and I and the Stargate, if that is truly what she's doing. I doubt it is; Nelaris wouldn't agree to going behind your back like that.##

I hope you're right. Jacob looked at Mary and Brian, who were watching him closely. Brian, in particular, had been looking forward to this trip since Jacob's last visit. He looked up at Sam, and saw the fear of what Lee'al might be telling Mark in her eyes. He looked back at the kids, and sighed. "Okay. You win."

"Mark, we need to talk."

Mark kept on pruning. "I thought you were going to Seaworld with the rest."

"I can see Seaworld some other time. If, that is, Jacob is welcome to visit in the future. At this point, given your actions and attitude, that doesn't seem likely."

"Given my actions and attitude?" Now Mark turned to face her. "I'm not the only one involved, lady."

"True. Jacob can be a stubborn son-of-a-bitch at times. And Sam has lost her temper on more than one occasion during this visit. But the fact remains that almost every argument on this trip that I have seen was provoked by you. Poor Alyson is playing peacemaker as much as she can, as is Sam; Jake is practically bending over backwards to please you, and the children are more aware of what's going on around them than I think you realize."

Mark started to interrupt, but Lee'al held up a hand. "Please, hear me out." To her surprise, he subsided. "I really couldn't care less what you think of me. But I love your father very much, and I will do anything in my power to keep him from getting hurt. He does not show emotion easily, but that does not mean he does not feel deeply. He loves you and your sister more than he is capable of expressing. He knows he was not the best father, but he regrets his shortcomings and is trying to make amends as best he can. Is there not some way you could accept him as he is? What can I say or do that will help?"

Mark snorted, and crossed his arms. "Y'know, all this talk about how much he loves me would be much more effective coming from him. He didn't used to send other people to do what he was afraid to."

"He doesn't know I'm here." Lee'al smiled. "I'm afraid Alyson and I did a little scheming last night. Jake thinks I'm in the other car; hopefully, he won't realize I'm not there until they arrive. He worries too much, and would have tried to stop me. Given that you're his son, he thinks he has a right to tell me what to do in this case. Now, normally I'd agree with him, but his way obviously isn't working. And he's the one who told me the old saying that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."

"That's all very fascinating," Mark said, "but even if he were here, his assurances that he's changed and that things are different now don't carry much weight with me when he won't even tell me the truth about his life. I mean, even when we were kids and he was at his most strict, if he couldn't tell us what he was doing, or if he was too busy to be a good father, he'd at least tell us that outright instead of lying to us about it."

Lee'al sighed. That was about as perfect a cue as she was going to get.

##Well, are you going to do it, or are you going to have a sudden attack of sanity? You know how Jacob's going to react, and you know what I think of this, but I'm not stopping you. If you're going to do it, you should do it now.##

I am very well aware of that Nelaris, thank you. "You do have the right to know what your father is doing these days."

Mark straightened up, frowning. "What, no 'sorry, that's classified'? No cloak-and-dagger warnings?"

"No." Lee'al clasped her hands behind her back. "While I understand and completely agree with the need for discretion and need-to-know when handling delicate material, I think your government's insistence on secrecy in this case is completely absurd. You have a right to know just how dangerous the world truly is, and they can't possibly hope to keep it quiet much longer. Too much has happened over the last eight years, and too many people know."

"Wait a minute. 'Your government'? You're not American? How'd Dad get mixed up with you?"

That's your cue, Nelaris.

##Yes.## Lee'al felt her head dip as Nelaris took over. She exaggerated it, to make it more obvious to someone who had, as yet, no idea what it meant. "No, I'm not an American." She flanged her voice more than usual, and flared her eyes. "As a matter of fact, this is my first visit to the planet."

Mark took a step back, arms unfolding almost involuntarily. "The hell?" He shook his head, eyeing her as if she were insane. "You're not going to try and tell me you're an alien, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Nelaris, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance directly." She bowed slightly. "Lee'al, with whom you have been speaking, is my host. I'll explain what all that means shortly, but first I wanted to do something to prove to you that I am telling the truth." Reaching into her purse, she withdrew a zat'nik'atel, and opened it. "This weapon is called a zat'nik'atel. Members of your military who are familiar with it call it a 'zat-gun' for short; that nickname appears to be working its way into the vocabularies of various offworld groups with whom they have come in contact. Would you mind if I disposed of your yard debris for you?"

Mark gestured expansively at the pile of limbs. "Be my guest."

"When used on a living creature, the first shot stuns," first shot, "two shots kills," second shot, "and the third shot," she triggered the final shot and watched the limbs disappear, "disintegrates." She closed the zat.

"Well." Mark raised his eyebrows and stared at the ground where the pile had been. "That was dramatic. But you know, I saw my sister on national television just last month explaining a holographic projector the military has that had been used to fake the appearance of a Roswell Gray Alien. How do I know that's not more of the same?"

Nelaris shrugged. "Your world does not have the technology to construct such a device; they may have borrowed it from the Asgard or some other race to cover up the presence of a real alien. In any case, holograms are visual only. You may walk through the area where the limbs were; they are no longer there."

"Right." Mark sidled over to the area where the limbs had been sitting. He cast a sideways look at Nelaris before gingerly waving a hand through the air. "They're gone, alright. And while there's undoubtedly some way to fake the weird voice you've got, I have no idea how you'd get your eyes to glow. So, provisionally, I'll assume you're telling the truth, at least until Dad and Sam get home. You'll forgive my skepticism, but I expected aliens to look, well," he gestured at her, "more alien."

"Of course." Nelaris smiled and gestured towards the house. "I'll tell you about it, but I anticipate it will be a long discussion. Perhaps we should adjourn to the house, for a more comfortable setting."

"Riight." Mark stood the pruner against the house and opened the sliding-glass door to the family room. "After you." And if his courtesy was edged, at least it existed; his curiosity appeared to have snapped him out of his dislike, at least temporarily.

See? I was right.

##We'll see who was right once you've finished telling him and Jacob comes home. That will be the test, how they react to each other—and us—then.##

"Now," Lee'al said, curling up on the couch, "Trying to explain the interstellar situation and your father's place in it is rather complicated; please hold the interruptions to a minimum, so I can get through it all in a reasonable amount of time."

"Fair enough," Mark replied, wandering into the kitchen and grabbing himself a glass of Kool-Aid. "But first, why is your voice normal again?" He came out and sat down on the loveseat opposite her.

"The Tok'ra are a symbiotic people, Mark. There are two of us in this body. I am Lee'al, the host. I look and sound human because I am. The other person in this body is Nelaris, my symbiote." Your turn again.

Nelaris took over, again accentuating the head drop for Mark's benefit. "If you were to see me outside of a host, I would resemble a snake about two feet long, with fins and four needle-sharp fangs. My people can survive outside of a host for a short period of time, longer if we are immersed in water, but we are largely unable to interact with the world or communicate while in that state, so we much prefer to have hosts. Besides," she hesitated; this was not something often mentioned, "it is very lonely." It was true; the Tok'ra were unused to solitude, and did not handle it well. "I can impersonate Lee'al if I want to by using a normal voice, and have done so this past week at times as I could not come out as myself, but the Tok'ra prefer not to do such things if at all possible."

Lee'al took over. "Things generally work much more smoothly if everyone knows who exactly they're dealing with at any given moment. If you're wondering what I get out of the deal besides companionship—and Nelaris is the best friend I've ever had—well, being blended has its advantages."

"By being 'blended,' you mean having a snake ... wherever she is inside you," Mark said.

"Yes." Lee'al smiled. "Would you like to see where she is?"

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Sure."

Lee'al turned around and took off her sweater, exposing her back to him.

##What about those Tau'ri nudity taboos Jacob was so emphatic about?## Nelaris thought as she wiggled a little to show Mark where she was.

Oops. Lee'al ignored the tickling sensation Nelaris made as she moved, and put the sweater back on slowly. I forgot. Besides, you've seen their television. I still had a bra on, and if they show that on TV it can't be too taboo, can it? She turned to find Mark looking at her with the strangest look on his face.

"That wiggle was Nelaris?"

"Yes." Lee'al considered apologizing for violating the taboo, but decided that the damage was done anyway and drawing attention to it would only make it worse. "Anyway, besides companionship, a symbiote makes someone physically much stronger than they otherwise would be, and gives them greater endurance. A symbiote also can heal almost any injury or disease, given a short period to rest and recuperate. For example, a broken bone will heal in only a day. And they extend one's life, as well. I'll probably live to be three or four hundred years old, because I was so young when I was blended; given his age at blending, your father will probably only live another two centuries or so."

"Wait a minute." Mark shot upright, eyes wide. "Dad is—what do you call it—blended? He's got an alien snake in his head? For how long?"

"You see why I think you have a right to know? Truth be known, Jacob agrees that you need to know this, though he still has too much of the Air Force in him to break security that badly." Lee'al sighed. "Mark, you are aware that your father had a bout with cancer a few years back? I don't know if you realize how serious it was. At the time he was blended with Selmak, your physicians gave him a life expectancy of somewhere between five minutes and five days. Selmak's host had a similar life expectancy. She was simply too old for Selmak to keep her alive much longer, and the effort of keeping her alive that long had drained Selmak to the point that she was almost unable to save Jake, despite the fact that cancer is one of the simpler ailments for a symbiote to treat."

"So, Selmak is the name of my father's symbiote." Mark sat back in the recliner, looking stunned. "And he's been there the entire time since Dad and I started talking to each other again five years ago, just kind of laying low?"

"Right." Lee'al cocked her head. I'm sure you have many more questions about the Tok'ra and your father's place among us, but I'd like to continue with a general overview of the galactic situation, if I may? That will hopefully put things into some sort of perspective."

Mark waved a hand, looking bemused. "By all means. This should be fascinating. I can't wait to get Dad's perspective on this whole business. And Sam's—I'm assuming she knows?"

"She does. She is one of the highest-ranking and most important officers in Stargate Command, your people's main agency dealing with extra-terrestrials and offworld events. You see, several million years ago a race known as the ancients left devices known as 'stargates' on planets across the galaxy. These devices can send one to any planet with a stargate, via wormholes. The Earth stargate was uncovered in an archaeological dig some time ago, and sat in a warehouse for some time before your sister and her colleagues discovered how to operate it ..."