"Wow... I guess having visitors is a big deal to these folks, huh?"

Mitchell looked around the crowded room – which had seemed large when they'd walked in, but was now bulging to the rafters with Cay and Rella's neighbors and children. Apparently everyone in the area had turned out to see the traders, and they'd all brought food, which turned the thing into an impromptu potluck dinner.

"You weren't afraid of the Guardians?" One of the children assembled had asked before her mother could hush her.

Sheppard smiled and shook his head.

"We didn't know about the Guardians."

"And if we would have known about them, we still would have come," Melony told her. "We like meeting new people."

Rodney had a pained look on his face at that, but he didn't dispute what Mitchell said.

The children had been sent off to amuse themselves and leave the adults to talk before dinner, then, but the conversation stayed on the subject of the Guardians. Several of the people had seen them – or had seen fleeting glances of an individual member of the pack – but no one really had a good description of them. Some said they were wolf-like, others said they were man-like, and the only thing they all agreed on were that they were deadly.

"Have any of you ever seen this ancient city they're supposed to be guarding?" Sheppard asked them as they assembled the makings of their meal.

There was a chorus of nos.

"Talon wants to see if we can find this city," Melony told Sheppard when they'd taken their plates to the table, where as guests, they had the best spot. Others ranged themselves around the room, sitting on cushions or on the floor, depending on how flexible they were.

John nodded. He was curious about this ancient city, too. 'Ancient' just smacked of Ancients, and who knew if it was their Ancients or just an old city?

"I wouldn't say no if you wanted to go take a look..."

"What about the Guardians?"

"We didn't see any on our way here," Ford said, joining the conversation. "I didn't hear anything spooky out there, either. Maybe they don't exist?"

"Something exists," McKay told them. "These people are seeing something – and Harlan there says one of the Guardians ripped apart one of his cows last year."

"It might have been a regular predatory looking for an easy meal," Melony said, shrugging.

"But-"

"I'm not suggesting we go out looking right this minute," Mitchell interrupted before McKay could say anything. "Rella offered us a place to sleep tonight, so I suggest we stay the night in the barn and talk it over when there's less people around."

"Nothing to talk over, really, is there?" Teyla asked. "We're all curious about this city so we might as well see if we can find it."

"Hello? We're not all curious about this city. I for one just want to get our wheat – or whatever it is we can garner from this little collection of hovels – and go home."

"McKay..."

"What?"

Mitchell looked over at Ford and grinned, and the young Lieutenant smiled back. Sheppard would convince McKay that there was probably something interesting in the ancient city – something worth the risk – and they'd head out looking for the city in the morning. There was no asking Ford what he wanted to do; Mitchell knew Ford better than she knew any of the others and knew he welcomed any challenge or chance to explore. Which was probably the reason he'd gone to Atlantis in the first place.

She turned back to her meal, ignoring Talon's smug presence in her head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You're going to go looking for the city?"

The shock and dismay on the faces of the other people sitting around the bonfire that had been lit in the courtyard of Cay and Rella's house was obvious, lit up in the dark by the firelight.

"What about the Guardians?" One of the others asked.

Sheppard shrugged.

"You don't seem to understand how dangerous they are," a voice from the other side of the fire said.

"We didn't see one on our way here," Sheppard said, "but if we do-"

"You won't see one, you'll see the whole pack," someone interrupted.

"We have weapons..."

"We do, too, but it's hard to hit one with a pitchfork," someone else said. "When they went after my cow, I-"

"They didn't go after your cow, Harlan," Someone else interrupted. "You made that up."

"I di-"

"We have better weapons than pitchforks," Melony assured them, smiling. "All we really need is for you people to get together and try to remember if anyone's ever heard where this city is. What general direction do we go?"

"South."

"East."

"It's to the North."

There was a snort of amusement from Ford – amusement that was shared by Melony and the others. What could they expect?

"You guys all talk it over..." Sheppard said, taking another sip of the tea that had dominated their meal and after dinner conversation – it wasn't bad once you drank a gallon of it and it grew on you. "We'll need something a bit more specific."

"We will if we don't want to be here for the next ten years," Ford murmured to Mitchell, who nodded.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By the end of the evening, after much arguing and speculation, what they ended up with was a vague 'it might be somewhere to the southeast of here.'

The neighbors tried warning the Atlantis team against going off in search of the city, and then warned them repeatedly to watch out for the Guardians and to make sure they were back in settled land before nightfall – apparently the Guardians roamed after dark as well, but everyone agreed that they never went near human habitations. Except for the lone voice of Harlan, who kept swearing they'd attacked his cows.

By the time everyone left and Cay had taken them to the barn where they were going to sleep, it was well past dark and everyone was more than ready for bed.

"Watches?" Sheppard asked Mitchell once the team was alone.

"Oh, yeah." Just because they were in a sheltered place, there was no guarantee that nothing could threaten them here – including the neighbors, who seemed friendly, but it never hurt to be sure.

"Single or double?"

Mitchell shrugged.

"Single. No reason to lose sleep if we don't have to."

They worked out a quick schedule which meant no one would have to be awake more than a couple of hours during the night, and Melony watched as the others settled in to sleep. Sheppard had the last word that night, though. As he pulled his blanket over his head, he looked over at her.

"Wake me up if any of the Guardians come after the cows..."