It was Ford who set Mitchell's broken leg. The Lieutenant had needed a bit of help hold the leg down while he pulled on it to get the bone to pop back into place, and Kale and Rodney supplied it, the Light One coming behind Melony and wrapping his arms snugly around her, while McKay held her leg as gently as he could, just above the break. Melony tensed, knowing it was going to hurt – even with Talon easing the nerve endings – and she barked out a curse that would have made Jack O'Neill blush when Ford pulled the broken bone back and then let it fall into place against the other broken end.

"Oh, God..." She leaned heavily against kale for a moment, trying to catch her breath while Ford wrapped a splint on the leg to keep the bones in place so Talon could start healing them.

"You going to be all right?" John asked, running a wet cloth across her forehead to clear the beads of sweat that had formed during the procedure.

"I will now." She closed her eyes, willing the pain to go away.

I'm working on it

I know.

As loathe as I am to mention it... you're in a rather compromising position with Kale...

She knew what he meant immediately, but there was no way she could be bothered about how it must look for her to be still wrapped up in the arms of the naked Light One, leaning back against him. She didn't have the strength to move, much less worry about propriety.

Kale held her for another moment, as if to make certain she was all right, then gently eased himself out from behind her and stood up.

"We will bring you something to eat while you care for the remainder of your injuries," he said. "Then the Council would like a word with you."

"The Council?" Sheppard asked, looking up from the sleeve he'd been pulling up to allow Ford a chance to try and splint his wrist.

Kale nodded.

"They are the ones who make the important decisions."

"Ah..."

Kale smiled reassuringly.

"Do not worry. They simply wish to learn a little more about you – we rarely get visitors."

They wouldn't have had us as visitors if they hadn't kidnapped us, Mitchell muttered to Talon.

They were doing what they thought was right

Yeah, yeah.

She felt his amusement, and wanted to poke him for it. Which just amused him further.

"Well, we'd like to learn more about your folks as well," Sheppard said, being the diplomat that Melony wasn't feeling up to being just then. She was still smarting at the whole being stabbed and dropped thing, after all.

Talon didn't bother to try and talk with her; he knew that eventually her normal good nature would take over and she'd forget about the grudge she was holding. Until then, he had bones to start on, and a shoulder wound to check. He wouldn't be able to heal either one instantly, but neither was life threatening, so he wasn't in a panic or anything.

Kale nodded and left with Aron, leaving a couple of bowls of warm water and a large stack of clean cloths to use as bandages. Since Ford – who knew more first aid than Rodney or Teyla did – was busy helping Sheppard with his broken wrist, Teyla and McKay went to work on Melony's shoulder, Teyla cleaning the front wound, and Rodney just as carefully cleaning the wound in the back. It was complicated to bandage, so they ended up just tying a couple of the larger bandages together and wrapping it around her shoulder and arm and then under her armpit to hold the bandages on and then they helped her put her vest back on over it – which would help even further to old the tied together bandages in place. Then Teyla went to take care of Ford's head injury, while Rodney went over and looked out the entrance to the cave – either to check the scenery, or to wait for their meal – no one was sure.

"Are you going to be alright?" Melony asked Sheppard.

"I'm all right," John said, nodding. He held up his hand, which was swathed from his knuckles to his elbow in tight bandages, showing her that he couldn't move it. "Beckett can set this when we get back."

It'd give him something to do, after all.

"Aiden?"

It wasn't often that Mitchell called Ford by his first name, and the Lieutenant knew it was just because she was worried about him.

"I'm fine, too, Colonel. Just a scratch and a bump."

"Dinner's here." Rodney told them coming back into the main section of the cave, followed by three others – all men, and all just as naked as Kale and Aron had been.

"I could get to like this place," Melony said, watching the Light Ones speculatively for a moment before turning to look at Sheppard, who was shaking his head in amusement. "What? The food smells great..."

"Uh huh."

"You didn't think I was talking about something else did you?"

"Of course not."

Sheppard's eyes were lively with humor, though, as one of the Light Ones brought a large platter of steaming vegetables and baked fish over to where he was sitting next to Colonel Mitchell. The others joined them, and were soon being served other courses as well; including a light fruity drink of some sort, and a dessert that consisted of what might have been a sponge cake. Or something.

"It does smell good," Sheppard agreed.

"We will come for you at sunset," one of the aliens told the group as the other two left the cave. "The council wishes for you to tell us if there is anything we can bring you."

"We're fine," Mitchell said, taking a plate from McKay. "We'll be ready when you come."

The Light One left, and the five of them dished up heaping plates of food. All of them were hungry – breakfast felt like it was years before, and not a matter of just several hours.

"We're sure they're not poisoning us?" Ford asked, looking at his meal before taking a bite.

"If they wanted to kill us, they could have just dropped us off a cliff," McKay said.

"True," Mitchell agreed. "But if they want to get any information from us, then they might try drugging us to get it."

"Well, you take a bite of everything and have Talon decide if it's safe for the rest of us," John said, reasonably.

Melony scowled.

"How come I have to be the guinea pig?"

"Guinea pig?" Teyla asked, confused.

"Because you have Talon," Sheppard said, smiling. "Hurry up, too, okay? I'm starving."