"What an astounding story..."

From the silence in the room when Kale finished the story, the others agreed completely with Rella's statement.

"So... your people want to trade with mine?" Cay asked.

Kale nodded.

"We grow our own grains, now, but we're not very good at it, and our methods are clearly not as efficient as your own."

"So in return for our grain you'll protect us from these Dark Ones – the Guardians?"

Kale shook his head.

"My people will always protect you from the Dark Ones – our gods have given us that command and we are responsible for them. What we will give you in... trade... for your grains – and perhaps cloth – is meat of the sorts your people have more trouble attaining. Venison, fish, and wild foul. Things of that nature. We also have access to fields of wild berries and wild orchards that grow fruit that we have never observed your people cultivating, so we would add that to our list of items we would trade – if it turns out your people like them."

There was a lot of murmuring in the room, but none of it sounded negative to Mitchell, and that was a good sign as far as she was concerned.

"There's a lot for you and your people to work out with the Light Ones," Melony told the group of farmers. "But even if you don't trade – which is completely up to you and yours – at least you don't have the fear of the Guardians hanging over your heads anymore. You know what they are, now, although you still need to be wary of them."

There were nods all around.

"We'll need to discuss it, of course," Koren said, "But even if the others don't want to trade with you, I do. My wife is a fine weaver, and my boys are good farmers – we grow plenty of extra. Although this season most of that is going to go to Colonel Mitchell and her companions – because we've already allocated it for them – we would trade in the future."

"We would, too," Rella agreed. There were several other nods as well.

Mitchell looked over at Sheppard, catching his eye. Two good things there; the farmers had accepted the Light Ones, and the farmers had mentioned that they had plans to trade their surplus with the Atlanteans. Good all around.

"You will have to meet our Council," Aron said, smiling and looking pleased with the way things had gone. "But that will wait until a later date. There is no rush – although we will be more than willing to supplement your meat supplies through the upcoming winter – as well as begin our own harvest of the wild berries and fruits in exchange for future tradables."

"That is agreeable."

Sheppard cleared his throat. "What you might do is put up a flag pole of some sort and fly a pennant of some kind that the Light Ones can see from above. Then they'll know when you want to talk to them."

"Good idea." Mitchell murmured.

John shrugged, but he flashed a smile.

"Can you really turn into a bird?" One of the younger farmers asked – this one barely out of his teens from the looks of him.

Kale nodded.

"We have two other forms besides this one."

"Can we see?"

Kale started to stand up, but Melony put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"There's a slight problem with that," she told the farmers with a smile.

"Problem?"

"The Light Ones transform," Melony said, "But their clothing doesn't. Which means they'll have to undress, first."

"Oh."

Several of the farmers were looking at the younger people in the room – many of them children.

"Perhaps a demonstration at a later date?" Aron suggested, smiling – although she didn't understand exactly why the humans seemed so unwilling to look upon their nakedness. Sheppard certainly hadn't had a problem with it the night before – and neither had a couple others in the Atlantean group from what she'd heard.

"We'd like that," Rella said, agreeing, "But it can wait."

Mitchell figured the Light Ones could start carrying clothes with them in packs or something for when they came for a visit. That was something they'd have to figure out with the farmers.

"I'd say a celebration of some sort is in order..." Koren said, smiling. "It's not every day, after all, that we find have new people to trade with – or make such amazing new friends!"

There were shouts of agreement, and Melony decided that the farmers just liked any reason to have a party. Once they got use to the Light Ones, she figured they'd get along well in that sense.

"Will you stay for the celebration?" Rella asked Kale and the others.

Kale nodded.

"We have promised to see Colonel Mitchell and her companions safely to the gate, so we must remain."

"We really don't have time to stay for a party, do we?" Ford asked. "Aren't the others going to start worrying about us?"

"Not until sometime in the morning," McKay said.

"But we've been gone for two days..." Sheppard said, agreeing with Ford. "We told them we'd probably only be gone two days."

"We've been gone two of the days on this planet," McKay told them rolling his eyes like he always did when he was being smarter than everyone else. "The days here are much shorter than our own, so in the sense of time, we've only been gone about a day and a half. We could stay until morning, gather up whatever the farmers here are willing to trade, and then get back about the same time we told them we would."

Rella smiled, although she didn't understand the explanation completely.

"So you can stay?" She asked.

Sheppard shrugged, and then smiled.

"Why not?"

Why not indeed?

OOOOOOOO

Food had been brought from the other houses, as well as a special brew that the farmers told the Atlanteans and the Light Ones was a fermented drink they only pulled out for the very best of occasions. They had shown proper pleasure at the announcement, and then the Atlanteans were given even better news. The farmers had decided that the Atlanteans had done them such a favor in introducing them to the other indigenous people of their planet – as well as bringing them new long-term trading partners – that they had decided to give them all that they'd been planning on trading to them. It amounted to several wagonloads of grains, mostly – as well as a lot of dried and cured meats – which would come in handy on Atlantis. The farmers said if the Light Ones would guard them form the Dark Ones, they'd drive the wagons to the gate to make transporting the food that much easier, and Kale and his people agreed willingly.

Logistics taken care of, the celebration got into full swing after that, and the special brew was brought out and handed out to all the visitors – as well as the adult farmers. Mitchell took a testing sip, and found it be lightly fruity and a rather mild drink.

You might not want to drink any more of that, Talon told her after that first sip.

What? Why not? It's good.

It's a lot stronger than you think it is

Are you sure?

She looked down at her drink. It didn't look all that potent, and it certainly didn't taste all that strong. The others were drinking it happily – although the Light Ones had set their shares aside, saying they would prefer water or simple tea.

Trust me

Which pretty much meant she wasn't going to do any more drinking. Melony sighed, and asked for some tea.

When we get home, I'm going to down a gallon of coffee before I do anything else.

She watched the festivities from her seat on the sofa, and lost track of her companions as a plate of food was brought to her and she, Kale and Rella started a discussion about the young of the Light Ones - which Melony was just as curious about as Rella, since they hadn't seen any children when they'd been on the mountain.