"I said, Major Sheppard fathered the offspring that-"

"I heard you, Kale," Mitchell said, holding up her hand. "Are you sure it's Major Sheppard who fathered the child? I mean, your people are fairly promiscuous aren't they?"

"Children," Kale corrected. "Aron carries two. Our females always produce two offspring when they conceive. And, yes, she's certain it was Major Sheppard. That was the whole point of trysting with him – aside from the pleasure of the action, I suppose – to introduce new blood into our community."

"Your kind can reproduce with humans?"

"We have human stock," Kale reminded her, pointing at the form he was in. "More human than anything else. It's an option – but one the females have not had an opportunity to take advantage of for further back than any of us can remember."

"Ah."

Makes you wonder about Teyla, Talon mused.

Oh, good point. If Teyla had enjoyed the company of one of the males on their last trip – and Melony hadn't asked, although she was pretty sure she had – then what was to stop her from becoming impregnated? And wouldn't that be an interesting development? Of course, she could ask in such a way that Teyla wasn't even brought up – and she did.

"Um... Kale? What about if you and I had –"

He smiled, and shook his head.

"The females control conception, Colonel. Until then our seed – and that of any other males – is dormant. It's just pleasure for us unless the female is ready to conceive."

"Ah."

Well, that was good news, she supposed. At least Teyla didn't have anything to worry about.

"This building is as empty as the last," Kale said, looking around.

"Yeah. They must have been single dwellings, huh?"

Kale nodded, looking around.

"Single family units, perhaps, or a place for those not yet mated."

"Well, let's get to looking," she said, deciding that if she chatted with him while they were searching it'd take them years to make it through the city. They'd have all night to talk about who might have lived in each building – or what other purpose the building might have served, be it meeting hall or living area. There was no way they were going to be finished looking in only one day – but she had a few more before she needed to return to Atlantis, and he could keep in touch with his people mentally, so he didn't need to go there and check in with the Council.

OOOOOOOOO

They wandered through the city, looking through each building carefully, even though most of them didn't really require much more than a quick glance to show them that there was nothing inside. Apparently when the Light Ones who abandoned the city left it, they took most of their possessions with them – and whatever they didn't must have rotted away.

The first day they made it a few miles into the city, and although Melony told Kale they could split up to look even faster, he refused to leave her alone, saying that even though the Dark Ones couldn't return to the city there were other creatures that could – wild creatures that posed little or no danger to him, but could hurt her if she were caught off guard. He was responsible for her safety, and he took that responsibility seriously.

They made their camp in one of the abandoned buildings that had a full roof – in case it rained, and Kale and Mitchell had a meal of MREs from Melony's pack. Now that they weren't searching through buildings, Melony took the opportunity to ask him more about the society of his people, figuring that anyone who could control their own fertilization had to have a few more interesting traits.

"It's really not all that exciting," he told her as they sat in the light of the small fire she'd built. "We don't all choose fulltime mates – although it's an option, of course."

"Do you have a mate?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"I've considered it, but I have yet to find a female I would want to spend the rest of my life with."

Of course, when your life was centuries long, it made sense to choose carefully, she supposed.

"There are other groups of my people living around the planet," he told her. This wasn't news to her, since they'd mentioned others when they'd been there last. "But usually only the females go looking for them – and only when they're ready to mate. To keep the bloodlines from becoming stagnate. The young are raised by the female, but all the clan protects and provides for them as well."

Melony nodded.

"That makes sense. And before your people moved from this city? Were there other cities of Light Ones?"

He shook his head.

"This was the only place we lived. Our histories say that there were many millenniums of peace and prosperity here before the Sundering. It must have been amazing."

She smiled.

"It must have been. Did your people travel through the Stargate?"

He nodded.

"None have since the Sundering, but we know they did before. There are colonies of my people who traveled to other places – although we have lost track of them over the course of many lifetimes."

"Maybe if we find some gate addresses here, we'll get lucky and find some of them on the worlds we visit..."

He smiled, and shook his head.

"I admit that it came up when the Council discussed allowing you to come here, but we don't hold out a lot of hope for such a thing – my people need a large population in order to maintain our growth, because of how rarely we produce offspring."

"Well, you never know," Melony said, shrugging. "If your people here can reproduce using human males, then the ones who left here must be able to as well – and there are a lot of human males out there, you know."

"True enough," Kale said, smiling. She supposed they might not have considered that. The Light One shrugged as well.

"It's late, and we should rest so we can get an early start in the morning."

Since they hadn't brought much by way of supplies – and none of the straw-filled bags for Mitchell to sleep on, Kale transformed himself into his wolf shape and curled around her to keep her from getting chilled. It was also a good way for him to keep her safe while they slept, since the wolf-like creature would hear anything that tried to sneak up on them long before it could pose a danger.

Melony pulled her blanket over herself and rested her head on Kale's furry side, amused to find herself in such an odd sleeping arrangement, but already feeling the warmth of the wolf warming her up as well. Who needed a fire?

She was asleep in far less time than she thought it'd take.