The next day was spent exactly like the end of the last – looking through empty buildings. Some of them were larger than others, and while some looked as if they'd been empty through out the millenniums they'd stood there, others seemed to be filled with items that had long since turned to dust. All about the empty city there was a feeling of desolation and emptiness – as if the city itself mourned the loss of its people. It was rather depressing, and Mitchell wasn't the only one affected by it.

Kale grew silent as the day progressed. He would simply shake his head when she looked at him after exploring a building, telling her that there wasn't anything in there. He was moody, and almost irritable – although he never took it out on her – and by nightfall she'd decided that they'd better call it a day and try and get back a little of the equilibrium that they'd lost while searching through the deserted city.

"Why don't your people return here, Kale?" She asked as she handed him a heated MRE. "The Dark Ones can't come here, but your people can, still, can't they? Did your gods tell you to abandon the city forever?"

He was quiet for a while – so long that she thought maybe he wasn't going to answer – but then he spoke, his voice soft, and his pale eyes still showing an echo of that morose mind-set he'd suffered most of the day.

"They didn't forbid us from returning, Colonel," he said, shrugging. "As far as I know, we could return – although after being here, I can understand why none of them would want to, although perhaps they once tried. This place is haunted."

"Haunted?" She asked. "You mean by ghosts?"

"By the spirits of the people that were once happy here and are now running wild through the forests without their souls and separated from their true people."

"The Dark Ones."

Kale nodded.

"It was a happy place – as far as I have heard from the histories. It's depressing, now. Because what once was, will never be again." He took a deep breath, and then sighed. "My people could not be happy here. I couldn't be, anyways."

She nodded her understanding and the two of them fell silent, eating their dinner quickly and then going to bed without much more discussion. They were coming close to the center of the city, now, and Melony was getting worried that they'd either find absolutely nothing that would help, or what they did find would be completely worn away by the ravages of time, and would be useless. When Kale transformed into the wolf-like and curled himself around her once more, Mitchell rested her head on his side, running her hand gently along his furry flank. It was as much comfort as she could give him – and it was also comforting to her, in a way.

The wolf turned his large head and looked at her, then nuzzled her cheek as if he understood. Then the two of them went to sleep.

OOOOOOOO

The third building they looked into the next morning revealed something that neither of them had expected. It was the largest still standing, and of all the buildings they'd looked at, this one was in the best shape. There had been a couple of smaller areas they'd walked through – too big to really be called 'rooms' and too small to be called anything more grandiose.

The small areas were in fairly good shape – there was a lot of dust on the floor, and quite a few small critters living in the corners and running through cracks in the lower part of the wall, but the walls themselves were still standing, and there were even some pictures of some sort etched into the stone. Melony and Kale had stopped their searching to look at them. Some were of birds, soaring majestically through the sky – and Mitchell was certain these were Light Ones – and some were of wolves and an odd cat-looking creature – the same size as the wolves, so undoubtedly huge – running through the forests.

"Do your people turn into cats, too?" She asked him.

Kale shook his head.

"I have never heard of one with the ability."

"Huh... I wonder where the cats came from, then?"

"Perhaps they were living here and posed a danger?"

"Maybe..."

She wandered into the next room, still thinking about that, and stopped cold. So suddenly that this time Kale actually did run right into her, knocking her to the ground. Neither of them even noticed, because they'd both seen the same thing, and were stunned.

The room itself was fairly large. The walls were covered with inscriptions that were etched into the stone. Long inscriptions and short inscriptions, and more pictures like they'd seen in the other, smaller rooms. But that wasn't what drew their attention. Not even close.

Standing in the middle of the room was a Stargate.

"Oh, my God..."

"And mine as well," Kale agreed, breathlessly.

"That's a Stargate..." Melony said, stupidly.

The Light One nodded.

"Did you know it was here?" She asked.

"No. We knew there were addresses here, but we assumed that there was only one Stargate on the planet – the one you came through."

"How could your people forget something like this?" It wasn't an accusatory question, merely a sign of her shock.

"If it was dropped from our histories it could have been forgotten," Kale said, shrugging. "I don't know..." He walked over and touched it. "Perhaps it doesn't work? Maybe this is the first Stargate on the planet, and it broke, so they put up a new one?"

"Who?"

Kale shrugged.

"My ancestors... or perhaps the gods... I don't know, Colonel."

She looked around, walking the perimeter of the room.

"I don't see a dialing device..."

"Then perhaps it doesn't work."

"One way to find out..."

"We can not dial it if there is no device..."

Mitchell reached into her pack and pulled out the device she and Rodney McKay had made and strapped it to her wrist.

"This is a remote dialing device," she told Kale. "It can dial a Stargate."

"Will it work on this one?"

She shrugged. "It should work on all of them."

"I must inform the Council..."

"You can do that with your mind, though, right?" She asked. "We don't have to go back to your colony...?"

"Yes, I can do it mentally."

"You do that, then, and I'll try to figure out the point of origin symbol... tell them if it works, we're going to test it."

"Where will we go? We don't have an address, yet."

"We'll go back to Atlantis. It's the only address around here that I know doesn't go someplace dangerous – if you're willing, that is?"

Kale shrugged.

"I'll ask the Council..."