They were up early the next morning. Mitchell dressed and checked on her beans, turning the little jury-rigged roasting pan a bit and adding enough small pieces of wood to the fire to make sure it continued to roast her little beans all day – or until they returned – and then slipped into her harness so Kale – who had taken to the air as soon as he'd finished breakfast – could come and grab her once he was warmed up enough.

A few minutes later, they were both in the air, and Kale was winging them into the rising sun. The flight didn't last more than half an hour, which meant a couple hours by foot if Melony were to walk it, which wasn't bad. She checked out the terrain below her as they flew and found it was mostly trees with the occasional clearing – nothing she couldn't handle hiking through.

Then they were descending, and Melony turned her attention to where they were going instead of where they'd been, and braced herself for the landing. He released her and she went tumbling, but only a short distance, and with the shield device in place she wasn't injured by the fall. She was on her feet and checking her equipment by the time Kale landed, and she turned off the shield device to take a drink of water and then offered him the canteen, which he took with a smile of thanks.

"It's not rock," she told him, looking at the smooth area with great interest. "It's a lava flow. An old one from the looks of things."

"Lava?"

"From volcanoes. You don't have volcanoes on your world?" That seemed unlikely. Most planets she'd been to had some sort of volcanic activity somewhere – even if it wasn't all that active.

He shrugged.

"Spewing mountains that shoot molten rocks and ash into the sky…?" She clarified. "Or sometimes just ash… depending on the area. And there are usually earthquakes…"

"We have earthquakes."

"Then you probably have some sort of volcanic activity," she said, shrugging. "It might just all take place under the surface where your people don't see it." She pointed at the flow, which extended for what looked like at least a few miles, starting where she and Kale were standing and rising up to at least a hundred feet in some areas – and more in others. Not that unusual; lava did whatever it wanted to when it flowed. Sometimes it stopped, and built up in areas, and sometimes it stayed flat. Depending on whatever was underneath it when it came.

"This is actually just as good as a mountain area," she told him, reaching down just to double check that it was cooled lava – although Kale's feet were bare and he didn't have any trouble with it. Besides, she didn't see any steam or smoke or anything that might give indication that there was any activity.

"I don't see a mountain anywhere," Kale said, gesturing around him. "How did it come out of a burning mountain?"

"It could have come from underground. Or the mountain could have been leveled by the eruption."

The first is more likely, Talon told her. An eruption big enough to level a mountain would have made a larger flow than this – unless the mountain is under the flow

Talon knew a lot more about rocks and geothermalities than Melony did – he'd studied geology intently when he'd been looking for a base to launch his attack on the Goa'uld – and she knew it, so she deferred to him on this.

"How is this better than mountains?" Kale asked. "I don't see any caves…"

"Lava tubes," Melony said. She went on to explain to him about eruptions and lava flows, and then explained about tubes that some lava might have been flowing through – tubes that could be as small as a garden hose – which she had to explain really quick – or as large as any cave he might have ever seen. "More importantly," she said as they walked over the fairly smooth ground, "A lava tube will almost definitely have an exit – a way to the surface."

And if we found one, and we found that there was still some volcanic activity in the area, we could probably rig a way to use the geothermal energies to our advantage

Can you do that?

Of course

Reminding her that he was a lot smarter than she was, after all.

I'm a lot older than you are, Hot Shot

She smiled.

"So, should we focus our search here, then?" Kale asked. "Or would you like me to fly you back to the camp, and keep looking for something closer to what you were originally considering?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to se if we can find anything usable here…"

He shook his head.

"Whatever you want to do."

She gave him a smile of thanks, and they started searching the area. Kale went airborne; his sharp eyes would be able to see any openings that weren't too well hidden, and Melony started across on foot, grumbling about the incline almost immediately.

You should have brought mountain climbing gear

Where would I have put it?

Good point. Just try not to fall, okay? I'm tired of putting you back together

You're lazy, that's what it is.

Me?? Lazy?? I'm crushed you'd even think that

Uh huh…

She was glad to have a chance to banter with Talon. The trip to A-08 had pulled her away from the need to deal with Carson right away, but more importantly, it was giving her a chance to get her equilibrium back enough that she could actually think about what had happened between the two of them with a little more objectiveness.

Had she given Carson a reason to think something was going on between her and Kale? She'd been off-world with him, yes, but that had-

There's no excuse for what he did, Talon interrupted. So stop trying to find one

Mitchell knew Talon was still furious with Beckett – there was no hiding it from his host, after all, and Talon didn't bother to try.

He's lucky I didn't kill him

I'm glad you didn't.

Which was why Talon hadn't – because he knew that Melony did still love Carson, although she was having trouble coming to terms with what had happened between them.

Next time I will – if he even looks at you funny…

She shook her head, amazed at the fierceness of his reply. He meant it, it was obvious.

If I had to choose between your happiness and them, I'd level the entire city and everyone in it

Let's hope it doesn't come to that, Melony told him, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Nothing made you feel better than that kind of love. Nothing.

A piercing cry from above made her look up, and she saw that Kale was coming down at her, his talons extended in what obviously a signal that he wanted to grab her. She raised the loops and braced herself, and a moment later was jerked off her feet, carried about a mile or so to the left where there was a steep drop in the flow – a ravine of sorts – maybe two hundred feet down and at least that across. It was huge, but Melony wouldn't have seen it until she'd actually stumbled into it – and although the sides weren't so smooth that she couldn't have climbed out of it, the fall might have hurt.

Especially since you forgot to turn that device on when you stopped to drink, Talon chided her.

She hastily put it on before Kale could drop her, and managed to just in time. The Light One flew into the ravine, and Mitchell realized that in this area the lava flow was a lot thicker than it was where they'd started. A moment later she was tumbling on the floor of the ravine, and Kale was coming to a landing beside her and switching form.

"Is this what you were looking for?" He asked, pointing.

She turned the direction he was pointing, and saw a tunnel – a perfectly round tunnel – about twice the size of a subway train. It was a dark maw in the face of the otherwise unblemished lava surface, and it went back into the flow further than she could see.

She felt a momentary thrill, and realized that it wasn't coming from her – it was coming from Talon. He was already excited, and eager to check it out.

"It might be," She said, smiling. "We need to check it out."