A/N: Having noted that 630 word chapters bring very few reviews, (kisses and cookies to xandria), and just plain look bad, we've made this one a little longer.

Also, from now on, we're changing our author's notes a little. From now on, 'A/N' means the note comes from both of us, 'Q/N' means a note from Quinn, and 'D/N' means a note from Danielle.

And now our feature presentation...

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SG-1 was escorted along the path they had been heading for, and the gliders continued back and forth above them.

"They're going to find the hundreds of soldiers we brought with us." Jack lamented. Carter gave him a small smile, as she usually did when he cracked jokes in desperate situations. Granted, they weren't desperate just yet, but 'promising' wasn't the best word to use either. They came over the ridge, and were greeted by the view of a massive valley. The crowning glory of the river-carved feature seemed to be the towering silver-hued structure built into the near end of the valley. Jack let out a low whistle.

"Nice pad. Whose is it?" He was quickly rewarded with the flat end of the nearest Jaffa's staff weapon, which was driven into the back of his neck.

"It is the dominion of Demeter, as is the ground you walk upon! You will show due respect!"

"Demeter? As in, Greek goddess of the earth and fertility?" Daniel inquired.

"Silence!" Daniel received the same reprimand which Jack had just endured.

"Ow," he mumbled, but refrained from speaking further.

it did not take long before they had followed the narrowing path, which ran along the very edge of the valley, to the gates of the upper levels of the structure. Large gates opened, and the group proceeded inwards. They were offered many strange looks by the Jaffa inside, who all bore the same symbol. Jack secretly thought that it resembled a chicken's footprint, but to anyone who knew it, it was a three branched plant. Daniel seemed to know what it meant, though. He was staring at the walls as they passed by, apparently finding them interesting enough not to be terribly worried about their situation.

They were brought into a large room, at the end of which was a great silver throne. On it sat a tall woman, dressed in green, with silver hair which fell around her shoulders.

"Who are these?"

"Spies of some kind, my lady."

"I see. Which of you is the leader?"

Daniel pushed past Jack and knelt on the floor at her feet, "Milady. I am called- Khartoum, and I command these."

Jack gave him a sideways 'what the hell are you doing' look.

"Apologies, ma'am. This is my...somewhat deranged companion. I'm the leader. Daniel, sit your ass down."

Daniel rose and glared fiercely at Jack.

The woman observed this calmly.

"Since you cannot seem to agree, I will have to assume that you rule this group together, and do not know how to share the leadership."

"Ahh..." Jack pondered that thought. "No?"

"Take the others to confinement." she ordered, tapping her long-nailed fingers on the arm of the throne. "Leave...this one to me." She nodded towards Daniel. The Jaffa complied, and all but three of them jerked Jack, Carter, and Teal'c to their feet, leading them out as Daniel was left between two of the remaining guards. He looked around, frowning. This was not exactly what he had hoped for. Keep your wits about you, Danny, he thought, analyzing the situation to the best of his abilities. He was not a military man, but the past few years hadn't taught him nothing of tactics.

"On your knees!" the Jaffa to his left commanded, bringing his staff weapon against the back of Daniel's legs.

"Calm yourself, Priam." The woman raised her formerly concealed left hand, revealing a hand device of shining silver. She descended the throne, and stepped towards him. Her features seemed to contradict the color of her hair, and as she stepped closer, Daniel could see that she was quite young. There was an air of imperious mirth in her eyes, as if the world were hers and it amused her greatly. Daniel raised his head slowly, cautious of another blow, and looked up at her. He allowed a tentative smile to cross his face, but dropped his head to his chest again.

"You are not one to carry the name Khartoum. Perhaps you will share with me your true identity?" She circled him slowly, allowing one hand to trail from his left shoulder to his right as she came around to face him again.

"Daniel, milady. I am sorry for the deception."

"It is quite forgiven. I am Persephone. From where have you come?"

"A planet far from here. We call it Earth, but that's very general term. You might know it as the place where Zeus first held power."

Persephone smiled.

"Earth. I know earth. I remember it well. I was born there, and it was there I lived, until...Until Hades came. That was long ago. With my mother's assistance, I have since escaped his grasp, but we were forced to flee the planet. I did love it."

"Yes...I know. I am a scribe, in a manner of speaking. A priest, if you will," he lifted his head again, sensing that she held some interest in him.

"A priest...fascinating. Of what order?"

"None. I know the history of many...mortals. I have studied extensively."

"Then you are a man of wisdom." Persephone said, sounding more as if that were simply her conclusion, rather than that it was something which impressed her. "Wisdom is a powerful tool, in the right hands. Will you stay?"

"I cannot stay forever, milady, much as I would wish to. I am needed on my world. My team needs me."

"Team? Those you lead? I see. I believe that I will let you go, but first, you must answer my questions. Is that acceptable?"

"That would depend on the question, milady, but I will try."

"Excellent." Persephone took a seat on the base of a pillar nearby, and gestured to the guard, who stepped away from Daniel, allowing him to move freely.

"First." she began. "I must know. I have not seen my mother for many tens of years. Know you of her location?" Her eyes were filled with an eager light, as if hope had been handed to her, and she had only to take it.

"We have not seen her for many hundreds of years, either. I am sorry," Daniel smiled apologetically as he rose to his feet. The hope in her eyes died.

"Are you certain? She was very kind. She never wished to rule over others the way many of our kind do. When I came of age, she left this place. She told me that there were others...others who believed as she did, that it was wrong to use the bodies of innocents for our own purposes. She went to find them. I have only received word from her once since then. It was very cryptic. But I have memorized every word...almost every word, for it is all I have had of her since she departed. She said "I have found those I have been seeking. I will remain. I trust you with what we have built. Live as we have spoken." Persephone bowed her head. "And that was all. She signed her name. It was a name not her own, not one that I had previously heard...And I cannot remember it." Tears came to her eyes. "I cannot remember!" She stood up, abruptly. Daniel went to her side and reached out, hesitantly brushing a tear from her face.

"Try. If you could remember, perhaps we could find her."

"I have tried!" She turned, and met his eyes. "I have tried..." There was a moment of silence, and the light came back into her gaze. "Jolinar. She signed her name as Jolinar, and something else. But I cannot remember what else. It was very strange, oh, I do not know!"

Daniel dropped his hand, confusion spreading across his face, "Jolinar? If she signed her name so, how did you know it was her?"

"The message...it was as if she had spoken it. I knew the words. She was the only one who knew that she had traveled away from this place, and that we had built it together."

"I see. How long ago was this?"

"How long?" Persephone's face grew clouded. "I do not know. When I lost her...when she left, I grew quite despondent. I am not even sure how long I have lived. Do you know anything of my mother?"

"I am not sure. I must confer with my advisors before speaking further. Would you allow me to have words with them?"

"I will..."

At that moment, there was a great commotion in the hall. The rest of SG-1 came into the room in quite a rush, Jack at point, holding his zat.

"Step away from him, jolly green...ahh...woman." he said, pointing the weapon at Persephone. "Daniel, c'mon. We're gonna get out of here."

"O'Neill, you will put that weapon down at once," Daniel commanded, his voice coming across very strongly. "Carter, Teal'c. Please. This is the great lady Persephone. She is a friend."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Ahh...no? Daniel, get over here. We don't have a lot of time."

Persephone looked from Daniel to Jack and back again.

"Am I to surrender?" she wondered.

"No, lady. I will deal with this," Daniel reached down and pulled out his 9mm, which had been returned to him after the rest of SG-1 had been taken away. He took aim carefully and confidently at Jack's shoulder. "This insubordination is unseemly, Jack. Give me the weapon, before I am forced to harm you. I will not ask again. "

Jack stared at him.

"Daniel, what the hell are you on?"

Daniel flicked the safety on his gun off with his thumb and cocked the weapon deliberately. Jack set his zat down carefully, and motioned for Carter and Teal'c to do the same.

"Care to tell me what's going on?"

Daniel smiled beatifically, "Thank you. Milady, I apologize. My advisors do not understand. I will explain to them, if you would grant me a moment."

"Of course." She nodded generously. "Would you like for me to leave you alone?"

"That will not be necessary. We shall retreat to the far corner to converse," he gave her a half bow, then walked across the room, hissing quietly as he passed Jack, "If we could please retreat to the far corner?"

Jack agreed, and followed him.

"Explanation?" he requested.

"Persephone," he said glancing across the room at said goddess. "It's Persephone."

Jack gave him his characteristic 'and that means I should care...why?' look.

"You two go back aways?"

"No, no, no, it's Demeter's daughter. You remember the Jaffa that brought us here said that it was Demeter's dominion? Well, Persephone is her daughter, and I think she's Tok'Ra."

"So why's she got Jaffa running around?" Jack pointed out.

"Well, you kind of interrupted before I got to that part, but from what I can tell, she's a benevolent goddess. Well not goddess, but you know what I mean. It fits in with the mythology. Jack, I think we may have a real find here."

"Are we forgetting something? Like the fact that she threw us in prison. Granted, a well-lit, comfortably furnished prison, but still..."

"Jack...this may be for real this time. Imagine what she could do to help us."

Carter, who had been listening with a thoughtful frown, broke in, "But Daniel, we don't know that. What if she isn't Tok'ra? This could all be an elaborate plot to gain information."

"What she said." Jack nodded towards Carter. "And if she is Tok'ra, how come we've never heard of her before?"

"I don't think they knew she was here. She's, well, let me put this as plainly as possible. She says she's the daughter of Jolinar."

"And you believe her." Jack said, incredulously. "Carter, what've you got to say about that?"

Sam sighed and looked at Daniel with a trace of pity in her eyes, "It sounds...unlikely. I'm sorry, Daniel, but I think I would have found out about something like that before now."

"Daniel," said Jack, thoughtfully, which was rare. "Do you really trust her?"

He paused, some of his excitement draining away, "Do you trust ME, Jack?"

Jack sighed.

"We all trust you, Daniel. You know that. We just don't know why you're suddenly so willing to trust someone you've never even met."

"I know I'm right this time. I- I sense it. I don't know why, I can't explain. But I'm just about positive she's Tok'Ra."

Jack rubbed his forehead with one hand.

"Okay. All right. Daniel, if you think you can get us out of this mess, go ahead."

"Well I wouldn't be yelling at you if I thought I couldn't," he said, and went back to Persephone's side. He dropped to one knee briefly before speaking. "Milady, I have conferred with my companions, and they agree- we must speak with our sovereign before giving any information. If you would allow us to send a message through the chapa'ai, we could reach a decision within a matter of hours."

Persephone laughed.

"Rise. And I will allow you to contact your people,certainly. Priam!" The tall, golden-haired Jaffa who was apparently her right-hand man, came forward. "See the visitors to the portal. Let them communicate with their home world."

Priam ducked his head in acknowledgment.

"Come with me." he directed. Daniel nodded and beckoned to the others to follow him. They did so, and were lead back in the direction they had come, back to the Stargate.

"Now, we just tap our heels together, and say 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home..." Jack directed.

"No, we follow the cowardly lion to the stargate and contact General Hammond."

Jack gave Daniel his third incredulous glance that day.

"Right. Carter, have at...Um, did it just get dark?"

Indeed it had, the sky had filled with great grey clouds, and a bolt of lightning darted to the ground not far off. It was followed by a loud rumble of thunder. Priam looked greatly confused.

"Something is amiss!" he determined. "We must return to the palace!"