"Don't let it eat me!"

Daniel's jaw dropped. Not because the boy thought Jaffer was capable of eating him – the lab certainly looked vicious enough to the untrained eye – but because the boy spoke perfect English. Understandable English. And not just English, but English. Like any Brit might. Queen's English, some would say. It was the first time he'd ever heard the accent offworld – at least, coming from an indigenous person.

"Jaffer," Jack wasn't nearly as surprised as Daniel. "Move back a bit."

The lab did as he was told, moving back several steps to stand next to Jack (the dog) but his eyes were on the boy – just like everyone else's.

He wasn't much to look at. Scrawny – although not in an underfed sort of way – he was maybe 8 or 9, with a dirty, deeply tanned body clad only in what looked to Daniel like a loincloth of some sort, and a shock of dirty blonde hair.

"What happened?" Jack asked Ian.

The Cadet scowled.

"He jumped out at us."

"I did not."

Now that he wasn't going to be eaten, the boy managed to curb his pained sobs long enough to speak up, although tears were streaming down his cheeks, leaving trails in the dirt on his face.

"Yes, you did," Ian said. "And Jaffer went after him."

"Who are you?" Daniel asked, coming closer, now, and kneeling down, his eyes taking in the broken bone – which was clearly visible, even though it somehow had miraculously managed not to break the skin. The boy's foot was still in the hole, but the other one was covered by soft shoes that were made out of some kind of animal skin.

"Who are you?" He asked, obviously trying to put on a brave front.

"We asked first," Jack said.

The brave front didn't last long.

"Taylor."

"Why were you following me?" Ian asked.

"We need to get his leg taken care of," Daniel said, interrupting, and looking at Ian, expectantly.

Ian scowled.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to fix it?"

"No."

"Ian."

"What? I didn't tell him to attack us. I sure as shit didn't tell him to follow us – and I'm not going to flatten myself taking care of it."

The boy had given Ian a start, and the Cadet wasn't feeling at all charitable towards him just then.

"But-"

"No."

"Jack."

"I'm not going to force him to if he doesn't want to."

What did Daniel expect him to do? Twist Ian's arm behind his back?

Daniel looked furious and sick at the same time.

"You guys don't understand. The people that live on this planet are hunter/gatherers! They have to be mobile. A bone this badly broken will never heal right – and even if it does heal, it'll take forever, and it'll-"

"Fine." Ian didn't need a lecture. "But someone will need to set it. I can't heal it if it's crooked."

Teal'c stepped forward, and Taylor blanched, fear warring with the pain.

"He's not going to hurt you," Daniel said, noting the look of terror.

"He's a Jaffa."

As if that said everything – and normally it did.

"He's a friend," Daniel said, trying to calm the boy, who was already going into shock from the injured leg. "You need to relax, Taylor."

"He's a Jaffa," the boy repeated, stubbornly, trying to move away from Teal'c and only succeeding in jarring his leg, making him cry out in pain.

Jack stepped in, then.

"Taylor, hold still and do what we say, or I'm going to let my dog eat you."

Jaffer gave a low growl right on cue, and the boy's attention was smoothly diverted to the lab, who was watching him more or less cheerfully – although Taylor didn't know the difference.

He swallowed, painfully, and nodded, too frightened to disobey. Or maybe he was just in too much pain to.

"Do you live close by?" Daniel asked the boy as Teal'c moved behind him and pulled him out of the hole carefully. Even though he was gentle, Taylor's face paled and he yelped when the injured leg was jarred again.

"Yessss…"

He hissed in pain when Daniel tried to straighten the leg a little, and Jack stepped up.

"I'll do it, Daniel."

The archeologist was being too careful, and that was going to hurt more in the long run. Jack looked at the boy, wondering who'd let their little kid out alone in the woods to chase some strangers.

"This is going to hurt, but only for a minute. I promise."

The boy nodded, visibly bracing himself for whatever was to come, and Jack looked over his shoulder at Ian.

"Don't flatten yourself. Just do enough to fix the bone a bit so it'll heal. I don't want to have to tote you around. Understand?"

Ian nodded and knelt down next to Jack, his hand coming to rest on the thin leg. While he wasn't happy with the kid, he was starting to feel just a little bad about him hurting himself – although he still didn't think it was his fault. Or Jaffer's.

"Yeah."

"On the count of three," Jack told Taylor, taking hold of the leg where he was going to pull it to set the broken bone. "One. Two-"

He jerked the leg and the bone went cleanly back into position. At the same instance, Taylor screamed in agony and would have jerked away if not for the firm grip Teal'c had on him. As Jack had promised, however, the sharp pain only lasted a minute before it started to ease into a terrible throbbing.

As the boy watched in amazement, Ian closed his hand over the broken leg, and the bone started to knit itself together, along with the tendons that were supposed to support it. A minute later, the cadet leaned back, looking tired, but not exhausted.

"That's probably all I can do without knocking myself out…"

"Will it support his weight?" Daniel asked.

Ian shrugged.

"Probably not. Not for a couple of days, anyways – but it'll heal fast."

"We'll just brace it up," Jack said, reaching for the spear that had been lying to the side and snapping it in half. It made perfect poles for a splint. He handed the poles to Teal'c and moved so the Jaffa could take care of the boy.

"You okay?" He asked Ian.

"Yeah."

"Tired?"

"A little."

"Get something to eat while Teal'c's taking care of the kid, and let me know if you need a chance to rest."

"I'm okay." Ian smiled, looking over at the boy, who was watching Teal'c with mingled fear and surprise – obviously unable to believe that a Jaffa could be so careful. "'Do what I say or I'll let my dog eat you…?'"

Jack shrugged, unable to hide his own amusement.

"It worked, right?"

Ian just shook his head, and shrugged out of his pack to find something quick to snack on while they waited for Teal'c to finish.