The sun had been starting to sink in the sky when they'd entered the building, and when they left it in the company of Richard and the old man – whose name turned out to be Thomas – it was almost down completely. The village was well lit by fires, however, and in the light of these Ian could see that the children had been allowed to come back outside. Apparently the Brish had decided that their children would be safe with the strangers in their midst, although the children themselves shrank back fearfully when they saw Teal'c.

It was Jaffer and Jack (the dog) who brought them back; the labs were clearly in a good mood and anxious to play since they had correctly decided that they were done working for the day, and Jaffer nuzzled Jack's hand, expectantly, telling him plainly what he wanted.

The colonel looked down at the lab and then over at the children, who had bunched up into a group of about twenty kids, ranging from four or five to probably ten or eleven. Taylor was absent, but aside from infants and toddlers he was probably the only one who was.

Jack looked over at Ian, deciding he'd give him a little more opportunity to deal with offworlders – including children.

"Why don't you take Jaffer and Jack off to work off some energy while we get set up for the night?"

Ian scowled. He wasn't stupid, and knew that the minute he went with the dogs all the little fucking kids were going to follow him. And sure as shit they'd want to play or something. And he didn't see a baseball or a football in sight. Who knew what the little savages played with? Probably dead goats or something, like those kids in India or the Middle East, or wherever it was. The problem was, he also knew Jack had pretty much given him an order, even though he'd made it sound like a request. He could argue, but it wouldn't do much good.

Jack (the dog) barked his agreement of the idea, causing most of the kids to jump back a step or two – and several of them to run back towards anxious mothers, who had been watching the strangers. Only the fact that Jaffer and Jack (the dog) were both wagging their tails and looking incredibly friendly and cheerful kept all of the kids from screaming and running away. A few of the older – and braver – ones actually stepped forward a pace or two once they got over the initial fear.

"Okay."

Ian dug into the supply pack that Teal'c had been carrying and pulled out a very ratty chew toy. Shaped like mailman it bore the signs of countless abuses and just happened to be Jack's (the dog) favorite toy. Which meant that Jaffer would do anything to get it from him. Which meant that Ian wouldn't have to do all that much running around if he played his cards right.

He walked off to a small clearing that was on the edge of the village – one that looked like it might be used for outside meetings or maybe some kind of activities – and Jaffer and Jack followed him eagerly, both watching the toy in his hand. With a heave, Ian flung the toy away and the labs were off like a shot after it. Jack, being faster than Jaffer, reached it first and scooped it up, and the chase was on.

As Ian stood on the sidelines and watched them, the dogs raced each other in circles, every now and then tumbling into a heap as one would knock the other down and try to steal the toy. After ten minutes or so, Ian was aware that he wasn't alone, and glanced down. Sure enough, most of the little kids were standing near him, all watching the dogs playing with each other.

"What are they?" One asked him, watching the dogs.

"What are you, retarded?" Ian asked.

The little boy shrugged.

"What's retarded mean?"

Ian sighed.

"They're dogs. Labs, to be exact."

"Dogs?"

"Yeah."

"Do they eat people?"

Oh how he wanted to say yes! But he knew better, and Ian shook his head.

"They're friendly enough. As long as you don't try to hurt them – or someone they like."

"Are they fighting?" Another child asked.

"No, they're playing." Ian looked down at the kids, and saw that all eyes were still on the dogs. Big brown eyes, and big blue eyes, and even some big green eyes. And he sighed again. Stupid kids. "Jaffer. Jack."

The labs immediately stopped their headlong sprint, and looked over at Ian, who gestured for them to come over to him. The children all stepped back a pace or two as the dogs approached.

"Don't worry," Ian said. "They're not going to hurt you. Just hold your hands out to them, so they can sniff you."

The kids did as he told them, and Jack and Jaffer immediately started sniffing hands, more than willing to make friends with the youngsters. Enchanted with the soft whiskers that were tickling their hands, the kids all broke into excited laughter or smiles, or chatter.

"They like me."

"They like me more."

"They do not."

"Yes, they do."

"They like girls better than boys."

"No, they don't."

"Yes, they do."

Ian sighed, and looked over towards the area he'd last seen SG-1. Jack was going to pay so big time for this one…

OOOOOOO

"You may use this lodge for the evening, if you wish," Richard told Jack and the others, pointing towards another small mud building. "It is one of the places we store provisions for the winter months, and we're not using it just now."

Jack looked over at the others to see if they had any problem with that. The people seemed friendly enough, and it would be better to use the lodge than to set up tents out in the forest – probably. Of course, then they'd be stuck where they were, but these people didn't seem to have anything that SG-1 couldn't handle if they ended up turning out to be hostile. Daniel nodded, and Teal'c simply shrugged. He didn't care where they slept. Jack (the dog) would warn him if anything untoward was happening – and that was assuming that Teal'c himself wouldn't wake up long before something could.

"We accept," Jack said to Richard. "Thank you."

"Diner is a community affair," the man told them. "We usually just all come together and get the food, and then if someone doesn't feel like eating with the others, they take their dinner with them back to their lodge. You are welcomed to share what we have, and welcomed to join us in our meal instead of eating alone."

"Thank you," Daniel said, before Jack could say anything. "We accept that, too."

Richard smiled, and pointed to one of the larger fires, that had several people around it, blocking whatever they were doing.

"That is the cook fire. We will come get you when it's ready, or you may come and join us when you desire."

With that, he left them alone to check out their lodging, and probably tell the others that they would have company for dinner. Daniel was pretty sure that no one would be eating in their lodges tonight.

"Do you know how weird it is to hear someone talking like him…?" Jack said, softly as the lodge. "English accents and real language skills… it's nuts."

Daniel nodded his agreement.

"It certainly is interesting, isn't it? I can't wait to see this cave of theirs…"

"Why do I get the feeling you're already thinking of possibilities?"

"Because I am."

"So…?"

Daniel shrugged, dropping his pack.

"It's too early to tell you, Jack. Let me wait and get a look at the cave, first. Then I'll tell you what I think."

Jack didn't even bother to ask again. He was curious, but not enough to bug Daniel about it. He dropped his pack and walked back outside. It wasn't dark yet, but the light was definitely fading now, and he looked over to where Ian was surrounded by a bunch of kids – all of whom were shouting and laughing, and were petting Jaffer and Jack.

"Think we should go rescue him?" Daniel asked, coming up beside him.

"Nah, he's probably having the time of his life. Let's go see what's for dinner."