Two days later they were on the Daedalus, heading for the location Ria had given them. The team, along with Carson and Ria were gathered together, discussing various aspects of Kelta life, things that would make it easier for the team to fit in when they arrived on the planet.
"I'm curious," John said, looking at Ria. "You said before, that if you are going alone, you would teleport. But if there were more going, you'd need a ship. Didn't we all just teleport? I'm just asking," he said hesitantly. "I don't know anything about this stuff."
"Ah, Colonel," Ria said, with a smile on her face. "You spotted the flaw in my devious plan then?" She didn't seem the least bit worried about his comment.
"I noticed it too," Rodney said. "But I was too polite to mention it." His remark elicited a snort of disbelief from Carson. Rodney turned round and gave him a look. The doctor just smiled in response.
"It does make sense," Ria said. "If I was travelling alone, I'd use Stargates, mixed up with teleportation. My home planet doesn't have a Stargate. And it's impossible to get close to it simply by using Stargates. I can easily teleport you all over a reasonably short distance. But if we had to take the route I was planning for myself, then teleporting you all would exhaust me. And I don't really want to arrive home, and collapse in a little heap on the floor."
"But you'd do it very gracefully, my dear," Carson interjected.
"Why, thank you, Carson," Ria said with a big smile. "That's really sweet of you."
Carson looked slightly embarrassed, and tried to shrug nonchalantly. But his injured shoulder prevented him from doing so.
"Is your shoulder still very sore?" Teyla asked, a note of concern her voice.
"It's better that was," the doctor replied.
"Carson," Ria started hesitant. "Would you like me to ease your shoulder for you?" He looked up into her eyes, and saw the uncertainty there. He knew instinctively that she wasn't uncertain of her ability to heal him, but of how he might react to it.
"I'd really like that, love," he said gently.
"Just a minute!" John said. "If you can heal him, why didn't you do it before?"
Carson frowned at the Colonel, frustrated at his continued antipathy towards Ria.
"It's my body, Colonel," he reminded John. "And I am the doctor."
"It's okay, Carson," Ria said. "Colonel Sheppard's question is perfectly reasonable. And I have a perfectly reasonable answer. Healing, like the other uses of my gift, tires me out. After my recent efforts to prevent death and destruction," she said with a touch of irony. "I didn't have the strength to do anything else for a while. But my strength has returned, and I was simply offering to use it to help a friend, a friend who is in pain."
John had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "I was just asking," he said, a little defensively.
"And I'm always glad to answer your questions," Ria said with a smile.
"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm hungry," Ronon said, breaking the mood. "Does anyone know what's for lunch?"
"That's usually Rodney's question," John said, glad for the change of subject.
"Are you comparing me to that human trash can?" Rodney said indignantly.
"If the lid fits!" John said with a big grin.
Carson shook his head gently, and then looked up at Ria.
"Would you help me with my shoulder?" he asked gently, returning to the previous topic.
"Of course I will," she said, smiling. "Would you mind taking off your shirt?" she asked, slightly anxiously. "It just makes it easier to have contact with your skin."
"You have all the luck, Carson," Rodney said. "I get insulted, and you get undressed by a lady."
"It's the accent," John said with a grin. "It gets them every time." Carson just gave John a withering look, and then started to take off his shirt, struggling slightly because of his shoulder.
Ria reached over and helped. She then placed her hands in his bare shoulder. Carson could feel a warmth spreading out from her hands and easing the ache in his shoulder. Her eyes were focused on his shoulder, and her hands gently rubbed over his skin. All the time she was doing this, Carson could feel the warmth spreading. No one spoke.
After a few minutes, Ria straightened out, and took her hands, almost reluctantly, off Carson's shoulder. She turned to him and gave him a gentle smile.
"How does that feel?" she asked.
He looked up at her, a huge grin on his face. "That feels great," he said, unable to keep the amazement out of his voice. "It feels like new," he continued, rotating his shoulder to prove his point. "You're a miracle worker, love," he said, catching hold of her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"I'm just glad I could help," Ria said smiling down on the doctor.
"If this gets much sweeter, I think I'll be sick," Rodney said, a note of disgust in his voice.
"And that would make a change!" John said sarcastically.
"I'm going for lunch," Rodney said, getting on to his feet. The others followed him, all except John who held back.
"Ria," he said softly, "could I have a word?"
Carson, who was just in front of Ria, looked back questioningly.
"Go on, Carson," Ria said. "I won't be long."
"I'll keep something back for the pair of you," he offered, then left them alone.
"Ria," John said, taking her arm and leading her over to one of the seats. "I want to apologise for the way I keep treating you. I can't seem to help myself. I want to like you. Hell, I do like you. But it is as if instinct takes over, and I find I distrust you."
"Thank you, Colonel," Ria said, with a smile. "Most people don't take the time, or the energy, to apologise or to try to understand what they're feeling."
She sighed, and settled back into the chair. "It has always been like this. No one has been able to work out why, but some people seem to have this instinctual fear of us. I've experienced it often in my travels, from many different people, on many different planets. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. My people have tried to work out why this happens, but no one has ever been able to, and that is one of the reasons we have isolated ourselves for all these years. I wish I could tell you that one day you will realise that you really do like me and have nothing to fear from me, but I would be lying."
"It must be hell for you," John said sympathetically. "Knowing that whatever you do, it won't make a difference."
Ria looked at him with a smile. "I don't know, Colonel," she said gently. "This conversation is in itself more progress than I've ever made with someone who instinctively distrusts me. Perhaps there's hope for us yet."
"I'd like to think so," John said. He then gently took her hand, and guided her towards the mess hall. "You never know," he said. "One day we might actually be friends."