Chapter three. FINALLY. I'm so sorry this took so long, and I have no idea when I'm going get around to the next one. but I hope you enjoy and I'll try to be faster with the next one.

Chapter 3:

After Teyla, Rodney and Carson had walked about twenty yards they approached a large stone altar in the center of the path.

The woman in the front stopped, as did everyone else. She knelt down in front of it and bowed her head. Two women who had been standing near the back walked up to the altar and stood on either side of it. They also knelt down.

The three of them were wearing necklaces that were merely made of a piece of string treaded through a small circular stone. They took them off and laid them on the altar so that they formed a triangle. The bit of stone inside the triangle began to move upwards until it was half an inch above the rest of the alter, revealing an approximately four foot deep hole, the bottom of which was silver and was filled with an odd looking liquid for two of the four feet. The three women picked up the stone and moved it to the side. Then they simultaneously took a small, cloth pouch off of their belts and poured the contents into the hole and replaced the stone cover. They then lifted their necklaces and put them back around their necks. As soon as they did the path stopped glowing and a large village was revealed in front of them.

"It must've been cloaked." Rodney thought, blinking as his eyes got used to the lack of the bright, white light.

"How did you do that?" he asked as the three women stood up.

"You're quite inquisitive, aren't you Rodney?" The woman who'd been talking to him earlier answered.

"Yes, but you didn't answer my question."

"Hmmm, maybe later." She said, turning around and walking into the village. They all followed, walking up to a large wooden building with two guards standing at the entrance.

"Moira." They both said, nodding their heads to the woman standing in front of them.

"Mika, Lecta." she replied, smiling at them respectively.

"Take Rodney to cell three." She ordered the man standing behind Mckay.

"Wait. What about Teyla and Carson? What are you going to do with them?"

"Your companions are in need of medical attention. Especially, Carson did you call him? He needs to be treated immediately." She looked over at, the now unconscious, Beckett. Mckay followed her gaze, then voluntarily walked into the wooden building and was lead into one of the many cells inside of it.

Moira lead Teyla and the man who was now carrying Beckett over to a smaller building a few yards away. As they entered they were hit with a blast of cool air, a nice contrast to the heat of the outside.

She went over to Teyla and untied her arms. The man carrying Carson laid him on one of six cots in the room and left.

Moira directed Teyla to sit down on the cot next to Beckett. She then reached up on a shelf and pulled down a roll of bandages and a bottle of sapphire blue liquid and placed it on a table. Then she opened a drawer and pulled out a bowl and some cloths. She handed the bowl to a young girl, she took it and walked outside. She came back a minuet later with the bowl full of water. She sat it on a table in between Teyla and Beckett's cots, then walked over to one of the counters and started putting glass containers on a shelf. Moira brought the bottle of blue liquid over and sat down next to Carson. She lifted his head and poured some of the liquid down his throat. He opened his eyes for a moment and groaned, then closed them again. She laid his head back down and moved over to Teyla. She took one of the cloths and dipped it into the water.

"Take off your jacket." She said. Teyla did as she was told. Her arm was throbbing with pain. Moira sat down beside her and cleaned the injury with the cloth. Teyla winced. Moira stood up and got a bottle of light green liquid off the same shelf as the other bottle. She picked up another cloth and poured some of the green liquid onto it, she then wiped Teyla's wound with it. She winced again and clenched her jaw. Moira grabbed the bandages and wrapped Teyla's arm.

"That should start to feel better soon." The two women walked to the door, the man who'd been carrying Beckett was standing next to the building,

"Calin, escort Teyla to cell three." He and Teyla walked off and Moira went back to Carson, to take care of his wound.

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"Um, am I missing something or does it look like those tracks just stop?" Colonel Sheppard said to Ronon, stopping and looking at the ground.

"Well they couldn't have doubled back, so where did they go?" Ronon asked, looking around for signs of their companions. He saw none.

"Good question."

"Didn't they say they were at a path?"

"Yeah, and that it lit up, but I don't see any glowing paths around here, and something like that I don't think we'd miss. We'd better go back to Atlantis and assemble a search party, it's starting to get dark." Sheppard said, looking up a the darkening sky. He took a glow stick out of one of the pockets on his vest, cracked it and dropped it on the ground. They both turned and headed back to the gate, again, Sheppard dropping glow sticks every few yards so they could find their way back later.

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Mckay was pacing back and forth in his cell when the door opened and Teyla was escorted in. "Hey. Are you okay?" Rodney asked, looking at her bandaged arm.

"I am fine." she said walking over to the back of the cell and sitting on a bench.

"Where's Carson?"

"He is still being treated." Teyla said, looking around and taking in her surroundings. The cell was the size of a 12x12 room. The floor was wood and had a small worn-out rug on it. The only furnishings were two benches, the one Teyla was sitting on and one up against the right wall, and a small, low-to-the-ground, square table sitting in the corner between the two benches. There was no way, that she could think of, to plan an escape. Yet.

"Do you have any idea who these people are?" Mckay asked her as he continued to pace.

"No. As I said before, I do not recognize this planet. Nor do I recognize it's people, now that I have seen them. But I do not believe they intend to harm us."

"Neither do I." he paused for a moment, then continued. "I wonder what that thing they did was. I mean, I know it was some type of ritual. Obviously. But I want to know what was in those little bags, and how they made the path stop glowing and uncloaked the village. All I can think of is that turning the glowing off was some kind of, of, um signal for someone inside the village to uncloak it Which would mean that what ever they did at the altar was only to stop the glowing. It must be caused by some type of chemical reaction. Or stopped by some type of chemical reaction. Or wait. No. That wouldn't make sense. I still can't explain why none of my equipment detected it though." Mckay drifted off, trying to formulate a theory on how they'd made the path light up.

A few minuets later Moira walked in. She went over to their cell. Teyla stood up and Mckay stopped pacing. He was just about to open his mouth to say something when Moira held up her hand and started speaking. "Your friend will be fine. He is resting now. I thought we could take this time to get to know one another." she opened the door to the cell and walked in, closing it behind her. She went over and sat down on the bench Teyla had been sitting on, and motioned for them to do the same. They sat down on the bench opposite her.

"My name is Moira Retta."

"I am Teyla Emmagan."

"And I already know Rodney's name. So now that the formalities are over, why did you come to the planet?"

"We are explorers. Peaceful explorers. We mean you no harm."

"Where are you from?"

"Until recently we lived in the city of the ancestors. But it was destroyed by the Wraith a short time ago. We are part of a small group that survived." Teyla replied, with the response Dr.Weir had instructed everyone to give since the Wraith attack on the city.

"Interesting way of avoiding my question."

Teyla opened her mouth to say something but Moira raised her hand and smiled.

"It's alright, I understand. You know me no better than I know you. If I were in your place I would not give up the whereabouts of my people either. So moving on to the next question, it's your turn."

"Alright." Teyla said, "why did you shoot at us before?"

"That was a mistake. One that I am truly sorry for. We, thought you were someone else." Moira looked down at the floor for a moment, and then said, "you said that until recently you were living in the city of the ancestors, but you are not the ancestors. Why were you there?"

"To learn about them. And to learn from them."

"Really? Learn anything interesting?" Moira raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, in fact. We did." Mckay finally chimed in.

"I don't suppose you would care to elaborate?"

"Maybe later." He said, imitating the answer she'd given him earlier. Moira smiled sarcastically as she stood up.

"I must go check on your friend now."

"Wait." Rodney said standing up. "I mean, now that we know each other and everything, do you maybe want to let us out of here?"

"That is not my decision. But I will see what I can do." She then walked over to the door and yelled for one of the guards to open it for her.

I swear I'll try to update more, but I'm really busy, I'll probably write more once the new season starts :)
Thanks for reading.