Light Ones were the same no matter what sort of animal they turned into, Mitchell found out. While she could never see Kale taking anyone captive anyways, she could definitely see him being very bad at keeping a captive. Hu was no better – for all his bluster. The ropes that tightened with every struggle had a weakness, and it was Talon who figured it out.

Stop fighting against them, Hot Shot…

She did what he told her, of course, and waited as he studied the ropes (using her eyes, of course).

It's made of loose fibers

So?

So try rubbing the ropes against each other and see what happens

Pretty much willing to try anything by then, Melony did what he told her to and tentatively rubbed the piece of rope that ran between her two bloody wrists against the rope that had her tethered to the wall.

Harder

She rubbed it harder, even though that increased the pressure on the ropes around her wrists, and was rewarded with a noticeable fraying of the fibers that had been rubbed together.

Keep it up, Hot Shot

It's going to take forever…

Besides, it was killing her shoulders to keep rubbing like that in the odd position she was in – and she was already feeling just a little battered and abused.

Don't be such a baby, he told her heartlessly – although he did ease the pain in her shoulders and work on numbing her badly chafed wrists. Which did wonders for her willingness to keep doing what she was doing. That and the fact that she really wanted to get loose, of course.

In an incredibly short amount of time the ropes had frayed into wispy fibers that were no sturdier than the single long blades of grass that they'd originally been made out of, and Mitchell was able to snap her hands apart and break loose from her tether.

She scrambled to her feet and headed straight for the table that held all the weapons. Another thing that told her these Light Ones weren't all that accustomed to holding prisoners, since she never would have left a weapon (much less an entire arsenal) in the same room as one of her captives.

She strapped her holsters on quickly, covering the door with her Beretta while she did, and then strapped the heavy holster that held Ronon Dex's impressive weapon around her waist as well, feeling her balance shift with the addition of the new gun. Teyla's sidearm holster went around her neck and shoulder, along with the sword that Ronon had used to chop Cane in half.Three long hunting knives went into her belt. She holstered the Beretta and picked up Teyla's P90 in one hand and her staff weapon in the other and headed for the door.

OOOOOOOOOO

Teal'c had seen a lot of weird stuff in his lifetime. Even before joining alliances with the SGC, he'd been to many worlds and had seen many oddities. So a brilliant light that exuded Power, and spoke aloud – even without a mouth – was really nothing all that crazy. Certainly nothing to get too worked up about. His Jaffa were the same, and they all stood proudly behind their Goddess's chosen one as he turned to face the light which had addressed them.

"I am Teal'c."

There was a hesitation as the light clearly waited for more, but none was coming. Teal'c had given his name. Nothing more was required. Now the being behind the light would know the name of he who would destroy him if he got in his way.

"Why are you here, Teal'c?" The voice finally asked.

"We are searching for someone – and those who have taken her."

"She is not here. Leave now, or be destroyed."

"We have reason to believe otherwise," Teal'c said. "And we will not leave without her."

"Who is she?"

"Colonel Melony Mitchell. A human."

"What are you?"

"I am Jaffa."

"I have never seen one of your kind."

"That is not surprising. Return Colonel Mitchell to us and we will leave."

"You have no authority here, Teal'c. Leave and save yourself and your people."

"We will not leave without Colonel Mitchell."

There was nothing more stubborn than a single-minded Jaffa.

"I do not wish to kill you, Teal'c."

"Nor I you."

There was a sense of annoyance, and the brilliant light flashed even brighter – although none of them would have thought it possible. Suddenly they were all knocked backwards by that same force that had heralded the arrival of the light, and as they all fell back, they were bathed in the light until they couldn't see anything else. Forced to cover eyes that were suddenly watering, they were blinded for several moments, momentarily dazed senseless.

When Teal'c next opened his eyes, he was sprawled on the ground with the others all around him, equally dazed. He sat up, quickly, looking for the light, but didn't see it. All he saw was the Stargate behind him. Furious and frustrated, he nonetheless held both emotions in check and turned to the others who were also scrambling to their feet, looking just as annoyed as he felt.

"Come."

They already knew their group assignments, and returned to their positions immediately. No light was going to tell them where they could go or where they couldn't, and it was just going to add that much more to the reckoning.

OOOOOOOOO

"Like us, you say?" Kale asked, amazed.

Ronon nodded.

"They looked like your people. But they turned into cats – no wolves and no birds."

Sheppard looked at Kale.

"Is that possible?"

The Light One shook his head.

"We have no other forms."

"Colonel Mitchell said that when you and she went to look around your sacred city you found pictures on the wall in some of the buildings," McKay said. "Pictures of large cats…"

Kale nodded.

"There were, but it must have been something else. We do not and never have been able to change into felines."

"No chance that some of you could way back when?" Sheppard asked. "Maybe they all left?"

"We do not have anything in our histories about it…" Kale replied after a moment's pause, which Sheppard assumed he was using to ask the question mentally to the others. "But nothing is impossible I have learned."

"Or you could have both developed from the same root people and splintered off somewhere far in the past," Carson theorized.

"We can find out when we find these people," Sheppard said, turning to the heads up display to see how much longer they would be in the air before they reached the gate. "Right now I want to find Mitchell."

Then they could figure the rest out.