Belated Merry Christmas! I'm finally getting back to this story after way too long a delay. I hope to have a chance to get more chapters out over the holidays since I have a few days off.

I hope all of you have had, or are having, a wonderful holiday!

She slowed down before she reached the camp even though all her instincts said to rush and save the Colonel. Fortunately her training overcame those instincts and she approached the campsite cautiously, making sure she made no sound and kept to the thick undergrowth.

When she was finally able to see what was going on she cursed – silently. The Colonel was lying on his side, curled up into a ball. He was surrounded by a group of men – men clad in loincloths and pointing weapons at him. Two of the men were arguing loudly with one another, while the other four kept strict watch on the Colonel.

Fortunately the weapons they carried were primitive. Each man was armed with a long lance-like object. As far as she could tell it was made of wood, although the sharpened end looked like it may have been made of stone, or possibly a rough metal, pounded to a point.

She almost rushed forward as one of the men started to prod the Colonel in the side with his weapon. O'Neill made a noise and tried to roll away, but was stopped by another lance being shoved at him from the other side.

One of the natives who'd been arguing spoke sharply, and the other men pulled their weapons back, although they continued to guard the Colonel.

Sam debated what she should do. There were six of them, and she could probably take out three or four with either her gun or the zat. That would still leave two – at least two that she could see. She had no idea if there were any others in the vicinity. And then there was the problem of getting O'Neill back to the gate before the alarm was raised. She cursed again. Why had she left him alone?

She stopped that line of thought almost immediately. The Colonel himself had taught her that guilt and recriminations were best left until after a mission. Right now they'd get in the way of finding a solution. So, putting everything out of her mind except trying to figure out how to get out of this situation, she continued to watch.

The man who'd spoken a moment ago – the taller of the two - appeared to be the leader as the others glanced to him occasionally, clearly following his directions. The other man, with whom he'd been arguing, seemed to have accepted whatever had been said, although she could tell he was still angry. She guessed he resented the authority of the other man, although he wasn't about to say anything quite yet. She wondered if the leader knew he had a rival?

The tall man spoke again, sharply, and Sam watched as two others began to collect their supplies. Sam cursed as she saw their things thrown haphazardly into a sack and carried off. The leader then nodded and made a motion and two more of the men bent down to O'Neill and pulled him to his feet.

She watched as he swayed, and would have fallen, except that the two who had pulled him up were able to brace him on either side. A moment later they'd taken a length of rope from their supplies and had tied the Colonel's arms behind his back, leaving a five-foot length of rope hanging behind him.

She watched O'Neill to see how he was reacting to being captured. She grimaced at the non-expression on his face. His face was completely blank and he didn't appear to care, or even have noticed that he had been captured.

She wondered briefly if his mind had been permanently damaged by whatever had been done to him. She'd refused to believe it before, but now – she'd never seen him accept capture so passively, as if he didn't care. She felt a moment's despair, but then forced that thought from her mind too. Now was not the time to worry about anything but getting him back and to safety.

It wasn't long before the small troop of natives – she wondered if they were fighting men or hunters – headed out, away from the campsite. O'Neill was forced to move by a shove from one of the men. He stumbled and would have fallen except that someone had grabbed the rope behind him and when he almost fell, pulled him up with it. Sam winced, knowing it must have hurt like hell as his arms were wrenched backward, but he didn't react.

She followed them for hours, keeping well back so that she wasn't discovered. They made brief stops, usually to stop and drink, although once they pulled out some rations and each of them had something to eat. She was relieved to see they gave something to the Colonel. He refused to eat – no surprise – but he did accept water. Although he stumbled occasionally, and would be jerked upright by the man holding his rope, he appeared to be steadier on his feet than before. Maybe he was getting better.

They made camp before dark and Sam watched as one of the men untied the Colonel and led him into the trees. After a few minutes they returned and he was pushed to the ground where he immediately curled up again. There was still no expression on his face.

Sam didn't get much sleep that night, although she was able to doze off and on. She checked regularly to see that the Colonel was okay, but as far as she could tell he slept the whole night. No one appeared to bother him.

The next morning they got going early and this time the Colonel's hands were left free, although he was watched carefully and there was always someone next to him. Sam continued to follow them, still trying to figure out a way to get him away from his captors. She was getting more worried the farther away from the gate they walked.

It was early afternoon before anything happened. The men were walking, some of them talking and laughing, when all of a sudden there was a shout. Sam dropped to the ground and watched, praying that it wasn't anything that would harm O'Neill. She waited, observing as the six men all looked towards the direction from which the shout had come. A few seconds later a young boy, no more than about ten years old, ran into view. He was followed, almost immediately, by a group of five or six more children.

Most of the men dropped to their knees, their arms held out. The children all ran forward and threw themselves at the men. All were laughing and talking – all except the leader, who continued to watch the prisoner. A few moments later he spoke and everyone stood and turned back in the direction they'd been heading. Sam stood up slowly and went to follow.

"Who are you?" a young voice asked behind her. She almost fainted.

When she'd gotten her equilibrium back she turned around, to see a boy – also about ten or eleven years old, standing and watching her. He was dressed, like the men, in nothing more than a loincloth. He had a shock of brown hair, much of which was hanging in his eyes. He was regarding her intently, a look of seriousness on his face which belied his young age.

"Who are you and why are you following my father?"

"Your father?" she asked, trying hard to figure out what to do.

The boy nodded. "My father is Ailani", he told her, as if that explained everything.

"Ailani?"

"Yes", he frowned. "He is chief of our clan. He is powerful – more powerful than our enemies and keeps us safe."

"Oh", she nodded. "Yes, I'm sure he is."

"So, who are you and why are you here?"

"Uh, I'm Sam – antha", she replied. "What's your name?"

"I am Kamalei, first son of Ailani", he replied. Suddenly, without warning, he opened his mouth and shouted for his father. "You are a spy", he told her angrily. "You are from the Ngati-Keaka and come to destroy us!"

She heard a shout and then the sound of feet pounding towards her. She clasped her weapon carefully and waited. For a brief moment she thought about grabbing the boy to use as a bargaining chip, but quickly decided against that. It would only increase the distrust and solidify, in the minds of the natives, that she was an enemy.

A few more seconds and two men burst upon them, their weapons raised threateningly. It was only as they stood beside her that she realized how huge the natives were. One of them looked to be almost 6'8" or 6'9" . He was huge. "What is this son?" the taller of the two asked sharply – he must be Ailani Sam decided. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"She is a spy, father", Kamalei replied. "She was following you. Her name is Sam – ata. She is from the Ngati-Keaka and has come to destroy us."

Ailani's eyebrows went up and his eyes swiveled towards her. "Is this true?" he asked.

"No. I am no spy – and I am not from the – from the Ngati-Keaka. I don't even know what that is."

"You were following us", Ailani said – and it wasn't a question.

Sam sighed, deciding she would be better off telling at least a part of the truth. "Yes, I was. You captured my friend and I was following to see where you were taking him and to make sure you didn't hurt him."

"Your friend?" Ailani asked, sounding confused. "The man with us? He is your mate?"

"My – uh, no. Like I said, we're friends."

"Friends? Women and men are not friends", he stated categorically, starting to look angry.

Great! They'd come to one of those planets. Just what she needed, a place where a woman's worth was measured in terms of her status as mother, wife or daughter. She sighed, acknowledging to herself that it was for the greater good so she just had to suck it up. She debated for a moment telling them that the Colonel was her brother, or uncle, but decided it might be safer if she was attached. "Uh – we're betrothed", she said finally.

"Betrothed?" Ailani questioned. "What is this?"

"It means we will become mates, that we are promised to one another."

"Oh", he nodded. "But why are you travelling together if you are only promised? It is not seemly."

She thought quickly. "He was ill, and I was taking him to the waters to be healed."

"The waters?"

"Yes, you must know of them? Uh – the waters of Niagara, that is their name. They are very powerful and will heal people."

"I have not heard of this Nia - gara. You are in the land of the Ati-Makani, my land. There are no magical waters here."

"What? Oh drat. I must have taken a wrong turn at the circle. I'm so sorry. I'll just take the – my betrothed – and we'll be out of your hair."

"My hair?"

"I mean we'll leave your land and not disturb you anymore. We didn't mean to trespass. I got lost."

"You said at the Circle. You were there?"

"Yes", she looked at him carefully. Had she just made a tactical error in admitting that? Different planets viewed the Stargate in different ways. For those who knew it's purpose it was generally viewed as little more than a gateway. For others it was a blessed or holy site and for still others it was a cursed place, a place to be avoided. She prayed the people of Ati-Makani weren't in that last category.

The man with Ailani looked startled and opened his mouth as if to say something. The leader lifted his hand, stopping his companion from speaking. "You must come with us", he told her, his face relaxing into a neutral expression. "You will be welcome to stay until your promised one is healed."

"Uh – that's okay. I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"You will not be a burden", he replied. Suddenly, with little warning, Ailani smiled. He went from being an intimidating warrior to a pleasant looking man. If Sam hadn't learned to be cautious and always suspicious (a trait she'd picked up from the Colonel), she might have relaxed. As it was she kept her guard up as the man gestured for her to follow.

At least he hadn't demanded she give up her weapons. Although it might have been that he didn't recognize that they were weapons. Still, he was walking as if he trusted her, which did relax her a bit.

However she wouldn't let her guard down until she saw the Colonel and they got away from this place. As beautiful as it was, she was beginning to wonder if they'd picked the wrong planet.

Kamalei chatted non-stop the entire way. Now that his father was with them he was no longer frightened or wary but seemed to have accepted her as a visitor – a welcome visitor. He spent the next few minutes asking her all sorts of questions. It might have been tricky except for the fact that he barely let her answer before moving on to the next question.

The other man with them – she found out his name was Ponui – glanced at her as they walked. He didn't seem frightened or angry, but there was definitely something about her that interested him. She didn't think it was her personally, but rather her mention of the gate that had caused that interest.

A few minutes later she heard talking and suddenly they were with the rest of the group. Sam didn't stop to think but raced up to the Colonel. "Sir, are you okay?" she asked softly. She grabbed his arms and turned him so that he faced her. There was a brief flicker of something – she assumed it was recognition – but then his face went slack and his eyes moved down, to again stare at the ground.

She wanted to scream at him, to get him to look at her, to respond to her. "Colonel!" she said sharply, tugging on his arms. "Look at me Sir!" When he didn't respond she put her finger under his chin and lifted his head. His eyes still remained focused downward.

"What the hell are you looking at", she snapped at him. "I know you can hear me so why don't you answer me?" Still no reaction. She sighed and allowed her hand to drop. Closing her eyes she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. There was no point getting angry at him. It wasn't his fault.

She forced herself to lift her head and face Ailani. "I'm sorry", she tried to smile. "He is very ill – but don't worry – it is not contagious. Uh – you can't get it from him. He was injured."

"He is not here", Ailani said softly.

"What?"

"His mana – it is absent. It is with the gods and that is why he is as he is."

"I – okay", she nodded, not sure what he was trying to say, but feeling too tired to try and decipher what he was saying.

"Come! We must return to the village. Our people await."

"What about the – what about Jack and me?"

"Jack?"

"My – promised."

"You will come with us. And do not worry. You will be our guests."

After a pause, during which she regarded the man carefully, she finally nodded. He seemed sincere and really, she didn't have a choice anyway. And if their culture was like many more primitive ones, to be a guest was sacred. They wouldn't be hurt.

Looking at the Colonel she recognized that he was about ready to collapse. They both needed rest. "Okay, thank you. We will accompany you."

She continued to stand beside O'Neill as they readied to depart. She took a deep breath, not sure what was going to happen next but knowing that right now she needed to get him to a place where he could lie down. Before she had time to move she felt a hand sneak into hers. She glanced sharply right, to see the Colonel staring straight ahead, his face still blank. But he'd reached for he hand and had grasped it with his. For the first time that day she felt like maybe there was hope.

She gave his hand a squeeze. "We're gonna be okay Sir."

They started walking towards the village, and her hand remained tightly clasped in that of the Colonel's.