Chapter 12

The next morning Lauria's body lay in the building reserved for public meetings. Lunasa had not said a single word since rescuing Haylar. SG-1 had kept an eye on her that night, but for the most part left her alone, understanding her need to grieve. People from Xanthus also came and went, offering their condolences. Lunasa still did not speak, her face so expressionless that she might as well have been made of stone. She merely sat, either by the fire place in her home where her sister used to cook, or by her sister's side, attending her viewing.

Normally, the team would have done their best to console their gracious young hostess, but this was not normal circumstances. If Lauria had been killed by the Goa'uld, the team would have seen to it that Lunasa had what she needed to fight back, giving her a sense of purpose that would get her past her grief. But a natural disaster is not something you can fight. It is something that you simply have to cope with, and the four friends silently agreed it was better to let Lunasa's own people help her to do that.

The team left the house quietly late that morning after making sure that Lunasa had company. The burial would take place in just a few hours, and they did not want to distract people from paying respect to Lauria's memory by being underfoot. They took some food provisions that would serve as their lunch and headed for the cavern.

"I think we're starting to wear out our welcome," Jack murmured, squinting into the sunlight as they made their way towards the foot of the mountain range. He put on his sunglasses which did much to block out the warm bright rays, but did nothing about the glares that they were now receiving from the citizens. Those who did not glare scurried away from them and peaked around corners like naughty children hiding from a scolding parent.

"Theories on what we've done wrong this time?"

"It's possible that they believe our arrival and the avalanche are not just coincidences," Daniel suggested. "They could be blaming us for causing it."

"Now I'm not understanding that. How could we have started an avalanche when we were in that cave when it happened?"

Daniel prayed for patience and then attempted to explain. "The fact that we couldn't have done it doesn't really matter in this case. We've run into societies that have been afraid of us before because they believed that our arrival was a sign of some sort. On Cimmeria we were welcome because we told them we are friends with Thor. On the planet where we found that Christian community, the villagers wanted to get rid of us because they thought we were demons, with the exception of Mary and Simon, of course." Daniel paused to look for any signs that Jack might have understood the point he was trying to make, and seeing none, continued. "Now I haven't seen any evidence that these people have a specific religion, and they obviously didn't worship Zipacna before they came here, but it's possible that some of these people have adopted him as their god out of fear, and since we don't serve him they may think that Zipacna caused the avalanche to punish Lunasa and Lauria for taking us in."

Jack's frustration with how narrow-minded and superstitious people could be made it difficult for him to keep his voice down as he told not just Daniel but the whole street, "But he didn't! It was an accident!"

"That doesn't matter to them, Jack! We're just going to have to watch our step and hope that nothing else happens while we're here."

"Yeah, well, with our luck…" Jack muttered, not bothering to finish the thought.

When they arrived at the cave they found it was entirely deserted. Jack and Teal'c opted to stand guard outside "just in case", while Sam and Daniel went in.

"You don't want to come?" Daniel asked, unable to understand why he was bothering or why his voice sounded so surprised and disappointed even to his own ears. Jack had never had any interest in his work unless an alien weapon was involved, and there was no reason that it would ever change.

"Yes, Daniel, we're sure. We've both seen you in translator mode enough to last us a life time," Jack replied, referring to the time not long ago when he and Teal'c had been forced to spend hour after hour helping Daniel to translate an ancient language, or else be stuck in a time loop for the rest of their infinitely looping lives. It had been an interesting experience…one they wished never ever to repeat. Teal'c showed his agreement with Jack by giving a polite nod with a faint smile.

Daniel merely shook his head, smiling to himself, and then followed Sam into the cave, igniting their flashlights as they went.

Sam focused her light on the large expanse of symbols on the wall. "How much do you think you can do with this without Lunasa's help?" Her tone made it oblivious that she knew very well Daniel could manage just fine by himself . . . if they had the time. Thankful for her confidence in him, Daniel hated to let her down.

"Not much," Daniel said, also looking the wall over for a second time awed at the complexity of the language that had familiar elements mixed with figures he had no references for. "What I really wanted to do was take a look deeper into this tunnel."

"You think there could be something back there that might help?" Sam asked, sounding skeptical as she looked into the depth of the cave.

Daniel shrugged. "Here's hoping. I just can't help wondering why the race that wrote this made such a long hall to write in, but then didn't use all of it."

"Good point."

They started making their way towards the back of the tunnel, sweeping their flashlights back and fourth from the floor to watch their path to the walls to look at the writing. A few loose stones clattered ominously on the smooth floor as they were unceremoniously kicked out of the way. After a couple of meters they paused. There was a strange sound coming from up ahead. A tiny trickling sound.

"Water?" Daniel asked, looking ahead curiously.

"I wouldn't be surprised. It's probably coming from the melting snow on top of this mountain. Over time a series of cracks was probably made by water getting trapped in small places and then expanding the holes when it froze. Given long enough it would have eventually found its way down here."

As they continued on they noticed an increase in the temperature, and by the time the reached where the trickling sound originated they were both taking off their jackets. Turning their attention back to the wall, they found it had turned bright green.

"It's moss." Daniel said as he placed his hand on the wall. The green mass gave a little to the pressure and leaked water like a soaked sponge. "Or at least something a lot like it, considering moss on Earth usually needs some sunlight," he amended. "The water must be feeding it."

Thick and cushy, the plant was absolutely thriving, covering the wall completely from top to bottom, excepting only the tiny channels through which the water ran slowly down the wall and into a crack at the base.

"Hang on a sec…" Daniel muttered to himself. He directed his light along the wall of moss until the writing could be seen again, and then back. "The whole wall is flat."

"So there could be writing under the moss?" Sam asked, cottoning on, an optimistic grin growing on her lips.

"Only one way to find out!" Daniel pulled out his knife and, returning to where the moss began, started to cut it away. "Wow. This is really deep." A good inch of the length of his knife had disappeared into the moss. He loosened the edge and then dug his fingernails under it, ripping a chunk from the wall. Underneath was a deeply chiseled vertical line.

"Well, there's something," Daniel said, turning to look at a bemused Major.