Chapter 1
The Hummingbird didn't know quite how she was feeling at the moment… lonely could be it.
She had spent several weeks at home, alone, after she had returned from the parallel universe where she had once again helped Sherlock and John Watson solve a mystery, and now the silence was troubling her.
Clara Oswald had never liked being alone, and the only solution to this problem was to go out and make a friend. Which had gotten her thinking: why didn't she find a companion? After all, The Doctor had always enjoyed having a companion, why couldn't she have one?
So now her resolution was to find a place to go.
She had read a book that she had found in the TARDIS about different planets and one in particular had stood out to her: Raion. In the constellation of Leo, there was a planet inhabited by humanoid lions called Leoajiti.
Always one for exploring new planets, Clara tied up her bootlaces and straightened her ribbon tie as she recalled the co-ordinates of Raion and typed them into her vortex manipulator. She wasn't too confident about going out completely on her own, but she assured herself that all would be fine and sent herself into the void.
Clara found herself standing at the bottom of a mountain when she arrived on Raion, pure white snow beneath her feet and a chilly breeze blowing through her hair.
She hadn't expected it to be this cold, and was seriously considering going home to get a coat. She would have, too, if only she hadn't seen a lion-man run past her at top speed. Looking at where he'd come from, Clara saw a small village set in the snow ahead of her – very quaint and very quiet.
As a time-travelling peace-maker, she felt it her duty to see what he was running from, so she trudged through the snow towards the village…
When she arrived there, she was met with a lioness, clothed in a ragged dress, looking rather annoyed.
"Who was that?" Clara asked, pointing over her shoulder towards the mountain.
"You're not from round here, are you?" The lioness replied, not making eye contact with The Hummingbird, just staring straight ahead into the glare of the sun.
"No, not at all," Clara replied.
"If you were, you'd know that that was Bradwr: the trouble-maker around these parts. He's also unfortunately my husband. He's committed a terrible crime, and now he knows the army from the big city are after him, he's fled to the mountains. We're all in trouble now…"
"Why all of you?"
The lioness sighed and turned around, still not making eye contact,
"Head to the Drunken Lynx if you want to know more," she said, "I have work to do…" and she trudged away to a little house behind her.
Clara shrugged to herself, looking about the tiny village. One of the buildings closest to her looked like a tavern – a Viking tavern, at that – and it had a sign outside it, blowing about in the wind, with an image of a tankard painted onto it in paint that was dripping from the snow.
If any building was going to bear the name 'The Drunken Lynx' it would most probably be a tavern, so seeing it was her only option, The Hummingbird made her way to the door and headed inside…