Title: Cartography
Author: Kristin
Rating: All ages
Pairing: Four/Sarah
Summary: Sarah puts a gift the Doctor gave her to good use
Disclaimer: The characters belong to the BBC and I wouldn't claim otherwise
Notes: This references the compass the Doctor gave Sarah for her birthday in my previous story, "On the Occasion," but you needn't have read that to understand this. Just know he gave Sarah a compass that would lead her directly to the TARDIS. Other than that, enjoy!
She tried following the North Star home once, just for fun, and had ended up untold kilometers from civilization. An innate sense of direction had never kicked in, along the way, so she determined she would never again rely on antiquated methods of navigation. Now, here she was, on a strange planet no less, alone and wanting for light.
Sarah couldn't begin to wonder where the Doctor was, as they'd been separated by a rockslide, and she'd fallen into a fast-moving river. The water had been an onslaught of chill, icicles penetrating the skin as it dug abstractly into her entire body. She swam parallel, hoping to get nearer to land, and had managed to grab hold of a thick branch, staying herself from the continuing current until she could bring herself bodily ashore.
When she at last rolled onto solid ground, she put her hands on her chest, taking huge, gulping breaths and reveling for a brief moment in the feeling of stillness.
The moon was too small to distinguish it from other stars, and she assumed that accounted for the inordinate darkness. But the Doctor had said this planet was relatively safe (though she was beginning to wonder at the faith she could put in that description), so she allowed herself to appreciate the different night sky looming over her head.
I like this very much, she decided, her breathing finally slowing. There were small purple clouds, very faint, but beautiful against the pervading blackness.
Now, how to find the Doctor?
The funny thing was, the Doctor had only intended to pick some fruit. Yuri berries.
Think of them as an amalgamation of strawberries, blackberries, cherries, kiwi, and watermelon. Perhaps I shouldn't let you try them, Sarah, I'll ruin you for Earth fruit entirely.
She heard the Doctor's voice in her head describing the fruit he intended to pick for her, and it was comforting, in his absence. It wasn't a terribly violent rockslide, so she doubted he'd been hurt. Or, she hoped he hadn't been. Unfortunately, the minor tremor had knocked her into the river she'd been standing so near to. She wondered if he'd seen that happen, so at least he'd know she was headed downstream.
Pulling her knees to her chest against the sudden chill caused by the gust of wind, Sarah decided that there were too many variables and she needed to affect her own solution. He'd always advised her to head to the TARDIS, if possible, when trouble arose.
Resting her head on her knees, she ruminated over what to do. Get back to the TARDIS. That was the only answer. But how--
Sarah bolted upright quickly, turning away from the troublesome river, and reaching into her pocket to pull out the birthday gift the Doctor had given her. The compass. She opened it, smile blossoming as a luminescent glow emanated from the compass for quite a measurable distance, providing her enough light to navigate with.
So here she was, finding...home. By compass. A step up from the North Star, surely. At least the compass pointed in the exact direction the TARDIS should be. The only problem was, it could be a sizable distance away, but she had no way of knowing that.
Sarah shrugged, draping the compass around her neck, and started walking home.
Roughly an hour later, she was rubbing absently at a muted pain on her cheek where some moderately sized creature had flown right into her, knocking her into a shallow reservoir of sand, which naturally stuck to her still-damp clothing. Not missing a beat, though, she'd pulled herself up, glancing around to spot the creature, and noticed a fallen...bird-frog. She couldn't think of any other way to describe it.
Strange creatures flying into heads, rockslides, and rivers. Not too bad this time, Doctor. At least I haven't gone blind. Or been hypnotised. Or kidnapped. No, this seems to be your average planet with natural activity, if not at all natural inhabitants.
Sarah looked at the dazed creature again, then shook her head, and continued.
I met Columbus once, you know. Terrible sense of direction.
She smiled. The Doctor didn't always have the best jokes, but he kept things light as often as possible, which she appreciated immensely, and naturally reacted to herself. She didn't doubt why that particular bit of wisdom from him would pop into her head at this moment, as she once thought that of herself. Since spending time with the Doctor, however, her sense of direction had been honed, maybe as a natural reaction to her situations, frequently forcing her to determine where she was, where she'd been, and how to get back to where she needed to be.
It would be intensely interesting to visit a flat planet, I must say.
And you'd want to go sailing, I expect?
Naturally.
She'd been shivering sparsely, but now the chills were more frequent and violent. She was keeping her right hand on the compass, but stopped to pull her left arm into her sleeve, tying her sleeve shut against the persistent wind as her arm tucked against her stomach.
Sarah remembered stumbling onto ancient maps in the TARDIS library once, stretching them out chronologically as she surveyed them. They were all from Earth, and she was fascinated to see the progression of knowledge, evidenced by successive additions of continents and seas as the centuries ascended.
Ah, I do so love to pore over ancient maps. Remarkable to see advancing knowledge directly in front of you.
Just what I was thinking.
Certainly, I adore the early depictions of sea monsters. They made a fine effort, but they never quite got the tail right. The head and torso are true to form, but the tails were longer, serrated at the ends.
Doctor, surely you're joking.
Surely I'm not. Would you like to see one of them sometime, I could manage--
The Loch Ness monster was enough for one lifetime.
Yes, I do love to look at maps. Though, I never have much use for them. You should only use them if you don't know where you're going, and if you don't know where you're going, you shouldn't be travelling at all.
Ah, that's lovely logic, Doctor. Me, then? I never know where I'm going. Should I not be travelling?
Of course you should! You know you're going somewhere, and that's more than most of your species, I assure you. Now, tea?
Sarah smiled again, watching a small white cloud of exhaled breath float before her, then disappear. The temperature had dropped rapidly, and she only hoped the TARDIS was not too much further. Still, if she was shivering, that was a good thing, she knew.
The glow from the compass really was extraordinary. Too bad it didn't also generate heat.
As she climbed up a long, steep hill, she reached the top with staggered breath, then looked down with barely contained excitement. The TARDIS. A sort of brief, internal warmth came over her at the sight of it. She only hoped the Doctor was inside, or near it, as she didn't have the key.
Carefully descending, letting go of the compass to steady herself against the ground as she went, she ran once she'd reached the bottom of the hill, banging on the door gently. She kept the compass open so she could see in the overwhelming darkness.
No answer.
"Doctor!" she shouted.
No answer.
She turned away from the TARDIS, walking a bit to look around.
"Doctor!" she shouted again.
Unnerving silence.
Had he been hurt?
She couldn't imagine he'd been further away from the TARDIS than she had been, and he, presumably, would've headed towards it as well. So why wasn't he here? She contemplated what to do next. Look for him? She didn't think that was a good idea; if he was coming back, then she'd be gone again and then he'd be waiting for her. Sarah had no idea when the sun rose, so she didn't fancy setting out on a search-and-find under continuing darkness on unfamiliar terrain. But if he had been hurt...
No, the best thing to do would be to stay here.
She sat down and went to close the compass, but looked around, barely able to see her own feet, and decided to leave the compass open for additional light. She felt the ground beneath her: soft grass. It would do. She was cold, and very tired, and she needed to improvise to conserve heat. So she laid down, putting her face against the TARDIS, and hesitating a second before allowing her head to droop onto the soft grass. What sort of creatures could be crawling beneath her head? She pulled her right arm into her shirt, as she'd done with the left, then brought her knees to her chest, curling into a near-fetal position.
Then she waited a few minutes for the sensation of any strange creatures beneath her cheek. When she felt nothing, she allowed her eyes to close.
Later, a gentle hand on her shoulder, the sensation of additional warmth covering her body, and a faint pain arising in the cheek she was laying on, welcomed her awake as she turned slightly towards the direction of the pressure.
The Doctor was knelt over her and she could see his grin in the muted glow from the compass. He'd draped his coat over her shoulders, and as she moved to stand up, he put his hand on her upper arm.
He kept his arm around her shoulders, noticing how groggy she still looked, as he led her into the TARDIS. Sarah leaned heavily against the console, hugging the Doctor's coat tightly around herself.
"I've been lost the last few hours," she mumbled, putting her unbruised cheek into her hand.
"Two hours, Sarah," he muttered as he fiddled with the controls.
"I'm too tired for semantics, Doctor."
"And you haven't been lost, you were right here, just as I knew you would be."
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Knew I would be? How do you mean?"
"Well, I saw you swept downstream, assumed that once you pulled yourself ashore, you'd head to the TARDIS like the resourceful girl you are, and I'd join you, and we'd both be here. Since I knew you'd make it back, thanks to the compass I gave you, I stopped to collect some Yuri berries."
Sarah stood upright, putting her arms fully through the sleeves of the Doctor's coat, and coming to stand in front of him.
"You saw me get swept downstream and went off to collect Yuri berries? Were you at all concerned I might...I don't know, drown?"
"Of course not, I've seen you swim, Sarah. You're proficient."
"It was a strong current."
"Plenty of branches to grab hold of."
"You didn't think I'd get lost?"
The Doctor finally looked at her, a lightness in his eyes.
"Now that is an impossibility."
"Because of the compass?" Sarah looked down at it, stroking its face before finally closing it. It wasn't needed anymore tonight.
The Doctor touched Sarah's fingers where they held the compass.
"No. Because I would find you."
Then he dropped his fingers from hers, reaching up to her right cheek to stroke it briefly where a red welt had formed.
"What happened here?" he asked, gently.
"A bird...frog...looked a bit like a frog, but didn't have frog legs, and it flew. So--"
"The matiur!"
"The what?"
"Exactly," he said with childish glee, removing his hand from her cheek.
"So you saw it then?" he persisted.
Sarah wrapped her arms around herself, still latently cold.
"I wouldn't say 'saw it' so much as...stood against it as it took issue with my head. It was aiming for me, I'm certain."
"Sarah, the matiur is one of the most harmless creatures in existence. If it flew into you, it was unintentional."
"Perhaps it was a rogue, Doctor."
The Doctor smiled again, looking Sarah up and down for a brief moment.
"We must get you into a change of clothes, then it's some proper rest for you. But not before you try a Yuri berry."
"Oh, of course," she threw her hands up in mock-seriousness.
The Doctor paused suddenly, stepping close to her and speaking with a hushed voice.
"Did you doubt you would be all right, Sarah Jane?"
Then she smiled widely.
"Oh, I knew I would be perfectly fine, Doctor. I'm just happy you knew it as well. And you believed it so fervently that you even picked me some berries. Perfect end to a strange day."
The Doctor was quite obviously pleased, and he took hold of Sarah's hand tightly, leading her along the corridor as he grabbed the large basket of Yuri berries to take with him. They eventually ended up in her room, where he set the basket down on her bedside table, then searched for the ripest berry.
She smiled, opening her mouth with anticipation, slightly surprised when the Doctor deposited the berry onto her tongue. As Sarah bit down, the juice flowed between her teeth, splashing exotic flavors against her tongue as she identified the myriad tastes flirting her taste buds. One single berry was like a symphony in her mouth, different components with different strengths, all coalescing into one near-perfect composition of flavor. An experience, really.
Sarah hadn't realized she'd closed her eyes until she opened them again as she swallowed the berry, amused at the Doctor's expectant face.
"Well?"
"Satisfactory," she kept a straight face.
The Doctor's shoulders slumped, and Sarah reached out to tap his arm teasingly.
"Magnificent, Doctor. I would've left you to die to pick them as well."
The Doctor surprised Sarah again by pulling her in for a brief hug--so brief, she couldn't react enough to hug him back before he was standing up and turning absently.
"If it ever comes down to your life, or picking Yuri berries--"
"Pick the berries. Unquestionably."
"No one knows me quite like you, Sarah," he smiled at her, at the joke they perpetuated to avoid talking about deeper things.
Sarah stood to hand the Doctor back his coat, and the Doctor took it, turning to leave. Then he paused abruptly, his hand on the doorjamb.
"Sarah, the berries aren't that special," he told her quietly.
Sarah smiled widely, amused at how seriously he'd said it, with a furtive insistence that was rare. The fact that he felt the need to assure her of her importance, even indirectly, and relative to some berries no less, only made her grin.
"I understand. I'm glad you're all right, too, Doctor," she responded, because that was what he really wanted to say all along. And because she knew that, she said it for him. Then he left with a lingering grin and Sarah looked at her compass again.
She removed it from her neck, anticipating a very hot shower, but lingered with the feel of it, thinking about all the things it meant.
Then she thought of the curious things you find in the dark.
Especially the things you weren't looking for. But those were the best things.
Because they were usually what rewrote maps.
fin.