Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. I just like to play in the sandbox.
Author's Note: This entire fic was inspired by a picture of a young William Hartnell. He was handsome in his pre-Doctor years. :)
Satthaltrope was shocked and appalled when The Rani appeared with tearstained cheeks at the door of the House of Lungbarrow. Time Lords simply did not give into emotion in such ways, but despite this appalling breach in etiquette, she was allowed entrance anyway - mostly because neither the House nor the Kithriarch would want to deal with the mental tantrum The Doctor would throw if his friend was turned away, and Quences always did dote on Theta. The boy was spoilt and no good would come of him, such friends as he made!
If it was possible, The Doctor was even more shocked than his stern Housekeeper at the state of The Rani, who had always tried to control herself and her emotions more than he or The Master. "Rani?" He asked, cautiously, before reaching out and taking her hands as a new cascade of tears started. "Ushas, my dear, what happened?"
The Rani choked on what could only be described as a sob. "The Council made it's decision." She still couldn't believe it, and was hurting all over, from every fibre of her being.
The Doctor was shocked. "But they aren't even meeting until tomorrow!" Surely they wouldn't make decision without allowing Rani to defend herself.
"The Stoic let it slip to Koschei." Rani said, shaking her head and referring to the Master's father, who had a place on the council, as well as head of the House of Oakdown. "Well, actually, Koschei hypnotised him, but still."
"Of course he did." The Doctor said with a slight click of his tongue, noting that in her distress his friend had slipped into using their old names, before they had spoken their new ones. "Yes, yes, of course he did." He wouldn't have even have even thought of such a thing, but of course The Master would. The Master also had a tendency of saying things that were not exactly accurate. He swallowed. "And what did they decide?"
"Exile." The Rani said, in a hushed whisper. "Permanent exile as a renegade and they mean to force me to forswear my vows and birthright as a Prydonian."
Without thinking, The Doctor wrapped her up in a hug, holding her perhaps a bit too tightly. "They can't do that! It was an accident. A few oversized rats got loose and ate Drall's cat, and bit him. They can't mean to exile you forever for something like that, let alone force you to renounce yourself."
The Rani, feeling less like The Rani and more like Ushas every moment that ticked by, shook her head. "If they do -" Her voice broke. "If they send me away - come with me. We could go off and see all those places we learned about - you could see more than just the Medusa Cascade."
The Doctor stared at her in amazement and dropped the embrace, his disbelief showing on his face. "Leave Gallifrey?" Sure, the thought had crossed his mind, but not the way she was suggesting, not as a renegade. "But everyone is here!"
"I won't be!" The Rani shot back, angrily. "And Koschei doesn't care about the rules, not really. He'd still keep up with us, maybe travel with us sometimes. He'd love it, thumbing his nose at the Council by fraternizing with renegades."
The Doctor turned away, shaking his head. "This can't be real, Ushas, not really. How could Drall possibly suggest exile...it must be a lie. The Stoic must have been immune to The Master's hypnotism and fed him a lie, we're all known for cunning, you know." Satisfied, at least partially, by this logic, he fell tiredly into a chair. "They'll probably just fine you a regeneration."
Fed up with the excuses, the rationalisations, and feeling particularly brittle, The Rani dropped into his lap and reached for his face, meeting his eyes and connecting their minds, letting herself say mentally what she could not put into words, laying her soul bare to him. It was a last ditch effort, but even then she knew it wouldn't happen. Theta was still trying to fit in, still trying to make people proud - even if he had turned down the position of Lord Cardinal to be a doctor, he wanted his home and his family and his friends. He wanted the stars but he wanted everything else too, she didn't even need to look into his mind to know that, she could tell from the way he was holding her. Shaking herself, she broke the link and took a step back. "Goodbye, Theta."
The Doctor had to catch his breath, but he stood quickly anyway, catching her wrist. "Don't, Ushas - you have to know this won't happen. They can't do this." He pulled her close and kissed her, wanting to reassure her because she had made herself more vulnerable than he had ever seen her, but all he could taste was salt. "I'll stand with you forever."
"I think forever is over, Theta." The Rani said, wiping at her tears with her hands. "Be happy, Doctor, find a better Time Lady than me to stand at your side - and when you do go out to see the stars, look me up."
"I promise - if it happens." The Doctor said, with full faith it never would.
The Doctor had convinced himself what he had said was true, so when he went to the hearing the next day, he was just as shocked as everyone else when the judgment came down just as Koschei had warned. To her credit, The Rani stood stock still and as tall and proud as any queen, truly earning her namesake as they did fine her a regneration, but took also forced her into exile and took away all her rights as a Time Lady and as a Prydonian, making it illegal for anyone to have anything to do with her lest they bring shame and discommendation on their House. Part of him wanted to stand and argue, but he knew such an outburst wouldn't help, and even if it would, he felt transfixed to the spot. He sat there for hours after everyone else had filed out, grateful for the company when The Master sat beside him.
"You could have gone." The Master said, looking at the empty council hall.
"No, I couldn't have." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "I didn't believe..."
"You didn't want to believe." The Master interrupted.
"What about you?" The Doctor shot back, all his anger at himself and the system bubbling up and lashing out at the nearest target. "You could have gone."
The Master nodded, fully accepting this. "For awhile, maybe. It would be a great lark, shrugging off this life of duty, but she needed someone for forever. That's not me. I'm too fickle and a little too mad. We'd be a horrible pair, probably end up blackmailing and killing each other in a few centuries without you to balance us out."
The Doctor laughed, but it was not a happy sound. "Wonder what we'll be like without her, then?"
"Probably trying to kill each other and failing every time after a century or so." The Master replied dryly. "The day I hypnotise the wrong people or you finally leave."
Every year for seventy years, on the day of her exile, The Rani would appeal her sentence and another hearing would be held. Every year she put herself through it again and again and again, and every year The Doctor would attend and watch her be refused again.
On the seventy-first year, when he felt old despite his youth, when Koschei had already run through three regenerations, she didn't come. The day passed without fanfare. That year, his faith in his people broke, and he moved through the motions as months passed and on his birthday, while everyone was distracted with the festival of Otherstide, he took his youngest granddaughter, stole a magic blue box and went to see the stars.
And even if he looked her up, even if he wanted too, he never quite managed to visit. He had promised he would, but he had promised a lot of things, including forever. The thing he never realised when he made those promises however was a truth that would later be written across space and time.
Rule #1: The Doctor lies.