A/N: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I own the myth of Asdiwal
This story was written for my Comparative Literature class, we had to re-write one of the myths we read in class and I chose the myth of Asdiwal (For more on Asdiwal I suggest Googling Levi-Strauss). I also had to write an analysis of my re-write, explaining how my changes effected the story and such. I have not included those. I had to wait until I received my grade for this paper before submitting it to , because I did not want run into any issues of this being posted on the internet. (By the way this story, and the analysis that was not included, received 18/20, in case you were curious).
"I've never been to Hawaii before," a young woman by the name of Rose Tyler commented.
"Well- you're in for a treat then," replied a man with flyaway brown hair. He stood at a control center of a very odd spaceship, it was odd in that it was spaceship yet also a time machine. It was called a TARDIS which stands for "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space".
"I can't wait to see the beaches!" she said, clearly excited.
"Time to see them then!" the man said as he opened the blue door to his spaceship, only to be hit with a blast of cold air as a wind brought snowflakes whirling inside the spaceship.
"Since when is there snow in Hawaii, Doctor?" Rose said laughing at the man, whom she referred to as "Doctor".
"Something must have been off with the TARDIS." the Doctor replied as he scratched his head in thought.
"Well, never mind that- let's have a look around," she said as she began to walk out of the door of the TARDIS.
"Rose, don't you think you should grab a coat?" the Doctor called after her as he followed her outside.
"In a minute, but look!" Rose said pointing towards a mountain not too far off in the distance.
Following Rose's finger, the Doctor observed a man climbing up the mountain in pursuit of a white bear.
"That's odd-" he started to say as his vision moved upward he observed another spaceship, sitting on top of the mountain, where the bear seemed to be leading the hunter to.
"Hullo!" he said in wonder at the sight of a spaceship in plain view.
"What do you suppose is going on there?" Rose asked.
"Not entirely sure," the Doctor pulled out his glasses and placed them on his face. "What is that spaceship doing here?"
"And why is a bear leading a man to it?" Rose added.
"Well- yeah, of course- that too," he answered as he turned towards Rose. "Fancy a look-see?"
"Course!" Rose replied as she popped into the TARDIS and returned quickly wearing a wool coat. "Ready then?" she asked.
"Allons-y!" the Doctor replied as he took her hand in his and started off down the mountain.
When the two travelers had reached the bottom of the mountain, the man, bear and spaceship were obstructed from their view.
As the Doctor began to hop up the rocks at the base of the mountain, Rose shouted "Doctor!" in alarm as the spaceship flew off the top of the mountain and quickly disappeared into the atmosphere.
"Well- I didn't think they'd reach the ship that quickly," the Doctor said as he watched the mysterious spaceship disappear.
"Maybe they had help?" Rose suggested.
"Maybe-" he replied slowly, scanning the horizon his eyes fell on a village not too far off. "Might as well go see if any of the villagers know anything," taking Rose's hand again, they set off towards the village.
In the village, the people looked at Rose and the Doctor with suspicion. They were dressed strangely, neither of them wore furs and they acted strange too.
One of the men of the village walked forward to meet them. "Who are you and where do you come from?" he asked gruffly.
"Ah, yes. I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler," the Doctor introduced himself and Rose to the man, speaking loud enough that other villagers could hear."And we're from a long ways away… Has anyone noticed anything strange happening here lately? People going missing, lights in the sky… anything out of the ordinary?"
Nearby villagers shook their heads in reply and the man replied "Nothing, excepting you two strangers."
"Is everyone in the village right now?" the Doctor asked.
"A few hunters are still out but they should be returning soon," was the reply.
"Brilliant!" replied the Doctor "Mind if we stay around here till then?"
"Suit yourselves," the man replied as he and other villagers returned to business and left the Doctor and Rose on their own.
"Not too welcoming, are they?" Rose said as villagers passed them by without as much as a glance.
"I don't think they're used to visitors," he replied.
"Yeah, still, someone could invite us inside- it's cold out here," Rose said wrapping her arms around herself.
A woman approached the Doctor and Rose. "You said you were looking for strange happenings around our village?" she asked the Doctor.
"Yes, yes I was." he replied to her.
"Then I have something to tell you, follow me," she said as she led the two to her hut.
Inside, she gestured for them to seat themselves on the floor of her hut by the fire. Rose sat down gratefully wrapping herself in a fur. The Doctor declined and remained standing inside the hut.
"What was it you wanted to tell us?" the Doctor asked the woman.
"It is my son, Asdiwal… the manner of his birth was- unusual." the woman replied.
"Unusual how?" Rose asked.
"His father- he was bird, but he was also a man-"
"A shape shifter?" Rose asked the Doctor, who hushed her.
"Continue your story," he said to the woman.
"Well, our child was born and his father was able to make Asdiwal skip childhood. He looks like a grown man now, but he's really only two years old," the woman concluded her story.
"Why are you telling us this?" the Doctor inquired.
"I heard you were asking about strange occurrences- and I have never told anyone the circumstances surrounding Asdiwal's birth. I've always feared his father would come back for him and take him away from me. Although, in a way, he has already done this to me. He took a mother's best years with her son. Now he is a grown man and does not need me. He never really needed me," the woman said sadly as she stirred the fire.
"I'm so sorry," the Doctor said to the woman. She shrugged and busied herself preparing food. The Doctor sat next to Rose as they watched the woman busy herself about her hut.
"So, what do you think?" the Doctor said to Rose in hushed tones.
"I think she had a child with a shape shifting alien and her man-child was the man we saw on the mountain, I think his father came back for him," Rose replied.
"That's what I was thinking but- but I don't know, something feels off about it. It is like- these may be two unconnected events," the Doctor pondered as he searched the pockets of his brown coat.
"But, two unconnected alien interactions with humans? I don't know if I buy that," Rose replied.
"Maybe her son wasn't even the man that we saw on the mountain…" the Doctor hypothesized.
They remained in the woman's hut throughout the night. She was kind enough to share her small meal with the Doctor and Rose. Eventually, Rose fell asleep on the floor, wrapped in furs. The Doctor remained awake with the woman while she waited for her son to return.
"Does he usually stay out so late?" the Doctor asked her as she once again peeked outside of her hut.
"Sometimes, but not on a day to day basis." the woman replied.
"Why don't you get some rest, I'll wait up for him, the Doctor said, concerned for the woman's health.
"I should stay awake, so that I can prepare him food when he returns. He is always very hungry when he has been out hunting," the woman stirred the fire as she said this.
"I can fix him up something, get some rest," the Doctor insisted once more.
Te woman finally relented to the Doctor's suggestions and laid down upon her furs to sleep.
The next morning, Rose and the woman awoke to find the Doctor still awake, tending to the fire.
"Hullo!" he said in greeting to the two as they sat up, rubbing their eyes.
"Did Asdiwal come home?" the woman asked, half-knowing the answer, since he was nowhere to be seen within the hut.
"No, sorry," the Doctor replied.
The woman nodded and busied herself around the hut. She left the hut for a while and returned within a short amount of time.
"Asdiwal is the only man that did not return again last night," she said.
The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other meaningfully, knowing that their suspicions were correct, Asdiwal was the man they saw on the mountain. As Rose and the Doctor began to move towards leaving the hut, a man burst inside. He was wearing furs and this was contrasted by the woman that walked in behind him. Her skin was stark-white, as was her hair and she gave off a faint glow from her skin, she was dressed in a pale yellow gauzy material that did not cover her arms.
"Asdiwal!" his mother cried as she gathered her son into a hug.
"Hello mother," Asdiwal said as he moved himself out of his mother's grasp and brought the ethereal being forward. "I want you to meet my wife, Evening-Star," he said introducing his mother to his new bride.
"Wife?" his mother asked in semi-shock "But, you've only been gone a day and already you are married? Asdiwal, what is this?"
"In my father's kingdom, time moves differently than on Earth," Evening-Star replied to her mother-in-law.
"Yes, your father's kingdom, mind telling us more about that?" the Doctor said, speaking for the first time since Asdiwal and his wife entered the hut.
Evening-Star barred her teeth at the Doctor as Asdiwal stepped forward.
"Who are these people, mother?" Asdiwal asked looking the Doctor and Rose up and down.
"They're the Doctor and Rose Tyler," his mother replied weakly.
"What are they doing here?" Asdiwal further inquired.
Seeing that Asdiwal's mother was visibly distressed, the Doctor stepped between them.
"We're travelers, your mother was kind enough to let us stay here for the night but now we'll be going," turning the Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her out of the hut.
"But-" protested Rose as they vacated the hut.
"While they're talking in their hut, we're going to go find the spaceship," the Doctor explained as he removed his glasses and replaced them with 3-D glasses. "There!" he cried after a moment, pointing off into the vacant distance.
"There's nothing there Doctor, just snow and rocks, and more snow," Rose cried looking off to the spot where the Doctor was pointing.
"Wear these," the Doctor said handing her his 3-D glasses. Rose made a face at the Doctor but put the glasses on just the same.
"What!" she cried as she was now able to see the outline of a spaceship where the Doctor had pointed to earlier.
"Great thing about cloaking devices, you can't hide yourself from 3-D glasses," the Doctor explained as they ran off towards the cloaked spaceship, aided by the help of the Doctor's 3-D glasses.
Upon reaching the spaceship, the Doctor opened up a cargo door for himself and Rose using his sonic screwdriver. Inside, they surprised a man that had a similar appearance to Evening-Star.
"How did you get on my ship?" the man demanded of the two.
"Oh, one of your doors was open so we just popped right in," the Doctor replied. "But that's not important, what I want to know is what are you doing here?"
"We are here to fix what one of our kind did here," the man replied as he moved closer to the Doctor and Rose.
"And what was that?" the Doctor asked.
"One of our spaceships crash-landed nearby and instead of staying with the ship to wait for assistance, the pilot went off exploring. He found two starving women, he shared his meals with the two and mated with the younger woman. After their son had been born he sped up the growth process of his son so that he was a grown man instead of a child and left his new family when help arrived for his crashed spaceship. After we learned what he had done we set off for this planet to erase his mistake. It has always been one of our laws to not interfere with budding planets," the man explained.
"How exactly do you plan to erase your mistake?" the Doctor asked dangerously.
"By bringing the woman and her son home with us and leaving a story of the son with his people. The beginnings will be fact but he will go on to have a different life in the story than the one he will have with us. Do not worry, we will take good care of them both," the man said as he left the cargo hold.
The Doctor and Rose left the spaceship. "Do you believe him?" Rose asked as they stood outside the spaceship.
"Yeah, do you?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah," Rose said as they watched Asdiwal, his mother and Evening-Star board the ship. The ship took off and the two travelers were left alone in the snow.
"Fancy trying Hawaii again?" the Doctor asked as they watched the ship fly away.
"Yeah, all right," Rose replied as they set off for the TARDIS.