"And here we are," the Doctor announced.

"Where?" Clara asked eagerly.

"It's a surprise," he replied, with a smug little smirk.

"Will I like it?"

"I certainly hope so, after all the trouble I've gone to," the Doctor replied, a bit huffily.

"The TARDIS did all the actual work," Clara teased.

"Shut up!" the Doctor replied, tossing Clara her red shawl.


Clara stepped out of the TARDIS, settling the soft woolen shawl about her shoulders. It did seem rather out of place for space travel, but it was very pretty, and the Doctor got sentimental about the oddest things. She looked up and stopped in her tracks.

The TARDIS had landed on the edge of a bustling market place, enclosed by an enormous transparent dome. Clara turned silently in place, trying to take it all in. The lanes were filled with so very many different kinds of life forms - so many shapes and colors, and an amazing babble of voices reached her ears. And the sky! The dome made it seem that she could just reach out her hand and touch…

"The stars…" she breathed, in wonder.

"Thought you might like it," the Doctor remarked, then braced himself as Clara flung herself into his arms. "What d'you want to see first?"

"Everything!"


"How is it that I can understand what everyone's saying?" Clara asked curiously, as they strolled among the vendor's stalls.

"It's a gift of the TARDIS. Just don't let it make you over confident, all right?"

"Me?" she asked, with wide-eyed innocence.

"I mean it, Clara. Please don't wander off. This is an open commerce center with God knows how many races wandering about, not necessarily all friendly, so please?"

Clara linked her arm through his. "Happy?"

"Ought to put a leash on you," he muttered.

"Oooh, look!" Clara squealed, dragging the Doctor off to a brightly colored booth, with a display of fluffy, white, monkey-like animals.

The Doctor snatched back Clara's hand. "Oi! Venomous! That would be why I told you not to wander off." He scooped up a purple, spidery looking creature. "Here, play with this if you must."

"It's slimy!" Clara protested, wrinkling her nose. "It…oh, it's purring!" she exclaimed delightedly.

"And turning pink," the Doctor pointed out, utterly captivated by Clara's smile, and the sparkle in her eyes.

"I don't suppose…?"

"We don't know if it's TARDIS broken."

Reluctantly, Clara handed the little creature back to the shopkeeper, a tentacled being enfolded in a shapeless, hooded robe.

"This is your first visit to Constantinople?" it hissed.

"Yes," Clara replied brightly.

"No," the Doctor answered simultaneously.

"Constantinople? Is that what this place is called?" Clara asked.

"Founded by human colonists. Crossroads of the universe, and all that," the Doctor supplied.

The shopkeeper held out the now-pink creature to Clara. "A gift for the lovely lady, in honor of her first visit."

"No, thank you," the Doctor said briskly, wrapping his arm around Clara's shoulders and steering her quickly away from the booth.

"What was that all about?" Clara demanded.

"Didn't your mum ever teach you not to take candy from strangers?"