High Tea

Chapter 1: The Last Silurians

From the journal of Jenny Flint

His name is Jenaster. For now, that is most of what I know. He is silurian, that much is clear. I'd never seen another silurian before, let alone a male silurian, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Vastra was the only silurian I ever hoped to see. But here he is.

There are certain similarities - green scales, piercing eyes, that hiss when they breathed sharply - but apart from that, they look almost entirely different. His face is broad and flat where Vastra's is thin and pointed. His eyes are round where Vastra's are narrow. His nose - broken in some forgotten struggle - is wide, square, and twisted, where Vastra's is thin, aquiline, and regal. Vastra looked like silurian royalty next to him... He looked, at best, like a criminal.

I don't trust him. I don't know if I ever will. But Vastra does. And I trust Vastra. I follow her, wherever she says. Now, we follow Jenaster, whatever may come. This is the story of how Vastra reclaimed her people...

Jenny Flint was nervous.

The silurian called himself Jenaster. He was, by his own admission, a criminal and escaped convict, though his only crime - again by his own admission - was existence. He stood taller than Vastra, wider and broader and with more muscles and a more obvious history of toil, hard work, and struggle. His face was dull - nondescript, by silurian standards - but he had a certain quality to him, a fierceness, and unwillingness to break under pressure.

He had asked them to follow him, and they'd had little choice but to do as he asked. Jenny didn't trust him. She would have sooner turned him over to UNIT, as they'd been tasked to do - by the Doctor no less! - but Vastra had that light in her eyes, and Jenny knew there was no stopping her when she did. This Jenaster had promised her a chance to reunite with her people. There was no greater curiosity than that, and curiosity drove Vastra to do some unpredictable things. It did not matter that this rogue silurian, this criminal, this murderer, was untrustworthy. His promise was enough to lead Vastra on, and Jenny and Strax followed Vastra.

But there was something off about the silurian, and the strange girl that followed him. They stalked through the sewers nervously, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax in tow.

"Hurry," Jenaster said, ducking ahead of them.

"Keep up," Valentine hissed. She seemed to see in the dark as well as Jenaster, despite being human. She padded along behind him, with Vastra stalking by in her shadow, and Jenny and Strax bringing up the rear. Jenaster stopped them under a pool of light, and looked up cautiously at the world above.

"What's up there?" Jenny asked. "Where are we going? You 'aven't told us anything."

"We must return to where I first arrived," he said, "but the people of this world have trapped me inside some kind of perimeter."

"UNIT's security net," Vastra said. "You won't be able to breach it without their forces coming down on you."

"This I already know," Jenaster said. He turned to them, and his broad face was dark with shadows under the beam of light. "But now I have you."

"I doubt we will be of much help," Vastra said. "The network is impenetrable."

"But you were working with them," Jenaster said. "You understand their ways."

"Less than you might think," Vastra sighed. "No, we cannot breach the net. Not in this way, at least." Jenny could tell Vastra was planning something. She wasn't sure if she liked it, but she trusted her love.

"What then?" Jenaster asked.

Vastra considered for a moment. She paced silently, crossing in and out of the pool of light. Jenny and Strax stood by, certain that their mistress had a plan, but Valentine was less patient. She bobbed on her feet, always trying to take a step then changing her mind, wobbling back and forth anxiously, like a child, like a beast. Jenny wondered where she'd come from, and how she fell in with this stranger...

"If we go back to our hideout," Vastra said slyly, "we might be able to temporarily have the net taken down. We'd have to be smart about it, though, and you could not, under any circumstance, reveal yourselves to anyone we communicate with. If we were able to do that, we might be able to help you. I see no other way."

"I was to lead," Jenaster said haughtily.

"Sometimes," Vastra said calmly, "even leaders must follow, when it benefits their cause."

"There is no other way?" Jenaster asked. "I do not believe this. You must - "

"Oh, let's just go already!" Valentine cried. Her voice echoed down the sewer. "I want to get out of this stinking tunnel. It reminds me too much of... there."

"We shall go, then," Jenaster said at once. His sudden change of mood made Jenny anxious. "But do not think to betray us to your people."

"If that was my plan," Vastra said, "I should have already done so. Come, we cannot take this exit. Too many people. If you would be so kind as to follow."

Vastra led them back along the tunnel, taking off at a quick clip. Jenaster looked suspicious, but Valentine followed on eagerly, and Jenny took off after her. Jenaster followed then, and Strax brought up the rear, though not entirely by choice... Jenny thought she could hear his angry grumbling as they trundled along.

They came up at a service tunnel Jenny recognized from their own time, one they'd used many times to avoid detection in the 19th century. Paternoster Row was not far, though they still had a densely populated area to pass through. Vastra's perception filter would protect her, as would the one Strax had equipped, but it would not be enough to cover Jenaster. They had a difficult decision to make.

"Jenny," Vastra said. "We cannot risk passing through this area without attracting attention."

"I know, miss," Jenny said. "What are you thinking?"

"If you could," Vastra began, "take Strax and Valentine back to number 13. Then, bring Strax's perception filter back to us, and Jenaster and I will use it to cross."

"Or we could - " Jenaster began. Strangely, a look from Valentine silenced him.

"Are you sure you'll be alright alone with 'im?" Jenny asked, nodding to Jenaster. He furrowed his rugged brow.

"Why shouldn't she be?" he asked angrily.

"No reason," Jenny said. She pushed Strax along as Valentine waited anxiously to leave. "Won't be long."

"Don't keep me waiting," Vastra said with a wink.

"I do not trust that one," Strax said, when they were out of earshot. "There is something unseemly about him. It would be best to blast him with a plasma grenade and be done with this whole ordeal. At close range, it would be a simple matter to - "

"You don't understand anything, do you?" Valentine grumbled. "My master is not who you think he is."

"We barely know 'im," Jenny said. They crossed the street, and she couldn't help but nervously check over their shoulders, as if she really were walking in the open with two silurians. "What can you tell us about 'im?" Jenny asked.

"Nothing," Valentine said. "I refuse to speak ill of my master."

"Then speak positively," Jenny said. "Tell us why you follow 'im."

"Or do not speak at all," Strax growled. "It is just as well."

"Where did he find you?" Jenny asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"Okay." Jenny tried to keep calm. "What about... 'ow did you meet?"

"Master saved me," Valentine said. "That's all."

"From what?"

"I said that's all!"

"If you won't tell me anythin', 'ow can we trust him like you do?"

"I don't care," Valentine said. "We won't be together long anyway."

"You're 'opeless," Jenny said.

"For once, I agree," Strax added. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Jenny felt much more comfortable once they were inside the doors of 13 Paternoster Row. She tasked Strax with keeping an eye on Valentine, and took his perception filter from him. She needed a moment before returning. Something was weighing on her mind.

"Valentine," she asked, "did Jenaster really kill those people?"

"He did," Valentine said. "He was protecting me. Protecting us."

"From what?"

"Jailers," Valentine said. Her eyes widened as she closed her lips tight.

"Jailers?"

"You won't understand," the girl said. "It's not like we're on the run. We didn't commit no crime."

"So why were you locked up, Valentine?" Jenny asked, kneeling down before the girl, who had slumped into the couch where she'd first been placed when she was brought back to number 13 the first time. "What happened?"

"The prison..." she began. She looked away from Jenny, and Jenny worried she'd stop speaking. But she didn't. She kept on. There was a pressure inside of her just as there was in Jenny. "You don't know," Valentine said. "You don't know what it's like there."

"Tell me."

"I can't go back."

"Why were you there?"

"Why?" Valentine repeated.

"Why? Who was the prison for? If it's for silurians, or for something else..."

"No," Valentine said weakly.

"Then who?"

"Anyone."

"Even humans?" Jenny asked. Valentine's eyes told her everything she needed to know. "Oh my god," Jenny said. "You aren't human."

Valentine bolted to her feet. She seemed taller than before, and Jenny stumbled, falling onto her behind. "What does it matter to you?!" Valentine cried. Strax was in the room at once, plasma pistol at the ready. "Stand down, boy!" he barked. To Jenny's surprise, Valentine sunk into her seat.

"Valentine... How did you escape?" Jenny asked, regaining her footing. Valentine shook her head. "What? How did you escape, Valentine?"

She spoke so softly Jenny could barely hear her over the breeze through the bay window. But the truth she spoke, despite the quiet, shook Jenny to her core.

"We didn't," Valentine said. Jenny stood as tall as she could manage. Strax lowered his gun. "Preposterous!"

"We didn't," Valentine said. "They let us go."

"What?" Jenny gasped. "Why?"

"Jenaster doesn't know," Valentine said, on the verge of tears. "You mustn't say..."

"I won't," Jenny said. "Can you tell me what's happening, Valentine?"

The girl shook her head.

"Then there's something I have to do," Jenny said. "Strax, watch her. She's keeping secrets from Jenaster, there's no telling what she's keepin' from us."

"Yes sir!" Strax barked, and took Jenny's place just in front of where Valentine had slumped on the couch. "We have to get off this world," she mumbled, her head in her hands. Jenny couldn't take it any longer. There was something she had to do, and then she needed Vastra.

Jenny, Vastra and Jenaster arrived soon after, and found Valentine and Strax exactly where they'd left them, as if time had frozen inside the house. "Get that weapon away from my ward!" Jenaster barked. "This is barbaric."

"I was told to keep watch," Strax said, rising to his fullest height in an attempt to threaten the silurian. "I never falter when given an order."

"The sontarans at Paxus were much more tolerable than you," Jenaster said. He swept Valentine off the couch, and she took a seat in the armchair behind him.

"There were sontarans at this prison?" Vastra asked, delicately taking off her gloves. She'd turned off the perception filter as soon as she came in the door, as had Jenaster, and they stood now, two silurians, face-to-face. "It's called Paxus?"

"By some," Jenaster said.

"Tell me about it," Vastra said.

"You must help me escape. There will be time for talk later."

"There is time now," Vastra said. "Jenny, fix us some tea."

"Yes marm," Jenny said nervously. "But there's something I need to - " Vastra cut her off. Jenny didn't like the tension that was still boiling between the two silurians, but she did as she was bid.

"Have a seat, if you like," Vastra said to Jenaster, her voice taking on an unnerving calm. "Tell me what I want to know."

"The prison?"

"If you prefer. Or where you came from."

"I came from the prison," Jenaster said. "They take away everything you were before."

"So, go on. What's this prison like?"

"It is all darkness and steel," Jenaster said. "When it isn't silence, cold, and death."

"What is its purpose?" Vastra asked. "Who controls it?"

"I do not know," Jenaster replied. Valentine shivered, and whimpered like an injured dog. "Nor did I wish to. All I wanted was to escape."

"Yet I find myself curious," Vastra mused.

"Miss," Jenny said. "I really do need to speak to you." Vastra kissed her teeth, but she smiled at Jenny despite her annoyance.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Vastra said. "We'll make ready to leave soon."

Vastra followed Jenny into the kitchen, and they heard Strax ready his pistol at the odd pair once again. "If he's nothing else," Vastra said, "at least he is loyal."

"Marm, Valentine isn't human," Jenny said. It had been boiling for so long inside her, she needed to get it out all at once.

"Isn't she? Interesting. Of course I suspected as much. Her smell is different."

"What do we do? She's been lying to us."

"No," Vastra said, "she merely lacked the opportunity to tell us the truth. And when pressed, she did, did she not? We must follow them, Jenny. You do not understand why I need to do this."

"I do!" Jenny pleaded. "I do miss. But not like this. Please. Let's make sure we know what we're gettin' into!"

"I shall endeavour to find out," Vastra said. "Is the tea ready?"

"Miss... there's something else," Jenny said.

"It can wait. I am anxious to know what this silurian knows." Vastra left the room haughtily, and Jenny decided not to pursue. It could wait, and what she had to tell would resolve itself soon enough...

Vastra only managed to get a little more out of Jenaster and his strange companion over the next hour. For every word they spoke (and every hidden secret they chose not to reveal) Jenny trusted them less. Valentine wasn't human? Jenaster hadn't in fact escaped, but was let go? How much did they really understand of their own plight? Jenny didn't like it. It made her feel better about what she'd decided to do.

When it seemed hopeless to keep talking to the silurian and his ward, a knock sounded on the door of number 13. All eyes turned curiously to the door, and then to the one set of eyes that did not turn. Jenny shrugged, for there was nothing she could say that Osgood could not tell them herself. The door opened, and the girl spilled in, oversized scarf and all. "Hi," she said awkwardly, as she saw all the eyes on her. Then she noticed Jenaster, and silently reached for her inhaler. "I um..." she swallowed hard, and her words disappeared.

"My dear," Vastra said, with obviously forced calm, "what are you doing here?"

"I called her," Jenny said. "I thought we could use all the 'elp we can get."

"Well," Vastra said, with a reproachful look at Jenny, "I suppose you're a part of this now. Welcome to the team."

"Thanks..." Osgood said. The door closed behind her. "Uh... What's next?"

"What indeed," Vastra said. She turned back to face Jenaster, but the silurian stayed silent. It was going to be a long ride.