Thank you all for the warm welcome! Expect Saturday updates from here, and I will strive to maintain it as long as I can. Teaspoon and FF versions will have no differences for a while, and will be noted.
The Doctor plummeted towards the ground far below, sure he was heading all too swiftly towards his next regeneration. All he could think about was how he couldn't leave Rose behind, not now.
Something violently collided with him, knocking the breath from his lungs and shoving him sideways. His descent slowed until he was being carried along. The Doctor clung instinctively to the strong grip, catching nothing but blurred surroundings and white feathers in his vision. Seconds later, his horizontal speed slowed to a stop and he was set safely on his feet on solid ground.
"What?" the Doctor squeaked in confusion, tottering a moment before clutching his chest in an attempt to steady his racing hearts. "Well. That was...terrifying," he understated, studying his saviour with wild eyes. "And you're not a bird."
The young man before him was dressed in a full suit of elegant leather armor tinted a dark green, and he wore a short blade at each hip. His skin was almost angelic in its smoothness, his soft brown eyes betraying his obvious predisposition for combat. The blonde hair was about twice the length of the Doctor's, but it managed to stick up just the same. "Nope." He then grinned and waited, appearing like he expected to be rewarded. When the Doctor merely stared at him, still taking it all in, the man continued, "I heard your cry up there," he pointed, "from down here. You're lucky!"
"Yes, I..." the Doctor paused, looking up from where he had fallen and staring in awe, "...get that a lot." The "platform" he must have been standing on was connected to a large rock room, yes, but the entire thing was bristling with hanging stalactites and supported by nothing at all. The one opposite it was the same, around the central platform, which was attached directly to the main rock building. This one, however, was indeed a tower, supported by two columns that appeared as if they had grown that way, like massive tree trunks.
He blinked and looked back to the odd young man, who just kept watching him. The Doctor looked him over, his eyes still wide. "Did you just have wings a moment ago?"
An eyebrow went up. "Yes."
Too whirling in confusion to be annoyed, the Doctor simply asked, "Where'd they go?"
The man in leather chuckled. "You mean these?"
There was a slight motion, as if someone had thumped him between the shoulders, and the shape of two unfurling wings materialised until they were a pair of solid extensions of vibrant white feathers. They flexed gently as he held them up, shining occasionally as they caught the light.
"Yeah," the Doctor breathed, staring. "Those." If he hadn't seen so many incredible things throughout his lifetimes, the Doctor would have thought it altogether possible that he hit his head and was now dreaming. A smile of awe slid across his face. "You're beautiful."
The man's fair cheeks tinged pink. "Thanks. Um..."
"No, really, you're gorgeous," the Doctor insisted, looking him over as a whole. The wings, the smooth skin, the youthful appearance. It reminded him of Earth's early depictions of angels. "What species are you?"
He eyed the Doctor funny, traces of self-consciousness disappearing. "Oh, I'm human, like you." His tone turned to disbelief. "Have you never seen a Daeva before?"
"Ah." "No. I'm...from the outskirts," he said, explaining away his ignorance of local convention easily despite his distraction. Human? How could this creature be human? In what time, in what place had humans developed wings, and ones that just sort of...appeared? Was a "Daeva" a type of human?
"I thought everyone..." the man began, the wings suddenly folding until they were just...gone. His eyes narrowed, expression turning clearly suspicious.
There was a beat, then the Doctor exclaimed, "Right!" and bounded forward, all smiles. The man twisted quickly into a defensive stance, hands ready at their blades. The Doctor stuck out his hand in a friendly gesture. "I'm the Doctor, sorry. Bit of an awkward way to meet, what with me falling to my death and you saving me and all. No time for introductions! What's your name?"
Even the man's hands were gloved in forest green leather, and after a moment's hesitation, he offered one and shook the Doctor's hand. "Raegis. You're...who?"
"The Doctor. Tell me, Raegis," he carried through, turning to face the place he had fallen from. He needed to get back to Rose. "Would you be willing to help me get back up there?" A sudden motion between the two trunk-like columns of the structure caught his eye. A thin flat platform raced from the ground upwards and disappeared into the stone dwelling above. "Unless...is that a lift?" He glanced at Raegis, who nodded readily. "Well, then." He offered his hand again. "Thanks again. Hope I don't need saving next time we meet." He finished shaking his hand, said, "Bye for now!" and took off like a shot.
He raced down the small grassy hill where Raegis had landed them towards the tower, and when he got to the bottom, the Daeva suddenly appeared next to him on gliding wings. The wings disappeared, and Raegis began to run alongside him with practiced ease. Cheater, the Doctor thought. The terrain rose upwards again, and the pair began to climb the hill the tower itself was sitting on. The Doctor slowed to a walk, a bit winded, and looked to the side at a beautiful red and purple bird flying low over the grass and singing a beautiful song.
"That's a pluma," Raegis said, still matching the Doctor's pace. "You look like you've never seen one of those, either!"
"Never heard one, either," the Doctor agreed. His thoughts of showing one to Rose inevitably turned him forwards again and quickened his steps as they approached the top of the hill. Two men stood guard on either side of a gap in a fence made of thorns. These men wore heavier armor than Raegis did, both holding shields and swords. They paid the two little attention. The top of the ramp behind them had two more guardsmen.
Long stone pieces dropped down from around the lift's path far above, reminiscent of a hanging crystal chandelier. The lift was far above them, on its way back down. In its absence straight ahead was an enormous hole, its walls cast with a glowing green light. When the Doctor got close enough to the edge of the pathway and squinted into the brilliant light below, he could make out a huge stone ring sitting in a pit.
"The Abyss Gate," Raegis supplied. "You don't wanna go down there. I'm not even allowed, yet."
The Doctor was about to ask how he would even get down there if he wanted to when the lift whooshed down in front of them and settled perfectly against the edge of the pathway. Beyond the lift was another pathway just like this one, which led out the other side of the columns and into more forest and water pools beyond.
Raegis jogged onto the pad as soon as it had landed. "Come on, or you'll be left behind!" The Doctor quickly followed, marveling at how a broad, flat disc could rise and fall in a predetermined path with no signs of propulsion. Reversing gravity well? Magnetic field from the columns on either side? Perhaps something with the light from the Gate below?
The disc began to rise, faster and faster until the forest outside was moving way too quickly for comfort. The Doctor resisted latching onto Raegis' shoulder and looked up into the fast-approaching tower, holding his own.
The lift slowed just short of throwing him into the low ceiling, and the Doctor stumbled off the pad as quickly as he could, not wishing to ride the thing back down. "Would it kill them to slow it down a bit?" the Doctor whinged. Raegis just chuckled, which annoyed the Doctor, since the man could have just flown up if he wanted to.
The Doctor stopped cold. Rose had mentioned flying up in the console room, as if it were the obvious solution to the natural limitations of gravity. What made her think in such a way? The TARDIS hadn't even landed here in this winged world yet, and she was speaking as if...
Terrifying thoughts of Time and the Bad Wolf flew through the Doctor's head, and he turned away from the lift. He was in a cathedral of a hall, bustling with activity. The inside of the rock building was nothing like a cave, but all man-made arches, columns and a second-story balcony creating the ceiling directly above him and running along the side walls. An archway under either far side of the balcony showed a stairway, and the stone tile floor was topped with a red carpet that ran between him and the opening on the far wall. Even as he watched, a white-winged person flew through and landed on the balcony to the left, while another sprouted wings from the floor and flew out.
That was the main entrance he saw from outside. He could see the central platform. Just to the right of it should be a bridge leading right to the TARDIS.
He had to get to Rose.
The Doctor crossed straight through the hall at a hurried pace, and he could hear Raegis right behind him. Why was he following him, anyway? He was certainly suspicious of the Doctor. No matter—he wouldn't be following him into the TARDIS.
A woman's shout could be heard over the din of human voices, and the two soldiers on either side of the exit looked up towards the right. They then looked to the Doctor, and as he approached, they moved in front of him.
"I'm sorry, sir. We've been asked to detain you."
"What? Why?" The Doctor turned and looked up to the balcony. Two women were looking at him over the edge.
"I've met him just now, " Raegis claimed to the soldiers, "but I'll go, too."
"This way, sir," one of the soldiers said, and motioned him towards the archway in the wall under the balcony.
The Doctor's mind raced as he looked around at his options. The TARDIS was so close, and he might be able to give these guardsmen the slip, if he were quick enough. It was doubtful he could outrun them on foot before they simply flew down in front of him on the bridge, however. He looked up to the balcony. What would these people want with him? The soldiers weren't forcing him, but waiting for the Doctor's move. He desperately wanted to get to Rose, but if these people just wished to talk and there was a chance they could give him answers as to why the TARDIS had landed here, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. That was why he stepped out of the TARDIS in the first place, after all. Rose would be all right for another few minutes, wouldn't she?
Seeing little other choice, the Doctor moved towards the stairs, with Raegis following. The stairwell led up to a landing lit by candelabras, then switched back and led upwards again. He emerged at the back of the balcony. Another soldier stood in front of the railing ahead of him. To the left was a winged stone statue, different than the others he had seen. A man in a robe was bent over at its base, hands on his knees as if catching his breath, and another man in a robe had a hand on his shoulder as if assisting him. Just beyond them was a short set of steps leading up to the central landing with a tall archway that created the ceiling above the lift. Just before the stairs stood the two women. They wore matching white strapless dresses with full sleeves. They waited for him.
"There must be some mistake," the Doctor said politely as he approached. "I'm not from around here, so you've got to have the wrong person." He stuck a thumb out over his shoulder. "Unless this is about the blue box outside? If it's in the way, I'd be happy to move it. Right now, even."
"Come with us," one of the women insisted, waving him over.
"Really, though," the Doctor insisted, some of his desperation coming through, still pointing with his thumb. "My...my wife." It was a strange word on his tongue, but that's what Rose was to him, now, wasn't it? "She's not well. I've got to get back to her, right now."
"The woman," the one with shorter, reddish hair began. "The one calmed by Aether. She is fine now." She smiled and began to walk. "Come with us."
The Doctor's hand slowly dropped as he processed her words. Well, this was interesting. Knowing what she did, the Doctor found himself believing her. After a moment, he walked towards them, and the women led him around the statue to the left and into another room in the stone wall.
It was a much smaller hall, roughly smaller than the console room but a bit taller, its cathedral style lending it an air of importance. Transparent drapes extended from lit chandeliers at the highest point in the center and extended outward across the ceiling. At the back of the hall was a man in an intricately-patterned white robe holding a wooden staff. A couple of soldiers stood in the corners, but otherwise they were alone in the quieter room.
"What is your name?" the blonde woman asked as they walked.
"You can call me the Doctor," he replied.
"Thedokter. Strange name."
"No, just...Doctor. Like a title."
"Ohh, I see." She stopped in front of the man in the robe. "Doctor, this is Diomedes, the high priest of Eltnen Fortress. I'm Gaia, Daeva of Earth." She gestured to the other woman. "This is Clio, a Daeva of Song."
"A pleasure, yes," the Doctor hurried. "Forgive me, though, what's all this about?"
"I recognise him," Clio told the man with the staff. "He's the same I've seen."
Diomedes was watching the Doctor closely, even as he nodded towards the ginger-haired woman. "Clio tells me she's had a vision of you. That you wield the power of an Artifact."
"It's disturbed the flow of Aether around the Fortress," Gaia added.
The Doctor frowned, looking between Diomedes and Gaia. "If you mean my TARDIS, then I apologise. Is it causing a problem?"
"No, it doesn't appear so," Gaia assured him.
"Where did you find it?" Diomedes asked eagerly. "And what do you mean to do with it here?"
"I use it for transport, and I didn't find it anywhere around here." The Doctor wasn't liking the direction their questions were going. "Really, it's fine. Harmless, nothing to worry about."
"It's your duty to surrender such a device to Brigade General Telemachus," Diomedes insisted.
"Diomedes," Clio warned softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. She looked kindly to the Doctor. "Forgive him. When it comes to ancient relics, Diomedes gets...a little excited. You've lived a thousand songs, and your song here is just beginning."
Diomedes frowned at Clio. "You make it sound as if he's lived as long as a Daeva." He gestured toward the Doctor. "He's hardly got any Aether in him." Diomedes regarded him again, studying the Doctor even more closely than before. "In fact, his life force is...off." He moved to the side, studying the Doctor from his new angle. "It's like he doesn't have a trace of Aether at all!"
"Impossible," Gaia dismissed. "Even if he were from Balaurea, he would have a trace."
"Right," the Doctor interrupted, "and there's a perfectly good reason for what you're seeing." Clearly, these people weren't even considering that he wasn't from their world, which meant he didn't want to let on what he was. At this rate, however, it seemed they were going to work it out on their own. He had questions he needed to ask, but asking the wrong ones would surely give away the fact that he wasn't one of them. "It's...um...complicated. It...has to do with the Artifact."
Gaia gasped. Diomedes' eyes went wide, and he asked, "It drains Aether from those around it?"
The Doctor groaned inwardly. Now he had done it. "No, that's not it. Really, though, it's fine, I assure you."
"Explain yourself," Diomedes demanded, "or I'll have no choice but to report you to Telemachus."
The Doctor drew the tip of his tongue along his lip nervously. Everything he thought to say only seemed to back him into a corner in the end, and he didn't have a clue what to do.
-^^-W-^^-
Rose pulled in a deep breath and rolled her head. She felt the grating of the floor against her skull, which prompted her to open her eyes. The console room thrummed around her. Why was she lying on the floor? Propping herself up, she looked around. Where was the Doctor?
She tried to remember what happened, but her brain was all fuzzy. The last thing she remembered clearly was last night in the Doctor's room. Rose could feel a blush creep up her neck. That had been real, hadn't it? Or had she vividly remembered the best dream of her life?
The Time Rotor was still, in its column. They had landed somewhere.
"Doctor?" Rose called out. Her voice reverberated around the room, but there was no answer.
The TARDIS felt empty. The Doctor had to be outside somewhere. Climbing to her feet, Rose steadied herself against the battered jump seat and combed her fingers through her hair. After catching her breath, she moved towards the doors.
-^^-W-^^-
The world outside rivaled that at the top of her list of the most beautiful places Rose had ever seen. Her first impression was one of a treetop village, except the tower of rock with its bridges wasn't really a tree. It was surrounded by a canyon with trees and waterfalls, though, and the sun was shining brilliantly.
Rose wondered if the Doctor had landed them on a pleasure planet. She called for him and peered behind the TARDIS into the room inside the rock building. It appeared to be a shoppe, but there was no sign of the Doctor. Striding across the bridge, she looked down over the side. She was really high up! There would be no way she could survive a fall like that.
She could hear him in her head, saying, Rule Number One: Don't wander off. Really though, he was the one who had wandered off first, wasn't he? Besides, she could swear she heard his voice coming from that big rock ahead. If this really was a pleasure planet, he was probably off chatting up some alien and sipping on a margarita.
Hold on, that didn't make sense. Why would he leave her lying on the floor of the console room?
A blur of white wings flashed in front of her on its way out the doorway into the open air. It stopped and hovered for a moment, and Rose could see it was a man with wings. He flapped twice, then dove down over the side of the platform, out of sight.
Well, the locals were definitely interesting. Winged people! How cool was that?
Rose stopped just inside what looked like a great foyer. It had to be the main room, though, because it looked like it took up most of the building. Two men in armor flanked the entrance, and Rose walked up to one of them with a winning smile.
"Excuse me. You wouldn't happen to have seen a man come through here in a pinstriped suit?"
The soldier raised an eyebrow. "Yes, actually..." He pointed up at the balcony to the left.
"Great, thanks!" Rose spotted the stairs, and before she turned, she noticed the two soldiers share a look. She walked away, grinning to herself. Perhaps the console room floor hadn't mussed her hair as much as she had thought.
Rose sighed in contentment as she bounded up the steps up to the balcony. She couldn't help herself. This place made her feel so alive. She might never want to leave.
There was a short stack of steps ahead to an upper landing, the entire balcony creating a U shape around the foyer. The soldier had pointed towards this side of the balcony, so as Rose passed a stone statue with wings, she peered into the doorway just to the left.
There he was! Rose grinned and slipped quietly into the room. The Doctor was facing three people in white. A man in green leather stood near the back, and a couple of men dressed like soldiers stood in the far corners. When she saw the tension on everyone's faces, her grin lost its strength.
"Explain yourself," the man in white was saying to the Doctor, "or I'll have no choice but to report you to Telemachus."
"Hey," Rose offered softly. They all turned to her. "What's going on?"
"Rose!" the Doctor shouted in delight. He ran to her, and Rose grinned at him, allowing herself to be swept up in his embrace. He rumbled happily into her hair before pulling back to look into her face. "You all right?"
"Yeah, 'course I am. More than all right!" Rose beamed at him, then looked to the other four. "What about you?"
"Brilliant, yes!" The Doctor turned to regard the others a moment. "Well, not him. Diomedes is a bit...shall we say, suspicious. But he needn't be! Isn't that right, Clio?" The Doctor led Rose by the hand towards them. "Daeva of Song? I think our answers lie in this vision of yours. Tell us about it?"
Whatever tension that had been there seemed to dissipate as everyone now looked to the ginger-haired woman. She smiled warmly at Rose.
"You look well. I also recognise you from my vision. Your name is Rose? The name is beautiful, as is your aura of Aether."
Rose maintained her polite smile, but didn't know what Clio meant. The Doctor started, however, jumping to arm's length to look at her. He looked back to Clio.
"What do you mean? You see Aether in her?"
All three of the people in white nodded their agreement, and the Doctor frowned back at Rose in confusion.
"Why are you concerned, Doctor?" Clio asked. "You said yourself she was not well before, and now she appears to be. I told you, the Aether calms her."
Rose gazed back at the Doctor. His eyes relaxed somewhat at Clio's words, but he kept looking her over intently. "Was there something wrong with me? Is that why I was asleep on the floor?"
The Doctor pulled Rose into a hug. "We'll speak of it later. Like Clio said...I think you're going to be all right." He squeezed her a little harder.
"What's Aether?"
The Doctor stilled around her, and Rose could instantly sense that she had said something wrong.
"I mean..." Rose began, thinking furiously of how to recover. "Obviously, it's Aether, but what's it to me? Like..." Rose looked to Clio. "You said it calms me. How?" Rose bit her lip as she resisted the urge to ramble and her heart beat faster.
"We are all Aether at heart," the cross man the Doctor had called Diomedes said. "It's our lifeblood. Aion created all of us, everything around us. Aether is his pure power at work."
Clio nodded. "I don't know why you were not well, but I saw that simply the high concentration of Aether around the Fortress was enough for your particular illness. If only all ailments were so easily treated." Clio gestured to the woman across from her. "Gaia knows well that regions across Atreia have varied amounts."
"It's true. So far, we've built fortresses on three Abyss Gates. It's what allows our Daevas to fly."
Rose's head was spinning with new concepts she wanted to ask about, but she kept her mouth shut and looked to the Doctor.
"What is it you want with me, then? Why did you have a vision about us?"
Clio shook her head. "Your purpose is not yet known. I only know it is of importance, child of Siel."
The Doctor's brow furrowed. "Siel?"
Clio, who had so far been the most patient and understanding, showed a touch of annoyance. "Lady Siel, Empyrean Lord of Time? She of course is no longer with us, but I know your presence is because of her, and that you are here to do her will."