Author's note: Thanks for the reviews, and keep them coming. I love hearing great things about me!

And as always, I down own anything from the Doctor Who Universe, except for my own illicit thoughts about the Doctor ;-)

Enjoy the story!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martha finally came to a halt in the forest when the sounds of battle seemed to die down. She had to catch her breath and get her barings. She had tried to remember land marks, certain rocks, distinctive plants, which was hard because she couldn't identify any of them. But she remembered, weird leave and things, anything that would help her get back towards the Doctor.

The trees that surrounded her were magnificent. Taller than any skyscraper she had ever seen. Thick as houses. The bark was varying warm hues of brown and tan with interlacing golden shards. She felt compelled to trace her fingers across the golden designs and slowly reached out to do so. Somewhere in the back of her mind a whisper of a voice begged her not to. Don't touch it! But the compulsion was stronger. Urging her hand forward regardless of that whisper.

"Halt!" a distinctive male voice echoed through the forest.

She did. Slowly raising her hands into the air. "Turn around. Slowly." The voice commanded.

Turning she realized that she was surrounded. Four of the cream colored warrior aliens surrounded her in a semicircle. They wore leather-looking armor trimmed in some kind of metal she could not recognize. Their hair was a mirage of colors, blue and green, red and purple. All with weapons drawn. Some had swords, others sported what she could only assume were weapons.

"How did you get through the barrier?" The blue-haired leader asked stonily.

"What barrier?" She asked trying to watch all the warriors, praying the Doctor would just pop up any second.

"The shield that surrounds the forest, how did you get through it?"

"I don't know anything about a shield we just landed and then the fighting, and I ran."

This did not seem to satisfy the warriors, one to her right, with red hair like a tomato which seemed to sport white racing stripes, spoke to his leader. "Kalryn, She could be a Favlin spy from another world. It would not be the first time they have tricked us."

Martha didn't like the sound of this at all. Her throat instantly went try, and she gulped to saturate it.

"Or," the leader said his eyes prowling Martha's form as if trying to see through her, "She could have come from the Blue Box."

She saw her opening and grasped for it, "Yes, the TARDIS. That's our ship it's where we came from." The others began to look a little more shaken. The leader and the red-head stood their ground.

"Who is 'we'?" The leader asked stonily.

"Well, me and the Doctor." One of them, a female with purple hair, actually gasped.

"Hold fast Uula." The leader commanded to the purple-haired female who seemed to go even paler at the mention of the Doctor's name. He considered her for a moment longer. "I do not recognize your Fa. Nor, have I felt anything like the Fa of that box. You are both different from each other, vastly different." The other's seemed to nod in agreement, although Martha had no bloody idea what a Fa was, she hoped his lack of recognition wouldn't be her undoing. "We will take her to the rendezvous, and wait for Dyanota."

Ok great. She thought snidely, Now I just have to stay alive and convince this Dyanota person that I'm not a Favlin. The red head seemed to have a huge problem with this decision. "Dyanota has not been seen for days-"

"Then we will wait for her return." The leader stood solidly on his decision as he sheathed his sword. "Come Matha Jones of the TARDIS." The red haired creature bustled as if insulted but not willing to speak against his leader again. "We are not far now."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I need to get rest of this armor off." The female behind the tree with the Doctor growled as she turned back for cover. She put down her bow and began to struggle with the chest plate.

"I think now's hardly the time for a wardrobe change." The Doctor commented. If he could only get a specimen of that creature the Fevlin were shooting at them.

"It is part of the Fevlin. It draws them to us." She explained. Her fingers trying to grip the sides of the chest plate, which seemed stuck to her.

"Ah, well in that case." The Doctor reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a sleek silver device about the length of his hand and began pressing codes into it.

"What is that?"

"Sonic Screwdriver." He answered as he pointed the glowing blue light where the armor had welded itself to her. A low hum filled the air as he traced the length of the chest plate. The right side freed itself from her under armor, which was of the same design as her fellow warriors. She turned, now convinced that the magic wand worked and allowed him to free her from what was left of her Fevlin disguise.

Once she was free, she seemed to take a deep breath before looking into the most striking brown eyes she had ever seen in the universe. One's eyes were the window to the Fa, her mother had used to tell her. And his were deep, and strange, and pain-filled. Yet there was an underlying strength, a sense of wonder, and dedication to principle. It was too much too soon, so she gathered her composure by taking the fallen armor in her hands.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Now," she said with a sly grin. "We do a little diversionary technique and make for the rendezvous point." She turned to her companion who was now watching them intently. "Marew, ready to move?"

"Ey, my Lady. Let's get out of here, the other's will be worried."

"On three."

"What? What are we doing on three." The Doctor asked.

"One." She switched places with the Doctor with him on her left, between Marew and herself.

"Two"

"I'd really like to know so I can prepare-"

"Three," she yelled only loud enough for her companions to hear. She threw the armor to her right and pushed the Doctor leftward. The train of larva fire followed the armor, and the three ran.

When all was clear they stopped. The female dropped to her knees and the Doctor and Marew stooped to her.

"Rest Dyanota," Marew said, placing an ages hand on her shoulder. "You have been in the realm of the Fevlin for days. You must rest."

"No it's just the armor." She let out her panting breaths, "it blocks the Fa." Marew seemed to understand. And stepped away from the girl as she began to weep.

"Dax," She whispered reverently. "Yulia, and Minaw." The sorrow in her voice cut through to the Doctor's bones. "We lost them."

"Yes." Marew stated. "In the battle. Mourn them, child. I will get our barings." Marew nodded to the Doctor to follow him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martha was led through the woods for another few miles before the blue haired leader, Kalryn, stopped them in front of a tree. He traced a pattern in the golden swirls before stepping back. The pattern now etched in the tree's strange bark began to glow, as did a similar pattern in the tree next to it.

Then before Martha's eyes golden sparkles shimmered between the trees, as if revealing an invisible door. Then it faded, and where there had once been nothing but forest and plant-life, now stood several tents with other cream colored aliens walking about doing daily chores.

"They have returned!" Someone cried.

Kalryn grasped her arm and lead her away from the group of soldiers as they were swarmed by their loved ones.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what are you lot about?" The Doctor asked when they were far enough away from the grieving female.

The older male alien turned his face to consider the Doctor, then turned away. "I should be asking the same for you and your companion. We don't get visitors much anymore."

"Can't imagine why not." The Doctor said sarcastically. "Beautiful views, snarling monsters on reptile backs. Quiet lovely location for a holiday. Where are we again?"

Marew's face was significantly more wrinkled than Dayatona's. The Doctor could see every one of his years as the cream colored alien considered what the Doctor had said. He almost looked as if the Doctor had just informed him there wasn't a tooth fairy. "You do not know which world you are on? How, peculiar."

"Eh, not really. It happened sometimes."

"This is Gylona, home world to the Gy.

"Gylona…Gylona… where have I heard of that before?"

Marew seemed surprised. "As I said before, it has been centuries since we have had visitors. Ever since the fighting began. We used to be a people at peace. Of course we had our minor squabbles between the houses, taxes, but nothing too serious. But then the Fevlin came." And he left it at that.

"You're the original beings of this planet then? How long have they been here?"

"We are. Although we are few in number now, we used to have houses through out the planet. The house of Myr, in the mountains. The house of Selia, of the Western lands. The house of Ionyia from the Sandlands. And all the others have fallen, all but the house of Roe."

"The Fevlin," he continued, "have been here for centuries vowing to battle us to our last."

"But why? Why here? What's so special about this planet? Sure the views are nice, as I've mentioned before. But why out of all of the planets in all of the galaxies, why here? " He pondered aloud.

He looked at the Doctor with his eyes wide, as if he should already know these things. But then he shrugged and turned to examine the golden etchings on the nearest tree. "That we do not know. We have learned much about our enemy, but time grows short for us. Perhaps one day this will be the home world of the Favlin."

"Nah, you don't believe that. If you did, you wouldn't be fighting them."

He looked back at the Doctor. "Perhaps. Or perhaps we have been fighting so long, we know not how else to be."

For a moment he was back on New Earth, lying on the grass with Rose, so soon after his regeneration. She'd mentioned getting a flat together, being normal. He'd been fighting for 900 years, surly he couldn't be "normal". While he sympathized with these beings, he also was overwhelmed with grief as he was every time he thought about Rose.

The older man's eyes met his and the sympathy he saw there was unparalleled by any he'd ever seen before. "So much grief." He said, causing the Doctor to steel his resolve. "She must have meant a lot to you."

"You couldn't have gotten inside my head." His voice quaking with the anger he was barely containing. "Not without my knowing."

The alien lifted both his hands in surrender. "I apologize. We cannot help it. My people are empaths. Your grief was so strong. Only the loss of a great love can cause grief that strong."

Love. There it was again. The one word he hadn't been able to say to her. He didn't let her know how he felt, that had been the truest tragedy. Not that he had lost her, for he knew one day he would, but she'd never gotten to hear the words. And he, of all people, knew the strength those words could inspire.

"Strong enough." Dyanota said stepping from the woods behind them. "To cut through my own." She bowed slightly to him, as if acknowledging their shared grief. He bowed back, accepting her offering of solstice.

"We have dallied too long." She said after a moment. "And the suns will soon be setting. We will continue on a bit more before making camp, then we will hold Palaver. Then, and only then, shall we talk of times that have been, and of the times to come."

Resolutely, the three travelers walked through the forest.