II: The world comes in all shapes and sizes

"So, you're saying, one step out this door and it won't be earth,"
"Right,"
"You're completely insane," the red head muttered more to herself than him.
The Doctor smirked as he moved up behind her and gently pressed the TARDIS doors open. Their first reaction was to shield their eyes from the searing light that poured inside. Blindly, he gave Lou a push and followed her small strides onto a wide expanse of fleshy green grass. Lou lowered her arm and blinked furiously against the pain. Everything was just so bright.
"Where are we?" she whispered.
"Lumina, the Latin word for light," he explained as he rocked on his heels.
"Well they sure do have enough of that," she gasped.
For a moment the girl seemed to forget her traveling companion, she simply left his side in order to satisfy her nibbling curiosity. Her fingers floated out at her sides, gently caressing the tips of long prairie grasses. The colors of this new world swarmed her senses making her dizzy and warm. Nothing seemed unnatural except for the exaggerated vibrancy around her. Before she knew it, Lou had stripped from her black half coat in order to escape the heat. As she soaked in the neon horizon before her, her eyes caught a jerky movement off to the side. The girl peeked curiously through the tall grass only to see a pair of wide eyes peering back.

"Namalia Sprite."
"What?"
"That's a Namalia Sprite,"
"And that is?"
The Doctor took a few long strides, hands in his pockets, and mouth open as he spoke.
"The Namalia are a peaceful people, well there are a few exceptions to that statement. They are a very friendly tribe but they have been feuding with their neighbors for centuries,"
"Neighbors?"
"Trylons, yes. Both creatures are as old as time despite the way they continuously destroy one another." The Doctor smirked as he turned to look back at her. "Like I said, completely amiable, just not towards each other." He motioned to her to follow. As they pursued their onlooker, the Namalia took off into the safety of the trees. After venturing just a bit further onto the peak of a hill they were able to look down upon a rather primitive village. "There it is, home sweet home," he giggled.

Lou was taken aback not only by this civilization but by the ones who occupied it. There were animals roaming everywhere, and yet people also littered the dirt roads. Just as she was about to inquire after the relationship between man and beast she watched and extraordinary thing. A sleek cheetah prowled silently, and just as it neared a merchant's stand the wild cat morphed into a perfectly human person. Noticing Lou's hanging chin, The Doctor gently pushed it up with two fingers.
"The Namalia are known for their shape shifting abilities. Around adolescence they take a permanent form, but throughout childhood they can be just about anything they'd like! Of course, the Namalia choose to be brighter and lighter colored. It's what separates them from Trylons. Many of the animals you'll find here are, cheetahs," he said motioning to the newly created man. "Lions, horses, eagles, griffins, grizzly bears, rabbits, mice, other small mammals, and so on."

"Can we, talk to them? I mean do they speak English?"
"Of course! You can't live in a vast universe like this and not know how to speak at least two or three languages!"
The Doctor touched her arm and pulled her down the hill in a few quick strides. The Namalia raised their heads cautiously as the wind brought the strangers' scent. However, upon seeing The Doctor twitters, roars, nickers, stomps, and all sorts of noises were heard. The two stopped just along the boarder of town. An eagle swooped down from the sky and landed at their feet gracefully. Within seconds the noble bird took the form of a tall muscular man.
"It is nice to have you with us again Doctor." Without any effort or particular awkwardness the two men pressed their right palms together, brought their hands between them, and pressed chests. After their short embrace The Doctor looked at Lou,
"That's how you say hello, clasp hands, then go chest to chest with your hands in the middle."

Lou looked at him wearily, then received the other man's gaze. She studied his hand as he held it up, waiting for her tiny hand to slide against his. Tentatively, she raised her hand and let it touch palm to palm with his. A sudden charge swarmed her hand and tickled the length of her arm. Lou began to feel woozy, and so she didn't resist leaning forward and sandwiching their hands between their bodies.
"I am Jio, leader of the Namalia tribe. This is my wife, Reyna," he motioned to a woman behind him. She looked just as toned and perfectly sculpted as her husband. All the Namalian people had the bodies of statues, hard and stony. But, to touch them, was like leaning against a lovely pillow. Lou knew that now.

Still recovering from the liquid lava that flowed lazily through her veins, Lou gazed blurry eyed at all the staring faces. Reyna stepped forward, her long black hair flowing around her waist and whipping around the heads of her children. The young tots gripped her tattered deer skin skirt and hid behind their mother's dangling wisps of hair.

"Welcome," she greeted calmly.

"Please, let us show you around," Jio held out his hand and motioned to their quaint huts. It was obvious to Lou that The Doctor knew plenty of the residents. He shook hands, exchanged smiles, nodded here and there.

The tour was a brief one on account of there wasn't much land to cover. The huts were made of mud and straw, primitive things really. It suited them well though, they were a simple people. Lou liked the feeling of such a small community, everything seemed to work through one another. At one point in her excursion she was able to watch how the Namalia handcraft beautiful pots. Their fingers were flexible and nimble, they were able to reach spots other humans could not. When offered a chance to try, Lou clumsily sat down and pressed her fingers into the cold clay. Her first attempt ended in a splatter of Clay across her audience, the second attempt yielded a lopsided pot, but the third came out decent and stable.

Her masterpiece was nothing compared to the skilled works of the Namalia but it would certainly hold water. It felt like hours that she roamed the land trying new things and meeting new peoples or animals in some cases. Lou found herself so enticed by this New World she hardly realized The Doctor had long ago parted from her side. Off in the distance she spotted the TARDIS, so her fears of him leaving were soothed. As the sun began to descend behind the silver mountains she found her companion sitting, feet up, near a crawling stream.

"Doctor," he turned at the sound of his name.

"Hello there, enjoying your visit?"

"Yes of course! Why have you secluded yourself?" Lou sat on the rock opposite The Doctor.

"Well, I just, decided to keep a look out is all," he shrugged.

"A look out? Why?"

The Doctor rubbed his hands together,

"Remember when I told you about the century long tribal wars?"

"Trylons versus Namalia, yeah. What about them?"

"It seems that the Trylons have been giving our friends here a bit of trouble, more than usual that is. This land isn't as safe as it once was…"

Lou fidgeted nervously as the wind tossed up leaves around her. She wrapped her arms around her body and watched as the green bushes tousled before her.

"What do you mean? More trouble than usual?"

"They just aren't following the rules,"

"There are rules in war?"

"Supposedly. Even back home there are certain moral codes to war, although granted they aren't always followed. The Namalia and Trylons as much as they hate each other do have a few guidelines for how they mercilessly kill each other. For starters, the wars are well spaced and never last more than a few days. That way life can return to normal and neither tribe is ever completely wiped out."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fighting then? What do they gain by warring every few months?"

The Doctor shrugged, even he didn't have an answer to that.

"This is just what they do, it has been this way for centuries. I'm sure when their ancestors started this feud they had a reason. It could all just be for petty reasons, grizzlies don't like black bears or lions feel threatened by the Bengal tiger. Or, like every other war, it could be over who is right and who is wrong. Either way killing each other is a silly way of getting things done. My only guess as to why the Trylons have been advancing their methods are because Jio wants to end the fighting completely."

"Do the Namalia want to stop fighting?"

"Not all of them, they see it as tradition. To stop would be to forget what the generations before them stood for. But, Jio is a modern leader who sees the monotony of these tribal wars. His brother, Hrothger, just happens to be the leader of the Trylons. And well, it is safe to say they seem to have fallen from different trees. The Trylon leader has always envied his brother for his brains, good looks, and quite honestly his permanent animal."

Lou shifted on her rock so her chin rested in her hands.

"I thought they could choose their permanent animal, why didn't Hrothger just choose to be an eagle too?"

The Doctor smirked and peeked up from under his long bangs, "It's yet another secret of the Namalia. The Eagle is a sacred animal. There are few of them in this village because the bird actually chooses the person. In short, the eagle chose Jio over Hrothger. That leaves one very powerful brother and another very put out.

Lou nodded silently, her eyes fixed on The Doctors bouncing knee.

"So what are they going to do?"

Just as The Doctor opened his mouth, a long bellow was heard from the Namalia's town square horn. The signal to round up the troops.

"I don't know."