Chapter 4 - When in Wiltshire
While he waited, the Doctor investigated the aromas coming from the next table over. Again, everything was free of charge, and he came away with quite an assortment for a picnic lunch.
"Doctor?" came Rose's voice from behind him.
He turned to see a vision in white. The dress was simple enough, long and flowing, and she'd woven a garland of flowers into her hair. She'd kept her own boots, but he assumed the rest of her apparel was in the small sack she carried. At her small throat-clearing he realized he'd been staring, and that Rose was waiting for him to say something. "Beautiful," he said simply.
"For a human?" came Rose's reply.
It had become a bit of a joke between them, but the Doctor was determined to make up for his last regeneration's callousness at every available opportunity. He took her free hand in his own, and said, "Just beautiful."
He was rewarded with a brilliant smile. "Apparently, the big party is about half a mile that way," she said, nodding in the direction they'd been traveling.
"Shall we?" asked the Doctor, extending his hand.
"We shall," answered Rose, intertwining their fingers.
They made their way through the throng, enjoying their lunch and taking in the sights. Just as they'd finished eating, they came to the center of the festivities. There were musicians playing, and within a circle of tents what seemed a never-ending chain of dancers was weaving its way through a surprisingly familiar stone ring.
"That's Stonehenge," said Rose, looking to the Doctor for confirmation.
"Stonehenge, of course!" said the Doctor. "It all makes sense now. I was right, see? Wiltshire, after all," he said with a grin.
"So, whaddya know about it?" asked Rose. "I mean, like was it really built by aliens? Are they gonna be doin' human sacrifices 'n stuff?"
"Naw," said the Doctor, "it wasn't built by any aliens-well," he paused, clarifying, "they might have lent a hand." He continued before Rose could ask, "But I wouldn't worry about human sacrifices. Might have been, maybe fifteen hundred years ago or so, but not now."
He vaguely realized he was entering lecture mode, but couldn't really help himself.
"See, over the millennia Stonehenge has changed uses hundreds of times from what the original builders might have intended. From religious, to astronomical, to anything in between. Seems to me they're in an in between phase right now, ritual celebration of the solstice -"
The Doctor's rant was ever so rudely interrupted by a man and a woman who stopped directly in front of him and Rose. "Are you married?" asked the woman bluntly, and rather breathlessly, as though they'd been moving quickly through the crowds.
"Um, no," answered the Doctor.
"Just friends," said Rose simultaneously, but she tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand.
"But we're together," added the Doctor cautiously, unsure of what trouble either married or unmarried couples might get into.
To his relief, the man and woman smiled. "Well," said the man, undraping a length of cord from about his shoulders, "you'd best join the dance, hadn't you?"
He proceeded to tie the Doctor's wrist to Rose's, her right hand clasped in his left. The woman spoke again as the man produced an intricate knot. "It's almost the solstice, you know, got here just in time!"
As soon as the man finished his work, the couple disappeared into the crowd, looking for their next victims. The Doctor looked down at their joined hands, then at Rose. She met his gaze with raised eyebrows, but a smile that told him she was ready for adventure. "Rose Tyler, would you care to dance?" he asked.
"I'm game if you are," she replied.
To be continued...