Chapter Six

Asgard was beautiful. It slightly resembled the city of Norse mythology, but the spaceships and alien creatures were a notable difference. This was an advantage to Jenny and Roland when they parked their shuttle, but the fact that River and the Doctor had planned their picnic away from the main populous made it difficult for them to find a hiding spot.
"It would be so easy to walk over and say hello," Roland said as they ducked behind a fountain. "Why don't you?"
Jenny looked surprised. "You were the one that told me not to cross my own timeline! Now you're saying I should defy recorded history?" Roland shook his head. He wasn't entirely certain what she was talking about but it didn't sound good. "Right, then," Jenny said. "Stay quiet; they're just settling down."
A few meters away River and the Doctor were laying down their picnic blanket in a grassy area. It looked like a standard picnic to Jenny- a cooler, blanket, two plates, and for some reason River decided to bring along tea lights. When she looked up at the sky she realized the sun would set soon and then it made sense. River wanted a romantic setting. She was unaware that the Doctor wasn't that familiar with her yet.
"How sad," Jenny thought. "He doesn't even know her yet."
When River lit the candles the Doctor looked at them with a bewildered expression. River seemed to catch a glimpse of this and decided to distract his attention from the uncomfortable situation with conversation. "How many times have we met before?" she asked.
The Doctor looked up from the candles and stammered his response. "Only.. only once before, actually. In a library."
"A-ah!" River cut him off. "Spoilers- haven't done that one yet."
Jenny nudged Roland on the shoulder. "Did you hear that? He said 'library'. He's already been there, but that was the last place she took her diary to. What d'you suppose happened there?" Roland shrugged and resumed watching the scene.
Conversation between River and the Doctor continued normally. They talked about places in the universe worth going to, alien races with funny habits and classical plays from various planets. At a point later in the conversation Jenny noticed the Doctor looking at River strangely. The look in his eyes was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it until Roland spoke.
"You okay, Jenny?" he asked. "If this is upsetting you, we can go home. You don't have to watch if you don't want to."
That was it. The Doctor had a look about him that expressed the very feelings she was having right at that moment. He was looking at River as if he had lost her but found her again, only to realize that he would lose her again someday.
"River died," Jenny whispered.
"What?" Roland squinted at Jenny. "She's right there. Alive."
"No, she died in the Library. After this. That's why my dad's looking at her strangely." Jenny took the diary from her pocket and flipped to the last page. It was an account of an event at the Singing Towers of Darillium. In it, River said that the Doctor had dressed up nicely and cried a majority of the time, almost as if he were saying goodbye. "When I see my father again, I'm giving him back this diary," Jenny said. "It's rightfully his now."

Shortly after Jenny's realization, she decided to give the two time travellers their privacy. She got what she came for, and she was satisfied. From now on she would only chase after future versions of her father, not the skinny man in a suit she was used to.
Back at the Gatehouse she continued reading, scanning the diary for mentions of the Doctor's Eleventh incarnation. "'The Bone Meadows'," Jenny read aloud. That sounds interesting. Oh, nevermind. Man-eating terrestrials." She looked over her shoulder at Roland, who was, yet again, eating pizza. "We don't want that, now do we?" She spoke louder to get his attention.
"What?" he replied with his mouth full. He looked up from his plate mid-bite, causing the hot cheese on the pizza to seperate from the crust and fall on his bottom lip, burning it. "Ow-ouch-hah-hot!" he yelped.
Jenny smiled and stifled a laugh. She enjoyed pestering Roland while he was eating. Every single time something funny happened. Usually he dropped things.
"I said, 'we don't want an adventure with man-eating terrestrials', do we now?" she repeated in a slightly raised voice.
"Eugh," Roland agreed. "If you're going to pick another time to go to, please make sure there are no murderous beings."
Jenny laughed and swiveled in her chair. "I'll do my best," she said as she turned the page. "Ooh. 'Crash of the Byzantium'. That looks good."

"Here I will record one of my greatest adventures to date. The Doctor was much younger this time, but he was no less the wiser. He managed to outwit one of the greatest foes we have ever faced: the Weeping Angels. According to history this event never happened; but for us time travelers it did.
I was on the starliner Byzantium investigating their mysterious cargo when I discovered something rather shocking. Amongst the cargo they were transporting (off-record I might add!) was a Weeping Angel. It was presumed to be the last of its kind, but I was soon to discover that this was untrue..."

Jenny clutched the book tighter as she continued reading. It reminded her of a mystery novel she had attempted to read a week before, except she had predicted the ending to that one three chapters before the detective even had a clue. With River's diary she never knew what might happen.
The Weeping Angels certainly did seem like a formidable enemy, but it appeared to her that they mostly stayed together throughout the venture. If she and Roland could land at the correct time and follow behind the angels, they could wait out the storm and talk to the Doctor.

"Weeping Angels are amongst the most powerful creatures of the universe. They are far stronger than any human could ever hope to be, and have even been known to overpower Time Lords. The peculiar thing about Weeping Angels is that they are statues. Living statues, as the Doctor often puts it. Whenever a Weeping Angel is being observed it freezes; stuck in a stone form. If they are not observed, however, they can move, very quickly. So fast, in fact, that if they are ten feet away and you blink, they might suddenly be snarling in your face..."

She was about to tell Roland to hurry up and finish his pizza when she refrained herself and read ahead. If there was a safer adventure further along in the diary she knew it would be Roland's preference to try it first.
The next potentially malleable adventure also had the Weeping Angels and this time they roamed all over a city called Manhattan. Jenny decided they best avoid it, since she intended to live to be at least a year old.
After the Manhattan entry there was only one story, "The Singing Towers of Darillium", which seemed far too personal to interrupt.
"Alright," she thought, "I've checked, so I can say it." She stood up and grabbed the device she had found in the library, a 'sonic screwdriver' as River had called it, and placed it in a pouch on her belt. "I finsihed reading the diary," she said loud enough for Roland to hear. He had gone into the kitchen to put his plate in the washer. "There's only one possible opening, but there are specific coordinates so we should be able to land in the right time and place. The only problem is that we'll have to land on a starliner pre-crash."
Roland stuck his head out the kitchen door. "Pre-crash?!" he repeated. "Why can't we just go to the crash site?"
"Because River didn't say where the site is- only the ship." She glanced down at the diary, hoping Roland was done asking questions, and read the page about the sonic device. It seemed to have nearly limitless purposes, except it couldn't manipulate wood of any kind. "It's quite useful," she thought. "I hope dad doesn't mind if I keep it."