Chapter 7
River wasn't ready for her Doctor yet, she would come back to this spot in the future, but she needed time. Time to find herself, to get used to being a human again, to having freedom; and she knew exactly where to start. With a few a button pushes she vanished.
The Doctor for her part had not been sent by future to River to find her River; therefore, she was not on her way to the abandoned dirt road, but sitting in her study contemplating all that River had told her. She didn't know how long it would take River to show back up but she knew she needed to actively start living her life as she was, and not try to be who she used to be.
The Doctor landed on the planet of females and for the first time, felt like it wasn't going to be a crime against nature that she was here. There were three collective planets that worked together in this system, the planet of females, the planet of males and the co-habitation planet. This was decided by the tribunal of women who ruled over the three planets. They believed that females of all species were superior to males and therefore, banished the males to a separate planet from them. However, some species find it next to impossible to live without their opposite sex mate and therefore, they allowed the co-habitation planet. Also, females who gave birth to males but didn't want to give them up would be moved to the cohabitation planet. However, the men on the co-habitation planet were to be second class citizens with strict rules regarding their behavior.
The men of course didn't like it, but the women ruled with an iron fist. The Doctor also didn't like it and had made it very clear that what they were doing was wrong. The truth was she didn't know how to be a woman and she needed someone to teach her. Maybe she could change some minds while she was here. She parked the TARDIS and cloaked it, women were a curious bunch and she didn't need them getting curious over her Sexy.
Over the next few days the Doctor was invited in by the women of the planet. Though it was rare when a being changed from male to female, the species who could do so were celebrated when the change occurred. The Doctor used this celebration to figure herself out. She was given all different types of clothing, makeup, hairstyles. She was taught about the ins and outs of the change in her emotions. While she didn't feel more emotion as a woman than as a man, she did experience a harder time covering up her emotions. She tended to cry more when she would normally be bottling something up inside. Her emotions came out of her much more easily than they did before.
She discovered she preferred a small amount of makeup that enhanced her features instead of covering them. She preferred changing her outfit daily instead of wearing the same type of thing day after day. She was a fan of casual sun dressed, Capri pants and tank tops. She didn't mind something more formal, but she preferred to keep it low key. She wore her hair natural, her big curls cascading down her back, getting in her way. It made her feel giddy. She was a real ginger.
While on the planet she couldn't help but meet with the women of the tribunal as much as she could snag one of them away every now and again. She would question relentlessly and beg them for more humane conditions. Some of the women seemed to hear what she was saying, some didn't.
However, she had talked to one too many of them because she was called before the tribunal to answer questions regarding just how female she was. She was in the market talking to another woman who had once been a man on the difficulties of the change when each arm was grabbed and she was told she was going before the tribunal. She hauled into a large vaulted room with a large desk extending almost the entire length of the room. Besides the chairs behind the desk, which were all taken up by women, most of whom she had spoken to at some point in the last three days, there was one other chair, right in the middle of the room.
The Doctor was unceremoniously plopped down in the chair in the center of the room and the women who had grabbed her in the market stood behind her. A woman entered from a side door and started yelling for all the room to hear "Species: Time Lord. Name: Unknown. Alias: The Doctor. Gender: Under Question."
The woman then turned around and left the room. The Doctor turned her attention to the large desk and all the women who sat much higher than she did looking down on her. The one in the middle, an older stern looking women spoke, "The Doctor, I have heard of you. In all the stories I have heard, you were a man. It seems that may not have changed as much as you claim."