A loud groan comes from the base of the blonde woman's throat as she clings onto the railing that she's landed beside and staggered into; chest cushioned by some foam carelessly taped onto the upper rail. The nausea that washes over her causes her vision to spin and for a moment, she had to keep her eyes shut tightly closed.

She really, really needed to get her head around this whole 'jumping' thing.

Minutes passed before she eventually forced her eyes open. She weakly stared down at her feet, wincing against the dull pain that pounded in her skull. Her eyes widened at the metal, rusted brown grill-like panelled floor, as she was expecting to see glass panels beneath her feet instead. Slowly and carefully, with her hands still curled tightly around the rail, she raises her head up and takes in her new surroundings.

Golden walls have replaced golden-orange, and embedded into them are dozens of very dim, white circular sort of lights that were situated within hexagon shaped dents. She starts to push herself up from the rail, still stiff from her latest jump, and slowly turns her head around to take in the room around her. Matilda's hazel eyes trail over the six pillars that appear to support the dome-shaped room.

To her surprise, in the centre of the platform she's standing on is a console. The control panels were visibly not overflowing with buttons and numerous levers in comparison to the other she'd first set her eyes upon. The column-like glass structure in the centre of the console was free from metal supports and within it glowed a bright green, enchanting sort of light, rather than blue.

"A—Am I?" Matilda stutters, leaning back against the railing and eying the entire room with awe. "Am I still in the TARDIS?" A gentle hum is heard around her, which seems to confirm her suspicions. A sheepish grin appears on her lips. "Oh, oh...this is very different." She notes, chewing on the inside of her cheek as the pounding her head begins to subside and fade. "Doctor?"

Pushing off from the railing after no one responds to her call, she approaches the console, flickering her gaze between different areas of the room and the control panel she was nearing. "Hello?" She calls once again, before slowly rounding the central part of the platform and the console beside her. She swayed with each step, her balance still slightly off, but the grin remained in tact on her face. "Doctor, are you in?" Her eyes fall upon a tan coloured, three-seated chair, trailing over the large hole on one of the seats edges.

Her grin falters when she doesn't get a reply. However, something wedged beside one of the large, oddly shaped pillars caught her attention and she quickly came to a stop. She stared curiously down at the bulging red and black rucksack from where she stood, half-open and pressed against the pillar in such a way that Matilda wondered if the owner had been a rush.

Matilda's eyes trail towards the wooden doors of the TARDIS, noting how the white paint appeared faded in comparison to the doors in the other TARDIS she'd been inside of moments before. A red-tiled ramp leading to the door has replaced the short steps, and as she wanders down it, she catches sight of a rich brown wooden coat hanger, which appeared a little worn in certain areas. The whole room appeared slightly worn, if anything. Nothing seemed to shine or glisten apart from the lights.

The blonde swung open the left hand door, stepped forward and was immediately met by bright daylight and a cold wind. Squinting against the sudden change in light, her eyes quickly adjust to her surroundings and she steps out further onto unruly, dry grass.

She was pleasantly surprised to see several men dressed in smart, red coats, who were all armed with weapons. Immediately after stepping out of the blue doors of the TARDIS, they all cocked their guns and aimed them at her with looks of cold intent on their faces.

Matilda freezes where she is, eyes widening fractionally as she slowly raises both hands in the air—releasing the door of the TARDIS and allowing her foot to jut out behind her to keep the door wedged open. Her eyes are steadily transfixed on a bearded man on horseback, glaring down at her form with disdain.

This was, by far, much worse than walking in on a pair of people undressing each other.

Slowly, silently, she starts to edge backwards through the door of the TARDIS, hoping that if she didn't make any sudden wild movements then they would allow her to climb back inside and hang tight until the Doctor came back from wherever he was. However, the man on the horseback, who Matilda presumed to be a soldier, called her out before she could do so.

"You will stay where you are, laddie." His heavily Scottish accented voice carries over the wind towards her. Awkwardly, she pauses from her slow sort of retreat, and reluctantly removes her leg from the TARDIS door and lets it gently close shut behind her with a click. She stares up at him, chewing on the inside of her cheek, unsure of what move she should make next.

Well, politely asking them to point their guns away from her would be a start.

It suddenly occurs to her at that point that he had just addressed her in other words as a boy. "Laddie?" Her eyebrows knitting together, she frowns up at the man. "Did you just call me a boy?" She demands loudly, disbelief in her words. The man shifts on his horseback and doesn't lower his weapon as she glanced down briefly at her attire. It didn't particularly scream lady of the century, but her body wasn't strikingly masculine either.

"Lower your weapons!" A new voice quickly intervenes. She tilts her head up to see the approaching figure of a man in a pinstripe suit with a long, brown overcoat slipped over his upper frame. Matilda's shoulders deflate in relief at the sight of the Doctor, taking note that once again he was a completely different man again. "Sorry, sir, but I assure you that she is not a threat." He comes to a stop at her side and slings an arm over her shoulder; his coat whipping out behind him as he flashed an assuring smile.

The man on the horseback narrows his eyes on the smaller figure of the woman. "Will you explain to me, then, Doctor, why this bo—"

"I'm a woman." Matilda interrupted the man, projecting her voice loudly so he could hear her clearly. The man's lips twitch from its frown into a prominent scowl as the Doctor speaks up beside her, pressing her more tightly against his side.

"Aye, sir!" She raises an eyebrow at the Scottish twang in his accent, as she could have sworn it was English before. "My assistant here, Miss. Falconer, has been accompanying me on my chase for the wee naked child." He nods ahead of them, to a blonde haired woman standing close to a black carriage metres away. Matilda's eyebrows raise higher at the mentioning of a 'naked child', and she's left to shoot the Doctor a brief wary look before the man on the horseback addresses the other men in red coats to lower their weapons. "I do tell her to not dress in such a way that she does, but she truly is an eccentric character."

With the weapons now lowered, he loosens his arm from around her shoulders and lowers it so he can place his hand on her lower back. Before she can react to the abrupt new placement, she is suddenly stumbling forwards along beside him. Convinced that she was keeping up with his long strides towards the carriage, he removes his arm from her waist and flashed her a half-smile.

"Naked child?" She mutters to him quietly and out of earshot from the red-coated men around them, wrapping her blazer tightly across her upper frame. She very much hoped it wasn't how it sounded like.

The Doctor leaned his head down closer to her ear so he could quietly respond. "It's 1879 and Rose is wearing a mini-skirt."

Matilda's eyes widen and flicker towards the blonde woman who was stood waiting beside the black horses and carriage, presuming that she was Rose as indeed, her skirt was definitely short. The woman was dressed in a denim pinafore with a purple t-shirt beneath, and tights were pulled up her shapely but slim legs. Her hair was blonde, undeniably lighter than Matilda's, and golden hooped earrings hung from her ear lobes.

A wide grin is stretched on the woman's mouth, revealing a set of perfectly straight, wide teeth. Matilda returned an unsure smile and the three fell into step with one another to approach the open door of the carriage.

Her mind was going wild with the knowledge that she'd been thrown back now into the past, but as soon as her eyes land upon the traveler inside the carriage, she was surprised that she wasn't reeling away in shock.

A woman, perhaps in her late fifties or early sixties, sat upright on the seat of the black carriage. She was dressed entirely in black, aside from the white accessory on her head and small areas of her dress. Cold blue eyes stared regally down at the three, unblinking and full of intent.

"Rose, Mattie, might I introduce her Majesty Queen Victoria. Empress of India and Defender of the Faith."

The woman in front of Matilda—Rose—shakily speaks up, curtseying as she speaks. "Rose Tyler, Ma'am. And my apologies for being so naked." Rose breathlessly chuckles with embarrassment and runs her hands down her sides awkwardly in a shy attempt to cover herself. The blue eyes linger on the blonde behind the well-dressed man.

"I've had five daughters. It's nothing to me." The Queen responded in a crisp, upper-class English accent. And then, the blue eyes snap towards the figure behind the blonde—Matilda. The third of the three freezes beneath the intent stare, at a sudden loss for words. The Doctor throws her a glance over his shoulder as her mind fumbles to gather the words together to quickly save her from this stupid, stunned state that she'd fallen under.

To their surprise, including Matilda's, the words were then smoothly drawn from her lips. "Matilda Falconer, Ma'am." She doesn't curtsey and instead bows her head with a warm smile twitching onto her lips. The Queen's eyes trail down the strawberry-blonde's frame and back up to her face, eyebrows raising ever so slightly.

"The eccentric assistant." She notes, picking up the Doctor's own words from earlier and sticking the two together. Matilda nods once, forcing the gentle smile to remain on her lips and stopping herself from throwing the man a glare.

Queen Victoria averts her gaze to the Time Lord, who is standing with a fond, amused smile. "But you, Doctor. Show me these credentials." Without hesitation, he hands her a thin black wallet. Her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Why didn't you say so immediately? It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my Protector!"

"Does it?" He asks, sounding fairly unsure and surprised himself as he takes the wallet back. "Yes, it does! Good. Good! Then let me ask—why is Your Majesty travelling by road when there's a train all the way to Aberdeen?"

"A tree on the line." Victoria replies shortly.

"An accident?" He presses.

The woman sits up further in her seat and raises her chin upward slightly. "I am the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned."

"An assassination attempt?" Matilda asks quietly from behind Rose, although her voice is heard clearly by the Queen from her carriage. Rose shifts from foot to foot as her eyebrows draw together in disbelief.

"What, seriously? There's people out to kill ya?"

"I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun." Victoria remarks, not at all sounding upset or fazed about the fact that her life was often in danger in result of being a monarch.

From behind the three the man on horseback's voice is heard abruptly. "Sir Robert MacLeish lives but ten miles hence." He turns his head away to glance forward, before turning his head back to the three who had turned their attention to him. A stern look had set into his face, as he clearly didn't like the direction the conversation had gone with the trio and her Majesty. "We've sent word ahead. He'll shelter us for tonight, then we can reach Balmoral tomorrow."

"This Doctor, his eccentric assistant and his... timorous beastie will come with us." The corner of Queen Victoria's lips had twitched slightly when addressing Matilda and Rose in the way that she did; eyes sparkling with slight amusement. She didn't catch the way that Matilda's nose had scrunched in disapproval.

"Yes, Ma'am. We'd better get moving—it's almost nightfall."

"Indeed." Victoria agreed. "And there are stories of wolves in these parts! Fanciful tales intended to scare the children. But good for the blood, I think. Drive on!" She suddenly whips her head to face forward as she calls to the driver. The way that her chin is raised and from where the three are stood beneath her, Matilda notes the fact that the woman before her looks stamp perfect.

Rose is grinning from ear to ear as the doors are closed shut and the trio take several steps back to watch the carriage return to its journey, before falling into step a number of metres behind it.

"It's funny though, because you say assassination and you just think of Kennedy and stuff. Not her." The blonde dressed in the mini-skirt reflected, the Doctor walking on her left and Matilda on her right with her arms still folded across her chest.

"1879? She's had, oh...six attempts on her life?" The Doctor states, hands shoved into his overcoat pockets. "And I'll tell you something else. We just met Queen Victoria!" He turns his head to grin at the blonde beside him. He casts Matilda a quick glance and eyes her for a moment as Rose does a skip beside him mid-walk, catching hold of his arm and patting at it with glee. It causes him to avert his eyes from the strawberry-blonde and turn his head forward to the carriage ahead.

"I know!"

"What a laugh!"

Suddenly and very quietly, Matilda speaks up. "She was just sitting there." She notes, sounding dazed.

"Like a stamp." The Doctor quips. He turns his head back to the blonde, his eyebrows turned downwards as he eyes her with light concern. "Are you alright?"

Rose also turns her head to the woman. "Yeah, you seem sort of...spooked?" She observes while trying to brush back some of the blonde hair that was whipping against her face from the wind. Matilda rotates her head to blink at the pair, appearing stunned at once again, at a loss say.

"Sorry—hi!" She reaches up to brush back some of the windswept her from her own face. "You could say that, I guess. This is my second time seeing you," She directs her question to the Doctor, whose eyes immediately widen. "You, with this face, I mean." She quickly amends. "And, well, I've never actually met you before, Rose. You're a completely new face to me."

Rose's jaw seems to drop open a little in disbelief as her pace instantly slows. The Doctor, who appears stunned by this revelation, slows with Matilda to allow the blonde behind them to fall into step with them once more. "Oh my God." She blinks, completely mystified and now, it was her turn to fumble for words. She takes a few bounds forward to fall into step with them once again, but she catches hold of Matilda's arm and continues. "I never even realised!"

"You wouldn't be the first." A wry smile curves at the corner of Matilda's lips.

"See, I thought you looked young!" She pauses, her head turned towards her fully as she speaks to the woman. "Like, you've got this total look on your face. Like you're not sure what to say, as if you're lost or something. Normally you're all smooth and laid back."

The Doctor intervenes before Rose can say anymore. "How early is this for you?"

"This'll be my third jump." She paused. "So, pretty early. I don't even know what's really going on, you keep meaning to tell me I think but I shoot off before you get the chance to. Bloody ring." She mutters, fingers clasping onto the ring on the other hand and making a half-attempt to twist it. Of course, she couldn't. Neither replied to the woman who had fallen quiet again; Rose eying the woman with sort of sympathy and the Time Lord's eyes flickering between the ring and the slight forlorn expression on Matilda's face. She quickly masked it with another smile. "Well, you know who I am already, apparently...but nevertheless, it's lovely to meet you, Rose."

Rose grinned at the blonde beside her and looped her arm with Matilda's. "You're gonna love it, travelling with us! Every single minute!" She promises, arm still linked with the woman's as she continued. "Here, I want her to say, 'we are not amused'. I bet you both five quid I can make her say it." Matilda snorts, a smirk of amusement twisting onto her lips.

"I haven't got any cash on me, so there's no chance of that." She dismisses the bet truthfully, as she literally had no possessions with her except for the clothes on her back and the ring on her finger.

"And if I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my privileges as a traveller in time." The Doctor replies nonchalantly.

"Ten quid?"

He replies without hesitation. "Done."

The three followed the carriage into a courtyard which belonged to a large, undeniably beautiful grand house. An observatory dominated the top left hand side of the house; a large astronomical telescope protruding from the an open panel. They soon came to a stop a few feet from the carriage once it had slowed to a halt outside the doors of the house, where a finely dressed man stepped out of the premises as the Queen was helped down from her carriage.

"Your Majesty." He bows before her, a tight smile on his lips. Three bald men with grave facial expressions stand a foot behind him.

"Sir Robert. My apologies for the emergency. And how is Lady Isobel?"

He hesitates, the smile faltering on his face. "She's indisposed, I'm afraid. She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are barely stocked. I wouldn't blame Your Majesty if you wanted to ride on." He rambled. His tone was shaky and unless Matilda was mistaken, it sounded as if he was suggesting reasons for her to change her mind and continue journeying. As if he didn't want her to stay.

"Oh, not at all. I've had quite enough carriage exercise." His head twitches to the side at her dismal towards his bumbling, trying to mask the regret that had flickered in his eyes. "And this is...charming, if rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate." A pang of familiarity causes the strawberry-blonde to straighten. "Now, shall we go inside? And please excuse the naked girl." Sir Robert's head turns towards the trio and falls upon Rose, he nervously shifts where she stands.

"Sorry."

The Doctor's lips twitch up briefly. "She's a feral child. I bought her for sixpence in old London Town. It's was her or the Elephant Man, so—" He doesn't continue when Matilda elbows him lightly in the arm to shut him up. Her lips are set in a firm, straight line.

The Torchwood Estate?

"Thinks he's funny, but I'm so not amused." A severe sort of look replaces the false grin on Rose's face. Matilda has to hide the smile that threatens to appear on her face. "What do you think, Ma'am?"

Victoria didn't seem fazed by the change in tone from the under-dressed woman. "It hardly matters. Shall we proceed?"

"So close." Rose ground out to the pair, eying the retreating form of the Queen with a withering look. Matilda chews on the inside of her cheek to force the amused smirk from remaining on her lips and averts her gaze to Sir Robert and the three men that were stood outside the threshold of the house. Two turn to follow the Queen into the property, but one coldly stares down the younger man in front of him when he turns around.

"Makerson and Ramsey, you will escort the property. Hurry up." The solider on horseback commands to two of the other men in red coats. Matilda watches after the bald men and Sir Robert, her smirk falling into a frown.

"Yes, sir." Two of the soldiers approach the carriage. One leans inside and turns around with a small, wooden locked box. One after the other, the two march into the property without another word.

The Doctor's eyes follow the pair. "So what's in there, then?"

"Property of the Crown. You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir." The Doctor pulls a face at Rose, who is staring up at him with a smirk. He threw a glance towards Matilda, who still had her eyes fixed upon the large doorway. Her eyes were glazed over in calculation. "The rest of you go to the rear of the house. Assume your designated positions."

The observatory was a fairly large room with stone walls and hard, worn wooden floorboards. When they enter, their eyes are immediately drawn towards the great bronze telescope situated in the centre of the room, which stretched upward out of the open window.

It did, to say the very least, appear very impressive.

"This, I take it, is the famous Endeavour." Queen Victoria breathes, inclining her head upward to trail her eyes from the base of the telescope to the very top. The Doctor, Rose and Matilda come to a stop not very far beside her, perhaps slightly closer to the large device.

Sir Robert stands with his hands folded in front of him. "All my father's work. Built by hand in his final years. Became something of an obsession. He spent his money on this rather than caring for the house or himself."

"I wish I'd met him, I like him. That thing's beautiful. Can I?" He raises a hand to point towards the telescope, to which Sir Robert allowed him permission to approach it. "What did he model it on?" He inquires, striding towards the bronze device with Rose following beside him. Matilda stood where she was, however, and studied it from afar.

"I know nothing about it. To be honest, most of us thought him a little, shall we say...eccentric." He bows his head slightly with a smile on his face.

Matilda flashed the well-dressed man a gentle smile. "Those sort of people are typically the best."

"I wish now I'd spent more time with him and listened to his stories." He turned his head to Victoria beside him and raised his eyes to meet the gaze of the blonde beside the Queen. A sad tone had twisted around his words and an odd look had appeared in his eyes.

"It's a bit rubbish." The Doctor remarked, squinting into the telescope. Rose turned around from where she was, a false, forced smile stretched on her face. "How many prisms has it got? Way too many. The magnification's gone right over the top. That's stupid kind of—am I being rude again?" He bowed his face closely to Rose, who was now in front of him.

"Yep."

The Time Lord whips his head around to Sir Robert. "But it's pretty. It's very...pretty."

"And the imagination of it should be applauded." Victoria takes a few short steps towards the pair.

"Mmm." Rose takes a swaying step towards the Queen with a determined look hidden within her eyes. "Thought you might disapprove, Your Majesty. Stargazing. Isn't that a bit fanciful?" Matilda sees Sir Robert turn his head away from the three out of her peripheral vision and casts him a quick glance. He was staring towards the three bald servants stood watching in the doorway. "You could easily not be amused, or something? No?"

Robert's head twitches down towards the floor, before quickly turning in the direction of the strawberry-blonde who was stood alone. He eyes her uneasily, before quickly averting his gaze away.

For a moment, Queen Victoria just stares at the blonde in front of her. "This device surveys the infinite work of God. What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairy tales."

"Stars and magic. I like him more and more." The Doctors grins towards the owner of the property before turning away towards the bronze telescope. Matilda chews on the inside of her cheek and carefully approaches it with her hands slipped casually inside of her blazer pockets.

"Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company. Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe Coburg."

The Doctor has turned once more and leans down to whisper into Rose's ear. "That's Bavaria." Queen Victoria, with a small smile intact on her face, turns to face Sir Robert. Matilda is now stood beside the bronze instrument, eying the metal up and down as she slowly steps around it.

"When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported."

"So, what's this wolf, then?" The Doctor asks, watching as Sir Robert visibly tenses. Matilda raises her hand to press against the bronze surface of the telescope and smooths her fingers down the side of it. Her head twitches to the side to throw Sir Robert a curious stare when he hesitated and attempted to brush the subject aside as a 'story'. "Then tell it." The Time Lord presses with one shake of his head.

She saw the way the man's eyes sort of flickered behind him, in the general direction of the servants. "It's said that—!"

"Excuse me, sir." One of the bald men who was centered between the other two hastily interrupted. "Perhaps her Majesty's party could repair to their rooms. It's almost dark."

A look of discomfort passed over his face, but he quickly replaced it with a smile. Which, as plainly as it appeared, just seemed forced. "Of course. Yes, of course."

"And then supper." Queen Victoria added, before slowly turning to Rose behind her. "And could we find some clothes for Miss Tyler? I'm tired of nakedness."

"It's not amusing, is it?"

Victoria turned around once again to Rose, flashing her a withering, half-amused look. She then whipped her head around to the property owner. "Sir Robert, your wife must have left some clothes. See to it." She pauses, before turning her attention to the other blonde who stood to the left, examining the curves of the telescope with her fingertips. "And I take it, Doctor, that your assistant would prefer to remain in her peculiar clothing?"

The Doctor straightened and flashed Matilda a brief glance as the younger woman was snapped out of her thoughts. Before he can respond to the Queen before him, Matilda blinks over towards the woman clad in black and cuts in. She could speak easily for herself."Yes, Ma'am. I would very much prefer it, if you don't mind."

"Very well, then. We shall dine at seven, and talk some more of this wolf." The Doctor raises his eyebrows at Matilda at the mention of the wolf once again, and the pair smirk at each other as Victoria continues. "After all, there is a full moon tonight."

"So there is, Ma'am." Robert nods before bowing.

Night has fallen over the Highlands and Matilda has found herself at the end of the dinner table in the dinning room, sitting in the seat furthest from the door. Queen Victoria and Captain Reynolds have seated across to her right and Sir Robert and the Doctor across to her left. She chewed quietly on her food and sipped on her drink, which was the only glass at the table to be water, and half-listened to the dinner talk around her. The candlelit room cast many shadows and caused her to feel somewhat tired as she ate.

It was then, at that point, when she realised that she hadn't eaten anything for a while. The last thing she'd eaten was...a breakfast bar that she'd snatched out of her kitchen cupboard. Her kitchen cupboard, in her own flat...back somewhere, far, far away.

The thought causes her to rest her silver cutlery down onto her plate and lean back in her seat. It was a fairly daunting thought.

But how long ago had that been? Hours? A day? How long had she been on her feet for?

She's drawn from her thoughts when the door on the far end of the room creaks open. One of the bald servants stands in the doorway of the dinning room and closes the wooden door shut behind him, balancing a tray in left hand. "Your companion begs an apology, Doctor. Her clothing has somewhat delayed her."

The Doctor replies after sucking off a trace of sauce from his fingertip. "Oh, that's all right. Save her a wee bit of ham."

"The feral child could probably eat it raw." Victoria lightly jokes, hands clasped together in front of her. Captain Reynolds beside her suddenly releases a burst of short laughter.

"Very wise, Ma'am. Very witty." He praises with his mouth stretched into a grin as he stared gleefully at his Queen.

"Slightly witty, perhaps. I know you rarely get the chance to dine with me, Captain, but don't get too excited." Reynolds seems to deflate slightly in his chair. The Doctor and Matilda share a silent, awkward glance. "I shall contain my wit in case I do you further injury."

"Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am."

"Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert." The Doctor intervenes, thereby drawing the attention away from the slightly embarrassed red-coated man. The Time Lord tosses his napkin down in front of him."Come, sir! You promised us a tale of nightmares."

Queen Victoria straightened in her seat. "Indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction."

As Matilda was placing her cutlery together neatly at the bottom of her plate, she spoke for the third time since arriving there at the table. "You must miss him."

Victoria turns her head suddenly to the strawberry-blonde in the tightly fitting trousers and blazer jacket. She looks somewhat startled, as if she'd forgotten Matilda ever being there. "Very much. Oh, completely." Her voice goes a little bit quiet as her eyes flicker away from the woman at the head of the table. Her gaze returns to the hazel-eyed blonde. "And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the...hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery that we're allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait." Her eyes fall once again to the table, glazing over in thought as the sadness heavily underlines the one of her words. The four others watch the Queen silently, transfixed by her words, before Victoria releases a short, breathless sort of chuckle. "Come! Begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters!"

Robert shifts uncomfortably in his seat and his eyes flicker often down to his half empty plate that he'd left discarded. He reluctantly starts to recount the stories to the members at the table. "The story goes back three hundred years. Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and...devoured." An uneasy, regretful look appears on his face.

"Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves." Reynolds leans forward in his seat and props his elbows on either side of his plate upon the table. "Steal a sheep and blame a wolf, simple as that."

"But sometimes a child goes missing. Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead." He explains and turns his head to face the Doctor at his side.

The Doctor is eying the man intently. "Are there descriptions of the creature?"

"Oh, yes, Doctor. Drawings and wood carvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal."

A look of disbelief appears on Matilda's face as she makes the connection quickly in her mind. "A werewolf?" She asks, propping her own elbows onto the table and leaving the rest of the food on her plate untouched. The Doctor did the same, staring at the woman, and leaned forward across the table to stare expectantly at the man beside him with raised eyebrows.

"My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was fact." Sir Robert continues, turning his head away from the blonde. "He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened." He shakes his head slightly, pausing and throwing a glance at one of the servants who moved from his place to walk to one of the uncovered windows. He flashes Matilda a worried glance, to which she caught, before quickly turning his gaze away. "His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations."

Matilda's eyes follow the bald man as Queen Victoria speaks; watching as he came to a stop in front of the window. "Perhaps they thought his work ungodly." The blonde's eyes narrow on the back of the servant and her lips settled into a frown when her ears picked up the soft, grave chants her was muttering into the night.

"That's what I thought." He nodded, having turned his head to the Queen opposite. The unsettling chanting from the bald man grew louder, and it caused the Doctor to spare a glance in the servant's direction. "But now, I wonder. What if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet? What if they turned from God and worshiped the wolf?"

The Doctor's dark eyes, now fully transfixed on the servant, were wide almost with realisation as leaned back and removed his arms from the dining table. "And what if they were with us right now?"

TOOTH AND CLAW: part 1!

Well, she's been far into the future, jumping down into vehicles through smoke and running away from statutes, so I decided to throw her back in time and have supper with Queen Victoria.

To the guest that reviewed to offer me that tip—thank you! I've tried to do it in this chapter and will continue to bear that in mind in future! Thank you to the others who reviewed, and I'm very glad that you're liking it so far. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope to update soon :)