The three children trudged through the forest back to the estate. All of their robes were covered in dirt; the boys from cleaning and Iota from falling to the ground. She led the way back up to the estate, since falling to the ground caused less dirt to cover her then cleaning. Theta walked behind Koschei since he was the dirtiest. He didn't seem upset about the fact however; he seemed perfectly happy about it.

Both Iota's and Koschei's fathers stood outside the estate, watching the three make their way towards them. Iota glanced back at Koschei to find him nodding to her with confidence. She smiled back before stepping aside and letting him walk forward. The fathers looked surprised at the state of the children but didn't say anything about it.

"Come, Koschei," his father waved his son towards him. "It's time to go home." There was an unspoken word from Iota's father that she was required to curtsy in welcome.

Iota curtsied. The robe was about an inch off the ground and she didn't trip on it as last time. She smiled at the ground before blushing as she remembered Koschei's father was watching her. He seemed to smile at her reaction.

"Hello Iota Xi. Has the Academy been treating you well?"

Iota nodded. "It has been good, Sir. I am enjoying it."

"That is good." He gave her a slightly bow before turning to Theta. "And you, Theta Sigma? Are you keeping watch over your younger sister?"

Theta scratched his ear, where an insect had crawled. He let it fly away before speaking. "As best as I can, Sir. Koschei has been a great help as well."

Koschei's father turned to the boy with surprise. "Really? What makes Iota Xi worthy of your help?"

Everyone present knew it was not meant to be a serious question, though Koschei took longer then the rest to realize. He blushed deeply. "S-sh-she's my friend." His eyes flashed between all of them before he frowned and crossed his arms. "Just my friend. And she's Theta's sister. And sh-"

Koschei's father laughed and wrapped his arm around his son, pulling him away. Iota's father eyed Theta with a smile. "I take it a game of tag was more difficult than you thought, given how dirty you three are." He smiled to Iota. "How hard was he to catch?"

Iota giggled. "Very difficult, Papa. He kept saying I broke the rules by catching him." That part was the truth. When Theta was able to force Koschei to clean, he and Iota played a one on one game of tag. She caught him and he would squirm away claiming she hadn't actually caught him yet. When she asked what else she had to do, he ran.

Ulysses pulled Theta to him. He wrapped his arm around his son. "Come, Theta. Let us talk." They hadn't talked for the year, but it hadn't been by choice. Both had been too busy with work to find the time. "Your mother wants to walk with you, Iota, as well. She's watching the sky over the tops of the mountains." There was only one part of the estate where one could do that. There were many places where the mountain tops shone and the sky arched over it. But the best place was where her mother waited. Iota had sat with her there multiple times.

Her mother was sitting watching the sky. She fingered the grass by her hand as she stared up. Iota approached from behind. A grey capsule of a TARDIS from the TARDIS farms had managed to make its way to the mountains and was bouncing through the sky.

"I miss the TARDIS farms," her mother commented as she stood, turning back around to face her daughter. "I left because I wanted to, but I still miss them." She smiled down at Iota before reaching out a hand for her to take.

"Why did you leave?"

Her mother sighed. "I don't know, truly. TARDISes are amazing beings. I love them deeply. But it wasn't for me."

Iota stared down at the hands. "I was told that normally the children from families who work in the TARDIS farms show some connection to TARDISes. But you didn't."

Her mother looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"The Hunter and Percy told me."

Her mother nodded. She began to swing their hands through the air. "Those two were confused with me when I went to the Academy. Probably as much as you confuse them."

"What do you mean?"

"The only reason you would remember their names is because they believe you have a connection to the TARDISes. And since you haven't grown up around the TARDISes, it confuses them. When someone grows up around TARDISes they tend to naturally form a bond because the TARDISes care for them. You've only been around them once before."

Iota turned her attention up to her mother. "Why didn't you form a bond?"

She sighed. "It confused them as much as it did me. I think the TARDISes knew that I wasn't meant to be around them all my life. They gave me a gift by not giving me a bond in a way. I wouldn't feel indebted to them."

Iota tilted her head in consideration. "Then why is there a possibility that I have a bond with them?"

"They must have decided you were more worthy of it than I am." They could see Iota's father and Theta walking in the distance. The two seemed to be walking in silence with one saying the occasional word. Iota and her mother turned and watched the TARDIS that still flew in the sky. "I wonder how that one got this far."

"Why is it just flying?"

"I believe that it's a test for a TARDIS license. My family doesn't just go flying TARDISes on whims. One; it's dangerous because there's a reason TARDISes stay at the farms for as long as they do. And two;" she laughed, "my father would kill them."

Iota giggled. "Why would he kill them?"

"See reason one." Her mother pulled her to her side and squeezed gently. "My father's family is the one that made that rule. I'll take you back there the next Visiting Days you come home if you want. You can tell them about your tentative bond with TARDISes." She leaned down to whisper. "They might steal you to replace me."

"Well, I know Theta and Koschei would run to get me back." She reached to hug her mother's side. "But I would love that."

Iota couldn't explain it, but she wanted to see another TARDIS. She wanted to know if she would feel the same thing as when she went into the TARDIS cradle. She wanted the warmth that was good. The warmth the TARDIS cradle gave her was better than the warmth she felt in classes. It didn't hurt her. It was only good. And she wanted it desperately.

Most of all, she wanted to know if the singing she heard was real. If she heard it again that would mean it was. Being in a TARDIS did something to her and the only people she could ask were the families at the TARDIS farms.

Her mind burned as she considered the fact of telling someone. It was a different burn than before. This one felt like a warning. Like she wasn't ready and that it wasn't time. She had to wait to tell someone the true extent of what had happened.

She forced the consideration out of her head and the burning left. Iota smiled softly and kicked a rock on the ground before her.

Her mother and Iota walked in silence until dinner. Every time they spotted Theta and Ulysses the two seemed to be discussing something. The four met up at the entrance to the estate. Theta and Iota drifted away from their parents to each other. "Have you enjoyed your time at home?" he asked her with a wide grin.

"Much more then I used too." She looked around the hall that surrounded them. It was true that she didn't normally think much of their home. It had just been there for her. Nothing special. But after spending so long away, she wanted to stay longer. Even though she knew she couldn't.

"Same with me." Theta wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Though, honestly, it was more that I missed you at the Academy. Now I don't have to worry about that."

Iota felt herself blush. "There is no way you actually feel like that. If you did I wouldn't believe you were actually my brother."

"Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly." Theta held up his fingers and pressed them together. "I missed you about this much."

Iota shook her head in disbelief. "That still seems too little."

He separated his fingers. "This much?"

"Still too little."

Theta sighed and pulled his arm away from her. He spread his arms wide in the air. "How about this?"

Iota giggled. "If I said too little what would you do?"

Instead of responding he began to tickle her. Both parents looked back in amusement but they didn't do anything to stop Theta. He continued to tickle her all the way to the dining room. Iota was forced to shove him away with a laugh and run to the opposite side of the table in order to make him stop.

After staying up so late the night before, Iota was glad to go to sleep as early as her mother told her too. Though her mother's reason for going to sleep early was that they had to return to the Academy the next day. It would be bad form for a professor's daughter to fall asleep on the way back to the Academy.

Iota stared at the night sky that shone through her window. Her room didn't have the same view of stars and the moon that Theta's room did, but it had a view that had helped her fall asleep for years before.

She stepped out of bed and shuffled to the window, resting one of her hands on the glass. The TARDIS her mother and her had been watching had left, but another one had appeared as she entered her room to sleep. It was floating more steadily then the other ones she had seen.

Even though her mother had told her what a terrible idea it was for someone in the TARDIS farms to fly a TARDIS for fun, somehow Iota knew someone was doing just that. And she knew it was a student; someone who didn't have a license yet. She smiled and waved to it before walking back to her bed. There was no way they could see her but she felt right doing so.

It felt more like she was waving to the TARDIS then the person inside.

A/N: A bit of Koschei embarrassment here. The two pairs of parents will enjoy teasing those two, as the parents of neighbors always do.

A little more information on Iota's mother here. But there's the promise of going to the TARDIS farms next Visiting Day.

Notes on reviews:

Lil Angel 927: It does sound a bit creepy, true :)

Teddy bear 007: Don't worry, I will :)

I'msorrymylove: It's completely fine. I have to agree, Koschei and Iota are adorable together currently. That's one of the reasons I wanted to include this section of the story. It allows me to show more of the journey that leads up to multiple things and show different time periods for characters, such as Koschei being pre-Master. You never know, that may happen some day in the future. Thank you!

blackcat711: So sorry about that. I'm attempting to get better at that.

Henny14: Thank you!

DW (Guest): It's alright; I hope you're feeling better! Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying what's happening now. I hope my ideas will be good enough; they still need a lot of work currently. Both are very stubborn, so it's surprising they made up so fast. But it is happy :). That's a very important part of his character; I'm glad it's making its way through. And thank you for that. As far as I know, they never mention what happens actually in the show. But in this story, if you get a pilots license you get a TARDIS of your own. Since he was forced to steal one, in this story that means he failed. But also, I can picture him failing. He seems like the type of person who would try and change something to make the flight smoother, but the tester wouldn't accept it as passing.