Before you start reading, there are a few things I'd like you guys to be aware of. Particularly, a couple of things I do believe I forgot to mention in the last update for this fic.

One; I forgot to mention that I've decided to include the Romana/Doctor wedding after the SJA 'Death of the Doctor' parts are finished. Now, the problem is that I haven't even been to a real life wedding...so if anyone could give me a few pointers (whether on how the Romana/Doctor wedding should go, or on which of the Doctor's companions you would like to see there), that would be most helpful...AND most appreciated.

Two; if anyone would like a likeness to picture the War Queen, then please leave a suggestion in either a review or a PM - I would like to hear your thoughts as to who the War Queen's likeness should be.

Three; for those of you who also took a liking to my 'Crimson Cub' Saga...chapter 4 of 'The Slitheen & the Osiran' is now up...after QUITE the writer's block.


Welcome to Venice

"Venice!" the Doctor announced grandly to his companions as they stepped out of the TARDIS shortly after it had arrived, allowing both he and them to take in the sight of a wide canal. Across the canal, they could see the Basilica (a Catholic site of pilgrimage, if Romana recalled correctly from what she'd learned about Earth Religious History), while right in from of them were a number of gondolas (Venetian rowing boats that put the Time Lady in the mind of her little punting trip in Cambridge with the Doctor years back). From information they could gather from the sight in front of them, the older Time Lord guessed that they'd landed in the San Marco sestiere (district) of the six-district City of Water. "Venezia...La Serenissima! Impossible city, preposterous city!" he continued as Amy, Rory and Romana continued to take in the beautiful sight before them. "Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, and constantly...just...beautiful!" He turned to Romana. "You've gotta love Venice – so many people did!"

Sounds like a town your 8th incarnation would have visited, the Time Lady remarked as she smiled.

Bugger – I just knew there was something I hadn't done in that body! He admonished himself with a mental smack on the head, before becoming suspicious. Did you pick Venice just so you could laugh at my expense?

I haven't a clue what you're talking about, Theta, she just gave him a teasing, not-entirely-innocent smirk.

"You were saying?" Amy interrupted their telepathic banter.

"Hm? Ah, yes! So many people loved Venice!" the Doctor resumed. "Byron, Napoleon, Casanova- Oh that reminds me!" he stopped himself as he checked his watch. "1580! That's alright..."

"Alright? It's 1580...which means..." his fiancé took a moment to take in the full majesty of her surroundings. "Ah...the Sunshine of the Renaissance Era," she sighed in contentment, wondering if this was how the 4th Doctor had felt when he'd first stepped into 1505 Florence when investigating the seven Mona Lisas...before stopping herself to allow him to resume. "Continue," she told him. "Why was 1580 alright?"

"Casanova doesn't get born for a hundred-and-forty-five years," the older Time Lord explained to her. "I don't want to run into him – I owe him a Chicken."

"You owe Casanova a Chicken?" Rory repeated incredulously.

"Long story – we had a bet," was the reply. "That, and the fact that he had a certain reputation for affairs with women." He added emphasis on the word 'reputation.'

"Worried he might charm Romana away from you, Doctor?" Amy had to slide in a jibe about it. This only earned a scowl from the Time Lord, so his fiancé intervened.

"Doctor, I've lost track of how many years I've spent as your fiancé...and quite frankly, if I had to wait an eternity until we actually got married, I'd do just that," she assured him, fixing him with a stare. "And quite besides the fact that, in terms of trouble, running into Casanova wouldn't hold a candle to running into Captain Tancredi...need I remind you why we came to Venice?"

"Wedding plans," he answered after a few moments, making their Human companions raise their eyebrows.

"Precisely," Romana said, settling the matter. "Now...let's go plan for our big day, while Amy and Rory plan their honeymoon." That seemed to satisfy the Doctor, who replied by holding out his arm invitation.

"May I have your arm, my Lady Romana?"

"Indeed you may, my Lord Doctor," she smiled, the two linking arms and leading the TARDIS Crew's path through San Marco, Amy and Rory sniggering at their mannerisms. The group only stopped – both walking and sniggering – when an Inspector accosted them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" cried the man as he did so. "Papers, if you please! Proof of residency! Current bill of medical inspection!"

"Here you go, fellow!" the Doctor replied as he handed the Inspector the psychic paper. "All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find." What none of the others – Romana included, for she thought her fiancé had just given the man a wallet full of blank paper – had been expecting was for the Inspector to suddenly appear to believe that he'd just mortally affronted a most esteemed man.

"I am so sorry, Your Holiness!" he gasped, clearly thinking the Doctor to be a highly-regarded religious man and taking his fellow travellers aback. "I didn't realise!"

"No worries – you were just doing your job," the Time Lord assured him. "Sorry, what exactly is your job?"

"Checking for aliens," the Inspector answered him, much to the Time Lady's confusion. "Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them."

"Oh, that's nice," muttered Amy, her voice laden with prominent sarcasm. "See where you bring us? The plague!"

"Don't worry, Viscountess," the Inspector assured her, clearly under the impression that she was a Viscountess. "No, we're under quarantine here. No-one comes in, no-one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our Patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri."

"How interesting," the Doctor noted, deciding to play the fool in order to gain the information about this. "I heard the plague died out years ago."

"Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said." The Inspector then turned away to go about his business in the rest of Venice.

"Did she now?" the Time Lord muttered under his breath before initiating a telepathic conversation with Romana. Did you notice what's wrong with that information?

Yep – if the Signora has seen that many bodies taken by the Black Death, you'd think she'd have caught it herself, she surmised the problem with what the Inspector had told them. A particular question then crossed Romana's mind. Was that psychic paper you presented to the Inspector?

Yeah, shows them whatever I want them to see. Doesn't work against people with even a basic level in Psychic Training, though, the Doctor explained to her.

So you presented Amy as a Viscountess, and yourself as...?

The Pope, he told her.

Oh really? The Time Lady teased him before deciding to switch to verbal so as to include their companions in their conversation. "And who am I supposed to be, Your Holiness?"

"Queen Romana III of Dvora...Your Majesty," he bowed his head in front of her, all the while making an effort to ensure that the Ponds-To-Be would catch the incarnation pun – and leaving Romana to drop her jaw in shock as Amy and Rory snickered. Well, if he was going to try and pass her off as a Queen, there was only one thing for it.

"If that be the case, sacrilege by impersonation of His Holiness the Pope be a most grievous offense, Sir Doctor of TARDIS," Romana began a little game of her own, staring imperiously at her fiancé. "Thou shalt not go unpunished for this severest of transgressions."

"Mercy, Your Highness," the Doctor pleaded, for regardless of the fact that it was a tiny bit of banter...the Time Lady in front of him was still very intimidating.

"Thy plea for clemency shalt be taken into consideration at a more appropriate time, Sir Doctor," she continued regally. "For now, we must focus on Signora Calvierri." She gestured in a random direction for him to lead the way. "Shall we?"

*DW* near a canal... *DW*

"So, what was the deal with that Inspector?" Rory asked the pair of Time Lords as he and Amy followed them.

"It appears that the Doctor has picked up a new gadget since I last travelled with him, Rory," Romana explained for their benefit as they drew near to a canal that ran through the City of Water. "The paper that he just held to the Inspector showed him exactly what the Doctor wanted him to see – in this case, identification. The Doctor was impersonating the Pope, passing Amy off as a Viscountess and myself as Queen Romana III of Dvora."

"Hang on – I'm fairly certain there's no such country," Amy interjected.

"Which means...?"

"He completely made it up!"

"Exactly – he created an entirely fictitious title for me in an effort to pass me off as a Queen," Romana summarised for the Scottish ginger with a succinct smirk.

You are a Queen to me, the Doctor cut in with a telepathic response.

Whatever you say, Time-Knight, she threw back.

"So who did you try to pass Rory as?" Amy couldn't help but ask – if the Doctor was passing himself off as the Pope, herself as a Viscountess and Romana as a Queen, who was Amy's fiancé supposed to be?

"Sir Rory of Leadworth," the Doctor divulged, speaking verbally for the first time in this conversation, his response earning the stares of his fellow travellers. "What?"

"You tried to pass him off as a Knight?" Romana surmised with a question of her own. A nod was the response she got. "Why is he only a Knight?"

"Knights get to be heroes. Knights are cool," he explained to them as they continued walking...but before any of them could comment on that remark, a ruckus began on the other side of the canal. The TARDIS Crew turned to see a man obstructing the path of a group of veiled women.

"Where's my Isabella?!" the man shouted at them as he began lifting their veils, making it abundantly clear to any observer that he was searching for someone.

"What are you doing? Get away from there!" one of the women hissed at him. The man paid no heed as he continued to unveil them...until at last, he appeared to have found the one he was looking for.

"Isabella? Isabella, it's me!"

Before he could say anymore, he was knocked away by one of the other women, who loomed over him in an effort to scare him off. Across the canal, Romana squinted...and noticed the woman's teeth to be more like needles. Something strange was taking place in Venice right now...

"Girls, come along," another of the until-recently-veiled women called sharply over the rabble. At once, the group proceeded through the Iron gates, which promptly closed once they were all inside. Taking this as their cue, the Doctor and Romana darted off down to confront the man who'd caused the obstruction...

*DW*

"Who were those girls?" the Doctor began pressing the man for details once they'd helped him up and into a nearby alleyway.

"I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri School," the man replied in bewilderment. Everybody in Venice knew about the House of Calvierri...so just how could these strangers not?

"Not us, I'm afraid," Romana told the poor man. "Now we've got a question to put to you. Many parents do a great deal to get their children into the best schools...so why are you so keen to get Isabella out?"

"Something happens in there," he told them, clearly shaken, "something magical...something evil." Once upon a time, he might have earned an amused or derisive snort from Romana for his choice of words. But at this point in her life, the Time Lady didn't have the heart for that – the man was clearly distressed at what fate he feared would befall his daughter, his child...a fear she could certainly empathise with, due to her experience with the fate of her son. "My own daughter didn't recognise me," the man continued, utterly unaware of the inner workings of Romana's mind. "And the girl who pushed me away...that face...like an animal!" At this remark, the Time Lords turned to stare at each other.

I took a squint at one of the women's teeth, Doctor, Romana told her fiancé, the suspicion she'd felt earlier at the dubious information the Inspector had imparted to them rising a fair deal. They were more like needles than Human teeth. At those words, she could feel a strange, terrible idea beginning to form in her mind...

"I think it's time we met this Signora Calvierri," the Doctor noted, resigning himself to the fact that this wasn't going to be a pleasure trip like he and Romana – and likely Amy and Rory – had hoped...