A/N: I'm not entirely happy with this, but I'm sick of looking at it. This is another look at the past with Kuryak. And if the conversation seems stilted, that's because I feel like the Gallifreyan language wouldn't have something like contractions, thus they aren't in here. So Kuryak and Theta sound a lot more formal than the Wolf does in the present.
Interlude: The Prophecy
"Are you sure you wish to do this Kuryak?" Theta asked nervously as they snuck into the restricted part of the Academy Library, reserved for the instructors only.
"Yes, Theta, now come on," Kuryak replied impatiently. "I need to know. There has to be something I can hold over them to get them to leave me alone."
Theta scurried over to her, slipping through the door just before she closed it. "I know, I know," he conceded. "But would it not be wiser to just pretend? The High Council only just returned you. I do not wish to lose my friend again."
Kuryak began walking determinedly down the aisles, searching each section heading before moving on. "It is not just that, Theta. The problem is that I do not know how to control it. The Bad Wolf – it is too powerful for any one person. It could destroy me – and everyone in the universe. All of the universes. You have read the stories, the theories. About what it could do. What I could do."
"Indeed," Theta admitted. "But do you not think that some of the stories have to be just that? Stories? There is no actual proof of the Bad Wolf's existence, after all."
"I have done enough research to conclude that the hypothesis of the Bad Wolf's existence cannot be significantly disproved, and thus I accept it. As I also accept that it is a part of my being."
Theta paused. "How much research have you done, Kuryak?"
"I have read every textbook in the student part of the library known to contain a reference to Lykosslecht," Kuryak told him, using the High Gallifreyan term for the Bad Wolf.
"Every one?" Theta asked, surprised. "When did you find the time?"
"Why do you think I failed Academy the first time?" she asked, smiling a bit. "You are a far worse student than I, Theta. The only books I have yet to read are in the Professor's Section, hence why I brought you today. I need to do this quickly. Coming here more than once would not be wise."
"But when were we ever wise?" Theta joked.
Kuryak laughed quietly, a sound foreign to those halls. "Maybe someday. In a thousand years and on our fifth regeneration."
"Oh, seventh at the very earliest," he disagreed.
It took a few more minutes of searching before Kuryak found what she was looking for. "Theta, here it is!" she called excitedly, running a hand over the glossy titling that read Aria Veshenhua a Ziteizen, meaning Theory and Mythology on the Higher Beings. Theta rushed over as she cracked the dusty textbook open.
"What do you expect to find?" Theta asked quietly.
"I do not know. Something. Anything. Look at this," she pointed out a small section. Theta shuffled closer to look over her shoulder.
Students in the Professor's Section! The mental alarm rang out.
The two students' heads shot up. "Theta, run!" Kuryak yelled as the mental shouts continued.
Theta took off for the exit, Kuryak right behind him. "Running is considered undignified!" Theta called over his shoulder.
"When did we ever say we were dignified?" Kuryak shot back. "Now keep running! If we are caught they will undoubtedly expel us." The adolescents made it out of the library just as the mental wards rose, barely escaping being subdued. Kuryak still clutched the book in her arms, holding it protectively to her chest.
Where to now? Theta asked her mentally once they were safely outside.
The Silver Forest, Kuryak replied in the same vein. I have a spot. She ran ahead of him, leading him to the safest place she knew. She finally slowed to a stop when they arrived, breathing hard.
Theta was panting just behind her, hands on his knees. He let out a laugh. "I can see why you enjoy running so much," he acknowledged. "It is quite exhilarating. The rush of adrenaline could become addictive."
Kuryak grinned. "Love the running," she agreed.
As Theta caught his breath, he glanced around at their surroundings. "What caused this damage?" he asked curiously, scrutinizing the split trees and crushed rocks around them. "We have not had a powerful thermoweather precipatory event in over twelve celestial rotations."
Kuryak stared at the damage caused by her violence apprehensively. "I do not know," she lied. "It was like this when I first discovered it four rotations ago. But no one ever ventures this far into the forest, so we will be undisturbed."
Theta looked unconvinced, but dropped the subject. "Show me what we were almost disciplined for," he requested, sitting on one of the few boulders that remained whole in the clearing. "I want to see if it was worth the trouble. You know that one more reprimanding and I get expelled from the Academy."
"I know, and I thank you for your assistance," Kuryak said seriously. "You did not have to."
The boy's face softened. "You are my friend," he told her. "One of my only ones. I would not be fit to call myself yours if I did not aid you when you needed me."
"Our professors would say that alliances are only tactful when they are mutually beneficial," Kuryak said bitterly.
"Then it is good that ours is not an alliance."
Kuryak finally smiled. "Yes," she agreed.
"Now open the book. I want to know about the Bad Wolf just as much as you," Theta urged.
Kuryak obeyed, flipping through the pages until she found the one she'd been looking at before they were interrupted. "This is it," she said excitedly. "Look."
"'Two shall be one, and one shall return. The one who walked alone will hold the power to end all, and the eternal shall end once more. The abominations of reality will thus alter after the taridainle svitu' – what does that mean?" Theta asked.
"Roughly translated – doomsday," Kuryak replied grimly.
Theta went back to the passage. "'The abominations of reality will thus alter after the taridainle svitu if the two do not join, for when the first tears from the sky fall to the ground, the Bad Wolf shall howl for the Oncoming Storm.' The Oncoming Storm?" Theta questioned. "Is that another entity? Have you read about that one?"
Kuryak stared at the page, confused. "No," she said quietly. "No, I have never heard of it. It is not in our legends. The abominations? The eternal? Two becoming one, what does any of this mean?" She growled in frustration and threw the book on the ground. "None of this makes sense! This was supposed to help me understand. I risked being taken by the Council again to get this book and all it has done is create a larger puzzle!" She dropped her face into her hands, dangerously close to crying – something she hadn't done since the Council had first sequestered her. "I am never going to escape them."
Theta picked up the textbook, wiping off the dirt gently. "It does not give you answers yet," he reassured her quietly. "That does not mean that you will not someday learn them."
"But I need help now, Theta," Kuryak said desperately. "You do not know what the Council has planned. They want the Bad Wolf. They think to control it. This was supposed to help me keep it out of their hands."
"I thought you did not know what the Bad Wolf was capable of," Theta said cautiously.
"I know that there are depths to this entity that I cannot imagine. I know that it is ancient. I can feel it in my head sometimes," she told him. "And I know that if the Council unlocked it and were able to influence it through me, possibly nothing less than the destruction of the universe would stop them. That is why I need to learn as much as I can before they try to take me again."
"Make an alliance then," Theta said abruptly. "Associate yourself with someone they cannot touch."
"You mean agree to a marriage?" Kuryak asked incredulously. "With whom? You?"
"Lungbarrow would be an appropriate choice, but I have already been betrothed for five rotations," Theta muttered. "But another powerful house would be able to keep you out of their reach until you are capable of protecting yourself."
"And then what?" she asked.
"You run," Theta told her simply. "You have always wished to see the universe. You fly away into the cosmos and you learn and you find a way to control the Bad Wolf without the Council. You figure out that prophecy, because I believe that is what it is, and you keep this – taridainle svitu, from occurring. It appears you are the only one who can, along with this Oncoming Storm entity. You find them, and you will not be alone."
"And just leave you behind?" Kuryak asked. "You are my only friend. How could I leave you?"
"I will have responsibilities here," Theta told her, sounding older than he ever had. "Perhaps I will change the Council for the better while you are gone."
Kuryak smiled sadly. "Listen to you, all mature," she teased gently. "I thought we were not going to grow wise until our seventh regeneration. You skipped a few, Theta."
Theta grinned. "It was inevitable, I suppose," he joked. "But do not worry, you may still be irresponsible for both of us."
Kuryak laughed, but sobered quickly. "Your plan works for when we are older, but I still do not know how to stay out of their grasp now. They could still take me again at any time. They may not let me go again," she said, voicing one of her worst fears.
Theta shrugged. "Play stupid. You have been doing it for a while now, even though we both know you are more intelligent than most of our class. You lay low, avoid notice. No more breaking into places you should not be. I can cause more trouble. Koschei and I are good at that."
"Very well," Kuryak agreed reluctantly. "But you cannot tell Koschei of what happened today."
"Why not?" Theta asked. "He is our friend as well."
"He may be my friend, but that does not mean I trust him with all of me. He is changed since the Schism," she said grimly.
Theta nodded. "Agreed. I will not tell him about today. What will you do now?"
"Read this book in its entirety. There must be something else about the Oncoming Storm in here. Or the Bad Wolf. If that prophecy does come to pass, that means that I will need help. 'When the first tears from the sky fall to the ground, the Bad Wolf howls for the Oncoming Storm'. The Oncoming Storm, doomsday, altering reality. If this is true, then the Oncoming Storm is someone who will be very close to me. Someone I will depend on. And it appears that I will lose them."