Roka had always spent a lot of time inside the library. But now it might have been a little bit more than usual. She told herself the reason was that she didn't want the Master to get too bored, and therefore tempted to set his surroundings on fire. Well, it was indeed a valid reason.
To her surprise it was quiet in the library when she entered this time. Nothing loud blaring from some corner. And her biggest surprise was to find the Master on his back, sprawled over the sofa and peacefully sleeping.
Two thoughts shot through Roka's head.
The first was more a slight satisfaction that she had finally found out if Time Lords actually ever slept at all.
The second made her ponder whether or not to throw a pillow at him. Just for the sake of it.
Instead she only watched for a short while, fascinated by how calm he looked. And maybe marveling at him for a tiny bit more than she wanted to admit. But then she picked up one of the pillows, that used to clutter the sofa and were now strewn all around it, and sneaked closer, wearing a mischievous grin. She wouldn't throw the thing, only let it drop on his face.
Careful not to make any noise she held up her arms and was about to let go, when suddenly the Master swiped Roka off her feet with a movement she couldn't even see. Squeaking she let the pillow fall and suddenly got grabbed once more, firmly, and somehow found herself not only lying completely on top of him, but also blinking perplex into his amused face.
"No manners," he taunted with a very awake grin, his grip around her only getting stronger when she struggled.
Finally Roka gave up and instead folded her arms on his chest to rest her chin on them, all while trying to murder the Master with her gaze alone. It only made him chuckle and she wasn't able to be anything even close to peeved.
"Pff... okay, you won," she surrendered. His heartbeat drummed against her chest, making her close her eyes for a moment, but then open one again. "Satisfy my curiosity... how much do you guys sleep?"
The Master let go of Roka and folded his arms behind his head and yawned. "Not much. An hour or two. And not necessarily every day." He shrugged, then grinned widely at her.
"What's so funny?" She squinted her eyes at him.
"Och, just thought... I quite enjoy you up there," he smiled from ear to ear and gave her a very suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
Roka's eyes darted sideways and she contemplated if he would let her leave or not. But she was more in the mood for being cheeky.
"I completely trust you, superior Time Lord, to be in full control of those primal and totally unworthy biological urges," she said dramatically and poked out her tongue at him.
The befuddled look on his face was definitely reward enough. Although not a second later he threw his head back and laughed out loud, making Roka smirk satisfied.
It went so fast, she wasn't quite sure how exactly it happened, but only a moment later she suddenly found herself laying on her back, the Master kneeling above her with the widest grin. Somehow he also had gripped both of her wrists and held them to the sides of her head, making it practically impossible for her to move at all.
"Oh... I am," he cheered and leaned down closer to her. "Question is... human... are you?"
Her heart pounded so madly in her chest, it was hard to think at all. She swallowed and did her best to appear unfazed. "Yah, pretty sure 'bout that," she mocked, her voice slightly higher than intended.
"Interesting... the other humans I travelled with all got... annoying." He shivered dramatically.
"No wonder, if you do the same with everyone," Roka grumbled with an eye-roll.
"Nah. Wouldn't have let them anywhere near me," the Master purred and leaned closer, brushing his lips lightly along hers.
Roka didn't budge, even though her racing heartbeat must treacherously give away how much he actually affected her. Enough to make her respond a tiny bit too eagerly when he kissed her, just passionately enough to make it worse and not leaving her much room to breathe. All that while she had a hard time to keep her body from twitching a single muscle. He grinned against her lips, making her even more determined not to give him even the slightest victory.
With a mean chuckle he retreated after a moment. "Liar..." Playfully he grinned down, slid a finger along her jaw and moved to her ear. "And now... go and get your mental shields working." He chuckled again and sprang up from the sofa, stretching and yawning loudly. "And I go and get my morning shower. And tea."
Roka sat up, undecided whether or not to be relieved, and grabbed the pillow she had dropped before, only to throw it at the Master's back. It even hit and she giggled satisfied when he stumbled a step. "For being a sod," she stated matter-of-factly and promptly got the pillow thrown back right into her face.
Mental shields... It had sounded so easy. Now Roka was sitting on the ground, trying to focus her mind on her breathing and getting her head empty. Turned out, those things had to be learned slowly and over a long period of time. So she was forced to meditate for hours. Something that had always been troublesome for her restless mind.
The Master had only laughed at that. "Every child learns this on Gallifrey. Don't tell me you're dumber than an eight year old."
"Hey, I'm just human after all," Roka pouted.
"Doesn't matter. You might take a bit longer and your results may never be as effective... but it's still possible." He shrugged and then simply left her, ending every discussion with that.
It was hard to imagine that he had done this himself at one point. Sitting still for hours, alone only with one's own thoughts... With how loud the drums were now, it probably wasn't possible anymore for him though.
Only after hours was she allowed to finally get up. And, a bit grumpy about the lack of success, Roka slumped onto the sofa next to the Master and sulked for a bit. Eventually though she asked, "Any plans?"
"Huh?" He didn't look at her, too occupied by the same game from hours before. Roka saw satisfied that he hadn't gotten very far in that time. And as a giant rat was killing his character, she giggled, what made him promptly throw the gamepad away and giving her a mean glare.
"To get out of here," she said and gave him a mocking glare.
"Well... since there is no way to get rid of the bracelets... Not even if you'd find my laser screwdriver. And neither of us knows how the keys might even look like." With a sigh he stretched a little and leaned back. "So patience it is again... Although I'm not sure I would really help him this once... no matter what trouble he might find." Now his look turned dark.
"Wait... help the Doctor?" Roka cocked an eyebrow.
"Sure... that guy can't stay out of trouble. And now guess, who he'll be begging to get him out?" A mean grin curved his lips.
"Mhm... I see." Roka smiled. "Then he owes you something. Or you find some advantage on the way."
"Yup." He stared at the TV and the gamepad in turns as if to decide if he should pick it back up or smash it into pieces. "Very reliable escape plan. Although horribly boring."
Roka didn't like this plan at all. Patience was a thing she had somehow lost during the last months. Or maybe it was because her progress was so slow. She spent most of the time either meditating or restlessly wandering around the TARDIS, watching out for anything that could be the keys for the handcuffs.
Her glitch was as much a curse at it was a blessing right now. It allowed her to look around without being seen. But it disabled her from punishing the Doctor with silence. That was quite ineffective, considering he didn't even remember her.
A part of her understood why it seemed to be impossible for him to accept that the Master might not have ill intends with her. The other part was angry though. Angry because the Doctor didn't even try to understand, did brush off the drums as a mere hallucination, and didn't help.
The few times the Doctor saw her, he obviously was on edge and evaded any direct answer to her questions. Was he really fearing she would act against him? After all that time? The thought made Roka feel sick. Had she betrayed him in the end? Had she done the exact thing she had never wanted to do?
The Master on the other hand didn't even think about cooperating in any way. Each time the Doctor tried to talk to him, he either ignored the mere presence of the other Time Lord or did his best to provoke a quarrel.
She also couldn't bring the Doctor to stop his habit of parking the TARDIS inside the Vortex. And although the Master was almost ridiculously careful with Roka since the incident with the drums, he was tormented by them too much to keep himself under control all the time. Sometimes he shooed her outside, telling her to not come back for at least some hours. And Roka obeyed. There was no reason to put herself in danger.
So she resumed the meditations in her room, tried to keep her mind from wandering off.
It didn't work. Not for long at least. Her thoughts wandered back to the library, making her wish she could help with the drums. It was cruel to just leave him there, but what else could she do?
She sighed and leaned back, looking up to the ceiling, where light dots danced. Fake stars from a small lamp. For a while she stared at them, followed their slow movements, how they faded in and out. And surprisingly it calmed her, gave her the focus she had been searching for. Then, as the Master had told her, she imagined a blue light emanating from her skin, wrapping itself around her like a copy of herself. A perfectly formed shield, to protect her from any psychic influence.
Roka smiled happily at her success and rushed back to the library to finally brag about it for once.
"Oh, you did it," the Master remarked surprised. He looked tired and worn out, but smiled.
"Uhm, somehow..."
"Good... repeat that once a day and you might get somewhere." He snickered. "What? You really thought I'd be impressed?"
Roka nudged him with her elbow, but grinned, and then moaned shortly after when the Master gave her a new task to stabilize the shield.
Well... she had asked for it after all.
Since there were no real days inside the TARDIS, it was hard for Roka to tell how much time passed. Her only indicator was her own bio rhythm, telling her to eat and to sleep now and then.
A few of those days later, as Roka got up from her exercises, the Master was gone.
At first, Roka thought he had hid to play a prank on her. That wouldn't be the first time after all. But no matter where she searched, there was no Master to be found.
He also wasn't with the Doctor, who was tinkering in the control room and certainly wouldn't have let the Master out of sight.
Somehow he must have found a way out.
Without her.
Why was that even surprising? He was the Master. And he didn't just bind himself to another person. Never. Especially not a human, since he never got tired mentioning how useless her species was.
Feeling a lot more devastated than she should, Roka scuffled to the kitchen. Getting some coffee might help thinking about what to do now, even though she felt more like hiding under pile of blankets and not coming out from under there for... at least a year or so. Then again the Vortex Manipulator was still where she had left it. Maybe she would use the thing, leave the TARDIS to travel on her own. The thought of staying here didn't feel right. Not after all...
Perplex she looked up and stared at the utterly weird scene in front of her.
Weird, because the Master apparently wasn't gone, but had somehow gotten inside the kitchen. And a great lot of extra weird, because he was... cooking. Roka shook her head and rubbed her eyes, but as the scene didn't change, she admitted that it had to be real.
"How... did you get in here?" was all she could get out, treading next to him.
"Oh, hey!" He grinned widely at her while slicing up some mushrooms. "Same as with the wardrobe and the bathroom. Those basically count as part of the library, so the bracelets don't zap me. Was bored and tried some doors."
"Oh," made Roka, and did her best to cope with the annoying wave of happiness that was suddenly flooding her. All while she had to focus the entirety of her mental energy to not hug him in relief. A bad idea, considering he was holding such a big and sharp knife in his hands. "Uhm... err.. what... are you doing there?" she asked instead and watched as he chopped up some vegetables now.
"Dinner, isn't that obvious?"
"Yeah, well... But there is a machine. You lectured me about it," she reminded with a smirk.
"True... But right now I'm slowly murdered by boredom. Want some too?"
Roka watched him skeptically and had to think of the few occasions the Doctor had tried to cook. That hadn't ended... edible. "I..." she dragged out the letter, "...don't know..."
"Oi, don't give me that look! Not all Time Lords are rubbish and clumsy."
"Oof, fine. Why not." She shrugged and decided to give it a try. "Need some help?"
"Mhm... no." He looked over to her, then nodded towards the table. "Just wait. I want to kill some time after all."
Roka giggled and sat down on a chair. "To sum it up. It's weird when I make cookies for you, but perfectly fine when you make dinner for me?"
"Exactly!" he retorted happily.
After some time the smell of roasted meat filled the air and made her stomach growl in anticipation. The Master took his time though, arranging the food in a decent manner on the plates.
"Mhm... let's see..." he mumbled to himself and searched through some shelves, before he found some wine bottles and picked one out. The cork was gone fast and he hummed satisfied at the smell. "Can't have a good meal without a decent wine."
"You're really enjoying this, right?" Roka giggled and watched as he placed plates and glasses onto the table, filling the later with blood red liquid, and gave her a wink. She eyed the food, admitting that it looked delicious. "I hope you're not awaiting any dinner prayer," she remarked sarcastically.
"Only when you want to praise your Lord and Master," he replied with a cocky bow, before he sat down and started to eat.
Carefully she took some bites and let out a satisfied sigh. It was extraordinarily good.
"Seriously. Villain is the absolute wrong profession for you," she remarked. "Ever thought about settling down and open up a restaurant?"
"Sure," he answered dead serious. "For exactly ten seconds, before my brain cells started to murder themselves."
Roka chuckled and tried the wine. She had no clue if it was a good one. To her they all tasted more or less the same.
Behind them the door opened, and in strolled the Doctor, perfectly unaware of everything until he sniffed into the air and shortly after found the Master. His mouth dropped open, and while he stumbled a few steps back he pointed at the other man, stuttering, "Wha... what?! How... how can you be in here? The bracelets..."
"...nothing wrong with them," the Master sneered. "Except for the fact that they are on my wrists."
"But..."
"Ugh, seriously. Have you no idea how your own bloody ship works?" The Master rolled his eyes and devoted his attention back to his meal.
"Oh..." it came from the Doctor. Then a bit louder, "Oh! Right! Totally forgot... err... well..." He rubbed his neck and eyed the pans and pots.
"Sure, take some," the Master offered, suddenly sounding very friendly. "Come on, eat with us." He then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ahhh, wait. You can't. At least not if you don't want to roast me." The glint in his eyes got mean as he took a sip from the wine, letting the bracelets twinkle obviously. "Too bad, isn't it?"
"U... us?" the Doctor asked confused and he looked at the second set of dishes, before he finally recognized Roka and his eyes lit up, then suddenly filled with concern. A few moments later he straightened and seemed to regain his composure. "I can eat over there!" he offered cheery, rushed to get out another plate and shoved some food onto it. "Hey, it's really good!"
"I know." The Master nodded. "And now get lost. No one needs your ugly face to ruin their evening."
"Oh, come on, Master. You can't ignore me forever!" The Doctor didn't move an inch away and kept standing at the counter, where he could watch the two while eating.
"I bet I can," he grumbled, pushed his empty plate away and seemed to think about something, while the uncomfortable atmosphere grew thicker.
"So... what are you two up to?" the Doctor tried to open a conversation.
"Slowly dying of boredom?" the Master offered.
"Very slowly," Roka seconded.
"I heard Feyghotraforia is supposed to be fantastic at this time of the year! We could..."
"No." The Master rolled his eyes.
"Okay. How about the eighth moon of Chapparonin? Last time I was there..."
"No chance."
"Oof, alright..." the Doctor shoved some more food into him, then his face lit up and he stretched his fork into the air, swallowing down the last bite. "I know! Perfect trip for three! The jungles of Jylxoko Alpha. There is this massive statue of..."
"Yes, that sounds nice!" the Master suddenly chimed in, looking excited. "Just give me the keys to those handcuffs and we can go."
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, actually... I'd rather not take them off... yet."
"Mhm... understandable." The Master nodded with a serious face. "I also wouldn't let my dog off the leash before it's tamed."
Roka's eyes darted back and forth between the two, wondering if the Master was going somewhere with his taunting, or if he simply wanted to provoke. Probably the latter.
"Hey, I... You're not my dog!" the Doctor protested.
"Then stop treating me like one," the other Time Lord snarled and stared up to the ceiling as if it were interesting all of a sudden.
Roka couldn't suppress a giggle. "I wouldn't mind you on a leash."
Widely grinning he looked down again, leaned on the table, chin in hand, and glared at her. "Mhm... what for?"
"I'd come up with something," she retorted with a mean smirk. "And I could stop you from running away from me."
"Would never do that," he purred back. "It'd be horribly boring without such lovely company."
Roka blinked perplex and whatever she had wanted to say, slipped her mind.
"Uh, I really don't want to interrupt whatever you two are discussing..." the Doctor interrupted, trying to get back the Master's attention.
"But you do!" he retorted, rolling his eyes once more. "Can't you just get lost?"
"Weeell, just wanted to know what you think about Jylxoko Alpha."
"Can I blow it up?"
"Errr... no."
"Ignite the swamp gasses?" the Master offered with a childish smile. "I heard the last time someone did that, a third of the planet was uninhabitable for the next two hundred years."
"And you happened to be the one who tested it?" Roka guessed and simply got a wink for an answer.
"Okay, maybe another place then?" the Doctor seemed to give up.
"Oh, there are tons of places I'd love to visit," the Master nodded and pulled his sleeves slightly up. Just enough to let the handcuffs blink.
"Alright, I get it," the other Time Lord sighed. "Will you not try to kill me, blow anything up or do any other harm if I take them off?"
"Of course," the Master drawled. "No idea why you even think I would."
All that followed was a deep sigh.
Roka still watched the two, taking her wine glass and leaned back in her chair. "Wouldn't it be way easier to just let us go?" she pondered. "Don't think this will lead anywhere, Doctor."
"I'm not holding you somewhere!" he protested a bit whiney. "What are you even doing here?!"
"Isn't that obvious, Doctor?" The Master waved his hand to the table. "We're having a date."
Roka almost choked on the wine and had to set the glass back onto the table. Her protest never left her mouth though, when the Master gave her a roguish wink and nodded his eyes towards the Doctor. She understood immediately as she saw his dumbfounded face.
"You're kidding me!" he let out in a slightly panicking voice. "I... I mean... you're not really... uh... you're not, right?" A help-seeking glance wandered to Roka.
"Oh, but of course." She nodded, deciding to play along.
"B... but...!" The Doctor looked as if he had seen a ghost, then spun around to the Master. "You can't just hypnotize people and..."
"Tch, told you, it's not possible!"
"What for anyway?" Roka seconded and casually leaned an arm over the back of her chair. "'S not as if I could say no to dating such a handsome alien."
A short hint of surprise whizzed over the Master's face, but he caught himself immediately and grinned widely, before he leaned onto the table, hands folded under his chin. His eyes were gleaming impishly at her. "Any... suggestions how to proceed? If not I'd have plenty." He smirked widely, knocking her out of any mental balance she might have had.
Before Roka could find her speech again, the Doctor appeared in her line of sight. "You're... serious?" he wondered.
The Master shot him a glance, leaned back in his chair and picked up the wineglass to rotate it in his hand. "Well, you never wanted," he said nonchalantly, hiding a mean smile behind the glass.
The Doctor promptly froze, his eyes full of disbelieve and a slight hint of panic.
"Can you believe it?" The Master winked at Roka. "That guy had a real crush on me in his early two-hundreds."
"Masteeer!" the other man whined. "Don't..."
"...spill out a nasty little secret of yours? Oh, whoooooops." He dramatically put a hand in front of his mouth.
Roka had a really hard time keeping herself from giggling, although she could hardly imagine it to be true. Seeing the Doctor shift uncomfortably almost was a kind of conformation though, making the situation only more hilarious.
"That... it was super long ago!" he finally exclaimed.
"Oh, no reason to be ashamed. Haven't you heard? I'm a handsome guy after all." A smug grin widened on his face, showing how much fun he obviously had right now.
"No... I mean yes... but no!" the Doctor's eyes wandered to Roka, begging for help.
But she already understood that this was the Master's revenge for having a secret of his own revealed not long ago. And it wasn't as if it would hurt anyone, so she played along, glancing at the Doctor's helpless eyes and nodded towards the Master.
"Don't try anything. I'm not going to share him." From the corner of her eyes she saw a mean grin widen on the other one's face.
"I... I'm not! Not even a bit!" Now the Doctor's voice was desperate. "Why are you doing this?" he whined.
"Uhm..." the Master cocked his head slightly, putting a finger onto his lips as if he had to think about that question. Then his eyes lit up and he pointed the finger into the air. "Because I'm evil and I enjoy seeing you suffer. How about that?" And the smile on his face couldn't be more genuine.
A whimper came from the Doctor and he seemed to finally realize that there was no way he would get out of this situation without making it any worse. "I... I just let you two alone!" His voice way too high as he stormed out of the kitchen.
Both burst out into laughter a few seconds after and didn't stop for quite a while. Finally Roka wiped a tear away and grinned at the Master.
"That was a bit mean."
"Yup, but he totally deserved it. And before you ask, it is true." He winked at her, filling their glasses once more. "I had some pity and asked him out once, but he refused."
Roka chuckled, but then a weird thought came to her. "Wait... that's not the reason you hate him, right?"
He snorted and took a sip. "You read too many of those Japanese comics." With a chuckle he leaned further back into his chair, making it bob up and down with his foot. "No, no. We were almost still children back then... But if you really want to know..." His gaze wandered into the distance. "I guess it started after... this accident. Since then he kept his distance and some years later I one day found out he was gone. Just like that. Without saying a word." Slowly he looked down and to Roka, smiling. "After that the reasons kept piling up, literally each time we met. There are too many nowadays to count them."
She simply nodded. That made sense somehow, although she would probably never understand it completely. But it was nice that he hadn't evaded the question at least.
"Jealous?" he suddenly asked with a mocking grin.
Her eyes glinted back sarcastically. "What if?"
With a thud the legs of his chair landed on the floor and he leaned slightly over the table. "You want me all for yourself then?"
Roka mirrored his pose, but since the table wasn't too small there still was lots of space between them. "That would be asked quite a lot, considering both of our life spans." She cracked a smile. "For a little while though..."
"As if you could handle me," the Master derisively retorted and rested his chin on folded hands.
"Very unlikely," Roka confirmed. "Now stop fooling around. The Doctor's gone." She giggled.
"Who says I am?" Slowly he leaned back again, grabbed his glass and emptied the rest, before he threw another glance at Roka. "Now... since we're having a date..."
"We so totally don't!" she protested automatically. "I just played along."
"Then play a little while longer. I'm horribly bored."
Roka sighed. "I... don't think this would help it much. And we can't even leave... Except if you don't want to take the Doctor's offer," she closed with a mean smile.
"Stop mentioning him. That ruins my mood." He rolled his eyes and shuddered dramatically. "Almost makes me think you'd rather date him." He started bobbing his chair up and down again.
Roka wrinkled her nose, but then gave him the same mocking grin she had received before. "Jealous?"
The Master slowly grinned at the ceiling, before looking down again. "Mhm, maybe. And I don't care about your lifespan." He then suddenly stood up and came over, reaching his hand out to her. "I know something. I bet you've never seen it."
Roka looked perplex at his hand, then up to his face to see what he might be up to. But the impish look was gone, replaced by a warm smile. Something she had thought to be impossible just a few weeks ago.
"You can't move around," she remembered him.
"It's in the library. And since you can't read our language it's highly unlikely you discovered it yourself."
Still a bit hesitant she got up and took his hand, and he bowed down to place a small kiss on hers with a smile. "Let me show you the stars, little crow," he said in a husky voice.
Totally unprepared for something like this, Roka's heart rate sped up and she followed silently, a bit flushed. They reached a part of the library that had a delicate star shaped mosaic on the ground. Without letting go of her hand, the Master trod to a panel and made a few gestures in front of it. Some lights appeared and he tapped against one.
The pattern on the ground began to shift and rotate slowly, before it opened up and the pieces slid backwards into the ground, revealing a big, blue glowing orb inside that was constantly rotating. The lights in this part of the library automatically dimmed as the sphere rose from the ground, seemingly held by nothing.
"Whoa, what is that?" Roka asked astonished. She really hadn't found this on her own.
"One of navigation cores of the TARDIS." The Master watched as the sphere rose further into the air in front of them, bathing everything in its eerie light.
"Uh... don't tell me you want to sabotage it..."
A chuckle came from him, before he shook his head. "No, that would be suicide, especially inside the Vortex." He nudged her and nodded upwards, where the lights had drawn a star pattern onto the ceiling. "There, look at it." Now his voice was calm, almost a whisper. "The stars above Gallifrey."
Roka glared at them, feeling weird all of a sudden. So small and insignificant. And somehow also... sad. She hadn't seen the Master move, but a moment later he put his arms around her from behind and she leaned back at him.
"The place where it all started. And now it's gone," he said in a low voice. "Feels strange to know I can never return. Not that I liked it much there..."
Although it was sad, Roka couldn't hold back a small laugh. "That's exactly what you always plan to do with earth."
"Tz, that rock is nothing in comparison. And it's not as if it would bother you much, right?"
"No, not so much," she confessed. "Not as long as I have any means to travel at least. Even... if it would have to be alone." A moment of silence spread and she thought back to earlier when she had found the library empty. Carefully she turned around in his arms and buried her face in his shirt. "I... I thought you were gone," she mumbled finally and felt a noiseless laugh.
"I know it's asked too much... but trust me a little bit," he murmured into her ear. "I wouldn't just vanish alone." With that he clutched her a bit tighter. "For that I enjoy this too much. And I don't like leaving behind my possessions anyway."
"I'm not your possession." Roka chuckled, sending an amused look up to him. "You scribbled your name onto me... but I think I still have a saying in that."
"No. No you don't," he snickered.
For a while they stood there, the Master watching the glowing sphere and the stars above their heads, both enjoying the presence of the other one.
At some point Roka mumbled smiling, "It's still not a date."
"It totally is," the Master protested, sounding as if he wore a wide grin. "And not even the worst I ever had."
"I bet the others all ended bad." She giggled.
"Well... mostly with everyone wanting to slap me... don't slap me."
Roka giggled some more and clutched him. "And there I have sooo many reasons to do so."
But she didn't. It was way too comfortable like that and if it were for her, time could freeze now. When she peeked up after a few seconds, the Master was staring up to the artificial stars and his look wore a deep longing for them.
There also was a slight twitch in his eyes from time to time... It seemed to happen so much more often now, making Roka wish it would only be a trick of the lights.