When the ground finished rumbling, Lucius warned Donna, "The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you."
"Consuming the vapours, you say?" The Doctor asked.
"They give me strength." Evelina answered weakly, and Rose moved toward her to help her sit, but she refused to take a seat.
"It doesn't look like it to me." The Doctor replied.
"Is that your opinion as a doctor?" The three time travelers' eyes went wide.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Doctor. That's your name." She repeated.
"How did you know that?"
Eveline refused to answer, instead turning to Donna. "And you. You call yourself Noble." Then she turned to Rose. "And you, some sort of Wolf."
"Now then, Evelina. Don't be rude." Her mother chastened.
"No, no, no, no. Let her talk." The Doctor invited, and Rose agreed. Maybe they could finally get some answers as to why the TARDIS brought them here.
"You both come from so far away." Evelina looked though them more than at them, as if she was seeing their travels even as she spoke.
Lucius inserted himself back into the conversation. "The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries."
"A bit spot on, actually." Rose's voice betrayed her nerves even as she attempted to fight the sexism. Lucius scowled at her but turned to the Doctor as he spoke.
"Oh, not this time, Lucius. No, I reckon you've been out-soothsayed." The Doctor has less of Rose's hesitation and more curiosity.
"Is that so, man from Gallifrey?" Lucius challenged.
"What?" The Doctor's back hunched over, and his mouth stayed in an "O" shape.
"The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" As Lucius pressed, the Doctor back up a little, and Rose quickly moved to her fiancé's side. He gripped her hand tightly. Lucius stared at Rose. "The girl who burned like the sun. Her mind scorched." Rose felt a familiar heat in her eyes and begged Bad Wolf not to show through. The heat faded.
"Doctor, what are they doing?" Donna asked, an air of both fear and confusion in her voice.
Lucius turned to her, "And you, daughter of London."
"How does he know that?" Donna asked again, but they had no explanation to give her.
Lucius held his head up proudly, even as he looked down on the travelers, "This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth."
Donna's voice came out breathlessly, and a glimmer of fear shone in her eyes, "That's impossible." She may be new to time travel, but she knew none of this was right.
"Even the word Doctor is false." Evelina added. "Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time."
Her mother screamed her name as she fainted. Her brother grabbed onto her and carried her to her room. Donna and Rose followed, leaving the Doctor to deal with Lucius.
"She didn't mean to be rude." Metella apologized as she fanned Evelina. "She's ever such a good girl, but when the gods speak through her…"
Rose sat beside Evelina. "What's wrong with her arm?"
Metella bowed her head, almost in shame, but also refusing any blame, "An irritation of the skin. She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night."
"What is it?" Donna asked.
Metella's eyes filled with worry. "Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?"
Donna looked over at Rose, but Rose just shook her head. She reached out to touch the rash but hesitated a moment before feeling her arm. "It's stone."
~.~
"The vapors, you said." The Doctor addressed Caecilius after Lucius fled. "Vapors from where?" He finally looked up to Caecilius.
"The hypocaust, of course."
"Of course, of course." He walked over to the hypocaust and removed the grating. "Different sort of hypocaust?"
Caecilius spoke, voice filled with pride, "Oh, yes. We're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself.
The Doctor continued to examine the hypocaust. "Who thought of that?"
The older looking gentleman was confused by the question. Shouldn't that be obvious? "The soothsayers, after the great earthquake, seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt."
"Didn't you think of moving away?" The Doctor shook his head at his own question. "Oh no, then again, San Francisco."
"That's a new restaurant in Naples, isn't it?"
The Doctor ignored his question, not bothering to cover his mistake. It wouldn't matter tomorrow anyway. "What's that noise?" He stuck his head a little farther into the hypocaust, listening to the echoing thumping sound.
"Don't know. Happens all the time. They say the gods of the Underworld are stirring."
"But after the earthquake, let me guess. Is that when the soothsayers started making sense?"
Caecilius nodded. "Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they'd always been, shall we say, imprecise? But then the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspex, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision."
The Doctor removed his head from the hypocaust long enough to spare a quizzical glance at Caecilius. "Haven't they said anything about tomorrow?"
Caecilius returned his quizzical look with one of his own, "No. Why, should they? Why do you ask?"
The Doctor shook his head. Perhaps it's better this way. They don't need to live in fear. "No, no. No reason. I'm just asking. But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapours, yeah?"
"That's how they see." Caecilius shook his head. The Doctor knew his cover as an inspector was long gone. Quintus returned from his sister's room and reclined on the couch.
I'm sure Rose is wondering why they are allowing us to stay here. The Doctor smiled to himself. "Ipso facto."
"Look you." Caecilius was losing his patience. Perhaps, the Doctor had thought too soon.
"They're all consuming this." He scooped a handful of dust out of the hypocaust.
"Dust."
"Tiny particles of rock. They're breathing in Vesuvius." He walked over to the couch where Quintus was relaxing with a drink.
"Quintus, me old son. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus. Where does he live?"
"It's nothing to do with me." Quintus answered emotionlessly.
"Let me try again. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus." The Doctor reached behind the young man's ear and pulled out a coin. "Where does he live?"
The young man sat up, with wide-eyed curiosity, and the Doctor handed him the coin. "It's not too far. I'll take you."