Disclaimer: Sorry, but I still do not own.
Of this other species
(S.5 Ep.8 & 9)
The bitter truth of life is to be constantly evolving, learning things about each other, discard things one thought about each other and losing things without noticing.
-o0O0o-
"I don't understand what you're going to do."
The Boy, Elliot, watched as the Doctor tinkered with the Monitors, scanning in his hand-drawn plan of all security devices placed in the little village.
"Two phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices. A pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe."
"Knock 'em out. Cool!"
The Doctor smiled and adjusted a setting on his screwdriver.
"Lovely place to grow up round here," he murmured.
"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."
The Time Lord sighted knowingly. "I was the same where I grew up."
"Did you get away?"
There was this bright childish curiosity and awe he loved so much. The one convincing him to answer, despite knowing exactly which question was going to follow "Yeah."
"Do you ever miss…"
"Sh," interrupted the Doctor, shook his screwdriver, checked the readings on it and scanned again. "There's something…."
He jumped around the Monitors and turned once round the room, slowly locating something."
"Are the monsters coming?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. This is something else…. A homing signal or something…There you are!"
He flickered with his screwdriver and a slow pitched kind of tact like a mechanical heartbeat became audible. Everybody in the room froze." What the hell is this!"
The Doctor eyed the readings. "I'm not sure… Oh! Brilliant! Anybody having a mobile? You, Nasreen, you surely have a mobile phone!"
She nodded and pulled hers out of her pocket which the Doctor promptly snatched out of her hand and sonniced. Then he put it to his ear. "Hello?"
"What are you doing? You said there is no signal!"
He ignored the protests and continued. "Hello? This is the Doctor, to whom do I speaking?"
There was a scratching noise, then a female voice: "You are homing on the signal of the only TARDIS in existence and you know that. Stop being this overdramatic, your situation is dire enough."
The humans changed looks. "How's that possible!"
The Doctor ignored them. "Tella! How is it going outside there!"
"Oh, I am fine. It is you that I am worried for."
" Worried? For me? You flatter me!"
" Oh be silent! …. Are you attempting to flirt with me?"
The Doctor blushed crimson. "No! No of course not. Wouldn't dare!"
"Good. You are captured under a localized shield, but you already know that. What you do not know, the reason for the ground feeling off here is…"
"It being bioprogrammed. And there are three capsules powered by geothermic energies reaching the surface in less than four minutes."
"I should have known. This is a mining company, they have the scientific equipment for that. That and your annoying gusto of upgrading technology way over the standards of the current time zone."
"Well, it's a life and death situation! The ground attacked and sucked in two people already. I had to!"
"It was a simple statement, no accusation. Still, I am currently reprogramming the TARDIS's circuits to overcome this shield and get you out of there. Do not change your position."
"We only have three minutes, Tella!"
"It is a time machine. You probably can already see the outlines of her materializing."
"No! No Tella, don't. We need to stay here. I'll call you when to come if you keep this line open, but not yet!"
"Doctor, the TARDIS database may classify them to be a class seven civilization, but highly dangerous from own experience."
"So it is a Silurian tribe."
"Tribes", corrected Tella. "The TARDIS scans reveal a whole city structure undermining the complete valley. Build for a population of millions."
The Doctor went silent and closed his eyes.
"Doctor," Elliot silently asked," Doctor, is this bad?"
He smiled and ruffled the kid's hair. "Yes. But it's going to be all right. We'll find your dad. I've met them before."
"Were you scared?"
"No. They were scared of me." He put the mobile back on his mouth. "Tella? They have Amy."
There was a moment of silence. Then: "You should better hurry to get her back, then. For your own sake. I think Rory will not be amused."
"Neither are you," he murmured silently.
"Doctor," Mack insisted, "who's that. And what is a TARDIS!"
"And why are you able to speak with her! You said there's no signal," added Nasreen.
He sighted. "She's a…."
"Acquaintance."
"An acquaintance you might say. Outside the shield. She stayed with my ship, the TARDIS."
"The Woman in the brown dress in that blue box, up at the graveyard," Elliot asked.
The Doctor grinned. "Yes! Exactly! You've met her?"
"Briefly," answered Tella."They mistook us for executive law enforcement. Rory went with them. You really need to change the outer dimensions appearance."
"It's stuck! I told you."
"You… are not the police," Elliot interrupted.
"I'm even better. I'm the Doctor." He grinned and talked in the phone again. "But Nashreen is right. How are you pulling this?"
The answer was a word nobody had ever heard before.
"What!"
"I told you I have worked with that model before."
"A what," Nashreen asked.
"There is no word in any human language for this. Basically, she's using the TARDIS's ability as an omni-temporal existent being. She sends the messages back in time before the shield closed, letting them linger here for me picking them up. And to pick mine up she extracts them in another timeline where the shield never happened or the TARDIS is within it. Without disrupting our time stream. Except not. It's difficult to explain if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, so just forget what I've said. All you need to know that that's Timeengeniering on the finest level!"
"Thank you." There was not a bit of pride in Tella's voice, as if this was nothing.
The Doctor gulped. There were few Timelords able to succeeded with something like this. There was precise knowledge of the other timesteams needed in order to not disrupt them, as well as exelent piloting skills and knowledge of the TARDIS Type they were working with. And Tella apparently had done it just like that. Maybe it had to do with her abilities as a Seer? It probably did. She could easily distinguish the necessary events happening to not disturb the lines after all. And she mentioned being a good pilot before. He had thought she exxavagated but apparently not. Not if she could pull this. "Are you able to keep it up when I go down there?"
"No. But I am positive the circuits will be adjusted in a few hours, so the normal homing on the key will work just fine. We will be there when you need us."
The Doctor nodded and checked the time. Two minutes. But instead of a good bye, he asked a question. "You knew this would happen."
"There… was the possibility. The grass on Mr. Eddard's grave was blue."
" I see. We'll see each other."
"May the guardians be with you."
"Course they are! I'm one of their champions!"
"For that, dearie, you are losing way too much time."
"Right. "
He pressed the button and threw the mobile back to Nashreen who barely caught it. "Two minutes left. Get everybody in here. I know who they are and what to do. Ambrose, I need your car. An Fire extinguisher. Cold water, anything cold. Cold blood. We're going to catch and freeze them."
-o0O0o-
Lady Storyteller stepped out of the TARDIS again onto that strange feeling ground and blinked. The Shield was still there. Yes, the TARDIS had adjusted to it so the Timemachine had been able to pass through when homing on the key, but still. Something was wrong.
"Ah, Tella there you are!"
"Doctor? Is everything all right?"
"Yep."
"So we are leaving?"
"You're coming with me? Oh, that's going to be a bummer, Amy will be happy to see you!"
"Stop. Please. I thought you... Amy is not here?"
"No. I need the TARDIS to get down there and get her out. Haven't you checked the Time-Space coordinates? It's roughly twelve minutes after our call."
"You have done things in less than that Time."
"True. Still. Are you… Wait, wait, wait. What are you think you doing?"
A woman, probably middle aged stopped before them and grinned. "Coming with you, of course. What is it, some kind of transport pod? "
"Certainly not," Lady Storyteller clarified with a raised eyebrow while the Doctor simultaneously answered: „Sort of, but you're not coming with me."
"Why! Her you asked to come with you, but me you refuse?"
"I am a member of his species, not only capable of controlling this very high technological Space and Time traveling device but also way more resistant to the obstacles we may face there than your fragile human body."
"So you are an alien!"
"Why, for time's sake every single human is this obsessed with this term. I do not call you an alien either, and I have complete legitimate reason to do so, too!"
The Doctor rubbed his forehead."That's not the time to discuss that, Tella. Nashreen. Sorry but, no."
The Woman crossed her arms before her body." I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet, and now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so."
"I don't have time to argue."
"I thought we were in a rush."
Intriguing. Apparently, she was just the same as Amelia. The Storyteller rose one eyebrow. "It is going to be highly dangerous."
"Oh, so's crossing the road."
Exactly like Amy, it seemed. So may it be. "All right. But promise me to return them safe."
"You're not coming with us?"
"Oh, I never intended to. Meeting a Silurian is an experience I prefer to rater avoid."
The Doctor threw his head back and groaned. "Oh, for goodness sake. All right, then. Come on!" With that he disappeared into the TARDIS, shutting the door behind him.
The Woman, Nasreen, reached for the handle of the door, but the Storyteller stopped her by blocking the handle and stepping forward into the human's private bubble. "I am completely serious. Be careful down there. Silurian's do not have the best opinion on humans and neither have I. I trust you with this so bring them back save. All of them. Especially him."
Nasreen gulped and her pupils widened in that characteristically manner all human ones did when scared. Good. "Is he... your husband?"
"Thank the guardians not. But the only other of my species left."
Nashreen nodded slowly. "Okay."
"Splendid." The Storyteller smiled and took a step back, releasing her. "Beware, a TARDIS from the inside is not what it seems on the outside. It sometimes confuses people."
Nasreen nodded again and slipped unnecessarily fast into the ship, practically throwing the door shut behind her.
Maybe she had overdone it a bit, true. But it had been necessary. She did not have the luxury to get to know the behaviorally pattern of that Woman like she has with Amy and Rory, but they had enough common character traits to be one of those who were worth the time. So, a little scare would work enough untill they wee able to get to know each other properly. Still, she hated when she had to do that. Too deep were the wounds of people running in terror before her and the memories of…
She was never able to finish that thought because the ground started to shake, and the TARDIS slumped down into a hole forming right under her.
No! Nononono, no!
"Doctor!"
-o0O0o-
"Did somebody just knocked?" Ambrose eyed the door warily.
"Could be the Doctor, "Rory mused. "But then he just waltzes in."
"I thought he went to see those... lizards."
"We've heard the TARDIS arriving but not dematerializing. Trust me. You knew when he's gone."
Again. The same two discreet but confident knocks on the door.
"Maybe it's the Monsters?" Eliot asked.
"Monsters don't knock. Not those I know of at least."
"Roderick?"
Rory blinked confused. "Tella? What are you doing here?"
"They have the TARDIS. The Floor took her in, together with the Doctor and that Human. I think she is called Nashreen. Would you please open the Door, it is rather uncomfortable to stand here and scream to hold this conversation."
Scream, huh? She barely spoke louder than normally. Nothing compared to the shrill loud screeching she was capable of when angry.
"It's open. The door sticks …"
The door banged against the wall and Tella stumbled inside before catching it swinging back so it didn't hit her.
"… just a bit," Rory finished. The Time Lady cleared her throat awkwardly and closed it behind herself. "Apologies. Luck and precious times."
"Those things have Nashreen," Mack asked anxious.
Tellas eyes gleamed disappointed about not getting a greeting in return, but she choose to answer nevertheless. "Oh, she had been in the TARDIS the point they took her, so she certainly is fine."
"So," Rory rose his eyebrows, "then why are you here?"
"Because I obviously wasn't."
He groaned inwardly. That Woman. "Obviously. Why?"
"Oh. Well, I prefer to rather avoid those Silurians. Amazing species if the rumors are to be believed, but also rather prideful and unforgiving. Too many similarities, you know."
"And you let the Doctor taking her with him to those…. Things," Mack asked unbelievingly.
"Those things as you call them are a sentient species technologically higher evolved than you are. And yes. She made the Impression of a strong and capable character, perfectly aware of what she was doing so why should I intervene. I…"
She went silent and took a few steps before standing right before Mack and examined him closely. Rory gulped. This, he had learned very fast, was never a good sign. "Why are you a fix-point?"
Oh no. Not one of those moods again.
"A What?"
"A fix-point. A secured point in time, influencing it heavily. No not you. You are just the set up. A scatter point. The real decision is ….Alayas to make. Alaya. Who of you is Alaya. You?"
Ambrose shook her head. "No?"
"The Silurian," Elliot piped up," didn't the Doctor said that's her name?"
Tella rose one eyebrow but her whole face softened when she saw the boy. "Which Silurian?"
"The one in the Crypt."
"There is a Silurian in the crypt?"
"Yeah. We've captured her and now the Doctor uses her to get my Dad back."
Tella smiled the soft smile she normally only had when remembering her husband. "And he will. As well as Amy, Rory. I am truly sorry for not being able to provide any assistance on that matter."
Awkwardly Rory shrugged. "You're here."
"Yes, "Ambrose interrupted," she is. Great. What is this thing going to do to my dad!"
Tella sighted and mumbled something non-audible although Rory had the faint idea it was another complain about his species. "I see. You are his daughter, and Elliot is your son. You already have lost your husband to them, and now everything depends on Alaya."
"On it doing What!"
"There is no reason using this tone, deary. So please refrain from further doing so. No wonder they see you as primitive apes. You are currently the ambassadors of humanity, to convince them you are not what they think you are, but you are doing a poor job at that. Believe me, I know how hard it is to not know the fate of a beloved while having yourself and your family threatened by the same foe who took them, but please, please try to stay reasonable. This is what it means to be civilized. Your father had been poisoned in an attack, depending on which poison used we have another 30 minutes up to three hours until it is going to be lethal. I will talk to Alaya to help me with an Antidote. Appaently, I will meet a Silurian today, after all."
Rory released the breath he wasn't able to recall holding. Just barely saved.
Tella was getting better at this. Anyway. Poison. Well, alien... no. Not alien poison. Silurians were a Species from earth.
"Ok, so, um. We normally try to remove poisoning substances out of the human body. Does this work here, too?"
"I don't know but it may slow down the progress remarkably. Just do not to get in touch with it. So nothing like those weird tales of sucking it out. Do you even do this or is it just fiction?"
Rory pondered a second but then decided not to tell her. "Not important. Get the antidote, I'll handle this. I'm a nurse," he added, noticing the doubtful glances around him.
Ambrose pressed her lips together but said nothing.
Tella turned to go into the crypt, when Mack's voice held her back. "Do you really think she will help us." Help me.
"It depends."
"On what!"
"Everybody."
-o0O0o-
"You had to come and gloat."
The Storyteller sighted at the venomous words. "I am going to keep you safe. You are of the same value to us as are the humans your people have captured to them."
Alaya laughed and stood up, crawled out of the shadows and she flinched.
"Oh. Look at this scared little ape."
"I am not repulsed by your appearance. Quite the opposite actually. The reports indicated a rather…. Different appearance but then, it is a tribe processing the third eye. I am merely saddened by you being chained to that wall like a primitive animal."
There was open surprise and confusion on that rather handsome face, her hostile position instantly relaxing. Until she realized what had happened. "You… are the same species than this Doctor. I see. He lied."
"Oh, that is rule number one when dealing with him. But he had not. He still sometimes forgets me, although we do accompany each other for a few weeks already. May I take a seat?"
"Do I have a choice," Alaya mumbled sarcastically.
"Of course you do. You are our guest."
She snorted and raised her chained wrists. "In my civilization we normally don't chain our guests like- how did you put it, right some primitive animal."
"Mine neither. But that is the one thing you have guessed right. They are scared." Lady Storyteller finished her search for a second chair for Alaya without result, so she sat down on the floor in an appropriate distance. "Scared of everything new and different. Just like every other species in the universe."
Alaya tilted her head but sunk on the floor, too. "What are you."
"That's not important. The important thing is humanity decided to share their planet with both of us," she lied through her teeth. "They are terribly annoying, hot- headed and unrestrained. But they allowed us to live here."
"So that's it about. Never. Shall I tell you what's really going to happen? One of them will kill me. My death shall ignite a war, and every stinking ape shall be wiped from the surface of my beloved planet."
The Storyteller remained silent. It was the easiest was to confuse and break an individuum, she had learned that a long time ago. Just a pregnant silence and the imagination of one's opponent. With enough time even the most stubborn novice had talked. And as always these tactics never disappointed.
"Your silence says everything. I know apes, and apparently better than you do. You lick their furry boots because they allowed you to stay on a planet which didn't even belong to them, but you know nothing. I know which one of them will kill me. Do you?"
Breath in. Breath out and release. You are a lord of time itself. You stand above the squabbles of such lower species. You have detached yourself. And the reigns of her temper held. They always did when needed.
"No. Because I do not need to. The human you injured is currently in medical care, and I am confident he will be fine on a few hours."
"You can't change his destiny."
"Not yet."
Alaya hissed. „So that's what you want."
"The choice is yours. I am confident you take the right one."
"You mean the right one out of your point of view."
" I do not have a point of view. I swore not to interfere with any living being's decisions, mind or timeline."
Alaya flinched back. „You're a Time Lord!"
The Storyteller didn't react but neither adverted her gaze.
"Did they call you? What are you doing here!"
"As I said. I live on this planet."
"So it is true. You've really fallen. Sunken low enough to see yourself on one level with apes."
"Or maybe they have risen above what your tribe remembers of them."
Alaya stared into her eyes. "Never!"
What a stubborn person. All this bloodshed in the future because one person couldn't overcome her narrow-minded view of life. But on the other hand this was the origin of all violence in the Universe. Too stubborn people.
Lady Storyteller sighted and stood up, clearing her dress from the dirt of the floor. "A pity. As you wish."
She turned to leave but was stopped by the Silurians scornful voice. "Is it that what he meant? About us having our work cut out. Not even the Time Lords will be able to stop us, you are not even allowed to do so, or you expose how far you've really fallen to the universe. Believe me, the fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due. And as I've already said to your Doctor-friend: I will gladly die for my cause."
A small smile escaped Tella before she wiped it from her face and turned again. She always accused the Doctor of being over dramatic, but the truth was she knew exactly how intimidating the right amount of drama was. Her former regeneration had been a downright Drama queen.
She slowly stepped back down the stairs one by one, placed one feet after another, eyes fixated on Alaya's before crouching down, filling the crypt with another pregnant silence. Then she started to speak in a low, even voice.
"You think dying is the ultimate sacrifice. It is the cowards' way out. You are willingly to die but are you brave enough to live. To face the inferno, you will ignite. To see your comearades, friends and family die beside you while you carry on this senseless quest. Are you willing to watch your planet burn? Just because of one misunderstanding between two of its species? Because earth will burn. If you come to take something form humanity they will fight back. You say they will lose and maybe they will. Most certainly they will. But you will to. I do not know much about humanity, I do not even care much about humanity, but I have learned one thing about them. They care for what they see as theirs. And they rather destroy it than leaving it in the hands of others. And they currently have the technology to turn this solar system into an intergalactic quarantine-zone for the next ten thousand years. But you will never see it because you had the easy way out. You will not be there when they need you to to enfoce and man your stations when everybody else has fallen. You will never be there to help, when they need you. Alaya, you said you love this planet. Is this the future you want for it? This war you want is no solution. It never is."
Alaya forced herself to hold her gaze, not to give in into the fear the twitching of her mouth and the little sideward turn of her head indicated under all circumstances. "Your empty threats are nothing but the proof of your despair."
"I did not intent to threat you in any way, Alaya. I only hoped to be able to share my personal observations with you, so you could benefit from them. I saw my planet burn, I do not wish the same experience upon anybody else. Nobody wants a planetary civil war."
"Civil War!"
"Yes," Lady Storyteller insisted. "Both of you are species of this planet, are you not? Both of you have the right of existing of it as have every other species, too. You did not eliminate birds or some lizards because they shared your ecosphere either. So why humans?"
"Because they…." The Silurian stopped and hissed at the Time Lady.
The Storyteller rose one eyebrow. "Because they what?"
Alaya stayed in her stubborn silence.
"Alaya," the old teacher admonished in a low voice and the warrior turned her head away.
She was not able to admit it and the Storyteller completely understood. A few weeks ago she herself had not been able to admit how highly evolved humans actually had been in comparison to what she had been taught. So she finished the sentence with an educated guess for her scaly guest. "Because they are the sentient species taking your place and thus equaling yourself which cannot be tolerated. It can. If you ask instead of simply taking."
"They attacked first!"
"They not intended do. They were curious, curious to why there were minerals in the ground causing grass to turn blue. Curious about the secrets hidden in the depths of their planets and so their scientist came to explore. You do not often find such a childish clumsiness and curiosity in a species as they have. It is terribly annoying most of the time, yes. But both your species scientists would have so much to give each other."
Alaya stayed silent in a clearly pouting way. She needed time, so the Storyteller nodded and left.
It was solely the Silurians Choice, after all. Even if she might have influenced it a bit. Apparently the Doctor started rubbing of on her.
-o0O0o-
Elliot starred worried out of the window, clinging to his mother which Rory totally was able to understand. Lady Storyteller had played cards and drawn pictures with him while they had waited of any sign of the Silurian or the Doctor and had shown an overall softness and warmth like never before, not even during her 'Girls Days' with Amy.
She was good with kids, something one sadly couldn't always expect from a teacher, and the boy downright fell for her during the brief time they spent together.
Now the Silurian was dead and Tella furious. She had left the church the second she realized what had happened and now paced up and down between the gravestones like a vengeful ghost, not able to bear the company of humans anymore. Rory had told the others what was best in that situation, to simply leave her alone until she had calmed down. Still, the boy was frightened.
He wasn't. It was worrying how accustomed Rory became to Tella's anger, in that short time he knew her. On the other hand, she always allowed him to help her cool down. Her anger was like an Inferno, a burning sun destroying everything but also like a high but fast burning bonfire so -with a few exceptions- very short lived and cooled down quickly.
So he waited until she finally sat down on a bench a few meters away before opening the door. Mack blocked the entry. "Are you sure?"
Rory nodded and closed the door behind him.
He walked over to her but stopped shortly behind her and kept a distance, carefully clearing his throat. "Lady Storyteller?"
"No."
"It's…."
"Roderick, please."
"But we need to know what we shall do."
At least she turned her head so she was able to see him out of the corner of her eye. "I do not care. It was your responsibility as humans to keep her alive, to show her you are different from what they thought you are. I never should have become this intertwined."
His hands curled into fists. "They have Amy!"
"And the Doctor. And most certainly another two innocent humans. That is the reason I simply do not understand why you was not more consequent."
"Me? I didn't…"
Oh.
Oh no.
She had spent some good times with Amy and they had done some pretty insane things together. And he had been really happy the first time Tella had asked her to spend some time alone but in fact after having a wonderful movie night, it had ended in a big rant about the Doctor and her discomforts and him smoothing this out. It didn't happen always whenever she had asked him for a bit spare time, but sometimes, whenever she needed to talk, she had come to him. He was sure she also talked with Amy, but Amy loved the Doctor in a downright worshipping way. So, it seemed naturally that if she was annoyed with her fellow speciesmen, she had come to Rory. Being himself, he had listened and discussed, even if it had been a bit straining. But it had helped her to adjust and so he gladly helped. Maybe a bit too good.
"Tella, I'm just… me. I'm not… I'm a human. Not special at all."
"You underestimate yourself. You were able to let me believe that every human has the talent of goodness you process, convince me that humanity is greater than it is. You were such a good mediator between the Doctor and myself. I knew this could happen, but I honestly thought we could handle her. Together."
"Uhm…", said Rory, not sure what to answer to something like that.
"I do not blame you," she clarified, "I blame my own naiveté. I thought it would help her to calm down to knew what will happen and that there is a cure. This... human ruined everything, and it could have been such an easy treatment. Just a simple decontamination, and that…." -she splats something in gallifreyan-" ruined everything. I beg your pardon for my terribly undignified language, it is a habit I picked up in my last regeneration and somehow am not able to let go," she added with a softer voice.
Rory stayed silent. It was the easiest way to deal with this, but he nodded. Tella joined him in his silence and stared straight ahead for a long time. Then, the moment Rory decided to open his moth to bring up the reason why he came out here in the first place she suddenly turned to face him. "May I ask a question?"
He blinked closed his mouth and opened it again. "Sure."
"Why?"
He cringed but she continued. "Alaya not only choose to tell us about his condition but she also provided some solutions to stop the mutation. Why did Ambrose still follow the urge to take revenge on her knowing that those actions prohibit the help she wanted to gain with acting like that. This makes no sense!"
"I….can't answer that."
"But you are a human."
"Yeah…"
She eyed him for a long time, clearly waiting for him to say more, but when he didn't her eyebrow arched. "You are a strange species."
Rory shrugged helplessly. She shook her head in a precise motion form right to left before starring right ahead again. He cleared his voice. "They contacted us. They will send those transport things for us to come down and be able to negotiate. I know you…"
"No," Tella interrupted. "No. I will follow you down there to get into the TARDIS. I have enough of your species for today."
"You can't just chicken out…"
"Chicken out? Rory Williams. This is your responsibility alone to deal with. I never choose or wanted to get involved in this mess your speciesmen created. And I am also not going to in the future."
"The Doctor won't be happy."
"Are you implying I should care about what this airhead thinks about me?"
Rory gulped under her stern but bored gaze, before she looked out over the graveyard again and continued. "He swore to accept my whishes whenever I choose to stay in the TARDIS and not to join on his so-called adventures. As I did today. It was solely a chain of unfortunate events leading me to even stepping onto this place and his horrendous people. I respect you, Rory Williams. But for today I do not wish to speak to any member of the human race anymore."
"Fine. We will be able to pull this without you anyway!" It was a childish lie and he knew it. He was scared. Not worried, but really scared and not sue if the Doctor was able to pull them out of this on his own. They needed Tella as a backup. And she was such a…
"Otherwise, I would not choose to stay out of this."
She really believed this? Apparently she did. Rory sighted, a tard angry about that involuntary grin on his face.
She was disgusted by humanity, but not by himself or Amy. "Then let's get over with this."
-o0O0o-
The single candle flickered and made it even more difficult to make out the small letters in the dark. Good.
The Storyteller narrowed her eyes and concentrated, pushing away the whispering in her head, drowning it in the words of the children's tale she read.
It had been a bad Idea to return into the TARDIS in her state of mind. But as soon as she had realized that, she had already panicked and hadn't been able to think clearly anymore. Which was why instead of stepping outside, she had fled from the console room into the ships depths, down into the dustiest corner of the library's section about the time war. To the place where everything reminded her of the reason why exactly one must never cross ones' own timeline, breaking and crippling it to ones' own will.
Now she was trapped, the way to free herself from this hell in her head leading directly to the irresistible Temptation.
Why did he even place the entrance in the control room?
Oh, she knew the Doctor could handle this situation. There were a few timelines were he successfully avoided the bloodbath, sometimes even left in peace.
But for the first time in thousand years the Storyteller had the devices at her disposal to ensure exactly one of those timelines was going to happen.
And it was wrong, so terribly wrong.
She could fix this, depose of all those other, unfortunate timelines without anybody noticing and even the Doctor just having a vague feeling of difference. She could even get rid of this terrible selfish human who caused this in the first place. No, this woman was a mother, of a wonderful boy, insecure but quick-minded. So instead she could take her fear away, made her act reasonable, mold and bend her little fragile mind into something better. But she wouldn't.
No, the Storyteller didn't commit such atrocities. She had sworn to respect other species. Even if she didn't understand such idiocy.
But it had been her fault.
There was a reason the Time Lords choose absolute neutrality.
He first time she tried to change the outcome of the situation, she caused a suicide. That fish certainly deserved it. But the point was, she had killed. Again.
Just as today. She didn't help Alaya, she even made things worse. Well not exactly, the Silurian was going to die even if the Storyteller hadn't been there. Because she had ignored the bigger picture, the influence of the others.
And that time she tried to secure, not to change a timeline? Everybody hated her for that, too.
No.
She would never intervene in anything ever again.
She was a Time Lady, of the Drome nonetheless. Even in their drawn-in society, her chapter were the silent specters, guarding knowledge with no interest to intervene in anything the other chapters improvised, yet counseling the ones who sought them out in their residences far away from the cities and the citadel.
She was forced by the circumstances to live with the Doctor. This didn't mean she had to live like the Doctor.
Her hand stroke over the delicate full-page illustration of the three main characters laying stargazing in the grass. No, she had build herself a decent life in the Tardis on her own, with those two surprising humans she came to call her friends. Well, not friends, this word implied trust in each other. But still, the Doctor had to accept that. She had no illusion who they chose if it was coming down to it one day, no. But she had an own life, how fragile it may be, in which she decided her destiny alone.
"Tella? What are you doing?"
Surprised she looked up and closed the book, forcing down the relived smile in favor to her normal neutral face. That unbelievable cretin of a timetodd had did it again. "Roderick."
"Why are you sitting in the dark, reading... oh never mind. I need your help at the... med bay."
"I am afraid, I am not well versed with the medical care of species other than my own..."
"No, I can't read the inscriptions on the boxes. Please?"
Oh. She stood up. "Certainly."
He lead the way and once there, instructed her with a list of everything he needed. The Storyteller shot Ambrose a warning glare before she started to pull out the materials needed to help the humans husband. Rory treated the injured leg with practiced ease before he rose one eyebrow.
"I'll check on the others. This takes too long. Can I leave you alone."
How insulting. "I am not the unpredictable one."
Ambrose flinched but nodded, and it satisfied the Storyteller to find guild in her eyes. "We'll manage, I think."
"We will, indeed," the Time Lady nodded.
Rory shook his head and left to the controll room.
He never returned.
-o0O0o-
"Tella?" Amy knocked a second time, but there still was no answer. Alright, this was her fault alone.
"I'm coming in now."
Determined she pushed the button to open the door. Which opened. A good sign. Or not, because normally Tella never allowed anybody into her room. "Hey, everything ok? Eliot wanted to say good bye, so I thought I'll fetch fetch you... What are you doing?"
The Time Lady kneeled before a huge piece of paper spread on the floor between a brunch of burning candles, sketching randomly circles over circles with a charcoal on it. It looked like some weird ritual or something.
"Writing," she declared absentmindly.
"Oh, ok. Cool. You guys letters really are circles?" She had seen it on the TARDIS screen endless times, but she never expected one could write like this as a handwriting.
"Your human letters always consist of lines and bows, no matter which alphabet. Where is the difference in using another geometrical form?"
"It just looks complicated."
"It is. Which is why I ask you to return another time with whatever matter of concern you process."
"But we're leaving now. If you want to say goodbye, you have to come now."
"Not now. I need to write this down before I forget. I must never forget."
"You rather write diary than see of a boy you'll never meet again and who really likes you?"
"It is not a diary, it is a timestream."
Wait, did being a seer mean one also wrote down prophecies? It would explain her uncommonly hastily, scratchy movements with which she downright frantically scratched down her circles, points and lines. How she not once stopped or looked away. And the whole setup with the candles.
"Are you... writing down a prophecy?"
"A prophecy would imply a future. This is only a past."
"So if it's a past, it can wait. Come on!" Why did she have to be like that? " Tella, please. Try to behave like a human for this kid and at least say goodbye."
"I cannot. Not now."
"Why!"
"It is my purpose, my promise. To remember. To tell the story."
"Then do it another time! Three minutes! You can spare at least three minutes!"
"I cannot. So please stop to importune me with this matter. It is not my fault that terrestrial lifeforms have such a short lifespan, so they cannot wait until I finished this."
Amy stared at her, not sure if she had heard what she just heard. "You are an absolute jerk, Storyteller."
With that she whirled around and stomped out of the room, back to the control room and out of the TARDIS where the others were. They chitchatted a bit more and when the boy asked her about Tella, Amy smiled her warmest smile and told him that she couldn't come out, but he could keep the playing cards. He nodded and pretended to take it like a man but the shimmer in his eyes made her even angrier. When they finally were alone again, just the Doctor and her, she couldn't hold back anymore. "Which planet do you think Tella hates the most?"
He sighted and grinned. "That would make it even worse, believe me."
"Worse than scribbling stupid circles instead of being a decent being. And don't say she is, in your culture."
He stopped. "Circles?"
"Yeah, the ones on the TARDIS Display, something about a timestream." Then she noticed his weird expression. " Doctor?"
But he already grinned. "Why don't we ignore that stuffy old Time Lady, and go to Rio? The right one, this time."
"Ok, what's going on? You're strangely quiet, and Tella is a total jackass. Something happened I don't know of?"
Instead of answering he pointed at the other side of the valley. „OH, hey look!"
Amy reluctantly followed his finger, and there was she again, alone, as always. She smiled and waved back. "There I am again. Hello, me."
But shouldn't there...
"Are you okay?"
She blinked. "I... thought I saw someone else there for a second. I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?" She pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The Doctor fiddled with the screwdriver. "You go in. Just fix this lock. Keeps jamming."
"You boys and your locksmithery."
Rio was a good Idea, if they hit it this time. Tella would hate it, too. Amy closed her eyes.
Why was she even that angry at her? Yes, she had been a jerk, but this wasn't a reason for this... jealousy.
Why was she jealous at Tella?
She didn't remember.
AN: Wait, two updates in two days? I'm surprised myself, but I found this nearly finished chapter in one of the dustiest corners on my hard drive. So, I polished it up and here you are. Yes, Tella writes down Rory's timeline, and she's one of the persons who gets angry when losing someone. Shocking surprise, I know.
Regarding the girls' nights, they fast do other stuff together than watching movies, in case I wasn't able to show that properly. We know that Rory is the one loving films, especially old ones, not Amy, so it is more something Tella and Rory do together. And I have to mention, he is not Tellas personal therapist, even if Rory feels like that. She just wants to rant sometimes and have somebody listen who share her reservations regarding the Doctor. And Rory does.
To those who wonder, Amy is jealous of Tella being able to remeber Rory, just saying.
Other than that, the episodes are basically the normal ones storywise.
Anyway, thanks to Jade Cielo for favoring and following and everybody else for staying with me.
Please take the time to drop a review, I'd love to hear what you say. Expect the next update around the end of may, I'm writing my Bachelor Thesis, remeber ;-)
Greetings
alkatie
28022018
