The next morning the Doctor took a walk through the corridors of the Capitol, a part of him still trying to put off the moment when he would have to actually settle down and finally take responsibility for leading his people back into the universe. There was much to make amends for and he knew that they could not go back to sitting high and mighty in their ivory towers looking down their noses at the rest of the cosmos. Nor could they just arrogantly and condescendingly descend from the heavens and simply assume control.

The Doctor's first undertaking as President would be to open attendance to the Gallifrey Academy to off worlders. They had sat on a veritable treasure trove of technical knowledge for millennia, the very least they could do was share it with those who could understand and make use of it.

But maybe that was another reason he was currently dragging his feet; the Time Lords had always been a remarkably xenophobic people, generally suspicious and distrustful of even other Time Lords. If they were to survive they would have to let go of their obsession with political intrigue and start to believe that not everyone was out for themselves in the universe, or that they could, if they were careful, make a very meaningful difference on the personal level without harming the web of time.

It had been a hard learnt lesson even for him and he knew it would be a lot harder for a Gallifrey still rebuilding from a devastating war; nonetheless he had to try. His only hope was that with the world still in tumult from the war it might be easier to enact change than it would be when they'd settled back into their peaceful ruts. In any case it would require a lot of arguing and boring meetings and that was not a terribly enticing prospect.

As he entered the Academy building a council orderly approached him and bowed hurriedly, he carried a clipboard and looked quite flustered. The Doctor waved away his greeting, 'that would be the second thing' he thought, 'the bowing and scraping would have to go.'

"My Lord, the temporary council request your attendance... they want to know what your orders are, when should the candidates meet for the election of the new High Council? They look to you for guidance."

The Doctor sighed; that was a big part of the problem wasn't it, an inability to think for themselves… in public at least.

"What would you like me to do?" he asked giving him one of his intense looks.

The functionary stared at him his face a mixture of confusion and fear. "I I I…" he stammered "it's not my place to say my Lord."

The Doctor let him off the hook and just nodded, carrying on down the corridor, he could almost hear the breath of relief the little man let out behind him. Such a lack of imagination.

They walked on in silence for a while until the Doctor paused by a classroom of students, idly watching the bent heads hard at work over their lessons until his attention was caught by a young man sat at the back gazing out of the window, his eyes following the movement of the birds and butterflies outside. The boy looked up suddenly, startled by a rebuke from his teacher, and contritely returned to his studies.

The Doctor knocked on the door and waited for the invitation to enter before stepping inside aware of the very loudly unsaid protestations of his aide.

"My Lord President!" he exclaimed in surprise and gestured for the students to stand before the Doctor cut him off.

"Oh no, don't mind me, just you carry on as though I weren't here," He wandered over to the back of the class and sat next to the boy, aware of the continued buzz that had been generated by his impromptu appearance but ignoring it, here he knew was a kindred spirit.

"What's your name?"

"Rowan, sir." His voice was small and shy but held a calm confidence in his convictions; the Doctor was suddenly, vividly reminded of his youth.

"Do you dream of travelling, Rowan?" he asked. The boy was hesitant, fearing a trap, although the Doctor could easily read the answer from the wanderlust clear in the young man's eyes.

"Of course you do, all the best people do." He felt his mind racing as plans formulated themselves in his head. "You seem an observant young man, would you come with me? I've got a really important job for you." He looked up at the teacher, "may I borrow him for a while? I promise I'll bring him back."

The poor man looked a bit confused but found himself giving his permission to the most important person on Gallifrey. "Of course my Lord. Rowan, go with the Lord President."

The boy hurriedly packed his satchel and followed the Doctor out of the classroom.

He turned to the little man with the clipboard, "Right, lead the way to this meeting then." And as he bustled off the Doctor whispered to Rowan, "Stay close to me and keep your eyes and ears open."