Gallifreyans do not subscribe to a religious tenet, rather relying on science and fact for our dogma. There are, as with any society, those that disagree. These people have been weeded from our society and have been removed. Strength comes in our similarity. The main proponent of the dogma of similarity was the Lord Rassilon. This great figure will be discussed in depth in the next chapter: The Age of Enlightenment. It was during this time that the Great Separation occurred.

Prior to the Great Separation, the culture of Gallifrey encountered numerous hurdles. Constant wars with the Great Vampires and upheaval due to both environmental and cosmic interactions had caused great pressure to rapidly increase our research into the areas of civil, mechanical and cosmic engineering, biologic sciences of all types, chemistry, and geophysics, theoretical and applied physics.

--A History, Gallifreyan Society.

"What are you doing?"

Peri glanced up in shock at the tone of the Doctor's voice. The bass of his voice cracked and she couldn't tell if it was from strain or anger.

"I'm reading to Tegan," Peri explained carefully. "Just like I told you I was going to do this morning."

The Doctor sighed and stalked into the room. His long legs covered the area quickly and easily. His cricketing costume looked ghastly in the muted orange light filtering through the windows. He slowed about ten feet from her and glanced down at Tegan. Peri had wrapped her up tightly in a blanket; the woman's skin had been cold to the touch. Now she sat resting back against the couch, her legs spread forward on the ground.

"Has she..."

Peri shook her head. "Nothing, Doctor. What about you? How goes the research?"

"Ah, well..." the Doctor grumbled as he squatted and reached to tuck the blankets more firmly about Tegan. "I'm reading through texts from before the Great..." He stopped and looked at Peri. "Yes, well, suffice it to say, I'm looking through information from way before my time."

Peri lifted up the heavy book and showed him the cover. "It's okay, Doc...that's what we're reading." Peri let the book fall back to the ground in front of her lying figure with a sigh of relief.

"Good heavens!" He twisted to lift the book away from her. He looked down through his glasses at the spine. "Thalia gave you A History? Whatever for?"

Peri shrugged. "To understand, I think. That isn't what's important now."

"Very true," he agreed as he sat down next to Tegan, across from Peri.

She bit her lip. "I know that look, Doctor. You've got something going on you don't think anyone will like or agree to, don't you? Come on, out with it."

"I have an idea, just a thought, Peri," he confided.

Peri sat up and completely faced her friends. "You've been researching almost a week..."

"Yes, I know," he said. "I know. And I know you think I've wasted time, but it was necessary. There is a possibility of helping Tegan."

"And you haven't told me?" Peri nearly cried.

"Only a possibility, Peri, but it's a chance I do believe is worth taking." He rubbed at his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. "We'll be leaving tonight."

His voice had fallen in volume so hers did as well. "To where?"

"The wilderness of Gallifrey."

Peri followed the Doctor into their room (she had ceased to think of it as the Doctor's room as he seemed to have Tegan with him more than not those days). "There should be a variety of clothes here that will suit our purposes," he was saying. "I won't need to change, but you and Tegan will..."

"Why?" She asked quietly. She traced his steps and sat down on the bed where he had placed Tegan. With a sigh, she gave Tegan a kiss.

"Well, Peri," he began. His voice was muted as he dug through the wardrobe. "Gallifrey is a rather cold planet, hence our rather lower body temperatures. And whereas I shall be very comfortable, you and Tegan will feel as though it is..." his voice trailed off. "Peri? What..."

Peri finished adjusting Tegan's collar. "What?...Oh! She hates not getting about on her own power. I have to believe she's in there somewhere, Doctor, like a coma victim. And you know how she hates to be dependent. I'm just giving her some encouragement. What do you have for her to wear?"

The Doctor hummed under his breath and dug through the wardrobe again. "I know she doesn't like it when I carry her, but we don't have a choice at the moment. She's losing the ability to move about under her own power. And ah, there isn't much to choose from here, Peri. I'm afraid you and Tegan will be wearing Time Lord robes."

"Those restrictive things?" Peri turned up her nose. "What are you doing with those in here?"

"Ah, well...they always hope I'll conform and wear proper clothing," he responded as he pulled out two robes and returned to the bed with them. "Hurry up, Peri. You'll have to change. I'll take care of Tegan."

"Hurry up?" Peri nearly laughed. "Doctor, that's the first funny thing you've said in a month. With you it's always wait, wait, and then hurry up."

He watched silently as Peri rose. His voice was quiet. "We have to sneak out, Peri. And it has to be during the night shift and the earlier during it, the better."

"Sneak, why?"

"To go into the wilderness is considered treason."

Peri frowned. "For moving to another part of the planet?"

"For going where those who are considered undesirable reside," he corrected. Then he sighed and straightened his spine, gave her a little smile.

"You've been there before! Very much the rebel, aren't you?"

"I've been there several times. And well, I thought you knew that about me, Peri."

She shrugged. "I don't know you as well as Tegan."

The Doctor slowed his agitated movement and contemplated her. "Yes. She and I have been together a very long time." His hands landed gently on her shoulders. "I realize this is hard on you. I hadn't realized that you and she were personally so close. This trip will be dangerous for all of us and there's no telling that the Shobogans can help us.

Peri's eyes closed. "You aren't going to leave me behind, Doctor. Tegan and I are close. She's like the sister I never had. She's shown me more loyalty and support than I have deserved and I refuse to leave her when I can help her. Hell, I'm closer to her than my mother."

With a sigh, she opened her eyes. "With her, it's like my childhood with my mom after Dad left. Except I know Tegan will always be there for me. Mom and I grew apart, but with Tegan I know that isn't going to happen."

As the words left her mouth, she swallowed. It was happening with Tegan. She was growing more distant as the days passed. She had cried herself to sleep each night; Tegan was with the Doctor and she felt safe in releasing her sorrow. A year under attack, wet and dirty in a jungle, had brought her closer to Tegan than any other friend she had ever had. She remembered her friend crawling through brush and bartering away her clothes, her shoes, anything she had to get medicine for her when she was injured and ill.

She remembered Tegan laughing and getting her to laugh as well about jungle rot when their clothes were rotten and wet. She remembered Tegan teaching her to shoot when she was healed. She remembered her friend fighting for her, yelling for treatment, protecting her with her own body, forcing her to have hope and tucking her into her pallet at night when the day was done.

No other friend had done what Tegan had done for her. She wouldn't abandon Tegan; Tegan wouldn't abandon her. It was a pact made in the worst of times that Peri planned on honoring in the best of times.

Peri swallowed back sudden tears and blinked.

The Doctor nodded. Glancing up into his eyes, Peri could see what it was about him that had Tegan so entranced, and momentarily wished she knew him as well as Tegan did. After a long moment of silence, he spoke. "Run along, then, Peri. I'll get Tegan ready. We have to move."

It was a silent run through the Citadel. The Doctor had shed his coat, opting to carry it wrapped about Tegan. Peri hitched up her long robe and ran barefoot behind her taller, faster friend. The only sound that echoed around them in the sterile silence of the corridors was the flutter of material from her skirt.

She skidded around a corner and plowed into the back of the Doctor. He had stopped abruptly.

"Ah, Thalia..."

Peri glanced around her friend. She expected to see guards with guns and the Lady President barring the way. Instead, it was only Lady Thalia, stoically standing in front of an exit. The woman shifted her weight and lifted her gaze to the Doctor.

"Theta..."

"I've done this before, Thalia," the Doctor said tightly. "You know that. Surely you remember Academy."

"You are the Lord President," Thalia replied. "The law in this manner is clearly delineated and will affect more than you..."

The Doctor sighed and bounced Tegan in his arms to readjust her weight. "Yes, well...if I don't take Tegan to the Wilds, it removes all hope..."

"It's a slim hope."

"It's hope nonetheless," the Doctor whispered. "Don't stop me, please."

"She may die before you find them. The trip would be useless."

"Tegan would want this," Peri piped up. She stepped to the side and flanked her friends. "She'd do it for us..."

The Doctor glanced at Peri and his nod was imperceptible. "I'm going, Thalia. I won't let you stop me. I made a promise to her and she is a close friend. Step to the side or call the guards, but either way I'm still going with Tegan."

Thalia sighed.

"You can arrest me later," the Doctor stated tiredly. "Arrest me as soon as I return, but don't let me fall short on this."

Peri could see the coldness seeping into the Time Lady's eyes and into the firm set of her mouth. And then next words from the Doctor made her brain jump into gear. "You'll have to kill me, Thalia," the Doctor said forcefully. "That's the only way I won't attempt this. They have the spiritual knowledge..."

Peri hissed a breath and then added her voice to the Doctor's. "I'll stay here if it'll help."

Two sets of eyes turned to her. Peri lifted her chin. "Collateral or something like that, right? The Doctor has to go, Lady President. He has to. Even if that hope is paper thin, he has to go. Please? Please, Lady Thalia, don't sentence Tegan to death..."

Thalia sighed again and lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not a murderer, child."

"Peri..."

She laid her hand on the Doctor's arm and glanced at Tegan's form, lying still in his arms. "Go. I'll stay here. You won't leave me on Gallifrey. I don't much like being treated like a deposit, but I can't carry Tegan. You know this place, I don't. I have to stay here. I can handle this."

"It's more than that," the Doctor grunted. "When I return, if you help me in this manner, you will be held in the same contempt of the law. You will be prosecuted like me."

Peri sighed and blinked. With a smile she contemplated Thalia. "Will I be a prisoner?"

"You will not be allowed free movement about Gallifrey and when the Doctor returns, you will be jailed and prosecuted with him as an accessory," Thalia clarified. "You will not be harmed or hurt or legally prosecuted without the Doctor on hand as I'm sure you will name him as your representation. But it will not be an easy time, child."

Before the Doctor could say anything, Peri continued. "Go, Doctor. Take Tegan. I'd rather have her in one piece than avoid getting legally prosecuted."

The Doctor turned to her and hummed quietly. "Thalia?"

"Yes, Theta?"

"Is this exchange acceptable for you?"

Thalia blew out a breath. "I don't want to kill you."

"Typical," he muttered. "You don't want to kill me with your own hands but will be quite happy to turn me over to the law that will. You never change, Thalia." The Doctor met Peri's eyes. "Don't say anything. Don't allude to anything. I'll be back as soon as I'm able. Are you sure?"

"I can handle this," Peri said confidently.

With a frown, the Doctor turned and without another word skittered by Thalia and into the access tunnel beyond. Peri joined the Lady President at the door as cold air washed over her face. She could tell a door opened from within that led outside. But there was nothing to see.

"The Doctor is foolish and foolhardy, child," Thalia stated quietly. "He could be put to death for this."

Peri grunted. "He's done a lot and been called foolish, but he's the best man I know."

And into the third age, the final age of our Non-Enlightened Time, Lord Rassilon was born. He was brought forth in an Ancient House of Nobility and excelled in the academic sector. It is well known that Rassilon was one of the main engineers of time travel; together with Omega and the Other, he engineered the use of a black hole as the main source of power for the Eye of Harmony. Once this was accomplished, and time travel was a firm reality, Gallifreyans were elevated to Time Lords.

But Rassilon was also a civil engineer by association. He alone realized the implications of his new discovery. As the custodians of Time, as the only ones capable of doing so in the Universe, he realized the need to have only those capable of handling such a responsibility in such a position. Genetic loom weaving became the societal accepted method of reproduction. With this form of reproduction sanctioned, it became easy to control overpopulation, and to control the interweaving of genes. Genetic control of desirable characteristics on a grand scale became easy. Gallifreyan society evolved at an unprecedented rate. Rassilon also entered into the genome of those Gallifreyans who had attained educational excellence, the ability to extend their lives through regeneration.

And finally, he exerted his control over the education system on Gallifrey. Limitation of those able to enter the Academies of the Citadel was measured by birth rank and House Loom. In order to handle the pressures of Time Travel and custodianship, he added classes in emotional control, cosmic logic and changed the understanding of ethics to account for these pressures. It was at this time that those Gallifreyans and Time Lords who still wished to believe in the spiritual basis of illness and life and who exonerated emotion in place of logic were removed from the society and placed into the wastes of Gallifrey.

--excerpt from A History, Gallifrey

The Doctor climbed a hill with a huff of breath and stood at the climax. Cold wind blew over him and his charge and he subconsciously tightened his arms to wrap Tegan more in the folds of his coat. The bright colors of the Prydonian Academy nearly glowed neon orange and brilliant maroon in the sunrise. It made him give a rueful smile. "A tad different than the last time you wore my colors," the Doctor whispered. He began down the other side of the hill, leaning back to keep his balance.

"The people of the Wilds, Tegan, are a rather lively bunch. You would fit in wonderfully," he confided. "Although I have several amongst them that I call friend, it has been years since I was able to join in the festivities out here. In fact, I do believe it has been since my Third Incarnation."

There was no answer to his conversation and no movement to show that she had even understood or heard his voice.

He bounced her gently to readjust her weight. "Come on, Tegan," he urged, barely above a breath. "Hold on. I will find you help, I promise."

He leaned into the next hill, trudging up it with a steady and constant step. "I refuse to give up on you. And I know you refuse to give up as well. Not after you have made the decision to stay with me, Tegan..."

Peri settled into the chair and frowned. There was rather a large spread of food in front of her on the table. "If this is being treated as a prisoner, I want to be caught doing more wrong," she confided sarcastically.

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Even our prisoners are treated with a measure of respect, child."

"I'm not a child," Peri pressed. She picked off a piece of fruit. "And since I am a prisoner and I have been released under your mentorship, what do you have planned for me?"

"Simply education and understanding, Peri," Thalia confided as she too took some food.

"Education? Like how it is that simply going outside and into the Wilderness you're accused of treason? I'd like to know why that is illegal. You know...if I'm going to be accused of a crime, I'd like to understand it."

"To understand that," Thalia said. "You have to understand the structure of this society."

"Yeah," Peri agreed. "But I'm willing to spend my time doing it. It would get my mind off of Tegan and what may or may not be happening and, no matter what the Doctor thinks, I like learning."

Peri watched as very little emotion crossed Thalia's face. She was beginning to realize that these small emotions needed to be noticed and catalogued. Little else would be revealed by the woman. Against the bright orange of the day that filtered through the window, the woman looked thoughtful. Then she looked unsure. Peri pressed the issue. "It's not the knowledge, but what you do with it that's harmful," Peri echoed the Doctor's earlier words to her.

"Very well," Thalia said. "I shall send for additional information and you will be allowed to peruse the information here in my suite. I will extend Presidential Privilege to allow you to read the information as usually it is only visible to those in governmental positions..."

"What? Doesn't the populace know the laws?" Peri asked incredulously.

"They know only what is necessary. It was a decree from Rassilon that this be so and has worked for untold millennia. I will allow it, but be prepared, child, I do believe you will not like the information you are given..."

"Lay it on me," Peri stated. "I'll deal with the repercussions later."

Thalia nodded once and popped a piece of fruit in her mouth.

The night was settling like a woven blanket over the landscape when the Doctor, his eyes squinted into the wind, spotted the dotting of lights on the land. "Ah, Tegan," he commented to his comatose companion. "I believe we've found our friends." He smiled widely, adjusted his companion and quickened his pace.

He was tired. Even a Gallifreyan body had its limits when it came to physical exertion. Tegan didn't weigh much in his estimation, but ten hours of carrying her had taken its toll. Finding the camp afforded his mind a holiday because he had found his quarry and possible salvation for Tegan; his body was pleading for the break.

As he neared the camp, he was greeted with guards, frowns and pointed, sharp spears. It was a familiar greeting, but terribly grated on his nerves.

The Doctor stopped and drew up to his full height. "Good evening? Ah..." He lifted an eyebrow as a spear was pointed in his face. "Ah, I come in peace. I'm known to your leader, your chief, Devon. I come to beg help."

"What help does a Time Lord need of a Shobogan?" The reply was laughed. The spear didn't move, so the Doctor didn't think the humor was all that humorous to all involved.

"I don't come here as a citizen of Gallifrey, nor as a Time Lord. I come here as a citizen of the Universe. I come for help that isn't available anywhere else. I come for my companion here..." the Doctor painfully lifted his arm to tilt Tegan's face toward the Shogobhans. "And for her life."

"A Time Lord requesting medical help from us? Wonders never cease!" The Doctor could see the hunter's face. It was dirty and lined from hard work and the elements.

"Still, I request that you take me to your chief," the Doctor said tiredly. He always disliked his greetings at this camp. They had never changed and all it was doing was to take time away from help that Tegan could be receiving. "Now, would be nice," he added, a sigh in his voice.

The guard pulled his spear away the Doctor's face and ushered the Time Lord forward. "Don't attempt any trickery, Time Lord. Our chief is merciful, but I am not."

"Yes, yes..." the Doctor replied as he began to walk forward again. "And you'll kill me at the first sign of trouble, I'm sure."

As they walked along, the Doctor sighed. "They never change, Tegan. Everyone is suspicious. Not that I blame them. Devon will set it right, I have no doubt. Brave heart...."