The Doctor and Tegan Jovanka are property of the BBC – you know the drill. Kimoto Takita and most everybody else are my creations!
The serenity of the palace wing tempts its occupants into relaxing and lowering their guard and Kim and Tegan behave as if they are old friends. But an imperial chancellor does not wait to see what may happen – he acts!
Author's mutterings: I hope you liked the pleasant scenes; they won't last much longer…
BTW: The shamisen is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. It is small and long-necked and used to play some very beautiful tranquil music.
Part seven
Tegan had to admit that the serenity and beauty of it all was a little hard to ignore.
She sat with the Doctor on small cushions in a courtyard somewhere in Kim's palace-wing and listened as the feline sat before them both, softly strumming the shamisen with her fingers, producing quiet, almost sedate music. The princess had tried to sound nonchalant but it had been clear that she really would enjoy playing for her new found guests, and now Tegan was trying hard not to yawn or shift on her cushion, even if her feet were numb from sitting still.
The Doctor, as always, seemed quite comfortable with his position and the entertainment. His blue eyes were distant as he had seemingly lost himself entirely to the soft music. Perhaps he was remembering Okiko?
It suddenly occurred to Tegan that the music had stopped. Kim was still sitting there, quiet and almost statue-like, but the hands, which until now had been the only thing moving, were still.
"Bravo!" Tegan exclaimed, clapping her hands. "That was just beautiful!"
The Doctor started and Kim blinked and it dawned on Tegan that her clapping and words had disturbed something. Blushing, she stopped and looked around. "Erh, sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to…"
"In Japanese culture, one does not clap out loud," the Doctor explained.
"I actually appreciated it," Kim smiled, getting up from her cushion with only the slightest hint of a sore foot. "Nobody around here dares show any emotion, not even appreciation. It makes the place seem sterile, don't you think? Tegan, did you really like it?"
"Yeah, it was very beautiful!" the Australian insisted. "Very… quiet. But how do you avoid cutting off the circulation in your feet?" she continued, ungraciously tumbling sideways in an attempt at getting life into her numb feet.
"Sometimes I don't," Kim admitted. "But usually it is just a matter of practice. You'll get used to it. Or you would if you stayed here for long enough. Try to sit on them."
"Sit on them?" Tegan blurted, waving off the Doctor's hands as he tried to help her.
"Take a different position on the cushion and then make sure there is weight on your legs, that way it won't sting so much when your numbness fades. Trust me, been there, done that."
"She's right," the Doctor added. "Pressure, even just a little, can alleviate the pain you may otherwise experience."
"How about you?" Tegan grumped.
"How about me?" the Doctor enquired.
"Well, don't you get any numbness?"
"I have been practicing this," the Doctor smiled. "Not to mention that I have a double circulatory system, which helps a bit."
"Double circulatory system?" Kim repeated dumbly, putting the shamisen at a nearby bench. "What do you mean?"
"Ah, two hearts, as a matter of fact," the Doctor explained.
"Why indeed not," Kim muttered. "You know, for someone almost human looking, you are quite remarkable."
"Thank you," the Doctor beamed.
"Your imperial highness?" a female voice interrupted.
"Yes?"
Connie Walken entered, still carrying her omnipotent case and bowing to Kim.
"I merely wished to let you know that the cords, the plugs, the tubes, the fan and the chemicals will all be delivered to your quarters the day after tomorrow."
"Good, good," Kim said, looking a little surprised. "Erm, I thought it was only cable?"
"To begin with, it was," the engineer said, her face a mask of indifference. "But the Doctor explained to me what he needed and I assured him that we could supply it all."
"Ah, yes," the Doctor broke in. "The chief engineer was quite helpful. I am sure it will all meet our standards and be of the bestest of qualities!"
"What? Oh, yes, it surely will," Kim said, her face looking calm but the tip of her tail lashing quietly. "Two days, you say?"
"Yes, your imperial highness."
Kim stood there for a moment, gazing at the woman in a very thoughtful way, whiskers standing out, nose twitching ever so slightly, and her emerald eyes surveying every inch of the engineer.
"Good," she finally said. "You may leave us."
"Very well, your imperial highness," Mrs Walken said as she almost fled the courtyard in her haste, barely adhering to proper behaviour.
"What was that all about?" Tegan asked as Kim stared after the uniformed woman, tail now lashing more and head bent down as if leaning forward to study something.
"She was hiding something," Kim declared, picking up the shamisen and entering the building, obviously expecting the others to follow her. "It may be nothing; perhaps she was worried about something private, her husband or trouble at home. Maybe an unruly child. She has three of them after all."
"But you don't think so?" Tegan insisted, following into one of the dayrooms of the palace along with the Doctor.
"I don't know, Kim admitted, sitting down on a chair, leaning forward to massage her foot. "She seemed uncomfortable by something. Upset."
"Do you think somebody has been alerted to our presence here?" the Doctor asked.
"Not guards as such," Kim assured them. "They would be crawling all over the place immediately."
"Maybe we should retreat to the TARDIS?" the Doctor suggested quietly.
"No, no, no," Kim's voice seemed calmer and her tail finally relaxed again as she allowed herself to sink back into the cushions of the chair. "No, I am probably just overprotective, far too alert." She sighed. "Mrs. Walken has three children, one of whom, I happen to know, is a diabetic. The worry I smelled upon her was probably just a mother's worry for a sick child."
"Or she was scared because of the scrutiny you gave her," Tegan admonished her.
"What?"
"You gave her a looking-over that would have made most people upset," Tegan said defiantly. "Really, you treated her as if she was smelling badly or something."
"I did?"
"The way you stared at her, measuring her, smelling her," Tegan continued, now a little braver as Kim was obviously genuinely surprised. "Must be the cat in you or something, but I think it would give most people the creeps!"
"Was I behaving…?" Kim hesitated. "Rudely?"
"Not rudely, precisely," the Doctor cut in. "Just normal behaviour for a sheerar, that's all. But Tegan is right; it did seem to make the chief engineer uncomfortable."
"I didn't mean to upset her," Kim said in a deflated voice. "I really didn't think…"
"I don't suppose anybody has ever told you about the effect you have on some people," the Doctor said quietly.
"No… I always presume that they react that way because of my title," Kim muttered. "I've never met such reactions when I have been out of the palace."
"But that has been more or less on the run, right?" Tegan asked.
"Yeah, kinda."
"So you didn't have time to stop and give anybody a sniff?"
"No."
"Well, what the Doctor and I are trying to say," Tegan said, smiling in an attempt to make it clear for Kim that they were really only trying to help, "is that you were acting more like a cat and less like a human. I think that would scare some people."
"I just… I never thought of that," Kim said, almost in a whisper.
"I am sure it has gotten stronger recently," the Doctor said softly. "Your senses have improved, have they not?"
"Yeah, they have."
"And with them, the urge to use the feline side of your sensory system," he continued.
"I suppose…"
"Well, that explains it then," he said, sitting down on one of the other chairs, slapping his knees in a satisfied manner as if to defy the tense mood. "It's really just a side-effect of your adolescence and maturity. The psychic powers of the sheerar are manifesting as you become of age."
"Don't say you've met sheerar as well?" Tegan broke in.
"Well, pure sheerar as a matter of fact," the Doctor replied smugly. "On the planet of Zhirr. A while ago, relatively speaking."
"My mother was from Zhirr," Kim said, grasping onto the chance of changing the subject. "All of the sheerar races are from that planet. Most are clever enough to stay there."
"Is it so bad to go elsewhere?" Tegan asked.
"To end up as exotic slaves or concubines?" Kim snarled, and then smiled some again. "No, far from all sheerar do that, but imagine a human-shaped world, one where most species are roughly human shaped and approximately that size. Then imagine driving a car, working an elevator, going to the lavatory when roughly in the shape of a big cat…"
Tegan couldn't help but laugh at the prospect.
"Never mind sliding doors and tails," Kim continued, smiling herself. "Why do you think I do not have sliding doors in this part of the palace?"
"Yay!" Tegan exclaimed.
"Precisely! Sliding doors are, by all accounts, a menace to people like me or my mother's kin."
"I can imagine…" the Stewardess said with emphasis.
"Then don't imagine what it looked like when my mother tried to drive a car," Kim laughed too. "Not to mention having to go to the little kittens' room!"
Tegan laughed so hard at Kim's wide-eyed expression that she had to help herself to some fruit juice before she could speak again.
"It does seem somewhat awkward for sheerar to use human facilities," the Doctor observed, just as Tegan had managed to regain her dignity, almost ruining it again.
"You should have seen my mother on horse-back," Kim casually made as if holding the reins of a mount and Tegan lost it again.
"How did she manage at all?" the stewardess asked when she finally could speak again. "I mean, why does a being which basically resembles a big cat travel to a human dominated planet?"
"Well, you know what they say," Kim said calmly.
"Please don't say it…" Tegan begged, her eyes still wet from crying with laughter.
"Curiosity killed the cat!" the Doctor supplied.
Tegan tried to stifle another burst of laughter when Kim eyed her with the most incredulously overacted casualness she'd ever seen.
"What's the matter?" the Princess enquired. "Cat got your tongue?"
That was it. The three of them spent the next while making jokes about how big cats did – and did not – cope in a human world. At least the tension from before was all gone and Kim once again relaxed.
o o o
"I shall go and fetch it if you don't believe me!" the Doctor was looking stern, but a glint of mirth in his blue eyes betrayed him. "On the one condition that you do not take it or ever comment on how I got it!"
"Nothing would be further away from me," Kim said, smiling. "But get on with it, Doctor. Show it! Truth or dare, you know."
"Come on, Doc, it'll only be a few minutes. The TARDIS is just around the corner," Tegan added. "And meanwhile Kim and I can get some fresh supplies of those nasty deep fried thingies."
"Those nasty deep fried thingies," Kim admonished, "happen to be a local delicacy made from seaweed and herbs in a spicy batter. They are not nasty, in fact they are very healthy, if it wasn't for the greasy batter perhaps."
"Seaweed?" Tegan exclaimed while the Doctor, having abandoned all hope of escaping his promise, left the room. "You're kidding! Green stuff from the ocean floor?"
"Blue stuff, but otherwise you're right," Kim grinned. "And yeah, I know. Fish shit in ocean water. And that's not the only thing they do in it. Remember they have to make little fishes from time to time!"
"Rabbits!" Tegan muttered, attempting to look appalled but failing.
The mood between the three had lightened considerably after Kim had had her servants bring delicious snacks and little bottles of warm sake. This beverage, by many mistaken for a rice wine, had a spiced taste that was accentuated by the temperature, and Tegan had found that she rather liked it.
The fact that it was drunk from very small cups had just made her do like so many others before her, and she had consumed many cups of sake by now.
Kim had only had a few cups as she explained that her physiognomy reacted badly with any serious amount of alcohol. And yet even those few cups had brought colour to her cheek and a giggle to her voice. The Doctor had also enjoyed some sake, but nothing seemed to indicate any real reaction to the alcohol in his demeanour.
"My dear Miss Jovanka," the feline slurred, pretending to be more drunk than she actually was. "You are intoxicated beyond any decency. I shall have my servants chop off your head and place it somewhere nasty!"
"Decency? I thought you were the one trying to escape just that!"
"I am and I will," Kim grinned. Then she looked her new friend square in the eye. "Seriously, I'd like to challenge you."
"Hopefully not to a duel," Tegan said, rubbing her warm chin.
"No, but close enough. Are you familiar with the ancient game of mikado?"
"Mikado? Uhm…"
"All it takes is a steady hand, my dear," Kim announced gravely. "And that's why I shall be victorious and you shall be a looser!"
"Fat chance!"
The two gathered at another table, deep fried seaweed forgotten and started to play the millennium old game where thin sticks were to be removed, one at a time, without disturbing the rest.
And Tegan quickly discovered that even if she was not severely drunk, her hand was obviously not as steady as that of the sheerar princess.
o o o
Meanwhile, the Doctor walked casually down the corridor towards the storage room, humming quietly to himself. Though he was only humming, he was clearly attempting a piece by Rachmaninov and he smiled quietly at several glances from the members of staff he passed.
"Excuse me sir?"
The voice broke the Doctor from his reverie and he looked around to see who had asked. It was a tall man, Caucasian in appearance and yet wearing what was clearly a samurai uniform, complete with swords and an added machine gun. The modern weapon was held casually by his side, but it was unhooked from its position at the man's shoulders and ready to be lifted to use.
"May I enquire your name and rank, sir?" the man asked politely.
"I am the Doctor," the Doctor said. "I am not of any military rank."
"Your presence is required with the imperial chancellor," the man said as more samurai-dressed men appeared behind him.
The Doctor could hear the quiet shuffling of more feet behind him and needed not to turn to see what kind of people they were. "I really don't think I have any business with the chancellor," he said. "I am a guest of her imperial highness, Kimoto Takita sama."
"I know you are, sir," the samurai went on, just as politely. "But I'm afraid I must insist."
"But you see-"
With all the politeness mustered by the samurais, it came as a surprise to the Doctor when the edge of a sheathed sword hammered into his lower back, sending him to his knees, gasping for breath. He managed to regain control of himself and looked up at the man before him with anger flaring in his blue eyes. "Listen, I-"
But the time of listening was obviously at an end. The solid sword casing hit him again, sending him into a crouch on the floor, gasping from the pain across his back. He looked up, trying to force words past his lips, but the butt of the samurai's machine gun came straight towards his face and the Doctor knew no more.
o o o
To be continued…