"I asked you a question girl!"

I flinched at the man's harsh tone and stared at his spear in terror. "M-My name is Thembalundar!" I exclaimed after a moment.

"What are you doing here? Are you a spy from the Citadel?"

"What? No! No, I'm not from the Citadel," I explained quickly.

The man narrowed his eyes at me. "Then where are you from, girl?"

I swallowed nervously and stammered, "M-Mount Cadon."

"Mount Cadon?" he repeated incredulously. "Are you from the Academy?"

"Yes!" I answered, nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, I was at the Academy. But I wanted to leave, so I... I came here."

"That's a long journey. You had better not be lying to me, girl."

I shook my head and finally looked the man in the eyes. "I'm not. I swear, I'm not," I said seriously.

The man thought in silence for a few moments before pulling his spear away from my face. "I'll bring you to Nesbin. He'll know what to do with you." Then he suddenly reached forward and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to my feet. "If you try to escape, you'll regret it."

Some time later, after zigzagging around a few large sand dunes and walking through a deep quarry, we approached a small campsite. There was a woman standing guard with a spear grasped in her left hand and behind her was the camp, illuminated by the light of a small fire in the center of a group of tents. The woman straightened when she saw my captor and I, her hand tightening around her spear.

"Who is she?" she asked.

"Where is Nesbin?" my captor inquired, ignoring the woman's question entirely.

"She returned from her hunt earlier today while you were patrolling."

Merely nodding in response, my captor tugged on my arm and dragged me beside him into the camp. There weren't any people out, so I assumed they were all in their tents asleep like I wanted to be. The largest tent of all was the one I was directed to, which I assumed belonged to the Nesbin my captor had referred to. The tent was dome shaped with a large flap of fabric in front that was held up by two thick, wooden posts. The door was another flap of fabric split down the middle and I was quickly pushed through it with my captor right behind me.

"Nesbin," my captor began, "please excuse my intrusion, but I found this girl by the edge of the lake. She was all alone and communicating with someone on a strange device."

Inside the tent was a middle aged woman sitting on a small, wooden chair. She seemed to have been previously relaxing when my captor and I suddenly barged into her home. I glanced hesitantly at the woman, wondering if she would be the one to decide my fate. She had waist length light brown hair that was kept partially out of her face by a leather headband. A large cloak of animal fur was draped over her shoulders and she wore the same tattered Time Lord clothing that my captor wore.

"Who were you communicating with?" Nesbin asked me, her eyes suddenly turning to fix on me.

"A friend," I answered softly. "But not a Time Lord. Not anyone from the Citadel. I'm not a spy."

"Then what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I ran away. I-I was at the Academy, the Prydonian Academy, and I left. I wanted to come here."

Nesbin raised an eyebrow at me. "Why is that?"

The image of Theta beating the boy to death flashed before my eyes. "I saw something," I whispered, my throat suddenly choked with tears. I bowed my head and closed my eyes as I tried to push the image out of my head. "A friend of mine, he... killed somebody. He was just trying to protect his friend, but I've never seen him do something like that before. I was so scared, I just ran..."

I trailed off as I focused on the memory of Theta's murder. Tears had started to form in my eyes, but they quickly faded away when Nesbin addressed me again.

"This friend you were communicating with. Was it the same person?"

I shook my head. "No. A different friend. He was just trying to comfort me, but he doesn't know anything about you or your people. I didn't even know about you."

Nesbin looked back at my captor. "Where is her communication device?"

My captor took my satchel from over his shoulder and handed it to Nesbin. "All of her belongings are in there. She had nothing else."

"Thank you, Ablif, you may go now. I will speak to this young lady alone."

Ablif looked like he was about to object, but after one look from Nesbin, he nodded in silence and left the tent. I turned my attention back to Nesbin and waited anxiously for her to speak again. She opened my satchel and began looking through my things.

"You don't have much," she noted. Pulling out my phone, she looked over it with narrowed eyes. "Is this your communication device?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"I have never seen anything like this before." After fiddling with it a few minutes longer, her eyes widened in surprise. "This is not from Gallifrey. I am absolutely sure of it, yet... there is TARDIS technology in here." My heart skipped a beat as Nesbin slowly brought her gaze from the phone to my eyes. "Who are you?"

"Thembalundar," I said slowly.

"Did you create this, Thembalundar?"

I shook my head. "No. My... husband did. He travels the universe in his own TARDIS."

Nesbin narrowed her eyes at me. "You said you were from the Prydonian Academy. How can you have a husband already? You look younger than your first half century. Tell me the truth only, young lady. I do not tolerate liars."

"He's not my husband yet," I admitted. "Every time I see him, he is in a different incarnation. Some incarnations we are engaged, some we're married, some we're only friends. It's easier to say he's my husband because we're already together."

"Together?"

"I'm not engaged yet, but we still have a close romantic relationship."

"I see." Nesbin looked at my phone again. "And this device of yours. He made it?"

"He based it on Earth technology, but modified for me. With the help of his TARDIS."

"Then who was this friend you were speaking to? Your future husband?"

"No, someone else. I travel with him and when we travel, we go to other planets and meet other people. The friend I was speaking to is from Earth, but I told him nothing about you or your people here."

Nesbin, who had been closely watching me as I explained myself, finally nodded after I finished. Most of what I had said was true, but I hoped that the small lies I had told were believable enough. I watched as Nesbin placed my phone in the satchel again.

"I believe you. But I know that there are also many things you are withholding from me. I will overlook that for now because I know that a person like yourself could not come from the Citadel."

"A person like me...?"

"You are too sensitive, too young, to be a Time Lord, let alone a spy of any kind. But you will still have to earn my full trust."

"I'll do anything," I said quickly. "I don't know very much about living on my own. I-I can't hunt or anything, but I can learn fast and I won't cause any trouble. I promise."

Nesbin nodded. "I should hope so, Thembalundar. I should hope so."

A/N: Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad. I'd love to know what you all thought, so please leave a review.