It's been weeks after the incident with Annika.
February's at the forefront for the moment, still bitterly cold, and love in the air in some spots.
Love for heaters and hot chocolate, no doubt.
No answer what Annika done to Kira, that much apparent, and Jimmy wanted them gone from his destroyed house. He swore he'd kill them on sight if he caught them around London ever again, so that's what they get helping someone like him, but alas, Kira's right, if they didn't help him, worse things would've happened.
London would've become deadlocked with gang wars trying to take over his territories and more blood spilt than if they helped him.
Lila hoped Kira found her place in the world, preferably away from the likes of Jimmy, finding love and whatever hokey thing's in vogue these days, and it tempted her more than once wanting to check through the TARDIS database what became Kira after that night.
It couldn't be easy, having someone you thought cared about you turning out to be no better than the person you knew was terrible from the start.
The fact Kira willingly went with Annika in hopes of saving Jimmy, of all people, and the fact that he didn't find that at all honorable, just business.
Theodore raised Lila's spirits by reminding her that while they couldn't interfere any further after stoping Annika, they did help Kira in small ways.
If Annika successfully killed Jimmy, she wouldn't let Kira leave, continuing the abusive cycle, with her experiments.
Whatever Annika did to her, they still don't know, and Al insisted they don't pry too deeply. Things happened for a reason and they already prevented a massive gang war from erupting. They shouldn't risk it nosying around where they're not needed.
While Lila disagreed, Theodore compelled her not to think too deeply into it, she's only setting herself up for disappointment if she finds out things didn't go the way she hoped.
Lila's forced to concede, but the aloof giant kept her smiling despite her reservations.
The days came and went, a blur, between working in the library and surviving adventures, that it's impossible to tell what day of the week it is, until now.
The dreaded day came, one Theodore feared since the moment he realized the horrible state the TARDIS' in since it kidnapped him that night.
It took mental fortitude for him from drinking straight liquor, trying to alleviate the dread that crept through him since he decided that he couldn't keep putting it off, he needed to return to Gallifrey.
A decision not made lightly, but Theodore's unable to fix the TARDIS with what he had lying around and he couldn't find anything around London that would've worked long-term.
He even rummaged through every scrapyard he's able to find in a directory, but it's not enough, it only bought them a few hours at a time.
Forcing him to face his fears of returning to Gallifrey after many years after his last trip with his family.
Without his uncle, the Council and everyone else wouldn't hesitate to show their true colours to him, without any regard they'll hammer him with every insult they've withheld because of his uncle being there.
Though, some say they're merely words, it's not just the insults Theodore's worried about, without his uncle acting as president, he's at the whim of their laws.
Complicated, twisted beyond recognition, enough to make human politics look like child's play.
Filled to the brim with laws and regulations that gives credence for anyone with a chip in their shoulder enough to separate Theodore from the TARDIS if they felt like digging up past slights incurred by his late father.
Since his uncle's no longer acting president, he's as much in the same boat as Theodore in terms of at the whims of the laws.
Although, as per his age, his uncle knows people in Gallifrey and they know him enough that he's not easily pushed around.
Theodore, however, didn't have the luxury of knowing people when they're children, enough to leverage if anything happened.
He would've told his uncle that he's going to Gallifrey, but that little voice in his head told him that he couldn't turn to his uncle every time there's a problem.
Isn't fair for him and if Theodore wanted to be the Doctor, neither rain or snow, he's bearing the brunt of the thinly veiled insults and stink eyes.
If he can handle Daleks, he can handle upper echelons of society.
Accompanying him, his intrepid companion, Lila, who wanted to provide support and satiate her curiosity.
Wearing their best, as best they're able with what they have, they stepped out from the safety of the TARDIS into one of the domed areas of Gallifrey.
Immediately, they're greeted by the pearlescent floors, polished carefully, circular emblems carved in the centre of the floors.
On opposite sides, they see the domed panel windows to the outside.
In the distance, miles from where they are, Lila sees the famous dunes that change colours depending on the hour of the day with the bright yellow sun behind them.
Deep maroon red during dawn, purple as lavender at dusk.
The intense heat of the morning, the petrifying cold of the night.
Many poets wrote about these dunes over the course of centuries since the beginning of Gallifrey. Several took inspiration from them, weaving them into works of arts and then some.
As she looks, Lila remarked that the dunes looked like something from fiction, the way they looked, the colors and the way the shadows casted, it's hard for her to believe they're naturally like that, and Theodore replied that the dunes carried trillions, if not more, of minuscule shards of glass, different shapes and sizes.
Far different than what they'll find on a beach back home, this captured light, like a prism.
As her chestnut eyes slowly moved left and right, taking in the sight, Lila noticed how there's a sharp line between the dunes and the outside.
Green, fertile, teaming with plants, sharply contrasted the point where it became the famous dunes.
It caused Lila to remark that life outside the domes must've been uncomfortable, she doesn't see any semblance of anything living out in the dunes, a stark contrast to the grassy knoll before them.
Joining her side with his large hands in his stitched pockets, Theodore replied that Gallifrey wasn't always like this, life was different, in fact, there weren't any domes.
During the height of the Time War, a device set off by a banished Time Lord, enshrouded the cities and areas under large domes, in a bid protecting them from the Daleks.
It worked, as the Daleks couldn't hone their attacks on the cities, protecting the population, but at a cost.
The domes strategically covered the areas, but it left much of the planet unprotected, when the Daleks attacked one more time before the Time Lords finally stopped them, their mark left an unfortunate side-effect.
Those unprotected areas remained inhabitable to this day, scientists working at their bones trying to revert the damages, but alas, Theodore thinks they'll hardly make a dent in the damages done by the Daleks.
More, they can't turn the domes off, even if they wanted, due to the radioactive sand that blows every storm.
"So, nobody's able to venture outside the domes?" Lila asks Theodore as they began walking through the large hall, passing by statues of famed Time Lords of yore.
Shaking his head, Theodore answers that scientists regularly schedule trips outside the domes, but it's not easy, and he said that they're fortunate they're able to move between domes with ease.
"How're they surviving this long with the domes, anyhow?" Lila inquires how the Time Lords survived under the domes without access to necessities such as freshwater.
Theodore answers that the domes controlled the weather, keeping it exactly as it was before the war, allowing them constant access to things like unobtrusive sunlight and freshwater.
The scientists worked hard, creating ways for them collecting excess rainwater, using it elsewhere, without it flooding areas.
One of the main features of the domed cities, it had no name, the nature of the Time Lords' didn't grant it one, they called it simply the River.
The only river on the entire planet.
Seemingly unimportant enough that it doesn't have its own name.
Kinda sad as Lila thinks about it.
It went from each of the domes, undisturbed by the outside, due to the way the domes worked, fed into different parts of the cities through the pipes leading from them to the river.
"No fear of radioactivity leaching into the soils, somehow?" Lila asked of the probability, but told that the banished Time Lord accounted for everything before the Council expelled him.
It confused Lila hearing about the banished Time Lord, his name stripped, exiled from the ranks of the Time Lords, all because of a device he used.
"Doesn't seem right, it was war, it was never going to be easy, but he did what anyone would've," Lila voiced her opinion on the banished Time Lord's fate after the Time War.
From the sound of things, he did the right thing, he stopped the Daleks from invading Gallifrey, and all he got out of it's exile.
Nodding, Theodore agreed, but unfortunately, the Council didn't see it as that, he condemned the cities to a permanent life under the domes because of it.
He stopped the Daleks, sure, but at a significant cost, one that Gallifrey felt for decades.
Going by memory, Theodore walks with Lila until they stopped by the portraits of the former presidents that once ruled Gallifrey.
Among them's Hamon and Theodore's father.
"I see the family resemblance, all right!" Lila remarked as she looked at the portrait of Theodore's father before looking at Theodore, seeing the resemblance between the two.
Showing his pearly whites, Theodore responded that they're nearly identical!
"So, is wearing these goofy outfits part of running Gallifrey?" Lila studied the bizarre robes worn by the acting presidents of then, with the high collars and the bizarre crowns on their heads.
Seems Theodore's father shared her opinions with his look that screamed that he didn't like the outfit at all, but due to the customs, he's forced into wearing it until he turned over his powers to his uncle.
"How does one become the president here, anyway?" Lila turned her head to Theodore as his icy blue eyes rested on the portrait of his late father.
As he looked, Theodore said it's held to a vote among the Council. In wartimes, the president's elected with emergency powers, only invoked in dire situations, and then the president becomes a general, leading the armies.
Should the president die at any point during this time, his lieutenant becomes acting president until after the war's over.
It's expected the acting president turn over their powers to the elected president during peacetime.
"What about someone who aspired to be like Caesar?" Lila inquired more about the presidency and how it's handed down during wartime and peacetime.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore responded that the Council evokes their laws against the acting president, as they do not follow in accordance, they're tried as traitors.
"No breathing room, huh?" Lila commented and Theodore replied that, it's cutthroat, precise, no room for errors.
One of the many reasons why his father left Gallifrey, the only reason he became president's because of the wartime.
The Council voted for him, anyway, despite their issues, because of desperation.
As general, his father led the armies, and his mother acted as his lieutenant.
Once the war against the Daleks, having attempted at reigniting the flames between them and the Time Lords, ceased once more, his father transferred his presidency to his uncle, per law, and afterwards, his father and mother married with Uncle officiating it with his newly instated powers.
Thankfully, Theodore doesn't think the Council, even if Daleks held their stocks at their heads, would vote him into presidency.
"Ah, come on, think about the potentials," Lila lightly goads him as she gently nudged him with her velvet stitched elbow.
While it did come to mind more than once, Theodore said it wouldn't work out well, he's like his father, he can't bother with politics. He barely bothered, now, and only reason he involved himself in them's when someone needed help or someone needed a good kick in the arse.
"Yeah, but then again, that dorky outfit would win you a ton of costume parties," Lila made a fair point that Theodore would've made good use out of the despised robes all presidents wore during their time.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore said it's a good thought, but David's show would've made it moot, everyone and their mother's been making costumes from that show since it aired.
A good thought nonetheless.
As they're chatting, Theodore realized something as he brought it to Lila's attention.
Gallifrey doesn't speak English, or as space fairing travelers would call it, Common.
Something David didn't add into the show, since his knowledge of it's limited and he hadn't read much from the big book he stuck in a closet.
"Wa—do I get a neat communicator?" Lila asked if she's getting a communicator like in the classic show, 'Star Trek,' but Theodore said she wouldn't worry about it.
Communicators, useful in some regards, useless nonetheless, too many chances of them failing at certain aspects. Unable to keep up with the constant changes in linguistics.
Confused, Lila turned her whole body to face Theodore as she's asking him how he planned to teach her the language like that, only for her to receive a quick kiss on the lips by Theodore.
Caught off-guard, Lila's unable to speak for a moment, before she sputtered, "What was that?"
As he turned his back towards the portraits, Theodore said that he shared information with her, since they've known each long enough, it's like copying and pasting information on a computer.
"I'll know it just by you kissing my lips?" Lila's baffled that Theodore 'sent' her information regarding the language and he affirmed that he could've easily just done it without it.
"But?" Lila waited for him to say why he kissed her lips, but Theodore didn't respond.
She prodded him for information, but he remained stubborn, and it attracted the attention of someone because Lila heard footsteps coming towards them.
"As I live and breathe," she heard a woman respond to the sight, "I'd thought I'd never see him again.
Her accent's strange, but slowly, Lila starts picking up what Al told her, how the accents differentiated among the social hierarchy. It slowly morphed into a posh accent, like someone in the downtown area near the ritzy shops.
Still able to hear her natural accent to some degree, sounded off to Lila's ears.
The woman's an arm length away from them, allowing Lila to see her better. She's roughly the same height as Lila, her platinum blond hair tied back in an odd hairstyle, velvet eyes, and her golden robe far different than the robes worn by the presidents.
"Ah, hello," Theodore flinches as he sees the woman looking at them curiously.
When asked what she means, the woman said that she knows that face anywhere.
"I knew him well, since he was a child, a troublemaker of his own right," the woman explained that she knew Theodore's father.
Seeing Theodore, it would've fooled her easily that his father returned to Gallifrey, hadn't she seen him clearly, knowing that he wasn't.
Staring at her closely, Lila remarked that the woman couldn't be no more than thirty-five years old. There's not even one crow's foot on her!
Lightly laughing, the woman replied that she's much older than she looked. She watched Theodore's father grow up, but didn't see him leave and come back, she wasn't on Gallifrey then.
Went on a scientific study that last a few years, by the time she came back, she missed the commotion with Theodore's father as the president.
"I'm sorry, but I don't seem to know you, uh, Miss…?" Theodore struggled with words as he's trying to come up with a name.
He knew quite a lot of people due to his uncle, but faces aren't easy to come by, since he hardly met them in person.
Placing her soft hand on her chest with the circular emblem on it, the woman introduced herself as…
Well, Lila can't begin to spell it, much less pronounce it, but she caught the first four letters, Raan.
"I'm, er, Theodore, and this is Lila," Theodore introduced himself before introducing Lila who meekly raised her hand up, somewhat.
Word traveled far enough for Raan getting details on what happened, she knew enough that she didn't need much details, saying that she had a feeling Theodore would've returned to Gallifrey for his own reasons.
"A child of time always returns to the beginning," Raan stated as her velvet eyes glistened in sunlight casted down from the glass ceiling.