21st April 1888
Jenny sat observing Peggy; the breaths she took, any twitches she made, any small movement of eyes under their lids. Mari had woken at dawn, apparently suffering no ill effects apart from being very, very confused. She'd been hugged, shouted at, sobbed over and, after the emotional displays had fizzled out, had been told matter-of-factly to go and feed the chickens and collect the eggs. Jenny had seen her out the window, cheerfully tripping along with a basket towards the hen coops. Normality had restored itself for the Jenkins family. They'd thanked Vastra profusely (Jenny had been ignored for the most part) and promised that a tidy sum would be winging its way to Vastra's bank account very soon.
Which left Peggy, still asleep. Jenny, watching over her. And Bach Wrach, crouched on the floor, their chin resting in a scoop in their arm, the red horns that usually stood proud from their head, led down and flat against their shoulders. With every breath, the horns moved and clicked. Jenny had decided against letting Mari know Bach Wrach was in the house. She wasn't sure how the Jenkins would react to their daughter joyfully embracing the creature blamed for her malaise. Besides, the Jenkins appeared to have forgotten about the alien child, and Jenny thought that was probably for the best.
"Do you really know a place for me?" Bach Wrach piped up after another hour of small clicks and almost silence.
"We're not gonna leave you here, if that's what you're worried about."
"Oh."
Jenny frowned. "I don' think it's best you stay here either. You got no family here now. Mari and 'er family ain't exactly going to welcome yer. An' prob'ly half the place wants to kill you." The 'oh' had sounded very morose.
"I should've gone with them."
"Maybe. But where'd we be without yer?"
The red horns rose a little. "So…where are you going to take me?"
"Home with us, as soon as Peggy wakes up."
"I've been thinking about that."
"Hm?"
Bach Wrach got up and padded over to the bed. "How many of the pills did she take?"
"Just the one. She ain't stupid."
"Hm."
"Look, if it worked on Mari, it should've worked on Peggy. They're both humans, both children."
"But you administered it incorrectly at first."
"Well we hadn't found the usefulness that is yourself at that point." Jenny was irked. "An' we weren't about to risk givin' her too much."
Bach Wrach edged away again. "Maybe she doesn't want to wake up."
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes dreams are nicer. I once had a really nice dream. And I told my parent about it. And they looked really sad, instead of grumpy like they usually did, and they said sometimes dreams are nicer. And then they told me, they once knew someone who liked their dream so much, they went to sleep and never woke up again. I thought they were talking about dead people. But maybe they really did just sleep. Maybe they took the pill and then just didn't wake up after."
Jenny sat in silence, staring at Peggy. The ex-Rat Speaker hadn't told her anything about her life before the Rats. For the first time, Jenny considered what kind of life you had to live, that being a Rat Speaker was an improvement, was something to cling to so desperately. Peggy had told her that being a Rat Speaker was "more than what she'd had before". It led to Albie and she found herself lost, wondering what his life had been like, what he'd endured. The debt they owed to the Rats. The loyalty that they had. Jenny's own life hadn't been a bed of roses, but she could think of no situation in it, even when she'd been close to death, where she would've chosen to be taken Below, would've chosen to live in under that debt, rather than continue on in her circumstances.
But in her mind, as she sat there, darkness rose and swallowed her, and the sound of a storm echoed in her mind, mixing with panicked, rapid breathing and, she remembered now, the occasional squeaking of rats. She jerked herself back to reality, her heart jumping, tears pricking her eyes. Struggling to control her breathing, filled with the rush of adrenalin, Jenny stood and walked towards the door.
"Watch over her." She turned and pointed at Peggy. Bach Wrach nodded, obviously confused.
Jenny searched the farmhouse desperately for Vastra, wondering where the Silurian would've gone. She found a farmhand, grabbed him, and gasped out an inquiry.
"Not seen her." He replied bluntly.
Jenny stood still, struggling to control the panic. Vastra… Maybe the Silurian was hungry, she'd been eating bacon and sausages but perhaps that wasn't enough. Or she'd gone back to the spaceship, to investigate something else, bring back more information. Eager to expend the excess energy the flashback had given her, she ran towards Flint Mountain.
She had to walk the rest of the way, having winded herself by running so fast, but she felt calmer now. Her breathing had returned to normal, and out under the watery Spring sun, it was harder to be drawn back to the poke hole. It'd only been a few days. That'd been bad enough. And once she'd gotten out, she was careful to never do anything that would result in her returning there. But if she had, if that had been her life, there in the darkness, starving and with only rats for company, Jenny thought, maybe she would've begged to anyone, would've paid any price, if it meant getting out of there. And if it had been the Rats who had answered the desperate prayers for escape? "Sometimes dreams are nicer." There had been only nightmares in the pokehole.
She stopped and looked around, nearly at Pwll-y-Wrach. Countryside was pleasant, she'd give it that. Trees and greenery, all in a tangle, or so it looked like to her. And it was light, and smog-free, if alarming in its emptiness at times. Or its lack of emptiness, with animals rustling and calling constantly, pigeons clattering through branches. And yet, still there had been monsters. Jenny sighed and sat down on the grass, feeling tired now. If Vastra was down at the farm, she'd be worried. Jenny led back, a strange stupor coming over her, her eyes closing. She needed to rest for a few minutes. Vastra…
It was a dream. She knew that even before she opened her eyes. One of those rare intense, real dreams that were terrifying in that, she was never sure sometimes, whether she'd really woken up. The kind where she'd woken up and yet was still in the dream and had to wake up again, sweating and nervous, in case she still wasn't really back.
There was laughter. It didn't sound carefree, but it sounded experienced. As if it had been laughed a lot. She didn't recognise where she was. An attic room somewhere. The laughter was coming from below. She opened the trapdoor without even trying. Dreams got details like that wrong sometimes. The ladder was sturdy enough beneath and she moved easily down and onto the landing, drifting downwards towards the voices. They were talking animatedly and easily, laughter still bubbling up on occasion.
When she opened the door, all the women in the room looked at her. A few were older, looked similar, stood around a table. Sisters, perhaps. The rest bore no resemblance to each other, except they were all younger, in their early twenties or late teens. They'd been playing a game of cards, gambling by the looks of the small pile of brass and bronze coins in the centre. Tea cups littered the room. One of the older women beckoned her in, staring curiously at her, expecting her to speak. When she did not, a shrug and a smile were the only response. Another gestured towards the table, inviting her to play.
She didn't feel nervous, sliding into an empty chair. They dealt her in and she picked up the cards, knowing how to play. She glanced up at the older women watching them. One of them was stood, arms folded, a serious expression on her face as she watched the game attentively. The other was lounging, taking copious swigs from a bottle. A third was leaning against the wall, smiling as she took the entire scene in. Their eyes locked. The woman nodded.
A shout made her turn her attention back to the game. It was her go. She went through the motions, passing and picking up cards, not really caring. A few more turns. The woman was leaning against the wall laughed, shaking her head. Some mistake had been made, some misfortune or bad luck.
"Is this how you dream it?" A soft voice came from behind her. None of the others seemed to hear it. "Family? A future?" The woman was staring at her again. Or beyond her. "It is a nice dream." The voice conceded. "But it is only a dream. Better to wake, and wait, and make it a reality. Believe me. It is far more satisfying."
She sat, staring at her cards. It was her turn again. She looked round at all the expectant faces which she knew and yet, did not know. If she left them now, she might not ever find them again. They might never exist. This might never happen. This warm, happy place of laughter and good-natured jibing, of comfort and presence. It felt real. Really real.
She put the cards down on the table. "I fold."
"Jenny! Jenny!"
Her name being called so desperately broke her out of her daze. "Hnn?" She sat up, her clothes damp from the grass.
"Jenny!" Vastra was riding towards her, jumping down before the horse had even stopped pulling her upright.
"What is it?"
"Peggy's awake! What were you doing lying in the grass?"
"Jus' resting. I felt tired after runnin' up here."
Vastra tutted, and pulled her cloak about Jenny's shoulders. "Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine ma'am." Jenny brushed Vastra's hand away from her forehead.
"Well…" Vastra huffed. "Come on then." Vastra leapt back up onto her horse, hauling Jenny up behind her and set off at a steadier pace back towards the farm.
The heavy, languid feeling had been dispelled by Vastra's arrival and the panic that had consumed her disappeared completely as she clung on to Vastra, the Silurian a solid reassuring presence.
"How did you get her to wake up anyway?" Jenny asked wonderingly, as they neared the house. Vastra didn't reply immediately. "Vastra?"
"The little wretch told me their theory, that she was trapped in a dream. I…spoke to her, in the dream. Advised her to wake up. It seemed to do the trick."
"You just told her to wake up. And she magically did." Jenny said disbelievingly.
"Or perhaps the potion worked in the end and it was co-incidence." Vastra shrugged. Jenny could feel her smug smirk, even without seeing her face. Vastra clearly didn't think that was the case.
"Tell me later." Jenny slid backward off the horse and dropped to the ground. With barely a backward glance she ran indoors to see for herself that Peggy was fully recovered.
She burst into their room to find Peggy sat on the bed, chatting nervously with Bach Wrach.
"Jenny!" Peggy turned at her abrupt entrance.
"How you feelin'?"
"I'm fine. I don't feel bad or anything."
"Good." Jenny nodded, satisfied. "Next time you do anythin' so stupid, I will not be very 'appy. Clear?"
Peggy winced. "Clear."
Jenny whirled back out to go find Vastra, determined to find out what precisely Vastra had done. She paused as she was about to close the door, turning to watch Bach Wrach and Peggy as they resumed their conversation. With a resigned sigh, she pulled the door to gently behind her. Clearly Peggy had passed on her mantle of "the latest addition".
An: Whose dream is it anyway?
