Rose

Hadn't been to any wedding that she'd enjoyed before. She'd attended her mother's friends wedding twice, once as a babe and then again with the Doctor, just recently, on what was undoubtedly one of the most difficult days of her life.

The wedding of Znya and Arthur was something else entirely. For one thing, it was held entirely outside, in the same clearing that the Judoon platoon had rigged camp a few months back. The groom looked positively radiant in his finery, and Znya was her normal, eerie-beautiful self. A handsome couple, and a lavish ceremony.

After the vows, came the feast. Rose and Jack were sat beside each other at the far end of the royal table, overlooking several smaller tables which seated the distant relatives of the Blackburn family, and also Znya's scant handful of staff, Cartwright included. It had long occurred to Rose that Znya's staff were a ghostly bunch, in that they were undeniably there, but also not, somehow. She saw them bustling around High Keep from time to time, but besides exchanging a few words with Cartwright, she'd never spoken to any of them. They didn't seem to be quite human. Silent shadows, skulking around High Keep, carrying out their duties in near total silence.

The fathers of the bride and groom were sat a little ways along the table.

"Poor Doctor," Rose laughed, "stuck with that Sinclair git as company."

"I know, right." Jack agreed, helping himself to not one, nor two, but three chicken legs, garnishing the meat with some sodden lettuce which was probably picked the previous summer.

Rose necked her strawberry wine and rose (pun intended) to her feet, holding up the hem of the revolting burgundy dress she was asked to wear for the occasion. "I'll be back," she told Jack, "nature calls."

"Sure." Jack said distantly, taking a huge bite from his first chicken drumstick. He was gazing thoughtfully at a nearby young man in armour, and Rose thought probably he might be in luck - the chap appeared a trifle camp, and she wondered whether Jack might not be bringing him back to High Keep after the feast.

She traipsed past the Doctor, who's boredom was plain for the world to see, as Sinclair Blackburn talked incessantly at him. The man appeared to be quite drunk, slurring his words and making wild hand gestures, coming out with all manner of expletives that didn't at all befit such an occasion as this. Farther along, she passed Znya and Arthur, who were sat in silence. Znya looked aloof and at ease, whereas Arthur was fiddling nervously with the hem of his sleeve, trying and failing to strike up a conversation which lasted any longer than a few words. The happy couple indeed. Making each other miserable, bored and awkward from this day until their last. Poor sods.

The Tardis was parked at the back of the festival, tucked between two large oak trees. She let herself in, and closed the door behind her, grateful as always to shut out the grunge and hardships of the year 1500.

"How are you?" she asked the Tardis, resting her hand briefly on the cold console. "Missing the Doctor, I suppose?"

She might have imagined what happened just then, but for a moment she was sure she heard a faint rumble from deep down in the engines. A reply? But that couldn't be so. Right?

"I guess you can see the truth already, can't you?" she continued, "who Znya is, what she wants with the Doctor. I guess you can see everything, right? All that is, all that was, and all that ever could be...well, I promise you - if Znya isn't really his daughter, we'll get to the bottom of it. I promise you."

She made to leave the console room and make for the toilets, but her heart gave a toxic lurch of pure terror, as a small figure emerged from the shadowy corner of the chamber.

"You should be careful, you know."

Rose swallowed nervously, as the figure stepped into the light. It was a woman. A pretty, short woman with dark skin and mousy hair, her round face complimented by two enormous marble eyes. Her nose was a funny thing, slightly upturned, and delightfully petite.

"Who are you?" Rose gaped. "How'd you get in here?"

"I don't know who I am," the woman said sadly, "Nor where I am, not really. But I was born to save the Doctor. I don't think he even knows I exist, truth be told."

"Um..." Rose trailed off, backing slightly away from the woman, who was walking slowly towards her. She wore a leather jacket and a miniskirt, with black tights and dainty high heels.

"Don't provoke her," the woman said.

"Who?" Rose demanded.

"The woman in red! She's one dangerous minx to cross, Rose Tyler! She'll eat you alive and grind your bones to make her bread, if ever she thinks for a moment that your on to her! Tread carefully!"

"Who is she?" Rose whispered.

The woman shook her head. "Is the wrong question. Forget about her. Just get him away from here, Rose! Get the Doctor out of Callow's Reach, and make sure he never looks back. She wants him, you know. She wants him so badly...she almost has him."

"Then what do I do?" Rose demanded, her heart thumping. "Tell me how to stop her!"

"No time!" the woman exclaimed. "This universe is an echo to me now. I was you, once. I stood in your shoes, at his side...or maybe that's yet to come. I don't know...and I don't suppose it much matters either way. Now, goodbye!"

"Wait!" Rose half-screamed, "you can't tell me all this, then just bugger off! Who are ya? How'd you get in here? What do I do?"

"You'll have to ring around the roses, with a pocket full of poses."

And with a flash of blue light, she was gone, leaving Rose standing thunderstruck in her wake.