The space around him smelt dirty and damp, the floor under his cheek rough and edgy. A dungeon? Quite possible, albeit not quite clear how he had got himself here. He had been on the street, right, and there had been those brutes, and then something had scared the hell out of them and they'd left him alone. Thus, police had arrived. There wasn't much anything that could make them stop. But why hadn't the police arrested strakokkonians? Why him? Was it because they had assumed he was a human?

He was trying to get up when someone's gentle little hand made him stop: moving and thinking at once. That's what really was frustrating while being blind. Nothing exists around you, your body too. There's only one little area around your head. And you're not always sure it exists too.

"What are you doing? Whatever it is, I wouldn't advise you doing that," the male harsh deep voice said. "It's stopped bleeding, but you're bruised badly everywhere."

He rejected the hand and got up on his legs, the space around him was a bit wobbly and unstable, he quickly grasped the rocky surface of the wall. There wasn't anything that could give him a hint where he was, except for cold wet air.

"Where are we?" the Doctor asked. He tried to make a step, but his legs weren't strong enough to walk; just in time he clinged onto the wall for dear life before he could fall down.

"A prison," the man said, sitting still where he was and not trying to help him. "They've found you in a trap street with a full bag of drugs. A thing they could have forgiven you, but then you appeared to be a human."

Yes, now he remembered: something heavy had fallen beside him when brutes had been running away. Must be it.

"Actually, I'm not a human," he smirked.

"Neither am I. But it didn't matter much what I told them. Weird chaps, heh?"

The Doctor touched a leg where he had been bitten: it felt much better but still needed some time to heal. If he was in the TARDIS, he could examine whether the wounds were lethal or not and maybe patch it up in the medical bay.

"They confiscated your funny devices. They said you had run away before."

"Did I?" The Doctor said with undoubtful smirk. "I don't remember much of it." But he certainly had to escape it the second time. "The lock, what does it look like?"

"Sorry, not my area of knowledge."

"Just describe it to me."

"Can't you just go and see it yourself? Do you have to be so bossy?"

"Yes, I have. As you can clearly see I'm not in a good mood to look at locks. What's your name?"

"…John," the voice said uncertainly.

"What a good name. John, you see, there are times like this when I don't look at locks especially if somewhen in the past I've already looked at them. I find it boring."

"It's flat, no visible bolts, no keyhole–"

"Have we ever met?"

"No, why?"

Your voice sounds familiar. But we'll see if I'm right or this is just another false sense. "I used to have a friend called John. Sorry, please, continue."

"There's nothing. Not a clue for how to break free."

"Hmm. And no windows…" he said gravely with a little hint of question.

"I think we're under the ground. There shouldn't be any."

"So how did I make it before?" The Doctor asked himself.

But more importantly, why had he been imprisoned in the first place?

It was a quick peck on a cheek, that kind that was light but would warm till your bones. It was automatic, innocent gesture, that she had always wanted to reward him with. And his speech about love and care just made her a bit braver, a bit reckless. She didn't expect him to pull away as if he was burnt. Or rather she did, but until the very last moment hoped she understood him right.

Clara could see him blushing, and trying to hide his reaction from her. She felt awkward. What had gotten into her?! She thought it would have been nice to show him that she liked the planet despite it wasn't what he wanted to get? She could well damn voice it. Gosh, now she ruined it all!

"Sorry…" Clara said, awkwardly trying to look at anything but him.

However, when she dared to glance at him she didn't expect to see his face so soft. He was smiling, that little special shy smile, and she knew everything was alright. They were alright, they could do that.

The Doctor chuckled. "You're so human."

"Aye, I am human!"

"How could I forget." He rolled his eyes. "But, please, warn me next time you want to do something like this."

"And what if I want something different?"

"You still need to warn me. Clara, I'm…uh… awkward. Right! Let's imagine two mature wise people that care for each other or love, it doesn't matter how you call this thing, or let's not imagine, let's be them, what I mean is we already are those people, and it's good, there's definitely nothing bad about it, but just let's imagine, or… or not?" The Doctor pinched a bridge of his nose. "There's a couple. Just a couple of two mature beings. One of this couple is alien to another, but he knows how relationships work on her planet. He thinks it's not perfect, it has some twists and turns, it has some strangenesses and its moments, it even is kind of beautiful, nevertheless it's all alien to him. Sometimes, he might feel awkward and don't know what to do… basically, it's like puberty, no, no, no, it's not, sorry, forget what I've said… What I'm trying to say, Clara, what I'm really trying to say is that he's afraid of so many things doing wrong and he's absolutely confused and–"

"You're not very good at relationships."

"I'm not very good at relationships."

Clara beamed at him with smile.

"Complicating simple feelings. So Doctor!"

"Simplifying complicated feelings!" The Doctor groaned. "So… Clara!"

"Aye! I've only gave you a peck, and you've gone all red from tip to toe and started freaking out. I've barely done anything."

"But in my culture you have."

"I hope it's nothing really rude."

"Otherwise. Sorry, I might need some time to get used to that."

"Okay. It's nothing."

"Excuse me, did you say she's a 'human'?"

Clara was getting nervous. Ashildr should have shown up at least about two hours ago, and now was coming the third, and she still was somewhere there. Clara got back to the console where she found the manual Ashildr and she used for repairs. There was one feature they promised to each other to never use except for emergency.

"Right," Clara breathed through her nose. "I think it's quite emergent."

"What's wrong?" The man asked him suddenly.

The Doctor was fidgeting with the lock but there wasn't anything that could give him any hint to how to unlock it. If only there was some easy way out, maybe a secret passage or something like that. "I can't open it. It's very frustrating if you want to know."

"I'm not talking about the lock."

His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Really? "Oh? There is something more important than it?"

"Yeah, you."

That got his attention. "Oh?"

"You look lost. Very lost. And lonely."

"And you look… emmm…" Well? "… gorgeous."

There was a bit of silence, as if the man was thinking over his words and carefully planing what he should say next.

"Look at me again." The man asked him.

"Sorry, what?"

"Just look at me."

The Doctor sighed in frustration, he didn't like the way their conversation went. He could hear the guard passing somewhere close and he only hoped he had a good mood today.

"You know what they'll do to us if we don't get out now, don't you?" The Doctor whispered.

"Nothing." He could practically hear the innocent shrug John made.

"They will send us to the nearest human colony. And, if I'm not mistaken, it's Alendrona. You know, a small planet named after their first tyrant, she had enormous ego. There, they will try to identify you, and if they fail, they'll send you to another colony, close enough, where you'll spend the rest of your life mining. I don't want that, neither do you, except if you do, so please keep talking."

"Sounds like you had an experience." There was a little smirk in his voice.

"I've read it in a book. Don't remember reading it though…" he noted that to himself. "Probably read it after I was here the first time."

He heard John shuffling closer, so he concentrated on the lock again and hoped he was looking straight at it.

"What's taking you so long?" asked John. He was somewhat a few feet away. "When they took you here I thought it will be easy for you to unlock it."

"Why did you think so?"

"You made an impression. Look like a magician from a cheap fair."

"I do…"

He felt just on the tip of his finger some kind of a tab that needed just a bit of a force and longer and tinier fingers, it was probably nothing, but it was the first thing he found in the mechanism. He slapped his pockets in search of something needle-ish. If only he could give it a try, it might work. Yes! There it was! Probably a needle, it didn't really matter. The Doctor pinched it in the pocket and breathlessly withdrew it. He returned back to the lock but couldn't find that thing anymore.

"You're blind, aren't you?"

The Doctor lost his track.

Clever. He just hoped that he wasn't so clever to notice his pulse fastening.

"It's just… umm…" The Doctor tsked. Why can't he just admit that? Why can't he just tell him that he's blind; John might help him with the lock. "I'm such a professional at pick-locking that I find it boring to even look at locks."

"So you are…"

"I don't have a reason to lie to you."

"Oh no, you!"

"I don't think we have any relationship to discuss my excuse in such tone–" Whatever it was, it made the man explode.

"I'm not talking about the crappiest excuse I've ever heard you've just given me! You're blind, Doctor!"

That made the Doctor stop from whatever he was about to say, he almost dropped the needle but caught it just in moment. He made sure that John, or whoever that was, could see his face when he turned from the lock.

"Say that again."

"You're blind!"

"No. Not that," he said firmly. "You know what I'm talking about. I've never told you my name, so you better explain yourself. I knew there was something off you, if only I could see I'd probably know what it is. So who are you exactly?"

"I won't say that."

"Why?"

"I think it won't do us any good."

Ashildr was strolling through market stalls but nothing looked even likely as gold. Jewellery – yes, some weird objects – checked, coins were made of silver. The last thing was very frustrating for Ashildr, as if the Universe was gloating at her.

However, when she saw a very familiar transport, she knew that a lack of gold on the market was nothing in comparison to this new problem.

"Oh, no," she gawked at the blue box in front of her.

Ashildr rushed into the diner calling for Clara. She feared the worst; if the Doctor was here, they needed to make sure he wouldn't stumble into her by accident.

"Clara! We need to–"

But Clara appeared to be missed. She looked for her in the TARDIS, but her search was fruitless.

Ashildr got back to the console where she found the manual Clara and she used for repairs. It was already opened at the only one feature they promised to each other to never use except for emergency.

"Right," Ashildr breathed through her nose. "I think it's quite emergent."