Chapter 13
It was Rassilon's directive, that any who comes upon this enemy of our people and of all living things, shall use all his efforts to destroy him, even at the cost of his own life.
So began the chapter on Vampires. The concept filled him with dread. His father used to terrify both him and his brother with tales of war with the Great Vampires and all mighty bowships that had fought in the long and bloody war against the beasts.
The tome that had been provided him by the CIA, the one that seemingly both Koschei and Magnus had consulted was far more dense than he ever recalled. He had, in the past only consulted a small section of it for his studies and never made a concerted effort to study all of it, or to hunt through it.
Now he was faced with discerning what the two renegade Time Lords had been searching for, and not for the first time Harry wondered if he should be researching this.
But, it presented a challenge, no Time Lord seemed to be searching for answers. Only Narvin seemed to suggest that there was something of issue concerning the High Council's actions regarding Magnus.
Leaning back in the chair he was sat in he concentrated, lifting the book up and telekinetically flipped the pages of the book as he considered its weighty existence. It was, he realised as he began to go through it was more than Pythia's premonitions for the future and the Great Old Ones, it had referenced many of the great old Gallifreyan texts, though not all as accurately as he may have liked.
The quote concerning the Great Vampires, quoted, and seemingly taken from the Record of Rassilon was not accurate. Accurate enough in its meaning but not in its writing. Much like history, that which was written about it fluxed and and withered as it its state was written and measured.
Harry stood up from the desk where he was sat; a room within Marie's dimensions beside the library, it was one of many he had requested she set aside for his researches into various subjects.
He had in part thrown himself back into researching this subject as a distraction from his encounter with his brother, and what he had encountered in the other universe.
He did not know how long he had spent reading, researching, thinking on the subject of Magnus, Koschei, the Great Old Ones and other subjects, if only to distract himself further from what had happened there. What he saw, even though he had utilised Marie's telepathic circuits to help him remove most of the memories of that Time Lord. Those memories stolen in the brief moment before his death. A death carried out by him.
A death of a Time Lord, asked by the Time Lord himself, requested in a fit of pain and torture. Harry knew that Glospin had died in almost an instant, through the only fault of his own hands.
But this death, he, Lord Harry Potter, graduate of the Academy, House of Lungbarrow, he had killed a Time Lord.
Harry considered it a mercy, one requested and freely given.
Also, upon reflection, he would have destroyed that outpost if he hadn't granted the Time Lord death.
But what was of concern to him, that in a fit of rage, rage at what he had seen happen to that Time Lord he thought to destroy that outpost. If his brother had not been there to question him, were it not for the support and words of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stuart and Jo Grant, he would have. Consumed by the experiences, so new, so raw and so dangerous.
Thinking to himself what he wished for was a fellow Time Lord, one with experience to discuss these...experiences with.
Finding his way to the control room he stood in front of the console. Marie was running tests on her drift compensators, they had been tested, along with most of her other systems as they exiting the alternate universe and she had been running tests through her systems while he had been studying.
"Marie, search for a vortex spore of the Corsair's TARDIS, seek out and..." Harry paused in thought and wondered if he should just send the Corsair a hyprcube, but it was such a formal method of contact, one Time Lord to another. "and locate him," Harry finished.
-/ - \\-
Marie had found the Corsair on Bastion, an unremarkable planet whose history was...uncertain. That was what Marie had extrapolated when they had materialised in orbit. Gallifreyan data on the planet was minimal, but highly coded, suggestive of a Matrix projection of its future.
-/
"On a mission for the CIA friend Harry?" The Corsair asked as Harry sat down opposite him.
Harry looked to the printed pages he was reading, journalistic medium of some sort. "You or me Corsair?" Harry countered.
The Corsair greeted him with a Delphon greeting over the top of the flimsy publication.
Harry countered and complimented him and commented on the drab weather in their part of the continent making the Corsair laugh with amusement.
"Your command of their language is fascinating Harry, special course at the Academy?" The Corsair enquired.
Harry shook his head. His mother had delighted teaching himself and his brother when they were barely Time Tots. He only said the latter, that he and his brother learnt early in life.
The Corsair chuckled to himself. "Of course, such conversational abilities are best learnt young, like your psychic abilities, you have a great affinity with them," he paused peering over the paper medium. "You've been practising with them since last we met."
It was framed as a query Harry fancied though wasn't sure. "I've been pursuing various paths Corsair."
The Corsair folded the printed page down onto the rough hewn bench they were both sat at and exposed his full face for the first time in their conversation. "And what path has lead you to me, this would have been a challenge to locate me, unless you had outside assistance?" The Corsair wondered to Harry and to himself it seemed.
Harry nodded, it had taken Marie time to locate the vortex spore of the Corsair's TARDIS, beginning in the vortex near Bonjaxx's bar and working outwards it had taken a lot of her tracking abilities, something Harry understood she enjoyed; to stretch and utilise all the parts of her systems. "I sought you out Corsair, for advice," Harry paused, considering where they were. Bastion had interesting paths in its history, there had been several temporal eddies around the planet making finding a materialisation approach difficult. While the planet did have firm temporal and spacial coordinates, it also lacked almost any fixed points. "as a well travelled member of our people," Harry finished in a dull tone.
The Corsair raised an eyebrow of curiosity and reached into his coat pocket and placed a small block of what looked like plasticrete on the bench between them. "Localised dampening field," he explained.
Harry nodded. "I hope I'm not interrupting your surveillance."
The Corsair shook his head. "Your appearance helps to bolster my profile as a traveller here, this too. Bastion is somewhere that knows secrets help it."
"I..." Harry began to open his mouth, to pour out his secret, that he'd mercy killed a fellow Time Lord, that he had projected a psychic shield and killed those humans with barely a thought. He stopped himself as he decided those were his secrets to keep. Only Marie knew of them. Time Lord and TARDIS together.
The Corsair had also been working with the CIA. Which Harry trusted, to keep Gallifrey safe, but as Narvin had suggested there were many departments within the CIA, and it seemed multiple agendas on Gallifrey that may be in contention if his recent discoveries had shown.
"I wanted to know what you knew of the Dark Crystals?" He finally asked.
The Corsair looked surprised at his question. "Varnax? One of the deep threats to Gallifrey and its dependancies."
Harry nodded. "Something I seem to come across in my researches, it's something I've only ever heard of as a vague suggestion in history."
"As a threat to Gallifrey, I know that much of it," the Corsair said looking at him. "You sought me out about this?" He asked, raising an eyebrow of inquiry, it was not a Delphon word, just a facial expression of curiosity. These Harry recalled his mother saying 'you had to be careful of'.
Harry exhaled. "I visited my brother on Earth, it made me consider some things."
"Your brother, the renegade?" The Corsair smiled and raised his eyebrows. "I had heard he'd been exiled there," he paused and looked at Harry. "He tried to get you to break the blocks the High Council put on his mind didn't he?"
Harry must have looked surprised because the Corsair laughed. "It's what I would have done friend Harry."
Harry nodded.
"But you didn't," the Corsair surmised.
Harry nodded again.
"Then do not worry yourself, your brother is his own being, without influence, except perhaps at the beck and call of whoever exiled him to Sol 3."
Harry considered this information and nodded at the Corsair's information. It made some sense, that his brother had been able to utilise his TARDIS at all, that he was able to gain entry to it, during an exile was interesting. As he himself had noted, exiles usually have their memories wiped of all but the barest of memories of Gallifrey. He had thought that it was because his exile was only temporary. "Someone on the High Council would attempt to utilise my brother as random element?"
The Corsair nodded. "Now, are you going to tell me the real reason you sought me out Harry Potter? Not for worries of Varnax and his threats of invasion of Gallifrey."
Harry looked at the Corsair and smiled, shaking his head. "Not today, I think Corsair."
The Corsair threw his head back and laughed. "Good. Good Harry Potter, you're learning how to be a cunning Time Lord."
Harry stood up from the table and smiled to the Corsair.
"Have I at least been of assistance Harry Potter?"
"As a friend, yes," Harry answered.
"And your secrets?" The Corsair waggled his eyebrows at him.
"Will remain mine." Harry said as he departed the Corsair.
-/
By the time Harry returned to Marie he had decided that rather than return to his readings to try and understand both Magnus and Koschei, or 'the Master' as his brother now suggested he was known by, he would have to discover the outcomes of his consultation of the text. Only then could he better discern where to target his researches.
"Marie," Harry said as he walked over to the console.
Marie appeared inside the control room.
"I would wish to observe Koschei's arrival on Earth, prior to our encounter with my brother," Harry paused. "I wish not for us to be detected by the CIA who visited my brother, or Koschei, or my brother," Harry listed as he set the general coordinates for Sol 3 again.
Looking to Marie she had something of a smile on her face. "A stealth observation."
"Yes," Harry said. While what he was about to do was not crossing his own time stream, he may get close to interacting with his brother at a previous point in his timeline to when he'd recently encountered him. However, given the linear nature of his brother's existence on Earth, this should not be of any concern.
-/ - \\-
Harry wasn't sure if he liked this process of observation. But it did allow him to practice his skills, so much was taught and learnt in the Academy of non-interference and observation of events. And here he was, within a TARDIS, watching Koschei's TARDIS' following his arrival on Sol 3.
Marie had found it, but he had made modifications to his TARDIS, allowing it seemed a more clandestine approach to Sol 3. Not enough for Marie to miss his arrival, but enough that a tertiary temporal observation may well not perceive his arrival.
A Type 45 TARDIS. More advanced than his brother's TARDIS, with it appeared a functional chameleon circuit allowing it to blend in with its surroundings; currently a performance space for entertainers and animals. It reminded Harry of the Shobagan performers his brother like to visit in outer Gallifrey.
Harry was wary to leave Marie's dimensions, given what Koschei, or the Master as he seemed to have taken to calling himself with anyone he encountered.
The death of a Time Lord was now something that he shared with his brother's brother. Although there was some symmetry, given who the Time Lord he had killed was.
A mercy killing. Not murder as what had happened on Gallifrey.
Harry was aware, in his thinking that Marie had dematerialised, her drift compensators allowing her to drift forwards, following the Master, Harry watched as her coordinates drifted only a few kilometres in the Earth measuring standard.
As Marie observed from a distance Harry recognised the signage surrounding the facility UNIT, the same organisation Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was in charge of, and that his brother was aligned to.
"Focus in on there, what's he after?" Harry said as he adjusted Marie's controls so could gather more information from what Marie was observing. They were enough distance away that even with the Master's Time Lord senses for temporal elements he would not be able to sense anything.
Especially given Marie's stealth status, looking at her power outputs and some systems related to perception Harry was sure even if someone were looking straight at her, they would not be able to find purchase on her.
"Follow and predict where he's going Marie," Harry ordered as he attempted to analyse the spheroid object that had been on display within the UNIT facility. They were definitely not the product of the Level 5 planet. Beyond the plastics and engineered materials that this society could produce. As Marie dematerialised again Harry looked to the scanner, Marie had moved forward slightly again in time, following the Master to a human communications and receiving system.
It was a signal, as best he could discern aimed at the edge of the Mutter's Spiral.
"Marie, continue to monitor, alert me if the Master identifies the spheroid's origin," Harry said as he left the control room intent on eating something, but instead he found himself walking through Marie's internal dimensions, somewhat consumed in thought.
This, investigating, he felt somewhat that he was attempting not to think on what occurred during his time in that alternate universe.
He had entered that universe, intent on investigating and making sure his brother's actions had not caused a rupture in space time between universes.
Yet, he had almost destroyed the remains of a civilisation, and ended the life of a Time Lord.
Also, worthy of consideration was his abilities to defend himself; enveloped in the Arton energy rich environment. What he had created and done, defending himself and the fallen Time Lord which he had killed barley moments later.
Harry found himself allowing his footsteps to take him back to the library, where he had texts to consult concerning Magnus and Koschei's pursuits, not...observing clandestinely.
Harry looked around the library, and turned around, resolving to depart from Sol 3. Observation of Koschei's machinations could be concluded. Whatever his pursuits Harry knew from what he had garnered from Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Jo Grant and his brother that his plans had concluded, not in his favour
"Marie, prepare to dematerialise, I-"
Harry was cut off by Marie, displaying an image on the scanner of Koschei - the Master, utilising a weapon, some form of tissue compression and then constructing a support system inside a human manufacturing building.
"The Autons will finish the construction of these systems." Harry heard him say.
"Leave Koschei to his plans Marie," Harry said as he keyed in a temporal orbit where they were currently as Marie dematerialised.
Harry knew of Shub-Niggurath, the Great Old Ones were had always been of interest, their history tied up before even Gallifrey existed, now his interest had increased more so as he had uncovered Magnus and Koschie's fascination with them, and other powerful vortex beings like the Chronovores.
The Shub-Niggurath was one of the more notable Great Old Ones, Pandak claimed in his diaries that he piloted a Time Scaphe himself and witnessed the Shub-Niggurath giving birth on Polymos. But many historians claimed this was at least an embellishment. The Time Scaphes needed impressive amount of telepathic control, and required six Time Lords to pilot. Regarding the Shub-Niggurath's birth and the resulting child; the Nestene Consciousness, historians of Gallifrey and beyond were much less certain. Time travel to that era, like the Dark Times was forbidden, no TARDIS of Gallifrey could travel to that era.
No normal TARDIS...Harry thought to himself looking around and then shook his head.
For now that was a voyage too far, one to break more than a few laws.
He had already killed a Time Lord. A mercy killing, not illegal by the laws of Gallifey, but...
'Too many concerns young Harry. Do not let yourself be concerned within everything. Focus on a passion, an intrigue, an observation' the Hermit's words drifted through his unconscious mind into conscious thought. He hadn't often sought out the Hermit, even though his brother seemed to enjoy his teachings more than Ordinal General Quences'. He'd been out collecting the Sarlain seeds, he'd found some growing some distance from the House of Lungbarrow, but they were even further from their native habitat of Mount Cadon, it was why he'd left his studies to gather them. Even as seeds they smelt of the landscape of the mountain. But he'd got distracted as he gathered them by the shining light of Pazithi Gallifreya and the little pricks of light; trading vessels caught its light.
The Hermit had approached while he was watching in wonder and stayed with him a while and imparted one of his teachings his brother so enjoyed.
-/ - \\-
The Eye of Orion had not calmed his mind; too many things to concern himself with. Events he need not worry or concern himself with, yet, lingering they were in his mind.
Magnus and his SIDRATs.
The small council and their trial of him, the War Lords and his brother.
Koschei and his plans on Earth, and what or how the Nestene Consciousness factored into this and what other Great Old Ones or other powerful beings would be brought into his machinations?
Harry sat on a mound of sand looking down at the symbols he had drawn, the old High Gallifreyan symbols that once represented the houses. Magnus' he'd needed to consider his studies to draw. Forming the curves of the name of his house with the sand, using his telekinetic abilities had been tricky.
Koschei's house; the House of Oakdown. He knew some on Gallifrey spoke in different tones of Oakdown and the other Newblood houses which embraced the diversity of thought and life, unlike some of the older houses. He'd only been to Oakdown a few times in the past, Koschei was his brother's brother, but not his. Only at the Academy did Harry really associate with Koschei. Or as it seemed he was to refer to him as the Master. It seemed like most of his brother's peers had taken on new names, as they ventured out into the universe, as they had been named by the High Council; as renegades.
Harry smiled at the thought, despite his brother's dislike of his studies at the Academy he had embraced the rules of ancient Gallifrey, albeit the less positive ones. One of the marks of those adventurers, those renegades of the past was to rename themselves, to take on that which they wished to be, to sever ties with Gallifrey, not even uttering the word, to some it just became 'the homeworld'.
Looking up to the sky he fancied he could see Gallifrey from here, but it was one of a multitude of stars, some which were just space craft passing in the night.
He'd returned to Hyspero, forgoing the Eye of Orion, the latter was not something he wished for, not its peace and tranquility. He wished for the turbulent energies of Hyspero, the quiet of its sands the catalytic environment for him to form the psychic energies in his mind.
Here, he found, while he could not completely calm the turbulent mental process, he could draw them out, and consider them each for their own. It was something he knew he should be able to do, within his own mind, or within Marie, within a TARDIS, a Time Lord's own TARDIS they should be able to control their mind.
Now, that he had allowed himself the calm to analyse his actions thus far he acknowledged he had become too eager, too obsessed with Koschei's actions. Perhaps, distracted with his actions on Earth. Travelling backwards in time from where he had encountered his brother. The clandestine observation was...more appealing as an idea than an action he realised. Especially with the ramifications if he interacted, the potential of infractions with the Laws of Time were not something to be ignored.
Marie of course would have kept him safe and maintained an insulated space from that. But...Harry wondered if she had wished to observe, to covertly observe too much as well, and he had been caught with that feeling?
Harry had decided Koschei, the Master, his actions could and had been dealt with by his brother and it seemed Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. His brother had received adequate warning from the CIA. His brother did not need him, and certainly would not appreciate him spying on his actions involving the Master.
Koschei appeared the same, from what Harry had seen in his clandestine observations of him. Aged in appearance, he supposed Marie could have told him if he'd regenerated, but it did not appear so. Despite living a life more violent than his brother, he had not needed to regenerate. As a member of one of the newer houses, he had an advantage over him in that regard.
Gesturing with his hand, but drawing with his mind he drew the Old High Gallifreyan symbol for 'ingress of danger'. It was a symbol associated with more often with the Great Vampires, and therefore was not frequently used, others were preferred when writing in Old High Gallifreyan. But its meaning was only associated with that, it was the breaches, the holes into the universe that allowed the Great Vampire entry from another universe.
How his brother had managed to enter that other universe was another element of concern.
From the memories he gathered from that other Time Lord.
The Time Lord he killed.
A mercy.
Harry breathed in a calming quieting breath and looked up at the sky again. His thoughts still not at peace.
That Time Lord had not thought or considered of alternate timelines, alternate universes, the universe in which Harry inhabited had not been considered an escape, until his brother made his TARDIS console materialise there.
That in itself should not have been possible, but he had noticed, and he was sure that Marie had noticed the odd energies around Sol 3.
"Still too many questions," Harry said, finally vocalising his internal thoughts to himself.
He didn't like so much turmoil in his mind over his actions, over the questions he had of the universe.
In these situations, he was reminded of a tutor of his at the Academy. That the simplest path was to pull everything back to the barest of equations, the foundations and associate and research from there. 'Complexity can hide meaning young Harry', Harry recalled the elder Time Lord saying to him. He'd taught classes and tutored individual Time Lords that had a 'flexible mind'.
Closing his eyes he pictured another symbol in his mind and opened his eyes watching the sand reform before him. It was a word, a meaning that he had considered many times in his researches into the history of Gallifrey. That of a threat to Gallifrey. Usually an ancient threat to Gallifrey. It was usually used as a heading of chapters or whole tomes dedicated to the threats.
Usually ancient ones like the Great Vampires or indeterminate ones like the Timewyrm.
Most of the threats, those written about were before the formation of the Matrix. A lot of scholars ignored them for this fact alone. That was why the symbol only existed in ancient High Gallifreyan. Modern Gallifreyan had replaced it with a different meaning.
But it was this symbol that always was associate with Varnax, and it was it that he kept seeing. Perhaps that was the problem; looking for patterns, trying to find too many things to form into a concise series.
Harry shook his head again to himself as a breeze whistled through the area he was seated in.
He had failed to drag his mind back to the simplest equations, the structures that formed around his thoughts. The tangents were still too tempting to travel down and ponder. It meant he wondered if he would ever find any satisfactory answers to his multitude of questions.
Standing up he decided to return to Marie.
And then seek out Polymos.
He would not travel back to see the Shub-Niggurath birth the Nestene, but would approach the Nestene. Polymos was an amicable planet with no desires set on Gallifrey or even the local group from what he understood.
Its presence, had its energy units not been co-oped by the Master could have benefited the humans there a great deal. The Nestene's command of synthetic polymers and their unique consciousness could have assisted Sol 3's development and environmental control, had the Master not intervened for his own purposes.
Or, perhaps he was acting as an agent of Polymos? He would approach the Nestene Consciousness as an independent yet of Gallifrey and investigate.
With the briefest mental thought he disappeared with a barely audible sound of displaced air.
Marie was waiting where he had materialised her, but she wore an expression Harry wasn't quite able to fathom.
Once inside Harry addressed this.
"A communication from Gallifrey," Marie explained as he walked over to the console.
Bringing up the communication it was a request to return. For a funeral.
This shocked him, he had been to few funerals during his life on Gallifrey and everyone he knew, even had interacted with still had many regenerations left. None should die, barring extreme accidents like what befell Glospin.
Ortan was dead.
He immediately set course for Gallifrey based on the temporal coordinates of the message. The message contained the temporal and spacial coordinates, he would only set the temporal ones. Marie would land in the grounds of the House of Lungbarrow, the exact landing coordinates he would leave to her.
Departing the control room he bathed and readied his dress appropriate for the funeral of a Time Lord.
Ortan had taught a mix of classes, some of them known informally by students as 'how to listen in on the right conversations'. It was 'diplomacy as a process', and 'protection as a matter'. They had been classes Harry was the first to admit he did not find as interesting as many others he studied. His telepathic abilities rendering some of the observations taught somewhat unneeded. Similarly, observations of the physiological and other meta-abilities meant simply listening in on conversations was somewhat boorish. But, there were some in his year of the Academy who saw the drawing out and listening to certain pieces of information as their method of climbing through the ranks of Time Lord society. Rather than pursing an academic path they sought out other pieces of information to collect. Harry wasn't aware of any link, although Ortan had professed on occasion that the CIA was a path he had not pursued, even though he often spoke of the 'useful gossip' he'd obtained to further his own desires.
It was therefore interesting to him to see Narvin as Harry walked up the a dune. He'd departed Marie for these coordinates, it was fascinating that Ortan had it seemed instructed that an ancient Gallifreyan funeral be conducted. The pyre was stacked high with wood and other combustable plant material. The body wrapped in silk sat above it.
The day was shortly to become night; when the pyre would be lit.
"This would appeal to you Harry Potter, an ancient ritual," Narvin commented.
Harry had forgone the high collar, even though this was one such occasion it would be worn. Although usually only inside the Capitol. For here, outside where some of the Time Lords and Ladies did not venture he had forgone it for his more decorative robes signalling his chapter, as had Narvin.
"It is not something I thought I would have to attend, Ortan wasn't that far into his regenerative cycle," Harry commented.
"No," Narvin mused.
"Do you know how he died?" Harry asked in a quieter tone to the other Time Lord.
Narvin looked to him in a curious questioning way.
"He liked secrets," Harry began.
"Ironically that was something he made well known, but he kept those to himself," Narvin said as he gestured for them to begin to walk around the perimeter of the funeral area.
Harry nodded. "Indeed, I recall someone in my class remarking to him why he didn't join the CIA."
Narvin looked to him curiously. "What did he say?"
Harry smiled. "'I'm too much of an old gossip for them', he professed a love of dropping in on conversations, not for others' benefit."
Narvin nodded. "He was useful, for some information that could not be obtained elsewhere. From what I heard he was dining with some visiting ambassadors, there was talk of poison."
Harry looked to Narvin alarmed. "Poison? Of a senior Time Lord?!"
Narvin looked at him with and amused expression. "It's interesting isn't it."
"What was the poison Narvin? Most shouldn't have affected him," Harry's mind raced as he considered the poisons that might affect a Time Lord. There were few that could seriously harm. Most were via ingestion, he said as much to Narvin.
Narvin nodded. "There was to be an investigation but–" he stopped, looking across the pyre as he saw the Chancellory Guard approaching.
Harry followed his eye line and saw the Lord President in his full collar, taller than those around him.
Harry felt the motion of Narvin walking further away from the pyre.
"I've heard some say that the Lord President is suffering through a bad regeneration," Narvin commented idly.
Harry turned back, even in the fading light he could see the Lord President's face. It was pained, slacker than the last time he'd seen him on the Public Register Video. "Could that not just be concern for the loss of Ortan?"
"I do not believe you are that naive Harry Potter," Narvin quipped.
Harry pondered that, no, he did not believe that. Ortan was a hard tutor to like. Very boastful, but he still felt compelled to come. "Will it be dealt with?" Harry finally asked after more than a usual pause of silence as he and Narvin slowly paced around the outskirts of the pyre as Gallifrey's sun set.
Narvin laughed, "I appreciate your blunt question, you see the need."
"It is a simple question Narvin, long standing precedents have been set in the past for such actions to be taken," Harry commented idly "It's not-"
"Not as if you're advocating for extreme action, no." Narvin interjected.
Harry shook his head. That sort of intervention was extremely rare, when a regenerative crisis was pre-emptively dealt with...or when a President became unstable; unable to properly deal with the structures of office. "Simply citing historical record Narvin."
"History, you appreciate all this?" Narvin looked over at the pyre.
Harry nodded, he did, definitely. It was not every Time Lord who elected such an archaic and visceral ceremony. Outside of the capitol, a distance from the nearest transmat, not that he had utilised it. It showed dedication, that these Time Lords were present at all. "A curiosity, Narvin, that so many have attended this...event," Harry commented in a low tone, revealing his internal observations externally to his fellow Time Lord.
Narvin appraised him with a pleased expression. "Indeed it is."
-/
Then, as night quickly fell, the cold evening breezes blowing in over them from the Three Minute Cities, it became the time of readiness and departure.
Ortan had no romantic interests, few Time Lords did. Nor did he have any remaining family. He, Harry recalled boasted of this, that he had only his 'wits, my knowledge and a few careful secrets'.
The Lord President withdrew from within his robes what appeared to be the Staff of Rassilon.
Harry had only ever seen it from afar, he knew some of his fellow students of history confused the Staff and Rod of Rassilon. But each was significant and had a purpose within the Rituals of Rassilon and the procedures of presidency.
The Lord President didn't appear to speak, he just struck the Staff of Rassilon down onto the sandy ground; once; twice; three times. Then the pyre erupted into an explosion of fire and fuel.
Harry looked away from the Lord President into the flames.
There was something primal, something instinctual about a being's reaction to fire, especially here on his home planet. Something raw about the disposal of a Time Lord's body in the flames and fire. Destroyed in the flames and fire of the Cadonwood trees' wood it ensured there was no usable biodata that remained. Nothing would survive the extreme heat generated. It was the point of this ritual, dating back before Rassilon, back into the Dark Times, back even before the time of Pythia, although that was where its roots were laid into Gallifreyan culture. It was in part why the Sisterhood of Karn still held so much power. Their Sacred Flame was still held as a powerful healing system by many on Gallifrey and their connection with Gallifrey's ancient past also linked it back, making it more powerful still.
Harry wondered, looking into the flames whether he should have granted that Time Lord, the Time Lord he had killed the honour of a burial such as this?
But he knew in his heart, and in his mind that the end of suffering for him, was enough, and seeing this, this ritual...Harry wasn't sure what he thought for a moment.
Instead he relaxed his mental defences.
Even now, in death, as the flames of the fire took hold, sometimes there was a brief impulse left in a Time Lord's body as it was consumed. Or at least that was what he had read of these ceremonies.
But no, there was nothing for him to sense.
Then, Harry realised with a shock of the return to a normal pace of time that the pyre had burnt down to almost nothing, he had been lost in his thoughts again. But all the Time Lords around him remained, although some were shuffling some what.
Harry looked around and saw Narvin away from the group and approached him.
"Narvin, who was Ortan hosting when he died?" He had become distracted earlier by their discussion concerning the Lord President's health.
Narvin looked at him surprised, as though he'd considered this conversation rested. "Representatives of some of the temporal powers," he paused. "The Monan Host and the Navarinos," he looked at him. "Why?"
Harry shrugged. "Just curious, what chain of events could have led to his death," he pondered, he didn't recall Ortan being wary of attempts on his life. He met with so many individuals, he was hardly an isolationist like some Time Lords on Gallifrey who shunned even the visiting trade craft who had been visiting Gallifrey since his father's early lives.
"Poison" Narvin said in a flat tone repeating his earlier statement, again watching him, seemingly to gauge his response, now that they had witnessed the pyre.
Harry looked to him curiously. "Was the specific poison isolated?"
"The visiting Navarinos and Monan Host were granted diplomatic immunity by high ranked Time Lords during their visit," Narvin provided. Not the question he had asked. But a much more interesting response.
Harry suspected that was Narvin's intent; to provide him with not the information he wanted, but the information which he had yet to answer all the questions surrounding.
"It looks like Goth wants a word," Narvin said having moved around from his side to behind him.
Harry turned around from Narvin to see Lord Chancellor Gothaparduskerialldrapolatkh; Chancellor Goth to most Time Lords who didn't wish to stand on ceremony.
Harry liked his and other Time Lords' complete names. It was a testament to their history, shortening their names was...perhaps good for brevity, but not for history.
"Lord Chancellor Gothaparduskerialldrapolatkh," Harry bowed his head slightly to the elder Time Lord.
The Lord Chancellor nodded to him. "Chancellor Goth is fine young Harry Potter," Harry nodded as he paused. "The Lord President" he looked back to where the Lord President was observing them. "wished to praise your attendance. So few of your peers attended this ceremony."
"I honour the ancient methods and our history Lord Chancellor, and to remember a Time Lord who taught me valuable lessons," Harry finished, although he mentally thought that he wasn't entirely sure what lessons Ortan had taught him that had carried into his further study.
"A death of any Time Lord is an event to be remembered and considered Lord Harry Potter," the Lord Chancellor said before he returned to the Lord President.
Harry watched the back of their collars as they walked away, a slight shadow was cast by Pazithi Gallifreya's moonlight.
"Did he mention your work for us?" Narvin asked quietly behind him.
"No?" Harry turned around. "Is Goth a member of the CIA?"
"Lots of facets Harry Potter, and many faces." Narvin murmured.
Harry was pondering this piece of information when Narvin spoke again.
"They should be gone, shall we return to the Transmat or is your TARDIS nearby?" Narvin asked curiously.
Harry shook his head and was about to say Marie's name, but was aware that perhaps they weren't alone here. "It is at my house, I arrived by other means." Narvin looked at him curiously but said nothing. "I will remain here, I wish to inspect the pyre."
Harry walked up to the remains of the pyre and relaxed his psychic abilities and the barriers he had around his mind; feeling out to the remains of the pyre with his telekinetic abilities, moving the ashes around and sensing.
He wasn't sure what he was looking for, Ortan's memories should have been uploaded to the Matrix. Really there should not be any psychic residue left, especially after this raw method of disposal. That was in part the point of the pyre, to thoroughly destroy the body so no usable biodata remained, any psychic traces were also destroyed so no part of a Time Lord's body could be utilised following their death.
And here, it was true, there was nothing that remained of Ortan.
Also, as he looked around he realised he was the only one to remain.
Casting his gaze around he chose a direction to walk alone; to collect his thoughts and to perform a tele-psychic transference back to the House of Lungbarrow and Marie.
After probing the pyre he had needed to open his psychic abilities up wide and he felt he needed some time to passively reacquaint himself with his surroundings. He had learnt to do this without consideration, so that he could tele-psychically transfer himself to any location he was aware of easily. But even on Gallifrey, he needed to calm his mind and thoughts.
After a period of time, which he probably could have measured to the microspan Harry looked around and up to Pazithi Gallifreya, still shining in the sky, but its position had shifted, or rather his position had shifted relative to it.
He was now far away from Ortan's pyre and the only sound he could hear were some wild pigbears in the distance.
Breathing in the cold Gallifreyan night air he formed the location of the House of Lungbarrow in his mind and disappeared.
Marie was stood amongst the night flowers and parted her arms as he approached.
"Marie dematerialise" Harry said as he walked and her doors closed. He hung up his robes in the small wardrobe alcove in the control room. Marie would ensure they were deposited into the larger wardrobe room. "and prepare to..." Harry stopped as he saw a hypercube waiting on the console. "Marie?" Harry called as he walked over to it.
A hologram of Marie appeared in the control room as the time rotor prongs intermeshed indicating Marie had dematerialised from Gallifrey and was likely in a temporal orbit awaiting his input of further coordinates.
"The hypercube arrived whilst you were attending the funeral rites," Marie said with some reverence.
That was one of the interesting things, which Harry had not wanted to press. Marie had consistently referred what he had attended as 'funeral rites'. It was a phrase that was used to relate to several ceremonies and rituals concerning death on Gallifrey. But her words and her meaning conveyed something more. It was something, a remnant from the universe that she had come from, something he felt like he would be prying if he tried to enquire more. It was something he felt like he wanted more information, but did not want to be plagued by the nightmares and memories that it might bring from his TARDIS recalling the fragments of what had been, deep within her past.
"Where and who is it from?" Harry asked. "You have scanned it for safety?"
"Yes," Marie answered in a short tone, as though he should not even need to ask the question. "Earth, Humanian Era, 20th century. Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart."
Harry weighed the hypercube in his hand and put it back on the console, he would attend to it shortly.
First he needed to bath, the contact with the outside of Gallifrey and probing Ortan's pyre, he wished to concern himself with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart with a clear mind and clean body.
-/
A/N:
A little bit of a disjointed chapter. Harry's still not dealing with his mercy killing of the Time Lord very well.
Intellectually he knows it was right, but emotionally he's still young in some things.
Gallifrey timeline wise (if anyone's curious) this is pre-The Three Doctors (or events on Gallifrey that are shown in that story).
Harry observes the Master's actions in and around Terror of the Autons.
Next chapter begins a little differently and will kick off a return to Earth for the next few chapters, and therefore a little more magical in terms of content.
Also apologies to all readers, this chapter was going to be posted sooner, however the application I'd been using to keep all my story notes in finally stopped working (I kept hoping it'd hang in there through OS X updates). Now I've got it all exported and into a different application and can continue editing the next chapter and writing future ones.