"Wait!" Anna shouted as Jenny gently but firmly pushed her out of the room. "Why do I have to leave Elsa?"
"We need you to… to guide us inside the castle" Vastra answered with only a second of hesitation. "To a… vantage point. Yes, somewhere where we can overlook the whole castle."
"There is the central tower, if it's still accessible but… Why could not Elsa come with us?"
"Don't worry" Vastra said reassuringly. "Your consort will be safe as long as she remains with the Doctor."
"But if she… wait, what? Elsa is my sister!"
Out of the corner of her eyes, Anna saw Jenny make an expressive face at Vastra.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Vastra looked genuinely apologetic. "Human faces still look the same to me sometimes… So Elsa is the former Queen of Arendelle? The one who became the Snow Queen?"
"No, she's still queen… Wait, the Snow Queen? She did not become the Snow Queen!"
"Maybe not in your time, not yet. But now most texts mention the Snow Queen cursing the country on the day of her coronation…"
Anna stopped in her tracks, escaping Jenny's gentle grip, and faced Vastra.
"She thawed it! And Arendelle has been thawed ever since! And she's not the Snow Queen! And she never wanted to curse anybody!"
Vastra smiled unexpectedly. The sight was strange in the reptilian face, but the result was friendly nonetheless.
"You do love her a lot, don't you?"
"Yes, I do" Anna said, more calmly. "She's my only family. We only have each other. I mean", she added thoughtfully, "now I have Kristoff and there is Olaf and… well, she has the kingdom to run, but…"
"I know what you mean" Vastra said softly.
"Do you have a sister, too?"
"I had many. They left a hole nothing could fill. Almost nothing" Vastra added, exchanging a tender smile with Jenny. "But I don't wish that pain on anyone."
Anna opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but Vastra went on almost immediately.
"We must be quick" she said briskly. "Could you please tell us how to reach this tower?"
Anna looked around her, finding her bearings. Parts of the castle had been walled up or had collapsed, but she had spent enough years exploring it to know every possible short-cut.
"This way" she said eventually. Vastra smiled.
"Thank you" she said. "Let's go" she added, gently pushing Anna along.
"Are you sure Elsa will be all right?" Anna asked as they all began walking rapidly in the direction she had given.
"Don't worry. She'll be safe as long as she remains with the Doctor. Besides, if she has ice powers, she should be all right here."
They had to stop when the corridor they had been following turned out to be blocked by a heap of rubble and ice where it had collapsed. It took Anna only a second to form another path in her head.
"This way" she said, pointing to a door in the wall. "But she was so… upset" she went on. "I wanted to ask her what happened while she was with him."
Jenny smiled at her.
"That may simply have been the Doctor."
"Jenny!" Vastra hissed.
"I meant, Madam, he can upset people sometimes, without wanting to."
Anna looked curiously from one to another as they turned back from a barred stairway and walked down a branching corridor.
"Are you her maid or her… wife?" she eventually asked.
"Wife" both women answered in unison.
"Oh." Anna looked perplexed. "I did not know you could do that in the British Empire. Maybe that is one of those future things."
Vastra and Jenny exchanged a glance.
"You simply have to want it" Vastra said eventually. "And not minding what is allowed or not."
"Oh, I know how that" Anna said cheerfully. "But for me it's easier, because the man I... " She blushed. "I wonder where he is now" she said with sudden concern.
Jenny smiled at Anna.
"Don't worry. If he remained in your time, he will probably never know that you left."
"Really? That's great, I would not want for him to worry. Anyway..." Anna went on, "nobody really cares that he is a commoner even though I'm a princess, apart from some old advisers."
"Make sure your sister knows this as well." Vastra went on. "If there is someone she loves, but whom old traditions says she should not marry…"
"There!" Anna exclaimed triumphantly, pointing at an ascending staircase. "This will lead us to one of the towers. I don't think Elsa is the marrying type, actually" she added, as they rushed up the stairs. "She says managing the country and making up for the lost years with me are enough for her."
"She looks like a great sister" Jenny said.
"She is." Anna turned to Vastra. "Your sisters…" she asked hesitantly. "Did they leave, or…"
"No, they were killed. All of them" Vastra said bluntly. She smiled, in a way that was far too reptilian this time for comfort. "The Doctor helped me get over it. It was only an accident, actually. There was no need for me to get revenge for that."
"I'm sorry" Anna said softly.
They emerged on a balcony, swept by the wind. The roars of the Ice Beasts could be heard from below.
"Perfect" Vastra said. She looked down. Most of the castle and its courtyards were visible. "Now we wait."
"Wait for what?"
"Wait for the Doctor's signal."
"Oh, what will it be?"
"I don't know. We will know when we see it" Jenny said jovially.
"Don't worry, girl" Strax said in a tone that he probably intended as reassuring. The short man had been tottering along them at a surprising speed for his stature. "These monsters are only made of snow. We can dispatch them easily with a heavy use of laser weapons, as you saw us doing before. Plasma weapons also do wonders against them."
"But… do the guards have these… weapons you speak of?" Anna smiled for a second. "Oh, but this is the future. Elsa always says great things would be possible with science in the years to come… Is that one of those future science things?"
"Yes" Vastra said briefly over her shoulder. "But now is too soon for that. Our weapons are… special."
"Oh." Anna looked down disappointedly.
"Here, boy" Strax said, handing a strange metallic object to Anna. "You can have this if you want to defend yourself."
"Is this… a weapon?" Anna asked, gingerly taking the object. It looked uncomfortably like a pistol. "And I'm still a girl, you know."
"Strax!" Vastra called, in a reprobating tone.
"Don't worry, Madam. I'm not sharing technological secrets with the primitives of this planet. This is a very low-yield laser gun, clearly insufficient for killing a humanoid quickly enough to prevent him from activating his own weapon, should it have one. But even with this low power", he added with evident enthusiasm, "this can melt ice at more than two hundred feet. You point it like this" he added, placing the weapon in Anna's hands, "and then you press there when there is an enemy you wish to reduce to a pile of ash." He looked up at Anna's shocked expression and Vastra's scolding one. "Or, in the current case, a puddle of water" he added reluctantly.
Anna looked at the small object in her hand. Gunpowder weapons had always made her nervous, even though she had not seen a lot of them up close. It seemed far too easy to hurt people with them without wanting to. The strange design of this gun did little to make her at ease, even though Strax had called it a 'lesser gun'.
Jenny stepped up and looked at it.
"Oh, it's that one" she said. "Don't worry, it really does not carry a lot of power, and its batteries are almost empty" she added reassuringly. "That means, it does not have a lot of bullets to fire" she added, looking at Anna's puzzled expression.
"Here, girl, you can test it over there" Strax added excitedly, pointing at a pile of snow on a rooftop below.
Anna pointed the strange weapon and pressed the button Strax had shown her. There was a high-pitched whine, and a ray of light shot from the weapon, hitting the snow that sizzled and evaporated. She released the button, looking at the clear hole the weapon had bored into the packed snow. She knew what kind of heat it took for ice to melt, and she wondered what this weapon would do if striking someone. The fact that Strax had assured her it would not kill people outright did little to reassure her.
"You don't have to use it" Vastra said. Turning her head, Anna realised the green woman had been observing her and had probably noticed her slightly horrified expression. "But you may want to keep it in case you have no other choice to." She looked at Anna's uncomprehending expression. "I know this weapon frightens you. But imagine you could use it to protect your sister…" she left the question hanging.
Anna looked below. There were a lot of white shapes moving fast across the frozen fjord.
"You want to go outside?" Iduna asked incredulously.
"Yes" the Doctor answered bluntly. "I need to test a theory. It does not have to be the main courtyard. In fact, the further it is from the courtyard where all the Ice Beasts are converging, the better."
"Well, I think there is a small area over there" Iduna said hesitantly. "But the door is locked and barricaded."
Elsa looked at the corridor around them. This part of the castle had been abandoned, but she could recognise it.
"That's… the garden over there" she volunteered. Iduna shot her a suspicious glance.
The Doctor strolled over the barricaded door. His sonic screwdriver whistled as the lock clicked. He turned to the two women.
"Now I need some help removing those bars."
"But Doctor…" Iduna said hesitantly. "If you open these doors the Ice Beasts will be able to enter."
The Doctor theatrically cupped his hand behind his ear.
"They are far from here, judging by their roars. Also, we won't be there for long." He grunted as he heaved one of the large wooden bars blocking the door. "You know" he added, "I'm definitely the brain here. That leaves you to be the muscle, and I'm pretty sure it's the muscle and not the brain that moves beams of wood around."
Elsa waved her hand. Ice grew from the walls, pushing the bars of wood away.
"So you really are the Snow Queen?" Iduna asked. "Only younger?"
"No. I told you, I'm Queen Elsa."
"But you will become the Snow Queen?"
"I… don't think so. I…"
"It's more complicated than that" the Doctor interrupted as he pushed the door open. It soon got stuck against the snow piled outside, but there was enough space for the three of them to slip through. Elsa gasped as she managed to recognise the shape of the inner garden under the piles of snow and ice.
"What now?" Iduna asked.
"Now we wait." He pointed upwards. "And I don't think we will need to wait for long" he added, as an uncomfortably close roar erupted suddenly above them.
Elsa shivered and moved closer to the Doctor. Iduna drew her sword.
"So, if you are Queen Elsa from the past, could I prevent the Snow Queen to exist by killing you now?" she asked matter of factly as she looked at the dilapidated galleries above them.
"You can't prevent anything by killing people" the Doctor answered severely. He was holding the whistling sonic screwdriver above his head. "Apart from them living a boring life, and there are better ways to prevent that."
A white shape appeared on a collapsed gallery above them. With a roar, the Ice Beast jumped and landed a few meters from them.
"Platinum! Move over there!" the Doctor called, pointing to a wall.
The Ice Beast cocked its head, looking at the group. It focused on Elsa and roared again. The blonde girl raised her hands defensively. The Doctor stepped toward the beast.
"Hello" he said in an expectant voice. "I get it, you are angry, but is there something we could do about it?"
With another roar, the beast swatted the Doctor away without looking. The grey-haired man rolled in the snow a few meters away. The Ice Beast shook its head, and slowly circled Elsa, grunting. Other roars erupted around them, definitely closer.
"Doctor?" Elsa called. "What am I supposed to do?"
"It does not seem to want to talk. Try to see if you can get it to listen!" the Doctor shouted back, getting up, his sonic screwdriver in hand. Iduna moved at his side, her sword raised defensively.
Elsa looked at the Ice Beast. It reminded her a bit of Marshmallow indeed. A demented, feral, distorted version of the large snowman, who she already considered as unnecessarily intimidating.
"Hello?" she ventured. "Can you hear me?"
The Ice Beast suddenly turned its head toward the Doctor and Iduna. It reared, roaring, then charged at them without warning.
"Stop!" Elsa shouted futilely. "Come back! Stop! Down!"
Iduna stepped forward, her sword raised, shouting in defiance. The Ice Beast roared in response.
Elsa flicked her hand. A pile of snow appeared above the charging beast and dropped on its head, stopping it dead in its tracks as it was about to collide with Iduna. The young woman swung her sword, which plunged deeply in the snow.
The beast roared, muffled under the snow, and tried to shake itself free. Elsa kept the flow of magic erupting from her fingers. The white powder kept piling on the beast until it eventually stopped moving.
Roars erupted from above. The three of them looked up to discover new Ice Beasts approaching from above the walls.
"In the castle, quick!" the Doctor shouted.
The rushed inside and slammed the doors behind them. It took Elsa a few seconds to calm herself enough for being able to remove the ice that had dislodged the bars, and the Doctor and Iduna moved them back in place.
"Fine!" the Doctor exclaimed, his sonic screwdriver whistling as the lock clicked. "Now we know that they don't want to talk, even to you. On the other hand, they don't seem to want to hurt you either." He rubbed his hands. "But they seem to be drawn to you just like ice-cream brain is!"
Iduna was looking at Elsa, visibly preoccupied.
"Are you all right?" she asked eventually.
"Yes… yes I am, thank you" Elsa said, trying to catch her breath.
"Thank you" Iduna said grudgingly. "For… stopping the Ice Beast. I would have got it" she added, straightening up, "but your help was appreciated."
"No you would not" the Doctor cut, strolling away resolutely. "These bladed weapons probably don't do much to creatures made of ice. So, we know how to lure these Ice Beasts away" he added, turning to Iduna. "This would leave you the time to evacuate."
"We won't. My father told you, we stay and fight."
"I feared as much" the Doctor sighed. "Very well…" He turned to Elsa. "Are you ready to run around for a while, Platinum?"
"Something's happening, Madam!" Jenny said, pointing downwards.
Anna, Vastra and Strax looked below the dilapidated parapet. The roofs of the castle were now crawling with Ice Beasts, jumping around, roaring, and occasionally charging against a weak wall or a door. So far, they had not seemed to be able to penetrate very far into the castle.
But now most of them seemed to be converging toward a remote part of the castle, roaring excitedly. At the same time, hesitant shapes could be made out venturing in the courtyard.
"I think this is the Doctor's signal" Vastra said.
"Madam! Permission to shoot at these beasts!" Strax asked expectantly.
"Not yet" the lizardwoman answered firmly. She looked down. One of the Ice Beasts had ignored the others and was galloping toward the courtyard. "Just stop that one below" she said, pointing to it.
"With pleasure" Strax said, licking his lips as he aimed his weapon.
The ray of light hit the beast squarely. It roared, then its roar slurred and died down. Anna could not help wincing.
"The beasts are moving again" Jenny said.
The white shapes were now almost all running along the same direction on the roofs of the castle. Anna squinted, trying to project in her mind the image of the pristine castle she knew over the snowy landscape.
"They are running along the old cloister" she mused. The beasts suddenly changed direction. "Now that's… the corridor leading to the gallery with the paintings. It's as if they… knew where to go."
"Maybe there is something drawing them in this direction" Vastra said cautiously. People could be seen running in all directions in the large open space, apparently setting up piles of wood against its walls. One of them was strolling resolutely among them.
"That's the Doctor" Jenny said.
Some of the beasts were not following the others and galloped toward the courtyard. Strax yelled savagely, firing his large strange looking rifle. Rays of light flew from it, striking the hapless beasts below that roared as they began sizzling and melting.
"This is too easy even for target practice!" he shouted excitedly.
Anna could not hide the of disgust and pain that she felt on her face. She was suddenly aware of Vastra's strange eyes fixed on her.
"We need to protect the Doctor and the people of Arendelle to set up whatever he devised" she told Anna.
"Yes I know but… I'm sorry, they remind me too much of Marshmallow… He's… like them, but much nicer, once you get to know him" she answered. She turned to the other beasts that were running across the rooftops.
"What do you think is drawing the… they're coming toward the courtyard!" Anna exclaimed
"The Doctor is herding them here" Strax commented gleefully. "It will be easier to destroy them all at once in this enclosed space."
The beasts were now running toward the courtyard, following the path of the main gallery, Anna realised. The people down in the courtyard were now scattering toward the walls.
An unmistakable green clad shape erupted into the courtyard, sliding gracefully on a path of ice that seemed to follow it. It crossed the area and was reaching the opposite wall as the beasts began pouring into the courtyard.
There was a shout from below as the last beasts jumped from the walls and roofs, galloping toward the retreating figure. Fires erupted suddenly on all sides of the courtyard, rapidly growing into blazes. The beasts stopped, surprised, and began receding toward the centre of the courtyard, roaring confusedly.
The lizardwoman whispered something to Jenny, who nodded and aimed at the courtyard with another strange device.
"Cease fire now, Strax" Vastra ordered.
"But, Madam, I protest! Now we could make a significant impact on the enemy force!"
Jenny fired her device. A small object was catapulted into the courtyard and landed among the confused Beasts.
There was a strange sizzling sound. Then a reddish light suddenly engulfed the beasts as if a curtain was drawn above them. The light remained, like a sanguine soap bubble, wobbling as the beasts inside jumped around and hit it without passing through.
"Force field" Vastra said curtly. She looked at Anna's inquisitive glance. "Like an invisible wall. It should hold them for a while."
"Then… what are you going to do next?" Anna asked.
"I don't know. But I don't think the Doctor sent us here to shoot fishes in a barrel. The fires around the courtyard should melt them after a while."
Anna handed back the gun to Vastra. "I don't think I could use this against them."
"Keep it" the lizardwoman said, gently closing Anna's fingers around the weapon. "I fear your adventures with the Doctor are not over. You may need it, even if he does not want to use it himself."
"But… I don't think I could use this against any one, actually."
Vastra smiled sadly.
"I sincerely hope you will never find yourself having to use it, or wanting to. If anything, keep it as… a souvenir. We will probably never meet again."
Anna gingerly slipped the object inside one of the pockets inside her cape. These really were useful, even though she would have loved storing something else than a weapon there.
Something white landed on her glove. Snow was beginning to fall slowly. Anna looked up. The cloud above the northern mountains appeared to be expanding.
Or maybe it was getting closer.
Elsa looked curiously at the strange red bubble holding the Ice Beasts, trying to catch her breath.
"But… what exactly is a force field, Doctor? And how long will that hold?"
"Too long to explain. And long enough for them to be either reasoned with or melted by the fires around the courtyard."
"But that was months of our wood supply" Iduna exclaimed, joining them. "We may not be able to heat enough of the castle in the year to come!"
The Doctor shrugged.
"You wanted to fight those beasts with your swords. Fire is usually better for that."
The Ice Beasts were throwing themselves against the bubble toward them.
"But could not your friends in the tower have destroyed them with their light crossbows?"
"No. They are here to help, not do the fighting in your place." The Doctor turned sharply toward Elsa. "Have you tried commanding them? Or reshaping them?"
"Yes" Elsa panted. "I can't. There is something stopping me… As if this ice did not obey me. Like everything else around."
Iduna looked at her.
"Thank you for helping" she said gruffly. "Maybe you really are not the Snow Queen after all. But then…"
"She's Elsa" came a slurred voice at waist level.
Olaf had joined them and was looking at the confused Ice Beasts milling around inside the force field.
"My brothers will begin to melt" he enunciated in his flat, emotionless tone.
"I'm sorry, Olaf" Elsa said. "We could not do anything else to stop them…"
"I know." He looked up. "Elsa is coming."
"Yes, I know, I'm here…"
The little snowman shook his head and pointed at the mountain. The large cloud that had cornered the top was now hovering above the snowy slopes, leaving the top well visible above it. Snow was now falling continuously over the courtyard. The wind began to howl.
"Elsa is coming" he repeated.
Iduna looked up.
"Is that… the Snow Queen? The… real one?" she added, glancing at Elsa.
"It might be" the Doctor mused, looking above. "We can't remain here" he said suddenly.
Iduna and Elsa looked at him questioningly. He waved his arms helplessly.
"I'm sorry… I helped you against these beasts but… that's not the real problem. Something is wrong with time. With her timeline" he added, pointing at Elsa. "And I don't want to complicate it further by having her cross an alternate timeline of hers." He tugged at his lapels. "We need to go to the TARDIS."
The Doctor strolled along the dilapidated gallery, Iduna and Elsa in tow. The TARDIS appeared in the distance as they rounded a corner. The wind was howling, carrying snow and hail.
"Will Iduna be able to come?" Elsa asked nervously.
"I'm not leaving the castle" the young woman cut in a definitive tone.
The Doctor smirked.
"Time has been rewritten" he mused. "If we change it back… things may not happen as they did."
"Do you mean the country would not be frozen?"
"Yes." The Doctor hesitated a fraction of second. "And your parents may never have met."
Iduna stopped.
"Does that mean I would…. not exist?"
"Or her" the Doctor said, pointing at Elsa. "I'm still not sure in which way time was rewritten."
The door on the other side of the gallery opened. Vastra, Jenny, Strax and Anna walked out, followed by some guards who fruitlessly tried to stop them.
"See?" Vastra told Anna. "I told you they would be there."
They met in front of the TARDIS. Iduna was staying slightly behind them, her eyes fixed on Anna as she rushed to her sister and wordlessly hugged her.
"They say the Snow Queen is coming" Vastra said.
"So I heard. And we need to find what is wrong with time" the Doctor answered. The wind was howling intermittently in the corridor, forcing them to almost shout some sentences.
"But what will they do against this Snow Queen?"
"I can't afford to remain here to help them. I must investigate this paradox now. I already spent too much time here. Any more, and it will be impossible for me to find its source. And if I can fix it, maybe things will get better around here."
"And if the paradox is the other way round?"
The Doctor grunted, but failed to answer. The guards reached them.
"Excuse us, Sir… you need to come back inside the castle. If the Snow Queen really is coming... we need all the help we can get..." They looked nervously at Elsa and Anna, still embraced in front of the TARDIS door.
"Hey, are you…"
"No they are not" the Doctor cut in. "Listen, my good man, I have to leave now. I may be able to help you far more than you can imagine."
"Can you?"
The king was standing on the other side of the corridor, slightly out of breath. Iduna quickly moved to his side. The Doctor moved toward him, doing his best to step between him and Anna. Elsa gently tugged her sister aside to help him.
"Your Majesty, I need to leave you now. I may be able to help… this country."
The king was looking at the towering shape of the TARDIS behind them.
"It's the blue box" he muttered under his breath.
Iduna whispered something in his ear. The king shook his head incredulously.
"Listen" the Doctor went on "what is happening here… should not. Maybe. Something went wrong in the past. I may be able to fix it, but only if I leave now."
The king looked at him dubiously.
"Even if that was possible… what happens if you could not?"
"We will stay here and help you" Vastra said with authority. She looked challengingly at the Doctor who had opened his mouth to protest, then back at the king. "Is that acceptable? Your men have seen us in a fight."
"It's only ice!" Strax shouted enthusiastically. "Even untrained personnel armed with fire throwers and plasma grenades should be able to destroy it!"
The king gave him a puzzled look before turning back to the Doctor.
"But what can you possibly hope to accomplish, Doctor? What power do you have to stop… her?"
The Doctor stepped slightly aside, letting the king's gaze fall on the two sisters for a second, before blocking his view again. The king could not suppress a gasp upon seeing Anna.
"That's impossible…" he whispered.
"I told you" Iduna said softly.
"That's me. That's my power. I do impossible. Or at least I try." The Doctor hesitated. "I promise that if I can't fix this… I'll come back to help you."
The king looked at the grey haired man intently for a while. Then he took his decision.
"Let them go" he ordered to his men.
The guards hesitated, then backed up. The Doctor moved closer to the king, lowering his voice as much as the howling wind allowed it.
"You must know one more thing" he said. "If I fix this… If I change the past… Everything that happened here may never have happened. Some people may not… meet other people." He lowered his voice even more. "Or have children."
"Would that mean that Arendelle remains the kingdom it once was? And that… my mother… lives happily?" the king asked.
"That's a possibility."
"Then it's all that matters."
The Doctor nodded solemnly. The king nodded in response, then turned around and walked back toward the castle, casting one last glance at the two sisters as he left.
Iduna slowly walked up to them.
"I thank you" she said solemnly. "I'm glad I could have met you. Be… as happy as you can" she added, looking at Anna.
"Thank you" Anna said, puzzled. "Who are…"
But Iduna had joined her father and the retreating guards, turning a last time to wave at them. Then they all left, accompanied by Vastra, Jenny and Strax.
The blizzard increased again, blowing and puncturing their skins with minuscule icicles. Masonry crumbled around them. The already dilapidated walls were collapsing. The mountains behind could be seen briefly between two gusts of icy wind.
The Doctor produced a key and unlocked the door.
"In we go, now!" he shouted, grabbing Anna and pushing her inside the TARDIS.
The wind intensified. Part of the remaining wall collapsed, revealing the distant shape of the courtyard below, barely visible through the blizzard. Elsa slowly moved toward the gap.
"Let's go!" the Doctor shouted, halfway through the door. "No, you stay inside!" he scolded Anna, who was trying to join her sister.
Squinting to look through the hail, Elsa thought she glimpsed a distant figure entering the courtyard, surrounded with Ice Beasts. She could not make out the details, but she felt it look at her, and shivered. The wind became stronger.
Fascinated and horrified at the same time, Elsa tried to focus on the lone figure. It appeared to be wearing some kind of long gown, and walked slowly but resolutely, paying no attention to the wind blowing around it. Looking behind it, Elsa thought she glimpsed another figure wrapped in the snow. She was about to walk a few feet closer to the crumbling wall to have a better look, when two sets of hands emerged from the TARDIS and pulled her inside. The door slammed on the gale.
Another sound rose above the din of the storm, as the TARDIS light up, then slowly faded from the ruined walls.
Down in the courtyard, the Snow Queen looked up as an old memory rose in her mind. Then she snarled as something that was now a part of her also recognised the sound.
Author's Notes: I apologise here for having the Doctor do something he almost never does, that is going back in time to possibly prevent an event of which he was a part. But it is a bit different here since he suspects that time was rewritten and so he considers that he can be a bit more lax with the laws of time.
This chapter is the one that suffered the most rewrites as I had a lot of trouble to organise it into something coherent. I really wanted to have some interactions between Vastra's team and the sisters but I had trouble fitting everything together.
Anyway, we are barely halfway through the story, I hope you like it!