Sorry guys, I've been having a rough couple weeks and I only just got motivation to do this chapter. On the plus side, we finally get to travel back in time! Title of the episode is based off of the Yeats poem, The Stolen Child. If you haven't read it before, look it up- it's worth it. (Also on the subject, check out the movie Song of the Sea- I think it's on Netflix.)
The storm was howling outside, and sheets of rain whipped across the ocean. A bitterly cold wind seeped under the walls of the small cottage, and the light of the single lamp flickered.
"Have you ever seen such a storm?" asked the girl standing at the door. Her hair was dripping wet, and she breathed in the salty air as if it were water in a desert.
"Catri, get away from there," her mother commented as she glanced over. Her voice was mild and distracted. "You'll catch your death of cold."
Looking over her shoulder out at the storm, Catriona asked again, "Have you ever seen such a storm?"
"Close the door! There hasn't been such a storm since you were born, and that was the biggest anyone could remember." "Wasn't that- the day the Lady disappeared?" Catriona asked.
"Who said that?" "Oh, just someone in the village. He said, t' lady disappeared, and so did her newborn child, taken away by the ocean itself."
"Don't be so ridiculous, child. Someone could tell you there were dragons in the stars, and you'd believe it." she sniffed, stirring a pot of stew that sat on the small stove. "Taken by the ocean itself- idiot ch-"
A loud knock sounded at the door, and Catriona's mother hurried to open it. Standing outside, dripping wet, was a woman with a massive puff of thick black curls around her beaming face. There was another, smaller figure, hidden inside a hooded jacket.
"Taken away by the ocean itself, you say?" the dark-haired woman asked as she entered. "Doesn't sound so impossible to me, not around here."
TO THE WATERS AND THE WILD
(by gakorogirl)
Rowan looked back into the raging storm as the door swung shut. In a brief flash of lightning, they thought they saw a pair of white horses dancing in the waves that lashed along the shoreline. "What was that?"
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"There was something in the water- like white horses. And not the metaphorical kind, the real kind."
"You saw the white horses?" said the young girl who had let them in. Rowan guessed she was about thirteen, with green eyes too large for her narrow face. "They say there are kelpies in the bay, and seeing them's a sure omen of death."
"Catri!" the older woman snapped. "I'm terribly sorry about her, she's not quite right in the-" she began, but the Doctor leaned closer to Catri. "Who says that?" she asked quietly. Lightning flashed again, and the walls of the cottage rattled with the clap of thunder. "Ah, mostly the fishermen. Brian's a good friend of the family, he tells stories in exchange for meals. And Da does too," she added, glancing at her mother. "Just not so much."
"Where's your father now?"
"Travelling," she said. "He should have been back tonight, but the storm prevents him from coming back. He'll have to stay in the village."
Suddenly, the door swung open, swinging on its hinges as sheets of rain blasted into the cottage. "Da?" Catri gasped as she fumbled the plate of stew she was carrying. The tall man standing in the doorframe barely acknowledged her as he hurried across the room. "The white horses," he gasped.
"Cormac, have you gone mad?" the mother asked.
"No," he gasped. "There- on the beach. Below the cottage," he said, running back to the door which still swung wildly on its hinges. He heaved the door shut and locked it, breathing hard.
"Who are you?" Cormac asked, glaring.
"I'm the Doctor, and this is Rowan. We're just passing through, we were on our way into town."
The Doctor dug into her pockets and began to pull out her psychic paper, but the family seemed appeased. "I'm Cormac," the man said. "I suppose you've met Catriona and Mor?"
"Yes," the Doctor replied. She seemed preoccupied. "Tell me about the white horses."
Mor's eyes darted to the door. "We don't speak of them," she said. "And they don't bother us." As she spoke, an eerie screech echoed through the storm, and another, sounding eerily near the cottage door. The Doctor pulled out her sonic and got to her feet, a shower of droplets spraying from her hair as she walked towards the door.
"It seems a bit too late for that- tell me what they are."
Catriona spoke. "Sea demons. Like kelpies, but fiercer and smarter. They have heads like horses and bodies of salt and foam and green eyes that glow like a cat's. I've seen them, dancing in the waves when the wind comes out of the north."
There were more screeches on the wind, somewhere between the cry of a bird and a horse. "I think they're coming this way," Rowan said as they listened. Catriona spoke quickly as she continued.
"They take a pregnant woman, sometimes, take the child. The unborn child. And they give back one of their own, Brian says. Last time they took the Lady up in the old castle, and the Lord's barely been seen since. He spends his days staring off to the sea, hoping she'll come back." Something slammed into the cottage door.
Cormac ran to the door and leaned against it. The thing on the other side began to slam into the door again and again, causing the wood to warp and bulge. "What do they want?" he gasped.
"We could ask," the Doctor said warily, approaching the door. "White horses," she called. "Can you hear me?"
"We can hear you," came the reply, in a high, rasping voice. The pounding on the door hesitated. "You are not one of us, but you speak the language?"
"Nah, I've got a translation circuit from the TARDIS," the Doctor said. She began to scan the door, and Cormac jerked away, pointing to the glowing tip of the sonic. "What's that?"
"Just a sonic screwdriver, basically harmless."
"Time Lord!" screeched the sea demon. "Destroyer of worlds!"
"You aren't really helping my credibility," the Doctor sighed. "What do you want?"
"We want our child," the sea demon answered. "The ocean's child." Catriona's face was deathly pale as she stood, and her green eyes seemed to glow in the firelight.
"I am not your child," she said.
"You are," hissed the answer. The storm was beginning to die down, although the wind still howled outside. "You were the trade, fourteen years ago. For the young lord," it continued. "You can come back now, daughter of the ocean." Something slammed into the door again, throwing Cormac across the floor. He struggled to stand up.
"I- am not-" Catriona began. The sea demon made a noise that could have been a sigh. "You need to return to us now, or you will never be able to."
"Why not?" Rowan asked, speaking up for the first time in several minutes. "Why are you coming now, of any night?"
"We will leave soon. We crashed here, nearly two hundred years ago. Technology on this world has finally," it huffed, "advanced enough for us to obtain the proper quality of material for the ship. And the kelpie-children must come home now, before we leave."
Catriona was trembling as she stood in the middle of the floor. Slowly, she turned to her parents. "Is- it true?" she asked quietly. "I had thought so before, some nights."
Cormac nodded and looked away as he mumbled, "We found you, years ago. Washed up against the rocks, almost a human lass."
"Almost."
"Your eyes glowed like the sea demons', and your skin was cold as death," Mor whispered. "That went away, soon enough. And we never spoke of it. Catri," she continued. "We've fed you and kept you for so many years, we've had you safe and happy, haven't we?"
"Yes," Catriona said calmly. "Safe."
"Don't touch that door," Mor warned. Cormac scowled and began to limp towards the door. "Catri, step back."
"I will make my choice," she said mildly. "But first I am going to open the door." The Doctor stayed silent, but Rowan tensed as Cormac reached for Catriona's arm. "Stop it," they snapped. Cormac looked at them, confused. "I wasn't going to hurt her," he said. "Those things are, they're changing her, look at her!"
"We will not hurt the child," the sea demon sighed. "We want to see her, up close," it hissed. "Let her open the door."
Mor turned to the Doctor. "I don't know what you are, or where you come from." she said. "But you've brought the sea demons here, and now they're going to take my daughter somewhere and probably drown her or eat her and-" she turned to Catri, who had started towards the door. "You are forbidden to touch that door!"
The Doctor stepped across the room and put her hands on Mor's shoulders. "Mor. You have to let go of Catri. Eventually, she has to leave."
"But- but not yet," Mor whispered.
"You have to let her choose now," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry."
"Catri!" Cormac shouted. The girl had begun to cross over to the door, her right hand extended. The bowl of stew was forgotten, broth sloshing out as she held it haphazardly in her other hand.
Catriona opened the door.
The sea demon looked much as she had described it to the strangers, shaped like a small horse but with a long, salt-matted coat and a drifting white mane. As she opened the door, it gave a triumphant screech, baring a row of serrated teeth.
"Hello?" Catri said to it uncertainly. It was terrifying, but not alien. And it had her same eyes, foxfire green.
"Hello," it replied, "Daughter of the ocean." There were other sea demons, twisting and floating along the rocky path that led up from the water. "Daughter of the ocean, will you come with us?" they whispered.
"Why didn't you come earlier?" she asked, leaning backwards from the sea demons. They glanced at each other, making uncertain noises.
"You need to make your choice, daughter of the ocean. We will take you away from here, to our world. Our world of sky and sea and storms. It is a good trade. A world of wonder, not this world of rock and wind and pain. Come away, child of the ocean."
Somewhere, Mor started to sob, clinging to the Doctor's arms. Rowan was blocking Cormac from reaching the door, and the tall man seemed uncertain of whether or not to shove them aside. "Let her choose," Rowan said quietly.
"Why didn't you come earlier?" Catriona asked again, more angrily. The lead sea demon paused. "It was not important," it said finally.
"Is it important now?" Catriona said bitterly. "Am I important? To any of you?" she added, wheeling to face her parents. "Would it make a difference? If I stay here, if I go, will it make... will it make a difference to any of you?"
Mor sniffled, raising her head. "Catri- I wanted to tell you before- I couldn't bear a child. We found you, and- and it was a gift. A gift of heaven. And we were so very afraid to lose you. I'm so sorry," she whispered. If she said anyting else, it was lost in the howling of the wind.
Catriona hesitated at the door, her eyes shining a brilliant green. Hesitantly, she turned to the ocean and breathed in the salt air. "Am I important now?" she asked the sea demons. There was a long silence, and in the end it was the Doctor who answered, her voice almost lost in the howling wind.
"Important? Catri, important isn't important. You're not a sea demon, and you're not a human. What you are is Catriona who lives in a cottage at the edge of the sea, or maybe Catriona who lives in a far-away ocean under a pair of moons. It doesn't matter which, it just matters what you do with whatever you decide."
Nodding, Catriona turned to look at her human parents. The glowing in her eyes faded slightly, and her clenched jaw relaxed. "I'm not going to stay here," she said. "But I don't want to go with you-" she pointed at the sea demon, which snorted and stepped backwards.
Slowly, she turned towards the sea and her eyes began to glow again. "I'll come back, maybe."
"Catriona, no." Mor snapped. When she saw that Catriona's skin had gone deathly pale, a silvery sheen creeping through her hair, she began to sob. "Don't you care about us any more, Catri?"
"I care too much," Catriona whispered, and began to run, her feet skidding on the rocky path as her hair began to morph into the feathery, silver-white plumes of the sea demons.
Mor continued to cry loudly, and then more quietly as Catri disappeared into the rain. The sea demons continued to stand on the path for several minutes, cawing at each other. Finally, the leader said, "An attempt was made to retrieve the child. The bargain was fulfilled." They drifted away, into the thin mist that was beginning to form as the rain died down.
"We should go," the Doctor mouthed to Rowan, and they slipped out of the cottage.
"Isn't the TARDIS up the hill?" Rowan asked as the Doctor began to head in the opposite direction.
"Yeah, it is."
"So why are we going this way?"
The Doctor pointed. Standing waist-deep in the surf was Catriona, her body almost completely covered in drifting silver-white plumes. She turned to look back at the Doctor and waved before diving into the water.
"These almost never turn out nicely," the Doctor said. "Especially when the kids think they're human. But I think this time it ended up brilliantly- relatively speaking. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Relative to what?"
"Oh, you weren't there. I almost forgot." the Doctor remarked offhandedly, zipping up her jacket against the cold sea wind. "Should we head back to the TARDIS now, then?"
"Well, there's something I wanted to say- I think I'd like to go home for a little while, I've got to keep working my job so I can pay for classes. And- it's been a little stressful lately, I think I need a break. Just a few weeks, maybe?"
"Oh. Of course- you want to go home right away?"
"As soon as possible. Or we could stop by somewhere nice, really fast." Rowan said. The Doctor perked up a little. "Back to the TARDIS, then?"
"Yeah."
Rowan will be back, but they'll be gone for a few episodes. Alex and Natalie should show up in the next ones, so be excited!