A/N all is now revealed about Ta'sheeka and her planet's past. Is the Doctor at fault? Judge for yourself. And R/R, pulls out the Easter Eggs all decorated with David Tennent on them. You may have one if you review.

I own nothing, but I do own Ta'sheeka.

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Chapter 5: The story of Ta'sheeka

Consciousness slowly was coming to the alien in the room. The first thing Ta'sheeka felt was the softness of strange blankets and cloth. Where was she? A voice was inside her head. Relax…. It sounded like woman's voice. Who was that? Ta'sheeka's eyes slowly opened. She blinked a few times and then looked around the room. This wasn't her home. This wasn't the den she had made in the woods. Her eyes settled upon the Doctor and he smiled.

"Hello. You sure slept for a long time."

Ta'sheeka's eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"

The Doctor smiled, "I am the Doctor and you are?"

Ta'sheeka looked around for a woman and her eyes looked towards Rose, she was asleep in a chair. She said, "I hear a woman. Her voice was in my head."

The Doctor grinned, "Ahh of course, I forgot Mala'shraians are telepathic. That's the TARDIS."

Ta'sheeka looked thoughtful digesting that information, "TARDIS?"

"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. That's the name of my ship."

Ta'sheeka looked slightly puzzled, "Ship? What ship?"

The Doctor chuckled, "The box, the blue box….that's my ship. You're inside of her."

Ta'sheeka contemplated even more, the blue box, the one that was spoken among her people's history, and then suddenly she cried out, "The stranger, you're the stranger my people speak of in our history and our legends. You're the one who messed up my planet."

The Doctor frowned, "What? I did not mess up your planet. I'll have you know that your planet was on the verge of collapse. Twelve brothers fighting amongst each other, not caring about who lived and died, I helped save your people."

"Perhaps. But what you left us with was not much better. Because of you I was exiled."

Rose woke up suddenly hearing the woman, Tash, yelling at the Doctor, "Huh? What's going on?"

"How? Good morning Rose, the Mala'shraian and I are having a discussion."

Ta'sheeka snorted, "My name is Ta'sheeka. I am Ta'sheeka of the Nirata family. A family…"

Ta'sheeka glared angrily, "I am the only Nirata left. They were all killed, they were all killed and it's my fault."

Ta'sheeka suddenly broke down; she threw her head into the blankets and began to sob. The Doctor sighed, a lot must have happened since he had last been on Mala'shi. He went over and ruffled her hair gently, "I am sorry. I am so sorry. I know what it's like to lose family. Believe me. I don't know what's happened to your planet, Ta'sheeka but I want to find out. Can we talk about it rationally? You keep saying it's my fault, how is it my fault? Tell me what happened from the moment I left."

Ta'sheeka looked at the Doctor thoughtfully and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Alright, I will tell you."

Rose sighed; she couldn't understand how an alien could blame the Doctor for something that happened on her home planet. But then again, the Doctor wasn't perfect, was he? After they left the 2001st century, they had thought they had taken care of things on Satellite 5. And then they ended up pulled back onto Satellite 5, on what was then called the Game Station, things had gotten worse, a lot worse. The Daleks had taken over the station and were transforming humans into Daleks. Hadn't the Doctor told Rose later that a girl, named Lynda, told him that after Satellite 5 closed down, the whole of human civilization had not progressed as he had hoped, but in fact got worse! Perhaps something similar had happened on Ta'sheeka's home. Rose was quiet as Tash or Ta'sheeka, as she called herself, spoke.

Ta'sheeka sighed and looked thoughtful trying to recall and remember all that had happened since the Doctor had left. Most of the history of Mala'shra was told by oral tradition. Even though it was recorded down in membrane data cubes, most Mala'shra learned their history orally and then memorized it for instant recall.

"A long time ago, after the stranger of the blue box left, the people of the Mala'shra were left pondering over what to do. The brothers were gone and we were free. But many of us were confused; we did not know what do. We turned to our old ones, they were wise, and because they were the oldest among us we believed that they should be our leaders. Such a thing was a wise plan because they had lived many more cycles than most of us. So we agreed and the leadership of the Elders began. The Elders ruled fairly over us and…."

Ta'sheeka pursed her nose up in contempt at the history she had recalled, "Lies….history is made by conquers. The Elders did not rule fairly over us. They decided that each of us had our place in our society and so they began to divide us into separate castes, each of them based on the old clans that the fathers of our people had made. My family and other families who were in my clan were considered low born because many of the Elders remembered the war, our father, was the one who unfairly claimed the clan of his dead brother, and sought to take it away from his niece, his dead brother's daughter. It was punishment for what he had done to the rest of the Mala'shi and my clan, caste suffered for it. We were considered the lowest of the low. We had to serve the other castes and this was our punishment for something but an arrogant brother had done to his niece. It was not our fault. Although our caste carried that guilt at that time, I think they might have carried it because they believed that they were the cause of the civil war, the one you put to an end. Thousands of years have gone by, and most have forgotten why my caste is suffered to shame, but not my caste, not my clan. We remember. We can not progress, some occupations are denied to us. I….I once was taught healing, by a woman who knew she was breaking the law of the castes but she said I had a gift for feeling life in others and that I should be trained. She…wasn't caught when she trained me but she was training others secretly. When she was found out, she was beaten and left for dead. I know of many similar stories of others who were punished in the same way. I spoke out against it. Others began to join me. And then the Elders grew afraid, for in truth, the castes kept them in power and supported their government, and their way of life. Revolution and Civil War returned to the planet, my revolution was crushed and many people died, including my family. I thought that I would be put to death but instead they exiled me here, I have been here what humans called the year 1461 or was it 1561. I can not remember. It has been a long time, I have gotten older since that time and today you find me. That is my story. And that is what has happened since you have left, Doctor."

The Doctor sighed and looked introspective. He knew as anything else all societies had to progress on their own. But it certainly seemed that Ta'sheeka and a segment of the Mala'shraian race had gotten a raw deal. He remembered in his fourth incantation, that he had repaired a computer, and in the end it had caused a great deal of mess later on. When he came back later he had found a computer with a case of schizophrenia, a tribe called the Sevateem and a group of technologically advanced people called the Tesh. He had met Leela back then in his travels. He supposed he felt sorry for the mess he had ended up causing those humans; in fact he ended up taking Leela along for the ride. He sighed yet again; to say he was entirely blameless was not entirely true. He had been like a domino causing a chain reaction of events that caused Ta'sheeka's society to progress the way it had. He was responsible or at the very most partially responsible for what had happened and he looked at Ta'sheeka.

"I am sorry, I am so sorry. I had no idea that what I did would end up causing problems for you and your race. It hasn't been the first time something I have done has gone awry. Can you forgive me?"

Ta'sheeka looked deep in thought as well. She could hate this man. She could hate him for what he had done to her race, but she was 567 years old. She only had another 500 or so years of life left. Her first moments on this planet had been ones of revenge against her people, but over the centuries she had gotten older and perhaps a bit more reflective over her life and her existence. She never thought she would ever run into the man, the stranger of the blue box, who had made a mess of things on her home. Her anger had been mostly at the elders. Although finding the reactionary cause for the way her society had turned out had given her some anger and resentment. After all she had been on this planet for at least a good five hundred or six hundred years or so. It could be easy to hate the Doctor. She sighed, "My exile lies heavily upon me. It is difficult to give forgiveness to someone when many centuries of pain have been with me. Perhaps in time I will find it in my heart to forgive you completely, but I do not hate you. I thought I would, but I can not."

The Doctor sighed, although he looked slightly pained that Ta'sheeka could not completely forgive him. He knew better than anyone that healing took time. It had taken him at least one life and Rose to feel himself start to heal from the scars of the Time War. Maybe he could help her to heal as well. After all, what was that saying that humans were so fond of? Time heals all wounds? Yes, that was the saying. And looking at Ta'sheeka he said, "I understand, take all the time you need. You can stay as long as you want on the TARDIS, it's the least I can do for all that has happened to you."

Ta'sheeka bowed her head slightly in respect, "I thank you for your hospitality."