The Doctor levered himself out of the water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist. "They'd better not try to sell me a vacuum cleaner…" he said as he moved toward the door. Was that a regretful look he cast back over his shoulder as he pulled the door shut after him?
Rose held her breath; she had no reason to expect any ill will from the villagers, but you just never knew. She strained to hear as the door squeaked open; she could easily tell the pitch and cadence of the Doctor's voice, but the other male voice was muffled and indistinguishable. At least it seemed calm enough, so she turned her attentions to finishing up her bath and washing her hair. As she was rinsing the last of the conditioner out, she heard the door bar slide home, then the Doctor's voice through the barely-cracked door: "Everything's fine. I'm going to build up the fire. Temperature's dropping fast."
"Right, I'm almost done. I'll get dressed out there while you get clean, then." Rose sighed and sat for a few more moments in the hot eddying water, then climbed out, stripping off her wet undies. Wrapping towels around her hair and chest, she gathered up her brush and pajamas and kicked her dirty clothes into a pile in the far corner; she'd wash them out in the morning. A wall of chilly air hit her as she stepped out of the steamy, warm bathing chamber and into the cottage's main stone room, and gooseflesh stood out all over her. She told herself sternly that it was entirely due to the temperature and not to the Doctor's gaze, nor to the fact that he was dressed in only a towel wrapped low around his hips.
"Hurry up, or I'll freeze to the sheets. Can't do without my personal hot-water bottle," she teased, dropping her toiletries on the table nearby. The Doctor bowed as majestically as his towel would allow, and slipped through into the bathing room. Rose sighed and steeled herself for the inevitable. Dropping the towel, she finished drying off as quickly as possible and shivered her way into her soft pants and camisole. She padded over to the washstand and cleaned her teeth, then fairly flew toward the bed with her hairbrush, tossing the towels over a chair as she passed.
She was still cold, and tiredly finishing up with the damp tangles, when the Doctor came out already dressed in his pajama pants and t-shirt and with his untamable hair standing in all directions. He poked at the fire, cleaned his teeth, then went around the room checking the door and windows and extinguishing all of the candles and lanterns but the one by the bed. Climbing in, he immediately scooped her in for a cuddle - then yelped as her cold nose touched his neck. "Aah! I didn't think humans could freeze solid so fast!" he complained, offsetting his words by tucking her even more closely against him.
Rose let out a huge sigh; this was the best part of the day by far. She couldn't really pinpoint when the line of propriety separating hand-holding and full-blown snuggling had vanished, but it hadn't made things uncomfortable or stilted, and it most certainly was a fabulous way to end a day. Judging by the Doctor's contented snuffles into her hair and his solid embrace, he definitely was a fan too…but…
"Oi! Cold feet!" she shrilled as he pressed the offending items on hers. He immediately removed them, though she could somehow tell he was smiling, and she continued, "…but I suppose it's fair payback for the cold nose." The chilly appendages snuck back and re-tangled with her feet, and he wiggled his toes against her instep, making her jerk and giggle. She considered blowing a raspberry against his neck, but decided against it, given that she was far more ticklish than he, and she knew from experience that he was a relentless payer-back of both pranks and tickles.
"So who was that, then?" Rose knew from the Doctor's lack of alert tension that it hadn't been anything worrisome, so she'd not bothered asking till now.
"It was the young fellow Ellaran, the one who met us when we got here. He wanted to tell me that there was a lowland expedition leaving tomorrow at noon, and that we were welcome so long as we could handle the walk. Figured we could decide in the morning."
"Uh-huh. So you got as far as telling me that you stayed trapped in the house till afternoon, and they mostly talked about boring town stuff. Any dirt on those Mr. Spock thingies?" Rose grinned to herself as he heaved a long-suffering sigh, melodramatically appalled at her cavalier attitude toward a galactically unique phenomenon, and started to explain what he'd found out.
"Well, they're large reptilian animals called agrantha, and they're indigenous, so far as they know, to the lowlands in this hemisphere. Not that they know about hemispheres, but from the TARDIS readings and their description of traveling records, that seems fairly accurate. Big quadripeds, about six meters high at the shoulder and ten meters long as adults. They're fairly dangerous and only travel together during mating season, and the females and males aren't substantially different physically or behaviorally when there are no eggs or young around." The Doctor flipped neatly over onto his back, then pulled Rose close in to his side with his right arm, so her head was resting on his inner shoulder and her hand was sprawled out on his chest. His now-free left hand gesticulated as he talked.
"The interesting part is a crystalline biosecretion that forms at the crest, just behind the eyeridge. It's roughly spherical, about the size of a grape, it's sunk in a bony socket, and it ranges in color from nearly clear to bright green, apparently depending on the strength of the telepathic potential –"
"Hey, wasn't Duleian wearing a green stone?" Rose was appalled at the thought of Duleian slaughtering anything; the leader seemed so mild-mannered.
"He does, and it's apparently the same stone and setting that's been handed down for generations from village leader to village leader. I wanted to scan it with the sonic screwdriver, but I couldn't figure out a way, what with it right up under his nose. Anyway, the tale is that it was from a tremendously old and powerful agrantha that ventured up near the village, searching for its lost mind-mate, and died silently during the night, all but laid across the village border. That caused them to build the walls and gate, and also to collect the stone and set it to be worn by the leaders. It's to remind them of the power of nature, and of the power of love, and of the history of the village. All of which may be complete hogwash, of course, but it did make for a nice tale. A very long one, too, though. I thought I might die of hunger…"
Rpse snorted softly. "Right. After all that breakfast you ate? Your poor gob expiring of exhaustion, more like. I bet you gave as good as you got." She nudged him in the ribs, and soon regretted it – his right arm was wrapped firmly around her and his hand laid against her side, which put him in the perfect position to deliver a retaliatory poke. She squeaked and squirmed, silently cursing the impulse and vowing that one day she'd get the last lick in.
"Ooh, Rose, now you know that wasn't nice! I was the very picture of reticence and never once spoke unless I was spoken to. Exactly as I do with you, eh? Eh? So unfair, you are…and you stop rolling those eyes, miss! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Until several generations ago, it was customary for young men to prove their manliness, as it were, by actually climbing up on an agrantha and touching its mindstone, which opens up the contact, for as long as they could stay atop the animal. It was nearly always done while an animal was asleep, as they're rather sluggish and slow to wake, and the contact quality is the same awake or asleep. A few daredevils would try with the agrantha awake, but apparently success wasn't very high, as it's a bit testy by nature and has some nasty defenses. It has several rows and patches of spikes, which are dangerous enough by themselves, but which also have poison glands at the tip. I tried to get a description of its effects, but the best I can figure is that it's some sort of neurotoxin that causes severe muscle spasms and headaches. Some accounts of people dying after getting multiple scratches or stabs. Anyway, it's rarely done any more; young men now undertake a very similar solo trip to the one the ladies take, and the agrantha-climbing is pretty much for the daredevils and mystics. It's treated with a good bit of reverence, though it's nowhere near religious in nature. Rather refreshing."
Rose thought for a moment. "So what's the point? Besides 'because I can.' The eternal mantra of the male. I mean, what do they pick up? Do they communicate at all? Does it hurt people or the agrantha?"
"Well, I never could get a good answer to that, since most of the men in the village now haven't done it, and like anything telepathic, one's experience is intensely personal and hard to describe. Duleian did it long ago, and Shahved more recently – several times, he did. A couple dozen of the other men in the village have also, including a few who left last season to travel to other villages to marry. But from Duleian's and Shahved's accounts, it's as if you're submerged in the agrantha's mind – you see and feel and taste like you were in its body, and your instincts or emotions are tremendously magnified. Of course, it doesn't last long, because the agrantha doesn't particularly like having people crawl about on its back and poke its special spot, then the trick is to clear your head quickly and manage to get off it and away before it can attack. Now, if a man wants to try, he has a team of helpers who distract the agrantha to give him time to clear off safely."
Rose was aghast. "Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be open-minded and all, but that's not half stupid! What kind of idiots would risk their lives like that, for no real reason? Just climb a giant tetchy lizard for fun? Men. Oh well, maybe we can see one and you can scan it. That expedition ought to be fun, I suppose. At least I brought my trainers this time…"
A huge, jaw-cracking yawn escaped her, and the Doctor chuckled. He leaned over and blew out the bedside candle. Wriggling down so his head was on the pillow, he gently maneuvered Rose down next to him and spooned up behind her, burying his face in her clean hair and wrapping her up snugly in his arms. A soft sigh followed by deep, even breathing indicated Rose's shove-off to sleep, and just as the night before, the Doctor wasn't far behind.