Pushing back from the table, the Doctor sighed and turned to Nianna. "Thank you for lunch. It was lovely. Sure you won't come with us and cook on the trip?..." He attempted to look pitiful, but was rewarded by a peal of laughter from the plump lady.
"Oh, no, you will not find me out roaming on a smelly beast unless I have no choice! I will stay here in my warm home and think of you hardy souls out there eating cold travel food, and be ready to prepare you a decent meal when you come to your senses and return!" Smiling broadly, she began gathering the dishes from the long table.
Rose got up to help, but Nianna waved her away. "Thank you, my dear, but I have this well in hand, and it will not be long before you depart. Enjoy these last few moments of stillness, for you will soon have your fill of riding and walking!" Shaking her head at the very thought, she moved to the back table and puttered around the kitchen area as Duleian pushed back his own chair and looked at them.
"Well, I believe you know the basic plan for the expedition. Have you any questions before you leave?" Duleian looked, Rose thought, rather put out, but just as she opened her mouth to ask, the Doctor beat her to it.
"Are you not coming, then?"
The leader sighed. "I am afraid not. I do go on some shorter rides, and out hunting or flock-watching occasionally, but my duty is here for so long as I have the responsibility. That is the only true regret that I have about what I do, but it is worth it to know that the village is safe and well. And when I pass the stone to another next cycle, I will again have the opportunity." He wistfully glanced out the window, where some of the expedition members were beginning to assemble in the village center. "I hope you will spend time with me when you return and tell me of the expedition. If I cannot go, I would certainly like to hear what I missed!"
After they reassured him that they would do so, Duleian looked out the window and smiled. "Well, here come Forennal and Ellaran, and the stablehands with the beasts, so the time is upon us! Best be meeting them. Have you got your water filled and extra clothing? Yes? Excellent." He walked them to the door and waved at Ellaran while the Doctor and Rose hefted their packs. "Be safe. You are in good hands, so I will not worry, but since this is new to you, I will tell you that it is always wise to listen and watch. Ellaran is very knowledgeable and can handle anything that may arise on the ride, and for all his unusual personality, Shahved is a most accomplished expedition leader. Do not hesitate to ask them anything. Till day after tomorrow, then!" He remained on his porch as they bid him goodbye and turned toward the gathering villagers.
They headed toward Forennal, who was conversing with the stablehands as they stood holding the reins of several of the wooly donkey-ish mounts. "Look at the ass on that one!" Rose whispered, unable to help herself, and was rewarded by a muffled groan from the Doctor.
As they approached, Forennal turned toward them. "Ah, here you are. Rose, here is your new friend" – he motioned to a stablehand to hand over the small gray beast – "and Doctor, yours." The Time Lord grasped the reins of the taller brown one, which immediately peered at its new boss in a way that reminded Rose uncannily of the way the Doctor often stared something down through his geek-chic specs. Umcirillaxian Donkeyish Things and their Lookalike Owners, she thought, and for the millionth time thanked her lucky stars that she'd been able to have this wild ride of a life.
Forennal moved away to match the remaining mounts with their riders, and Ellaran and Shahved stepped up on a low podium. Ellaran spoke first, his quiet voice surprisingly strong. He's done this before, thought Rose. "Good day. We will leave as soon as we have gone through the plan. I see that everyone is accounted for; we will have a total of eleven people and riding mounts, plus six pack animals. I am head for the riding and at camp, and Shahved is head during the expedition itself. We will leave shortly and ride until just before dark. Kilden and Toral are in charge of setting up camp upon arrival" – he nodded to two dark-haired men – "and Jersam and I will handle the beasts and remain with them at camp during the expedition. The expedition will leave at first light tomorrow and arrive back at camp at dusk; the likely agrantha sites are within a few hours' hike. We will camp overnight again, then leave and return here by noon the following day, so that we may all wash the tremendous smell from ourselves and be again fit for polite company." Chuckles swept the group, and Ellaran stepped down as Shahved spoke.
"For those of us who will be attempting to touch the agrantha, please remember that we must stay together and work together. Let us be safe and not return home with sad tales. I will speak with each of you as we ride. And now, if we are all prepared, let us depart." He stepped down and quickly strode over to his own mount.
"Right-o!" The Doctor happily began strapping his pack behind his saddle, and Rose bent down once more to rifle through the contents of her own, her thoughts teeming afresh with worry about the agrantha. "Up then, c'mon, hit the road and all that!" The Doctor had appeared next to her; he wiggled his fingers, gesturing for her to hand over her pack, and set to securing it behind her saddle. Finishing quickly – he'd obviously paid attention to Orrona's mini-lesson – he handed her the reins and started to step back over to his own mount.
"Thanks. Erm, Doctor. How exactly do you get on this thing? It's not gonna sit down for me, I assume..." She was terribly embarrassed, since she was pretty sure that everybody else on this trip had been riding since they were born, and the Doctor managed to make everything look easy no matter where or when he was. Fabulous. She began resigning herself to being the laughingstock of the expedition.
To his eternal credit, the Doctor didn't laugh at her. "Ah. Well, I suppose they're much like horses, so you'll just get a leg up – here, step in my hands – and sling your leg over his back, and hold onto the reins. Up you go – there! You're a natural. Now be nice to Smokey there, and he'll probably not tip you arse over teakettle miles from home…" Now grinning, he effortlessly slid a long leg over his brown mount's back and heaved himself upright, looking as if he'd been born to it.
"Git." Rose mumbled under her breath, but she was too relieved to have mounted uneventfully to be actually irritated.
Within a few moments, the mass of people and animals had thinned out; the well-wishers and family members had moved aside to make room for the ragged column of riders, which eased down the main path toward the open gate. The Doctor and Rose got a few pointers from the young man riding directly behind them – "Just nudge the belly, not too hard; they have been well trained…" – and were relieved to be conveyed steadily along with the flow of riders. Staying on wasn't so bad, Rose figured, as long as they kept this kind of pace. The riding beasts had an odd slope to their backs, slightly tilted forward, which made you lean backwards a bit to compensate, but the gentle sway wasn't difficult to adapt to.
Rose found the whole experience rather soothing, and focused on looking around at the landscape once they were past the village, fields, and pastures. They were traveling almost exactly away from the TARDIS as best as she could tell, headed toward the lowlands and those mysterious agrantha, and most hopefully of all, not towards certain doom. To divert her attention from worry, she turned to the Doctor, but before she could open her mouth, Shahved called from up ahead. "Doctor! Would you ride up with us for a short while so that we may speak and plan?" Ruefully, she waved to him as he nudged his mount into a quicker walk, tossing a smile over his shoulder as he moved up to the front of the pack to join the other agrantha-seekers.
She had no idea of how much time was passing; those double suns' odd shadows and lighting messed with her head, but it was oddly freeing not to be bound by anything but light. The Doctor stayed up ahead for quite some time with Shahved's group, and though she couldn't hear any of their words for the sounds of the animals and ride, she could tell that the conversation was quite animated. Eventually, as the suns were noticeably beginning to set, the group broke up, and the Doctor drifted back to ride alongside Rose again. "Learn anything good?" she asked, though she knew from the set of his face that he was processing it and would tell her about it later, once he'd sorted it in his own head first.
"Mmm, quite…" he murmured, deep in thought.
Just as Rose began to wonder how much longer it would be, she noticed that Ellaran had stopped and dismounted up under a small grove of trees. They'd reached the campsite, though what made it a campsite Rose couldn't tell. Roughing it was not her thing, and she was already seriously missing that hot tub. Reaching the group, Rose waited until the Doctor got off of his animal and was holding hers before she attempted to dismount. She slung her leg over to the side, slid off the saddle, and would have collapsed had it not been for the Doctor holding onto her arm. God, that slight tilt had been a killer! She stayed hunched over for a moment, trying to ease her cramped back without drawing too much attention to herself. The Doctor's hand landed on the small of her back, and he leaned in to whisper. "Straighten up slowly, and hold onto my arm. Your muscles aren't used to holding that position for so long." She did so, and managed to stand straight just as Ellaran began speaking.
He briefly outlined what would happen: they'd tie the mounts here, and Ellaran and Jersam would feed, water, and settle them for the night. Kilden and Toral (cousins, she'd learned during the ride) would meanwhile set up camp, including a central fire pit, a latrine area, and six tents. Another two would make the stew and bread, and after dinner, they'd all retire to get a good night's sleep before setting off at first light. At a final word, the group sprang into action, or at least those with jobs did; the rest seemed to know to stay out of the way, but be ready to lend a hand if needed. Rose and the Doctor stood with a few others by a large ferny tree, and it seemed no time at all before the beasts were securely tied around a patch of stout scrub and happily eating and slurping their dinner. Only a few moments later, the camp was ready, and everyone settled in. Rose slumped stiffly against a large rock and slid down to sit on the ground; she'd almost dozed off when the Doctor nudged her knee with his as he sat next to her and handed her a bowl of unidentifiable stew and hunk of slightly-ashy bread.
"Been a long day." The Doctor glanced over at her, and she could tell: he was worried about her. She forced a smile, and started eating the bland-but-unoffensive meal. He relaxed fractionally and began eating his own, but never had her out of his watchful surveillance. When they'd finished, he collected their bowls and returned them to the camp leaders, then came back over to her. "Ready to get flat?" he smiled, pointing to one of the woven tents. "That one's ours. Already got our packs in there and rolls down."
Rose forced herself to stagger to the latrine, then made her way to the tent as fast as she could. She noticed that everyone else was leaving their shoes outside their tent flaps, and as she approached, she saw the Doctor's filthy white Chucks piled up as well. She smiled and painfully crouched down to enter. The Doctor was rooting through his pack, but put it aside immediately as she crawled in. "I'll go while you change –"
"Ugh, don't worry…just turn around…" He obligingly stared at the firelight through the tent material while she dragged off her clothes and pulled on her nightwear. Shoving her dirty clothes aside, she noticed that he'd combined their mats and bedrolls to make one double "bed." Too tired and stiff to care, she flopped down on her stomach on one side and heaved a long breath of relief at finally being able to stretch out.
The Doctor was changing too, and soon had joined her on the thick mats, bringing their blankets from their packs. Instead of lying down, though, he sat next to her and set the heels of his hands on either side of the base of her spine. As he began pressing and circling on the tight muscles, Rose gasped. "You don't…"
"I know. I want to. And you aren't going to be able to walk at all tomorrow unless your back loosens up. Relax." He spent the next twenty minutes patiently and gently working the stiffness out of her back, as she tried her hardest not to groan aloud and give their neighbors something to gossip about. He really was amazing at this, she thought; he seemed to know exactly how hard to press, how slowly to move, how to get a knotted muscle just to the point of relaxation without tipping into pain. She briefly entertained the notion that he could read her mind and know what felt good, but decided it didn't matter one bit, and focused on the intense relief of her previously-miserable back. Gradually he moved up to her shoulders, and by the time he'd finished there, Rose was fast asleep, utterly relaxed and with a small blissed-out smile on her face.
The Doctor slid down next to her and pulled the blankets up over them; it was going to be a cold night. He slid his palm over her back again and again as he watched the fire dance patterns through the tent wall, and lost himself in thought until daybreak.