A group of Anaphus, all in ceremonial dress, danced around a crackling bonfire. The rest of the Anaphus race was congregated at wicker tables filled with an assortment of Polynesian-style dishes. Rose, the Doctor, Jack and Solaris had all been escorted to seats of honor, where they were each served a particularly large portion of fish adorned with slices of exotic-looking fruit. Upon sampling their meals, it was found that the fish was cooked to the point when it would simply melt in your mouth, and with the fruit, the platters were given the right amount of sweet tanginess.
"Hey, Solaris!" Jack laughed as swallowed another bite of his fish. "What're you waiting for? Quit picking off the fruit and start on the fish; it's great." Sure enough, when Rose and the Doctor looked over, Solaris' fish was untouched, and she was simply picking the fruit slices off her plate.
"I'm sure the fish does taste good, Jack," Solaris stated. "But I'm going to have to pass anyway. I don't eat fish, or any other type of meat for that matter. I'm a N'renyan, as you all know. N'renyans are a herbivorous species. I can't digest meat."
"Oh! Why didn't you say anything about that sooner?" Rose exclaimed. In moments, she was scraping the fruit off her fish and offering them over to Solaris. "Here, you can have my fruit. And I'll be happy to take that fish, too, since you're not going to eat it." For the longest time, Solaris simply gaped at Rose, as if she'd just done something completely unheard of.
"Thanks," Solaris finally accepted the trade with the tiniest hint of a grateful smile on her face.
"It's okay; you shouldn't have to go hungry because you're a herbivore…."
"No. I mean….back home, in the Thieves Guild, most of them aren't as accepting of my biological diet, and won't offer me an alternative meal. That's why I live out in the Black Jungle instead of with everyone else underground. It's the only way I can eat something my body was designed to eat."
"Well then, it's a good thing you're with us now, isn't it?" Rose grinned, her tongue poking out between her teeth.
"Yeah. I guess so," Solaris agreed in a contemplating tone.
While everyone continued eating, Shok approached their table.
"Please pardon the interruption to your feast, friends," Shok began, "but since you four are only visitors to our planet, it was agreed that we should explain what will be expected of you tomorrow.
"The Harvest-time Trials consist of four different trials. One member from each team must participate in one, and only one, of the four trials. These trials have been modeled to test a person's ability in one of the desired Aquarian abilities: intelligence, strength, endurance, and hunting.
"How do you test abilities?" Rose wanted to know.
"First off," Shok explained, "the participant of the strength trial is to defeat a skilled warrior from the race they're representing. Once the warrior is defeated, the participant of the intelligence trial will be presented with a riddle that they must solve. If they can give the correct answer, the participant of the hunting trial will be told the general location of a hidden box somewhere on this island. Within that box is a key that opens a chest that has been placed in the center of the island. That is where the Amulet of Nine Stones resides. The participant of the hunting trial must locate that box to find the key. Once the key is retrieved, the final competitor, the participant of the endurance trial, will race against their opponent from the opposing race to the chest, in order to be the first to unlock it and claim the amulet."
"So, in order to get the amulet, we need to complete all four trials," the Doctor concluded.
"I call the hunting trial," Solaris volunteered with a smirk. Finding hidden things is my area of expertise."
"And I suppose you'll want to handle that riddle," Jack guessed as he turned to the Doctor. "We all know you like proving you're cleverer than others."
"Just like we all know how confident you are in your skills," the Doctor fired back. "I take it that you're volunteering to take on this warrior? Unless, you don't think you can handle unarmed combat as well as armed combat."
"If you're asking me to impress, I can do that without even trying…in more ways than one." Jack playfully winked at the Doctor.
"I guess that means I get the endurance trial," Rose concluded, seeming less then enthused about it.
"Then it's settled," Shok nodded in confirmation. "Jack will go against our best warrior in the strength trial, and then the Doctor will test his luck in solving the riddle chosen for the intelligence trial. Next, Solaris will go off to find the key in the hunting trial, which will then be passed on to Rose for the endurance trial.
"I thank you all once again for agreeing to stand in for our people in these trials. You will never know how much we all hold you in high regard because of it." With a bow of respect, Shok stepped away to allow the four companions to continue eating their feast.
The Doctor sat against the wall of the old hut that they were given for the night, his heightened senses picking up the multitude of nocturnal animal calls emanating from the island jungle as if they were right next to him. His back was pressed up against the hard logs that had been used in constructing the hut, and even through his leather jacket, he could feel the gaps that existed between the individual slabs of wood. There was no denying that he was extremely uncomfortable sitting here. It was just his misfortune that had the Anaphus race insist that they stay the night in this rickety hut, which a good wind could probably knock over. If he had his way, they would all be back on the TARDIS. At least there, he could have found something to do until morning. It had been too long since he had to wait around with nothing to occupy himself, and it was practically a torture to his mind.
Just as the Doctor was about to head off for a walk, for lack of anything better to do, he heard a new sound of hammock fibers shifting under a moving body. Immediately, he glanced over at the hammocks that resided in the hut, where his companions had been sleeping. In the faint light from the moon that was penetrating through the patchy roof, he could make out the familiar outline of Rose sitting up in her hammock.
"Rose?" he spoke softly, starting to move back to her side instinctively. "Is something wrong?"
"Doctor?" Rose's reply came in a sleepy voice through a stifled yawn as she climbed out of her hammock. "You couldn't sleep, either?"
"Time Lord, me," he chuckled. "Don't need as much sleep as you humans do. You on the other hand, need to kip off. Can't have you falling asleep during the trials tomorrow, can we?"
"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Still can't sleep, though. Guess this place is just too unfamiliar." Smiling softly, the Doctor sat back down against the wall, gesturing slightly to his side, nonverbally inviting her to sit next to him and taking her hand in his as she did so. However, as Rose leaned against him, the Doctor could faintly feel her pulse, which was rapid enough for him to know that something was still bothering her.
"What's really keeping you up, Rose?" The Doctor asked.
"Nothing," Rose replied a little too quickly. When she made out the skeptical look the Doctor was giving her, however, she glanced away. "Not really. I'm just thinking about tomorrow. These trials are our only chance at getting the amulet; I understand that. I'm just worried about what'll happen if we don't win against the Umepha. I mean, I know you'll have no problem with the intelligence trial, unless you're not as clever as you say you are," a teasing grin appeared on her face, with her tongue poking between her teeth, but then the smile faded as she went on. "Jack's a former time agent, and Solaris is a famous thief, so they have reason to be confident in combat and finding the key. It's probably the sort of thing they did all the time. But…before meeting you, Doctor, I was just a shop girl from London. I wasn't even on the track and field team at Jericho Street Comprehensive. There's just…I can't see any way I can possibly win against that Umepha in a footrace to the center of the island, since he's probably been training for a long time for this."
"Now, you better stop right there," the Doctor gently scolded, a chuckle escaping his throat. "You're starting to sound as stupid as Mickey the Idiot." For the briefest moment, a reluctant smile formed on Rose's face at the Doctor's jab at her boyfriend, but before she could get the chance to defend Mickey, the Doctor quickly continued. "You, Rose Tyler, have saved the Earth from the Nestene Consciousness, came up with that plan to save our lives on Dowling Street, survived a shuttle crash on Justicia, helped change a Dalek, was able to realize something was wrong with the temperature immediately upon our arrival on Satellite 5; a little sprint through an island jungle? Easy." Pulling her into a sideways hug, the Doctor continued to provide assurance to his companion. "And you were never just a shop girl from London. Knew that from the moment we met. Typical shop girls; they would be utterly useless if shop window dummies suddenly came to life. You on the other hand; you were immediately guessing and using your brain. Why do you think I came back to give you a second offer to be my companion? You had something special. Something not many humans have. So don't ever think you're 'just a shop girl.'
"You'll be fantastic, tomorrow, Rose. I have no doubt of that." When the Doctor finished speaking he gazed down at Rose, only to see that she'd fallen asleep, with her head on his shoulder and a contented smile on her face. For a long moment, the Doctor simply watched her sleep, with her chest rising and falling slightly, and her breaths puffing against his neck until, with a gentle smile forming on the his face, he pulled her closer to cradle her sleeping form against him. Brushing a stray lock of her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, he started wondering how long ago she'd fallen asleep. He could only hope she'd heard enough of what he'd said to feel more confident about her part in the trials.