The Shobogans/Outsiders are shown in the 4th Doctor episode 'Invasion of Time'.

The trip to the Outside had started out with Leela giving her a knife. Tegan knew instantly she was going to have fun. She wondered cheerfully what the Doctor would say if he saw her and Leela bonding over a comparison of knife handling techniques. While Leela definitely possessed greater skill, she clearly approved of Tegan's early training.

Once they'd left the area of force walled gardens, Tegan got her first real look at unvarnished Gallifrey. She'd expected snow, but the ground was bare except for a few scraggly plants. The wind was cold and dry; it bit at her nose and lips. Something about the shapes of the land suggested the work of water to her. She could imagine that years ago, a great flood had poured out onto the land, washing away plants and topsoil and leaving slag heaps of debris. It was a wasteland, but when they got farther away from the Citadel it became desert. Leela had said it would take them most of the day to reach the village.

"How can anyone live out here?"

"The Shobogans dwell beyond the desert, among streams, forests, and grasslands. There are edible plants and game animals. We carry food pills for our own use and as a guest gift. For those who are older, or unwell, food pills are welcome."

Crossing the desert was an ordeal Tegan found she welcomed. Her apartment in the Citadel was almost too comfortable. The orange sky and the tawny desert battered her between them. No pretense was possible. One footfall after another; one breath after another: these were the essentials of life. Leela's cloak blended with the colors of the land so that she was almost invisible and Tegan could imagine herself alone.

Beyond the desert, she was promised water, and all that lived where water flowed.

She thought she saw water in the distance, but Leela shook her head. "That is a forest. The leaves are silvery and do not fall with the seasons. In the branches live winged snakes with black and white fur that helps them hide among the leaves. The Shobogans hunt them for meat as well as their fur to wear."

In winter, there wasn't much difference between the desert and its edge. They were nearly to their destination before Tegan felt grass under her feet.

Leela went straight to Arand, one of the Shobogan leaders. He made them welcome of the settlement, accepting their gift of supplies. He made them a hot, bitter drink of herbs. Tegan recognized the scent. It was a tea she'd had in the Citadel, but there it had been sweetened.

- o - O - o -

The Shobogan village brought home to Tegan the true gulf between her culture and Gallifrey's. She had been prepared for primitive conditions, told that the Shobogans avoided technology. This was not entirely true. They owned a few pieces of equipment for environmental monitoring. The village was built near a volcanic site of natural hot springs. There was plenty of warmth and clean running water, the two great luxuries of the primitive world. Her Aborigine friends would have moved right on in. The Shobogans lived a simple life, but possessed a great fund of knowledge in the area of natural sciences that ensured a level of basic comfort.

As Tegan lolled in a hot mud pool with Leela, she remembered inviting Turlough to come with them. He had declined, with ill-concealed horror. He hated the cold. Andred had duties to attend to, so the trip was girls only.

"They'd call this a health spa, back home. People would pay to come here." The mud had a silky texture, like very thick hot cocoa. It also smelt of sulfur, but one got used to that. It was part of the experience.

"I brought Andred here soon after we bonded. He thought I was mad to want to cover us in mud." She smiled. "He liked it, of course, once he tried it."

"Is it very different, your tribe? I mean, the Sevateem was originally part of a scientific expedition that crashed on your world."

"My tribe would think this place a reward from the spirits. They lost their knowledge of science. But perhaps now that the evil Xoanon is gone, they will reunite with the Tesh and live in peace together."

"That's kind of like Gallifrey, isn't it? The technology Haves in the Citadel, and the Have-Nots out here." Tegan smoothed a fresh layer of soft mud down her bare leg.

"The people of Gallifrey are divided in their hearts. Some of them embrace the way of the Machine above all else, and others believe that Spirit is greater than Metal."

The two women sat in the mud a while longer. Leela was silent, and Tegan wondered if her silence concealed as many questions as Tegan's.

"Let us go rinse off. There is a waterfall to rid us of most of the mud. Then we may soak off the rest in the hot spring."

Leela crawled naked out of the mud. Tegan was similarly naked. It had taken no time at all to be comfortable in her skin with Leela. In her own way, Leela was extremely polite. She didn't have the kind of inhibitions about nudity that made being naked together uncomfortable. Tegan and Leela were a more natural match as friends than she'd been with Nyssa, who'd been rather prim. She found herself telling Leela about Nyssa.

"Your friend sounds very brave and great of heart to undertake such a task of healing."

Tegan nodded. "She is all that. More than that, she was always… royal. I loved Nyssa because she was so different from anything I am. She had qualities I admire but don't think I could ever possess."

Leela raked her hair back from her face, regarding Tegan with those round blue eyes. "She was your lover?"

"Oh, no, she was hardly grown, and besides, I … well, I like men that way, not women."

"What of Turlough? The two of you are close in age."

"No, he's not my type and I'm not his type. We get along all right, though. Goodness knows I'd rather be on his side than against him."

Leela nodded. "Yes, there is cunning in his eyes, but also loyalty to the Doctor."

"That's the way the Doctor is. Looking back, he tamed Turlough like taming a dingo. It was lost on me until it happened. Then it was obvious. Maybe it's one of the best things the Doctor's ever done, helping Turlough get free of the Black Guardian. Not by threats, not by tricks, but by willingness to be a friend."

"He is good at that. He did the same with me." Leela chuckled. "Did he not tame you as well?"

There was no insinuation in Leela's voice as there had been in Keludar's, but Tegan found herself on her feet, her heart pumping rage through her veins. Leela did not flinch, only looked up at her. "Why does that make you so angry? You are primitive. There is little difference between you and me to the Time Lords. Even your red-haired friend who is from an advanced world is still regarded as primitive here."

Tegan deflated. After a moment, she slipped down into the water. "Sorry, that caught me on the raw. Keludar said something like that."

"Be careful of him. He wants something from you. I think he is not even sure himself what he wants."

"I suppose so," Tegan slumped down further in the water, pulling her knees in. "It's nice to be sought out by someone who wants to spend time with you. I like him, most of the time. It's odd. I'm not even sure if he cares if I like him or not."

"Have you asked him?" Leela put no judgment in her voice, but Tegan winced all the same.

"I'll do that when I get back."

Tegan and Leela washed each other's hair. The lotion for this purpose had a fresh scent and rinsed out cleanly. Leela shampooed Tegan first. When Tegan had her hands gently kneading Leela's scalp, she asked in a low voice, "Leela, are you and Andred ever going to have children?"

Leela did not answer for a long moment. When Tegan was done with her hair, she ducked under water and came up facing her. Tegan wondered if she'd just wrecked a new friendship. That would be record speed for her, and it wasn't an uncommon happening in her life, with her mouth.

"I do not wish to have children where there are no other children. Loomlings are not children. You have seen there are not even children here among the Shobogans." Her voice was calmer than her bleak expression.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business," Tegan began, but was interrupted by Leela.

"It is. You ask because you are living among the Gallifreyans and you cannot tell of these strangers who is friend and who is foe. The Doctor is busy, and you and Turlough are not close. You are lonely in the flesh."

Tegan felt more transparent than the water.

"Gallifrey is a lonely place, Tegan. The people here rarely touch."

- o - O - o -

Leela and Tegan didn't spend much time actually in the village, or even with the Shobogans. They used the village as a base for exploring the wilderness. Or to be more precise, Leela led Tegan to various sites and showed her nature, Gallifreyan style.

There weren't any large predators on this continent. One of the continents was uninhabited, a nature preserve. There weren't many animals near the village. "If only you were here in the summer, I could show you more," Leela said, while they were hiking. "There are few plants to be seen at this time of year."

There also was little snow. Her lofty garden had more snow than she ever saw at one time here at ground level. That did not stop it from being icy cold and achingly dry. Tegan had been given thermal clothing that kept her body warm, but her lips tended to chafe from the dry wind. "It's so quiet. I don't think there's any place on Earth where you could go and not see airplanes. If one of us got hurt here it would be pretty rough getting back."

"That is true. The Shobogans always go out in pairs, and tell others where they are going."

"They should bring those children, the Loomlings, Outside once in a while." Tegan could hear the capital 'O' in her voice; she must be going native. "Let them experience natural surroundings. It would do them good to walk on an uneven surface, feel a chilly breeze or get a bit of sunburn."

Leela touched her shoulder. It was a rare gesture. She was not a touchy-feely sort. "They trouble you still."

Both women looked over to the spires of the Citadel. It was a deeply impressive sight, soaring as high as any mountain. Surely, Tegan only imagined that she could see the tiny protrusion of the Presidential garden. It was probably on the other side, anyway. "They aren't hugged, they aren't loved… are they? Do they get an allotted amount of love every day? Does someone go around and give them precisely measured cuddles?"

Hearing the hysteria in her voice, Tegan put a hand to her mouth to hold in her anger. This was not a battle she could win.

"It is their way, Tegan. You will not move the Time Lords with the words your heart speaks. They only respond to logic. It is better if you do not think of them as children. They are Loomlings."

Tegan turned to Leela; they hugged each other spontaneously. Leela's cheek was as warmly human as Tegan's own.

Leela lowered her voice though there likely wasn't anyone within two miles of them to hear her words. "Touch has meaning for them. I could feel Andred's response to me in our first meeting. But he is young and I think many of them are dead inside. They may as well be machines."

"Not the Doctor."

Leela pulled back from the hug and smiled at her. "I would have never traveled with him if he was."

The Shobogans held a feast for them the day before Tegan and Leela left. Everyone ate real food. The sight of roasted meat had become strange to Tegan, but her nose remembered the scent and her mouth watered. They played music on handmade instruments. Their dances were group efforts, meant to foster community bonds but they welcomed Tegan and Leela among them. Humans would have paired off, but when Tegan went to bed, there were still nearly as many people left as at the start. The Shobogans might have little interest in sex, but they did like to dance. Tegan did not share her opinion that the two were close to the same thing.

tbc