A blue light erupted from a circular stone structure at the top of a hill. It was startling and obvious against a starless sky. Jenny had been ejected from within and landed poorly on her back. She felt as though she had been torn apart and put back together. She acknowledged that her unsheltered trip through the Vortex was a one way trip. Where ever she was now, she would stay, until there was another way to leave. Her entire body ached. She was completely exhausted. She tried to move but her limbs resisted. She rested her head on the ground, too weary to care about comfort. Within seconds she was asleep.

Moments later she was being prodded by a man holding a torch, "Wake up," he demanded, "We haven't much time". Jenny moaned, still tired and sore. "Please, you are in danger here," the man insisted.

Jenny was confused. She was in a peculiar setting, with a stranger prodding and warning her. She heard his urgency. Her adrenalin ignited, her hearts raced, but her head was still heavy. She accepted his assistance to stand. In the light of his torch she could see the edge of the stone structure she had passed through. She also saw his red outfit. She suspected she had managed to return to Gallifrey. She noticed the rest of the world was dark. Completely dark. There were no stars. The air was frigid. She normally wasn't very sensitive to the cold, so either it was particularly cold or her sensitivity had changed. The Gallifreyan man with the torch wore a thick cloak. Perhaps it really was that cold. How unusual for the red planet that orbited binary stars.

"Who are you?" she asked. Normally she would introduce herself first, manners and all. Her mind was foggy. She felt rather nervous, and her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"My name is Benjamin," his tone remained insipid, "I'm a watchman at this location, and now your guard".

"My guard? I wasn't aware I needed one," she protested.

"We have no time to argue about it, The Avatar needs protection." The man said sternly. "We must travel to the Hidden Temple in New Arcadia."

Certainly the man was confused. She was no Avatar. She shivered, remembering the current climate. Where was Vastra, hadn't she just been here?

"You are not dressed for the weather," Benjamin observed, "come".

He walked only a few steps away where a body was lying on the ground. It was another man, wearing the same outfit as Benjamin. It must be a uniform. At first Jenny believe he was sleeping. Upon a closer look though, she saw that he was not breathing. "Is he… dead?" she asked.

He nodded to confirm, "He was a traitor."

Jenny began to get a picture in her head of what was going on. Benjamin and this other man must have been on duty together, until they fought. "You killed him?"

"It was his life or yours," the man responded gravely.

Jenny recoiled, her anxiety building. Benjamin said the other man was a traitor, and indicated he had tried to murder her. Yet, how could she take this mysterious stranger at his word. Benjamin could have murdered the other man in cold blood. In either scenario it appeared she was in a lot of danger. She wished that Vastra was here. She always felt safe and protected with the Silurian warrior at her side. She allowed grief to fill her for just a moment, realizing how worried her lover must have been. Not sure how long she'd slept after going through the Vortex, Jenny reminded herself that Vastra was probably back home by now. If all went well, her wife was safe on Paternoster Row, rather than freezing on Gallifrey. That is as it should be.

Benjamin removed the dead man's cloak, hat, gloves, and boots. "Here, you can wear these for warmth," he told Jenny as she handed the items to her.

Jenny hesitated. It seemed wrong to take the dead man's clothes.

"He no longer needs them," he stated. "It is a long walk to New Arcadia" the man cautioned.

Jenny hesitantly took the clothes. She placed the hat on her head, and was immediately grateful for something to cover her ears. She wrapped the long cloak around herself. It was clearly meant for someone larger, it dragged on the ground behind her. The gloves too were big on her, but provided her hands with some protection from the cold. She tried on the boots as well. They were huge on her small feet. She wanted to take them off, but Benjamin halted her.

"We need to keep your arrival a secret. It must appear that he and I walked away from this place." He informed her. "Keep the shoes on, and help me with the body."

These were odd instructions which did not encourage the woman to feel any safer. "What are we doing with it, I mean him". She refused to reduce the man to a thing, even if Benjamin was telling the truth and he was a traitor.

Benjamin glanced at the Schism, leading Jenny to look there as well. "No!" she protested, "We can' just throw 'im into the Vortex, it ain' right!"

"What would you suggest?" he countered, "the ground is too cold, too solid to dig. We have no shovel anyway."

Jenny sighed. "Alrigh', let's just say some words or somethin' first." She still didn't like the idea, but would feel better if they did something to honor the man's life.

"You would give a traitor a memorial?" he asked skeptically, bitterness in his voice.

She looked him directly in the eyes, to show her insistence, "A life is a life," she stated.

"As you wish then, Avatar," he responded unenthusiastically. "What would you have us do?" he asked.

Jenny was still uncomfortable with him calling her that, but decided now was not the best time to argue. Her fuzzy mind tried to recall what was done to honor the dead on earth. She realized she didn't even know what the man was called. "What was his name?" she asked.

"Henry," he said softly before clearing his voice, "Henry Erwata".

"Do you have any fond memories with him you can share?" she requested.

Benjamin was surprised at the question, but answered honestly. "Yes, we trained together at the academy. He was a great friend. We would play chess together." He laughed just a little, "He was the better player. I was so excited when I finally beat him. We both celebrated."

To Jenny this made the dead man's story even sadder. This man's life ended either betraying a long-time friend or being betrayed by a long-time friend. "Thank you for sharing," Jenny said. The watchman looked for a moment as though he may cry, but then his face turned stoic once more. He briefly bowed his head. Even with this man's earnestness the current situation still did not sit well with Jenny. She wanted to stall, thinking things would fall into place in her mind more if she did.

"I think we should sing a hymn, maybe?"

"I don't know any," the man said solemnly.

"Alrigh', I'll sing one," Jenny declared softly. She had to think. She didn't know many hymns, not being much of a church goer. She had even fewer that she liked and knew the words to. Then one came to mind that seemed somehow appropriate. She hummed the slow tune to begin, then started chanting the lyrics:

"Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!"

"Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!"

The words stuck out to her. She didn't sing the song for Henry. She did so for herself. She was like a wanderer on the strange and desolate planet. There was no sun. Darkness was over the entire world. She had seen this before in her dreams. She knew there were more lyrics, yet she not could remember them all at that time. There was something about angels. She hoped she wouldn't be meeting any angels here. She stopped singing. Benjamin had, after all, indicated they were in a hurry and she could tell that he was growing impatient.

Benjamin stood in silence for a few moments before he began lifting the body. Jenny went to help. The task was difficult for her since she had not yet recovered her full strength. The weight of the dead man was almost too much for Jenny's aching muscles. The pair carried Henry to the stone structure. As gently as possible, yet still with stiffness they pushed him through to the Untempered Schism. Jenny allowed herself to watch the body as it disappeared into the Vortex of Time. Benjamin intentionally avoided looking. When he was gone, Jenny turned from the Schism to face the man who claimed he was her guard. His eyes were watering. Jenny pretended not to notice, as a courtesy to the man who appeared to value his fortitude.

"Thank you," he told her.

In his tone Jenny could sense that he missed his former friend. There was regret and longing. She nodded her welcome. Honoring the man, even though it was brief, had been the right thing to do. Jenny patiently waited for Benjamin to do or say something, to indicate readiness.

"We must move on," Benjamin stated as he took steps forward. Perhaps he meant both to move on from this place. Perhaps he meant to move on from the emotional rawness of the situation. Jenny followed the man. She was still uncertain if this was in fact the best idea, yet she had no other plan. There was nowhere else to go on this gloomy and frozen planet. She found herself wondering when the darkness would be over.

~.~.~.~.~

A/N: Credit to Sarah Flower Adams for the lyrics to Nearer My God to Thee.