At the break of day, Vastra remained by the structure on the top of the hill. She saw people coming from the distance. Time Lords, approaching the Schism. There was no place to hide. Soon three men dressed in red approached her. She stood. "What are you doing here?" asked one of them rudely.
"I am waiting for a friend." She responded.
"No one nears the Schism except during the rite," another of the men stated sternly. "Who are you?"
"No one of consequence," the Silurian responded blandly.
The first man peered closer, and noticed the green scales behind the veil. "She is not one of us!" he declared, "You are an outsider!"
Instantly there were three impulse lasers pointed toward Vastra's head.
"You are coming with us!" demanded the last of the three men.
"My apologies", said Vastra as she swiftly opened the flap of the wrist strap and quickly worked the device to return to Victorian London. "I'm afraid I have a previous engagement," she told them as she pushed the final button, "Perhaps another time," Within seconds she was in the conservatory at 13 Paternoster Row. She sat in her wooden chair, removed the red veil and gloves, and covered her face instead with her own green claws. If she had tear ducts of an ape, she would cry. Jenny wasn't home. She could tell. If her wife weren't in smelling distance, she could usually sense the woman clairvoyantly. That connection was broken.
Vastra's dismal thoughts were interrupted by the probes of a clueless Sontaran nurse. "Ma'am, you have returned," I must take your vitals," he said. "Your behavior has changed significantly." He took out a gadget and held it near Vastra eyes.
The lizard woman swiped it away. It landed on the floor. "I haven't the time for this!" she said angrily as she stood from the chair. "Strax, fetch the candles!"
"Ugh", the Sontaran muttered under his breath. "Not another bloody conference call," he complained as he rolled his eyes.
Vastra normally would have scolded his language, but she wasn't up for it at this time.
Vastra went to the other room and sat at the round table, waiting for Strax to return with the candles. She told him to be seated as well. He sat in the chair to her right where normally Jenny sat during such events. This made the Silurian wince, but she did not bother to correct him. She completed the ritual and lit the soporific candles. Within moments they were both dreaming.
Besides the lizard woman and the alien nurse, the Doctor and Clara were the first to respond to the conference call. A few seconds later Professor Song arrived as well. "No tea this time?" she noted.
"Pardon my rush," the Silurian stated politely yet firmly, standing from her seat at the table. She was finding it difficult to sit still.
"You invited Clara this time. How kind of you." The Doctor said before noticing his daughter's absence. "And where is Jenny."
"Lost, I'm afraid," Vastra informed them sullenly.
"You've lost my daughter?" the Doctor asked.
"Wait, what?" Clara interrupted. She recalled seeing the anomalous daughter in the Doctor's time stream, the soldier created on Messaline. It seemed like she had died. She pointed at Vastra "Your Jenny" then pointed to the Doctor, "is your Jenny?" she asked, shocked at the revelation. Such a private person the Doctor was.
The Doctor sighed.
"Yes," the Silurian stated, "My Jenny is the daughter of the Doctor".
"She's alive?" Clara continued, trying to catch up, "In the Time Stream it appeared she died taking a bullet for the Doctor".
"Takes more than a bullet to kill a Time Lord" River stated, "Then again, I don't suppose he knew how much of a Time Lord she really is, so young he was then," she teased.
"Oi!" the Doctor interrupted, "I'm right here, you know. Stop talking about me like I'm not".
"So…" Clare looked at the three of them, "you all are like… in-laws? One big happy family, eh?" she said. She gave a little smile and crossed her arms, loving this new revelation.
The Doctor grumbled. Vastra crossed her arms as well, growing impatient.
"A Time Lord's family can be a complicated concept," River started, "Some relationships last through various incarnations, some do not," Clara gave the frizzle haired woman a blank stare. "The body dies and is created anew, the new person may have the memories, but the personality and tastes have changed. Emotions too. So does the twelfth feel toward Jenny the same as the tenth? Does the twelfth hold the same promises as the eleventh?" River asked.
Clara's facial expression changed to perplexed, "I'm just going to pretend that some of that actually made sense," she stated.
"Me too," said the Sontaran nurse.
"Let's go back to the part where Madame Vastra said Jenny was lost," the Doctor said, becoming uncomfortable with the conversation.
River nodded, "Yes, lost where?"
Vastra took a step to the side and began pacing around the table. "That's just it though, lost nowhere, lost anywhere, lost everywhere, perhaps?" Vastra wanted to explain, yet she could feel herself becoming frantic again, her pacing becoming faster.
"Stay calm, ridiculous reptile!" Strax demanded.
Vastra huffed, yet halted her pacing, ""I believe she is lost in time and space."
"Well that narrows it down," the Doctor quipped unamused.
"Tell us what happened, when you went to Gallifrey," River gently requested, giving her very 'Scottish' husband a sideways glance.
The lizard woman breathed heavily, "She jumped into the Untempered Schism".
"What!" the Doctor and Professor yelled simultaneously.
Clara recalled her experience jumping into the Doctor's time stream. "Sorry," she held out a finger to get the attention of the group, "Wouldn't that just tear her into tiny pieces of herself?" Clara asked.
The lizard woman felt a new sensation at the sound of those words. She believed it was what the apes referred to as "faint".
Clara, not sure she liked the look on Vastra's face, quickly completed her thought. "I mean, that's what jumping into the Doctor's time stream did to me, remember? Made a whole bunch of me it did, then spit me back out wherever it wanted to in all of time and space." She really was trying to be helpful.
River responded, "Yes dear, but that was the Doctor's personal timeline, though it spread throughout all of time and space it was fixed enough for you to only be placed where you were needed in the Doctor's life."
"Yes, and I still had to go in and rescue the real you," the Doctor spoke. "The real you that should have died and not the echoes of you," He paused to consider what he was saying. 'Echo' is exactly what he called his daughter on Messaline. Didn't he used to have more tact? No, apparently not.
All Vastra could think is if she cut off all their heads they would stop talking. "Oh Goddess," she sighed. She calmed her frustration, knowing these were her friends and Jenny's friends and family. They were trying to help and she must bear with it and listen because she knew there must be a way to save Jenny. That is why she called them here.
"The Untempered Schism isn't fixed. It is more than one person's timeline, more than one galaxy's timeline," River stated. "The Doctor may have been right to have called Jenny an 'echo' for an echo is the only thing that can survive such an ordeal," she affirmed where her husband's mind had wondered, "Jenny's very existence is a paradox. The TARDIS was drawn to Messaline because of her and she exists because the TARDIS was drawn to Messaline in the first place. A paradox like that usually garners some attention, yet aside from the Master she went relatively unknown for several years on Earth. Time seems to favor her for some reason. Vastra is right that Jenny could be anywhere at any point in time, but I think it is likely that she ended up right where she was needed most," River offered.
The Sontaran looked puzzled. Clara appeared equally perplexed. She peered at the frizzle haired woman quizzically, "Professor, I really must ask, does anything you say ever make sense?"
"Generally, no," the Doctor responded for his wife.
"Oh, look at that!" River said excitedly, "He's joking again! I knew you had it in you!"
The Doctor briefly looked pleased with himself, before his "attack eyebrows" once again assumed their natural position.
"How do we get Jenny back?" asked Vastra desperately.
"We don't." the Doctor said, agitated, "Where she is needed the most could be anywhere".
"Where she is needed the most is by my side!" Vastra exclaimed, knowing the comment was selfish.
The Doctor grunted, "She has to find her own way back, if she can. It is impossible to find her".
"You got me back," Clare declared, speaking quickly, "Remember you just said you jumped into your own time stream to do so. That should have been impossible".
"That was different," the Doctor countered, "you are my impossible girl".
"She is your daughter!" Clara nearly shouted at him, "no matter how she came into being!"
Vastra bowed her head in agreement.
The man stared at the table as he let that absorb. Yes, the girl was his kin. His only remaining kin. He had done very little for Jenny in the past, allowing Madame Vastra to do the hard work of teaching and training her. Now he was being asked for help, as he always was, in an impossible situation. He felt some obligation to at least try.
Another person abruptly appeared in a dark corner of the room.
"Who's there!" asked Vastra, taking a defensive pose.
A petite figure, dressed in a chambermaid's uniform stepped out of the shadow. "Ah, my apologies," Jenny said, "It appears I'm late to my own party."
Not caring that this was only a dream, not caring that there was an audience, Vastra swiftly ran to her wife embraced her tightly, and planted kisses all over her face. Jenny beamed at her, and leaned in for a deeper kiss on the lips.
The Doctor intentionally looked away from the scene. River watched in admiration and patted the grey haired man's hand under the table, "Awe, remember when we used to kiss like that?" she whispered seductively to the Doctor. She appreciated the red glow that developed on his cheeks.
Clara was seriously considering twiddling her thumbs, and the Sontaran appeared as perplexed as ever at the behavior of humanoids.
"I was afraid I had lost you," Vastra told Jenny softly.
"I know," Jenny affirmed, "I'm sorry, that I left you like that". They savored their embrace. "You are my anchor," the smaller woman said fondly as she pecked a green scaled cheek.
The lizard woman wasn't sure what this meant, but was happy to have Jenny back for now, if only in a dream, "Where were you?" Vastra asked, "Where are you?"
"Gallifrey," Jenny responded loud enough for the entire room to hear as the two lovers joined the rest of group gathered at the table. A seat materialized out of thin air for Jenny.
"I'm on Gallifrey, in the pocket universe that the Doctor sent us to at the end of the Time War." She informed as she sat. Vastra, more comfortable now that she knew her wife still existed, was able to sit as well.
It was subtle, but the Doctor picked up on the word "us", and shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean "us"? You weren't there during the Time War".
"I have been here a while. I have been acclimated. The story of Gallifrey is my story too," she explained.
The Doctor looked skeptical. It was all too easy. They were just talking about Jenny and now she suddenly appears? "I think we may need to accept that this being, whatever she is, may not be Jenny" he declared.
"Of course she is Jenny!" Vastra declared defensively.
"Don't let your hope blind you!" The Doctor spat. "She is a Dream Lord, influencing what we see and experience here," he accused. The women all looked at Jenny suspiciously.
The Sontaran stood, ready for action, "I recommend…" he started loudly.
"Not now, Strax," Vastra interrupted.
Jenny calmly took this all in. "Well, of course I'm a Dream Lord," the woman admitted, "But that doesn't mean that I'm not Jenny."
The Doctor explained, "Very few Dream Lords have the skill to override the ritual that this conference call requires so that only those who are invited are here. Even more rare is the aptitude to travel between different universes, even in dreams."
"You doubt your daughter's abilities?" the maid asked.
"That does seem like a daft thing to do," Clara said softly to the Doctor, as the other two ladies nodded in agreement, "she is, after all, your daughter". The Time Lord remained unconvinced.
"I will show you then," Jenny said. Her demeanor changed, becoming darker. Instantly the ordinary chair beneath her became a gaudy thrown. Her dress changed from the simple maid's outfit to an elaborate cobalt gown with fancy Gallifreyan embroidery in a stunning scarlet. Her entire body glowed with an alien blue light. The eyes blazed even more intensely. Her voice changed too, it was deeper and echoed ethereally. Even the Cockney accent was gone. "I am the Generated Anomaly, the Oracle of Gallifrey, and the Avatar of Time!" the woman strongly declared. When she said it there was a chill, like there had been a cool wind. Within a moment everything returned to how it had been. A simply dressed maid sat in an ordinary chair in front of them. She winked at Vastra who appeared flabbergasted, "But friends call me Jenny," she said, her accent returning. Her voice sounded meek compared to the voice that had just reverberated throughout the room. A stunned silence followed.
Clara applauded enthusiastically, "Good show!" she commended. The Sontaran gaped. Even the Doctor and Professor seemed astonished.
"Do you trust I am who I say am?" asked Jenny. The Doctor, the Professor, and the nurse all nodded in agreement. The Silurian nodded too, though she had never doubted her.
Jenny had grown, Vastra could tell. Her mind was stronger, and she had already been brilliant in Vastra's opinion. She was wielding powers that the lizard wasn't aware the woman had. She must have been trained to control these abilities too. She referred to herself as the Oracle and the Avatar. It had been less than a day since Vastra believed she had lost Jenny, but for the younger woman it must have been significantly longer. The green lady was afraid to ask, but did so anyway, "how long has it been, since we parted on Gallifrey".
"Well, that is a difficult question to answer. The time lines have gotten switched around and stuff, gotten all 'timey wimey.'"
"How long has it been for you," Vastra specified.
Jenny hesitated, knowing the answer would pain the lizard woman. "Seventy years," Jenny answered neutrally.
The green face contorted. "Seventy years?" asked Vastra overwhelmed and disappointed, in herself mostly. "Seventy years!" she repeated "and I… I never rescued you?"
"You mustn't think like that, my darling," Jenny said, reaching for Vastra's hand. "I'm no damsel in distress."
"I failed you," the green lady stated, her voice wavering. "I broke my promise, 'where you go, I go'".
"No," Jenny refuted, "No, you did as I asked. You didn't stop me, you didn't follow. That was good. You may well have died here a long time ago, ev'n if you survived the trip through the Schism."
"How will you return?"
"The voyage through the Vortex was one way. 'Cept through dreams and apparitions, I can only come back to our universe when Gallifrey does."
"We must get Gallifrey back!" Vastra turned to the Doctor and declared.
"Gallifrey is safe," the Doctor retorted, determined to keep it that way. He wanted to avoid the resurgence of the Time War, even if it meant his daughter was stranded.
"Gallifrey is dying!" Jenny informed them. She had their attention now, they all had their eyes on her. "No one, nothing in the universe is meant to be alone. The order of the cosmos is interdependent. Yet Gallifrey was exiled, separated from its suns and solar system." She projected an image of the planet in its current state. The image was dark, a black sphere with a single speck of light where the citadel of New Arcadia stood. "The entire planet is frozen. There are no suns to provide light and warmth. But if there were," she manipulated the projection to show how Gallifrey would appear in the light. The entire planet was an ice covered tundra, with old citadels and war ruins pushing out of the ice. Gone was the red grass and silver trees that the Doctor remembered from his youth.
"Time was supposed to freeze, not the planet," said the Doctor mournfully.
"Yes, well, Time nev'r stops for the Time Lords, does it?" Jenny challenged him. He glared in return. She addressed the group again. "Gallifrey is in twilight. It will either see the dawn of a new day, or will it parish in exile. Either way, Doctor," she faced him, "Gallifrey falls no more," she asserted pointedly. These words struck the Doctor, as Jenny had intended them too. His mouth gaped as though he was about to say something, but the dispute never came.
She glanced behind her as though she heard something. Nothing was there, in the dream, yet she detected something beyond.
"What is it Jenny?" Vastra asked, knowing to pay attention to Jenny's senses.
"I've been found," Jenny voiced with alarm. She looked at her wife, her brown eyes open with fear. Vastra brow furrowed with worry for Jenny. "I must awaken!" Jenny stood from her seat and turned behind her.
Vastra stood as well, "What is happening, my dear?" Vastra stepped forward to grasp the arm of her lover. "Show me!" she insisted urgently. Jenny's eyes met the lizard woman's blue ones. She found Vastra's hand with hers and squeezed. To those remaining it appeared that both women disappeared.