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AN: Some background details here regarding Snow and Talia's former kingdoms; hope you find them interesting

AN 2: I'm coming up to the end of this series- as the plan goes, I have three stories planned once this one's over before Bella's journey with the Doctor concludes- but if there's anything anyone wants to see, let me know and I'll see what I can do (Although anything involving Strax or Vastra is out; I'm not confident in my ability to explore their characters in a manner that would make their stories interesting).

The Perils of Lorindar

The next hour or so passed by relatively peacefully, which made a nice change of pace after some of the places I'd visited with the Doctor where we reached our destination and immediately had to start running; rest in the aftermath of a crisis was all well and good, but this was nice as well.

Of course, the fact that I was learning about a history that put a completely new spin on stories I'd heard ever since I was a child made it even more enjoyable; I might have moved on to more modern literature, but you never forgot the classics you grew up with.

According to the history book that the Doctor had discovered in his room, Lorindar maintained a peace treaty with the local fairies that essentially confined them and their magic to the territory known as 'Fairytown'- the name apparently meant something more complicated in the fairy language, so humans called it that for convenience's sake- ever since a war some centuries ago that ended when the human sorcerer Malindar threatened to destroy the fairies' hill that was the apparent source of at least most of their magical power. The precise details of the conflict weren't provided, but apparently the spell that Malindar had cast to end the war had created a large crack in the ground around and between Fairytown that had threatened to destroy the fairy hill, despite the fact that such an attack would have destroyed Lorindar as a whole as well as Fairytown. As it currently stood, both fairies and humans existed in a guarded truce, fairies bound by the treaty to be unable to use their wider magic outside Fairytown without being banished from their people, and expressly forbidden to harm any humans of noble blood, even if they were allowed some leeway in matters of self-defence and could still use some magic without needing the hill.

The Doctor hadn't exactly made his thoughts on that situation clear- considering that we were guests of the human rulers, he probably didn't want to risk appearing judgemental or angry at what they'd done in the past- but I'd been around him for long enough to guess how he felt about this situation. Humans and fairies might be at peace, but it was a guarded peace brought about with the understanding that the humans would have been willing to destroy the fairies rather than live as slaves, rather than both sides accepting that they could accomplish more together.

He had also done some background reading on some of the other countries in this world, such as the desert-kingdom of Arathea, which had apparently been ruled by Talia's family before the fairy curse had put them all to sleep when Talia was sixteen. His initial assessment of the situation in Talia's kingdom had apparently been correct; the fairies had 'offered' their services to rebuild the kingdom after the entire royal family fell asleep and were trapped behind a vast hedge of thorns, but everything the book had to offer all but explicitly stated that the fairies were now basically in charge of the entire kingdom, or at least were in a position to advise most of the ruling figures. The book only briefly discussed what happened after 'Sleeping Beauty' had woken up, but I already knew that I wasn't going to ask for more information; the fact that she was here made it clear that she hadn't just married her prince, but I doubted that Talia would answer any of my questions on that topic, and Snow and Danielle weren't likely to betray their friend's confidence.

By contrast, Snow's former kingdom of Allesandria was a country of ice that had apparently been the 'birthplace' of human magic in this world, with various prominent sorcerers coming from that part of the world and an unparalleled knowledge of human magic, even if the political situation was questionable and their fairies had all been driven off or killed some time ago. The books made all kind of vague references to what Snow's mother had done during her life and how Snow had actually defeated her, but they were fairly clear on the fact that her cousin had inherited her throne, even if it didn't elaborate on what happened to her afterwards.

It was kind of strange, reading about all these things as history and knowing that what happened to the people they were talking about wasn't the happy ending the general population were expecting; it reminded me all too keenly of the conversation the Doctor and I had been having earlier about the importance of historical perspective.

It really was the winning side who wrote the history books in the end…

"So… if fairies aren't innocent helpers… I take it that Danielle didn't go to the ball because of her fairy godmother?" I asked, after we'd sat in silence for a few moments.

"With these fairies to deal with?" the Doctor replied, shaking his head grimly. "If any fairy had helped Danielle go to the ball, they'd probably have pulled a Rumplestiltskin and demanded her first-born child in exchange."

"So… where would she get the gown?" I asked uncertainly. "I mean, I suppose she could have made it herself like she tried to in the movie, but glass slippers…?"

"It was probably her mother," the Doctor replied.

"Her mother?" I repeated in surprise, quickly trying to remember what I'd heard about Cinderella's story before I spoke again. "But… wasn't her mother dead?"

"True," the Doctor confirmed, nodding at me with a smile. "However, the early versions of the tale back on Earth have Cinderella receiving the gown when she was praying in front of a tree she'd planted in her mother's memory; the dress was brought to her by doves that were implied to have been sent by her mother's spirit to help her."

"And… you think that happened here?" I said uncertainly; even if we were in a world of where spells and fairies were reality, I was surprised to hear the Doctor being this accommodating about the idea of someone receiving a gown from the afterlife…

"We're in a world of magic, Bella," the Doctor reminded me. "It doesn't work back home- not most of the time, anyway; I've encountered a couple of exceptions to the rule- but that doesn't mean it couldn't be possible here."

"Magic's possible back home?" I asked in surprise.

"Under the right circumstances," the Doctor confirmed. "I've encountered Morgraine le Fay a couple of times- I'm actually Merlin in one world through a complicated chain of events this isn't the right time to talk about- and I once encountered a group who were trying to control a water elemental in New Orleans… like I said, it's complicated."

"Oh," I said, lost for anything else to say.

If the circumstances had been different, I would have asked for more on that story- the idea of the Doctor being Merlin raised some fascinating possibilities that I would have liked to talk to him about- but a sudden yawn reminded me just how long I'd been up since this morning.

Considering that we could be called to talk with the queen and the princesses about the events that had brought us here at any moment, it would probably be a good idea for me to get some sleep before they came back (Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure if the Doctor even needed to sleep). Giving a brief apology to the Doctor, I returned to my adjoining room, collapsed on the bed…


It seemed like it was only a few minutes later- although I later learned that it had been around three hours; I still felt tired, but I was at least slightly fresher- that I was being shaken awake by the Doctor and brought back down to the throne room. By the time I arrived, Queen Beatrice was sitting in her throne and the three princesses were gathered around her once again, the Doctor standing politely in front of them. Talia still looked somewhat edgy as she looked at the Doctor when the two of us were shown into the room- I wondered what stories the guards had been told to account for our presence- but she didn't look like she was going to attack him or anything like that, which should probably count as progress but just left me wondering what had prompted her to relax to that extent.

"I trust your rooms were satisfactory?" Queen Beatrice asked, looking between us with a slight smile.

"More than comfortable, your highness," the Doctor said, bowing slightly in gratitude. "Bella and I had a very interesting time reading some books on your country's history, and then I appreciated the opportunity to refresh my memory on magic."

"You do magic?" Snow and Talia asked simultaneously, Snow's tone eager while Talia's was more guarded (I tried to resist the urge to stare; hearing that the Doctor was known as Merlin wasn't the same as hearing he could actually do magic, considering all those stories he'd told me about aliens using technology to pose as gods).

"I dabble when the occasion requires it, and I am somewhat known on Bella's world for my skill, but that was a long time ago; I rarely use my talents in that area these days, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go over things," the Doctor explained, shrugging as he looked over at Snow. "Nothing wrong with magic itself, Snow; it's just not something I can use regularly."

"Draining on you, is it?" Snow asked with a smile.

"More accurate to say that I spent a long time learning how to get by without it and feel that it's cheating to do it otherwise," the Doctor explained. "Give me a foe who uses magic and I'll match them spell for spell if I can; I just don't use it when I'm not in that situation."

"Interesting philosophy," Snow said, looking thoughtfully at the Doctor for a moment before she shrugged and turned back to address the group. "Anyway, I've been talking with Arlorran and he's confirmed the rumours; there is something happening on the outskirts of Fairytown."

"Rumours?" I repeated in surprise.

"Our current relationship with Fairytown is… complicated," Danielle explained, looking at me with an awkward smile. "The ambassador from Fairytown was forced to exile himself when he broke the treaty to save Snow and Talia from an attack, and they haven't officially appointed his replacement yet…"

"Ah, red tape, eh?" the Doctor said, grinning at Danielle in sympathetic understanding before he looked at Snow. "Who's Arlorran?"

"He's a gnome back in Fairytown who works as the fairy queen's royal summoner," Snow explained. "He gave us some help in finding Danielle's husband a couple of years back, and we gave him wings in return; he's been a good friend, even if we don't see him that much."

"Uh… royal summoner?" I asked.

"He specialises in bringing people to the queen or sending them to other locations so long as he knows who he's calling for, the location he's sending them to, and they're not magically protected by anything," Snow explained. "Anyway, he was able to tell me that there's been some unusual disappearances in Fairytown recently; fairies going inexplicably missing, a few unusual occurrences in certain areas, that kind of thing…"

"The Duchess?" Talia asked.

"The Duchess?" I repeated in confusion. "Who's that?"

"A particularly powerful fairy," Talia explained as she looked over at me, a particularly malicious expression on her face at the topic. "She's capable of most standard fairy powers to an exceptional degree, but she's officially an outcast from Fairytown."

"Why's that?" the Doctor asked.

"She once attempted to kill the fairy queen and take her place," Talia explained. "Her ingenuity so impressed the king that, even after the attempt failed, he decided to claim her for his own rather than allow the queen to execute her; the queen agreed with the decision so long as she never had to see the Duchess again. The king took her as a servant, but when the Duchess made a vow to serve him after seeing one last sunrise, she dived into the earth before the sun rose; she remains free so long as she never sees the sun rise, and nobody wants to go down there if they have to."

"And they can't just exile her because then she'd be free of her oaths to both king and queen?" the Doctor asked.

"Fairies hold grudges like nobody's business," Talia said, smiling slightly as she looked at him.

"Unfortunately," Snow said, picking up the story once again, "it can't be the Duchess behind this; she's powerful enough, but she wouldn't want to do anything that would provoke others into going to look for her. The king and queen have to leave her alone because of their various deals with her, but if enough of their subjects decided to act against the Duchess on their own, neither are actually bound to protect her."

"Attacking humans is one thing, but attacking other fairies is something else?" the Doctor asked, shaking his head in exasperation. "It's the same all over; always a different standard when you're hurting another species…"

As though realising that he'd spoken out loud, he looked apologetically at the four local women before he shrugged and clapped his hands together. "Anyway, no time to get into debates like that now; what's the immediate priority?"

"Do you think that these disappearances have something to do with what brought you here?" Beatrice asked.

"Most likely," the Doctor said. "I've certainly investigated more obvious problems that started with smaller clues; if these disappearances are particularly out-of-the-ordinary, they make as apt an area to start our investigation as any."

"'Our' investigation?" Snow said, looking at the Doctor in a slightly teasing manner. "You're coming with us?"

"I believe your queen said I might be needed?" the Doctor replied, smiling over at the oldest woman present in a slightly teasing manner.

"True," Beatrice said, nodding briefly at the Doctor before she turned to face me. "And as for Miss Swan…"

"Where the Doctor goes, I go," I said firmly.

"You'd better let her," Snow said, looking at me for a moment before she smiled up at Beatrice. "Last time I saw someone that determined was when Danielle here was helping us plan how to rescue your son."

"I only ever take the best as my… students," the Doctor said, smiling gratefully at Snow as he placed an arm around me to give me a brief hug.

As much as I appreciated the sentiment, I suddenly found myself wondering if I was really ready for this.

Last year I'd been a relatively normal girl, and now I was travelling through time and space with an alien and was about to go on a mission to try and find something that was abducting fairies in the company of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White

My life was really weird…


AN 3: If anyone wants to know about the Doctor's past encounters with magic, the First Doctor learned magic in the novel "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (He was on a planet where humans appeared to have magic powers due to a complex nanite network, but the principle of the lessons he learned there could apply here), the Seventh Doctor faced a version of Morgraine from an alternate dimension in the TV show "Battlefield" (It was implied that he would become Merlin in his future in Morgraine's dimension, but the Eighth Doctor dealt with that issue in the short story "One Fateful Knight"), the Eighth Doctor faced a woman who believed she was the reincarnation of Morgraine in the novel "Wolfsbane" (It wasn't specified if she was correct or just delusional; the Fourth Doctor helped to deal with the after-effects of her actions, but he didn't face Morgraine himself), and the Eighth Doctor had to deal with a series of complicated attempts to control a water elemental in New Orleans in the novel "The City of the Dead".

AN 4: On a related topc, some novels have suggested that the Time Lords banished magic and unreality from the universe when they assumed power, with its greater prominence in the post-Time War universe a result of their absence, but I'm going to stick with the idea that it's still very complicated to use it in our reality save for specific circumstances, so Lorindar will remain a separate dimension altogether.