Disclaimer: I don't own "Doctor Who", "Twilight", or the "Princesses" series; you know the drill

Feedback: Much appreciated

AN: More of a filler chapter covering the journey, but it does provide what I feel is some important information about the princesses, as well as some other details…

The Perils of Lorindar

After the shocks that I'd received regarding Lorindar's way of life since our arrival, I was actually relieved when I learned that we were travelling to Fairytown's borders in a straightforward horse and cart, the Doctor and I riding with Danielle while Snow and Talia followed in another carriage (Something to do with us being the guests of the queen while Snow and Talia were officially servants; appearances had to be maintained to prevent too many people realising who the other two were). The only surprising thing was that none of the carriages had any drivers; as far as I could tell, the horses were just walking in a certain direction and that was that. I'd asked about that, but Danielle had simply replied with a smile that her friends knew where they needed to go and left it at that; I'd wondered if this tied into how Cinderella had all those animal friends in the Disney movie, but when I couldn't think of a good way to bring that up that wouldn't sound embarrassing if I was wrong, I decided against asking about it.

The Doctor had briefly returned to the TARDIS before we departed, but when he walked out again as far as I could tell the only thing that he'd changed was that he was now wearing a ring with a large blue stone on it that seemed to be slightly too large for his finger; he occasionally had to reach over to slip it back on when the carriage passed over a particularly large bump in the road. I'd been trying to work out how to ask him about it- it seemed naggingly familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before- but fortunately someone else asked the question first.

"What is that?" Danielle asked, looking curiously at the Doctor after he'd adjusted it for the third time, the trip having so far progressed in a silence that was somehow both awkward and soothing.

"Basically, it's my wand," the Doctor explained, taking the ring off his finger and holding it out with a smile.

"Your 'wand'?" Danielle repeated.

"Well, it's my equivalent of Snow's mirrors, anyway," the Doctor clarified, as he put the ring back on. "The last time I used magic regularly, I used this ring as a focal point for my spells; considering that I learned how to use magic with this ring, I thought it best to go back to it for the current crisis."

"But… it doesn't fit…" I began, before I suddenly remembered where I'd seen the ring before now. "But you wore it when you were the old man, didn't you?"

"The 'old man'?" Danielle repeated, looking at me in confusion.

"That's… a long story, and it involves details of my life that this isn't quite the place to discuss," the Doctor said after exchanging a glance with me; this wasn't the time or the place to start discussing the Doctor's ability to regenerate with a society that may not be able to comprehend how it worked.

"Anyway," he said, sitting back in his chair with a smile as he closed his eyes. "I'm just going to take a few moments to think about those old lessons; feel free to talk amongst yourselves."

With that said, he laid his head back and fell silent, leaving Danielle and I to look uncertainly at him for a moment before I shrugged awkwardly.

"He… tends to think a lot," I said at last, stuck for a better explanation as I looked back at Danielle, keeping my voice as the two of us moved over to the other side of the carriage; it wasn't much of a gap, but if we were quiet it might be enough for the Doctor to get the silence he wanted. "He probably just wants to focus while he's thinking right now; the lessons he's talking about were a long time ago for him."

"How long?" Danielle asked.

"Uh… a few centuries," I answered; regeneration was something I couldn't discuss right now, but I could talk about his lifespan without making it too complicated.

"Centuries?" Danielle repeated, looking at the Doctor in surprise. "He's that old?"

"He's… very complicated," I answered, smiling as I looked at my friend.

"Is it anything to do with him saying that he used to be an old man?" Danielle asked, looking suddenly apprehensive as she studied the Doctor. "As in, he… took another body-"

"Hold on, he doesn't possess anyone!" I said, suddenly guessing what might be making Danielle so worried, my mind racing to find the best way to explain what really happened to the Doctor in a manner that she'd understand. "He just… changes his appearance when he's particularly ill or injured; it's tricky to explain, but he doesn't steal someone else's body to do it, he… just transforms into a healthy body if his current one can't go on."

"Oh," Danielle said, looking at the Doctor in contemplation for a moment, before she smiled and looked back at me. "Well, I don't think anyone would come up with something that complicated if they wanted to lie…"

"Thanks… I think," I said, stuck for anything else to say to that statement; considering how little I was able to tell her, I appreciated her faith…

God, I was trying to find a good way to explain aliens to Cinderella; my life was amazing!

"So…" Danielle asked, looking curiously at me. "If he's not human, but you're not with him because of a deal, and you're not his… lover, or anything like that… how did you end up travelling with him in the first place?"

"I was… having a bad day," I said, quickly going over the basic cover story I'd put together the previous night in the event of something like this happening while we were here; the fact that everyone already knew that there was something unusual about the Doctor and I gave me more leeway, but I wasn't sure how much anyone here would understand if I started talking about aliens. "My… lover… had left me, my closest friend wanted more from me than I was willing to give him, and I just wasn't sure what to do with my life…"

"And then he showed up?" Danielle asked, smiling in understanding as she indicated the Doctor.

"And then he showed up, saved me from my own mistakes, and invited me to travel with him for a time so that I could see what was out there," I said, nodding in agreement before I realised how that might have been interpreted. "We're not… we're only friends; he gave me a chance to get away from a life that only reminded me of how I hadn't measured up, but he's my teacher, if he's anything… intimate."

"And you've learned a lot from him?" Danielle asked.

"Well… some things, anyway," I said, shrugging awkwardly; 'teacher' wasn't exactly the best term for the Doctor's role in my life, when I thought about it, but it was the best I could think of. "Mostly he's been helping me stand on my own after… well, after everything I lost; part of the problem I had was that I'd become so caught up in my relationship that I just wasn't able to cope when it didn't work out…"

"Ah," Danielle said, smiling sympathetically at me. "And… he helped you learn how to move on?"

"Yeah…" I said, looking thoughtfully back at the Doctor, a smile slowly spreading across my face as I thought about everything I'd been through since I'd met him. "I realised when I was travelling with him that I actually didn't like what I'd been turning into during that relationship, so I've been working to move on from that… and I've learned that I can deal with more than I ever believed I could manage."

"You never know what you can do until you try," Danielle said, smiling at me in understanding. "I've been there myself; before I met Snow and Talia, I'd never imagined I'd even have to fight for anything, but when I did…"

"You went beyond anything you thought you were capable of?" I finished for her, smiling in recollection of my own recent meeting with the Doctor's original self;

After we exchanged a smile of wordless understanding, silence settled over the carriage once again, during which I stared contemplatively out of the windows while Danielle studied a book she'd brought along and the Doctor rested. I occasionally glanced behind to look at the following carriage containing Talia and Snow, but otherwise I alternated between studying the view outside and looking through another of the books that Danielle had packed, until the Doctor finally sat back up with a smile.

"Thank you," he said, grinning at the two of us as though picking up a conversation that had ended only a moment ago. "Always nice to get some time out."

"You're appreciating time out?" I said, smiling sceptically at him (I suddenly hoped that he hadn't been listening to what was being said when he had 'dozed off'; we'd been quiet, and I knew from experience that he could miss things if he was focusing on something else, but it just felt suddenly embarrassing to have discussed how I felt he'd changed my life when he was right next to me).

"When we're dealing with something this potentially complicated, yes," the Doctor confirmed, before he looked over at Danielle. "Talking of complicated situations, there's something I've been meaning to ask."

"Which is?" Danielle asked politely.

"Talia and Snow," the Doctor answered. "How did you meet them?"

"Talia was assigned to keep an eye on my chambers and interrupted Charlotte's attempt to kill me," Danielle said, clearly unconcerned about the question.

"Charlotte?" the Doctor repeated curiously.

"My sister," Danielle clarified.

"Your sister tried to kill you?" I said in surprise (I knew Cinderella's stepsisters were unkind to her, but attempted murder seemed a significant step up from straightforward dislike).

"She resented the fact that I married Armand," Danielle said, shaking her head at the memory. "Their mother gave Stacia and Charlotte everything growing up, and Charlotte still acted as though she'd been hard-done by when I let her and Stacia have my father's house after the wedding…"

"Some people are never satisfied with what they have," the Doctor said, looking sympathetically at Danielle, before he smiled and decided to change the subject. "So, you met Talia then, and Snow?"

"Shortly after," Danielle replied. "Talia took me to Snow's secret workshop in the palace basements while we were trying to find Armand after Charlotte escaped; I ended up accompanying them in their search, and… well, one thing led to another, and I've worked with them when I can ever since."

"How did they even end up here?" the Doctor asked. "I mean, Beatrice said that her visions brought them together, but…?"

"Oh, Snow was simple enough; after the political chaos that followed her mother's death had settled down with Lawrence being placed on the throne, Beatrice helped Snow escape and gave her a home here in Lorindar," Danielle explained. "Talia apparently made her way here on her own, hidden in a ship, but Beatrice's visions alerted her to Talia's arrival and Snow was sent to meet her."

"And once you moved in, you've worked with them when you can?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, obviously Beatrice's lessons take priority these days, but we still work together when something comes up," Danielle replied. "Just a couple of months ago, we managed to capture this renegade fairy called Rumpelstilzchen who'd been abducting children from various noble families-"

"Hold on; you captured Rumplestiltskin?" I repeated, not sure if I should be impressed at the accomplishment or amazed that it was real; he'd sounded powerful and mysterious enough in the tales, but we were talking about a fairy tale here…

"Talking of fairies," the Doctor interjected, neatly saving me from having to explain my recognition of the name as Danielle looked quizzically at me, "that brings up another thing I'd like to discuss; if we have to enter Fairytown to look into these disappearances any further, what would we have to deal with? I mean, even if the treaty forbids them from actually attacking us, I assume some fairies still bear a few grudges for what happened in the way?"

"Well, so long as we don't accept any deals from anyone, we should be all right; we just have to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves," Danielle explained. "The only problem is that the fairies will only allow nobles through their borders; Snow and I should be all right if we can use our titles and the guard hasn't changed, and we can maybe get you two through by declaring you our guests, but Talia…"

"Let me guess; subsequent exile aside, the fairies regard her as the villain of the piece in her story because they reason someone must have angered the fairy who cursed her in the first place?" the Doctor asked.

"The guard almost didn't let us in last time because the remnants of Talia's curse suggested that she had committed some crime against the fairies," Danielle explained. "We were able to negotiate terms that allowed him to let Talia in that time, but there's no way of knowing if he's still the guard…"

"And then there's the question of whether he'd let us in as well?" I asked, indicating the Doctor and me, my mind flying to the worst-case scenario.

"Oh, no worries about that," the Doctor said, smiling over at Danielle. "I happen to be a lord back where I come from; if your authority isn't enough, I think mine might be able to get us through."

"You're a lord?" Danielle asked curiously. "Of where?"

"You wouldn't have heard of it," the Doctor said, smiling slightly at the princess as he looked reflectively out of the window, lost in his memories. "My family estate was the House of Lungbarrow, on the edge of a mountain range close to a magnificent river; I would have been declared the heir, but I preferred to go travelling rather than get stuck in the rut of being in charge."

"I can understand that," Danielle said, smiling reassuringly at him. "Sometimes I wish I could spend more time with Snow and Talia than worrying about Lorindar's trade agreements and potential alliances; I wouldn't even have to worry about it if it weren't for Beatrice's illness…"

"She's sick?" I asked in surprise; Beatrice had struck me as frail, but I'd assumed that she was just old rather than ill.

"She was stabbed by a magic knife wielded by an undine over a year ago," Danielle explained, her previously cheerful expression faltering at the new topic. "We were able to save her life, but the damage inflicted on her body was too serious; she's going to die within the year."

"Oh," I said in sympathy, my mind racing to find something else we could discuss. "Uh… what are undine?"

"They can also be known as mermaids," Danielle explained.

"Mermaids?" I repeated, looking at Danielle in surprise. "A mermaid stabbed your queen?"

"She was driven insane by a plan of her grandmother's; it's… complicated," Danielle explained. "Lirea was-"

"Lirea?" I repeated, quickly going over the name's sound in my mind before I looked over at the Doctor. "Is that-?"

"An anagram of 'Ariel'?" the Doctor finished for me, smiling in acknowledgement. "Correctamundo… and why do I keep using that word?"

"Ariel?" Danielle repeated, looking between us in confusion. "What's that about?"

"Just… something from back home," I said awkwardly, making a mental note to try and ask about that later; I suddenly wanted to know what could drive the Little Mermaid to try and commit murder after everything she'd done to become human and save the prince she loved…

I was almost grateful when my train of thought was interrupted by something exploding in front of us. As the horses let out what even my limited experience of horses clearly identified as a panicked whinny, the carriage was jolted backwards before Danielle leaned out of the window and seemed to be looking intently at something. As the carriage seemed to be steady and immobile once again, the Doctor opened the other door and leaned out, leaving me to quickly make a decision and join him at the door.

It wasn't hard to see what had attracted the Doctor's interest; just a short distance ahead of us was a large creature, slightly taller than a man, that looked like a massive lump of boils with a single large eye at its top and a thick orange claw sticking out of its right side like a hand.

"Oh no…" the Doctor said, staring at the creature before us in horror.

"You recognise it?" Danielle asked, looking curiously at the Doctor.

"Oh yes," the Doctor said grimly. "This is one of Omega's guards."


AN 2: Those familiar with the classic series will know who Omega is; those who aren't will learn more about him soon.