God I always loved this part of the episode. It was just brilliant. I mean...did you not feel the epic of that scene?! So we're getting closer to Stolen Earth/Journey's End, and we're REALLY close to Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. River is almost here, as to how she fits into the story with Rose returning...well...

Spoilers.

"What's that, then, like the mayor?" As the Doctor smiled in a placating manner to the others in the room he internally tried to figure out how to get out of this one. This is why he hated dealing with new companions, always acting like the stupid apes they could be sometimes.

"Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from," the Doctor licked his lips, trying to come up with a lie that would be at least somewhat plausible, "Barcelona." There. That would work...hopefully... In a quieter voice he did his best to explain to Donna just what the City Augur was.

"No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur," a nod in the direction of the man who was now inspecting the piece of marble intently, "is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news."

"They're laughing at us." As a new voice joined the room both the Doctor and Donna looked over to see a young girl, no older than sixteen, who was swaying on the spot and looked pale. "Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us." The Doctor glanced back at the others in the room while mentally wondering why something about this girl felt off.

"No, no, I'm not. I mean no offense." And really he hadn't. It's just that this regeneration tended to be a little...rude... And still not ginger. Nine regenerations at this point, you'd think at least one of them would have been ginger! He had been so close one time...

"I'm sorry," Metalla, the wife, spoke as she moved to her daughter's side. "My daughter's been consuming the vapors." The Doctor followed her path with his eyes while wondering just what these vapors were, and if they were safe. By the looks of the girl in front of him he was beginning to think they weren't.

"Oh for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?" the boy, Quintus the Doctor thought he was called, spoke up. He had to admit...the boy had a point, glancing at Donna who was still standing beside him she had an expression that seemed to say she agreed with them.

"Not now, Quintus," Caecilius, the father, spoke up roughly, trying to get his son to drop the subject.

"Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her!" he exclaimed while pointing towards his sister, who was swaying and trying to keep her balance with her mother's help. As the father and son talked the Doctor noted that the Augur's expression was as calculating as his was.

"I gather I have a rival in this household," Quintus finally spoke while slowly moving forward before standing behind the Doctor. "Another with the gift." As he spoke Caecilius shifted from foot-to-foot rather uncomfortably behind them. The Doctor couldn't blame him, stuck in a room full of rather unusual people as he was.

"Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood," Metalla explained, sounding rather proud of her daughter. The Doctor couldn't stop the frown at that. Sibylline...now just why did that sound so familiar... "They say she has remarkable visions."

"The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception." Oh the Doctor didn't like the sound of that... This was one of the few times he was thankful Rose wasn't with him right now, she would probably be marching over and giving that man a patented Tyler slap.

"I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate," Donna spoke up, the Doctor feeling a smile twitch on his lips. At least it looked like Donna was living up to her reputation of being a ginger. Quick to anger and all of that. As a small tremor vibrated through the house a few of them looked around uncomfortably.

"The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you," Lucius spoke, although the Doctor wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy staring at Evelina...something was just slightly off about both her and Lucius. But what exactly...

"Consuming the vapors, you say?"

"They give me strength," the young girl responded, her mother supporting her up even more. The Doctor's expression took on one of pity and worry. All he saw right now was a sick child in front of him.

"It doesn't look like it to me." As soon as the words were out of his mouth something in the air shifted. He had an idea of what it could be but...no...that was impossible. Not in this day in time...

"Is that your opinion as a doctor?" Evelina asked, her voice sounding as if she wasn't quite there in the room with them. The Doctor didn't even have time to feel properly shocked before he was talking again.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Doctor. That's your name." Ah...so that was what he was feeling. Psychic energy...but to be able to get his name from him... Something was very wrong. No human should have psychic energy that strong, not here at least.

"How did you know that?"

"And you," Evelina spoke, turning her gaze on Donna beside him, who was looking more and more skittish. Not that he could blame her. Humans always reacted badly to psychic happenings around them. "You call yourself Noble." As the girl talked the room seemed to grow darker, more red.

"Now then, Evelina," Metalla spoke up, sounding nervous at what was happening in front of her. "Don't be rude."

"No, no, no, no. Let her talk," the Doctor responded, mind racing impossibly fast. He was wondering just how much she could know...it also might help him determine how she was doing this.

"You both come from so far away..." Evelina continued, sounding dazed. Behind the Doctor Lucius spoke up.

"The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries."

"Oh, not this time, Lucius," the Doctor spoke, part of his mind still racing through possibilities of what could be going on. "I reckon you've been out-soothsayed."

"Is that so," Lucius asked before pausing and suddenly turning his head towards the Doctor, "Man from Gallifrey?" For just a small second the Doctor felt his hearts stop and his mind go blank. How had he known that...it was impossible... Gallifrey was gone, hidden in the past and only known about through the most ancient of legends. They weren't just seeing the future anymore...

"What?" the Doctor finally asked, voice cold. There was more going on here then he had first thought. Absently he noticed that both Metalla and Caecilius looked uncomfortable, and the Doctor couldn't blame them. They had been caught between the prophecies of two different seers.

"The strangest of images," Lucius spoke, sounding somewhat amused and fully confident. "Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" As the man spoke Donna shifted beside him.

"Doctor, what are they doing?" He wanted to reassure her but he couldn't actually find the words to say. This was starting to get just a bit beyond him.

"And you," Lucius spoke, turning his gaze on Donna, "Daughter of...London."

"How does he know that?" Donna asked, sounding close to panicking as she took a step back.

"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth," Lucius proclaimed, sounding close to bragging. Donna just shook her head back and forth, trying to deny it. The Doctor supposed it was a little too much for her accept all at once, especially since she didn't seem the type to believe in fortune-telling and the like to begin with.

"That's impossible." Deeming her as no longer important Lucius switched his gaze to the Doctor, who was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Doctor...the wolf is howling, and she is returning." At the words the Doctor felt his hearts go cold. The wolf...again with the wolf... And just who was returning?

"Who is? Who's she?" He couldn't mean...no. She was gone. Sealed off in another world, safe with her parents and best friend. There was no way she could ever come back...so who exactly was returning. And the wolf...why always the wolf?

"And you, daughter of London," Lucius spoke, turning his gaze back on Donna, who was now close to having a breakdown. "There is something on your back." As the Doctor turned around to look at her he saw the fear in her eyes.

"What's that mean?" Donna asked as she unconsciously tried to feel her back. The Doctor's eyes narrowed, what indeed. This wasn't a simple telling of the future they were doing. This was far beyond what any human should be capable of, let alone two in the same room!

"Even the word Doctor is false," Evelina spoke up finally while walking forward, the Doctor's eyes snapping over to her. "Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself." No, no, no, no. They couldn't know this. Any of this. There was just no way. "You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time...

"And your Bad Wolf is looking for you..."

Not much change here...hopefully these chapters entertain you anyways. At least I can hope... And yes. I could see Rose giving the Tyler Slap to Lucius, I mean, couldn't you? XD