Just over a month isn't actually that bad, given I'm entering exam season. This chapter has a lot of Daliya to make up for the delay!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love you guys!

Enjoy!

The Doctor and Aliya had barely gotten their butts on their stools to have their dawn breakfast when Laura rushed into the room, pale faced and with a three year old child clinging to her skirts.

"Someone's been killed in the woods, a friend of my father's," she panted. "Roger and Thomas, from the other night, they were wondering if you would help them examine the area to try and find the creature responsible for all this. My father is probably best to stay put, is he not?"

"We didn't find anything before," the Doctor was quick to remind her, but his frown made it clear that he was concerned by the new development. He shovelled some of the bread into his mouth and got to his feet. "But of course I'll help. And yes, your dad should stay put. I'll check on him before I go this."

"Roger also said that he heard of how you took your wife with you yesterday and requests that she stay behind, as it is not for her to be getting so involved," Laura added.

Aliya scowled. "Did he now? Well-"

"Aliya, he's got a point, you wouldn't want these lovely people to think you're some kind of wild woman," the Doctor said pointedly, fixing her with a look. The Time Lady just sighed and crossed her arms.

"I suppose not," she muttered. "But if I'm not going with you, what will I be doing all day?"

"You could help me look after Nicholas here, so I can complete the work Mother wishes me to," Laura said brightly, "I'd be glad of the company."

Aliya, however disgruntled about being left out of the action, couldn't look at the honest and earnest face of their young new acquaintance and not be moved. Slowly, she smiled at the girl. "Well how can I say no to that?" That was when she took a proper look at the boy hiding behind Laura's dress. All rosy cheeks, sandy hair that matched his sister's and big brown eyes, Aliya's hearts melted in half a second. "Especially when my charge is so handsome."

The Doctor chuckled. "You've got baby face."

"What?"

"Look at you, your grin's up to your ears."

He was right. Her smile couldn't be contained, she could feel it splitting her face in two. But the boy was so adorable that her untameable maternal side was coming through full force.

"So?" Aliya said to the Doctor as she got onto her knees and held eye contact with the child. "Hello. My name's Aliya. Will you be my friend today so that your sister can get things done for your mother?"

Young Nicholas stared at her with his huge chocolate eyes for a long moment before he nodded slightly and came out from behind Laura. "Do you like horsies?"

"Yes I do. Do you?"

"Sometimes I'm allowed to pat Pa's."

Aliya glanced at Laura. "Is that something we could do?"

"Sure," the girl said with a shrug. "He's tethered out the back."

"So whereabouts can I find Roger and Thomas?" The Doctor asked Laura.

"Thomas helps with the mill, so you could try there," Laura suggested. She proceeded to give him very concise instructions on how to get there and he nodded.

"Alright, I'll pop in and check on your father, and then be off," he said, and came to stand by Aliya and look young Nicholas in the eye. "Now, are you going to look after my Aliya for me? Can you do that?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Yes! I can!" He puffed his little chest out.

"Thought so. Thanks."

Aliya shook her head fondly. "You be careful. I don't want you being the next one on the victim list."

"I'm always careful," he said, and she snorted.

He was about to go on his way when the two of them realised that Laura had an expectant look on her face. The Doctor apparently caught on quicker because he leant down to brush his lips across Aliya's forehead. It was so light she could have imagined the actual contact if her body hadn't been so hyper aware of their every touch. As it was, she could feel where his lips had been because the skin tingled even as he walked out the door.

Laura, who had watched her eyes follow him out, smiled widely. "You really love him, don't you?"

"Yes," Aliya said, sighing. There was no point denying it under the circumstances.

"You know, if it's children you're worried about, there really is still plenty of time." The girl saw Aliya's immediate frown and soon matched it with one of her own. "Unless...you don't want more than the one you already had and lost."

"It's just very complicated, Laura," the Time Lady said, "If I'm going to be totally honest, there's no way I could have another child. And even if I could, I'm not sure I want to."

Laura's entire face fell. "Oh...I'm so sorry." Before Aliya could blink, she was being hugged tightly and could nothing but awkwardly pat the girl on the back. The entire concept of having another child was so bizarre that she couldn't really appreciate the girl's sympathy.

"Really, I mean it when I say that it's not something I want or need," she said honestly, "I have...John. And good friends. Besides, his daughter is my daughter in all but name."

"Well, that's good at least." Laura smiled and rubbed her shoulder in a way that no doubt was meant to be comforting.

"Ayaya, I wanna pat the horsie," Nicholas interrupted, tugging on Aliya's skirt. His attempt at her name had her laughing and beaming. She didn't want children of her own but that wasn't to say she didn't delight in being around children in general.

While patting Robert's horse made Aliya uneasy (she was still a little wary of the large animals even if she knew it was irrational), Nicholas was overjoyed by the time they came back inside.

"And then the dome broke and the water came in so fast I didn't have time to think, and I was pulled out into the ocean, tumbling over and over," Aliya told the excitable child, "And I thought I was going to drown. But then John saved me!"

"Woo! I knew it!"

"A dome? What on earth do you mean?" Laura's voice asked incredulously, making the two of them turn to see her in the doorway. She was toting a heavy pail of water in each hand and Aliya hurried to relieve her of one and follow her through to the kitchen.

"A glass ball so big that a town fitted inside!" Nicholas exclaimed. "With funny blue people! And it was under the ocean!"

Under Laura's probing eyebrow, Aliya smiled sheepishly. "I've been telling him about when John saved me from drowning. With a few alterations to make it more exciting, of course."

Laura slowly nodded, but still seemed baffled. "But how do you come up with such outlandish ideas? Travelling through time, women ruling in their own right, blue people in an underwater town?"

"I hope I haven't upset you, they're just stories, I didn't mean anything by them," Aliya said, worried about not being able to decipher the look on the girl's face.

"I'm not upset," Laura said with surprise, "I've just never met anyone with an imagination such as yours. Your head must be remarkable to think the things it does."

"I suppose it is."

Laura's hand disappeared into her apron pocket and re-emerged with a length of woven string and a pendant attached to it. It was a smooth stone with a nautical star finely engraved into it. "I made this for you, yesterday. It's supposed to bring good luck, just as it brought the wise men to the Lord. I thought you might want it, even though it's childish and not really for a grown woman. If you ever did have a child, as some miracle, you could pass it on."

The sincere look in the human's eyes warmed Aliya's hearts. "I promise I will," she said quietly as her hand took the offered gift and turned it over in her hand. "It's beautiful. I don't deserve this, you should keep it for a proper friend, or your own child."

"You've eased my worry about marriage by showing me it can be wonderful," Laura said, eyes bright, "Is that not a thing that would make us friends? Friends do not have to be old, they can be new and fleeting and still be meaningful."

Aliya immediately sought out Laura's hands with her own. "Of course they can." Affection for her new friend rose in her chest and it only made her grip her hands tighter. "I meet a lot of people, Laura, but I don't know if anyone's ever given me a gift before. I'll keep it forever."

"Good."

"Do you want to help me put it on?"

Laura was only to happy to help get the pendant tied around her neck, where it sat comfortably just under the neckline of her dress, their little secret.

When the Doctor burst in through the door of the inn's sitting room many hours later, he was furious.

"It's all very clear now!" He exclaimed loudly. Laura and Aliya shushed him quickly, glaring and pointedly gesturing to the three year old on Aliya's lap that they had just gotten asleep. "Ah. Sorry."

"Sit down, and talk quietly," Aliya commanded him, so he took the seat nearest hers.

"It wasn't until we got out investigating that Roger decides to mention that they had attacked and killed a creature similar to the one who seems to be attacking people, about a week back!" The Doctor said. His face bore wary disappointment and exasperation. "It's not hard to work out what's going on here, it'll be a mate pairing, one of them gets killed so the other one wants revenge!"

"Okay, but knowing what it wants has to be good. Except I don't see how Roger could know that the creature they killed was similar when we still know so little about it."

"Oh no, we saw it! Just for a second. It was male, and tall, with short smooth fur instead of skin, it was fascinating."

"Like a bear, just as we thought," Aliya said, nodding.

"Luckily, it didn't seem too interested in us. It probably wants to be in its full bear form for attacking, it was just trying to get a look-"

"John!" One of Robert's friends burst in, the more youthful of the two with the kinder face. He was currently wearing a look of distress. "You won't believe this, but Henry, the butcher, said that his son was nearly attacked by a creature in the woods, and his description matches the one we saw."

"Alright, so it gets around," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"No, he was two hours away from the village in the opposite direction, and it happened at the same time."

"Thomas, are you sure?" The Doctor jumped from his seat and crossed to the man, eyes locking with his. "This is vital. Are you certain that he's sure? It could change everything."

"Yes," Thomas replied evenly. "We're certain. What does it mean? What can it?"

"It means that this creature is fast, faster than we could have thought possible," he muttered, worry creasing his large forehead. "But staying inside at night is the best we can do, and since the sun is going to set soon, I'd say to tell everyone in the village to stay inside during the night until we can sort this out."

Cecily came in then. "I take it that you are staying yet another night?"

"Yes, is that alright?"

"Of course!" The woman turned her gaze to where Nicholas was tucked into the crook of Aliya's shoulder. "Bless. Someone's made fast friends."

Aliya smiled and tucked a strand of curly hair behind the boy's ear. "He's a lovely boy."

"I'll take him now," Cecily said, smiling and nodding in agreement with her statement, "By the sounds of it, you've done more than enough today to help, and I thank you for it."

"Looking after a sweet tempered child is no trouble, believe me," Aliya assured her as she handed the boy over, somewhat reluctantly. "I'd be happy to help again tomorrow if need be."

"I might just let you."

"So John, shall we draw up plans tonight?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Plan's simple. Tomorrow, Roger, Thomas and I will follow the tracks and attempt to find the creature's dwelling."

"Not me," Aliya said, half expecting it but still disappointed.

"Of course not, dear, it's no place for a woman such as yourself," Cecily replied, her voice concerned at the mere idea. "Lord knows you could be with child right now and not know about it!"

Aliya blinked back tears of utter frustration, at being left out and at another mention of children. Did people in this time think of anything else? There was more to life than babies!

"Besides," Roger added, smirking, "This is not a job for a woman. You'd slow us down, ask too many questions, get in our way, and only result in injuries."

"Why you-"

Aliya's angry outburst had her out of her chair in an instant and sending daggers at Roger. The Doctor hurried to put his arm out and prevent her from getting near him, as if he thought she was going to punch the guy. Which she wasn't. Probably.

"Aliya-"

"No! I won't be talked to like that!" She told him hotly before shifting her gaze to Roger, who seemed surprised but amused by her anger. "It's not even the words, it's the blatant lack of respect!"

"She's got a fire, hasn't she?" Roger's eyes glinted and his smirk made her want to slap it off his face. "You'll want to burn that out of her."

"I'll burn the brain out of you, you misogynistic ape-"

"Aliya! You're forgetting yourself," the Doctor said, and the small edge in his voice grew when he directed his attention to Roger. "And I am the only one with the right to make judgements on her character."

Over the top of the arm in front of her and ignoring its owner, Aliya spat at Roger, "I am better than you-"

That was when the Doctor whirled to face her and planted his hands either side of her face. An immediate sense of serenity filled her. Her breathing slowed and the Doctor smiled at her, which made her smile back. But just as she was about to return to her chair, the truth of what had just happened hit.

She had been about to blow their cover and get rejected by the people they wanted to help.

But he'd invaded her mind to force it to calm down. The violation hit her like sharp steel and a tiny gasp escaped her lips.

"Don't you...dare...do that ever again," she said to him in Gallifreyan, her voice cracking. "Not without my express permission."

"You were being an idiot," he replied, carelessly enough that it was obvious that he didn't understand the gravity of what he had just done, which only deepened the hurt over his thoughtlessness.

"Yes, I was, and the last person who did that to my mind thought the same of me then," she snapped. The effect of her words was instantaneous. The Doctor's body went stiff and his eyes wide, wide enough to display the horror that had settled in them as he realised that he had done what the Master had done to her in their adolescence.

Though he was as visibly distraught by what had just occurred as she was, he didn't produce words with which to apologise. While he remained a statue, Aliya sank back into her chair, biting her thumb in an attempt to ward off the tears threatening to form in her eyes.

"And you don't have the right to make judgements on my character," she murmured, "Get over yourself."

"You didn't mention you were Celtic," Cecily said suddenly, in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood. "You both speak beautifully."

"Thank you," Aliya answered, smiling weakly at her because hers was one of the only faces in the room she could currently stand to look at. Then she waved her hand at the men in the room. "Please, by all means continue making plans. I no longer have any interest in spending time with any of you."

The Doctor gave her a long, wistful look before doing as she suggested and conceding other his fellow hunters. She caught snippets of their conversation, ("-Then, if possible, I'll talk with it-"), but found Thomas's voice the only one she could hear without wanting to be sick. She tuned back into Laura and Cecily, who were discussing Nicholas and what they had been up to during the day. Cecily, noticing the other woman listening in, immediately moved to include her.

"Laura was just telling me how wonderful you were with Nicholas today," she said, "Thank you for your help."

"I think I enjoyed myself as much as he did."

"Good, good..." Cecily then frowned, and when she spoke again it was in a much lower tone. "Now dear, I shan't pretend to understand what all of that was about just now, but I would recommend not angering or disobeying him, especially not in front of others. You might feel differently because you knew him well before your marriage, but it's unseemly."

"I don't mean any disrespect, Cecily, but there's a strong chance I will go against your recommendation," Aliya said with a sigh. Her gaze flicked to the window, where outside light was fading fast. The wind's whistling made her shiver even though she wasn't physically cold.

Cecily handed Nicholas over to Laura and asked if she could put him to bed, so the girl left the room with her brother on her hip while her mother got a fire going. Roger and Thomas began discussing something that sounded to her half listening ears to be overly masculine and therefore boring. Very abruptly, Aliya felt holistically exhausted.

The Doctor's eyes continuously flicked back to her, and eventually he coughed and asked, "Sorry, could the two of us have a moment?" Thomas firmly directed Roger out of the room, nodding respectfully at the Doctor and Aliya in turn before he disappeared from sight.

"Of course," Cecily said, also nodding as she got up and brushed her hands on her skirts. A small fire was now starting to burn and instantly filled the room with a warmth that had little to do with temperature. It still, however, struggled to make up for the tension in the room which only doubled once Cecily left and shut the door behind her.

The first thing the Doctor did was cross to Aliya and get on both of his knees in front of her chair so that their eyes were level. Or at least, they were once she dragged her eyes to meet his from where they had been pointedly fixed on the carpet.

"I'm so sorry," he said, his eyes wide and pleading like a guilty puppy in the final fading light of the day, "I am thoughtless and stupid."

"Yes, you are." Her voice came out constricted and gravelly. "Did you play with your humans' brains like that?"

"No, I-"

"Of course not, I'm the disobedient one, I'm the only one that needs an attitude adjustment now and again," she said sarcastically, and she could see his eyes start to water.

"No, Aliya, no…I was just trying to help," He tried to take her hand in his but Aliya yanked it out of his reach and folded her arms.

"You've been around humans too long, you put more stock in the physical than the mental," she told him, "You might as well as thrown me against a wall and shoved your hand up my dress!"

He gaped. "Aliya, I'd never-"

"It's no different! It's worse! Because you didn't even think, I had to tell you what you'd done wrong!" One of her hands drowned out a singular, dry sob. "I never thought I would have reason to be afraid of you and what you might do to me," she whispered. The only thing that made her feel the slightest bit better was the remorse that drowned his features as he took in her words.

"No, Aliya, please, don't be afraid, it's me, the idiot, the idiot you've known your whole life," he implored her. His hands gently planted themselves on her knees and she couldn't be sure why she allowed it. "I've had people be afraid of me but not you, I don't think I could take it."

"You invaded my mind! I don't care if it might have helped or if we're best friends, it was unwanted contact of an intimate nature and not only that, you actually manipulated me!" She told him desperately. "You did the very thing you once saved me from! Don't you see how that might make it difficult for me to look at you? I'm afraid of looking at you and seeing him!" It was the worst thing she could say to him, to compare him to the Master and what he had done, but she couldn't not. The betrayal was too blatant, the entire thing too horribly familiar.

"I'm sorry."

"I'd happily shut it in the back of my mind."

"So had I."

"How am I supposed to trust you?"

They just stared at each other for many moments, both distraught and utterly unsure about how to proceed. The Doctor gingerly unfolded her hands and brought them up to his temples. Aliya blinked through her gathering tears and tilted her head.

"I...I don't...I don't know what this is supposed to be," she said thickly, confused.

"Words aren't going to cut it this time," the Doctor replied, his voice soft as he pressed her fingers against his skin, "This is my only chance to get you to forgive me. To get you to stop looking at me like that."

Her hearts panged, her love for him and her fury at what he had done clashing violently in her chest over and over until her brain could barely function. She fought to keep it under control and breathed deeply before pressing her forehead against his and letting herself slip into his mind.

Her body shuddered. The last mental connection they had experienced had been his showing of the Time War to her, and before that the events of the Year That Never Was. It had been transferring information, and him initiating it besides. Before the war, they'd at times dabbled with mentally connecting, but it was something so intimate that they'd always been afraid to go very far with it. This time, she was plunging into his very consciousness.

All around her, doors slammed shut, things he didn't want her to see or know. It didn't matter, because the largest door lay in front of her, and it was wide open. It was what he was feeling and thinking right now, and stepping through it resulted in an immediate crippling pain. His shame and penitence was suffocating.

He was so horrified with himself about what he had done to her. Of who he had acted like. Of what he had reminded her of.

There was something else there. Guilt, long buried guilt he had carried for centuries. Guilt about her. About not helping her sooner when they were younger, when the Master had been playing with her like a puppeteer. He blamed himself.

No, she told him forcefully, you saved me, you got me out and I will always owe you for that.

I could have -

No. You couldn't. It's the past. I'm here, and alive and well, and so are you. That's all that matters.

Now I'm no better than him.

Aliya had seen enough of his mind, and taken what she could of his emotions bombarding her. She slowly backtracked through his consciousness and slowly peeled herself away. Their foreheads separated but her hands remained at his head. Her thumbs trailed across the lines of his cheekbones, admiring the lines of them in the flickering firelight that was now the room's source of light.

"Yes, you are," she told him sincerely. "Intent is everything. You never meant to hurt me, you were just thoughtless. He controlled me and hurt me because he didn't care and he saw me as a toy. You see me the way you should - as a person, as your friend. As me."

He frowned deeply, eyes still troubled and wet. "You had to remember something you should never have had to. Because I was wrong, because I was thoughtless."

"Yes." Her eyes held his. "You were."

"Aliyanadevoralundar, will you please forgive me?" His hand covered one of hers where it rested on his face, the fingers trailing across her knuckles.

"I forgive you."

Once the words were out of her mouth, the sorrowful weight lifted off her (and him, as she could still sense him faintly because she was still touching his temples), but left her so very tired. She was already so tired of having been looking at him like he wasn't the person she cared about most in the world, the person she -

She removed her hands from his temples before she finished that thought. The last thing she needed was him picking up on that.

With a sigh, she let her head drop and rest against his chest, the crown of her head at his sternum. The tension in his body whispered to her his surprise at the action, at her so implicitly placing her head and mind in his hands, as that was where they had ended up. His right hand rested at the base of her neck, supporting it while his left cradled the side of her head and its fingers stroked across her hair and the cloth it was escaping from.

The Doctor's head lowered to rest gently on the top of hers, and she thought that she felt him kiss the top of her head, but she might have imagined it.

"I promise to never try to control you," he whispered, "And to never touch your mind again."

"Without my permission."

"No, no, I think…" She felt his jaw move as he swallowed. "I think I've lost that privilege."

"But what if I want you to? Or need you to? There are numerous reasons why it might be necessary."

"No. I won't, I promise you, not ever."

Aliya inched away from him, pulling her head from their strange embrace so that she could look at him incredulously. "Why would you promise something like that? It's so stupid."

His hand gave hers a squeeze and he smiled minutely at her, his eyes soft and sad. "Because I care about you, and I respect you too much." He got to his feet, but bent over to kiss her forehead. "I'm going to talk to Thomas about tomorrow, and tell Cecily she can have her room back."

Aliya nodded, and shut her eyes to try and process everything that had just happened and how she felt about it. The other occupants of the inn gradually filed back in, and Aliya was pleasantly surprised to see Robert being assisted in by Cecily. He was pale but apparently determined to not continue lying in bed. Now that he wasn't half dying, Aliya could get a proper look at it, even from the dim firelight. His dark hair and beard were streaked with grey, but it suited him. His eyes were the same brown as his son's and they glinted with an energy some people could only dream of. He took the chair next to Aliya and smiled cordially at her.

"I'm not sure we've actually been introduced," he said, voice weak and quiet but warm. "You're John's little wife, aren't you?"

She bristled internally at 'little wife' but decided it would be more fun to take it out on the Doctor. Instead, she smiled at Robert. "I'm not so little, but I'm the one who seems to be officially tethered to the walking attractor of trouble, yes." She prided herself on not saying magnet, as she wasn't sure if those existed yet, or if most people would know what they were.

Robert laughed heartily at that, and had the Doctor and Cecily glancing at him as if they were worried he was going to pop his wounds open. "Oh, you told me she was funny, John, but I wasn't expecting this."

"He told you I was funny?" Aliya asked with surprise. Sure, she wasn't without a sense of humour, but she'd never thought of hers being worth any special mention.

"Why wouldn't I?" The Doctor lifted an eyebrow at her.

"I...I wasn't aware you even talked with him about me."

"Oh, he did," Robert said, nodding, "I asked about his wife, and he told me of your enormous spirit. That you were beautiful and kind, that you never failed to make him laugh. That your laugh is one of his favourite sounds in the world. "

Aliya lifted an eyebrow at that, and the Doctor went red and gave her an imperceptible shrug, as if to say, what was I supposed to say? She grinned, thinking about the amount of shit she would be able to give him for his tall tales later. "So, nothing about our ability to argue and yell a house down."

Robert smirked. "He might have said something about it. John, your wife seems surprised to hear of you speaking well of her. You should be sure to tell her the sorts of things you told me. She cannot see into your mind, you know."

Aliya and the Doctor shared a knowing smile before the latter nodded obediently.

"I do when it's important."

"It's always important." Robert then looked to Thomas, who had again been talking quietly with Roger. "Thomas, my friend, why don't you share with our guests that grand story of yours from several moons ago?"

Thomas lifted his head and a grin grew on his lightly bearded face. "Well, if you insist. I do know that Laura enjoys this tale." Laura giggled, and he sent a wink her way. "Well, John and Aliya, my older brother and I were out hunting…"

The story was fairly grand for a hunting story, and had several parts which had the group in uproarious laughter. After Thomas spoke, Roger in turn told one of his best stories. Aliya tuned out for that one, and chose to watch the fire and how it reflected on the lines of the Doctor's face. The man in the tweed was leaning up near the fireplace, listening intently. Despite that, his eyes at one point flicked to her, and when he saw that she had already been looking at him, he gave her a smile of half a second as friendly acknowledgement.

"John! A tale from you next, I think," Thomas suggested.

The Doctor's face lit up, as he had more stories than they could have imagined, but Aliya nearly laughed when she saw him realise it would be very tricky to tell any of them to a group of people who barely knew about science, let alone other worlds.

"Er, how about something a little different. An old friend of mine, William, is a wonderful poet, and I happen to be very familiar with some of his material. I could share some?" He asked the others, and they nodded.

"I love poems, they always tell such grand stories!" Laura said with great enthusiasm.

"Well, these ones are a little different to what you might be used to, they're a lot shorter, but very good. The question is which one…" He frowned momentarily before brightening. "Ah! For Cecily and Robert, our wonderful hosts. A poem about the nature of love."

Robert chuckled and kissed his wife on the cheek with great exaggeration, making her bat him away and roll her eyes. "Recite away, my new friend."

The Doctor nodded, inhaled deeply, and began. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds," he said, letting his eyes travel evenly around the room as he spoke, "Admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove." The words of Shakespeare, so unique and eloquent, floated through the air and made the occupants of the room smile in turn, but none so thoughtfully as Aliya. "O no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken." Despite his attempts to look at everyone equally, the Doctor's eyes gradually rested on Aliya alone as he got further through the poem. "It is the star to every wand'ring bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken."

Aliya bit her lip and ignored the pesky flutterings in her chest. It's just a poem, and he's saying it for Cecily and Robert. The fact that he's looking at you while saying it means nothing. You're his friend, there's no reason why he wouldn't look at you, she had to tell herself. It's Shakespeare, he wants to be sure you're enjoying it for its literary merit.

It wasn't her fault that the beauty of his eyes was augmented in the firelight as they watched her, though they did occasionally dart away back to Cecily,Thomas, or Laura.

"Love's not time's fool," he continued, "Though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom." As he took another breath for the end of the sonnet, his gaze on her felt weighted, as if she could have touched it, and this time it did not wander. "If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

Aliya became aware of her mouth being dry and her head fuzzy. The latter was quickly explained when she realised she had literally forgotten to breathe because she'd been so focused on the sonnet. She gulped in the oxygen she was lacking and thanked Rassilon for the Loom that had created her with her respiratory bypass.

In an attempt to cover her body's ridiculous reaction to specifically formulated words and eye contact from an idiot in a bowtie, Aliya opened her mouth to call him a show-off. Unfortunately, her window of opportunity was lost when a giant furred creature propelled through the more literal window of opportunity to her right.

"Shit."

And now the arc is in the home stretch, with one chapter to go before we get to the arc I have had planned for years. :D It is, if I do say so myself, a fantastic idea with potential for utter emotional turmoil and progression.

...why do exams have to exist why can't I just write this story all the time? (I have three days of high school left, not counting when I have to come in for exams and then prizegiving. What the actual fuck.)

Feedback on all the Daliya drama/angst/fluff in this chap would be cherished! Thanks!

Love you all,

-MayFairy :)