"Are you really from America, Katie?" Elizabeth asked. It was very late at night, and Katie was sitting by Elizabeth's bed, talking to her and answering an endless stream of questions.

"Yes, I'm really from America," Kathryn told her, "though not the one you've heard about. I lived a little further west than most of the ships go."

"Why are you here then?"

Kathryn smiled faintly. "I got into a bit of trouble and the Doctor helped me out. I couldn't go home, so I decided to travel with him. I haven't been at it long, but so far I've been enjoying it."

"What do you mean, not long?" Elizabeth questioned. "It must take weeks to cross the ocean, and then even more time to walk this far inland."

Kathryn winked. "Another riddle you get to solve, just like my age."

"Katie, what's America like? I've only heard about it when adults mention it, and they don't talk about it very much."

Kathryn tilted her head back, thinking. "America is a very…young place, but it also feels very old. Our leader doesn't always know what he's doing, but he tries his best, or at least the ones now do. Not so sure about some of the others. It's a place where things…happen, like…like choosing who leads us and women voting and getting office jobs and rights given to people of every color. At least, we try to do that. Not everyone agrees all the time, but that's okay; we sort of started because we didn't agree."

"What does it mean to vote?"

"It means that everyone in a group of people, or in our case a country, gets a say in something like…like if you and your friends couldn't decide to walk in the woods or go out in a boat, you'd all say what you wanted to do. If more people wanted to walk in the woods, all of you would walk in the woods. If more of you wanted to go out in a boat, you would all go out in a boat. We do the same thing when we choose who leads us."

"Do you really choose your king?"

"We don't have a king, or a queen. We have—or will have—what we call a president, and every four years we pick a new one. Sometimes, if the person in the job is good at it, we choose him again. Royalty doesn't sit well with us."

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. "And the women help…vote for the president?"

Kathryn silently snapped at herself for the temporal mix up she might be creating. "That's a hope for the future, but it will happen. We're just as good as men are. Not better, but not beneath them either."

"America sounds like a wonderful place."

Kathryn sighed. "Yeah. Yeah it is."

"You miss it."

"I do."

"What about your family?"

"I don't have one."

"Did they disown you?"

"No. Nothing like that."

"Are they dead?"

"No."

"Then why couldn't you go home?"

"It's complicated."

"Did you have an argument with them?"

"No. I didn't run away, or steal from them, or anything like that. I just…can't go back. I suppose you could say that my position has been filled."

"Your position?"

Kathryn smiled faintly. "Another riddle."

"Will you ever see them again?"

Kathryn blinked a few times, her voice a bit wobbly. "Oh, I hope so Elizabeth. I truly do hope so. But they can't see me. They don't even know I'm gone."

"How can they not miss their daughter and sister? I can understand if my family didn't miss me, but can something like that even happen in America?"

"You'd be horrified to learn what happens in America. Or what will happen. What has happened."

Kathryn was silent for another moment. Then she smiled widely, stretched, and stood. "Well, it's late. You need to sleep before tomorrow, and so do I. May Day is going to be busy."

"Can't you sleep here?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes."

Kathryn smiled gently. "Let me go brush my teeth. I'll be back in a bit. Promise."

Kathryn slid out of the house, making for the woods. She didn't go too far from the house; after all, she didn't really know the area. But she needed a moment. Not a lot of time, just a bit.

Sitting underneath a tree, she pulled her legs up to her chest, staring at nothing. "They don't know I'm gone. They don't even know I left home."

Shutting her eyes tightly, she pressed her forehead against her knees. "You don't even miss me. How…how can you not miss me when I'm dying from the pain?"

Despite her enormous amount of self-control, Kathryn felt tears escape. Only a few at first, then more as she started to shake from cold and fear and pain. She didn't make any noise except for her un-even breathing.

Her grief blocked out the sound of walking until it was very close. Kathryn looked up and sat very still in the shadow of the tree. There was someone standing in middle of the open place before the house; very tall, with a dark cloak on. From the size of the person Kathryn guessed it was a woman. When the figure took its hood off and Kathryn saw the long silver hair, she knew she was right. It was a very lovely woman, with a well-shaped face and good figure, though she didn't seem to be quite there. The woman looked up at the house calmly, seeming to search for someone. She blinked once, then let out a terrifying scream.

Kathryn's hair stood on end and she couldn't even breathe as the woman screamed. It sounded like a painful scream, as though the woman was mourning for someone. But it was more than that. It was a long wail of total anguish, with no words to it.

It was disturbing how familiar that scream sounded.

The scream finally ended. The woman put up her hood again and vanished. Kathryn scrambled up from her spot and went to where the woman had stood. The grass was barely disturbed, and if anyone left the house to investigate, by the time they could get here there would be no evidence of someone standing there.

The door opened and Kathryn looked up as the Doctor silently came dashing out, sonic at the ready. He hurriedly scanned the area, then looked at Kathryn.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Same thing you are, smart one," Kathryn snipped back. "Looking for the chick with the great lungs. She's going to have a sore throat in the morning."

"How'd you get out here so fast?"

"I'm just that good."

The Doctor didn't seem completely convinced., but let it go. "Did you see her?"

"Sort of. She was tall, and had long pale hair," Kathryn told him, seeing the trap he'd just set up and neatly dodging it. "Of course, it could have been the moonlight."

"Possibly." The Doctor sounded unconvinced. "I wonder why she was here." He stared at the ground for a few seconds before looking back at Kathryn.

"You'd better get to bed. Long day tomorrow."

"We aren't going to go hunt her now?"

"Nothing to hunt."

"Liar."

"Nothing that can't wait and we can't do better in the morning. Get back to bed."

Kathryn smiled. "Sounds like a plan. Just don't start without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Kathryn walked silently back into Elizabeth's room. She wasn't moving, so Kathryn figured she'd fallen asleep. She sat back down in her chair.

"Katie, do you ever get nightmares?"

Kathryn gave a slight start. "I didn't know you were still awake."

"I've been waiting for you to come back. Do you ever get nightmares?"

"Yes Elizabeth, I do. Frequently."

"What are your nightmares about?"

"Different things. Usually things I've done or people I used to know. Why do you ask?"

"I just had a nightmare, I think."

"What of, Elizabeth?"

"I heard someone screaming, so I went to the window to look, and I saw a ghost crying. She looked up at me, and I felt like she knew who I was and had picked me for something." Elizabeth was silent for a moment. "It frightened me."

Kathryn came to sit on the bed next to Elizabeth. She carefully stroked her hair.

"Well, I promise you that I'll protect you from the ghost Elizabeth. I'll sit with you tonight, and tomorrow I'll find it for you and make sure it leaves."

Elizabeth looked up at Kathryn. "Our housekeeper says that my mother used to say that."

"So did mine."

"I miss my mother, even though I didn't meet her."

"I miss mine too."

"Can I pretend that you're my mother?"

"No Elizabeth. But I can be your friend."

"Alright." Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. "Did your mother ever sing to you?"

"Not really."

"My nurse had a nice voice before Father sent her away."

"Do you want me to sing to you?"

"Yes please."

Kathryn thought for a moment. She had been the very youngest of her family, and didn't really know any lullabies. Might as well go with what she did know.

"Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming…?"

Elizabeth woke next morning to see Kathryn sitting in the chair again. She'd moved it next to the window and was staring out at the scenery in the pre-dawn light.

"You didn't sleep Katie."

"Not really." Kathryn didn't seem surprised that Elizabeth knew.

"Were you thinking about your family?"

"Among other things."

Elizabeth looked at her for a few moments before getting out of bed. Kathryn watched silently as Elizabeth went to her dresser and bent down. She pulled a flimsy box out from under it and set the box on the bed.

Opening the box she pulled out a large stack of papers, silently setting them next to the box. Kathryn stood to look at them.

It was a large pile of artwork. Some of them were sketches and some of them were full on paintings. They were all incredible, seeming to be captured slivers of time. People moving, birds taking off, landscapes at precise seconds of dusk or dawn, plants growing…They were all absolutely

"Amazing," Kathryn said breathlessly. "Elizabeth, these are gorgeous. Did you draw them?"

"Most of them." Elizabeth pulled out one that looked like a younger, far more pleasant version of Mr. Dixon. "Mother did this one. Mrs. Finlay, the housekeeper, says that he burned her drawings when I was born. I don't think he'd like it if he knew about them, so I don't draw very often."

"Elizabeth, you have an incredible gift," Kathryn insisted. "These…these deserve to be framed! You can't squelch this forever, or keep it a secret. It should be told."

"Father would be upset. It's scary when he's angry. He yells at me, and sometimes it hurts."

Kathryn felt sick, and then intense anger. She crouched down so that she was on eye level with Elizabeth, holding her small hands in her gloved ones.

"Have you told anyone that your Father hits you?"

Elizabeth blinked. "Why would I? It's what happens. Fathers are supposed to teach their children, and when we disobey—"

"Does he hit your brother?"

"That's different. Jonathan is a boy."

Kathryn felt sick again. "Elizabeth, it's only different because your father thinks it is. What he's done is wrong, and you have to know that. You are worth so much, small one. You have an amazing talent, and it shouldn't be hidden. You are unique and special. You are just as incredible as a boy, maybe even more so. There is no 'better' between the genders, Elizabeth. Differences aplenty, but no better."

"Is that what they say in America?"

"Not yet, but they will. Everywhere, eventually they will. Soon too. In your lifetime, maybe even starting with you. Don't hide who you are Elizabeth, whatever your father thinks."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not," Kathryn insisted, gently grabbing Elizabeth's shoulders. "I'm telling you the truth, Elizabeth. There are other people who know what I'm saying is true."

Elizabeth looked at her for another moment, then turned away and put her pictures back in the box. "I need to get dressed Katie. Please excuse me."

*Constructive criticism welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*