Clara and the Doctor returned to the market place in the Rings of Akhaten and headed for the TARDIS. The Old God had been defeated and its reign of terror was over. Clara looked around for the Queen of Years.
"Are we just going to leave without saying goodbye?" she asked.
"I usually do," the Doctor said without breaking his stride.
"Well I want to say goodbye to Merry," Clara insisted.
"She's probably busy doing...Queen of Years stuff," the Doctor said dismissively.
"Actually I'm not," said the voice of a child and a pretty little alien girl appeared from behind a stall. An adult man of the same species was with her. Clara smiled when she saw the little girl.
"Merry," she said happily and hurried over to her.
"You're leaving," Merry said sadly, not as a question.
"Yes," Clara replied.
"I don't want you to leave," Merry said, "You make me feel safe. You and the Doctor saved my people."
"Well I don't belong here," Clara said kneeling in front of her.
"I'll miss you," said Merry looking like she was trying not to cry.
"I'll miss you too," Clara replied then looked around at the Doctor who was waiting impatiently, "Tell you what. Before we go, do you want to see what's inside the blue box?" Merry nodded eagerly. Clara looked at the Doctor, "That okay with you Doctor?"
"Yes alright," the Doctor said, sounding like he was eager to be gone. Obviously he wasn't used to waiting for his companions to say goodbye to people. Clara took Merry's hand. The man that had accompanied the little girl was about to follow but Merry waved him away.
"I don't need you," she said, and for the first time since Clara had met her she sounded like a Queen rather than a little girl, "I want to say goodbye by myself." The man nodded and stepped away. Merry followed Clara and the Doctor towards the TARDIS. The Doctor seemed to regain some of his cheer on the way there, springing to the TARDIS doors and opening them before standing aside and gesturing inside.
"Your Highness," he said. Merry smiled, liking the sound of the title as she stepped into the TARDIS.
"Oh my stars!" she said staring around the control room in awe. Clara and the Doctor smiled at each other at the child's excitement, "Is this magic? How can it be so big on the inside and so small on the outside?"
"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor said, "It means Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"And it travels through space and time," Clara added.
"This is amazing!" cried Merry skipping over to them, "How do you fit it all in here?"
"Very complicated Time Lord technology," the Doctor said. Merry seemed satisfied by the answer and she started to explore the control room. The Doctor glanced at Clara, "You know, I've only showed the inside of the TARDIS to one child before, and she was too young to even stand at the time. Plus she wasn't even a real child, she was just a duplicate."
"We can't take her with us Doctor," Clara said watching as Merry scurried around the room, "She's too young."
"You're right," the Doctor agreed and hurried towards Merry who was cautiously touching a control panel and then pulling her hand away sharply as though expecting it to electrocute her. "Merry!" he said, "It's been great meeting you and showing you my sexy spaceship but we should be going. So you'd better leave. Off you pop!" He shooed her towards the doors. Merry looked offended that he was dismissing her so rudely.
"Doctor!" snapped Clara.
"What, you said she couldn't come with us?" the Doctor said confused.
"That doesn't mean we can just throw her out!" Clara replied.
"I can't come?" asked Merry looking up at Clara, who knelt beside the little girl.
"We do dangerous things in this machine," Clara said, "You're too young. Besides you came close to dying today; I don't imagine you'd want to have that kind of experience again do you?"
"No," Merry admitted, "Today was the scariest day of my life."
"Well there's a lot more terror out there in the Universe," the Doctor said cheerfully, "I've been seeing terrifying things for nearly One Thousand and Two Hundred years!"
"You said you were One Thousand," Clara said glancing up at him.
"I was in a hurry at the time," the Doctor explained, "We were inside a crashing plane remember?"
"You could have said the word Twelve Hundred. That doesn't take any longer than saying a Thousand," Clara pointed out.
"Okay I suppose I just didn't want to admit I'm such an ancient man," the Doctor admitted.
"What are you?" asked Merry, "None of the people on the seven worlds can live that long."
"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor said and pain flashed across his face. He looked like he was about to say something else but then decided against it, "So anyway. It's too dangerous for you to come with us. Besides your people need you here. You're going to have to lead them now that their god is dead."
"I don't think I'm ready," mumbled Merry.
"You were the one who inspired everyone to stand up to the Old God," Clara reminded her, "You're singing convinced them that they didn't have to live in fear of that parasite anymore. I think you're people look up to you more than you realise."
"Really?" asked Merry. Clara smiled.
"Really, really," she said and Merry smiled back, remembering the last time Clara had reassured her like that.
"Will you come back?" she asked hopefully. Clara hesitated.
"Yes," she replied after a moment, "We'll come back and visit. Besides the Doctor said he'd like to come here more often." Merry hugged her. Clara hugged her back.
"Don't be gone for too long," Merry said, "I'm going to miss you so much. Thank you for saving us from the Old God."
"It was my pleasure," Clara said only half truthfully as she remembered that she had given up two things that were very precious to her. Her leaf and her mothers ring. Merry pulled away, "I'll see you again Merry. Just watch out for this blue box." Merry nodded.
"Goodbye Clara," she said. Clara realised that the girl actually hadn't said her name until now. For some reason it gave her a strange and somehow sad feeling, as though Merry had just called her mother by her first name, instead of a woman she'd only met a few hours ago. The little girl seemed more grown up after her experiences with the Vigil and the Mummy.
"Goodbye," Clara said and stepped away. The Doctor awkwardly moved forwards. He was no good at goodbyes.
"Well...see you," he said uncomfortably. Merry held out her arms. The Doctor glanced at Clara who nodded towards the little girl. Still not quite understanding, the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Hug her," Clara mouthed the words silently and the Doctor realised that Merry wanted to give him a hug too. He knelt down and the little girl threw her arms around his neck. Then she whispered in his ear;
"Give this to Clara. My people and I owe her this."
She moved back and pressed Clara's ring, the one that had belonged to her mother, into the Doctor's hand. Clara couldn't see what Merry had given the Doctor from her position. The Doctor smiled. Merry had obviously gotten the ring from Dor'een and wanted Clara to have it back.
"Thank you," he said. Merry turned and left the TARDIS. Then she looked back into the big blue box and waved. Clara waved back as the Doctor closed the doors. Merry heard a grinding sound and her eyes widened as the TARDIS faded away into thin air.