So where are we going?" Talitha asked.
"Pulchra." Angelo replied.
"Where's that?"
Angelo shrugged. "It's a planet, one of the ones with huge oceans and weird stuff like that."
Talitha looked across the dinner table at him, then back down at her plate. "Are you excited?"
"No." he said, almost defensively.
Bernadette smirked. "How do you spell it?"
Angelo replied instantaneously. "P-U-L-C-H-R-A."
Bernadette laughed. "So you are excited."
"I am not."
"Oh yes you are."
"I am not! In the contrary, I am an upstanding citizen."
Talitha joined in. "You're a renegade." she sang. "You got a Level 5 planet and everything."
"I don't got it, and I don't have it either."
"Oh, and now you're a Time Lord."
Angelowryredred was fuming, and Talitha felt ashamed of what she had said, but she couldn't take it back.

The ship had expertly defused the situation with dessert, leaving everyone tired and smiling.
"It's time for bed." the TARDIS said over the loudspeaker.
The children complained, said they weren't tired, but in truth they felt absolutely exhausted.
Eventually, they went to their rooms, saying goodnight and closing their doors that faced one another, just as they should be.

The day was for learning, for learning things and words that were unfamiliar and strange. The ship gave them books that spoke of flora and fauna, and concepts like "verdant" and "chlorophyll". There were places and things, maps and diagrams, and a plethora of information that was new and interesting. They never had learned about anything beyond their own planetary system. There was Gallifrey, Polarfrey, and Karn, nothing more. There were stars, of course, but nothing other than their light mattered. There was no life, there were no places. Only the world that they illuminated mattered.
But it seemed like there was more to learn, more and more that came with every book and every page. Every printed word brought a new sense of reality to the world they had been forbidden to touch. It was infinite, it was beautiful, and it was to be respected in all its terrifying vastness.

Conifer. Plateau. Tundra. Glacier.
The landscape of Pulchra would someday be home to intelligent life, foreign settlers who would create cities like the ones they had once known, tall, strong, and powerful.
But now the peaceful forests were home to animals with fur, claws, and teeth. They were kind, as they had known no hunters.
The air was fresh and clean, and it somehow made the hours of study feel worth it.

"Look, that's a conifer!" Angelo said, pointing to a nearby tree.
"They're all conifers." Talitha said tiredly. "You don't need to point out every-" She smiled. "Look, it's a caniform!"
Bernadette and Angelo ran over to get a closer look, leaving the ship behind. She shifted and caught up.
Talitha knew words to describe the TARDIS: Type 120, agile, versatile bipedal, anthropoid. Type 120s could blend in, even in a crowd.
She also knew words to describe the animal she saw: Caniform, mammalian, Ursidae. But Talitha could not understand its behavior, so she asked.
"Why does it always stand between us and the smaller ones?"
"Because it's their mother. It wants to keep them safe."
"But I just want to look at them. They're so fuzzy and cute..."
"It doesn't know that."
Talitha looked up at the TARDIS' dark eyes, then around her long brown coat, the one with too many pockets. "But you're doing the same thing now."
She shrugged. "I suppose I am."
"Look, it's another conifer!" Angelo said.
The timeship laughed. "Yes, Angelo, it is."

The rest of the day was spent learning the names of planets, not for any reason in particular, but simply because the children wanted to. There were planets named for foreign gods, planets named for colors, and planets named for numbers. There were planets named "Ravolox" and "Mondas", and planets with names that were too hard to pronounce.

Bernadette and Talitha jumped over tree roots and chased each other around the twists and turns between the foliage, untiring, while Angelo rode on the TARDIS' shoulders, looking up at the sky.

Finally, Angelo brought his gaze down from its place in the treetops and asked the timeship a question.

"347." the ship said in reply. Her smile did not seemed bothered by it, but she seemed to want to let the matter be.

"What's your name?" asked Talitha, her curiosity latching onto the most obvious yet unanswered question.

"It's 347." the ship replied. The number was her name, and she let it be.

"Can I call you something else?" Angelo asked.

"Can I call you 'mother'?" Talitha asked.

The TARDIS stopped in her tracks, exchanging the conversational snapping of twigs for silence. "Talithayevestrandaveri," she said, "You cannot call me that."

Bernadette looked up at her challengingly. "Mom."

"No." 347 replied.

"Mom." Talitha repeated.

"No."

"Mom!" Talitha said again, running up beside the ship, jumping to catch her attention.

"Mom!" Bernadette said, the word mixing with laughter.

"Mom!" the girls said, over and over. "Mom!"

It was a game to them, and eventually the TARDIS gave in.

"Fine! I won't be your parent, but I'll be your guardian at least." she snapped.

The children cheered. "Sort of mom!"

Their guardian shushed them. "Be quiet, Angelo is sleeping."

And her children listened.