Study then travel. It was an annoying but fair trade, and Talitha had to admit it was growing on her. In the past few months she'd somehow managed to have fun, as long as she didn't think too long about some things.
Things like Gallifrey and her other friends: Jaydin, Theta, Salyava...
So she didn't.
Angelo, however, seemed to bring up Gallifrey whenever possible. It wasn't necessarily that he thought Gallifrey was better than anywhere else, he insisted, but everywhere else could not come close to Gallifrey in any respect.
Angelo most strongly believed this when it came to the subject of architecture.
Unfortunately, architecture was the exact reason why Talitha wanted to travel to New York City.
It was something about the delicate carvings on the buildings and fountains, she said.
That cannot compare to Gallifrey's spires and domes, he said.
There was something in the way that glass and metal blended with blue sky, she said.
They was futile, pointless, and primitive he said.
"Please, Angelo, don't be difficult." the TARDIS said. "You'll get to pick where we go after Bernadette."
He was slightly less difficult.
Traveling would be challenging. There were roughly eight hundred languages spoken in that single city, and they were to choose one to learn and practice during their trip.
The signs would be in a language called English, so they decided to learned English together.
Past, present, and future were human concepts that made translating difficult. There were far fewer tenses than there were in Gallifreyan. The distinction between them all was vague, not entirely dependent on normal things like class, time, and location. There were no gender neutral pronouns. Men could not wear skirts, dresses, or robes, due to societal convention, which added insult to injury in Angelo's eyes.
He loved dresses. But he also loved books, and there were many to choose from in his target language. He caught on faster than the others, and soon he was reading every English book he could find in the TARDIS library, although he had a growing preference for fantasy.
"Max the Wolf was a wolf in exactly the same way that foothills are made of real feet and a tiger shark is part tiger, which is to say, not at all Max was in fact a boy, between twelve and thirteen years old, and entirely human..."
Angelo grasped the strange combination of words quite well, although he owed his understanding of figurative language and other oddities to the infamous Lady Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesima, the ruiner of many an Otherstide in the House of Redlooms.
"Well, Max, it seems you've landed yourself in another adventure. At the beginning of the mystery..."
Soon he found himself constantly flipping through pages, always just starting, always just ending, only to start reading again.
"Rain fell that night, a fine whispering rain..."
"...Gabriel Lacroix ran, not daring to look back, running not from the howling winds of the storm, but toward them..."
" 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs by nightfall?' the sphinx asked.
'It's a man.' Anji Kapoor replied without hesitation. She knew the answer, but the question's predictability made everything seem even less real..."
Reality beckoned from somewhere beyond the printed pages. He left their ranks and found himself in the library of the TARDIS once more, a maze of shelves and dark stained wood. A fire blazed in the hearth, and a lamp lit the back of the book in front of him. He yawned, stood, and made his way to bed.
Tomorrow, he would be braving the city streets.
The TARDIS landed with a faint thunk, just another taxi that managed to appear at the least convenient time possible. It passed several people before stopping in front of a park entrance, letting its three passengers off at Central Park, the city's central park.
The three of them had no issue remembering that fact. The real problem was remembering not to stare at everything.
There were people, hundreds of alien people. They were people, only people, wearing clothes quite unlike what they were accustomed to. They knew some of the styles because they were wearing them- Jeans and t-shirts, sweaters and sneakers -but that did not mean they found it any less bizarre.
Bernadette pointed to a torn advertisement on the ground with a group of humans holding what appeared to be musical instruments.
"GHOSTS OF PASHA" it announced proudly.
"What's a pasha?" Bernadette asked.
Angelo shrugged. "It's just a name. It doesn't really matter, I think."
They kept waking, their pace a stroll,
taking in the sight of trees decked in autumn leaves and weathered statues that flanked the path.
After some bit of walking, they found themselves standing in Bethesda Terrace, staring up at the fountain, tall and graceful. An angel stood at its top, letting water cascade down around its dark majesty with a whisper of sound. It collected below, dark, but maybe once white, with only the copper shine of pennies to color it.
Talitha walked around it, taking in its minute details.
It made a gurgling sound.
She walked under arches, looking up at blue and gold tiled ceilings. Worn carvings, the echoing snap of recorded camera shutters on phones. Tile, light, and dark.
She left.
She sat on a step beside Bernadette and Angelo. They sat in silence until she sighed and begrudgingly broke it.
"Can I admit something?"
They nodded, already knowing what she was going to say.
"I thought this would be way more interesting."
"No kidding." Angelo said flatly.
"Like, we learned a whole language just so we could walk around and stare at things?"
"Welcome to America." Bernadette replied.
"Actually," Angelo interrupted, "The English-speaking population of this planet is so insistent on using this mess of a language that they will use it even after moving to different continents, planets, and solar systems."
"You say in English." Bernadette muttered. "But I still can't get over those random words like-"
"Boulevard." Talitha said.
Bernadette winced. "Yes, the random loanwords."
"Extraordinaire."
She stood, making her way up to the balcony above. "Okay Tally, stop."
"Renaissance." Talitha said, following
"By Rassilion, I'm going to punch you."
She smirked. "So just riposte."
Bernadette raised her fists then lowered them, unable to hold back her laughter.
"I risked life and limb to get that out of you." Talitha said. "You never seem to laugh anymore."
"That's not true." Bernadette said. "I laugh when you're around."
"But when I'm not looking." she said, "I don't want you to be so sad."
Bernadette looked out at the courtyard, leaning on the stone carved railing, trading the view of its carefully designed flowers, squares, and swirls for the sight of the people by the lake below. Children went past with balloons tied to their wrists by parents who held their hands, golden in the light of the autumn afternoon.
She sighed. "Sometimes I think I think too much."
"Then don't think." Angelo said simply. "Just don't look back, like it's never-neverland."
"Was that what it was called?" Talitha asked.
"Don't ask me," Angelo replied, "I fell asleep halfway through the movie." He sat, watching the reds and blues of the balloons draw near a central point. Angelo pointed to them. "Why don't we go down and see what all that fuss is about? You two always like to stick your noses into things."
It was true that they did.
The fuss was about a magic show, one that was apparently unexpected but quite welcomed. A man had made a large blue box appear out of nowhere, turning Bethesda Terrace into his stage.
The children clapped and the young man bowed, causing his floppy brown hair and red bow tie to be knocked askew. The crowd enjoyed his awkward embarrassment all the more. He pulled a large hat from his small pockets and a few people tossed coins in. Talitha, Angelo, and Bernadette had no money of the proper currency to give, but they wouldn't have given it anyway.
They could see right through him.
They could sense the time vortex on the "police box" just as well as any sailor could smell the sea on a ship.
They knew he was a time traveler from the moment they laid eyes on him, but they only had one question about him: Why was he was calling so much attention to himself?
While it was true that the best place to hide was in plain sight, even those words of wisdom had their limits.
Talitha stared. "Bernadette, you know how we only know one person this dumb?"
"Well, there are a lot of stupid time travellers."
"But stupid Gallifreyan time travellers?"
Bernadette sighed. "You have a point. It probably is that one idiot."
"Who?" Angelo asked.
"Theta Sigma Lungbarrowmas." the girls replied, saying the name as if it was one of the greatest annoyances they had experienced in their short lives. In fact, he was.
Theta Sigma Lungbarrowmas was a professional half-wit, slacker, and prankster, and was once considered a friend. That was before the consequences of his wild actions caught up with him. They hadn't seen him since then, but it had been rumored that he'd gone renegade, as well as a few other things. It seemed quite plausible that he would reappear as quickly as he had vanished, in the center of it all, just like the time he had brought an impromptu rock band into the first year mathematics class.
"Oh." Angelo said simply. "That guy. Tally, aren't you two related or something?"
"Unfortunately yes." Bernadette replied.
Talitha grinned. "Cousin Thete is the best."
"Both our families banned us from playing with him." Bernadette retorted.
"Because he was the best!" Talitha shot back. "Besides..." She trailed off, realizing that the conversation was missing a contributor. "Angelo, are you okay?"
The boy was still staring at the man, who was drawing smiles onto balloons and twisting smaller ones into dogs, swords, and crowns, while telling their recipients to play nice.
Angelo, however, did not seem interested in getting a balloon. "Do you think he knows how the war ends?"
"You know you're not supposed to ask that sort of thing." Bernadette said. "You're usually against it."
"My parents are fighting in that war." Angelo replied. "I know the rules, but I want to know if they'll come back."
"You can try asking mom later." Talitha offered. "She's a TARDIS, she knows things like that."
"Guardian is not my mother." Angelo growled.
"Okay, okay, we'll ask the idiot then." Talitha replied, pulling Angelo along by the hand until his tight fist loosened to hold her hand in return.
The idiot was a kind soul. He gave Angelo a balloon and sent him on his way, giving him no time to ask any questions regarding intergalactic wars and possible genocide. It was the greatest disappointment in the young boy's life, at least from his perspective.
Bernadette led him away, as if that had been her plan all along. She knew that no one in the right mind would address such a subject in public, or possibly ever. The war had always nothing more than a subject to be skirted around, avoided, and ignored in any possible way. That was the only thing that had made it bearable for a time, so that was the only thing that they knew.
The distance between them grew, spanning the length of Bethesda Terrace, where they could see the lake glisten in the light of the afternoon. They stopped atop the steps, looking back for a moment for the familiar stranger.
They didn't have to, as he spotted them first.
"Excuse me," he said, "I'm the Doctor. Have we met before?"
The children stared.
"Don't tell me. Was it New Jupiter or Satellite Five?"
"Neither." Talitha replied.
"Oh." he said, his confidence lost. "Then where-"
If Bernadette had known that Angelo would answer, she would have stopped him. But she didn't.
The word "Gallifrey" hung in the air, heavy and dark.
The fountain gurgled, humans chatted, but the four Gallifreyans only stood in silence.
The Doctor spoke first. "Oh." Was all he said.
That was all. They looked at one another, a flurry of unspoken questions flying between them.
"How did you leave?"
"Why are you here?"
"How old are you? How long has it been?"
"Are you alright?"
And finally, "Are they?"
It was spoken, the one forbidden question, by Angelo. It was answered and it always was:
"I can't say."
They were walking away, Bernadette dragging Angelo along, while the Doctor stared down at his shoes, trying to process what had happened. He was alone for so long, met with the impossible, then hastily abandoned.
"Why!" he called after them.
Talitha turned. "Because we don't want to know."
Angelo looked up at her. "But I want to know."
"No, you don't." Bernadette said.
"Have you seen Talitha?" Bernadette asked, taking a seat beside the TARDIS console.
The Star Room came to Bernadette's mind, so she went there and found who she was looking for.
"Remember when we used to chase each other around this place?" Talitha asked. She didn't look up from her seat on the glassy floor. Her fingers traced the constellations on the floor, snapping their strings and allowing them to form new and unfamiliar shapes. She sighed. "We were so intent on ignoring."
"Ignoring what?" Bernadette asked.
"Everything." Talitha replied, looking up at her. "We were so intent on ignoring everything that the truth came as a surprise."
"I wouldn't say it was a surprise, exactly." Bernadette admitted. "You always knew we were more or less doomed, I always knew that you liked running away from things, and Angelo knew-" She paused. "I don't know what Angelo knows."
Talitha laughed. "Because that would be too convenient." Her smile faded. "But I feel so guilty for enjoying this, for enjoying running."
"There's nothing wrong with finding the best in a bad situation."
"But this… This is different." she said. "This is just downright irreverent."
"Since when were you reverent?"
"Since never, but shouldn't I be mourning?"
Bernadette sat down beside her. "Look at me. Count how many things you lost, all the things you can never get back."
She stared. "Nothing."
"How much of your family have you lost recently?"
"Just my dad."
"Did you care for him?"
"Not particularly."
"Then you have nothing to feel bad about."
"But what about my friends? My friends other than you?"
"Have you talked to them lately?"
"No." she admitted.
They sat in silence for a time.
"Bernadette?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm an idiot."
Bernadette laughed. "Tell me something I don't know."
Talitha stood. "Well, you might not know what I'm going to do next."
Angelo had been counting, and so far the total number to streets jaywalked was 24.
Or jayran, since Talitha was running yet again.
"Have you noticed how you don't notice what you have until you don't have it?" Talitha said, her voice competing with the sound of traffic, subways, and pedestrian chatter. "Because I just realized that I left someone I shouldn't have!"
She sped over a curb and onto the path into the park, the sudden end of the skyscrapers forming a cross-section of the city behind them. Bernadette and Angelo followed suit.
They flew past tree-lined halls and mosaic walls, words and music accosting their ears.
"Stand over there and I'll-"
"Take your time, we don't have to be and Union Square until-"
They were looking out at the fountain and its inky black water, scanning the Bethesda Terrace for a trace of blue.
A new group of tourists had come and gone, mixed in with the occasional dog-walker to the side. The enigmatic blue box had vanished just as it had come, without explanation and with a volley of questions.
The children stayed put, waiting until the single sun began to set, or until they forgot the purpose of their outing.
"So cute..." Talitha muttered, staring at a fluffy white dog that followed at the heels of purple-haired teen.
"How many colors do pigeons come in?" Angelo asked.
Bernadette shrugged.
"How do humans color their hair so many ways?" Talitha asked. "It's kinda cool."
"Talithayevestrandaveri, you are not going to dye your hair." someone behind them said.
The children turned from their place on terrace.
"Hi mom!" Talitha and Bernadette with a smile.
Angelo rubbed his eyes. "Hello Guardian."
"Goodness, it's past your bedtime."
The timeship was met with a chorus of complaints.
"But I didn't get to see everything!" Talitha said.
"That's because you were looking for things that can't be found. Besides, it would take centuries to see everything in a place this large."
"We have time." Bernadette said.
The TARDIS smirked. "I'm not so sure about that. Can a person have time?"
Bernadette rolled her eyes. "No, I meant it as in the English phrase, the one where you can."
Guardian held the children's hands and carried Angelo on her shoulders, escorting out of the park before dark. "So, if that's so, how much time did we start with?"
"I don't know."
"No, you tell me. Give me an exact number."
"How could I do that?"
"It's easy. Just count to infinity. Zero, one, two..."
"Exi, uli, noi…"
"Tally, no."
"Tally yes."
"English, please."
"Six?"
"From where I left off."
"Five?"
"Now we have a problem."
"So can we come back here again?" Talitha asked.
"Not until you learn your numbers."
"Come on, please…"