Through the language generating website vulgarlang, I created a rendition of the Gallifreyan language. I went through a list of names of people, places, and some titles connected to Gallifrey (i.e., Rassilon, Tecteun, Arcadia, Romanavoratrelundar, etc.), placed these names into an analyzer, messed around with phonology and grammar and stuff, and poof! We have a conlang! I'll put translations into the story and notes at the beginning or end of each chapter that the language is used.

Here's the translation for the title of this chapter:

Le - a

'Dralo - environment (natural world); nature

Is - foreign

Pal - new; fresh

Literally translated it would be "A(n) Environment Foreign New", but the more poetic translation would be "A Strange New World".

I also wanted to give a content warning for non-graphic mentions and implications of domestic violence concerning a child.

Word Count: 5,052

There was a tree, old and cracked open halfway up the trunk. Most of its branches were bare and the wind was cool when it blew. Its leaves were silver along the back and silver-green in the front, and they were dying. In fact, there were more leaves scattered in the grass than there were on the tree itself. And there was a boy sitting in the grass, no older than eight and with a shock of jet black hair that fell across his face. He was crying.

I blinked a couple of times, confused. Where the hell was I? Who was this kid? A glance up at the sky told me I could have been on Earth, but a second look at the scene before me blew that out of the water immediately. The grass the boy was sitting in was almost the same shade of red as his cloak. Red grass. Silver-leafed trees. No sepia sky, but that was only at night if I remembered right.

"Shit."

The boy started and his head whipped up and around. His eyes, while red and swollen, were of a stunning clarity I'd never seen before and they seemed to look right through me. "Who are you?" he asked.

Four years worth of experience with children kicked in and I booted all of my anger, fear, and confusion to the back of my head so I could crouch down and offer the boy my most genuine smile. "I'm Diana. Are you okay? What's your name?"

I tried as casually as I could to tuck the blaster Karvanista had given me into the back of my waistband, only to remember that I was wearing a kurta over my leggings. So I quickly shucked my skirt up and pretended to fiddle with my clothes while I tucked the blaster in, safely out of sight.

The boy narrowed his eyes. "I've never heard a name like that before," he said with a hand pressed to his cheek. "Are you a Time Lord?"

So I was right. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or burst into tears again, or maybe hunt the Doctor down and smack him for giving me the VorMan in the first place. After the horror of being tracked down by Division twice already and what I could only assume was the culmination of Evelina's prophecy, I would have been content never to step foot on Gallifrey or hear its name ever again. And yet here I was, right in the middle of the lion's den.

"No," I answered.

"You're a Shobogan! I've always wanted to meet one! They all say you're savages, you know, but I don't think you are. I think you must be very brave and very smart to live outside the Citadel for so long."

Sure, kid, I'm a Shobogan. And it actually made me crack a smile. If I'd really been a Shobogan I probably would have been a little offended at how the boy spoke of my people, but I knew he meant well. Kids are always good at sticking their feet in their mouths, it's part of why I've always loved them.

"But." The boy frowned this time. "What are you doing here?"

I looked up at the sunlight glistening off the leaves. "I got lost."

The wind picked up and whistled over the grass, rustling each blade so it tickled my ankles. "That's okay. I get lost all the time. My dad says it's because I'm stupid, but I think he's just sad because Mother died and that's why he's being so mean."

My heart all but fell apart. What kind of person would say that to their kid? And where can I find him so I can give him a piece of my mind? But I knew saying any of that would upset him and it wouldn't be fair to burden him with my own anger. That was all adult stuff.

"You're right," I said as I moved so I was sitting cross-legged next to him. "Adults can say some pretty mean things sometimes, especially if they're feeling sad or hurt or angry about something else. But I don't think you're stupid. Lots of people get lost. It doesn't mean you're not smart."

The boy considered me for a moment, brilliant eyes searching and searching for something I could only guess at. "You're weird. And definitely not a Time Lord."

"What, why?"

"Because you're nice. Nobody's ever nice and especially not other Time Lords. That's how I know," he said with the certainty only a child could have. "Except for Mother. But she was weird too."

I smiled faintly as another breeze came under the bough of the tree and sent a faint chill up my spine. The air felt and smelled like autumn, but with a pinch of time. "My mom's weird too, y'know."

The boy's eyes went wide. "You have a mom?"

I laughed so hard that it turned into a snort. "Of course I have a mom! Everyone has a mom." My voice wavered at the end. I did my best to swallow it, to be present with this boy and help him feel a little less alone, but he'd just lost his mother and so had I and maybe, just maybe that was okay because we could feel alone together. "She's gone too, though."

The boy was silent for an eternity. He gazed up at me and thought while the wind played with his hair. I allowed the tears I'd been fighting to gather along my water line and let my grief resettle in my chest. The leaves rustled overhead and the grass tickled my ankles and the boy leaned into me, put his head on my shoulder and sniffled when I wrapped an arm around him.

"It's going to be okay," I whispered with a kiss to the crown of his head where a teardrop had landed.

And for a moment it was. I listened to the wind and his breathing and felt the strength of his double heartbeat thudding through his shoulder blades. I let myself cry and the boy let me hold him. And it was terrifying to look out over the sea of red grass, to know that I was on Gallifrey and I had no one to guide me through it except myself (and it was partially my own fault), to finally let myself feel the full weight of my loneliness and grief in a way I hadn't done properly, unfiltered and raw, since hot chocolate mornings with Jack and late night bouts of anguish with the Doctor at my side. I didn't even know how long ago those days were. At some point, time had started to bleed together until it was just a knot of tangled memories and feelings, and for what? How did I even get here? Why was I here? What was the fucking point of it all?

The tiny body underneath me suddenly shuddered and I withdrew from him like I'd been burnt, worried that I'd hurt him or made him uncomfortable. And while he did look pained, he wasn't shying away from me. If anything, he was drawing even closer to me while he continued to shake.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I cooed. "Talk to me, sweetie. What is it?"

"Why don't you like it here?" the boy sniffled.

"What do you mean?"

His tiny, sad eyes flitted in the direction of my arm around his shoulders where my bare forearm brushed against his neck. "I can hear you. You said you didn't know why you were here. Is that why you're sad, too?"

I should have withdrawn and tucked my arm at my side, made sure I wasn't touching him skin to skin anymore, but I was too startled by the fact that he could hear me just like the Doctor could to actually move. "How can you hear me? You're not..." You're not the... not them.

But before he could answer, another voice rang out like thunder. "Kahshi!" it boomed and the boy recoiled into me. "Where are you, boy?"

The boy, presumably Kahshi, squeezed his eyes shut and turned to bury his face in my chest. "He's mad. I don't want him to hurt me, please don't let him hurt me."

What the fuck? Who the hell had hurt this child and decided it was okay? "Who, sweetie?" Although I suspected I already knew. Abusive father. With a reaction like that and from what the boy had already told me, it had to be.

I could just make out the violent stamping of feet on dead leaves over the steadily louder and louder angry muttering of a man on a rampage. The boy was sobbing and shaking his head, grabbing at me so frantically that it was leaving marks on my arms, and I felt frozen. I wasn't nearly strong enough to stand up to a man, let alone an angry or aggressive one, but I knew that if I did nothing to protect this child it was likely that no one would and I didn't have any faith in the Gallifreyan justice system. I'd seen how they treated the best of them, albeit if only through a television. No, I had to do something and quick.

"They said you ran away, huh?"

The man was getting closer, although I couldn't tell which direction he was coming from. Maybe he was shrouded by the other trees blanketing the far edges of the field? Or he was hiding on purpose to scare Kahshi? For all I knew, he was fucking invisible.

Kahshi was too terrified to move or even listen to me, so I hauled myself to my feet and took him with me, propped on my hip with his legs slotted around me and his face now buried in my neck. And fuck, he was heavy. Or I was just really weak. I could run, but we wouldn't get very far before his father caught up to us. I had to do something, though. I had to keep him safe.

"Hold on tight," I said as I shifted his weight to rest entirely on one arm. "I got you, Kahshi."

"You think you can hide from me? You think you can hide from being a Time Lord?"

I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. How do I save him?

There, Kahshi answered, his voice a gentle, trembling thing inside my head. The shed. That's where I hide from him when he's angry.

A vague direction had been placed within me. I had to dart past the trees, around that thicket, and along the fence where the tool shed was. I ran. I wasn't sure if it was the atmosphere difference or the elevation or the added weight of a small child, but I was red in the face and uncomfortably short on breath by the time we reached the shed. His father hadn't found us, something I chose to chalk up to a miracle, but Kahshi's fear was as vibrant as ever even after we'd stumbled inside and blockaded the door. I could feel his double heartbeat thundering away in my head whenever we touched.

"You're going to the Academy and if I have to beat that into you, I will!"

I pulled him to my chest and buried his little head in my neck. It's okay, sweetie. I won't let him hurt you. I'd fight his dad off with a trowel if I had to, but I simply refused to let this child be abused any longer.

He didn't respond, didn't say anything, didn't make a single noise or even acknowledge me or his father. He cuddled into me and projected his frantic, terrified heartsbeat into my head. Dum dum dum dum. The trees outside creaked and groaned in the wind. Kahshi's father grew more and more distant until it seemed he was no longer there. Dum dum dum dum.

It wasn't until the daylight began to fade and what little of the sky I could see through the cracks in the shed began to turn red and then orange, it wasn't until then that the boy spoke in a voice that had known too much violence, a voice that had a knowing no child should ever have. "He'll be asleep soon," he mumbled. "Then I can go back."

It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

"Will you come with me, please? So he doesn't hurt me? He won't hurt me in front of someone else."

When he wasn't running and hiding from his poor excuse for a father, Kahshi was an excitable child who seemed eager to share stories and beamed whenever he managed to make me smile. The whole way home, he told me all about his father's grand estate and the adventures he had venturing through them. There was a patch of daisies not far from the shed that often drew in flutterwings the size of his face and the tiny brook that wound its way through the fields from the house to the edge of the estate, which seemed to be one of his favorite places to explore. He told me about the wild loth cats and the burrow he'd carved into an old fruit tree where he sometimes hid to watch the moons come up. And then he told me about the academy his father wanted him to go to, how it was a stuffy old place full of stuffy old people and the people who went there never came back the same.

"I'll never go there," he assured me with enough conviction that I almost believed him. "I'm going far away from here. One day."

I squeezed his hand encouragingly. "Oh yeah? Where are you going to go?"

He yanked his hand away to make a grand gesture signifying the sky, space, and everything beyond it. "Everywhere. I'm gonna go to every star and I'm gonna own them all!"

"Own them?" I laughed. "Why would you want to own a star?"

"Because I can make my own rules there. And no one can tell me what to do or where to go. And no one can hurt me anymore. Would you like to come with me?"

I tried not show how deeply his pain had affected me. He didn't need to know, he just needed to be a kid. I smiled. "Where are you going first, Kahshi?"

He frowned, chin in hand as he thought about it. "Hm. I think... the Kasterboron Borealis! I can see it sometimes from my window, when the moons aren't so big."

"Well, maybe one day you'll get to go there. And if we're both very lucky and we can find each other again, I'd be honored to go with you. How does that sound?"

It must have sounded pretty good because the resounding response I was given came in the form of a hug around my midsection. "D'you promise?"

This was the hardest part of working with kids, the boosting of their moral when everything else seemed to be crumbling around them. "I don't know that I can promise, sweetheart. A lot could happen between now and when you're all grown up. But if you're very brave and very strong, you can do anything you set your mind to. Does that make sense?"

I like you, he finally declared some time later, his hand firmly pressed into mine. You're a very nice Shobogan.

And you're a very nice little Time Lord.

I'm not yet. I don't know if I want to be.

"Well, whatever you end up being, Kahshi, I'm sure it'll be amazing."

His father's estate was, from the looks of it, the epitome of Gallifreyan architecture. Tall, metallic structures like the skyscrapers in the Citadel stretched toward the clouds, domed at the top by one similar to the Citadel's but much smaller. Aqueduct-like structures traversed the surrounding grass and garden areas, although whether there was water in them or they were simply bridges I couldn't tell because they were too tall to see into. Pillars carved in an eerie echo of the Greco-Roman style littered the garden and front entrance, lining the walkway from the brook to the front door. And in the background, stretching higher than even the highest building could, stood a great mountain, reddish-brown and snow-capped at the very top. Whoever this kid's dad was, it was clear that he was wealthy. I wouldn't have been surprised he was the richest man on Gallifrey.

"You sure your dad's asleep?"

Gravel crunched under our feet as we stepped from grass to a proper path. "He's got a very important job, so he goes to bed really early."

It wasn't the vote of confidence I was hoping for, but it would have to do until I could come up with a better idea. And it was all going so well, sneaking him inside without much noise, not accidentally sounding any alarms. Kahshi seemed to know how to get past everything. Except for his father.

The man seemed to appear out of nowhere right as we came upon the stairwell, charging into my space to grab the boy by the ear and yank him away. "Where have you been, boy? I searched for you for hours!"

"Dāma!" he howled. "Please!"

"And you. Who in the blazes are you, marching my son here in the night?" He was enormous, this man, tall and and broad and with the meanest eyes I'd ever seen. He was burning with anger, reaching for me, backing me up and up until there was nowhere for me to go but straight into a corner. "What have you been doing with him?"

I flattened myself against the wall in some vain attempt to put as much distance between us as possible. "Nothing! I swear! I-I was just walking in the fields when I saw him, he was crying. S-Said he was lost. So I offered to help him get home. That's all!"

He yanked hard on his son's ear, crouching down so their eyes were level. "Is that the truth? Don't lie to me."

Kahshi was crying again. Big, fat tears rolling down his cheeks, streaking through the dirt that had smudged his jaw and slipping down his throat to the collar of his robes. Those awful, uncomfortable looking, restrictive black and white robes.

"Answer me!"

"She helped me, Dāma," he blubbered. "Please..."

"And what else?"

He looked at me and I knew. He wasn't strong enough to stand up to his father. I didn't expect him to be. He was just a little boy who wanted to make his dad proud and I couldn't fault him for that, that was okay. I'd just have to be strong enough for the both of us.

It's okay, I told him, though I knew he couldn't hear me without contact. I made it clear in my eyes, nodded ever so slightly to give him permission. It's okay. I got this.

"... She's a Shobogan."

The father's head swiveled in my direction, slow, purposeful, patient. There was something awful behind eyes that made me want to crawl into a dark hole and never come out again. "That's what I thought." When he returned to his full height, he stepped even closer into my personal space, not yet touching me but the promise was there. Don't move or else. "And what is a savage like you doing out of the Wastelands?"

I didn't know enough to talk my way out of this. I couldn't flub knowledge on Gallifreyan politics or geography or anything important, really. I didn't even know what or where the Wastelands were. I knew I was in danger and I knew Kahshi was too. I knew I needed to be very, very careful or I'd end up arrested. Maybe even dead. I wouldn't have put it past him. It seemed deadbeat abusers were the same on every planet, not just Earth.

"I didn't mean to travel this far." That much was true. It was all just some awful, cosmic mistake.

"Come to rob me, did you? Thought you could pull a fast one on a member of the Council?"

"No, sir. I didn't mean to do anything. I just saw your son scared and alone and I thought I could help him, that's all. I only wanted to help."

Kahshi's father curled his lip at me. "We'll see about that." To his son, he seemed to be sending a telepathic message and it wasn't a good one. It looked painful. But it caused Kahshi to go running up the stairs with his ear clutched under his hand and his shoulders shaking so forcefully that I worried he'd simply fall apart like a machine without its screws. To me, that same danger flashed in his eyes as he considered me again. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing," I answered with my best, most honest and neutral expression. He could probably tell I was scared out of my skin, but I wanted to put on a brave face and show that he couldn't intimidate me as easily as he might have hoped. Even if it was just an act.

His reached for my hand then and I jolted into the wall; nowhere to go, but even moving just a millimeter away from him was enough. If he got his hands on me, there was no telling what he'd do. He was big and broad, probably strong, and I was smaller than him. I didn't know if Gallifreyan men were as bad as human ones and I wasn't about to find out.

"Don't touch me. If you're concerned about why I'm here, then you can turn me in to law enforcement, the Council, whatever you want, I don't care." I did, but he didn't need to know that either. "But you don't have any right to put your hands on me."

"You forget you're in my home, Shobogan. I caught you breaking and entering into a Council member's estate. I could have you executed for that."

I didn't doubt that. I didn't doubt that he was a powerful and vengeful sort of man, and that if he really did get the Gallifreyan equivalent of the police (or Division) involved, then I was toast. So I needed to get out of there. I could come back for Kahshi later, but I couldn't save him if I was imprisoned or otherwise incapacitated.

Right. As far as I could tell, the man hadn't noticed my vortex manipulator. He likely would have ripped it off if he had, so all I had to do was move that arm behind my back so he wouldn't see me activate it. Easier said than done when he was still staring me down like I was the innocent little critter he'd cornered in the wild and he was a hungry, hungry wolf.

My voice quivered when I spoke again, but I powered through all the same. "Like I said, sir. You're free to call in law enforcement if you want. I won't resist."

This time he smiled, but it was a crooked, sardonic twist of his lips that made the pit of my stomach drop in a horribly uncomfortable way. "You won't, will you? Hm. That's quite intelligent for a Shobogan."

I hated him. I really, truly hated him. No child deserved to be raised by an abusive, racist, power-hungry creep of a father. Kahshi deserved so much better.

Thank you, sir, I wanted to say. Fuck you, sir. I wanted to unleash every swear word I knew on him, but I bit my tongue. Keep it to yourself, Di. Don't test him.

"What are you doing so far away from home? Who are you working for?"

I shifted my left arm marginally towards the arch in my back, tried to make it as obvious as possible that I was uncomfortable with his closeness so my movement didn't look out of place. "I'm not working for anybody. I'm just a-a wanderer. That's all."

"You're not spying for your kin, are you? Trying to gather information for a raid?"

The hell? Did I just have a suspicious looking face? What was with the spy accusations lately? "No, I'm not a spy! I'd be a terrible spy! If I was spying on you, I would've made sure not to get caught!"

"Do not," he muttered, one hand hovering threateningly in the air above me, "get smart with me, woman. I do not tolerate disrespect and certainly not from the likes of you."

Get out of here, for crying out loud. Get yourself out of here!

I cowered into the wall, tucking both my arms behind my back in an exaggerated display of submission. It was difficult to find the cover at first, difficult to figure out how to unfasten it without making any noise. I'd have to make some to cover it. Then I'd be free, then I'd be safe.

I forced a cough as I averted my eyes, playing up the act, tapping into my already substantial fear. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry." Snap. There! "Please don't be angry with me. I'm sorry."

Sorry you're such a fucking tool.

My thumb pressed against one of the buttons, hopefully the one that would send me to the next pre-programmed location and somewhere much safer than here, as I dared to make eye contact with him once more. There was a split second where he seemed to understand what I was doing - maybe he could even sense it with his 'superior Time Lord senses' - and I almost thought he'd be able to stop me, but then he and the rest of his estate disappeared in a pop of electricity and I was floating in a void, dark and quiet and far away from him. And then I was dropping down from a height.

My back hit something cool and firm first, something with a bunch of knobs and papers and various utensils I couldn't discern in the moment, but whatever it was I'd hit at an angle and I almost immediately rolled off the side and onto the floor. A loud crashing of glass and clattering of metal, wood, and God knows what else followed me, showering me in little glass pieces as I curled in on myself to protect my face. There was a long minute of silence where the only thing I was aware of was just how much my body suddenly hurt, and then it was suddenly not quiet and I was feeling panicked and terrified all over again.

"Did you hear that?" "Sounded like somethin' breakin'." "Don't suppose it's-" "They're a good couple hours away, mate. Course it's not."

I scrambled onto my knees as I tried to recover my bearings. From what little I could see, I was in some sort of science lab, it was nighttime, and I'd just materialized on top of someone's work desk. Real great. I'd probably ruined some of their fancy experiments, knowing my luck. Just as I hauled myself to my feet, careful to avoid nicking myself on any glass residue, I caught sight of the lab doors from across the table. There were two armed men in uniform working at unlocking it, UNIT soldiers by the looks of it. And therein lay the dilemma: apart from the Fugitive Doctor, I hadn't met anyone earlier than ol' Big Ears and I wasn't sure just how far back we went, he and I. I liked to think I had eventually gotten to know all of his incarnations, but I didn't know and I wasn't in the mood for potentially being accosted due to disturbing government property just in case he did already know me. In the far corner of the room, where it was darkest, I spotted the TARDIS. Perfect! I just had to dash inside and avoid the soldiers, then work on explaining myself to the Doctor whenever he showed up. (Not to mention ask him why and how the hell he managed to pull the console out of the inside and put it on the outside, but that could wait.)

The TARDIS hummed softly in greeting, the vibrations running up my arms as I pressed my hands to the wood paneling. Nice to see you too, old girl, but I'm a bit preoccupied at the-

"You there! What are you doing?"

The lab doors were unlocked and even in the shadows, the soldiers could see me. I fumbled around with the handle for a moment, pushing and pulling and jamming my shoulder into the wood, but she wasn't budging an inch. No no no no no no no- "Dammit, let me in. Let me in! TARDIS!"

"Freeze!" ordered one of the men. "Don't move. Put your hands where we can see them."

Well. No point in fighting the inevitable. UNIT wasn't Division and I knew they wouldn't hurt me. Besides, the Doctor would be able to explain everything. Right?

Next time - everything is not as it seems at UNIT and amidst the chaos of being arrested, Di is worried about Division, Kahshi, and the concerning and growing rift between the Doctor and the Brigadier. doo wee ooo~