"Othello!" Theta called out to his friend with Taylor walking behind him, keeping her emerald eyes peeled for the missing Time Lord.
Theta took her throughout Gallifrey, letting her see things that she hadn't saw before, and what little Paul knew from his father.
Large water fountains with statues of Time Lords dot areas, the cooling mist from the water spraying upright made Taylor shiver as Theta noted that they get cooler as the night went on.
"You sure he didn't go home?" Taylor inquires if it was possible that Othello snuck his way home, but Theta doubted it, whenever they did their tricks, they hid for a while until everything blew over.
Curious, Taylor asked why Theta didn't simply use his telepathy, before he reminded her how their society "loved prodding everyone's thoughts" more than their own, that it was safer for their antics to be spoken aloud or on paper.
"Did you pick another spot to meet up at?" Taylor asks another question, and Theta answers that they had hiding spots all over Gallifrey, could never have enough.
It was all the rage he and his likeminded classmates took part in, having their own areas where they could breathe and not have to worry about their foreboding elders.
He couldn't begin to tell where the hiding places were, no one outwardly told each other where theirs were, but telepathically it's off limits.
Either you know or you don't.
"I'm sure your… elders wouldn't be happy," Taylor notes how the "children" of the Time Lords were keeping their own secrets.
Snorting, Theta mustered that it was only fair, calling out how the elders had their secrets close to their chests, that it would be impossible for anyone to know anything unless something happens.
Even then he doubted they would be forthcoming with him and those of his age since they're strong in their tradition.
Going around the corner, Theta attempts to beckon Othello with, "Come on! This isn't funny, anymore, let's go on already, mum got a pot of stew going!"
Othello still didn't show himself, and Theta became worried as he wondered where his friend had gone, bringing up that he'd always show up eventually, but he hadn't, and well, it wasn't like there was anywhere they could hide outside.
Trying to come up with ways of comforting him, Taylor promises that they'll find his friend, and he thanked her for it, claiming that not many people would do it here.
Aptly put, "everyone's too far gone up their arse."
Scratching the side of her head, Taylor pondered possible hiding spots before suggesting that Othello had gone somewhere he shouldn't.
Thinking it over, Theta noted that he and his classmates have been thinking of ways of getting into the fabled Underkeep.
"The Underkeep?" Taylor raised her fine brow as she echoed the word.
Nodding, his platinum curls tightly bounced, Theta explains that it was a legend among them, that there was something underneath Gallifrey.
Something that not even the elders knew about.
Which, logically, is quite enticing for the young Time Lords to want to explore, but of course, their elders claimed there's nothing underneath Gallifrey.
Only prisons.
"What do you think it is?" Taylor asks him as they go off to look for Othello in a different part of Gallifrey.
From what Theta knew about it, it was created back when the planet was green and there were villages and towns far as the eye can see, that where Gallifrey was located was said to be a castle.
This castle was ruled by the first king, who was said to fight the encroaching Daleks by himself, despite everyone seeing it as a fool's errand.
He was said to been buried in the Underkeep, but no one was ever sure, and when the Daleks began their incursions more frequently, it resulted in the castle being overtaken by the citizens of the planet, building over everything trying to keep themselves protected.
Since then, it's become legends and stories, but never anything substantial, even the elders weren't sure what was true or false, but Theta knew that they weren't fond of anyone snooping around, claiming that they risked damaging valuable artifacts.
Doesn't stop the children from wondering all the same, their curiosity stronger than their appetites, they'll keep trying until they find something, but the threat of exile kept them relatively quiet about their ambitions.
Reminded Taylor about her youth, her desire to know more about ancient history and whatever else proved to cause her mother grief so much that she kept quiet whenever she wanted to embark on a journey through the different dynasties of Egypt.
That before finding out the one pharaoh was an alien that was worshiped, but that's beside the point.
"Hold on!" Theta stopped Taylor from moving any further as he pointed down the corridor, swearing he saw Othello at the end of it.
Hesitantly, Taylor followed him, and he led her down the corridor that turned right, from there Othello was nowhere in sight.
It didn't stop Theta from pulling on Taylor's arm as he ushered her to help track him down, that he was getting annoyed with his friend's prank, and most of all, he didn't want the elders knowing about it, they're already in their crosshairs as it is, they can't afford them being alerted.
"Not like there's people around here, anyhow," Taylor challenged that there was nobody else except them out and about.
Shaking his head disapprovingly, Theta warns her, "Just because they're not hanging around fountains all day doesn't mean they don't know what's going on, there's a reason the Vanguard don't come up here much."
It may look odd to Taylor how there's nobody lingering outside Gallifrey even in the day, but it's normal here, everyone has their own schedule, and even though it doesn't look like it, one move, and they'd all converge.
The strength of the people, all that.
Looking down at her wristwatch, Taylor musters that she needed to rejoin Paul, that he would be worried about her if he saw her missing.
She felt the change in the air as Theta took on a different tone while he led her to lavish doors leading somewhere, vaguely Taylor pieced out words inscribed in the accents denoting that there was a restricted area beyond the door.
Consequences will follow if someone goes through the doors, explicitly told in the etched accents.
Hesitantly stepping backwards, Taylor gestures as she asked Theta if he knew what he was doing, and he affirmed with a sharp, "It's not my first time, come on, my friend's waiting!"
Seeing doubt in her emerald eyes, Theta tried plying her with, "It'll be worth it, promise!"
Chewing on her inner lip, Taylor weighs her options before hearing the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor, and with them near the door, it would make them culpable in the elders' eyes.
Against her better judgement, Taylor helped pick the doors, nothing electronic in them, just heavyset doors, and upon entering she and Theta were on the top of a staircase descending below, from there Theta guided her down the stairs.
Her boot heels clanking against the granite steps, Taylor watched as they descended into darkness, upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, the only light came from torches on the walls, a faint smell that seemed familiar, comforting almost, but she couldn't place it.
"Othello!" Theta called out to him again in a harsh whisper.
He walked ahead of Taylor as he kept moving his head, he gone up to where the corridor turned right, and upon turning the corner he out, "There you are!"
Relieved Theta finally found Othello, Taylor made her way through the corridor just as Theta turned the corner, upon reaching the corner, she barely registered a prick as she saw an outline on the ground and her body collapsing in a heap on the ground.
A figure stood over her before reaching down and picking her up from the floor, as they did, her necklace came undone and dropped near Theta's body.
Slowly, the figure carried her down the corridor ahead into the deeper part of Gallifrey, their footsteps muffled, and as they disappeared, someone came around the corner from the staircase.
"Bloody hells, Theta, thisisn'tfunny!" Othello called out.