Dr Who : "To Forgive..."

Summary: On her (hopefully) redemption arc, Blissy meets her first challenge.

"On the Road Again..." Part XVI…

"Well, I suppose this was inevitable…" River noted. "Though I do appreciate your not having generally troubled me before." Smile. "I've always taken it as a bit of respect for my Doctor."

Rather fancy type I see…Eyeing Blissy in her dress suit.

And what's with the hat? Trying for a Jackie Kennedy 1962 look? Though I can see why she's looking at something brighter, colorwise.

You know I never got much chance to play with Mel's colors in dress once I grew up. The yellow's not bad. I might try a purple with that dark skin.

Blissy noting River's outfit. I guess the causal suit and jeans look works, for some of us.

"Something in the former mes just assumed he'd never forgive us for harming you, I suppose." Blissy noted. "Though I won't deny I think it was going to be the Master's final blow. Though the Mistress did want to win the good old, seduce him with an army or by helping him find his home to Gallifrey, way."

Wait…Yes! She was thinking…

Damn, it's gone. Had it right up there for half a sec…A trace memory…

"Koschei?" Mila, concerned.

If you're going to go mad in this hat shop over meeting your rival for your beloved's affections…? She eyed her.

"I'm all right, Mama. Oh, Dr. Song…This is Mila, my mother. Through back to my origins on Gallifrey." Blissy presented Mila.

"Really? Nice to meet you." River offered a hand which Mila took and shook gingerly.

Given I'm the mother of a universe-plaguing mass murderer…Even if her past acts were induced by a cruelly manipulated mental illness…I could wonder if that's sarcasm.

Especially coming from the (in)famous River Song…And the wife of the man my child loved and tormented and again loves to a distraction I fear.

"Don't be concerned. I'm aware your…Daughter…Is in a stable form at the present." River smiled at Blissy. "My role here is like the other observers, though I was specially commissioned by…"

"Mother Superior Tasha Lem…" Blissy noted.

"Hmmn-hmmn" nod.. "Sent a messenger to my office at Luna University. And a vortex manipulator, plus an offer one cannot refuse, and a temp job managing this place, to help me slip in unnoticed. Or, less noticed." River nodded. "I was actually hoping to see the Doctor here, is he really up to Fifteen, now?" wry grin.

"He is." Blissy nodded. "That's a lovely hat. Might I try it?" she indicated the hat she'd had her eye on.

"Certainly. I don't go over big on them myself, despite selling them, but…" River turned to where the hat glimmered in its holofield. A press of button and it materialized in the spot, she reaching for it.

"Here you are." She handed it to Blissy.

"What do you think, Mama?" Blissy, adjusting hat in the mirrored wall of the shop before her.

"It goes very well with the yellow." River noted, saleswoman kicking in.

"Tilt it a bit more…" Mila suggested. "Yes, that's rather nice.

"So…I call you…" River began.

Wish you didn't…Mila sighed. Wish we'd avoided this place altogether. But, as she says, who knew?"

"Blissy. I'm actually a product of voluntary possession of a companion of the Twelfth Doctor. And I'll take it." Blissy eyed herself again. Yeah…That tilt is just right.

I know Bill wasn't a hat person, but…

"'Eyebrows'?" River smiled fondly. "Aren't they wonderful? That'll be fifty Trenzalore credits. Thanks." As Mila offered a card which she scanned from pocket reader.

"Oh, yeah." Blissy agreed. "Oh…My Mama's a bit nervous. Could you assure her, just a bit more…?" eyeing River.

"Certainly. Ma'am, so long as she does no harm or seems inclined to, your daughter's welcome here and I've no hostile intent." River smiled. "Besides, hostile intent is difficult on Trenzalore."

"Clearly that companion wasn't that Clara?" River noted to Blissy.

"My Clara? No, no…" Blissy shrugged. "Bill Potts, very sweet girl. Missy was trying to redeem herself on a test mission which got cocked up. My Saxon Master, do you know of him? Right." To River's nod. "I was truly lunatic then, even for the Master."

Mila distinctly nervous…

"Twelve mentioned him while we were…Busy together…For twenty five years." Smile. "And I've made my own study of your counterparts. I expected I'd encounter one or several sooner or later. Though, this…" she indicated Blissy. "Bit of a surprise."

"She's trying very hard, Dr. Song." Mila cut in, anxiously.

"I'm sure. Else this conversation would be going very differently." River, wave of hands. "I haven't my husband's patience with his foes, I'm afraid. But, truly. I accept what I've been told of you." Smile to Blissy. "Sorry, please go on."

"Well, with he and Mondasian Cybermen showing up, things cocked up as I said." Off-hand wave. "Missy nearly succumbed to Saxon's efforts to win her back from Redemption. But she…I." wry shrug. "Did try in the end and Bill decided to help me out, since Saxon had blocked my regeneration…He didn't take kindly to us wanting to stand with the Doctor at the very end." Sigh…Wave of hands. "If he's told you about my other selves, you can guess."

"Oh…Yes…" River nodded.

Given he was clearly rather fond of you, insane or no, I think preferred the Master, in some ways. Him I could just kill and claim it was for the greater good.

"Well, dying Missy possessed, or rather was allowed by Bill to possess, her dying body and with a bit of time and regeneration energy, voila." Blissy shrugged, indicating herself. Eyeing River…

Not trying to make it a contest, but I would say I'm a bit younger by appearance.

Not that that would matter to him…Of course. Inward sigh.

But I get it. And am content with what I have from him.

Ok, it is nice to think we've been tangled together for ages before you ever were Tardis-conceived, girl.

But…I've accepted things. I am content, so long as he thinks kindly of me and we are friends.

Good, loving friends…Who grew up together on the same incredibly advanced planet.

No, stop…She can't help that she's dead. I might be dead tomorrow.

But does she always have to find ways to pop up in his every time line? Well…If I survive. And if he's pleased with me…There's nothing that says I can't start poppin' round.

Hello, First Doctor…I'm an old friend. Second Doctor, I just wanted to warn you that your old friend Koschei's gone bonkers and may try to bother you…Me? Oh, I'm Blissy, a friend from your future…

Yeah…Hey, not like I'm trying to break up their marriage or kill her.

"But you didn't know I was coming?" she asked. Mila eyeing River as well.

"Well, I'd heard as everyone on Trenzalore that more Time Ladies were coming to join Lady Zoa's team here, from new Gallifrey. You can't really keep secrets on Trenzalore, as you know." River nodded. "But the details as to who specifically, one only heard rumors after you arrived. Though I suspect Mother Superior Lem expected you to find me sooner or later as she'd briefed me on you. And said Fifteen had vouched for you, should you appear. "

"You've been working with my sister, Lady Zoa?" Mila asked.

"Actually, not really. Tasha Lem thought it best we pursue the matter via different channels and instructed me not to contact her. I've kept up with her results via the shared database and I'd like to think, she mine as well."

"And you've been here, how long?" Blissy asked.

"Nearly two years now…" River noted. "Nice enough place if not exactly the most exciting."

"And…If I may ask?"

"About the same if perhaps less advanced than your Aunt Zoa's results." Shrug. "Lots of curious time pulses leading deep into the Galaxy even long after the Doctor had left. Some evidence of tampering with Reality. Bit hard to fathom…Now you know, Sydney…Another alien delegate…"

"That strange Dalek?" Mila blinked.

"He was very nice, Mama." Blissy noted.

"Oh, yes…He's a major breakthrough in Dalek evolution. Insightful, creative, quite charming, even rather funny." River smiled. "Believe me, I'm no great fan of the Daleks…" she noted Mila's annoyed look. "But Sydney is quite different. I believe he sincerely admires the Doctor. The Commander the Daleks sent just before, in charge now, Dalek Belkar, is rather a refreshing change too, though not quite possessing Sydney's winning characteristics."

"And you trust these Daleks?" Mila stared.

"Oh, not so far as I could throw them, dear. But I'm not ready to put absolute trust in your daughter either." Smiling at Blissy. "But if they proceed along this evolutionary path, they may well recover a good deal of their Humanity. A roundabout way of doing it, naturally…" River smiled. "But thousands of centuries of relentless war and ruthless, but pointless and empty, conquest, plus endless battling with the Time Lords and above all, our sweetie…" River nodded to Blissy, who smiled… "Has improved them, albeit slowly. Taught them the hard way, as Sydney likes to note, that victory isn't won by total annihilation, followed by stagnation and death, but by winning by persuading other species to voluntarily share their essence and knowledge."

"You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe…" Mila noted with frown.

"Who'd believe the Master or the Mistress could become…Well, your daughter?" River smiled to Blissy. "But, of course they remain committed to the survival and success of the Dalek race. Just with a different view of what best constitutes that."

"Hard to believe their home government agrees…" Mila shook head.

"I'd say they see the benefits of the treaty…Including avoiding the wrath of the Doctor." Grin to Blissy. "And of the advances these new generations of Daleks offer them. They've stumbled into such before, but always before tried to repress it till they finally accepted it could be a benefit. You know only that kind of Dalek can consider new ideas, creatively, in a consistent way. The Daleks have finally seen that it's only possible way to match the Doctor or their other leading foes, though, naturally the older generations are suspicious of new motivations and ideas." River noted. "So, our friends here have to walk a fine line to avoid stirring up trouble back home. So long as their work here is fruitful, the Dalek hive cuts them some slack. Which is, I suppose, also quite an advance for them. You like that one?" River smiled at Blissy as she peered at another hat hologram.

"Have to say, if I liked hats, that might be the one." River nodded. "The rose is not only real but treated to last more or less forever."

"Mama? You think?" Blissy asked. "Do you have anything in a scarf that might go with it?"

…