The Last Seer

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We landed roughly and I chuckled, patting the control panel of the TARDIS. "He's rough with you, isn't he, darlin'?"

He grimaced at me. "I take perfect care of my TARDIS."

I laughed, and walked off ahead of him and behind Rose. She looked around, obviously trying to guess where we were.

There wasn't an obvious amount of metal, or a pollution in the air, so it was either a primitive planet or we were in earth's past. I looked around. Desert stretched on either side of us, the blue box a stark contrast to the rocky, dry ground before us.

"Earth?" I asked.

"Smells like it. A desert too."

Rose looked around. "Are we in the Sahara?"

"Biggest desert on earth; quite probable. Good a guess as any. Come on then!" He grinned and we started off, but not before I grabbed a hat and changed into a skirt, which was infinitely cooler than my jeans. Rose put on shorts, which I thought would end up bad for her if we were in the past. She didn't seem to mind though-it was cooler than jeans. Although Rose forced him to take his coat off, the Doctor didn't seem to even notice the stifling heat.

"You two ready? Good!" He opened the doors again and we stepped out, locking them behind us.

"I think there's an oasis, just there," said Rose, so we followed her to the left.

"Doctor," I said, "don't you think we might forget where the TARDIS is in this desert?"

"I don't think so, no. I've got a fairly good sense of direction." He smiled at me.

Soon we got to the oasis, and I knew exactly where we were. "Egypt! We're on the far east side of the Sahara in Egypt!"

The herders at the oasis looked up at them. "You must be a rich man, here with these women."

"Yes, very rich." He glanced sideways at Rose, who moved closer to him. She looked like a prostitute to them, which was why they thought him rich. "We're here to see your ruler."

"Lady Cleopatra lives many miles east of here. It will take you days to walk there."

"Is there a faster way?"

The men laughed. "If you like to ride camels!"

So, ten minutes later, I was sitting atop a camel, behind Rose and beside the Doctor, who had his own. "Cleopatra?" I said. "We've come to see Cleopatra?"

"Is that okay?" Rose asked.

"Okay?" I echoed. "Cleopatra is my favorite Egyptian Queen. She kicks butt."

The Doctor laughed. "I've met her great-grandfather before, in my fifth regeneration. He was the reason I regenerated actually."

I laughed and shook my head. "He didn't kill you. He actually tried to keep his general from killing you, but he failed."

The Doctor looked over in surprise. "That's right. I forgot you know all about me. So, what about you?"

"Me?"

"Little Breanne, living with my future companions, having dreams about me, what's your story then?"

I shrugged. "Don't really have one."

"Everyone's got a story," said Rose.

I took a deep breath. "Well, I never knew my parents. When I was younger, I moved from house to house across the country. Uh, about my...fifth birthday I think it was, I started having vivid dreams. All of my teachers thought I just had an imaginary friend, like most kids. Because I moved around so much, no one criticized me for it until I was about eight. That's when Am-I mean, my foster parents showed up. They heard the guidance counselor telling me that the Doctor didn't exist and that I needed to stop pretending he did. Now they're the only ones who helped me believe in you. I stopped talking about you in about second grade, because all it did was get me bullied."

"Kids bullied you?" Rose asked. "I never would've guessed."

The Doctor looked distressed, so I continued, "I didn't stop drawing though, or writing down my dreams. My foster parents got me my own house since I tried to run away a couple times, and you've seen how I've gone all out on it; I tried to make sure that no matter what anyone said to me, I always came home knowing the truth. I mean, something I dreamed that vividly about couldn't have been just a dream."

"Sorry you got bullied on my account," he said with a frown. "I wouldn't ask that of anyone."

"Eh," I shrugged, "I held my own." He still looked upset though, so I smiled at him.

We rode in silence for a while, and I wished that I'd worn something even cooler, or at least brought some water. "Doctor," said Rose a while later, but I barely caught it, "I think Breanne's gotten heat stroke."

"Has she?" I felt myself get lifted off of the camel and laid on the ground. "Here, Breanne." He stuffed his wadded up jacket under my head.

"Do we have any water?" asked Rose, shading me from the sun with her body. I cooled by a couple degrees, but it was still hot enough that I almost passed out.

"Didn't know we'd need any before we got somewhere populated," he admitted. "Here, lift her hair off her neck and fan her. I'll see if there's anything in the bags the camels are carrying."

He shuffled away, and I felt Rose doing like he said. "Breanne? Can you hear me?"

I nodded. I felt fine-hot, but fine-so why were they making a big deal? "I feel just fine."

"Well you're burning up."

The Doctor came back. "Alright, I found something. Not sure what it is, but it's not poisonous."

I took the skin from him and tipped it back, letting warm liquid run into my mouth. "Hm. Not bad. Uh, goat's milk, I think." I sat up and smacked my lips. "Definitely goat's milk. About four hours old."

I stood up and watched at the Doctor sniffed it and took a swig. "Hm. You're right. Rose?"

She declined and turned to me. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine." I smiled. "Let's get to a village so we can eat."