Revery of Silence (Doctor Who)

I - Into the woods

"No, Doctor, it's fine, really."

Rory stood there, slightly raised hands and a look on his face that clearly told what he thought about more adventures.

They had rested for a good day, not doing much. Amy had abused the pause to follow Roka everywhere, asking about everything in the TARDIS and trying to find out more about her adventures with the Doctor.

"You can't have lived here for so long and never had something exciting happen!"

"Never claimed that," Roka sighed, and when Amy probed further, she only told, "It was... different back then. I was. And it was risky to come outside. The glitch, you know."

"So, what did you see when you went outside?"

For a good while Roka had to think about that. There wasn't anything too special she remembered. At least nothing she deemed worthy to be told. And especially nothing quite as exciting as the past days. Actually... back then she had been a lot like she was now. A bit too calm and indifferent. Hollow.

Not at all like the people the Doctor usually took along, and not for the first time Roka wondered if he would have allowed her to stay would he have been able to remember her long enough to learn about her character.

Eventually Amy gave up when she got no proper answers. And a day later the Doctor seemed to have a new plan for his not so secret operation: Creating the perfect date for Amy and Rory.

"But it will be fun!" he objected, glaring intensely at the defensive Rory. "And absolutely, perfectly ordinary and normal! Nothing to go wrong there. Nevokarti is a peaceful planet, no predatory life forms, not even mosquitoes!" The Doctor's waved around excitedly as he went on, "Temperatures are constantly nice for humans, at daytime at least. Never too hot, never too cold. And the forest area is stunningly beautiful!"

"Yes, yes, I get that. But Doctor..." Rory took a breath. "Why do we have to go camping there?"

"Camping?" Amy sounded excited, just strolling in with Roka in tow. "I haven't been camping since I was twelve! That's a cool idea!"

"Not really," Roka grumbled from behind, clutching a coffee mug. "Kinda looses it's magic when you live like that for some decades."

"Only because you did it all alone," Amy lectured. "With us though... it will be soooo much fun!"

She clapped her hands and ran to the Doctor, demanding to know where they would go and when, while Rory made the impression of only wanting to go home. He exchanged a glance with Roka and both sighed and shrugged eventually, when it got clear that Amy was completely taken away by the idea. Of all the companions Roka had learned to know, Amy certainly was the most demanding.

"Where's this Master guy?" Rory eventually asked her.

"No idea." Roka glanced around the room, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Haven't seen him since yesterday," the Doctor chimed in. "But as long as nothing acts weird, he's probably not doing too much harm."

"Well..." Amy beamed at everyone. "He's a creep anyway. Maybe he got bored and left."

"Maybe... he just wasn't in the mood to be swarmed by inferior apes," a sulky voice came from behind them.

The Master wore an expression somewhere between disgust and annoyance when he strode in, letting his eyes wander over the group. He looked even more ill-tempered than usually, leaning with folded arms against a banister.

"Ah, perfect!" the Doctor cheered. "Seems we can go!"

"Without me," the other Time Lord grumbled, tapping a finger against his arm in a steady rhythm of four.