Trenzalore - Series 2
Episode 5/6
THE POWER OF LOVE
Previously:
The Doctor has been sent to a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore, where the Time Lords are calling out his name through a crack in the wall. Clara Oswald and the TARDIS are gone, and for company the Doctor has the townspeople. The Doctor meets Archie Sawyer, the old Sheriff of Christmas, and April, his adventurous teenage daughter. Over fifty years later...
Archie Sawyer has been dead many years, and the Doctor has parted ways with his now sixty year-old daughter, April, allowing her to travel the universe in her own ship. Now, generations have passed, after a long and complex battle with the Weeping Angels, and his main companion is young Barnable Hope, grandson of one of the town's bravest men, raised by his two mothers, Loretta and Alma.
Clara Oswald has returned, and the Papal Mainframe has been invaded. After promising to never leave her behind again, an image of Barnable on the TARDIS monitor changed the Doctor's mind, and he returned to Trenzalore for good to join his young companion and protect the town.
The Doctor has been sent to a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore, where the Time Lords are calling out his name through a crack in the wall. Clara Oswald and the TARDIS are gone, and for company the Doctor has the townspeople. The Doctor meets Archie Sawyer, the old Sheriff of Christmas, and April, his adventurous teenage daughter. Over fifty years later...
Archie Sawyer has been dead many years, and the Doctor has parted ways with his now sixty year-old daughter, April, allowing her to travel the universe in her own ship. Now, generations have passed, after a long and complex battle with the Weeping Angels, and his main companion is young Barnable Hope, grandson of one of the town's bravest men, raised by his two mothers, Loretta and Alma.
Clara Oswald has returned, and the Papal Mainframe has been invaded. After promising to never leave her behind again, an image of Barnable on the TARDIS monitor changed the Doctor's mind, and he returned to Trenzalore for good to join his young companion and protect the town.
Prologue
A tiny antiquated spacecraft rumbled through the sky above Trenzalore. It slid between Dalek saucers and Cyber-ships, ducked under Silurian arks and over Martian shuttles, avoiding patrolling Sontaran pods. It finally reached the Church of the Silence and came to a sudden stop, seemingly lingering in apprehension, before slowly continuing towards the mainframe. It was not long before two larger spacecrafts shot out of the mainframe and caught the smaller ship in their beam, dragging it forwards without resistance.
THE POWER OF LOVE
CO-Written by THE GENIE AND JACK HUDSON
"How about a party!?" The Doctoor shouted, beaming around the square.
"Have they really gone Doctor?" The Doctor's young friend Barnable asked with a half-smile.
"Oh yes. The Zygons won't-" a voice interrupted him. The same voice.
"Barnable! Barnable..." Another Doctor ran into the square. "That's not me, it's a Zygon! Get back from it!"
"No, Barnable, don't move. Listen, I am me."
Barnable looked from one Doctor to the other, terrified. What were the town supposed to do if they couldn't trust the Doctor?
"Prove you're you." Barnable said authoritatively, taking charge despite the amount of adults in the square.
"How?" The two Doctors ask in unison.
"I don't know!"
As the townspeople and the Doctors looked around with no idea what to do, a soft wind began to pick up. It grew and grew until the snow moved around on the ground and an intense spiral like a tornado built up in the middle of the square, becoming a pillar of blue energy which crackled away drone the sides inwards, first revealing mad enormous hair like a lion's mane and then continuing inwards as the power died down fizzling away at the woman's wrist, leaving only River Song, stood in the middle of Christmas.
"You know two of you never becomes any less exciting." River took out her scanning device and held it towards both men. She put it away slowly, and then drew her gun with supreme speed and shot a laser bolt into a Doctor's stomach. The wound opened up looking like orange jelly, and soon the body of a Zygon was collapsed on the ground. River walked forwards.
"You see, I know the Doctor pretty well. That one on the floor, I arrive and vital signs normal. You on the other hand" she reached the Doctor and put her hands on his chest over each heart, "increased heart rate, adrenaline and..." she glanced at Barnable and the townspeople, "shall we say, other signs of... excitement? Hello Sweetie."
"Hello, River."
***
Tasha Lem stood solemnly. She had been informed of who she was refunding and did not look forward to the meeting of their eyes. The guards had begun to escort the prisoner down the walkway towards her. They reached her, and Kovarian looked up towards her. Tasha lost control of her feelings, and began to feel the Dalek inside of her stirring. She fought to keep it down. She would not allow Katherine to know about that.
"Well well, the Mother Superious. Has it been as long for you as it has for me?"
Tasha fought to steady herself, preparing to speak formally as head of the church. She would not allow her emotions to overtake her.
"What do you want Madame Kovarian? Why have you returned here, to a place where you are not welcome?"
"I'm not welcome anywhere. But this is where I needed to come. To talk."
"I do not wish to talk with you."
"And I do not wish to talk with you," Kovarian responded with venom. "I'm here for you to take me through the forcefield. I'm here, to speak to the Doctor."
***
"Pleased to see me?" River asked the Doctor, as they entered the clock tower. Barnable stood hovering at the door.
"Yes."
River smiled at his answer, as if she had gained some kind of victory.
"So... this is your place then? Trenzalore? Christmas? This bell tower? You've been here how long?"
"Don't you know?"
River smiled.
"Spoilers."
"Why are you here?"
"To see my husband."
"This isn't how you and I work and you know it. We see each other when we call, when we've got paintings of blown up TARDISes or..."
"Oh! I'll look forward to that. Though it's something to do with" she pointed to the crack in the wall, "those, right? I'm here because... because sometimes I need to do my bit. And visit a Doctor in need. Right!" she seemed keen to change the subject, "diaries! Where's yours?"
"Err, back in the TARDIS."
"Hey, you." River beckoned Barnable, "what's your name?"
Barnable was nervous of the woman.
"Barnable."
"Well Barnable, go into the Doctor's TARDIS and look for an office. There’ll be a blue book, probably by his rocking chair."
"No!" The Doctor cried, "He's not allowed on the TARDIS!"
"Why not? Oh, you are a misery in old age. Off you go Barnable, here's the key." She gave him the key to the TARDIS.
Barnable didn't like disobeying the Doctor, but the temptation to enter the Doctor's ship was too strong, and River Song did seem to be in charge. He ran out of the room.
"So... The Time Lords. You saved them."
"Yep. Have you always known I would?"
"How do they feel about half-human half-Time Lords?" She asked, changing the subject, "Should I be worried?"
"The chance of them returning is very, very slim."
"But they're still alive."
"Yes, they're alive." He said, smiling.
***
Barnable unlocked the door and nervously pushed in the door to the TARDIS, before slowly walking in. The interior was shrouded in darkness but slowly began to stir and light up because of Barnable's presence.
"Wow."
***
"Who's the kid?"
"He's my friend."
"Are they humans here? Short life spans?"
"Yeah."
"How can you of all people cope with that?"
"I'm not sure I can. But it's no different to my life before. Everyone dies on me in the end."
"Not me." River answered with a smile. The Doctor looked away darkly.
Barnable appeared at the door holding the Doctor's diary.
"Ah, Barnable." River said, "How was the TARDIS?"
"Awesome! Why don't you live in there Doctor?"
"Because..." He had been trying to tell a blatant lie and had managed to stop himself before it was changed to the truth. "I like it in here." He said it as a separate statement, not an answer to the question. No lying necessary.
"Could you give us a minute please?" River asked Barnable. He left.
"Yours is nearly full." She said with his and her diary in her hands.
He stood up and took the diary from her.
"Spoilers." He glanced at her diary. "Yours is nearly empty... It's you? Come back when you’re older. I don't have time to be potty training on Trenzalore, Melody Pond."
"Potty training? I've just told you who I am. Demon's Run."
"That was you?"
"What do you mean 'you'?"
"We never did our diaries, that day. I assumed you were... later. How did you know everything you said that day?"
"Because I know you better than anyone ever to have lived and I always will. And I don't know what I become in the future, but I am River Song now."
"I'm sorry. It's good that you came to see me. I'm afraid after Demon's Run you might be stuck with the young idiot for a while."
"Oh, don't worry. I think it's cute."
"Demon's Run? And Melody's here! I have picked a good time."
The Doctor and River spun round to the door to see Madame Kovarian, escorted by Tasha Lem.
***
Tasha finished tying Kovrian to a chair in he middle of the room, and then turned to the Doctor.
“Do you want me to stay, babe?” Tasha asked the Doctor
“Babe!?” River responded, “If she wasn’t here I might have the energy to kill you. Out!”
Tasha left, and they heard the noise of a teleport outside.
Kovarian leered up at the duo. “You look different.”
“So do you.” The Doctor responded.
“Not you” Kovarian bit, “her. She had me tied to a chair for weeks and weeks in that other world and was calm as death. Now, I’ve never seen fury like it.”
River walked to the Doctor’s workbench and placed her hands on it to steady it.
“Being it that room with you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve killed my husband. But Amy’s memories were weak. She’d half forgotten what you did. It must have been bliss and I had no desire to break it by reminding her.”
“So it was all for sweet little Amelia. How noble of you.”
“Why are you here, Kovarian?” The Doctor asked with a sigh.
“Where else am I supposed to go? My priests tried to kill me. If they hadn’t done it in an alternate universe I’d be dead. As soon as I woke up and remembered I ran. And running brought me here. I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“To tell you… I’m sorry.”
River laughed.
“For trying to kill me?” The Doctor asked.
“No. If you from the past came in now I’d kill him in any way that I could. I was right. I’m sorry for what I did to Amelia and Melody Pond.”
“You know she was made infertile don’t you? It wasn’t a mistake?” River asked quietly, and the air was chilled. River realised the Doctor hadn’t worked it out yet..
“It was… a side-effect.”
“An avoidable one.” River snapped, “Don’t think I haven’t read up on your methods. You could have prevented it.”
“Maybe.”
“Then how are we supposed to be believe that you have the capacity to be sorry?”
“Because I know what infertility is like. I was too. My husband left me for it.”
“That makes it worse. And then you didn’t succeed in making Amy as unhappy as yourself.” The Doctor spoke up, “She tried to make her husband leave and he stayed.”
“Then they didn’t care as much as I did. And they already had a child…”
“You stole me from them! They brought me up as a friend. My first childhood before that was a living hell and they will always know that their daughter went through that. And I don’t think Rory will ever fully see me as his daughter.” The last admission seemed to surprise River herself. Perhaps an effect of the truth field.
“You know I’m sorry because of that.” She gestured to the crack. “We’re all being honest with each other at last.”
“It doesn’t make any difference. You violated one of the most innocent-“
“Except she wasn’t, was she.” Kovarian interrupted. “She shot her daughter in the face. And…” She turned to the Doctor, “She killed me. Oh, didn’t she tell you. I pleaded with her while she fastened my eye patch to my eye and electrocuted me to a painful death. While you were a few floors up.”
“Actually, she did tell me. Over a mince pie on Christmas day. And I could find no way possible to judge her for it.”
“There is no chance of us ever forgiving you.” River said flatly. “And I doubt there’s much that we’ll even let you go.”
River walked out of the tower.
***
“What happens now?” Kovarian asked the Doctor.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
The Doctor was perched on a stall next to Kovarian’s chair. He felt the answer to his question was a little patronising – Kovarian was tied up. But it went deeper than that.
“Because I know you better than you know yourself,” retorted Kovarian. “The last time I saw Tasha Lem before I ran away, I was preparing my faction of priests. She told me that according to legend, no single child has ever cried on Trenzalore. Because of you.” All this time, Kovarian avoided eye contact. “And I said to her I know what’s going to happen. One day the Doctor-“ she said his name as if he wasn’t even in the room, “-is going to be the one making those children cry. He’ll let their parents die and deliver the bad news, or he’ll put them themselves on the front line and watch their tears as they’re gunned down.”
“I would never let that happen.”
“Not while you’ve got tin soldiers to use up. But what happens after?” Kovarian made eye contact with the Doctor. Her head was bowed, and through her taunting, spiteful glance, it was the Doctor who struggled to look directly this time. “What happens when it’s so important that you need one? Just one. Do you make an exception – think it’s okay, because it’ll never happen again? That they’ll probably be fine?”
“You know enough about children, Kovarian, to know that that myth isn’t true.” The Doctor sighed and moved a toy train on the floor with his walking stick. “Children cry all the time. Even on the days without a single attack, there’s still a grazed knee to be had, or a bumped head, or a rough night of sleeping. I can stop children crying – that’s true – but children have cried on Trenzalore. Children cry all the time. It’s not called failure, it’s called biology.”
“Then why the myth? Why do people say it?”
“For the sake of a metaphor.” The Doctor sighed again, reluctant to articulate the truth, but knowing he would not be allowed even the smallest lie. “They say it because they don’t want to say the truth, which is that no child has ever died on Trenzalore. Adults have died – so many adults, starting right back with Abramal and Marta and moving at a steady rate. But this is what I do. I sit with these children and tell them stories. I stick their drawings up on my wall.” The Doctor gestured to the latest – a sketch of a Weeping Angel on a pink sheet of card. “I fix their toys and I teach them the drunk giraffe. That’s the promise I make to this village. No matter who dies and no matter how it happens, every one of them will have had a childhood uncorrupted by violence and permitted to last as long as any other. Children can cry because that’s what they do. But children don’t die here, Kovarian. If they did, there would be hell to pay.”
“And that’s a promise, is it?”
“Yes. And if you want proof, then yes you can.”
“Can what?”
“Stay.” The Doctor smiled. “After everything you’ve done. You can stay here and help me to help these children. Live an ordinary woman’s life on the planet below where you used to live. Sit and watch the stars of a night-time. Savour every sunset. You can live here, with me.”
“As a prisoner?”
“As a friend.”
Kovarian searched for the words. She couldn’t even find the right facial expression, forced to escape her villainous range to search for the woman she was before, to find where she kept smiles and laughs and…
Gratitude.
“Why would you trust me?”
“Because I know you. Put you back in the past of the most dangerous man in the universe and you’ll try to kill him. But put you in a town full of children and you’ll save them.”
“Okay.” Kovarian digested the first fact. “But why would you forgive me?”
“Because if I didn’t, I might as well kill you.” Kovarian was taken aback. “What you did was wrong,” elaborated the Doctor. “One of the worst violations of a human being I have ever witnessed. Disgusting.” He almost spat as he described it. “But I have to believe you’re capable of better – I have to shun the act, not the person. Otherwise, what hope is there for you? Where can you ever go? You have to be able to make up for it – for any kind of progress to work, we have to escape that cycle. So this is me, in spite of everything, forgiving you.”
As Kovarian shifted on her chair, she noticed the bonds had been untied. The Doctor had set her free.
“When was I freed?” she asked.
“When you realised that you always were.” The Doctor smiled sadly.
***
“Hello.” River sat down beside Barnable on a wall.
“Hello.” He paused, “Who are you?”
“A difficult question.”
“Are you the Doctor’s wife?
“How did you know?”
“You act like my parents.”
“Have you had a good childhood, Barnable?”
“Yes.”
“Because of the Doctor?”
“Yes. Did you?”
“No, no I didn’t.”
“Didn’t you have the Doctor then?”
“In a way I had him, and I loved him already. But I also hated him”
“How could anyone ever hate the Doctor?”
“River!” The Doctor called walking towards them. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
***
“The Doctor told me.” River stood at the door, looking down at Kovarian who remained seated, knowing that was River’s preferred dynamic.
“Melody, I’m-“
“Rule One. Do not call me Melody.”
“River-“
“Rule Two,” interjected River, coldly. “I respect the Doctor and I respect his decision. But if you ever lay a finger on him, or anyone in this town, I will return and I will splatter your blood across these walls.” She left a dramatic pause, and wondered if, without the noise of the village outside, it would be possible to hear Kovarian’s heart beating. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Absolutely.”
***
"Have they really gone Doctor?" The Doctor's young friend Barnable asked with a half-smile.
"Oh yes. The Zygons won't-" a voice interrupted him. The same voice.
"Barnable! Barnable..." Another Doctor ran into the square. "That's not me, it's a Zygon! Get back from it!"
"No, Barnable, don't move. Listen, I am me."
Barnable looked from one Doctor to the other, terrified. What were the town supposed to do if they couldn't trust the Doctor?
"Prove you're you." Barnable said authoritatively, taking charge despite the amount of adults in the square.
"How?" The two Doctors ask in unison.
"I don't know!"
As the townspeople and the Doctors looked around with no idea what to do, a soft wind began to pick up. It grew and grew until the snow moved around on the ground and an intense spiral like a tornado built up in the middle of the square, becoming a pillar of blue energy which crackled away drone the sides inwards, first revealing mad enormous hair like a lion's mane and then continuing inwards as the power died down fizzling away at the woman's wrist, leaving only River Song, stood in the middle of Christmas.
"You know two of you never becomes any less exciting." River took out her scanning device and held it towards both men. She put it away slowly, and then drew her gun with supreme speed and shot a laser bolt into a Doctor's stomach. The wound opened up looking like orange jelly, and soon the body of a Zygon was collapsed on the ground. River walked forwards.
"You see, I know the Doctor pretty well. That one on the floor, I arrive and vital signs normal. You on the other hand" she reached the Doctor and put her hands on his chest over each heart, "increased heart rate, adrenaline and..." she glanced at Barnable and the townspeople, "shall we say, other signs of... excitement? Hello Sweetie."
"Hello, River."
***
Tasha Lem stood solemnly. She had been informed of who she was refunding and did not look forward to the meeting of their eyes. The guards had begun to escort the prisoner down the walkway towards her. They reached her, and Kovarian looked up towards her. Tasha lost control of her feelings, and began to feel the Dalek inside of her stirring. She fought to keep it down. She would not allow Katherine to know about that.
"Well well, the Mother Superious. Has it been as long for you as it has for me?"
Tasha fought to steady herself, preparing to speak formally as head of the church. She would not allow her emotions to overtake her.
"What do you want Madame Kovarian? Why have you returned here, to a place where you are not welcome?"
"I'm not welcome anywhere. But this is where I needed to come. To talk."
"I do not wish to talk with you."
"And I do not wish to talk with you," Kovarian responded with venom. "I'm here for you to take me through the forcefield. I'm here, to speak to the Doctor."
***
"Pleased to see me?" River asked the Doctor, as they entered the clock tower. Barnable stood hovering at the door.
"Yes."
River smiled at his answer, as if she had gained some kind of victory.
"So... this is your place then? Trenzalore? Christmas? This bell tower? You've been here how long?"
"Don't you know?"
River smiled.
"Spoilers."
"Why are you here?"
"To see my husband."
"This isn't how you and I work and you know it. We see each other when we call, when we've got paintings of blown up TARDISes or..."
"Oh! I'll look forward to that. Though it's something to do with" she pointed to the crack in the wall, "those, right? I'm here because... because sometimes I need to do my bit. And visit a Doctor in need. Right!" she seemed keen to change the subject, "diaries! Where's yours?"
"Err, back in the TARDIS."
"Hey, you." River beckoned Barnable, "what's your name?"
Barnable was nervous of the woman.
"Barnable."
"Well Barnable, go into the Doctor's TARDIS and look for an office. There’ll be a blue book, probably by his rocking chair."
"No!" The Doctor cried, "He's not allowed on the TARDIS!"
"Why not? Oh, you are a misery in old age. Off you go Barnable, here's the key." She gave him the key to the TARDIS.
Barnable didn't like disobeying the Doctor, but the temptation to enter the Doctor's ship was too strong, and River Song did seem to be in charge. He ran out of the room.
"So... The Time Lords. You saved them."
"Yep. Have you always known I would?"
"How do they feel about half-human half-Time Lords?" She asked, changing the subject, "Should I be worried?"
"The chance of them returning is very, very slim."
"But they're still alive."
"Yes, they're alive." He said, smiling.
***
Barnable unlocked the door and nervously pushed in the door to the TARDIS, before slowly walking in. The interior was shrouded in darkness but slowly began to stir and light up because of Barnable's presence.
"Wow."
***
"Who's the kid?"
"He's my friend."
"Are they humans here? Short life spans?"
"Yeah."
"How can you of all people cope with that?"
"I'm not sure I can. But it's no different to my life before. Everyone dies on me in the end."
"Not me." River answered with a smile. The Doctor looked away darkly.
Barnable appeared at the door holding the Doctor's diary.
"Ah, Barnable." River said, "How was the TARDIS?"
"Awesome! Why don't you live in there Doctor?"
"Because..." He had been trying to tell a blatant lie and had managed to stop himself before it was changed to the truth. "I like it in here." He said it as a separate statement, not an answer to the question. No lying necessary.
"Could you give us a minute please?" River asked Barnable. He left.
"Yours is nearly full." She said with his and her diary in her hands.
He stood up and took the diary from her.
"Spoilers." He glanced at her diary. "Yours is nearly empty... It's you? Come back when you’re older. I don't have time to be potty training on Trenzalore, Melody Pond."
"Potty training? I've just told you who I am. Demon's Run."
"That was you?"
"What do you mean 'you'?"
"We never did our diaries, that day. I assumed you were... later. How did you know everything you said that day?"
"Because I know you better than anyone ever to have lived and I always will. And I don't know what I become in the future, but I am River Song now."
"I'm sorry. It's good that you came to see me. I'm afraid after Demon's Run you might be stuck with the young idiot for a while."
"Oh, don't worry. I think it's cute."
"Demon's Run? And Melody's here! I have picked a good time."
The Doctor and River spun round to the door to see Madame Kovarian, escorted by Tasha Lem.
***
Tasha finished tying Kovrian to a chair in he middle of the room, and then turned to the Doctor.
“Do you want me to stay, babe?” Tasha asked the Doctor
“Babe!?” River responded, “If she wasn’t here I might have the energy to kill you. Out!”
Tasha left, and they heard the noise of a teleport outside.
Kovarian leered up at the duo. “You look different.”
“So do you.” The Doctor responded.
“Not you” Kovarian bit, “her. She had me tied to a chair for weeks and weeks in that other world and was calm as death. Now, I’ve never seen fury like it.”
River walked to the Doctor’s workbench and placed her hands on it to steady it.
“Being it that room with you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve killed my husband. But Amy’s memories were weak. She’d half forgotten what you did. It must have been bliss and I had no desire to break it by reminding her.”
“So it was all for sweet little Amelia. How noble of you.”
“Why are you here, Kovarian?” The Doctor asked with a sigh.
“Where else am I supposed to go? My priests tried to kill me. If they hadn’t done it in an alternate universe I’d be dead. As soon as I woke up and remembered I ran. And running brought me here. I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“To tell you… I’m sorry.”
River laughed.
“For trying to kill me?” The Doctor asked.
“No. If you from the past came in now I’d kill him in any way that I could. I was right. I’m sorry for what I did to Amelia and Melody Pond.”
“You know she was made infertile don’t you? It wasn’t a mistake?” River asked quietly, and the air was chilled. River realised the Doctor hadn’t worked it out yet..
“It was… a side-effect.”
“An avoidable one.” River snapped, “Don’t think I haven’t read up on your methods. You could have prevented it.”
“Maybe.”
“Then how are we supposed to be believe that you have the capacity to be sorry?”
“Because I know what infertility is like. I was too. My husband left me for it.”
“That makes it worse. And then you didn’t succeed in making Amy as unhappy as yourself.” The Doctor spoke up, “She tried to make her husband leave and he stayed.”
“Then they didn’t care as much as I did. And they already had a child…”
“You stole me from them! They brought me up as a friend. My first childhood before that was a living hell and they will always know that their daughter went through that. And I don’t think Rory will ever fully see me as his daughter.” The last admission seemed to surprise River herself. Perhaps an effect of the truth field.
“You know I’m sorry because of that.” She gestured to the crack. “We’re all being honest with each other at last.”
“It doesn’t make any difference. You violated one of the most innocent-“
“Except she wasn’t, was she.” Kovarian interrupted. “She shot her daughter in the face. And…” She turned to the Doctor, “She killed me. Oh, didn’t she tell you. I pleaded with her while she fastened my eye patch to my eye and electrocuted me to a painful death. While you were a few floors up.”
“Actually, she did tell me. Over a mince pie on Christmas day. And I could find no way possible to judge her for it.”
“There is no chance of us ever forgiving you.” River said flatly. “And I doubt there’s much that we’ll even let you go.”
River walked out of the tower.
***
“What happens now?” Kovarian asked the Doctor.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
The Doctor was perched on a stall next to Kovarian’s chair. He felt the answer to his question was a little patronising – Kovarian was tied up. But it went deeper than that.
“Because I know you better than you know yourself,” retorted Kovarian. “The last time I saw Tasha Lem before I ran away, I was preparing my faction of priests. She told me that according to legend, no single child has ever cried on Trenzalore. Because of you.” All this time, Kovarian avoided eye contact. “And I said to her I know what’s going to happen. One day the Doctor-“ she said his name as if he wasn’t even in the room, “-is going to be the one making those children cry. He’ll let their parents die and deliver the bad news, or he’ll put them themselves on the front line and watch their tears as they’re gunned down.”
“I would never let that happen.”
“Not while you’ve got tin soldiers to use up. But what happens after?” Kovarian made eye contact with the Doctor. Her head was bowed, and through her taunting, spiteful glance, it was the Doctor who struggled to look directly this time. “What happens when it’s so important that you need one? Just one. Do you make an exception – think it’s okay, because it’ll never happen again? That they’ll probably be fine?”
“You know enough about children, Kovarian, to know that that myth isn’t true.” The Doctor sighed and moved a toy train on the floor with his walking stick. “Children cry all the time. Even on the days without a single attack, there’s still a grazed knee to be had, or a bumped head, or a rough night of sleeping. I can stop children crying – that’s true – but children have cried on Trenzalore. Children cry all the time. It’s not called failure, it’s called biology.”
“Then why the myth? Why do people say it?”
“For the sake of a metaphor.” The Doctor sighed again, reluctant to articulate the truth, but knowing he would not be allowed even the smallest lie. “They say it because they don’t want to say the truth, which is that no child has ever died on Trenzalore. Adults have died – so many adults, starting right back with Abramal and Marta and moving at a steady rate. But this is what I do. I sit with these children and tell them stories. I stick their drawings up on my wall.” The Doctor gestured to the latest – a sketch of a Weeping Angel on a pink sheet of card. “I fix their toys and I teach them the drunk giraffe. That’s the promise I make to this village. No matter who dies and no matter how it happens, every one of them will have had a childhood uncorrupted by violence and permitted to last as long as any other. Children can cry because that’s what they do. But children don’t die here, Kovarian. If they did, there would be hell to pay.”
“And that’s a promise, is it?”
“Yes. And if you want proof, then yes you can.”
“Can what?”
“Stay.” The Doctor smiled. “After everything you’ve done. You can stay here and help me to help these children. Live an ordinary woman’s life on the planet below where you used to live. Sit and watch the stars of a night-time. Savour every sunset. You can live here, with me.”
“As a prisoner?”
“As a friend.”
Kovarian searched for the words. She couldn’t even find the right facial expression, forced to escape her villainous range to search for the woman she was before, to find where she kept smiles and laughs and…
Gratitude.
“Why would you trust me?”
“Because I know you. Put you back in the past of the most dangerous man in the universe and you’ll try to kill him. But put you in a town full of children and you’ll save them.”
“Okay.” Kovarian digested the first fact. “But why would you forgive me?”
“Because if I didn’t, I might as well kill you.” Kovarian was taken aback. “What you did was wrong,” elaborated the Doctor. “One of the worst violations of a human being I have ever witnessed. Disgusting.” He almost spat as he described it. “But I have to believe you’re capable of better – I have to shun the act, not the person. Otherwise, what hope is there for you? Where can you ever go? You have to be able to make up for it – for any kind of progress to work, we have to escape that cycle. So this is me, in spite of everything, forgiving you.”
As Kovarian shifted on her chair, she noticed the bonds had been untied. The Doctor had set her free.
“When was I freed?” she asked.
“When you realised that you always were.” The Doctor smiled sadly.
***
“Hello.” River sat down beside Barnable on a wall.
“Hello.” He paused, “Who are you?”
“A difficult question.”
“Are you the Doctor’s wife?
“How did you know?”
“You act like my parents.”
“Have you had a good childhood, Barnable?”
“Yes.”
“Because of the Doctor?”
“Yes. Did you?”
“No, no I didn’t.”
“Didn’t you have the Doctor then?”
“In a way I had him, and I loved him already. But I also hated him”
“How could anyone ever hate the Doctor?”
“River!” The Doctor called walking towards them. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
***
“The Doctor told me.” River stood at the door, looking down at Kovarian who remained seated, knowing that was River’s preferred dynamic.
“Melody, I’m-“
“Rule One. Do not call me Melody.”
“River-“
“Rule Two,” interjected River, coldly. “I respect the Doctor and I respect his decision. But if you ever lay a finger on him, or anyone in this town, I will return and I will splatter your blood across these walls.” She left a dramatic pause, and wondered if, without the noise of the village outside, it would be possible to hear Kovarian’s heart beating. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Absolutely.”
***
“Well, goodbye Doctor.”
“Don’t be angry with me, please.” He thought there was a chance he would never see her again, and could not bear to lose her like that.
“I’m not, I promise.” She kissed him.
“Goodbye Barnable.” She said, patting him on the head.
“Goodbye Mother Christmas.”
“Oh and one thing Doctor.” She paused, “I love you.”
He smiled.
Barnable nudged the Doctor, “I think you’re supposed to say that back.”
“Yes, thank you Barnable.” The Doctor suddenly realised he was standing within the truth field. He could not avoid this.
“This is why you came isn’t it… the truth field. Don’t you know if I love you?”
“No, I don’t. How could I? You don’t give much away.”
“Right. Well, you better savour this cause I don’t think you’ll get me to say it again.”
She smiled.
“River Song, I love you.”
***
“I don’t understand. Why are you planting a grave for her if she’s just gone away?”
“Because she isn’t coming back.” The Doctor secured the gravestone in place and stood back. “Besides, I might need it for… other purposes.” Barnable looked up, puzzled.
The Doctor looked on at the grave. River Song.
“When I came to this planet the first time, it looked like this.” The Doctor thought back to his first experience of Trenzalore. He visualised where the grave was then, and the path by it. It was the same path. True, then it was dark, lifeless and sooty – but those were the products of time. The pieces had been set in place. Now he was left to wait.
“No it didn’t,” replied Barnable, oblivious to the Doctor’s real meaning. “You made it like this.”
The Doctor shuddered, but hid those feelings and smiled at Barnable. The truth field allowed him those lying gestures – perhaps it was aware that they had kept the children safe for so long.
“You’re not going to get sad and cry again, are you?”
“Of course not,” decided the Doctor.
“Can we go and sit on the clock-tower? I learnt how to make hot chocolate at the weekend. Would you like to try it? My mum says it’s the best hot chocolate ever. But you might not think so, because you’ve tried space hot chocolate.”
“Barnable, space never compares to Christmas. It’s always the thought that counts.” He ruffled his hair. He could swear he’d got taller over the last week. “I’d love to try some.”
Barnable beamed and ran off to make some. The Doctor looked back at the grave, still haunted by the image of Trenzalore in the future. It now all seemed possible. The TARDIS was here, the Doctor was old, the battle was worsening, and the grave was planted. It could happen any day.
An infinitesimal, deviating part of the Doctor’s brain wished it was as soon as possible. He’d done it again – formed an attachment. Made promises. Built memories. He looked back as Barnable ran across the town, his boots almost buried in the snow, and his scarf trailing behind him, and pleaded with some impossible force that could somehow, he imagined, stop the course of nature. Please, he implored, silently. Don’t make me watch as he gets old.
“Don’t be angry with me, please.” He thought there was a chance he would never see her again, and could not bear to lose her like that.
“I’m not, I promise.” She kissed him.
“Goodbye Barnable.” She said, patting him on the head.
“Goodbye Mother Christmas.”
“Oh and one thing Doctor.” She paused, “I love you.”
He smiled.
Barnable nudged the Doctor, “I think you’re supposed to say that back.”
“Yes, thank you Barnable.” The Doctor suddenly realised he was standing within the truth field. He could not avoid this.
“This is why you came isn’t it… the truth field. Don’t you know if I love you?”
“No, I don’t. How could I? You don’t give much away.”
“Right. Well, you better savour this cause I don’t think you’ll get me to say it again.”
She smiled.
“River Song, I love you.”
***
“I don’t understand. Why are you planting a grave for her if she’s just gone away?”
“Because she isn’t coming back.” The Doctor secured the gravestone in place and stood back. “Besides, I might need it for… other purposes.” Barnable looked up, puzzled.
The Doctor looked on at the grave. River Song.
“When I came to this planet the first time, it looked like this.” The Doctor thought back to his first experience of Trenzalore. He visualised where the grave was then, and the path by it. It was the same path. True, then it was dark, lifeless and sooty – but those were the products of time. The pieces had been set in place. Now he was left to wait.
“No it didn’t,” replied Barnable, oblivious to the Doctor’s real meaning. “You made it like this.”
The Doctor shuddered, but hid those feelings and smiled at Barnable. The truth field allowed him those lying gestures – perhaps it was aware that they had kept the children safe for so long.
“You’re not going to get sad and cry again, are you?”
“Of course not,” decided the Doctor.
“Can we go and sit on the clock-tower? I learnt how to make hot chocolate at the weekend. Would you like to try it? My mum says it’s the best hot chocolate ever. But you might not think so, because you’ve tried space hot chocolate.”
“Barnable, space never compares to Christmas. It’s always the thought that counts.” He ruffled his hair. He could swear he’d got taller over the last week. “I’d love to try some.”
Barnable beamed and ran off to make some. The Doctor looked back at the grave, still haunted by the image of Trenzalore in the future. It now all seemed possible. The TARDIS was here, the Doctor was old, the battle was worsening, and the grave was planted. It could happen any day.
An infinitesimal, deviating part of the Doctor’s brain wished it was as soon as possible. He’d done it again – formed an attachment. Made promises. Built memories. He looked back as Barnable ran across the town, his boots almost buried in the snow, and his scarf trailing behind him, and pleaded with some impossible force that could somehow, he imagined, stop the course of nature. Please, he implored, silently. Don’t make me watch as he gets old.
NEXT TIME: STEP INTO CHRISTMAS
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