The Calm Before the Storm (Chapter One)
I really should be working on another piece right now (challenges, deadlines, meh!) but this one started writing itself and I was forced to get it down, or else go nuts. So, in the interest of sanity, I've written two chapters. I'll post one now and the second in a few minutes, just to keep everything organized. It might help to read the ficlet To Be Human before this, just to give a little background for the Doctor and Rose's spiritual views before reading this, but it's not necessary. Spoilers through the end of Fear Her.
--
"I'd like to take you to visit an old friend of mine," said the Doctor to Rose, who was sitting on the grated floor in the console room.
"Yeah," she said. She hugged her knees closer to her chest and tried to back away from the dark thoughts that had been occupying her mind. The Doctor ignored her lack of enthusiasm and began to twirl knobs and press buttons on the controls, letting Rose sink back into her worries. A storm is coming, he had said, and either could not or (as she thought more likely) would not explain further. After his cryptic statement, he had reverted to aggressive optimism, but Rose saw the worry in his eyes when he gave her one of his infrequent, sidelong glances. He was excellent at denying what he did not want to address and treating her like a child at the same time, she thought glumly.
When the TARDIS creaked to a halt, bouncing Rose's bottom unceremoniously on the grating, the Doctor leaped to the door and flung it open, stepping outside with obvious relish. She rose to her feet and followed more slowly, shading her eyes as she stepped from the subdued darkness of the console room to the overcast but bright day outside.
The TARDIS now stood on a slight rise in a grassy open space in the late afternoon, the light casting long shadows. Around her, the ground sloped gently downward to a small river. Their side of the river was covered with huge, tall, dignified oak trees and smaller, flowering trees. A tall, yellowish, dry-looking grass waved gently in the unseen breeze on the opposite side for several meters before giving way to a deep, rich forest. Rose saw some short brick walls in regular geometric shapes down the hill from her, crumbled in places, forming steps in others. The wind was light, but carried a hint of a chill. Autumn or early spring? It was hard to tell.
The Doctor was halfway down the hill already, walking briskly toward a brick building that was more than half hidden in a heavier bit of the woods. Rose followed. When she caught up to him, the door of the building had opened and the Doctor was hugging a frail-looking old man in dark robes.
"Doctor," said the man. "I did not expect to see you again. How good you are here! And who is your companion?" He turned his face toward Rose expectantly. She was caught off guard. While his physical appearance indicated a wizened old man, his voice was strong and musical, and his blue eyes sparkled with intelligence and good humor. His head was shaved bald and he had an enormous, bristling, white beard along the edge of his jaw, but no mustache.
"Rose Tyler, may I present Brother Jacob," said the Doctor, pleasure evident in his own voice.
Rose extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you," she said a little awkwardly.
Jacob smiled broadly and the corners of his eyes crinkled in laugh lines that were so deeply written on his face that they would never entirely disappear. He seized her hand and shook it vigorously. "Delighted to meet you, Rose Tyler. May I offer you both some refreshments? Tea?"
"Yes, please, that would be lovely," said Rose.
The Doctor gave her an approving look and waved a hand. "The garden table, Jacob?" The old man nodded. "C'mon, Rose, I'll show you." Jacob disappeared back into the little building and Rose followed the Doctor down a path that sloped gently down the hill. When the trees cleared again, they were in a clearing with a rectangular area lined off with a low brick wall. In the center stood a slight, almost delicately carved round stone table with two stone benches curved around it. Off to the side, there was a view of the river and the waving grass beyond. Four more of the odd flowering trees (trees blooming in this weather?) stood in the corners of the brick wall. Rose walked to one and studied the bloom carefully. It was a dark pink, almost red, with small yellow stalks surrounding a brown seeded center. The leaves were deep green and slightly waxy.
"Camellia japonica," said the Doctor behind her. "We'll be drinking its cousin." Rose shot him a puzzled look and he smiled. "Tea," he explained. "Camellia sinensis is used for tea. Different plant, but they can look similar. This camellia is more decorative, while the other one tastes much better. Although," he said thoughtfully, giving the tree a contemplative look, "I haven't actually --"
"Are you going to have to lick everything we discuss?"
The Doctor gave her his most wounded expression. "It's for scientific study, Rose, and no, I do not lick everything. Just those items that I can analyze chemically. It's a very useful skill."
It was pointless to debate with him, so Rose seated herself on one of the stone benches and watched the Doctor carefully lick one of the camellia leaves. He smacked his lips several times, wriggled his nose, and then nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, definitely quite different," he said. "It's hard to tell since these leaves haven't been crushed and oxidized, but it could be a matter for later study and comparison." He plucked three or four of the waxy leaves and tucked them away in a jacket pocket, then joined Rose on the bench.
She stared off into the distance, watching the swirls and eddies of the river and the small branches and other detritus being carried in its current. A pair of ducks swam along the farther shore and she heard their quacking calls carried up to her on the wind. The bench underneath her drew the warmth from her body. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands briskly up and down her arms to relieve the chill. Without a word, the Doctor shrugged off his coat and put it across her shoulders. She settled back into it, feeling the slight warmth from his body there.
After a few moments, Jacob came down the same path, carrying a tray with a teapot, three cups, and supplies on it. He put it down and sat on the bench across from them, a broad smile crinkling his ancient face. For a few minutes, the three of them were occupied with the usual tea ceremony, pouring water and adding sugar and cream, and no one said anything. When Rose had a warm cup of tea in both hands, the warmth spreading into her palms, she sighed happily and heard Jacob sigh as well.
"It is not often that we have visitors and I have occasion to indulge in such hospitality." He blew on his tea. "Doctor, it has been some time since you were here, five years by my reckoning. Is it well with you?" He gave the Doctor a sharp look and Rose was reminded of a bird for a fleeting moment, watching his head cock to one side and his eyes focus intently on the Doctor. "You have changed again since then."
Rose was startled almost to dropping her cup. This man knew about regeneration?
"Yes," said the Doctor, giving a cautious sidelong look at Rose, whose mouth was open in visible surprise. "It was unavoidable, but I am well now."
Jacob turned his sharp eyes to Rose, who closed her mouth with a force of effort. "Does he still have the nightmares?"
"What?"
His focus returned to the Doctor. "You must find an outlet for your grief," he said, and the words had the ring of a long-standing argument between friends. "You cannot bear it alone, no, Doctor," when the Doctor had opened his mouth to say something in return, "I have said this often and I will say it again until I am out of breath for good. You are many times older than even I am and yet you lack the wisdom to apply what you have learned to your own life. You must understand and address loss directly."
The three of them drank their tea in silence for a few heartbeats, and the Doctor finally broke the silence. "Jacob, you are just as you have always been." He laughed. "I brought Rose to meet you, but I had forgotten about your lectures. Foolish of me."
Jacob raised his cup in a mock toast. "Foolish indeed." He smiled, and the words had no bite. "I will endeavour as always to show you my way, and if you ever follow, I will undoubtedly die immediately of surprise."
The Doctor's left eyebrow quirked and Rose laughed. Jacob laughed with her, a bright, musical sound across the wind. "I am afraid I am terribly rude," he said. "Rose, we do not have visitors often, as I said, and I have forgotten my manners. My brothers and I are isolated and we grow accustomed to our own silences and ways, without considering those who are different. Please forgive me."
"Oh, no," said Rose. "You haven't been rude -- we barged in on you with no notice --"
Jacob shook his head. "I heard the TARDIS," he said. "With him," a nod of the head indicated the Doctor, "that is notice enough. The afternoon prayers are done and it is not yet dark. We have time to enjoy each other's company in God's garden, and the day He has made for us here."
Rose cut her eyes and looked at the Doctor, who was blandly drinking his tea and looking at the river. She knew his feelings well enough on the nature of God, so it was some surprise that he counted this man as a friend when he freely expressed his faith. "Your brothers? What is this place?"
"A monastery," replied Jacob. "There are fifty of us here, spending our lives in prayer, hard work, reflection, and study. My brothers are somewhat shyer than I am, so please do not be offended if they do not seek you out or speak to you when you pass. Some have taken vows of silence in their service. A few of us trade our goods -- eggs, honey, and pottery -- with vendors from the city nearby who come once or twice a week. We also have visitors from time to time who stay with us and spend time in reflection as well, but those usually take a vow of silence during their stay with us."
The Doctor had turned his attention back to Jacob as the man finished his explanation. "Jacob, if it is all right, I ask for both of us to stay for a few days." Rose was again surprised. This place was so quiet, with the peace of it settling into her bones, and so unlike the frenetic life she lived with the Doctor. At times, when she asked, he humored her and they traveled somewhere calm and lovely, but it was uncommon for him to seek it out on his own.
Jacob nodded. "As always, you are welcome here, as is Rose. I assume that you will not take the vow of silence?"
Rose was horrified for a single, shocked moment, but the Doctor's laugh made her relax. "No, not this time."
Jacob's smile was huge. "I do not believe you will ever be silent, my friend. And I think I have startled Rose." He reached across the table and put his hand across hers. "Forgive me again for my rudeness, my dear." The skin on his hand was soft but thin and dry like parchment.
Rose squeezed it gently and grinned at the old man. "He would regenerate again from the strain of being quiet."
"Oi," protested the Doctor, "now, that is rude, Rose."
Rose and Jacob exchanged conspiratorial looks and, she knew, were friends.
--
"I'd like to take you to visit an old friend of mine," said the Doctor to Rose, who was sitting on the grated floor in the console room.
"Yeah," she said. She hugged her knees closer to her chest and tried to back away from the dark thoughts that had been occupying her mind. The Doctor ignored her lack of enthusiasm and began to twirl knobs and press buttons on the controls, letting Rose sink back into her worries. A storm is coming, he had said, and either could not or (as she thought more likely) would not explain further. After his cryptic statement, he had reverted to aggressive optimism, but Rose saw the worry in his eyes when he gave her one of his infrequent, sidelong glances. He was excellent at denying what he did not want to address and treating her like a child at the same time, she thought glumly.
When the TARDIS creaked to a halt, bouncing Rose's bottom unceremoniously on the grating, the Doctor leaped to the door and flung it open, stepping outside with obvious relish. She rose to her feet and followed more slowly, shading her eyes as she stepped from the subdued darkness of the console room to the overcast but bright day outside.
The TARDIS now stood on a slight rise in a grassy open space in the late afternoon, the light casting long shadows. Around her, the ground sloped gently downward to a small river. Their side of the river was covered with huge, tall, dignified oak trees and smaller, flowering trees. A tall, yellowish, dry-looking grass waved gently in the unseen breeze on the opposite side for several meters before giving way to a deep, rich forest. Rose saw some short brick walls in regular geometric shapes down the hill from her, crumbled in places, forming steps in others. The wind was light, but carried a hint of a chill. Autumn or early spring? It was hard to tell.
The Doctor was halfway down the hill already, walking briskly toward a brick building that was more than half hidden in a heavier bit of the woods. Rose followed. When she caught up to him, the door of the building had opened and the Doctor was hugging a frail-looking old man in dark robes.
"Doctor," said the man. "I did not expect to see you again. How good you are here! And who is your companion?" He turned his face toward Rose expectantly. She was caught off guard. While his physical appearance indicated a wizened old man, his voice was strong and musical, and his blue eyes sparkled with intelligence and good humor. His head was shaved bald and he had an enormous, bristling, white beard along the edge of his jaw, but no mustache.
"Rose Tyler, may I present Brother Jacob," said the Doctor, pleasure evident in his own voice.
Rose extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you," she said a little awkwardly.
Jacob smiled broadly and the corners of his eyes crinkled in laugh lines that were so deeply written on his face that they would never entirely disappear. He seized her hand and shook it vigorously. "Delighted to meet you, Rose Tyler. May I offer you both some refreshments? Tea?"
"Yes, please, that would be lovely," said Rose.
The Doctor gave her an approving look and waved a hand. "The garden table, Jacob?" The old man nodded. "C'mon, Rose, I'll show you." Jacob disappeared back into the little building and Rose followed the Doctor down a path that sloped gently down the hill. When the trees cleared again, they were in a clearing with a rectangular area lined off with a low brick wall. In the center stood a slight, almost delicately carved round stone table with two stone benches curved around it. Off to the side, there was a view of the river and the waving grass beyond. Four more of the odd flowering trees (trees blooming in this weather?) stood in the corners of the brick wall. Rose walked to one and studied the bloom carefully. It was a dark pink, almost red, with small yellow stalks surrounding a brown seeded center. The leaves were deep green and slightly waxy.
"Camellia japonica," said the Doctor behind her. "We'll be drinking its cousin." Rose shot him a puzzled look and he smiled. "Tea," he explained. "Camellia sinensis is used for tea. Different plant, but they can look similar. This camellia is more decorative, while the other one tastes much better. Although," he said thoughtfully, giving the tree a contemplative look, "I haven't actually --"
"Are you going to have to lick everything we discuss?"
The Doctor gave her his most wounded expression. "It's for scientific study, Rose, and no, I do not lick everything. Just those items that I can analyze chemically. It's a very useful skill."
It was pointless to debate with him, so Rose seated herself on one of the stone benches and watched the Doctor carefully lick one of the camellia leaves. He smacked his lips several times, wriggled his nose, and then nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, definitely quite different," he said. "It's hard to tell since these leaves haven't been crushed and oxidized, but it could be a matter for later study and comparison." He plucked three or four of the waxy leaves and tucked them away in a jacket pocket, then joined Rose on the bench.
She stared off into the distance, watching the swirls and eddies of the river and the small branches and other detritus being carried in its current. A pair of ducks swam along the farther shore and she heard their quacking calls carried up to her on the wind. The bench underneath her drew the warmth from her body. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands briskly up and down her arms to relieve the chill. Without a word, the Doctor shrugged off his coat and put it across her shoulders. She settled back into it, feeling the slight warmth from his body there.
After a few moments, Jacob came down the same path, carrying a tray with a teapot, three cups, and supplies on it. He put it down and sat on the bench across from them, a broad smile crinkling his ancient face. For a few minutes, the three of them were occupied with the usual tea ceremony, pouring water and adding sugar and cream, and no one said anything. When Rose had a warm cup of tea in both hands, the warmth spreading into her palms, she sighed happily and heard Jacob sigh as well.
"It is not often that we have visitors and I have occasion to indulge in such hospitality." He blew on his tea. "Doctor, it has been some time since you were here, five years by my reckoning. Is it well with you?" He gave the Doctor a sharp look and Rose was reminded of a bird for a fleeting moment, watching his head cock to one side and his eyes focus intently on the Doctor. "You have changed again since then."
Rose was startled almost to dropping her cup. This man knew about regeneration?
"Yes," said the Doctor, giving a cautious sidelong look at Rose, whose mouth was open in visible surprise. "It was unavoidable, but I am well now."
Jacob turned his sharp eyes to Rose, who closed her mouth with a force of effort. "Does he still have the nightmares?"
"What?"
His focus returned to the Doctor. "You must find an outlet for your grief," he said, and the words had the ring of a long-standing argument between friends. "You cannot bear it alone, no, Doctor," when the Doctor had opened his mouth to say something in return, "I have said this often and I will say it again until I am out of breath for good. You are many times older than even I am and yet you lack the wisdom to apply what you have learned to your own life. You must understand and address loss directly."
The three of them drank their tea in silence for a few heartbeats, and the Doctor finally broke the silence. "Jacob, you are just as you have always been." He laughed. "I brought Rose to meet you, but I had forgotten about your lectures. Foolish of me."
Jacob raised his cup in a mock toast. "Foolish indeed." He smiled, and the words had no bite. "I will endeavour as always to show you my way, and if you ever follow, I will undoubtedly die immediately of surprise."
The Doctor's left eyebrow quirked and Rose laughed. Jacob laughed with her, a bright, musical sound across the wind. "I am afraid I am terribly rude," he said. "Rose, we do not have visitors often, as I said, and I have forgotten my manners. My brothers and I are isolated and we grow accustomed to our own silences and ways, without considering those who are different. Please forgive me."
"Oh, no," said Rose. "You haven't been rude -- we barged in on you with no notice --"
Jacob shook his head. "I heard the TARDIS," he said. "With him," a nod of the head indicated the Doctor, "that is notice enough. The afternoon prayers are done and it is not yet dark. We have time to enjoy each other's company in God's garden, and the day He has made for us here."
Rose cut her eyes and looked at the Doctor, who was blandly drinking his tea and looking at the river. She knew his feelings well enough on the nature of God, so it was some surprise that he counted this man as a friend when he freely expressed his faith. "Your brothers? What is this place?"
"A monastery," replied Jacob. "There are fifty of us here, spending our lives in prayer, hard work, reflection, and study. My brothers are somewhat shyer than I am, so please do not be offended if they do not seek you out or speak to you when you pass. Some have taken vows of silence in their service. A few of us trade our goods -- eggs, honey, and pottery -- with vendors from the city nearby who come once or twice a week. We also have visitors from time to time who stay with us and spend time in reflection as well, but those usually take a vow of silence during their stay with us."
The Doctor had turned his attention back to Jacob as the man finished his explanation. "Jacob, if it is all right, I ask for both of us to stay for a few days." Rose was again surprised. This place was so quiet, with the peace of it settling into her bones, and so unlike the frenetic life she lived with the Doctor. At times, when she asked, he humored her and they traveled somewhere calm and lovely, but it was uncommon for him to seek it out on his own.
Jacob nodded. "As always, you are welcome here, as is Rose. I assume that you will not take the vow of silence?"
Rose was horrified for a single, shocked moment, but the Doctor's laugh made her relax. "No, not this time."
Jacob's smile was huge. "I do not believe you will ever be silent, my friend. And I think I have startled Rose." He reached across the table and put his hand across hers. "Forgive me again for my rudeness, my dear." The skin on his hand was soft but thin and dry like parchment.
Rose squeezed it gently and grinned at the old man. "He would regenerate again from the strain of being quiet."
"Oi," protested the Doctor, "now, that is rude, Rose."
Rose and Jacob exchanged conspiratorial looks and, she knew, were friends.