[Doctor Who] "The Flight" (G)
Author's Note: Written for < lj user="advent challenge">'s "silent night". Featuring the Tenth Doctor and written to expand on the bit where he mentions having been present at the first Christmas (can't yah tell I like playing with religious themes??)
The Magi priests from the east had departed earlier that day, leaving Yosef and Maryam still marveling at their presence and the things they had said about the Child, things they had seen in the stars, which echoed the words of the prophets. Strange words coming from heathens who worshiped fire, and yet a sign that the Lord could reveal His Promised One to whomever would open ears and heart.
Maryam had marveled at the gifts that the priests had brought to the Child, to do Him honor: gold, fit for a king; incense, the gift of a king; and myrrh, the gift to the dead... The first two seemed fitting, but the last puzzled Yosef, and he had hinted that they could trade some of the gifts to buy supplies that they would need for their trip back to Nazareth. But Maryam had replied that they should keep some as a reminder of Who the Child is and Why He had come. Yosef had puzzled over these things for a moment, but he had recalled the words of the Angel which had spoken to him that first night, when Maryam had told him she was with child, a Child shaped within her by the hand of Adonai.
Still, he lay awake that night, curled in the straw, pondering all this, while Maryam lay beside him, wrapped in the folds of the sheep skin cloak that a shepherdess from the hills had given her, the Child nestled at her heart. So many strange things: shepherds coming in droves to see the Child, speaking of angels, to say nothing of the Magi.
Then he heard it, a strange sound like the wind caught in a bronze pot. A strange bluish light lit up the mouth of the cave-stable. Yosef got up, bringing his walking staff in case he had to fend off robbers or whatever had caused the sound.
A strange wooden shack stood before the cave mouth, nestled in a dip in the ground, the fading light of the Magi's star lighting it up. A door opened in the shack and a figure emerged, tall and thin, surrounded by a golden light that flowed from within the shack, a figure clad in a long brown robe, open over his chest and legs, uncovering the blue garments that hugged close to his form. A disarming smile, a bit too wide, crossed his face, and his dark eyes shone with a fierce but gentle light. Despite his odd bearing, he carried himself with an easy authority, as if time and space itself lay at his command, but he carried both with ease and joy, the kind seen in a man who took a happy pride in his work.
"Oh, hello!" the stranger said, in a crisp tone, friendly but talking fast, his words crackling like fire. "Hope I didn't scare you: nothing to fear. Just dropped in to say hello. Yosef of Nazareth, right?"
Yosef nodded, regarding the man with wary eyes, not sure what to say to all of his chatter.
"Oh, don't be scared: hope your scared hasn't taken the words from you. I'm the Doctor: friend of Gaspar, one of the Magi who just visited you. Would've come with them, but I got a bit sidetracked. Herod's men, got a bit too fresh with my..." He reached out a hand and patted the door of the blue shed. "Traveling shed. Tried to catch up, but they got ahead of me. They'd already left: caught up with them on the road, had a word to bring them. Not safe in Jerusalem: Herod's not happy with them, since they didn't tell him where the Child and his family are." His dark eyes had grown serious, even solemn and concerned. "Things are going to get worse. Probably don't have to tell you the king's not right in his head. Might be a brain parasite, put there by the Trickster's Brigade.
"Right, yes, rather a lot to take in. Long story short, it's best if you and the missis and the child find a safe place far away from here, where the mad king can't find him."
Yosef looked back at Maryam and the Child, his wife just starting to awaken, the Child still asleep. "Yosef?" she called, softly. "What was that sound?"
Yosef looked from the Doctor to his family. "A traveler to see the Child."
Maryam sat up, holding the Child, then rose to join Yosef at the cave mouth. "Yes? Have you traveled far? We have food and water if you need them."
"Oh, thanks, but nah, I've all I need here. It's you that needs helpin'," the traveler called the Doctor said. "Maryam, right? And the Child, Yeshua?"
"We named him that, yes," Maryam replied, curious, trying to read the man. The Child awakened, letting out a curious snuffle.
"The Saving Cry," the Doctor said, musing, his dark eyes going serious. "What His name means, right? Good name, noble name. What He'll do someday, when He's grown. Letting out a cry, telling people not to be afraid, not to hate, to love one another. Sure, there'll be those who'll try to make that cry into something else, but it's not His fault people only hear what they want to hear.
"Right now, He's the one Who needs saving. Mad king wants Him gone, way Herod's made so many others get out of his way."
"Herod..." Maryam said, pressing the Child to her heart, her dark eyes gone serious as well, with the concern of a mother protecting her young. She had heard stories of what went on in the palace, things that had trickled to the Temple servants, things she had told Yosef.
"Best thing to do, get as far from here as you can: I can take you, if you like, take you anywhere and anywhen -- well, most anywhere and anywhen," the Doctor said.
Maryam looked to Yosef. "Do whatever he tells you to do," she said. "This is a good man, a servant of the Lord." Yosef raised an eyebrow, but he looked to the Doctor.
"Oh, wouldn't go so far as to call me all that: I'm here to see the story gets told the way it needs to be told," the Doctor replied.
Maryam gave the Doctor a small, crooked smile, as if she chuckled within at him. "Anyone who is kind to another is the Servant of the Lord, even if they do not know that they are."
The Doctor looked at her with something like amazement and appreciation. "Right! Clothes, food, whatever you need, those little wooden animals you carved for the Child," the Doctor said. "Mind if I hold Him while you gather up your things? Was a dad myself, long time ago."
"No, we'll need both hands and we know where everything is," Maryam said, holding the Child out to the Doctor. The man -- if he was a man -- grinned and held his hands out, taking the Child in his arms with the care of a father, holding Him up, a hand under the Child's head.
Yosef gathered up their bags, packing clothing and supplies into them. Maryam gathered up the Child's things and their food.
"Yes, she is a graceful woman, but your father won't want me saying that," the Doctor said, holding the Child up high, the starlight gleaming on them both, the Child making soft sounds at him. "What do you mean he's not your father -- Oh. You created yourself? Knew something like that, saved my life, and a friend of ours -- well, might've made it worse in some ways." Then to Yosef's questioning look, "Oh, I speak Baby: one of the more complex languages in the universe."
Maryam smiled at all this, approaching the Doctor with a satchel on her back while Yosef untied the donkey. "Can we bring her?" she said, looking from the donkey to the traveler's shack.
"Oh, of course: bigger on the inside than out, plenty of room," the Doctor said, handing the Child back to Maryam before leading the way out of the cave and into the night, then in through the door of the traveler's shack, into its golden halls...
The Magi priests from the east had departed earlier that day, leaving Yosef and Maryam still marveling at their presence and the things they had said about the Child, things they had seen in the stars, which echoed the words of the prophets. Strange words coming from heathens who worshiped fire, and yet a sign that the Lord could reveal His Promised One to whomever would open ears and heart.
Maryam had marveled at the gifts that the priests had brought to the Child, to do Him honor: gold, fit for a king; incense, the gift of a king; and myrrh, the gift to the dead... The first two seemed fitting, but the last puzzled Yosef, and he had hinted that they could trade some of the gifts to buy supplies that they would need for their trip back to Nazareth. But Maryam had replied that they should keep some as a reminder of Who the Child is and Why He had come. Yosef had puzzled over these things for a moment, but he had recalled the words of the Angel which had spoken to him that first night, when Maryam had told him she was with child, a Child shaped within her by the hand of Adonai.
Still, he lay awake that night, curled in the straw, pondering all this, while Maryam lay beside him, wrapped in the folds of the sheep skin cloak that a shepherdess from the hills had given her, the Child nestled at her heart. So many strange things: shepherds coming in droves to see the Child, speaking of angels, to say nothing of the Magi.
Then he heard it, a strange sound like the wind caught in a bronze pot. A strange bluish light lit up the mouth of the cave-stable. Yosef got up, bringing his walking staff in case he had to fend off robbers or whatever had caused the sound.
A strange wooden shack stood before the cave mouth, nestled in a dip in the ground, the fading light of the Magi's star lighting it up. A door opened in the shack and a figure emerged, tall and thin, surrounded by a golden light that flowed from within the shack, a figure clad in a long brown robe, open over his chest and legs, uncovering the blue garments that hugged close to his form. A disarming smile, a bit too wide, crossed his face, and his dark eyes shone with a fierce but gentle light. Despite his odd bearing, he carried himself with an easy authority, as if time and space itself lay at his command, but he carried both with ease and joy, the kind seen in a man who took a happy pride in his work.
"Oh, hello!" the stranger said, in a crisp tone, friendly but talking fast, his words crackling like fire. "Hope I didn't scare you: nothing to fear. Just dropped in to say hello. Yosef of Nazareth, right?"
Yosef nodded, regarding the man with wary eyes, not sure what to say to all of his chatter.
"Oh, don't be scared: hope your scared hasn't taken the words from you. I'm the Doctor: friend of Gaspar, one of the Magi who just visited you. Would've come with them, but I got a bit sidetracked. Herod's men, got a bit too fresh with my..." He reached out a hand and patted the door of the blue shed. "Traveling shed. Tried to catch up, but they got ahead of me. They'd already left: caught up with them on the road, had a word to bring them. Not safe in Jerusalem: Herod's not happy with them, since they didn't tell him where the Child and his family are." His dark eyes had grown serious, even solemn and concerned. "Things are going to get worse. Probably don't have to tell you the king's not right in his head. Might be a brain parasite, put there by the Trickster's Brigade.
"Right, yes, rather a lot to take in. Long story short, it's best if you and the missis and the child find a safe place far away from here, where the mad king can't find him."
Yosef looked back at Maryam and the Child, his wife just starting to awaken, the Child still asleep. "Yosef?" she called, softly. "What was that sound?"
Yosef looked from the Doctor to his family. "A traveler to see the Child."
Maryam sat up, holding the Child, then rose to join Yosef at the cave mouth. "Yes? Have you traveled far? We have food and water if you need them."
"Oh, thanks, but nah, I've all I need here. It's you that needs helpin'," the traveler called the Doctor said. "Maryam, right? And the Child, Yeshua?"
"We named him that, yes," Maryam replied, curious, trying to read the man. The Child awakened, letting out a curious snuffle.
"The Saving Cry," the Doctor said, musing, his dark eyes going serious. "What His name means, right? Good name, noble name. What He'll do someday, when He's grown. Letting out a cry, telling people not to be afraid, not to hate, to love one another. Sure, there'll be those who'll try to make that cry into something else, but it's not His fault people only hear what they want to hear.
"Right now, He's the one Who needs saving. Mad king wants Him gone, way Herod's made so many others get out of his way."
"Herod..." Maryam said, pressing the Child to her heart, her dark eyes gone serious as well, with the concern of a mother protecting her young. She had heard stories of what went on in the palace, things that had trickled to the Temple servants, things she had told Yosef.
"Best thing to do, get as far from here as you can: I can take you, if you like, take you anywhere and anywhen -- well, most anywhere and anywhen," the Doctor said.
Maryam looked to Yosef. "Do whatever he tells you to do," she said. "This is a good man, a servant of the Lord." Yosef raised an eyebrow, but he looked to the Doctor.
"Oh, wouldn't go so far as to call me all that: I'm here to see the story gets told the way it needs to be told," the Doctor replied.
Maryam gave the Doctor a small, crooked smile, as if she chuckled within at him. "Anyone who is kind to another is the Servant of the Lord, even if they do not know that they are."
The Doctor looked at her with something like amazement and appreciation. "Right! Clothes, food, whatever you need, those little wooden animals you carved for the Child," the Doctor said. "Mind if I hold Him while you gather up your things? Was a dad myself, long time ago."
"No, we'll need both hands and we know where everything is," Maryam said, holding the Child out to the Doctor. The man -- if he was a man -- grinned and held his hands out, taking the Child in his arms with the care of a father, holding Him up, a hand under the Child's head.
Yosef gathered up their bags, packing clothing and supplies into them. Maryam gathered up the Child's things and their food.
"Yes, she is a graceful woman, but your father won't want me saying that," the Doctor said, holding the Child up high, the starlight gleaming on them both, the Child making soft sounds at him. "What do you mean he's not your father -- Oh. You created yourself? Knew something like that, saved my life, and a friend of ours -- well, might've made it worse in some ways." Then to Yosef's questioning look, "Oh, I speak Baby: one of the more complex languages in the universe."
Maryam smiled at all this, approaching the Doctor with a satchel on her back while Yosef untied the donkey. "Can we bring her?" she said, looking from the donkey to the traveler's shack.
"Oh, of course: bigger on the inside than out, plenty of room," the Doctor said, handing the Child back to Maryam before leading the way out of the cave and into the night, then in through the door of the traveler's shack, into its golden halls...