Fill: Challenge #26 (Gallifrey)
Mar. 11th, 2022 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tenminutesadaySubverted a little - depends on how you define "companion".
“Primitives!” Narvin muttered under his breath as he pulled the sleeve of his robe from the grasp of the dancer. “How dare you touch me!”’ The bipedal blue gecko-like creature, clad in a straw cloak, chittered at him, thrust a string of beads into his hands, and twirled away in time to the drums and flutes.
Amused at his discomfort, Romana grinned as she forged a path through the crowd. “Now, Coordinator, open your shut and locked mind a bit,” she chided gently. “This world and these people are perfectly lovely.” She pointed at the beads in Narvin’s hand. “Freely given to a stranger.”
As they walked, Leela stared around, trying to see everything at once: the revelers, the musicians, the merchants hawking special wares for the celebration. “I sense no ill will in these people, towards the strangers in their midst nor towards each other. This world is at peace.” Another creature padded up to her and laid a similar string of beads in her hand. Leela clasped her hands around it and bowed to it. “I thank you.” It clicked and ran off.
“Baubles.” Narvin sniffed imperiously. “Madame President, why are we here? And why during their… spring planting festival or whatever ritual this is?”
“You, Narvin, are here because you need to look up and out sometimes, get your nose out of your schemes and intrigues. I am here because looks can be deceiving.” She stopped and pointed at the largest building in the town, a two-story wooden structure looming up ahead, adorned with garlands and flags. “That is the home of the chief. Doesn’t seem like much, does it? Perhaps not now, but in time? Coordinator, these people are the most time-sensitive species ever. Time Lords can’t hold a candle to them; we just have had a billion more years to progress. In a short millennia, they will be a powerful ally, if we respect them now and cultivate our relationship.”
“Nonsense,” he replied, though low enough so that no one but Leela and Romana could hear him.
Romana laughed. “You know, Narvin, this isn’t a planting festival, or any kind of annual celebration. Look at the beads. Three red beads, one for each of us; five green beads, one for each of the councillors we will meet up there, two yellow beads for the two nights we will end up spending here, and one clear quartz for the friendship we will forge. They are celebrating our arrival, for they saw this coming. It's not a fixed point, just a point of significance, and they knew. Even you didn’t see this. None of us did.”
As she turned and resumed the approach to the chief’s home, her faithful bodyguard by her side, Narvin stared at the beads in his hand.
“Primitives!” Narvin muttered under his breath as he pulled the sleeve of his robe from the grasp of the dancer. “How dare you touch me!”’ The bipedal blue gecko-like creature, clad in a straw cloak, chittered at him, thrust a string of beads into his hands, and twirled away in time to the drums and flutes.
Amused at his discomfort, Romana grinned as she forged a path through the crowd. “Now, Coordinator, open your shut and locked mind a bit,” she chided gently. “This world and these people are perfectly lovely.” She pointed at the beads in Narvin’s hand. “Freely given to a stranger.”
As they walked, Leela stared around, trying to see everything at once: the revelers, the musicians, the merchants hawking special wares for the celebration. “I sense no ill will in these people, towards the strangers in their midst nor towards each other. This world is at peace.” Another creature padded up to her and laid a similar string of beads in her hand. Leela clasped her hands around it and bowed to it. “I thank you.” It clicked and ran off.
“Baubles.” Narvin sniffed imperiously. “Madame President, why are we here? And why during their… spring planting festival or whatever ritual this is?”
“You, Narvin, are here because you need to look up and out sometimes, get your nose out of your schemes and intrigues. I am here because looks can be deceiving.” She stopped and pointed at the largest building in the town, a two-story wooden structure looming up ahead, adorned with garlands and flags. “That is the home of the chief. Doesn’t seem like much, does it? Perhaps not now, but in time? Coordinator, these people are the most time-sensitive species ever. Time Lords can’t hold a candle to them; we just have had a billion more years to progress. In a short millennia, they will be a powerful ally, if we respect them now and cultivate our relationship.”
“Nonsense,” he replied, though low enough so that no one but Leela and Romana could hear him.
Romana laughed. “You know, Narvin, this isn’t a planting festival, or any kind of annual celebration. Look at the beads. Three red beads, one for each of us; five green beads, one for each of the councillors we will meet up there, two yellow beads for the two nights we will end up spending here, and one clear quartz for the friendship we will forge. They are celebrating our arrival, for they saw this coming. It's not a fixed point, just a point of significance, and they knew. Even you didn’t see this. None of us did.”
As she turned and resumed the approach to the chief’s home, her faithful bodyguard by her side, Narvin stared at the beads in his hand.
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Date: 2022-03-12 01:22 am (UTC)I love the detail about the beads. And the gecko. It sounds like them. Narvin is beyond discomfort .
( They’re Romana’s companions! I recall a couple years ago, around the Opportunity, Big Finish posted that Narvin “ doesn’t count as a companion”, I guess someone asked)