[Written]

[lightbranded]

[Will had been thinking about a lot of things recently.  Merriman.  Bran.  His own world.  But most of all his family.

Will was homesick.

He stares down at the journal as he thinks, and rests one hand on the Belt.  The Belt of Signs was all he had from home.  And as troubling as it was to have it here, he couldn't help but be glad of it.  In its familiar weight he found a kind of comfort.  That even here, he was himself.

Eventually he begins to write.]

I wonder how everyone is doing at home?  I know that no time passes at home while we are here. but all the same I think I would give a great deal to see my brothers and sisters again.

[He pauses for a long time.]

Does anyone here know anything about making jewelry?  Dad taught me a little about engraving last year, and I think that I would like to keep learning.

Comments

[toobravehearted]

Hello, Will. I've been wondering the same. Almost. About what we leave behind.

How have you been keeping?

[lightbranded]

Hullo Doctor. [Will smiles slightly.]

Well enough, I suppose.

[toobravehearted]

[There's a smile in his voice, too.] You only suppose?

A hobby is a good thing to have. What do you do to keep busy around here, usually?

[lightbranded]

I read mostly. And take lessons. [Most of the things he liked to do at home weren't really possible here. No long bike rides or saxon churches to visit. No choirs to sing in or brothers to go fishing with.]

[toobravehearted]

[The Doctor taps a knuckle on the console, thinking for a moment. Both good things to do. And time is what you make of it.

Well. I don't think I could help you very much in your venture to make jewellery, I'm afraid. I could show you my libary, though, if you'd like. [He think Will sounds very much like he needs a distraction, and he's willing to oblige if it will suffice.]

[lightbranded]

I would like that, I think. [Will sounds interested.] Do you have anything on anthropology and folklore?

[toobravehearted]

[The Doctor smiles, very pleased that Will would like to.]

Whole sections. We're in room 2109 and you're welcome to come if you're at a loose end. Should I expect you today?

[lightbranded]

If you don't mind. I'm afraid I haven't anything to do today.

[toobravehearted]

[Another smile.] Come on over then, Will. I'll leave the room door open for you. I'm in my TARDIS, in the corner of the room. The doors will be open to that as well.

[And when Will arrives he will see an old blue police telephone box in the corner of the room. The inside is a lot bigger than the out and Will should be able to see the inside of it easily before entering. The Doctor waits in the console room, the first place Will should come to. From his vantage point, he'll be able to see Will arrive to the castle room also.]

[lightbranded]

[Will slowly makes his way to the Doctor's room and enters. He pauses as he sees what must be the TARDIS, and laughs with delight at the sight of the familiar police call box. Hadn't he seen some just like that on his last trip to London?

He enters the console room and smiles at the Doctor.]

Bigger on the inside, is it?

Aaaand action;

[toobravehearted]

[He waits patiently. He is after all, still working. Working on getting the TARDIS to be able to travel at all and apart from Paradisa's immediate influence, he doesn't know what's wrong. Upon hearing laughter though he looks up to see Will. To hear his laughter at all is music to his ears.]

Will! It's a pleasure to see you again. [He leans on the console and smiles back at him.] What do you think?

Aaaand action;

[lightbranded]

It is really quite marvelous!

[Will looks around the space with curiosity.]

But... there is something strange about this. Isn't there? It isn't quite like anything I have ever felt before.

[toobravehearted]

[The Doctor grins at Will's wonderment and curiosity. He rarely gets tired of a person's reactions to the TARDIS.

At Will's next, he's curious himself.]

You can feel her? I recall our conversation and what you told me... What I can feel about you. The TARDIS is sentient. A living machine. [A pause while he looks around the console room himself.] She knows you're here.

[lightbranded]

I do not know if it is...her? I feel? But there is something. [Will frowns distantly, then abruptly dips his chin into a slight gesture of respect.]

In the name of the Light and of the Old World before the Dark came I greet you. Both of you.

[toobravehearted]

[The Doctor dips his head also.]  Thank you, Will. We are well met.

[Coming around the console he flips down the lever that closes the doors. While he doesn't mind visitors at all, it wouldn't do for someone to wander in if he wasn't there to greet them. People have got lost in the TARDIS before.] 

There's also a degree of telepathy from the TARDIS. She helps anyone who travels with me understand and speak the languages of where we visit. Amongst other things. A gift of the Time Lords you could say.

[lightbranded]

It is a useful skill. [He smiles faintly] One of my favorites, really. I'm really very fond of Latin.

[toobravehearted]

[He smiles pleasantly at Will.] Latin is one of my favourites, too. So many languages on Earth borrow from one another. Come along, I'll show you.

[Indicating the door on the other side of the room with his hand, he moves to it and pushes it open, ready to let Will through. Beyond the door stretches corridors upon corridors and they are decorated the same as the console room, with greco-roman columns set every so often, and doors to a myriad of rooms.

[lightbranded]

Ah, that's one of the reasons I like it. The echoes of it in English. [ As an Old One Will knew all languages spoken by man. But it was English that came first to him, for that was the language he had been born to. Latin he loved for its logic and structure. And Welsh he remained fond of, for memory of Bran.

Will follows after him and looks around with interest.]

[toobravehearted]

Not just in English. Latin words and new words derived from them are common throughout all of Europe. Besides English and Latin do you know any other languages?

[Pausing at a junction in the corridor, he looks right and then left, deciding which way. His hand points left, his body goes right.]

Things have moved around a bit. That happens sometimes. Down here, I'm sure.

[lightbranded]

All of them. [His answer comes simply.] Every language spoken by man.

[toobravehearted]

[He looks at Will with a small frown. That is quickly replaced with a nod and an understanding smile.]

Of course. You've had a lot of time to learn. You might find the language section interesting. There are some books on languages not known to man. And, ah, here we are. The library.

[Opening a white faced door in the white corridor and stepping inside, the library is a vast oak panelled room that stretches out and ahead. Bookcases line each wall, high enough to warrant ladders on rails and gliders to reach the top shelves. A spiral staircase leads up to the gallery; another goes down to a lower level, and tables and chairs in the room are overflowing with books, as if the person studying had left them abruptly. Thousands of books everywhere, from so many different worlds and places.

[lightbranded]

Not so much. [ Will replies absently as he looks around the library with amazement.] I am an Old One, but I have truly lived only thirteen years. Languages were something I simply knew.

[toobravehearted]

[He's still only just learning about Will, he realises. Tilting his head to the side curiously and asking gently, ] What about before then?

[The Doctor follows Will's gaze about the room.] I come here a lot. To read, to sit, to think. As often as I see it, there's something still magical about the library. Well, about any good library, really.

[He smiles at Will.] Anthropology, folklore and languages we've mentioned between us. If you require something specific just say, and we'll see if we can find it.

[lightbranded]

[He smiles gently in remembrance.]

I was human, once. With no more knowledge or ability than any other boy. It was a marvelous life, really.

I would agree with that. Fantastic things, libraries.

[Will grins, in a departure from his usual solemnity.]

That would be wonderful, thanks.

[toobravehearted]

When did you learn that you were an Old One, Will?

[Stepping to the nearest table, he starts to clear that and the chairs of the books left behind. He's careful with the books, fond of every one of them.

[lightbranded]

On my eleventh birthday. On the eve of my eleventh birthday, really. That was when I began to change. Although it was not until later that I fully understood what I was.

[toobravehearted]

That must have been very difficult to take on, on your own.

[He doesn't enjoy to hear it, but he does understand to a point the responsibility that was thrust upon Will. He was younger than Will himself when initiated into the Academy, so many, many years ago now..]

No. Not alone. You mentioned a name, Merriman. Your master.

[lightbranded]

[Will respectfully picks up a book and begins to assist him.]

Aaa, on the first day I woke up knowing that there was somewhere I needed to go. I met him, there.

[toobravehearted]

[He nods his thanks and gives a smile for the help.]

He knew? He was waiting for you?

[lightbranded]

It was a day that had been waiting for me. Because when I woke up that day, I woke into a different time, hundreds of years before I was born. The Old Ones always knew that that was the day that I would come to meet them, and so they were waiting for me.

[toobravehearted]

[He is thoughtful a moment.] It is a shame that such responsibility should be thrust upon a child and you must have been confused, scared. How long has it been for you since coming into The Light?

[Table almost cleared now, some books put where they belong, others he has carefully stacked. They came to the library to perhaps learn, yet it seems the Doctor is the one being educated. He doesn’t mind one bit.]

[lightbranded]

A little over two years. I am thirteen now.