13 Novella 2

Fixed

You feel your steed begin to slow down after about twenty minutes and grab back on the soft blubber. You look down at the land feet below.

"Are we stopping?" You ask Jenny, turning back to look at her.

"No" she frowns, looking over at The Doctor. "We shouldn't be stopping yet" she adds, before you feel a huge lurch that almost unseats you. Jenny helps you down and you hop the waves to avoid getting your feet wet. You slip and fall completely over, gasping as you stand, sopping wet.

Laughter erupts around you and you scowl, wringing our your soaked clothes with little success. You start to shiver and Jenny stops laughing.

She takes off her coat and wraps it around you. It's too big but the unnatural warmth generated from her body passes over. You snuggle into it gratefully and she smiles, but you are a little worried she'll be cold now. She doesn't look it though.

You shift to watch the whales disappear below the surface, catching an image of their sadness before they submerge completely.

"Are they that sad to see us go?" You joke unthinkingly, but receive only blank expressions.

"What do you mean?" Asks Yaz and you realise you shouldn't have said that.

You shake your head and turn to The Doctor who eyes you suspiciously before talking.

"Something's blocking the way across the sea, I'm not sure what, but I have a feeling they can tell us." She says indicating some smoke in the distance. You nod and follow her for another fifteen minutes before arriving at a small village with wooden shack houses and an abandoned holiday resort feel to it. On the shoreline men are dragging heavy logs and piling them high.

"Excuse me" calls The Doctor and three or four men straighten up. Something feels ominous here. "What are you doing with all those logs?" She asks lightly. They chuckle and return to work, ignoring her.
She frowns and steps forwards. "I asked what you are doing" she says dangerously and one man scowls.

"What does it look like woman? Wood for the dams obviously" he mutters lifting one onto his shoulder with a grunt.

"You can't build dams, the whales will be trapped either side!" She says in horror.

"Not our problem" he replies then walks away.

The Doctor turns to you all with a determined look and you smile. This was a look you knew well.

"I don't think anything we say or do is going to change their minds" she says lowly, and Yaz nods sadly.

"We could just blow the dams up?" Offers Jenny and you snigger.

"No violence!" Scolds The Doctor with a disapproving look.

"And besides, they would probably just rebuild them" adds Yaz.

"Well..." you say, uncertain of your idea. They look at you with interest, but it's the encouraging nod from Jenny that sparks your confidence. "We could show them the affects of what they're doing, see" you start slowly. "If they could see how sad the whales were, they might just change their mind" you finish and The Doctor gives you a calculating look. "Nice pick up, I thought I was the only one who noticed" she approves and you smile.

"Ok then gang! Lads? Fam?" She pulls a thinking face and Yaz smiles fondly at her charisma. "I'm going to use my sonic to boost the signal of the whales! But I'm going to need some serious height. Jenny?" She says and the woman nods.

Jenny grabs your hand and pulls you into the treeline before crouching down. You look at her bemusedly as she pulls out a knife from her leather calf belt and starts hacking joints into a nearby fallen log, about six times your height. When she has finished she indicates you to grab the other end and together you haul it onto the beach.

Jenny then starts to dig a hole and you help, finding strong rocks to help. In the corner of your eye you watch Yaz slapping the water with her hands, and The Doctor pointing her sonic at the emerging whales. She signals to Yaz and they make their way back up the beach. They meet you with a smile each and help you prop the pole up in the hole. It stands about thirty feet up, and to your horror, The Doctor puts the sonic between her teeth and begins to climb, using the grooves Jenny had previously had dug out.

"Oh you've got to be kidding" you mutter and Jenny laughs.

"She'll be fine" she adds to you and Yaz catching your worried expressions. "Just help me keep it steady" she adds and you grip the pole with all your strength.

She reaches the top in under a minute where she stands, swaying slightly.

"Doctor be careful!" Yells Yaz and you're glad she said it and not you. You feel all your muscles tense as you brush lightly against Yaz's shoulder, and you see an image of The Doctor, sprawled on the ground and unmoving.

You squeeze them shut, blocking it out and trying to focus on holding the pole steady, but the image assaults you again.

You gasp but are suddenly hit with deep resonating sound waves, an accurate echo of the whale's mournful song of incapacitation. Tears prick your eyes but you ignore them, watching as the men down the beach drop their equipment and turn to listen.

You don't know what they're thinking, but you hope they are regretting their choices. The Doctor slides down and lands neatly on the balls of her feet, turning to watch the men with a triumphant smirk, but not before Yaz throws herself at the blonde and they tumble to the ground. You and Jenny let the pole fall too.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" Says Yaz breathlessly, looking down at The Doctor beneath her.

"It's ok babe, I know what I'm doing" she says softly, sad she had caused her love so much distress. You turn and shake you head, feeling Jenny place her steadying hands on your shoulders.

"(Y/n) are you alright?" She asks in concern and you nod, afraid to open your mouth. Afraid of what was happening. Because now you couldn't deny it. You look out to sea and contemplate. You had thought it was psychosis from the mental hospital, but this, this was something else.

First the Gallifreyan lullaby, then seeing The Doctor approaching, then the whale's sadness, and now this.

Watching Yaz's fears as she thought them, you couldn't avoid the conclusion any longer.

Your insanity was clearly some kind of telepathy.