Soul's Shadow (Doctor Who - SI)

Part VII (III)

The TARDIS led me to the library, where I found the Master. He sat in a comfy armchair, wearing earbuds and having a thick old tome in hands.

It made me wonder what type of music he might listen to. Probably something to overtone the constant drumming noise in his head.

The Master heard, or sensed, me coming. His hand halted in turning a page, his head lifted slightly, eyes wandering to the small tinfoil package in my hands. Since he didn't remove the earplugs I wordlessly handed him the waffles and strode away again, to get a good night's rest.

"You visited Florsch?"

I turned around, seeing him opening the package to take out a waffle and bite into it. "Haven't been there in ages." There was a small smile on his face.

"Yeah. It was really cool there. Didn't think you would know the place."

The Master gave me a funny look. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

I huffed. "For one, it's still standing."

The rest of the waffle vanished and he chuckled, licking his fingers. "I'm not so dumb to destroy every place I visit. Only the boring ones. Or those which annoy me."

"So, a human made zoo is neither?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Great study materials. Don't have to run all over the galaxy to get samples."

The second waffle vanished in record time, giving me the suspicion that samples - however he might get those - weren't his only reason. I decided to leave him with them, not actually awaiting a thanks.

"I checked your blood."

Once more I turned back, slightly annoyed that he waited with talking until I wanted to go. A slightly mischievous glint in his eyes told me this was definitely not a coincidence.

"And you found...?"

The Master shrugged and bit into the last waffle. "Nothing. You're good."

I blinked. "That's all?"

"Thought you might want to know."

"And...?"

There was a pause. The Master never left me with his eyes until the last bite was gone. Afterwards he licked his fingers clean, crumbled the tinfoil to a ball and threw it at me.

With a harmless 'plopp' it bounced against my arm and rolled away a few centimetres. The Master answered my annoyed look with a smug, childish grin, leaned back in his arm chair, where he propped both elbows on the armrests and folded his hands.

"I made some tests," he finally announced. "Wanted to see if the egg would react to it."

"And it doesn't."

One of his eyebrows shot up. "How would you know?"

I shrugged. "A wild guess."

"Then guess how it reacts to your DNA."

"Not at all? Why's that important? You wouldn't make such a scene-" I waved over his posture- "because of nothing."

He grinned. "Smart." And he ignored my eye roll. "I'm not sure what it means. Aside from the fact that it's not something biological it reacts to... It's you."

Although the implication had been there the whole time, having it spoken out, now, made it only stranger. What did (could) I have to do with a dragon's egg? Their mother had shown me some vision, true, but she could have picked everyone else. Or was that the connection?