The Oncoming Storm ²

The Snowmen

A familiar looking young woman gathers empty tankards from the tables and takes the tray outside. There is a toothy snowman in the yard between the inn and the wash house. Two people walk past her.

"Did you make this snowman?" she asks, the two keep walking, the male answers.

"No."

"Well, who did? Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere" I look up at the Doctor as he turns and comes back to examine it, she follows close behind.

"Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen" I suggest.

"What, snow that can remember? That's silly."

"What's wrong with silly?" the Doctor asks.

"Nothing. Still talking to you two, ain't I?"

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Clara."

"Nice name. Clara. You should definitely keep it. Goodbye!" Clara follows the Doctor and me around the corner.

"Oi! Where are you two going? I thought we was just getting acquainted."

"Those were the days" the two reply looking at Clara, before leaving. Clara starts to return to the inn, then changes her mind and runs after their carriage.

*Carriage*

"How refreshing to see you two taking an interest again. Was she nice?" Vastra asks.

"We just spoke to her" I reply, the carriage has a telephonic communications device fitted.

"And made your usual impacts, no doubt."

"No, no impact at all. Those days are over" the Doctor says.

"You can't help yourselves, it's the same story every time. And it always begins with the same four words."

"She'll never be able to find us again. She doesn't even have the name. Doctor or Seer. What four words?" The Doctor asks, Clara's head appears through the hatch in the roof, I jump placing my hand on my chest.

"Jeez, you scared me!"

"Seer? Doctor? Doctor and Seer who?"

*Time skip*

A carriage drops off a middle-aged man. He is greeted at the door by a servant.

"Good evening, sir," the servant says.

"Pond's frozen over. Hasn't frozen since the night"

"Since the night your children's governess died, a year ago."

"Doctor Simeon, sir. He insisted on waiting" the servant says.

"She drowned in this very pond."

"Which then froze. You didn't find her till a month later when the ice finally melted."

"I recall the incident. It is the sort of thing one remembers."

"The ice remembers too."

"Who are you? What do you want here?" Simeon gives him a business card - The Great Intelligence Institute.

"The pond is yours, Captain Latimer, but what is growing inside it, when it is ready, is ours. Good evening."

*Alleyway*

A shapely young woman in leather trousers stands in Simeon's path.

"Well, Doctor Simeon, you're out very late tonight," Jenny says.