Even the Doctor was awestruck as him and the others were led into the ballroom. It was one of the most beautifully made rooms he had ever been in.
The ballroom was located in the centre of the castle, with towers sprouting up from around it. If one looked up they could see the sky as there was no roof to obstruct their view. Above grey and black clouds swirled like ingredients in a potion, snowflakes the size of the Doctor's thumbnail fell from them. However, not one touched the floor of the ballroom. There seemed to be something about nine feet up that melted the snowflakes as they all seemed to dissipate around there. On the far side of the room there was a monumental fireplace. It was taller than the Doctor and wider than a elephant. It was crafted from a fine bone coloured stone into shapes that appeared to be almost like flowers growing within wires. As though fantasy and science fiction had become mixed into one. It was a breathtaking sight. On either side of it there were pictures, hand painted in acrylics. One depicted King Basil and Queen Angelia, they were dressed in all white and surrounded by purple flowers, they appeared younger in the painting than they were. The other painting had Claire and the man the Doctor assumed to be Arthur, Claire's husband. They too were surrounded by purple flowers and held each other's hands tightly. They were gorgeous paintings, somebody had put a lot of work into each of them. The Doctor had to admire that even though these people had extremely advanced technology, they still took the time to do things like paint, dance, and ride. They could have left all of these things behind long ago, but they instead chose not to.
White pillars were built into the sides of the ballroom and stretched up to the sky, curving over the ballroom but not touching the ones on the other side. They were shaped like trees and it gave one the impression of being in a stone forest. Statues of white hawks were built into the walls like a medieval castle might have suits of armour. The eyes of the hawks were clear however, making them seem watchful, but not threatening. The walls were a mahogany colour, at first it was hard to tell what they were made out of, but if one stepped close enough they would be able to tell that they were made of stone. Hard stone that had taken a long time to carve into walls, but these people were innovators, they were engineers, they could build anything they pleased. When one looked down they would be faced with a nearby reflective white floor, polished so that it shone in the light. It was made from the same stone as the pillars and the fireplace, they seemed to all be connected, which rose more questions about how this ballroom was even possible. Another question arose, where was the light coming from? There didn't seem to be any torches or lights of any kind other than the fireplace, and yet it was beautifully illuminated. Another mystery. Three doors led out of the ballroom, there was one on every wall except for the one with the fireplace. Nobody was coming into of leaving the ballroom, their group was the last to arrive.
The fire was blazing, it provided warmth for the entire ballroom, yet it didn't feel stuffy or dry. Kids raced around, wearing suits that looked so soft you could use them to swaddle a baby. Very few children wore dresses, it got in the way of their playing. A young boy with a long, dark braid and chocolate skin ran in front of them laughing, he was followed by many others. The Doctor smiled. The adults too seemed to be enjoying themselves. A long white table had been brought into the centre of the room and on it were treats and delicacies that the Doctor had never seen much less tasted. The smells were delicious, the Doctor had no idea how to describe them, they smelt nothing like anything from anywhere else. Almost like sour sugar, sweet lemon, and fruity meat. All the scents were confusing, yet he found himself rather gruntled by them. Musicians sat in every corner of the room, never more than four of them together. They played in perfect harmony on instruments that looked almost recognizable. There was a lady sitting on a cushion with a very small box. There were six keys in front of her, and against the side of the box there were six more vertically arranged keys. The sounds coming from it seemed to be like that of a piano, only sweeter. If a piano were a marshmallow, this was a lollipop. Dancing couples spun around one another, laughing and occasionally stealing quiet kisses.
"You made it!" A tall man with hair the colour of the walls approached them. The Doctor didn't recognize him but Clara seemed to, she walked up to him and smiled widely. The Doctor walked up to him too, adjusting his purple bowtie.
The suit they'd given him was a perfect fit. And the gentle lilac colour looked very flattering on him, they'd even put a pocket inside of his jacket that fit his screwdriver better than the one on his regular jacket did. He was glad that he'd been given it. Clara's dress was also gorgeous, but that might have just been because it was on her. The colour matched his; as did the colour of Jack's suit, Rose's dress, and even Kayson's blanket. Clara outshone everyone else though. Her dress cut across her shoulders and in the back it was cut in a inverted triangle shape reaching down to just below her shoulder blades. Somehow the material seemed to move with her and the dress never slipped from its place. The front was simple, only a few stones encrusted and they were completely clear. The shirt of the dress poofed out only a small bit and trailed behind her, it had soft cream marking on it, they looked like vines crawling up from the floor onto her dress. Her hair was simply down, in a low bun with a small comb sticking into it. The comb was made of a silver metal that reflected the light and white gems contrasted it bewitchingly. He could hardly speak when he had first seen her.
The man looked to the Doctor and stretched out his hand. "My name's Bellamy, I'm Claire's cousin," Snapping out of his thoughts to Doctor shook Bellamy's hand.
"Good to meet you, I'm the Doctor." Letting go he looked around the room, looking for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. Claire had said they needed help, the Doctor couldn't believe that. Everything seemed to be perfect, it was your everyday utopia.
He was so lost in thought that he did not see when another man, much shorter than Bellamy with youthful green eyes, approached them. The man gave Bellamy a quick kiss on the cheek before stretching his hand out to the Doctor and saying. "Pleasure to meet you Doctor, I'm George."
"Hello George, pleasure to meet you," The Doctor shook his hand and smiled before going back to surveying the room. Bellamy, George, and Clara started to converse; the Doctor paid them no mind for the time being.
Then he spotted them, King Basil and Queen Angelia, dressed in finery and staring lovingly at one another. They seemed to be talking quietly. Putting a hand over his screwdriver the Doctor remembered that he had sensed something strange in Queen Angelia the other day, he'd forgotten to take a look at the scan he had taken of her. A hand grabbed his and he looked over. A young boy, maybe seven or eight, had taken his hand and was looking at him. "You're the Doctor,"
The Doctor smiled. "I am, who are you?"
The boy stood up a bit straighter and placed both of his hands on his hips. "I'm Patrick, my mom is Princess Claire,"
The Doctor suddenly didn't know what to say, he looked at the boy keenly. He had not taken after his mother. He saw almost nothing of Claire in him, other than his nose. He had Claire and Clara's nose. The Doctor crouched down to be eye level with the boy. "Doesn't that make you a prince?"
Patrick's eyes lit up with a bit of pride and he smiled widely. "Ya, ya it does," He smiled at the Doctor for a moment before running away into the crowd. The Doctor smiled, he was a nice kid.
"Doctor," Claire approached the Doctor holding a blond man's hand. The man had a strong jaw and gentle blue eyes. He was very handsome to say the least and with the way Claire held his hand and walked so close to him, he had to assume that this was Arthur. Claire confirmed his thoughts. "This is my husband Arthur,"
"A pleasure to meet you Doctor," Arthur smiled warmly and stretched out his hand to the Doctor. "Would you care to dance?"
"Certainly," The Doctor took Arthur's hand and they danced while chatting. Arthur was a very kind man, he had nothing bad to say about anyone. He spoke fondly of his children and pointed out his daughter Amelia and her crush Angelia dancing. The Doctor got a little confused at first and then realized there were two Angelias. Patrick was not dancing at all, he was climbing up on of the tree pillars. The Doctor was concerned but Arthur said that they had put sensors up near the floor that would slow someone's velocity down enough before they hit the floor so they would not be hurt. This was demonstrated when Patrick fell from about five feet up but landed softly on his bottom (after falling a short distance). These people really did think of everything.
The Doctor danced with seemingly hundreds of people, but very few of them stood out. There was, however, something he had noticed. There were a few people in the crowd that had just. . . rubbed him wrong. Everyone's eyes here seemed expressive, more expressive than a regular person, whereas these people's were blank, or worse, the feelings there looked artificial. They just seemed extremely off, like they didn't belong there. They gave him the same feeling that Angelia had given him that first day.
Then he got to dance with Clara. Oh Clara, Clara, Clara. She may not have been an amazing dancer, which was okay as everyone seemed to be doing completely different dances. Her face was lit up with joy and when she'd found him there was a bit of sugar on her lips. The way she twirled around and talked about everything in a perfervid manner was entrancing. By the end of the dance he found himself weak in the knees and gave her a daring kiss to the forehead before she walked off with a smile.
His last dance was with Angelia, he didn't know it would be his last dance of the night, but after that dance he knew he had to go look at his readings. She spoke like a queen would, she talked fondly of everyone and spoke of some of the arrangements that she had been in charge of. She had spent the morning cooking all manner of treats, the names of them went completely over his head though. All he could focus on was simply how wrong she was. Although from the outside she fit right in, when one got close to her, at least when he got close to her, he felt like he should get as far away from her as possible. He ended the dance early, saying something about having to meet up with Jack and take Kayson for a while (which he didn't have to do for another hour). As she walked away he took another quick scan of her.
He didn't think she would notice but she twisted on her heels, a smile on her face. With a hard look in her eyes she told him. "Doctor. . . I hope you find what you're looking for." Then she was gone, leaving the Doctor wondering.
Straightening out his jacket and shoving his screwdriver away he quickly located Jack. He had Kayson in his arms and he was chatting with George, George was snacking on an orange oval thing, which when bit into had a chewy purple substance in it. Approaching Jack the Doctor asked. "I'm going to go analyze some, some uh, some data. Can I take Kayson?"
"If you like," Jack smiled in a happy haze and handed the child over. There was a smile on her face and from her blanket she reached out a hand towards the Doctor. He rested her over his shoulder and swiftly left the ballroom. Earlier that day Claire had shown the Doctor where her laboratory was and a machine that he could use to analyze the data from his screwdriver on a bigger screen and modify it so that the others could look at it to. That's where he headed now.
He ran into few people on the way there, everyone seemed to be at the celebration, which was no surprise to him. Who would want to miss out on such grandeur. Just outside of the ballroom he'd seen Amelia and Angelia again, they were sitting close to each other outside on a white sofa. Both were smiling and talking in hushed voices. Silently the Doctor wished the pair the best of luck, god knows he had none when it came to that sort of thing.
And there was Clara. Popping into his head like usual, which her winsome smiles and that adorable laugh. He thought of her to often, he should try to actually focus on his surroundings. But while she was i his head focusing on anything but her was futile, everything else just made him think of Clara more. The brown walls, they were the colour of Clara's hair. A painting on the wall, he'd painted a picture of Clara once. Just Clara, everything Clara.
Finally entering the laboratory he stopped in the doorway. Claire had shown him and Rose where the crib and baby supplies were. He had to take four steps into the room, then three steps to the left for the crib. He did so and tapped the wooden floor. A crib similar to that of the one in his room sprung up. Gently setting down Kayson he took one more step to the left and tapped, three shelves popped up. At the moment he needed nothing, but it was good to have it open just in case.
Running around the laboratory he took a second to take it in again. When he had walked in the first time he had been so awestruck that Claire had been worried, the feeling lingered. The laboratory's ceiling was nearly twenty feet tall, with another level that stood on four pillars in the centre of the room. To get up to it one had to step inside of one of the pillars and wait while a small platform brought you up, it wasn't efficient but it was certainly enjoyable. The pillars were carved to look like wires, with small flowers growing out of them. They were similar to the fireplace that was in the ballroom. There was equipment everywhere, some of it was so large it went from floor to ceiling, others so small they sat on tables that levitated off of the ground by the use of magnets. It was a stunning place to be in, even for someone who could not comprehend what anything could the used for. The Doctor even would have to admit that there were somethings in here that he could not explain the function of. The ceiling was curved, making a dome, it was open, yet snow didn't seem to be able to fall into the laboratory. Light came from extremely small torches that were placed everywhere they could be placed in the room, it was a struggle to keep one's clothing from catching fire.
It took the Doctor a while to find the piece of equipment that he was looking for. When he did he quickly inserted the sonic where Claire showed him to, it was then he heard Kayson's soft cry. Leaving his sonic behind he ran to her side. She was hungry, that's what Kayson told him. She was usually so quiet, it was odd to hear her speak. Grabbing the pap boat filled with black milk he came to Kayson's side. Picking her up in his arms, careful not to spill any of the milk, he positioned her so that he could feed her. He did so as he slowly walked back towards the- what had Claire called it- the Indicia Macana. Coming up on it he found that the data he had inputted had been analyzed. The computer was ready to lay it out for him to see.
Laid out in gallifreyan it would look complex to others, but to him it was clear. But what it said he refused to believe. There was simply no way, no possibility that what it was saying could be true. Frustrated he quickly finished feeding Kayson and put the pap boat down. He kept her in his arms, however, there was no way he was going to let her, or any of the others, out of his sight now. Painstakingly he translated the gallifreyan notes into more mundane English words. It upset him occasionally how limited the human vocabulary was, there were so many words that they were missing out on.
After translating the words he made an image of what they explained. Just to be certain that he was not reading them wrong. He started with a model of Queen Angelia, then he stripped off the rather impressive shields he had been using to hide his true self. What the Doctor saw made him wrinkle his nose and run a hand through his hair.
Dalek Caan was there.