“You’re really going to leave?” she asked.

“I don’t belong here,” he insisted. “I couldn’t live with these people without telling them the truth, and do you really think they could live with me if I did?”

She knew he was right; all she could do was sigh in resignation.

“I’d ask you to come with me,” he went on, “but it really is dangerous most of the time, and with your baby…”

“I never said…” She trailed off, then laughed. Of course he knew. “I couldn’t leave my son, either,” she agreed.

“And your husband?”

“Well, now that you mention it, I’d probably regret that, too. But I will miss you terribly.” She took his hand, then pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him. For a while he returned her embrace.

“Thank you,” he said. “For everything. But I do need to ask you one more question.”

“What’s that?” she asked, pulling back so she could see his face.

“What happened to the unicorn? Did she find her people?”

“Yes,” Letitia smiled. “She found them and rescued them… but there’s a lot more to it than that. I’ll get you the book, and you can read it yourself. You do read English, yes?”

“Yes, I do.”

With a nod, she dashed off to her room and picked up the book: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

“You know,” she said as she handed it to him, “Five or six years ago I would have begged to come with you.”

“Five or six years ago I probably would have asked you to.”

There was a moment of silence as he stood in the doorway of the Tardis, holding her book, and she stood in the woods, holding nothing.

“I…” she began. “I gave you one of my favorite books. It was published the same year Forest was born, so it really means a lot to me. I do want you to have it, but… I wonder if…”

“If I could give you something?” he finished for her. She nodded. “Yes, I think I can. Hold on.”

She waited in the woods, leaning against the Tardis. She was reluctant to enter again if she wasn’t going to travel in it, but feeling it, knowing it was real, somehow made her feel better.

When the Doctor returned, he was holding a velvet box. Almost bashfully, he avoided her eyes while he opened it for her. She gasped when she saw its contents, and it took her a moment to muster the courage to touch it. It was a silver pendant – or at least the metal resembled silver – in the shape of a circle, with many lines and smaller circles arranged inside it. The space between the lines was open; she had never seen such delicate work. “It’s beautiful,” she sighed. “I think my book pales in comparison.”

“Well, the book wasn’t the only thing you gave me,” he said, cupping her cheek in his other hand. She laid her free hand over his, lightly stroking his fingers. “That’s not just an abstract design,” he explained, nodding toward the pendant, “it’s writing, in my native language.”

“What does it say?” she breathed, tracing the lines with one finger.

“In your eyes I see eternity; in your hearts I will live forever.”

She looked into his eyes, but he turned away as if shy again, taking his hand back from her face and nearly dropping the box. Carefully, she lifted the pendant out, and a spiral chain flowed with it. She opened the clasp and fastened it around her neck.

“You’re sure you won’t change your mind and stay?” she fished. “John at least would be glad to have you around. And Daisy…”

“And if her father knew the truth about those spiders, he’d rethink his views on pacifism,” the Doctor joked, handing her the box. “No, I really do have to go.”

Letitia sighed again. “If you come back to Earth, look me up.”

“Now that I can do,” he smiled. “Goodbye, Letitia… What’s your last name?”

“Green,” she said.

“Goodbye, Letitia Green.” He hugged her again before closing the door. She took a few steps backward as the engines began to… creak? Squeal? She wasn’t sure what kind of sound to call it. Gradually the Tardis faded from sight. When it was gone, she knelt beside the empty space and carefully reached into it. The grass had been flattened in a square, but there was really nothing there. She clutched the pendant in her hand and let a few tears fall.

Scene Selection

1. Survivor	4. Revelation
2. The Unicorn	5. Time Spiders
3. Lentil Stew	6. Eternity