The Time of Change

Christmas Eve, a Seer, and a Slow Dance

He grins and leads me forward at a faster pace. We start toward a building alight with probably a hundred candles, two torches stationed on the walls by the door. A steady stream of excitedly-chattering people enters. There's no one standing at the door to supervise who comes in and who doesn't, so the Doctor and I follow the crowd without hesitation. The capacious inside is warm and bright with golden light. There is a huge open space of sleek, polished wood in the center of the room that I assume to be a dance floor. All around the walls are white-clothed tables; small vases of frost-coated winter flowers sit as their centerpieces. A group of around five or six tables in each of the four corners are partially shielded from view by thick velvet privacy drapes. People stand about in uncomfortable clusters, and I feel a general air of giddy anxiousness as they wait for the festivities to begin.

"What d'you know? Just a party," says the Doctor on my right. He sounds kind of disappointed, and I laugh under my breath. "Maybe something interesting will happen," I preen comfortingly as I tuck my hand into the crook of his elbow and lean on him gently. He nods, looking unconvinced.

"Doctor!"

We both turn our heads to see three identically pretty young women hurrying across the floor. A few patrons smile good-naturedly their way before turning back to their respective conversations. Each of the girls are thin, blemish-free, and pale blonde. Their dresses are extravagant and bright, not quite following the deep color scheme of winter fashion. The three glance eagerly between one another, then at the Doctor, and I feel a twang of jealousy in my chest. I notice that only one of the women has brown eyes; the other two's are grassy green.

"Madeline, Jasmine, Sarafina," he greets awkwardly, nodding at each in turn. "Fancy meeting you all here." The girl on the far left—Jasmine, I think—casts me a deathly warning glare as she shoves me out of the way. I meet her eye, unfazed, and eventually she looks away.

"Where've you been, Doctor?" the one called Madeline asks, batting her brown eyes flirtatiously. The third, Sarafina, hangs on his arm like a cat.

"Um away," he replies. He throws a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look my direction, but I simply give him a blissful smile and pretend to observe the other partygoers. "Yes, I've been away," he repeats himself after a beat. The triplets giggle. Now he adds suddenly, "This is my friend, by the way. My best friend." I look up and shake my head in warning. He grins, reaching out for my hand as the three women's eyes slide toward me grudgingly. "Oh, come on now, don't be shy. Mingle. Girls, this is Annalise."

He pulls me to his side and pats my hand platonically before releasing it. They mumble vague greetings, but there is no friendliness. I return a bright smile. Kill 'em with kindness.

"Father saw you coming in and wants to speak with you," says Sarafina, she and her sisters reverting to ignoring my presence.

"Yes, Father has been ever so anxious to speak with you," chimes Madeline. In the back of my mind I recognize that their nasally voices sound eerily similar. I cringe discreetly as Jasmine adds, "He doesn't know the girl—"

"Annalise," he reminds her sharply.

"Right. Annalise." She rolls her eyes, an action either unnoticed or overlooked by the Doctor. "Well, Father saw you enter with Annalise, and he doesn't know Annalise, so he wants to talk to you to know more about her."

The Doctor furrows his eyebrows and looks at me. I arch mine, flicking my eyes toward the expectant girls almost like a challenge. They're smiling at him as if they have never seen a man before. "Will you come?" he asks me. Out of the corner of my eye I see the sisters exchange horrified glances.