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It was their anniversary. Or as near to it as either could determine given that their marriage was conducted in an alternate timeline. He had taken her to the Planet of Perpetual Illumination. Named not for the long days bathed in shimmering rays from the star system’s large blue sun. Nor was it named for the equally long nights with their canopy of brilliant stars. No, it was named for its flora, the bioluminescent vegetation that covered sixty percent of this slowly rotating giant of a planet.
He watched as she walked ahead of him on the trail that wound through the woods behind their hotel. All around them a kaleidoscope of colored effulgence emanated from the resplendent foliage. Shades of blue, purple, and green were most prominent, with a smattering of purest white and red adding accent and highlight to the luminous display. The hues broke free from their cellulose confines in a wildly varying array of geometric patterns, like an equation or puzzle the greatest mathematician would take his entire life to solve.
Every step or two, River would reach out to gently caress a flower or run her hand along a twining vine. He watched with the satisfaction of a plan successfully carried out. This was something he had wanted to see for a long time. His own radiant beacon moving amongst the living luster of a world. It was hard to believe this wasn’t her home planet. The gleam that shown from within her was just as complicated in its intricacy, and heart-breaking in its simple beauty as the organic glow of this world’s forests.
“I’m sorry we can’t take a bouquet of flowers away from here, but the plants loose their bioluminescence when cut,” the Doctor said, coming to hover just behind her.
River smirked at him over her shoulder. “What would I do with that? Use it as target practice?” she scoffed.
So much for trying to be romantic. He slumped ever so slightly.
“Besides, I don’t need a bouquet of flowers,” she continued, drawing him close. “You’re all the light I need.”