Chapter Text
“Leela?” She heard Narvin’s voice calling from the other end of the corridor. She felt some relief, he had avoided capture after their encounter with the chancellery guard. The relief waned, however, when she heard his footsteps speed up. Was he being pursued? She couldn’t hear anyone else, but she had encountered enough spirits on her own Gallifrey to be wary.
She reached for her knife, but before she could grab it, or even ask why he was running, Narvin’s arms were around her, pulling her into an almost bone crushing hug.
“I thought- they told me you were dead.” Ah, so this was not her Narvin. “How did you get back?”
“Narvin,” Leela started, but was cut off when he pulled back from the hug and brought a hand up to cradle her cheek. She prided herself in her ability to think on her feet, to deal with any situation that was put into, but she was completely thrown off by the open display of affection from Narvin. Her heart was racing and she felt as if her feet were frozen to the ground.
He swiped his thumb across the scars poking out from under her eye covering. “What happened?”
“Narvin,” she said again and removed his hand from the side of her face. “I am sorry, but I am not the Leela you know. This is not my Gallifrey, I am from another universe.”
“Oh.” Narvin stepped back and cleared his throat. “I’m- that was inappropriate of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my Leela.”
“I am sorry for your loss,” Leela said, putting a hand on Narvin’s shoulder. “I am sure she died a warrior's death.”
Narvin put his hand over hers. “She did,” he said with an amount of fondness she had never heard from him. Leela was suddenly glad she couldn’t see his face, she wasn’t sure how she would deal with his expression reflecting the tone of his voice.
“Ah, there you are,” Narvin, her Narvin, said from behind her. “You can’t just wander off like that.”
Leela smiled, she was back in familiar territory now. She could avoid having to deal with the emotions of this other Narvin. “I did not run off, and you know that.”
“Whatever you say. Oh great,” he said, finally having noticed his counterpart. “Is he going to be a problem?”
“No,” Leela answered before the other Narvin could. “He will not tell anyone we were here.”
She heard the other Narvin nod. Whatever his relationship to this Gallifrey’s Leela had been, it offered her and her Narvin some protection. He wasn’t going to do something that could potentially hurt her.
“Good. Now we need to get back to the portal before it closes again. Do try not to get lost on the way back.”
Leela smiled and rolled her eyes, not that either Narvin could see her doing so under the bandages, and followed her Narvin’s footsteps back to where the portal was.