The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS doors with as much confidence as was considered completely normal for him. Adonna followed out a few paces before coming to a stop and warily glancing around.
He hadn't said where or when they were, which was all right, but the fog was so thick, she couldn't see more than a few feet in any direction. Who knew what was out there? "Don't you think it's a little bit dangerous to be walking out here?" she called.
The Doctor started and turned halfway around. It almost seemed as if the fog hadn't even been noticed. For all she knew, it wasn't. "If it frightens you," he said with a motion of his hand, "you can stay in the TARDIS. I can think of no safer place." Without waiting for her decision, he went on ahead.
She wasn't one to question the Doctor (very often, anyway), and if it was good enough for him, then hell, it was good enough for her. Before he got out of sight, she caught up. "Where are we? You never said."
"Indeed, I never said despite you asking the first two times."
"And it hasn't kept me from asking more than once. How 'bout that."
He smirked but kept silent.
"You have no idea where you're going, do you?"
"I know perfectly well where I'm going."
"So...surprise?"
"Mind your feet, the roots like to spring up out of nowhere if you're not too careful."
"Wha--?" Adonna stumbled slightly when her foot knocked against a raised root of a gnarled tree.
She could hear the Doctor sigh and mutter something about people always questioning him and never just listening.
There were sounds in the fog, sounds she couldn't understand and couldn't place. Some of them seemed like scratching. Some seemed like clicking. It all seemed menacing. "What about the animals? Are they dangerous?"
"The indigenous lifeforms on this planet shouldn't be your concern. Just leave them alone, and you ought to be fine."
It was a weird thing to say when she couldn't see them to begin with. She couldn't help but wonder if he was just trying to make her feel better. "You could try not talking down to everyone all the time and saying things straight."
"Will you settle for walking straight?"
She crossed her arms. He didn't catch the look. The trail (she wasn't sure if there was a trail he was following or instinct) got steeper the farther they went. She didn't complain about a little mountain climbing, of course, except for those damned roots.
"It's a bit nippy."
"It is a mountain. It gets colder the farther up you get. It's not much farther."
The fog began to clear out, and she could see the top. By the time they reached it, they'd gotten above the fog, and the Doctor introduced her to quite a sight.
"Adonna Trusten, meet the planet of Janglurevil 7."
"Oh, Doctor..."
A large sun was beginning to rise before them, shedding light onto umbrella-like treetops and bouncing off the fog below them. The sky was a deep emerald that reminded her very much of the Doctor's eyes. It was not at all frightening, and it didn't look at all dangerous. The Doctor took a seat. She slowly followed suit. A flock of birds flew overhead. Then more, trailing along. Then dozens, joined by hundreds--seeming to be thousands.
"Space Swallow," he explained as some jumped out of the forest and others dove in, which must have been where those sounds were coming from. "They can exist in the vacuum of space and in most atmospheres, though they generally tend to stick to worlds that haven't reached their own industrial revolution, so to speak. They migrate, all together, to a new world, every...oh, I'd say it rounds off to around two months." The sun glinting off of them showed them to be a distinct blue colour. "Surprise."