Winter Solstice returns us to Tara, and introduces a Time Lord ritual. The Dedication of the Candidates. In 2007 we learnt about the rather horrific practice of the Time Lords on Gallifrey where eight year old children were taken from their families and made to face the “Untempered Schism” to look into eternity. Some were inspired. Some were frightened. Some were broken. It was the explanation of why The Master was the way he was. I’ve referenced it in several other stories. But this one introduces a rather less terrifying version of the Dedication ceremony.

Sukie’ experience, of course, is the important one. Sukie is ‘different’ to the others. She is the hybrid with one heart and Human blood. This story establishes that she won’t be a Time Lord, but she will be a teacher of Time Lords. And she has a message for The Doctor.

There’s a storm coming.

The Doctor himself said that at the end of the 2006 episode, Fear Her. And he was right. The message here takes the narrative back to an earlier story, Interlude in the 33rd century, when Chris and Davie saw Mount Lœng House in the near future with substantial repairs to the infrastructure. Some time in 2008 these hints will pay off when I actually get around to writing the story – or series of stories as it well may be. This could be a bit epic. Watch this space.