For weeks Koschei kept having those dreams, they never lengthened, never shortened. It was always the silhouette of the woman flicking her umbrella around, then she would stop, tell him the same thing and leave. By the third week it was driving him nuts. In fact he could almost hear her words echoing around his head as he walked through the school grounds.

"What the Hell do I do, T? It's driving me mad", he asked Theta one day. 

"Maybe, see someone about it?" Theta replied in a distinctively sarcastic tone. Koschei loved Theta more than anything, he was like a brother to him. If a bullet was fired, he would take it for him. But he did have an underlying tone of patronising to his every word, and though Koschei was usually seen as the cleverer one, Theta thought himself better. 

"I am. I'm talking to you, aren't I?" 

"Yes. But I'm no psychologist. And I'm no telepathist. So, you're sort of talking to the wrong person". 

"So, who then?" 

"Maaaaybe, the actual city telepathist". 

"Theta. I'm not being funny, but I'm not talking to a dead person". The Editor, self-titled for her ability to 'edit' minds, was the main psychologist in the Gallifreyan city. She was famed to be able to cure all psychic conditions and could tell your future from your dreams. Most knew her by her title, but, after a small mishap by their biology teacher, Theta and Koschei learnt her name was Siresimenta, or Siresi, for short. She was loved by thousands because she saved many families from losing members to madness, a condition rife in the days of the rogue Time Lords. However, her life was cut short by these 'rebel' Time Lords, as they liked to call themselves, and they broke off her regeneration energy, so she was defenceless against them. Only did the great power of the Council manage to bring her soul back, but powerless. She now acted as a soothsayer, not as popular as before, but still as accurate with her predictions. 

"As I explained before, she's not dead. She's just... half-dead". 

"Yes, I know. The Council decided to do something good for a change". 

"Don't say that! We'll be jailed for blasphemy". 

"They have no power over me. And they never will". 

"One day, Koschei Delta, you will actually conform to command". 

"And one day Theta Sigma, you will learn that to live your life under control, is to not live it at all". 

"They are there to help us". 

"They are there to control us. Why don't you actually take a risk for once?" 

Koschei had been Theta's friend for such a long time that he knew exactly how to press his buttons. Because Theta had taken a risk once, and it ended with his parents looking down on him disappointed for the rest of his life. He had broken one of the sacred laws, the confidentiality law. His mother was high up in the Council, third in command, and she heard a lot. And she told Theta everything, because she trusted him to the ends of the Earth. Along with the plans to attack the Dalek prison camp on Skaro. However, he was convinced by...someone, to tell of these plans to a classmate. Who just happened to be a Dalek puppet scouting for gossip. He was threatened with exile, for eternity, and all his regeneration energy removed. His mother refused his fate, and he was granted a pardon from the Council, but everybody looked down on him for weeks on end. It scarred him for life, and he decided from then on he would never step out of line again. 

"I- I... No. Just, just stop it. Why? Why- What did I ever do to you?"

"How about making me feel about two inches tall? Making me feel like I'm dumb, when in fact I'm smarter than even you".

"No, I never did that. You're wrong".  Koschei took a deep breath, and realised the more they argued, the less time they had to get to Siresi's by sundown. 

"Agree to disagree?" Theta noticed his facial expression, telling him basically 'hurry up, mate'. 

"Yes, fine", he said, looking towards the city.