#marble halls

[amethysia]

A song for you Lansoni and Arthurlot folks

[marejadilla]

Enya, "Marble Halls", album "Shepherd Moons", 1991, (2009 Remaster). "Marbles Halls" is an aria from "The Bohemian Girl", an 1843 opera by Michael William Balfe, lyrics written by Alfred Bunn. Very popular in the 19th century. The piece has also appeared in many modern compositions and appearances, most recently performed by Enya on the 1991 album "Shepherd Moons". The theme appears on the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's film “ The Age of Innocence ”.

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Aesthetic Moodboards // “Marble Halls” by Enya

I also dreamt, which charmed me most, that you loved me still the same.

[myloveiainglen]

Enya-Marble Halls

[darrowbyeightfive]

Marble Halls, Part 11

Just a little snippet...

“I’ve found, in my extensive experience, that panic is really rather effective in helping one shake off minor indispositions.”

“Hmm, it never seems to work for me,” said Tristan. “Although, to be fair, it usually isn’t me doing the panicking at the time. It’s mostly the telephone ringing and Siegfried bellowing at me to answer it, neither of which make one feel particularly full of vim and vigour and eagerness to greet the new day.”

“Well, you know, early to bed and early to rise, as they say. A healthy mind in a healthy body and all that.”

“Hmm, yes, quite.” Tristan grinned. With the arm that was not around the Doctor’s shoulders, he reached across, detached another of the less wilted parts of the celery garland and passed it to the Doctor, who took a bite.

“This is also working wonderfully well as a restorative. Not quite as good as Gallifreyan celery, but eminently fit for purpose. And in any case,” he said, his voice becoming a little higher. “It wasn’t necessarily the wine that had this, um, adverse effect. Certain substances that are harmless to humans can provoke unexpected reactions in the Time Lord constitution. Some of our biochemists have studied this phenomenon in detail, but it’s impractical to carry a list of all their publications on the subject around with one all the time. Particularly when one is wearing…” he looked down disapprovingly at his rather flimsy tunic “…a garment without any pockets in it.”

“Are you feeling better now?” asked Tristan, affectionately.

“Very much better, thank you. And now we must address ourselves to the problem.”

[darrowbyeightfive]

Marble Halls, Part 4

The next instalment of the as-yet-unnamed story (I really need to think of a title for this soon.) I finally managed to merge all my random plot threads together, yay! The downside is that this is getting really REALLY long...

EDIT: It now has a name, too! Yay!

James was surprised to see a young woman following the Doctor into the Skeldale living-room.

"Siegfried, would you mind very much if my young friend joins us for lunch? Her name's Vera Wilkinson. Perhaps you saw her yesterday – she's Mr Partridge's niece. We've both been working hard this morning and I'm afraid we quite lost track of time"

"Certainly, Doctor," said Siegfried. "A pleasure to meet you, my dear," he said to Vera, taking her hand and giving her his most charming smile. “Tristan seems to have been held up at Micklethwaites', so you can have his place.”

James had listened patiently that morning as Tristan had told him,  enthusiastically and at length, about this new object of his affections. Business as usual, he had thought, trying conscientiously to nod in the right places and make encouraging comments even though he had heard it all so many times before. This time, of course, it was different; it was true love. As it had been all the other times. Tristan, for all his laziness in other aspects, seemed to live his emotional life with an intensity that James, even as a passive observer, found exhausting. Nonetheless, it would be a shame for poor Triss if Siegfried did his usual trick of turning his nonchalant charm onto this girl and making her fall for him instead. It had happened several times before, and although Siegfried had sometimes deployed his attractions deliberately, much of the time he had appeared oblivious to his effect on the female of the species. With the usual sort of girl who went to dances with Tristan, it probably wouldn't have mattered all that much; he seemed to have an endless supply of nurses from up at the hospital and Siegfried was not usually especially interested in any of them. But this girl did seem a little different, and according to what Tristan had told him, things had already progressed rather well between the two of them.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Farnon," said Vera. "My uncle and your brother have been telling me about your practice here." She didn't look or sound to James as if she had become an immediate victim of Siegfried's powers of attraction, the usual symptoms being blushing, simpering and a sudden onset of inarticulacy. Instead, her tone seemed pleasantly interested and businesslike. Perhaps Triss still had a chance, after all.

As the meal went on, James began to feel less confident on behalf of his friend. When the Doctor was talking about some of his past adventures, Vera listened to him with what looked to James like rapt attention and deep admiration. Poor old Tristan – when it wasn't his own brother who was upstaging him, it was a traveller from outer space who looked like his more dashing but otherwise identical twin and who had no interest whatsoever, as far as James could tell, in acquiring admirers. The Doctor, with his gentle, polite manners and friendly enthusiasm was almost impossible to dislike, unless you were one of the cosmic tyrants whose dastardly schemes he regularly thwarted. From what James had heard of his adventures, it seemed as if he had a tendency to pick up around him a small group of orphaned or otherwise bereft young people from various corners of the universe, caring for them with a kind of disinterested benevolence. James really couldn't imagine him engaging in anything as self-indulgent as a love-affair, although he could quite easily imagine him unwittingly and entirely innocently leaving a trail of unrequited admirers behind him.

Much as he enjoyed the Doctor's company, James had begun to feel that it would be best for Tristan if he were to resume his travels in space and time. Quite apart from any adverse effects on Tristan's romantic prospects, James had also noticed that Siegfried had begun to treat the Doctor in a friendly, fraternal sort of way, but with the respect that he usually didn't extend to his brother. It seemed only a matter of time until Siegfried made an overtly unfavourable comparison between his brother and the Doctor and provoked an unpleasant episode.

It was at this point that Tristan entered the room, his face and clothes liberally smeared with some brownish-green and unpleasant-smelling substance. James could see him running through various deductive processes after noticing that Vera was sitting at the table.

“Umm, hello, Vera. I'm afraid you don't really see me to my best advantage. I've just had a rather difficult time with a sow...”

“Tristan! What is that dreadful stench? Clear out of here and clean yourself up! Can't you see that we have a lady visitor?” said Siegfried.

Vera looked up from the table and directly at Tristan. “I suppose that anyone living with veterinary surgeons has to get used to a wide range of interesting fragrances. Hasn't that been your experience, Doctor?”

“Indeed,” said the Doctor, “although I have to say that after some of the species I have experienced on my travels, the substances and smells produced by the animals in Yorkshire seem very innocuous in comparison.”

“And it's not just veterinary practice. Anyone who wanted to throw his lot in with me would probably have to be able to tolerate the smell of turpentine and linseed oil.” She smiled at Tristan, who had still not cleared out of there.

“Ah, linseed oil,” said the Doctor. “A delightful aroma. Redolent of cricket matches on long summer evenings.”

“I suppose I could make accommodations for someone with a very sensitive sense of smell, and paint only in watercolours.”

“If I've understood the culture of the current era correctly, that would be perceived as being a very ladylike pursuit,” said the Doctor, “but perhaps not as cutting-edge and avant-garde as painting in certain other media.”

“I've never really aspired to be terribly cutting-edge,” said Vera.

“Novelty for its own sake is, in my opinion, rather overrated,” said the Doctor.

James grinned, realising that this double-act was being performed for Tristan's benefit.

“Tristan,” said the Doctor, “do go and clean up and join us! Although I've dealt with far worse smells in the past, I'd much rather talk to you here at the table. The repairs to the TARDIS really are almost finished now, and I'd like to tell you about my plans for our test flight!”

[darrowbyeightfive]

Marble Halls, Part 5

Another snippet...

"Where in space and time would you like to go?"

"The Renaissance or Ancient Greece," said Vera. "Or somewhere beautiful on another planet.""The time of the dinosaurs," said Tristan. A cloud passed over the Doctor's usually sunny countenance as he heard this and his hearts felt a twinge of pain, but he pushed away his regretful feelings and forced his face into a smile.

“James and I have a little game to liven things up when they get dull,” continued Tristan. “We imagine that we're vets in the prehistoric world, treating herds of brontosaurus rather than cows. It's a little silly, but it cheers us up and relieves the monotony on cold winter mornings. I suppose, Doctor, that if you've been travelling through space and time for several hundred years, you've probably developed some strategies for relieving boredom too.”

“One would think so,” said the Doctor, “but it seems that there is always someone chasing and attempting to kill or imprison me, so I rarely seem to suffer from boredom.”

[darrowbyeightfive]

Marble Halls, Part 3

So, OK, here is the first instalment... This is the long-overdue story from the writing prompt by @edgeofthedales who asked for a story about Tristan with the words ‘marble’ and ‘silence’. (None of which figure in this section, which is a bit of a bridging piece.)

"My usual form of exercise is running away from creatures who want to kill me. And cricket. I prefer cricket, all things considered."

"Hmmm. Well, you seem in very good shape for someone who is, what did you say, several hundred years old. A fine figure of a man. I would have had you down as about thirty. If it weren't for the double heartbeat, I would have suspected that this was one of young Mr. Farnon's pranks. A very lively sense of humour, he has. If a little bizarre on occasion." "So it appears. But you don't think there's any cause for concern?" "About his sense of humour, quite possibly. About your state of health, not at all, as far as I can gather. Of course, I know nothing about the biology of your, er, species, and I'm just extrapolating from what I know of my fellow men, but you seem to be fully recovered from the influenza-like illness you described, and the slight lethargy you report may be down to your becoming too, shall we say, comfortable. And possibly just a little overindulgence in Mrs. Hall's cakes, which is entirely understandable. She's an excellent cook. Perhaps what you need most of all is to get back to your life of high adventure." "That's as I suspected. Thank you, Doctor." "Thank you, Doctor. It's always a pleasure to broaden my knowledge. I've enjoyed this little chat. You'd be most welcome to come round for tea any afternoon."

"Without cake, I assume?" "Well, we doctors don't always practice what we preach, do we?" said Dr. Allinson with a conspiratorial wink.