One week became two.

Two weeks became three.

Three weeks became a month.

And through it all there remained no sign of Jack, no indication of when he might return. A though to which she countered to herself again and again? That he as under no obligation to do so.

She told herself he had not intended to. That is planning their next trip together he had unintentionally stumbled across someone that genuinely required his assistance rather than merely his company. That it had indeed been his assistance she required the day she met Jack was studiously ignored.

Or perhaps, she considered, his path had managed to cross the Doctor's. Despite his certainty it would not. Perhaps they were together even now.

The least flattering whisper simply that he found someone or someplace that amused him more. That Reinette did not allow herself to linger on. But the words had been thought, and could not ever fully go away.

But there remained other, pressing matters.

She knew she had been distant the last months at court, and that her very position there was threatened because of it. Exhausting thought it may be, and the illness it would bring her too inevitable? Reinette could do no less than conquer it.

It was time to do so. To redefine her role and to challenge everything that was understood.

Again.