"You know how picky he is, father," Coola teased, wrapping an arm over his sulking younger brother.

"And why shouldn't I be? I am a prince, as are you, dear brother," Frieza hissed, crossing his arms and looking up at Coola. He was absolutely dwarfed by his brother while in his first form.

"Now now, Frieza," King Kold admonished, standing from his throne, "We are almost to planet Pastal. I expect you to take at least one concubine, if just for appearances. Our family still needs to project an image of control over the Pastalians. I don't think I need to remind you what happened during the uprising," his voice grew quieter.

Frieza swallowed thickly. His mother, Queen Frost, had been on a diplomatic mission to Pastal in order to maintain relations with their royal family when she was assassinated. He had been just a child then; now, he would have personally ensured that every single being on the planet suffered before being brutally destroyed. But King Kold, far more level-headed than his son, decided to make an example out of the planet, turning the once proud race of warriors into little more than glorified sex slaves. Now, they were on their quinquennial visit to the planet in order to hand pick concubines from among the women. An eye for an eye.

Perri gulped, standing in line next to about one hundred other young women. There were five more rows behind her, increasing in age as one moved backwards. Unfortunately for the poor periwinkle skinned girl, her birthday had been last week, and as such she was near the front of the line. A dozen officers wearing similar yet distinct armor marched up and down the lines, picking out certain women and directing them to stand in certain groups. A fat pink alien with spikes on his head and arms grabbed Perri by the shoulder and gruffly instructed her to stand with a group of about twenty other women. She obeyed, nervously adjusting her dark purple dress. It was the best one her family owned. The other women were in a similar state, some barely holding back tears, some fretting over their hair or dress. Looking back over the rows, Perri noticed that only half of the women remained, and it didn't look like any others were being chosen. The officers gathered in front of the huddled females. One shouted for them to form rows, and was fearfully obeyed.

A dark shaped descended from the sky swiftly, revealing itself to be a massive round ship that Perri thought resembled a parasite. It landed with a slight tremor, throwing someone behind her to the ground. She wanted to turn and help her kinswoman, but was paralyzed by a fear of what was coming next: the Kold royal family. For the past three years, she had been taught day and night of the history, the culture, the physiology, and the personalities of the Kold family and Ice-jin in general. She shuddered as she recalled the month long class on erogenous zones.

The walkway extended from the ship. Perri tried to get a peek at the ice-jin, but they were obscured by the lines of prospective concubines. All she could see was that there were three figures: one large one and two smaller. The larger one had to be King Kold, who was known to take anywhere from thirty to a hundred women as his personal slaves. One of the smaller figures should be Crown Prince Coola, whose appetite was slightly less ravenous at an average of fifteen. Then there would be Prince Frieza. He was known to rarely take more than one or two concubines, but was known to be a demanding and aggressive lover, as evidenced by the shortness of his partner's life spans. From what she could tell, the three were making their way through the first group. It took them about fifteen minutes, and when they moved on, most of the women were being led back to the ship by the officers. Another fifteen minutes, another group gone. It was only Perri and the other twenty now. No longer able to resist the temptation, she lifted her gaze from the ground and straight to a pair of gleaming ruby red irises. She couldn't tear her eyes away as he passed in front of her, holding her gaze until a magenta-haired woman screamed and tried to run away. He nonchalantly turned his horned head and blasted her with an eye laser. She dropped to the ground, dead. His long pink tail waved slowly, and he chuckled darkly. He tucked his arms behind his back and sighed.

"Zarbon," his voice was clear and low, tinted with a slight accent. He nodded at Perri, then moved on.

A tall green-skinned alien with a darker green braid grabbed her by the arm and began leading her back to the ship. Looking back, Perri saw her new master gazing disinterestedly over the other women, tail now carried high and curled in an 's' shape. Curiosity. A curtain of her curly dark blue hair fell in her face and she returned her attention to where she was going. Zarbon lead her past the waiting groups of women and into the ship. Dread settled in her stomach. She was going to have to bear the burden of the youngest prince alone.

Zarbon left her in a large room that was slightly dimmer than the rest of the ship. The main chamber was dominated by a huge window that looked out over the cliffs of Pastal. Using her moments alone to her advantage, Perri decided to explore the chambers. The door opposite the entrance led into a bedroom containing a decadent round bed adorned with plush pillows and a dark purple blanket. Another door off of that room led to the most lavish bathroom Perri had ever seen. She was tempted to draw a bath in order to ease her anxiety, but Frieza had not yet outlined what he expected of her. Begrudgingly, she left the bathroom and returned to the room with the window. Frieza was hovering far above the floor, gazing out the window pensively and sipping a glass of dark red wine.

"My lord," Perri addressed, bowing deeply at her waist.

"This whole affair is highly unnecessary," Frieza replied, lowering to the floor.

"Pardon, my lord?" Her thin blue eyebrows furrowed.

"It would be much simpler and less of a waste of time to destroy this planet altogether," he watched her intently, tail curling into an 's' again.

"I agree my-"

"No, no," he admonished, tail lashing through the air, "Don't simply agree with me, I wish to hear your true opinion,"

Perri gazed at the ground for a moment, then met his red gaze with her golden one. "Though destroying the planet would send a message of power," she began, "I believe the current method is clever on the King's part: by forcing a proud race into giving up their women, he displays guile, and keeps a steady stream of soldiers and concubines,"

"Hm," Frieza tilted his head, "You're a clever one, aren't you?"

"Thank you, my lord," she bowed again.

"You are free to wander the ship whenever you wish," he waved his hand dismissively, "I must attend a meeting with my father and brother. You are free to join, but do not speak unless spoken to."

He walked past her, tail swinging low along the ground. She followed him at a distance, careful to stay out of reach of the appendage. If I'm going to live among them, she reasoned, I must know them.

"Ah, you have finally arrived!" King Kold laughed. He had two women sitting in his lap-one on each thigh- and his arms around their waists. One leaned happily into his chest. Perri didn't want to think about why she looked so pleased. Coola had his tail wrapped around one of his women, a busty golden skinned girl who looked incredibly uncomfortable. Frieza made no movement to even acknowledge Perri's presence.

"Let's be off this planet, father. We've got what we came for," Frieza barely concealed the annoyance in his voice.

"Tch, so impatient," Coola hissed, tightening his grip on the woman.

"I suppose you have a point," Kold sighed, mood souring, "If we leave tonight, we should arrive at Planet Ice in a week, then you two can leave your poor father all by himself, though," he tightened his grip on the concubines, "that might be the preferable course of action."

Coola rolled his eyes and Frieza gagged.