Author's Note: I have been creating Dragon Ball fanfiction in my head since I was about nine years old, long before I knew what fanfiction was. I've never tried to write it down before, for various reasons, but I've resolved to start writing more and this feels like a good way to begin.

The most dramatic change from the canon that I've made is that, since I was little, I've imagined Gohan as a girl. There were no young girls for me to look up to in Dragon Ball Z and the name 'Gohan' doesn't have any connotations of gender in translation so it seemed like a simple enough swap. After 14 years I've never been able to shake the idea.

The second most dramatic change is that I decided that it made very little sense for Gohan to spend a year with Piccolo - with no human contact at all - and emerge the same cheerful, obedient, loving child we see at the end of the Saiyan Saga. At the same time, I wanted to explore Piccolo's character (probably too sympathetically but when you fall in love with a character at age nine you fall HARD) and decided he had memories of a culture and language that we never got to see.

The first snippet is my take on what happened when Dende wished everyone on Namek to Earth at the end of the Frieza/Namek Saga, because I showed it to Sifl-senpai and they were very supportive and lovely.

Dende was a gifted healer. He had been told many times of his great potential, and how, with further study and experience, he could grow up to be an Elder of his village, or a member of one of Namek's High Councils. It seemed a long time since anybody had spoken of anything so hopeful.

He struggled now, hands trembling, over Piccolo's body. The wounds were severe and diverse – lacerations, contusions, energy burns – and all needed immediate attention. It took three attempts before Dende could feel his healing energy begin to repair what Frieza had nearly destroyed. It nearly took more energy than he had to spare.

Exhausted, Dende sat back on his heels. There was nothing left for his people to do now but wait here on Earth and try to record who had survived. Looking at Piccolo, Dende desperately wished he could count Nail among them. In sleep, the quiet energy he radiated still felt like Nail's. A part of Dende didn't want Piccolo to wake up if it meant that Nail would be lost to the shadows of Piccolo's consciousness.

Piccolo soon woke, opening his eyes to the warm yellow sun of Earth. He scanned himself quickly – he was exhausted and disoriented, head swimming with thoughts that didn't feel like his, but no longer in pain. He took an experimental breath and let it out again without difficulty. How long had he been unconscious? There was no way of knowing now that they were – how? – on Earth. The last thing he remembered was a spacecraft, Gohan was saying…

Gohan!

There was a vaguely familiar presence nearby, but when Piccolo turned his head to look he didn't recognise the little Namek child who was watching him. And yet, when he opened his mouth to speak, the child's name was already familiar on his tongue.

"Dende?" Piccolo's voice was hoarse. This was the first time he had experienced true waking since his time in the afterlife, and he wanted nothing more than to lie still and drift back into sleep. Grunting with effort, he forced himself to sit up, closing his eyes for just a moment in an attempt to stop his vision from blurring. "What happened?"

Piccolo's voice was gruff and cold, and he spoke in Terran. There was nothing of Nail in his words. Dende shrank back and did his best to answer calmly, as though he was addressing a stranger.

"I was instructed to wish us to Earth when the fighting on Namek threatened to destroy us all."

Dende cast his eyes down. He tried to focus on the novelty of speaking the Earth language as he plucked the words from Piccolo's mind. He could find no word for Nail – brother? Teacher? Mentor? Companion? Human relationships seemed far more complex than those he was familiar with, and yet Dende could not find human words to explain what he had lost. Earthlings had no words to explain the sudden incompleteness of his existence.

"PICCOLO!"

Gohan was a blur as she rushed to Piccolo's side, half-running half-flying as fast as her injured body would carry her. For a moment Dende thought she was going to barrel straight into Piccolo – he had learned on Namek that Earthlings enjoyed many kinds of physical contact – but she stopped herself in time, hovering shyly in the air.

Ah. Piccolo was not an Earthling, after all.

"Piccolo," she said again, beaming, as though she could hardly believe what she was seeing. "I… I was afraid… that…" When words failed her, Gohan blinked back a few tears and shook her head.

Before Piccolo could respond, the little girl switched to telepathic communication. No longer in any danger, she didn't bother to hide her energy or hold back her psychic abilities, and Dende was nearly knocked backwards from the sheer strength of her emotion. Some of it he could not begin to comprehend, as Gohan's emotional range was so different than what he knew, but Dende could understand what she wanted to say.

It was what he would have said to Nail, had things happened differently.

Piccolo evidently had no such difficulty understanding Gohan's garbled message. He got to his feet, his reply to gather the child into his arms and hold her close, so that she could rest her head under Piccolo's chin. The outward projection of emotions and memories stopped at once. With direct physical contact, they could communicate privately.

Dende turned his face away.

He didn't want to see this bizarre display of affection. He didn't want to see Piccolo having such an intense interaction with an Earthling – Dende knew he had been raised here, but even so, the sharing of their ancient language with others was taboo at best. It was true that on Namek Dende had spoken telepathically with Gohan, but this was different.

Looking around, he noticed that the Namek folk closest to the scene also drew back. They hid their disapproval, for the most part; after all, Piccolo had been fighting to save their whole world. Furthermore, he wasn't born on Namek. The same rules did not apply. He was distinctly Other, and nobody wanted to interfere with him.

Dende returned his attention to the scene before him as the two broke away from each other, Gohan chattering madly and her guardian offering an occasional comment. For a moment, Piccolo smiled, the faintest look of amusement crossing his features. It was a smile reserved for Gohan, Dende was certain.

Nail never smiled like that, his smiles were wide and open, but it made Dende feel alone just the same.

The human, Bulma, jogged over from where Gohan had come. Vegeta approached from the other side, but kept his distance. Gradually, the last Elders of Namek herded their people in their direction, gathering around the Great Elder nearby. Nobody spoke at first, but Dende knew they wanted answers.

He stepped forward, ready to begin his tale, but caught the eye of the Great Elder, who seemed to look straight though him. Dende scolded himself for focusing on his own grief when the Great Elder had lost so many. It only made Dende feel worse. He stalled.

The enormous old Namek smiled, sadly, then took a deep breath. His booming voice rang out across the plains.

"This, everyone, is a planet called Earth…"