Special thanks to Seru for allowing me to bounce ideas off of him.
The Namekian Language was found online, search for: "Speaking Namek 101." Aeridi was also based off of this.
The Hardest Thing
Chapter 2
Futatsu's solution to the pod's energy problem had been a dangerous one. If the pod failed to find a suitable planet, she would be doomed to the very fate she was trying to prevent. To complicate matters further, she was not heading to Cymic Two. Unlike the Felidean female, the priests there were not likely to grant her sanctuary. She was, after all, Arkida Futatsu: The Aeridin accused of murdering their beloved Empress Una, among others.
No. If Futatsu was going to find any peace she had to leave Triad Space entirely. She had programmed the pod to find a hospitable planet but the probability of that actually happening was extremely slim. There were an infinite number of planets in the galaxy, but only a finite amount that were livable. The odds were grossly against her favor.
And yet, that miniscule chance, that one out of billions or more, was her only hope. The risk to her life was nothing compared to the chance to survive. She scratched at the metallic interior of her would-be casket. Nails were broken and skin was torn as she found the thin crevices and pulled away the panels to get to the Aranean Silk beneath that made up the pod's wiring. Futatsu ripped up as much as she dared and wrapped about her bleeding hands. The holo-controls instantly became static and blipped out of existence, but it no longer mattered. The Aranean Silk began to slowly syphon away her Ki. She had become the pod's energy source and she would either survive… or die trying. Futatsu soon fell into unconsciousness.
Blue. A gentle blue splattered with puffs of white. It was such a peaceful sight; but, what was this: her rescuer? No, a demon! A foul perversion of Aeridin purity! What world of false beauty is this where such horrific demons ran free? It, he, spoke intelligible words: a spell of evil that pulled the helpless Futatsu into the black abyss of his eyes.
She floated aimlessly in the endless dark, lamenting her folly. Oh, by the Great Mother! Why had she run? Life in prison would have been far better than the eternal damnation she now faced. The dark, gruff voice returned, speaking in that accursed language. It sounded to her strangely like an audio recording being played in reverse. Her captor, she realized, was not alone. A second voice answered him and he replied in turn. Then, a third voice joined in. She listened, hoping that she could recognize something in their words; however, the voices quickly faded away and left her in blind silence.
Sound returned, and with it, a voice. It hummed a song that, although a little off tune, was welcoming all the same. She could smell something sweet and feel a cool breeze against her cheek. Futatsu risked opening her eyes and saw that she was in a small, strangely decorated bedroom. The humming that she heard was coming from an open portal on the wall.
She sat up, feeling foolish. It had been nothing, a nightmare caused by her Ki-starved delirium. Demons did not, could not, walk the world of mortals for long… could they? Surely not! Her hands were bandaged and her prison tunic had been replaced by a white gown. What demon would care for the health or appearance of their prisoner? No demon that she had ever heard of.
A dream! Yes, it had to be. Thank the Great Mother! She was still in the realm of mortals. Futatsu followed the sound of the humming and peered out. The sky was a gentle blue that darkened the higher it reached. It touched ledge of a large, circular and tiled courtyard. There were trees in groups of four lined parts of the perimeter. Another group consisting of a completely type of tree stood near the courtyard's center. These trees were lined up to form some type of walkway.
The humming was coming from below where a rotund looking bipedal creature sat tending to brightly colored flowers. His skin was as black as the abyss she had just awoken from and his ears were just as pointed as her own. He had odd wrappings about his head that hid his hair, (if he had any to speak of). He looked up to her, smiled with bright red lips and waved his palm in her direction.
Futatsu frowned at the insult to her cleanliness and turned away from the window. She reminded herself to take it all in a stride. Perhaps in his culture aliens were considered unclean; however, she could not understand why he cleaned the air between them with such a welcoming expression on his nose-less face.
A knocking sound pulled her attention to what she assumed to be a door. Futatsu crossed the small room and pulled it open by its odd looking handle and there stood the same native as before. He smiled at her again and spoke. Her heart sank as the words that parted his plump lips sounded as garbled as the words in her dream.
Mr. Popo had been pleased to see that his new charge was awake. He shrugged off her cold response to his wave, assuming that she was merely confused. The genie quickly made it to her room and smiled warmly as the door was opened. "I am glad to see you awake," he told her, "My name is Mr. Popo. Welcome to Earth! Eh?" The Alien woman backed away, looking as if she had seen a ghost. "Miss! Are you ok? What is wrong?"
The woman seemed to regain some of her composure and shook her head. "Ah tro ana b'ci su."
Mr. Popo froze and tried to understand what he had just heard. The language the woman spoke sounded almost like Namekian. Perhaps it was a different dialect? This would make sense given the similarities of her physiology to Kami and Piccolo. He decided to try Namekian. "Dou su bici kaah krafkaa?" Which translated into 'do you understand me now?' He doubted that her eyes could have gotten any wider.
"S-… soo… gal-ee… tah-oo… gah-r… cah-vah?" Her words were slow, unsure and grammatically incorrect, but it was Namekian none-the-less. She had literally asked, 'you speak old tongue?'
He nodded, ecstatic at the successful communication. "I am Mr. Popo." He said slowly so that she could understand him.
"Mis-ter Po-po…" She repeated, testing the syllables of his name on her tongue. "I… am… Arkida Futatsu."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Arkida Futatsu."
"Futatsu… please."
Mr. Popo nodded again and said, "Futatsu." He then sent a telepathic message to Kami and Piccolo to say that she was awake. They were going to be very surprised. "Would you like some water?"
She lowered her head, "Ee… Yes… thank you."
Kami silently acknowledged Mr. Popo's telepathic message and finished with his task. Unlike his younger counter-part, the Guardian of Earth was not too worried about the alien. Her appearance, although alarming, did not concern him. The thing that mattered most to Kami was the purity of her heart. As far as he could tell, she was not evil. If she had been, he would not have permitted Piccolo to leave her at the Lookout.
He was willing to allow her to stay there but that did not mean that Kami was looking forward to meeting her. During their stay on Earth, Kami had spoken extensively to Elder Moori about Namekian culture and history. Not once during their conversations did he ever mention anyone like the woman now residing at his lookout.
Piccolo may have rescued her, but he clearly felt a sense of distrust. Kami wasn't sure where his feelings were coming from. Was it Piccolo who felt this way, or was it Nail's influence? If he was, then Kami expected that she might just react just as negatively when meeting a Namekian, or worse.
The door to her room was open and he could hear Mr. Popo and her talking in Namekian. The conversation was mostly one-sided with Mr. Popo telling her about himself and asking her questions and she replying with short, timid answers. She sounded polite enough, giving Kami the hope of a peaceful meeting; however, as he entered the room, the woman's demeanor changed completely. Her placid expression contorted to one of shock and terror. "Namek!" She shrieked and leapt off of the bed where she had been sitting.
Futatsu was not sure of what to make of Mr. Popo, but he had a likeable demeanor. He was a 'Genie' and the assistant to the 'guardian' of the planet which was called Earth. There were no guardians of planets where she was from, at least none that she was aware of. The Triad Military defended their space and planets with a fierce jealousy and she realized that it was a miracle that she had been able to escape at all.
She heard footsteps outside and looked to the door to see an old male with skin like her own and completely bald. Futatsu a cold sensation run down her spine. No, it was impossible, how could it be? "Demon!" She shrieked and jumped away.
The demon stepped forwards and spoke in the ancient tongue, but in her terror Futatsu could not hear him. She backed away, bumped against the window and pressed herself against it. "Demons…" She muttered in despair, "Great Mother help me. It was no dream!"
"Miss Futatsu, please calm down!" Mr. Popo pleaded in the ancient tongue, "This is Kami. He is the Guardian of Earth I spoke of!"
Futatsu stared at the two in disbelief, "Guardian of Earth?" She asked, pointing to the demon named Kami, "Him?" The two nodded which she took to mean 'yes'; but, a Demon acting as protector of an entire world? It did not make sense! Why would a demon protect anything? They were tricksters, corruptors, and they delighted in chaos and decay. They were ancient Aeridin that had given in to the temptations of evil and their bodies, their souls, had been twisted and mutated as a result. A demon would not protect a world. He would destroy it piece by piece.
And yet, Futatsu felt a twinge of doubt. The demon named Kami who now stood before her stared at her with a passive look on his racially familiar face. She felt no malcontent, no sense of evil and aside from his appearance there was not a thing about him that screamed 'demon'. "I do not understand," She muttered in Aeridi before adding in the ancient tongue, "What… are you?"
"I am a demon." He replied.
"I… do not… believe you…" She argued, "Demons… are evil… you are not."
Kami straightened his stance, "I split from my evil self a long time ago."
"Permanent fission?" She decided that it was best to set aside her doubts for the time being and focus on the subject at hand. The practice of permanent fission was outlawed in Triad territories, and for good reason. It was dangerous and increased the risk of death exponentially. If one died, so did the other; and, if Kami – the good half – was here, "where is… your evil side?"
Another mountain of ice crumbled into thousands of shards. Piccolo peered down at his handiwork dissatisfied with the size of the pieces. They should have been smaller which meant that he needed to put a little more power into his attack. Piccolo turned to search for another sizeable glacier when Mr. Popo's message drifted across his thoughts. He fired a final blast of Ki at a smaller block of ice and watched it explode into a shower of frozen specs. Much better, but it still needed work; however, that would have to wait until later. For now he had other things to deal with.
Piccolo sped towards Kami's Lookout and made it there in record time. He quickly entered the temple but slowed his pace as he listened to the conversation already taking place much further down the hallway.
"Namek-ta!..." A feminine voice seemed to whimper, "Tougal t'lo l'na ah. Wat retsa ana uman!"
He frowned. The language sounded like some bastardized version of Namekian, but she spoke the word 'Namek' as if it was vile on her tongue. Piccolo tried to catch the similarities of the language, but she was speaking too fast for him to keep up. Great, jut great! It would be his luck that she didn't know the common language. After his trip to Namek, Piccolo had come to believe that everybody did. Well, so much for that theory.
"Miss Futatsu, please calm down! This is Kami. He is the Guardian of Earth I spoke of!"
"Guardian of Earth? Him?" He stopped just outside the door and crossed his arms. At least the woman understood some Namekian. Communication wasn't going to be as annoying as he feared. "Ah tro ana b'ci. What… are you?"
"I am a Namek." Kami spoke calmly.
"I… do not… believe you… Nameks… are evil… you are not." Piccolo nearly gave himself away with a disdainful snort. Evil? Nameks? Well, yes, there was Lord Slug, his father King Piccolo and even himself for a time, but Nameks were mostly good.
"I split from my evil self a long time ago." Way to go, Kami. Tell the alien we don't know or trust our biggest weakness, idiot! Why not just go ahead and tell her about the Dragon Balls too while you're at it, make sure she knows everything.
The woman muttered something that Piccolo could never hope to translate and then asked, "where is… your evil side?"
The question left a bad taste in his mouth, and it was enough to spur him into action. Piccolo stepped into view and stared the pseudo-Namek down. "Right here."