-1Chapter Twenty Nine

The rest of the day, Hera wandered around the gardens, helping Mr. Popo here and there with the weeding. He was amazed at how much she knew about the plants, how they seemed to respond to her voice, to her touch. Dende stood on the edge of the Look Out, watching the earth. His mind, however, was on Hera. She'd actually encouraged him to do his job. She told him she'd be fine; she wanted to look around at the gardens. The tour could wait. She didn't want to pull him from his duties as Guardian. It has shocked him so bad, Mr. Popo actually had to drag him to the edge of the Look Out.

"She's serious, Mr. Dende. Your job is very important. You should be thankful she realizes that."

"I am. It's just…I guess I was expecting her to try and talk me out of it."

"If she did, I'm afraid she wouldn't really care about you."

"What makes you say that?" Dende asked.

Mr. Popo looked over to where Piccolo was meditating, "Past experience."

Dende nodded. Hera's mother. She must have tried to get Kami to give up his duties. He didn't ask, but he had a feeling there was more the his story than he was telling. He felt that Thena must have asked him to leave the Look Out, to give up his job. That must be why they had such a falling out. Why else would she have left so angry. Maybe he'd ask Mr. Popo about it later. But not now. Now he had a job to do, and someone on the Look Out besides Piccolo and Mr. Popo who encouraged him to do it.

"Mr. Popo, what's this?" Hera asked, gently lifting the head of a flower from it's drooping stance. The blossom was the size of her fist and a deep blue, bluer than any flower she'd ever seen. It was shaped like a star, the leaves a glossy green-black.

"O, that is a star blossom from the planet Hiruack."

"Hiruack?"

Mr. Popo nodded. "I brought it back many, many years ago."

"Have you always lived here, Mr. Popo? Have you always been the caretaker to the Guardians?"

Mr. Popo smiled. "O no. This is just one of my many lives." He walked away, leaving Hera utterly confused.

Videl and Gohan arrived shortly after lunch. Hera and Dende were sitting on a picnic blanket eating sandwiches, tossing chips at Piccolo, trying to tick him off.

"What are you two doing?" Gohan asked, taking a handful of chips and shoving them in his mouth.

Hera shrugged, "I don't know. It just seemed like a too good an idea to pass up."

"Do you want me to throw you off the Look Out again?" Piccolo asked angrily as a chip hit him in the forehead.

"Not particularly. Besides, you wouldn't. Now that you know I'm Kami's daughter-"

"You may be Kami's daughter, but you're still a pain in the butt!"

"Takes one to know one," she smirked.

Piccolo glared at her, stood up and stomped off.

"I think you annoy him more than I do," Dende said.

"Wow," Videl said, "That is something to be proud of."

They all laughed. Hera picked up their picnic and she and Dende helped Gohan and Videl take out the rest of the stuff they brought with them. Chi-chi had made a gorgeous cake and they made sure it was safely in the kitchen before they brought anything else into the great hall.

Hera helped Videl carry her dress, veil and shoes up to her tower room. "Why don't you change up here."

"This is beautiful! What a view! Is this where you stayed last night?"

Hera nodded.

Videl looked out the door to make sure they were alone, "And did you stay alone?"
"Videl!" Hera looked at her friend with wide eyes and a red face.

"I was just curious."

"Yes, I stayed here alone. I fell asleep outside and Dende carried me up. I was alone when I woke up."

"I just wanted to know. You do realize he can't keep his eyes off of you."

Hera picked at the comforter, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"And you can't keep your eyes off him."

"That's not true."

"Of course it is! O my gosh, you two are pathetic! Why don't you just tell him you're madly in love with him and have it over with."

Hera shook her head. "No. If he shares the same feelings as I do, I'm just going to trust he'll tell me. Come on, it's not like I have to be afraid someone else may come steal him from me. No one else knows about this place but you guys and your friends."

"My bride's maids will all be up here tonight. They had to get used to the idea at first, but they may change their minds about Dende once they spend a few hours with him tonight."

"Videl, are you trying to make me jealous?"

"No, I'm just trying to make you happy. You want to be with him, right?"
"Well…yes. I do. I really love it up here."

"It wouldn't bother you being up here all the time? I mean, sure you could leave, but Dende couldn't."

Hera sighed, "I've thought about that, a lot actually. Yes, I want to be with him, if, of course, he wants to be with me. But I can't ask him to give up what he's called to do. I can't ask him to stop being the Guardian of the Earth. It's who he is, and part of why I…why I care about him."

"Just say it. You love him. You're crazy about him! Say it."

"I'd rather not."

"You're hopeless."

Hera shrugged, "But at the same time, I really want to see the world. All my life I've wanted to travel, but I never had the chance. I'm sure Bulma could help me find a job, maybe even hire me on at Capsule Corp. I could save my money and travel. I'm sure things are still pretty much the same, right. I mean, you do have the pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre?"

"The what?"

For one horrible moment, Hera believed her. Then Videl burst out laughing, "Of course, they're still all here! You turned positively green!"

"Well," Hera laughed, "I am half Namek."

They didn't know Mr. Popo had come upstairs to ask Videl a question. He stopped outside when he realized they were discussing Hera's feelings about Dende. He was pleasantly surprised by how adamant she was about not changing who or what he was. But when she talked about wanting the travel, he took a deep breath. He was about to walk away when he heard her say:

"Maybe there's some way I could have both?"

"What do you mean?" Videl asked.

"I mean, if Dende…cares for me, the way you and Gohan seem to think he does, maybe there's a way I can be with him and have a life on earth as well."

"Of course there is! I mean, we all come to see Dende, yet we have a life."

Hera shook her head, "I'm not talking about a once a month 'hey how are you'."

"Why Hera Solomon!" Videl exclaimed and jumped onto the bed, "Are you telling me you'd consider spending the rest of your life as Mrs. Guardian of the Earth?"

Hera blushed a deep red, "Maybe."
Videl whooped and clapped her hands, "Ah! I have to tell Gohan."

"O no you do not! He'd let it slip to Dende. Then he would think I was throwing myself at him."

"You'd really marry him. If he asked you to."

"I know I've only known him for three days, but yes, I would. I've never felt this way before. Maybe I'm being irresponsible and impetuous but…hey, you only live once right?"
"Yeah, but if Kami's right, you have a very long life ahead of you. Namek's live for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds of years?"
Videl nodded, "That's what Gohan told me."

"Wow. That's a lot to take in."

She nodded, "So you'd be willing to spend hundreds of years with that crazy green guy?"
Hera smiled shyly, "I sure would like to try it."

Mr. Popo walked away. His question could wait. Right now, he had much more important things to do. For starters, he had to remember where he'd put that key…