"There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention." - James Arthur Baldwin
Aiken
The Saiyajin's people haven't been trying to police our actions. Except for what they said about leaving Uragiru alone (which isn't going to happen, no matter what the Super Saiyajin says) they haven't once tried to tell my Mistress or me what to do in the three days since she and Frost have come back to life again. What little we hear from them comes relayed through Frost, who's with them a lot now. Hell, if it wasn't for Frost spending so much time with them, I think most of that lot would have just about forgotten that we were even here by now. It's good that they aren't making nuisances of themselves, but the extent to which we're being ignored shows a fundamental lack of regard for my Mistress which I don't like.
As for my Mistress, she certainly hasn't gone out of her way to approach the Saiyajin or his people. In fact, over the last three days she hasn't once left the little house that Bulma gave us, so neither have I. Frost brings meals to us here, along with news and stories of the Saiyajin's people, though none of these things are of much interest to my Mistress.
I'd thought that the trouble was the Saiyajin and his family – that we were too close to them here for my Mistress's liking or comfort, and that she was purposefully avoiding them by staying inside. Frost must have had the same thought, because he came back here yesterday with a plan to move the little house down the mountain, further away from the home of Son Goku. He had gotten from the Saiyajin's people permission and instructions on how to do so, and had the whole thing planned out, but my Mistress shut him down quickly.
So we're still up here on Son Goku's mountain top. When I pull the curtains back to look outside, I can see Chichi moving around her own home, hanging laundry or working in the garden or else busy with other chores. Other windows show me some of the children, playing at silly games or sparring with each other.
I like to keep a close eye on what's going on out there. Something's got my Mistress badly scared, and I don't know what. It's not the Saiyajin – or at least, it's not only or primarily the Saiyajin. And it can't be Uragiru – without that egg thing she doesn't have a hope of hurting my Mistress again, even if she could get through me, which she never will. But whatever it is, it has my Mistress so scared that she wants to stay near the Saiyajin even more than she wants to get away from him.
The clothing was another thing that I didn't understand. It began that first evening she was back, with the oversized robe. She spent the rest of that evening with one hand clutched at the collar to keep it closed, but by the next morning she was experimenting wildly with the contents of that Bulma woman's closet. Everything in there was a bad fit, cut for a tailless woman who was half-again taller than my Mistress. My Mistress limited herself to tops, returning from repeated trips to the bedroom in high-collared spring jackets or turtlenecks, or with long scarves curled around her neck. She changed several times a day, each new attempt only seeming to frustrate her more, but she never seemed to be able to find what she was looking for.
Frost is aware of all of this, but he doesn't push for answers, at least not in my hearing. Even when he's here, he isn't entirely with us; his focus right now is on the Saiyajin's people, and his mind – if not his heart and loyalty – is with them. He can't wait to get away. This isn't anything new, but lately he's more obvious about it than he's ever been before, possibly because they interest him more than any group he's met in the past. My Mistress has noticed.
Given all the time he has been spending with them, Frost would know which of the Saiyajin's people I need to ask to get what I want, so after he came back down here tonight, I said to him, "I want training. I want to train with some of the Saiyajin's people."
The question didn't surprise Frost. I've accompanied him on some of his trips to potentially dangerous worlds before, kept guard over him on my Mistress's command; this isn't the first time I've asked him to find me a sparring partner from among the natives during a long encampment. "Did you have anyone in particular in mind?" he asked.
"Yeah -" I began, but a small sound from the bedroom led us both to glance toward the closed door, behind which was my Mistress. I listened briefly, my head cocked to the side, but she was only changing again, so I returned by attention to Frost. "Yeah," I said again. "It wouldn't do me any good to spar with the Saiyajin or any of his grown sons – we're too badly outmatched – but I think those two kids who are always sparring out front might do the trick." Of course, they're still way out of my league – worlds above me in power and talent, if not experience – but I'm figuring on that being a plus. I could learn a lot – and get a lot stronger – from being beat up by kids like those. There was also another reason why I wanted to train with them – I figured it would be easier to get the kids to teach me how to sense energy, without raising their suspicions about what I wanted to know about that for. "I don't know their names."
Before Frost could reply, my Mistress spoke from behind the closed door. "The one with the purple hair is called Boxer, and the larger of the two is Tanga. The small girl who is frequently with them is Amaguri."
Frost and I shared a quick look. This was yet another new and confusing thing, that my Mistress should be interested enough in someone else's whelps to remember their names. It's not unusual for Icejin to take a special interest in unusually talented children; Furiza frequently claimed such children, to start them training early for his special forces, as did Kooler. Frost too, frequently took those who showed ability – and not just in combat – under his wing, though he has more consideration for the wishes of the parents than most Icejin. But my Mistress had never had any such interests, so it was stranger. Stranger still that she had even noticed the small girl, as she was an especially sorry scrap of nothing.
When Frost spoke, his voice was carefully neutral; I couldn't tell how much of my plan he'd figured out or what he thought of it. I couldn't tell what he was making of my Mistress's strange behavior, either. "I will try to arrange something," he said.