Disclaimer: Chapter two. Ha!
It was well known that Queen Aikanefi was quite the strong warrior in her prime, perhaps even stronger than her daughter is now. Her behavior was quite like her daughter's, too, often going out with her army, or going out alone with a small band of comrades. An adventurous general, with soldiers willing to die for her command, traveling every end of the universe… this was a stark contrast to the woman who now barely left her throne on Sui-sei.
The two children from her union with Naiosai, Derosen and Atsarute, are known enough. Their births were celebrated around the planet (Derosen's children have been given quite similar treatment). But few knew that Aikanefi had been pregnant five times, not only two. This was mentioned publicly, of course, but wasn't as sensational and much more quickly forgotten than the births.
Her first pregnancy was not long after her marriage, and it ended in miscarriage tragically during a sparring session with her new husband, Naiosai. It was an unusual and unfortunate event. Even though Naiosai was stronger physically than Aikanefi, the marriage tests were unable to test mental strength. In that, Aikanefi trumpted; she was able to transmit, manipulate, and hold more ki in her weaker body than Naiosai ever could.
She didn't realize the danger her new husband was until almost halfway through the scream. His eyes were rolling back, and he was losing consciousness. She used any concentration she could muster to reverse the ki flow, but was still unable to stop it. She ended up inflicting pain on herself, and both passed out, wounded, in the training fields before someone came in to aid them. They had both been injured seriously, but no permanent damage was done.
The second pregnancy resulted in the birth of Derosen, and a family was formed. Derosen was a bright boy, and he showed a lot of promise almost since the beginning. As soon as he was old enough, he would usually accompany his parents as they left the planet for whatever reason (usually political or economical) and although he wasn't exactly a boy of good behavior, he was, nonetheless, quick and good towards his parents.
He was the equivalent of about seven Earth years in age when his mother got pregnant for a third time. This one ended even worse than the first, this time on the battlefield with her husband beside her. They didn't expect her to miscarry in such a minor battle. But the worst part was that Aikanefi had nearly died from reversing the ki flow to keep Naiosai from getting hurt, and had suffered permanent crippling.
Seeing your mother reduced to such a state is frightening and even traumatizing to a child as young as Derosen was. She was in bed for days, delusional, mumbling things that he didn't understand, reaching out and grabbing him suddenly from time to time. When she was finally fully healed, there was damage to a few organs (mostly superficial), but more importantly, her strength was diminished.
He was very tentative during the third pregnancy, but that ended well with the birth of a little sister. He was ten at the time, and he was happy to see that not only would his mother remain all right, but he would also get a sibling to sympathize with him. He was a little disappointed at first that it was a girl, but his parents seemed deliriously happy that they had one of each to continue the line, and he accepted it.
In fact, little Atsarute proved to grow well into becoming his best friend. She was every bit as bright as him, and the royal genes that quicken the younger siblings maturation to catch up with the eldest made her soon aware enough to understand vastly more than most children would (or should) at that age.
The fifth pregnancy was about three or four years later. This one simply miscarried as a fluke as Aikanefi wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous at the time; it was possibly caused by a combination from the failure in the third pregnancy and what stress the birth of Atsarute might have caused on her already scarred uterus. But the result left Aikanefi in just as bad of a state as she was when Derosen last remembered.
She was still in a delirious state when the doctors announced to the rest of the family that her lifestyle would now have to be drastically changed from her active and involved behavior to a more static and subdued nature. It would turn out that this decision suited Aikanefi just fine; she was actually getting tired of having to do all the work, and would much rather now recline and let the exuberant lifestyle of her status pamper her. But at the time, it seemed like it would be a terrible blow.
After the doctor had politely bowed and made his leave, Derosen realized how upset his little sister was. She sniffled and choked on her tears, biting her lips… the site looked strange on the little reptile (the reptilian looks natural to their race's youth). She wrung her small hands around each other and looked up at her brother anxiously.
"You're worried about mother, aren't you?" He laid a hand on her head, trying to make himself sound reassuring.
She bit harder into her lip and choked again before answering. "Sorta…" He looked down at her with a raised brow a moment before she continued. "Dero, that's going to happen to me, too, isn't it?"
Derosen felt his heart drop, and he went to his knees, moving his hands to weigh down on her shoulders as he looked straight at her. She was so young, but she already had the body development of children three years older than her, he realized solemnly. She was already exhibiting genetic traits of the royal family, and will have that same horrible trait as their mother.
To make matters worse, she was mentally even more advanced than she was physically. She knew the fate that was before her; she might have asked him a question, but he knew that she already knew the answer, and that she wouldn't accept a lie. He only looked at her despairingly. "Atsa…"
She stopped chewing on her lip, but she frowned deeply. "I don't wanna be stuck in the castle all day. I wanna go out and fight and explore. I wanna travel and see things."
He didn't need to be told that; he already saw the fact well in the majestic, dreamy stare she held towards the armies and when she was brought to new lands… the harsher the planet, the more interesting to her; the stronger the warrior, the more she wanted to watch rather than run away.
Derosen knew well that Atsa wanted to be a warrior in heart, and he knew in his heart that he would sooner eat glass than see his little sister go through the same pain as their mother. He didn't want to see her raving in a sick bed like she was inflicted with nightmares, with sweat pouring down her body and soaking her sheets. He didn't want to see his little sister coming close to death because of something like that. All at once, he felt very protective of his kid sibling, but he knew that there was no way to ward off genetics. Unless…
"Atsa, I want you to promise me something."
"Huh?"
"Don't get married. Don't get pregnant. Don't get yourself in the position where you can end up like this."
Her eyes widened, but she didn't answer.
He kept her eyes locked to his own with a serious stare. "Please, listen to me. If you just stay away from getting yourself pregnant, and you just don't get married or anything like that, something like this wont happen to you. You won't get crippled like Mother, and you can stay fighting and traveling for as long as you want."
The flaring in her eyes lessened, but she continued to stare incredulously. "But…"
He shook his head. "Don't worry about keeping the line. I'll be able to do that. I'll make sure that I have plenty of children, both boys and girls, so you don't have to do anything. I don't have to worry about that trait since I'm male, and no women outside the royal family have that trait anymore, so whoever I marry won't have it either." Derosen failed to factor in at the time that his daughters would still inherit the trait through him, but it didn't really matter to the argument. "Please, promise me that."
Little Atsarute looked at him in astonishment, as if she wanted to ask "Am I allowed?" but she nodded and felt herself pulled into her brothers arms. The little confused girl instantly felt more peaceful. He didn't hug her often, but he was the closest thing she had to a best friend, and he was comforting her, telling her that she could do as she wished and even offered her a solution to her dilemma.
How could she have refused?
.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Piccolo was a little more that surprised to see that the man who had been two centimeters from killing him (with all the ability to do so) just a few minutes ago sobbing with such pitiable wretchedness that you'd think he'd been a man who came to his childhood home to see the entire town in ruin rather than one simply concerned for his sister's well-being. Her health wasn't even in any danger. He could only speculate wildly on what that "promise" was.
It seemed like the tears were enough to rouse her out anyway. The door slid open with a slight mechanical whoosh, and there stood Atsarute, her lips turned in impatience, but her eyes showing light, earnest sadness. "You look as wimpy as a kicked puppy."
He wiped his red eyes and smirked back at her. "You look as haggard as an old mule."
She scoffed at the remark and stood to the side. "Come on. You want to talk, we'll talk."
Just as he moved to enter, two more green figures almost rushed to the frame as well, both looking intent on leaping in if Atsarute didn't keep the door open for them. She rolled her eyes at her father and Piccolo. "I never can talk to just one person at a time, can I?"
"Can't a father be worried about his daughter?" Naiosai promptly answered, giving a half-smile to show his delight that his little girl still retained enough of her health and mind to maintain her surly humor.
"And I've got just as much to talk to you about as your brother does," Piccolo quickly added. Of course, he didn't say that for a fact since he didn't really know what was going on, but he surmised that being the father of the child that she had been carrying until this battle was at least as important as whatever Derosen needed to say.
Derosen's anger seemed to have been quickly remembered, and he scowled at the Namek. "I suggest that you run and hide so that I never find that despicable hide, since I'll surely hunt you down and skin you alive…"
Atsarute promptly pinched her brother on the arm. "Give him a break. He didn't know about that trait, and it was more my fault anyway. I was the one trying to be careful, and just got impregnated by accident during that blasted binding ritual. No permanent damage was done, Dero. Let's just go inside and talk." Without another word, or a chance for any more words to be exchanged between the four in that position, she shut the door.
Piccolo and Naiosai were left standing awkwardly in the hall. Much time passed before Piccolo turned to the other. "Hey."
The king looked back at him with a brow up.
"That song, about the most dangerous things, the one that Atsa sings all the time and apparently learned from you."
"Oh, yes," he looked a little surprised that Piccolo was actually trying to start a conversation about something like that. He took it as a pleasant surprise and chose not to take an offensive air. He spouted out the Puroeriun name and the chorus in the native tongue. "What about it do you want to know?"
"I figured out the pregnant woman's scream… but the dying man's breath… Does that refer to a curse by a dying man?"
He nodded. "Precisely. It also has to do with an old legend about the breath of the dead in the shadow of the cursed, or something like that. I'm pretty sure one of the verses talk about it, something about being carried by pure waters."
"Ah," Piccolo nodded unenthusiastically. What a way to be confirmed of something so incredible with such apathetic tones! At least he knew where Atsa got it.
Silence went on again until, this time, Naiosai spoke. "You seem to be taking this well… I mean, that you had an unborn kid that ended up miscarried before you heard about it." He left a pause before he realized that Piccolo wasn't going to answer. "…You're trying not to think about it, aren't you?"
Piccolo didn't from his straightforward, into-the-distance gaze. "Putting every thought and mental exercise through my mind to keep me from doing so."
"Ah. I did that too, especially with Aikanefi's first miscarriage." He patted a hand on his shoulder and began to walk off. "You'll get over it as soon as you get kids to replace it. Hell, you're a Namek; you bunch can have a dozen more, and usually do."
Naiosai seemed to have found a room to loiter in, and a door opened and shut to leave Piccolo alone. "Definitely where Atsa got it," the lone Namek mused.
I figured that this is long enough for a chapter. More explanation than anything, since I suppose not a lot of action happened, but, holy crap, answers!
Now, I really should do my paper on Pre-Socratic philosophy.
