Disclaimer: 2.
I see light! Light at the end of the tunnel!
Piccolo didn't have his chance to talk to Atsarute about what had happened. News spread like wildfire of the trouble that she had experienced in the battle against Funzen and Komugiko, and she was the kind of person that had enemies all across this side of the Red Stream. Many of her bases and interests were attacked within hours of the result of the battle. She hadn't even finished the conversation with her brother before she was running out and pushing Piccolo out of the way, off to defend her property without a second thought on the dilemma that she'd let fall into the laps of her closest.
Luckily, the type to have so many enemies also has acquaintances across the star map that owe her one. She was in battle by the end of the day, and thus was started another war right after she'd effectively driven the last nail into the Pasuko-jin threat. Red lights were flashing, and she had to protect her borders, lest she lose not only personal wealth, but valuable connections for her as well as the Puroeriun. Personal affairs weren't part of this equation.
A few days into battle turned into weeks, and before Piccolo knew what was happening, it had been over a month since he'd seen her. But he was busy as well. His connection and cooperation with Atsarute had made him a good enough target for Atsarute's enemies to cock their bows towards. They weren't outright against Katatsu-sei, not willing to antagonize the whole Namekku-sei-jin race by attacking their largest political center, so Piccolo found that many of the strikes were meant for him and only him. But he still got help from the other Namekku-sei-jin generals when it was needed, and they more than once reached out to aid Atsarute, Katatsu himself being an old friend to the Puroeriun royal family.
On the most recent of battles, Piccolo found himself defending against an offense formed from a Southern part of the universe. He didn't expect them to be quite so strong; then again, almost every army he's fought seemed stronger than the Puroeriun, who, though having several good fighters and strategists, had relied on the mass of their armies and often did little more than rush into battle and hope the enemy would disperse in the struggle. But this army was unusually strong, and with a good strategist to boot. They chose to strike at Piccolo, seeing him as a likely weak point among Atsarute's allies (being that he's the youngest and most inexperienced general).
For a while, he wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to come out of the battle alive. But during the fight, the enemy was flanked on all other sides. Berra-sei-jin soldiers covered two sides, a truly large army since their planet was particularly martial in its culture and government. There was no doubt to Piccolo as to who was leading them. As to the remaining side, it was covered by a considerably smaller army of Namekku-sei-jin females… only Namekku-sei-jin females. The ornate uniforms they wore took a while to click into Piccolo's mind: they were the praetorian guard of Resuma herself; a small, elite force of Namekku-sei-jin females that acted only by the orders of Katatsu's wife.
After getting this kind of help, the enemy was quickly dismissed. Some casualties were taken on Piccolo's front, but it wasn't as bad as what would have happened if he'd lost. As soon as possible, he put out a summons to meet with the generals that had come to his aid. No sooner than when he reached his private quarters and was pulling off the uncomfortable partial armor than did his door open with a quiet swff, and the steps of a large man hit against the floor.
Piccolo looked up and grinned. Before him was the prince of Berra-sei, in full armor as usual, but instead of the garish ceremonial armor that he always wore, he wore duller, more practical armor that was tarnished by the recent battle. But it still reminded Piccolo of some weird combination between a Roman soldier and a samurai. He suppressed a chuckle as he remembered Atsarute's comment during the binding ritual, laughing and saying that Kenturion looked skinny without that armor he always wore.
"Strange meetings, eh?" Kenturion said with a smile, quickly taking a seat before Piccolo could say a word.
"Strange, indeed. I can't understand how you can wear all that armor. Even this partial stuff issued to my men is uncomfortable." The Namek busied himself with the small bar on the wall of his quarters.
He shrugged. "You get used to it."
"So everyone else tells me." He pulled out some glasses. "What will you take?"
"Eh, have any Magna liquors?"
Piccolo looked back at him with a raised brow. "You drink that stuff?"
"Not normally, but I need something strong right now."
"Strong," he snorted, "I'm still trying to get used to the junk." He pulled out a bottle of greenish liquid and started pouring into two glasses. "Atsa says it eats away the lining of your stomach if you're not careful."
"It does. Most people get put under the table just because of how quickly it goes to the bloodstream because of that. But that one soldier of hers, Jakko? He can drink two mugs of it without a problem. Boggles my mind."
Piccolo nodded and put away the bottles, coming back towards the sitting area and handing Kenturion a glass. "Why did you come to help me?"
Kenturion accepted the glass and contemplated on the liquid a few seconds as Piccolo also took a seat. The liquor didn't seem to provide any clues, and the prince sighed. "I have several reasons, but mostly, I need to speak with you on something."
Piccolo frowned, and tried to cover the reacting with the glass as he drank from it. It didn't help; the strong liquor just made his face curl sour even more. But he left his silence as a prod for Kenturion to continue, already knowing that it had something to do with Atsarute's pregnancy and recent miscarriage.
"I've talked with Sanatoasu on the subject, and we've come up with a proposition. He's currently aiding Atsarute's armies with his own, and has been using the opportunity to speak with her on it."
"No doubt, he's also using the opportunity to propose marriage with her again," Piccolo said abjectively with a scoff as he attempted another drink at the alien liquor. The comment was meant to be a kind of surely humor in the conversation, from how Atsarute often makes light of the frequent, half-hearted proposals of the Lord. But the look on Kenturion's face told him that it struck much closer to home than he intended.
Then was a long silence.
"Piccolo, you're not strong enough to win against Atsarute in battle, and there's no way that she'll stop training and let you catch up. The only one that can pass all of the suitor trials including combat with her is Sanatoasu."
He resisted the urge to throw the glass down onto the floor. "What kind of insult is this? I suppose your help in the battle was to emphasize that I have no power in the matter by saving my life?"
"It's no insult upon you," Kenturion said quickly. "It's a failsafe for mutual interests. Atsa isn't in any less light now than she was before. The fact that she's shown weakness has brought her enemies up in arms, but that's not all. Her other suitors have been looking at trying attempts at her again, and then some. You seem to forget that she's not the least eligible woman in the galaxy by any means, with large armies, personal wealth, and a seat in royalty. She can't afford to wait for you to become stronger than her."
Piccolo sneered at him, then shook his head and downed the rest of the liquor. He slammed the empty glass down on the table as he visibly brought himself back under logical control. "And the binding ritual? Am I supposed to think of that as just ceremonial baggage that has no weight on these matters?"
"Oh no. This isn't in any disrespect to the binding; the two of you are still bound together unless you say otherwise. Nothing in Puroeriun law states that she cannot have more than one mate. And I think you don't have to worry about being married off by your family. I mean, it's looked down upon when a male has multiple bindings in your society, right?"
Fact was, it was a punishable offense on Katatsu-sei, and those who tried to get away with it were harassed, sometimes to the point of lynching. But Piccolo didn't mention this. "You have a point. But I don't think my family would quite appreciate all this. I mean, being bound to a married non-Namekku-sei-jin…"
"I'm not so sure about that."
On cue it seemed, the door opened again, and two Namekkian women entered the room. Both were wearing the distinctive uniforms associated with the elite guard, devoid of any partial armor since the bright cloth was specially designed and reinforced for protection in combat. The "hair" on both of them had turned waxy yellow, as had the patches on what was visible of their arms, exhibiting that both of them were elderly. But one looked particularly old, somewhat hunched over from age. They smiled at Piccolo.
He wasn't so sure how to react to this. He knew that the elite guard was under his grandmother's command, and that his mother was one of the generals, but he certainly didn't expect to see that both of them had been fighting. He stammered over a greeting in Namekku-go and invited them to sit down, glancing over at Kenturion as he did. The prince looked as if he was suppressing a laugh.
"You seem quite surprised to see us, my grandson," Resuma began, still smiling warmly, "Perhaps it does seem a little unorthodox, but I am not the type to let my grandchildren become overwhelmed in battle. Especially when I still haven't had the chance to get to know you."
That wasn't an accident or merely due to Piccolo's rather recent arrival into the family. Piccolo notedly avoided the rest of the family whenever possible after their first meeting. He had no interest in speaking to them any more than he had to, and although he actually liked the idea at first of having power by being in direct line for inheriting Katatsu's kingdom, he came to realize that he'd be waist deep in politics, a creation of society, which was, in turn, a creation of social entities. An introvert such as him found the situation appalling, and hated being continually reminded of it. That and he didn't want to bother with family; he didn't have any before, he was fine without having any now.
Mollosuki mirrored the smile, perhaps a little more warmly. "And don't you dare think that I'd let one of my children, who I've been separated from for so long, die if I have anything to do about it! I convinced Resuma to help strike in your defense, but it didn't take much to convince her."
"And since we've gotten some time to speak with you finally,"—Resuma nodded sagely—"I would like to speak with you about your binding with Atsarute."
"So, you've heard about that…" Piccolo looked down at his empty glass, wishing that he hadn't gulped it down earlier and wondering if it would be against some sort of protocol to get another drink while Resuma was talking.
"I must say, it makes me happy that someone in this family has been able to snag her."
His eyes shot up to her in confusion. "Excuse me?"
"Yes, that girl was certainly hard to get. Katatsu and I have been very involved in our alliance with the Puroeriun, and she's the one with much of the promise. I've allowed many of my grandchildren to join her ranks in hope that they'd be able to convince her to marry someone. I've even hoped that Suraku would succeed in wooing her somehow, though he was rather young when he entered her army. I've gone so far as push some of your uncles while they were unmarried to act as suitors." She crossed her arms. "I thought for sure that Kurabesu could've, since he was stronger than her, but he didn't get past the other challenges to fight her."
"Wait, hold on a second," Piccolo shook his head and put his hands up for emphasis. "You're telling me that you approve of this?"
"Well, certainly, dear!" Mollosuki said, "A union between the two of you is very advantageous. And she's a sweet girl… well, perhaps 'sweet' isn't the word. But you know what I mean."
He didn't, but that wasn't his concern at the moment. "And it doesn't bother you that I probably wont be able to win in battle against her myself anytime soon? That means that she'll likely have to marry someone else…"
"What problem is that?" Mollosuki shrugged. "She's a woman."
Resuma waved this away as well. "I was going to arrange a marriage for you with girl that had another husband anyway. I don't have a problem if Atsarute has five or six husbands along with you bound to her."
He stared long and hard at his grandmother; he wasn't sure if he should take her comment well or not. Then he looked over at Kenturion, who was attempting to feign a look of innocence as he bit his lip to keep from grinning. It was obviously failing. "You were the one who told them."
Kenturion casually put a hand before his face to hide his smile and spoke haltingly, trying with effort to not laugh. "I…don't know what… what you're talking about."
"It was either you or Sanatoasu, and seeing as you appeared with them to aid me and currently trying with every ounce of your self-control to keep from bursting out in laughter, I'm going to venture a guess that it's you."
"I don't… know what you're…" He paused for a longer while, his chest twitching with suppressed laughter. "…talking about."
"Bullshit, you don't know. Why are you trying so hard to get this plan to go through? It's not like you're the one that would be marrying Atsarute."
"Oh…that's true." But his amused behavior didn't change in the least.
Piccolo might not have been one for social interaction, but he knew when someone was keeping a secret and was on the brim of spilling it all out. "What else do you need to tell me?"
"Oh no… nothing really… but…"
"But what?"
"Bamata."
"…What?"
"Bamata. It's a Berra-go word, so you probably never heard it before. It's a word for a female lover, but we usually have the word in reference to courtly love. It's highly political sometimes, since its usually only amongst royalty and aristocracy." He grinned. "It only applies to married women who've had sex with men not their husbands before."
"So you do have a personal interest in this!" He growled, forgetting his mother and grandmother. "Atsa lied when she said you 'grew out' of your attitude. You're still a cocky bastard."
"And you're a sly motherfucker and Sanatoasu's a naïve prick and Atsa's a crazy bitch. One big, happy family."
Kurabesu – Claves.
Yawn. Not a lot of action, but its some fun, and finished in one day.
