"Concentrate, son," Kami said, nudging Raditz with his staff. Raditz wiggled where he was sitting on the floor of the Lookout, his tail twitching. Meditation was hard when you were only eight years old.

"I'm bored," he whined. Gine knew she should scold him, but she could only smile indulgently. It wasn't often he had long enough leave periods that he could stay with them. Kakarot fussed, and she picked him up, holding him to her breast. He suckled, and quieted.

"Think how much stronger you'll be once you finish," Gine told Raditz softly. "You'll never have to leave us again."

"I know," he sang sullenly, and closed his eyes again. Gine resisted the urge to comb her fingers through his hair. It was tangled again, with bits of leaves and gravel clinging to it, but he hated to be fussed over. Kami smiled at her over Raditz's head, sensing her inner struggle. Somehow he always knew.

"I'll be here until he gets back," he said. Gine closed her eyes as well, but she didn't know if he was talking about Raditz or Bardock. Still, knowing that he would be with her, that she wouldn't be alone no matter who left her, gave her peace. It was peaceful here, with her family around her. She felt quiet as the sky…

Gine awoke with her pillow wet, but her eyes dry. Heart and body heavy, she got up and splashed water on her face, trying to hold on to the peace of the dream. It slipped away the more she tried, leaving only sadness.

She had spent the last week in something of a daze, her time split between visiting Krillin, Yamcha and Kakarot in the hospital, and dozing around the cottage while her own body healed. This morning was the first time she'd felt truly awake since the battle, and she dressed and made her way to the kitchen.

"Good morning," Grandpa Gohan said cheerfully from where he stood over the cook fire. She grunted and sat down heavily at the table. The smell of sizzling sausage and steaming fresh rice made her stomach growl, but did nothing to lift her spirits.

"Will you go to the hospital again today?" Gohan asked.

"Probably," Gine said.

"Really? Krillin and Kakarot were discharged yesterday, and Yamcha has his own devoted visitor. I think you've punished yourself enough."

"If it weren't for me, no one would be in the hospital," Gine said bitterly. "Or dead."

Gohan looked at her over his shoulder for a long time, then took the sausage off the fire and walked over to Gine. He gathered her hands up in his, surprising her into looking him in the face. His eyes were wet.

"My dear." His voice trembled. "You must let this go. What happened is not your fault." She started to argue, but he cut her off. "Gine, you are like a daughter to me. Your pain is my own, and you have already endured too much of it to add to it yourself."

It was an argument they'd been having ever since Launch had ridden off into the sunset, screaming with grief. If there hadn't been a female Saiyan to tempt him, surely the Prince would not have bothered to come retrieve a disobedient low class. If Gine hadn't been so weak, surely she would have been able to keep everyone alive before Kakarot arrived. Surely none of them would have been in danger in the first place, if only she and Kakarot had never come here at all.

Gohan continued to grip her hands with his larger, callused ones, continued to look at her with affection and sorrow, and all of a sudden Gine felt tears prick her own eyes.

"I couldn't protect them!" Her voice was choked. "I trained as hard as I could but it still wasn't enough! They were counting on me and I let them down! Because I'm weak!"

She wept, though she no longer knew who she wept for. For Tien and Chiaotzu and Kami, the people of East City, all dead because of her? For Little Gohan, forced to fight when his dream was to become a scholar? For Bardock, and all the Saiyans she would never see again?

Or for herself, for never being able to measure up no matter what metric she used?

Gohan held her hands in his, and she wept onto them, gripping them back as hard as she dared. As the last of her sobs petered out and it seemed like Gohan was about to speak, the front door slammed open and Bulma bounced in, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Gine! Kami was an alien!"

Gine wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked at the girl. She was disheveled, with dark circles under her eyes that hadn't been there yesterday. Behind her Yamcha limped through the open door, still dressed in his hospital gown and looking bewildered.

"...yes?" Gine answered.

"And he made the dragon balls! Right?"

Bulma stared at her. She seemed to be waiting for confirmation. Gine nodded slowly.

"Yes?"

"So what about the others!" Bulma flung her hands up as she shouted triumphantly. It did not seem to be a question. Gine blinked.

"What others?"

"The other aliens!"

Gine looked to Yamcha for clarification, but the boy only shrugged. She looked back at Bulma, still with her arms in the air, and then all at once it clicked and Gine sagged back into her seat.

"You mean... if he could make dragon balls, then…"

"Then why not the others!"

Hope, electric and almost unpleasant in its strength, welled up in equal measure to the despair she had felt just moments before. Then as fast as it had come, it ebbed away.

"Even if that's true, we have no way of getting there."

Bulma looked at her strangely.

"Of course we do! We have your spaceship, right? Unless it's broken," she added, looking worried for the first time since barging in. Gine sat up again, then looked at Gohan.

"Do you remember what we did with it?"

Gohan rubbed his chin.

"You know, I'm not sure. Didn't we bury it or something?"

"I thought we talked about it but never actually did it."

"Maybe… but it's definitely not where it landed anymore."

Bulma gaped. "You mean you misplaced it? How do you misplace a spaceship?"

Gine stood, hope slowly filling her up again. "Kakarot might remember. I know we left it where it was until he was a few years old."

"Then let's go ask him!" Bulma bounded out of the house without a backwards glance. Gine slung Yamcha's arm over her shoulder and together they followed her.

"I didn't think you were due to be discharged yet." Gine glanced sideways at Yamcha, who smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not. But I'm feeling a lot better, and Bulma didn't seem safe to drive. Around two in the morning she woke me up with this crazy idea and insisted on coming out here right away."

"You drove like this?" Gine tutted disapprovingly. "You've got to take better care of yourself, Yamcha. Don't let Bulma run you ragged, you hear?"

Yamcha blushed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

When they reached Kakarot's home Gine could hear Bulma already getting them up to speed, and when she entered Kakarot took one mighty leap from where he was standing and landed in front of her.

"Ma! Did you hear? We might be able to bring back Kami and the others!"

Gine nodded eagerly. "Do you remember what we did with my ship?"

Kakarot shook his head, his face falling. "Didn't you guys bury it?"

"I'm pretty sure we didn't," Gine said. She remembered realizing they needed to do something with the pod a few years after her arrival, and she remembered talking the matter over with Gohan. They had definitely discussed burying it, but she was growing more positive they had decided on a different course of action. If there was a spot of ground under which lay the last threads of her old life, Gine was sure she would avoid going near it. But there was no spot she disliked more than any other anywhere on the mountain.

Yamcha slipped his arm from off Gine's shoulders and settled down gingerly on a nearby chair. Behind her, Grandpa Gohan entered the house, and Little Gohan ran to him.

"You're kidding me," Bulma exclaimed. "How do you lose a spaceship?"

Gine shrugged helplessly, and there was a pause as everyone mulled over the problem. Then Little Gohan piped up.

"Grandma, you had a spaceship?"

She smiled at him where he was holding his great-grandpa's hand.

"Yup. That's how me and your daddy got here."

"Wow," Gohan breathed. Then he said, "How did Mr. Kami get here?"

There was an electric moment during which no one moved. Then Gine's mouth dropped open and Bulma actually shrieked.

"Holy crap, Gohan, you're right! Kami must have had a spaceship too! Where is it?"

Bulma turned to Gine expectantly. Gine shrugged expansively.

"What makes you think I know?"

"Well, you lived with him for three years! It had to have come up at some point."

It had— exactly once. After training one day Gine had asked how a Namekian came to be on Earth, expecting an interesting story. But Kami had only shaken his head and said he didn't remember. Gine had known him well enough by then not to press.

"He didn't like talking about it," she said. "But you know who might know? Mr. Popo. He knew Kami better than anyone."

"Mr. Who?"

But Kakarot was already halfway out the door.

"I'll go ask him!"

Gine was at his side and gripping him by the ear before anyone could blink.

"You're not going anywhere," she scolded. "Your ki is still messed up, remember? I'll go."

"Aw, ma!" Kakarot whined as she dragged him inside. "I'm feelin' lots better now! I flew around the house a couple times this morning and it was fine."

"Is that what you were doing?" Chi Chi roared, taking Kakarot by the other ear. "I've got half a mind to tie you to a chair, mister! What if your ki stays messed up for good because you keep pushing it? Is this the example you want to set for your son?"

Gine left Chi Chi to it and headed outside. She was about to lift off when Bulma grabbed her arm.

"Take me with you," she ordered. "If it's broken I'm our best shot at fixing it."

Gine nodded. She gathered Bulma in her arms, then lifted off and headed for the Lookout.

Popo knew. He knew exactly what they were talking about the moment the rushed, excited words fell out of their mouths. He took them to Yunzabit Heights and showed them a little house that wasn't a house, and when Jupiter, big and red, appeared outside the viewing window, Gine and Popo and Bulma all yelled and danced and cried together.