Dusky rose began to tint the sky, Radditz leaned against a tree and sighed. The old woman turned out to be Sinesta, a well known brewer across Vegetasei. She had kept him in good company for four plus hours. Unfortunately, now they were no longer moving. Sinesta came from behind the wagon, wiping her hands on her flared pants and grinned up at Radditz. "Looks like I need a new wheel. Now I've got some good news and some bad news."
Radditz pushed away from the tree, "And those would be?"
"Well, the good news is, I never travel without a spare wheel." Radditz grinned and sighed in relief. "The bad news is, I can't get it on." Radditz groaned and walked around to the side of the cart. The wheel was in splinters, spokes broken into toothpicks. Neither of them was sure what had happened, but Radditz had a new appreciation for horses and the driving skills of Sinesta.
"If I can hold up this side...could you change it yourself?" Radditz motioned to the cart. Sinesta let out a trademark shrill laugh.
"Well sure, but that'd be the death of you and it'd take alot longer than if I just waltzed into town and got a jack."
"What do you mean? If I hold up one side and you change it, how would that take longer than..." Radditz did some quick math in his head, "Five hours of walking into the city?"
"Well son, after unloading all of this cargo and securing it, then having you pick up on that cart and me change that wheel, and THEN piling aaaaaaaall of that liquor back on the wagon...it could take until morning." Sinesta patted him on the back as he looked at the cart and it's heavy load.
"Who said I had have it unloaded?" Radditz cocked an eyebrow and looked at the squirrely woman.
"Easy now tiger, I'm not going to have your death on my conscious after you blow an artery and have an aneurism." Sinesta shook her head.
"If I get that wheel set up for you and pick up this side, will you change the wheel?"
"Honey, if you can do that and I can get that wheel on without you busting a nut, I'll give you half of what's on this wagon." Sinesta began to laugh again but stopped short.
"I'll just take a flagon if you can get me home before the moon rises." Radditz had already pulled the new wheel from the side of the cart and set it against the cab. He squated slightly and grasped the bottom of the cart. Radditz closed his eyes and took a deep breath, let it out slowly and grinned at the woman whose eyes had grown large. "Well, are you ready?"
Sinesta moved forward to Radditz side and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Now look boy, you don't need to be...oh my..." Sinesta's voice trailed off as she watched Radditz. Baring his teeth in a tight grimace, Radditz grunted as he heaved on the heavy weight at his back. The veins in his arms and legs began to protrude and Sinesta could almost see the blood slamming through his veins. The muscles in his thighs danced and his grunts came in short booming bursts. "Now, stop that..." Sinesta tried to reason with him when the cart began to squeak as the weight began to shift. The noise of reluctant release gave Radditz a renewed hope and he took a deep breath.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhggg..." A deep bass reverbrated the ground, the horses at the front of the cart shifted uncomfortably and began to whinny. "Aaaaahhhgggg..." Radditz squinted and ground his teeth together as he heaved with a strong determination. Flashes of his brother and father bounced across his vision and he felt a draw of energy from deep inside of himself let go. Sinesta watched him with a look of awe, the wheel was nearly off of the ground and Radditz didn't appear to be giving up. A flicker of light bit into the dampening night and Sinesta closed her eyes to the flash. As she looked again, light flickers of gold pulsed now and then around Radditz, and he was laughing.
"Heheh...hurry...hehee..up." Sinesta looked to the wheel and gasped as she saw it some two feet off of the ground. Pulling the old tattered wheel from the axel, she rolled the other over and picked it up onto the shaft.
"Okay, okay! Let it down!" Sinesta waved frantically and sighed in relief as Radditz slowly set the cart onto the ground. Radditz fell to his knees in the dirt and leaned heavily onto his arms as he gasped for breath. Sinesta hurried over and began to pat his back and rub it in slow motherly circles. "Good gods almighty! I have never, and I mean NEVER, seen anyone do ANYTHING like that EVER!" As his breath began to regulate Radditz stood up slowly and grinned at the short woman.
"Are you ready then?" Sinesta looked at him slightly confused.
"What do you mean?"
Radditz laughed, "You've got half an hour to get me into town."
Sinesta set her jaw and slapped Radditz on the back. "You best hop on up then, cause this wagon's leaving."
Before Radditz could connect to the seat, Sinesta had the horses in a full blown stampede. The last fingers of light were pulling away from the offending dark and Radditz was itching to get home.
*~*~*~*~*
"Vegeta, if you're coming you'd best be down here in one minute!" King Vegeta boomed up the stairwell and paced the hall. He was nearly on the verge of being late to the services and if Vegeta was going to slow him down any further he would sooner leave him here. King Vegeta had chosen a respectful dress, nothing too flashy to set himself apart and take attention away from Bardock or his youngest son. He had chosen charcoal colored pants and a black top, a sash of blood red around his hips and a light decorative chest armor plate as was custom. Had he a choice of garb, he would have sooner gone in just his attire without the armor, but had he not he felt certain that Bardock would have taken offense. Turning back to the stairs he glowered and yelled up the curving marble slope, "VEGETA!"
"Yes, I'm coming." Vegeta came down around the corner of polished marble and his father stepped back away from the stairs. Never had Kind Vegeta seen his son take more care in his appearance. Each ebony spike had its place, Vegeta had gone against his usual fashion and wore black pants that were snug at the thigh and more fluid at his calves, the cuffs falling onto hard polished boots. He wore a deep scarlet shirt, opened slightly at the neck and a black velvet cape pinned on one shoulder with the royal crest. Vegeta looked up oddly at his father, who still looked down on him with soft eyes. "What is it?" Vegeta ran a hand across his shirt and pants checking for imperfection.
"I have never seen you so grown up before, Vegeta. I can't help but wonder when your maturity caught up with you." Vegeta scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, the edge of his cape creeping across them. King Vegeta shook his head. "And then I wonder, how I managed to miss it." King Vegeta clapped his son on the back and grinned down at him. "Come on then, we're pressed for time."
*~*~*~*~*
Bardock sat beside the pile of logs that were intricately placed atop a small hill. He looked down onto the gatherings of people at it's base and stood stretching his spine. It seemed that most of the city had managed to shy away from responsibility to come to bid Radditz goodbye. Bardock had felt a pride of sorts at the amount of people here, but also felt a disgust that many of them had never known Radditz and were here only to take advantage of Bardock's grief. Kakkarot trotted up the hill toward his father. He wore a navy shirt over white pants, his black sash of royal service tied from his left shoulder and knoted above his right hip. "Father, King Vegeta has just arrived. He wants to speak to you a bit before we begin." Bardock nodded and grasped his youngest son into a bear hug.
"Tonight will be hard for both of us, but we will honor your brother's memory. Is that understood?" Bardock spoke into his son's neck as he felt a hot tear run down his son's face.
"Aye, sir." Kakkarot's voice was gravely but he managed to pull away and salute his father. Kakkarot watched as his father was swallowed up in the crowd below and turned to lay a hand on the pile of wood behind him. "Brother, I refuse to say goodbye to you. I only hope you can forgive me of this when we meet in later years." Kakkarot removed a piece of bark from the log under his hand and watched it as the wind made it ripple and dance. Grasping a piece of charcoal from the ground, Kakkarot etched his brother's name across it's smooth white surface. He folded it carefully and placed it in his pocket. Sighing with deep sorrow, he walked down the hillside and greeted more people whose faces he never recognized.
"Sire, I am pleased you came." Bardock nodded his head in respect.
"How could I not? You are a faithful man that I've placed my trust in over the years. I could never repay the debt I owe you. I only pray the gods let you grieve peacefully." King Vegeta smiled in sympathy down at Bardock. Kakkarot came to stand beside his father and bowed deeply to King Vegeta and then again as he recognized the symbol of royalty upon Vegeta's shoulder.
"Kakkarot, this is my son, Vegeta. Vegeta, this is Bardock's youngest son." King Vegeta stepped to the side and allowed Vegeta to pay his own respects to Bardock and Kakkarot. "You know Bardock, one of my deepest regrets is that our sons have never truely met."
Bardock looked at his feet. "It was for the better. I would never allow my sons to believe they were allowed free access to the royal house. They have grown up well and strong and I would not ask for anything more." King Vegeta nodded and regarded his son as he looked across the crowd.
"I can't exactly say the same for me. Vegeta has grown up true and proud, I am thankful that he is so strong willed. But, I fear sometimes that I sheltered him too long to the ways outside of the royal house." Bardock looked at him questioningly. "It's taken him a lot longer to fight against me and my ways then it did me when I rebelled against my father."
Bardock laughed, "My lord, that can only mean that you are too well of a father and too less of a king. You worry for your son more than I ever worried for my own. I know that you listen to him, but you refuse to let him know. You are a good king, sire. But you are a better father." King Vegeta looked thoughtful for a moment.
"That is probably one of the best compliments I have ever gotten." King Vegeta smiled a large toothy smile. "But I did always have help now and then." Bardock bowed his head and looked to his son who was talking lightly to the woman he had seen in his kitchen two days ago.
"Excuse me for a moment, sire." Bardock walked away as King Vegeta placed a hand on his sons shoulder and looked out amongst the crowd and began to converse with the others that had gathered.
"Kakkarot." Bardock stopped in front of his son and looked from him to the woman at his left.
"Dad, this is Cherise." Kakkarot gestured to the woman who extended her hand. Bardock shook it and was pleased with the firm grip she had.
"Sir, I am sorry for your loss." Cherise looked up at him and he could see why his son had taken to her. She was small and compact, wearing a long black skirt and black shirt. Her spikey hair was pulled away from her face with pins and her high cheekbones accented her dark eyes well. On top of her looks she was respectful and strong.
"Thank you."
"If there is something I can do for your family that is within my power, I gladly offer my help." Cherise kept his gaze for a moment longer before looking to Kakkarot to make sure he had heard her offer as well.
"That's very generous of you. But I'll let Kakkarot handle that." Cherise nodded and took her leave. "Kakkarot, we're going to start soon." Kakkarot noded and followed his father to the top of the hill.
Vegeta stood beside his father at the front of the crowd as they looked up at Bardock and his son as they announced their beginning. Vegeta had only gone to one service in his lifetime, and he was too young then to remember the details. He looked up at his father as a number of people formed a line and walked up the hill to place items at the base of the pile of wood. King Vegeta waited until the last of them had come back down before walking steadily up the hill. Bardock and Kakkarot shook his hand and stood at either side of the pile as King Vegeta turned to the crowd and held a medallion for all of them to see before setting it atop the wood. Vegeta looked at it and recognized it as the symbol of the elite. His father was honoring Bardock's son in a way that few others would ever be. It was rare to be awarded elite after death, but in actuality he had been alive when it was all said and done he was just too late.
As his father stepped to his side, Kakkarot moved down the hill and stood next to Vegeta. Vegeta could feel the tall man shake slightly as a rage of emotions ate him from the inside. Bardock removed a flask of wine from his pocket and doused the wood pile with its contents and flung a match into the center. The wood snapped and crackled as it was engulfed in flames. Bardock moved away from the fire but stood atop the hill and watched it as it burnt. Vegeta turned slightly as he saw the youngest boy had fallen to his knees and feared he had fainted when he saw that he was bowed in respect to his brother's burning grave. Vegeta looked at the pile of wood and then up to his his father who looked back at him. Vegeta dropped to one knee and bowed toward the fire and felt surprise from Kakkarot who still knelt beside him. King Vegeta smiled down on his son a moment before kneeling. A light murmur rippled through the crowd as one by one the members knelt to the burning fire. Bardock stood atop the hill and watched in awe as the mass of people all settled in respect to his son. When the last men dropped to a knee, Bardock could contain himself no longer and dropped to his knee beside the fire and wept.
Radditz pushed away from the tree, "And those would be?"
"Well, the good news is, I never travel without a spare wheel." Radditz grinned and sighed in relief. "The bad news is, I can't get it on." Radditz groaned and walked around to the side of the cart. The wheel was in splinters, spokes broken into toothpicks. Neither of them was sure what had happened, but Radditz had a new appreciation for horses and the driving skills of Sinesta.
"If I can hold up this side...could you change it yourself?" Radditz motioned to the cart. Sinesta let out a trademark shrill laugh.
"Well sure, but that'd be the death of you and it'd take alot longer than if I just waltzed into town and got a jack."
"What do you mean? If I hold up one side and you change it, how would that take longer than..." Radditz did some quick math in his head, "Five hours of walking into the city?"
"Well son, after unloading all of this cargo and securing it, then having you pick up on that cart and me change that wheel, and THEN piling aaaaaaaall of that liquor back on the wagon...it could take until morning." Sinesta patted him on the back as he looked at the cart and it's heavy load.
"Who said I had have it unloaded?" Radditz cocked an eyebrow and looked at the squirrely woman.
"Easy now tiger, I'm not going to have your death on my conscious after you blow an artery and have an aneurism." Sinesta shook her head.
"If I get that wheel set up for you and pick up this side, will you change the wheel?"
"Honey, if you can do that and I can get that wheel on without you busting a nut, I'll give you half of what's on this wagon." Sinesta began to laugh again but stopped short.
"I'll just take a flagon if you can get me home before the moon rises." Radditz had already pulled the new wheel from the side of the cart and set it against the cab. He squated slightly and grasped the bottom of the cart. Radditz closed his eyes and took a deep breath, let it out slowly and grinned at the woman whose eyes had grown large. "Well, are you ready?"
Sinesta moved forward to Radditz side and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Now look boy, you don't need to be...oh my..." Sinesta's voice trailed off as she watched Radditz. Baring his teeth in a tight grimace, Radditz grunted as he heaved on the heavy weight at his back. The veins in his arms and legs began to protrude and Sinesta could almost see the blood slamming through his veins. The muscles in his thighs danced and his grunts came in short booming bursts. "Now, stop that..." Sinesta tried to reason with him when the cart began to squeak as the weight began to shift. The noise of reluctant release gave Radditz a renewed hope and he took a deep breath.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhggg..." A deep bass reverbrated the ground, the horses at the front of the cart shifted uncomfortably and began to whinny. "Aaaaahhhgggg..." Radditz squinted and ground his teeth together as he heaved with a strong determination. Flashes of his brother and father bounced across his vision and he felt a draw of energy from deep inside of himself let go. Sinesta watched him with a look of awe, the wheel was nearly off of the ground and Radditz didn't appear to be giving up. A flicker of light bit into the dampening night and Sinesta closed her eyes to the flash. As she looked again, light flickers of gold pulsed now and then around Radditz, and he was laughing.
"Heheh...hurry...hehee..up." Sinesta looked to the wheel and gasped as she saw it some two feet off of the ground. Pulling the old tattered wheel from the axel, she rolled the other over and picked it up onto the shaft.
"Okay, okay! Let it down!" Sinesta waved frantically and sighed in relief as Radditz slowly set the cart onto the ground. Radditz fell to his knees in the dirt and leaned heavily onto his arms as he gasped for breath. Sinesta hurried over and began to pat his back and rub it in slow motherly circles. "Good gods almighty! I have never, and I mean NEVER, seen anyone do ANYTHING like that EVER!" As his breath began to regulate Radditz stood up slowly and grinned at the short woman.
"Are you ready then?" Sinesta looked at him slightly confused.
"What do you mean?"
Radditz laughed, "You've got half an hour to get me into town."
Sinesta set her jaw and slapped Radditz on the back. "You best hop on up then, cause this wagon's leaving."
Before Radditz could connect to the seat, Sinesta had the horses in a full blown stampede. The last fingers of light were pulling away from the offending dark and Radditz was itching to get home.
*~*~*~*~*
"Vegeta, if you're coming you'd best be down here in one minute!" King Vegeta boomed up the stairwell and paced the hall. He was nearly on the verge of being late to the services and if Vegeta was going to slow him down any further he would sooner leave him here. King Vegeta had chosen a respectful dress, nothing too flashy to set himself apart and take attention away from Bardock or his youngest son. He had chosen charcoal colored pants and a black top, a sash of blood red around his hips and a light decorative chest armor plate as was custom. Had he a choice of garb, he would have sooner gone in just his attire without the armor, but had he not he felt certain that Bardock would have taken offense. Turning back to the stairs he glowered and yelled up the curving marble slope, "VEGETA!"
"Yes, I'm coming." Vegeta came down around the corner of polished marble and his father stepped back away from the stairs. Never had Kind Vegeta seen his son take more care in his appearance. Each ebony spike had its place, Vegeta had gone against his usual fashion and wore black pants that were snug at the thigh and more fluid at his calves, the cuffs falling onto hard polished boots. He wore a deep scarlet shirt, opened slightly at the neck and a black velvet cape pinned on one shoulder with the royal crest. Vegeta looked up oddly at his father, who still looked down on him with soft eyes. "What is it?" Vegeta ran a hand across his shirt and pants checking for imperfection.
"I have never seen you so grown up before, Vegeta. I can't help but wonder when your maturity caught up with you." Vegeta scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, the edge of his cape creeping across them. King Vegeta shook his head. "And then I wonder, how I managed to miss it." King Vegeta clapped his son on the back and grinned down at him. "Come on then, we're pressed for time."
*~*~*~*~*
Bardock sat beside the pile of logs that were intricately placed atop a small hill. He looked down onto the gatherings of people at it's base and stood stretching his spine. It seemed that most of the city had managed to shy away from responsibility to come to bid Radditz goodbye. Bardock had felt a pride of sorts at the amount of people here, but also felt a disgust that many of them had never known Radditz and were here only to take advantage of Bardock's grief. Kakkarot trotted up the hill toward his father. He wore a navy shirt over white pants, his black sash of royal service tied from his left shoulder and knoted above his right hip. "Father, King Vegeta has just arrived. He wants to speak to you a bit before we begin." Bardock nodded and grasped his youngest son into a bear hug.
"Tonight will be hard for both of us, but we will honor your brother's memory. Is that understood?" Bardock spoke into his son's neck as he felt a hot tear run down his son's face.
"Aye, sir." Kakkarot's voice was gravely but he managed to pull away and salute his father. Kakkarot watched as his father was swallowed up in the crowd below and turned to lay a hand on the pile of wood behind him. "Brother, I refuse to say goodbye to you. I only hope you can forgive me of this when we meet in later years." Kakkarot removed a piece of bark from the log under his hand and watched it as the wind made it ripple and dance. Grasping a piece of charcoal from the ground, Kakkarot etched his brother's name across it's smooth white surface. He folded it carefully and placed it in his pocket. Sighing with deep sorrow, he walked down the hillside and greeted more people whose faces he never recognized.
"Sire, I am pleased you came." Bardock nodded his head in respect.
"How could I not? You are a faithful man that I've placed my trust in over the years. I could never repay the debt I owe you. I only pray the gods let you grieve peacefully." King Vegeta smiled in sympathy down at Bardock. Kakkarot came to stand beside his father and bowed deeply to King Vegeta and then again as he recognized the symbol of royalty upon Vegeta's shoulder.
"Kakkarot, this is my son, Vegeta. Vegeta, this is Bardock's youngest son." King Vegeta stepped to the side and allowed Vegeta to pay his own respects to Bardock and Kakkarot. "You know Bardock, one of my deepest regrets is that our sons have never truely met."
Bardock looked at his feet. "It was for the better. I would never allow my sons to believe they were allowed free access to the royal house. They have grown up well and strong and I would not ask for anything more." King Vegeta nodded and regarded his son as he looked across the crowd.
"I can't exactly say the same for me. Vegeta has grown up true and proud, I am thankful that he is so strong willed. But, I fear sometimes that I sheltered him too long to the ways outside of the royal house." Bardock looked at him questioningly. "It's taken him a lot longer to fight against me and my ways then it did me when I rebelled against my father."
Bardock laughed, "My lord, that can only mean that you are too well of a father and too less of a king. You worry for your son more than I ever worried for my own. I know that you listen to him, but you refuse to let him know. You are a good king, sire. But you are a better father." King Vegeta looked thoughtful for a moment.
"That is probably one of the best compliments I have ever gotten." King Vegeta smiled a large toothy smile. "But I did always have help now and then." Bardock bowed his head and looked to his son who was talking lightly to the woman he had seen in his kitchen two days ago.
"Excuse me for a moment, sire." Bardock walked away as King Vegeta placed a hand on his sons shoulder and looked out amongst the crowd and began to converse with the others that had gathered.
"Kakkarot." Bardock stopped in front of his son and looked from him to the woman at his left.
"Dad, this is Cherise." Kakkarot gestured to the woman who extended her hand. Bardock shook it and was pleased with the firm grip she had.
"Sir, I am sorry for your loss." Cherise looked up at him and he could see why his son had taken to her. She was small and compact, wearing a long black skirt and black shirt. Her spikey hair was pulled away from her face with pins and her high cheekbones accented her dark eyes well. On top of her looks she was respectful and strong.
"Thank you."
"If there is something I can do for your family that is within my power, I gladly offer my help." Cherise kept his gaze for a moment longer before looking to Kakkarot to make sure he had heard her offer as well.
"That's very generous of you. But I'll let Kakkarot handle that." Cherise nodded and took her leave. "Kakkarot, we're going to start soon." Kakkarot noded and followed his father to the top of the hill.
Vegeta stood beside his father at the front of the crowd as they looked up at Bardock and his son as they announced their beginning. Vegeta had only gone to one service in his lifetime, and he was too young then to remember the details. He looked up at his father as a number of people formed a line and walked up the hill to place items at the base of the pile of wood. King Vegeta waited until the last of them had come back down before walking steadily up the hill. Bardock and Kakkarot shook his hand and stood at either side of the pile as King Vegeta turned to the crowd and held a medallion for all of them to see before setting it atop the wood. Vegeta looked at it and recognized it as the symbol of the elite. His father was honoring Bardock's son in a way that few others would ever be. It was rare to be awarded elite after death, but in actuality he had been alive when it was all said and done he was just too late.
As his father stepped to his side, Kakkarot moved down the hill and stood next to Vegeta. Vegeta could feel the tall man shake slightly as a rage of emotions ate him from the inside. Bardock removed a flask of wine from his pocket and doused the wood pile with its contents and flung a match into the center. The wood snapped and crackled as it was engulfed in flames. Bardock moved away from the fire but stood atop the hill and watched it as it burnt. Vegeta turned slightly as he saw the youngest boy had fallen to his knees and feared he had fainted when he saw that he was bowed in respect to his brother's burning grave. Vegeta looked at the pile of wood and then up to his his father who looked back at him. Vegeta dropped to one knee and bowed toward the fire and felt surprise from Kakkarot who still knelt beside him. King Vegeta smiled down on his son a moment before kneeling. A light murmur rippled through the crowd as one by one the members knelt to the burning fire. Bardock stood atop the hill and watched in awe as the mass of people all settled in respect to his son. When the last men dropped to a knee, Bardock could contain himself no longer and dropped to his knee beside the fire and wept.