The first thing she discovered was that her pretty dresses were completely unsuitable for independent living. And the second was that her siblings were even worse than she'd thought. The second sent her in tears to Goku.

When she had finished her story, he smiled sadly. "Ah, Deana… I'm sorry. I can't do anything to help you."

"But then, what do I do? They've practically destroyed or taken everything."

Goku closed his eyes. When he opened them, a flame of resigned amusement lit them. "Go to your father. Demand an audience with the Saiyan Prince. Demand that the Prince of all Saiyans rule his subjects and administer justice in his kingdom, or step down."

"What?"

"Your father is the Saiyan Prince Vegeta. He'll know I'm alive and that you've seen me, but there's no help for it. If you want justice, that's what you'll have to do. Wear the nicest clothes you have. Don't be a daughter whining about her siblings, be a subject demanding justice. I doubt he'll be able to resist."

"Well, why didn't you ever do that?"

"I was raised as an Earthling, Deana. His title never meant anything to me. You were born and raised as a royal child of the House of Vegeta, as best as your father could manage. Play it up. The Princess Deana pleads for justice from the Prince of the Saiyans."

A small smile bloomed on her tear-streaked face. "I am going to enjoy this!" She got up and darted from the room.

Goku relaxed back against the pillows, considered the plan he had offered, and the excuse he had given. He sighed. "Child… your father wouldn't acknowledge me if I made such a petition. I will never be anything except a low level warrior, and a rival, in his eyes." He shifted slightly, easing sore ribs. "I just hope this doesn't backfire."

Deana stood rooted outside the door, the dress she had grabbed for Goku to approve hanging limply at her side. She frowned, then went back to her room. Every dress she owned went across the bed. At last, she determined which one to wear. She slipped it on, and spent the next several minutes in front of the mirror fixing her hair. Her mind worked furiously, determining what she was going to say… and how to make sure that Kakarot was included in her father's justice.

There were books in plenty, the warriors had apparently missed those during their destructive spree. She'd read a great many that involved kings and princesses, and proper court behavior. Of course, she'd not paid attention to most of it, but she could come up with a reasonable approximation, couldn't she? Eleven didn't mean stupid, after all!

Finally satisfied with her appearance, she lifted her chin and set out. Her father would be at home this time of day, assigning her siblings to either hunting, training, or some form of study. She let herself in, and walked immediately to the large family room.

"What're you doing here? Come to whine to Dad?"

She gathered herself. "I came to ask an audience with the Saiyan Prince. I came to ask that he…" she met her father's eyes squarely, "either rule his people, or step down. I came to demand justice for the loss and destruction of the property which he himself gave to me!"

Dead silence, for all of five seconds. Then her siblings dissolved into raucous laughter and insults. Both quit abruptly when Vegeta stood and blasted five of them into silence. "What did you say?"

Deana swallowed. Not once in her life had her father ever used that tone on her. She took a deep breath. "I came to ask an audience of the Saiyan prince, Prince Vegeta. I came to seek justice for the theft and damage of property he gave to me. I came to ask him to rule his people, or step down."

"And who asks?" Her father's deadly tone had not changed.

"I am a child of the royal House of Vegeta, Princess Deana." In spite of her nervousness, her voice rang with conviction and pride. Her chin rose haughtily, the way she'd practiced in the mirror, and she twitched her dress away from a more slovenly dressed, dirty older sister near her.

Vegeta's eyes twitched to the sister and then back to her. "Your audience has been granted. Tell me of the justice you want."

Deana took a deep breath. "My lord gave me not two days ago a living consisting of a house, land, and animals." She proceeded to detail as best she could the damage that had been done to the garden and the numbers of beasts that had been killed or stolen. She drew another deep breath, and focused solely on her father.

"I would ask that my lord Prince Vegeta see to the return of those animals stolen, and the replacement of those destroyed. I would ask that those involved in the destruction of the land and garden be made to replant and repair what has been damaged. I ask that my prince dispense justice now, so that my lord's subjects do not become like those who destroyed our world forty-five years ago, but instead become great warriors like the men and women who fought against them."

Vegeta snapped to attention, Mitzu gasped. "What do you know of those events, girl?"

"Kakarot taught me more than how to land a punch, my lord. He taught me the care of the animals and the garden, how to cook and sew, how to keep house for myself. He also taught me something of history, my people, and my family." Her gaze turned briefly to her mother. "He has taught me about loyalty, Prince Vegeta, and about responsibility."

Her father looked as if he'd been slapped. His eyes narrowed dangerously. Her siblings scrambled to get away from her. "Is there anything else… Princess?"

She quelled her shudder and was desperately glad that her very frizzed out tail was hidden beneath the dress she'd chosen. Now, she chose her words even more carefully. "In light of the loyalty and…" a glance at each and every female in the room, "responsibility that Kakarot has shown, I would ask that my lord allow him to join my household should he return."

Jeers and laughter exploded around her as her siblings decided the whole thing was a joke. She kept her eyes focused on her father, her hands fisting as she waited. He demanded, and got, instant silence. "You shall have the animals returned or replaced. The garden will be replanted, the outbuildings and fences repaired. I will dispense the justice you have so graciously asked for. Should you have further trouble with malcontents, I shall deal a more… unpleasant form of justice."

Vegeta's hard gaze pinned her. She swallowed, but met it. "You, my daughter, have made me proud today. You have also reminded me that I have a position and responsibility to fulfill. I will cease my search for Kakarot, and he may join your household if he wishes. If not, he may go where he wills. I will no longer demand his service."

"Thank you, Father," Deana replied gravely.

His gaze swept the room. Most of his children wouldn't meet his eyes, and more than one blanched. "I know who needs to be at work making restitution. Go!" Over half of his twenty-five children got up and ran for the door, including four younger than Deana. Vegeta returned his gaze to her. "Where is he?"

She smiled brightly. "In bed, where he belongs. I'll tell him what you said."

Vegeta gaped at her, then began laughing. "You little minx!" He waved a hand. "Go on, get out of here. You have repairs to oversee."

Deana bowed, then skipped out the door and down the path. Reaction set in moments after she got through the door. She bolted for the bathroom. Then she went to Goku, to tell him how his idea had worked.

"Well. That went… much better than I expected." He sipped from the glass she'd handed him. "He's given me the freedom I've always had… that's kind of funny."

"Are you hurting? Are you okay, Kaky?"

"I'm as well as I can be, considering," he said after a moment. "My fever's been coming and going all morning, and I feel like I've been beaten into the ground… I was, actually. But I don't really hurt so much as ache. It all feels kind of… distant."

Deana chewed her lip. "Do you want something to eat? I can bring you some eggs, and some more milk, and see what I can salvage from the garden. And there's still some soup, too."

"Yes… I think I should eat." Goku yawned. "And sleep some more. I'm very tired."

Deana worked quickly to get a meal together for him, then sorted through her clothes again. Finally, she found something she decided was acceptable for working in, and went outside to oversee the repairs her father had ordered. Ordering her siblings around was a novel experience, and their unwilling obedience a salve to her wounded feelings. She knew perfectly well not one of them would have done what she told them to if it wasn't for that last threat of her father's, but she wasn't about to let them get away before they'd patched, replanted, and repaired every last thing they'd messed up.

Stolen livestock was returned, to be turned loose into freshly repaired paddocks or pens. The livestock they'd killed, or damaged beyond use for anything except food, her siblings were finding harder to replace. She realized then that Kakarot hadn't been joking when he'd told her of the invader's destructiveness.

His herds, hers now, had been decimated during the time he'd been missing. Her siblings reaction to her independence had reduced them even further. She knew from the rare hunting trips she'd gone on that wild animals and livestock alike were in scarce supply within a two day journey afoot.

And since she, like her sibs, could circle the globe in a matter of hours, she knew that the animal population to be equally low world wide. Deana gave this new insight due deliberation, chewing on a hangnail while she considered it. The plant life had rebounded fairly well, but animal populations were small, and theirs was the only settlement of intelligence.

Quasi-intelligence, she amended, and leapt up to screech at an older brother's carelessness. Her father showed up in the middle of her rant.

"Deana."

"F… Father?" She spun, not having realized he was there. "What is it?"

"How is Kakarot?"

"Sick. Achy and feverish. No, Tantrum! You can't leave that there, it will fall and kill more of the cows!"

"You seem to have things well in hand here."

"Papa, are there more houses?"

"More? Yes, of course. My wife's family developed them. Kakarot and I salvaged a great many from Capsule Corp." He frowned at her, not particularly pleased by the subject change.

"Papa, may I make a suggestion?"

"Full of those today, aren't you, girl? Go ahead."

"Kakarot said the invaders destroyed all the people. Shouldn't that mean there is plenty of land for my siblings? Couldn't you provide them with homes and property as you did me?"

"They haven't grown up enough to recognize the possibility is there," Vegeta returned gruffly. "I am somewhat offended that it was my youngest daughter who was first to grow up."

"Well, I suggest that you consider giving homes to the rest of your daughters, for them to raise their children in," Deana said tartly. "You won't be able to pawn the babies off on Kakarot this time! And if you try, I will insist he keep his children."

Vegeta opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. His eyes narrowed, his arms crossed. She ignored him in favor of yelling at Tantrum again for carelessness, and only then turned to face him. "Father, I can understand that the bloodlines are too close. I'm a very well read youngling. That doesn't make what you did to him any less wrong, and depriving him of his children would only multiply the offense. He doesn't deserve that.

"He lost all the family he had when the invaders came. You had your granddaughter, and later, your children. He stayed because of the children, because we needed him to raise us, because you wouldn't have anything to do with us until we were old enough to train. When my mother and sisters raped him, he ran. I don't blame him.

"But he came back. He came back, because he knew his children would need him. Do not take them from him, Father."

Pale purple hair, the color of his son's, the wide, pleading blue eyes of his wife, and wisdom far beyond her years. "He will have Mitzu's child, she has enough she won't miss one. Your sisters can decide for themselves. Those who keep their children, I will give homes to. And I will give one to Kakarot, as well."

She hugged him, hard. "Thank you, Daddy! I'm glad you aren't like the invaders!" She missed the expression that crossed Vegeta's face. "Go tell him, Daddy. He's in the big bedroom."

Vegeta went.