The alarm clock burst into a loud, high-pitched ringing that echoed around the small house.
"Ugh…" Lavender groaned. She flung out her arm and slapped it quiet. She then sat up, and got out of bed.
~

"Saiyamo!" Lavender called as she brushed her hair. She was wearing a white apron, a white blouse, a black skirt that came to an inch or two above her knees, black tights, a black headband and a little makeup. She wore her hair loose usually, and she had let it grow a little until it reached just a bit past her shoulders. Incidentally, she was a waitress. Lavender didn't at all think it was the greatest job in the world, and the wages weren't excellent, but on this quiet little planet it was the best job she was qualified for – after all, as bright and capable as she was, she still didn't have the correct qualifications and experience that was needed to become something a little more up-market. Still, a waitress was better than nothing, and it was a bit of a laugh. She had a lot of friends at the café and it was the sort of place where both the staff and customers knew each other like they were next-door neighbors. It was rare that she saw a face she didn't recognize.

The job was also handy for keeping an eye on Saiyamo. The café Lavender worked at was only three buildings away from their house, so if Saiyamo ever wanted to go home, she didn't have very far to walk and it was impossible for her to get lost. There was also a park nearby, and a school. Every morning Lavender and Saiyamo would walk up to the café, and then Saiyamo only took a minute to go round the corner to school. Then when school was over, Saiyamo would come back to the café and either stay there for half an hour – or maybe an hour depending on what shift Lavender was working – or go there just to let Lavender know she had arrived safely and then go onto the park or back home. On weekends of course, there was no school so Saiyamo could come and go wherever she liked. She usually went over to a friend's house and they would then go onto the park, or stay indoors if it was raining. The important thing was that Lavender always knew where she was, because there were only a few places Saiyamo could be. They also had breakfast at the café. Lavender went into work about twenty minutes before school started, so even on schooldays Saiyamo still had time to eat at the café – and they got free breakfast meals because Lavender had been a loyal waitress there for over a year now.

"Saiyamo!" Lavender called again. "Come on, we'll be late!" she stood up and made her way over to Saiyamo's bedroom. "Saiya," she opened the door to find an empty bed. She looked around the room, and stopped at the wardrobe. Lavender smirked.
"Where's Saiyamo…?" she thought aloud as she crept towards the wardrobe. "I wonder where she could be? Could she be in… Here?!" she opened the wardrobe and was taken aback when she found it empty. "Saiyamo?" she frowned in confusion. She noticed that a cupboard was slightly open… but no, Saiyamo couldn't fit in there. Lavender sighed.
"Saiyamo, where are you?" she called. "I don't have time for hide and seek, we have to go!" she started to search the house quickly for her daughter.
~

"Saiyamo?" Lavender was getting a little worried now, she couldn't find Saiyamo anywhere. She noticed the open window downstairs. "What?" her eyes widened slightly, and then she laughed. "The garden? That's a new one!" she went outside.
"Saiya?" she called. Saiyamo wasn't anywhere to be seen in the front garden, so Lavender tried the back. "Saiyamo – …" her heart stopped when she saw that her spaceship was gone. Had someone stolen it? But… only Saiyamo knew the password – … Saiyamo?
"No, don't be ridiculous." Lavender shook her head as she scolded herself. "She doesn't know how to fly it." Maybe Saiyamo had gone to wait at the café ahead of Lavender, she always did insist that she was grown-up enough to do things on her own. Lavender headed for work.

~~~

"Sorry I'm late." She said to her boss Nanci as she entered the building. She looked around. The place was quiet like it usually was this early in the morning, children didn't come until lunchtime or after school when the café started serving ice cream, and most adults came around that time as well, on lunch breaks and such. The only person you could guarantee would be here this early was old Gotta, a man who delivered the papers early in the morning. He always came in for a coffee.
Saiyamo was nowhere in sight. Lavender looked at Nanci.
"Nanci, have you seen –" she noticed the look of bewilderment on Nanci's face. "… What?" she said.
"Aren't you on holiday?" Nanci asked.
"Huh?"
"Gotta saw your spaceship take off with Saiyamo in it – I was about to phone Tacha up to see if she could cover for you. Fancy not telling us if you're gonna suddenly go riding off into outer space!"
"Wait…" Lavender shook her head. "Saiyamo was in a SPACESHIP?"
"Sure was." Gotta replied.
"But – are you sure?!" Lavender spun around to look at him.
"Of course I'm sure! I came out of the bar late last night after celebrating my brother's engagement, and I saw your spaceship take off. Saiyamo was staring out through the window – she even waved at me!"
"Who was driving?!" Lavender protested.
"Don't know, I didn't see the driver, Saiyamo was blocking the view. But she wasn't driving it herself anyway, somebody was there with her."

"Oh my –" Lavender sat down. "This can't be – Gotta, you must've seen someone else! That couldn't have been Saiyamo, she wouldn't fly off with some stranger like that!"
"Well maybe she knows him?" Gotta suggested.
"HIM?!"
"I meant or her!" Gotta assured.
"No, if it was someone Saiyamo knew then it'd be somebody Lavender knows," Nanci replied. "And if it's someone around here that Lavender knows they would've checked with Lavender first."
"Just tryna help." Gotta shrugged. "But it was definitely Saiyamo."
"She's been kidnapped!" Lavender ran her hands tensely through her hair, she was already in a panic.
"Now you don't know that," Gotta told her. "She seemed happy when I saw her!"
"Well of course she did, some sick pervert probably gave her candy or something!"
"Now Lavender, don't get yourself in a state." Nanci said. "Gotta's right, maybe she is okay. Perhaps she wanted to go somewhere, do a little exploring. You know what kids are like."
"Go somewhere…?"
"Anywhere she wanted to visit?" Nanci asked.

"… Oh my God!" Lavender stood up. "She's gone to EARTH!"
"Earth?" Gotta had never heard of the place.
"Earth – it's a planet, her father lives there. Last night she was saying how she wanted to meet him…" Lavender pushed her fringe up onto her head as she became more restless. "Geez, I know that's where she's gone! She must've asked someone to take her there! I – I have to go find her!"
"Now hold on a sec, do you know the way? I don't want you getting lost – you don't have a spaceship!" Nanci insisted. "How are you gonna get there?"
"Don't worry. I'll transform so I can breathe in outer space."
"Huh?"
"Changeling thing." Lavender told her. "Look – I gotta go, she can't go to Earth, her father can't ever find out about her!" she protested. "Call Tacha and tell her I'm sorry, take it out of my wages, okay?" she darted out before either Gotta or Nanci could say a word to stop her.
"What's the deal with her and Saiyamo's father anyway?" Gotta asked.
"Well I tell ya, I've know that girl since before Saiyamo was born and she has always kept that part of her life real quiet." Nanci told him.
"Maybe she cheated on him."
"Maybe."

~~~~~

"So tell me about Frieza." Tomakoto began.
"Don't you know about him already?" Saiyamo asked as she drew on a pad of plain paper she'd brought with her. "I thought you said he was your friend."
"Well he was – my father's friend. I've never met him myself."
"Oh. Me neither." Saiyamo replied.
"This is Frieza as in the prince of changelings, right? The little one with the human wife?"
"Uh-huh, my grandma's a human – both my grandmas." Saiyamo nodded.
"Wow, so you've got quite a mixture of blood in you then, eh?"
"No, all my blood is red." Saiyamo told him. Tomakoto laughed.
"Well, that's not what I meant but sure, whatever."
"Are we at Earth yet?"
"No, it'll be a while before we get there. You might as well sleep or something, I doubt we'll be there in less that two days."
"Oh…" Saiyamo got back to drawing with her crayons.