When Earth Arises

Disclaimer: All characters from Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, The Immortals, The Lioness Quartet, etc. belong to Tamora Pierce. I do not own them. Or characters from Dragonballz, which belong to Mr. Toriyama...anyway

I know this is a weird combination, cross-over, whatever, but then, I'm a weird person. O_^

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Trunks scowled, but knew he could do nothing about it. But he could give his opinion.

"Hmph. I am a prince. Your prince," he growled at the older boy. "The wench should be privileged that I consider her worthy to serve me."

Alanna felt her jaw go slack at his audacity. Why, that little-

"Oh, I wasn't aware we had visiting royalty," a deep voice came from the doorway. The man standing there smiled at their surprise. Well, everyone was surprised except Piccolo. He had sensed him long ago. "And to whom do I have the pleasure of addressing, young Prince?"

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Chapter Three:

"King Jonathan!" Alanna winced, a bit embarrassed that he had heard. He smiled at her, a sparkle in his bright blue eyes, then looked back down at Trunks. The lavender-haired boy smirked.

"I am Trunks, Prince of the Saiyans," he announced. Gohan rolled his eyes. He sounded exactly like Vegeta. Like father, like son. Piccolo couldn't help but find it funny that the little brat could rile that lady with the violet eyes so much. Saiyan royalty did that to people, he mused.

"Well, young Prince," King Jonathan said genially. "Let me show you and your friends some quarters where you can stay. Will you introduce us?" Trunks looked at the others almost degradingly, then in bored tones introduced them.

"That's Piccolo. Gohan, and my best friend Goten, from the house of Kakkarot. They are Saiyans, but Piccolo is Namek." His gaze fell on Evvy and Briar, and he studied them. "I don't know them," he finished after a moment. "Briar Moss and Evumeimei, or Evvy," Alanna supplied. The King bowed slightly, in a gesture that included them all, then studied Piccolo. "Namek…hmmm." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Well, follow me, if you will, and I will guide you to your rooms that you may stay in for as long as you are with us." He turned to Alanna. "We will speak later, Lioness." She bowed as he left, and she, Numair, and Daine looked at each other.

"Well, that was interesting . . ." Daine commented.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You two can stay in here," Jonathan told the two chibi demi-Saiyans, opening a door. Trunks entered, and studied it. It was simple, yet elegant. There was a large canopy bed, with dark blue bedding, and a mahogany dresser. Tapestries of bright colors depicting different battle scenes against human enemies and immortals alike hung in various places around the room. A large ornate chest lay at the foot of the bed, and an empty fireplace stood in one corner. Jonathan looked at the fireplace.

"I'll send someone up to tend to that," he told them. Trunks looked at the wood stacked in it, and shook his head, knowing that a small ki blast would have it going in seconds. "Don't bother."

The king of Tortall blinked, then nodded with a slight smile. "Ok, but I'll still send someone up to get you for dinner. I believe you said you were hungry." They nodded, and he left the two, motioning for the others to follow. He gave Gohan a room across the hall from the chibis and Piccolo a room next to him. Evvy got a room next to the Trunks' and Goten's, and Briar a room next to hers.

"Thank you," he told the king as he was leaving. The king smiled down at him. "You're welcome. See you at dinner."

-+-+-+-+-+-

"Briar, I don't like being in a palace," Evvy hissed nervously. It was several moments after King Jonathan had left, and the two were sitting in her room. Briar sighed.

"I know, Evvy, I don't like it much either, but it's not as if they know you were a runaway slave. I've never even heard of Tortall, so I don't think they have ever heard of Summersea, or Sotat, or anything." He looked down at his colorful hands, at the twisting tattoo of vines and bright gaudy yellow and blue flowers. "And they can't know I am a former thief. We're mages now anyway," he reassured her. "That stuff doesn't matter anymore. We're protected by Winding Circle."

"But if we haven't heard of Tortall, and they don't know about our land, then how can Rosethorn or anyone at Winding Circle help us. They don't know where we are. And they probably haven't even heard of Winding Circle." Briar ran his fingers through his dark, tight curls.

"Well, if it comes to the worst, we can protect ourselves."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

About half an hour later they were eating in a large room, filled with people. Piccolo had opted to stay and meditate in his room, asking only for some water, which was brought up in a large pitcher by a rather nervous maid. He ignored her, figuring that if he showed that he noticed her, it would frighten her more, and sat on the stone floor, legs crossed and eyes closed in his meditation. Only when she left did he levitate into his normal position, guessing correctly that to see a foreign creature hovering in the air would not help things. He was in a rather good mood, and did not feel like causing trouble. {O_^} The others were led into a large eating hall, that seemed to be filled with people, from age ranges of 10 and older. Trunks, Goten, and Gohan winced at the extreme noise level of the room, an gradually got used to it, although at times it grew, causing their sensitive ears to ring. Gohan was beginning to see the wisdom of Piccolo's actions, when a particularly loud noise rang through the air, followed by rambunctious laughter. Evvy and Briar were a bit uncomfortably around so many people, but tried not to show they were nervous as they went through a line with their trays and followed the other three to an empty spot at one of the large tables. They were met by curious looks, but basically indifference. Gohan whispered in a tone he knew only the sensitive ears of his brother and Trunks would pick up.

"Don't eat like we do at home," he warned. "We don't want to seem to out of place. I'll take you two hunting later for a decent meal." The two looked at him and nodded slightly, although Trunks did so with a scowl, and they began to eat. For Trunks it wasn't much of a problem to keep neat, as Vegeta had made him do so, saying that it was unbecoming of a Saiyan prince to eat like third-class warriors, but Gohan and Goten had to make visible effort not to wolf down their food at a fast rate. Especially Goten, as Gohan had some practice at school. They had all finished eating, and were wondering what to do, when Numair suddenly appeared behind them. He smiled at them, then gave pointed looks to some of the boys around them that had stopped eating and talking to stare. They hurriedly went back to whatever they were doing and the tall man smiled at the group.

"Take your trays over there," he informed them, pointing, "and follow me, please." They complied and he led them out of the room and up several flights of stairs. He finally came to a room and they entered, to see Daine sitting at the table with a small animal in her lap. Goten's eyes lit up.

"Hey! It's a baby dragon!" he exclaimed. The dragon slid off Daine's lap and whistled at the boy as it came for a closer look. Briar blinked in surprise, and Evvy felt herself slide behind him slightly. He gave her a reassuring look, but she didn't move away.

"Her name is Skysong," Daine told them, "But everyone calls her Kitten." Trunks looked at the dragon and frowned.

"She doesn't look like Shenlong," he stated. Gohan studied her also. "You're right, Trunks. Or Porunga, for that matter. But there are similarities." Numair interrupted them.

"Who is Shenlong and Porunga," he asked with interest. The three demi-Saiyans exchanged looks. How were they going to explain this one?

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