Wow, I can't believe half a year has passed since last chapter. But on the other hand it seems to be much longer since I last posted something. I had 1/3 of the chapter when I began writing today, but I was suddenly hit by the urge to write, so I did! I guess that's what attending two boring courses and no energy to study because of the dark winter gives me. I won't make any promise about when the next chapter will be out. I have opened the document a couple of times but just not had any inspiration. It finally hit me today, but it might be gone tomorrow. So I wanted to get this out and about at once, which also means it's un-betaed! I hope it's not too clumsy and mess.

Enjoy!

A loud roar echoed down the street. The women walking by looked at each other and shook their heads. Their former chief had always been known to have a greater temper than the normal Pera male. But this time it seemed worse than usual. "You can't be serious, why should we…"

"Nappa!" The bark made the big man flinch as he stopped in the middle of a sentence. "This might be too much for your little mind to grasp, but I thought you would at least be able to follow an order." Vegeta massaged his temple, trying to ease his headache a bit. It was no longer as throbbing as it had been the last few days, and normally it wouldn't bother him. But this headache was a constant reminder of what had happened outside the temple, and each time he thought about it, it seemed to get worse.

"But your Holiness, I…"

"Shut up!" He snorted at the bald man. It had always been a mystery to him why Nappa had been second in command during the war when his own father had been chief. He had only let him keep his position because it had been the easiest thing to do. "I have decided for the woman to stay at my house. It is the best in the village, and we cannot offer anything less to her." It wasn't something he had offered on his own. After his power had returned they had taken off for the village. As soon as it had come into sight the woman had stopped and told her servants to leave – she would call for them if needed, but she believed Vegeta and his people would take good care of her. He was about to continue but the big man could no longer keep his mouth shut.

"I know but why must we do whatever she bids like some sort of animal? She's a woman!" A vein in Nappa's forehead began to pulsate as he stated the obvious. His tail had loosened itself and was agitatedly swinging behind him, but it stopped dead in its track when Vegeta smacked his fist down at the table, splitting it into two.

"Next time it's your head I'm gonna hit! So shut up, and do as I say!" Vegeta yelled at the dumbfounded man. Despite his constant headache Vegeta's mind hadn't been laying around, and he had given the whole ordeal quit some thought. But it would all be in vain if he couldn't convince Nappa to do as he said.

"We have to make sure she gives all her knowledge to us. As long as she believes I'm the one worthy for her guidance all she has to offer will only be given to Pera. So yeah, we're going to do what she tells us, so she doesn't decide to leave or help another tribe." He sighed as he watched Nappa's eyes slowly light up, showing he had finally understood what Vegeta had told him four times already.

To think he can even breathe and walk at the same time is unbelievable…

"Which also means that even if you hear me say something you see as a disgrace or a lie, you keep your big fat mouth shut, got it?" He watched Nappa knit his brows in confusion. "Just keep quiet unless you're asked a question when she's around." Nappa opened his mouth, about to say something but Vegeta interrupted him. "That's an order!" Vegeta hissed as his shout send a soaring pain through his head. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit, hoping it would take some of the pain away. "Unless you want to see my father sooner than later you do as I say!" he spat, trying with all his might not to show Nappa how much he hurt.

The bald giant closed his mouth and nodded in agreement. But the vein in his forehead was still pulsating.

Bulma shifted her position slightly, rubbing her right foot which had begun to hurt. She had a bad habit of sitting on top of it when she was absorb in work. The floor of Vegeta's living room was filled with papers and Bulma was sitting in the middle of it while she memorized the night sky of the planet. The Azkurians had given her detailed maps and named some of the most important constellations. They had even provided a table, where she could learn how the slight shifts in the night sky during the year could be used to tell when the seeds should be sown and when the crops could be harvested.

"The Hunters have to be completely visible over the horizon before the soil is ready…" she mumbled to herself while making sure she was looking at the right table. Even though each table was easy to read, she had received a table for each tribe and those were split up into different tables if they couldn't account for all the villages. The Kebun tribe had five separate tables because its villages were covering such a great area.

"As soon as the third hunter's right foot is gone grains can be harvested. But the second hunter's left foot has to disappear too before the cabbages are ready…" Her fingers played with her hair while her golden eyes were shooting around, trying to get as much information as quickly as possible. A sudden knock at the door startled her and she had to hold back a yelp of pain as she had pulled her own hair because of the shock. Franticly she gathered all the papers in a pile and got them capsulated.

"Yes?" Her pulse was pumping in her ears. She had been so engulfed in her papers she hadn't noticed the flashing light of her shifter. It had been programmed to warn her if someone was in a radius of five meters from the front door.

"Ms. Bulma, may I enter?" A woman's voice called to her from the other side of the door.

"Please do."

A beautiful woman stepped into the room with her gaze firmly on the floor. "Excuse me," she said in a low voice. "It is time for me to prepare your dinner. I will be in the kitchen if you need me."

She was about to leave the room, but Bulma stopped her. "Cucum, would you tell Vegeta I would like him to have dinner with me?" The saiyan woman peered at her with eyes wide open when she used Vegeta's name, but she quickly shot down her gaze.

"Of course, I'll go and tell His Holiness immediately."

Bulma uncapsulated the papers as soon as she was alone. She quickly found the table for the Pera tribe and the list of names and capsulated the rest once again. After giving it a last, short overlook she packed the papers away under the pillow in the bedroom. Now it was time to begin her first real task as a goddess.

The people on the street turned their head as the chief's son came running by them. Raditz had a worried look in his eyes and he hadn't even reached his destination before the villagers began talking about it.

"Father!" Burdock looked at his son in surprise as the long haired man came barging through the door. "I have news of great matter from Beetra's trip to the Kebun village!" He slammed the door behind him and sat down in front of Burdock. "It concerns The Holy."

"The Holy?" Burdock knitted his brows while gesturing for his son to take a seat. "Why do they have news about The Holy?" All kind of reasons began forming in his head, but he chose to ignore them. His wife had always called him a worrywart before the incident. Since then she had been the one to worry about everything and he had forced himself to become calmer in order to support her. Their son, who had only been 10 at the time, had turned into a man of few emotions due to his mother's breakdown.

"They were on their way back. They walked through the jungle… even though I have told Beetra several times not to…" Raditz was looking down at his clenched hands, mumbling the last sentence twice. Burdock tried not to tense up, but seeing his son freak out like this made it hard not to.

"What happened, Raditz? Is Beetra alright?"

"Yes!" Raditz' head snapped up, his eyes wide open. He nodded a couple of times and seemed to relax a bit. "None of them are hurt or anything. But they saw a… a blue haired woman. And it looked like she, and the two men with her, tortured The Holy." Burdock could no longer force himself to be unaffected, and he tensed up just like his son seemed to do by every word he spoke.

"Beetra was shaking… it was almost impossible for her to tell me what had happened. She said…" He took a deep breath and looked out the window. Burdock could see his son's hands tremble. "She said The Holy lost his aura. His hair became black. It was like he turned normal." Raditz voice trembled too.

"Son, look at me." Burdock could see a hinge of fear in Raditz' eyes, like he expected. He wasn't sure if he could suppress his own or if his eyes showed the same fear to his son. "Tell Beetra to gather the people she was with and send them to me. I need them to explain to me exactly what they saw. And make sure no one else hear this. We need to make sure The Holy has indeed turned back normal. If the word spreads now it will only bring fear and uneasiness to our people."

Raditz nodded and got up. He was almost at the door when he stopped and looked back at his father. "What if it's real? Then what?"

Burdock took a deep breath and swallowed to try and get rid of his dry throat. "Then we will once again be at war."

He knocked harder than he meant to, but the agitation of knocking on his own front door made it almost impossible not to just kick it in. His ongoing headache wasn't making it easier either.

"Yes?"

"It's me," he said loud enough to reach her through the door and loud enough to send a jolt through his head.

"Please do enter, Vegeta!" Still unused to hear his own name after 10 years, Vegeta entered his house in a roughly manner. He was greeted by a tiny squeak from the woman he had assigned to help the goddess. She had been frightened by his angry appearance.

"Is something the matter?" The blue haired woman sent him a smile which angered him even more.

He pressed the palm off his hand against his right temple to try and release some of the pressure inside his head while shaking it lightly. "No nothing at all, Ms. Bulma."

"Please, just Bulma is fine," she said as she pointed at the seat opposite her own. "Sit down and have something to eat." She looked at the woman standing in the middle of the room with her eyes cast down. "Thank you Cucum, you may leave." A look of relief spread across her face as she looked at both off them and hurriedly left the house.

Vegeta sat down at the table while keeping his eyes at the goddess' face. Her relaxed attitude made him uneasy. His body still remembered the pain he had felt some days ago and his mind remembered the humiliation which had followed. A sudden pain hammered into the back of his head. He was taking so much by surprise he couldn't help but close his eyes and growl even though he had promised himself not to show his pain in front of her.

"Vegeta, are you all right?"

"Shut up! Does it look that way to you?" His head was now throbbing so badly he couldn't care who he was talking to. He scrambled out of his seat and started pacing the room while massaging his temples. After a short while the pain had subsided enough for him to sit down. The blue haired woman had watching him quietly the entire time. As he sat down she slowly began to eat her food like nothing had happened. Dumbfounded he looked at her until she finally looked up from her food.

As her golden gaze met his he felt a rush of adrenaline and another stab of pain in his head. This time it was only hurting briefly. Her eyes were quietly questioning him why he had not yet begun to eat. She looked at him for only a few seconds before she once again returned her focus to the food.

"Its excellent food Vegeta, you really should try it," she said after another moment without him moving. "I'm very pleased with Cucum, thank you for assigning her to me." Her words of gratitude seemed sincere and Vegeta was taken aback even further. She seemed different. It was like she had changed during the few days since he last saw her. He had by all means tried to avoid her since he had showed her to his house.

They ate in silence for some time. Every now and then he glanced quickly at her. She finished eating before him, not just because she began first but also because the amount of food he shoved down was nearly thrice as much as what she had eaten. She then proceeded to look out the window, still in silence. As he took his last bite his curiousness got the better of him.

"Why did you want me to eat with you if you have nothing to say to me?"

"I do have something to talk to you about, Vegeta. But it seemed to me your head hurt, so I thought I would at least let you eat in silence." She turned towards him and her eyes bore into his. He couldn't tell whether her smile was genuine or not. Maybe he had been too quickly to think she had changed since last time. "Would you have preferred not to?"

Vegeta huffed at her question. His head began throbbing slightly again. Moments went by and as she realized he had no intention of answering with more than the grunt she continued.

"I want you to gather the chiefs of your tribe. First of all I want to greet them. Second of all I want them to hear what I have to teach you too, so they can go back to their village and guide them." She got up and went to the biggest window in the room, looking out at the night sky. "And I want you to take Nappa with you. If he is left here unattended I fear I will have to be the one watching him…" Her matter-of-factly way of speaking made the anger boil inside Vegeta. To be sitting in his own house, getting orders from a woman, listening to her threatening one of his men was infuriating. But he kept his composure even though the throbbing intensified.

"That will be it," she said and turned towards him once again. "You may leave." He slowly got out of his seat and walked towards the door. "Wait," she called out to him. He stopped dead in his track and closed his eyes. His head was hurting more than ever that day, he just wanted to get out and away from the woman – he was sure her presence was the reason it got so bad so suddenly. "Sit down again."

He turned around and was met by her calm gaze. He tried to look indifferently, but knew he failed. Inside he was boiling. He wanted to get out. As he sat down she walked around him. He could feel her just behind him; it almost felt like he could sense her body heat. Suddenly he became aware of her heartbeat. It was slow and calm, much calmer than when he had seen her in the temple. Just as he was about to turn around and look at her he felt her hand on his neck. By pure instinct he tried to grab hold of her arm, but his hand was repulsed.

His pulse rose quickly. "What are you doing woman!?" The outburst sent such tremendous pain through his head he felt like it would split. Groaning he pushed against his temples with the palms of his hands, but it didn't help. The woman said something, but he couldn't hear her over his own outbursts of pain. A buzzing sound cut through to his sensitive ears and a tiny screech followed it. He tried to braze himself for the pain bound to follow.

But nothing happened. Slowly Vegeta let go of his head, as he realized all pain was gone. He became aware of the woman's pulse against his neck and scrambled to his feet to get away from her.

"How are you feeling now?" She looked at him questioningly. His pulse was still through the roof and he had no idea how to respond. "Better it seems," she said when he kept silent. "You may leave now."

Vegeta left the house without a word, trying not to storm out. Her ongoing change in attitude during this brief meeting had left him with a chill down his spine.

Qaklu was sitting in his own thoughts when he heard a knocking at his door. "Enter." He felt a big smile across his face as he saw Lalun come through the door. "Aaah, Lalun, perfect timing, perfect timing indeed." He gestured for the man in charge of Planet Vegeta to sit next to him as he made some room in his sofa. "I have just spoken with our dear earthling. She seems to be doing well. She has just called for all Pera chiefs and she is planning to teach them about astronomy."

"I see. That's great news." Lalun sounded nervous and as he cleared his throat Qaklu feared what was to come. "But I'm afraid I have… well not bad news, but not so good news."

Qaklu sighed deeply. The other man had an ability to think a problem was either bigger or smaller than it really was. "Then tell me Lalun."

"The last agent we had at the planet was rejected by his shifter this morning."

"Lalun."

"I've sent a team to pick him up…"

"Lalun."

"…but I have no new agent to substitute him." The man kept talking, ignoring Qaklu wanted to interrupt him.

"Lalun!"

"So I came to ask you if we could…"

"LALUN!" Qaklu raised his voice, something he almost never did, and his subordinate finally shut up. "That is far from 'not so good news', this is bad news and really bad timing on top of it." He got out of his seat and started to pace forth and back. "You know as well as I do, that we have no agent in this quadrant that can become a humanoid. The last two was unofficial help from my relative in quadrant two, but he cannot help us anymore."

Lalun looked at the floor. "Uhm sir. I… I thought, maybe we could use the humans?"

Qaklu stopped dead in his track and looked at the other man, who shrank two sizes under his gaze. "That's out of the question."

"Sorry sir. I… I will look for another type of agent." The stammering man fiddled with a small loose thread in the sofa so he could avoid Qaklu's gaze.

"What qualifications do you need?" Qaklu began pacing once again.

"I need an agent who can turn invisible. But the agent must also have the ability to fly so greatly, that he or she can do so all the time they're near saiyans. Their hearing is so great our agent would be detected otherwise." Lalun looked carefully at his superior, waiting for his response before continuing.

"Fine, that should be manageable. Anything else?"

"Uhm… Uhm… Actually yes."

Lalun flinched as Qaklu yelled at him: "Then tell me!"

"As I said the saiyans' hearing is great, so actually we need the ability to mute the beating of the agent's hearts and his breathing." Lalun spoke quickly and peered at Qaklu's face when he had finished. The other man didn't look happy.

"I will contact our researchers and the other quadrants to hear if anyone has come closer to this ability. If we could do so it would all have been so much easier." Qaklu sat down in a chair and looked at Lalun. "Did your agent have any news he got before his shifter rejecter him?"

"Yes!" Lalun lit up as he felt like the worst part was over. "He heard some rumor in the Sarpam head-village. They talked about war might break out once again."

"What? Did he hear why?" Qaklu felt dread fill his body. All his optimism about the mission at Planet Vegeta was gone.

"No unfortunately not. The women he gossiped with had just heard someone else say it. They had no idea why, but they seemed to believe something was going on."

"Is Burdock still chief or has he left the tribe to his son?"

"Burdock is still chief, sir. But the Sarpam tribe is quiet weak when it comes to battle, so I highly doubt they would be the one to attack. But sir…" Lalun took in a deep breath before he continued. He already knew Qaklu would be far from happy. "The rumor began the day after the earthlings arrived. I think they have something to do with it; there hasn't been a rumor of war the last decade. Something must have happened to Vegeta, otherwise no one would even think about war."

Qaklu sighed once again. Indeed this mission was not closer to its end than it had been before he had been blessed with the earthlings. If it continued this way they might turn out to be a curse instead. "That could be a problem. He closed his eyes and tapped at his cheek for some time.

"Sir?" Lalun quietly spoke. "Have you told the earthlings about the war?"

"No," Qaklu said in a harsh tone. "If I had told her, that blue haired one would start asking questions. If I gave her the right answers she would never help us. Humans still have too high a moral." He shook his head in dismay. "And if I gave her untrue answers she might end up talking about it with the saiyans and ruin everything."

"But sir, what if she hears of the war from the saiyans?" Lalun could feel a nerve in his cheek start to spasm. Unfortunately he hadn't been through the worst part yet it seemed.

"Isn't it you, who have assured me time and time again, that the saiyans never speak off war, when I asked you?" Qaklu's tone was ominous. Lalun flinched a bit when his superior looked at him with cold eyes.

"Yes sir, it is. But now they have. And as I said, I believe it's because the humans did something to Vegeta." Lalun had pulled the thread out of the sofa and was now twirling it around his fingers, trying to avoid the other man's eyes.

"You may be right," Qaklu said in a tired voice. "I will think about what to do now. Meanwhile I want you to try and make up a story we can tell the earthlings. They have to seem all-knowing to the saiyans but they will not know all we have done. If we just tell the history of the saiyans as they believe it to be, I doubt the blue haired woman will be satisfied. She will demand to know what we have done so far."

"Yes sir, anything else?" Lalun quickly got up, ready to leave the heavy atmosphere.

"No not for now. But I want you to report to me every day from now on. Those humans may be more difficult to use than I imagined."

Please tell me what you think – I bet those of you who felt those azkurians were nifty no longer just have a hunch! I hope I will be able to write some more, I can feel how much I've missed it, but as I said, I cannot make any promises.

So if I'm not uploading anything before I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah or whatever you might be celebrating and a happy New Year! (If you would like to have a little Christmas story, and have not read it yet, I made an advent calendar 2 years ago called Christmas at Capsule Corp. Please check it out!)