With each passing day the lack of news began weighing Bulma down. She knew it would be at least a few days until anyone could reach them this far north, but it didn't make the wait any easier.
The longer she was there, the more the formality of the north annoyed her, and she said as much to Unus one evening as they crawl into bed.
"Yeah, I mean formal meals for every meal? Since we've been here they've literally had one casual meal. Not to mention it's all baked or put in a pie." Unus sighed, and pulled the fluffy comforter up to her chin.
"It's too hard to get anything fresh up here, so everything has to be processed and cooked to within an inch of it's life. They cook really well for what they have access too, I just miss fresh fruit and not being cold all the time." Bulma shivered and snuggled up next to Unus's side under the covers.
"Me too. And my brother."
"I'm sure he's okay. Piccolo said he got out."
"I know. I just- I miss him." Bulma, being an only child had no idea what it was like to miss a sibling, so she just smuggled into Unus' arms and held her while Unus recalled funny stories of their childhood until they both fell asleep.
The following morning after the usual long routine of getting dressed and having her waist cinched in by a too-tight bodice, Vegeta came to collect Bulma for breakfast.
"Good Morning, Prince Vegeta. It's good to see you." She was more than a little grateful to it was him, and not Goku collecting her this morning. She liked Goku but she could have a real conversation with Vegeta.
"Good morning, Princess. Did you sleep comfortably?" He extended his arm for her, as usual, she accepted and they started the long climb down the tower stairs.
"Yes, of course thank you. Prince Vegeta, may I ask you something about Northern culture?" She asked as she lifted the front of her skirt out of the way to walk down the steps.
"Ofcourse."
"Is it customary for all Lady's of the royal family to be escorted everywhere by a man, or is it just a courtesy for guests? I rather enjoy your company so I'm not complaining, but it seem very inconvenient for you when you're so busy running the castle."
Vegeta gave a short laugh and shook his head, smirking in a smug sort of way.
"Just guests."
"Is there anyway you can stop having to come collect me for every meal, if you don't want too? Is the custom because guests don't know their way around the castle? If so, with Nappa as my guard you and Goku can take a break."
"I could, but I don't want too." He took her eyes away from her feet and the stairs for a moment to look sideways at him. He was just looking a head, expression neutral.
"Is there anything I can do to help with things around here, than?" She asked, genuinely wanting to do something useful while she sat around waiting for news. It seemed to her he was doing everything and he didn't deserve to have all that stress by himself.
"Mhm. I don't think so. You'd have to know about the detailed inner workings of the castle in order to help in that way, and hopefully you won't be here long enough to learn all that. Hopefully, you'll be in the south being coronated before the month is out."
"I could learn. I'm more than just beautiful, you know." He chuckled at that and shook his head.
"It would be a waste of your time to learn so much about this castle when news is just days away, than I think we'll both be very busy."
She squeezed his arm gently. "Thank you, for all your doing." A large part of her wanted to rub the broad well muscled shoulders she knew sat under the fur collar of his cloak. At this point in the conversation, most hosts would make up some lie about it being no trouble at all, but not Vegeta.
"Everyone is settling into the new routine just fine." He assured her. "The new guards are a little power drunk at the moment, so don't be too nice to them."
"Yeah, Princess. And don't heal them either." Nappa said from behind her, startling her a little. She hadn't noticed him join them when they got to the bottom of the tower. She was too distracted by Vegeta's smirk and his bicep under her hand.
"Oh, why not?"
"A few aches and pains remind them that they're mortal men. Keeps them grounded."
"Oh! Well, alright." She agreed, deciding that she didn't know enough about how guards were trained to have an option more valuable than Nappas.
"I think some of them could use it. Makes your stronger, faster. With the Princess healing me constantly I built muscle at a much faster rate than usual." Unus pointed out.
"Really? Huh." Nappa said with genuine surprise. The two of them went back and forth for a few minutes about the pro's and con's of healing the new freshly trained guards of minor aches and pains. Bulma exchanged a look with Vegeta, and the two smiled.
At breakfest proper, Bulma sat with Goku, who's open smile was always a delight, even if his conversation was usually a little dull. Today, he was excitedly talking about getting fitted for armor later. Gohan was still too young to get a proper set of armor. He was still growing and they didn't want to waste the resources to make him a full fitted set when he would only outgrow it in a few months.
"The new style is so lightweight! It'll be so easy to move in! I hear the whole set of full plate is only 15 pounds!"
"Really? Wow!" Bulma was genuinely curious now, and listened to Goku while he told her all about how the Armour was made. "It was designed at first for high ladies to wear as a sort of bodice that protected their internal organs, you know? So it wouldn't weigh too much, but then they got really good at it, you know? And now they make full plate with the same technique."
Bulma was scheduled to meet with the blacksmith that evening, before dinner and after most of the men in the royal family had gotten measured so she had the day to do mostly as she liked. Which was the worst. At home, if she was worried about something she had lessons, or work to do that kept her busy. Here all she could do was sit around and read a book, or take a walk through the castle, or go sit in the stables with Ember.
iThere isn't much to do, as a guest is there? Not without formal events to make a show at.'/i Ember said as she joined him in the stables later that morning and climbed onto his back and basically laid down, feeling properly warm for the first time that day.
"I just wish I had something. A problem to solve or something to work on." She muttered. But she couldn't think of any such problem she had any way of helping with. There was the problem of the Cold family, and the toxic gas that they would use to either kill or knock out the guards.
That gas weighed heavily on her mind because it meant everyone in this castle was in danger because of her. Some younger, less mature wild part of her wanted to leave the castle to go lure king cold into some sort of trap, away from these people, where they wouldn't be hurt when he came.
But that plan was idiotic. She would need some support for it to work, any. At least ten excellent fighters, and someway to protect against the gas but-
i No. Bulma./i Ember thought, firmly. i You're not using yourself as bait./i
But what way was there to defend against gas? She realized she knew surprisingly little about gas. Would a plague doctor's mask work? If it protected against smell, and disease would it protect against gas too? Well, probably not since the number of sick doctors suggested it didn't even protect from plague very well.
"Bulma." A deep voice Jerked her out of her thoughts and she looked around to find Piccolo standing just inside the stable, arms crossed.
"Hi." She said, and sat up. "What's up- is there news?" She looked him over and healed him, just in case. He looked a little greyish, and sort of deflated.
"Not that i've received. Not yet. Ember, would you mind taking me for a flight above the clouds? I could use some sun."
"Yes, lord knows a leisurely flight would be nice."
"Are you doing alright, Piccolo?" Bulma slid of Embers back and stepped out of the way so Piccolo could climb on.
"The north doesn't agree with me, but some sun will do me good." He reached over and pat Bulma on the head, like he used too when she was a kid. "I'll live."
"Not if I drop you, but i don't plan on dropping you so unless you kick me we should be fine." Ember joked, and stepped out of the stable and into the courtyard.
It was always a delight to watch him take off. His wingspan was so wide, and marvelous, bathed in flames that she almost forgot to worry about them.
"Where are they going?" Vegeta asked as he approached the now empty stable, eyes following Ember's progress across the sky and up.
"Namekian's need a lot of sunlight to be healthy, so they're going above the clouds to get some."
"Can't you just heal him?" Vegeta asked, with a raised brow.
"Yes, I can and he'll stay alive, but he won't feel strong, or good. The sun gives them energy, like how food gives us energy. I can keep someone from starving to death, but they'll still be hungry if they don't eat, and i can't heal away exhaustion."
"Hm. Good to know. I guess I feel less tired now because I'm actually sleeping through the night."
"Were you not before?" Bulma asked.
"Not really. Back pain." He shrugged as if it were no big deal.
What was with all these northern men and back troubles. She'd have to give them all a lecture about lifting with your legs before she left for the south. Bulma couldn't imagine being in constant pain like that. The closest she could ever remember to being in real pain that wouldn't stop was when she first arrived in the north in little more than a night dress. She'd always been able to heal any thing, anytime, no matter how small or mildly uncomfortable it was.
"That must have been hard. I don't know how you managed running this place on top of no sleep."
"I wasn't really doing much in the way of running the castle when you got here. We were all pretty distracted by my mother's illness." He looked away from the sky, and Ember to smile at Bulma in a way that wasn't at all smug. "I know you regret some of the wishes you made when you were eight, but I don't."
She smiled back at him, because he was being emotionally honest, but now she was thinking about how stupid her wishes were. Of course he didn't think they were a waste, her one good wish saved his mother's life. He didn't realize if she'd been smarter she could have avoided this entire war from happening. But than if she had no reason to come to the north… She decided to stop thinking about it. Vegeta had offered his arm to her, and had been waiting a moment while she smiled blankly.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about the gas." She lied. Well, she had been thinking about it earlier, but she didn't want him to know how much her wishes troubled her.
"The gas? The stuff King Cold used?"
"Yeah. I'm trying to think of some sort of way to protect people from it. Like a plague doctor mask, or something."
"Really? Do you think those would work?"
"Well, they don't seem to work on plague, but there's no way to test it without any of the gas anyway, so I'm going to have to do some reading and research on them." She shrugged. "Were you just passing through the courtyard or were you looking for me?"
"I was looking for you. I noticed you out the corridor window as I passed and I was wondering if you were planning on going anywhere, or if you were just trying to get warm?"
"Just trying to get warm." She admitted.
"I thought so. You know, you're welcome to spend as much time as you like in the training room, where it's warm."
"Would that really be alright?" She asked perking up significantly at the promise of heat.
"Yes, of course. It might not always be quiet, if someone is training of course but-"
"Oh that's wonderful! Thank you, so much! I'll sit out of the way and keep to myself, I promise."
The next few hours found Bulma sitting in the training room, book on her lap as she read about the various ways in which plague doctor masks supposedly worked. She loved the training room so much that she came back the following morning. Nappa didn't enjoy it as much as she and Unus did, so he sat outside the door, trusting Unus to have an eye inside, but since there was only the one door, it wasn't as if they'd have to fight anyone who didn't go through Nappa.
Bulma had felt horribly guilty waking Unus up early to go sit in the training room with her, but she was so cold all the time anymore that every moment she spent outside of the warmth felt like actual pain.
"It's okay, I wouldn't mind being warm either." She grumbled tiredly as she pulled her armor on and let Bulma help her with the straps.
This morning it was empty when the two got there. Seems most didn't want to train or work out this early in the morning. Bulma would have to remember that it was usually empty around this time so she could have quite, warm, reading time.
She hadn't barely been there an hour when Prince Vegeta entered and looked around with a raised brow.
"Good morning. I didn't think you'd be up so early." He undid the straps on his cloak and began removing it.
"Good morning! I'm used to being the first one awake in my family too. Do you normally train at around this time?" She sat up properly and began putting the book she'd brought back into her back. She was going to go back to her tower. It seemed to her this was probably the only time in a day he could count on being a lone for a little while, and she didn't want to intrude.
Her bag packed, she stood up to leave when he removed his shirt, and her desire to be polite and leave vanished on the spot.
"Yes. I like coming in here while it's quiet. The rest of the day Goku and Gohan are usually in here making a racket. Is there a problem?" He asked, noting that she'd stood up.
"Oh! No, not at all! I just thought that since you get so little time to yourself I didn't want to intrude. Alone time for people in our positions is such a rare thing, after all."
He considered her for a moment, and crossed his arms. "I get plenty of alone time, so as long as you're quiet I won't mind in the slightest."
Thus far, he'd more than proven his willingness to be honest with her, so she decided to take him at his word and sat back down. Though, staying didn't give her any more reading time, as she found it very hard to focus on the dull writings of a long dead man as he talked about the way charcoal absorbed moisture and cleaned air if filtered correctly.
Vegeta was very distracting. He faced away from her during most of his work outs, so she couldn't help but marvel at his strong looking back as the muscles flexed and slide under the skin while they worked. His broad shoulders and thick arms moved the heavy looking weights with such ease she even thought to look sideways at Unus, who gave an approving nod, clearly enjoying the display of his impressive physique as much as Bulma was.
The time slipped by too quickly, and soon Unus was heading towards the door, saying her armour made it too hot for her to stay in here any longer.
So they were alone. Bulma almost forgot she was supposed to be reading about things that filtered and cleaned the air so she could protect her people. But when he held the weights out arms length on either side of him, the meat of his back straining to hold the weight. She felt flushed again, but didn't look away since his back was too her.
Before too long she'd completely forgotten about charcoal and oak chips and was lost in a pleasant and unspeakable fantasy. She imagined him escorting her towards what she thought was a meal, but then he'd duck into a room somewhere, and pin her to the wall. His broad chest pinning her to the wall, his thick arms on either side of her, trapping her while he leaned towards her, his hand cupping the side of her face, so big the tips of his fingers pressed against the back of her neck while his other hand slide down her spine to rest on the small of her back and hold her more tightly against him...
"Princess?" She snapped out of her fantasy with a start only to find Vegeta had come over and crouched in front of her- all while she had been staring blankly at him.
"Y-yes?" She looked down at her book and tried to sound like her mind hadn't just been imagining what it felt like to have his hand on the small of her back.
"You seem a bit dazed." He noted, and wiped his sweaty face with a cloth,
"Oh, sorry I was just- erm…" She looked down at her book for an excuse, but none came. She glanced back up at him tentatively and flushed at the sight of his pleased smirk.
"Reading?" He offered, and turned to go back to his work out without waiting for an answer.
Later that day they were both fitted for armor, Vegeta for full plate, and Bulma a protective, and yet also decorative bodice. Yesterday's fittings had run too long, so they'd both volunteered to do it today.
"Vegeta?" She asked, as they walked arm- in arm towards the sitting room set aside for the fitting.
"Mhm?"
"Why did you reschedule your fitting? You were supposed to go first yesterday, as eldest son. Why wait?"
The corridor was filled with grey, cold light from the windows. The sun was out today for once, but even with the bright blue sky overhead, the light bounced off all the snow and looked grey inside. She wondered if Piccolo was outside, soaking up the sun.
Vegeta didn't answer for a time.
"Goku is likely going to be the one heading into battle, so it seemed imperative he be fitted first, so he'll get his armor sooner." He said carefully. Bulma knew right away that was a lie, since the blacksmith wouldn't necessarily make the armor in the same order in which he took the measurements. Vegeta had to be a high priority.
i'He's lying./i Ember said boredly, his deep voice echoing through her mind.
i 'Do you plan on telling me the real reason than?'/i Bulma asked.
i No, because it might not matter./i
So she let it go, and just nodded. "I see. You sound a bit jealous, do you wish you could go fight on the battlefield?" She asked.
"I miss it." He said right away. "But now I'm too old, and too close to taking the throne to take such risks." He said proudly. "I was good, though."
"You certainly seem fit enough for it." Bulma said, and immediately regretted it. Behind her, Unus snorted to stifle a laugh. Vegeta smirked.
At the fitting, Vegeta went first and Bulma watched as the blacksmith, a thick armed middle aged man with blue eyes measured him all over. He even measured the length of his fingers.
"Alright my dear, it's your turn." The smith gestured to the raised platform. "Your majesty, I won't keep your guest long." The smith bowed to Vegeta, who promptly sat down in the same chair Bulma had just vacated. "Your majesty? It's hardly proper for a man to stay and watch, I'm afraid the Princess will be in a state of undress…"
Vegeta nodded to Nappa, who pulled a accordion shaped privacy screen across the room and set it between them.
i 'Ember, can he see me through that?'/i
i 'Just your silhouette.' /i He said broadly. So Bulma slipped out of her bodice and dress as instructed and stood on the raised platform, naked from the waist up, with only her bloomers and long underwear to keep her bottom warm. Her chest however reacted to the cold, but she stood up straight anyway so the fitting would be correct.
"Thank you, Princess. This won't take long since we're just making you a simple bodice. But I assure you, it will be very elegant, and very effective in protecting your heart and internal organs."
"Thank you." She smiled kindly at him, but she still felt terribly uncomfortable being exposed like this. When she stood on the platform, she could see Vegeta's face from over the top, and he could see her's, but not one anothers bodies. When she looked at him, he was glaring at the screen.
The Smith started with her waist, than measured the distance from her hip to her armpit, and then across her shoulders, up her back. He was being so thorough and boring about it that she almost forgot she was topless until a cold hand cupped her breast to lift it up so he could measure from her hip to directly under her boob. She tensed now, and tried to look anywhere but at the Smith, or at Vegeta who was staring intently at her face now.
He then spent longer on her breasts then the whole rest of her upper body combined. Even going so far as to measure the distance from her nipple, to the breast bone.
"What are you doing?" Unus asked. Vegeta looked like he was ready to stand up.
"Measuring, my lady why-"
"Do you plan on making the breast plate so it would cup both of her breasts?"
"Yes, my lady that is the style." Bulma looked at Vegeta, who'd relaxed when he realized Unus was just asking about the fashion.
"That's a terrible design, that will do her no good. Make it a unaboob breast plate."
"My lady, I'm sure you've much experience wearing armor, but…"
"Do you know what's under the breasts? That hard part between and under them? That's the breast bone. If you make a breastplate that dips between the breasts than any hit to her upper body is going to funnel all that pressure straight to the breast bone- which will shatter, and puncture her lungs. I've seen it happen before, to dozens of young warriors who didn't know better."
That gave the smith pause, he looked annoyed.
"My lady…"
"She'd right. Make it a unuboob like she said." Bulma ordered, her voice firm. Vegeta smirked proudly.
"Yes, Princess if you think it's best."
"Thank you, Smith." She added, and watched while he continued measuring. The novelty wore off after a bit, and it grew too akweird to keep looking at him so she looked away, at anything but him, or Vegeta who seemed intent on catching her eye. Suddenly though, she felt a pinch at her nipple and looked down. He'd put the tape away, and was now he was just- with a stab of horror she realized that he was just groping her- both hands cupped either breast, and squeezed so hard it actually hurt.
She made a soft sound of pain and leaned away from him. Out of her peripheral view, she saw Vegeta leap to his feet and start towards the screen, and Unus reaching for her blade. But the Smith's sausage like fingers on her breasts just squeezed harder when she tried leaning back, muttering something about being nearly done.
Before she could think things through, she curled her hand and punched the smith right between the eyes, as hard as she could.
He fell back, looking stunned and hit the ground with a thud.
"I SAID OW." She yelled, anger flooding through her. She hadn't been so mad since the encounter with Raditz in the woods.
The smith groaned from his place on the floor.
"Just who do you think you are!?" She demanded. And stepped off the platform to stand over him.
It was at that moment that she noticed Vegeta had made it all the way around the platform to help just before she dropped the Smith. He now stood there, eyes wide and the corner of his mouth curved up ever so slightly as he looked at her. Bulma yelped, spun around and wrapped her arms around her chest.
There was a shuffle sound, and when she looked over her shoulder she saw Vegeta had turned his back to her, and was now picking the smith up by the arm.
"Are you alright, princess?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She said right away. "Just embarrassed."
"The shame is on him, Princess. Not you. Pardon me." When the Smith didn't cooperate, Vegeta gave up and just dragged him out by the shirt collar. When he was facing her again, she thought she caught a glimpse of a bulge in his trousers- but she wasn't sure, it was probably the fabric or
i Ember is he…/I
iYup. Don't tell him I told you though I sort of promised I would give him privacy. Don't worry it's just a northern thing. They like women who can fight for themselves. This might be the first time I've ever heard more men with dirty thoughts about Unus than you.' /i he chuckled.
After Bulma was dressed she went to find Vegeta. He was sitting in the throne room, while Nappa forced the Smith to kneel with a massive hand on the man's shoulder.
"Death, I think." Vegeta said cooly, hardly glancing towards Bulma when she walked in. He was leaning on the arm of the throne, legs crossed lazily. "You assaulted a princess. There should be no excuse-"
i 'Ember please come to the throne room'./I Bulma thought
i 'Noooo you're gonna yell at me. Well, there or here so I guess it doesn't matter. I kinda wanna see you yell at Vegeta so….. okay. Coming.' /i
"No." Bulma said to Vegeta. "Not for that. I don't think death is warranted, but perhaps banishment from the kingdom?" She suggested.
"Banishment? After what he-"
"Yes." Bulma said firmly, and clasped her hands together in front of her, to still them and calm her anger. "If it was good enough for Raditz, it will be for him too."
"Princess, I would suggest-"
"I will make the decision, as I am the one who was wronged."
"That's- Fine. Nappa, have him thrown on the next ship to Namek and leave him on an island somewhere along the way." Vegeta ordered, Nappa nodded, and dragged the stoney faced smith away from the pair of them.
"I think you made a mistake." Vegeta said as soon as the smith was out of earshot. Nappa dragged the smith past Ember, who looked very odd walking down the hall. The sight of him made vegeta frown curiously and look at Bulma. "What is this?" He asked.
"A scolding."
"A- I'm sorry, a WHAT?" He uncrossed his legs and sat up straight, which was a mistake because now Bulma could see very clearly the reaction he'd had to seeing her drop the smith while topless.
"I am SICK of people making decisions about my safety and body autonomy without consulting me. Both of you KNEW that man was a known pervert, and yet rather than WARNING ME, you just decided to keep an eye on things. What did you think would happen if you warned me? I'd refuse to let him measure me?"
Ember trot across the stone floor and stood next to Vegeta, head hanging.
"I thought it would worry you, and he didn't seem like he was going to actually DO anything. Not before the fitting, anyway." Ember mumbled.
"I didn't think he'd dare to touch you while I was sitting right there."
"If either of you had even an ounce of respect for me you'd have warned me so I could make that call. ME. NOT YOU. You knew Raditz had a habit of assaulting women and you didn't warn me, Vegeta. You THOUGHT he wouldn't dare assault a princess well apparently you're BOTH bad at guessing what someone is going to do. How DARE you keep this from me. How DARE you!" She shouted, so mad she was making guttural grunts of anger at the end of each sentence like she had when she was a teenager and no one could hear her.
"I have tried desperately to be polite to you, and your family for being so gracious and- WHY ARE YOU GRINNING AT ME LIKE THAT!" She roared when he gave her that odd, proud smirk again, tho now he also looked excited.
It was almost the same expression he had after she'd fought off Raditz. The grin grew tight, but he clearly couldn't force himself to stop.
"WHAT is that FACE!?" She put her hands on her hips. "WHAT!? YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!"
"No." He shook his head, voice steady without a trace of laughter, despite his face. "No, I'm impressed. It's about time you stood up for yourself." Vegeta said, still smirking.
"I've been a polite guest, and until now I haven't felt as if- I have stood up for myself! I dropped your brother! I stand up for myself all the time but I do it with CLASS, and GRACE and a SHRED OF DIPLOMACY BECAUSE I AM A PRINCESS AND DAMMIT I ACT LIKE ONE! IT'S NOT MY FAULT THE ONLY THING YOU NORTHERN MEN RESPOND TO IS VIOLENCE!" She yelled, and stormed away to leave an ashamed looking Ember, and a still smirking Vegeta.
Unus chased after her with a cautious look over her shoulder at the Prince and Ember, before running off after Bulma.
Vegeta watched her go, not following since he was waiting for the tension in his groin to ease. "I'm going to marry that woman." He declared. Ember rolled his eyes.
Notes:
I have a discord now! Anyone can join! Come say hi!
/qUAPz8P