Unimpressed by the falling night, Piccolo trained on the level above the cave near the waterfall. He had just had an idea for a new technique that he wanted to work out. If it worked as he imagined, it would be a resounding success.

Just as Piccolo was about to concentrate on the finer points of the technique, he sensed a strange aura. It was powerful. Piccolo scanned the forest below with his eyes and saw a brief glow of light that disappeared after a few seconds. The powerful energy source died with it.

He had to know who was responsible for this energy. And, what was even more important, whether this someone could be dangerous to him.

Piccolo raced over the treetops to the edge of the forest and then slowed down. A large hole gaped in the otherwise dense trees. Slowly he approached the area, hovered downwards and finally landed on the edge of the bare patch.

There was no snow left in a diameter of about eight steps. The earth had burnt in a circular pattern. Trees were only visible as charred stumps. Piccolo looked down and could not believe his eyes. In the middle of this circle of destruction lay a figure, hands clasped over its face, not moving. Had this energy come from her? It had to be. There was no one else around.

Piccolo picked up the figure and was surprised again. As the arms dropped from the face, he recognised her. It was Sitara. Her black hair was braided into a thick plait, as it had been when they first met. She was no longer wearing the torn suit, but had on a thick fur-lined coat.

She was breathing regularly and he did not recognise any injuries. She was probably just unconscious. Without thinking further, he flew to his cave with her in his arms. If she was this source of energy, then he would have to reconsider training her as his warrior. And if she had not yet recovered her memory, it would certainly be easy to convince her of his mission to achieve world domination.

Arriving at the cave, he laid her on the straw bed and covered her. In her absence, he had left it like that. He had found that sometimes it was also quite pleasant to sit softer. He sat down next to her and waited for her to wake up.

At dawn, Sitara's eyes fluttered open. Everything seemed a bit blurry and she had to blink a few times until she could see clearly. She registered a soft pad and blankets. When she raised her eyes a little in the dim light, she noticed someone next to her. Another few seconds later, she could make out Piccolo. Quietly, she spoke his name.

"Ah, you're awake," he noted redundantly, handing her a cup of water. Gratefully, she took it and emptied it in one go.

"How did I get here? What happened?" Piccolo pulled one corner of his mouth up a little. It could almost have been a smile.

"Another memory loss? I found you at the edge of the forest. There was nothing around you but scorched earth and you were unconscious."

Sitara only stammered incoherent sentences. "What, how ... that can't be ... a fire?"

Piccolo shook his head. "No, not a fire. Just before I found you, I felt a tremendous energy coming from the direction where I eventually found you. I suspect you are the source of that energy." Sitara's head was spinning. She couldn't imagine what he meant.

"I want to see it." Sitara rose from her camp and marched to the cave entrance. Piccolo walked behind her. Sitara stood at the edge of the small rocky plateau and looked down.

"It's a bit deep, isn't it?" Piccolo pointed his head down. Sitara nodded, biting her lower lip. The greenling took her in his arms without another word and flew with her to said spot.

They landed exactly where Piccolo had found Sitara unconscious. Nothing had changed in the few hours she had been asleep. The earth was scorched, black. In the middle of the area lay her backpack. It was intact. She shouldered it. Sitara looked in disbelief at the ruined surroundings. "That's supposed to have been me?"

Instead of answering, Piccolo asked, "What is the last thing you remember?"

"It was already dark. I was euphoric because I was sure I had reached the forest where I had crashed. I went to look at my flight capsule. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and fell. My ankle and wrist hurt so much. I was looking for something in my backpack. Then I was knocked over. It was a wolf. I managed to throw him off me, but then he jumped at me. I screamed. Then everything was black." Sitara looked at her wrist as if it had only occurred to her while she was telling the story that it had been injured. Now she felt no pain and could move the joint as usual. Piccolo wandered around the edge of the burnt area during her narration and stopped when she had finished.

"I suspect that unconsciously, because you were afraid, you released a large amount of energy and thus defended yourself. Perhaps you are a fighter."

Sitara looked up. Then she shook her head. "I don't know. I still can't remember."

"I can teach you to control that energy. To use it consciously against threats," Piccolo addressed Sitara again after a while.

"Lead me to my pod first," she simply replied. There was no request in her tone. Was this a flash of the real Sitara or whatever her name was? Was she perhaps used to giving orders? Silently, he led her through the forest. She followed, keeping well with his sweeping strides and not grumbling about the arduous path. Piccolo smiled to himself. Yes, she was certainly a good choice to begin building his army.

Sitara looked at the capsule from all sides. Part of it had already been reclaimed by nature and overgrown. The snow almost completely hid the flying machine. She touched the inside and outside of the capsule to, yes, what actually? To receive an inspiration? A flash of recognition? That her memory was suddenly back? Nothing happened. While she walked around the capsule, she thought. That feeling she had felt last night, that fear, had felt wrong. Fear probably never felt good, but for Sitara it had felt completely alien.

She stared at the capsule for a while. Wondered what she should do now. Her memory still hadn't come back. If, as Yumi had suspected, she had come from space from another planet, she would not find any answers here on Earth anyway. She had felt at home in Yumi's village, but still strange. She suspected that she would feel the same way in all the other gatherings of people. Assumptions, thoughts, nothing concrete. No path she could take. There was only one thing she was sure of. She never wanted to feel so helpless again.

Sitara turned to Piccolo. "Let's start training."

Piccolo picked her up in his arms again, flew back to the cave and set her down. He sat down cross-legged on the ground and she did the same. She looked at him expectantly.

"Energy flows in your body. If you can control it, you can send out conscious energy beams or even fly."

She smiled. That was exactly what she had imagined. Piccolo continued, "It helps if you can visualise the energy. Close your eyes. Imagine it flowing through your body. Direct it through your body, into your arms and finally into your hands. Focus only on what you want to see."

A pause arose in which she simply continued to look at him. "Begin!" he barked at her.

Sitara took a deep breath, held it for a moment, closed her eyes and let the air escape slowly. She concentrated, feeling her energy inside. She forgot everything around her. The sound of the waterfall stopped, the chirping of the birds fell silent, the wind seemed to stand still. Breathe in, breathe out.

Each breath went deeper. Filling not only her lungs, but her whole body. Down to her toes and fingertips. Sitara imagined not only the air filling every inch, but also the energy Piccolo had spoken of. In fact, she found it easy to concentrate on it.

Sitara didn't know how long she had been sitting there like that. When she heard Piccolo inhale sharply, she opened her eyes.

A bright light blinded her and Sitara blinked a few times before she could open her eyes fully. Her palms, which she had placed facing upwards on her knees, glowed.

"What is that?" she wanted to know from Piccolo.

"You visualised your energy. So quickly. That is ... unusual-"

She wasn't sure if he wanted to say something else and whether "unusual" was now a good or bad sign. "Well, what do I do now."

"Try to fling that energy away from you." Sitara cautiously raised a hand. The palm continued to glow. However, when she made a throwing-away gesture with her hand, the glow went out. Confused, she stared at her hand.

"This is the next step. You must learn to let go of your energy, to direct it where you want it."

Sitara practised until darkness fell. Directing the energy into her hands was already working very well after a few attempts, but releasing the energy from her hand was not working. Frustrated, she pounded her fists on the ground. Piccolo looked at her silently.

Then Sitara noticed another feeling. Cold. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around her torso. She had been sitting relatively immobile on a cold stone floor for hours. It was not surprising that the cold crept into her limbs. And something else was making itself felt: a gnawing hunger.

"I have to make a fire. I'll freeze to death otherwise. Don't you mind the cold at all?" Piccolo shook his head.

"You've probably practised enough for today. People need rest."

She looked at him mockingly. "Don't you?" Instead of answering, he stood up and jumped down from the plateau. Grumbling and with stiff limbs Sitara rose. Had Piccolo now left her alone? How was she supposed to get down here alone? But before she could continue her thoughts, Piccolo was standing next to her again. His arms packed with wood.

"Is that enough?" He laid the wood on the ground.

"Yes, thank you," Sitara said and began to pile up the wood. When she had finished, she patted the pockets of her coat.

Piccolo understood what she was looking for, reached out his arm and unceremoniously lit the fire with his energy.

"Impressive," Sitara said softly.

"You'll be able to do that soon too," he said.

"Now if you had some meat too, that would be ..." Sitara couldn't finish the sentence because Piccolo had already disappeared again. She counted in her mind. When she reached twenty, he was already back on the plateau, silently holding out a dead hare to her.

His speed was something that always amazed Sitara. None of the people in the village where she had lived for half a year had been nearly as fast. But no one there had been able to start fires with their hands either. She wondered if these two things were connected.

Nodding gratefully, she took the hare from Piccolo, dug out a jackknife from one of her deep coat pockets and began to skin the hare. Piccolo watched her with interest, but said nothing. She put the skinned hare on a stick that she had put aside while piling up the wood for the fire. She paused, as if something else had occurred to her. Sitara jumped up, took her backpack out of the cave, rummaged around in it for a moment and brought out a small glass bottle. She opened it and sprinkled some of the contents on the rabbit before holding it over the fire.

Piccolo settled down opposite her, the fire now between them. While the hare cooked over the flames, they did not speak a word. Sitara kept casting brief glances at Piccolo. She was still not quite sure what to make of him. He was withdrawn, taciturn, but apparently very strong and he possessed extraordinary powers.

When the rabbit was done roasting, Sitara bit out individual pieces. Her stomach was glad for the meal. She hadn't eaten since noon yesterday. The exercises with Piccolo had distracted her from her hunger, but now she realised how badly she needed something to eat.

"Would you like a piece too?" she asked Piccolo between bites. He replied in the negative. "Aren't you going to eat?"

He sighed as if her questions were annoying him. He answered anyway: "I just need water to survive."

Sitara looked confused. "Nothing at all?" she asked incredulously. Only Piccolo's eyes moved once briefly from left to right. Shaking his head was apparently too much movement for him.

"That's too bad," Sitara said after a brief pause. He made a questioning sound and Sitara continued: "Well, food tastes so good. Can you eat something or would it hurt you?"

He was taken aback by this question, as he had to admit he had never thought about it before, and just shrugged.

"Try it then." Sitara stood up, walked around the fire and offered him the roasted hare.

Hesitantly he took the stick in his hand and looked at it. He felt her gaze on him and finally bit a piece. Slowly he chewed. He noticed the texture of the meat, the warmth that still emanated from it, the spices that unfolded on its course. Yes, reluctantly, he had to admit that it tasted good. He took another bite.

"I suppose you like it," Sitara said with a smile.

"It is edible," Piccolo admitted somewhat reluctantly.

Sitara knew it was the greatest compliment that would pass his lips and took the rabbit from him again. After eating, she felt a leaden tiredness wash over her.

"Can you fly me down please?" She pointed to the forest floor about five yards below them. He didn't ask any questions, just took her in his arms and set her down again at the bottom. "Thank you," she said as she rummaged around in her backpack again, looking for the capsule. When she had felt the capsule, Sitara pressed the button, threw the capsule forward and with a loud bang a small hut appeared from one second to the next. During the process, she had been watching Piccolo the whole time, who had opened his eyes wide at the bang. Obviously he didn't know the capsules. Secretly, she was glad that she could surprise him once.

Sitara opened the door and stood still for a moment. "Shall we continue training in the morning?" Piccolo, trying to cover his astonishment at the sudden appearance of the hut, had already taken to the air again and remained suspended in mid-air.

"If you can make it," he replied soberly and disappeared into the darkness above the forest.

She called after him another 'good night', but wasn't sure if he had heard. 'I'm sure he did, with those big ears,' she thought.

When she had closed the door behind her, tiredness seemed to crush her. She managed to get onto the bed and instantly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.