Over the next few days, she didn't see Piccolo at all, so her afternoon training sessions were cancelled. Sitara passed the time alone. She kept feeling vibrations in the earth and knew that Piccolo was taking out his anger on some rocks and boulders on the plain. Then she didn't feel his aura at all for hours and suspected that he was meditating. She had noticed before that she could not feel his energy then.

Sitara avoided even flying near the plane and always moved in the other direction. She thought a lot about the conversation by the fire. She had upset him because he did not want to be confronted with his past. She had not wanted that. Curiosity had driven her to ask the questions. She wanted to know more about this secretive green man she had been living with for several months. She wanted to be able to assess him better.

In the conversation by the fire she had learned more about him than in all the months before. Did he really want to take over the world? Then what was he waiting for? He had been in this wasteland for at least two years. As far as Sitara could tell, Piccolo was a good fighter. Was this Goku really any stronger? What if he hadn't made any progress in his training in the last two years? Wouldn't it be a good time to take the next step?

Sitara wondered about her thought processes. Strangely, she did not necessarily find the idea of taking over world domination reprehensible, but instead considered how best to achieve it. Was this normal? Or was this a glimmer of her true personality? Sitara tried to hold on to this thought, but the more she tried to grasp it, the faster it slipped away and she thought no more about it.

Ten days had passed since she had last seen Piccolo. She hadn't felt any vibrations or sensed his aura for two days. Had something happened to him? She thought it unlikely, yet an uneasy feeling nagged at her. She became more and more restless until she flew out onto the plain in the afternoon to look for Piccolo.

The search turned out to be easier than she had feared. He was sitting on the grass in an open area. His arms folded, his eyes closed. A glowing aura had formed around him, the sign that he was lost in deep meditation. Sitara hesitated. She had found him and made sure he was all right. Should she fly back to the forest?

She thought about it for a few minutes. On the one hand, she did not want to disturb him, on the other hand, she was relieved to see him well and found it hard to get away from the sight of him. She wished she could talk to him. Even though he was lost in deep meditation, his face looked tense, almost pinched. Sweat was pouring off his forehead. She would so much like to relieve him of the burden that seemed to weigh him down, or at least share it with him. Out of an inner impulse, she sat down on the ground opposite Piccolo and breathed in and out deeply. She wiped all thoughts from her mind, let her head go blank and accessed the source of her energy deep within.

The sun disappeared into the horizon, the moon moved across the sky. The two bodies on the plain were surrounded by a luminous glow that seemed to pulsate. The light surrounding them grew larger by the hour, pulsating more strongly. Rays of light detached themselves like wafting wisps of mist from the aura surrounding them and travelled towards the other body. The arms of light circled each other as if they were watching each other. When one advanced, the other jerked back, waited, then approached again. It was as if they were performing a dance. They circled each other, swaying back and forth, first against each other, then more and more in unison. They came closer and closer until they finally touched.

At the same moment that the two arms of light touched, Sitara and Piccolo jerked back. Torn from their deep meditation, they looked at each other. They both gasped.

"What was that?" Sitara was the first to regain her speech. Piccolo grabbed his head and sat leaning forward as if he had a headache.

"I don't know," was the only thing he said. His voice sounded hoarse.

The already so familiar silence spread between them again. This time it felt different. Sitara had the feeling that they were now silent with each other and not simply because one of them did not want to talk right now. She didn't know what had just happened. Like Piccolo, she was lost in deep meditation. All the while she had become more and more aware of his presence. Of course she knew he was sitting right in front of her, but she felt his presence differently than usual, on a different level.

"I think I'll go to sleep," Sitara said and flew towards the forest. She wasn't sure if the situation should worry her or not. When they had both been so suddenly jolted out of deep meditation, she had been startled at first. Then a pleasant warmth had spread through her. Yes, when she recalled that feeling, the situation just now was definitely a good one. Sitara smiled and wondered if Piccolo had felt the same.

Piccolo, meanwhile, was still sitting on the plain. He hadn't reacted when Sitara had flown away and hadn't moved since. The huge flash of energy he had felt had been a shock. Had that been Sitara's energy? He had always sensed that there was more power in her than she wanted to show, or perhaps could not. Maybe she really had been a fighter and couldn't remember and therefore couldn't call up her powers. First the energy shock, then this strange warm feeling that spread through him. He couldn't place it. Was Sitara good for him, for his plans? What plans was he pursuing at all?

He wasn't ready to admit it in front of Sitara, but she had been right in their conversation by the fire a few days ago. He was angry that he had not been able to defeat Goku. Deep inside, he didn't want world domination any more. It was what his father had wanted. He didn't know what he actually wanted to do, but spreading fear and terror, enslaving people, no, that wasn't what he aspired to. Tomorrow he would go to Sitara and talk to her about this incident.

The next afternoon, Sitara waited for Piccolo at the edge of the plain right next to the waterfall. She wasn't sure if he would show up today, but she fervently hoped he would. And that was when she felt him. She felt his aura, but it felt different than usual. Like something inside her was reacting and she wasn't just sensing his aura.

Piccolo landed right in front of her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she was sure he had changed. It was as if he was radiating a strength from within that wasn't there before.

"Do you feel different since last night too?" A direct question without obstructive greetings.

"Different? Yes, but ..."

"But you can't pin down what it is or grasp what exactly is different?" he interrupted her. This time she just nodded. "I feel the same way."

Sitara thought she had misheard. Piccolo admitted that he couldn't explain something? That was new. "I can sense your aura, but different than usual," she said hesitantly.

If that puzzled him, he only showed it with a brief raise of his eyebrows and let them sink again in the same moment.

"Let's train," Piccolo said in a low voice.

Sitara looked at him in confusion and did not respond. Train? Was that really the only thing he was thinking about? Something had happened the night before. Something had changed between them. On a level they both might not understand, but they couldn't just keep quiet about it.

Before Sitara could say anything, Piccolo swung at her. She dodged by crouching down and extending her right leg at the same time in an attempt to throw Piccolo off balance. But he jumped up and hurled an energy ball at her. Sitara pushed herself off the ground, rolled to the side and got back to her feet. Eyes flashing with rage, she looked at Piccolo, who was hovering a few yards above her.

She clenched her fists. It was becoming enough for her that he always had the last and decisive word. Why couldn't he be considerate of her feelings and thoughts for once?

Sitara wanted nothing more than for him to finally listen to her. She jumped up, feinted a punch with her right, which Piccolo dodged, and then struck with her left fist as fast and hard as she could. She grazed Piccolo on his left cheek with her fist. The blow was delivered with such enormous speed that it left a gaping wound.

Piccolo bounced back, landed and touched his cheek. At the same moment Sitara felt a sharp pain in her face, grabbed the spot and then looked at her hand, convinced she saw blood. But there was nothing. She landed as well.

She looked over at Piccolo who was looking at the blood on his hand.

"That's the first time you've ever hurt me. Very good." Appreciation spoke from his words. It had taken her almost a year for him to finally say something nice to her. She forgot the pain and smiled at him. "Did I hurt you?" He pointed at her hand, which she had stopped moving and which now hung uselessly at the level of her chest.

As if torn from a dream, she stared at the hand, remembering why she was looking at it. "No, I just thought..." She didn't finish the sentence and looked back at Piccolo. "But you're hurt." Concerned, she approached to get a better look at the cut.

"Don't mention it," he said, placing his left hand over his cheek. Light flashed under his palm. A comforting warmth spread across Sitara's left cheek. When Piccolo took his hand down again after a few seconds, there was no longer any sign of the wound. As if it had never existed.

"You can heal yourself," Sitara whispered and couldn't help but move closer to him and stroke the now flawless skin. Piccolo didn't back away as he had a few days ago when she had touched his arm, but even closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"What happened to your cheek?" asked Piccolo, opening his eyes again.

"I thought I had hurt myself, but there was nothing there. It just felt like it."

"I want to try something. Sit down, close your eyes and point to where I'm standing." The change of subject irritated Sitara, but the way Piccolo said it didn't allow for any argument, so Sitara landed and sat down on the ground. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and closed her eyes. In the blackness before her inner eye, she saw Piccolo as a luminous shadow, as if he were glowing. Irritated, she opened her eyes again to make sure he was still in front of her. He had not changed his position. He had no aura of light around him either. He looked the same as ever.

"Close your eyes!" he shouted at her. Hastily she pressed her eyelids together. Again she saw the glow where Piccolo was standing. She also felt his aura. Then this feeling disappeared and she "saw" only the glowing outline of his figure.

The glowing shadow now moved to her right and moved a little away from her. She raised her arm, eyes still closed, and pointed in the direction of the glowing outline. She heard a sound of approval from that direction. Now it was moving upwards, flying further away and more to the left. When he stopped hovering in the air, Sitara pointed unerringly with her right arm again. This time she heard nothing. As Piccolo moved again, she continued to keep her eyes closed. The test was obviously not over yet. Piccolo was now moving much faster and further away. In front of her inner eyes, she could still clearly see the glowing dot getting smaller. She wondered how long he wanted to continue this game and whether he could still see in which direction she was pointing.

He was only a small glowing dot now, but she could still clearly see where he was. It looked as if a golden thread stretched from her point of view all the way to him. Sitara estimated that Piccolo must have almost reached the mountains now when she felt a tugging in her chest. It felt as if hands were reaching into her chest and crushing her lungs and heart. Breathing became difficult, a stabbing pain spread through her heart and she slumped to one side. Before she opened her eyes, she saw the golden dot that represented Piccolo sink downwards. She saw the green grass in front of her, felt her head hit the ground, then she lost consciousness.