Sitara was still lying with her head on Piccolo's chest. As if she had grown firmly there. Everything about her felt numb. At some point she had stopped crying. Her eyes were swollen shut. Somewhere inside she knew she would have to get up soon, but she wasn't ready. Should she even get up again? Why? Live alone in the forest? She couldn't imagine going back there. Without Piccolo, the forest would be empty.

In a brief lucid moment, she realised she no longer felt any shaking. Was the battle over? Had Goku really intervened and won? Then her attention wandered back to Piccolo's cold body. Her fingers ran over every inch of his skin, memorising every bump, every scar, every muscle. Why had they found each other so late? Tears welled up in her eyes again. She had thought she had no more tears to cry, but uninhibited they now flowed down her cheeks again. Again and again she whispered his name. She tried to walk along the energy ribbon, to seek him out. But no matter how many times she tried, the ribbon ended after a short distance. After each attempt, she seemed to plunge deeper into the gloom.

As she blinked to dispel the tears and break free from the gloom of the energy ribbon surrounding her, she noticed that it had already become dark. How long had she been lying here? Hours? Or had she perhaps missed a change of day? She tried to listen to her body, but she felt nothing. No hunger, no exhaustion. It was all the same to her.

She heard a noise. Was it a plane? But Sitara did not have the strength to lift her head. Was the sound getting louder? Or was it moving away? She could not tell. Eventually the sound disappeared.

Someone touched her gently on the shoulder and spoke to her. Only slowly did she remember how to move and turned her head. Next to her stood Gohan. He had only a blanket around his shoulders and was otherwise naked. He seemed unharmed, though. Slowly, she pulled him close. A warm body that gave her comfort. He returned the embrace.

As she sat on the ground with the boy, she noticed other people standing around her. A black-haired woman approached them. Gohan broke away from Sitara and cleared his throat. "Sitara, this is my mother Chi-Chi. Mum, this is Sitara. She's been training with me and watching over me for the past year."

Gohan's mother stopped a step in front of her and bowed. "Thank you for watching over my son."

Sitara bowed her head in thanks. She felt incapable of more movement at that moment.

Gohan addressed her again. "Piccolo told me to tell you that he is sorry he cannot return to the forest with you."

Those words broke Sitara's dams and she sobbed uncontrollably. Gohan seemed overwhelmed by Sitara's outburst, for he looked to his mother for help. He just wanted to say something encouraging to her. His mother knelt down beside Sitara and stroked her back until the tears had dried up.

"You can come with us. We have room. And you can keep an eye on Son-Gohan. My husband will have to stay in the hospital for now and I want to visit him as often as I can."

Sitara didn't know what to do now. She couldn't think. A hand was on Piccolo's upper body. Then she felt him being pulled out from under her. The old man and the bald man she had seen about a year ago after the fight against Radditz were taking Piccolo's body up to put it into a strange capsule. "No, stop it. What are you doing to him?" Sitara didn't want Piccolo taken away from her.

Gohan's mother, still kneeling beside her, spoke soothingly to her. "It's all right. We'll take his body and find a way to revive him." Sitara looked at her doubtfully. This was nonsense, no one could come back from the dead. But Sitara could not disagree. She wanted to lie down, just stare ahead. If she closed her eyes, she would see images of Piccolo. If she fell asleep, she would see him again, be able to imagine herself in his arms.

She let the black-haired woman help her to her feet and lead her into the nearby plane. She was seated on a bench and waited. She didn't want to move unless it was absolutely necessary. When everyone from the seemingly motley crew was back on the plane, the plane took off.

A roundish guy with sticking out hair plopped down on the bench next to her and eyed her. "Say, who are you?" His question sounded cheeky, almost challenging. Sitara didn't like the tone, but she didn't feel able to hurl a suitable retort at him.

"I am Sitara. Piccolos ..." She hesitated. "I belong to Piccolo." The effect was the same as a year ago when she had introduced herself as Piccolo's pupil. The jaws of those present dropped and their eyes went wide. "Ha, I knew it!"

Now all heads jerked to the back of the plane. Sitara jumped up to see who had spoken. There, on a stretcher, lay Goku. She hadn't noticed him when she entered the plane, too befuddled by the thoughts that were in her head. So he had indeed been revived. Quickly, she walked around the rows of benches and knelt beside Goku. "What did you know?"

"I was firmly convinced that I had noticed a change in Piccolo when we had fought Raditz a year ago. Piccolo was definitely not the same person I had faced six years ago in the Grand Tournament. He tried to pretend he was still the bad guy, but he wasn't." Against her will, Sitara had to smile. She felt the questioning looks of the others at her back, but had no desire to respond. She sat down with her back against the last row of benches and remained seated next to Goku.

"I'm Goku, by the way," said the one lying on the ground.

Sitara nodded. "Sitara," she replied quietly. "Did you defeat those Saiyans?"

A wide grin spread across Goku's face. Alternately, Gohan and the bald man - his name was Krillin, Sitara now learned - told of the battle. When Gohan described how Piccolo had died, tears came to Sitara's eyes again and she suppressed a sob. Chi-Chi sat down next to her and patted her shoulder sympathetically. From Gohan's stories about his mother, Sitara had imagined the black-haired woman to be extremely unfriendly, but she obviously had a warm side as well.

The fat man named Yajirobe and Goku now added to the narrative. Sitara learned that the taller of the two Saiyans had been killed by the shorter one, as he had proven himself unworthy. Sitara clenched her fists. Now she couldn't even take revenge for Piccolo's death, as his killer had already passed on. Krillin could have killed the second Saiyan with a sword, but Goku had asked him to spare its life. She wondered if that had been a wise decision.

"So, Krillin, now tell me about your great idea." Bulma had spoken up after the account of the fight had ended.

"I heard the Saiyans call Piccolo a Namekian," Krillin said.

"What do you mean?"

"Piccolo is from another planet. So there's a very good chance that there are Dragonballs on that planet too."

"Fair enough, but where is this planet?" asked Bulma.

Goku spoke up. "I may be able to find out. King Kai, can you hear me?"

Sitara looked around the plane. Who was King Kai? As far as she knew, no one here was called that. Then suddenly she heard a voice. No one moved their mouth. Was she going crazy now?

"Hello, Goku, how are you?"

The voice sounded pleasantly warm, friendly.

"Hello, King Kai," Goku replied. So he had heard the voice too. Could everyone hear it? "Can you please tell us where the planet Namek is?"

There was silence for a moment. Then that King Kai spoke again and told them the coordinates of the planet.

"What?! That's quite far away. Here, take the wheel!" Bulma jumped up and ordered Krillin into the pilot's seat. She took from her pocket a device on which she pressed for a few minutes. It beeped with every touch. Then she lowered it in frustration.

"Do you know how long the journey to Namek will take? 4,339 years!"

Everyone present hung their heads. With that, the hope they had had briefly vanished.

"Wait a minute!" Krillin had jumped up and let Bulma take the wheel again. "What if we take the spaceship from this Nappa to Namek? That's still in the same place the Saiyans landed on Earth, isn't it?" He fiddled with his belt and pulled out a small device. Proudly, he presented it to the others. "Here, this is the remote control for the spaceship."

Sitara sensed the hopes of the others, but she could not join them. Her grief for Piccolo seemed to make everything else so unimportant. She squinted over at the glass coffin where Piccolo lay. Bulma had assured her that nothing would happen to his body in there until they found a way to revive him. To Sitara, that sounded like imaginary fantasies. One died, the end. You couldn't be brought back. On the other hand... She had seen Goku die and now here he was, injured but alive. Was there any chance she could see Piccolo again?

Sitara kept her eyes closed for the rest of the flight. She did not want to be spoken to and everyone respected that. Only when the plane landed did she open her eyes again. Goku was lifted onto a stretcher and pushed into a large multi-storey building. Chi-Chi took Gohan in her arms and was about to follow her husband, but then came back.

"Would you like to come with us?" She smiled at Sitara. The latter hesitated for a moment and looked at Piccolo's body.

"I'll watch him," Bulma called from the front of the plane. Sitara nodded her thanks and followed Chi-Chi and Gohan into the building.

The entrance hall was so brightly lit that Sitara's eyes burned. She had never experienced such unnatural brightness in her time on Earth. Women and men in white coats were bustling back and forth, some running. Some stood together in small groups talking. A disembodied voice called out a name.

Sitara stopped and took a deep breath. She shielded her eyes with her left hand and covered her right ear with her right hand. It was too loud, too bright. She felt like a heavy stone had settled on her chest. She had to get out of here. Back to her forest. Back to quiet, to natural light, to Piccolo.

A painful stab in her heart reminded her that Piccolo was no longer in the forest, that she would never see him again. Her right hand wandered to her chest, trying to release the pressure that seemed to be getting stronger. She struggled for breath. Her vision veiled as her eyes filled with tears. Why had this all happened?

"Sitara?" Gohan stood beside naked with the blanket around his shoulders, he looked up at her. His mother had set him down and was talking to a woman sitting behind a glass window.

She bent down to the boy and took him in her arms. She hugged the little body tightly. As an adult, it was actually her job to comfort the little one, but his closeness calmed her a little. After a few deep breaths, her gaze cleared and the pressure eased from her chest.

"Where are we?" she asked him softly.

"We're in a hospital. Mum's just asking which room they've taken Dad to and if we can stay there too." He had his arms wrapped around her neck as if sensing that his closeness was just giving her the support she needed. "I've never been in a hospital either. Normally it wouldn't be necessary either, but we're out of Senzu beans." Sitara set Gohan back down on the ground and looked at him questioningly. "Those are beans from the Korin Tower that heal you instantly. But there are none left. Yajirobe will bring them to us when there are new ones."

Sitara did not ask any further questions. If they already believed in resurrection, then magic beans were not so far-fetched either.

"Come. Mum is waving at us." Gohan took her hand and walked with her to his mother. She let him pull her along. They followed Chi-Chi down a long hallway, rode a lift that Sitara felt very cramped in, and walked down another hallway. Finally, Chi-Chi stopped in front of a white door that was no different from the others in the corridor. She knocked and opened the door at the same time.

They entered a large room. The side opposite the door consisted only of windows. Outside, only the many lights of the city could be seen because of the darkness. On the right was a bed on which Goku lay. Several people in gowns stood around him and bandaged him up. Goku cried out again and again in pain and cursed the doctors treating him. Sitara had to smile. A strong warrior who whimpered like a small child while being bandaged up.

Chi-Chi pointed to a bed next to Goku's. Gohan took a seat, Sitara sat down on a chair facing the bed. After the doctors had finished with Goku, they also examined Gohan thoroughly, bandaged him up and told him to rest.

Gohan, who had taken the treatment far more calmly than his father, did indeed look very tired. Only a few minutes later he had fallen asleep. Goku was also snoring.

Chi-Chi turned to Sitara and asked her about her story. Sitara told her how she had landed on Earth five years ago and lost her memory, how Piccolo had found her and brought her to the village many miles away. How she had then made the journey to get back to the crash site to find that there was greater power in her than she had ever suspected. Leaving out the details with Gohan's training, Sitara reported that she had prepared meals regularly and Gohan could sleep in a nice bed.

Sitara had talked for a long time. Chi-Chi had listened in silence. After a while she said, "I was at the tournament. When Goku fought Piccolo. It was bad. We had become engaged at the tournament and Goku was hurt so badly that I was afraid of losing him. He won very narrowly. Goku gave Piccolo a Senzu bean. I didn't understand why. I thought he was crazy." She laughed softly. "But maybe he really did see more in Piccolo than any of us. Apparently he was right." Chi-Chi patted Sitara's hand. Sitara laughed and stifled a yawn. "Go to sleep." Chi-Chi pointed to an armchair.

Sitara made herself comfortable in the armchair and fell asleep after a short while.

Sitara woke up the next morning because she was aware of other people in the room. Slowly she opened her eyes, stretched and looked around the room. Chi-Chi was standing with Gohan. Bulma, Krillin and also Master Roshi were present. A warm wind blew through the open window.

Everyone was concentrating on a television hanging on the wall opposite the beds, not even noticing that Sitara was awake.

"Alright guys, I'm going to press the button now." Bulma held the remote control Krillin had given her yesterday and pressed one of the buttons. They waited. Five seconds later, they all groaned in frustration.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Bulma yelled out.

"What happened?" Sitara rose from the chair and took a step towards Bulma.

"I tried to call the space pod by remote control, but it exploded!" Bulma was furious and kept staring alternately at the remote and at the TV.

"What happened to the capsule I came to Earth in that time?" asked Goku. Sitara only now noticed that he was awake too, but didn't seem to be able to move much.

"It's destroyed like Raditz's pod," Sitara said. All eyes moved to her. She cleared her throat. She was uncomfortable with everyone staring at her. "Well, Raditz's pod was destroyed by Gohan when he broke out of there. And Goku's capsule we found by accident when we were training. It projected an artificial moon into the sky. Gohan turned into an ape. To keep him from destroying the entire Earth, Piccolo destroyed the capsule." Saying Piccolo's name hurt. She missed him more than she had ever imagined.

They fell into silence. Everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts.

"I have solution."

Startled, everyone turned to the open window. There stood a dark-skinned little man. His eyes were round, his mouth quite wide. Bulma ran to the window to see why this man was standing motionless in the air. Sitara asked herself another question: what did the man want?

"That's Mister Popo, the servant of Kami," Krillin enlightened the others.

"He's standing on a flying carpet," Bulma added, as if that was another important piece of information. Everyone who could fly gave her a sceptical look.

"What's your solution?" now Bulma asked Mister Popo.

"Kami have spaceship. Come with me. I show."

Bulma looked to the others. "Krillin, fly with him."

Krillin shook his head. "I'm still injured. Besides, I don't know anything about technology. You should fly."

Bulma hesitated, but then resolutely climbed out the window onto the flying carpet and was gone in the next moment.

The others now left the room. Even Gohan walked out of the room with his mother. Sitara was alone with Goku. She sat down next to his bed.

"Can you please explain to me what these Dragonballs are all about?"

Goku had to grin. "It's a bit of a long story. It's why I met Bulma and had quite a few adventures." He gave her an outline of his she understood why everyone wanted to find the Dragonballs. But she found another piece of information much more interesting.

"So Kami created the Dragonballs, which, when you find all seven, grant you a wish. And Kami and Piccolo used to be one being. When Piccolo ..." She still found it hard to say it. "... died, Kami died too, and the Dragonballs became stones. Since Piccolo is Namekian, we want to travel there and use their Dragonballs to revive Piccolo and Kami," she summarised Goku's tales.

"You got it." Goku smiled at her.

"So Piccolo can really be revived?"

Goku nodded. Sitara felt a small spark of hope forming in her heart, warming her body from within. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly as she placed her hand over her heart, lost in thought.

"You like Piccolo a lot, don't you?" Goku's question snapped Sitara out of her thoughts and she looked at him. Her cheeks reddened. She nodded and hunched her shoulders at the same time. She didn't quite know what to say. "How did you meet?"

Now she repeated the story she had already told Chi-Chi last night. But to Goku she also mentioned the energetic connection between her and Piccolo and how the training with Gohan had gone. She didn't know why she had kept this information from Chi-Chi. Telling Goku felt right.

"I've never heard of such an energy connection," Goku said after Sitara finished her narrative.

"Piccolo and I haven't either. We tried to undo it first, but no matter what we tried, it didn't change anything. Then at some point we started strengthening that connection. Now it feels like some of my energy is missing," she said sadly.

"Maybe the connection will form again when he is revived."

Sitara shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't sure she really wanted the connection back. What mattered most to her was that Piccolo was by her side again. Somehow she still couldn't believe that it could really be possible how, but Goku was so convinced of the effect of the Dragonballs.

Sitara changed the subject. "I'm probably a Saiyan too." She had left that part out of her narrative, afraid that the others would judge her, maybe even exclude her. Goku gave her a questioning look, inviting her to continue. "I don't remember anything that happened before that since the crash, but the capsule I landed on Earth in looked like Raditz's capsule. I was wearing very similar armour to his and there was also a scouter in my capsule. I must have been sent to Earth to destroy it. I am a monster." She said the last sentence so quietly that she barely heard it herself.

"I don't think so." Goku had nevertheless understood her words. "You would also surely have chosen not to be a monster if you had not lost your memory." Sitara smiled gratefully at him. His words filled her with warmth. Goku radiated a confidence she did not admit to herself. "I'm looking on the bright side. If you really are a Saiyan, we can train together." His eyes lit up with excitement and he went to stand up, but winced as pain gripped him.

Concerned, Sitara jumped up from her chair and helped him lie back down. "As soon as you are fit again, I will show you how good I am." Sitara grinned at Goku and knew her eyes were shining too. If one characteristic of the Saiyans was that they looked forward to a fight, she was definitely one.

The door opened and Chi-Chi entered with Gohan. She smiled briefly, directed Gohan to his bed and sat down on the wide armchair next to his bed.

"I was talking to Bulma earlier," she began without further greeting. "That Popo showed her Kami's spaceship. With it, she can actually fly all the way to Namek in a relatively short time without any problems. However, she has to learn the Namekian language for that. Popo is teaching her while she and her father examine the spaceship."

"Did she say when she was going to fly out?" Sitara could barely hide her excitement.

Chi-Chi shrugged. "No. In a few days."

"I want to fly with her." Gohan spoke softly but firmly.

Shocked, his mother jumped. "You will not, young man. It's far too dangerous!"

"Mom, please..."

"No! I forbid you to do it. I won't let you put yourself in such danger again!" Chi-Chi's cheeks glowed with anger. Her eyes flashed. "I will not stand here in mortal fear again just because you think you have to play the hero." She covered her face with her hands and heaved a sob. "How can you do this to your poor mother?"

"Shut up!" shouted Gohan. Sitara's eyebrows twitched upwards. She was more than taken aback by his emotional outburst. Chi-Chi stood frozen and had taken her hands away from her face."I'm sorry, please," Gohan continued in a more conciliatory tone. "It's my fault Piccolo died. I have to make it up to him." He looked at his mother.

Chi-Chi stared back, speechless. Then, very slowly, she nodded. "All right, then. You can fly out in ten days."

Gratefully, Gohan smiled at his mother.

Sitara nodded at him appreciatively. Half Saiyan, half human and definitely a dash of demon. Inside Sitara grinned.