Val flew up with Moori to the Lookout a week later, going slow as she flew so the older Namek could keep up with her. She hardly felt out of breath when they landed, but Moori was breathing heavily. She walked towards the building's entrance towards where Kami was waiting for the two of them. She fidgeted her hands nervously, putting them in her pockets, wishing she had not let Bulma talk her out of wearing a pair of gloves she had hardly taken off since the day she came up her the last time. The three of them exchanging greetings.
Kami nodded to the two of them. "Come," he said.
He lead them into the building, heading to the library first. They dropped off Moori at the library with Mr. Popo to study there while Kami lead her away into an almost outdoor area in the back. The room was circular, with pillars all around the area that was not an opening to enter the area. Near where they came in, there were three small, adorable creatures that looked like a cross between the frogs she had seen on Namek and the rabbits she had seen on Earth. She heaved a sigh at the sight of the cute creatures, half embarrassed to voice that bit of an immature reaction.
"Go ahead," he said, sounding covertly amused.
She knelt down on her knees by the three creatures, each of them turning towards her and nuzzling against her. The cuteness of them was tempting. One managed to slip up to her lap and cuddle against her neck and shoulder. She hesitated to touch it, raising her hands up in the air to avoid it.
"You are still too scared to touch anyone," he stated. It was not a question. "When was the last time you touched another living intentionally?"
She hesitated to answer. She looked at her nails, chipped beyond repair. "Awhile ago," she answered honestly. One of the creatures stood on its hindlegs and wrapped its forelegs around her forearm.
"If you fear it, you cannot control it," he warned. "You cannot just avoid your problems to learn how to manage them. You have to face them head on." She looked up at him, pulling her hands against the collar of her shirt. The third creature pawed at her elbow. "These three are simple creatures of my own creation. They can live and they can die and they can be resurrected by my touch if need be." She tightened the grip on her collar, leaning back away from the three creatures too adorable to shove away.
"Why did you create them?" she asked the question on the tip of her tongue.
"So you can practice on something living that you cannot permanently harm," he explained, leaning on his staff. She looked up at him aghast. "Tell one of them to do something simple," he instructed.
She shook her head. "I can't..." she hummed out, standing up and moving away from the creatures. Her hands did start to feel a little warm.
"Well fine, then give me an order instead," he suggested.
She stared at him wide eyed. "But the life link... the Earth's dragon balls..." she muttered out. "You can't risk that."
"Practice on them or on me. You can learn one way or another," he said softly, nodding down at the creatures.
She hummed, bending down to pick up one of the creatures. It mewed softly up at her. It felt strange to hold something living, to touch something living. It nuzzled against her neck, making her nervous, making her hands feel warmer. She hummed uncertainly.
"Tell it to do something," he instructed again.
"To do what?" she asked, buying time.
"Something, anything. A simple order," he said. "Test your abilities."
She frowned, delaying, "and what if I kill it?"
"I will be able to bring it back," he reminded her.
She looked down at the creature. It looked back at her with the sweetest look in its eyes. The two of the creatures danced around her feet, pawing at her lower legs. She closed her eyes, thinking of something to tell it to do that would not harm it, but would also be obvious enough that it was something she cursed it to do. She took a deep breath, saying, "climb onto my shoulder."
She felt the heat leave her hands and felt the creature start to squirm in her arms. She opened her eyes up one at a time. The creature moved up to her shoulder, plopped there with its middle over her shoulder. She loosed a small laugh, but then bit her lip, wondering worryingly at how this could flip and something bad and unexpected would happen to the creature. Fear that it would never be able to get down, or that it would fall and hurt itself, or something else tragic. It wobbled and then slipped down her front. She caught it and held it up in the air. It kipped its lower body playfully. She swallowed thickly, feeling the back of her neck begin to sweat.
"Tell it to do something else," he suggested, drawing his attention back to her. "Something different than to climb on your shoulder."
She hummed, not sure what to suggest. She sat the creature down on the floor, but did not quite let go of it. The other two creatures jumped around her, half hard to ignore. She felt her hands grow warm, trying to embrace the feeling instead of trying to suppress it out of fear. "Climb onto my foot," she said, taking a few steps away from the creature. It looked up at her curiously, but did not follow after her. "Well, come on," she said down to it, inching her foot a little closer to it. It twitched its nose up at her and moved closer, raising its forelegs to rest on her her lower leg, all without touching her foot.
She looked over at Kami. "Only once?" she thought out loud.
He raised his eyebrows up to her. "Perhaps," he merely suggested.
"But Frieza... I cursed him twice," she recalled.
"Did you?" he asked, paying devil's advocate.
"One was done in anger and I never touched him, while the other he demanded it of me as I touched him," she explained. She frowned, wondering if one set and the other did not: to die at the hands of what he feared the most, or to find all seven dragon balls on Namek...
"Try something impossible with another one," he said, nodding down at one of the other two creatures.
She swallowed, pulling her hands into her chest. She wringed them. "What if it doesn't work?" she asked.
"You have to face it and see," he suggested.
She knelt down and picked up another creature, which did not seem to mind her holding it. She moved her lips, not sure what to tell it to do. She felt her hands heat up. "Teleport to the moon," she rushed out.
She held her breath and felt a pull on her energy. The creature whimpered and kicked its hinds legs. She let the creature go without thinking, dropping it. She watched it fall to the ground, but land gracefully. It was jumping up and down over and over again. She kept feeling a pull, like her breath was being forced out of her chest. She whimpered, backing away from the creature. The creature gave one last jump and plopped on the ground tiredly. She felt an equal kind of tiredness wash over her.
"So far, looks like only once and only things that are possible," Kami commented. "But we will need to keep testing it and training with it to see what rules apply," he advised.
She looked down at her hands, unsure if she ever wanted to try it again in tandem with wanting to try it in the hopes of one day mastering it. "My mother," she recalled the distant memory. "Used to wear gloves all the time, for fear she would accidentally curse someone..." She clenched her fists, wishing she still had the gloves. "She said her hands didn't burn before hand though, but any slip up if she spoke with both hands on the person was a risk. She was quite powerful in her own way."
Kami stepped over to her twisting his hand around up in the air. Two bright yellowish orange circle came into being, similar in color to the Earth's dragon balls. He stepped over to her, offering. "Gloves are limiting. I thought of trying those as well until you learned to master your magic. Two bracelets though," he preempted, stepping over to her and putting one around her willing wrist, then the other. "Two bracelets that you will be able to remove are you're own discretion that will block you from using your magic out of control would be best for now."
She stepped away from him, looking down at the bracelets, feeling their cool, metallic touch resting against her wrists. She reached down and pulled one off, feeling it glide off her hand with some effort. "Thank you," she whispered, putting the bracelet back on. She ran her hand over one one the bracelets.
He nodded back at her. "You're welcome. However, they are not a replacement for any training. You need to keep coming back here to learn."
"Right," she said, looking down at her wrists to admire the bracelets some more, feeling more in control of herself.