They entered Nenai's quarters, and when Nenai looked at the clock display, she was shocked to discover it was close to midnight.  There were no windows in this base, it seemed, and her internal clock had been disrupted by her stay in the sick bay.  She waited for Vejiita to take the leash off of her collar, but to her surprise, he took out the controller and unlocked the collar itself.  He looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, then slowly crushed it into shards and bits of wire.  Without another word, he turned and left.

    Nenai looked after him in confusion, then shrugged and went into the bathroom.  She rummaged around in the cabinets, finding all kinds of soaps and oils in addition to the standard towels and paper.  Almost giggling with delight, she filled the tub with lovely hot water and a little floral-smelling soap from one of the bottles, dropped her clothes to the floor, and stepped in.

    This is almost too luxurious, she thought to herself as she started to scrub her skin with a small sponge. But I think I deserve it right now.  Her back was towards the door which she had neglected to close, so she did not see Vejiita glide up silently to stand in the doorway.  He watched her for a while, his face expressionless, waiting for her to turn and see him.

    She had no reason to turn around, however, until she dipped her hair under the water and reached for a different bottle of soap.  Humming softly, her eyes closed, she rubbed the lathery stuff into her black hair and then rinsed it under the faucet.  She reached awkwardly for a towel to wipe her eyes, and then finally caught sight of the naked Saiyajin leaning against the door frame.

    "Vejiita!" she gasped, trying to cover her chest with the small hand towel.  "What are you doing in here?!"

    "Watching," the man said in an amused voice, grinning at her discomfiture.

    "What for?" the girl demanded, trying to keep her eyes on a neutral area of him and finally deciding to look at his chest.  I've seen him naked before, she told herself, thinking of the regen tank.  It's not a big deal.

    He didn't answer her as he stepped into the bathroom, snorting softly at the little collection of bottles she had pulled out to play with.  Ignoring her indignant look, he walked over and sat on the edge of the sunken tub, dipping his legs into the water.

    "Ouch!  That's rather hot, isn't it?"

    "I like it that way," Nenai snapped.  "I also like my baths private."

    "It is private."

    "Then get out!"

    Vejiita only laughed at her.  "You shouldn't speak that way to your commanding officer, little bird."  He splashed her with a hand.  "Besides, me being here doesn't make your bath not private--it's just not private in regards to you anymore."

    "Ooh--!"  Nenai growled.  "Vejiita, won't you just leave?"

    "I'd rather not," he said as he looked at the dark green contents of one of the bottles.

    The girl sighed and turned her back to him, standing to step out of the bath.  She told herself that she had nothing to be ashamed of, but she still blushed while she found a towel large enough to cover herself with.

    "You're absolutely no fun at all, Nenais'u," Vejiita said with a smirk.  "We're going to have to teach you a few things--"

    He was interrupted by the bleat of a communicator.  Frowning, he rose and went out to where he had left his clothes in the bedroom, and picked up his new scouter.  "Yes?" he said tersely.

    Nenai hurriedly dressed herself in a new stationsuit as Vejiita spoke to the caller, who was apparently his older sister Kariifuuru.  She was combing out her wet hair when the Saiyajin came back to the bathroom, also dressed.

    "Karii has something she would like to give you," he said, looking thoughtful.  "But I told her it could wait until tomorrow; I know you're tired."

    And so you're still here because...? Nenai wanted to ask, but she held her tongue.  "All right, tomorrow then...And now I intend to get some sleep!"

    "Of course."  He took her hand and kissed it softly, and turned to leave.  The Amon girl was too surprised to call him back.

    What is it with him?  He doesn't make any sense!  She sighed and undressed again, turning off the light and falling onto the bed.  It's like he's trying to court me and command me at the same time, and it doesn't work.

    Her eyes widened as she considered that.  Court me?!  Oh, Nanyatenei, that's just what I need right now, some heartless alien trying to win me over.  Except...he's not really heartless, he's just...cold.  Cold to everyone except the people he really cares about.  Like Kariifuuru, and the other Saiyajin, to a degree.  He's friendly with them, but still not exactly...open.

    Was he being open with me?  He didn't seem to be hiding much...  Nenai thought back on the course of the long day.  One moment he's ordering me around, the next he's trying to flirt.  I really don't think he knows what he's doing, she thought with a start.  He doesn't know how to treat me, because of his...interest.  I wonder if he's ever courted a woman before.  A little smile played on her lips.  None like me, anyway.  Maybe Saiyajin women are easier to deal with.  But...something tells me he hasn't often found affection.

    So why is he looking for it in me?  She groaned.  It was obvious that nothing was going to be simple anymore.
 

    The next morning, Vejiita appeared in her entry door.  "Come on, Karii wants to see you," he said impatiently as Nenai brushed her hair.

    "I'm almost done, don't hurry me or I'll forget something."  The girl calmly continued running the brush through her long hair, then tied it up into a ponytail to keep it away from her face.  "There!  All right, let's go."  She gestured for Vejiita to move out of the doorway.

    He reached out halfway, as if to take her arm, but caught himself and turned silently to lead her down the hall.  She looked at him oddly, but he did not see, nor was he really looking.  He was deep in his own thoughts, his usual angry scowl in place to hide any feelings he might accidentally let show.

    How has this little...child...bewitched me?  Why can't I leave her alone?  The man was angry because he was confused, and if there was one thing he hated, it was being confused.  She's a little wisp of a nothing, not a Saiyajin, not even a warrior.  She is pleasing to look at, but so is Zarbon, and he suddenly smirked, and that means very little.  But there is something else about her...what is it?

    He looked out of the corner of his eye at her, but she was watching his feet, apparently lost in her own thoughts.  She looked magnificent in her modified stationsuit, with her long white gloves and high boots.  The boots made her look even taller and thinner; Vejiita would never cease to wonder how such little limbs could contain such strength.  Her well-muscled but thin back was partly bare, leaving room for her wings to emerge without destroying the suit.  At first, he wondered how she had gotten everything for her new uniform, but then he remembered she happened to have one of the newly refurbished quarters that had a garment replicator.  He snorted softly.  Technology was going from useful to ridiculous, in very short order.

    Nenai looked up at him, but he had turned around.  It was not a very long walk to Karii's place, and they reached it in short order.  The Amon girl mentally traced their route backwards and decided this was the easiest place to find that she had been to so far.  If Kariifuuru would be her friend, she had somewhere close to go when she needed to.  She suddenly shivered with a sense of premonition.  Something momentous was going to happen today, and she had no idea as to what it could be.

    Vejiita stopped at Karii's door and waved his hand over the sensor.  This set off a chime inside the room, and a few moments later the door slid open.

    The admiral bit down on his tongue as he and Nenai entered.  Karii was sitting quite familiarly with Raditz on the short couch.  Raditz was a fairly strong soldier, but he was a commoner--not Vejiita's ideal match for his sister.  It was impossible for him to try to control Karii, however.  She listened to everything he had to say, but she did things to suit herself.  He could hardly fault her, because he was the same way, he knew.  But Raditz...what did she see in him?

    "Good morning," Karii said in her rather sultry voice, waving for the two to seat themselves in any of the chairs around.  Vejiita sat in one of the comfortable lounging chairs, but Nenai alighted on a stiff wooden chair, looking somewhat uncomfortable amidst her captors.

    "Is it morning," the girl said in a soft voice.  "I can't tell anymore..."  She shook her head violently and looked up.  "I'm sorry, I'm still a little tired this morning..."

    Vejiita looked at her strangely, but Karii smiled.  "I know what you mean; when I first came here I couldn't tell what time it was either, and one long night would have you messed up for a week.  I'll show you how to set your lights to match the daylight, just remind me sometime."

    "Thank you," Nenai said, smiling shyly.

    "Ah, so, Karii, what exactly did you want to speak to Nenai about?" Vejiita said, breaking the sudden silence.

    "Actually, dear brother," the woman drawled, "I have something to give her."  She reached for a silk-wrapped bundle near her seat.  "I found these on Mar Amon, and I thought them to be quite interesting.  Perhaps you can get some use or pleasure out of them," she said to Nenai.

    Carefully, the Amon unwrapped the thing, which turned out to be an ornately carved wooden box.  She looked up at Kariifuuru in surprise, then slowly opened the box.

    "Keishiva!" she exclaimed, pulling out a deck of cards.  She looked through them quickly, then looked up at Karii in wonder.

    "Like them?" Karii asked, smiling.

    Nenai blinked once, then bobbed her head towards the Saiyajin woman.  "Yes, these are very...special...I thought I would never find another set after I left...Truly, this is one of the greatest gifts you could give, Commander Kariifuuru."

    "Well then, I'm glad you're happy with them.  And please, call me Karii.  The rest takes too long to say."

    "So," Vejiita asked suddenly, "what are they, Nenai?  You said kay-shi-va?"

    "Keishiva.  They are cards used for divining the future, and only priests and shamans may use them.  The pictures all have symbolic meanings in our religion, and in an arrangement, or 'spread', of cards, certain cards in certain positions indicate things to come.  They are the religious authority's greatest assets and most invaluable possessions."

    "Not to criticize your beliefs, Nenais'u, but how reliable, accurate, are these cards?" Raditz asked, showing a little interest in the conversation.

    "Mine never misled me," the girl replied seriously.

    "So, you're a priestess?" Vejiita asked suddenly, jumping onto that little fact.

    "Er...well, I'm...it's like a priestess," Nenai replied in a hesitant tone.  She did not seem to want to clarify her status, but Vejiita and Karii pressed her a little.

    "Nenai, kindly remember, we're not familiar at all with the people of Mar Amon," Karii said reasonably.  "A little explanation of religion might be useful."

    The girl thought of the great Temple of the Moon's Oracle in Yar Dalbri, systematically blasted to gravel by Freeza's forces, and she nearly began to cry.  Her shoulders shook slightly, but she managed to push the emotion back as she spoke.

    "The Amon people have eight deities:  four gods and four opposite demons--"

    "So each...god...has a corresponding enemy?" Raditz asked.

    "No.  It is not an enmity.  A god and a demon are complements, two halves of a whole.  If they were to fight each other, the world would be destroyed."  Nenai closed her eyes for a moment, then looked back up at her audience.  "The gods are light, and the demons are darkness."

    She sorted through the keishiva cards, looking thoughtful.  "Look.  There are four elements, each corresponding to a god and a demon.  Really, the Amon religion is based on the elements: water, air, earth and fire.  In the Suit of Earth, you have the goddess Maridys and the demon Nanyatenei."  She showed them two cards, one of a woman who looked uncannily like Nenai herself, and one of a man who would be considered extraordinarily handsome among the Amons.

    "Do all of the cards in the...keishiva...correspond to an element?  And where exactly do you stand in all this?" Karii asked.

    "Well, here is Nanyatenei's totem, the Serpent."  The card was a highly stylized snake, coiled and knotted about itself.  "See the obvious ground beneath it, with the fallen leaves--that shows both Earth and Autumn, Nanyatenei's element and season."

    "Ah, so the seasons get mixed up in here too?" Vejiita noted.

    "Yes, everything...we find many groups of four in our culture," Nenai said with a small smile, "and if it's not a group of four, we'll find a way to make it so."  She looked down at the Serpent card in her hand, seemed to come to a sudden decision, and took a deep breath.  "I am a Snake Priestess of Nanyatenei, so this particular card holds a special significance to me."

    "A...Snake Priestess?" Raditz repeated, a small note of alarm in his voice.  "What exactly does that mean?"

    "I keep snakes.  Protect them, speak to them, receive prophecies from them..." the girl twisted her hands in an Amon shrug.  "I spend a lot of my time around snakes, at any rate."

    Karii shuddered.  "Do you have to touch them?"

    The Amon girl gave her a wicked grin.  "Karii, I usually sleep with a few in my bed.  I'm near snakes at all times.  I've missed the touch, the past couple days..." she trailed off.

    "You...you sleep with snakes?"  Vejiita stared at the girl with a look of mixed horror and awe.

    "Every night, until I came here..."  Nenai sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.  "Our religion is fairly simple.  We are an elemental people, so we worship the deity of our choice in hopes of happiness in this world and the next."

    "How did you get to be a Snake Priestess?" asked Raditz.

    "I am the Snake Priestess...at least, I was.  I suppose Nanyatenei will choose  new one now...at any rate, the demon came to me once, in a dream.  He sent snakes of the most dangerous kinds to me, to prove my mastery over them, and he said that he had chosen me to be the Snake Priestess."  The girl looked at the dubious expressions of the Saiyajin.  "Look, I know this is hard for you to take, but...religion is meant for its followers..."

    The door chime rang, and Karii said something that sounded like a snarl to open the door, then turned back to the conversation and nodded.  "You're right, it's difficult to understand someone else's religion...but it helps in understanding an individual a little better..."  She smiled.  "Meanwhile, would it be possible to get her some snakes...?" she asked, turning to her brother.

    The admiral looked dumbfounded.  "I don't know...I don't even know if this planet has snakes..." he shook his head.

    "There are snakes here," a new voice said from the doorway.  The door hissed shut behind Taurus as he stepped in.  "Very small and very poisonous ones."  He nodded in greeting to everyone, then crouched on the floor next to Nenai.  "The snakes here are about yea long --" he held his hand three feet apart, "--and extremely venomous.  They're banded in black, red and purple."

    "Sounds enchanting," the girl said.  "Where could I find one?"

    "The forests and caves near the mountains, I'd hazard...You could fly there and hike around--carefully...!"

    "Vejiita?  Would I be able to do that?" Nenai asked the admiral directly.

    The room fell silent as the two looked at each other.

    "There's only one way I'd agree to that, Nenais'u. You know the price," Vejiita said quietly.

    The girl looked down for a long moment, seeming to struggle with herself.  When she finally looked up, her eyes were flinty.

    "Fine," she snapped.  "I'll join you."

    All of the Saiyajin grinned, ignoring the girl's irritated frown.  "Taurus, you're familiar with that back country, aren't you?" Vejiita asked.

    Taurus nodded.  "Fairly.  Enough to get there and come back."

    "When's the best time to take Nenai out then?"

    "Some time at night?" Taurus said tentatively, looking at the Amon.

    She nodded.  "The snakes would probably be nocturnal, as the days here are very hot.  Darkness would be best."

    "How about tonight then?" Vejiita asked.  "Or would you need time to prepare?"

    Nenai shook her head.  "No, I can go anytime.  I'll just need a fabric sack, and a knife."

    "I can see what the sack is for," Raditz said, "but why the knife?"

    "Just in case the locals are unfriendly," the girl replied coolly.