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Echo's fourteenth and fifteenth birthdays passed without conflict. These days, it seemed, she was behaving more like a princess--not that there was anything to rule, as she was constantly reminded. She also began to grow taller, and her beauty was stunning. Although, some people said, if Frieza ever found out just why Echo kept her hair in a braid, that beauty wouldn't last long. It seemed strange, to some guests, to see only one female in the entirety of the the spaceship, and such a young one at that. Many of them gave a wary or suspicious glare to Frieza, as if willing him to say why he was keeping Echo around. Echo herself wasn't allowed to say a word to any of them. Sometimes she would cry herself to sleep, wanting to see her brother, but knowing that it was not possible. She constantly dreamt of seeing him, wondering why not? Why seemed to make its way into all of her thoughts. Why couldn't she see her brother? Why wasn't she allowed to? Her questions were met with silence. Sixteen and seventeen passed her by without fail. She noticed that, as her eighteenth birthday neared, many of the soldiers in the corridors began to give her strange looks. Were they hiding something? Once again, her questions were met with silence. But when she went to Zarbon, she learned that something was up--even though he wouldn't say. Because the very next day, her workload increased. Surely Zarbon was trying to tell her something? Was he trying to protect her? This time, Echo kept silent. Echo, being the curious girl she was, had never been taught the "rules of royalty", and requested a copy of them. The rules differed from one race to another, but they were all similar and, in any case, had the same basic principles. When she finally got the copy of the RoR--and if you don't know what that is, I won't tell you--of Frieza's race, she read it all. There was one section however, that seemed..haunting to her: In the event of the king's death in which the king has two or more children, there are two possibilities for determining who will claim the throne. The first being the eldest shall have all rights to the throne. There is one possibility, however, that will allow another child the right to the throne. In the event that the other son/s or daughter/s has/have an heir/s, that would allow the younger of the two--or in some past cases, the elder who is not favoured--to take the throne. Echo read it again. Surely not, she thought, surely he wouldn't... She mentioned this to Zarbon, who finally, after all the time Echo had questioned him, began to explain what he knew. "Lord Frieza's had his eye on you ever since you turned sixteen. Do you think he would allow his 'devil' of a brother take the throne?" Echo's reply was, "But his brother is the eldest--surely he--?" "Oh, don't be so--no offense meant--naive, Echo. Frieza will do anything to gain the throne. He may even go so far as to have his own brother killed, not that Cooler's being alive would make the circumstances any different. I repeat, he will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to gain the throne. If he cannot have his brother killed, and I assure you, he wouldn't be able to, then there would be only one option left." "Which would be?" "You. Didn't you wonder, when you were young, why you weren't cast aside like the other saiyans?" Echo replied fiercely, "But he coud have picked any one of the saiyan women there--why me?" "Because," said Zarbon, talking in a soothing manner as though to calm her, "you are of royal blood. Didn't you read the paragraph after that one?" Echo read the papers again, and found the paragraph she had somehow looked over: There are more restrictions applied to this possibility of claiming the throne. The mother/father of the heir must be of royal blood and of sound mind, while the heir must be a son. "But why a boy?" Echo seemed surprised. "Because," Zarbon said bitterly, "Sons are highly prized. They are not so easily killed." "So if he..and doesn't get a son..he'll..he'll.." Echo's voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "Ah, but even if--you know--(it seemed as though Zarbon was afraid to say it as well)he gets his son, you may be long gone by the time the heir would be born." "Why would I be?" asked Echo, slightly surprised at this. "I know it's more than my life's worth to tell you this, but for some reason, children take a considerable amount of time to develop--in his race, anyway." "How long?" asked Echo. She began trembling, she was frightened at the prospect of this horrid idea going on, but she asked again, "How long? A year? A year and a half?" "You're thinking along the wrong lines again, Echo. It is much longer than that. Try eleven and a half to twelve years." This really made Echo overreact. "Twelve years?? Twelve....that's...you've got to be joking.." "He's told me to tell you something, I just remembered. He said if you--" he began coughing as though to cover up his disapproval, "--consented, you'd be allowed to 'enjoy your brother's company.'" Echo's face went from scared to furious. "Does he honestly think that he can bribe me like that? Does he really think that I would be so "naive" as you say? I need not remind you that I'm not as stupid as most women, and I intend to stay in the same state that I am now, go back to your 'Lord' and tell him that I wish to see my brother, but not under those humiliating and degrading circumstances!" "Clearly," replied Zarbon quietly, "clearly you don't know the effect your words will have on him. I have said this twice, now let me stress it: he will do anything to attain the throne! If you truly wish to 'stay the way you are,' then we should fight--make it look as though you attacked me, and I had to defend myself. Would that solve your problem?" "Would you..do that for me?" Echo looked up at him (Zarbon's a good six and a half inches taller than her) hopefully. "I would..if I could find a reason for us to fight--you know Frieza, if you were dead, then he would want mountains of evidence that you attacked me--there wouldn't be much of it--and even if there was, he would turn a blind eye to it. There is one more thing I need to say to you: I won't always be around to send you off to conquer planets in order to keep you safe. Be warned that he may strike as a snake would--unexpectedly, quickly, and then slither away, happy that his work is done." |