Chapter 5

The little port town was not where she had left it however many years ago. This wasn't a problem though, as it had rebuilt itself on the other side of the small bay it overlooked.

Xena's feet were tired. The slippers she had made out of the brain tanned hide had worn through before she had even made it to the beach. The only reasonable solution of how to get from one side of the bay to the other was to swim. She sheathed her sword and tightened the scabbards strap to her chest, ran through the crashing waves and dove headlong into the water. The heavy metal of the sword tugged her down toward the ocean floor but she had always been a superb swimmer, and kept afloat without much effort. \

In no time she was at the other side, emerging slowly from the water, step by step making her way to the beach. One by one she caught the attention of the fishermen, merchants, and sailors that were busying themselves on the many boats anchored at the city port. Xena sighted one that was wearing the custom cloths for a captain from Jappa and made her way toward him, ignoring the strings of seaweed that hung from her.

"Are you in need of a sailor or a warrior." She stated it, it wasn't a question. She knew it would be hard to convince anyone to take on a woman for hire unless she scared them witless. This was something she was good at.

"Umm…" the man stammered, taking a step back, "N-no. I mean yes, I could do with one more of them both." Xena glared at him. "Or either." He added nervously.

"Good." Xena forced a small smile, "Then I'll take the job. I don't expect a large payment except a one-way trip to Jappa." Her smile vanished, and she eyed him up and down, "That it where you're headed isn't it?"

"Well, yes, how did you-?"

"Lucky guess" she paused. "Where-?"

"Oh!" The man stumbled on his own feet as he shuffled a bit to his right and pointed. "She's over there. Name's Ryuu."

"The dragon?" Xena continued in the language of Chin, "Interesting name for a ship." She pressed her lips out unhappily, remembering Gabrielle as she had lay on her stomach and received a tattoo from Akemi. Again, Xena wondered how many years had passed. She shook her head slightly to rid her of those thoughts, and met the man's questioning gaze with a challenge in her own. After a short pause he bowed.

"I am Kin. It's a pleasure to meet you, …" It looked to him as if she might have been beautiful, yet she was as fierce as if she had been born in a battle of the raging ocean, sprouted legs, and emerged from its depths to terrorize the earth. If he himself could manage her, he was sure no unfortunate pirates could board his ship.

"Xena," she said, but did not return his bow. Instead she gave him one more spiteful glance and turned to make her way toward his boat. She picked off a piece of seaweed that had entangled itself in her long black hair as she went and flung it to the side. She barely noticed the grimace of rage as it landed on a nearby sailor, but he didn't dare approach her about it. She should have been in a good mood, having just received passage to the land of the rising sun, but the anger inside her was smoldering, and it radiated from her like heat.

Xena busied herself around the ship. Although she had only ever been a captain on her first ship, she had learned her way around it very well. She had always had a drive to be the best at anything she ever did, and she wasn't discouraged easily either. This drive as well as the need to be self-proficient had propelled her to learn how to do even the sloppiest of jobs under her command, and she learned to do them well.

The sailors accepted this new arrival without question, and soon after a few short words and the decking of one of their biggest, pushiest comrades they learned to give her a wide birth.

Xena was given one of the many hammocks that hung in the common living quarters below deck. After satisfying herself with an examination (she had had enough experience with flees and moldy skin to last a lifetime) she settled down in her new bed and went to sleep.

As usual, her body dropped off almost immediately but she stayed fully conscious of the room around her. It was strange to never truly sleep, and an unwelcome side effect was the extra time she got to fester in her own mind, consumed by her own thoughts. Tonight however, as it soon became apparent, would afford her some distraction from herself, at least for a while.

"Did you see her drop Ryuichi?"

"No way. She did what?"

"She dropped him, like a sack of rice! Bam! Right in the kisser! He didn't even have time to blink!" There was a chorus of gasps and 'no way!s. Xena rolled her eyes. Apparently more men had come back from festivities on shore.

"What was he doing?" came a hissing whisper.

"Oh, you know Ryuichi, being his old pushy self. Has to direct everyone else on the ship, be the best at everything. This girl is going to really throw him for a loop."

"She's hardly a girl if she decked Ryuichi." A pause, then, "Do you think he'll try to get even?"

"Oh most definitely. I'm a little frightened for the poor girl really, he's not going to take this slight on his manhood easily, and he plays dirty when he wants to. He kept trying to sneak up on her the rest of the evening actually, but every time he'd get close she'd just turn around and stare him down. Must have ears of a bat, that one."

"Oh please, anyone could hear that stumbling idiot trying to sneak up on you. He has feet the size of seals!"

"Watch it!" one warned, as, sure enough, heavy footsteps sounded down the stairs. The room grew silent as everyone pretended to be sleeping and the heavy man climbed into his hammock. A couple of the dim-witted sailors even pretended to snore. Xena shook with silent laughter at the fake sounds, and even her sleeping form let out a snort. Ryuichi paused, but then continued to climb into bed. Apparently he didn't play that dirty. Of course, he needed to make it look like a fair fight in order to save his reputation. No, it was his ego that needed saving at this point. Xena was glad for this. She had been afraid that the trip was going to be terribly dull, but her mood was picking up with the promise of a few good fights. That is, if Ryuichi was dumb enough to pick them. He already seemed afraid of her. As he should be. Xena was dangerous without Gabrielle…

Remembering the bard, Xenas mind took her on an emotional roller coaster of past memories and future prospects the rest of the night until the next morning, when the rest of her woke naturally before the first rays of dawn. Quietly she flipped over the hammock and landed cat-like on all fours. She had overheard some of the men talking about preparations to leave tomorrow. If that was going to happen, Xena needed to finish mending the ship. It had clearly been through a pretty rough storm. So she busied herself finishing off the work she had started yesterday at the bow of the ship.

It wasn't until the sun was hovering above the horizon and the purple clouds were beginning to fade to white that the sailors began to emerge from below. Xena could smell the faint aroma of rice coming from the mess hall below and she put down her tools to go feed her body.

Xena was surprised to see the captain there, mixing with the men and eating the same thing as them. He met her gaze then quickly looked away, immersing himself in conversation. She grinned grimly in self satisfaction. She was far too on edge lately to deal with any pleasantries, but today she had a couple questions so she took her meal and sat down across from him anyway.

"Hello, Kin." The captain looked up, startled.

"Xena." He nodded a curt bow and forced himself to look at her questioningly.

"When can we be off?"

"Excited to leave?" Kin laughed, then quickly swallowed his smile. "Yes, um, we were thinking tomorrow. Is that ok?" He added quickly. She raised her eyebrows.

"You are the captain. And my pay?"

"Yes well I was thinking 5 to 10 Dinars, depending on how much you work." He flinched slightly under her icy stare.

Xena nodded. She had no way of knowing what was fair, without understanding the economy. She knew it would have fluctuated a bit with time.

"Kin, I have a question for you." Xena's heart raced, and she braced herself for the answer. "How many years has it been since Lao Ma, I mean, Lao Tzu's reign in Chin?"

Kin's eyes momentarily unfocused as he thought on her words. "I cannot say I know when a Lao Tzu ever reigned in Chin. I do not recognize the name."

"How about Ming Tien? Do you know that name?" Even Xena couldn't keep the hatred and danger out of her voice, and Kin didn't miss it.

"No." He said quickly. "I'm not sure if those men ever ruled in Chin. Then again I am not well-versed in that foreign country's history. But I do know who rules now. It's now split into Wei, Sung, and Jou-Jan empires." Kin looked hopefully into the warrior's steel blue eyes, but could read nothing there.

"Thank you, Kin." Xena picked up her food, and carried it to a corner of the mess hall to eat.

They had indeed left early the very next morning, and Xena watched the small bay disappear into the distance as the sailors went to work with a will, shiny faced and high spirited.

Ryuichi finally got the chance to pick a fight that very day. Xena was feeling antsy and was itching for a fight, so, early that morning she didn't turn around to face him off as, yet again, he tiptoed up behind her. Xena listened as his footsteps fell and his cloths rustled, and ducked at the very last second as the man swung a heavy fist at her head. Once on the floor Xena swung out a leg and took Ryuichi's feet out from under him. He landed with a heavy thud and the nearest men glanced over to see Ryuichi flat on his back. She put her hands on her hips and stared down her nose at him, her weight shifted casually to one leg.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a lady?"

"You're no lady." He said, struggling to his feet. "You're a freak." There was a small audience watching them now.

"Your worst nightmare, in fact." She leered evilly at him. "But don't take my word for it. Please, try that again." She beckoned to him, swinging her sword idly. Ryuichi stole a second to look at the small crowd that had formed, then ran toward Xena with a roar. She lightly spun out of his way and slapped him on his rear with the flat of her sword. His shocked yelp was lost in the gale of laughter from the watching men. Xena guessed that this Ryuichi figure was unpopular. At any rate, his face was slowly becoming purple. He yelled again and ran at her, his arms swinging ludicrously every which way. She grabbed a hold of one arm and twisted it over her head, flipping him onto his back. His breath was forced out of him as he landed with a resounding crunch.

"What is all this?" Kin pushed a sailor aside and surveyed the scene. "What happened here?" He looked around expectantly.

"This oaf took a swing at me." Xena nudged Ryuichi with her foot as he gasped for air.

"Is this true?" Kin asked him. Ryuichi shook his head.

"She punched me out two days ago!" he protested breathily.

"Well that's a whole other story." Xena smirked.

"I will not have any fighting aboard my ship!" Kin shouted, a little too loudly. Xena scared him, but he had to take control of the situation. This was his ship, after all. "If this continues to happen, I'll …kick you off my ship!"

Xena was not going to give up complete authority though. "I beg your pardon … sir … but I am not one for being a recreational punching bag. If he attacks me again, I will fight back."

Kin considered Ryuichi as he struggled to his feet, still rasping for air. "I… suppose that can't be helped then. Just try not to be so … enthusiastic about it next time. And neither of you will get away with instigating a fight. I will not tolerate it. Am I understood?"

"Clearly." Xena smiled at Ryuichi and offered her hand. "Shall we call it a truce, then?" She couldn't help but humiliate him further. He stared daggers at her but did not reply. Xena shrugged casually. "Back to work then, shall we?"

"Oh- yes! Everybody back to their posts!" Kin waved his arm at the crowd, and it dispersed.