Kendra sat on the plane next to her father looking out the window at the green-brown smudge that was China. Her dad snored away as Kendra studied the sheet explaining where they would find the real sword of Goujian. It was said to be 2500 years old yet still in perfect condition. Scientists tried to come up with a reason as to how the sword had not rusted at all, but the real reason was because of the magic on the blade that sustained it.
The flight landed and Kendra yawned to pop her ears from the air pressure and nudged her father awake. He snorted awake and grabbed his bag at his feet and grinned, "Just me and you… And that big, muscular guy, huh?" He said, looking behind them to the former member of the Knight of the Dawn in the row behind them.
Kendra's father and the bodyguard had been the conditions to her going to retrieve a sword of legend. They got off the plane, grabbing their carry-on bags and heading out of the airport. Kendra had learned with the constant traveling as a Knight of the Dawn to pack light, her father and bodyguard did the same and brought only their carry-on backpacks.
The first challenge for Kendra now would be to find the sword, luckily, they didn't have to steal the sword from a museum or lab because Agad had already done that and replaced the sword with an exact copy in everything except magic and age. Now he had the sword of Goujian hidden somewhere in Xi'an. And Kendra had a few ideas of where to look.
Kendra's father got them a taxi in just a minute, and started speaking in Chinese to the driver.
"Dad, you speak Chinese?"
Her father grinned at her, "I learned it in Collage. I have always wanted to go to China! They have good food here."
Kendra wondered what else she didn't know about her parents, it made her feel alienated further from the adults. She herself felt like she had grown up over the past years, but she was still just a kid, and treated like one too. She wasn't taken seriously by her parents and grandparents, or Bracken. She crossed her arms and leaned against the door as her dad and bodyguard squeezed in to all fit in the back seat.
They soon arrived to the major tourist attraction, people came from all over the world to see the terracotta warriors; it seemed a likely place to hide an ancient sword. They got out of the taxi and shaded their eyes and looked around. Tourists and excavation sites were everywhere, blocking most of their sight.
They spent the day viewing most of the exhibits and the attractions, as her father wanted, but Kendra kept feeling anxious about finding the sword. The feeling grew in the pit of her stomach so much that it started to hurt. She begged her father leave to go to the restroom, he said sure, and so she started to walk towards the ladies' room.
The bodyguard tried to follow, a blank expression on his meaty face.
Scott, being the married man that he was, stopped the Knight with a hand. "Never," He said, "Get in the way of a woman and the bathroom."
Meanwhile, Kendra was choking on her vomit inside the bathroom. The women avoided her, looking her way only to look quickly away. A gentle hand reached out and patted her on the back, leading her to a sink and rubbing Kendra's back as she threw up in the sink. The girl then turned the sink water on and wet a strip of cloth and handed it to Kendra.
"To wipe your mouth with." She said in accented English.
Kendra took it and wiped the acid from the corners of her mouth and her chin and smiled weakly at the other girl, "Thank you."
"Not a problem." The Chinese girl said with a smile. She had cute dark brown hair in a bob cut that bounced when she spoke, she really is cute, Kendra thought. I must look terrible right now… Kendra thought, groaning a little.
"My name is Kendra, what is yours?" Kendra asked.
The girl bowed her head a little, "My name is Yu Jin."
"Nice to meet you- er – Yu." Kendra said, embarrassed over her stumbling words.
The girl giggled and put a small hand over her mouth daintily, "Yu is my last name, call me Jin."
"Oh, sorry." Kendra laughed a little to and felt a lot better than she had been a second ago.
"Um-"
"En-"
They both spoke at the same time, and then laughed.
"You go first," Kendra said.
"No, no, you must speak first!" Jin insisted.
"But,-"
"I will not say another word until you have completed your thought!" Jin stated and sealed her mouth shut.
Kendra sighed, "I forgot what I was going to say." They broke into laughter again and felt relaxed. "Are you here with family? I'm almost done with the tour, if you want we can get some lunch together as a thank you for earlier."
Jin smiled and shrugged, "I cannot pass up a meal with such pleasant company!"