Daniel
Four-year-old Daniel ran a head of Xena as they headed for the Nile. Xena ran after him falling behind a little so he would think he was winning. He giggled as she caught up and pretended to be out of breath.
"Little boy I think you're getting faster." Daniel laughed his blue eyes shining.
"Mommy you get old," Daniel replied giggling some more. Xena frowned.
"Oh yeah, but if I were so old could I do this?" Xena asked as she began tickling him mercilessly after dropping their fishing rods on the dock. He laughed even harder.
"Mommy, mommy stop okay you're not old, you're not," Daniel cried. Xena smiled and gave in as he breathed hard." I still think your old." Xena grinned at him as he jumped in their fishing boat and tried to push away from the dock. Xena dropped the rods in the boat and followed before he pushed the boat away completely.
"You'd think after Four years you'd no better by now," Xena teased tickling him once again. He laughed hard and finally she stopped and kissed the top his head. "Okay enough tickle wars let's get to work." Daniel nodded and she paddled the boat out of to the center of the Nile before she let him take over and battle the currents. It was his favorite part of fishing.
"All right we're at the spot." Daniel stopped paddling.
"Mommy how do you always know where the fish are?" Daniel asked. Xena shrugged.
"A gift I suppose, maybe if you're quiet you'll hear them."
"You can't hear fish." Xena let her hand hang in the water as she moved it a little. She could feel a big fish swimming around.
"Are you sure?" Xena asked. Daniel nodded.
"I'm very sure." He had a face full of fish while Xena smirked. She watched him frown for a moment and for a minute she thought he would cry when he started laughing.
"Do again mommy that was fun I like getting wet." Xena grinned and shook her head. "Maybe later right now we have to fish." She handed him his pole and they fished all morning. They took their load back to the village market where their stand was. They set out the already dried and salted fish as well as the fresh fish they caught every morning. The dried fish sold quickly as there wasn't much left as they often ate it for dinner.
"Is there anymore dried fish?" Daniel asked running back into their stall. He looked out of breath and wet.
"Did you go swimming in the river?" Xena asked. She had forbid him to do so without her supervision because of the crocodiles. He shook his head his braid of hair spraying water on her.
"Xena, can you wrap up this fish for me?" A man asked. Xena nodded and wrapped up the last of dry fish and three whole fishes. He gave her some corn in trade. He was a pour slave and she didn't mention that he didn't have enough corn, but she had plenty. "Thank you." Xena nodded and he turned to go back to his family his eyes thanking her some more.
"Wait!" He stopped and turned. He seemed to be shaking; he could imagine what Xena could have done to him. He was a slave and she was free. Even worse she knew the Queen and at times was called to the palace for major decisions.
"Yes?" He asked with his head bowed. Xena could see his family looking a little worried.
"Take two more I've got a lot today." He smiled and thanked her again taking two more fish. He accepted them. Daniel pulled on her linen shorts. She looked down at him.
"Mommy, I'm hungry."
"Sorry, here, go start a small fire." She passed him a fish she had cleaned for him anyway incase she sold all of her dried fish. He was about to take the fish when she stopped. He was naked and his linen skirt was in his arms all wet and balled up sort of.
"Daniel tell me the truth or just skip lunch all together today." Daniel's stomach growled and Xena looked down at him waiting for an answer.
"Some boys were drowning the kitty and jumped in after him. The monsters in the river would have eaten him." He showed her the half-drowned kitten.
"In the future please don't jump in unless you're saving a person, Kittens are sacred remember Bastet would have saved it eventually." He nodded. She unwrapped the kitten, which turned out to be a girl, from his skirt and hung it up to dry in the afternoon sun. Daniel started a fire after piling wood correctly and looking at it. She took a fish over to the vegetable stand to add to her son's lunch. She fixed him some corn and cabbage.
"Don't bolt it all down." Daniel nodded as he fed the kitten. He ran off with the kitten once they were done without a word to her as usual. She began drying and salting fish when the day started to whine down. She was closing up her stall when a slave ran up.
"Please, please will you take this pig in trade for some fish." Xena was the only vendor left out. No one was selling anything anymore.
"If you need food why not kill the pig?" Xena asked.
"My wife craves fish, she's pregnant and it is all she wants. Please it is our first child I just want her happy." Xena took a good look at the pig. It was nice and fat anyone else would have slaughtered the pig by now.
"I guess, it'll be a fine pig once fattened up." She gave him the last four fishes and took the pig. He hurried off She was just closing up when soldiers came running up. They stopped when they saw her.
"Where is the man who gave you that pig?" They asked. Xena shrugged.
"He just left about twenty minutes ago, did he steal it?" Xena asked. They nodded.
"It's one of the pigs we use to breed three or four times before slaughtering them for the Queen. Xena handed the pig over."
"You will be rewarded, how much did you trade for the pig?" They asked.
"I gave him my last three fish worth the pig for their size." They nodded. She pointed them in the direction of the man. They left. She took the dried fish home. She was fixing dinner when Daniel finally decided to walk in with his bath waiting by the fire. He was covered in sand.
"Took you long enough, where did you run off too?" Xena asked.
"Kitty and I went for a walk. He likes to walk."
"That's a girl cat, and I really think you should take that cat to the temple where she belongs."
"No, mommy," Daniel whined.
"Yes, its wrong to steal, now we're taking kitty back in the morning. Is that clear?" Daniel nodded. "Good now come on get in this tub." She lifted him in and washed him. Xena dried and dressed him before seating him at the table. She took the fish stew off the fire and let it cool while she went outside and collected milk from their cow who was very happy to be milked after a long day.
"Mommy?" Daniel asked as they both ate. The kitten stood on the table drinking its milk and eating some dried fish.
"Yes baby," Xena answered.
"How come we live like slaves when we have more resources." Xena shrugged. When she had first arrived it worked to her advantage to live among the slaves. Nobody noticed anything weird about her pregnancy. She had her fair share of strange mishaps, but with the slaves gone all day no one had noticed.
"I don't know, don't you like it here?" Xena asked. Daniel shook his head.
"People steal from us and boys think I'm a slave."
"You're not a slave."
"Than why do we speak the language of the slaves."
"Don't you speak the language of the free too?" Xena asked Daniel nodded. "And you speak Greek right?" He nodded again. "Well you speak it because I speak it, just makes you smarter than them. You shouldn't classify by language." Daniel nodded and continued eating. They finished dinner and played Mehen together it was Daniel's favorite board game.
The next day they went up to the palace for their weekly trip. They had great fun as usual especially Daniel. They an hour or so before the sun was to set. Xena hated traveling through Alexandria in the dark so far from home, the soldiers tended to accidentally mistake a person for a slave at times. Daniel rode a top Argo who walked along slowly enjoying the exercise. They were only a kilometer away from home when a fire started.
"Look mommy," Daniel said with a smile. He thought fire was beautiful and in its own way it could be.
"Yeah, I see." When they reached the place where their home was suppose to be the fire had gone down and they were not happy to see it was there home that had been burned. Their cow had gone up in flames or been stolen by the person who had started the blaze in the first place.
"Mommy," Daniel cried as he picked up his burnt crocodile toy. The smell of charred fish filled the air and starving slaves were already feasting on it.
"Its okay darling we'll replace your things later." She unearthed a medium sized box and led Argo away after putting Daniel back in the saddle. They went to their stall and tied Argo up tightly behind the stall.
"Mommy what are we going to eat?" Daniel complained. "We're going to starve and freeze to death." Xena looked at him as if something was wrong with him and than shook her head. Her son was just very spoiled.
"Firstly you just came from having a nice meal up at the palace and secondly so you spend one night out under the stars it'll do you some good. I use to do it all the time before I moved here." She kissed his forehead and went to a crate. She pulled out her old bear skin blanket.
"There's no wood." Xena found some stones and stacked them.
"Heat them until they glow." Daniel nodded and did as he was told. The stones not only provided light but heat. She held him and sat close to the rocks. She rocked him and kissed his forehead while she told him the story about the furies. She started to think about Solan. She missed him greatly and she bet he was wondering where she was at, but she had to protect Daniel.
"Mommy will you tell me another story?" Daniel asked sleepily with his thumb in his mouth.
"Okay, which one do you want to hear?" Xena asked.
"Can you tell me about when you saved those Trojans?" Daniel asked.
"Sure that's one of my favorites." She began the tale, but she hadn't even gotten to the part where she left Gabrielle on her own when he had dropped off to sleep. She kissed his forehead and lay him down on the blanket. He cried and woke up the moment she stood up to go brush Argo. She picked him back up and hushed his tears. She hummed to him as she rocked him and brushed Argo with one hand a skill she had perfected. Once Argo was taken care of she lay him down again, but this time she joined him after throwing sand on the stones, which took away the light. He snuggled up next to her and slept through the night.