Pets
"Mommy if we protect people how come we don't free all the slaves?" Daniel asked. "Didn't you say slavery is wrong?" Xena was silent as they headed for the temple of Bastet.
"Yes, I did say that, but its easier to free a few slaves than it is to free a nation. Now slavery is apart of culture here and it's been done for centuries its not so simple for us to fight because we'd be fighting family."
"But if Aunt Cleopatra is family how come we don't live with her?" Daniel asked. Xena smiled and shook her head. He was so full of questions and she loved him for it.
"Daniel sometimes there are people you meet in life who become your very good friend and you become so close you're like family. Now we don't live there because I feel like if we did it would make it easier for Ares to find us." She kept no secrets from him. He knew of Solan, Gabrielle, his grandmother, and her life before she turned good. Most importantly he knew about Ares and made the decision for himself to stay away from him.
"Oh, but why do we allow slavery to continue?"
"Because there are a lot of wealthy people and although I wouldn't mine going up against the odds, we'd be losing a family member. Trust me when I say that keeping on your Aunt's good side by not pressuring her to attempt something that could ruin her country is bad. What we can do and will is help keep them from starving to death. To do big things we must first take small steps."
"Is that why you're nice to people when they don't pay you the right amount sometimes?" Daniel asked. Xena nodded.
"I know, they have no more to give and sometimes fish can sustain you more than corn." Daniel nodded.
"Where are we going?" Daniel asked.
"To the temple, its time Kitty went back where she belonged."
"Mommy," Daniel cried. "Please let me keep her, we have another cow now. Please don't take her away."
"I know how you feel, but we must, I'm sorry." She carried him to the temple after he tried to set the cat free but she followed them. The temple priests were so happy to see her back.
"Can't you take pity on my son and let him keep her?" Xena asked. The priests sighed.
"Well, I suppose I could if this little boy would jump into the river for her, Bastet must be smiling upon you." Daniel smiled and took back the kitten.
"Thank you," Daniel replied. He nodded and closed the temple door. They walked back to their new home in the much wealthier side of the city though Cleopatra kept telling her she was welcome in the palace and would give her a much better job than fish vendor. The cow and Argo usually stood in their small yard with lots of wheat to eat on.
"Now that Kitty is officially yours you had better take extra good care of her, young man." Daniel nodded.
"Mommy can we go to the market please," Daniel begged.
"We're there everyday don't you wanna go play Mehen and maybe go down to the Nile in our secret spot to swim?" Xena asked. He nodded.
"I wanna get a new toy."
"You just got a kitten."
"I want a toy now." Xena shook her head at him.
"You're so spoiled you know that." Daniel nodded.
"Come on Mommy." He ran ahead for the market. She laughed and ran after him. She caught up with him easily but as usual let him get a head of her. They stopped at the toy vendor. He got a wooden hippo whose mouth opened and closed.
"Look it cracks nuts and squishes fruits." He squished a fig and a nut." Daniel was very pleased. "Now that'll be a package of dried fish.
"Mommy can I get more than one toy?" Daniel asked spotting a nice wooden elephant he liked.
"Only two," Xena said limiting his choices as she took the kitten from him.
"That'll cost you enough fish to last me the week." Xena retrieved the fish and Daniel happily skipped a head of her while she held his kitten. They retrieved Argo and rode off to the Nile. Usually they came this way to fish, but today it was to swim in a secret little lagoon. The water flowed under the land and came out among some rocks. The kitten rested on the rocks as they swam. There were some fish, but not many so they did not fish here.
"Okay stay very still whatever you do don't move." Daniel nodded. He giggled when he felt the fish come closer to his feet and his stomach. All of a sudden Xena grabbed a fish and held it up. Daniel as amazed. Xena had never shown him that trick before. She'd done it in the Nile were they were fishing but in a different fashion.
"Oh mommy show me how to do it too," Daniel pleaded. Xena nodded with a grin as she let the fish go. It took all day he finally got it, but he wasn't strong enough to hold on and fish kept slipping from his grip.
"No worries, soon you'll be even bigger and even stronger, and they won't be able to escape the mighty hands of Daniel," Xena said tickling him. He laughed so hard and tried to tickle Xena. Xena wasn't ticklish, but she laughed any way as if she were.
"All right go collect some wood for a fire." Daniel nodded. He ran off. "Be careful!" She set up a circle of stones and pulled out the dried fish she had gathered their journey and pour out the water skin full of milk. Daniel would be very pleased to know she had put chocolate in their milk. He came back with an armload of wood. She created a little hut. He lit the fire and she used a rock to heat the fish on.
"Here drink some milk." He obeyed without protest for once. He was delighted to taste chocolate and drank some more. She smiled and stroked his head a bit.
"Mommy do you miss Solan?" Daniel asked. "And Grandma and Gabrielle?" Xena nodded.
"Yes," Xena answered. Daniel frowned and looked down with a chocolate milk mustache on his face. He looked cute when he was upset, but Xena didn't want him to be upset. "Don't be sad you didn't do anything wrong." She pulled him into her arms and kissed his forehead.
"Yes, I did, if I weren't here you'd be with Solan now and not here away from your family."
"If you weren't born my life would be missing something."
"Really?" Daniel asked. Xena nodded.
"Yes, you're not what is keeping us here in Egypt all these years. Ares is and one day when I could be sure that you will be safe and free I'd take you to Greece in a heartbeat. We'd tell your brother the truth and go to Amphipolis where you'll both be showered with sweets and kisses by your Grandma and we'd go find Gabrielle, so she can tell you lots more stories."
"I like the way you tell them mommy," Daniel said kissing her cheek and putting his arms around her neck.
"Hmm…I like it when you tell stories too. Why don't you tell me about the one with the crocodile and monkey." He told her the silly tale he'd made up. She laughed in all the appropriate places. After his tale they headed back to Alexandria. Argo got them there quickly and they took care of Argo and the cow.
"Your reward for returning the stolen pig," Said the guard. He gave her some already cooked pig's meat and three piglets two females and one male.
"Thank you." They nodded.
"Yay pork!" Daniel exclaimed seeing it on the table. Xena shook her head at him. "Taste kitty." He gave the kitten a piece of pork, but she didn't like it.
"Don't give Kitty pork, you're going to hurt her tummy," Xena said picking up the kitten. She put her on the table with her saucer of milk."
"Can I give piggy some pork?" Daniel asked. It was his name for the first pig. Daniel had named the male Piggy 3 and the other female Piggy 2.
"No, never feed an animal its own species. It'd be like feeding a slave, the body of another slave. It is cruel and wrong." Daniel took his hand back and ate the piece of meat himself.
"What do Pigs eat?" Daniel asked stuffing some meat into his mouth. Xena ate some as she gathered some bowls for the pigs, but she left the rest for him to feast on she wasn't pig on pork when it was boiled and not in a stew.
"Pigs will actually eat anything including another pig."
"Than how come I can't feed them pork?" Daniel asked.
"Because it's one thing for them to do it, its another thing for us to give it to them. Xena fed them corn and fish. They were just old enough to be away from their mother. No need to give them milk. The next day Xena built them a pen along with a water trough they could reach and feeding trough. She fed them a mix of corn, wheat barley and fish. She collected some plants down by the Nile when they went fishing as well. Daniel liked to trade for fruits as well. He took very good care of his kitten who was a constant companion especially when he ran up to the palace now and again for a quick visit or long one especially if sweets were involved. When there started to be a revolt among the citizens who weren't slaves Xena became in charge of the guard and she helped settle the unrest when Daniel turned five years old. Cleopatra gave him a nice party like she did every year.
"Mommy, look," Daniel said. Both females had, had a litter of piglets. Piggy had a litter of twelve piglets in her own pen and Piggy 2 had a little of about fourteen. Twenty-six piglets and Piggy 3 merely ate from the trough as usual.
"I see." Daniel went into each pen and petted the sows. He didn't touch the piglets except to pet them gently. Xena found a very small pig belonging to Piggy 2, he was covered in mud and looked half-dead.
"Mommy is Piggy thirty hurt?" Daniel asked coming over. Xena sighed. Daniel had named the pigs, now they would be even harder to get rid of.
"He's not hurt, just small, he's not big enough to stay in the pen." Daniel gently took him and ran into their home. She milked the cow with Kitty next to her. She carried the milk in and mixed it with chocolate. He tried to give the poor piglet milk.
"No, he needs goat's milk. Why don't you put him Kitty's bed and let Kitty sleep next to you. We'll give him to some farmer." Daniel nodded and did that. In the morning he ran off with the Piglet right breakfast with the announcement that she wouldn't give Piggy Thirty away.
"Kitty we're in for trouble." Kitty meowed as if in agreement. Xena petted her nice soft dark chocolate brown fur. She finished her breakfast. She cleaned up after the cow and Argo as well as around the home. She did laundry and hung it to dry. She had secured a small home for two people with a large yawn. She didn't want to have to buy her milk at the market everyday and what not. She was peasant girl at heart. The women laughed at her behind her back because she did all her own housework.
She looked for Daniel every where as she headed for the Nile. It was still very early. She decided it wouldn't hurt for him to be on his own. If he got hungry while she was gone there was dried fish in the market booth where he had been and sold lunch to a few slaves and farmers but not all. There was milk at the house and he could start a fire without burning himself.
"Wow, I do fish faster without Daniel, but its no fun," Xena muttered as she rowed the boat back. Kitty meowed as if agreeing with her. Argo helped to carry all the fish back into Alexandria after she used her extra time to gather plants for the pigs. She set up shop and immediately she did a little shopping for vegetables. She cooked some fish and fed herself and Kitty. She paid a slave girl to take Argo home and give the pigs water.
"Xena," A group of young slave girls ran up. She smiled at them. She asked them about their day and such. They traded their ration of corn for some fish for their family. They stayed and talked a little more and asked about Argo.
"I'm sorry Argo just went home, if you stop by tomorrow perhaps we can arrange for a meeting." They smiled happily and nodded. A Egyptian officer walked by and ordered them to hurry to their families to eat lunch so they could get back to work. He nodded to Xena and she nodded back. She continued to sell to many slaves, but acquired more promises to pay her back that day. Xena traded for some fruits and vegetables for Daniel's dinner when he finally showed up carrying a basket. Kitty ran up to him and licked his heels. She was very happy to see him. He smiled down at her.
"What's that young man and where's that piglet?" Xena asked sternly.
"Look mommy I traded some fish for a goat. He uncovered it to show the piglet sleeping next to a large goat. It seemed her son had acquired some super strength as well. Xena sighed.
"Daniel we can't keep all those pigs and a goat too."
"Please mommy, I'll take real good care of them," Daniel pleaded. He pleaded and begged all day and refused to eat. He only stopped to get the goat out of the basket and milk it for the little big. It was all too cute.
"Kitty I've gone soft," Xena said. Kitty meowed as if in agreement. They went home and got the goat settled in with Daniel feeding the pig regularly through the night over the next four weeks he did really well and the piglet was able to go into the pen with its mother and drink her milk. If Xena didn't know any better she wouldn't believe that the two sows were already in heat again. She was careful to keep the male away.
"Okay time to sell the goat," Xena said six weeks after the piglets had been born.
"No mommy you can't sell Pete," Daniel cried.
"Yes, there's no one to feed him and he's eaten ever ounce of grass all down the length of the street and in our yard. I don't know how he's still alive." Daniel ran out and took the goat with him. "Damn it I hate when he does that." She went about her business for the day. He showed up again with Pete when she had finished making dinner.
"Mommy look what I found." He was carrying duck. Kitty seemed to meow in protest.
"Where did you get a duck?" Xena asked.
"I found her drowning in the Nile."
"Are you sure, or did you just wet her so you could say you did?" Xena asked. He looked down and drew circles in the dirt floor with his toe.
"Can I keep him please mommy?" Daniel asked.
"No, now tomorrow, we're selling the goat, the duck, and the pigs." Daniel was very upset and barely ate his dinner. In the morning they sold fish, but in the afternoon and all through the morning they sold the pigs until they were down to their first three, Piggy Thirty, Piggy Twenty-five, and Piggy Fifteen. They had three sows and three boars. The duck had hid itself every time she tried to give it away and the goat had disappeared that morning. She let him keep the pigs when Piggy three choked on an apple and died.
"Can we keep Ducky too?" Daniel cried as they harvested Piggy three's meat. Xena nodded as she sighed in defeat. The Gods were not on her side. "And Pete?"
"Pete can stay only a little while longer, but you have to make sure he has to be to take to graze and while you do that you can take the cow too. I don't think we can keep feed it corn and wheat." He nodded. The next day she picked a spot for him to graze their goat and cow along the Nile while she fished. He knew his way back and she told him to stay clear of the crocodiles or else. He returned at supper, but with a Goose.
"Well let's here how you've acquired the goose," Xena said.
"Some boys were gonna kill it so I saved Goosey." Xena hung her head with a hand on her forehead. "Just come eat dinner." He ate a lot that night. The next day he came home with a dog. Xena didn't even ask; she just asked him did he steal the dog. She was satisfied when he said no.
"Doggy go pee outside," Daniel said. "Bad doggy you no pee inside."
"Kitty I think we might need a bigger house." She got a bigger house made of stone. Now there were two extra rooms that were useless.
"Okay so I let you keep the pigs, the dog, the goose, the duck, and the goat. Now you've brought home a chicken." He nodded.
"A hen and look mommy she just had chicks just like Goosey and Ducky." Goosey and Ducky had laid eggs in secret nests. She only discovered them when they walked around followed by the cute things. Xena sighed and just sent them back outside. She finished preparing the four quails she had caught that morning. She was thankful he didn't see them when they were alive. She gave Doggy his own quail, which he barked a thank you too while Kitty feasted her nightly meal of fish, and milk which was her favorite.
"Okay today we create a garden."
"Why?" Daniel asked after handing their grazing animals to a borrowed slave for Piggy One. She was so big that they practically bought the slave. A few more fish would seal the deal.
"Because if you wanna keep your precious pets we can't spend most of our fish on vegetables when we could be growing them." Daniel nodded and they worked all day to prepare the soil. The next day they planted onions, cumin, garlic, leeks, beans, chickpeas, lentils, lettuce, and radishes. Xena was lucky enough to find some tomatoes from a Greek trader. She planted those as well. They had fruit from the pomegranate tree that was eight meters tall and the Fig tree that was only ten meters tall. It provided a lot of shade.
"Please buy me completely and my wife please we'll work hard," The slave begged. The garden had sprouted and Daniel could now go back to grazing the animals. She could tell the slave was frightened, but she wouldn't feel right owning a person. Everyone belonged to themselves.
"Look I'm sorry I'm just not comfortable with the whole slave thing." He continued to beg for her to buy him, but unfortunately his master heard him and cut out his tongue for his insolence.
"You will die," He told the slave. He was fat and his horse although big and strong looked ready to drop him.
"Wait!" Xena called out when Daniel looked at her with a worried expression for the slave and stopped the man from hitting him.
"You dare stop me from hitting my slave."
"No, I stop you from hitting my slave, I want him for my own and I think since you cut out his tongue and his loss of blood with weaken him the pig was enough." He looked at her for a moment.
"Go a head take him, he's more trouble than he's worth." The slave although in great pain kissed her feet but she stepped back in gesture for him not to do that.
"Mommy what about his wife," Daniel said. She looked back up to the man.
"We'll take another one of your pigs as payment."
"First bring her and we'll talk." He snapped his fingers and a slave ran off to his home. He looked over the pigs and said he wanted Piggy 2 as payment.
"No, she's pregnant, they all are." Piggy Fifteen and Thirty had been busy.
"I'll take one of the males than."
"How about I give you six Piglets to raise," Xena replied seeing Daniel's reluctance.
"Six?" He asked.
"Yes, they come from fine stock and with good feeding they'll be huge and fat." He smirked and rubbed his chin.
"I think we may have a deal." The slave came back with his wife.
"Asher!" She cried and ran over to him. She knelt down and saw his tongue was missing she was horrified.
"Stand up!" Her master ordered. Xena looked her over.
"All right, six piglets."
"She's at least worth seven."
"Six Piglets."
"No, I won't be sold without my son," Samara cried as she realized what was going on. Her husband was hurt, she was being sold for no reason she could see, and her son would be alone.
"Mommy," Daniel cried.
"Six more piglets for the son."
"Twelve for the son."
"If I made that price there might only be twelve all together to give."
"Than you will be in depth to me Great Xena friend of the Queen." Xena was very annoyed with this man.
"Mommy," Daniel cried. Xena sighed.
"Fine, is that all your family?" Xena asked Samara. She nodded.
"Bring me the son now." They sent the slave back. Her son was twenty years old. She gave Asher some herbs and wrapped his tongue. He would be okay once his blood started to clot and the healing process began.
"Why did you take us all?" Samara asked as she gave them the two extra rooms.
"He begged me and I couldn't let him die, I got you and your son because he asked and my son pleaded. I don't like having slaves so you are servants, I can't officially set you free, because it's not within my power, but just refer to yourself as servants around me." Samara nodded. Her son whose name was Tabbai thanked her, but that was all.
"Thank you," She said. Xena nodded.
"You will do the morning cooking, lunch we usually have in the market so you may cook for yourself and family. Dinner I cook but you will help now. What you will do mostly is clean. Your husband will tend the garden and help my son with the animals. Daniel will be taking the animals to graze. Do not ever kill any one of those animals without my permission. Daniel treats them all like pets." Samara nodded." Tabbai will accompany me to the Nile to fish away from the big ships. We catch more fish anyway." Tabbai nodded this time. Xena checked on Asher one more time before leaving. She checked on Argo and talked to her as she gave her a nice brushing down.
"What have I gotten myself into Argo?" Xena asked. Argo neighed in response. "I know girl I know. I miss it too." Once Argo had gotten a treat she settled herself for sleep. Xena went inside to see Kitty snuggled up next to Doggy in their shared bed. She blew out the candles as she went and Daniel was playing with one of his toys.
"Come on get ready for bed. They got ready and crawled in bed together. Daniel made the candles go out as she kissed his forehead good night. She sang to him and soon he had drifted off.