It was after the first two weeks, after everyone had started to get comfortable in their new home, and get to know one another as well, that trouble started. It was bound to happen eventually, it happened on every voyage she was assured. With everyone shoved as close together as people on a ship were, tempers were bound to flair. The largest problem with this was that all sailors carried a knife, Neriena included, though she had never considered it as a weapon before. The fight was over quickly, one of the sailors clearly not as accustomed to wielding a blade as the other and the officers rushing to break up the fight. A knife fight was dangerous for the ship's well being since a ship could lose a valuable member for no good reason. It was an unimportant incident for most of the crew but it burned itself into the mind of Neriena who began to question whether or not she would survive someone coming at her with a knife if the occasion arose. This became a driving force for her and she threw herself into finding out everything she could about the art of fighting the way that sailors did it, all fists and knives. She was small and therefore would be at a disadvantage in such a fight and when she was high up on the mast, trying to keep her mind for the dizzying fall below her, she would distract herself by thinking of ways that she could use her small stature to her advantage. Of course this was all hypothetical at this point but it was the start of turning her into a good fighter.
The lifestyle of a sailor was designed to suck you in, once you were a sailor it was very difficult to be anything else. Few people ever left the life of a sailor to become shop keepers for instance, or actors. It was a very specific set of skills that you learned and they never truly applied to any other walk in life. Once Neriena had sailed on one ship she found it easy to find others to sail on, and soon she was even signing up for longer voyages.
Four years passed in this way, uneventful for the reader but important for Neriena. She got into fights just as she had feared and while she was in danger of dying the first few times until the fights were broken up, with time her hypothetical fighting moves were put into action and did her well. She continued to hide her gender and she was good enough at it, and so accustomed to it, that no one suspected her. Secrecy became second nature to her and soon she no longer had to think about what she was doing because it was habit.
It was in China where she finally slipped up, well in Hong Kong which was the only place that foreign ships were allowed. The many demure women in their lovely kimonos made Neriena remember when she herself had worn dresses, though what she had worn had never been made of silk. She had a good portion of her pay in her pocket, like all sailors it would be gone by the time the ship left, but for the time being she could squander her pay on whatever she wanted. What she found she really wanted at this moment was a kimono.
The man at the shop didn't look at her at all oddly when she walked in and asked him for a kimono and gave him the sizes. She imagined that he thought she was buying it for some sweetheart or as a keepsake. She made sure he wrapped up the floral patterned dress tight in a bundle to hide what it was as she walked through the streets. Once she was back at her cheap room though she struggled into the kimono as best as she was able. She was forced to admit that for her first gown in four years she would not have chosen something so complicated.
To be continued...
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