Lee turned out to be wrong. Ingrid left with the sunrise without saying goodbyes, and, when after washing up he went into the kitchen, Freeda greeted him as if nothing happened. Either she didn't want to talk about the last night's events or hoped Lee would forget, either way the two had calm and silent breakfast.
Afterwards he returned to his daily routine of meditations, training and helping Freeda around the house, and similarly pretended nothing ever happened.
To the rebels Lee mentioned that meditation was a drag, but he didn't actually mean it. During the past months he noticed strange changes when practicing according to Tess's teachings.
While focusing on the spot below his navel where the spark was supposed to be located, he began to notice a circular movement, like a slowly moving whirlpool. Initially he thought those were changes in the blood circulation, but soon realized that the sensation had an actual blue color, and with practice began to clearly see it within his consciousness.
At first it was one blue particle and soon after – a few, but with days going by he began to notice a blue mist formed by these particles revolving around something, most likely the spark he swallowed. The more he meditated, the more these sessions became distinct, and for some reason – pleasant, even invigorating.
After the morning meditation he often felt like an overcharged battery and the only way to release the strain was to go for a long run.
On the other hand, the evening meditations had a different effect – a calming one. No matter how hard Lee worked or trained during the day, the fatigue tended to disappear while his thoughts died down. And the more he practiced, the quicker and easier he reached the pleasant state.
The physical training also had great results and no one in the world would believe Lee looked like a nine year old child. While it was way too early to speak about his combat prowess, he was certain that he would've been taken for a sports prodigy in his first two lives.
Of course, this time he would've loved to have a teacher that instructed him in martial arts, but for now he had to make the best of what he had and use the bits and pieces of accumulated memories.
The day Cai and Slade had to return inevitably drew closer. Lee already expected Freeda to bring up the meeting with rebels when she was ready, but she managed to surprise him nevertheless.
One evening, she spoiled Lee with a fragrant loaf of freshly baked bread with an excessive amount of honey instead of a regular dinner. After he washed it away with a large cup of milk, she said, "I know about your revenge. I overheard your conversation with my stupid daughter."
Seeing Lee's stupefied expression, she grinned and continued, "Grandma can help you with that, you know? I'm the fucking Third Hand after all!"
"Are the Hands some kind of officers or ministers under the Prophet?" Lee asked. He thought he already knew the answer, but was curious nevertheless. And since Freeda decided to open up, there was no harm to make use of the moment. After all there were only two of them present.
"Yes and no." Her answer surprised him, "We do follow the Prophet, but all of us, even you, are the Hands of God. The God gave us life and we represent His will in the world. Thus everything we do, we do in the name of the God."
Lee was in slight shock, but not because of the religious nonsense, but because he had never heard Freeda say so much without swearing. Fortunately she fixed everything right away.
She said, "But our fucking movement has to have some kind of hierarchy to maintain order. Thus the Prophet assigned numbers according to our duties. I'm the Third Hand, that motherfucker Cai is the Fifth, the retard Slade is the Eighth and lump Enzo is the Ninth. Well … actually those bastards are good people, you'll see when you get to know them better. The circumstances you met them last time were … uhm … fucking unfortunate."
"And Ingrid?" Lee asked.
"She has no rank." Freeda shook her head and sighed, "The girl is dumb as a piece of rock, but she has a good heart. Sadly, if she goes on like this, she'll be dead in a year."
"So you're super important." Lee stated, "I see."
"You want your grandma to help you?" Freeda smiled and pinched his cheek, and Lee didn't avoid her hand – strangely enough she was the first person in all of his lives that didn't cause any discomfort with such action. It did feel like she was his actual grandmother.
"I'm not sure how you can help me with Victoria or the three young generals." Lee smiled back and shook his head. Besides, he has been away from the capital for a long time, and not seeing those faces dwindled his resolve to kill people – even if it was for the revenge.
"But maybe I can help you out with an idea or two." He continued, "It's not like we're too busy around here …"
"Sigh … fuck me … what a good grandson the God had blessed me with." Freeda said and ruffled Lee's hair, "No wonder Tess bragged about you all the time!"
They chatted for a while and mostly it was Freeda talking while reminiscing about the fucking good old days. Lee didn't learn much about the rebels, but it was enough to know that both his grandparents were Prophet's people, and rather close to the man as well. That made him more confident in the next meeting with Cai and Slade that was scheduled few days later.
This time he didn't go to bed, but waited for the guests together with Freeda. According to Lee's suggestion they brought few simple stools in the barn so the group didn't have to sit in hay.
The two arrived after dark and immediately it was clear the conflict from the last time was long forgotten. No one even brought it up and Cai directly went to the main point.
"It is as your grandson said." He turned to Freeda and began, "Incredibly large amounts of valuable goods are being brought from overseas and stored in warehouses in Hemsby. We didn't pay special attention to this because of our focus on acquiring sparks and increasing the number of our elemental warriors, but this is big."
"Same with the ships." Slade added, "The kid was right – they have been adapted for transportation and according to our sources for the past year and a half the navy partially worked as a merchant fleet. They don't buy or sell anything though. Still, the naval force has been greatly weakened."
"Hmm … is there anything we can do to fuck the emperor up?" Freeda pondered out loud.
"No matter what we do, we need to wait for Prophet to return." Cai said, "But apart from sinking a few ships, I don't see anything we could do to use the situation. You can't imagine how many guards the new warehouse district has. I believe Bishop pulled over half of Sunwell's city guard to make sure nothing goes wrong with the project. The target is too obvious and, of course, minister of finance realizes we could burn it down like a pile of dried leaves."
A brief moment of silence filled the barn, but was disturbed by Lee's soft voice, "Hemsby is what – two or three days from Sunwell? Why don't you make sure the guards are relocated back to the capital?"
"Sigh … that's the oldest trick in the book! Don't you think it didn't occur to me?" Cai patiently said, but Slade was more direct.
He said, "Even if we make a ruckus in the capital, there is no guarantee that in order to comb Sunwell looking for us, the emperor will not use the army and not the forces stationed in Hemsby. That's ignoring the risk of loosing our people in the process. It's not worth it."
"You are right and also wrong." Lee said, causing obvious displeasure in both men. Freeda, on the other hand, proudly smiled.
He had a lot of time to think about how he would strike the empire in the current situation and, truth to be said, he really liked his idea. Obviously he had no power over these men, and could only throw in a suggestion or two.