On a large field sat an old woman. She was meditating. From the look of things, she had been like this for a long time. This kind of exercise seemed to be about the inner man and the peace he gathers from his surroundings.
There was not a single black hair on her head as everything had turned white. Some had fallen off due to age. The smooth face had been replaced by wrinkles all over. By calculation, she must have been one of the beauties of her younger generation. Her sitting position was an expression of a great fighter.
She wore a long-sleeved shirt, and a spear was in her hand with the end stuck to the field. Underneath this distinguished lady was a spread of animal skin, folded at its four corners. Her name was Betty, but the name didn't seem to fit her any longer—maybe because of old age.
"What's she doing? She's been sitting there since we came?" Akib was curious to ask.
Akib asked this because she hadn't shifted a bit since they arrived half an hour ago, and there was no sign she would move soon.
"We should come back later. My mother will look for me," Raph said.
"If you waste time, Lewis will kill you. We should come tomorrow," Raph further suggested.
"I'm homeless. I can stay here for all I care."
Raph was not surprised by this; he only felt sorry. He had known that Akib's relationship with the couple would not last for a long time, but how it would happen was what he didn't know. As it was, he was pleased. He would talk to Grandma to take him in.
"In that case, I congratulate you. I have to go, but I'll return to speak with Grandma," he said.
Raph left, and Akib took his place before Betty.
"Where could she be?" Akib was referring to the old woman.
He decided to keep himself busy. He shifted to the other side where he felt he would not be a disturbance.
His focus was on his legs; they had done wonderful things recently. He intended to work hard on them. With a kick from his foot, the wall of a house had been slashed. He had applied the same kick on Ceed and Bren. Akib felt that if he could do well with his feet, he would have something to depend on for safety and defense. He could even have a pet name like 'Feet Lord' or 'Kick Master.' These two names excited him greatly.
He started to throw his kicks forward, one after the other. He ran forward and did another kick. He needed to learn to kick faster since he had come to put his trust in the power of his legs and planned to make them effective.
Like everyone present, he was surprised when he kicked Bren, but that had come from his reflexes. He could not explain whatever brought the courage to fight in the face of a multitude. Yes, they were a multitude because they were about twenty.
He smiled like he had butterflies in his stomach. He had humbled his worst enemy.
He launched another kick without looking in the direction. But then, he heard a roar which gave him a reason to be cautious.
"What, how could that be?" His sight caught the presence of an animal which appeared to be a hyena.
"It's a hyena," he said with assurance.
Wasting no time, the animal ran towards him. Its pointed claws directed towards his abdomen could cause serious damage. Akib made a slight bend to avoid it. The claws gave him some scratches. His clothes were thrashed by the blade-like claws.
He rushed at the neck of the animal and held it tight.
"Die, you crazy thing!" he lorded over it.
The animal tried to throw him off by shaking its body violently. Akib would not let this chance pass him by, and in this battle, there was no room for a second chance.
The animal groaned under the tightened grip on its throat. Then he heard a human voice. The voice was not far-fetched.
"Leave me alone, you won!"
Akib looked around to see the old woman, but he was surprised to see her still in meditation.
"Let me be, you criminal. Do you want me dead?" The voice was from the hyena.
Akib unwrapped his arms from around its neck. The hyena had the intonation of a human.
"You could have killed me. You boys of these days don't use initiative," the hyena scolded him.
He could see the eyes moving when it spoke, though the mouth was opening only partially. The animal walked towards Grandma Betty and rubbed its body on her. Then she opened her eyes and took the spear. She looked at the young boy before her with admiration.
"You seem to be the chosen one. Why have you come?" Grandma Betty asked.
One would think she had an immediate reason for asking and that she would pay attention, but she didn't wait for an answer. She started walking away like a young man around his thirties, and the hyena was close by in a master-to-servant relationship. Akib was hurrying to catch up with the two.
They entered a large room which served as her parlour. But the sitting room had been reshaped to suit her own purpose—her magical work.
Inside, there was a large pot on a fireplace still burning. The height could reach Akib's neck, and the width was abnormal. There were smaller pots also, and they were placed around the larger one. If he had to see what was in the pot, he had to climb a mud staircase constructed nearby.
From this erupted flames and vapor together. An acrid smell proceeded from the same source as the contents.
A large mirror, which converged reflections from outside, was by the window. Grandma Betty could notice anyone who approached her house from far away through this mechanism—that's when there was enough light around.
That was the second item which attracted Akib. Even when he came in, the mirror displayed his full image. Shockingly, he saw his bones—his skeletal structure—in the mirror.
"That's my mirror," Betty called out.
She had been watching how he marveled at the special mirror.
"I got it during my time as a teenager. It helps to discover the joints in the human body. With that, I know where I should target if I want to disable my antagonist."
"You people are crawlers, a bunch of lazy bones, aren't you?" Grandma Betty insulted him.
She had repeatedly referred to the new generation of boys as lazy ones, whom she thought were like worms and incapable of achieving serious feats.
"Why would you say we're lazy? Look at me—I can do a lot. This morning, I fought some boys, and the rest left defeated. You see?" Akib bragged, trying to show that she was wrong in her accusation.
Instead of saying something in response to Akib, she looked at him casually. She brushed him aside and went to her pot. She stepped up one step after the other until she got to the topmost staircase.
That reminded Akib what he wanted to ask when they came in.
"Ma, you left the pot to meditate. Don't you think that's dangerous?"
She inserted her hand inside the pot and took the long spoon within. She poured out liquid concoctions into plates. The plates were already arranged in rows, and they came before her without anyone to pass them. As each presented itself, she poured out into it.
There was still a brown plate which hung away. That one appeared to be proving stubborn—maybe it needed a special summon.
"Come here," Betty ordered the brown plate.