Chapter 36: Herbalists.
The more they conversed, the more friendly Ingrid became. Lee easily played her with phrases like you surely are incredibly gifted or I've heard for some people it takes days to absorb a spark. It was easy to pull out information from her although she never went in to techniques she used.
At one point it seemed he broke some kind of a barrier inside of her, and she went on an endless rant about her mission in life and her wish to help the others. She wanted to become like Tess and save people suffering lethal injuries, and help to build a better future for all the children in the world.
It clearly was the result of meticulous brainwashing, but it wasn't Lee's place to judge. After all, it wasn't like she was his sister or anything.
In the end, when they got to the hills across the river, Lee was forced to realize that with all the blabbing Ingrid hasn't said anything useful.
Summarizing, her spark came from a saltwater archelon, a ferocious sea beast, that lived far in the north. She hated any form of meditation, but she was forced to practice it for several hours a day. And she had a bunch of idealistic dreams.
According to her, she had a very large family, but she never mentioned her parents. Lee's guess was that either they were dead, or she had a conflict with her father, in short – daddy issues.
After finally getting to Tess's task, Lee decided he should take his time with her. She was a bit slow, but he had no better source of information on the subject of sparks.
They didn't intend to go far. According to his stepmother, every hill was like the rest and they slowly walked along the river, enjoying the sights. The objective was only to pick some fresh mint leaves, lemongrass and chamomile.
From what Lee understood, after another month many more useful herbs will bloom and then will be the prime time to gather them.