Chapter 3: Tea and what was that all about?

I tried to go back to sleep. Asleep I didn't notice my pounding head or the muscle aches or the cuts on my back, but mostly my aching head. Tragically, the bright sunshine coming in the window conspired against me. I went over the previous nights events a couple times before truly resigning myself to the fact that I was truly awake and not going to fall back into the oblivious embrace of sleep. I opened my eyes and immediately closed them as the brightness brought on a wave of nausea. I slowly swung my feet out of the bed and with my eyes still closed got to my feet. I opened my eyes to slits and slowly shuffled to the bathroom. Another wave of nausea swept over me as I stood at the toilet. But it passed and I wasn't pissing blood, always a good sign. I needed some tea.

With small careful steps I made my way to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. As I dumped a few pinches of wulon tea into a mug I could hear Wu Han in my head: the making of the tea is as important as the tea itself, tea should only be made with deliberate ceremony. Shut up, Wu Han, I don't have the strength. As I poured the steaming water in I could hear his reply: But, Lo-chan, the mind is more powerful than the body, without the ceremony you're just ingesting hot water and phenols. Yeah, yeah, the chemicals will just have to do the trick on their own this time I thought as I took my first sip. But I did it with deliberateness, felt the warmth of the water in my mouth, tasted the bitterness and the subdued minty under flavor. I felt the warmth slide down my throat into my stomach and imagined the healing properties spreading throughout my body, especially in my head. I opened my eyes, looked into the living room and if I hadn't already gone to the bathroom, probably would have pissed my shorts. Someone was sitting in my favorite cushy chair.

“Wu Han would have you doing menial task with deliberateness for the next month if he saw how you just made that tea,” Sabrina said.

“Shit Sabrina, you scared the fuck out of me,” I said.

She smiled in her usual way, mostly with her eyes.

“I know, I know, I actually heard him bitching at me as I was doing it,” I turned and pulled another mug out of the cupboard, “what kind would you like?” I asked her.

“Dragon's Heart,” she replied.

“Har, har,” I mirthlessly chuckled. Dragon's Heart was arguably the rarest of the nine Immortal Teas, teas that took the mind and body to levels beyond rational explanation. Hidden in a safe in the foundation wall of my house I had four of the nine; Bamboo in the Wind, Tai Shan, Jiushu, and Moth's Wings. I have had Moth's Wings but that is a story for another time. Once I thought I was going to secure a tenth stone of Dragon's Heart but it was an ill conceived and ill executed attempt and Sabrina liked to remind me of it every chance she got. But that is also a story for another time. I reached for Monk's Peace, which is what she usually drank.

“Lanterns,” Sabrina called from the living room.

Lanterns, interesting, it was one of my regulars, but Sabrina rarely drank it. Up front it had a spicy combination of cinnamon quickly followed by a spicier flavor of cayenne but as the spiciness slowly faded there was a contrasting flavor of mint and at the tail end sea water. Sabrina claimed the sea water taste was too strong and she didn't like it. But I loved all the contrasts and found that it stimulated my ability to make extreme mental leaps, to make purely intuitive connections. I put a pinch less than I would use in a tea ball, I knew she wouldn't want a full steep.

My head still hurt and I consciously kept my movements slow, but the tea was helping as I handed Sabrina her mug and settled on the couch.

“So, did you spend the night in that chair?” I asked.

“Yes.” She took a couple sips of tea and only grimaced slightly.

“Why?” looking at The Sword leaning against the chair she was sitting in I had an idea of why she had spent the night there but I was hoping she would do the explaining, my head hurt too much. But she just looked at me over the top of her mug with those beautiful almond shaped and almond colored eyes of hers.

Sigh, I would have to do the talking.

“Something wasn't right about the events of last night, I mean, over and above the usual non-rightness of me getting in a bar room brawl.”

Even with her mug obscuring half her face I could tell she was smiling at that. I had a knack of instigating bar room brawls. At least sixty percent of the time I was not looking for trouble but my mouth seemed to annoy people to the point of violence. What can I say, it was a gift.

“The Buggles had a gun. And while that is more than not right they were planning to use it on me,” I continued.

“Yes,” she said. I hate it when she did this. It felt like I was back in school working through a proof. But my head hurt too much to muster true annoyance so I just kept the train of thought going.

“The whole thing was a setup. Meerna was there to give Lil John an excuse to confront me. He planned on me to take out him and Paul and Ringo giving George the excuse to use the gun.”

“Yes.”

I sipped my tea. It was definitely helping with the pain not not helping me think any better. Why would Lil John want to kill me? I let my mind drift, trying to slip into a deepra trance. I let my senses expand. I heard Patrick next door fiddling around in his garage and kids on the street playing footie. My vision crystallized so that I could see every strand in the spines of the books on my shelf. I could smell the water left in the kettle on the stove. But there was too much pain in my head, I couldn't bring my mind to the next stage.

“Feck, Sabrina, I can't see why Lil John would want to kill me,” I instantly regretted raising my voice as another wave of nausea hit me. I gulped some tea and it passed. “I mean, I'm extra careful with the intarwebs haxor, but it could be the Web Consortium, it could be any number of people I scammed, it could be any number of women's hubbies or boyfriends, but I can't see any of those willing to risk contracting Lil John to kill me and providing a gun to do it.”

“Yes,” Sabrina said as she lowered her mug, “I think it has to do with the research you've been doing lately.”

For a full minute I didn't know what she was talking about. “My historical research?” I asked increduously.

“Yes.”

I took another sip of tea and almost balked at saying, “So, you think it's the Union?”

“Yes.”

I couldn't think of anything to say.

“I've called in some favors, you're under Foursquare protection for the next 48 hours. You don't leave here under any circumstances. I'll send Wu Han over to take a look at you. In two days we visit Lil John and get to the bottom of this,” she said as she set down the now empty mug, stood and picked up The Sword. “And Locki, strap on those knives of yours and unless it's me, Wu Han, Sneaky Pete, or Jessie, unsheathe them expecting to kill.”

Feck, I thought, well, at least I can get some reading done.