Ethan stepped onto the soft training pitch and immediately noticed how good the surface felt underfoot.
In the distance, Beckham had already finished the afternoon session but was still working on free kicks under the supervision of the sports-science staff.
Professor Fryer believed that closely observing Beckham's technique would help the laboratory better understand the physical stresses involved in his distinctive striking motion.
Several other players were doing extra work nearby.
Ishmael.
Messi.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
All three were practising free kicks.
It was a habit they had developed during Juninho's time at the club.
Every specialist agreed on one thing.
Free kicks came down to practice.
Again and again.
Ethan had noticed that Ishmael's technique resembled Roberto Carlos more than anyone else's.
Power first.
Even at his age, Ishmael could strike the ball with frightening force.
Anyone standing in the wall without paying attention could regret it.
Messi's approach was different.
He relied more on curl and placement.
The shots were not particularly powerful, but the bend could be vicious.
Some of that clearly came from what he had learned from Juninho.
Even so, neither Messi nor Ishmael was the academy's first-choice free-kick taker.
That honour belonged to Michael Johnson.
Juninho had once described him as the most naturally gifted young free-kick taker at Newton Heath.
Johnson could strike almost every type of dead ball.
Power.
Dip.
Curl.
Knuckleballs.
More importantly, his conversion rate was already impressive.
That was not simply talent.
He had spent years practising.
Cristiano Ronaldo had only begun working seriously on free kicks after joining the club.
He had seen how many players at Newton Heath treated set pieces as an individual weapon and quickly became obsessed with improving his own technique.
The coaching staff encouraged him.
If Cristiano could add reliable free kicks to his scoring ability, he would become even more dangerous.
Farther away, Drogba, Essien, and Curtis were also doing extra work.
At Newton Heath, some players would normally use the indoor football hall after training.
In Ireland, with fewer facilities available, they either stayed outside or went to the gym.
Ethan waited until Beckham had finished.
Then he walked over.
"The scenery isn't bad, is it?" Ethan said.
"You should bring Victoria here sometime."
Beckham smiled.
"Maybe eventually.
"Not now, though.
"She's too busy with her business.
"And I'm twenty-eight already.
"How many years do I really have left as a player?"
A footballer's career was short.
One moment you were breaking into the first team.
The next, people were already asking how long you had left.
Sometimes it was difficult not to think about how quickly the years disappeared.
"Don't worry," Ethan said.
"I've never let you down before.
"I don't intend to start now."
Beckham nodded.
"I can already see the level here.
"Maicon's very good.
"Hleb may have left, but the competition out wide is still fierce.
"And Messi..."
He glanced towards the training pitch.
"You've always rated him highly.
"I can see why.
"He's improved a lot.
"He's not ready to displace Robben or Palacio yet, but give him two or three years and I think he'll become one of the most important players in this team."
Ethan smiled.
"And Essien?"
Beckham laughed.
"He's not Keane.
"But he's very strong defensively.
"And he has that presence.
"That intimidation.
"Curtis has it too.
"Essien.
"Drogba.
"A few of the players here have it.
"Maybe that's Newton Heath."
He paused.
"My understanding with Essien still needs work.
"But we'll get there.
"We talk constantly.
"I've also watched a lot of footage of Juninho and Redondo from last season.
"And I've had several long conversations with José.
"That's helped me enormously."
Nobody inside the club doubted how important Beckham would be in the coming season.
His adaptation could influence the entire direction of New Manchester United's football.
That was why the staff were doing everything possible to help him understand the system.
His positioning.
His responsibilities.
His relationship with Essien.
His role as the team's main organiser.
For Beckham, it was also an opportunity he had wanted for years.
He had long believed he could contribute more centrally rather than remaining primarily a right-sided midfielder.
Now Mourinho was giving him that responsibility.
"So," Ethan said, "has José spoken to you about the captaincy?"
Beckham looked surprised.
"No."
Ethan sighed.
Whether Mourinho had forgotten or deliberately left the conversation to him, Ethan could not tell.
Either way, it should really have been the manager's responsibility.
Instead, it had landed on the chairman's desk.
"David, I've spoken with José and Curtis.
"We want you to be captain.
"All three of us think you're the right man."
Beckham stopped walking.
"Me?"
The possibility genuinely had not occurred to him.
He had only just joined the club.
His priority had been fitting in, not taking the armband.
Even if he was England captain.
"Yes," Ethan said.
"Curtis is still vice-captain.
"Normally, after Juninho left, he would have been the obvious choice.
"But he came to see us yesterday.
"He doesn't think he's ready yet.
"He says he still needs more experience.
"He wants to remain vice-captain."
Ethan smiled.
"And he also told us something else.
"The dressing room supports you."
Beckham looked even more surprised.
"I honestly hadn't thought about it."
"Then think about it.
"This squad is still very young.
"They need someone who has lived through the kind of pressure you're used to.
"Someone who understands what it means to represent a club, a country, and a dressing room."
Beckham looked at him.
"Aren't you worried about everything that comes with me?
"The attention.
"The fashion.
"The commercial work.
"The headlines.
"Do you really want the younger players looking at all that?"
Ethan laughed.
"David, I know exactly who you are.
"I wouldn't have signed you otherwise.
"Yes, your life away from football is very public.
"Yes, you have interests outside the game.
"That's your right.
"None of that makes you unprofessional."
His expression became more serious.
"If anything, your standards as a professional are one of the reasons I want you as captain."
Ethan glanced back towards the training ground.
"I've been building this club for five years.
"I'm proud of what we've become.
"And I don't hand the captaincy to just anyone."
He smiled faintly.
"Karl Marginson was worthy of it.
"Juninho was worthy of it.
"And I believe you are too."
Beckham said nothing for a moment.
Then he smiled and put an arm around Ethan's shoulder.
They continued walking.
There was no need for formalities between them anymore.
They knew each other too well.
Ethan's words had also made something clear.
This was not a publicity stunt.
There were commercial benefits to Beckham wearing the armband, certainly.
He was England captain.
He was one of the most famous players in the world.
But Beckham knew Ethan well enough to understand that those were secondary.
If Ethan did not trust him, the armband would never have been offered.
After a while, Beckham suddenly changed the subject.
"So when are you marrying Eva?"
Ethan laughed.
"Not yet.
"She's pregnant.
"And I can guarantee she has absolutely no intention of getting married while she's pregnant."
Beckham burst out laughing.
Victoria would understand that immediately.
Both women cared far too much about how they looked to accept anything less than perfect wedding photographs.
"And what about that film story you're writing for Eva?" Beckham asked.
"You said you wanted to use it when you proposed.
"You made the whole thing sound so romantic that half of us nearly cried.
"How far have you got?"
Ethan smiled.
The project had started as a casual promise to Spielberg and gradually developed into something much more serious.
The idea was a large-scale historical drama set during the Second World War, centred on a female war correspondent who became caught between the front lines while trying to document the lives of civilians, doctors, aid workers, and soldiers from several different countries.
Rather than focusing on one nation as heroic or another as villainous, Ethan wanted the story to be about ordinary people trying to survive a conflict larger than any of them.
The central theme was simple.
War reduced grand political decisions to intensely personal consequences.
Families were separated.
Cities were destroyed.
People made impossible choices.
Some behaved courageously.
Others failed when it mattered most.
And many simply tried to survive.
For more than a year, Ethan had been reading wartime memoirs, journalism, letters, biographies, and historical accounts from across Europe.
He wanted the world surrounding the characters to feel authentic even though the central storyline itself would be fictional.
Spielberg liked the idea.
He believed the film could combine the scale and accessibility of Saving Private Ryan with the intimate human drama of his more serious historical work, provided the characters remained more important than the spectacle.
Ethan was not a professional screenwriter.
His role would be to develop the story, characters, and overall structure.
A team of experienced screenwriters would then turn it into a finished screenplay, while Ethan and Spielberg remained involved throughout the process.
One thing had already been decided.
Eva would play the female lead.
Several of Ethan's friends in Hollywood had also expressed an interest in appearing.
Tom Cruise.
George Clooney.
Matt Damon.
Brad Pitt.
But Ethan had insisted on one rule.
The script came first.
Nobody would choose a role until the story was finished.
He had no interest in producing a film where the cast became more important than the characters.
Many of the actors were willing to work for reduced fees because Spielberg was directing and because they liked the project.
That meant the production could still be ambitious without allowing the budget to become absurd.
"Still working on it," Ethan said.
"When it's finished, maybe I'll find something for you and Victoria too."
Beckham laughed.
"You'd put us in a Spielberg film?"
"Why not?"
The story involved journalists, military officers, doctors, diplomats, refugees, and civilians from several different countries, so there was no shortage of smaller roles.
Ethan had never intended the film to promote any particular national viewpoint.
He wanted it to work as a human story first.
Something audiences anywhere could understand without being told which country they were supposed to support.
If it succeeded, people would leave the cinema thinking about the characters and the cost of war rather than politics.
That was enough for him.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)