Chapter Eleven The TrainingEach day Mai searched for something to say to keep talking to Long. Sometimes she reminded him of happy times when they were small children, and other times she encouraged him to fight the darkness inside him. Before she left him each day, she would whisper in his ear, ‘Your name is Long and you are a thoughtbanker and defender of the sand lands. You are my brother and my chaperone. Together we will complete our journey and find our way back home.’
With each day of training Mai, Akra and Kalin practised, improving and learning new skills. Akra was quick to master the beginner and intermediate grades of waterclasping. Several times he openly asked Aque for more challenging lessons. After successfully mastering the varying degrees of freezing, from just coating an
