He stood on the opposite side of the dirt road, staring at me as I walked out the door. He suddenly became intimidating – he represented my unknowable future.

"You're ready?" His chin, that extremely long chin, bobbled when he spoke.

For the first time, I truly looked at him. He was large, larger than any of the men in my village. His bulk was thicker than any wall and most likely stronger as well. His clothes were impractical in the heat – fur on top of some sort of animal skin. He wore several layers, all covering nearly his entire body. His hair echoed his furry attire. It looked as though he hadn't shaved in nearly fifteen years. He held a bag in his left hand. It looked heavy, but he appeared to have no problem with it.

"Yes." My heart drummed in my chest as I walked toward him, as though marching toward my death.

He held out the bag. "This is yours, I believe."

I stared at it. I'd never seen the bag before in my life.

He snickered. "You'll find some warmer clothes in it, as well as your book and new shoes."

"My book?"

"The one you forgot. You left it atop a pile of clothes on the floor. Beside your oak chest."

I opened my mouth to ask him how he'd retrieved it so quickly, but he threw the bag at me. I was forced to catch it or be clobbered by it.

He turned away before seeing if I'd survived the catch. "No questions. They will be answered in time. But now, we go."

I followed him as I swung the bag's strap over my shoulder. It was extraordinarily heavy. I didn't know how he could have done it.

"Wait," I called out to him, but he continued to trudge on. "Where are we going?"

"Didn't your wise woman tell you?"

I had to run to catch up with him. "No, not really. She just mumbled something about a great Empire and a great school."

"So she did tell you, you just weren't listening."

"No! I was listening, but she is extremely vague. What did she mean?"

"If you listened, you would know."

"I told you I listened!"

"And I told you that you didn't. That will have to be your first lesson. I can already see you're an intolerably bad listener."

"I listen!"

"If you listened, you would have heard me say to be quiet." He glanced at me angrily.

I stopped walking. "You never said anything about being quiet."

"I did." He grinned menacingly. "Follow me. We're going to need to rush if we're going to catch the boat. We're already late as it is."

I did as he ordered, but with many curses laid upon him. It just made me feel better. Sakur jogged past me and up to the man. He knelt down and picked her up.

"Nice cat," he said.

I refused to answer him. If he wanted me to be quiet, I would be stone quiet.

We continued down the road for about an hour without speaking, past the buildings I'd seen my entire life, and then past buildings I'd never seen before.

He surprised me when he spoke. "First lesson: Silence facilitates listening and then learning. You can't learn without listening. The same with silence." His pace didn't slow. "Your first exercise is to remain quiet for three days. In that time, you are to listen to everything. Just because you can see doesn't mean you know everything."

I jumped in surprise. He knew I could see! I hadn't told him. Someone must have said something to him.

His back tensed. "No one told me, Mora. It's easy enough to tell simply by watching you walk. Catch up."

I trotted up beside him. Sakur, the traitor, was curled up in his arms purring. She slept, unknowing of my discomfiture. It had seemed as though he'd read my mind.

"See what you can learn when you listen, Mora? I did read your mind – not that it's very hard. You don't know how to protect yourself, nor how to sense when you're being read. You're like a book open waiting for anyone to read.

"And, yes, eventually you'll become so good at listening you will be able to hear people's very thoughts.

"You're dropping behind again. We're almost there, but not quite."

As I caught up, I noticed the river on the horizon. We approached it quickly, and soon I could see the rowboat floating on its surface. A man stood in it, making it wobble awkwardly. His balance was good, though. He was a dark man, with bright white eyes that gleamed in the hot sun. As we approached I could see the sweat gleaming on his skin. Unlike the man beside me, he had removed layers in order to accommodate the weather.

"You're late." His voice rumbled like thunder across the space between us and the boat.

"You're impatient." The man beside me stepped into the boat, hardly making it rock. "In," he ordered me. "Sit."

I placed one foot in the boat, and, suddenly, it seemed as though it was going to capsize. The big, dark man reached out for me and grinned.

"Careful, little one. Boats aren't anchored to the ground, you know."

I nodded at him as he helped me into my seat.

He frowned at me and said, "She doesn't talk much, does she?"

"She's fasting."

The dark man glanced at his companion and shrugged. "Whatever the teacher dictates. Personally, I'm glad I'm out from under your tutelage. You were always a mean bastard. It's cruel, this."

"Completely necessary. You learned that yourself long ago." The man sat down carefully. He pulled his furs closer as though he were cold. He sniffed. "Let's get going."

The dark man rolled his eyes and leaned close to me. "He thinks he can still order me around. Little does he know I don't follow his orders. I do what I want. And I choose to do what he wants – at least while we're in the same boat."

I grinned at him as he turned his back on me to grab the oars. He seemed as though he would be much more tolerable than the man in the furs.

"He's soft." The man behind me grunted. "And my name is Jairdan. My dark companion is Marzio. Graduated student, and still in need of an education."

Marzio shrugged before he began to row. The muscles in his arms bulged as he dipped the oars beneath the water. As a result of this strength, we were off quickly. We sped through the water as fast as a horse runs over land.