Chapter Twenty One
"Come outside with me," the man said and took Esmora by the hand.
Allowing herself to be led, she then seated herself on the sand outside. Her teacher placed himself facing her.
"Now," he began, "I need you to follow my directions exactly, no more and no less."
Esmora nodded, wondering what her first lesson would involve.
"We will start with the very basics of telepathy. Reach out with your mind and trace the ground and surrounding area until your vision of this place is complete."
Silently, Esmora probed the area, skimming over the vast expanse and the small house. After a moment she said, "I am done."
"Now, release the picture."
Esmora sighed and became blind once again. After a month of darkness, that one use had been exhilarating.
"Describe to me what you saw."
Surprised at this request, Esmora paused to think.
"I saw you sitting opposite me with the house at my back. Endless desert stretches away from us unbroken by tree or mountain," Esmora told him, pleased with her description.
"Is that all?" he asked with a frown.
"Yes, what else is there?" Esmora asked defensively.
Closing his eyes, the man said, "I suppose you failed to notice the hawk circling above us looking for food, or the locust on the house, or the variations in the dunes, or the family of rabbits in their burrow just behind me," he opened his eyes and could see Esmora listening to this very stiffly. "Try again," he urged. "But this time do not stray so far but take in every grain of sand."
Esmora reached out again and began slowly surveying the landscape. She moved out in a sphere from herself, reaching across the land, beneath it, and above it. Trying to do as he said, she tried to observe every grain of sand. She was so intent on this, that she failed to realize that almost an hour had past.
"You may stop now," the man told her.
When she did so, Esmora found that her sphere had only encompassed up to the door of the house. But everything in between seemed so brilliant. Every grain of sand stood out and Esmora could trace each wrinkle on the old man's face.
"Open your mind, and let me come and see your picture," the man said.
Esmora did so for the first time. Never before had she allowed someone into her mind. Even the Wraith Queen and Amara never penetrated it. But the man and her excitement at really seeing for the first time made her do so without thinking.
"Very good," he said. "Perhaps tomorrow your circle of range will be greater. In time, you will be able to take all of what you do now in at a single sweeping and your range will be farther than even that hawk can see. But now we must eat."
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Esmora lay on the bed in silence. She was tired after the lesson from that morning, and she wondered how the afternoon would fare.
"Rest for an hour and then meet me outside the house," the man had told her before leaving across the desert.
That hour was almost up and Esmora stood and stretched. She had an odd feeling about the man who was her teacher. He was strict and sometimes harsh, but he truly wanted her to learn. He claimed that he knew her, and yet she had no recollection of him. But sometimes, like when he had entered her mind to see her picture, she could almost remember something. It was like a memory she had hidden inside her, but she did not know where to find it.
"Why are you not outside as I asked you?" the man's gruff voice broke through her thoughts.
"I am coming," Esmora replied and made her way to the door.
"The lesson involves your stamina. But I do not speak of your mental stamina. Being physically fit will help you retain your mental capabilities. I assume that you have had hardly any exercise over the years," here he broke off and waited for Esmora's assent. "Then you will need to start out slowly. First, you must stretch your muscles."
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Esmora stood with her hands on her knees panting. All of her muscles ached, but she could do nothing to relieve them as that would require telepathy. She straightened and entered the house behind her teacher. He had run the distance with her, and yet he did not seem even slightly winded. She stumbled into her room and collapsed on a chair. Perhaps the evening's lesson would involve less exertion.
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That evening, Esmora thought over the day's events. Even though the beginning had involved telepathy, she most looked forward to the next evening. Her teacher had begun a tale of the Ancient's, their history of sorts. She had never been particularly fond of her lessons of Wraith history back on the hive, but this was different. She could tell that it meant a lot to her teacher and that made all the difference. His voice would rise and fall with the moment, sometimes fading into a whisper, and sometimes loud with triumph or outrage. It was close to him, and Esmora had lost all sense of time. But she needed rest for the next day.