They met Master Mami not at the Caster's home, unlike with Master Enki, but rather on the outskirts of the city where a training hall had been erected for disciples of the Wind. Tia sweated waterfalls during their walk from the centre of the city to the outside. They had barely spent three hours in Hume and already she was missing the cool sea wind and the gentle sound of the waves in Mooncliffe.

To her relief, the peripherals of the busy industrial city had much fewer people. Most of the occupants were slaves, pushing large trolleys of coal. Buildings became sparser, giving way to sporadic vegetation: small dry green bushes and thin twigs sticking upright in the ground. The stone slabs paving the ground became cobble, which then became loose, small stones. The grains made the ground uneven and Tia wobbled with every step. All around her was dry, layered areas of broken stone and dirt. The sections were carefully carved out of the ground, spanning almost as far as the eye could see and many storeys deep. Dirt tracks curved around the outside of it. At the very bottom were small pools of water.

"Are these coal mines?" Tia said, kicking a stone down the slope and watching it bounce downhill before disappearing amongst its brothers.

"I think so." Mommu sounded uncertain. "Coal is one of the main energy sources in Hume, is it not? It makes sense that there are so many coal mines here."

"I did not think the mines would be so big," Tia whistled, her eyebrows disappearing under her fringe.

"Even though Hume supplies at least seventy per cent of Dernexes' energy?"

Tia had never thought of it that way before.

"But look at them, Mommu."

The boy followed her gaze. There was a steady stream of slaves, muscular with tanned skin and shaved heads, heaving huge sacks of coal from the pile onto the trolleys.

"They genuinely do not look that miserable. They seem no different to the harbour men in Mooncliffe."

"They do look very different to Enlil when he had first arrived," he agreed, his eyes lingering on the group of people. "They look well-fed and -clothed, not starved and abused."

"Do you think Enlil was wrong?"

Mommu bit his lip. "I do not doubt what he believes in... perhaps Hume is a better place to live in, for slaves?"

"I cannot quite compare." Tia was doubtful. "I have never really seen slaves in Mooncliffe."

"It is the same for me too, remember? But I do not doubt Enlil's experience or his views."

"Do you think the king hides the slaves' existence just like he hid the news about the war?"

Mommu shook his head. "Do not be silly. Hume is full of slaves!"

"I cannot believe there are slaves in Mooncliffe. I cannot believe there is a whole city of slaves – it seems so absurd!"

"The cities are very different, Tia. We are just not used to it."

"Master Anu told me to keep an eye on Enlil. He knew about Enlil wanting to bring the slaves up to be equals to other citizens."

"He is justified in wanting that; is he not?"

"I have a bad feeling about this though." Tia stopped. "How did Master Anu know about Enlil's thoughts anyhow?"

"I... I told him." Mommu looked guilty. He gestured for her to carry on. Master Anu and Enlil had marched ahead. "I felt it was out of our control. He would not listen to persuasion as he had shown us last evening. I did not want him to come to harm."

"Dear Mommu." She gave him a sweet smile. "You are looking out for both Enlil and I now, are you not?"

"You know I always will look after you." He gave her another affectionate tug. "Let us go, we are being left behind!"

They raced up the hill, the hems of their cerulean cloaks flapping in their wake.

"Dear Anu, why are your trainees not following you? Do you not discipline them?" spoke a stern voice as the pair reached the top, pink in the face and out of breath. Tia drew herself up at the disapproval in the woman's tone. Standing next to the white-haired old man was a woman about twenty years younger, with a hard-set jaw and lips pressed tightly together. She was small and stout, but the confidence and authority emanating from her showed otherwise. On her chest, there hung the same shining medallion, golden and depicting a hawk spreading its wings, the same as Master Anu's – a King's Keep medallion.

She had around her shoulders a pale blue cloak, rimmed with white at the hem. She looked like someone Tia did not want to cross, someone with a very sharp mouth and little gentleness.

Tia bobbed immediately out of respect but her eyes still stared at the older woman, who gave her a critical look.

"You are not losing your hold over your pupils in old age, are you, Anu?"

"Dear Mami, they are just children," the old Windcaster said pleasantly, a familiar twinkle in his eyes. "There is no need to treat them so harshly."

"They will do well to know some discipline!" The woman sniffed. Tia scowled at her. "Look at that whelp! She may have some knack for the Wind but she needs to learn respect for those who are stronger than her. You are too soft Anu. I remember how you used to train that feisty little one fifteen years back."

"Tiamat is very talented, Mami, and Mommu is a very hardworking young man."

She sniffed again, a sceptical look upon her lined face. Tia wanted to pull a face at her.

"I suppose we shall see when we train them with Ki." She scanned them with hawk-like eyes. "I hope you shall not disappoint Master Anu."

Without another word, she swept around and made her way into the training hall.

****

Erected from the same smooth, grey stone that built most of the structures in Hume, the training hall was a two-storey rectangular building, with pillars for walls and an open top. Wind flowed freely between the pillars and from the skies. Energy was everywhere, swirling around the summit and cooling the sweaty trainees. Overhead, the midday sun shone brightly.

The ground was paved with the same material. Tia's boots clicked with each step as she stepped towards the centre, her staff in her right hand and her hood down. The sweat had evaporated off her skin and she felt cool and collected in the gentle breeze that swept through the building.

Opposite her there stood Ki, Master Mami's apprentice. Tia knew nothing about the girl but she stood with the utmost confidence, legs spread apart, one hand on her hip and the other clasping an intricately-designed staff. The patterns on it were so beautiful that Tia wanted to reach out and stroke it.

The Wind gem was rectangular, set near the top of the staff. Beneath it, white streaks criss-crossed over each other over a cerulean base colour and above the gem was a hexagonal prism, the top of which sprouted four loops of gold, ending in blue-tipped spikes at the tip. Even the base matched, cerulean with white streaks. It made Tia's standard trainee staff look very ugly and ordinary.

Ki was at a higher level than Tia and therefore her senior, she knew that much. As the tall, willowy girl put her staff in front of her and closed her eyes, Tia could feel the nearby energy concentrating around the older girl, falling in line at her bidding and spinning under her control.

A small whirlwind, squat and fat, formed itself in front of the other trainee. It twisted at a slow but steady rate, its size and width constant as she warmed up, testing her connection with the Wind.

Moments later, it grew narrow and speedy, beginning to lengthen. It drew up the sand and debris on the ground of the training hall and swept them upwards, the movement carefully keeping its contents within the spins.

Tia watched with open admiration. Creating a whirlwind was not difficult; however it required a great deal of control to keep the momentum going in such a restricted area. The most awe-inspiring thing about Ki's summon was that despite the rapidness of the Wind's movement and the distance the particles travelled from the ground up to at least two storeys above them, she had managed to contain the diameter of the rotations. The tall, thin tornado in front of the long-haired girl was no wider than the length of Tia's forearm.

I wonder how many years she has been Casting for, Tia wondered, eyes gleaming, itching to replicate the skill.

Mami's apprentice slowly brought the Wind back down again until it resumed its original shape of a squat small tornado, before it dissipated into thin air. Her long dark hair, parted down the middle, settled after the flutter of the air and she gazed with haughty brown eyes at Tia. Ki withdrew her staff, tucking it next to her body and nodded. She had finished her demonstration.

"You have trained her well, my dear Mami."

"She has enough talent. She has been a very good pupil."

Tia took the centre stage.

She placed her own standard trainee's staff squarely in front of her and she closed her eyes, feeling the flowing Wind all around her. It had just settled after Ki's performance. She aligned her energy, infusing herself with power, and urged it to spin. She felt a tug of impatience; the spin took place at a slow and steady pace.

Tia carefully emptied her mind, letting the natural flow of nature settle in. She was not going to mess up in front of two Windcasters.

She squeezed the Wind thinner and longer as it whirled. There was no need to watch; she could feel its height nearing that of Ki's tornado. Suppressing a grin, she narrowed the course of the rotations, bit by bit, until it reached the same diameter and height as the other trainee's had been. A surge of triumph filled her body. Her concentration lapsed for a fleeting moment.

She shrieked as a massive gust of wind knocked her off her feet and onto her back.

"She has potential, Anu, but she lacks restraint," Mami commented, watching with raised eyebrows as Tia picked herself up again, her face crimson.

The old man sighed.

"She does have enormous potential. I do sometimes worry that she gets ahead of herself."

"Perhaps you really are losing your touch," the other Windcaster said drily.