“Finding joy and getting your mind off your father,” he said. He picked up another plank of wood and tucked it under his arm. Then he motioned for me to follow him.

I hesitated, but the longer I stayed still, the more my stomach rolled at the thought of my father. I wanted to push that pain off as long as I could.

If we were going to train, that would help more than anything. The world always melted away when I trained. Yet I didn’t think we were heading to more training, not with all the boys tagging along.

I was right. After walking for about ten minutes, Cion paused at the bottom of a tall dune. Ahead of us, boys staggered up the hill like a reverse avalanche. Some had pieces of wood strapped to their backs. Others cradled them under their arms.

The first boy to reach the top of the dune triumphantly lifted his piece of wood above his head. Then he tossed it out in front of him, chasing it for a distance before hopping on. He stayed standing on the wood as it sped down the dune, leaving a trail behind him.

He wove back and forth. He zipped past several other boys still struggling upward. As I watched, more and more boys jumped on their boards and headed down the dune. A few of the younger boys lay on their stomachs on top of their boards rather than standing.

I’d never heard such shouts of glee as I did from the boys coming down the hill. As soon as they hit the bottom, they snatched up their boards and headed back to the top.

“Sand surfing,” Cion said. “It gives them something to look forward to after a raid. Come on.” He began the long hike up the dune. Dimic slid past us, spraying us with a layer of sand. Cion put up his arm to block the spray; when he let it fall back down, a smile spread across his face. It made him look younger, and it erased the hardness that normally soured his features. And for the first time, I noticed two small dimples appear at the edges of his smile.

For a moment, I found myself staring. But then Cion took off toward the top of the hill shouting, “Just wait until I catch up with you, Dimic.”

I raced after Cion. By the time I reached the top of the hill, I was out of breath.

“I’d try going down on your stomach first,” Cion said. “It takes a while to get used to.”

I wanted to hop on my piece of wood as I’d seen the other boys do, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I nodded and dropped my wood to the ground.

Cion instructed me how to lie atop it. “Try to pull up the end of the wood. Otherwise you’ll get a face full of sand.” He lay on his board to demonstrate the movement. His biceps flexed as he pulled up on the board and slid a few feet forward. “Arch your back slightly.” He pushed off his board and waited for me to copy his movements.