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Quin

There was a jolt that sent pain shivering all over his body. Quin didn’t open his eyes. Everything hurt. For a minute he thought he was in another nightmare.

He sniffed, half expecting the smell of fire, or the sweaty heat of horses. All he smelled was blood.

So it is a dream.

He stayed perfectly still; if he didn’t move, nothing would hurt too much. It’s the way it always was. Just wait for the nightmare to pass. It took a minute for him to notice that his left leg hurt terribly. Not just the amputation site; all up and down, from the tips of the phantom toes into his hip.

That’s what sparks the nightmares.

Or maybe it was the other way around.

He half smiled. Even the pain and the dreams were bearable if he could have his left leg back, just for a few moments. One by one he tried to wiggle the toes, longing to feel their familiar scratching against his shoe.

“Idiot!” hissed Qatar. “What were you doing up here?”

Another pain, much different and deeper made Quin forget about the ghost pains, or even the real ones.

Qatar never says that in my dreams. It’s always what he said the day It happened, and he still called me Quin then. Never little brother, and idiot only when I was one.

He peeled one eye open, just a crack. The pain didn’t get worse, and that more than anything convinced him that it wasn’t a nightmare after all.

Qataar leaned over him, his face half shielded in shadow, but defiantly wet.

where’d he find a place to swim? Quin shivered. and why would anyone want to in this cold?

“Qatar, are you two by any chance related?”

who’s that?

he opened the other eye. A man stood there, his arms wet up to the elbows, with black hair that bounced around his shoulders. [@calidris I heard Misu had shoulder-length hair?] In the depths of his eyes and around his ears and fingertips there was some sort of whitish light.Quin closed his eyes. Maybe it’s a dream, after all.

“Of course we’re related!” Qatar barked, almost in his ear, and pain ricocheted from his eardrums to everywhere.  Nope. Real life.

“Quin Leiland Miller, the biggest idiot in the Circle.”

That’s a new one. he couldn’t help but feel a little pleasure at hearing Qatar say his name again, even if he was barking it at a man with shining fingertips.

Suddenly they both seemed to stop and look at something. The voice of the shining man asked a question that sounded like “who’s there?” and there was some scuffling sounds in the shadows.

Quin opened his eyes, and immediately Qatar’s eyes were trained on his. For an instant a look flashed through his eyes that looked like the old Qataar; something close to relief.

“What did you think you were doing, climbing around in a cave on those crutches of yours!”

His voice was funny.  Like there was something in the way.

“I’m sorry Qatar. You were gone–I thought–”

“No, you didn’t. I was fine.”

The shining man gave something that sounded like a gentle snort.

“You shut up” snapped Qatar.

Quin winced. Loud voice again.

“Can you yell a little quieter?”

Qatar frowned down into his face. Something in his eyes seemed to break, and he answered in a softer tone,

“Where does it hurt, little brother?”