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Barraccus woke early the next morning, and took a moment to get his bearings. He could feel Quae’s warmth next to him and hear her steady breathing as she slept. The previous night came back to him, including the troubling dream. He slid out of bed carefully so as not to wake her, then dressed silently and went downstairs.
When Quae came down the stairs, also dressed now, he was sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea. She smiled at him shyly, no longer teasing, and he returned it. Neither of them said anything for a good while, as Quae set about making some breakfast, then she sat down with her own teacup. “Have you figured out anything more about your dream?” she asked him. He sighed. “Not yet. I can’t force anything to come. Believe me, I’ve tried. All I can do is wait for something new to show itself, and try to make sense of it.” He stared broodingly into his teacup, feeling overwhelmed by frustration.
Quae reached across the table to place her hand on his. “It’s all right, Barraccus. It will come, eventually. Please, don’t drive yourself mad because of this.” He looked up at her. She was watching him gravely, a worried expression on her face. He shrugged, then smiled wryly. “I’m trying not too.” He fell silent after that.
Neither of them spoke much while they ate. Barraccus picked at his food, not really hungry, and watched Quae out of the corner of his eye. He could feel a new kind of rapport between them, after what they had shared last night. Even when they finally began to make small talk again, neither of them mentioned what had passed between them; they didn't need to.
After breakfast they checked around the house and found nothing more that needed repairs or cleaning. Quae asked Barraccus how long he was going to stay. “I thought maybe a week,” he replied. “Well,” she said unhappily. “I don’t really want to leave you here alone with your dreams unsolved, but I need to get back. I should probably leave today.” He nodded, hiding his disappointment. He helped her pack the few things she needed, then stood at the doorway and watched as she fastened her saddlebags to Jaxom, her spotted saber. Finished, she came back to his side. “Goodbye, Barraccus, until next time,” she said, then before he could reply, she stretched up and kissed him firmly on the mouth. He stared after her as she mounted her saber, then rode away.
After she left, he puttered around the house, picking up a few things and trying to read. Not surprisingly, his thoughts kept coming back to Quae. He wondered what her feelings were exactly. Did she love him? For that matter, did he love her? He wasn't sure yet at this point, but he missed her already.
When he was finally able to put Quae from his mind, he found himself thinking of his dreams again. He didn’t know why he was dreaming of the night elf and her young ones, but he was starting to draw his own conclusions. The problem was that he did not want to be right. “I don’t remember her, yet I dream of her every night,” he thought to himself out loud. At this point he was picking up the books he had gotten out and placing them back on the shelves. “She has two small children, but I never see their father. I feel like she is important to me, but I don’t know why. What if….” He couldn’t complete the thought, but it was there all the same. What if he was the father?
The quiet and solitude started to get to him after only a few days, so he reluctantly packed his things and started back to the Dark Portal. The Kurenai at Telaar welcomed him back when he arrived there, and he continued with what he had been doing before he left.
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