Chapter Text
“Asher, it’s not even five in the morning.” Dan groaned as his little brother took hold of the blanket underneath him and dragged it so Dan could either roll off of it or fall on the floor. Asher was methodically divesting him of blankets in an attempt to make him get up.
“Yeah, so we have to hurry.” Asher shot back, snatching the old and mostly flat pillow from under Dan’s head. His little brother was getting annoyingly strong lately. He’d probably credit it on this very exercise that he was trying to get Dan to join. And Dan had agreed to come to it once. It just seemed so very early now. And the fact that it was with those gladiator mages made Dan’s blood run colder than the air felt.
“Just get up and go with him.” Simon grumbled, burying himself deeper in his blankets. Reuben put his head underneath a pillow.
“You could come with.” Dan suggested to his little brother, though he kept his voice low. Reuben had had a late night shift, and they tried not to bother each other when that happened. He rolled out of bed and started collecting his gear, resigning himself to the fact that he would not be getting any more sleep and he might as well go along with it.
He didn’t know how his brother had this much energy. Asher was wide awake and almost bouncing like a puppy as Dan grabbed some bread and smeared jam over it for a quick, on the go breakfast. Then the brothers were on their way. Asher seemed eager, but Dan still felt dread in his stomach.
The Sunshiners were elite warriors. Dan knew and accepted he wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. He might not even be able to keep up with his little brother after Asher had spent the last few months exercising with them. But he was more concerned with how they might view him. Mages made him nervous, and it had affected his interactions with two of the Sunshiners. If they held any kind of grudge, he was sure their fellow mages would stand with them.
But when Asher guided him to the fields where the former gladiators were gathering and they went to stand next to Tirun, the young man looked curious but not hostile. Dan gave him a nod, then focused on discreetly stretching and shaking out his muscles.
“We start with some running, then we’ll get into pushups and bar touches and pull ups and if you’re still going after that you’ll be doing better than I did the first time.” Asher told him quietly. On the other side of him Tirun snorted.
“You didn’t even manage the pull ups the first time.” The Sunshiner commented. Asher turned a glare on his friend, but didn’t have the time to retort before someone up at the front started shouting commands and they started to run.
It was mind numbing to just run for so long, but Dan’s interest was caught by one of the Sunshiners at the front that he thought he almost recognized, but it wasn’t Tirun or Keagan…
It was Farrin. Farrin Graydim, the prince of Verglas. The man who was married to the Snow Queen, who was quite possibly the most dangerous man in their whole country. Asher had referred to him as having once been a Sunshiner, but somehow it hadn’t connected that the man might choose to exercise with them. Ugh. Dan was going to toss Asher into Lake Sno for neglecting to warn him about this little fact.
For now, though… The running finally came to a stop and the gladiators dropped into an over-enthusiastic version of pushups. Dan didn’t try for the extra height, and tried to match Asher’s slower pace rather than trying to keep up with the gladiators. He figured he’d make it farther if he followed his brother’s example than otherwise. After all, Asher knew the usual routine of these exercises and wasn’t yet up to gladiator standards.
The Sunshiner version of pullups was intimidating, but Dan took a shot at it anyway.
“Dan, don’t!” Asher hissed at him as he struggled to figure out how to adjust his grip mid lift to get the upper half of his body higher than the bar. “Stick with normal pullups for now. I only started doing a full muscle-up a couple weeks ago. I can show you the wrist thing later.”
Dan considered ignoring his younger brother. Asher had no idea what his limits were. He was already getting close to making it farther than Asher had, supposedly. But he decided against it after a moment. If he got this wrong he could seriously injure his wrists or fall and hurt something else.
A couple minutes more and Dan’s arms burned. He let himself rest for a few moments, knowing if he kept pushing he might start to get sick but hoping a bit of a pause would let him get a second wind and make it to the end.
He rejoined when they moved on to the next exercise, setting his own pace but determined not to call it quits yet. He fell into a state where he was only minimally aware of his surroundings. There was just enough left of him awake to notice when they changed what they were doing and to try to imitate the others. He was grateful he hadn’t had time to eat more than he had. It would have weighed heavily in his stomach and made it much more likely that he’d be sick. He’d have to be careful not to drink too much water too quickly after.
Finally, what felt like years afterward, they stopped. Dan waited as they began to move freely, half expecting one more round of some exercise he’d never seen before. But no, Asher was looking at him with the biggest of grins. Dan rallied himself enough to scowl halfheartedly at his brother as the Sunshiner leader approached.
“I don’t think we’ve met.” The man stated. “I’m Woqhine.”
Dan automatically took the offered hand, but his mind was blanking on what his own name was.
“This is my brother, Dan.” Asher supplied helpfully. Then, half disbelieving, “He made it all the way through.”
“I’m not sure he did.” Woqhine commented dryly. “You alright, soldier?”
Dan blinked and shook his head, trying to force himself awake. “Yessir.” The words slurred together, but he straightened into a military posture.
“At ease, soldier.” Woqhine reached out to slap Dan on the shoulder. “Do you have time to take care of him? He looks pretty out of it.” He asked Asher.
“He’s got the rest of the day off, and I’ve got time to get him home.” Having the day off was one of the only reasons Dan had been willing to come today. It wouldn’t interfere with his normal work. But then again, the stiffness and ache that would set in later probably wouldn’t completely go away for a couple of days, so it still might. He hadn’t realized quite how intense this would be.
Asher took Dan’s arm and slung it over his shoulder, and Dan glared at his little brother. “I’m not quite that far gone.” He tried to say, but he sounded pretty bad even to himself.
Woqhine grinned. “I like this one. Bring him back if you can.”
“You don’t mind that we keep infiltrating your calisthenics?” Asher asked, a trifle sheepishly.
“Not as long as it doesn’t cause problems. It builds some camaraderie, and it helps us get used to you and you to get used to us. The less of a divide between us and the non-mages, the smoother it will be to continue to live side by side and the easier it will be for us to see each other as equals and accept others.” Woqhine answered, then shrugged. “At least, I think that’s Farrin’s reasoning. Mine is more that it’s mildly entertaining. And it’s not a bad thing if more of the guards and army get more intense training if they’re that soft.”
“We’re not soft!” Asher protested. “You guys are just crazy.”
“Sure, if that makes you feel better. But Sarthe’s whole army is as crazy as we are.” Woqhine told him, a grim note entering his voice and twisting his expression darker. There was something in there, some worry or foreboding…
Ugh. Dan was too out of it to try to read into what the Sunshiner was saying. But Asher’s expression mirrored Woqhine’s and he fell silent. Dan waited, then remembered that he wasn’t a Sunshiner. This wasn’t his captain, these exercises had been voluntary, and he didn’t have to stay.
“I’m going home.” He announced. His bed sounded like the best thing in the world right now. If he could manage to climb the ladder up to it. If not, well, the floor next to the fire would do. But he wouldn’t just collapse on the stone outside.
“Good idea.” Asher agreed, turning with Dan then struggling to keep him upright when Dan stumbled over… there had to have been something there. He just wasn’t seeing it.
“Tirun!” Asher begged, and a moment later the younger Sunshiner had Dan’s other arm and was supporting him.
“I’m alright.” Dan protested, but the two boys ignored his words in favor of half dragging him off the training ground faster than his limbs wanted to go.
“Why did you even come?” Tirun muttered. “You hate mages.”
Dan recoiled from the statement, and from the boy a bit. “I don’t hate mages.” He protested, drawing attention from Asher, who hadn’t quite heard the words. “I just… I don’t know how… or what… I’m supposed to do with them.”
“Try treating them like everyone else.” Asher replied. “They really don’t play with their magic all that much except for practice. I almost never see them use it when they’re not sparring.”
Dan didn’t have an answer for that. The discomfort he felt around them was difficult to hide, and he wasn’t all that sure that exposure would help. But… he had just gotten through a loooooonnng training session with a bunch of mages. By the end of it, he couldn’t care less what they were capable of. That would come back, though, once he was rested.
He stumbled again, and Tirun caught the bulk of his weight. “Did you have to bring the biggest of your brothers?” He complained to Asher, with a note of joking in his voice. Now that was a bit unfair. Dan was taller than Reuben or Asher, but he was still relatively lean. Reuben was more solidly built. It wouldn’t surprise Dan at all if the oldest of the brothers was the heaviest, unless Asher’s recently added muscle made him outweigh anyone else.
“Couldn’t be helped.” Asher responded. “Reuben’s too busy with his fiance when he’s not on duty or sleeping, and Simon doesn’t work out at all.”
“He might not make it through the running, then.” Tirun observed.
“Probably not. Besides, it’s good for us to get that little bit of extra exercise in.” Dan determined that next time he stumbled it should be in Asher’s direction. Maybe he could even get away with pushing his brother over.
The boys continued to banter for the rest of the way home, at which point Asher shoved Dan inside and watched long enough to see if he fell. Dan glared back at the brother whose insistence had ended with so many aches, but he had managed to keep his feet. He should see if he could dig up some of that muscle rub their mother used to make.
Tirun paused in the doorway, looking a little torn. “Will you be coming back to calisthenics?” He asked Dan.
“No.” He stated.
“Yes.” Asher said at the same time, then they exchanged stubborn looks. “Yes, he will.”
“Why?” Dan asked Tirun instead of arguing.
Tirun shifted. “Just curious.” He said, but eventually capitulated under the gazes of the two brothers. “I guess I want to see if you do change your mind about mages.”
Dan stared at Tirun, and just for a moment he saw him for what he was - a kid he’d first met when he peeled him half dead off the ground, someone who was tired, broken, and short of hope. A kid who was the same age as his little brother, who shouldn’t have had to suffer the many atrocities he’d seen.
Dan found a chair and sat down heavily in it with a tired groan. That ladder up to the loft seemed more challenging by the moment. “I’ll be back.” He promised quietly. He stretched slowly, feeling just how sore everything was going to be and winced. “Maybe not tomorrow, though.” He amended.