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CASCA He had learned to be a light sleeper. It wasn’t hard, with all of the new smells and strange sounds that would keep anyone awake, but mostly, Casca remembered the terror of separation. Even though he had only been alone a short while after coming through the Portal, the boy did not want to revisit the feeling of panic he’d experienced there in the darkness, the looming sense of dread that everything would not, in fact, be all right. He wasn’t trying to be a baby about it, he just didn’t want to be by himself like that again. And so he noticed when they left. Da was the one to slip away first. The red colt roused, but did not do much more than watch him retreat through his lashes—Da often snuck off like that, but he always came back. Casca was about to return to sleep when he felt Gal stir next to him. Cracking an eyelid, the boy watched with great surprise as his younger brother rose and scampered off into the woods after Da. Now he was awake. His chest burned with indignation—Gal had hardly even spared glance back! What a jerk, the boy thought to himself. No way that Gal was going to have all of the fun and leave him stuck here with Haldir. Keeping a careful eye on the snoozing stag, Casca got to his hooves. Just like Da had showed him, he crept to the edge of the clearing, avoiding any sticks that might snap or leaves that might crunch, and then—then he was off! He could see Gal’s flames burning up ahead, and he trotted after him, remembering to stick to the soft mossy footing that would mute his hoofbeats. His brother hadn’t yet turned around, so he made a game of it as he went along. How sneaky could he be? They went along in this fashion for a ways until the light suddenly stopped moving up ahead. Seizing the opportunity to catch up, Casca put on a final burst of speed and tumbled out of the trees behind Gal. “Hey!” he wheezed in a decidedly loud whisper, “Where’dya think you were going without me? Whatcha doing?” Clearly, he hadn’t mastered the art of subtlety quite yet. "blah blah blah."

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