Duskrunner

When Enchant brought in a skinny, filthy, three-quarters-dead, middle-aged Imperial in the wee hours of the morning, nobody knew why. Enchant dragged Duskrunner by the scruff to the medical bay, where he would lash out and scream incoherently. Luckily for everyone involved, Duskrunner wasn't a trained fighter, and his uncontrollable shaking made him incredibly uncoordinated.

Word got around, eventually. This scrawny, broken wretch was Enchant's brother. When Enchant found him, Duskrunner had been lying broken in a dirty alley. He'd been a weaver, and an extremely successful one, when Enchant left to pursue magical power. But then Duskrunner fell extremely ill after the stress of losing his parents, most of his kids, and his mate, and was too ashamed of his inability to shake it off to reach out for help.

Duskrunner spent his first 3 weeks in Clan AXQU locked up in a jail cell while Millie and her assistants tag-teamed an aggressive treatment program for him. The shaking and hallucinations stopped after a few days. It took weeks of very aggressive magical treatment, and the help of both Columbine and Enchant, to save Duskrunner's liver and kidneys from the disease that was taking them. The clan's medical team did their best to keep Duskrunner comfortable during his treatment, but the treatment was going to suck no matter what they did.

He was fed, and clothed, and clean. He had a warm, comfortable place to lay his head. Duskrunner resented being taken and forced into treatment, resented having his equipment taken away, but in between cursing and snarling he and Enchant managed to exchange a few words. And then a few more. Enchant committed right then and there to help his brother make the right decisions, to bring the disease that was killing him into permanent remission.

Under Enchant's care, Duskrunner slowly gained weight. A dragon was assigned to him at all times to watch for self-destructive behavior, and Duskrunner slowly got to meet the clan. Over time, he went from being a prisoner to being a fully-fledged member of the clan. Nobody quite knew how to react to him; Duskrunner was snappy and hard to approach at first, but crumbled immediately when shown just a little bit of kindness. Or politeness. Or anything but outright hostility.

Enchant had the clan's ridgebacks dig Duskrunner out his own lair, then had it lit and carpeted and furnished. Duskrunner just burst into tears when he saw a place all his own. Enchant even had them carve out a little workshop for him, and furnished it with several looms and lots of different kinds of thread. Slowly but surely, Duskrunner got back into making fabric. It didn't take long for his fabric to meet the tailors' exacting standards.

Ultimately, people treat Duskrunner politely. He has a decent relationship with clan leadership, although he's a bit weird about obeying dragons younger than he is, and a weird (but positive) relationship with his sister-in-law. Duskrunner has a place in Clan AXQU, but he's well aware that's mostly because of Enchant. He's grateful, but nervous, and he thinks too little of himself (after how weak and broken he was before his illness went into remission, and how much he used to hurt those around him) to reach out.

Recently, though, he's found purpose helping others break out of the negative and self-destructive behavior patterns ingrained by the same condition he had, and providing support for others clawing their way up from rock bottom. He is to others what Enchant was to him, with the added bonus of having done it himself, so he knows how hard it is to return to a mostly normal life. If he could gain even a little self confidence, Duskrunner would realize just how strong and brave he is. Everyone can see it but him, especially his brother.