QUOTE : May I?” asked Amar.<br />I nodded. With a small knife, Amar deftly clipped a number of strands. Quickly, he twirled them into a bracelet and slipped it onto his wrist. There was another bracelet on his hand that I had not noticed until now. A simple strap of black leather tied into an elegant knot.<br />“Thank you for this,” he said, pulling his sleeve over the other strap.<br />“It’s nothing,” I said, trying for lightness.<br />“And yet I would trade everything for it,” he said. There was no tease in his voice. Nothing but a strange straightforwardness, like he’d never said anything more honest in his entire life.<br />“Then you must be relieved I gave it willingly.”<br />“Astounded,” he murmured, still tracing the circlet. He looked at me and something light fluttered in my stomach. “Not relieved. Relief is when you want something to stop.”<br />A small light floated between us, only to vanish in an instant.<br />“What are those?”<br />Amar followed my gaze. “Wishes.”<br />My eyes widened. “They <i>grant</i> wishes?”<br />“Sadly, no. They’re wishes already made.”<br />“Of what?”<br />“Or who?” countered Amar.<br />“Is this another secret the moon keeps from me?”<br />“No,” said Amar with a grin. “It is a secret that <i>I</i> choose to keep from you.