Rynu sat outside of the large door in the huge tower in The Keep. Pheona sat next to him, looking at him in concern.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked, seeing his eyes still red from crying.
"Yeah." He said, his voice raspy. "I think so." He looked away, not liking anyone to see how much he had been crying over the last week. When he had woken up he had cried over his mother until he fell asleep, only waking up when Raoul and Pheona had found him on the floor.
"You used a lot of magic. Dad was worried." Pheona said softly, not really knowing what to say.
"I was angry." Rynu said, looking over at his cousin. "How long did I sleep?"
Pheona paused for a minute to think. "Two days, I think. We couldn't even wake you up." She looked away uneasily. "I'm glad you got him, though. He deserved it."
Rynu nodded, looking down. He should probably feel bad that he had killed his father, but… he didn't. In fact, he felt a little happy about it, and that in turn made him feel guilty. He shouldn't feel happy that he had killed the man who had made him.
"I hope Thane lets you learn to be a magi, though. Maybe we can even have the same mentor!" Pheona grinned. "I don't know what element I'll specialize in yet, but you have a knack for earth magic."
Rynu smiled weakly at his cousin, knowing by her chatter she was trying to cheer him up. He looked up when Raoul and Thane came out of the room, standing quickly with Pheona to hear their decision.
"I am sorry for your loss, young one. You may learn to be a magi, and Raoul has agreed to let you stay at Avalon until you can live on your own. May your fate turn for the better." Thane put a hand on Rynu's head in consolation and walked down the hall to attend to his other duties.
"That means you and I will be living together!" Pheona cheered happily. "We can hang out whenever we want!"
Rynu chuckled to his cousin, knocking her on the arm playfully. "Not all the time though, okay?" He muttered, looking up to Raoul uneasily. The man smiled down and kneeled so that he was eye level with Rynu.
"I know this will be strange for you at first, but I hope you learn to call Avalon your new home. You're always welcome with us." Raoul said softly, hugging Rynu tightly. "Your mother would be proud of you- you stood up for yourself."
Rynu couldn't stop the tears that burned at his eyes, making him bury his face in Raoul's red and golden robes. "Thank you." He said, muffled against the robe.
"No problem, kiddo. Let's go home." Raoul stood back up, taking Rynu and Pheona's hands in his own and walking down the hallway back to Avalon.
"This is awesome- look at the size of that hoof print!" Pheona looked down at the tracks in the ground at Avalon, pointing toward a particularly loud hoof print.
"This one's odd." Rynu pointed to a curving line in the dirt. "What is it?"
"It looks like a snake or something. They can be poisonous, so I wouldn't follow that one." Pheona looked over at the track uneasily.
Rynu stared at the track for a minute and sighed, standing up and looking over toward the keep. "We should probably head back." He sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. This summer was so dry and hot, his black hair seemed to absorb all the heat from around him.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty hot." Pheona sighed, standing back up. "Let's head back."
The two young magi turned around, stopping in their tracks when a man ran into the clearing, panting for breath. Pheona and Rynu glanced at each other, not recognizing him at all. He wore strange robes that told he wasn't a magi of any sort.
"Do you two know where the nearest settlement is?" The man panted, glancing at the children.
"Ah, Synara is probably the clostest city, but my dad's keep is that way." Pheona pointed toward Avalon, making Rynu stared at her in shock.
"Don't tell him where Avalon is, we don't even know who he is." Rynu whispered to Pheona in disbelief. How could she be so trusting?
"Thank you." The man said, heading toward Avalon with a quick pace. Pheona and Rynu watched after him, looking at each other uneasily before walking after him.
Pheona and Rynu walked over to the keep, avoiding a few animals as they flew past to get away from the stranger. Pheona ran over to her father, stopping when he saw him talking to the stranger.
"I appreciate the offer. Thank you." The stranger said, their voice sighing with relief.
"It is no problem. Avalon is big enough to house many people- one more won't hurt." Raoul smiled to the man, who looked down at Pheona and Rynu in interest. The man smiled to them gratefully, taking his pack and walking back toward the large cabin in the middle of the keep.
"Who is he, dad?" Pheona watched the man as he walked into the cabin, shutting the door behind him.
"He's a sorcerer." Raoul said, still surprised himself. "There's not many of them left, you know."
Pheona's eyebrows raised in interest. "What's a sorcerer?"
"Socerers are people with much more magic than a magi." Raoul explained. "They can transform themselves and others into anything they want- even unicorns."
"I love unicorns." Pheona said whistfully. "Do you think I can have my own someday?"
"Yeah right." Rynu snickered. "Unicorns are super rare, and don't come anywhere near magi."
Pheona pouted and sighed, knowing Rynu was right. She should probably settle with phoenix, like her dad.
"Now now, no need for the long face. Maybe someday a unicorn will come to you and you can be friends." Raoul patted his daughter on the head and started walking over to the phoenix to get them settled down.
Rynu rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah well, I want a basilisk, but that'll never happen."
Pheona snickered as well. "Maybe it'll turn you to stone and you'll be a statue in someone's garden!" She laughed teasingly and ran over to the cabin, Rynu chasing after her.
Rynu found the stranger reading a book in the main room of the cabin, his silver and purple robes glinting against the sun shining through the window. He was too wrapped up in his book to realize Rynu was walking into the room, sneaking past him to glance over his shoulder at the book. The pages showed hundreds of runes of some sort- intricate lines that made his head dizzy as he looked at them.
"Well aren't you the curious one?" The sorcerer laughed as he noticed the boy looking over his shoulder.
"I've never seen a sorcerer before." Rynu said with a blush when he was caught.
"Well then, now you have." The man said, looking out the window uneasily before continuing. "Though you might not want to meet another."
Rynu tilted his head in confusion as the man laughed, ruffling Rynu's black hair playfully. "Not everyone is nice, kid. Especially sorcerers. A lot of us are right bastards that deserve to be killed in the worst way possible."
Rynu blinked in confusion. "What about you?"
The sorcerer looked down at him and smiled sadly. "Especially me."
Rynu watched him in confusion as he sighed and started reading again. "Run along, kid. I need to figure this spell out as soon as possible."
Rynu glared at the man at being brushed off like that and walked out of the room in frustration.