"No, that's not an 'n'." Pheona sighed in frustration.
"Well then what the hell is it?" Rynu looked down at the letters he had drawn in frustration.
"It's an M- there are two bumps instead of one- so it's an M, not an N." Pheona sighed.
"Who made them so similar? That's stupid." Rynu growled in frustration, looking down at the letters in front of him. It had been a few weeks since Marina had given him the book- and he wanted to learn how to read it.
"I don't know who made it, but you have to learn letters first before anything else." Pheona sighed. They had been doing this for hours now- she was starting to get tired.
Rynu looked down at the chalkboard in front of him, a dark glare on his face.
"Don't look at the board like that, you'll break it." Pheona rolled her eyes. "Let's take a break for a while. We're both tired."
Rynu nodded and stood, stretching his arms with a groan. "How have your studies at the Keep going? Aren't you almost done?" Rynu glanced down at Pheona mid-stretch.
"Yeah, almost. I still have a few more months left of lessons. Hey Rynu, I was wondering… how would you feel if I rebuilt Avalon?" Pheona looked up at him to see his reaction.
Rynu glanced down at her in surprise. "Rebuild- like, exactly how it used to be?" He asked.
"Yeah- the cabin, work on some of the brush that's grown over the garden now." Pheona said wistfully. They had visited Avalon a while back- the forest was starting to take back the ruins of the burned cabin that stood in the middle of the keep. Most of the creatures had remained there, not really knowing where else to go.
"I'd like that- Avalon needs to have creatures there again. Are you thinking of taking it over?" Rynu asked, smiling softly at the memories from Avalon.
"I was thinking about it, yeah. I didn't like seeing all those creatures there alone with no magi to take care of them. They looked so lost."
Rynu nodded, smiling over to Pheona. "Go for it- it'll be good to be able to visit Avalon again."

Rynu was moving more hay into the stall of one of the elks when he heard something behind him. He turned around, looking in confusion when he saw nothing there. He shrugged and continued his work, setting the hay down in the stall before turning back around to see a man in the doorway of the stable, smiling.
"Hello, Rynu. Haven't seen you in a while." The man sneered. "My how you've grown."
Rynu's eyes narrowed as he looked at Carlile, gritting his teeth in anger. He knew this day would come- but he had hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
"The house of a stable keeper, hmm? Interesting place to live. That magi I saw earlier must be related to you." Carlile's smile widened. "She's very pretty."
Rynu let out a low growl of warning. "Stay away from her."
"Oh, protective are we? Well I suppose that's a good thing in this case. No one runs from the Brotherhood, Rynu. We've found you- and now you have to come back to us."
"Or what?" Rynu scoffed. There was no way he was going back to that place without a fight.
"Or we'll take that little magi." Carlile smiled. "And we'll do the same thing to her that we did to you."
Rynu froze, his eyes wide. He knew Pheona wouldn't be able to take what he had gone through- she would either go insane, or she would die from it.
"Ah, so you see the deal, then. If you come back to us, your family will live. If you run to save yourself, your family will die."
Rynu looked at the ground as he fought with himself. What if they killed Pheona and Conintor even if he went back? Were they so cruel to do something like that?
He couldn't trust him- he knew that was certain- but he also knew that if he left, they would definitely kill Pheona and Conintor.
He didn't have much of a choice.
"Fine." Rynu said bitterly. "But I have to have a few days first."
"Excellent. Remember what I said, Rynu. If you run…"
"Yeah, I know." Rynu spat, looking up at the man with hatred. Carlile only smiled, turning around and walking back down the street with a happy whistle.

Rynu slammed the door shut behind him, growling in anger at the thought of going back to those people. What a low handed move- threatening his family if he didn't go back…
What was he going to do? He couldn't tell them what happened- Conintor would only try and go fight them, and Pheona would do the same. Damn those two and their tempers.
No, he would have to go back on his own… but make it so they wouldn't follow him.
Rynu walked over and flopped himself down in the big green plush chair in the living room, setting his forehead in his palm as he thought.
He had to make them angry- take out all his frustration on him so that they wouldn't ever want him back. The thought of doing something like that made his chest twist, but he knew it had to be done. Conintor would have to be first- the man cared for Rynu too much to let him go easily. He stood up and walked over to his room to start packing what few possessions he had.

"Rynu? You in here?" Conintor opened the door to Rynu's room to see things scattered all across the floor, Medusa watching him from the bed in confusion. "What are you doing?"
"Packing." Rynu said gruffly, shoving a few more tunics into a large bag, not caring if they were folded or not. He glanced up to Conintor and continued shoving things in the bag.
"Why?" Conintor asked, trying not to sound as hurt as he felt.
"I can't stand it here anymore. I need to leave." Rynu said quickly, pausing for a minute before grabbing a small book and shoving it inside the bag as well.
Conintor watched him for silence for a bit, leaning against the door frame in his shock. "Was there something I said?"
"No- I just can't be here. I'm…" Rynu froze, his shoulders tensing. "I'm sick of being in this house- especially with two guys like that. I just can't deal with it anymore."
Conintor watched the younger man with wide eyes. "You seriously feel that way, after all this time?" He had never said anything…
"Of course! All normal people think that way." Rynu growled in anger before closing the bag, hoisting it over his shoulder. He held out a hand to Medusa on the bed, who cautiously slithered up his arm to rest on his shoulders. He shouldered Conintor aside in the doorway, walking loudly over to the door.
"Rynu wait- we can talk through this." Conintor walked after him.
"No. I don't want to talk. No matter what you say to me, the fact of what you… what you are, will never change." Rynu glared up at Conintor before opening the door and closing it behind him. He paused for a minute outside the door, trying not to let his emotions show before walking down the street, trying not to look back at Conintor as he watched him from the window.