A Brother's Bargain

Alec

Alec was anxiously awaiting nightfall. He had to go and see Ruby. He felt like a force outside of him  was drawing him to her and he couldn't explain it. He was just burning inside to go to her. He had felt this way since breakfast, and now that the sun was going down he felt like he was going insane.

There was a knock at his dorm room door. He didn't want any visitors tonight because he had to sneak out. He got up from his desk and opened the door. It was Druid Master Levitt.

"What can I do for you sir?" Alec asked.

"I received a letter from your mother today and I thought we might discuss it's contents this evening," Master Levitt said.

"A letter from my mother? I get them all the time. It doesn't mean I care to discuss them," Alec snapped back.

"No need for rudeness, son. This letter may hold your interest," Master Levitt replied.

Alec was definitely not in the mood to talk about his mother. She had sent him here. He wasn't perfect like his sisters so his parents had sent him away. He didn't really care to hear anything about them. He wanted to see Ruby. She didn't care that he wasn't perfect. She liked him the way he was.

"What does it say then, if it's so important," he sneered, "Sir," he added with clear sarcasm.

"Alec, I am not liking this attitude that I'm getting from you. I know you don't like it that your parents sent you here, but you are excelling in your work here. You are making them very proud. You've been here for over a year and you haven't responded to a single letter from home. You haven't accepted a single pass to visit home. You cannot just forget that you have a family because you are angry. They did not raise you to be that way. They sent you ere for extra help, not because they didn't want you," Master Levitt lectured.

Alec just didn't want to hear it. He didn't have a family in his mind. In his mind they didn't want him so he didn't want them. He didn't want to hear their REASONS for sending him away. They did it and that was the end of it.

"Well, what is so important that you would come to my dorm room? You never come to the dorms," Alec asked.

"Your mother is requesting that you come home. She said she has sent her raven to you on several occasions telling you that it is very important that you return home for a while and spend some time with her and your sisters but you do not reply. Why aren't you answering?" Master Levitt asked.

"No offense, sir, but I don't have any reason to go to them. If it is so important why don't they come to me?" Alec asked.

"Son, I am sending you home. I am not taking no for an answer. You leave out in the morning after breakfast," Master Levitt told him.

Alec was furious. He did not want to go home. He would be across the country from Ruby and he wasn't having it. If they were sending him home after breakfast, he would not be at breakfast. He would leave tonight and stay with Ruby. Surely she would let him.

"Fine, I guess. I don't seem to have a choice in the matter," Alec snapped.

"No, you don't. Be prepared to leave after breakfast," Master Levitt said, turning to leave. "And Alec, you only have one family. That is all you are given. You may think a bit tonight about what you would do without them."

When Master Levitt was gone, Alec did pack a bag. He packed his backpack with the necessities to stay with Ruby. He hoped with all his heart that she wouldn't turn him away.

When Alec first met Ruby, she was in a cave near where the warlocks met. He had been to see her there on several occasions, but the last time he visited her, she told him she was going home. She told him that she had a nice roomy castle now that was all hers. He never questioned how she got the castle, just how to get there. It wasn't far from the Druid school. He knew he had to go through the town of Roderick to get there then up a mountain road. He was sure he could find it fast now that he had a familiar like his sisters and parents.