Chapter 16

Bracken had been home from Malchag for two weeks.  Already he was in a rut. His parents, Tizra, the weather, all seemed boring and empty.

Lisha and Silas were not as excited about his adventure as he'd hoped they'd be.  After much debate, he had finally convinced them to at least go with him as far as Accad.  From there, he was sure they would see things differently.  The Community would have a positive effect on them.  Everything would be fine once they all got out of Tizra. Getting out, though, wasn't that easy. His parents were seeing to that.

"You're what!" Kreswen snapped angrily at his insistent son.  They stood together in the central room of their comfortable dwelling.  Myrus sat in the comer, pretending to read.   Outside the sun was setting near the eastern hills.

Bracken stood firmly in place, his lips knitted defiantly together.  "That's right, Father," replied Bracken defensively.  "I'm not going to go to the Separation Day meetings anymore."

Kreswen was finding it hard to control his displeasure at his son's attitude.  "Don't tell me that, young man! It's enough that you've been gone for days without letting us know where you were, and then the way you embarrassed us yesterday by leaving the Gathering.  I don't want to hear that kind of talk this evening."

"Please, Bracken," injected Myrus, her brow wrinkling slightly.  "Your father's right, it was embarrassing.  Now please don't make matters worse by being this way."   Myrus rose and walked over to her son, resting a motherly hand upon his arm.

Bracken's tone softened slightly under his mother's touch.   "I'm sorry, Mother! But I've made up my mind.  There's just nothing here for me anymore.  I'm beginning to look at things a little differently."  Bracken's patience was running out.  He felt like his mother's affection was suffocating him.  He looked at the worn Volume laying where she had left it in the chair.  "For instance, that silly book you read all the time.  Don't you see there's more to life than those dead, old sayings you treasure so much."  Bracken broke off suddenly, thinking before he made his next statement.

Kreswen gradually brought his anger under control.  Hurt and still confused by Bracken's behavior, but trying to understand, he looked at Bracken and spoke more softly.  "I just can't understand why you're acting this way, son.  I could possibly understand your point if going there wasn't so important.  But like your mother always says, the writings of the Volume have more than temporary value."

The note of gentle concern in Kreswen's voice made it all the harder for Bracken to respond.  "I know all those things, Father.  I simply don't believe them anymore.  Sometimes, I'm not too sure you do yourself," he added harshly.

"You know better than to talk to your father like that," interrupted Myrus, taking her hand from his arm.   "Now I want you to apologize for your attitude."  The tenseness in the atmosphere began to build again.

Bracken's rebellion solidified.  "I can't, Mother.  That's the way I honestly feel and I'm not going to change.  In fact, there's something more I've got to tell you."   The youth hesitated, looking at these two people he both loved and hated; Kreswen, with his unyielding but fatherly way, and Myrus, who cared too much sometimes.   Stress had drawn a grim picture on their normally pleasant faces. "I'm leaving Tizra tonight," announced Bracken abruptly.

Perhaps it was the complete surprise with which the statement came forth, but whatever the reason, the room grew strangely still.  It was quiet for a moment and then Kreswen spoke.  "Where are you going, Bracken?"

"To Accad, Father.   Silas and Lisha are going with me.  We'll find friends there."

Realizing the lad's determination, his father resigned himself to use a more gentle approach.   "You're of age now and we can't stop you," Kreswen's face was more relaxed but still showing concern.  "You'll have to leave your trans-rig here with us though, until you've paid off your part of it."

His father had used his final option, hoping to discourage his son.  Momentarily, this left Bracken helpless, but his frustration quickly turned to resentment.  Angrily, he pushed by his parents and with a sense of resignation, ran to his room, collecting the things he had packed earlier.  Ditten and Kempec stood in the doorway of their bedchambers somewhat stunned by what they had overheard, but aware that it was the inevitable result of what they had seen growing in their brother for some time.

Bracken only nodded a goodbye as he passed them, heading for the front door.  His rage had reached the boiling point as he grabbed the entry latch.  "All I can say," growled Bracken, as he pulled the door open, "is that it doesn't matter to me if I ever see either of you again."  With that, he angrily stomped out.

Kreswen and Myrus slowly came to the threshold and watched as their eldest son's form moved quickly out of sight down the tree lined street.  Above them, the sun had spattered bits of gold and purple on the high clouds in the evening sky.

Bracken felt a sense of exhilaration as he walked away.  He was on his own at last. He could walk his own road now, a road which was soon to turn in a way he'd never been before, a path that led into the unknown and to another world.