Cassis got ready for the online lessons in a good mood.

His mana training was coming along steadily. He hadn't been able to push his pattern further or improve his mana control just yet, but his mana saturation had risen by one percent to 58%. That might not sound like much, especially compared to Arianna's insane progress, but to him, it was a big deal. One percent in a single afternoon of meditation? That would've been unthinkable in the other timeline.

And the morning had been great, too.

While Arianna had trained with her mace, he'd practised with a simple dagger she had bought for him from the Patron Shop. Thanks to his Weapon Master ability from his Instructor profession, he could now wield all weapons and even gain skills with them. A dagger was similar enough to a knife, so he'd started there, just to see if the sword skills he had learned would transfer.

They did. Even his spell Fire Blade had worked with the dagger. That had been a fun surprise. He smiled at the memory. Tomorrow, he'd try out different weapons, maybe even Arianna's mace or a staff. If he felt like pushing his limits, he might try a bow. It couldn't hurt to know how to shoot.

But for now, they had work to do. Janice came over for her part-time job. Everything had gone well at their house. Her uncle hadn't been in sight and the children had brought many things with them, like clothes, toys, and gadgets. That was one less problem to worry about. Cassis and Arianna were a bit surprised when Janice came with her siblings and the group of neighbourhood children in tow. And with the children, more precisely, with Felicia, came the foxes. Janice apologised and explained that they all wanted to watch the lesson and train afterwards.

Cassis couldn't help but laugh. If he'd seen that kind of enthusiasm and motivation during his time as an actual teacher, he would've been delighted. He and Arianna agreed, but made the rules clear: the children (and the fox) had to stay quiet during the session. They could train during it, but questions would have to wait until the end.

Everyone agreed. And so they gave a double session. It went well: smooth, energetic, focused. And afterwards, they took care of the children, answering their endless stream of questions amid bursts of laughter and excited chatter. This was the kind of teaching that reminded him why he'd become a teacher in the first place. He liked helping people understand problems, seeing them succeed at something they hadn't been able to do before. He loved that spark in children and teens, the confidence and pride that came after hard work finally paid off.

And this was no different. Teaching kids and teens was just so much more rewarding than teaching adults. Apparently, the system agreed with him. He gained three levels in his Instructor profession during the session. Arianna got five in her Mentor profession.

Though Arianna's progress might've had something to do with the damn fox. She'd apparently been learning about mana control from watching Arianna, and now she was getting better and better at it with Arianna's explanations and guidance. He glanced over at Arianna, who shot him a wide grin.

She knew he was still uncomfortable with the fox. She was strong enough already. Why were they making her stronger? Still… he realised he was probably just being paranoid. The fox had been living with them for a few days now, and nothing bad had happened. Yesterday, she'd even approved of his actions, licking his hand and then snorting in a very deliberate way. And yeah, it was probably insane that he could read her intentions from just that. But he could.

The next day, they also did some physical training in the morning. Cassis had gone over to his parents' house and borrowed his dad's staff. There was no point in Arianna wasting CP if he could just borrow equipment. After some sparring and drills, he actually managed to get the Bludgeon skill at Basic rank.

At lunch, they headed to his parents' house to return the staff. Liam and Camden were there too. His mother, true to form, had made way too much food and insisted on feeding everyone. She told them she'd also sent some over to Helen's house, since she knew Helen wasn't exactly a great cook. Apparently, Samuel was at least competent in the kitchen, though both had been grateful for the extra help.

She had originally wanted everyone to eat together, but none of the houses had a big enough space for that many people to sit down. That sparked an idea in Cassis: if they were building a community, it might be a good time to establish an actual community building. He'd have to talk to Samuel about it, since he technically owned two-thirds of the neighbourhood. Cassis wanted to talk to him anyway about his motives, his intentions, and especially his intentions toward his aunt.

But before he could get too deep into scheming, his mother told him about her own plan: she and his father were organising a neighbourhood meeting. They wanted to reach out to their neighbours, the ones who had been staying here and keeping to themselves, unsure if this peace was real or if everything had just been a bad dream. Cassis knew they had to do it, but it felt… peripheral. There were more urgent things right now.

His father must've sensed his hesitation, because he waved him off. "You and Arianna don't need to be there," he said. "We'll take care of it. Most of them are older anyway. They'll be more comfortable hearing our plans from us."

Cassis was relieved. That really helped. One less thing on his list.

When they were finished eating, Camden and Liam asked if they could come over for training. Camden wanted to spar; Liam needed to work on his mana control. Cassis was always up for a spar, so they went to Camden's garden, giving Liam and Arianna more space to train undisturbed.

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Then it was on.

Camden fought aggressively, using his sword and the big shield he'd fought with at Belaney National Park. Cassis had only his sword since a shield usually just got in his way though he did try fighting with a dagger in his off-hand, hoping to trigger some kind of dual wielding skill. He didn't know if it would be useful, but he was competent enough to hold his own even with the unfamiliar style.

They went back and forth for a while, small injuries accumulating as they were using real weapons and Arianna wasn't there to heal them. When he had first met Camden, Cassis never could've imagined sparring with him for fun. But here they were.

And Cassis was having fun.

Not as much as with Helen, who was a genuine expert with her weapon or Arianna, whose chaotic style constantly kept him guessing. But this was solid. Camden was bigger than him, which changed how he moved. He was also a lot more aggressive, more unrestrained in how he fought.

Cassis couldn't exactly say this out loud in front of the ladies, but… men did fight differently. Not necessarily better, just different. And it felt good to fight like that again. He also didn't mind injuring Camden as much as he did with his girlfriend or his aunt.

When the two of them were sufficiently beat up, meaning Camden was a complete mess and Cassis had at least worked up a sweat and a few shallow cuts, they called it a day.

They sat next to each other in comfortable silence, drinking water.

Cassis knew it wasn't really his business, but Camden wasn't acting like himself. And Cassis had to look out for Liam, too. So he asked, quietly, "What happened that made you need this? What made you so mad?"

Camden sighed and stood up. "If we're going to talk about that, I'll need a beer. You want one?"

Cassis nodded. When was the last time he drank alcohol? Not since his regression, he realized and not for a long time before that, either. The other timeline had been too dangerous. He'd needed to stay sharp. So drinking now felt like a luxury. But why not?

Camden returned a moment later with two bottles. He handed one over and sat down beside Cassis without meeting his eyes. Cassis stared off into the trees surrounding the garden. It was quite spacious and had served well for their sparring session.

He quietly waited for Camden to talk. This couldn't be easy for him. Such a strong emotional reaction usually meant that something had happened in his past.

"What happened to those children... hit close to home," Camden began. "You know I work for Justice for Children. That's not just some job. I'm familiar with these situations where the system fails, where guardians harm instead of protect. I've seen it too many times. And every time, I get angry. Not because I'm some great guy or whatever, but because... because my own father was just like Janice's uncle."

Cassis grimaced. That couldn't have been easy to say out loud.

Camden continued. "He used to beat me. And my mother. When I was little, I thought that was normal. Then I grew up a bit and realised how wrong it was. I was a big kid, tall, strong, even at twelve. That's when he stopped hitting me. I think he got scared I'd hit back. But he kept taking it out on my mom. Usually, when I wasn't around, otherwise I'd have hit him back. The only reason I didn't do that anyway was that my mom told me not to."

His voice tightened.

"I begged her to leave. I planned ways for us to run. But she never did. She'd cry, beg, bleed... and still stay. No matter what I said."

He took a swig from his beer. Cassis did the same.

"Now I get it," Camden said. "She couldn't leave. He controlled everything. She had no money, no bank account. No job, because he didn't allow it. Just a high school diploma, no work experience. She'd had me young and stayed home ever since. And she had no one else. She'd eloped with him, cut ties with her family. My grandfather never approved of him. And she didn't have any friends. He made sure of that."

His eyes were distant as he took another sip from his beer. But his voice stayed quiet, not betraying the storm of emotions that had to be raging inside. Cassis understood. Talking about these things didn't make them better, no matter what Arianna believed. Talking meant feeling these things again, living through these situations again. It never got easier; you just got better at handling the talking.

"So the abuse continued. When I was fourteen, I snapped. I attacked him when I saw him beating on her again."

From the corner of his eye, Cassis saw Camden's jaw tighten.

"I almost killed him."

Silence. Cassis approved. Too bad he hadn't finished the job. Though that had been better for Camden. He'd have gone to jail for murder if his father hadn't survived.

"That's when the police finally got involved. And when my grandfather, who didn't even know I existed, found us. He had friends on the force, and when my mom's name entered the system, he tracked her down. He took us in. Gave us a real home. A good life. Showed me how a good man behaved."

Camden took a long breath.

"The charges against me were dropped. Probably a favour to my grandfather. He's a powerful man. Wealthy. He'd already founded Justice for Children by then and had connections everywhere."

Cassis closed his eyes, sadness welling up. He could already guess where this was going since Camden was still continuing the story. In the real world, there were rarely happy endings.

"Half a year later," Camden said flatly, "she went back to my father."

Cassis gripped his beer tighter and took another drink.

"He killed her. Then himself."

Camden had finished his beer. He stared at the empty bottle for a long time.

They sat in silence.

Then, quietly, he said, "So yeah. You can understand why violence against women and children brings me back to a bad place."

Cassis nodded slowly. He hesitated for a few moments, then told Camden. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Thanks," Camden said. "I don't need pity. But I need you to know... that's why I was suspicious of you, back then."

Cassis grimaced. He remembered that. He'd lost control of his rage. It had looked bad. It had been bad. Camden would be dead if Arianna hadn't stepped in. Cassis would actually not be as at ease as he was now if she hadn't promised him to stop him from becoming consumed by his rage, no matter what. And she was capable of doing that, of stopping him. Maybe even of killing him.

"Yeah," he said. "I get it. I would've been, too." He still was suspicious of himself, after all.

Camden looked at him then. His expression was serious, but not as full of grief as before.

"But that's also why I'm telling you this now. You're not like them. And I'm sorry I thought you were."

That surprised Cassis more than he expected. The relief hit deep, sudden and sharp. Cassis sometimes thought of himself as having a rage monster living inside him. Most of the time, he was successful in keeping it hidden, but sometimes it broke out. He'd been afraid that the rage was the real him, and the good man he tried to be just a façade. But Camden, who knew about such monsters, was telling him he wasn't one of them.

"Don't be sorry," he said. "Those monsters... they look like us. They hide among us. They make it hard for women and kids to trust any man. Because it's not obvious who's a danger and who's not. So yeah, we have to be on guard. We have to look out for the people we love."

Camden nodded firmly. "That we do."

And with that, they reached a quiet understanding.

A consensus.

They would work together to protect the ones who mattered.

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