Dear Diary,

It's super weird to be back in class.

I mean, Kidnapping followed by War followed by Plague followed by Villains formerly Lancaster followed by Refugees followed by More Plague and then... class? Like, I get it, I really do. There's a shit ton I need to learn, probably shit that I don't even know I need to know, and some stuff that I would have learned back in ROTC if I hadn't been such a slacker. I need to learn all that, and it's a lot safer learning in a classroom where the worst that happens is some dumb fuck laughs at me or maybe somebody takes a Squadball to the crotch via the mouth than trying to learn while under fire, but... it's still weird.

So after our big day of promotions, followed by our relatively short relaxing day of signing up for classes, Saffron put me to sleep. Mimic dreamt of staring at the sky, looking for Mom. So weird, but somehow I get it more than most of her fucked up oddity.

I woke surrounded by purring loved ones and warmth. Speaking of weird, I used to think it was weird that pretty much anybody with any amount of Bag in them could purr. Now? I'm finding it weird that I don't find it weird. Which is progress? I guess? Fuck it, they're warm and soft and I do it too when I don't think about it, so I'm calling it a win and rolling with it.

Kind of interesting how we've settled in, at least for now. For a while back in our old room Saffron and I would snuggle, then Marie would curl around us and the menace would perch atop somebody, or worm her way in between two of us. Then for a while, after Conrad turned the floor into something more like a bed, Marie and I would bracket Saffron and Isnomi. Because, y'know, little ones in the middle, although I'm not sure how Saffron would react to that. Now, though? Saffron lay facing me, her back to the window, and Marie lay curled around behind my back, her back to the door. Both of them facing me, in the middle.

'Cause right now I'm the vulnerable one.

Such a weird feeling. Not just being the one to be protected, not just having someone who's willing to protect me, but having someone I trust, who I know will do whatever it takes to protect me. Who won't hold it over me afterward, expecting some kind of compensation.

So I lay there for a bit, just enjoying the feeling of being warm and safe and loved.

Eventually Saffron stirred a little, sniffing and tasting the air before smiling at me. "Good morning, Kitten."

"Good morning, love. Ready to get back to class?"

I pressed my forehead to hers. "Honestly? I'll be satisfied if I can stay awake and mostly upright all day."

She heaved a sigh. "That's... not too far from exactly why I wanted us to take this class, love."

I snerked a little bit. "Yeah, we're not really here to learn anything, because we've fixed shit you say can't be fixed, but we could use some free healthcare."

She opened her mouth to reply, only to have Marie snipe her snark with a simple, "Yes."

We all laughed at that, even Isnomi, who woke up to laugh along with us. Hell, she'd probably been awake and just lying there taking advantage of the whole, 'nobody expects me to do shit, so I'm gonna stay asleep longer' part of being a little kid. Lucky menace.

"Okay then. You guys get out of bed and start getting ready, I'll see how quick I can get myself upright."

Saffron frowned, even as Marie rolled off the bed and Isnomi leapt straight off the end, landing in her room next to the armoire. "Are you sure, love?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I gotta get back on my own two feet eventually, and doing it here and now, where we've padded everything to a fare-thee-well to make it safe for little miss self-destruction seems like the best time and place. Just in case I, y'know, faceplant."

"Okay, love." She leaned back and kissed me on the forehead, then rolled off her side of the bed. Before heading to the other room and the armoire, she picked my cane off of the chair where somebody'd hung it and tossed it next to me.

"Thanks." I grabbed it, then followed Marie and Saffron's example, rolling myself over to the edge of the bed, then using my cane for leverage I twisted to get my feet over the edge. After that it was just a matter of scooching forward until I got my ass to the edge of the bed, at which point I kind of tipped myself upright. Which my back did not like, but after the amount of pain I'd put up with on the regular, it was kind of weaksauce. More a 'fuck you, Tabitha' than an 'I quit', so I managed to get myself upright, then hobbled toward the door to Isnomi's room. Shuffled, really, keeping my feet under me, one hand on the bed and one hand on my cane. Not happy making, but I was, in fact, self-mobile, for a broad enough definition of self-mobile.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Of course, just when I got to the doorway, I met Saffron going the other way, with Marie behind her. My wife put her hands under my armpits, lifted me, and set my ass back on the foot of the bed. "Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?" I groused, mostly on autopilot while I stared at the way her lifting me did interesting things to her shape even fully dressed.

"Of course not. You've shown yourself fully capable of getting up and moving yourself around. Now, since I'm sure you need food whether you're hungry or not, and we're on a schedule because of that, we'll be dressing you."

"Yes, ma'am." What the fuck else was I supposed to say to the Imperator, especially when she had a seven foot tall tiger woman for backup?

The two of them were surprisingly coordinated, and unsurprisingly gentle with me. The part of me that still wondered about trusting them to take care of me had no idea what to make of that, but most of me was boggled by the fact that Isnomi wound up tying my shirt, what with being the one who could stand on the bed and not have their shins near my head. I mean, she actually had to kneel down to do it, because her standing on the bed put her head level with mine now when I sat on it, which was weird as fuck, but she did it. Which, also, weird as fuck. I mean, I remember when 'not shitting herself for a week' was a challenge that took two tries to accomplish, and now here she is helping dress me.

So fuckin' weird. But then, life is change, right?

So once they had me dressed to their satisfaction, Saffron held out a hand to me. I scooped up my cane with my left, then took her hand with my right. Before I could even really start pushing myself upright, or letting her pull me, the menace put her hands on my shoulders and shoved. Which wasn't pleasant, but it got me upright, and I couldn't fault her intentions. Without turning around, I said, "what, no piggy back ride?"

Of course she took that as an invitation, and a moment later she landed glomped to the back of my head, one leg on either side of my neck. Thankfully between my cane and Saffron, I didn't pitch forward far enough to faceplant. Saffron shot Isnomi a Mom Look and said, "my girl, Momma is injured. Hurt. You need to be careful."

The menace reached around to put one gentle hand on each of my cheeks, then lay the side of her face on my head. "Mama tuff. She ga dis." Then, low enough I could tell she didn't think Saffron and Marie could hear, she whispered, "sowwy Mama."

"No worries, Menace. Just give me a little warning first. I gotta brace myself, 'cause my balance is for shit right now."

Saffron gave me a worried look. "Are you dizzy?"

I shook my head the tiniest bit. "Nah. Just... shit I'd normally do to stay upright? Hurts like a motherfucker."

Isnomi whispered, "Mama gwounded."

When I snorted out a laugh at that, Saffron turned to Marie and said, "could you please escort Tabitha and I to class after breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. Well then," she lay one hand on Marie's arm, and stepped us both down to the Dining Hall. We were early, but for once the Maids didn't give us any dirty looks. Then again, I suspect any impulses to aim dirty looks in our direction were completely overwhelmed by seldom used things like 'survival instinct', what with Marie standing there right next to us, helping me get seated. Marie herself brought over one of the few trays of jalapeno scrapple, and one each of the many trays of spicy eggs and sausage. I started eating the moment she laid them in front of me, and while I kept at it as long as they let me, I only managed to put away maybe three trays of eggs. No problem with my stomach, or even my mouth, but my hands? Did not want to hand without complaints.

Who knew that spending a month with one arm self-destructing on a second-by-second basis would actually provide me with a useful skill? Okay, I'm not sure if it was a Skill skill, and even now I still felt kind of like I'd been wimping out, but if I tried to be objective about it, I figured my pain tolerance wasn't half bad.

When we finished eating, Marie came back over and the four of us walked, step by step, up to the fourth floor classroom where the Advanced Healing Studies class met. It took way longer than I want to admit, and even then Marie wound up carrying me up the third and fourth flights of stairs. We got to class kinda late, as Doc DeLeon was introducing the guest lecturers from the Healer's University across the river. "This is Doctor Zeccardi and his partner Doctor Glass. Doctor Glass specializes in healing of the Brain, the Mind, and the Soul. Doctor Zeccardi specializes in healing of Traumatic Injuries."

I looked at the pair he'd introduced, both of whom wore formal white robes that looked like some kind of hybrid between a lab jacket and the kind of robes most of the faculty wore. I couldn't help it; a tiny snort escaped me. I swear, it's not my fault, but... Doctor Glass was a tall, skinny guy, his robes pristine and perfect, his hair neat and short, if not really 'close cropped'. Doctor Zeccardi? Short. Stocky, in that way that makes you think 'fat' even though he's not, really. His formal robes looked a little like he'd gotten Isnomi to dress him, and his hair sure as fuck did. Even with the 'white robes' thing going on? I swear to fuckin' god these two couldn't have looked more like 'Bert and Ernie' without, y'know, actually being muppets.

The two of them looked over at me, Doctor Glass with a controlled, friendly look that I associated with the head shrinks I'd been to, Doctor Zeccardi with a joyful smile of somebody who loved life and everything in it. Zeccardi said, "actually, my original specialty was pediatrics, but there's quite a lot of overlap with trauma." He held out his hands, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me. The menace squirmed.

"Go on, Menace." She scrambled up until she stood on my shoulders, and then took a flying squirrel leap at the friendly faced Doctor.

He caught her, his smile never wavering. "And what's your name?"

She looked at him, carefully enunciating for the first time in her life. "Is-no-mi. Isnomi Aetos Diaz."

Holy shit. If this guy could actually get the Menace to do that? Maybe I could learn something here after all.