He was right to be worried. The duke dropped another fireball on them soon after.

“Boy, you shall be headed home at the end of the week. You have worked off the debt your mother incurred, so you can return to her. Someone will be by to collect you then.”

None of them knew what to say to that statement, but once more the duke was ahead of them.

“Well, that’s all I had for you. You’re dismissed.”

The three of them stumbled out like zombies. Their confused, shambling steps took them all the way to Ruth. She took one look at the three of them and immediately plonked them down in a chair with a spread of food in front of them. A wise woman she was indeed. In her experience there was never a problem facing and man or boy that couldn’t be half solved with food. The other half could be solved with strong drink, but she didn’t think the boys were quite ready for that one yet.

When they were ready, she asked what was wrong and got an earful.

They all spoke at once, the words overlapping in such a way that not a one made any sense. She slapped a wooden spoon to the table, missing the way Adam’s eyes lit up, but catching the attention of the other two. She directed a finger at Jay. “You first.”

Eyes huge, he nodded meekly. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Aunty.”

He nodded a bunch more. “Yes, Aunty.”

She ruffled his hair to get him to stop nodding, smiling in amusement at his antics. Even Adam tore his eyes away from the most beautiful thing he had ever seen to smile briefly at the boy. “Go ahead now, dearie.”

“Um, the duke says I go home at the end of the week. My uh… that woman’s debt is paid.”

All of them knew who he was talking about, but let it be. If the boy was too hurt to call her any form of mother that was all right. Surprised or not, Ruth had an immediate answer, something the others had failed to do. “Well, dearie, just because you have to go, doesn’t mean you can’t come back. If there’s ever a problem, you come right on back. We might not be able to put you up in the estate, but we can figure something out to help you. So don’t you worry none.” Jay’s smile was nearly blinding.

Adam and Martin stared at her for, then looked at each other. They could see the same question reflected on the other’s face. That easy? For Martin it was much like he had come to expect. Sometimes a woman just knew better what to say than a man. One woman in particular at that. Adam on the other hand was realizing just how much he still had to learn. Ruth had no children, and yet she handled them significantly better than he could without System Assistance.

That was actually a bit of an eye opener to him. He finally realized that System Assistance didn’t exist to embarrass or annoy him. He had it for the very reason that Szellem had originally told him. It would teach him how to be a Mother. Something he had no role model for in the portions of his childhood that he could remember. He was just beginning to see that he needed all the help he could get, and System Assistance wouldn’t be enough. He needed help from real people too. Specifically mothers, or at least women who possessed a mothering nature.

As important as that was though, he had something even more imperative on his mind.

He pointed at the wooden spoon Ruth had bouncing on her fingers. “Can I borrow that?”

Martin looked at him curiously, but seeing the light shining in the boy’s eyes, and the fervent, needy look on his face he began to get nervous.

Curiously, Ruth handed the spoon to Adam, handle first.

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His hands reached out, nearly vibrating with the intensity of his desire for the item. He’d used a wooden spoon before while cooking, yet for some reason he had been blind to its true uses. He could almost see them in his mind, a phantom, there but hidden. He was only aware of it due to Ruth’s actions. Thinking of her striking the table again there was a flash of insight in his mind. One word reverberated through the void of his thoughts.

As his fingers curled around the handle, he felt something awakening. A vision, nearly as dominate as that from his eyes was before him. The crone that represented Mother Knows Best was smiling. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Her eyes were alight in a way that if he had a mirror he would recognize as similar to his own at that moment. Her hands were twitching, even as she rubbed them together in glee. When he had lived on the streets he had seen people that had similar expressions and mannerisms as she was exhibiting, and he knew what they were.

Addicts.

People who had a need, and only one thing could fulfil it.

As he finally held the wooden spoon in his hand, he had a flash of understanding. His need wasn’t the same as an addict’s, but it did have some similarities. They needed something to make them feel happy. For him, he needed it to finally feel whole. It was like he could finally comprehend a vast portion of his existence that had always remained shrouded. Once more a word rebounded through his mind, followed by another vision of the crone.

That time she was wildly cackling and dancing around the kitchen of her cottage. As far as he could tell, she was cradling a wooden spoon like a dance partner. Watching on, several open topped containers were starting to fill. Wooden spoons, ladles, slotted spoons, serving spoons, stirring sticks, and an assortment of all sorts of other spoon related cutlery started to sprout from them, growing like weeds. The crone’s head whipped around and she glared at him, so he quickly corrected his thought to growing like flowers. She smiled sweetly, and he felt a phantom pat on his cheek.

Smiling gently, he looked up at Ruth. Their eyes met, and an understanding was reached. She didn’t yet know what his class was, but he would be explaining many things to her soon. Martin was his combat instructor, but he was hoping that Ruth would become his instructor on many of the other facets of his class. It also made him realize something he had been missing.

He needed to spend time with someone who was actually a Mother. With or without the class. And not the duchess. His brief interaction with her had left him with a hollow feeling. Anything that came from her would undoubtedly be wrong.

Resolutions set, he looked to his next target, er training partner. Martin.

The older man, once more seeing that frightening gleam in his trainee’s eyes felt a shiver travel up his spine. There was something there that was scaring him on a fundamental level, and he couldn’t understand it. He knew that the boy had no chance to beat him in a spar without whipping out another of his strange tool related attacks. Unfortunately for Martin, he was well aware that that was exactly what he was about to face. Resigned to what he believed was coming, his just nodded. Standing to give Ruth a brief kiss on her cheek, he got more than he bargained for when she grabbed him in return to plant a good one on him.

She smiled cheekily at him, and patted him on the behind as she pushed him after the boys. “Be careful,” she hollered after them. “He’s got something wicked planned for you!” A sinking feeling grew in his stomach as he realized she was talking to him and not Adam.

Knowing that something bad was coming, he started checking his gear as they headed to the training grounds. They’d been attending the duke for the morning, so he had come prepared in full kit. He had his good armor on instead of his travelling set, and even had the buckler he normally “forgot” when he wasn’t required to be presentable. The thing didn’t work well with Land Swimming. Or more precisely, it worked fine, but he had trouble remembering to use it to steer so it normally slowed him down or threw him off course. With more practice he could fix that particular habit of his, and with some modifications a small shield could make a huge difference in his fighting style. However, he was stubborn, so it was often put off until later, and then ignored completely.

As he thought over how long and how much work it would take to adapt to a shield while Land Swimming his body moved on auto pilot. He was abruptly jerked back to reality when he heard Adam ask, “Ready?”

Looking around a little lost, he responded with a question of his own. “Ready?” He had meant to add “for what” to the end of that question, but as soon as he said it he knew he’d made a mistake. The etiquette he had taught Adam for the training ground was that combat started as soon as all combatants said ready. Something they had both just done.

At the same time he realized his mistake, the first blow landed. His realization was followed by two things. The first was that he had been right to be afraid of Adam’s reaction to a wooden spoon. The second was his screams.

While he attacked Martin, that same word was once again bouncing around his skull.

Chastise.