Vittorio did not see Gloria the next day, or the day after that. He was kept in the back getting drilled - and frequently punished - from the time Mother woke up until Father went to bed. When the time came to leave for Imone and his meeting with the [Class Guide] Vittorio was both exhausted and starving. Withholding of food was one of Father's preferred punishments.

“Vee!” Gloria charged towards him as soon as he entered the town square, a huge smile on her face. She ran straight into him, grabbing him tight and lifting him in the air.

“It’s time! It’s happening! Aren’t you excited!?”

Vittorio gritted his teeth against the pain on his back, but his mood was still lifted. Gloria just had something about her that made it hard not to join in when she got going. Still, it was a relief when she let go of him.

“Of course I’m excited!” he said, only slightly contradicting himself by yawning. He looked over at the cart waiting for them and the woman getting ready to drive it. “Morning Celeste!” Gloria's mother gave him a wave, her smile almost as big as her daughters. Turning back to Gloria, he found she wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Did I hurt you?”

“What? No! Just a bit stiff.” Despite his - in his mind at least - excellent performance, she wasn’t buying it.

“Sure. Just stiff.” The ensuing awkward silence was mercifully broken by Vittorios belly rumbling.

“You don’t have an apple or something?” he asked.

“Haven’t you had any breakfast?”

“I, er, overslept.” Never mind breakfast, he hadn’t eaten since last morning.

“Right. Your parents let you sleep in. That’s totally something they’d do.” Vittorio couldn’t meet her eyes. “Mom! Vee needs breakfast!”

Celeste perked up a bit at that - while he knew she’d gained her class at random when she was 20 and not from seeing a [Class Guide] it had always seemed like a perfect fit to Vittorio. She worked hard but always with a smile, was generous with the food and drink, and just made everyone feel welcome. Now she strode swiftly back into the inn, returning a few moments later with bread, cheese, some grapes, and another waterskin.

With that, they were ready to set off. Imone was over four hours away so Celeste had offered to get them there via cart, and she would get supplies while they visited the [Class Guide]. Vittorios parents, unsurprisingly, had not. Instead Mother had ensured the journey would be as unpleasant as possible.

Gloria hopped up on the edge of the cart and looked at Vittorio expectantly. He didn’t want to. Sitting on a bumpy cart would be torturous but there was nothing for it, he couldn’t walk when offered a ride. He did draw the line at hopping up though and instead climbed before gingerly sitting down, wincing as his weight settled, and reached for the food.

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Gloria clearly noticed something, even more so after the first bump, but she sat in silence as the cart slowly rolled out of town. Vittorio for his part was entirely focused on pacing himself and not just scarfing the food down.

Soon enough they were rolling through the farms surrounding the village sharing the last grapes.

“Is it bad?” Gloria asked softly. Vittorio was too tired and in too much pain to do his usual denial.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe you could lie down?”

“No. My back and shoulders… it’d be worse.” They sat in silence for a moment.

“Could you show me?” Gloria asked. Vittorio had told her about what his parents did to him when they were still kids. Gloria being Gloria she’d shouted at them, and when that didn’t help tried to tell everyone in town. Mother and Father were not pleased, to say the least. He’d never told her when they started getting stricter, and he’d certainly never showed her - Mother had made it clear that such things would not be tolerated. But now? Here? When Gloria had a full day to accept it before they came back?

“I guess”, he said. Slowly, gently, he started lifting his shirt, avoiding sudden movements. He heard her gasp before it was halfway up his back. By the time it was bunched up around his shoulders, she was silently staring.

He couldn’t see, of course, but he knew very well what she was seeing. Over the last three days he’d been switched 36 times - Mother always made him count - on his back, buttocks, and thighs. None where it showed when dressed of course. Add to that older punishments that hadn’t healed yet and bruises from Mother hitting him and it can’t have been a pretty sight.

“Teris embrace…” Both Gloria and Vittorio turned. From the front of the cart Celeste stared in horror at Vittorios' exposed back. He quickly dropped the shirt and started putting it in order.

“It’s nothing”, he said quickly, looking away from her wide-eyed shock. “I’ve been distracted this week. I haven’t done as well as my parents expect.”

“Gloria told me they hurt you years ago, but when I talked to them they said you exaggerated. Vittorio, I am so sorry. I should have pushed harder or checked or-or anything.”

“Mother and Father were not happy about you talking to them. I told Gloria not to tell you anymore.” Vittorio quickly realised he shouldn’t have said that.

“They beat you because I talked to them?” Celeste asked.

“No, no. Father doesn’t-doesn’t punish me that way.”

“What does he do?” Gloria asked in a soft voice.

“Different things. Usually he just doesn’t give me food. Sometimes it’s stuff like cleaning between the floorboards. A few times he’s told me to kneel on rice and had me do sums. But they only do that stuff when I don’t follow the rules or haven’t learned something! It’s not their fault I keep making mistakes.”

What followed was a long, emotional argument where Celeste and Gloria tried to convince Vittorio that his parents were wrong - something he simply refused to accept. The idea that they were, that their rules and punishments were cruel, that they had essentially lied to him since he was a child… it was too much. Far too much.

Eventually Celeste put a stop to it before things got too heated, and they spent the next few hours in silence, Vittorio getting up to walk along the cart from time to time to take the weight off. At least it was a nice day for it. The spring day was not yet hot enough to bring out sweat, nor was there rain in the air. Most of the journey was through farmland - the area was exceedingly fertile, but had little else of value - though Vittorio welcomed the shade granted by the occasional stand of trees, the edges of the rainforest reaching the road.

They arrived at Imone near mid-day. It was an unremarkable town of a few hundred people and had sprung up as a market town for the surrounding villages. The houses were low and spread out, made from wood with almost flat roofs. The cart travelled down a well-rutted road towards the large town square, Gloria practically bouncing with excitement.

The square had an inn, a blacksmith, two little shops, the town hall, and a temple to Myton. The God of Growth was unsurprisingly popular in the farmlands. Vittorios parents were more devoted to Dhamara, God of Planning. Gloria had more than once suggested they secretly worshipped the God of Command.

Celeste drove the cart up to the small town hall - the only all-stone building in the town - where the visiting [Class Guide] would be working. Imone was too small to have a full-time local Guide instead relying on visits from the cities. She gave them both hugs (barely touching Vittorio) and left to get her goods.

With a big goofy grin on her face, Gloria grabbed Vittorios hand and dragged him in. It was time to get their classes.