After breakfast the next morning, Hansen came around to have Adam and Vivienne follow him. Hansen did not even give them a hint as to what this was about. He wanted to talk to Janette and Vivienne, and wanted to include Adam too. It must be something about the training Adam brought up the night before, but what made it so much more different that they needed this meeting now?

Hansen brought them before a room that was used as Janette's office. Hansen Knocked on the large door once. From within came Janette's sweet voice: “Enter.”

Hansen held the door open for Vivienne and Adam, as they walked in. The office was rather luxurious. All the past owners of Madame's had used this room as their personal office. Adam was unable to see the splendor, but he noticed the soft carpet under his feet.

Vivienne and Adam were sat in some regal chairs, as Hansen stood off to the side. Since he was bringing this matter up, he decided to be standing as he talked to them

Janette started it out: “So, Hansen, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Hansen replied: “Before I am to teach Adam, and the other children, anything about the sword, I wanted to let you know about my past and decide if you still want me to teach after all.”

Janette already felt a headache coming on. Madame's did not like looking into the past of their employees too much. Most were orphans and it was only a sad backstory. A few had a more notorious past, but as long as they were not blood thirsty killers, and acted as good employees, they did not care. Bringing up the past would typically only bring trouble.

Vivienne also felt a little apprehensive when she heard this. She knew of the rumors that spoke about Hansen being an ex-bandit. How should she react if these turned out to be true?

Adam on the other hand was curious about tense atmosphere that suddenly assailed the air of the office. What was so wrong about Hansen talking about his past?

Hansen asked to be heard until the end of his speech as he started. Hansen was, in-fact, an ex-bandit. It had started when he was an abandoned orphan as a means of survival, and grew into a way of life. It was a sob story one could hear in many places.

At some point, Hansen reflected on his life of banditry. He found it very lacking. All the items and gold they stole was spent on women and booze. When they died, they would leave nothing memorable in this world. It was nothing but a depraved existence. He was even second guessing all the actions he had taken in his life.

He fled the bandit group, which was somewhere in the south, and went north. As he tried to find something that could actually make his life feel fulfilling, and make up for the deeds he had done. However, he quickly found that his bandit life had already left an indelible mark on him. He had a terrible appearance and mannerisms. No one wanted to get close to him, or let him near.

In one town he came across, a roving mercenary band found him. It was full of people who had gone through the same things Hansen had. All ex-bandits who wanted to get away from the life of looting, robing, and killing. They took him in and disciplined him. They managed to refine his terrible personality to the gruff self that he is now. Not the best improvement, but better than it had been.

However, the mercenary life was not what Hansen was looking for. He still did not feel that sense of fulfillment in his life. The group would avoid contracts to fight bandits so they wouldn't meet any old acquaintances, and generally lied low. They were all past criminals and didn't want to stand out too much.

Hansen eventually left them and went further north. He found himself at Fort Erich. On a whim, he decided to join the city watch here, and see if he could find that something that could fill his life. This was three years ago. At that time he was assigned to Alaric's patrol squad.

A year passed and Hansen still could not find that something that he was looking for. As he was debating on whether or not to move on again, he came across Alaric who had started to train Adam for the first time. As he watched for a moment, it finally struck him. Something like a family was what he wanted.

There was still one problem though, no woman would ever want to be his wife to start with. How could he start a family of his own to finally achieve some normalcy in his life? Instead he decided that he wanted to train a protege. It would be like training a son, and might fill the gap in his life. With this he could leave something meaningful, like a legacy, behind after he died.

He had decided to see if Alaric would allow him to help train Adam. He wanted to impart his knowledge down to him. Hansen even wanted to impart some of his knowledge about bandits, but only so that Adam could understand their social structure, and how the bandits might act if he came across any during his life.

If Vivienne and Janette allowed Hansen to train Adam and the others, he wanted to use his mercenary disciplined training to bring them up right. As well as giving them his knowledge about the world, including about bandits.

As he was talking, Hansen was being sincere with every word. He spoke only the truth as he knew it without hiding behind anything. He wanted this sincerity to show that he has changed from his past, and that he felt training the others could bring closure to his life as a bandit.

Hansen ended with a few extra words. “I wanted to let you know about my horrid past before I started training these young boys. I wish for my training to make them strong, and to keep them from falling prey to any type of banditry. Knowing of my past, will you still allow me to train Adam and the others?”

A moment of silence followed Hansen's question. Vivienne and Janette had a lot to mull over. Should they allow this ex-bandit to train others. Should they even continue to keep him around? Death was not a stranger in the lives of those who lived in this era. But rarely did one want to live with someone they knew was a killer and a criminal. Sure, Hansen is trying to repent in his own way, but that does not change what he has done in his past.

Vivienne finally asked a question with a slight quiver in her voice: “Did Alaric know you were an ex-bandit when he asked you to protect me and Adam?”

This was very important to Vivienne. If Alaric had no idea when he told Hansen to take his family and flee, then Vivienne would feel that Hansen slightly betrayed their trust. Even if he worked as hard as he had to get them to safety, he had been untruthful. If he was willing to tell them about his past life now, when he was going to be shaping the future of young boys, then why did he not tell her when he was going to protect and guide them to Hessler? She had decided that if Alaric did not know, she wouldn't allow Hansen to continue training Adam. She might even demand that he leave Madame's entirely.

Hansen replied to Vivienne: “I had mentioned it to Alaric when he asked that I protect both you and Adam, before he passed away. He understood my words, but we had no time to discuss it at all.”

Vivienne's eyes glossed over with fresh tears for her late husband. She then stared piercingly at Hansen. “Those words had better be the truth.”

Hansen was a little surprised at Vivienne's accusation as said: “It is the truth, I swear! I have never lied since I departed that mercenary band I met. I may have not been forthcoming with the entire truth before, but I have never lied.”

Next Vivienne asked: “Why did you not tell me this when you started training Adam earlier too?”

“That was just body strengthening, you cant do much in the way of fighting with just that. With the addition of the other boys, they would eventually ask for some formal training in fighting, not just body strengthening. This is why I am bringing this up now, it is about me passing down my experience on how to fight.”

Vivienne was at a slight loss. Hansen had been throwing her for a whirl ever since they left Fort Erich. One moment he was dependable, the next she wanted him out of her life. He also had an entirely different set of values. She truly had no idea what to do. Even now, it was such a thin line between strength training, and training to fight. Hansen saw a clear difference, but that line was blurry to Vivienne.

Vivienne looked over to Janette, hoping that she might give an answer to her dilemma. Janette had her own things to think about with Hansen. Not everyone at Madame's had a clean past. Could Hansen continue to fit in just fine and train the boys or not? Noticing Vivienne's stare, Janette unfavorably responded: “I don't want my decision to effect your own, I will hold off on my own answer until you speak yours.”

Vivienne became a little crestfallen at this. She was hoping for an easy way out of this mess, but it looked like there was none. During this discussion, Adam was left off to the side by himself. While he was a smart boy, he was still a young child. He could not understand everything that was being spoken but he understood this: Hansen was once criminal, a bad person. Realizing he was a bad person, he tried to change his ways. Apparently training Adam and the others can help Hansen in some way. Why shouldn't they help Hansen stop from being a bad person ever again?

“Mom, Hansen isn't a bad person anymore, right? He has tried to become a better person, and that is more than what most bad people do. Is it really so bad that he trains me and the others?”

Vivienne was a little taken aback, by her son's words. She had been focusing on the fact that he was once a bandit. She did not think too much about the trouble and hardships he faced, in order to change. He would have faced many of them, and could have easily just gone back to being a bandit. But he didn't. If she thought of him as just a mercenary, he would have indeed killed a few people in his life, just like Alaric had. Even if he had the indelible past of once being a bandit, he was trying to repent.

Hansen had many ways he could repent for his years as a bandit. He could help run an orphanage, hunt bandits, turn himself in, and many others. However, the way he chose to repent was to train others to be strong, how to resist bandits, and to resist the temptation of banditry. Was it really so bad that he sought to train others?

With these thoughts, Vivienne finally agreed. “Fine, I will let you train Adam. However, if you get him hurt, I will have you out of our lives!”

In a manner that was used to swear an important promise or fealty, Hansen knelt before Vivienne with an arm across his chest and his head bowed: “I will ensure he never gets injured during the training. If we ever start a more dangerous exercise I will discuss it with you before we attempt it. If I fail in either of these regards, feel free to banish me from your life.”

Vivienne felt satisfied at Hansen's reply. She could see his sincerity and she would know what her son would be doing, if it had the chance to injure him.

Janette also chimed in: “Hansen, you are hardly the first employee we have had that has a dark past. As long as you ensure that none of the boys get badly injured due to your training, you will be allowed to train them. But before you start, I would like a full report on the exercises you will be using to train them.”

Hansen was extremely happy as he replied: “Of course.”

They decided to end the meeting there, and discuss anything further at a later time. Adam continued about his day like normal. He was a tad impatient to start training with the others, and training with his wooden sword. But until Hansen had settled on what they were going to do for the training regimen, Adam would have to wait.

Evening came, and Adam was eating dinner with Vivienne in the cafeteria. Recently Vivienne had been taking more strolls out of their room. At this point only walking on her leg without the splint could make the healing process worse for herself, and she wanted to move around. She was even wondering if there was some job around she could start working on.

Vivienne finally sighed as they were eating their food. She had decided to stop procrastinating about telling Adam of the possibility of becoming a spiritualist. Even if the chance was close to non-existent, she wanted to give her son every opportunity to improve his life as she could. She figured there would be no better or worse time to tell him, so just tell him now!

“Adam, dear, there is something I have been meaning to talk to you about.”

“What is it, mom?” Adam responded while turning curiously in his mother's direction. He had been wondering what was eating away at his mother to make her sigh.

“Well... there was something else that Healer Edward had mentioned about your blindness, that I think you are ready to know about now.”

Adam tensed up when he heard this. “There isn't something else that is bad about my eyes, is there?” He thought to himself.

Seeing her son tense with trepidation, Vivienne quickly said: “It's nothing bad, you don't have to worry.”

Adam relaxed after hearing that.

Vivienne paused for a moment, thinking how to best continue, before she spoke: “There is a small chance, a next to impossible chance, that you could gain a form of eyesight by becoming a spiritualist.”

Adam was confused. “Regain my eye sight?! But, what is a spiritualist?”

Vivienne and Alaric had never spoken about spiritualists with Adam before. These amazing people had never touched their lives before and, almost certainly, never would in the future. Vivienne tried her best to describe what spiritualists were to Adam, in a way he could understand. Vivienne barely understood what spirit essence was to the world, how could she explain it to a child? It basically came down to spiritualists being amazing people who could effect the world with a thought. If Adam was able to become one of these people, which was next to impossible, he could potentially gain a form of eyesight to view the world.

Adam was amazed as he thought. “Can I really become one of these people, and regain my eyesight?”

None the less, Adam was happy to have a chance like this. Vivienne told him that Janette had been looking into the spiritualist test that goes on in the city. It would occur three weeks from now, and Janette was even willing to foot the bill for a small stagecoach to take them to the testing building.

That night Adam was so excited about everything that happened during the day, he almost couldn't fall asleep! Hansen had a lot to say this morning, and was approved to train Adam with the sword. Additionally, there may be a way to regain his eyesight!

It wasn't until two days later that Adam would start training with the other boys. There was an announcement that any who wanted to get some physical training done, including learning the sword, Hansen would start teaching them. It was decided that his training would be done in the mornings. When everyone was gathered, they were almost all yawning, but still excited to train and become strong.

It wasn't until they had actually started that most of the boys became horrified! Adam made the training look easy, and while Hansen treated them with the same courtesy as Adam, they still could not believe how hard and exhausting it was. Many of the boys thought it would be rather easy. Some thought they would get to wildly swing swords around while looking cool. They were all disappointed.

Adam was helping to show the exercises in front of the others. But as the morning progressed, Adam started to feel that this wasn't going to be as much fun as he thought. Many of the boys started grumbling and cursing, a few even gave up and left! Luckily there was a small percentage of boys who stuck with the training while listening to Adam and Hansen. It was much better to work with these boys, and his friend Alfred was among them.

As the next three weeks passed, fewer and fewer boys showed up for the training. It was all physical strength exercises, no sword training yet. The difficulty of the exercises, and the lack of sword training deterred most of the boys.

There were five other boys who came every morning to constantly train. Alfred was among them. The five boys and Adam began to form a tight knit friendship. They would help encourage each other, and compete against one another. Adam started to have more fun training with Alfred and the others, just like what he had initially hoped for when others asked to train with him.

After these three weeks came to pass, it was Zonntock, the 21st of Drittel. This was the day for the spirit testing. It was done on the same day almost every month. Adam did not train on this morning, as the testing would start mid morning. Apparently, the testing will start with testing one's affinity to sensing spirit essence. After that would be a class to teach the basic information anyone who attempted to open a spiritual path, would need. They could also ask any questions they might have. Before one opened up their spiritual path, they could take this class every month to try and learn something new.

Just before the sun rose over the horizon, Adam and Vivienne were getting into a stagecoach that was in front of Madame's. They were leaving early to make sure they made it on time, and also in case there were any extra procedures that needed to be taken care of.

Adam liked the early mornings. It was quieter than most other times of the day. Even late evenings could be rowdier than early mornings. He silently enjoyed the clopping of the horses hooves as they proceeded. Eventually it got noisier as they moved through the city and others woke up.

It took an hour to make their way through the center of the city. The coach wasn't going fast. They also had to carefully thread their way through the people who were just waking up and going about their morning business.

After the coach stopped, Vivienne and Adam got out. Vivienne was shocked about what was before them. There was a large, grand building that was even more luxurious than Madame's. The shape was similar to that of an oval. The entrance in front of them was on one of the narrow ends. It was currently being swarmed by a large amount of people. It was indeed a good idea that they had set out early. What they did not know before hand, was that if they came early and got the initial test out of the way, they could go directly to the classroom. In the classroom there would be many books that were free for reading, but you could not take them with you. In an effort to read and gain as much knowledge as possible, almost everyone would come early.

Adam could not see the grand building, but he could hear the clamor of the crowd. Vivienne tightly held Adam's hand, so he wouldn't get dragged away, and started to lead him into the building.