A New Shelter

We walk into the room, and the nun closes us in with a small woman sitting at a desk. Piles of paper stack in front of her.

The woman, presumably Bishop Cecilia, is in her thirties. She has a tall white hat and silly-looking round glasses sitting on her nose ridge.

Landscape paintings cover the walls of her office, and other than those, there isn't much decor or furniture.

One desk and two chairs for guests take up the corner, and there is a cabinet and a drawer across the room. That's it.

"Good evening, travelers. Please take a seat." Cecilia has a high-pitched, almost child-like voice.

Astra grabs a chair, and I wave at Faye to take the other one. She mutters a "thank you" and sits down. Lohikaarmi and I stand behind the two.

Cecilia puts down the pen she was holding and rests her elbows on the table.

She does not remind me of the bishops Tiasha talked about, for one thing, Cecilia is a woman working at a convent, so I doubt she will go going around villages kidnapping elves.

"I am Cecilia. I am a bishop, and I am the head of St. Margaret's Convent," she says, "Sister Lydia said your group wishes to join our community, is that correct?"

"That's right," I say.

"Now, as you might know, we can't accept just anyone that comes knocking on our door, but you are unique, as you are clearly already a devout follower," Cecilia says with an interrogating gaze.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Your hair. You dyed it after Her Holiness, didn't you?"

"Ah, y-yeah, that's right."

At this point, I don't even bother correcting people.

"And the elf and the Blessed Beast, are they your servants?"

"Yes."

Cecilia nods and picks up her pen again.

"My guess is that you come from fallen nobility," she says, finding a piece of scrap paper to write down on.

"That's correct."

"And have you already donated to the cause?"

I suppose the horse and carriage count.

"Yes, we have."

A smile appears on Cecilia's face. "In that case, this is an easy choice. You guys will be a great addition. You are welcome to join our convent."

Well, that was easy.

"That's great, thank you," I say.

"Now, may I ask for your names?" Cecilia asks.

"Sure. My name is Kris."

"Last name?"

"Kaplan."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-six."

The bishop writes down the information. A second later, she looks back up at Faye in front of me.

"You, miss?" She asks while pointing the pen at her.

"M-Me? I am Faye."

"Last name?

"I-I don't have one."

"Are you originally from an elven village, Miss Faye?"

"Y-Yes, the village of Alventyr."

"Then your name is Faye van Alventyr."

"O-Okay."

Faye sounds very nervous, for some reason. It's a pretty cool new name that she's got.

"And how old are you?"

"I am twenty-two."

"Twenty-two…" Cecilia mutters as she writes.

"You, little pie?" She looks at Astra.

"Astra Kaplan."

"Are you and Kris siblings?"

"Yep."

"How old are you?"

"Um… nine… ten?"

"Ten?"

"Yeah, ten."

Close enough. Astra looks about that age. Cecilia takes a new piece of paper.

"What about you, Miss?" She asks Lohikaarmi.

"I am the Dragon Queen Lohikaarmi."

"I'm sorry?"

Oh, God. This is not going to go well. Astra's hand lights up again in the corner of my eye.

"My first name is Lohi, last name Kaarmi," Lohikaarmi corrects herself.

"Oh, I must have heard wrong."

Whew.

"And how old are you?"

Astra's hand glows again.

"Twenty-eight," Lohikaarmi says.

"What, um… type of beast blessing do you have?"

Astra helps her out one more time.

"Waterbuck," Lohikaarmi says.

"Water what?"

"Waterbuck. It is a type of deer down south."

"Huh, okay."

Cecilia spends a few seconds writing, and she starts speaking to us while she continues with some other documents.

"You are all set now. Our nun who led you here, Sister Lydia, will guide you guys to your rooms, but before then, I am sure you need some introduction, since this is likely your first time at a convent," she says without looking up.

"That would be nice," I say.

"Alright. We are a community that strongly follows the code of our Goddess. We receive funding from the Grand Cathedral, and in return, we carry out charitable acts to improve the area around us. There is a schedule for every day of the week, which you can find in your rooms. We have five nuns and a dozen guests. I hope you will get along well with them. The guests should be helping out with another convent right now, so take your time and look around."

"We will."

"Well, then you are dismissed. Have a good evening, and may the Goddess be with you."

Can't not have that even if I wanted to it.

"Thank you, you too."

"Thank you, Your Excellency," Faye says and stands up.

The four of us walk to the door and exit the room

"I apologize for my mistake, Master," Lohikaarmi says after we step into the hallway.

"That's fine. I forgot to mention it, but you might not want to reveal your true identity to the people here. Just keep that in mind next time," I say.

"Yes, Master."

Sister Lydia walks toward us from the lobby with a walking stick in her hands.

"How did it go?" She asks.

"It went well," Faye says, "Her Excellency told us you will show us our rooms."

Sister Lydia smiles.

"Oh, perfect. Come right this way," she says and walks to the stairs. We follow behind her.

The two nuns on the second floor from before are in the lobby now. They come and greet us.

They are young. I can't say for sure whether they are adults or not. Their freckled faces look a lot alike, except that one of them is a lot more… well-endowed than the other.

"Good evening, I am Sister Melody, and this is Sister Melanie. We are twin sisters," the girl on the right bows and says with a smile, and the other one copies her.

"It's nice to meet you," I say.

After a round of introductions, we say goodbye to the twins and continue up the stairs behind Sister Lydia.

"The sisters are cute," Faye says.

"I know who you are referring to, but try not to use sisters. It's already confusing enough," I say.

"Right, sorry."

"This is not something you need to apologize for."

"Oh, my bad."

Sigh, whatever.

As we walk through the hallway of the second floor, Sister Lydia explains, "The convent is divided into sections. The first and second floors are the common area. Anyone can spend their time around here. The third floor is for us the nuns, and the fourth is for the guests."

"Got it," I say.

On the sides, we walk past a library, an outdoor terrace, and a mini church. Quite a lot of amenities, I must say. At the end of the hallway, there is another flight of stairs. We take it up, skipping the third floor and straight to the fourth.

"Your room is on the left the end of the hall. Settle down for now. Dinner won't be for another two hours," Lydia says.

"Alright, thank you very much for your help," I say.

"You are welcome. I will take my leave now. May the Goddess's fortunes follow you."

Just how many variations of goodbyes can there be?

"And you too."