A Young Nun

Henry looked up through the steam rising from the hot spring and to the sky above.

From this mountaintop, it looked like the stars were brighter than normal as the warm pink and orange of the sun were replaced by the cool purple and blue of nighttime.

Surprisingly, the cold on his face and the warmth on his body felt good. Others around him had submerged and he decided to do the same.

This was probably the cleanest he had ever been in his life. It had been years since he had been able to submerge entirely into a bath - not to mention how unbelievably warm the water around him was.

Along with the dirt and grime melting away, his sore body seemed to be comforted by the hot water on his muscles. From his calves to his quads, he felt the days of horseriding. His back and abdominal muscles were tense from shivering every night and maintaining good posture on a horse.

When he appeared back at the surface of the water, finding it too hot for his eyes to remain under for very long, he widened his eyes when he saw a beautiful woman standing above him. His brown eyes locked with her hazel ones.

In dark robes and white material around her neck and head, the young woman above him looked angelic. In her arms, she carried linen towels that were cream-colored with blue thread creating floral patterns and a border along the edge.

Remembering his nudity, he sunk a little bit lower in the water, his face turning red.

Trying to figure out what he should say, Sir Trenton shamelessly strode out of the water, the naked glory of his muscular body being shone to the world. Steam rose from his skin as he went and grabbed one of the towels from the woman. He quickly put it around his body in an effort to dry off.

"Get a towel from the nun, Henry," Sir Trenton said. "We'll find a warm place to sleep now."

Trenton gathered the clothing, armor, and other items he had discarded before. He moved quickly and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to alleviate his feet from the frozen ground underneath him.

Henry noticed the nun's eyes widen as he started to get out of the water and she quickly looked away, her cheeks tinged red out of embarrassment. Her reaction only caused Henry's face to feel hotter.

He grabbed one of the linen towels in her arms, following the actions of Sir Trenton.

"Thank you," he said to her, trying to be polite but she continued to avoid his gaze.

"Of course," she responded, finally sparing him a glance, surprised at how tall he was, and quickly looked away again.

The nuns he had experienced his entire life seemed older than the wall that surrounded Hydrogia and they were always cross. The nun in front of him was young and had a sweet voice that matched her face.

Henry seemed to have a late reaction to the feeling of snow underneath his feet and he tried to dry off as he hopped around, his toes feeling like they were on fire despite the freezing.

He quickly grabbed his clothes, armor, and the cloth bag holding all of his items before following in the direction Sir Trenton went, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the young woman any further.

Awkwardly holding the items in his arms in a way that made them harder to carry, he soon found Sir Trenton who was dressing next to one of the blazing fireplaces on the side walls of the chapel.

In the other churches they stayed in, they slept in the large chapels, those being the warmest places in the churches. They also received hospitality from those who worked in the church, but before that church, it had only been older priests and boys offering hospitality.

As soon as his clothing was back over his body, he saw two knights enter the chapel and they took a beeline toward Henry.

"With the way that nun was looking at you, you'd think she didn't take a vow of chastity," a young knight named Edwin said to Henry, and the knight he was walking with laughed in agreement.

Henry immediately widened his eyes.

"Don't say something like that!" he yelled, a little bit too loud so that it echoed through the large chapel.

He realized he had many eyes on him and the two knights who were bothering him quickly walked to another part of the chapel to get dressed and figure out their sleeping arrangements.

Trenton was adjusting his items on the floor close to one of the fireplaces and shaking his head. He couldn't help the quiet laughter that escaped his lips. His apprentice needed to get used to the presence of young women so he wouldn't get embarrassed so easily.

Henry was frozen in place and he saw the nun walk into the chapel and keep moving forward, pretending not to notice him standing there.

He couldn't help his eyes following her, knowing she was something definitely unattainable to him - just as any other woman.

Despite his confident words towards the princess when he was feeling the high of the people cheering for them as they went to battle, he had no experience around the fairer gender. There were no women around his age in the peasant village, only children and older women that babied him his whole life.

"Are you going to find a place to sleep, or am I going to have to do it for you?" Trenton asked from behind Henry.

Henry shook off his strange reaction and he immediately went to his items and unrolled his sleeping roll so that they could start getting ready for bed and the tough journey ahead that would likely be full of more monsters.

They were given stew as they all sat down on their beds, handed out by nuns. Henry felt stupid hoping the young nun would be the one to serve him, but he didn't see her the rest of their time there.

+

The parade of knights was soon off and they began their descent down the other side of the mountain, the decline only being slight so they could stay on top of their horses.

There was a village midway down the mountain, but they only stopped for a short time before they had to continue on their way.

The forests got thicker the longer they traveled and the group had to disperse farther away from each other with Commander Lothian still leading from the front.

Especially between the trees, there was still snow piled up that their horses had to traverse over.

While they were carefully navigating their horses through the trees and rocks, everyone heard the Commander's voice from the front.

"Dire wolves!" he yelled and everyone instantly pulled out their weapons in preparation.

They continued forward, but he could hear growling from up ahead.

Trenton had said before that monsters likely wouldn't make it through the more experienced knights and get all the way back to Henry, but seeing as the group was all spread throughout the forest, a dire wolf leaped at him from behind a large tree trunk.