Somewhere in Between

Groves gave another great grunt, his arms straining, cheeks puffed out, as once more he desperately tried to lift the wheel. The massive thing seemed made of steel, and budged no more off the ground the first five times the old merchant had tried to lift it.

With a great cough and a tumble of skinny limbs, Groves let go and slumped to the ground. The cart gave a worrying tilt and he scrambled to try and jam the plank back under it. The last thing he needed was all his silks spilling out onto the dirt road.

Satisfied that gravity was kept at bay for the time being, Groves stared miserably down the road. Dusty, sun baked and thick with rocks, it was more than two days home, and still hours from the gates of Truronia. Groves had to hit the one stone among a thousand that would throw his wheel off. He'd never make the market now. 

Murrey gave a low honk, and Groves waved a hand at the scruffy donkey. 

"Aw shut it. Some help you are," he grumbled. Murrey gave a further splutter and turned to graze at the meager brown grass that grew sparingly all down the road. 

He'd expected the road to be well traveled, and when he'd first thrown the wheel and been tossed, quite by surprise, onto the dirt, he'd thought someone would be by in no time. But the hours had lingered on, and the sun had grown heavier, and not a soul walked the dusty road from the north country. 

-

Groves was staring up at the sun, his vision blurry, and his tongue dry. He'd brought enough water for the trip, but not for this. He would have had something left to eat if he'd not made sport of throwing the wife's awful scones at birds along the trip.

He took a swig of the last waterskin he had left, and shook it. It was getting troublingly low. 

"What do you think, Murrey?" he asked the donkey, looking over to where the beast sat panting in the sun, "Shall we make a walk of it?" 

He could barely stand, his body was so weak. His arms and legs ached from the strain of lifting. His arse ached from the tumbled from his seat. His nose was scorched red from the sun. Groves finally admitted to himself it was lose all the silks and stagger home a begger, or maybe not get home at all. 

"What would the wife say? Eh Murrey? If the sun doesn't kill us, she bloody will I tell you that for nothing," he gave a snort. When he spoke again, it was in a mockery of his wife's piping accent.

"Lost all his wares on the road he did, on that old cart acting a todger as usual. Got nothing left, had to eat the donkey for dinner."  

He smiled at the donkey, and the beasts dark eyes stared back. Groves gave a long sigh.

"You never had any sense of humour."

He looked up the road again, the evening light tricking him into wondering if he could see the shadow of great Truronia's walls on the horizon, but there was nothing. No guards, no soldiers, nothing.

He gave a cursory glance back the way he had come, and his head turned back suddenly when something caught his eye.

He thought it must be a mirage at first, some trick brought on by the sun. 

There was a figure coming down the road. Slow and steady.

The figure was strange, hard to make out at first, seeming to be nonsensical. The blurriness from the sun was making clear assessment difficult. It looked like they were wearing some sort of hat.

Groves watched, mesmerized, as the figure strode closer, slow and steady. 

Tall, and slender to the look of it, not bulky with clothing as far as Groves could tell, but blue all over. Gods, that blue. He'd silks from Zenance he'd sold for a small fortune not as blue as that. He'd have to see where the figure came by it. Some sort of hat was definitely going on there, a tall arrangement extending beyond the figure's head. Almost like horns. 

The figure was clearly female, Groves noticed. He'd made half a century out of watching for women in the marketplace, the way they walk, the shape of their hips. All these thing he'd notice. The curve of the body, the clear shape at chest, hips, it was a woman all right. Something on her thigh was reflecting the dying light, sparkling.

Soon enough, Groves mouth dropped open. The figure was coming closer, slow and steady. It wasn't a hat. They were horns, huge upright horns that pointed towards the great open sky. They extended up from a dark veil, concealing the figure's face. The blue material of the rest of the figure was smooth, not even material like. 

Groves gave a cough and a stunned mutter when he realized the figure was naked. Her skin the most vibrant icy blue he'd ever seen. He found himself staggering to his feet. Staring, he still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

She was a beauty. A figure molded as if from marble. Strong and elegant she strode, one shapely foot in front of the other. Her toes were a softer shade of purple, and they pointed delicately as she walked. Slow and steady. Glinting silver, clasped around her upper left thigh, a coil of metal. Almost like a garter. 

Groves was overcome with a strange dissonance of emotions. To stare at the figure, to take in those legs, the curve of the hips. A modest bosom that he'd have found worth a glance even clothed, swayed bare in the sun as she walked. It made him feel like a giddy child. 

At the same time, he felt a rush of adrenaline, apprehension, fear. What manner of woman walked nude, across miles of country, bearing a head of horns and skin blue as the western seas. 

Was this death? Was this how she comes for you? Groves found himself entertaining the idea, and momentarily glanced back, half expecting to see his own dead body laying there in the dirt. 

No figure lay at his feet, and Groves turned back to find the woman now only minutes away. Within shouting distance, even. There he stood, somewhere in between home and Truronia, somewhere in between standing and fleeing for his life.

The figure came to a stop, a few feet before him, and Groves stood staring, mouth agape. His brain ceased to function for a moment as he took her in. Her face was mostly concealed by a simple black veil that hung about her head, concealing any hair, with holes to allow the horns to sprout through. Only the lower part of her face was visible. A strong, aquiline jaw, with thin purple lips. A face that betrayed no emotion. 

Her eyes were not visible, and he immediately felt shame as hie glanced down at her icy blue body, at her breasts, the dark purple nipples. Her figure was strong, like he figured a warrior must look. The muscles of a worked abdomen reminded him of a youthful body deserted him some thirty years back. He looked between her legs for a moment, a mound of snow white curls inviting him to stare, and found himself looking up directly at where he eyes must be, trying to play it off, thankful that his sunburn concealed his blush. The purple lips did not move to show any displeasure at his apparent appraisal of her bare body.

"Good evening to you, ah, ma'am. Miss." he said, stuttering. His powerful, practiced merchants bark had escaped him, and he sounded like a meek child, "Are you...are you alright, miss?"

The woman looked at him for a moment, as far as Groves could tell, and her hands came to meet in front of her hips. Strong arms, the blue colour darkening purple as it reached her fingers.

"It's a beautiful evening, thankyou. It seems you're having trouble, good sir. Might I be of assistance?" 

Her voice was unexpected and Groves was taken aback. A firm and loud voice, used to speaking, but delicately pronounced, as if speaking to reassure, to calm. Her accent was lyrical, like folk from the old country, and Groves was filled with a wave of nostalgia. 

"Your wheel is broken, might I help?" she continued, and Groves realized he hadn't responded. He raised a hand to scratch his head and turned to the cart, tearing his eyes from her beauty with some difficulty. 

"Oh, yes! Yes, the wheel. Came off on a rock. Heading to Truronia, for...for market." 

"Market day is beautiful, so much to be thankful for, all around."

"Not much to be thankful for here though I tell you that for... been in the sun a long time."

"Nonsense," the woman said, and immediately stepped forward, Groves was taken aback at her approach, and suddenly became aware of the woman's obvious strength. She stopped just before him, her head a few inches above his own, but her horns towering higher, and her lips spread in a warm smile.

"We must be thankful for the trials, and the hardships, and the suffering, good sir. Every day." 

Without a further word, the naked figure dropped to a crouch before the cart. Her strong arms reached out for the wheel, and ran a finger down it, as if appraising the construction. 

"Each day we suffer is a blessing. Each ache, each strike, each burn of the sun on our flesh is a reminder of our physical form. That we can endure, we can feel. We can do so much."

Groves opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He leant to attempt to help, but the woman raised a single hand to him, stopping his movement. 

"Please, allow me to take this burden from you. If it please you."

Looking down at her, Groves gave a shrug.

"I may not be a big lad but I couldn't move it an inch, If you think you might have better luck, you're welcome to give it a try." 

The lips smiled again, and the veil dipped in a nod. 

"Thankyou." she said quietly. 

Groves watched as she moved to grab hold of the wheel, her naked body tensing. He watched as her powerful muscles bunched, her legs braced against the road, arms tightening as she took hold of the wheel. The clasp around her thigh, he saw now, was a delicate arrangement of crossing metal. Clasped so tight was it about her thigh, that as she moved, he knew it must be digging into her flesh. 

"May it please you," she said quietly, then gave a hiss of exertion. Her hips twisted, and with a cry, she lifted the wheel clean from the ground. For a moment, the weight of the great thing was fully supported by her, shoulders tensed, body shaking, teeth clenched hard. With a thrust of her whole figure, she brought the wheel forward, slotting onto the axle with a resonant clunk. 

With one last thump of her clenched fist against the wheel, she slumped to the ground. Groves watched, mouth trembling fighting for words. The woman sat down, seating herself, chest heaving with slow, deep breaths. 

She sat there like that for a moment, her head down on a raised knee. Under her breath, Groves heard her quiet prayer.

"For every pain, for every ache, for every drop of blood I am eternally, exquisitely thankful."

Slowly, she rose. 

"That was... incredible," Groves stuttered, "How did you do it?"

The figure gave the slightest of bows to him.

"No praise is necessary, good sir. You were kind enough to gift to me your pain and hardships. I am deeply grateful."

She extended a hand to him, and for a moment, Groves didn't know what to do. Slowly, he extended his own, allowing her to take it. When her fingertips touched his, they were cold. 

Delicately she bowed, leaning forward, to bring her lips to his palm. Her kiss was soft, and as chill as her touch. 

After she released his hand, he took it back, cradling it to his chest. The sensation of her kiss remained. 

"Who...who are you, please?" he asked. Returning to her pose, hands clasped in front of her hips, she nodded briefly.

"I am Sister Thekkla, if it please you. Of the sisterhood of the martyred one, in the service of our patron The Sundered Lord."

"Well... thanks to him he sent you my way. I could have died out here if you hadn't passed by."

He gestured to her, at her naked figure, and felt ashamed for doing so immediately, but couldn't conceal his interest.

"Why are you...well, you're naked, miss. I thought you were a vision when first I saw you stroll up." 

The head inclined again.

"Penance, good sir. For my transgressions must be punished, so that I may become wiser, stronger, and closer to Him."

"Penance? You're being punished? They just stick you in the stocks where I'm from, not send you out bare naked into the sun."

A ghost of a playful smile touched the purple lips.

"I disagreed with my most exalted mother superior regarding the construction of an awning. She deemed it sufficient to weather winter storms, I made claim otherwise," she hesitated briefly, before continuing, "Twice. The second time including a... choice of language ill fitting someone of my devotion."

"Ah... yeah I've been chewed out for telling my boss to go fuck himself too."

Thekkla laughed, a musical tinkling that was pleasant on the ears.

"Thusly, must I walk at precise pace to Truronia, to the church of the Lost Martyr, to receive a mark upon my back from the disciplinarian. At the exact correct pace, I should have been back before dawn."

"Through Truronia? Like that? You're not afraid you'll be... you know." he gestured down the street, at the specter of the great and luminous capital city.  

"I fear nothing, good sir. And there is no hardship that can be visited by man that my body would be unprepared to endure."

Groves exhaled, glancing again across her body. The curves of it, the cords of muscle, the beauty and strength of it. It was mesmerizing. If he could sell artwork of that body he'd pack in the silk trade altogether and be a rich man. 

Thekkla gave a bow then, a deep and gracious curtsy, her arms spreading out, before bringing her hands back to clasp over her heart.

"Be well upon your journey sir, enjoy the markets. And take pleasure in the hardships visited upon you. Should you ever again face hardship you cannot overcome, bring them to me at the monastery above Marazion Village. I will welcome you."

He stared, awestruck, wanting then deeply to find some hardship. 

"That I will, be sure of that."

Thekkla turned, and began walking back the way she had come, into the evening light. Slow and steady. 

"Truronia's that way though!" Groves blurted out, pointing down the street. 

Without turning, Thekkla stopped, and spoke.

"The pace to complete my penance is quite precise. Mother superior will know I have dawdled. I must return now, and begin anew. Be well, good sir."

With that, Thekkla strode down the dirt road, her bare feet stepping over sharp rocks. 

Groves watched after her for some time, until her naked flesh was just a pale ghost in the moonlight far in the distance. 

This Woman's Work

When they finally came upon it, it didn't look like they had expected.

They'd argued for a moment after the clearing came into view between the trees. Low brick buildings surrounded by simple farmlands, old wooden fences. Maxim, his stocky build crouched into a squat, was the one to voice the opinion first.

"Where are the church grounds? The bell towers? The stained glass? This isn't it. Let's keep moving. Must be further up the hill somewhere."

Maxim's bassy voice carried on the wind, and sheep from the little farm raised their heads to peer off into the forest where the two thieves were crouching.

Li shook his head and gestured to Maxim to keep it down. The wiry little man narrowed his eyes and scanned the arrangement of buildings.

"It's not like that, this isn't a church, it's a convent, a nunnery. They keep it subtle."

Maxim snorted and coughed into his gloved hand. He examined his palm as if to see if anything that came out was worth his attention.

"You said they'd have something worthwhile up here."

"They do. The nuns have to pay for food and things don't they? And gold statues and stuff, right?" "

"Still don't look like no nunnery to me. Looks like dirt poor farmers. You brought us to the wrong place, Li, you turnip."

Li shrugged, squinting for movement among the buildings.

"Has to be it. Here, let's try something."

Li stood, and kicked about the forest floor for a moment.

"What you doin'?" Maxim grunted. Li bent and picked up an egg sized rock from among the pine needles and dirt.

Retrieving his sling from his belt, he placed the stone to it, and in a moment the sling was a blur around his head. Maxim may have been a more hands-on man himself, but he loved watching Li work.

With a neat arc, Li sent the rock flying across the clearing, into the side of a white wooden chicken coop. It gave a great crack that split the afternoon silence, and the screech of worried chickens could be heard clear to the two thieves.

"Now, we see who comes out to check. Five copper callans says they got a habit on and this is the right place."

"You're on."

There came a tinkling, and a glittery silver arrangement of chimes was disturbed as a door opened.

From the back of the building came a small figure. Walking barefoot to the chicken coop, the woman cooed softly to the panicked creatures. Maxim and Li looked at each other, and Maxim spread his hands in apology.

"We didn't shake on it."

The woman was wearing a long and severe black garment. Free of decoration or flair, and no adornment but for a rope tied about her waist. Above her rosy round, cherubic face, her hair was hidden entirely in a white wimple.

Li stood, hooking his thumbs into his leather belt, fingertips just brushing the edges of the daggers held on his thighs. Maxim took a pull at the heavy strap that held his war hammer, making sure it hung just right.

Whistling, the two thieves emerged from the trees and descended towards the monastery.

-

Sister Myer took another look over the months supplies and made a little note in the ledger. She spoke aloud as she walked down the line.

"Four bags, flour. Two crates, melons. One crate, beans."

She stopped and looked towards the door where young Sister Kinn had left to check on the chickens a moment before. The bobcats usually didn't bother them during the day, but Myer knew the novice wasn't afraid to stamp her feet and scare off the predators.

It had been suspiciously quiet for a moment longer than usual when Myer took a glance out one of the room's small windows to see young Sister Kinn standing talking to two men. Myer placed down her ledger and collected her skirts, to move at speed to the door.

The chimes on the door signaled her approach, and the smaller of the two men was already looking in her direction as Sister Myer turned the corner of the building and strode to the hutch. He was leaning over the low wooden fence, and smiling ear to ear.

His big friend, standing behind him and looking more muscle than man, had no clear expression that Myer could identify.

She saw their weapons immediately.

"Hello sirs," Myer said immediately as she reached Kinn's side. The young novice was wringing her hands in that way she did when Mother Ava reprimanded her, Myer gave her a reassuring nod.

"Hello yourself, sister." the little man said. He was a sharp looking young man, all edges and smiles, but Myer could see something awful in his countenance right away, "We were just having a nice little talk with your friend here. You ladies doing alright for yourselves up here eh?"

Sister Kinn gave a flustered nod.

"The good sirs say they're...they're passing travelers," the novice said. Myer nodded to her.

"Indeed, well we're always happy to help those in need here. Needing food or fresh water are you sirs? Maybe directions?" Myer asked, folding her hands in front of her hips.

The big man was peering with narrowed eyes over the convent and seemed to ignore Myer entirely. The smaller man neatly hopped over the fence, faster than Myer expected him to move, and strode with swinging hips towards her.

"Ooh, all sounds pretty good actually. Must have all sorts of supplies, up here in the forest, yeah? Your young friend here was telling us you rely on donations."

Myer nodded and looked to Kinn, who continued to wring her hands. Myer turned back to the man who now stood a few feet from her. He spread his hands, being sure that the multiple shining blades strapped in leather sheaths to his thighs were revealed.

"Well we're just kindly travelers, seeking our way through the forest. If you'd be so kind as to show us to where you keep your little donation box, we'll take it off your hands. You'll soon make it up selling your eggs and blessings and...what is it, needlepoint?"

Myer gave a bow, slowly.

"Of course, good sirs. I believe I understand. We'd be happy to assist," Myer placed a hand on Kinn's wrist, and spoke softly and clearly to her.

"Be a darling and go fetch Sister Thekkla would you?"

Sister Kinn looked confused.

"Surely Mother Ava would be..."

"Sister Thekkla will be able to best assist these good sirs, Sister Kinn." Myer spoke slower, enunciating sharply.

Kinn nodded, and quickly headed off around the building.

-

It was a moment in the quiet before Maxim noticed that the sound of hammering had stopped. There was something in the air, like a chill without a breeze, and he found himself rubbing the back of his neck to calm the little tingling hairs that were standing on end.

It wasn't until he turned to ask Li if he felt something weird that he realized they were being watched from across the yard.

The young nun they'd approached earlier, the round little one with the rosy red cheeks, she was pointing at them and keeping step behind a second figure. Maxim had his eyes on her earlier, that one. So young and pretty, no business being a nun. He could see the curves of her through that depressing robe and knew it was an awful waste.

But Maxim wasn't looking at that pretty one now, as he couldn't take his eyes from the gaze of the second woman who was now crossing the yard towards them. He tried to turn his gaze away, but found he couldn't. Frozen, looking into the staring eyes that were coming closer across the yard.

"Li..." Maxim said. His voice came out a little croaky, "Li what's that?"

Li looked up from his quiet staring match with the older nun, and turned to his friend.

"What's what you big..."

He trailed off as he saw the figure approaching them, now stepping barefoot over the grass a few yards away.

"Oh, hello there." Li said quietly, his eyebrows raised in surprise. As the figure came to a stop just in front of her fellow sister, Li nodded slowly, "Well then. Where the hell did they find you?"

The figure was robed exactly as the other nuns at the convent. Simple blacks and whites, a featureless, slender robe and neat pinned wimple.

White eyes with no colour stared back at Li, chilling eyes that when peered into, appeared to have rectangular pupils that were uncomfortable to meet. Although covered from ankle to throat, it was clear that the woman's flesh was an icy blue. From just above her eyes, below the material of her simple habit, grew two great ridged horns. Black, twisting as they rose to point to the sky.

"Blessings be upon you, good sirs. I'm sister Thekkla. Welcome to our humble convent." The dark blue lips barely moved as she spoke, and her quiet voice had an unexpected, lyrical accent. The voice of the common folk of the valleys. "And to answer your question, the Hell they found me in has no power over me. I see only the kingdom of our almighty God."

The woman called Thekkla neatly folded her hands in front of her slim hips. Her fingers, and indeed her bare toes, were of a sickly purplish hue not dissimilar to frostbitten flesh. Maxim felt a sudden involuntary revulsion in his gut at the idea of being touched by those delicate fingers. He immediately imagined them clammy, cold. Fingers of the dead.

Maxim looked at Li, his broad features blank, unsure of himself. Li gave a shrug, but it didn't escape him that both the other nuns had subtly slipped back, putting Thekkla in front of them.

"My fellow servant of our Lord tells me you kind sirs were seeking to unfairly take donations that we'd received from selfless folk. Surely she's mistaken, and just misheard you fellows. Is that right?" Thekkla said, and smiled. Her teeth were as expected, sharp, wolf-like, but the smile that held them was honest, and encouraging. She nodded, to further enforce her words.

Maxim shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Li, this ain't right mate...." he said, and immediately Li raised a hand to jab a finger in his direction.

"No! No don't fall for this. This is farce. Look at them!" Li gestured to the three nuns, Thekkla standing impassively before the other two, her expression calm, her shoulders relaxed. Li could see the girlish frame beneath the black robes was not broad, and probably not even a third of Maxim's weight.

Li turned the accusing finger to Thekkla.

"Don't fall for it. They ain't got nothing. They wheel out this freak to try and scare us off. They're hiding something up here and I want it."

Li unlatched the leather holds on his belt, and in a dramatic flourish, produced one of his daggers, turning it over in his hand.

"Now stop playing me for a fool, and show me where the money is. Or I'll cut off your boring bloody dress and see if you got anything that catches my eye under there. Understand?" Li's voice was unwavering. Maxim looked back and forth between his friend and the nun in stunned silence.

Slowly, Thekkla lowered her eyes, and shook her head.

"May the words of my mouth and the dedication of my heart be acceptable in thy sight." She whispered. She gestured with a single fluttering hand for the other women to step back. They did so, immediately and without question.

Her eyes snapped back up to look at Li. The smile had dropped from her features.

"You seek to steal that which is not yours, and now make threats upon the purity of my body. You sir, have no place on holy ground."

Li produced a second knife, turning it effortlessly in his fingers in a practiced display of dexterity.

"You play nice, and we leave, and I don't have to do anything your god don't wanna have to see."

Thekkla calmly gave a tug on the plain silvery rope that bound her slim waist.

"My God sees all suffering there is to see. And I fear no threats. Nor bloodshed nor rape nor murder. There's only so much pain that can go on in the world at any one time." She gestured around them, at the convent. "It is our place, here, to take a little extra onto ourselves, so that other's pain might be lessened."

Thekkla spread her blue hands, her open palms displayed to Li and Maxim, and then slowly curled both into fists.

"My good sirs, you are about to ease the burden of many."

Thekkla's body moved like liquid, launching forward under Li's elbow even as he began to raise it to defend himself. Her slender arm reached out in a neat and accurate jab, slamming him in the gut with a closed fist so hard he was lifted entirely from his feet and deposited on his arse a full five feet away.

Li struggled to find his footing and fell back, heaving to suck in a breath. He gestured wildly at Maxim.

"Fuckin'..." he started, failing to get anything more out. Maxim's eyes were bulging from shock, and he hesitated, dumbfounded for a moment before he got his wits together enough to pull up his war hammer from the sling on his hip.

Before he could even move to the correct position to swing the thing, Thekkla was beside him. Her hip jammed into his groin with her full weight, and he felt her arm slip under his armpit and a great force was suddenly pulling him from his feet.

For a moment Maxim felt weightless, and then he hit the ground like he'd just been tipped off a horse. The upside-down view of the sky, coupled with the pain rushing up from his squashed balls forced a sudden wave of nausea to surge through him, and he gave a groan of pain and discomfort as a foot was placed against his chin.

Maxim tilted his head forward to see Thekkla looming over him, her bare foot held threateningly to his throat.

"Li, she hurt me Li." Maxim managed to croak, wincing in pain.

"I thank you for your charitable donation." Thekkla said.

Catching sight of movement in the corner of her eye, Thekkla snapped her head aside in time to see Li's arm raised and moving, and a blur above his shoulder.

Maxim watched as Li launched the projectile from his sling, and his eyes could barely follow as Thekkla rose into the air as quiet and graceful as a bird, her whole body turning sideways and spinning. The flying stone missed her turning body to crash against the chicken coop with a resounding echo.

Thekkla's robe flared out, and Maxim saw a flash of bare blue flesh as Thekkla spun, something silver was strapped tightly around her bare upper thigh

Thekkla completed her aerial rotation before returning to the ground, her feet coming down on Maxim and making him groan in pain once again as her robe neatly fell back into place. One of her hands landed neatly on the haft of his warhammer.

She dropped to a neat crouch, and immediately launched herself a few strides towards Li with a speed that was startling. Her pale eyes glaring, horns pointing, jutting out as if to gore the man.

Li fell into a crouch to ready his blades, and was met with Thekkla crouched similarly, one of her long legs outstretched, the other tightly coiled beneath her behind. One arm stretched out, the second held behind her back, her whole body still in perfect balance.

Li waved the point of his blade in her direction.

"Alright, you've made a very pretty point. You got a lot of free time up here, clearly. But I'm betting you never looked death in the face." Li asked.

Thekkla met his stare without expression, and calmly replied.

"Suffering does not come from death."

She swung her arm around her body, spinning her shoulders, and let her grip on the warhammer go at full tilt.

The huge weapon shot towards Li, and it didn't take much of his considerable skill to weave aside, twisting his body like a dancer to avoid the projectile. It flew a little too high, and Li watched as it sailed over his shoulder to crash into a tree, taking a chunk of bark off with it.

Li had not found firm footing in time to react when he realized he'd been tricked. Thekkla leaped so silently that all he heard was the rustle of her robe before her knee connected with his chin.

Li crashed to the ground, his blades fallen to the dirt floor of the yard.

Thekkla stood, hands neatly folded in front of her hips. Only the slightly increased depth of her breathing betrayed any suggestion of her actions.

Maxim climbed to his feet with a groan and, cupping his balls in pain, ambled over towards his friend.

"We...we're very sorry to have bothered you ladies, I mean sisters... here today."

"Do please collect your friend." Thekkla said, watching Maxim through lidded eyes.

Maxim bent to pick up the limp body of Li, wondering if his friend's jaw was broken and how he'd explain to Li when he regained consciousness that he'd had his arse kicked by a nun.

"I'll remind the kind sirs that we here depend on the charity and selflessness of strangers," Thekkla said.

Maxim stared at her for a moment, before reaching into the pocket of his jacket.

"Oh...well I um. I got a few copper bits here."

Maxim held out his hand, and Thekkla reached to take the coins. Just for a moment her fingertips brushed his, and all the awful dread came right back. Cold as ice.

"We thank for your generosity, kind sirs. Do please be careful when descending the mountain." The simple smile on her lips was the last thing Maxim saw as he turned, and, holding Li in his arms, began to walk away.

The hair on the back of his neck tingled, and Maxim didn't look back, only trod a little faster, feeling the white eyes of the nun on him every step.

-

Thekkla realized she was smiling, and forced the expression down. She felt the surge of excitement still swelling in her gut, and tried to force it too under control. She'd wanted to hurt them so much more.

She exhaled softly as voices whispered behind her, and Thekkla turned to see her two fellow sisters, and the watchful eyes of Mother Ava looking to her.

"Thank you for you work today Sister Thekkla." Mother Ava said. The wizened old woman's expression as always, perpetually unreadable. "The roof of the barn is progressing well, you can continue the work tomorrow at sunrise after your morning duties.

Thekkla bowed low.

"Yes Mother."

"For now, you have other responsibilities to your order."

"Of course, Mother."

-

Thekkla closed the door of her little room and took in the quiet for the moment.

Nothing lay within but bare walls, a stone cot with no blankets or pillow, and a simple wooden stool.

Thekkla removed her robe and wimple, and placed them upon the stool, folded neatly. She wore only the sharpened metal clasp around her thigh, each silvery link inscribed minutely with the words of her God. Her Holy Symbol. The constant discomfort of its tight grip was subtly reassuring.

Her blue skin chill in the evening light from the tiny window, Thekkla knelt, and removed the switch from below her cot. It was brown leather, firm and simple. Thekkla had made this one herself when her previous one had worn out.

The many scars that crisscrossed her bare back still ached from the morning.

"May the words of my mouth and the dedication of my heart be acceptable in thy sight."

She began.