He was but a simple priest, following the lord's teachings despite the world being wrecked with poverty and the plague; when life failed him, his faith did not. He had always supposed himself to be a man of God, and had dedicated himself to the chur...
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_ 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟶𝟷; 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 _
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐔𝐓 accompanied by the ever-present silence of the church courtyard, as the man cloaked in his typical priest garbs sat, content, reading his bible. The pages were worn from both years of use and age, and would likely soon retire to the back of the library in replacement of a newer copy from his superiors. A smile graced his face.
Despite his simple lifestyle, which mostly consisted of the same bland meals, and teaching the younger orphaned children the lord's ways, he was content in his life. In his early, more formative years, the church had saved him from his life of poverty with his neglectful parents, and for that, he would be forever grateful to both his fellow worshipers and the lord.
However, his smile soon faded. The breeze, whilst so gentle and kind, would soon develop into harsh winds and the bitter snow of winter, reminding him of how cruel the outside world could be. With the plague wrecking both the slums of the town and the more aristocratic districts, it seemed no one was immune to God's wrath nowadays. He hoped that fewer would die in the winter.
"Lucius!" A peppy, youthful voice called out to him. One of the orphans of the church had bounced up to him, eagerly wrapping their short, lithe limbs around his torso. The young boy was still quite immature, however, his kind and bubbly demeanor was endearing, like a child not yet corrupted by the sin of the world.
The child's large, brown eyes scanned the old bible Lucius' hands held, and then up at his face. "Can you read to me?"
"Don't you have chores to attend to, Matthias? It would be irresponsible of you to neglect your duties," Lucius replied, his free hand reaching to stroke the child's hair. Whilst his words may have sounded harsh or strict, truthfully he enjoyed interacting with the orphan incredibly so, as a lightness filled his heart.
The child pouted, lips pursed indignantly. "But that strange lady is back again!"
Lucius let out a sigh; Matthias must've been assigned to help clean the main chapel. Recently, a lady dressed in mourning garments had been visiting every Tuesday and Saturday, donating large amounts of currency to the church and praying avidly. He had heard that her family had died from the plague, and that she believed her lack of worship had been the reasoning behind it all.
However, hearsay was simply hearsay. Lucius didn't enjoy gossiping about a woman he had never personally met--it simply wasn't in his nature--and he found himself empathizing with her. He had known many good men that had died to the seemingly indiscriminate plague, and often found himself questioning God's judgement with his resentment. But such thoughts he forced himself to swallow down; he was a priest, a man of God, after all.
"It's unkind to call others 'strange', Matthias. You ought to apologize," he scolded. "We are all but humble worshipers of God in this church."
"H-Huh...? But..."
"No but's. Come on now, let us go apologize to her," he said, standing up and gently taking the child's hand in his own, his bible placed between his arm and slim waist. Lucius glanced down at the small boy, whose cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment, hoping this would make a good opportunity to teach the smaller one about compassion.
Once they arrived at the chapel, it was mostly empty, save for a woman dressed in all black sitting in the church pews, silently praying, her hands clasped together. A thin black veil partially obscured her features, but he could still see her gentle (E/C) eyes from beneath her long (H/C) eyelashes. Her eyes were puffy and red, despite a lack of tears on her face, and her teeth were harshly biting down on her lower lip, nearly tearing the upper layer of flesh.
A pitying look took to his face; she must've been another mourner.
"Go on, Matthias."
"But... she looks sad..." The child said, this time voice clearly expressing distress in his shared worry for the woman.
"Don't you think she'd be happy to hear you apologize to her, then?"
With a shy, hesitant look on his features, the child fiddled with his hands, which were calloused from the chores he had performed in the morning. "Wouldn't she feel sad to know I thought she was strange, though?"
"I think she'd feel happier knowing you don't. I'm sure she'll see your sincerity." An encouraging smile equipped, he waved the child off, the boy scampering over to the young lady with a hesitant look on his face.
"E-Excuse me, miss?" The child began, shyly glancing between her, and his fingers, which nervously danced with one another. "I-I'm sorry. Truthfully, I called you strange. But you seem very kind!"
With a small, proud smile at the young child's apology, Lucius was prepared to call the child back over so he could begin his chores, when he noticed tears had begun running down the lady's face--a small shock filled him. They didn't seem to be tears of indignation or sadness, which bewildered him.
"Thank you, lovely child," the woman murmured. She pulled a white handkerchief out of her pocket and began dabbing at her eyes, as if she had anticipated the situation, a small smile enveloping her lips. "May God bless your kind soul."
"A-Ah! I-I'm sorry, ma'am! Please don't cry...!" The younger one's voice wavered, as he struggled to competently soothe the woman, not having noticed her tears were not of distress.
She looked like a pure white lily, Lucius thought to himself. Like just the gentle breeze accompanying the autumn weather could break her.
After a few minutes of Matthias awkwardly attempting to comfort the woman, who didn't seem sad in the slightest, she sent him away with a smile and a small pink candy. Matthias' eyes lingered on the treat, having never been entitled to such a sugary delight before, both because of the church's poverty, and his diet restrictions.
The boy's eyes suspiciously glanced at Lucius, as he possessively held the candy, as if scared it would be taken from him.
"Good job, Matthias. That was very mature of you," Lucius gently praised the boy, crouching down to pet his head.
"So... can I keep the candy, then?"
"Of course. It's your prize for being kind to the nice lady."
Lucius' eyes lingered on the pink wrapper in the young boy's hands. Whilst he had told the young one that he could keep the candy... Lucius found himself wanting to take it from him.
