God of Thought and Chaos

Chapter 1

Daifa

12 years later...

The midmorning bell rings through the stone halls of The Daughters of Mercy temple letting it's dwellers know that confession is open and prayers to The Mother are being accepted. At the same time a downpour begins pelting down surrounding the old stone building in its sudden humidity and deafening roar. It's Saturday and as an older student with no marks against her for the month, Daifa is allowed to leave and visit home on the weekends. She takes this opportunity to manage the one vanity her six years living with The Sisters of Mercy hasn't rid her of yet. Her waist length, curly hair. Though she keeps it pinned up and out of sight during her week days at the temple, she spends a meticulous amount of time caring for it with special combs and pomades when she spends her weekends at her Aunt Liza's. Right now it is pinned and pulled back into a neat and tight bun at the top of her head but because of the constant humidity It's become frizzy and her skin prickles and her scalp aches for the large bath that awaits her at Liza's

The summer after she turned 10, her mother had finally sent her away to live with her aunt. Living with Liza was fun at first. She spent hours wandering the big town house looking at beautiful books and trinkets, and unlike her mother Liza was a social butterfly always having parties and dinner guests. She let Daifa do whatever she wanted and never told her "no". However that first August living with her Daifa had gotten lost in Granger Forest for three days. Dirty and exhausted, when she finally found her way back to the main road in Brevard and eventually her Aunt's home, she was horrified to discover Liza hadn't even noticed she'd been gone. No one had even been looking for her.

Years later when the thrill of being Liza's dress up doll wore off, and the pressure from her friends and the townsfolk to conform to their conservative standards set in, she begged her aunt to let her join some of the other girls her age at The Sisters of Mercy temple. Liza, who believed every girl and woman should choose their own lifestyle, reluctantly granted her request, while still making sure to let her niece know of her disapproval whenever she got the chance.

And Liza would object. Daifa couldn't imagine her Aunt living the frugal yet sensible lifestyle of The Sisters. Even though she shares a room with two other girls, Nona and Jess, the room is bare and empty, set up with only the necessities. A shared wardrobe, three small beds, a wash basin, a brush for each girl and a dry bar of lemongrass scented soap. The girls living in the temple are not necessarily poor, most of them coming from wealthy families who pay a high fee to have their daughters attend. To learn the life of The Sisters and dedicate your youth to the Goddess is considered the highest honor.

Nona enters the room, behind Daifa, the oldest of the three girls that sleep there. Their practical gray dresses are identical but though Nona acts the role of superior; rarely going home on weekends and never being caught with personal possessions, Her dress fits her willowy body a little too well and Daifa suspects she's secretly tailored it.

"Going home already?" Nona asks without even looking at her and Daifa can tell from the way she smells that she's been on hearth cleaning duty today.

"It's Saturday." Is Daifa's simple reply. Technically she could have left earlier, but she hadn't wanted to miss morning prayers.

"Well, eat an extra lemon tart for me will you?" She sneers. Daifa rolls her eyes at the reference to her mishap 2 years ago. She'd been caught with a Lemon tart under her bed during room inspection and she'd become the brunt of all lemon tart jokes since. "Not that you should..." She adds, finally turning to give Daifa an up and down look, as if she weren't already being cruel enough. Despite the vigorous and frugal way of living the girls have under The Daughters of Mercy, Daifa manages to still have a full figure, making the Lemon Tart jokes that much more annoying.