Blood of the Righteous

The Survivors Arrive in Avoshire

Warm spring afternoons at the Archbishop's University of Avonshire were Eleenia's favorite time of the year. Class loads were light, her coming two hours in the dish pits of the great kitchens would soon be over, and the sun shone on the beautifully manicured courtyard as the Holy Defender senior initiates began to mold their new charges. Boys barely 15 years had promised their lives to the church. They had arrived full of hope, idealism, and naivete, only to have their perceptions of the order and their young worlds shattered by the harsh realities that would mold them into true men of God.

Sitting on the ledge of a raised flowerbed, Eleenia watched Gabriel walk back and forth not four legs away giving the junior initiates lessons on the order. She saw so much of her father's manner in him, however he had inherited their mother's intuition, insistence, and much of her looks. Eleenia's intuition and powers of discernment were tenuous at best. She relied much more on logic, and she had her father's gift of strategy, being the only one of his children to ever defeat him at a game of King's Table. The sweet victory was a singular occurrence, and he had trounced her every other time they had played, although her father was the only one so far who could defeat her at such games.

A tear rolled down her eye as she watched her brother, her only link to her family, now that their uncle Rameus had seemingly vanished. The last month had been so hard. The other daughters of nobles had shunned her upon learning of her family's deaths. They taunted her by saying she was now a commoner, even though she had a claim of royal blood, King Nicolae being her uncle. In spite of that fact, her uncle had disowned her mother upon the marriage to her father, and in turn had disowned her.

Perhaps they were right. Perhaps she was now but a commoner.

Eleenia shook the thoughts from her mind. She was not one to give into such petty notions. After all, it was a person's actions that defined them, not birth. The lowest gravedigger, rat catcher, and middens tender who went about their life content, doing their job to the best of their ability was far more noble than a pampered dandy who had never did a lick of work in his life. That is what she believed in her heart, and expressing such beliefs in front of the nobles' daughters had gotten her into a number of heated shouting matches. The arguments had only come to blows once, but after Janelle's lessons the other two girls were no match for her. After their trouncing, the girls had resorted to gossip and snide comments. However, now that she had moved into the commoners' hall, much of the drama was behind her.

Of course, the lies the nobles' daughters had told and her fight had landed her in plenty of hot water, literally. Instead of just six hours a week in the dish pits as prescribed by Bishop Sentius, she had been assigned work hours at no extra pay. She now worked in the pits seven days a week for two hours a day while the other girls received no punishment whatsoever. The thought of it made her clench her fists in anger.

"My child, what vexes you?"

Eleenia was startled by the cathedral convent's Mother Superior. "I'm sorry, Reverend Mother. I was just angry about the judicial board's extra work hours placed upon me. It was unjust. They are just pandering to the nobles."

The middle-aged nun placed her hand on Eleenia's shoulder. "Worry not, my child. God knows the truth. If their judgment was based upon lies, it will return to them. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans. "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

"Yes, thank you, Reverend Mother," Eleenia said.

"I have prayed for you every night since I heard the news about your family, Eleenia." The nun patted her on her shoulder. "I shall speak to Father Steven and get to the bottom of this. It is the least I can do after the service your father once performed for me." The nun smiled at Eleenia's quizzical look and was off.