Trinity Bloods (FanFic)

27† A Mother's Love

Vaclav quickly found a seat for Caterina after she agreed to the idea letting Abel continue fighting for the freedom of Eden. Caterina watched him carefully as he waved his hands around explaining as much as he could. He was eager, if not desperate to free her.

"Maria was a young woman just past her twenties when they heard that the Pope would be visiting different countries to bless the lands. A disease had taken out many crops in the neighboring areas, and so the Church was going around collecting men and women to become missionaries and gift others with life and prosperity. When her sisters had welcomed the Pope into the area, certain women were redirected to new areas after meeting His Holiness. She says that he was very picky of who he wanted around him. If they didn't look or act perfect, they were sent away and a new Sister replaced them. Their mother had brought a tray of food to him one morning only to return quicker than she had left. Maria writes about how the Mother wouldn't speak of what she saw that terrified her for a whole day. But the woman refused to return to his chambers. Maria as a young naive woman found the courage to confront the men about their Mother. She says how they laughed in her face, mocked her in a language they thought she didn't speak, but Maria had already learned five languages and understood what they had said about her with ease. Maria asks for forgiveness as she was a fool to push past the men and barge into the Pope's bed chambers without being welcomed. What she saw was only something she heard of rich kings doing in their palaces. This man was not acting as she expected. He lay in a mess of tangled bodies. People all around him committing acts of sin that she dare not mention. Maria said that as she had already heard the men speaking Italian that she didn't stop to think to say anything in her Finnic language. She looked the Pope in the eyes and told him that he would never reach the Gates of Heaven and that he was worse than swine before storming off." Abel thought of Eden's loud mouth, the fact that she will tell you what she thinks before she took the time to think about it sometimes. She really was like her mother. "The next day Maria refused to let food go to the Pope and his guards. She kept this up for the rest of the afternoon before they came and took her from her duties. She said six men larger than three women combined dragged her from the others. Fighting back was no use, each man wore armor and carried weapons she had never seen before. No one said anything as she asked them what was happening. Instead, she was greeted by Pope Benedict IX. He had been dressed and seated at a table, books in front of him as if he were actually working. Upon being seated, Maria was given food they could not produce and drinks she had never tasted before. He was not being starved even if she withheld his food for the morning. He spoke in her native language, and she thought about how he had the time to learn their language and sleep with their people, yet he had not the time to fix their lands. She felt angry, then guilty for her anger and prayed. This amused the Pope and he told her he needed help. Theophylactus, as he asked her to call him, has been having dreams of lands he could not describe the beauty of until he came to Livonia. He had not left yet, for his dreams were of a woman and when Maria had tried to leave before he could finish, the six large men in the room made her sit back down only with a look. Theo would dream of a woman in bed with him, she was strong willed and could fight back causing fear to others with just her voice. He couldn't understand what the dreams meant, so he had been sleeping with every woman who would do anything to provoke his guards or that seemed as if she were a strong willed woman. The Pope never thought to look at the women of the church that was housing him. He told her that she would bear him an heir that one day will change everything. Maria protested that she was not the woman he was looking for, as she was a child of the church and would not commit such an act with him. The way the Pope looked at her not only filled her with anger, but also fear. She thought that even if she said no he had the power to do as he pleased. What he spoke about to her next caught her off guard. He asked the other nuns about her. Things she thought she had kept secret, others knew. Theo then questioned her about the candles she would light and put out while looking at them but never touching. Maria admits that she should've hidden the fact that if she thought hard enough, she could make something move as if she was right next to it. The Pope had an unlit candle and placed it in front of her. She was instructed to light the flame, and instinctively she pulled out her fire starter. This angered Theophylactus enough that he moved himself closer and took the fire starter from her. He started to yell demanding her to light the candle enough times that Maria gave in and in a blink, the candle was lit but also across the room. She had set his blankets on the bed ablaze, earning a smile from the young Pope. She expected punishment after, but received nothing of the sort. She was soon rushed away by a few well dressed women to be bathed and anointed in oils and perfumes."