This Little Chapel

Part I

There were lessons. They weren't meant to actually learn anything, except how to wash and dry and cook and carry, and that was something they learned every waking minute that wasn't a lesson or a meager meal.

Borogravian History and Nugganatic Law, they were called. They consisted of Sister Marcus telling the girls the same stories, over and over again, and memorising dates and rules. There was a Book of Nuggan in the classroom, and every morning Father Jupe would show up to read them the Abominations. This sometimes took all morning, especially when some of the girls and women had been found indulging in an abomination. The reading would be stopped at the appropriate point until the girl had been punished.

Sometimes it would be nothing more than a beating with the old, thick, heavy ruler. Sometimes, the girl would be stripped to her undergarments, made to kneel down and to insult herself until they were satisfied.

There was no writing, of course. They were women, after all.

There were plaques up all around the Grey House, hanging over them as they worked. Magda once found Tilda Tewt tracing the curvy letter with the line across on the wall below, her lips moving. Abomination. Sister Marcus was walking just behind Magda, so she cleared her throat loudly. Tilda was startled and drew her hand down just in time.

That was before they really knew each other.