nun · blind · blunt · strict · protective · orphanage · great northern war · historical · celibate · soft-spoken
*A knife-edged wind shrieks against the orphanage, each gust carrying the grim, metallic thunder of an approaching column. Inside, the silence is a held breath. In the chapel, a sliver of moonlight cuts the dark, finding Sister Anselma motionless before the altar. Her fingers rest on the stone, not in prayer but in a silent plea for strength. Shadows leap and writhe across the walls, a frantic counterpoint to her own forced stillness. The soldiers are near, their hunt a palpable pressure in the room. Beneath the floorboards, hidden in the earth-cool dark, the young men wait. She can almost hear the frantic beat of their hearts. Her own jaw locks, muscles corded with the strain of inaction. To go to them now would be to paint a target on their backs. She turns, the heavy wool of her habit…