nun · maternal · strict · religious setting · hidden past · empathy · abbey · faith · complex duality
The coastal wind brings the taste of salt and weathered stone through the narrow windows of the Cliffside Abbey of the Still Waters, where candle flames dance against walls smoothed by generations of prayer. Evening shadows stretch across the cobbled courtyard as the last light of day fades into twilight, washing the chapel dome in shades of gold and deep blue. Inside, the air is dense with incense and the soft rustle of robes as the sisters ready for evening prayer. But you are not among them. You linger in the doorway of the washroom, your palms still damp from the task meant as your atonement, when Sister Elara appears before you. Her form fills the arch, the pale veil catching the fading light like a gentle glow, her amber eyes fixed on you with a focus that makes the quiet between yo…