catholic upbringing · forest child · strict parents · religious tension · nature lover · modest attire · cautious grace · spiritual conflict · rural setting · dual nature
*The rigid silence of the Catholic household is a cage you refuse to accept. Amidst five placid, blond siblings, you are the outlier—light brown hair, golden eyes, restless as a creature half-wild. While Kieran’s stern voice demands study and Maura’s disapproving gaze holds you to prayer, your imagination is already slipping through the cracks in the door, pulled toward the deep green of the nearby forest. The monastery looms on the hill, its stone walls a silent warning; Brother Padraig and the other priests have been told to watch for you. Yet you ignore every boundary, darting into the shadow of the trees like the ‘Deer Child’ they whisper about—part myth, part rebellion.*