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It was quiet in the cathedral. Quiet and peaceful. Marianne always had trouble finding the quiet. Even in this holiest of places, the hourly hymns and bustling of visitors and occasional loud prayers from the more pious nobility interrupted her thoughts – not that her thoughts were peaceful, to begin with. But the halls were echoing and empty that afternoon, and Marianne sat in the front pew, gazing at the statue of the goddess, occasionally slipping her eyes shut in prayer as she asked for forgiveness for all the times she’d dared to ask the goddess for peace.
So it was a bit of a shock to open her eyes and see another young woman sitting next to her.
Marianne jumped back, and felt instantly guilty – those who loved the goddess would of course want a chance to be near her. She was selfish for taking up the space. The woman seemed unperturbed, however, and smiled at Marianne serenely.
“Simply marvelous, that statue, isn’t it?” she asked. “I always feel so cheered when I see her – like she’s smiling down just on me!”
She laughed brightly at this, although Marianne didn’t see the joke – or the interpretation. She always thought the goddess rather frowned on her, like a disappointed mother. She wouldn’t blame the goddess, statue or otherwise, for smiling on this young woman, however. She was one of the most striking figures Marianne had ever seen. Her curls were gold mixed with lavender and they shimmered when she shook her head in laughter. Her eyes were sharp and bright and they pierced everything she looked at. She seemed to tower above Marianne, although she couldn’t have been terribly tall, and everything about her exuded style and class, although her clothes were out of date and her voice was too loud for a cathedral. Marianne was extremely afraid of her.
“Um,” Marianne said. “Hello.”
The woman smiled, as if Marianne was her best friend, and for a brief moment Marianne wished she was. “You’re in the Golden Deer House, aren’t you?” she asked, leaning forward. “I’ve heard all about your success in the mock battle. Beating the Kingdom and the Empire! What a surprise! I am most intrigued by you, my dear.”
“Oh,” said Marianne. “Are you. . . are you a student here?”
“Oh! Oh ho ho!” The woman held up her hand to mask her laughter, not very well, but very beautifully. “So you think I have potential to join your house? I’m so glad to hear that! Now that you’ve confirmed my suspicious I must speak with your professor. I could tell just by looking at you that you and I, we would understand each other.”
“I . . . I’m not sure that’s true,” Marianne said slowly, because she certainly didn’t understand what was going on right now, and that didn’t bode well for deeper understanding.
“Such modesty! But I mean it. I could tell as soon as I saw you sitting here that we would be the best of friends.” The woman leaned forward further, looking at Marianne with a curiosity that bordered on hunger. “Why aren’t you with your friends? Aren’t they having a picnic today? I thought I’d be alone on my brief visit to the cathedral.”
Marianne blushed. “Oh- I – I told them I might come by later. A large outdoor gathering like that – I just. I don’t like that type of thing very much. I try to avoid them.”
The woman grabbed her hand, laughing delightedly. “My dear, I told you, we have so much in common. I really do think we’re going to be the best of friends.” She dropped Marianne’s hand and stood up, reaching down to pat her cheek fondly. “That settles it, then! I will speak to your professor when they next come to visit me.”
“To visit? Do you live in the village, then?” Marianne asked, strangely eager to keep the conversation going, even as it was clear the woman was getting ready to leave.
“The village? You mean with peasants?” the woman snorted, hiding behind her gloved hands again. “I knew you were brilliant and beautiful – I didn’t realize you were also funny ! Oh, my dear,” she said, grabbing Marianne’s hands again impulsively. “This year is going to be so good for both of us, don’t you think? I can just feel it.”
She dropped her hands and started down the aisle of the church. Several pews away, she turned and called over her shoulder, her too-loud voice ringing through the monastery. “Do spread the word to your classmates about your new friend, Constance von Nuvelle!” she sang. “I want them to be excited to meet me!”
She left Marianne sitting on the front pew of the cathedral, touching her cheek absently and wondering what material those gloves were made of and not asking the goddess for forgiveness or mercy or peace or much of anything at all.
“Marianne! Marianne, helloooo!”
Marianne wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there when Hilda’s voice cut through the cathedral. Her friend skipped over to her and tilted her head, long pink pigtails tumbling to the side as she looked down at her.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Marianne. It’s a good thing I decided to check here first,” she said. “They’re all asking about you at the picnic. You’re not going to stay alone all cooped up in the dark here, are you? It’s beautiful out today!”
“I wasn’t –” Marianne said, and she meant to say that she wasn’t alone, but what she actually said was, “I wasn’t in the dark.”
“Hmmm?” Hilda said, already pulling Marianne out of her seat and towards the door. “Did you say something, Marianne? Come on, Raphael’s going to see how many of us he can lift one-handed.”
Marianne snuck a peak back at the goddess statue as Hilda pulled her out the door. Her eyes looked forgiving, as if she were promising that things would be okay.
And Marianne believed her.