So saying, she gestured toward a small table to the right of the choir, where two of the school’s younger girls stood holding a rainbow-striped canopy above an open book. Sister Iris Rose stood behind the table with a quill pen and an inkwell, her brown eyes crinkling with good humor as they approached.
«Be welcome under the rainbow, Alazais», she said, with a curtsy to the pair of them as Alyce led her stepdaughter before the book. The two girls holding the canopy were students, by their dress, with simple rainbow fillets binding plain white veils across their brows.
Smiling, Alyce nodded for Alazais to take the pen, remembering how she had hesitated to sign when first she came, for both she and her sister had feared that they might be coerced into taking unintended religious vows. Iris Rose must have remembered that day, for she smiled at Alyce as Alazais carefully signed her name. When the signing was completed, Iris Rose sanded the signature with pounce to stop it smudging, then carefully turned the signed pages back to where a slip of parchment marked a place much earlier in the volume.
«Here is where your sister signed, when she first came to us», she said to Alazais, indicating Zoë’s signature. She then turned forward several pages, to another marker. «And here are the names of Alyce and her sister».
Alyce’s breath caught as she read the shaky signature: Marie Stephania de Corwyn, and she smiled faintly as she let her fingertips trace over the line.
«Ah, dear Zaizie, you know so much more than we did, when we first came here», she murmured. «We were afraid we might never be allowed to leave, that we would be forced to take the veil, locked away forever behind cloister walls. How wrong we were. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to us — though your father, I think, was probably the best thing ever to happen to me. And Alaric, of course».
With a little sob, Alazais embraced her stepmother in a fierce gesture of genuine affection, tears in her eyes, then composed herself and stood tall at Alyce’s side, nodding to Iris Rose.
«Thank you, Sister», she murmured, as Alyce also murmured her thanks.
Then they were moving back before the altar, the canopy accompanying them, where Mother Iris Judiana bade Alazais to kneel, blessing her with holy water sprinkled from a sprig of fragrant pine, then signaling for two more waiting girls to bring a veil very like those worn by the canopy-bearers.
«Let this daughter be veiled according to the custom of this house», she said, as Alyce removed the wreath of wildflowers and the two veil-bearers set the veil in place, the abbess herself binding it across the brow with the rainbow-plaited fillet.
After that, Mother Iris Judiana raised Alazais to her feet, kissed her on both cheeks, and herself conveyed the new student to the stall that henceforth would be her place in choir. Then, after a few general words of welcome, both to the new girl and the old, she dismissed the community to retire to the refectory, where a simple supper awaited students, sisters, and guests alike.
By then, it was far later than the long summer twilight would have suggested, such that the weary travelers soon retired to the rooms assigned them, and Alazais to meet her new schoolmates and be introduced to the girl chosen to share a room with her during her time at Arc-en-Ciel. All the rest of the Morgan relatives would leave to continue their journeys home the next morning, so Alyce availed herself of one last opportunity to spend some private time with her secret sister.
«This has been a very special time for me, despite what happened at Hallowdale», Alyce murmured, climbing into the bed beside Vera when they had both seen their sons safely asleep at the other end of the room. She glanced around at the room, still light enough to see in the twilight, then snuggled closer to her sister.
«Did you remember that this was my bridal chamber, when Kenneth and I were wed?» she said with a sly grin in Vera’s direction. «This may or may not be the actual marriage bed, but that was a time of happiness that I shall never forget».
Vera smiled and settled the bedclothes closer under her chin, for the temperature was falling, here in the foothills north of Rhemuth. «Marriage does have much to recommend it, doesn’t it?» she agreed. «I take it that you are hoping for another child».
Alyce turned onto her back to stare at the ceiling overhead, suddenly sobered. «I think I may have lost one earlier this year, about the time you lost yours».
«What?» Vera sat up to stare at her sister.
«Please don’t be angry. I didn’t tell you because you were already grieving, and I wasn’t entirely certain I had actually conceived. But we mean to make it happen», she said casually, «and the trying is agreeable».
«Yes, it is, isn’t it?» Vera agreed. Her impish smile reminded Alyce of the delicious late-night conversations that she, Vera, Marie, and Zoë had shared when all of them were unwed maidens, making their first tentative forays into the uncharted waters of their own womanhood. In particular, Alyce found herself remembering Marie — and Sé, who had loved her.
«Did I tell you that Sé made a brief appearance at the wedding?» she asked, turning her head to look at her sister.
«At Zoë’s wedding?» Vera looked surprised. «Did he? I never saw him. What did he say? How did he look?»
Remembering, Alyce turned her face once again toward the ceiling.
«Leaner than when we last saw him, a bit more care-worn. He’s taken his final vows with the Anvillers, Vera. He bears the marks. It was a very drastic thing to do, but somehow I think he made the right decision. He was shattered after Marie’s death, but now he seems whole again».
Vera went very still, also gazing up at the ceiling. «Then, it appears that he found a genuine vocation», she murmured. «He’s a very special man, Alyce. I hope you know that».
«Oh, I do know», she replied. «Even Kenneth recognizes it. If anything were ever to happen to him, I know that Sé would be there if I needed him. And he would be there for Alaric. That knowledge is comforting».
«Indeed». Vera yawned. «Dear me. I suppose we’d better get some sleep. The boys will wake at first light, which comes early. And we must be in the saddle right after morning Mass. Will you go back to Rhemuth tomorrow?»
Alyce shook her head, also yawning. «We shall stay another night, so that I can visit with Mother Judiana. I have much to tell her». She smiled fondly. «She was very like a mother to Marie and me, while we were here. I — need to tell her about what we saw on the road…and what I very nearly did».
At Vera’s questioning glance in her direction, Alyce took her sister’s hand and used the physical link to share her horror and outrage, and how she had longed to lash out with her power and destroy those who had murdered the three hapless Deryni at Hallowdale.
«It would have been very wrong, though», she said, reverting to audible speech. «I could have undone whatever progress our race has made in the past several decades».
«That’s very true; you could have», Vera replied briskly. «But you didn’t. Granted, you thought about it — but you didn’t do it. You needn’t ask forgiveness merely for thinking. Mother Judiana surely will tell you that».
Alyce shrugged and allowed herself a faint smile. «I suppose I just want to reassure myself that someone who is genuinely good, who wasn’t there, understands my horror».
«Dear Alyce, any sensible person with a jot of compassion in their soul would have been horrified», Vera said sleepily. «It wasn’t even human, what those villagers did to those people — whether or not they were Deryni, and whether or not they actually did anything wrong besides be Deryni. And I don’t think any Deryni could do that to another living creature. We’d hear the anguish in our minds. In time, it would drive us mad. I only hope Kenneth can persuade the king to take action, make a serious inquiry. I certainly intend to tell Jared, when I get back to Culdi».