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| Louise De Hem - An Old Woman - Wikimedia Commons |
Beata approached with tension in her step. She could feel that Mother Vlasta was not pleased with the dynamic she was arousing in Vlasta’s youngest charges. She greeted Mother Vlasta with formality, and sat at the table next to Zdenka.
The abbess explained her offer to both women.
“Sister Ludmila is a hermitess who is not formally or directly part of our order, but we are sympathetic to her goal of becoming closer to God via a different, lonelier path than we who live together in a cloister.”
“Oh, we know her,” said Zdenka. As much as Beata had been gathering admirers among Mother Vlasta’s nuns, Ludmilla, who had taken refuge in the Convent of St. Vlasta a few days ago, had been ruffling the Sisters’ habits with her paranoid accusations and quarrelsome nature.
“Indeed, we need no introduction to Sister Ludmilla,” smiled Beata ruefully. She had been the target of some of the once-and-future recluse’s screaming tirades in the convent’s overfull guest wing.
Mother Vlasta grimaced, then continued.
“Then you will have an understanding of the urgency of the mission: I should like you to use your special skills and talents to eliminate the threat that drove Ludmilla from her hermitage in Skalica. I will provide you five horses.”
“Reverend Mother,” said Zdenka, “Four horses – for me and my friends: Beata, Silvernose, and Sieglinde. The fifth…for Ludmilla?”
Mother Vlasta’s thin face broke into a broad grin.
“Yes, you must take her with you immediately. If the hermitage cannot be made clean or safe or otherwise habitable for Ludmilla, you must find suitable accommodation for her elsewhere… at least two hundred versts east of Vodnikov!”
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Did you miss the beginning? Part I is here.
Parts II and III and all the previous and future links are here.
Following this particular installment is Part V: Silvernose Arrives Minus His Weird Girlfriend
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