«I am pleased to receive them, dear Jessamy», said Mother Iris Judiana, smiling as she extended her hands to the two girls. «May they be a credit to this house, and cleave cheerfully to its discipline. Let them now be enrolled under the favor and protection of our Lady of the Rainbow, signifying the same by their signatures in the great book of our house.
With those words, she signaled them to rise, Jessamy leading them before a small table to one side, where lay an open book displaying a mostly empty page. Two much younger girls stood to either side of the table — students, by their dress — holding a rainbow-striped canopy above it. A somewhat older one in novice habit stood behind the table, bearing a quill and inkwell, and curtsied to the pair of them as she held out her implements.
«Darlings, this is my daughter, Sister Iris Jessilde», Jessamy said softly, nodding fondly to the girl holding the quill. «It will be her honor to enroll you under the Rainbow».
«It is for the schooling only», Alyce said in final confirmation of their intent, as Jessilde put the quill in her hand. «We make no vow save to keep the discipline of this school».
The older girl answered with a merry smile beneath her rainbow-edged white veil, amusement crinkling at the corners of eyes as blue as cornflowers, and the two girls holding the canopy giggled good-naturedly.
«Be assured, there is no trickery here», Jessilde murmured. «You are perfectly free to stay or to go — save that the wishes of your father or guardians may require what you would otherwise, of course. But this is not a prison. No one will try to force a religious vocation that does not exist».
The assurance rang of truth — and Alyce had been probing gently to be certain of it — but she still turned briefly to the previous page of the book to confirm what she was signing. A heading on that page declared it to be the first entries for the term begun the previous Michaelmas.
Feeling somewhat foolish, she signed her name with care and handed the quill to Marie, who also seized courage and affixed her name beneath that of her older sister. When they had done, Jessamy moved between them and took a hand from each, leading them back before the mother superior, with the rainbow canopy accompanying them.
There, at a sign from Jessamy, the pair of them knelt at the feet of Mother Iris Judiana, who took a pine sprig from a silver pot offered by another of the girls and sprinkled them with holy water in the sign of the Cross.
«Let these daughters be veiled according to the custom of our house», she said in signal to two more girls, who approached with fine white linen draped over their arms.
The veiling itself was something of an anticlimax. As Jessamy removed the dried floral wreaths from both bowed heads, the girls with the veils performed their offices, bidding Alyce and Marie to hold the front edges of the veils in place while rainbow-plaited fillets were bound across their foreheads, entirely suitable for the lives they were to lead for the next few years. Once veiled, the pair were conducted by Mother Judiana herself to seats in the back row of the students' choir stalls, these to be their assigned places henceforth.
There followed a sparse few words of welcome and of notification regarding the rest of the day's schedule, and then an adjournment to the refectory for a plain but substantial supper. Shortly after that, they were shown to the rooms they would share, each with a roommate. Alyce's was a lively redheaded girl called Cerys; Marie was paired with a younger girl called Iery. To their surprise, the rooms were cozy and warm, if sparse, each with a heavy wool curtain covering its single small window and several rushlights set in wall niches.
«I know it must seem rather modest, compared to what you've been accustomed to», Cerys told her, indicating the whitewashed walls of their room, «but in truth, we don't spend much time here, other than to sleep. We each have a coffer in the common room, for our clothing — except for our night gowns. Those go under our pillows. And you do have an aumbry cupboard there, on your side of the bed, for a few personal items».
Alyce noted the arched cupboard door set into the wall on the left side of the wide bed, the crucifix at its head, and also the tiny fireplace in one corner of the room, radiating a comforting amount of heat. There was also a close stool in another corner of the room, for use during the night.
«We're allowed a fire in the morning and at night», Cerys added, noting her new roommate's scrutiny. «A lay servant cleans out the night ashes and starts the morning fires, and comes back later to lay the night fire, but we have to clean out our own morning ashes after morning prayers and breakfast, and empty our own chamber pot. We usually take turns doing that. Sister Iris Anthony says that it's good experience for well-bred girls to perform such duties for themselves, so that we'll know what's involved when we must manage our own domestic servants».
«That's probably true», Alyce said, somewhat surprised that there had been no trace of resentment in the other girl's tone. She tried the edge of the bed and glanced at her companion. «Cerys, do you like it here? I mean, really».
«Oh, I do», Cerys replied. «Mind you, I wouldn't want to stay here forever — I don't think I could ever be a nun! — but my father is only a simple knight. If I expect to marry well, I must be properly prepared to run a noble household».
«I see», Alyce murmured.
For the next little while, until time for evening prayers, Cerys chattered away about life at the school and Alyce mostly just listened, though it did give her a somewhat better idea what to expect. She saw Marie briefly before evening prayers, and met Iery, who was quiet but seemed to have a sense of humor.
«I like her», Marie whispered, as they settled into their stalls for the final service of the night. «Maybe this will be all right after all».
Bed followed evening prayers, and Alyce lay awake far longer than she usually did, close beside Cerys for warmth. When she finally did sleep, she did not dream.
Chapter 9
«Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein».[10]
Their new life at Arc-en-Ciel began in earnest the next morning. Jessamy and Jesiana had stayed the night, and rose for early Mass in the convent's chapel, then broke their fast with Jessilde and the rest of the community before making their good-byes, leaving Alyce and Marie to settle into their new situation as best they could.
By and large, this proved far less difficult than they had feared. The nuns, for the most part, were gentle and kind, and quickly warmed to the lively and talented sisters from Lendour. Acceptance came more slowly from the other girls, but they, too, gradually began to relax and include the newcomers among them. Marie and Iery got on famously, and Cerys proved to be amiable and genuinely kind, and soon included Alyce in her friendship with another girl their age, called Zoë, who would quickly become Alyce's particular friend.
For the rest, Alyce soon decided not worry. If a few of the girls kept their distance — and some of the nuns as well — most of them were no worse than indifferent, and seemed not to mind that two more Deryni were now among them. The way had been paved by Jessilde, who apparently had long since proven her harmlessness to the satisfaction of the community.
Which left the demoiselles de Corwyn to contend with the reason they had come to Arc-en-Ciel in the first place: to continue their education as young ladies of gentle breeding.
They found the cycle of instruction in the convent school somewhat different from what they had known in their father's hall, where they had studied many of the same subjects as their brother. Though Alyce had always been the stronger student, both were competent in the basic skills of reading, writing, and ciphering, and had a far better background than most of their classmates in history, the classics, and languages.