I fought back tears. “So youexiledhim? On the first transgression?”
Cullard stood, his tall frame dwarfing my small-but-growing stature. “First transgression, child? Perhaps the first we caught. Boys like Baylen Sallow do not sprout out of nothing. The thieving is just the start. Where will it end? Who knows what headaches he could cause this House in the future?”
The fact he was exiled for future, possible transgressions somehow made it even worse. I swore to myself that I’d never forgive Father Cullard, Mother Eola, or the vowagers.
With my eyes dewy and blurry, I asked, “Who will he turn to, Father? You’ve damned him to a worse fate by discarding him like gutter-filth!”
Cullard’s amenable face flared with righteous anger. “Do not speak to me ofdamnation, Sister Sephania! There was nothingto be done. Your former Brother’s fate is in his own hands, sincehediscarded our teachings. He will have to make his own way. Now leave me.”
I matched his flared nostrils, biting back a retort.
That evening, I wept in my bed. I lay on my side in a fetal position, careful not to aggravate the puffy, aching wounds on my back. I had half a mind to leave the House of the Broken in the middle of the night, to go find Baylen.
Where would I go? Who would take me in?Half the city saw me as a nuisance, the other half saw me as a religious fanatic thanks to the people who had raised me.
“You were right about them all, Bay,” I whispered to myself as my tired eyes grew droopy. “. . . Sorry sacks. The lot of them.”
I was a coward. I stayed with the House of the Broken for another three years, scared to stake off on my own in a world of untold dangers.
It was awful knowing dangers resided in my own House, yet they didn’t equal those that preyed on people outside these walls.
I gained a new friend. It took months of alms-collecting at her side to warm up to her. Her name was Sister Cyprilis. She had been born in the same room as me and Baylen.
Cyprilis was one of the few kind souls left in a House full of horrors. She took her teachings too seriously, admittedly, and carried around a copy of the Book of Truths with her wherever she went.
She didn’t subvert the status quo. It was a blessing, in my mind, after the turmoil I’d been through with Baylen and his schemes.
Cyprilis was a quaint girl stunted from malnourishment. It pained me to see her so frail. She never complained about it. She was stronger than I was, in that sense, even though I towered over her by our twelfth year.
One day, we took to the bazaar for our rounds. It was the same as it ever was, with the dust thick and stuffy. After a meager day of collecting, wherein I spotted the brown-skinned melon-cart and felt a pang of longing for Baylen and his ploys—and our feasts—I asked the girl, “Can I show you something, Cy?”
Cyprilis smiled wide and nodded diligently like a puppy. “Of course, Sister Sephania.”
She always regarded me by my full name.
I brought Cyprilis to a familiar alley and a familiar trash barrel, helping her gingerly climb atop it. “Don’t be fearful, Sister,” I said at her apprehensive gaze when she understood my instructions.
With much hand-holding and gentle prodding, I managed to get Cyprilis up to the roof. We sat in silence as the sun in the distance began to set behind the Olhavian Peaks. The sky was dashed with orange and pink streaks behind puffy clouds.
“Oh, this is lovely,” Cyprilis said, scooting close to me. “Thank you for bringing me here, Sister Sephania.”
I smiled at her. “The Book never said watching a sunset is sinful, my friend.”
“True enough, Trueheart.”
She giggled at her wordplay then did the strangest thing and tilted her head to settle it on my shoulder.
I thought nothing of it, other than being aware of her closeness like I had been all those times with Baylen in similar positions.
I gestured vaguely at the distant mountains and the city atop it, rising high up from Nuhav, sweeping my hand across the sky.“The more I come here, the more I’m convincedthatis where freedom lies, Cy.”
She hummed to herself. “With the bloodies, Sister Sephania?” Her voice vibrated on my shoulder. “That is where Father Cullard says the most treacherous beings imaginable live. Sinful monsters we could never fathom, keeping us stuffed down here like so many fish in a barrel.”
I wondered if they could be anymore sinful than the people inhabiting Nuhav. I didn’t see how that was possible. I let my thoughts lie and we said nothing for nearly an hour, until it was fully dark and a chill swept across the rooftop.
“Guess we should be getting back now,” I started.
Cyprilis let out a contented sigh. She lifted her head from my shoulder, sitting upright. I was pleased to discover she had not fallen asleep like I thought she had.
