Chapter CLXX – Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.

34th of Summer 5860
Outskirts of Ancoire, Hallow Duchy of Ancoire

A monastery, way out in the steppes of Ancoire.

There the lost sons and daughters of the Temple had cloistered themselves into a building away from civilization. Formally, monasticism was discouraged by the temple. Clergymen were supposed to be on the proverbial frontlines. Yet, there were always those who needed an escape away from civilization, willingly or not.

Lady Leila Earlywatch, though her name or surname mattered no longer, was of the former willing case. Her husband Algernon Satō-Wang had been the unlucky target of one of the first slave uprisings that now gripped the entirety of Gemeinplatz. So, she had simply made her escape. From Casamonu, to Ancoire, to the monastery of mystics…

Now, Leila woke up to yet another peaceful day. The dorms for the sisters were one long building, a stone brick structure made with stone borrowed from quarries far away. In accordance with their ascetic nature, they only had a simple hay bed on the ground to lie on. Rows upon rows of piles upon piles of hay housing people upon people. The day started with one of the sisters, having volunteered for the good of the Divine, opening the door of the dorm.

“The time hath come! It is morning once more, praise be! The Divine is great! The Divine is one! Let us prostrate and praise Its name! The time hath come! It is morning once more, praise be…”

The sister replied the call to prayer until everyone got up on their two feet, then back down on their knees to pray. It was a silent period of prayer, about ten minutes in total where everybody contemplated in private. Once that was done, everybody headed to the dining hall for breakfast. The food was free, lentil soup and bread were the order of today. For a former noblewoman like Leila, it had been painfully plain, but she had found herself quickly getting used to this plainness. The plain, simple, scheduled monotony of it all. No need to think of what to have your servants prepare, no need to think about how the food tasted, no need to be the lady to a sir. To some perhaps, such a fate would have been humiliating and unbearable… to some it represented a never-ending state of detachment and peace.

The dining hall was a suitably massive structure built right next to the dorms, housing a kitchen staffed by the sisters right next to it. There was around a thousand sisters in the complex, complete with the farmland to feed them protected by the walls which were visible outside a window looking out from the dining hall. Leila had heard that the monastery used to be a fortress of sorts, made way back in the day to pacify nomads in the area. With the frontier pushed back from Ancoire, it had lost its military function, abandoned, and eventually got taken over by a convent. The dorms and dining halls were new structures, while the walls were rumored to be ancient. Steel-reinforced concrete, weathered yet still standing. Leila wondered how many generations of people before her had beheld these walls, though there was no way she would ever get a clear answer. Every day she’d pass by buildings made from the same material as the walls, restored buildings maintained by the convent. How many people had resided here? How many would?

Staring out the window while slurping on soup provided plenty of such idle thought. With the end of soup however came the end of her free time. There usually wasn’t much to do in a monastery save from idle prayer and contemplation, but today Leila had been tasked with sweeping the paths. A noble lady, relegated to a pathsweep… not that anybody in the monastery knew of each other’s history. It was taboo to talk about one’s past before entering the convent.

Leila grabbed a broom from a nearby closet, and made her way to the front gate of the monastery. It was complete with a portcullis, closed and rarely opened. Not many people made it around these parts. She had designed to start her cleaning from the path leading from the gate, and go from there. It was a long and arduous process, more meditation rather than actual cleaning. About an hour in, Leila had done a circle around the square that stood in front of the gate.

“Please! Is there anyone at the gate?”

It was a man’s voice. Unusual, considering that the monastery was women-only. Save for one designated man at the gate, who acted as a liaison for the sisters.

“Yes. What is your business?”

Leila couldn’t defeat her curiosity. She headed towards the gate, which through the portcullis she could see a group of men in church garb. They looked disheveled, as if they had rushed out of bed to run all the way to the monastery.

“The Protection Squadron are after us. They’re trying to arrest everyone in Ancoire! Please grant your fellow believers asylum.”

This sentence didn’t mean much to Leila, or anyone else in the monastery. They had not heard anything at all, of the news in the outside world. Being isolated from the outside was the whole point of a monastery after all.

Still, whatever or whoever they were escaping from, the monastery had an obligation to take care of the needy. The portcullis opened, and the men quickly streamed inside after leaving their weapons. They’d be led by sisters to the hospitality quarters. Leila was still on sweeping duty, so none of that bothered her. What bothered her was a group that followed a few minutes after, waiting in front of the portcullis as it had been closed again.

“Hail! The Protection Squadron asks that you let out a group of outlaws which have come to reside in your monastery.”

The portcullis didn’t budge. “They asked for our protection. We cannot let them out. If you come in peace, you may enter after you leave your weapons.”

Clearly the officer of this Protection Squadron wasn’t all too pleased with the news. “Your demand is unacceptable. We are here under the supreme authority of the Chancellor. We will enter with force if we have to.”

“We operate under the supreme law of the Divine. Turn back if you won’t comply with it.”

That, it seemed, was the last straw. “You leave us no choice! Under authority invested in us by Imperial law, we shall seize your monastery.” Despite the grand declaration, there was no way such few men would be able to break into the walls, so they turned back at the portcullis. In response, the man at the portcullis sounded the bell, which caused everyone in the monastery to jump in shock save for Leila who was watching the scene.

“…sisters, under arms!”

Prayer and contemplation had left ample time to practice another thing.