A tub full of water, it was hot. There were several maids that accompanied me to the wash room. I had the rags that barely covered me removed. I was left in the middle of the bathroom, surrounded by girls the same age as I, naked. A violent shiver passed by me, as the room was slightly cool, despite the warm air seeping from the bath was right behind me. I looked down at my battered body and saw the marks of the last year etched into my body. I looked frail, hardly human. I realize I am not good to look at, even the women that were in my company, were turning away while holding their hands to their mouths. I was grotesque, I know, besides the matted hair, bruises that covered half my body, and the joints that seemed to want to pop out of my discolored skin, I was filthy, absolutely so.

Through glancing between their fingers, and the absolute refusal to look at me, I just stood there, in my own nakedness. Finally, the oldest of the bunch, by maybe a year, took me by my wrists and led me to the water. She said in a soft voice that only caught once, while she looked at me, “Here you, here you are. Just stand in the water and we will help you wash up, right girls?” She glared up for a moment, causing the other maids to reluctantly approach me.

One of them placed a hand on my knee and lifted my foot above the tub's lip, and placed it into the rather uncomfortably hot bath. From just my foot hitting the water, it splashed up to caress the skin on my calf but, the water itself, slowly changed from its crystal clear appearance into a rather blurry one. Another maid helped the first one to raise my other knee and place my other foot into the water. I now stood in a bath tub of very hot water, burning away the soles of my feet and the very skin that wrapped my feet. Though it was almost intolerable, I couldn't move, for I had no will to. I know I need this.

I heard the hushed comment of the first maid, “She is so light, I almost threw her.”

It was then the oldest of them leaned toward me and placed one hand in mine, and the other beneath my shoulder. “Come now, lets have you off your feet.”

Gently, she pressed down on my shoulder, and leading my hand downward, this slowly forced me toward the water. Two maids at both sides of the tub each placed a hand on my left and right knee, to keep me from falling and to ease me into transitioning from standing to a sitting position.

The water quickly greeted me, and washed over to my midsection. I was now in a sitting position with my knees poking out of the water. The water felt as if was trying to eat me, and that my skin would peel off from all the stinging. I looked down at the water and I witness it quickly turn very murky. I was sad to see such beautiful water be sullied by my dirtiness.

“We only placed her in the water and look at it now.” A younger maid seemed flustered.

“We will just have to drain it and fill it back up.” The older maid replied.

The younger maid snorted, “The water will just get dirty again.”

The older maid glared at her, causing the younger maid to wince, “Then we will drain it and refill it as many times necessary.” The younger maid just nodded her head.

…

Many times did they empty the bath, refill it, pour water of my head and scrub me down with washcloths. After the initial stings of the hot water, and the burning sensation of the washcloths, my skin felt very smooth, and delicate. It hurt but, I am now clean. I still stand naked in the bathroom surrounded by maids though, and I am curious as to what they have in mind. It seems they are waiting on one of the maids to return, probably with a change of clothes.

My predictions appeared to be correct when the missing maid came through the threshold with a new set of clothing in her hands. When she unfolded the clothing, it turned out to be a matching set with the rest of the maids that surrounded me. Two of the maids grabbed my arms and spun me to face away from the one holding the dress, while holding my hands up. They slid a white blouse over my arms and face that slid across my chest. Next came a long sleeved black shirt that snugly fit over the blouse. After that they put on strange thin black jacket that had a hood. The hood fit over my hair, and was fixed around my head.

I look down at two of the maids at my feet. They glanced up at me and smiled, whilst hold a pair of black under garments and a long black skirt. They motioned me to step into them, and as I did so the slid them up my legs, past my knee, up my thighs and around my waist. The skirt almost fell to the floor, so the had fixed it with a thin black cloth, to keep it from falling. Next I stepped into some slipper like shoes and the outfit was complete. I glanced at the faces that surround me, they were not looking at me disgust anymore, but they were not smiling either. I knew they did this only because they were told to do so, and not because they cared.

The group led me by the hand back toward the fire place, where the giant priest was waiting, flashing his smile, that seemed too blinding to stare at. “And how are you? Do you feel clean?”

I try to speak again, “Thhank yoou.” My words were a bit long, and weak, but at least I expressed my gratitude. I peeked at the priest's face again, and I knew that he appreciated it, with his kind smile.

With a nod he dismissed the maids and looked me over once, then twice, “Why you look better in that nun's outfit, I think it suits you well.” If my throat wasn't so tired I would have asked, but since I was still curious I decided that a tilt would suffice. “Oh, are you not sure what a nun is? Well, a nun is a woman of the cloth, she does not marry, and cannot have a family, as she is married to the church, and the her peers are her family. What say you? Are ready to become apart of our family? I warn you now, there are chores, but seeing your current state, you are exempt from them for a time.” He smiled once more.

I found myself staring, but I was unable to pull myself away. His grin was so enticing, that I still have yet to look at his face completely. Ah, but most do not like my gaze falling on them, so I managed to break my stare, and hung my head once again.

“Is something the matter?” I felt that his voice had a tint of worry in it, but surely no one in this world could worry for me. “Ah, perhaps you are hungry. Here, follow me.” He grabbed e by the hand once again, and I felt a small tingly sensation in my chest.

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He brought me through a hallway and open a thick wooden door that led to the very smells that permeated throughout the place. Seeing the pot over the fire, I couldn't quite see it's contents. I was then lead to a seat and was motioned to sit down at the large table. None of the maids, or nuns as it were, were around it was just me and this priest.

He set out a bowl for me and one for himself, then he walked over to the pot and removed it from the fire, with it, he brought a ladle. He first poured some of the contents of the pot, via ladle, into my bowl before he poured some into his own. I peered down into my bowl to find it full of some kind of broth and cut up vegetables. I brought a spoon to my mouth and I felt the very warmth of this soup rush into my mouth that threatened to burn me. I quickly swallowed the hot soup and found that another spoonful was in my mouth just quickly as I swallowed the first. Shoveling this vegetable soup into my mouth as I fast as I could possibly muster, until every bit of it was gone.

I peeked back up the priest, he wore a face with a mouth that gaped in surprise. He quickly recovered and smiled again at me before he stood up to place more soup into my bowl before sitting down again, “Slowly. I wouldn't want the contents of your stomach all of the place. I may have forgotten to introduce myself. I am the priest of this place, Father Stoic. I have given up my last name, so you may call me Father, or Father Stoic. May I hear your name?”

Now that my throat had been moistened by the soup, I found it ever so slightly easier to speak, “My naame is Maddison. Appleroot.” My voice still caught for a bit, but it is definitely an improvement. I took this time to examine the rest of his face, as I had not done so previously. His hair was neatly trimmed into a short, blonde spiky cut, with a rather squarish face and strong jaw that oozed masculinity. I couldn't see his eyes at this moment, as he was looking down at his soup. I did see really big scars on his face, one that went straight across his forehead and another that went down one of his eyes, that intersected with the first one. This was Father Stoic.

He looked back up at me with a pair of pale blue eyes that seemed as vast as the sky, “I will have you learn the names of the other nuns, and they will teach you your duties. For now, you will learn what they are, and when your health starts recovering, we will have you do your chores.”

…

During four weeks of my recovery, I came to know the names of all of the staff. Cassette is the Big Sister, oldest of the nuns by only a few years. Joseph is the gardener and maintenance man, Anne, Rosie, and Libby are my fellow sisters that are roughly my age, or so I hear. There was a nun that was a bit younger than the rest of us, her name was Sammie, we call her the Younger Sister, despite her many objections.

I have been assigned to follow each of the staff around this stone building known as the 201st Church of Icaldir. This church has one enormous room for prayer and fellowship that allow people outside the church in to pray to giant stone statue of some heavily muscular man wrapped in little cloth. I have been instructed to pray to the statue as well. The church also features a living space fitted with a fireplace and a kitchen that is down the hallway that has two fire pits made for cooking. There are several rooms in which the staff of the church reside. There is one public bathroom, and a supply closet that is where Joseph spends most of his time. There is also a Study, this is where Father Stoic spends most of his time.

During this time, I have been allowed to carry out my duties and I have been assigned to cleaning the kitchen, as they have asked for preferences. I have been shown how to cook the staple soup of theirs, the vegetable stock soup, as well as cleaning the bathroom and fire pits properly, and laundry. We usually rotate shifts, but since everyone expresses a dislike for fire pit duties since it is messy, I have taken on that role permanently, because I am used to things far messier than this.

Over the next few weeks I have settled into the role of fire pit cleaner and nightly study duster, for the books and shelves needed a regular dusting. It was also one of the pleasure I got to have, of watching Father Stoic sitting comfortably in his big red chair, reading one of the many books here. I would deliberately go slower with my dusting duties just see his lips twitch into a grin from time to time.

After the dusting for tonight, I silently bowed my head for a good night to the Father before I dismissed my self. Lucky for me, the study was really close to my living quarters. I found myself in my room in a matter of no time. I looked around my room and realized it to be very dark and empty, as it usually is. I dug into my pockets to fetch a flint and steel, I then walk over to a torch on the wall and I strike the two objects in my hands together, releasing a spark. The spark quickly fizzled out, but with the second spark that was released with my repeated strike, caught on the oil dipped rags that were tightly bound around the torch, quickly setting it ablaze and lighting the whole room. My room is rather empty, but that seems to be fine with my new family, as owning possessions was not the way of the cloth.

I smiled to my self as I thought of that phrase again, 'my family.' I released the bindings around my head that kept the robe one me, and slipped my arms out of the coat sleeves. I let the cloth slip to the ground, the same with skirt and blouse. It was then that I stand naked and alone in the middle of my room, with a torch lightening the few possessions I had, the bed, a dresser and a mirror affixed to a wall near the door.

I picked the clothes off the ground and wandered to my bed where I gently laid the clothes on the straw mattress. I picked up one item at a time and gently folded each piece before returning them to the bed, and after each piece was neatly folded, I picked up the stack of folded clothes into one arm and I casually walked over to the dresser and opened a drawer like I do every night and placed the clothes neatly in the drawer next to the fresh set. This set of clothes will probably be good for another day before it will need a wash, good thing laundry day is tomorrow. Everyone threw a fit when I wore an outfit for more than a week, so I will have to be careful not to upset my family too much.

After I closed the drawer, I walked over to the mirror to assess my health like I had done during the month prior. I stared back at the brown eyed girl that looked back at me, stark naked. I noticed that my cheeks were no longer sunken in and I had a new kind of focus in my eyes now, it no longer looked as though I was staring into the face of a corpse, for this I was glad. My eyes dropped down to my shoulders, there was a nice sheen to my skin from the frequent bathing and the torch light, it gave me a healthy glow as my sisters put it. I gave a slight turn and gazed at my hair, it appeared silky now and ran past my shoulders. Perhaps I will grow it out longer, I kept it short over the past few years in fear that someone will catch me by my hair again, I'd often cut it with broken glass. It would cut my hands more than it would cut my hair, it turned out, but I desperately cut my hair with anything I could find.

I glanced at my hands and noticed that there weren't any open wounds as I was used to seeing, but my previous life was still marked on my body through the scars on it, such as the tiny ones on my hands. I return my view to the mirror and looked down toward my breasts, they actually had volume now, I am amazed how much they grew. My regular eating has filled out the rest of my figure as well, I now possess a more of a womanly charm, proof that I am leading a better life. My calloused hands glide over my firm breasts, and felt a shiver of pleasure ripple through me. My hands are rough, rougher than my sisters, but it felt good to gently touch my sensitive places with them. Likewise the rest of my skin was smooth, which worked as an addictive massage for my hands. I glide my rough hands over my smooth skin once again, over my breasts, and down past my ribs, where I felt particularly sensitive, until I hit a small lump that was no longer painful to touch, but still brought bad memories.

The lump was on the lower rib that hadn't healed right and mended itself in an awkward angle. The lump wasn't very visible, but I could feel it every time fingers brushed past. The Vinestans. I felt the need to vomit from the memories flooding back, all feelings of pleasure had quickly faded. I pushed the urge vomit away from my mind as I quickly checked the rest of my body and finished my self health assessment. When I was done I return to the bed and pulled myself onto it and quickly got as comfortable as I could. Outside, I could here the insects chirping and singing, as they were the usual harbingers of spring. The nights will be warmer from here on. I rolled myself to a more suitable spot before I closed my eyes and sleep claim me. Thank you for another day, Icaldir.