Stone 13

**Chapter 13**

Suddenly, we're with She. She is musing about “cause of death” and holding a wooden-handled pen. She's apparently somewhere where there are lots of books and *“objects of magic.”* This turns out to be the Palace of the Prophets, and She is filling out some sort of report.

She decides to make up a cause of death (training accident), and thinks of the other Nuns as *“fools.”* This has something to do with a Ramada'Han.

Another Nun appears, establishing the mysterious She as a Nun, but carefully not revealing her name. Ooh, suspense! The other Nun has *“strange eyes, pale, pale blue, with dark violet flecks.*” Hereafter she will be known as Sue Nun.

There's some Mysterious Chatter, where it's established that She and Sue Nun are talking about Richard. It develops that they are Sisters of the Dark, hereafter Bad Nuns, which I presume to be equivalent to the Black Ajah in the Wheel of Time series. In other words, secret Satanists. The Bad Nuns are secretive, and the normal Nuns don't know they exist. It's revealed that, of the three Nuns sent to recruit Richard, two are Bad Nuns. Nun #2, who offed herself, was one.

More chatter about Richard, and we learn that the Prelate (presumably the Head Nun) has ordered Richard killed if he refuses the collar three times. This is apparently standard procedure, *“to spare them the suffering at the end, the madness.”* However, no one has ever refused the collar even the first time. Riiiiiiiight. \~/

She takes a *“rod”* and leaves to commit some mysterious evilness involving two people whose names don't matter, but who apparently *“wear the collar.”* She wanders off, thinking angrily of how Richard is an adult and planning how to kill him if necessary.

She runs into a novice named Pasha Maes, who is *“next in line to be named.”* Apparently Pasha is close to becoming a full Nun, and hopes to be assigned to Richard when he arrives. She and Pasha have a magic duel for no apparent reason. Eventually, She wins by cheating and lectures Pasha that *“Rules are for children's [sic] games. You are no longer a child.”*

We then get a description of Pasha: *“soft brown hair that just touched her shoulders, big brown eyes, attractive features, lips of the sort men stared at, proud, upright shoulders, and a sweep of curves that even a novice's dress failed to conceal.”* Which is simultaneously more description than Richard has yet gotten, and surprisingly vague. What are *“lips of the sort men stared at”?* And *“attractive features”* covers an awfully wide territory.

Anyway. Brown hair, brown eyes, upright shoulders and big boobs. Got it.

She then pokes her *“rod”* (apparently a walking stick) between Pasha's breasts and compliments her on her cleavage. Yes, really. She then encourages Pasha to flaunt her breasts, and suggests that anyone who doesn't approve of such behavior is secretly a Satanist. *“Remember it, any time someone would make you ashamed of how the Creator has formed you. Ask yourself why they blush at seeing the Maker's hand, Blush, as the Nameless One would.”*

Wow. Implying that anyone who doesn't want young women to run around half naked is a Satanist. I...I don't know what to say about that. \~/\~/

She encourages Pasha to flaunt her body to men, and basically instructs her to use her sexuality to manipulate Richard when he arrives. I would be more condemning of this, except for the fact that She *is* a Bad Nun. It's still pretty weird, as is the unquestioning way Pasha accepts that a Nun is telling her to whore it up.

She continues on, into an actual dungeon...okay, an unused cellar. Two young men are there, wearing collars and *“the plain robes befitting their high rank.”* I shall call them Plainy and Beardy, since their names are unimportant. We're told that they've been friends since they first arrived. There's some pointless cruelty on the part of She, and we eventually get to the point of this little vignette.

It seems that Plainy and Beardy have passed all the Nuns' tests and are scheduled to be released from their Radamada'Hana collars, but She wants them to swear their souls to the Keeper. She insists that only one will have to do so: the other will be dead, having been skinned alive so his gift could be harvested. Plainy is defiant, preferring to die rather than serve the Keeper or see his friend die. Beardy agrees: he wants Plainy to die so he can live. Well, that was a quick betrayal from someone who has allegedly been a friend for years.

For that extra touch of *eeeevil,* Beardy has to to personally skin Plainy alive \~/ and suck his magic out into a crystal called a *“quillion,”* a word which is entirely too close to “quillon” for my taste. After that, She instructs Beardy to go seduce Pasha and *“teach her how to please a man.”*

We learn that, once all this cartoonish evil is accomplished, Beardy is to travel to Aydindril as an adviser to Price Fyren. Foreshadowing!

And the chapter ends.

Drinks: 4

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