The testy Daughter dragged the redheaded young maiden down the hallway by her ear. The girl kicked and screamed at her captor, and writhed with every cruel twist of her small and delicate ear.
"Let me go!" she demanded, but the Daughter of the Great Mother Covent ignored her and continued to guide her unruly charge.
"In here," the Daughter snapped and shoved the girl into an almost empty room. "And wait for Daughter Brigeta to come see to you. I swear by the Goddess that you are the most troublesome girl we've ever had, Alanna."
Alanna scowled at the priestess. "You have no right to treat me like this! I'm a nobleman."
"A noblewoman," the priestess corrected her. "And I have every right. Your father sent you here, didn't he?" Alanna turned away and rubbed her tender ear. "I hope Daughter Brigeta can beat some respect into you." The woman left the room and locked it behind her.
Alanna fell gracelessly to the floor and hugged her voluminous skirts around her knees. She bit her lip and willed herself not to cry. If she was a boy then she wouldn't cry. How she wished she was a boy, especially at the moment the tears began to fall.
She hated her life here at the Great Mother Convent. It was a monotonous life; wake up in the morning at seven, take two hours to prepare for the day (it was needed for the amount of clothing they had to wear) eat a light breakfast, sew, stroll in the gardens, learn manners, protocol, reading and writing, how to properly care for a fief… Alanna was so bored of it! The only time she was happy was when they were taught archery, but that was only twice a week.
So now was the time for improvisation. It's to keep me from going mad, she reasoned for her misbehavior. Small rebellions, then larger ones like trying to run away during the break and stealing from the Daughters' rooms. When Alanna had first arrived at the convent, all the priestesses and novices murmured with hushed voices that she must belong to the Goddess, for her eyes were an unusual shade of purple and those Gifted claimed that she had the Goddess' mark upon her. Now those thoughts ceased, and learning of her hard and contrary nature, those Gifted moved away from her nervously if the girl passed by. All the women and children did now.
Alanna had finally surpassed the Daughters' patience when she caused a fight with one of the other girls. Alanna thought her reaction to the girl making snide comments about her was perfectly normal: she punched her in the nose. Obviously the reaction was not acceptable to all, and now she waited in the cold and dusty room for her punishment.
She heard footsteps come down the hallway and the frightened girl pressed her back harder against the stone wall, praying to the Goddess that she'd just fall through. But despite her prayers and the insistence of the priestesses that she was marked by the Goddess, the girl remained firmly in the room as Daughter Brigeta entered. And as the wooden stick landed painful on the young and soft skin of her back, Alanna heard a very feminine scream.