Prompt - Forbidden Love
It was to nobody's surprise that Ruby Rose, second daughter to the village widower and minor noble lord ended up in the church as soon as she reached the age of sixteen. There had always been something very wrong with that girl. Always thinking, and running around with the boys. Play acting with swords, as if she were the knight of their childish fairy tales and not the captured princess, like the normal little girls.
Even when she was forced to play the captured princess, she oft exclaimed that just because she was captured, it did not mean she could not free herself and find another princess to rescue. And oh how she did not understand the pure wrongness she held in her heart for wanting to be the one to rescue the princess. Did she not understand what happened when the knight and princess were united in happily ever after?
Yes, when she finally reached adulthood, her father had forced her to join the church. If anything, it would keep her wicked, ungodly ways away from the good lord-fearing citizens of Patch. At the very least, it would allow her to keep her one wish and remain chaste, out of the arms of any man. Which was a shame. Ruby Rose was quite the beauty and her charm would only improve with time. Throughout her youth the Lord Xiao Long had been offered requests for her hand in marriage. But all were turned down by the girl. No man, regardless of station nor looks, could ever be good enough for her.
But there she was, at the age of sixteen and already forced into celibacy and years of quiet contemplation and prayer in the church. In time, she would become a nun. Perhaps even a matriarch of a nunnery. Ruby was always an ambitious one.
The nunnery itself was a large one. Like a castle of a duke or prince, with carefully chiseled stonework and tall, sloped roofs to keep off the snow come winter. The windows were all incredible stained glass, featuring Jesus upon the cross or Saint Mary. The convent had once been a monastery, but once a new one was constructed for the growing monkhood, it was offered to the women, who kindly accepted it. As such, it's name remained unchanged. It was Saint Ozma's Monastary.
Ruby found the building itself exciting and interesting, with so many new places to explore and new people to meet. But first she had to sit through a boring lecture. Or, should she say be brought on a boring tour through said building. The current matriarch of the convent was Sister Glynda Goodwitch. She had been a part of the church since she was thirteen, having pledged a holy vow to remain chaste until the rapture. Of which, she assured Ruby, would soon be upon them.
"A Frenchman sits on the Holy Sea and the church is directed from Avignon," she explained to a confused Ruby. "The Pope should be above the petty trifles that is politics. Not playing into the hands of French kings. Nor be ruled by them."
Ruby expected to hear nothing less. Sister Glynda was English, after all.
The convent was divided into three sections and a courtyard for farming. There was the small church, for all the daily prayers. There was the main hall, where all the women would sleep, eat, and bathe. And lastly, was the grand library, where the nuns would be tasked with recording letters, documenting histories and rewriting the many books of scripture.
By the time the two of them reached the great hall where the communal meals were held three times a day, every day, it was already time for the rest of the nuns to return from their daily duties and sit down for the evening meal and prayer.
Sister Glynda pushed Ruby along, holding onto the small of her back, until they reached the head of a long table. With a gentle tug, seating her at the matriarch's left side, Ruby scooted her chair in closer to the table, only to receive a harsh glare from the sister.
"Sister Glynda," called out the first of many nuns entering into the room, with a respectful head bow.
"Sister Pyrrha," was the matriarch's reply.
"Sister Glynda."
"Sister Robyn."
The welcomes continued for a while. Long enough for Ruby to lean back into her chair with disinterest. She was not sure if this was a common occurrence, or it was being done solely for her to learn everyone's names. Because Ruby could honestly say that she remembered none of them. They all looked fairly boring. Each with their hands clasped together, a respectful bow to the matriarch with only a quick glance at her. New novitiates were apparently not that uncommon at Saint Ozma's. So much so that the new girls only mattered once they were accepted here as sisters or had been here for a year, whichever came first.
Ruby guessed that unlike many who entered into the cloth, she was of the few forced to be here. There was no home or family waiting for her outside of the church. Unless she wanted to be married off to some lowborn princeling. Ruby had definitely broken any possibility of marrying a well-to-do man after her very loud and very public claim that she would lay with no man. No real possibilities for heirs if there was no laying involved in her relationships.
Not that Ruby cared too much. Yes, she would miss her elder sister dearly, but Yang was already engaged to a duke in Lombardy. There were only so many months left to spend time together. At least Yang was happy about the betrothal. Lord Sun of house Wukong. An apparently boisterous fellow who oft made Yang laugh. They would be happy together. Ruby was sure of it.
"Sister Glynda," the angelic voice tore Ruby from her reverie. The final girl had entered into the dining hall, not in the customary black and white, but a dress of pure white, matching her long hair, tied quite loosely in the back to keep out of her eyes.
Her vibrantly blue eyes.
"Lady Weiss," Sister Glynda responded, bowing her own head in respect.
With a scowl, Glynda forced Ruby's open mouth closed. "This is Lady Weiss. It is with her and her family's generous donations that our convent remains open and growing. While not a nun, one who takes solemn vows, as you will do in the future, she is still a sister. She has taken 'simple vows' as they are called, to bind herself to the church and to our Lord in heaven."
"Lady Weiss," Ruby whispered out, her own eyes still following Weiss's every movement as she made her way to sit at Glynda's right hand side.
"Novice Ruby Rose." Weiss's words sent a delightful shiver up the girl's spine. As did her ocean blue eyes holding focus on her own.
Ruby's own eyes darted to Lady Weiss's lips, then flickered back up to her eyes, now perked in silent joy.
"Oh Lord, thank you for blessing me with the sight of such a perfect creature," she whispered to herself, seeing Weiss's salacious smile.
Who knew Ruby was going to be so good at this whole 'nun' thing?
The meal began with a quick prayer, which Sister Glynda assured her that she would have it memorized by the end of the week from sheer repetition alone. The food was adequate, no more appetizing than what she was used to back home, though there was far less of it. Lady Weiss was given a portion of similar size to that of the matriarch, while the rest of them dined on their meager amounts, none unhappy or seemingly wanting for more.
Ruby stayed quiet, hoping her stomach would too.
"So Novice Ruby," Ruby jolted at hearing Weiss once again speak to her. "I heard that you are the daughter to nobility?"
"Second daughter. And a minor noble at that," Ruby explained, trying to feign nonchalance to keep her rapidly beating heart at bay and her eyes firmly on the convent's benefactor without a blush. "My father is the lord to the township of Patch. Taiyang of House Xiao Long."
Weiss hummed in understanding as she gracefully chewed her sliver of pork. "I have not heard of Patch, where might it be located?"
"It's a small town in Bohemia near Prague. Along the River Elbe."
"Ah. The Holy Roman Empire. That is very much like myself and my family line. We hail from Aachen, though we do have lands in and around Prague."
"Not too much like yourself, Lady Schnee," Sister Glynda dared to intrude. "You come from the highest of royalty after all."
"I don't understand?" Ruby said, frowning at Weiss. She was beautiful to be sure, a divine beauty that made her look royal, but she was still very much human.
More so when Weiss blushed. "My father is a close cousin, confident and advisor to King Henry VII. The Holy Roman Emperor."
"A worthy, choice for emperor, though it is shameful it had to come from the French Pope," Sister Glynda remarked, twirling her cutlery with a piece of sausage and gravy covered bread hanging from it.
"Indeed," Weiss said quickly. Much too quickly. "It is why I chose to take my simple vows and work alongside the church, rather than be married off to his son. My father was delighted to hear that his daughter was going to make inroads into the papacy, be it as far as a woman could go in such circles, that he allowed me some freedoms he would not otherwise grant. And of course, my elder sister is betrothed to the king of Spain and my younger brother to the duchess in Orleans, so my worth is less so."
"You have a lot of worth, Weiss," Ruby spat out before realizing what she had just said.
"Lady Weiss," Glynda corrected.
"Lady Weiss," Ruby acknowledged.
Weiss smiled delightfully at her, before once again the three returned to silence, picking away at the rest of their meal. The dinner was concluded with prayers, and a quick goodnight from the matriarch when Lady Weiss offered to show the young novice to her new chambers.
Ruby's room was smaller than her old one back in Patch, with a small hay covered slab of wood, wrapped in cotton spun cloth to keep out the sharp dried needles. There was a small table and chair, with a candle for nightly readings. A quill and some parchment made up the rest of her meager supplies. Clothes would be distributed to her the next morning.
"Thank you for showing me the way to my quarters, Lady Weiss," Ruby bowed her head at the noble.
"It delighted me when you called me Weiss. I very much preferred it when you did."
"Oh, should I? Keep calling you that?"
"When we are alone, just the two of us. I would hate for it to be seen that I am playing favourites, especially with a young novice. As pretty as she may be."
Ruby's heart thumped loudly in her chest. So loudly that she was scared Weiss had heard it.
"Th-thank you, La- Weiss. I am honoured by the compliment." She bowed her head once more, only for Weiss to hold onto her shoulder and keep her from bowing fully.
"Please, there is no need for that here," Weiss said with a light giggle. "I like to think that I am fairly good at reading people and I can tell that you aren't very much like the rest of the girls here at the convent. You aren't one for respecting standing or rank. Nor the rules of common decency in this modern society."
"How-I-er," Ruby wasn't quite sure how to respond, much less what to make of Weiss's words. Her mind was still too enraptured by the nearness of the white-haired noble and those mystifying blue eyes.
"You aren't one for faith in god nor his worship either. Don't worry, I won't tell the matriarch. Because neither am I."
"Wait, what? You're not?"
"No, I believe that we both may be here for similar reasons. If what the matriarch told me is correct, is it true that even long before joining the church, you made a solemn vow to your father and towards all other noblemen? That you would not take a man to bed, nor bear him his children? That you would not marry a man of any standing?"
"I-I did…" Ruby was queasy, squirming in Weiss's tightening hold.
"Please be calm Ruby. I understand your afflictions quite well," Weiss brushed a gentle finger up Ruby's cheek, twirling the tip of her hair gently in her fingers. "Because I share them too. I made my lord father the very same promise, before god and men."
Ruby let out a deep breath, her chest rising and falling, her body inching closer to Weiss's own without realizing it.
"Even having just met, I must say that I have been enraptured by you, novice Ruby."
"You're so beautiful," Ruby breathed out "I-ah, I mean-"
"-I know exactly what you mean." Weiss's voice was barely a whisper. While one hand remained steadfastly in the young novice's hair, the other moved to the small of her back. Ruby's own hands immediately found comfort on Weiss's small waist.
There were loud footsteps on the cobbled stone floor.
Ruby and Weiss threw each other apart, standing there silently as a sister in her black and white robes rounded the corner and wished the two a pleasant night before entering into her own chambers.
As soon as the hallway was once more silent, they turned to look at one another with small impish smiles.
"Like outside this building, relationships akin to that of Sapphos and her many followers are not taken lightly."
"It's not like they could send us to a convent or anything," Ruby joked lightly.
"But they can still have us hang. Or be beheaded," Weiss said seriously.
They stared at one another, mercury gazing into pale blue. Once more they found themselves silently in each other's arms.
"Is it foolish of me to say that I want to take that risk?" Ruby said with a scared little laugh.
"Is it foolish of me to think the same?" Weiss responded just as quietly. "If we do… anything, it must be with complete honesty and understanding. We talk to each other, even when, especially when we feel the other has wronged us. Because if we do this, it is no longer just our own life we control, but the other as well. For if they catch one of us, we shall be tortured into revealing the other. And… I cannot say for certain I won't reveal you if I am at the gallows."
"Nor I, you," Ruby said.
"But I still wish to try. There has never been one before that understood my preferences the way you do."
"We don't know each other, like at all." Ruby mentioned, "but there's just something about you that I'm drawn to. Be it destiny, or the will of some Catholic god… or maybe just your eyes. But I still wish to try as well."
The two did not kiss that first night. Not when there was much to think about. They were scared, and for good reason. They both knew that what was currently between them was nothing akin to love, rather a mutual physical attraction. Possibly lust. But to risk both life and limb over lust was not something two intelligent young women would care to do.
Yes, it would be quite some time before their feelings blossomed from the physical to the mental and even longer before it bloomed into an all-encompassing passion. But their love, in whatever form it may be, was starting to bud. In secret it would flower and in secret it would forever remain.
No real idea why when I first saw this prompt, my mind went straight to 'medieval nun love affair' but it did and I'm pretty happy with the result.