But the spirits of everyone in the party began to lift as they headed north toward Arc-en-Ciel, skirting along the river, spirits cheered by Sisters Iris Cerys and Iris Jessilde, who were determined that Alazais’ welcome should not be marred. By the time they caught their first glimpse of the abbey walls, they were riding far less fearfully. Alyce, in particular, put on a cheerful face for the benefit of her youngest stepdaughter.
«It looked very different when my sister and I first came here», she told Alazais, as the rainbow arch of the abbey’s gatehouse came into sight. «For one thing, it was winter — and we didn’t want to come. Our father had remarried a few weeks before, and our new stepmama did not care for the competition of two nubile stepdaughters. She wasn’t particularly happy that our father already had a son and heir, either, but she was certainly determined to remedy that, if she could. Meanwhile, the two of us were to be packed off to a convent.
«Fortunately, the sisters and the other students immediately made us feel welcome. It was far more of a home than we would have had at our father’s court, under Rosmerta’s gimlet eye».
Alazais smiled for the first time since Hallowdale. «I remember Zoë’s first letters back to Morganhall, after she met you», she said. «I was only seven or eight, but it was clear, even then, that she’d found a kindred spirit. Who would have dreamed where it would all lead?»
«Who, indeed?» Alyce agreed.
The approach to Arc-en-Ciel was much the same as Alyce remembered, other than the time of year. Sisters Iris Cerys and Iris Jessilde and two of Jared’s knights had ridden on ahead half an hour before to alert the inhabitants of their approach. The gate beneath the rainbow arch was thrown wide open, and the sister waiting just inside was Iris Rose, a novice when Alyce first had come to Arc-en-Ciel with her sister. Now she wore the rainbow-edged blue veil of a fully vowed sister, and was fairly jumping up and down with excitement as Iris Cerys joined her from within. Iris Jessilde was nowhere to be seen.
«Lady Alyce!» Iris Rose cried. «Welcome back to Arc-en-Ciel! Is it true that you have brought us a new student? Oh, enter in Our Lady’s grace!» she added, suddenly remembering the formal words of welcome. «Mother Abbess will be with you shortly».
Alyce smiled as she ducked her head to ride through the abbey gate, Alazais following nervously behind her and Llion following with Alaric, at the beckoning gesture of Iris Cerys. The other women also entered, and Sir Walter with Duncan, but when the rest of the men made as if to stay outside, Iris Rose quickly motioned for them to enter as well.
«Reverend Mother has given her permission», she told Trevor, who clearly was in charge, at least of Alyce and her son. «We shall have to find overnight accommodation in the village for the men, but Sister Iris Jessilde has told us of the trouble you had on the way here, and has given good report of you. Please, please, enter. Your men may wait in the stable yard while we decide what to do».
Alyce, meanwhile, had drawn rein in the center of the courtyard before the chapel doors, where Iris Jessilde was accompanying Mother Iris Judiana down the chapel steps. Llion had dismounted and handed Alaric down to Xander, and came to hand Alyce down as well, going then to assist Alazais from her mount. Alyce took her son’s hand in hers and smoothed back the shock of white-blond hair before slipping her other arm through that of her stepdaughter. She was smiling as she led the pair of them before the abbess.
«Dearest daughter. Alyce», said Iris Judiana, opening her arms in welcome. «I see that you have come back to us a mother — and of a lovely boy!» she added, eyeing young Alaric in approval.
«And of a lovely stepdaughter», Alyce replied, as she came forward to kiss the abbess’ hand, and then allowed herself to be embraced. «This is Lord Kenneth’s daughter Alazais», she said, as Alazais gave a graceful curtsy, «and this is our son, Alaric».
«Both are very welcome», Iris Judiana said warmly. She gave Alazais her hand to kiss, then lightly touched a hand to Alaric’s fair head. «Iris Jessilde tells me that Lady Alazais wishes to be enrolled under the rainbow. If she is half the student as you and Lady Zoë, she will be a stunning asset to our student body».
Alazais gave another curtsy, blushing faintly.
«I have also been told of your distressing experience on the road from Cynfyn», Iris Judiana continued on a more sober note. «I shall wish to hear more of it, of course, but perhaps we should first see to the business that brought you here». She turned to Iris Cerys and Iris Jessilde. «Will you see to the robing of our newest student, Sisters? And I believe that Iris Rose has set in train the arrangements for overnight accommodation for your men. The other ladies, of course, will lodge here in the guest quarters. Perhaps Alyce will be so good as to present them to me».
There ensued a flurry of activity in which Alazais was whisked off to robe, Llion was dispatched to coordinate the arrangements for the men, and Alyce presented the ladies of the party.
«Mother, these are some of the remarkable women of my husband’s family», Alyce said as the women made their way to the foot of the chapel steps to kiss the abbess’ hand in turn. «This is my husband’s middle daughter, Geill, and these are his sisters, Delphine Morgan and Lady Claara Winslow, and his first wife’s sister, Lady Nesta McLain, who is also sister to the Duke of Cassan — and all of them are aunts to Alazais. And this is Countess Vera McLain, the wife of Lady Nesta’s nephew Jared, Duke Andrew’s heir — and their son, Duncan. All of them were good enough to travel all the way to Cynfyn for Zoë’s wedding, and to interrupt their journey home to share this special day with Alazais — though I must warn you that young Duncan and my Alaric together can be a handful».
«Another handsome boy», Iris Judiana said with a smile, ruffling Duncan’s hair. «You are, all of you, most welcome — and the gentlemen are welcome to attend the enrollment ceremony as well, if they wish — especially the two knights charged with the supervision of the children. Sir Llion and Sir Walter, is it?» she asked, glancing to Iris Cerys for confirmation. «Yes. I hope you will not be disappointed if our ceremonial seems a little ragged today. We had little time to prepare, as you know».
«We have all heard tell of the beauty of Notre Dame d’Arc-en-Ciel, Mother Abbess», said Lady Nesta, speaking for all of them. «And we are delighted to be present when Kenneth’s dear Alazais is received under the rainbow. I myself studied here, many years ago».
«Did you, indeed?» said Mother Judiana. «We must speak of that later, over supper. But for now, we shall gather in the chapel in an hour’s time, after you have been shown to your rooms and given opportunity to freshen yourselves somewhat from your journey».
* * *
Alyce soon discovered that presenting a new student was somewhat different from being one, or from being a student and watching others being received. After briefly repairing to the room assigned for her use — the same one she and Kenneth had shared on their wedding night, four years before, and shared this time with Vera and their respective sons — she left Alaric in Vera’s charge and went to the robing room, where Iris Cerys and Iris Jessilde had finished dressing Alazais in the school habit, the same sky-blue as worn by the sisters, but without the wimple and veil. As when Alyce and Marie had been received under the rainbow, what now seemed so long ago, the sisters had braided Alazais’s flaxen tresses in the single plait worn by all students of the house and set a wreath of flowers on her head: a quickly woven garland of late summer wildflowers rather than the wreath of roses Zoë had worn to her wedding or the dried winter wreaths Alyce and Marie had worn at their own reception.
«I’m afraid all the roses were too far blown to use», Iris Cerys said, looking up from the rainbow-woven cincture she was tying at Alazais’s waist. «But the wildflowers are nearly as pretty».
Iris Jessilde nodded her agreement as she shook out folds of the blue gown’s long skirt. The undergown worn in summer was of white linen rather than the white wool worn in winter. Alazais brushed her fingertips along the fall of pale blue sleeve and looked up
shyly at her stepmother.
«How do I look?» she murmured.
«You look beautiful, darling», Alyce said, coming to give her a gentle hug — carefully, lest she crush the floral wreath.
Very soon they were following the two sisters along the cloister walk to the side door of the chapel, under its rainbow-painted arch and into the brilliance of the white marble chapel, where its rose windows cast broad swaths of rainbow-colored light across the interior.
A sweet song of welcome met their arrival — the Salve Regina, as Alyce now knew — its subtle harmonies and a breath of incense and honey-sweet beeswax candles enfolding them in peace as they trod the rainbow-striped carpet runner laid along the center aisle. Beyond the choir lay the high altar, ablaze with votive lights shielded with glass in all the colors of the rainbow. Before it, Mother Iris Judiana sat on a backless stool, flanked by two senior sisters.
Passing into the choir, between the ranks of center-facing choir stalls, they came at last to the foot of the altar steps, where Mother Iris Judiana had risen to receive them. She gave a graceful nod in response to the curtsies of the two younger women, then held out her arms in welcome to Alyce, who accepted her brief embrace and then stepped back to present the new arrival, as Lady Jessamy MacAthan had presented her and Marie so long ago.
«Mother Iris Judiana, I have the honor to present my stepdaughter, the Lady Alazais Morgan, youngest daughter of the Earl of Lendour. She has asked that she be received under the rainbow, so that she may learn the gentle arts suitable to her rank. Her father has given his permission and his blessing, as do I».
«I am most pleased to receive her, dear Alyce», Iris Judiana said, as she extended her hands to Alazais. «May she be a credit to this house and may she cleave cheerfully to its discipline. Let her now be enrolled under the favor and protection of Our Lady of the Rainbow, signifying the same by her signature in the great book of our house».
So saying, she gestured toward a small table to the right of the choir, where two of the school’s younger girls stood holding a rainbow-striped canopy above an open book. Sister Iris Rose stood behind the table with a quill pen and an inkwell, her brown eyes crinkling with good humor as they approached.
«Be welcome under the rainbow, Alazais», she said, with a curtsy to the pair of them as Alyce led her stepdaughter before the book. The two girls holding the canopy were students, by their dress, with simple rainbow fillets binding plain white veils across their brows.
Smiling, Alyce nodded for Alazais to take the pen, remembering how she had hesitated to sign when first she came, for both she and her sister had feared that they might be coerced into taking unintended religious vows. Iris Rose must have remembered that day, for she smiled at Alyce as Alazais carefully signed her name. When the signing was completed, Iris Rose sanded the signature with pounce to stop it smudging, then carefully turned the signed pages back to where a slip of parchment marked a place much earlier in the volume.
«Here is where your sister signed, when she first came to us», she said to Alazais, indicating Zoë’s signature. She then turned forward several pages, to another marker. «And here are the names of Alyce and her sister».
Alyce’s breath caught as she read the shaky signature: Marie Stephania de Corwyn, and she smiled faintly as she let her fingertips trace over the line.
«Ah, dear Zaizie, you know so much more than we did, when we first came here», she murmured. «We were afraid we might never be allowed to leave, that we would be forced to take the veil, locked away forever behind cloister walls. How wrong we were. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to us — though your father, I think, was probably the best thing ever to happen to me. And Alaric, of course».
With a little sob, Alazais embraced her stepmother in a fierce gesture of genuine affection, tears in her eyes, then composed herself and stood tall at Alyce’s side, nodding to Iris Rose.
«Thank you, Sister», she murmured, as Alyce also murmured her thanks.
Then they were moving back before the altar, the canopy accompanying them, where Mother Iris Judiana bade Alazais to kneel, blessing her with holy water sprinkled from a sprig of fragrant pine, then signaling for two more waiting girls to bring a veil very like those worn by the canopy-bearers.
«Let this daughter be veiled according to the custom of this house», she said, as Alyce removed the wreath of wildflowers and the two veil-bearers set the veil in place, the abbess herself binding it across the brow with the rainbow-plaited fillet.
After that, Mother Iris Judiana raised Alazais to her feet, kissed her on both cheeks, and herself conveyed the new student to the stall that henceforth would be her place in choir. Then, after a few general words of welcome, both to the new girl and the old, she dismissed the community to retire to the refectory, where a simple supper awaited students, sisters, and guests alike.
By then, it was far later than the long summer twilight would have suggested, such that the weary travelers soon retired to the rooms assigned them, and Alazais to meet her new schoolmates and be introduced to the girl chosen to share a room with her during her time at Arc-en-Ciel. All the rest of the Morgan relatives would leave to continue their journeys home the next morning, so Alyce availed herself of one last opportunity to spend some private time with her secret sister.
«This has been a very special time for me, despite what happened at Hallowdale», Alyce murmured, climbing into the bed beside Vera when they had both seen their sons safely asleep at the other end of the room. She glanced around at the room, still light enough to see in the twilight, then snuggled closer to her sister.
«Did you remember that this was my bridal chamber, when Kenneth and I were wed?» she said with a sly grin in Vera’s direction. «This may or may not be the actual marriage bed, but that was a time of happiness that I shall never forget».
Vera smiled and settled the bedclothes closer under her chin, for the temperature was falling, here in the foothills north of Rhemuth. «Marriage does have much to recommend it, doesn’t it?» she agreed. «I take it that you are hoping for another child».
Alyce turned onto her back to stare at the ceiling overhead, suddenly sobered. «I think I may have lost one earlier this year, about the time you lost yours».
«What?» Vera sat up to stare at her sister.
«Please don’t be angry. I didn’t tell you because you were already grieving, and I wasn’t entirely certain I had actually conceived. But we mean to make it happen», she said casually, «and the trying is agreeable».
«Yes, it is, isn’t it?» Vera agreed. Her impish smile reminded Alyce of the delicious late-night conversations that she, Vera, Marie, and Zoë had shared when all of them were unwed maidens, making their first tentative forays into the uncharted waters of their own womanhood. In particular, Alyce found herself remembering Marie — and Sé, who had loved her.
«Did I tell you that Sé made a brief appearance at the wedding?» she asked, turning her head to look at her sister.
«At Zoë’s wedding?» Vera looked surprised. «Did he? I never saw him. What did he say? How did he look?»
Remembering, Alyce turned her face once again toward the ceiling.
«Leaner than when we last saw him, a bit more care-worn. He’s taken his final vows with the Anvillers, Vera. He bears the marks. It was a very drastic thing to do, but somehow I think he made the right decision. He was shattered after Marie’s death, but now he seems whole again».
Vera went very still, also gazing up at the ceiling. «Then, it appears that he found a genuine vocation», she murmured. «He’s a very special man, Alyce. I hope you know that».
«Oh, I do know», she replied. «Even Kenneth recognizes it. If anything were ever to happen to him, I know that Sé would be there if I needed him. And he would be there for Alaric. That knowledge is comforting».
«Indeed». Vera yawned. «Dear me. I suppose we’d better get some sleep. The boys will wake at first light, which comes early. And we must be in the saddl
e right after morning Mass. Will you go back to Rhemuth tomorrow?»
Alyce shook her head, also yawning. «We shall stay another night, so that I can visit with Mother Judiana. I have much to tell her». She smiled fondly. «She was very like a mother to Marie and me, while we were here. I — need to tell her about what we saw on the road…and what I very nearly did».
At Vera’s questioning glance in her direction, Alyce took her sister’s hand and used the physical link to share her horror and outrage, and how she had longed to lash out with her power and destroy those who had murdered the three hapless Deryni at Hallowdale.
«It would have been very wrong, though», she said, reverting to audible speech. «I could have undone whatever progress our race has made in the past several decades».
«That’s very true; you could have», Vera replied briskly. «But you didn’t. Granted, you thought about it — but you didn’t do it. You needn’t ask forgiveness merely for thinking. Mother Judiana surely will tell you that».
Alyce shrugged and allowed herself a faint smile. «I suppose I just want to reassure myself that someone who is genuinely good, who wasn’t there, understands my horror».
«Dear Alyce, any sensible person with a jot of compassion in their soul would have been horrified», Vera said sleepily. «It wasn’t even human, what those villagers did to those people — whether or not they were Deryni, and whether or not they actually did anything wrong besides be Deryni. And I don’t think any Deryni could do that to another living creature. We’d hear the anguish in our minds. In time, it would drive us mad. I only hope Kenneth can persuade the king to take action, make a serious inquiry. I certainly intend to tell Jared, when I get back to Culdi».
«Do such things happen in Kierney or Cassan?» Alyce asked.
«Perhaps occasionally», Vera admitted, «though I’ve never heard of such a case. But Deryni are better tolerated there. Not officially, but the mountain folk are said to have the Second Sight, which may not be all that different from some Deryni powers. Anyway, that seems to make the differences less obvious». Her sigh turned into another yawn. «Your big problem in central Gwynedd is some of those bishops, though. What was the name of that one who gave you so much trouble, just before you married Kenneth?»
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