It was with a strong sense of purpose that Sage strode back onto the convent grounds. Her and the goblin had arrived early in the morning, Sage with confidence and the goblin nervous once it realised where they were heading. She wasn't sure if it was because it was scared of potentially encountering other people or simply thought she was going to leave him again. Regardless, it had refused to come any further than the oak tree they had first met under. The pair had waited there for close to two hours until Sage heard the convent bell announcing morning class. She had delayed several minutes longer to minimise the chance of meeting any other sisters and then made her way out of the forest and towards the dormitory for sisters-in-training.
Sage felt slightly bad for leaving the goblin alone when it was clearly uncomfortable, but she was only planning to return long enough to grab what meager belongings she had been allowed as an ascetic. She stole through the convent grounds as quickly as she could, not thinking what she would do if she met one of the nuns in case she inadvertently manifested it. Her heart was thumping in her chest as she closed the dormitory door behind her. She wasn't sure what the consequences would be if she was caught since technically this was her home, but disappearing for two days and deliberately skipping lessons clearly warranted some form of punishment, along with who knew what else for attempting to leave permanently. With this thought propelling her, Sage quickly rummaged through the small cubby beside her padded blanket that passed as a bed. Her collection of possessions really was paltry, she mused. A small polished stone, taken from one of the cairns that protected the much larger Stones that the church worshipped. Two pairs of socks, heavily darned. A carved wooden spoon and bowl for meals. Her spare habit, which she was tempted to change into right away since it was clean. And finally, the brass ring her mother had given her before she left Bahlderl.
Except it wasn't there.
Sage stared dumbly into the cubby for several seconds while this processed. She dug around even deeper despite being able to see into the entire nook. The belongings she'd already pulled out got rummaged through in case it was caught in them. Her bedroll was flipped over, then subsequently picked up and shaken like a misbehaving puppy. When the ring still failed to turn up, Sage sat down cross-legged on the bare wooden floor and folded her arms. The only explanation left that made sense was that it had been stolen.
"Fuck," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Something missing?"
Sage had been so focused on collecting her things and escaping as quickly as possible that she had failed to actually check the dormitory itself, assuming that all her fellow sisters-in-training would be attending morning class. The question, dripping with innocence, thus caused her to bolt into the air from shock. Tallow was lying on a bedroll halfway down the room, propping her chin up with one hand and spinning Sage's ring on the index finger of her other hand.
"I almost thought you'd really left, you know. Helgi was being a real bitch yesterday when you didn't come back for afternoon lessons, telling me that I'd lost our bet and had to pay up. She had me convinced until I decided to check your things. And what do you know?" Tallow focused on the ring, holding it up to her eye and peering at Sage through it. "I thought to myself, 'Tallow my girl, there's no chance she's left without collecting this. It's oh so very clearly a memento, a cherished keepsake, something kept purely for sentimental value.' So here I figured, maybe I just hold onto it until Sage comes creeping back, make sure she doesn't disappear again?"
Sage desperately tried to think of something clever that would convince Tallow to return her mother's ring. All of the black feelings that she had left behind when she walked away from Helgi and her sycophants had come crashing back, threatening to overwhelm her. She was vaguely aware of Tallow continuing to chatter away, but the majority of her attention was on not collapsing into a sad puddle of despair. A part of her was convinced that she would never again leave the convent, would instead just be subject to the torment of constant abuse and derision until she grew old and died or couldn't take it any more and ended herself.
Then a section of her mind; the logical, problem-solving, but more importantly
calculating
part of her sidled past all the feelings of doubt and anguish. It stepped around them as a thief would a sleeping guard dog, then bent down and whispered gently in her metaphorical ear. There was a reason she had picked now to come back for her possessions.
