Creek. Emia rolled her neck and heard the sound of her collar. But, she couldn’t stay here all day just listening to that, and got up, smoothing her skirt out and spending a few minutes putting the stud into a more comfortable positioning in her mouth. The box had a smaller section to it with another note, and another five studs! She was having trouble with one of them! Those there was a note.

‘I have grown attached to you, Emia. You warm my soul as you warm the bed, your passion and faith is something that I want to keep and cultivate most personally. If you will accept, each one of these inserts will represent another step on your journey, another weight towards the ultimate destination of responsibility beyond anything else in this Chapel. Shall you take me up on this offer, you may find me any time of the day, and I shall begin. Should you not wish to take such a responsibility, I shall not hold it against you, it is not easy.’

Holding the note, Emia looked to the box and took out one of the inserts. It was a small ring, made of humble but skilled craftswork. There were three rings and two studs, though which went where, she did not know. Nor, was it a decision to charge into with abandon. If she had read that right, then Emia’s potent faith had Teliandra pick her out as a successor to the Mother Superior, which was somewhat terrifying for her to go through. Sure, she wanted to get in here and be good at the whole holy stuff so she could get closer to The Emperor, but being in charge? That was something else.

Putting the box away and heading out, she wondered what a Sister did, but her quest popup told her easily enough. Still chores, just not quite so menial about it. The junior sisters cooked for the seniors, and were generally novices for the Sisters rather than just generally. She could live with that, service to the Emperor’s holy servants was a joy, after all. So she headed to the kitchens to get her work sorted, but ran into Zeli before she got too far. The woman was shuffling about, seemingly saddened by something. And the bruised neck might have been the cause of that.

“You ok, Zeli? Not being too rough, is he?” she asked. Zeli, in her own world, jumped out of her skin when Emia spoke, and then looked her over and gave a curtsey.

“Ahh, n-no, Sister. I am just, thinking about things” She was certainly distracted, and lost in her own world. So Emia gave her a kiss on her cute lips.

“It is holy work, Zeli. We must be prepared for childbirth. I for one am not dying at my first from a lack of preparation” Emia told Zeli. The zeal in the voice must have shocked Zeli out of her stupor, because her eyes went wide and then she nodded.

“O-of course, Sister! I have chores to do though, so I can't stand around too long” Zeli then scurried off, leaving Emia frowning softly. She, was hiding something. Was her superior being abusive? Human nature was hard to overcome when given power. She’d looked over Zeli, make sure she was ok.

Still, it was for later, as she went to go do her own work. Cooking was good, she enjoyed making food for people, and then seeing their enjoyment of it afterwards. It felt fulfilling to do something so simple but completely necessary to staying alive. Did The Emperor eat? What did he eat? Did he cook for himself or did others cook for him? Did the Primarchs eat? They were so far beyond them it gave rise to questions that could not be answered without asking the true thing.

“Sister Emia” the voice was a little stern, as if to jolt her out of her thoughts. “You have been stirring that pot for ten minutes now. Don’t you think it is time to serve it?” she asked. There was a slight blush on the other woman’s cheeks, and she looked young, about Emia’s age. The clothes were fresh and new as well, rather than the worn and darned uniforms of the older Sisters - the symbology of it being that you are displaying your life in service to him by how worn your robes were - made her think she was the one who had given the, Reward yesterday. So she reached over and kissed the woman, getting the shocked eyes and deep blush from her as confirmation.

“Thank you, Sister” Emia gave a smile that made it entirely unclear if she meant for the pot, or for last night. Maybe she meant for both.

The food was delivered and Emia spent the rest of the day patching the clothes of the Sisters, adding more chapters to the story of their clothes. She got the expected level out of that, and opened up the screen. Surprisingly, Stamina was up to 14 now. Which, made sense when she thought about it, last night was rigorous. 55 Faith went up to 77 Faith, her faith powers popping from the upgrade, and then everything was good. Though, 77 Faith...even with her Rosary, just praying was not going to push that up anymore in any degree of promptness. Maybe get a point in a month, at three a day...speaking of, she went to evening prayer and Mother Rosa gave a flowery speech about community. She wasn’t quite the same as Mother Superior when it came to her charisma and confidence in speech, but still nice enough to listen to. Said Mother Superior was not in her room that night, so Emia went to her own. Not to be left alone, the Sister from earlier was sat there, nervously fidgeting on the bed until Emia came in.

“Good Night, Sister. How are you?” Emia asked, walking over to sit down next to her. It seemed not everyone had the conviction Emia did. Or not everyone had a blessed system from The Emperor that manipulated the world to make her more powerful as she did tasks. Either way.

“So...I sort of fell through the cracks. My Superior was killed in a mugging before we did anything, and so you were the first woman I actually did anything with, excluding my own trial. And I...was, wondering if you’d like to spend the night with me?” the Sister asked, her face alight with a blush. Emia walked over, hands stroking through the woman’s hair and smiling softly.

“I would be honoured to spend a night with you, Sister” Emia finished with a kiss, and then gently pushed her down to the bed. And there, she found out that this stud in her tongue was more use than just reminding her to keep a civil tongue when it came to praising The Emperor with her new Sister.

Emia woke in the morning somewhat groggily. The woman had stamina for days, and she didn’t get a lot of sleep after all that. Deciding that the Sister needed to sleep in, to recover some of her breath, Emia got up and dressed, prayed to The Emperor, and then was out into the Chapel. There, in clothes that were trying to look smart but were too old to be anything more than just trying, stood two Lupines.

“Mother, Father!” Emia exclaimed, rushing over and hugging the both of them tightly.

“Emia! You...you are certainly radiant. This place has done you well, hmm?” Emia’s father asked. Her mother was simply in happy tears at how far she has come in such a short time, but her father was more of a gruff sort.

“I...I am really glad you have come. I need to talk to you about something” she said, gesturing to the nearby seat for visitors. Once sat, she looked at them and smiled, the tongue stud glittering in the sun.

“You aren’t joining the army, are you?” her mother asked, a panicked voice, as most mothers did.

“No. No, it’s not that. Mother Superior Teliandra wants me as her personal student. I don’t know why but, I don’t know if I deserve it. She is a very passionate woman, a very beautiful woman, and I don’t fit in with her. I’m just a chicken watching the swans in the sky, when I am around her” Emia rambled. She did not lack confidence, not truly. The issue was that she put Teliandra on a pedestal above herself.

“Who says a chicken can’t fly? It just needs to have a passionate heart to bouy its wings! And you. You have that. Maybe you are a chicken, but you have the heart of a Dragon” Her father stood and put his hand on her chest, staring deep into his eyes. He liked his dragons, but his words were exactly what she needed. Her eyes lit up with the words, and she knew exactly what she was going to do now.

“I…..” tears sprung from her eyes as she looked to her father, overwhelmed by his faith in her.

“Go on now, Emia” he gestured with his head. And so she set off at a run, flitting through the chapel to find the woman, eventually opening the mini-map and hunting her down to a part of the chapel she had never been before. She caught Teliandra coming out of a room, and stopped just short of bowling into her.

“I accept, your offer. I want, to do it” she spoke, her voice heavy like a boulder with conviction.

“Excellent. Then let us begin now”