Epilogue
The clear blue sky was making her eyes water as the sun worked its way higher through the distant white clouds on the horizon. The Warrior Nun was lying peacefully in the grass by the shore of their lake. The nearby mountain peaks, still covered in snow, were reaching up into the heavens and casting their shadows on the green forests surrounding them. But the sun was warm upon her shoulders and the shadows could not reach her today. Her partner, the other Warrior Nun, was exploring the rocks that jutted out into the water, unable to keep still for longer than a few minutes despite how much she complained that they had been up before dawn today.
Bea pushed herself up onto her elbows, wondering briefly how Ava could both complain that she was tired and yet still have the energy to go jumping across the rocks after they had finished training for the morning. Any second now she expected to hear the telltale splash of the young woman falling into the lake, knowing that since they had been back it happened about half the time. Luckily for Ava, today was fated to be a dry day.
“I still don’t understand, Bea,” said the Halo Bearer as she reappeared around a bush, “why you won’t train with the Halo.” Ava was making her way back towards the older woman, hopping from rock to rock in the most convoluted way possible.
“You mean apart from I don’t want to leave you paralyzed on the ground?” Bea asked with a smirk. She sat up completely and absently wiped a hand along her jawline, pushing some loose strands of hair that extended just past it behind her ear. Her fingertips brushed against the bright pink headband Ava had bought her to keep the hair out of her face.
“That’s not a big deal,” Ava responded. “I told you I don’t mind.” She looked up from her rocks and gazed at Bea. “You know it’s okay to be selfish for once.”
“Selfish huh?”
“Yeah,” said Ava, staring at her. “You can go ahead and be selfish and take the Halo for a bit. Just let me get comfortable and go for it. You must at least be wondering what your power is.” She had thought about it. Ava, who wanted to be free, could levitate. Mother Superion, who wanted to protect her nuns, could conjure a shield. What did she want?
“You know you’re staring.”
Ava shrugged. “You know you’re cute. Stop changing the subject.”
Bea smiled at her again and looked down at the grass around her. She started pulling up some blades a few at a time. “I am being selfish,” she replied seriously looking back up at Ava.
“How do you mean?”
She twisted her mouth for a moment as she thought about her answer. “We’re both Warrior Nuns now, but you are the Halo Bearer. I could take it from you; we already confirmed I can still use it even after I gave it back. Maybe I try it out and we decide the world is better off if I’m the Halo Bearer. Maybe I’ll be better at using it. Maybe my power would be better than yours. Maybe you’re willing to sacrifice your mobility to protect the world. Maybe—maybe—maybe…” She paused as she worked on a particularly stubborn patch of grass before looking back up at her lover.
“The thing is though,” she said frankly squinting in the sunlight, “I don’t care about any of that.” She shrugged at Ava’s startled expression. “I don’t want to be the Halo Bearer—I never have really. I don’t particularly care about whatever powers the Halo could give me when the alternative is living a full life with my fully functional girlfriend. I quite enjoy you as you are, and I’d rather keep you this way. Truly, what do I care if a mission might be accomplished slightly more efficiently if I was the Halo Bearer? This way you get all the responsibility and I still get to have sex with you.” She winked when Ava smiled at her.
“You want me to be selfish for once, darling, and for once I am.” She smiled as Ava kneeled down in front of her. The younger woman leaned forward; placing both hands on the ground on either side of Bea’s waist, and gave her a passionate kiss. Bea reached both hands into the front of her girlfriend’s tank top and leaned back, pulling Ava with her by her shirt.
It was early afternoon when the Warrior Nuns returned to town, today heading straight to Bar La Vasseur. Given the time of day, they expected to walk into the bar and find only Hans, maybe one or two patrons as well. Ava looked in shock towards Beatrice when they heard familiar voices carrying out through the large open windows.
When they walked hand-in-hand into the building, they spied Camila, Yasmine and Dora, all dressed in their full habits, standing together chatting in the middle of the room and an utterly bewildered Hans watching them, mouth agape, from behind the bar. The three women cheered when they saw them and quickly rushed over to embrace their friends. The sudden clatter in the bar was deafening.
“What are you all doing here?” asked Bea as she led them over to a table towards the back of the room.
“We missed you,” answered Camila as if it was the most natural thing in the world for the three nuns to up and leave the OCS together on a whim.
“That’s it?” Ava asked, feeling a little skeptical. “Not that we haven’t missed you too!” she followed up quickly, “but how did Mother Superion allow her top three to all just leave together at the same time?”
“She’s a little annoyed at us,” said Yasmine, “especially considering everything that’s happening right now but I pointed out to her that it’s a good opportunity for some of the younger girls to step up and learn how things work.”
“I didn’t give her a choice,” said Dora.
“What’s happening right now?” Bea asked with a frown.
“First things first,” replied Dora. “Aren’t we in a bar?”
“Oh! Right!” Ava responded. “Hans! Getränke, bitte?”
Hans, still looking completely confused, said nothing as he walked over to take their orders.
“Hans, this is Camila, Dora and Yasmine,” said Bea, gesturing to each woman in turn. “They’re old friends.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Your old friends are all nuns?”
“We’re members of the Sisterhood of Cruciform Sword,” volunteered Camila. “Bea used to be as well. Ava—well—is Ava.”
“Wait,” replied Hans, looking back at Bea. “You used to be a nun?”
“It’s a long story,” stated Bea looking at Camila in confusion. “Sisterhood?”
“We’ll explain in a minute,” said Dora. “Priorities.” She gave Hans a patient look.
“Right. What will it be?”
“Scotch,” ordered Dora without preamble. “Eighteen years or older please—and make it a double.” His eyes went wide as he raised his eyebrows. He looked over at Bea who smiled lightly at him. She held up split fingers and mouthed “two” towards him. He raised his brows even higher.
“Cam, are you drinking?” Ava asked, chuckling softly at the exchange with the poor man.
“Sure,” she answered brightly. “Whatever you’re having!” Ava saw Bea and Dora exchange a look out of the corner of her eye.
“Are you sure about this, Camila?” asked Bea, her voice laced with concern.
“Of course! Drinking with Ava sounds fun!”
Ava smiled in response. “Lemon Drops bitte!” she said to the bartender.
Bea laughed softly. “On your own head be it, Camila.”
Hans looked over to Yasmine, who had been watching the table in silence. “A martini, please,” she requested quietly, “stirred and ice cold with a dash of vermouth and a lemon twist.” Ava’s jaw dropped to the floor. Judging by the sudden silence so had everyone else’s. “What?” Yasmine asked somewhat defensively. “They’re delicious.”
With the drinks served and Hans escaping behind the bar like his life depended on it, Bea looked to the three nuns for answers. “So—the Sisterhood of the Cruciform Sword?”
“The Vatican hit back,” answered Dora. “They suppressed the Order. We weren’t officially disbanded, just cut off. They took back Cat’s Cradle and were forcing the OCS out. Every sister was given the option, initially, of publicly renouncing the OCS and the Warrior Nun,” she nodded towards Ava. “In return, she would be offered a transfer to one of the orders stationed in the Vatican.”
Yasmine continued before Ava and Bea could interrupt. “Anyone who did not accept was officially declared part of a sect. Not excommunicated, just not supported by the Vatican anymore.”
“Did anyone accept?” Bea asked.
“Eileen and Rosemary,” replied Camila, downing her second shot.
“What?” yelled Ava. Bea could not believe it. The two rookies had grown close to the five women at the table. It was shocking to think they would choose the Vatican over them.
“On Mother’s orders,” Camila continued. “It was the perfect opportunity to place spies in the Vatican and it couldn’t be the three of us. We were all marked by that archbishop in Madrid. She, Father Vincent and the five of us are the only ones that know it was planned. The rest of the sisters…” She looked down sadly at the table.
“Needless to say they’re really angry,” said Dora. “But they’ll figure it out over the next few weeks.”
“Why?” asked Ava.
“Mother says this is standard when the church suppresses an order. The initial offer is made to bring back as many as possible to weaken the sect. Then the Vatican waits a little while for members to become disillusioned, usually by the sudden lack of money, and they offer transfers to less cushy assignments. She’s hoping to place other sisters in important places.”
“So,” asked Bea again, “the Sisterhood of the Cruciform Sword?”
“Well,” answered Camila in a suddenly cheerful voice, “from out of nowhere an anonymous benefactor donated financing and resources to the defunct OCS. She even bought Cat’s Cradle outright.”
Ava and Bea smiled at each other. “This anonymous benefactor,” Bea asked, “she wouldn’t happen to have already made significant donations to the order over the past year with her time, money and expertise, would she?”
The three nuns smiled. “She may have,” said Camila, “she also sends you her best and would like to see you both whenever you happen to return to Spain.”
“She’s fully prepared to go to war with the Vatican after what they did,” stated Yasmine. “To you especially, Beatrice, but to the order in general. We’ve been rechristened the Sisterhood of the Cruciform Sword—dedicated to protecting the world and supporting the Halo and the Warrior Nuns.”
“I’ll drink to that!” said Ava, raising a third shot with Camila.
They carried on reminiscing and catching up when Camila quickly spoke up right after Dora had finished telling the group a story.
“Before I forget, I have something for you both.” She bent down to her bag on the floor and came up with the Sororis ad sororem in her hands. “This should be with you.”
Bea took the book from the young nun and gently ran her fingers across the cover. As she inspected the book, Bea noticed an odd bookmark sticking out of the side. She opened the book to find it marked the page of the final entry, written by Ava the very night they had returned after defeating Reya.
“I guess you can’t yell at me to fill it out anymore,” Ava whispered into her ear. “Now it’s your turn.”
Bea flipped the bookmark over to find that it was a picture of the two of them.
She was sitting up on the ground, holding Ava in her lap as she tried to get away. They were both laughing hysterically, their faces relaxed and bright, completely unaware that the picture had been taken.
Bea remembered the moment well. She had just taken down Ava and was tickling her mercilessly. She laughed to herself as she remembered that a moment later Ava would turn the tables on her and would be tickling her back. She suddenly felt Ava’s chin on her shoulder and she knew that her girlfriend’s grin was just as big as hers. She looked up at Camila with watery eyes.
“Thank you, Camila,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, thanks Cam.”
“I’m just glad I got the chance to give it to you,” she replied. “I was worried for a little while that it was going to be the picture at your joint funeral.”
“They can’t kill us that easily,” said Ava confidently from her shoulder. Bea laughed as she turned to face the young woman and smiled into a sweet kiss with her.
She turned back to look at her friends. “Thank you all for coming all the way out here. Whatever happens with the Vatican and, I guess the Sisterhood now, I know we can handle it together. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
They stayed at their table through the afternoon, through the dinner rush and through the regulars wandering in and giving them odd but interested looks. Long into the night they were still together.