Free The Salbine Sisters by Sarah Ettritch

call.”
    Maddy had once believed that; now she wasn’t sure.
    “I was going to discuss your interests and afterward speak to the mistresses, but I’ve changed my mind. I’d like you to spend some time researching other sisters who were malflowed. We can discuss other potential areas of study later.” The abbess stood, drained her teacup, and set it back in its saucer on her desk. “Let’s go see Mistress Averill. She can tell you where to start, help you draw up a study plan.”
    “Yes, Abbess.” Maddy rose and followed her to the door. When they spoke with Mistress Averill, she wouldn’t have to feign enthusiasm. She wanted to read about the other malflowed sisters, to see if any of them had eventually regained Salbine’s favour and overcome the malflowed condition.
    *****
     
    Sophia rotated the sealing wax over the candle, then smeared it onto the folded paper in front of her. She picked up her seal, licked it, and pressed it into the wax. Seconds later, she lifted the seal and grunted in satisfaction.
    The door to her study creaked open. Elizabeth bounced in and pushed the door shut. “You’ve been busy,” she said, taking in Sophia’s stained fingers and the pile of sealed messages at her elbow.
    “I’ve written to the other monasteries, requesting that they send any material they have on the subject of malflowed sisters. I’ve asked Maddy to learn about others like her, but we don’t have much in our library. Averill suggested I check with the others.”
    “How did your meeting with Maddy go?” Elizabeth sank into the chair Maddy had occupied earlier.
    “Not well.” Sophia moved the letter aside and clasped her hands on the desk. “When was the last time you drew the elements? Outside the training rooms, I mean.”
    “I tested that newcomer a couple of weeks ago, the one that failed.”
    “ Outside the training rooms, Elizabeth.”
    “Oh. Well, um, there was that time last month, when that piece of stone fell from the east archway. It would have hit poor Jacob if I hadn’t been passing by.”
    “And before then?”
    Elizabeth grimaced. “Oh dear . . . I did help with a horse—when was it, February? No, March. Thomas was desperate.”
    “So over six months ago.”
    “Yes. Oh, I did help take care of some bandits, but that must have been almost ten years ago.”
    “And when was the last time you sensed someone draw the elements outside the training rooms?”
    “Is there a purpose to this?” Elizabeth asked, grinning.
    Sophia smiled indulgently. “Yes, there is.”
    Elizabeth folded her arms. “All right, then. I wasn’t near the dining hall this morning, but I heard about what happened.”
    “Gwendolyn doesn’t count. She broke a rule.”
    “Okay, then. Lillian’s been drawing lately.”
    Sophia snorted. “Lillian’s been showing off, and she’s stopped now. She was already tapering off before we found out that Maddy’s malflowed.”
    “Well, I don’t know, then. Just when sisters have been working with the horses, I guess.”
    “Exactly.”
    Elizabeth’s brow furrowed.
    “Drawing the elements is such a small part of our life here. But try telling that to Maddy. She’s convinced that since she’s malflowed, she doesn’t belong here, that Salbine has turned Her back on her.”
    “That’s nonsense!”
    “Of course it is. The initiates don’t know this yet, but unless there’s a conflict, they’re drawing the elements now more than they ever will. The only difference between Maddy and the rest of us is that she won’t have to spend time in a training room every once in a while.”
    “And that we can draw the elements and she can’t,” Elizabeth pointed out, “though that likely won’t ever matter in practice. Anyway, I thought we were going to find Maddy an area of study, something to focus on while the others are training.”
    “And which, ironically, will probably lead to her being a more valuable resource than many other sisters. But she doesn’t see