He walked quickly to the kitchen. It would be better to get it over with now; it was still early and some of the monks would be carrying out their different tasks. Owen hoped that Brother Thomas would be on duty or at least find someone else so intriguing to ask questions that he would leave him alone or, even better, be unavailable during breakfast.
Owen arrived at the kitchen and joined the thankfully short line. He waited patiently as it got to his turn to get food, grateful no one had tried to talk to him so far. He picked up a bowl and filled it with frumenty, taking some dark bread along with him. He carefully arranged them in a little basket he had picked while hewas in line and took a cup of ale as well. He turned to leave the line when he noticed some of the monks staring at him.
"Brother Owen. We noticed that yer appetite has been quite large since yesterday," one came over to say. Monks were a pious lot, only taking as much as humbly needed.
Owen nodded to the monk, Brother Matthews. He had come just months after Owen. The monastery he had lived in before had burned down and they had all had to find somewhere else to go. Owen liked the man. He did not know if it was his nature or if it was due to the loss he experienced, but the monk was a quiet man who often kept to himself and never probed into another one's affairs. Other than the occasional greeting, they had only conversed a few times.
"Och, aye. I have been feeling quite tired and find myself unable to muster much energy for some time now. I believe it was because of the fast I had undergone a few days earlier. So now I am trying to get my strength back." There was nothing more appealing to a monk than prayers and fasting. Owen knew telling that to monks like Brother Thomas and Brother Matthews, who upheld the monastery's traditions without fail, would get rid of whatever questions or suspicions they might have.
"Och, I see," Brother Matthews smiled as he nodded his head in understanding. "It is good to see that ye are fasting and praying as ye should. Indeed, ye should eat enough so that ye can quickly get yer strength back."
Owen was preparing to leave when Brother Matthews spoke once more.
"I am sure that if ye continue in yer fasting and prayers, ye will soon be out there like yer uncle and the other monks who set out on the journey to give alms. I can tell ye that there is nothing more rewarding than being able to give to the poor. But ye dae nae need me to tell ye. I am sure yer uncle will have a lot of stories to tell ye when he returns soon."
Owen's eyes widened, and the man smiled as though he thought Owen had just received an epiphany because of his words. He would be right, of course. But it was certainly not what he believed it to be. Owen had told Charlotte that his uncle would be returning in a few days, but he did not know the exact date.
He eyed the monk, who was still smiling at him. Did he know something? Although the man had only been here a few years, his years of practice as a monk in his previous monastery and his obvious devotion had made him privy to information that Owen would never be privy to, if not for his uncle who told him certain things.
"I ken me uncle and the others are scheduled to return soon but do ye ken the exact day they should be here?" Owen asked the man. It would spell doom for him if his uncle was to return early. He doubted he would be able to hide Charlotte in the room without him being alerted to her presence.
"Och, aye. Yer uncle and the other monks sent correspondence. It would seem that they managed to finish up before theexpected time of return, so they will be returning sooner." Brother Matthews rubbed his hand on his slightly balding head. "If all goes well, they should be back before the end of the day."
"What? Ye mean today?" This was a problem. Ahugeproblem.
"Aye, that is exactly what I mean." Matthews chuckled at the look of shock on Owen's face mistaking it for something else. "I see ye are excited to see yer uncle."
"Ha! A-aye, that is so. I cannae wait for him to return and tell me everything that has happened so I can be prepared for when it is my time to go." To his surprise, the more Owen spoke to Brother Matthews, the more he wished he were speaking to Brother Thomas instead. He had grown so used to being accosted by Thomas and having every inch of his life pried into by the man that he now knew how to avoid his questions, only giving him whatever information he wanted to give. This man was more intense. Owen had lied so much during this short conversation. He was certain he had filled the empty space on his long list of sins and had probably moved to a new one.
"Ye are turning out to be the monk ye were called to be." He clapped Owen on the shoulder, chuckling once more. "Ye should go and eat yer fill so that ye would be well rested and strengthened enough to ask him all the questions ye want when he arrives." The monk turned away from him and resumed his conversation with those he had been speaking with before he addressed Owen.
Owen went on his way, making a beeline out of the kitchen as his mind raced. This was awful. In all his planning, he had not accounted for what could happen if his uncle suddenly returned. He had thought he had enough time to hide Charlotte until he had to leave for Scotland, to take her with him until she got where she wanted. What was he to do now? He could not very well toss her out to fend for herself. She had gone hungry for a long time, being stung by nettles, had tried to accost a man twice her size, had even closed her eyes during her silly attempt at robbery and was scared of everything that crawled. She couldnotvery well survive on her wits alone, that much was certain.Damn it!
With hurried steps, Owen made for his room. He had already planned to go home and take her with him on his journey anyway. They would leave today. He did not believe his mind would ever be at rest if he tossed her out of the monastery to fend for herself. Somehow, in less than a day, she had become his responsibility. And her welfare mattered to him.
Mind made up, Owen pushed open the door, his face grimacing as the door squeaked loudly. He had never noticed how loud the doors sounded until this moment and his hands were not free, so he could not be as stealthy as he had been on his way out. He looked at the bed to find that she had completely covered herself, save for a small part of her head that was strategically left out so she could see who it was that had just come in. She is awake then, that's good.
"I see ye are awake, lass. I ken that ye would be famished when ye woke so I went tae get ye some food and ale." Owen smiled when she groaned at the last part. She must not have liked theale at all, then. In truth, it had taken him a long time to get used to it himself. The ale in the monastery was made there. It was an acquired taste, more bitter than any he had ever had. He had quickly gotten used to it when he noticed that it helped him sleep during the first few months when he struggled to relax. However, now he found that he no longer needed it but still drank it anyway. It was better than nothing.
"Ye dae nae have tae drink it if ye dinnae want to. There is water in that jar to drink." He placed the small basket on the bed and took out everything he had brought. He picked up a bowl and split the frumenty into two, giving her some bread. "Here, eat."
"Thank you," she said simply, smiling at him before picking up the bread and dipping it into the porridge. He smiled as he watched her. She had clearly been starving and unable to do anything about it since she could very well not come out of hiding. He picked up his bowl of porridge as well and dipped the bread into it, realizing that he was famished as well. He had not eaten the previous day. He supposed he had not necessarily been lying when he said he was fasting. Only that he had not intended to fast, neither had he been fasting for the right reasons. He put down his empty bowl just in time to see her clean her bowl with what was left of her bread. She picked up the ale and drank from it, grimacing still.
"All right. It is good that we are done eating. So, I hope ye liked the monastery, but now we need to leave immediately," he finally informed her.
"W-what? Why?" she looked at him questioningly. "I thought we still had a few more days." She asked him frantically, watching him as he began packing up some things. "What's going on, Owen? Talk to me."
"Aye, I ken what I said, but my plans fell through. I have just been informed that my uncle and the others are on their way back, so we need tae leave before he gets here. We absolutely cannae be caught." Owen said, not looking at her. His attention was caught by what he was doing. He looked around, trying to locate something but could not remember what. His head was all over the place with worry, and her questions were not helping. Not that he could blame her for asking them anyway.
"What?!" she jumped out of bed, her eyes wide as she looked around as though her uncle and the other monks were already in the room with them. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she whisper-shouted.
Owen stared at her disheveled state and shook his head.Aye, it was a good decision tae nae tell her earlier. Look how she was acting right now.How would she have been able to get something into her stomach with how frantic she was acting.
"I wanted ye tae enjoy yerself. It is of nae importance right now. Why dinnae ye just get prepare yerself so that we can leave as soon as possible."
"Well, what are we going to do now?" she asked him. "Where will we go?"
"We'll have the same plan; just execute it a couple of days earlier, lass, dinae fret. We'll leave for Kirklinton. My family resides there, so we can stay until ye are ready to continue to where ye want tae go. If ye wish tae leave immediately when we arrive, I will nae stop ye either. I will help ye with all ye need." Owen had paused to stare at her as he promised to help her so that she would be assured of his sincerity.
