A Memory of Love

wanted.'

'There is no shame in that,' Rhonwyn considered.

The abbess chuckled. 'You are a practical lass, I see. That is to the good. I told your father I would do nothing to help you until he fulfilled his word to me, but that is not true, although he will believe it, having never caught me in a lie. You have so much to learn that we must begin tomorrow if we are to have any chance of passing you off as a noblewoman in six months' time. Llywelyn will do what he must for me. Now tell me, child, you have never had any women companions?'

'Not since Mam died,' Rhonwyn answered her aunt. She looked about the little hall of the guest house. 'Am I to stay here alone, my lady abbess? I have never been alone before.'

Gwynllian shook her head. 'I have two young postulants with us right now who are near your age. They will come and make their beds with you, Rhonwyn, so you will not be by yourself. They must, of course, attend to their own duties during the day, but you will be busy with your studies. They will share your chamber; you will eat together in the refectory with the community; and you may take walks in the gardens. We do not have a school like some other convents, so you will he unique as a student, my child.'

'What of my horse?' Rhonwyn asked.

'It is salely in the stables. Do well at your studies, and I will permit you to rule it,' the abbess said.

'But Hardd needs his exercise, my lady abbess!' Rhonwyn protested.

'You may walk him daily belore your lessons, my child, but there will be no riding unless you progress in your duties,' the abbess said. Then she held up her hand to prevent the further protest she saw on Rhonwyn's lips. 'One of your first lessons is obedience, which means doing what you are told by your superiors. You obeyed Morgan ap Owen because he was your captain or superior. You must obey me for the same reason, my child. Obedience and good manners can cover a multitude of other sins, Rhonwyn. You have been raised in a community of rough men. I know they had good hearts, for I can see you miss them, and you would not had they been unkind; but soldiers are not the best example for a young girl to follow. Come with me now, and we will go to the refectory to have something to eat. Tonight I will excuse you and the companions I have chosen for you from Compline, but beginning tomorrow you will attend mass daily.' Then she patted Rhonwyn's hand. 'You know nothing of God and our dear Lord Jesus, do you, my child? This is all very confusing, I can see. Do not be afraid of your innocence and your ignorance, Rhonwyn. You will quickly learn, I promise you. You are an intelligent girl, and your mind, I already see, is facile.'

For the first time in her life Rhonwyn found herself uncertain and retiring. She followed her aunt from the guest house to the refectory, which she quickly learned was a place where the nuns dined. The women who lived in this abbey were called nuns. They were also called Sister, except her aunt who was Reverend Mother or my lady abbess. And the nuns were ranked according to the position they held within the community.

Her companions, Elen and Arlais, were called postulants and were the lowest on the abbey's social scale, being considered candidates for the religious order. The novices, and there were five of them currently, had completed their year's training as postulants and now were spending the next two years preparing to take their final vows. The vows were those of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Rhonwyn knew what poverty and obedience meant. Chastity, she learned, was a promise to remain pure, which meant no going beneath a hedge with a man or doing what her father used to do with her mother.

The nuns devoted their lives to God, the supreme being. She hadn't heard enough of God at Cythraul to make any sense of him. Now her new companions, Elen and Arlais, spent their evenings teaching Rhonwyn as they would have taught their children had they wed instead of entering the abbey. They found Rhonwyn rather fascinating, never having known anyone like her before, but they also treated her with respect, for she was the abbess's niece and the prince's daughter. Elen and Arlais were the daughters of freedmen who farmed their own land. The three girls got on rather well despite their dissimilar backgrounds.

Rhonwyn went with her companions to the early church services of the day, Prime, at six o'clock in the morning, and Tierce, the high mass, at nine o'clock in the morning. She attended Vespers before nightfall, but was excused from the other five canonical hours. After Prime she broke her fast in the refectory with oat porridge in a small bread trencher and apple cider. She then sat with Sister Mair until Tierce, practicing how to write both letters and numbers. Sister Mair did the lettering on the illuminations the abbey sold to noble households.

After Tierce, Rhonwyn studied with her aunt, learning Latin and the Norman tongue. To the abbess's delight her niece had a facility for languages other than the Welsh tongue and learned far more quickly than she had hoped. Within a month Rhonwyn was reciting the Latin prayers in the church services she attended as if she had been doing it all her life. And she was beginning to read as well. Her ability with the Norman tongue was equally swift, and Rhonwyn was soon conversing in that language on a daily basis with her aunt both in and out of the classroom.

Gwynllian uerch Gryffydd gave thanks before the altar of the church daily for her nieces progress. It was truly miraculous. Alter the midday meal Rhonwyn joined Sister Una in the kitchens so she might see bow meals were planned and prepared. Here her progress was not as quick, and Sister Una complained to the abbess that her niece could burn water. The infirmarian, Sister Dicra, was kinder, for her new pupil seemed to have a knack for healing and concocting the potions, salves, lotions, syrups, and teas needed to cure a cough or make a wound heal easier.

'The lass has a healing touch, Reverend Mother,' Sister Dicra said enthusiastically.

'She'll need it to cure the bellyaches she's going to give with her cooking,' Sister Una remarked dryly.

'She doesn't need to know how to cook,' the abbess said, 'just how it should be done. The castle will have its own cook. Have you taught her how to make soap for both clothing and skin yet?'

'We begin tomorrow,' Sister Una replied. 'I hope she has more of a knack for that.'

The abbess turned to Sister Braith. 'How is she coming with her weaving, embroidery, and sewing skills, my sister?'

'Slowly,' answered the nun. 'Rhonwyn has little patience, as you know. She finds sewing and embroidery foolish. Weaving, however, seems to calm her. She says there is a logic to it,' chuckled Sister Braith. 'I have shown her how to spin, and she seems to like that quite well.'

They were progressing. Slowly in some areas, faster in others, the abbess thought silently. 'The fabrics have arrived from Hereford,' she told her companions. 'We shall have to fill Rhonwyn's bridal chest ourselves if it is to get done.'

'And the relic?' Sister Winifred inquired.

'My brother sends word he has obtained it at great cost. He is bringing it to us himself.'

The prince arrived several days later, accompanied only by two of his men. He handed the bejeweled gold box to his sister. 'Twenty gold florins, this cost me,' he growled at her. 'The mother superior at St. Mary's-in-the-Gate ought to be hawking maidenheads, she haggled so closely with me. It had better be worth it, Gwynllian.'

'Would you like to see your daughter?' the abbess asked him as she stroked her prize.

'You have begun, then?' he said eagerly, visibly relieved.

'Of course,' she told him. 'There was no choice if we are to be ready by spring, Llywelyn.' She reached for the bell on the table and rang it, instructing the nun who answered her call to fetch the lady Rhonwyn at once.

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd gaped in surprise for a moment as his daughter entered the room. She was garbed in a graceful deep blue gown with long, tight sleeves and girded at the waist with a simple twisted gold rope. Her pale gilt hair was beginning to grow out. It was clean and almost to her shoulders now. On her head she wore a simple chaplet with fresh flowers. She bowed to her aunt first and then to her father.

'You sent for me, my lady abbess?' she asked.

'Your father wished to see you before he departed, my child,' Gwynllian answered quietly.

'She's speaking in the Norman tongue!' ap Gruffydd said excitedly.

'I am learning, my lord. I am told this is the language the English use, although there is another,' Rhonwyn replied.