Chapter 3

"Sister Andrews?" A male voice said as a strong masculine hand tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I speak to you for a few minutes?" The voice said as she turned around. Tears still ran down her cheeks from the funeral services for Sister Kaur. Secretly she had been looking for an excuse to get away from the burial as she couldn't bear to see her friend's body being lowered into the ground.

"I guess," she said wiping the tears from her eyes through her veil. It was times like she was actually grateful for the veil as she could hide her emotions behind it. The man looked around and moved away from the main crowd of the funeral. He led her away to spot that was semi hidden from sight where they could speak without being overheard. Sister Andrews have some concerns about being led away by a strange man, but she sensed he was ultimately a good man.

"I'm sorry to drag you away from the funeral of your friend, but there's something going on that is far too important to wait upon niceties," he said while furtively looking around to make sure that they being watched or overheard.

"You still don't think she committed suicide do you?" He asked meaning the recently deceased Sister Kaur.

"What makes you think that?" Sister Andrews asked as she hadn't really expressed her doubts about her friends death to anyone since being told about it.

"Cause why would a young woman with everything to live for kill herself?" He replied his dark eyes shined as the sun's light caught them. While his features were rugged there was also an aristocratic air about him. That sort of confidence that people who had been born into wealth seemed to have or those who had been used to power also had. Sister Andrews immediately took it to mean that he had been high born rather than employed by one of the Great Houses, as he didn't seem to be old to have worked his into a position of authority yet.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm not sure what you mean," Sister Andrews, despite her innate trust of him, started to walk away as if this whole conversation was a bad idea. How he could possibly know that she had doubts over her friend's death?

"You'll need to return this though," he said and as Sister Andrews turned around she could see him holding out as file folder. Logically she thought it must be the one that Sister Kaur had seen and was now apparently missing. "I'm sorry but we need to get it back into the archives," he added when Sister Andrews ran back toward him and all but grabbed the file out of his hands.

"Where did you get it from?" She asked hugging it close to her body to keep it safe and to make sure no one could see it.

"You're friend sneaked it out of the archives for us, I guess she must have gone back in the middle for he night or something," he said without revealing too much. "I guess it broke some kind of protocol she contacted the Lord Chamberlain's office and we asked her to remove it for us," he added hoping his greater candour would win over her trust. "But then we heard about her death and needed a way to get the file back in to the archives," he went on hoping it would explain why he approached her today.

"You see our Seer," some members of the Faith were said to have great precognitive powers and almost all the Great Houses had one employed as an adviser and some even still called them Seer's, "said that there was something not right about your friend's death." Sister Andrews looked at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. Her own faith in those kinds of abilities wasn't very high at the best of times.

Sister Andrews pulled off the glove on her right hand and reached out to touch the young man's face. One of the reasons that they gloves was that those you had, or at least proclaimed to have, precognitive or telepathic powers could trigger visons by touching another person or an object. Accidentally triggering a vision could be very traumatic for the person experiencing it, especially if they hadn't been highly trained like the so called Seer's who advised the Great Houses.

Acting on such a vison could have grave, and wide ranging, consequences if handles incorrectly. Also it was forbidden to seek such a vision or telepathic contact without the subjects permission.

The man hesitated and then let Sister Andrews touch his face with her bare hand. She closed her eyes, trying to filter out all that was going on around her and at the same time empty her mind. No sooner had she touched him than Sister Andrews pulled back, almost falling backward to the ground before she could steady herself.

"Are, are you ok?" The man asked grabbing hold of the material of the sleeve of her robe and holding her up. He could see a look of abject terror in her eyes and Sister Andrews bent double trying to catch her breath. Gasping for air she tried to wave him away as if nothing had happened.

"I-i-I'm ok," she managed to stutter and pulled herself loose of the man's grip. She then wretched, held her gloved hand to her mouth as if to stop herself from throwing up and simultaneously took a deep breath. Another gasping wretch and she emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground in front of her, narrowly missing both her feet and the man's expensive looking shoes. She spat out the remnant of the vile tasting viscus liquid from her mouth, which she then wiped on the cloth the man handed to her.

"There, there," the man said alternating between patting and rubbing her back. "Better out than in as my nanny always used to say," he said with a half-smile.

"You had a nanny?" She and the man gave her another half-smile before handing her another cloth to finish cleaning herself up with. In all this she had dropped the file on the ground and when she picked it, Sister Andrews was relieved she had managed to miss vomiting on any of it.

"Ok, say I do believe you," Sister Andrews said looking down at the folder which she was again hugging close to her body. "What then?" She added in a tone that was so serious it even surprised herself.

"Ok firstly you need to get that file back in the archives and hope none notices," the man said whispering so quietly that even though she was standing almost right next to him sister Andrews could barely hear him. "If she asks you anything, ask High Priestess Longton how the Mother Superior is," he then added with a wry smile and Sister Andrews looked puzzled.

"Trust me," the man said, handing Sister Andrews back her glove and making sure he gave to her still gloved hand out of respect and Sister Andrews nodded acknowledging the gesture.

"Oh and if you need anything leave a message for Guardian at the Lord Chamberlain's office," the man said having turned to leave and then paused as if he had thought better of it and looked at her over his shoulder.

"First or last name?" Sister Andrews asked almost raising an amused smile.

"Just ask for Guardian and someone will know who you mean," he said before turning and walking off. Sister Andrews watched him leave and toyed with her glove thoughtfully. When he was out of sight she tried to think back to the vision. A darkly robed woman dropping an empty syringe and another veiled woman lying on a ned with deathly eyes. Some kind of hospital or laboratory, or both. A nightmarish scream and a creature of equally nightmare inducing features in the bleakest and darkest of nights. She shivered as she tried to push the thought back to the furthest reaches of her mind.

"Are you ok?" An oddly family feminine voice spoke from a couple of feet behind her and Sister Andrews managed to pull on her glove and secure the file in her robes before she turned. The latter being something of a trick she saw on the Sisters in the Seminary pull on more than one occasion.

"Better than this morning," she said cryptically thinking of the handsome young Guardian who may have just tried to flirt with her as they chatted. Anyway there was a puzzle to be solved here and Sister Andrews felt buoyed for the first time since she'd heard of Sister Kaur's death. While she would grieve in her own way and own time there was work to be down, and work that Sister Kaur had given her life to start. Sister Andrews felt it was her duty to at least try to work out was going on.