Chapter 5. The Sisters Of The Church

Following the sizzling sounds of food being cooked the young boy, in his newly adorned clothes, found the kitchen from where the aroma originated. 

Entering what he thought to be the kitchen of the church he noticed numerous pots and pans neatly stacked off to one side while large wooden barrels of ingredients lay off to the side and numerously different colored spices organized in a system completely alien to him.

Standing next to a large pot steaming with what happened to give off the delicious smell was an elderly nun whom the young boy guessed to be the person that the voice who informed him about the clothes and food in the healing tub was. 

Shyly stepping into the room he looked around before addressing the nun. 

"Hello." He shyly croaked.

Turning at the sudden voice behind her Sister Isha greeted the young boy with a kind motherly smile. "Hello, young man. I am Sister Isha, but you can just call me Isha if you'd like. You can take a seat over there." She pointed with her chin through the window at the far end of the kitchen to where numerous wooden tables and chairs were located. "You can take any seat but be careful of those with colored napkins placed on them, those are Father David's and the other nun's seats. They are particular about where they sit when eating. "

"O-okay I-Isha." the young boy said before moving through a pair of saloon doors leading into the large cafeteria-like dining table. A quick scan of the tables told where the colored napkins lay and as the kind sister had mentioned, that was where the others would be sitting. 

Finding the presence of others to be unnerving the young boy moved to a table in the far corner of the room, farthest away from the kitchen and its open balcony window and from where the others were supposed to sit. 

Pulling out the wooden chair he sat down and looked out in anxious wait. 

Looking out the nearby window he could spot a few apple trees near the church. Red apples are already apparent on its branches and a few have already fallen onto the ground for the local animals to eat. 

Seeing the apples out the window his stomach growled at the memories of dashing to the trees under the cover of night and quickly scooping up apples to eat. The memories of what he had to do to survive flooded his mind causing him to go into a reminiscent mood. 

After a while of being lost in thought, he was brought out of his mind at the sound of numerous voices coming down the hall. 

The voices seemed to bicker with each other nonstop.

"Oh my, here they come." Sister Isha announced to herself.

Coming through the door the three sisters had been previously playing a card game in their room. 

The first to enter was a red-haired woman with lines of age beginning to show around the edges of her mouth and eyes. The next two both had dark hair and blue eyes, they looked strikingly similar to the young boy. All three are decades younger than Sister Isha but far older than the young boy in the corner.

Staring at the new arrivals in the lunchroom, the young boy cautiously made sure to not make any sudden movements or sounds. The young boy didn't like to gather the attention of others and wasn't used to being given attention, so he had done everything in his power to seem like another object in the room. Familiar and unassuming.

"No Maya! There is no such thing as dibs!" The red-haired woman said first, she matched the other nuns in the clothing she wore. All the nuns of the Ocean God wore moss-green robes covering their entire bodies except for their hands and their heads, leaving their hair visible. They wore a small silver pendant similar to the one Father David's, a silver sword pointed downwards over a shield adorned with small waves on the front.

"Oh shush Diane! You're just jealous you didn't call it first!" The twin presumably named Maya answered. 

"The dibs don't count if I get there first!" Maya's twin said which caused a stir of nagging from the other two.

"Mia you better not!" Sister Maya turned to say as she locked eyes on the boy hiding in the back corner of the room causing her to turn silent.

Noticing her silence the other two turned as well and soon the young boy who wished to stay hidden had three pairs of eyes turned on him, watching him like prey caught in a trap.

Sister Isha had ignored the three younger sisters' entrance and upon noticing her silence called out to the room in a clear voice. 

"Sisters, this is the guest Father David told us about. Be nice to the young lad and introduce yourselves." She stated in a clear voice that spoke with authority that trumped the others. 

Nodding their heads they inched towards the shrinking boy in the corner of the room slowly as if he was a stray cat they worried would scurry away. Soon they surrounded the table he sat at and looked at him with shining eyes of curiosity.

Unable to speak out of fear the young boy just stared back at them with hesitant eyes. 

"Hi! My name's Diane nice to meet you!." The first one to speak was the red-haired woman named Diane. 

Speaking in unison the twins followed after her.

"And my name is Maya." "And my name is Mia." 

Giving each other a sideways glance they were annoyed for having spoken at the same time ultimately interrupting each other.

Ignoring the two giving each other near-death glares Diane spoke up. "As you can see these two are twins, although sometimes the people around here like to call us triplets even though I don't look like the other two."

"But you're always around us Diane, you basically are our triplet." The one named Maya spoke quickly getting and sound of affirmation from Mia.

"Yeah! Our sister from another mother!" 

As the three kept bickering back and forth introducing themselves to the boy the loud ringing of metal banging on metal sounded from the kitchen nearby. 

"Alright you three, sit down at your mats supper is ready." She ordered them.

Quickly following her orders the three sisters sat down at the table prepared for them by Sister Isha and were politely given their bowls of food to eat. After giving the three their food Sister Isha moved towards the young boy and gently placed down a bowl filled to the brim with savory broth and chunks of meat sticking out.

"Here you go, young man. Please enjoy." Isha said with a smile as she backed away to rest at her spot with her bowl.

Staring down at the bowl of food freshly made he wondered when he would be able to eat it before looking up and noticing the others had already begun digging in. Reading the mood he assumed it was alright to eat the food and quickly began scarfing it down.