Fayola awoke panting and drenched in sweat.

She exhaled heavily, with a feverish look on her cheeks as she fumbled around her futon for her quilt. She had kicked it off at some point during the night, but the island's sweltering summer heat was stifling to the point that a person did not need blankets. However, Fayola was comforted by having something to grip in her hands — even if she had long outgrown having stuffed animals as a child.

"Sister Fay, are you alright?" A voice called from outside of a low door set into the wall.

The priestess breathed deeply for a few moments to calm herself down.

"Yes, I am fine," she called back.

Fayola quietly sat in the dark thereafter. There was no window in the cramped cupboard adjacent to the temple scullery, which she had gotten special permission from the head abbot to re-purpose as her personal quarters. Although she could not see the morning light, Fayola knew automatically that it was the dawn, since her dreams always ended precisely at sunrise. 

Her Blessing — a mysterious and divine gift from the heavens — manifested as dreams.

Already, it had been almost a year since they had started.

+ + +

When Fayola pushed open the cupboard door, she was greeted by another priestess who was washing a large tub full of soapy water. It was just outside of the exit, so the priestess  needed to shift her stool slightly so Fayola could get out, but their interaction was largely cordial. They made small talk as they passed each other.

"You are hard at work early in the morning, Sister Clarissa," Fayola spoke politely.

"Well, you know how it is. My Blessing is to purify water. I must begin work early so the cook has water to use."

"It seems nice to have an actually useful Blessing," Fayola said, slightest envious.

However Clarissa shrugged, looking unenthusiastic. 

"It is the same, whether we send someone to draw fresh water from the well or I sit here for a few hours every day as a human filter cleansing yesterday's bath water and soiled dishes. Father Ennis seems to believe that wastefulness is a sin, so I am in charge of recycling the temple's dirty water."

"The temple appreciates your efforts."

"You must admit though, this is incredibly dull work."

Fayola looked down at the large cistern of water. Sister Clarissa was sitting knees spread with a dull and glazed over in her eyes, her hands crudely dunked into the tub of brackish and slightly disgusting water. She wasn't doing anything with her hands; simply just holding them submerged. A few seconds passed, and there didn't appear to be any obvious change in the water.

"It takes a long time," Clarissa remarked sourly.

"Right."

A vulgar thought suddenly crossed Fayola's mind. As a young child, there had definitely been a time  when she had urinated in the bath, so it was slightly unpleasant to think about the cleanliness of the temple's bath water, especially since a majority of the temple's inhabitants were young unruly orphans. Of course, bringing this topic up seemed crude and unpleasant, so the priestess remained silent.

The kitchen door opened, and a pair of youngsters burst into the scullery. They were carrying large baskets of dirty laundry, noisily arguing with each other, when suddenly they froze right in their steps. Apparently, they hadn't expected to encounter two of the adult priestesses in the kitchen scullery.

Both Fayola and Clarissa glanced at the children.

The older one stiffened, and then uttered a few polite words:

"I'm sorry for interrupting. We don't mean any trouble. Kelsie and I are just looking for soap."

"The soap buckets are below the sink, little ones," Clarissa responded simply.

The boy nodded and then tugged lightly on the little girl's hand. As they walked over to the sink, Fayola overheard them whispering.

(Why does Sister Fay live in a cupboard?)

(Shh. Not so loud.)

(Is it true that she screams a night?)

"Kelsie." Sister Clarissa suddenly raised her voice.

Although there was a smile on her face, the priestess's cold expression was intimidating. The woman had slipped into 'lecture mode', and the older children who had the pleasure to experience her as a teacher knew how stern the young adult woman could be. The water cleanser had a notoriously irritable personality, although Fayola knew that she meant well.

"It is not polite to gossip." Clarissa snapped.

The young girl went totally silent. Her hands trembled.

"So? Do I need to send you to the Reflection Room? Are you going to apologize?" 

The little girl looked like she was about to cry.

Fayola coughed and interrupted.

"Sister Clarissa, it is fine."

"No, it is absolutely not fine. Children must be taught their errors."

The priestess was visibly annoyed.

"I'm very sorry, Sister Fay." The child's voice was barely audible.

Fayola sighed and spoke again.

"Let's talk about this later, Kelsie. Now run along with your chores before Sister Clarissa snatches you away. Next time, if you have questions, it's okay to ask me."

+ + +

Clarissa frowned as Fayola dismissed the children.

"You are too easy on them," she said.

"I don't want them to be so afraid of me."

The other priestess sighed and dunked her hand into the water again.

"It is just sad to watch," Clarissa said. "You loved teaching the most out of all of us."

"They are just frightened by something they are unfamiliar with. My Blessing makes many people uncomfortable, and not just the children. I can understand why Father Ennis reassigned me from teaching duty."

Sister Clarissa grunted and said nothing.

However, as always, she was clearly displeased.

∎

minacia

Thanks for checking out this story!

The premise of this story is actually inspired by my experiences on Omegle, of all places. ^^ You may have gotten the sense that this novel isn't straight smut, but rather a fusion of a lot of things that I'm hoping to take somewhat seriously. The title of this story is a juxtaposition of relatively pure things and dirty things (although carnations are flowers, even though it is intended to sound similar to "carnal"), and I hope to explore sexuality from these lens as well.

In short, it might end up being a huge dump of all kinds of weird stuff, ranging from philosophy, politics, and random things that I care about. The story will be slice-of-life, so the plot may be a little slow!