"Whenever you would like to visit, please do. I will make sure the others know about my offer."

"Is that all, Father?"

Witch privilege is wonderful.

"Make sure to pray for guidance. Good faith is more important than ever for the blessed."

Is it now.

"Of course," she nods. "I trust in the path ahead of me."

"I have high hopes indeed for you! And since I am here already, I think I will perform rites for the village today."

She nods and follows his lead.

The rites are a shortened version of Sunday mass. Father Clements gives special attention to Evelyn and how a humble community can create a holy agent in his speech.

She could probably follow him back to the abbey after he's done.

She says bye to her mother, quickly, and takes some food as it nears lunchtime, then does so.

The Abbey is almost exactly as she remembers it - a towered church on a hill with an extended stone section and half a dozen houses plus a few small fields around it. The road leading up to it is clean stone, and the garden is well-tended as usual. It even has some stained glass windows - very pretty and luxurious.

Father Clements offers her the horse and walks. "I should have brought our other horse, too."

"Oh, Father, are you sure?"

"Of course. I'm not that old yet. You'll have to walk back, unless you uncover flight today, but no man of God should be so proud as to not lend his horse."

She nods. "Thank you."

So she takes the horse. Fortunately she knows how to ride one.

It's a short enough trip. The Father hums contentedly, saying hello to whoever they pass.

He shows Evelyn inside the chapel, says a short prayer, hands the horse off to a stablehand, and shows her the library - there are a few full shelves of books and scrolls here, perhaps five hundred in all.

"Our collection is not as impressive as some of the greater churches. Perhaps if you find interesting books on your travels you could send them here, if you feel generous. There are reading chairs by the north windows."

Nod. "I'm not sure what contact I'll have with books, yet – I really don't know what it's going to be like."

"Life is like that for most of us at some point or another."

He finds a particular book, opens it to a particular page, and sets about - apparently - copying it by hand onto blank paper at one of the desks.

She looks around at some of the books!

A whole row of Annotations on the Book of (Whoever) by Bishop Such and Such, commentaries and philosophy about the bible.

Scrolls of the memoirs of saints and old priests and bishops. Expanded books of parables. It's definitely mostly about the religious texts here.

But they do have some other books. A History of the Royal Lineages of the Western Part of Europa still seems pretty dry, but On The Principles of Medicine might look promising, or perhaps On The Movement of the Heavens and Treatises on Construction and Architecture.

She attempts not to look too much like she's blatantly skipping the religious commentaries – she's sure some of them can be quite interesting, although not super her thing – and moves onto some of the more interesting books.

… Medicine could be interesting.

Medicine could indeed be interesting.

The book is written in Albish, which she has more practice speaking but less practice reading than Latin or English. It's mostly comprehensible.

The opening chapter describes the author - a doctor-Witch who lived about two centuries ago, apparently - and her philosophy on medicine. A particularly stressed part being, 'When you practice medicine, the ideal to aspire to is to not see a hated foe or a beloved child, nor king nor outcast. To see only the patient. The doctor's duty is to do her utmost to save the patient, to serve their needs and desires. Do not withhold bandages from the wretched leper or the vile traitor, do not lavish undue care upon the king or the magic-bearer. All men and all women's souls deserve succor and peace before they face judgment on the Last Day.'

Hm.

That's an interesting view to take on the matter, thinks Evelyn, and she reads on.

The book will speak only of care for humans. Some basic things will be the same for animals - bleeding should be bandaged, as an obvious example - but applying what one knows of medicine in humans to an animal may well harm it, so it is best to be cautious.

This is the adult human anatomy, male and female! It's not very realistic-looking, but it identifies important parts, like the brain and the heart and the guts and the penis and so on. This is how the body works! Blood carries vital essence from the heart to the rest of the body, passing through the lungs to balance chemical energies with the air... The stomach and intestines extract chemical energy from food and water... The brain is responsible for rational thought but the heart is the center of emotion... So on and so forth. It gets complicated, fast.

She tries to take in what she can of it. She pays cursory attention to the images and then moves on before – somehow seeming immoral, perhaps.

The book continues in the vein of 'this is how the body works' rather than 'this is how to treat disease or injury' for at least two hours' reading.

She's not sure she needs all of that – if there are things more focused on survival than on other aspects of the body's response, she'd prefer to focus on those – but she looks over the treatment section a bit, before finishing the earlier section.

There's stuff on the basics of treatment. First-aid, really, it insists that if this is all you know you need to find a proper doctor for the injured or sick person. Washing things is emphasized for plagues.