«It has?» Marie said, brightening.

«It has!» The queen hugged the younger girl briefly around the shoulders and smiled. «You'd best be off now. I’m sure you'll wish to take a few things with you. And it will be an early start in the morning, I’m sure. The king wastes no time, once he's made a decision».

That night, the two of them supped in the nursery with Jessamy and her children, after which Jessamy helped them select what to pack for the morrow. Later, when huddled beneath their sleeping furs and coverlets in the bed they shared, the sisters conferred about the future.

«What will it be like, do you think?» Marie whispered. «Will the nuns be very strict?»

«I don't know», Alyce admitted. «But Lady Megory says that Tante Jessamy's daughter likes it there».

Marie's snort managed to convey both acknowledgement and skepticism.

«I don't want to wear a habit!» she said after a short silence.

«Well, we must», Alyce replied. «Think of it as camouflage, so that we'll blend in with the other girls», she added. «But Tante Jessamy says we don't have to wear the wimple».

«Thank God for that!» Marie retorted. «What do you suppose they'll teach us?»

«Not what we'd like to learn, I'll warrant!» Alyce said with a snicker. «Father wants us to learn lady-things, like fine needlework. And I think he hopes that Tante Jessamy will teach us some of the other things we do want to learn».

«She has to be careful, though», Marie said. «Even with the king as her patron, she daren't be open about what she is».

«No, and we mustn't be, either», Alyce replied. «Promise me you'll be discreet, Mares».

«I'll certainly try», Marie agreed. «Oh, Alyce, what's to become of us?»

Alyce merely hugged her sister close, for there was no answer to that question. Come the morrow, they would know all too well, for better or for worse.

Alyce had feared she would not sleep at all, as visions of what might be danced behind her closed eyelids, but all too soon, Mistress Anjelica was shaking her to wakefulness, a candle in her hand.

«Wake you now, little ones», she murmured. «You'll want something warm in your stomachs before you ride out into the cold. At least it looks to be a fine day dawning».

It was, indeed, a fine day, once the sun came up — bright and sunny, if very cold. The king had assigned a ginger-haired young knight called Sir Jiri Redfearn to escort them, along with half a dozen of the household guard. Jessamy had decided to bring along her nine-year-old, for a surprise visit with her sister. A maid also rode with them, for they would stay the night in the convent's guest house, and a manservant to manage the single pack horse.

Their little cavalcade was on its way not long after first light, wending its way northward along the east bank of the river, past the seminary called Arx Fidei, and then into the foothills. They rode slowly, perhaps in deference to Jessamy, for though fit enough, she was of an age to be mother of all of them save the maid and the manservant.

The short winter day was drawing to a close as their party crested a hill and came, at last, within sight of the convent's bell tower. The gold of the dying sun kissed the snow before the barred convent gates, and shone in rainbow shimmers on the mist beginning to rise as the day's warmth faded and the shadows lengthened. As they picked their way down that last slope toward the entrance, a bell was ringing out one of the afternoon offices.

«There it is, my dears», Jessamy announced. «Notre Dame d'Arc-en-Ciel, the royal convent of our Lady of the Rainbow. The order began in Bremagne, did you know?»

When both her young charges shook their heads, Jessamy continued affably.

«Well, then. Its foundation dates back several centuries, to the site of a very ancient holy well now contained within the grounds of the Mother House at Fessy, near Remigny. The well had long been a place of popular devotion, perhaps even pre-Christian, but one spring afternoon, after a very emphatic rain shower, an apparition of our Blessed Lady appeared from within a rainbow. It was witnessed by three young girls of noble family who had stopped to pray for a sign regarding whom they should wed».

«What kind of an apparition?» Marie wanted to know. «What did it look like?»

«Well, it's said that our Lady appeared as a young woman little older than yourselves», Jessamy replied, «arrayed in a sky-blue robe and veil and clasping a rainbow around her shoulders like a shining mantle. No one knows precisely what she told them, but within two or three years, they had gained the support of the Archbishop of Remigny and had persuaded the king to give them a generous endowment of land just outside the city, where they established a convent for the domestic education of young ladies of gentle birth.

«For their habit, they adopted the pale blue of the apparition's robes, with a white wimple and a band of rainbow edging to the veil. The vowed sisters wear it on a blue veil, and also on the bottom of the scapular — which is a sort of tabard or apron — and novices take a white veil with rainbow edging, but you'll wear neither — though you will wear the blue habit. Those who come for the school do not take binding vows, of course. Like you, they come for finishing as proper ladies, though some do stay — which you will not. But this will be a sheltered place for you to spend your next few years. I promise I shall stay in touch regularly.

They had reached the convent gate by now, whose arch displayed a rainbow picked out in mosaic tiles, and Jessamy bent to pull a tasseled rope that rang a bell within. Almost immediately, a tiny aperture opened at eye-level and a pair of hazel eyes peered out.

«Blessings upon all who come in peace», a musical voice said. «How may I assist you?»

«I am Lady Jessamy MacAthan, mother of Sister Iris Jessilde, and I bring two new students seeking refuge beneath the Rainbow», Jessamy said easily.

«Under our Lady's grace, all who seek shall find such refuge», the voice replied. «A moment, if you please».

The aperture closed, they heard the sounds of thumping, of metal against metal as a bar was withdrawn, and then a wicket gate opened in the larger door, just high enough for a single rider to enter, crouched down. Drawing aside, Jessamy nodded to her daughter, who urged her pony through the opening, then gestured for Alyce and Marie to follow. Except by special permission, men were not permitted within the walls of Arc-en-Ciel, so their escort would retire to lodgings in the nearby village for the night. Meanwhile, Jessamy and the maid followed behind Alyce, Marie, and Jesiana, and the servant with the pack horse gave its lead over to a nun who led it through the doorway.

Inside, Jesiana was already off her pony and hurtling toward a slight figure in blue robes and the rainbow-edged white veil of a novice. Three more blue-robed women were waiting a little beyond, on the bottom step leading up to the chapel door, all wearing the sky-blue veil of professed sisters. The one in the center, a handsome woman of indeterminate years, also wore a silver pectoral cross.

«Welcome back to Arc-en-Ciel, dear Jessamy», she said quietly, holding out both her hands in greeting. «And these must be the two demoiselles of whom you wrote».

«They are, Reverend Mother», Jessamy replied, dismounting. «And thank you for meeting us in person».

She went and bent to kiss the woman's hand and then embrace her. Alyce and Marie also got down from their ponies, coming shyly forward as Jessamy beckoned.

«Mother, these are Alyce and Marie de Corwyn, daughters of the Earl of Lendour», Jessamy said, with a sweep of her hand. «Girls, this is Mother Iris Judiana, in whose charge you will be for the next several years».