March 8th. Velorice City. Rainy midnight. A woman in black robes walks to the doorstep of Holy St. Lithe’s cathedral and puts a basket with something wrapped in it on the stoop. She knocks on the church’s door and leaves quickly into the night. Only moments later, two nuns opened the door, one with hazel eyes and caramel skin, the other with light green eyes and pale skin and was a few inches shorter than the other. Both were dressed in all white nun attire. They looked around through the outside darkness and rain, but nobody was in sight. One of the nuns then looked down to see the basket on the stoop.
“Sister Deborah! Look at this.” The shorter nun spoke.
She leaned near the basket and opened what was wrapped inside of it and unveiled a sleeping baby.
“What is it, Theresa?” The other nun, Deborah, asked.
“It’s a baby! Someone must have dropped it off here.” She replied.
“Well don’t just stand there. Pick the child up and let’s get back inside. It’s cold out here and I don’t want to get sick.”
As Deborah requested, Theresa picked the basket up with the baby in it and headed inside the church along with Deborah closing the door.
~
Inside the orphanage side of the church in the foyer, Theresa set the basket on a table near the front door while Deborah went from the foyer to upstairs to find someone on the second floor on the church portion of the building while Theresa tended to the infant.
“Okay. Let’s get a good look at what’s in here.” Theresa spoke to herself.
She took the wrapped baby out of the basket and unwrapped the now naked infant discovering its gender to be a boy.
“Oh. A newborn baby boy! Dear Maker! Let’s wrap you back up.”
Theresa wrapped the baby back up and held it in her arms in order to keep the baby warm and waited for Deborah to come back.
~~
Deborah went upstairs to the second floor at the middle of a hallway, she found a door and knocked on it. Moments later, the door opened revealing a tired looking middle-aged man with black hair and a bit of grey, sleepy looking blue eyes with fair skin wearing a long white sleeve nightgown and was a foot taller than Deborah.
“Sister Deborah. What is the matter that you must wake me at this hour?” The man asked with sleepily calm tone.
“Father Dustine. Something had come on our doorstep. Someone left a child, a baby here. Sister Theresa is with the infant right now.” She replied.
“Okay. I’ll be right down.”
As the man closed his door, Deborah went back downstairs to check on Theresa who was holding the still sleeping infant.
“Has it woken up yet?” She asked.
“No. He’s still asleep. It’s a boy.” Theresa replied. “What is Father Nyris doing?”
“He’s going to come downstairs soon.”
Deborah walks over to Theresa to have a better look at the baby.
“Oh, he is such a small, plump little one. Is he not?” She asked in a loving tone.
Even though Theresa agreed with Deborah, she sighed out of annoyance about the situation.
“What is the matter, Theresa?” Deborah asked worriedly.
“My Lord. Who would want to abandon such a precious baby? A newborn no less?”
Hearing Theresa’s distress, Deborah understood her plight on the issue at hand.
“Theresa,” She started. “We humans are very complex creatures. We’re just… imperfect beings with loads of troubles in some way, shape or form. That’s how The Maker made us. Even the vampires aren’t any better, they have their problems as well. Even the King has problems of his own. None of us are perfect except The Maker. That’s why it’s our job to try to make the world a much better place. One person at a time under his will.”
Even though she wanted a more detailed answer, Theresa nodded her head in agreement to what Deborah said. Minutes later, the priest of Holy St. Lithe, Nyris Dustine, came downstairs dressed in a white silk robe over his nightgown, and walked up to Deborah and Theresa who was holding the baby. He came closer to look at the baby.
“A newborn. May I hold this child?” He asked Theresa.
Theresa gave Nyris the baby. Nyris looked closely at the baby’s features, seeing the child’s fair skin and jet-black hair, and smiled. The child then slowly woke up and looked at Nyris with its light brown eyes and began cooing.
“A content talker I see.” Nyris commented.
“I’m surprised the infant woke up. I thought he would stay asleep.” Theresa stated.
“He? This child is a boy?” He asked looking at Theresa.
“Yes, sir.” Theresa replied.
Nyris looked back to the child.
“You haven’t a name. What shall we call you?” He wondered aloud.
Something slipped out of the baby’s blanket which Deborah saw and picked it up. It was a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it; a name was written on the paper.
“What does it say, Deborah?” Theresa asked.
“James… Ruth.” Deborah replied reading the paper. “I guess that is supposed to be the child’s name.”
“James Ruth.” Nyris repeated as he looked at the infant. “That name fits this boy well. Your name is James. We will take care of you.” He then looks to the nuns. “Sister Theresa, could you take him to the nursery?” He asked.
“Yes, sir.” She replied.
Theresa then took the baby from Nyris and headed to the nursery where the other babies were. As she did, Deborah looked to Nyris.
“So, are we going to be in charge of the baby?” She asked.
“We’ll talk about it when Theresa comes back.” Nyris replied.
Minutes later, Theresa comes back in the foyer meeting up with Nyris and Deborah.
“Okay. The boy went back to sleep the moment I laid him down. He must’ve already been fed before he got here.” She commented.
“Hmm. Okay. Since you two are here now, you two must oversee James. I will be helping you as well with raising him. He will need a father figure in his life. Even though he is only a newborn, I do see potential in the boy. There’s something about him, but we’ll see when he gets older. Any objections of taking care of him?” Nyris asked.
“I second on taking care of the boy.” Deborah replied. “He’ll be taken care of just like the other children. I have no problem with it.”
“I second that, as well. No objections.” Theresa replied.
“And I also second the motion as well. It’s settled. Now, let us three get some rest. I bid you both goodnight.” Nyris said.
“Goodnight, Father Nyris.” Deborah and Theresa replied.
The three went their separate ways to their rooms, Nyris walking back upstairs and into one of the hallways turning right, Deborah also walking upstairs and heading to a hallway turning left, and Theresa went into a hallway near the stairs and opened a door leading to her room.
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