Of the World: Fantasy

The bell sounded for Matins. Gregory forced himself to look around his cell for the last time. He noticed again how the crack along the wall looked like a sideways mountain range, and the little fluff of straw that the sparrow who made its nest in his window had left behind, the familiar worn wooden lines of the cross above his cot, and the dent in the mattress that had been the bane of his sleep for the last five years, since he was old enough to be moved up from the orphanage when he asked. He bit back a lump in his throat. He would miss it greatly. When he left his cell, the bag with his few worldly possessions over his shoulder, wearing unfamiliar worldly clothing and sturdy boots in place of his sandals, his rosary around his neck, he met Father Petros.

Inspiration: "Requiem Eternam" - Chant, Sarum
Story Potential: High
Notes: I like the idea of a priestly culture where those who are taken in young are forced to go out into the secular world for--oh, I don't know, five years?--before they are allowed to wholly dedicate themselves to a monastic life. And it offers the chance to explore God-in-the-world. Though I'm not sure this strictly would fit into fantasy, but it's certainly not real-world. Hrm. Possibly a problem story.