Alysanne had longed for some privacy for a long time. Nothing improper, just a chance to escape from the four walls of her house that had grown so cold to her, a moment to think or to pray. Her husband still looked with suspicion at any suggestion of going to church without him, but his newly found love for his daughter seemed to soften him and he allowed Alysanne to visit her father's grave. The girl took the chance eagerly, happy to take a walk.
Also, as she realised when she stood over the stone she had had made, she had never felt closer to her father than at that moment. Rejected and humiliated for - what exactly? Love? Or just lack of self-restraint? A mistake that never really was what it looked like?
She had hoped for understanding, for a kindred soul, but as she stood there, cursing herself, her choices and her luck, she suspected her father was laughing at her.

And then a kindred soul appeared out of nowhere.
Alysanne had no idea whether Alvin had been following her or whether he had just happened to be at the same place by accident. Nor did she really care when he came up to her and touched her cheek, gently wiping away her tears. She didn't think, she could just smile like crazy at the first truly friendly face in months.
She closed her eyes and let herself relax as she felt Alvin take her in his arms.

Later, Tomas would tell himself he had not really meant to follow Alysanne. It wasn't as if he suspected her all the time. It had been completely by chance that when he went to gather some more wood, he chose a similar part of the woods and by even more chance that he wandered close to where Alysanne was. He certainly didn't mean to spy or to check on her, but what he saw enraged him.
Already when he saw Alvin approach his wife, Tomas wanted to launch at them. He managed to wait long enough for the priest to put his arms around the girl and move to kiss her, but then all his self-control was gone. He ran to confront them, shouting something about utter betrayal.

Alysanne snapped back into reality just in time to jump away from Alvin before Tomas reached them. She flinched, almost sure Tomas was going to hit her. Completely sure she deserved it, even though she was still struggling to understand what exactly was happening.

Tomas just looked at her and it felt worse than a slap. His stare was hard, furious and cold at the same time, and it hurt more than his hand could have done. Alysanne bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes. She was unable to speak, but she didn't think any words would have helped.
"This is it." Tomas said after what felt like hours. "No more lying, no more sneaking out and no more closing my eyes to what you are. Both of you."

Alvin opened his mouth to protest, but Tomas was past caring now, past any respect for his robe. Not when Alvin himself had no respect for it.
"If you have any excuses, you can give them to your superiors. Or someone. But don't try to tell me that what I just saw didn't happen, because I saw it. And so did the Watcher, you hypocrite!"
While Alysanne was reduced to helpless tears just by a look, Alvin still didn't look sorry enough. He was supposed to be begging for forgiveness, not standing there stupidly with his mouth open. Tomas reached over and slapped Alvin hard, and then once more. It felt good, so satisfying.
Tomas took one more look at the hypocrite priest rubbing his stinging cheek, grabbed his unruly wife's elbow and walked her home without further word.

Alysanne had hoped her husband's anger would pass again. She expected to be punished for being weak-willed and improper, but she desperately prayed that nothing would happen to Alvin. After all, all he ever wanted was to help and comfort her...
This time, however, Tomas was determined that no compromise would do. Letters were written, accusations made and both Alysanne and Alvin were dragged before a priest who had come all the way from the city to investigate the matter. The girl's head was still spinning, trying to catch up with what was happening. It still didn't feel real enough.
She watched as Tomas told the new priest all about her infidelity in great detail. The priest was nodding, the look in his eyes and his small smile frightening. She knew she deserved everything that was going to happen to her, but that knowledge only made her fear greater.

When Tomas finished his accusation, Alvin made one last try to beg forgiveness. Faced with the cold righteous stare of father Lorentz, he switched almost mid-sentence from describing what really happened and that nothing serious had taken place to at least trying to gain a lighter punishment for Alysanne.
Lorentz just frowned and shook his head. "You have both sinned and both have to accept the consequences. I don't doubt it was the girl who started the affair."
Alysanne was already sobbing at that point, but she started crying even harder. In her fear and misery she didn't even hear the final smirk directed at her. "Tears won't save you, even if they were genuine. Like parents, like daughter."

She supposed she was actually lucky, but from the pillory it just didn't seem so. All her life she had been desperately trying to find acceptance in the village, to clear her name from her father's transgressions and her mother's supposed loose morals and now she was here, sentenced to public humiliation and to forever being remembered as an adulteress.
At that moment even the convent seemed to her a better option than this, than being stared and laughed at by the whole village, her hair cut short as a symbol of her transgression. She thought she was going to die of shame.
And it was made even worse by the fact that the guard who locked her in there was the same man she had refused in the prison camp, just after her father died. And it was quite clear how much he enjoyed the moment.
Both Tomas and the new cold priest were there to see that everything was just as it was determined. To make sure she learned her lesson. She tried to turn her gaze away, but with her head locked in the hard wooden frame, all she managed to do was to scratch her neck even more.
At least Alvin was not there. She had not seen him since the church and she didn't believe he escaped punishment entirely, but it was a comfort for her that he was at least spared this humiliation.
When the girl was finally released after what felt like months, she almost fainted and was unable to walk on her own, her whole body stiff and aching.
Nobody spoke to her, not even her husband.

Even at home, she couldn't stop crying. The humiliation seemed more than she could bear. How would she ever face the village again? Her hair might grow back in time, but would anyone ever forget her new reputation?
Would anyone ever accept her again, including her rightfully disappointed husband?

Her punishment was not completely over, though. She was still required to do penance and pray to the Watcher for forgiveness, all under the strict eye of father Lorentz.
Alysanne approached the priest, determined to do her best to make things right again, but he just waved her away. She didn't even get to say one word to him.

She knelt at the engraved stone and prayed with all her heart.

Tomas watched as his disobedient wife was kneeling, her head bowed in submission. He knew Alvin had been sent away for some time to do his own penance, that there was no danger of her going astray there and then, but it was satisfying to see her like this.
He got so lost in his own satisfaction that he completely failed to notice when a woman in expensive gown entered the church. She, however, noticed him.
"You! Have you forgotten how to pay proper respect?"
Tomas turned after the voice, only to meet with more anger. "How dare you ignore me, weren't you taught how to properly greet a noble lady? You should at least bow to me." Ellara's voice was full of venom as she stabbed her finger in his chest.
"So? Haven't you heard me?"

"I beg your forgiveness, my lady." Tomas said quickly.
He had only seen the lady Ellara from afar, but from the servants in the manor he had heard that she was proud and demanding. Definitely not someone to insult, even if he had not been taught how to behave to his betters.
"I was saying my prayers and had not seen you. I beg your graciousness to overlook this fault..."
Ellara was frowning, but it was clear she liked what she was hearing, as most of the previous anger was gone from her face.
"I will forgive you." She said after a while. "This time. Take care it does not happen again. I am the guardian of your lord Anselm and a lady in my own right and I will be respected as such.

With that she gave Tomas one last hard look and walked out of the church. There people there who had not bowed low enough when she passed them...