He means no harm

"What!" After everything she'd been through these past few days this was the final straw. Blinking away tears she shook her head and whispered a weak denial. "I can't, Brother Quentin. Please, my bare flesh has never been seen by a man." It was a close thing, what with what Prince Henry intended for her and then her encounter with the trio of vagabonds who had clawed and pulled at her dress in the deep forests of the King's road, but she had never been fully nude before a man.

"Hush, silly girl." The man's scowl froze her in place. "I do not share our bishop's perverse tastes. Here," He tossed her what appeared to be a vibrant silk table runner, or perhaps a wall hanging, that could have hung in her father's great hall, "cover yourself until I can find you something better." The quilted silk of blues reds and greens was trimmed with gilded lacework and was long enough to cover her from her head to toe. "Quickly, Lady Gerard, I have to get rid of any sign you were here before someone comes looking."

"Who would be looking for me here?" Brother Quentin shook his head and grunted in frustration.

"Henry's Black Crows, you young fool." Quentin paused by the door long enough to explain. "Our next king has sent his scouts to every village and town looking for you and your brother. Two of them met with His Eminence yesterday for almost an hour." The cowled monk pointed down at the floor just outside the heavy door. "Put your clothes out here, girl, all of them. Be quick." With that, the man shuffled away closing the door behind him and leaving Christine alone in the strange laboratory.

After a quick deliberation Christine concluded that she had no real choice. If Brother Quentin meant her harm, there was nothing she could do to protect herself from the man; if he was sincere, she had little reason not to follow his directions. Soon, draped in only the luxurious quilt, Christine tip-toed across to the door and dropped her dress, undergarments and even the scarf that she had used to secure her father's ring in a pile just outside the door.

She did not see Brother Quentin, but he must have been waiting because even before she stepped away, she heard him grumbling on the other side of the door and she heard the distinctive 'click' of the lock that made any thought of leaving a moot point. Now, wearing nothing but the silk quilt she wandered around the room looking at the odd collection of that littered the table. Brother Quentin was a dabbler in alchemy, Christine realized as she took in all the various glassware, burners, crystals and all sorts of other mysterious tools and ingredients.

The room was an eclectic collection of dust-covered junk and treasures like the quilted silk that was covering her naked body. Mixed among smokey glassware, earthenware bowls and plates hewn from slabs of wood were gold and silver goblets. In addition to glass-faced lantern lit by Quentin, there were yellow beeswax candles as thick as her wrist coated with hours of dripping wax and soot and a badly tarnished silver candelabra that, once polished, would not have looked out of place sitting in the bishop's private office. The furniture was as confusing as the accoutrement, the main table was fashioned out of mismatched slabs of dark timber resting on trestles. Two old stools, held together with hemp twine, looked like they belonged in a serf's hovel, but against the wall of the chamber was a chaise whose thick cushion was plush and richly upholstered in scarlet velvet.

As she took in the clutter, she once again pulled the covering back onto her shoulder before it could slip to the floor. Looking through the vast collection of alchemical paraphernalia for a cord that could be used to secure the slippery silk, she found everything but what was needed. She paused briefly when she noticed a tray with a small decanter of polished brass and a carved wooden chalice, stained from years of use, and then again when she noticed an open tome filled with faded script penned in a hand that looked hundreds of years old. A quick glance towards the door confirmed that she was still alone ...