Helpless: Day 4

Word Count: 24,073

Summary of Events:

Mikolaj was in the village, heading for home, when he was nearly run over by two of the biggest, brawniest bulls he'd ever seen; he ducked into a shop and watched as more fine, meaty cattle — who were predominantly bulls — were herded past. It was soon revealed that these cattle were to be kept within the wall that had been built, and, as a result, belonged to the Wojewoda, whom Mikolaj didn't think needed that much meat, considering how overweight he'd been when Mikolaj had seen him. He couldn't, however, justify stealing one, as the consequences if he were caught were too great, so he stuck to trying to find game in the forest, to no avail, which grieved not only him, but his three-year-old little sister, who expressed that she was almost constantly hungry, and only modestly sated by the meals she ate. This prompted Mikolaj to confront his sister-in-law, only to have his mother tell him to leave her alone, so he stormed outside in frustration . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

He wanted to hope, and to trust, but he couldn’t just sit around like Klaudia — and he doubted Klaudia was doing either of those things because she was as pious as she clearly wanted to seem by spouting the Swięty Język, even if she hadn’t emphasised that she was raised in a klasztor, which she often seemed to do as if to suggest that somehow made her holier than everyone else around her — and wait for things to turn right. He had to do something.

Furthermore — as he’d fruitlessly expressed to Ksiądz Serafin — Klaudia was sinning.

Seeing as Bóg had given books of law to those who followed Him, which were still preserved by the Religia, which involved punishing people for their sins while they were alive and breathing, Mikolaj felt that he had grounds to withhold food from Klaudia and put her out.

Yes, he was well aware Bóg would judge the living and the dead and those who were appropriately righteous would become Swięty living in eternal bliss, while those who were overwhelmingly unrighteous would go to the halls of evil and suffer eternal torment, but Bóg also gave license to those on earth to mete out punishments, and such was done… except here.

He didn’t understand why no one around here seemed to want to do what they had every right to do — if they weren’t even, to some extent, commanded to do — according to Bóg.

Widowed though she was, raising two children alone though she was, Klaudia was also slothful and gluttonous, and even at the expense of her own children. Surely the lives of her daughters, the lives of her sisters-in-law, and her fellow-widowed mother-in-law mattered enough that her sin should be confronted for their protection.

Mikolaj kicked at the blackened rubble that remained of Jędrzej and Klaudia’s house until it crumbled away into ashes and charcoal. He didn’t understand why Klaudia’s sins were not to be confronted.

Gluttony and slothfulness were two sins that were considered among the worst, according to what he’d been taught in his boyhood, which meant they were even worse than lying, selfishness, robbery, and even treason.

Was what he’d been taught in his boyhood about sins now false? Were gluttony and slothfulness no longer such egregious wrongs as he’d always been led to believe they were?

He didn’t see why they should’ve lost their status, especially considering the consequences they could quite clearly have.

Furthermore, even if they weren’t so egregious of sins as they’d once been, they were still sins, assuredly, and thus, they ought to be addressed so that they didn’t mutate into worse sins, with even more devastating consequences.

Pronunciations: 

Klasztor: klahshtawr

Religia: rehleegeeah

Jędrzej: jahderzey