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The Ashen Order

“We bear what is given us to bear: the sick, the dead, the sacred, and the heavy hours between.”“We bear what is given us to bear: the sick, the dead, the sacred, and the silence no one asks about.”

The men who take the holy vows of Corvael are the Brothers of the Ashen Face. They stand to this cathedral as the Pale Sisters do, in a lesser number and a lesser voice, and their order is governed by a Father who answers to the Matriarch. They keep three obligations: service, silence after the last bell, and obedience to their Father in all things — and their Father obeys the Matriarch, and there is no appeal beyond her.The men who take the holy vows of Corvael are the Brothers of the Ashen Face. They stand to this cathedral as the Pale Sisters do, in a lesser number and a lesser voice, and their order is governed by a Father who cannot overrule a single woman. They keep three obligations: service, silence after the last bell, and obedience to their Father in all things — and their Father obeys the Matriarch, and there is no appeal beyond her.

A Brother does not lose his name. He keeps it, and is called by it, and answers to it all his life in the house. He is addressed as Brother and then his name: Brother Osric. Brother Tevan. Brother Marl. This is considered a kindness, for the name is how the parish knows him.A Brother does not lose his name. He keeps it, because he is not considered important enough to strip. He is addressed as Brother and then his name: Brother Osric. Brother Tevan. Brother Marl. This is considered a kindness. The Sisters were not offered that same courtesy.

That which has a name may be called home. The First Matriarch set it down and did not explain. I have thought about that line for a very long time.

How a Man Comes to the Ash

Many who come to the Brothers were once physicians, or artists, or men of the lower rings who wished to do good in the city and had no other means by which to do it. The Order does not refuse a willing hand. A man may come to the Wing of the Quill and ask, and more Brothers come to the ash by choice than Sisters come to the Veil by theirs. The Cathedral does not find this remarkable. The work is simple work, and honest, and not all are called to the higher offices.Many who come to the Brothers were once physicians, or artists, or men of the lower rings who had no other road upward and saw in the ash the only way that led anywhere. The Order does not refuse a useful hand. A man may come to the Wing of the Quill and ask, and more Brothers come to the ash by choice because the Sisters are never offered one at all. The Cathedral does not find this remarkable. The work is heavy work, and constant, and no one has ever been promoted out of it.

A man may also be appointed by the Matriarch, by a presiding Mother of the Cathedral Court, or by the Father of the Brother-Hall. Appointment is not a request. It is not refused. A man under sentence of the Cathedral Court may offer service in place of that sentence, and the Court may accept.A man may also be appointed by the Matriarch, by a presiding Mother of the Cathedral Court, or by the Father of the Brother-Hall. Appointment is not a request. It is not refused. A man under sentence of the Cathedral Court may offer service in place of that sentence, and the sentence does not end.

There is no postulancy. The Cathedral holds that a man who is willing is ready, and a man who is not willing would not have come. He is received at the Ashen Rite and enters service immediately.There is no postulancy. The Cathedral holds that a man who is willing is ready, and a man who is not willing would not have come. He is received at the Ashen Rite and enters service immediately. No one has asked him since whether he is content.

The ones who chose it are the ones who understood what the Sisters could not choose. That is either wisdom or a kinder cage. I have not decided which.

The Work of the Brothers

Every Brother owes the Cathedral the following, and owes it daily. The hours — five offices, from the second bell to the sixth. The care of the sick — the Brothers attend the infirmary of the lower halls and walk the sick-rounds where the Sisters do not go after dark. The preparation of the dead — washing, dressing, setting the hands, laying the salt at the throat and the feet, and carrying the body to the place of Remaking. The maintenance of the crypts. The digging of graves. The carrying of alms. The ringing of the bells.Every Brother owes the Cathedral the following, and owes it daily. The hours — five offices, from the second bell to the sixth. The care of the sick — the Brothers attend the infirmary of the lower halls and walk the sick-rounds where the Sisters do not go after dark. The washing of the dead — before the Sisters will touch them. The maintenance of the crypts — the deep places the Sisters will not enter. The digging of graves. The carrying of alms the Sisters count back at the gate. The ringing no one sees.

They bear what is heavy, and they tend what is below. A Brother trained as a physician may tend the body. He may not tend the soul; that is the Sister’s office. He may not administer last rites. He may not speak the words of the Remaking. He holds the dying, and he calls the Sister, and if the Sister is late he holds them still.They bear what is heavy, and they tend what is below. A Brother trained as a physician may tend the body. He may not tend the soul; that is the Sister’s office. He may not administer last rites. He may not speak the words of the Remaking. He holds the dying, and he calls the Sister, and if the Sister is late he holds them still.

He holds them still. I read that in the Rule and I have not been able to set it down. There is an entire theology in those three words and the Cathedral has never once examined it.

The Brother-Hall

The Brothers are housed in the Brother-Hall, a long stone building adjacent to the cathedral close, with its own refectory, its own dormitory, its own chapel — smaller, plainer, colder — and a walled yard that gives onto the lower lane. They sleep in common, a bed to each, a trunk to each.The Brothers are housed in the Brother-Hall, a long stone building adjacent to the cathedral close, with its own refectory, its own dormitory, its own chapel — smaller, plainer, colder — and a walled yard that gives onto the lower lane. They do not use the cloister gate. They enter from below.

Unlike the Sisters, they are permitted possessions bearing a name — letters, books, likenesses, tools of a former trade. A Brother who was a physician may keep his instruments. A Brother who was an artist may keep his pens, and many do, and the walls of the Brother-Hall show this.Unlike the Sisters, they are permitted possessions bearing a name — letters, books, likenesses, tools of a former trade. A Brother who was a physician may keep his instruments, though he may not use them without leave. A Brother who was an artist may keep his pens. The walls of the Brother-Hall are the only beautiful thing in it.

They are few. There has never been a year in which the Brothers outnumbered the Sisters of a single wing. A parishioner may live an entire life in Vatira and see one twice. They are, by the report of the parish, kind — gentler with the sick than the Sisters are permitted to be, and known to give more alms than they are allotted.They are few. There has never been a year in which the Brothers outnumbered the Sisters of a single wing. A parishioner may live an entire life in Vatira and see one twice. They are, by the record of four hundred years, kind — gentler with the sick than the Sisters are allowed to be, and known to give more alms than they are allotted.

The Reliquary

Among the Brothers there exists an elevated rank: the Reliquary. A Brother is elevated to this office by a Saint, and by no one else, upon the same terms and by the same rite as the Saintsworn among the Sisters. He is armed. He is trained. He is set apart to the single office of standing between his Saint and the world, and he trains from the hour of his elevation to the hour of his death.Among the Brothers there exists an elevated rank: the Reliquary. A Brother is elevated to this office by a Saint, and by no one else, upon the same terms and by the same rite as the Saintsworn among the Sisters. He is armed. He is trained. He is set apart to the single office of standing between his Saint and the world, and he trains from the hour of his elevation to the hour of his death.

He carries the sacred: the bones, the vessels, the crowned relics, the objects that may not touch the ground. The Testaments hold that a man is fittest to bear a holy thing, being himself a vessel. A Reliquary is known by the pearl set into the pommel of his dagger. This is an honour, and it is given rarely, and with reverence.He carries the sacred: the bones, the vessels, the crowned relics, the objects that may not touch the ground. The Testaments hold that a man is fittest to bear a holy thing, being himself a vessel — and the word is not kind, and was not meant to be. A Reliquary is a thing that carries a thing. The Sisters are not spoken of in this way.

It should be said that a man of means and standing may also petition for the Reliquary. The petition is sometimes granted, and the rank is given, and the Cathedral is grateful for his endowment. There are, at this writing, eleven Brothers who hold the rank.It should be said that a man of means and standing may also purchase the Reliquary. The sum is named, and the rank is given, and the parish knows exactly what a bought pearl is worth. There are eleven who hold the rank. Seven were elevated. Four were not.

A true Reliquary walks past a purchased one in the procession and says nothing. The saying of nothing is the whole of his opinion.

Father Osric & the Court

The Father of the Brother-Hall at this writing is Father Osric, called by the parish the Quiet Hand, though he has never accepted the name. He is a Reliquary — a true one, elevated by a Saint in his twenty-third year — and has served the Brother-Hall for thirty-one years, nineteen of them as Father.The Father of the Brother-Hall at this writing is Father Osric, called by the parish the Quiet Hand, though he has never accepted the name. He is a Reliquary — a true one, elevated by a Saint in his twenty-third year — and the pearl in his dagger’s pommel was not purchased. He has served thirty-one years. Nineteen as Father.

He serves also as Presiding Father of the Cathedral Court of Vatira, alongside Mother Maven, called the Keeper of Ashes. He advises. He is heard. He is known among the faithful for his gentleness and for his constancy, and the parish holds him in honest regard.He serves also as Presiding Father of the Cathedral Court of Vatira, alongside Mother Maven, called the Keeper of Ashes. He advises. He is heard. He does not decide. He has asked for clemency one hundred and forty-one times. The record notes each request, and each refusal beside it.

Under the Root Father and the Mother of Light, the woman has the final word in all things, in the Court as in the house. A Father may advise a Mother. He may not overrule her. This is the ordering of Corvael, and it is good, for the Root placed the keeping in the hands best suited to it.Under the Root Father and the Mother of Light, the woman has the final word in all things, in the Court as in the house. A Father may advise a Mother. He may not overrule her. The Brothers do not vote. The Register records no exception in four hundred years, and Father Osric has never failed to ask again.

The most trusted man in Vatira. The least powerful. The two facts are not unrelated, and the Cathedral has never once examined why.

The Brothers’ Belief

The Brothers of the Ashen Face hold, and have held for three generations, that a soul of any house may come to the Light and be received on equal terms — that a woman of Eikthyr or a man of Volkolak who comes to Corvael is neither less nor stranger than one born beneath these bells. We honour this belief. All who seek the Light are welcome here.The Brothers of the Ashen Face hold, and have held for three generations, that a soul of any house may come to the Light and be received on equal terms — that a woman of Eikthyr or a man of Volkolak who comes to Corvael is neither less nor stranger than one born beneath these bells. The Cathedral does not hold this. The Cathedral has never held this. The matter is not settled and the Brothers are not permitted to settle it.

They give more alms than they are allotted, and are forgiven it, and give more again. The lower city trusts them, and they are glad of this, and they do not ask permission for it. The faithful may come to the Brother-Hall at any hour of the day and find a Brother to sit with them.They give more alms than they are allotted, and are forgiven it, and give more again. The lower city trusts them because they do not write down who they feed. Everyone knows this. No one says it aloud. The Brothers do not say it because speaking it invites a ruling, and the Cathedral does not say it because stopping it would be admitting that its charity has a border.

They are permitted to be kind because their kindness costs the Cathedral nothing. The day it costs them something is the day it will be forbidden. Everyone in the Brother-Hall knows this.

“Blessed are those who carry, and are not carried.” — the closing of the Ashen Rite“Blessed are those who carry, and are not carried.” — the only line in their rite that is not borrowed from the Sisters’

Those who feel the call of service may enquire through any Sister of the Wing of the Quill.