[Vox]

Nicolas woke up just before dawn to say his morning prayers, even before the duty monk tapped on his door. The Bishop was lenient and didn't require you say them, as long as you were awake. But Nicolas said his anyway, and then sat on the windowsill to watch the sun rise. The predawn chill was wearing off and a warm wind was already blowing. Brilliant pinks and magentas streaked the sky, giving way to gold and then to blue as the sun rose. It was going to be a glorious day.

"This is the day that the LORD hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it," he quoted to himself. He was a broad-shouldered, rangy lad, just entering his twenties, with black hair falling over blue-gray eyes. His smile had made more than one girl curse his decision to enter the clergy, but he knew none of that. He had been raised by a viscount as if he were his own son, and companion to his daughters. He missed his adoptive family, but was glad to have started in this new life.

((I had more but lost it when I accidentally hit the back button...dern.))