Zella joined the Convent of the Daughters of the Holy Light at the tender age of three. Although poor, she'd lived a happy and rather carefree life prior to that with her large loving family. But all that changed the moment she entered the convent.
The practiced austerity and self-denial. They ate a tasteless pallid mash known as gruel and referred to as "cruel" instead by some of the less pious young novitiates. They drank only room temperature water and were allowed but one cup of it per meal. They were not allowed to have any water outside of prescribed mealtimes.
