"What the-? Touly is back!" the gatekeeper cried out.
Further down the road, two naked women were trekking up the mountain road. They huddled next to each other, taking care to sidestep the small piles of stubborn snow on the way. Still, their shoulders were straight, their heads high. They were proud. They had accomplished their task.
Two squires spun the wheel that raised the heavy gate, giving the women entry to the mighty fortress.
A cadre of curious knights rushed to the castle courtyard to greet the arriving pilgrims. Touly stood naked but proud, still wearing nothing but her pendant and a silly-looking dunce hat.
"Back so soon?" a raven-haired knight asked. "Ha! I told you she was going to call it quits," she told her squire.
"No!" For the first time in a long while, Touly puffed her chest out with pride. "I finished my mission. Here, the signature of the Abbess." Touly pointed at the necklace hanging above her cleavage.
The knights formed a circle around Touly, each one bending over to get the necklace as close to their eyeballs as possible.
One of the knights gasped. "Wow, someone´s cold. These things could cut my armor!" she flicked Touly´s salmon-colored nipples.
"That´s what you have been staring at?!" Touly yelled, hugging her chest.
"Well, yeah, what else would I be staring at? I can´t read those scribbles."
"She probably paid a peasant to sign rubbish to try to pass it as the Abess signature." Another knight scoffed.
"W-what? No! This is the Abbess' real signature. Tell them, Min! … Min?"
Touly looked back. Min had yet to enter the courtyard. She stood behind the gate, only her face sticking out, and watching how the scene played out.
"Come back here, coward, and back me up!"
"I´d rather not. Your fellow knights seem quite mean…"
Touly sighed. "Regardless, my penance is done! The necklace is proof that- hey, give that back!" Another fellow knight yanked Touly´s dunce cap from her head.
"What´s with the dunce hat? Did you get roped into working as a jester?"
"No, it´s a souvenir from the Red-
"A souvenir? How can you buy one without money?"
"Maybe she abandoned our Order's teachings? Convinced a wayward merchant with her womanly wiles?"
"You read too much courtly love."
"Oh, it´s this the gift I asked you about?" Another knight grabbed the hat before Touly could snatch it back, but she didn´t have it for much time either. A squire grabbed the hat and put it on.
"Look at me, I´m Touly. Since I´m been expelled from the order I can only find work as a jester."
"That´s not funny!" Touly yelled.
"Yes, that was a terrible impression. And your joke is too wordy. Here, give me the hat, and I´ll show you how it´s done."
The squire tossed the hat to the other knight, who chucked it back before Touly could reach her.
"Come ooooon! Give that back!" The exasperated Touly stomped the floor.
The knights looked at each other and smirked. They had found a new little game. They kept tossing the hat between each other to keep it out of the hands of their naked sister running circles between them.
"Yikes. I think I made the right call staying back," Min mumbled. "They are like schoolyard bullies…"
"S-stop it! That´s a valuable souvenir from the Red Cathedral!"
"I´ll be the judge of that." The Marshall grabbed the hat out of mid-air, the rest of the knights gasping and standing in attention in the presence of their commander. "Ugh, sometimes I feel like I command a convent, not a military force." The Marshall sneered as she inspected the hat.
"S-so?" Touly asked.
"This item is genuine and only found on the Colorful Cathedrals. I'll bring it to the Grandmaster to check, but it seems like you finished your pilgrimage. Congratulations, you are back in the Order!"
"Yes!" Touly crossed her arms and smiled, posing heroically as if a painter was about to immortalize her "heroic" triumph on canvas.
"Err, sorry to interrupt, but does that mean I'm free now?" Min tugged at the Marshall's cape. With the proverbial teacher in the playground, she found the courage to enter the courtyard.
The Marshall rubbed her chin. "Yes. You are clear of all charges. I know I´m wasting my breath since you are an adventurer and all, but do try to avoid committing crimes in the future…"
"YES!" Min fist-bumped the air and stomped her feet in an awkward celebratory dance. Another quest completed! She could hear the triumphant music in her head.
"But, now that you aren´t a prisoner or part of our Order, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This castle is for Order's personnel only. And can someone please give Touly a cape or something while I go talk to the Grandmaster? We can't have one of our prancing around the grounds naked like a naughty nymph."
One of the knights untied her cape and tossed it towards Touly. "See? This is how you give people gifts. Maybe next pilgrimage you´ll remember to bring something for me too."
Touly grabbed the cape midflight. "There won´t be a next pilgrimage, Riella."
"Hmpf…"
"I guess this is goodbye for now," Touly said to Min, a small white cape now covering her behind from shoulder to shoulder, albeit it barely reached down to the middle of her back. Her firm behind was still exposed to the crisp wind.
"Y-yes." The two women looked at each other, unsure of what to say. It hadn´t been exactly a pleasant journey, but it felt wrong to say "bye" and part ways just like that.
"Let's go fetch your things from the dungeon, and I'll see you on your way," Touly offered.
"Err… I don't have anything."
"Well, you might not have treasures, but let´s at least grab your shirt before you leave. The naked penance is over, after all."
"No, you don´t understand. I'm not naked because of punishment or something. I'm naked because I kind of don't have anything else… like at all." Min said, her arms wrapped around herself.
Touly scoffed. "Typical adventurer, I bet you lost it all to a corrosive slime or something."
"Funny you say that…"
"Take this…" Touly untied her cape and threw it around Min. "So you don't have to start completely from scratch."
"Oh sure, the foreigner gets a gift, but I get nothing!" complained an annoyed knight.
"W-wait? Really? I can't take this! This is from your Order, and-"
"It's a loan. You are an adventurer, so we are bound to cross paths eventually. You can return it to me then."
"Really? Thanks!" Min went in and gave the knight a surprise hug. "S-sorry, I know you don't like hugs."
"Eh, it´s ok."
Stepping back, Min tried to wrap the cloak around herself, but it wasn't long enough. It could only cover half of her backside. "Err, not to be much of a bother, but do you also have any pants I can borrow?"
"I think you should get going. Before Greta comes around and pokes you with her spear for trespassing."
"Y-yikes!. I´ll take your word for it. Bye Touly, I hope to see you again someday!" Min turned around and walked down the mountain path to continue her adventure. Touly watched her wistfully disappear into the distance.
That criminal wasn't so bad after all. She wouldn't mind having another adventure with her in more auspicious circumstances. With at least one set of armor between her and Min.
Touly was itching to put her armor back on and never take it off again. The only reason she wasn't covering up was that she was using all her leftover willpower to fake bravado in front of her sisters.
"The hell is this?!" The Grandmaster stomped her way down the keep, angrily shaking the hat that Touly brought back. The knight squealed under her commander's anger.
"I-it's a gift from the Red Cathedral!"
"I can see that! You stole the hat of the Laughing Priestess. This is a relic! Couldn't you have grabbed a souvenir or something?"
The what?! Min! That thieving criminal! She stole an ancient relic! Just like a typical adventurer would...Ugh! "I'm so-"
"You know how much trouble you are? We are? If the other Orders catch wind that we have this, they might rightly attack us to take it back!" The Grandmaster tossed Touly the hat. "You are going back there, right this instant, to give the Priestess back her hat."
"What?! B-b-b-but I just got back here!"
"And now you are going out again."
"Can I at least put on some pants first?"
"No, consider this an extension of your penance. Go, NOW!"
With slumped shoulders, Touly pouted. She turned around and walked away from the keep under the mockery of her sisters.
"Nice going Touly."
"That's what happens when you take shortcuts."
"At least try to remember my gift this time!"
Squeezing the relic and pressing it between her legs, Touly got moving. That little naked minx. The next time she saw her, Touly swore she was going to make her pay!