After breakfast, Maria stood in the dining hall, unsure what to do. At the blood farm, every minute was pnned. Wake up, collection, work, eat, sleep. Now there were long hours until her meeting with Father Gabriel after sunset, and no one told her what to do with them.

  Helena noticed her standing alone. "Would you like to see more of the estate?" she asked. "Since you'll be staying with us, it might help to know your way around."

  Maria nodded, relieved to have direction. "Yes. Please."

  As they walked out of the dining hall, Maria gathered her courage. "Why does Father Gabriel only want to see me after the sun goes away?"

  Helena's steps slowed. "Father Gabriel keeps... unusual hours. He does his studying and teaching at night."

  "Why?" Maria pressed.

  "He finds it more peaceful," Helena said after a pause. "Fewer distractions."

  Maria thought about this as they walked. At the blood farm, night was when the guards were less watchful, when blood bags could whisper to each other about The Promise without being heard. Maybe Father Gabriel taught about the light at night for the same reason - to keep secrets from the demons.

  "This is the main hall," Helena said, bringing them into the enormous room with colored gss windows Maria had seen on her first day.

  In daylight, the windows were even more beautiful. Colors streamed across the floor in bright patches - red, blue, green, gold. Maria stood in a spot where blue light fell on her hand, amazed at how it changed her skin color.

  "What is this pce for?" Maria asked.

  "It was a church," Helena expined. "A pce where people gathered to talk about faith and light. Father Gabriel still uses it sometimes for special ceremonies."

  "Ceremonies?" Maria didn't know this word.

  "Important events with special actions and words," Helena said. "Like how you have The Promise for your faith."

  Maria nodded slowly. So Father Gabriel had his own Promise? His own ways of talking to the light? She wanted to learn all of them.

  As they continued the tour, Helena showed her a kitchen where workers prepared food, gardens with pnts Maria had never seen, and rooms filled with furniture she couldn't name.

  "What is that?" Maria asked, pointing at a rge wooden thing with many little doors.

  "A cabinet," Helena said. "For storing things."

  "And that?" Maria pointed to a soft-looking seat.

  "An armchair. For sitting comfortably."

  Helena answered each question patiently, teaching Maria words for things that had never existed in her blood farm world. Chair. Table. Vase. Window. Curtain. Pillow. So many new words that Maria's head started to hurt.

  They passed a closed door, and Helena hesitated. "This is the east wing. It's... private. We don't go there during the day."

  "Why?" Maria asked.

  "Those are Father Gabriel's private quarters," Helena said carefully. "They're not for visitors."

  Maria gnced at the door. Father Gabriel's room. Where he kept his most important light-things, probably. She would like to see it someday, if he let her.

  By midday, Maria's feet hurt from walking, and her mind felt full of new words. Helena brought her to a small garden with benches.

  "Let's rest here," she said. "Are you hungry?"

  Maria wasn't used to being asked if she was hungry. At the blood farm, you ate when they gave you food, hungry or not.

  "I don't know," she answered honestly.

  Helena smiled. "I'll bring us something light. Wait here."

  Alone on the bench, Maria watched workers moving around the estate. They looked different from blood farm workers - healthier, calmer. They talked and sometimes even ughed. Maria had rarely heard ughter at the blood farm.

  A young woman approached, carrying gardening tools. She stopped when she saw Maria.

  "You must be the new girl," she said. "I'm Sarah."

  "Maria," she replied, uncertain how to talk to this person who wasn't a blood bag or a demon.

  "Are you settling in okay?" Sarah asked, setting down her tools. "This pce can be strange at first."

  "There are many new things," Maria said carefully.

  Sarah nodded. "I came here three years ago from one of the northern blood farms. Couldn't believe my luck at first - thought it must be a trick."

  Maria's attention sharpened. Sarah had been at a blood farm too? "How did you come here?"

  "Father Gabriel found me during one of his visits to the northern territories. I was sick, nearly processed out. He brought me here instead." Sarah's voice held clear respect. "He saves people when he can."

  This made Maria think. Father Gabriel went to blood farms? To save people? That didn't fit with anything Thomas had taught her about light-men, who were supposed to be in hiding from demons.

  "Why does he help blood bags?" Maria asked.

  Sarah looked uncomfortable. "He doesn't see us that way. As just blood bags, I mean. And... it's complicated. You'll understand better after you meet with him."

  Helena returned with a small tray of food, and Sarah excused herself to return to her gardening. As they ate, Maria watched Sarah working among the flowers, wondering about her story.

  "Helena," Maria said suddenly, "does Father Gabriel fight against the demons?"

  Helena nearly choked on her food. "What? No, of course not."

  "But Sarah said he saves people from blood farms. How can he do that if demons don't let him?"

  Helena set down her cup carefully. "Maria, there's a lot about this pce you don't understand yet. Father Gabriel has... arrangements with certain territories. Permissions. It's complicated."

  Arrangements with demons? Permissions? None of this made sense with what Thomas had taught. But before Maria could ask more questions, Helena stood up.

  "Let me show you the library where you'll meet Father Gabriel tonight," she said, clearly wanting to change the subject.

  The library was the most amazing room Maria had ever seen. Books covered every wall from floor to ceiling. Ladders on rails helped reach the highest shelves. Large tables with mps stood in the center, and comfortable chairs waited in corners.

  "All these are books?" Maria asked, overwhelmed by their number. "All filled with words?"

  "Yes," Helena said. "Father Gabriel has collected them for many years. Some are very old, from before the demons came."

  Maria approached one shelf, looking at the book spines with their mysterious markings. She ran her finger along them, imagining all the things they might say about the light.

  "Will Father Gabriel teach me to understand these?" she asked.

  "If that's what you want to learn," Helena said.

  As the day went on, Maria's anticipation grew. She spent the afternoon in her room, practicing The Promise and thinking about what she would ask Father Gabriel first. She wanted to know everything - about the light, about the crosses, about why someone who served the light could have "arrangements" with demons.

  When the sun began to set, Maria stood at her window, watching the light fade. Soon she would meet Father Gabriel properly, and maybe start to understand this confusing pce.

  A knock came at her door just as darkness fell.

  "Maria?" It was Helena. "It's time. Father Gabriel is awake and waiting for you in the library."

  Maria's heart beat faster. "I'm ready."

  As they walked through the now-darkened halls, Maria noticed changes in the estate. Lamps had been lit, casting a warm glow along their path. The same workers she'd seen during the day were now lighting more mps and closing curtains.

  "Why so many lights at night?" Maria asked.

  "Father Gabriel prefers it well-lit when he's working," Helena expined. "He says darkness should stay outside where it belongs."

  This made sense to Maria. Someone who served the light would want to keep darkness away.

  When they reached the library, Helena knocked softly on the rge wooden doors.

  "Enter," came a deep voice from within.

  Helena opened the door and stepped aside, giving Maria an encouraging nod. "Go ahead."

  Heart pounding, Maria stepped into the library. Unlike during the day, the room was now transformed by mplight. Each table held a glowing mp, and wall sconces cast golden light on the books. The effect was beautiful and somehow solemn, like the light itself had gathered in this room.

  At the rgest table sat Father Gabriel, several open books spread before him. He looked up as she entered, and smiled slightly.

  "Good evening, Maria," he said, rising from his chair. "I hope you had a restful day. Please, come sit down."

  Maria approached slowly, taking in the scene. Father Gabriel looked different in the evening light - his pale skin seemed to glow, and his dark eyes held depth she hadn't noticed before. He wore the same simple bck clothes with the small white square at his throat and the silver cross around his neck.

  "Thank you for coming," he said as she sat across from him. "I understand you have questions about the light and faith. I thought we might start by discussing what you already know, and then perhaps explore some of these texts together."

  He gestured to the books on the table. One y open to a page showing a cross with rays of light extending from it. Maria stared at the image, fascinated.

  "Thomas taught us The Promise," she began, her voice small in the vast room. "About how the light was here before demons and will return when we've paid enough with blood."

  Father Gabriel's expression remained thoughtful, though something flickered briefly in his eyes. "An interesting perspective. May I ask who Thomas was?"

  "An old blood bag at Farm #17," Maria said. "He remembered the time before demons, when light people taught about faith in pces like this."

  "I see," Father Gabriel said. "And this Promise has brought you comfort?"

  "Not just comfort," Maria said, her voice growing stronger. "Hope. Strength to live. When demons take your blood until you can barely stand, when people disappear for processing and never come back, The Promise gives reason to keep going. At the blood farm, people who forgot The Promise gave up. They stopped eating. Stopped moving. Then they were processed." She paused, memories darkening her eyes. "But those who remembered The Promise survived another day. Another collection. Because they knew the suffering had meaning."

  Father Gabriel was quiet for a moment, his slender fingers resting lightly on the book before him. "Before we can discuss these ideas properly, Maria, I think we should start with understanding some basic ideas. You know about light and darkness, but there are many other important ideas we need to share."

  "What ideas?" Maria asked.

  "For example, do you know what 'good' and 'evil' mean?" Father Gabriel asked gently.

  Maria thought for a moment. "Good is... the light. Evil is... demons." It was simple, clear.

  Father Gabriel nodded thoughtfully. "Those are examples, yes. But the ideas themselves are bigger. 'Good' means things that help people, that bring life and happiness. 'Evil' means things that hurt people, that bring suffering and death."

  "Like how demons hurting us is evil," Maria said, connecting it to what she knew.

  "Yes, hurting others is usually evil," Father Gabriel agreed carefully. "What about 'choice'? Do you know what that means?"

  Maria frowned slightly. "Like when Helena said I could turn the mp on or off? That was my choice?"

  "Exactly," Father Gabriel said, looking pleased. "Choice means deciding for yourself what to do. And what about 'reason'? Not reason as in purpose, but reason as in understanding why something happens?"

  "I don't know that one," Maria admitted.

  "It means thinking about something to understand it, like how you might think about why the sun rises each day or why people get hungry."

  Maria nodded slowly, trying to take in these new ideas. They weren't exactly words - she knew most of the words themselves - but ways of thinking she'd never been taught.

  "There are many ideas like these," Father Gabriel continued, "that we'll need to understand together before we can talk about the deeper questions of light and faith. Ideas like 'justice' and 'mercy,' 'truth' and 'knowledge.'"

  "Will I learn all of them?" Maria asked, feeling overwhelmed.

  "In time," Father Gabriel assured her. "We'll discuss a few each night, building our understanding together. Then, when we share these basic ideas, we can explore the traditions of light and faith in these books."

  Maria nodded, trying to remember the new ideas he'd already mentioned. Good. Evil. Choice. Reason. They seemed simple, but the way Father Gabriel expined them made them feel bigger, more important than she'd realized.

  "Thank you," she said simply.

  "You're welcome, Maria. We'll continue tomorrow night." Father Gabriel carefully closed the books. "For now, think about these ideas we've discussed. Consider what they mean to you."

  As Maria left the library, her mind was full of new concepts. Good not just as light, but as helping others. Evil not just as demons, but as causing harm. Choice as deciding for oneself. Reason as understanding why things happen. Simple ideas that somehow connected to The Promise, but in ways she didn't yet understand.

  This was what she had prayed for - a true teacher who would help her learn. Even if she didn't understand why he lived among demons or only taught at night, she knew the light had brought her here for a reason.

  Outside the library windows, the darkness pressed against the gss. But inside, surrounded by books and mplight and Father Gabriel's calm voice, Maria felt something new taking root alongside her faith - a curiosity about ideas, about thinking in ways Thomas had never taught her, about a world much bigger and more complex than she had ever imagined.