This is What They Took From You (short story)

 was the ninth story in The Boulevard: Volume One.

1
In a small out of the way room, Emmeline narrates the events of the day to her familiar, Petricrieu, in linear time, as best as she can manage.

Hannah Drummond comes to find Emmeline in the Heresiologists’ Dining Hall, asking her to run an errand, to go to the local market and pick up some spices, used as preservatives, or poisons. Emmeline tells the clay of the Heresiologists’ House that she'll be doing this. It was approved, though Emmeline received a message from Saint Dolores to visit when free. Emmeline travels to the market, and the Angel weighing down the roof churns out a revelation.

At this point Emmeline stops her story, Petricrieu being worried that the two of them might be caught for not following the parables. Emmeline insists that it's fine, they can always say that the Saint has given them specific orders, but Petricrieu notes that this risks her hearing about the incident and realizing the two of them are out of her control. Without Emmeline all day all Petricrieu can do is worry. And all Emmeline can do is act on instinct and predecision. It frustrates them both.

Emmeline returns to her story, a young woman stands up in the market and proclaims that the Angel is broken, but that she's heard from the true Angel of Gibberline and will reveal it one week from now. Emmeline goes to recount this to the Saint, and when the Saint hears this, she mutters, "The true angels of Gibberline, and they wear their skulls on the outside."

This reminds Emmeline and Petricrieu of something that happened to them, a meeting with the Faction. Emmeline woke up tied to a chair, being interrogated by a woman in a skull mask, trying to reach out to Petricrieu, but being walled off from her, years of the Saint's alchemy keeping her in a stupor. The member of the Faction asks some questions about her cognition, but, getting nowhere explains that the Faction is something like the third side in the war between the Angels and the rebel Angels on their world. Well, except that the theology of this planet is a microcosm of the larger conflict.

Emmeline finds this hard to swallow, but the Saint had asked for her acolytes to prepare the alchemy to petrify a familiar. The acolytes were thrilled, each thinking that they'd be the ones to get rid of their familiars, though Emmeline knows that it will be used on Peggy Clay, the woman from the market. Saint Dolores has asked her to give a sermon.

Characters

 * Little Sister Emmeline
 * Little Sister Petricrieu
 * Hannah Drummond
 * Saint Dolores
 * Peggy Clay

Continuity
to be added