Archive of Our Own ^beta

I opened my eyes and got directly onto my feet. To get into shape I stretched my body, especially my legs and wings and yawned. I looked at my ducklings, some still sleeping cozily in the nest, others awake and wandering about, while some of my sleeping ducklings tried to snuggle back into my plumage, which made me smile. But now was not the time to rest again with my children, it was time to wake up and start the day.

I am a duck, a duck of the Order of the Holy Duck. That may sound strange to the human ear but it is normal in this Nun Convent, especially for our very human nuns.

My name is Duckney Sander, mother of ten. Me and my husband work for the Star Network. He has the early shift today and tomorrow will be his turn to watch over the children.

I left one of the many little duckhouses the nuns made for us and was greeted with the same beautiful sight as most days. Green pastures, ducks big and small already wandering around over the paved ways, the gras, the earth and conversing witch each other, breakfast in our duck bowls, fresh water in water bowls, the raising sun was already shining upon our spot of earth thus giving us a good view of our gorgeous surroundings and behind me was the Convent of the Holy Duck itself, a building made of stone, wood, plaster, drywall and other materials. A beautiful building, once restored by the honorable Mother Superior herself.

While eating breakfast with my kids I looked at the schedule for today, written on a small note. It was a special day, the first day my youngest was allowed to come with me and visit the Convent and the different Nuns (and one Priest) living there. I would introduce my newest beloved child to this wonderful convent and the wonderful (if eccentric) people who are living here with us.

My littlest duckling and dear daughter which I and my husband gave the name Silene Sander couldn’t wait for the tour, she run circles around me in excitement like a happy little dog puppy that wanted to play. I smiled and said to her that the tour would begin immediately.

So, we went on our way to see the first Nun on this big tour of the Convent of the Holy Duck.

"No, this won't do! I need to make sure this floor needs to be clean!", said the Nun who was cleaning said floor.

At one of the halls of the convent was the nun we call "Freckles", a young woman with black hair, freckles on her face and who is known to always have a facial expressions of worry and nervousness. She was wearing an apron over her habit and holding a broom.

The freckled Nun is listing her tasks for today. "First, I need to sweep off all the remaining dirt, then I will wash off the stains of tomato sauce and later-"

I explained to my child that this nun is known for being a bit obsessive over cleaning and- Child wait!

My daughter attempted to greet the nun while she was sweeping the floor and I grabbed her before she was swooped along with the remains of some food accident. I had to tell her that because the humans are bigger than us they aren't very careful sometimes and can overlook us sometimes unwittingly.

Freckles, noticed this and quickly apologized to us. "Oh, I am so sorry! I don't know where I have my head today."

I told the nun to be careful when cleaning even though I know she can't understand quacking that well, but I guess she understood my body language enough to get the general idea.

My daughter asked me why Freckles is cleaning and I told her it's because some of the nuns at the convent can be a bit messy and don't always clean their own disasters (mostly the Little Nuns), like how I clean after her and her siblings.

Some other ducks were helping Freckles cleaning, armed with swabs they cleaned spots freckles overlocked. They want to call themselves “Cleaning Crew” but freckles doesn’t want that at the Moment. I explain why to you later, my youngest daughter.

We said our farewells to the nun cleaning the hall and continued our educational journey. I almost forgot to mention that Freckles is also the most prolific author of the Convent but that side of Freckles Nuns had to wait for another time to analyzed an explained in greater detail.

Our next destination are the Gardens my child. Look at the many cultivated plants growing here, organically grown by the nuns. They sell many of them or eat some of them themselves. Now look at the Nun with the hoe- Stop laughing and don’t dare to explain that to my children, Rick! Ehm…No, my daughter I will not explain what just happened. Anyway: My daughter, look at the nun with the silver hair, forming a round half-bang over her left eye who has leaves on her head and a patched injury on her hand.

This is the Leaf Nun, she is in charge of the garden, friend of all crows and notoriously unlucky.

“Ouch,” shouted the Leaf Nun, who tripped over something and fell to the ground. “I hope I don’t need more patches now.

I stopped my daughter from running towards Leaf and help her, because several of the crows that were in this area, flew down to Leaf and looked if she was injured. These crows my daughter are good friends of Leaf. She made them her friends as she treated some of crows babies for injuries. They gifted her many shiny objects in return, spend a lot of time with her and were eventually recruited by her to protect the gardens of the Convent.

We watched how the crows helped Leaf up and looked for any new injuries on her but found none.

“Thank you, my friends with the beautiful black feathers,” thanked Leaf her black feathered-friends and smiled at them.

Know my daughter that this Convent and the Order of the Holy Duck welcomes all animals that are willing to live in peace with the other animals who already live here. Most crows are smart, friendly and loyal but there are bad crows as well. Remember to judge people by their character my duckling, never by their appearance or species.

“Thank you,” was her warm response to a duck that removed some pests from one of the vegetables. “Put this one to the others pests we captured so far.”

The crows in general and the ducks who like Leaf Nun the most want to organize themselves into the "Leaf Legion” but they still argue about how their symbol should look like and where to put it. Yes, my daughter a leaf sticker like the Star Sticker I wear them during work would be a good solution but I think they want a more unique symbol.

Nothing else to say, aside from don’t try to make Leaf’s days worse, she is natural unlucky already but she has a big heart and is a good person.

Our next stop is slightly outside of the convent, where ducklings can only go with adult supervision. I explained to my daughter that outside of the convent there are farms and the neighbors and farm owners are good friends of the nuns and the priest and some of the nuns have family close by, some of them are farmers and farm owners themselves.

"Oh my, you really need a good shearing, darling."

Just as I expected for today, Sheep Nun is helping shear the sheep of her family's farm. The kind looking nun is called by us ducks Sheep Nun because of her fluffy blonde hair that kind of looks silvery and also because she comes from a family of sheep farmers.

"Oh hi little ducks," said the nun while removing wool from a sheep "I am kind of busy right now so I can't play but you can watch."

My daughter asked why the sheep have to lose their wool and I told her that when it's summer the wool makes the sheep feel too hot, so humans remove the excess of wool so new wool grows for the winter. The humans also like to trade the wool for money or they make comfy things out of the wool.

As I am explaining to my daughter how trade works, a group of ducks arrive and some of them are carrying a backpack together. I also recognize a few Ribbit Ribbit Gang members. Jerry, you are a member now?

"Oh it's lunch already?” realized Sheep Nun with a smile “How thoughtful of her."

The nun opened and grabbed out of the backpack what looked like a sandwich, but it had broccoli instead of ham and cheese. What is it my child? Where do ham comes from? I am afraid I don't know the answer.

Some of the ducks helping Sheep Nun are unofficially called the Sheep Herd, but they are a minority group in the convent since Sheep Nun is too focused on helping someone else with higher leadership aspirations. They are a nice group though and are very helpful to their nun friend and would like to wear the wool as sheep like sheep to identify themselves.

"And we are done."

The sheep thanked the nun since she felt that she had less to carry and the high temperature of summer was a lot more pleasant with the missing heat generating wool.

"Can you three tell my friend that I will help her with her project later? And please thank her for the lunch she send me."

The three ducks with green mouse looking fake ears quacked their best "yes sir!" and went to do as told by the nun. My daughter is asking why they wear those fake ears and I tell her that those ducks are members of the Ribbit Ribbit Gang, but explaining their story without their leader close by would be disrespectful and not as practical, so explaining their roles will have to wait for a bit.

For now say goodbye to the kind-hearted Sheep Nun.

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“See Duck run, run Duck run. Now run some more, you get more food as a reward.”

Standing with my daughter on my back on a wooden fence we saw how a Nun in sportswear was racing around the convent followed by a large flock of ducks and some ducklings, sweating and running, keeping up as good as possible. My other children watched this on the ground with interest and excitement.

“You get better,” lauded the Nun with brown hair, three spikey hair ends on the right side of her forehead and a round brown bag over her left ear. This Nun was tall and athletic, a real sportswoman. She is also a friendly person you should know, my youngest duckling, always there for her friends, especially Glasses Nun who she is sharing a room with.

“Enough running, take five and then we do some sit-ups. Now take your light snacks and enjoy them.“

What she is eating? That I a hamburger my dear, her favorite food. A hamburger are different types of foodstuff between two bun halves. She likes to eat in general, so she got the name of Hungry Nun. Some call her Gluttonous Nun as well, an ironic name considering that this is a Christian Order and Convent and Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but more on religious topics another time.

“Hey… Duckney Sander, right? Hello!” greeted the Hungry Nun as she spotted me. Silene waved to her and so did I to greet her back. “How are you? Oh, is that your youngest child? She looks so cute! Do you want to train with us?”

I shook my head and explained why I was here. Again, the Nuns are not as good at understanding our quacking language than we are at understanding them. Silene, know that Hungry likes also to make food, her mother is a fantastic cook and Hungry knows how to cook a good meal as well.

Look, the sit-ups begin. “Come you mighty ducks, show me what you got because you got a lot! Ducks of the Order are more fit than any other duck in the world!”

She also understands a few things about motivation. Do you see the muscular ducks and other non-muscular ucks, closer to Hungry Nun? They want to be the “Hungry Hoard” because they feel themselves being close to Hungry Nun, liking her the most and wanting to follow her lifestyle. Which is lots of food and lots of exercise.

“Yes, you are good, show me your moves, yes you can do it!”, were the encouraging and friendly words of the nun who likes to eat a good meal.

Now let these ducks and the Hungry Nun train, many other Nuns have to be introduced to you, my daughter.

“Hey, ho, lets go ducks and get even more healthy and stay in the flow!”

Our next stop is this classroom and sitting on a chair in front a desk is- Oh no! Not her!

"OHOHOHO!" laughs a pretentious nun while grading tests. "Another batch of good scores for my class!"

While most nuns are kindhearted, if a bit eccentric and sometimes have their selfish moments, this one is known as the Smug Nun because of her bad habit of seeing herself as superior to others, well to at least superior to one certain person. I just stand there at the door entrance with my child since I have no intention of interacting with this nun.

Helping Smug with the paperwork are a group of ducks called the Smug Snakes since they are like her minions, ducks whose motivation is to get rewarded by their master with corn for a work well done. No child, that isn't a good path for a duckling to take, even though their dedication to be good "employees" is remarkable. In general, not many ducks are loyal to this nun and the ones who are is only because she is a fair boss.

“A great day my friend, don’t you think?” asked Smug Nun the duck on her head and that duck agreed with a jovial quack.

Look at the duck on her head who has a smug grin as hers. This one tried to befriend her while she was violent and aggressive, tried to offer her a flower every time. Eventually she accepted and since then this duck is her best duck-friend and second-in-command of the Smug Snakes.

"I can't wait to see the look on her face when I defeat her again this week. OHOHOHO!"

That laugh gets on my nerves. My daughter asks me why I don't like this nun and I explain to her that I have known her for a while. Many years ago, a human orphan arrived to the convent and she was in a very bad emotional state at the time, so Smug decided to cheer her up the only way she knew how: By challenging her constantly to many competitions. This worked and said orphan became one of the most hardworking people at the convent, but I think Smug didn't learn to turn off her competitive spirit and continued to annoy her rival year after year over every little thing. It has gotten so bad that she brags about being a better teacher, which doesn't help her rival actually teach the younger nuns, especially the one with a low attention span.

As for her behavior with the other nuns, she is a people pleaser and bribes the younger nuns with cookies to earn their trust so they think she is a better teacher than her more reputable rival.

"Hey there little fella, want some corn?"

No child! Don't fall for her trap! I drag my kid away before she can be influenced by this temptress and lead my child away.

The Smug Duck on the Smug Nun’s head was quacking something. “Like he said we have the cleanest watet to drink! I treat my ducks well… No, I treat all ducks well.“

I should also clarify that despite my negative opinions of Smug Nun, I must be fair and accept that she is a competent teacher and a good guardian that truly cares about all her students, but I don't think learning to be like her a is a good idea. Come on child, we will go meet someone more emotionally grounded, although she will be a bit scary to meet at first.

They hop, they hop and they hop some more.

These ducks with the Bunny headbands that are hopping along are the Bunny Bunch, ducks who feel closest to the Bunny Nun, youngest of the older Nuns.

My children followed me into the room of the Bunny Nun. The shelves were filled with Plush-Bunnies and Ducks with Bunny Headbands and both had eyes that stared into your soul. They- OH! Hiding in my plumage, Silene? Do not fear the Bunny Bunch, they are our friends as well, they just like to imitate the scary stare of their leader.

“You four of team Bugs help with the kitchen patrol, team Lola fetches the post, sorts it and delivers it to the person they meant to, Team Buster patrols for outside threats and Team Babs helps me with stitching a few clothes.”

She sat on her bed, reading a list and telling different ducks their jobs for today. These ducks with hypnotic eyes listen carefully, so everyone knows what to do. She does this well in contrast to the time she had to take the responsibilities of an older nun. She was not very happy and scared to take over the duties and responsibilities of a grown-up. Being responsible for children can be hard, especially if those same children were your fellow students some time ago. Not to mention demanding their cookie tax, which rules that the adults give cookies to children.

“I also have an announcement to make,” continued the Bunny Nun. “I was allowed to build a rabbit hutch on one of our green areas.” See, the other Ducks clap in unison slowly and say “all hail the Bunny Nun”. Yes, I know it looks scary daughter, but they are not hypnotized, don’t do it under duress or are evil, no need to hide on my back and my plumage.

She loves bunnies a lot, more than she loves any other animal. She made that clear as she arrived here, dressed in a bunny suit. She wanted to adopt a Bunny but was forbidden from doing so by the older Nuns because her animal handling abilities back then were very questionable. Trying to force feed a bunny plush and holding it in a tiny cage doesn’t look good on you.

“It will not only be a home for our bunny friend but for some more I plan to adopt,” told Bunny Nun to the sound of more synchronized applause and synchronized quacking which meant: “All glory the Bunny Nun”.

Don’t fret Silene, remember: They are not hypnotized. But in the past, she tried that with us. Bunny Nun is a skilled hypnotist, even as a child she hypnotized a lot of ducks into believing they were bunnies and gave them the white bunny headbands before letting them hop away. The Nun of the Stars ended the spell Bunny had over them and the ducks shunned Bunny Nun for what she did, but only for a short time. Most ducks here can’t hold a grudge and Bunny Nun did her best to apologize and gave the ducks she wronged a good cleaning.

“And remember Bunnies should eat leafy greens, fresh hay/fresh grass and a measured number of pellets. Bunnies and Rabbits should eat food like carrots or lettuce in very small amounts if at all because too much of those are unhealthy for them,” reminded Bunny Nun her audience.

Her second attempt at forming the Bunny Bunch was a lot more successful, my tiniest child. Aside from teaching the Little Nuns she is also in charge of the easter fair in the convent, teaches the nuns to sing for the easter fair, is in charge of the decorations and everything other easter related. Easter is her holiday, only Jesus’ return would be accepted as an interference. Who Jesus is? A long tale for another time.

“Oh, we have guests,” noticed Bunny Nun and changed the patch of her forehead from one with a serious expression to one of a happy smile. “I guess you show your newborn around, right? Hello, little friend. You don’t have to be afraid of me or my friends.”

Wave back to her back, look at the patch she is happy. Yes, she never really changes her expression, she has a resting-dull-surprise face. Do not worry about that, just look at the patch on her forehead to know her mood. Yes, wave back.

Bunny Nun ducked down and gave my littlest darling Duckling daughter a kiss. “Welcome to the Convent of the Holy Duck, tiny new friend. I am sure you will love it here.”

After giving our farewells to Bunny Nun and her Bunny Bunch, we went to the kitchen which thankfully for use wasn't being used by the younger nuns since there's a lot of chaos when that happens.

"Up, up we go" said an older nun cheerily, throwing a pancake into the air. "And it lands perfectly!"

Stationed like usual in the kitchen was the Pancake Nun, a middle-aged woman with fluffy brown hair, glasses and an apron. I tell my daughter that she is the main chef of the convent, but her specialty are pancakes. What are pancakes you? They are a spongy kind of bread humans cover with butter and maple syrup? What is maple syrup? I have no idea, my child, but it's sugary and delicious.

"Here goes the first stack. I hope the girls like pancakes as a 12 AM lunch."

Helping Pancake Nun is the unofficial Pancake Platoon, a small group of ducks (some noticeable thick and with bibs around their necks with a pancake symbol on them) that help pass along items for the cooking of the convent to the Pancake Nun. They only help moving things with their beaks and stay away from cleaning duties, especially after a young nun tried to use them to make her cleaning work easier.

"Oh hey Duckney! Is that you? You have grown up a lot. I still remember when you were just a small adorable thing."

I greet the older woman and present to her my daughter.

"Aww! So adorable!"

The nun stopped frying bread and took out of the pockets of her apron some bits of bread for ducks. She even put them in a plate and offered them to us. Yes, my child, you can eat this time. I guess I was a bit rude with Smug Nun about not accepting "bribe" food and now I look like a hypocrite. Or I misinterpreted Smug Nun, I doubt that Pancake wants to bribe us in any case.

"They are on the house, so enjoy them my friends."

I thanked the nun for the free food and we ate our lunch comfortably for the next few minutes. It would turn out that Silene loved the taste of pancakes.

Wow, those are many pancakes, my child. They are delicious to humans from what I have heard, but I think not even they eat so much bread. I think I once saw the young nuns hiding a great portion of pancakes they couldn't eat and while that looks bad, it's for the best that they moderate their eating habits. I don't think Pancake Nun is aware of how much people, or for how many people she is cooking for.

“Leaf Nun is taking care of the garden, Freckles is cleaning, Hungry Nun is training… Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Good work Agent Sander.“

We entered a room that looked like the vast outer space. What Outer Space is my little Duckling? It is the space outside of this Planet called earth. What a planet is? We are living on a planet but let me explain you this concept later in more detail, earth is in any case round. The walls are held in a dark blue color with many white spots symbolizing stars and little models of planets, the sun and the moons hang on small threads from the ceiling, giving the room a slight mystical atmosphere.

“Good work with cleaning the last mess the Nunlets caused. Didn’t thought that playing with soap could lead to such a dirty living room.”

That is the Nun in Charge of the Convent and the Order of the Holy Duck, also my direct superior. This is Star Nun, one of the smartest Nuns in this Order, the most serious and the one that ensures that the Little Nuns don’t pull too many shenanigans, especially destructive shenanigans. To help her with this task she founded the Star Network. Do you see the Geese, Hawks, Owls and Ducks in this room? All in formation on the ground or on bird perches, they await instructions and give reports to their leader, the Star Nun. They wear a star (mostly in form of a patch) as a sign of their loyalty to the Star Nun’s mission and Star herself. They are the Star Network; The organization mommy and daddy are a part of. Oh, there is your father, wave to him but don’t greet him loudly. Herbert, don’t look with that serious expression at our daughter, you are scaring her. Yes, take the star patch away for a second and give her a more welcoming look. Yes, that is better.

Star Nun took a short break to take a book that was lying beside her, one about astronomy. “Space fact for today: The Polaris star located in the Ursa Minor constellation is 133 parsecs away from earth.”

You want to know from where she came from, Silene? Not from the stars, to her chagrin. Star Nun came from a Monk Monastery together with the current priest, Father Leon. I think it was part of the promotion for Father while she accompanied him to help him with the task despite being a toddler herself. On the way here she encountered and befriended a flock of geese (the same who are in this room), befriended several of the local farmers and as she arrived in the Convent of the Holy Duck proper she managed to bring a lot more law and order into the convent despite being a small child at the time and founded the Star Network.

“I hope I don’t get any reports of bad behavior from Spicy Nun today,” said Star with a grim expression and serious tone in her voice. “I mean I will punish nobody for such a report, it is not your fault when Spicy behaves badly.”

Star Nun is in charge of disciplining the other Nuns the most, my daughter. She hands out red stars for bad behavior and gold stars for good behavior. Gold stars can be lost through bad behavior and red stars can only be lost through good behavior. Star Nun hands out punishment when she thinks of it as necessary or appropriate, yet she is never unfair or hard and is quick to reward good behavior.

Oh, Star Nun and some of her Star Network subordinates clean her telescope now. “Today is a starry night, I want to look at the stars and the planets tonight.”

Many in the Convent think if the Mother Superior would… Ever leave us that Star Nun will become her successor, the next Mother Superior, the Mother Star Superior. Why not Pancake Nun despite being older and the oldest friend of the Mother Superior you ask, Silene? Easy, she never was interested in being promoted. Grumpy Nun is also a candidate but the less likely to achieve the position.

“Always remember you only report to me,” repeated Star Nun something she had told the Star Network often already. “I deliver the punishments, you do not. Furthermore, if you object to a punishment I will take your argumentation into consideration. The Nunlets need guidance not unnecessary hardship.”

Look at the pictures on her desk and on the walls. Nice pictures you say? They are indeed. One is of “The Artist” the mentor of Star Nun and her best friend in the past. A very talented artist, she send her daughter, the Spicy Nun to the Convent for a proper education because the Artist couldn’t do that there she lived. Star has to stop the cookie-making schemes of her protégé and daughter of her best friend often because Spicy wants to be on the top of the cookie economy she also created herself. Star wants Spicy to become as great as the Artist is in her eyes but this goal is still a long way away for both of them.

“Hello, Miss Duckney Sander and Silene,” greeted Star Nun me and my child all of the sudden and in reaction I stood at attendance in response. “I see you give your youngest the grand tour. I welcome you to our home, your home.” Star Nun went onto both knees on the ground and gave my daughter a few soft pats. Don’t be nervous Silene, Star Nun is just nice. Yes, go onto her hand. She lifts you up to her face to get a closer look, don’t worry about it. Yes, she is a good person, she has just a resting stern face. You smile at her, good! “You are happy and healthy,” deduced the Star Nun. “Star Network, greet this new duckling.”

A small orderly chaos of greeting noises from Ducks, Geese’, Owls and Hawks go through Star’s room and my little Silene enjoys the attention and blushes a bit as well.

Star Nun smiled with happy satisfaction. “Little duckling Silene, I see everything. I will stop you from doing evil should you feel the temptation but I will also protect you from evil, that is my promise to you.”

Silene didn't understand most of what the nun said, but she still smiled. Maybe one day she can join the Star Network, but for now she has to enjoy her duckling days as much as she can before her white feathers would grow.

After giving our farewells, we walked by the hall leading to the living rooms of the younger nuns and found an older nun there who was retrieving toys from the floor.

"That girl is making me crazy leaving all her toys on the ground all the time. What am I going to do with her?"

A group of ducks helped her, but some were distracted with other stuff or were playing around her.

"No, no, now isn't the time to play," scolded the nun to the ducks playing with a puppet sock." Just pick up the sock and-OH NO!"

A duckling that had been plaing wildly on table was falling from said table. The nun did a dive to catch a duckling from falling.

"Good grief, that was close."

This is Grumpy Nun, my child, although she prefers to be called Strict Nun, but it's easier to remember her other nickname after years of seeing her with a not so relaxed face and the others being used to the name Grumpy Nun. She is blonde as you can see and wears floral hairpins to keep her bangs to the left side of her forehead, except for a small hair bang on the right side.

"Oh God, everyone be in your best behavior-"

I gesture with my wings that she shouldn't be worried about an inspection and that I am here just guiding my daughter around the convent.

"Phew! O-okay, carry on then. I am just dealing with the mess the younger nuns left. You know how it is with them."

I have known Grumpy since she was a child and I understand why she is always so tense. She was abandoned by uncaring humans I can't call her parents and was found on the land of the convent by the nuns and the ducks. She was starving and dirty, so the nuns took care of her without hesitation. For a time, she wasn't very talkative and very sad, but after Smug started antagonizing her to make her rival she became more social and started helping at the convent, at least to prove she was better than Smug, later because she liked it here and loved everybody here. To be honest, the ducks sympathized more with Grumpy than with Smug since Smug had horrible anger issues that made her quite annoying.

"Why do I always have to clean after her? She is no longer a young child. What am I? Her mother? Pfft."

Oh, quit fooling yourself.

Another reason Grumpy is so... Grumpy, is because she has to take care of the younger nuns, even outside of the classes. Such a responsibility would make anyone tired and I know that from personal experience after having so many kids. You are a sweetheart Silene, but some of your siblings have been quite a handful, especially Deimos, Io and Cassandra, who now goes by the nickname Chaos Duck. Don't follow your sister's example, please.

"I am giving her an earful when I see that little devil. If only she knew I do this because I care for her."

There's one nun she cares for the most and she has raised her since she was a baby, but I will tell you more about that particular nun later. To help her with the chaos her protegee and other younger nuns often cause Grumpy has the help of the unofficial Floral Flock, or Grump-Grump Gang, as the younger nuns and younger ducks call them. These ducks are specialized in child raising labors and are even trained to endure horrible smells so they can help with changing diapers. Thankfully their services aren't required at the moment, but they are always vigilant if another child is abandoned at the doors of the convent.

“What do you think Grumpy Duck?” asked Grumpy Nun a duck on her shoulder who had a expression that was as grumpy as the one of the nun. That duck gave a grumpy but also positive sounding answer. “You are right, everything here looks clean and tidy now.”

That grumpy looking duck on her shoulder is a duck that was a friend of hers since she arrived at this convent. She was a duckling back then and stayed always on Grumpy’s side since then. I think she was destined to be always as grumpy as Grumpy Nun is, or it was just a really lucky coincidence. Despite their appearances they are happy with their current state in life and their friendship.

“A wedding next week, then a baptism the day after.“

We entered the bureau of the Priest of the Convent. His bureau was the usual sort with shelves for reports, books and sunglasses, a bed, a desk and gifts from the nuns, pictures on the walls, other craftmanship on certain shelves and coffee on the table.

“The bride and the groom want Froggy as one of the choir singers,” noticed the Priest with a deep and calm voice. “They all want Froggy for their events. The little rascal is surprisingly popular.”

The man sitting at the desk who is reading some documents is called Father. Don’t be threatened by his sunglasses and his serious expression, Father (also known as Father Shades) is a nice man who works hard to help this Covenant continue to run properly. When he is not doing bureaucratic work he does the mass, performs baptisms, officiates weddings and leads funerals. What a funeral is? This is the end of our live here on the mortal plane and our begin in the thereafter, my child.

The priest took a sip of coffee from a cup which duck who was wearing shades like him brought him and enjoyed it. “Thank you Herbert Duckver, good coffee.”

This is one of the Fatherly Professionals, ducks that like this priest the most and like help him with his work. They named themselves after the movie “Leon, the Professional” after they heard some of the older nuns joking that he looks like Jean Reno. But do not ask me what the movie is about, you are a bit too young to watch that movie.

“I really have to make clear in our information pamphlets that Froggy is not doing anything on funerals so far,” said the priest to himself and the ducks around him while reading a certain order. “She is just too young for that and her type of comedy is not the right one for a funeral anyway.”

He can appear very scary but is actually very nice. Even when he is in a bad mood the worst he does is appear to look very angry at somebody but he keeps his calm. He is very tolerant of the antics of the Little Nuns, takes them with good humor even if he has to endure some stuff. He loves the Little Nuns and gets along with them fine, even playing with them when he has the time.

“Even I am surprised people still want to have Froggy at their weddings after she tried to eat a wedding cake at a certain wedding on her own,” talked Father Shades about a incident with one of the shaded ducks. “Does she have that much charisma that people are willing to forgive such behavior? Star gave her still a few red stars for trying to eat the wedding cake alone without permission yet the groom and the bride found it was funny.”

He originally came from an Abbey for Monks like I already told you. He still holds contact with the Monks there, mostly the adult monks. With them he was the “Little Monks” in the past, probably did some antics as well together with the other Little Monk. We never asked him about it so far, we should do that at some point.

The Father noticed us two. His expression was a scary one all of the sudden. “Hello…. Duckney? And that is your youngest daughter right?” Don’t be afraid daughter. He knows how to touch ducks, Clumsy taught him how to do it the right way. While he changed his expression to a more friendly one, I jumped with my daughter on my back onto his desk where he could pat us both which he did.

“Nice to see that the Order grows,” mentioned Father in a friendly tone and a smile. “You will like it her little duckling. Also did any of you saw the record for the holy water? I think I mislaid it somewhere.”

The Fatherly Professionals continued his search for the record of holy water and we gave our farewells.

After leaving the office of the Father, I guided my daughter through the path to the music room where-

"Someone stop that monster!" screamed one of the nuns from inside the music room and-OH GOD NOT AGAIN!

I grabbed by child with my beak and ran as fast as I could after seeing the demonic figure stepping out of the music room, and it was a Canada Geese, a dreadful bird with sharp teeth and the ferocity of a feral dog. The monstruous creature had a broken fiddlestick in it’ beak and threw it away once he spotted the two of us and started to give chase.

Please God, don't let that demon get to my child!

I felt like I couldn't run faster and that the beast was going to reach us, until I heard a storm of quacking sounds. When I turned around, I saw the geese being tackled by close to ten ducks with green headbands with knobs and I knew God had answered my prayers.

"Here I come!"

A black blur came out of a corner of the hallway and it slammed against the monster, making it quack its monstruous growls in ducking pain.

Silene, you can open your eyes now, we are safe, we were rescue. Meet the champion of the convent.

Standing proud and holding the unconscious monster with her hand around the neck of the Canadian Goose was a short-sized nun with a hook bang of brown hair covering her forehead and her face was one of seriousness and anger. The ducks with green headbands quacked her name to praise her victory over the forces of evil: the Frog King, Froggy Nun.

She is just Froggy Nun, my child.

Silene was immediately in awe at the sight, of the Hook-Bang. Froggy Nun’s natural charisma was still working well.

“Do not worry my dear ducks, the danger is over! This stupid straggler thought he could go in here alone and cause trouble without getting into trouble himself! Probably didn’t knew what we did to his fellow Canadians. Ribbit Ribbit Ribbit!”

This my daughter is Froggy Nun. The youngest, the most energetic, the most assertive, the most troublemaking, the most active, the most dauntless, the most adventurous and the most reckless Nunlet of the Order of the Holy Duck. Her expression? The upside-down v-shaped mouth is a result of resting frog face but as a lover of frogs she doesn’t mind and nobody here doesn’t mind that expression either.

“Are you two alright?” asked Froggy me and my daughter. “That moron here tried to do alone what a group of Canadians failed at.”

We followed Froggy Nun to the convents prison where she imprisoned the Goose quickly before Froggy returned to her activity for the day. You want to know what the Canadian Goose was about? Shortly before you were born a bunch of Canadian Geese invaded the Convent and tried to eat everything that was either meant for us animals or the nuns. They were large, loud and a lot more aggressive than our regular geese friends here. They overwhelmed Clumsy, Spicy, Glasses and Hungry before they encountered Froggy Nun who organized the Ribbit Ribbit Gang into a successful defense, defeating the Canadian Geese. Since then she is seen as a hero by the animals of the Order of the Holy Duck.

“Hi, sorry for the absence,“ apologized Froggy to some Ducks with frog headbands in a large pond, near the convent. You think they look cute? They kinda are… They are members of the Ribbit Ribbit Gang. They are probably the most famous group in the entire convent and are very official and recognized. “Let us continue with the construction of the pond base.”

Using wood, nails and some boards Froggy Nun started to work on a construction site near the pond with several of the ducks helping her. Sometimes I still can’t believe that the Ribbit Ribbit Gang worked out like it did. You see my beloved smallest daughter Froggy tried to force it happen in the past. Put frog headbands on the heads of many ducklings and drew her favorite frog symbol on their bellies against their will. Don’t worry daughter, she doesn’t do that anymore. But several of the adult ducks punished her for these bad actions during the first incarnation of the RRG which hurt many ducklings and she apologized later for her rude behavior. Later she convinced many ducklings and older ducks to join her second incarnation of the Ribbit Ribbit Gang via communication, persuasion and charisma. She originally also wanted a present to allow anyone to join but these days doing a test is enough.

Despite the moniker of “gang” they haven’t committed crimes so far but under Froggy’s command they pull many shenanigans. Star allows it because it furthers the social development of Froggy and the other animals and because it would be hypocritical to allow the Star Network and the Bunny Bunch to exists in an official capacity but no other groups. Yes, I know it sounds fun to hang out with the Nun of Frogs but please think this decision through first and a few times more. There are some bad rumors about the RRG making the rounds, even though those originated in the official RRG book written by Froggy herself. I guess she tried to make her gang look a bit more tough, dangerous and serious through unusual means and some parent ducks even believed these unbelievable rumors, including one that claimed that the Ribbit Ribbit Gang stole the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world.

"I want catapults placed over there, and the treasure room will be over there."

Despite some controversies and rumors, it's true that Froggy Nun is the heroine of this convent. One time she defeated the pigeon swarm that invaded the convent, recruited some of the defeated enemies into her gang and even survived an assassination attempt by some traitorous pigeons. Yes, the convent has been invaded many times. We have serious security problems.

"Hey, second-in-command!" shouted the control freak nun to her best friend who just arrived.

"Oh hi!" greeted the Sheep Nun the Nun of Frogs. "I am done with sheep shearing so I can help with the construction."

"Excellent."

Froggy Nun is also known for being a tiny megalomaniac who wants everything in her Possession she thinks is cool. She wants to own the prettiest things, win every competition, be the leader of every group and has requested Freckles Nun to write many books to about her adventures. She has gotten into trouble with the other nuns for her egocentric tendencies and the only way to make her cooperate sometimes is through bribery, especially related to praising her, or giving this Nun her favorite food: Bananas.

"Minions, were is my banana sandwich?"

A duck passed said culinary oddity to their leader and she took a bite out of it.

"Dear, don't you think the ducks should rest for a bit?" asked Sheep Nun her friend. "They have been at it since the morning and they work more effectively again when they are refreshed."

"You are right. Everyone, I thank you for your hard work so far! Take a break!"

Thankfully she has Sheep Nun to remind her to be a better person. The two have been good friends since Froggy Nun was a baby and their families are neighbors, her mother working for as a sheep herder for the Hookfather, Froggy’s dad.

"Want a bite of my banana sandwich, Sheep?"

"No thanks, Froggy. I am okay."

It's sad to say that some of the nuns are here because their parents are too busy working to raise them and the convent offers a chance for them to get an education because the number of schools is very limited in this area. And if they want they can later take their vows to work as nuns for life if they so wish. Froggy Nun's mother, also known as the Frogmother passed away too soon and her father had to depend on the help of the nuns to raise his own daughter. Despite coming from many different backgrounds, I can only say that the nuns are a family, a strong one, and they will protect each other. This is why even people of questionable ethics like Froggy Nun and Smug Nun will do anything for their fellow sisters, even if they aren't related by blood.

"Just a bite, Sheep."

"No!"

Froggy has a lot of personality, without question. Very forceful at times but never malicious. She is also pretty good at removing spiders, having no fear of any insect. And… What is it? Why are you shaking… Oh, Cookie!

“Oh, there you are!” called Froggy out to the one called “Cookie”.

The head of a fully grown ostrich bent down and apologized to me and my daughter who once again hid in my plumage. Silene, this is Cookie, the Ostrich. Son of the Froggy Nun and the bird that is closest to her. My daughter, still fearful asked how such a young girl could be the mother of such a big animal while Cookie slowly pulled his head back up.

“Are you finished with the chore Freckles asked you to do?” asked Froggy her son and Cookie nodded in response. “Good, take a break with us then you can help me with the base building.”

While Froggy prepared Cookie’s meal I told my daughter how he was born an with us since the day he was born. Against all odds Froggy managed to hatch him from his egg and he was raised by the Nun with the Hook-Bang. Despite that happening during a time when Froggy was a lot rougher around the edges, she did a really good job of taking care of this Ostrich. Feed him regularly in form of a good diet, enough water to drin, played with him, taught him to behave well… Yes, you heard me right, Froggy managed to teach him good behavior. So good in fact he even helps out the older nuns with their tasks and chores and even goes on nightly patrol with them and all that voluntarily.

“You are a good Ostrich, Cookie. The best I have ever known.” praised Hook-Bang her son while he eats while she stroked over his head.

Both appear angry through their facial expressions but when you meet them often enough you can read the true emotions of Froggy and Cookie easily, my daughter. The hints are subtle but you can see them with time. Right now both of them are pretty happy.

“You can help us with building the base,“ explained the nun with the hardly changing expression to the ostrich with the barely changing expression. “We need it in case we get attacked from the water. By an army of aggressive platypus for example.”

What else? Well, Silene: Froggy Nun rides the Ostrich. Yes, Coookie lets her ride him and Cookie likes it. He likes that so much he gets VERY upset and envious whenever Hook-Bang rides somebody or something else instead of him. She is a pretty good rider and Cookie is fast on his feet even with the Frog on his back. They make for a terrific team and magnificent daughter-son-combo. You would let me ride on you, Silene? He, he, he. Thank you my little darling but you are too small for that. Until you are a bit bigger you better ride on my back.

“The scout takes his time,” noticed Froggy after a while. Oh, I think I see the scout coming, that white cute little flying ball flying towards Froggy.

The RRG owl landed on the arm of their leader and delivered a message on a piece of paper that had been attached to the leg of the snow-white owl.

"Spicy has the building materials for our base ready," read Froggy Nun from the message. "This is great news!"

The RRG owl is one of the most helpful members of the gang, great at scouting missions and besides helping their leader they can and will also help ducklings in trouble.

You ask why that owl is affiliated with the RRG and not the Star Network, Silene? It's because Froggy is just that good at recruiting people, many of those people are animals. She has recruited a brow frog from the pond and is waiting that her tadpoles grow up to recruit them (or be happy to just have more frogs around) just like how she attempts to recruits ducks when they are newly born. You were lucky she wasn't there to scare you like she did with your siblings, Arsene and Beatrix. As for the humans on her gang, besides her best friend Sheep Nun she has also recruited the Artist, although the Artist hasn't confirmed her affiliation to the RRG so far officially.

"Wait a second; she is asking for 20 cookies?!"

"Now now," Sheep tried to calm her friend before she might blow up. "That is a reasonable payment."

"I will show you how reasonable I am!"

"That doesn't sound reasonable at all."

She does have the habit of butting heads with the other nuns from time to time, like when she had a conflict with Bunny Nun that involved duck politics, or when she tricked many ducks into thinking a fellow nun would eat them.

Even the best of people have flaws, flaws which they must learn to overcome, my child.

"Let me go!" shouted Froggy Nun.

Sheep Nun held Froggy from behind and tried to calm her down by hugging her.

"Only when you have calmed down." explained Sheep Nun calmly.

Other strange feats I must mention on an abridged way are the time Froggy Nun has grabbed spiders and crayfish without fear, the time she caught fish from cold water with her bare hands, the time she defended some ducks from a dog that wasn't an actual threat, the time she fought a storm to defend a frog house, etc.

The Owl on Froggy’s head looked between Froggy and Sheep and so did Cookie.

There's just too much history about this frog-lving nun that many books could be written about her and Freckles already wrote a few.

"Fine! I will pay the 20 cookies," agreed Froggy in the end with a morose sigh.

"Good." Sheep smiled and gave Froggy a pat on her head.

Now let's go to the music room before Glasses Nun is finished, my child.

“Tsukamō ze! Doragon bōru
Sekai de ittō suriru na himitsu
Sagasō ze! Doragon bōru
Sekai de ittō yukai na kiseki
Kono yo wa dekkai takarajima
Sō sa ima koso adobenchā!“

Daughter, we can’t return to Froggy Nun immediately. I know she is difficult to top but you have to meet all the nuns of this Convent and give all of them a chance. I prefer to be with Star Nun because I like her and her worldview, you have to be sure which Nun is your favorite, the nun you want to spend most of your time with and who you want to help the most, those don’t have to be mutually exclusive, meaning not all of that I just counted have to be part of the same nun. This next nun is not as outrageous as Froggy but she has other qualities as you can hear.

“Stop, don’t applaud now,” requested a melodious voice who also sounded like the owner was blushing. “There are more verses to come.”

I brought my daughter into a kinda secret, hidden room with a stage. The room was filled with many ducks some from different groups who formed a happy and ecstatic audience who were cheering for the person who had been singing right now. The person in question is a young nun with round quarterbangs on the left and right side of her forehead and a spikey thick strand of hair in the middle. This little nun in question has furthermore blue eyes and her biggest feature and namesake, her beautiful an cute glasses.

“Ready for the next verses?!” she asked her audience and they all quacked a loud “yes” to the nun with the guitar. “You really want more? Here it comes!”

Mune wakuwaku no ai ga gisshiri
Iro toridori no yume ga dossari
Kono yo no dokoka de hikatteru
Soitsu mitsuke ni yukō ze bōi
Yōkai henge mo buttobashi
Kumo no mashin de kyō mo tobu no sa

Rettsu torai torai torai makafushigi
Sora wo kakenuke yama wo koe
Rettsu furai furai furai dai bōken
Fushigi na tabi ga hajimaru ze

Silene be careful, don’t jump to much around, you may trip! Come into my wings, good. I understand your burst of excitement, Glasses Nun’s abilities to play the guitar are of superlative quality and she was blessed by El Shaddai with one of the greatest singing voices of all time! All ducks, no all animals, no ALL residents of the Convent love the singing and music of Glasses Nun. We ducks always gets invitations and later the other animals got them as well. Invitations for her secret concerts, I mean with that my little yellow daughter. No invitations for the nuns though, she is really nervous to play and perform before humans, a very bad case of stage fright.

As she finished singing “Makafushigi Adventure!“ the Japanese Opening theme from the first Dragon Ball anime Glasses was greeted by excited quacking and thunderous applause coming from many wings, some pairs of hands from mouses and from the hands of an especially excited hedgehog. Yes, my child she is blushing, but she is also smiling, meaning she likes the reactions from her animal fans and friends. “Thank you, thank you, I love to entertain you all my feathery friends and the other animals as well of course, and I could never forget my little Elvis.”

You see the excited hedgehog that is on Glasses’ head? The one that does these elaborate dancing moves, smiles so deviously and shoots needles around? That is Elvis, Elvis the Hedgehog. One day he appeared just in the Convent and started to eat food for us ducks, was probably very hungry that little spikey guy. Glasses fell in love with that adorable ball of needles and adopted him as her personal pet. He is a lot bolder than Glasses, is attention-seeking and doesn’t shy away from the spotlight.

“Don’t overdo it Elvis,” requested Glasses softly and Elvis stopped. “Good, what should I play next?”

Glasses really needs her glasses to see anything. She is also the most qualified to hold any musical instrument, being taught how to use them by her mother, Silene. Now let me tell you a tale connected to her ability to use musical instruments: Some time ago Froggy made quarter in the old, now derelict and abandoned atelier of the Artist. There she found a guitar and tried to play it like a violin, using a fiddle on it but she wasn’t very good at it as to be expected with that playstyle. She also used it as a Frog House for her brown frog friend, Genus. As Glasses learned about the guitar, she wanted the guitar to make music with it but Froggy is not somebody to give up so easily on anything she had a claim on. After some negotiations they reached a deal: Froggy traded the old guitar for a special frog doll and received a hug from Glasses as well, to Froggys surprise. After some quick repairs of the old guitar Glasses showed everyone how good she was at playing said guitar and everybody was excited to listen to Glasses music, especially Froggy.

“Love me tender? Sorry Elvis, I still have to learn that Elvis Presley song,” explained Froggy and the little hedgehog was a bit sad about these news. “Don’t be sad, I will learn it soon enough my little spikey friend.”

Glasses is best friends and roommate with Hungry Nun. Hungry supports Glasses through all of her projects and is also like a proper big sister to the younger bespectacled Nun, giving her advice and emotional support as well if needed. Glasses tries to help Hungry with her diet, though it is questionable if Hungry really needs help with that. She burns most of the calories she gains through eating away on her own.

Glasses got questioned by a group of ducks who wore bow ties. “You want to sing together with me as part of the next number? Good idea!”

These ducks my tiny wonder is the group unofficially known as the Musical March. They love Glasses Nun and music so much they learned how to sing and use tiny music instruments to support Glasses. They are a pretty good choir at this point in any case and are allowed to sing alongside the nuns during every mass, including the important mass for Easter and the even more important mass of Christmas.

The Musical March and Glasses discuss now what they want to sing next. “How about the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah”? Yes? Good!“

What else I can tell you about Glasses Nun? Well, once there was a singing competition in the nearby town. Glasses wanted to compete but Froggy had the same intentions. The issue was that everybody was supporting Froggy, even Elvis instead of his friend Glasses, something he deeply regrets to this day. It culminated in Glasses shoving Froggy and being depressed and sad afterwards, ashamed of her own behavior. Calm down, Glasses apologized to Froggy and Froggy never even hold a grudge, about that event, I think. The two decided to compete as a duet at the competition, both dressed as Cinderella and singing “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” together. That also explains partly why Glasses wasn’t dressed as Snow White instead, it had to be the same song, I guess, meaning they needed the same dress. What Cinderella and Snow White are? Famous fairytales in the public domain but also even more famous Disney movies. What Disney movies are? That should be a tale for another time. In any case the duet of the Frog and the Glasses won the competition. But to be honest the entire thing was rigged in the nuns favor, at least in my opinion. Most of the audience were composed of Ducks from the Convent of the Holy Duck, brought to the competition by Clumsy and one of the jurors was Hook-Bangs dad, the Hookfather. I am sure this was one of the most rigged contests in the history of the entire world.

“Is everyone ready,” asked Glasses the animals around her and they all said yes in one way or another. “Then let me say: Hallelujah.”

Oh, Glasses starts to sing again while playing the guitar and the Musical March will sing with her. This will be beautiful to listen to my little Silene.

>Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you dont really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

That last song sent many ducks and other animals into a religious fervor and even my daughter started to cry tears of happiness, which is something she isn't used to since she only knew tears of sadness until today. It's okay child, this is a normal emotion of experiencing the sublime. It's okay to cry when you are happy, just look at all those ducks around you who are smiling and crying. Okay, that one over there is actually crying because they got hit accidentally by a spike of Elvis.

After the concert was over, we went to the next place of our journey to meet a very important elder nun, if not the most important nun in the Order of the Holy Duck.

We entered a cozy room with many old pictures and drawings of children on the walls. The most noticeable object in this room is a green sofa in front of the curtains covering a window and surrounding the sofa were two nightstands, one of which showed an elderly nun with glasses and a young blonde nun with blue eyes.

"Oh dear, I didn't know I would have visitors today."

Walking slowly past our left side was the elderly nun that appears in the picture I mentioned and she is being followed by some ducks, both old and young. This nun is the oldest one in the convent, my daughter, and the wisest. She is called Mother Superior and has the highest rank her order can give to a nun. How old is she you ask? Well, when I was hatched, she was already an old woman.

The Mother Superior sat on the sofa and the ducks rested next to her at her feet, beside her on the sofa or on the backrest. They are called the “Underbosses of the Overboss of the Convent Ducks” and the oldest ones have been helping the Mother Superior for a long time, long before all the nun-based organizations of ducks in the convent existed. If you want to know more stories about the old days you can go to the retirement home were your great great, great grandpas and grandmas live. They know more about the old days of the convent than me or the other younger nuns for that matter.

"Come sit here, little ones," the old lady said kindly. "You must be tired from walking so much today."

Her motherly intuition is right and it would be nice to take a small break before we continue on our journey. I grabbed my child and jumped up onto the sofa be next to the Mother Superior. Next to us were my great great, great aunt Noella and her descendants, a group of ducklings a bit older than my daughter.

"I see a new face here, a new duckling. It's so good to meet you, my child."

The old nun kindly patted the head of my little Silene and she looked so happy about that act. This is a veteran knows how to care for ducks and how to make them feel comfortable, and from what I have seen she also knows how to take care of human children very well as well.

"I have a book to read over here."

I tell my child that every nun sees the Superior Mother as a mother figure that gives unconditional love and doesn't judge anyone, nor human or animal. She isn’t angered easily and is always there for anyone to give an ear to listen to, or a shoulder to cry on if needed. It’s sad to say that time has taken a toll on her, but she will always be needed and will always be loved, especially by a certain little nun who sees the Mother Superior as her grandma.

My great, great aunt is saying she was the same with Grumpy and the other adult nuns during their childhood and they weren't that different from the current generation of little nuns, being able to generate a lot of chaos.

I chuckle about that statement.

"A pilot had crashed his airplane into the dessert and it was a very hot desert."

I close my eyes for a bit and think of fond memories from the past, of my time as a duckling who listens to stories Mother Superior tells the young ones after a day full of discovery and adventure.

"To his surprised he found a Little Prince. Just look at how cute he is. He is as blonde as..."

I am so tired. I slowly fall asleep, my daughter nestled on my back and into my plumage.

After a long and good sleep I opened my eyes. I was still in the room of the Overboss of all the Ducks in the Convent. She was taking a nap herself now, sitting upright on the sofa while my daughter was sitting on her head, sleeping as well.

I carefully climbed onto the head of the Mother Superior, took my daughter into my arms, put her onto my back, gave the Mother Superior a hug and left the room.

There were two people still left to visit, two very important little nuns. I walked slowly, waiting for my daughter to awake on her own, trying to avoid a rude awakening. While walking I spotted two ducks, transporting cookies on their backs. They tried to be clandestine but weren’t good at it, at all. I however was good at being Clandestine and followed them without them being able to notice me.

My daughter stirred awake and I was careful to use my wings to keep any noise hidden she could make from the two ducks I shadowed. Shhh, my daughter no sudden noise or loud noise now. You awoke for the right time to get to know one of the smartest Nuns of the Convent but also the most busy, greedy and most scheming Nun of them all.

“Do you have the cookies?”

Yawn into my feathers. Good. I climbed onto a shelf, hiding behind a pile of very old, yet good books. Are you fully awake now daughter? Good. We are in one of the many old rooms of the Convent, one of those that is not used. Not for a regular purpose that is.

“Tell her the delivery will be on its way.”

Witness the small nun with the yellow eyes and the half-bang, the nun with the self-assured smile who is surrounded by tough ducks, sitting at a table and drawing something on sheets of paper. This is Spicy Nun, currently the best artist, engineer, inventor and spice-expert in this Order, furthermore she is one of the most intelligent Nuns with and has the best grades. She is also a notorious black-market dealer.

“Tell Clumsy I deliver the raisin bread tomorrow,” told Spicy another duck. “Cost for it is still 5 cookies per slice or melting hugs for five of my subordinates.”

You ask what she is doing right now? Selling goods. No illegal goods but the way she does it is dubious, secretive, a way Star Nun dislikes. My superior frowns on the business and dealings Spicy Nun engages in. She regularly hinders Spicy’s efforts or outright forbid her from continuing certain practices.

“You are in charge of security,” reminded Spicy a female duck while chewing on a Chili pepper. “Undercover Star Network members have to be identified quickly so we can hide our operations from them.”

You wonder why Star Nun is so “mean” to Spicy Nun, Silene? Let me explain the situation in more detail to you. Long ago a little girl called the Artist came here to this Convent, alone, hungry and with no money. The nuns help any child that appears at our doorstep so they gave her food, shelter and friendship. The Artist fit well into the Convent and its residents but left it later to try her luck as a professional artist and she succeeded at doing that. Years later she returned to entrust the Convent with her daughter so that she would receive a proper education, the child we know as Spicy Nun. Spicy was very shy at the start, being shy in general when it comes to meeting new people. Luckily for everyone involved the very social and open Clumsy Nun broke quickly through that shyness of Spicy and gifted her a duck.

Look my daughter, Spicy is working on a new invention. Looks like a very tiny cooker. Spicy said to herself: “With this the adult ducks can cook the food we give them if they want too. Should give them new nice taste sensations.“

Cook our food? I could try it, looks like fun when the Nuns do it. Silene? Oh, gifting a duck? Don’t worry we do not become the property of a nun. Gifting a duck to a new arrival is an old tradition here. The duck doesn’t become the pet of the Nun, it is a symbolic gesture, saying that as a Nun of this convent these ducks are all with you and the nun will be with all the ducks. We are not owned by these nuns, Silene we live with them. Well, for legal reasons and to avoid complications with the law we are officially owned by the Convent but we are free ducks and we stay because we like it here.

"Now the next item in the agenda is to make sure no Star Network members spies on us during the delivery, especially any ducks."

If I were a less mature duck I would have chuckled.

My daughter pulls my feathers and asks again about why Star Nun is "mean" to Spicy Nun. I guess I said too much information at once and forgot the main point of Silene’s question. As I said before, Spicy is the daughter of the Artist, but there's something else: the Artist was a big sister figure to Star Nun when she was a child and she even sculpted a statue of her that is in the art gallery of the convent. Star may look like she only wants to obstruct Spicy's schemes to get richer in the cookie economy, but she does care for her a lot and wants her to grow up as a good person in honor of the Artist. This is why she has to be so strict as Strict Nun, so Spicy knows that there are consequences for her actions and that there are more honorable ways to make a profit.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with innovation and efficient use of your resources, but it is kind of troublesome if you try to mechanize every action, like when she invented the duck patting machine, which was a bit too strong with the pats. Well, it was a better option than her idea of a duck patting business, which caused Clumsy Nun to be overworked and not want to pat any animal for days. There was also her scheme to overprice popcorn by adding caramel, which was stopped in time by Star by defeating Spicy on the price stuff via buying all the caramel. This is one of those situations where the ethics of altruistic religious dogma crash with pragmatic capitalism. If all that sounds confusing it's because it is confusing. I am just repeating what Star Nun has said about these conflicts of interests and morally grey areas.

Now, about the ducks helping Spicy, they are known as the Spicy Squad. It's another unofficial group, and it's also the second one Spicy has made after the previous attempt at making a duck organization failed. They want to wear neckbands with chili pepper symbols to represent their allegiance to Spicy, the day their group is made official. The chili peppers are used as a symbol because Spicy loves spicy food. She can eat the spiciest of foods and endure the spiciness like a champion. We ducks can eat spicy food with no issue because we can’t taste spice so you can eat food prepared by her, my child. But none of the nuns can match her power over enjoying spices. She is also what some people call a Mexiweaboo, but I don't know what that is.

"Hey, where's Chili?"

I felt shivers coming down my spine as I remembered someone very important. I saw a tail hanging above me and made sure to warn my child to not make any sound.

“Chili?” called Spicy out again. “Come here my kitty, I got something for you.”

I lead my daughter carefully away from where Chili was right now. He was laying on another pile of books and was sleeping so far. Before he could spot either of us, I went out of his field of view and hid behind a third pile of ducks with Silene. Chili blinked a few times, yawned, stretched himself and jumped down from the bookshelf and to the ground.

“Ah, there you are,” noted Spicy happily as the kitten toddled over to her. “Come to my side, Chili.“

I returned with my daughter back to our listening post. She was more confused than scared about what happened. My instinct not to be spotted by Spicy during observation had taken control of me. That Silene is Chili, the personal pet of Spicy. This little kitten wandered one day into the Convent just like that, melted Spicy’ heart and she adopted him. It was easy to convince Star Nun to accept Chili as a new animal of the Order of the Holy Duck. Do we adopt everyone who comes to this Convent? If they need a new home, we don’t send them away. We are big enough for many more animals and even several more nuns.

“Do you like this?” asked Spicy as she scratched her kitten behind his ears which he reacted to with purring and pressing his head against her hand. “Yes, you do!”

He became not very popular for a time after being too wild and too rough when playing and cuddling with the other animals and nuns. Spicy trained with Chili so he would be more considerate with others and to touch and stroke his fellow Convent animals in a softer and more careful way when playing and cuddling with them. He was furthermore encouraged to take naps with the other ducks and animals as well and it worked. Now Chili is one of the best cuddlers in the entire Order of the Holy Duck and very soft with his paws.

“Did you see any Star Network members around?” asked Spicy her kitten who meowed a “no” in response. “Very good, thank you my little adorable orange ball of fur.”

Spicy is a good pet owner. Well, all nuns in this Convent are good at handling animals. She is also willing to help ducks to lose weight and stay healthy through some of her inventions. Like a treadmill or the corncob at the top of a small wooden tower that has a hole at the end where a duckling falls through and slids down to the start again before any duckling can take a bite. Silene, you are right that sounding too simplistic but it worked. She is also able to come up with some strange experiments and vs debates.

“We have playdate tomorrow with Froggy Nun and Cookie,” reminded Spicy her cat friendly. “Are you excited for it?” The cat nodded in response. “Good, very good!”

Further of note was the time as Spicy, Clumsy and Froggy played “The Three Musketeers” and Clumsy accidentally hurt Spicy’s head during practice fighting (they used stalks of celery as swords, but forgot to wear helmets) and Spicy didn’t forgave her friend so easily fort that. It took some time and a lot of effort from Clumsy (supported by Grumpy and Smug) until Spicy was ready to be the friend of Clumsy again. In the end it was a very wholesome story.

“Work and dealings for today are finished,” announced the Spicy Nun to her Spicy Squad, her Cat and other associates in the room. “You can all take a break now.”

Silene, I see it. Many of the ducks and some mice stay with Spicy, want to spend time with her because they like her, several hug her even, especially the little ducklings. She has a good connection to them, even helps ducklings learn how to swim. I will register you with one of her swimming classes one day. Now come, one last nun to visit.

We marched away as Spicy sat in her chair in a relaxed position, petting Chili with her right hand and some ducklings with her left. “Life can be so good sometimes.”

The last nun we will be meeting is currently at the art gallery. I hope she hasn't broken anything there today.

I guide my child into the art gallery and explain to her in brief summaries all of the artistic pieces displayed there. That one over there is a wood swan Clumsy Nun made as a "I am sorry gift" after she accidentally broke the glass swan. Also, there's a statue made by the Artist of Star Nun from back when she was a child; she has always been so serene. Oh, and there's Strict Nun's attempt at restoring a painting of the Superior Mother; she tried really hard with this restoration project, but art isn't something she excels at the moment.

Huh, Clumsy isn't here.

Maybe she is in detention.

I guide my daughter back to the classrooms, but they are empty as well. Not even Strict Nun or Smug Nun are here. I tell my daughter that Clumsy is usually sent here whenever she fails an exam or breaks a window. Yes, my child, the one broken window we saw a few hallways ago was her fault.

Huh, I guess there's one other place we can find her at this hour if she isn't in detention.

As I expected, we found the final nun performing feeding duties at the duckhouses where all the ducks reside. She is a blonde girl with bright blue eyes and a big smile on her face.

"Here you all go-OH NO!"

The bag of corn Clumsy Nun was holding broke apart at the bottom and all the corn in it was spilled onto and around her feed, causing many ducks and ducklings to swarm around here immediately.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

This is Clumsy Nun, my child. As her nickname implies, she is really clumsy and many bad things happen to her because of her poor dexterity. Almost every broken window in the convent was broken because of her clumsiness and she is the person that has gone to the infirmary most often in the past 10 years. She is also a slow learner when it comes to math and is one of the laziest people you can meet in this convent.

Clumsy crawled out of from under the attack stack of the ducks and was breathing heavily.

"I am alive!"

A duckling stuck inside Clumsy's head cloth came out of it and she caught it with her hands before the little fella would land onto the ground.

"I have no corn there, little buddy."

She is furthermore the Nun who has the best relationship with the ducks, aside from the Mother Superior. Since she was a baby, we ducks were drawn to her. Every duck had no issue to be touched by this baby, cuddled by Baby Clumsy or even being chewed on by her. Well, the ducklings weren’t very happy about the latter and they prepared a citrus trap for the baby one day to stop her with the chewing. Clumsy fell for it, biting into the citrus and of course starting to cry in distress, making the ducklings feel guilty about the entire affair.

Clumsy gave the Duckling a kiss on the head. “I get you some corn Hanna, just a second.”

We watched how Clumsy pulled a small bag from one of her pockets with one hand and surprisingly skillfully used the same hand to open it and to fish out a few corns she then proceeded to give to Hanna who gobbled them down happily. Like I said Clumsy can do well with the ducks & ducklings and we can do well with her. There are many examples and stories to tell in that regard, like the time she made nun habits for many adult ducks (female, male it doesn’t matter) in exchange for some cookies. We love these habits, make us feel closer to our nuns, makes us feel like nuns. She also surprises us in the snow, eat marshmallow smores with us, was ready to protect us from Geese (not realizing that this one belonged to the Star Network and was on our side), teaching father how to touch ducks properly, keeps ducklings in check that went out of control and takes often naps with us. Though I have to admit: We disliked the time she made us think on accident that it was raining corncob because of a painting she made.

“Oh, a new duckling!”

My daughter was grabbed in seconds by Clumsy, while Hanna continued to eat her meal while sitting on Clumsy’s shoulder. I was not worried because Clumsy was awake, not asleep and despite how sudden it happened Silene wasn’t worried either. Clumsy’s careful touch, her soft pettings and a sweet kiss were enough to make my daughter melt in Clumsy’s hands.

“What is your name?” asked Clumsy and my child answered. “Silene? A beautiful name. Oh, and your mom is Duckney! Hi Duckney!”

I greeted her back. Aside from the Mother Superior nobody was as good at understanding the duck language as Clumsy Nun.

My daughter is returned to me and Clumsy continues her duties, although this time she is cleaning up the little corn disaster. I am thankful she is finally learning to be a bit more responsible.

"Child!" shouted Grumpy Nun, who was passing by just right now.

"Y-yes?"

"Remember you have to clean up your room after being done here. I passed by it a few minutes ago and your bedsheets weren't properly accommodated, little nun."

"I am sorry."

"I am not angry, just...” Grumpy sighed. “Please do it before dinner."

I am close to breaking my oath of serenity from seeing such display of maternity.

As you see child, Grumpy Nun is like a mother figure to Clumsy, and has been since she arrived at this convent. One sad day many years ago someone left Clumsy as she was still a baby at the entrance of the convent and she was taken in and cared for by the Superior Mother and the other young nuns at the time, like Grumpy, Smug, Star and Bunny. Hungry Nun was also present at the time and she was like Clumsy's big sister during these years. Of all the young nuns, Grumpy was the one that got more attached to Clumsy than the others and she sympathized with her since she had been abandoned too. Of course, the presence of flowers at Clumsy's basket imply that her mother died and she was probably left at the convent by her father, or someone else, who couldn't raise a baby on their own.

I know child, I know this is a very sad to hear story. Yes, you can cry, come into my arms.

"Why is she always on my case? Is she still angry about the accident this morning?"

Or that you tried to cheat on an exam yesterday, I said but quietly enough that Clumsy wouldn’t hear that.

I help my child clean her tears, calm her down and continue narrating Clumsy's story.

Despite her sad beginnings, Clumsy became a ray of sunshine for the convent and not even her dirty diapers nor her baby screams could diminish her light. She is always there to make her friends feel better. For example, she has made clothes for all her friends on many occasions and she and Spicy created the clothes for the Christmas mass. I must furthermore say that of all the nuns the one she has the most trouble socializing with is Glasses, since she thinks that Clumsy is childish at times and sometimes has even outright rejected presents from her, but I am sure Glasses is just trying too hard to act like an adult.

“You ducks are never on my case, you are nice,“ praised Clumsy me and my daughter. “I love my ducks.”

Clumsy is also someone who can get very emotional about little things, like when she thought Grumpy was leaving the convent and cried a lot. Thinking about it, that was more of a big thing. She got seriously angry when Froggy claimed to Grumpy's best friend during their attempt at a goodbye party for Grumpy, that or Clumsy acted out because she believed that Grumpy would be gone forever. Even Smug Nun was a mess that day.

"Hey!" shouted Spicy Nun.

"Oh hi friendo!"

Ah, the duo Clumsy and Spicy.

Spicy was quickly at Clumsy side and gently put an arm around her friend. “Are you finished with feeding these ducks? Can we go?”

“Almost,” told Clumsy her. “Still have to make my bed properly….”

“Have you forgotten to do that again and Grumpy scolded you for that?“

Clumsy nodded, still looking sad.

“She is a hardcase, but she means well, especially with you,” said Spicy. “Though, she could be a bit softer now and then.”

Clumsy nodded. “Same goes for Star I would say. Though Star is a lot scarier.”

Star is a stern teacher but neither unloving nor unfair, my daughter. Same goes for Grumpy and considering the stuff the Nunlets sometimes pull a stern response can be the only answer, I told my little Silene. I also added that the “lift hands if you want chocolate”-Project of Smug Nun introduced during a class was popular with the young nuns but the other older Nuns weren’t very happy about that and they forbade the project from continuing but the young nuns were allowed to keep the chocolate they got so far while Smug Nun got a red Star, a red Bunny, a red Flower and a red Leaf.

“I help you with the beds,” promised Spicy. “The faster this is done the faster we can play together.”

“YEAH!” was the happy and enthusiastic response of Clumsy. “Let’s go!”

She is a happy one, our Clumsy and very popular with everyone. Though there was a certain controversy, a time in which Clumsy imprisoned a Duckling and his mother because the duckling poured water over Clumsy to free her the mother duck. Clumsy imprisoned both for seven days, something many others in the Convent protested, especially Froggy Nun because the Duckling was a member of the RRG. The decision to allow younger nuns to punish misbehaving animals is controversial in general and your mother is not in favor of it. They lack the maturity and the missing judicial knowledge of these Little Nuns is an important factor, I hope the older Nuns will think this over.

Clumsy winked over to me. “Hey, Duckney can your daughter, Silene come out to play with us?”

Silene, do not be afraid of Clumsy. She will not imprison you for a minor mistake and her love for ducks is really real. She is also a strong candidate for succeeding the Mother Superior one day. Yes, I am serious my youngest daughter. Her connection to us ducks is as strong as the one Mother Superior has with us, so many of us think she will become one day the Mother Superior of the Order of the Holy Duck.

We followed the two blonde nuns to their room and after arriving in their room they proceeded to clean up the mess Clumsy left behind. Oh, this girl needs to get it together before she can take any responsibilities of a older Nun, and especially the responsibilities of a Superior Mother, but I think she is on a good path since she had a developed a good sense of morality growing up in this convent. I tell my daughter about the time how Clumsy as a toddler pretended to help some duckling cross a path only to look as a good kid in front of the older nuns, but she didn't fool the adult ducks, who knew she had placed the ducks and Froggy Nun as the driver of a trike at the right position. Now as a much more mature kid she knows when she has done something wrong and feels really bad about it. Remember the wooden swan in the art gallery? Clumsy broke the original one made of crystal and created by the Artist, Spicy’s mother and felt so bad she apologized to Grumpy with tears in her eyes and later worked hard to make a replacement for the Swan. Of course, before working on that she attempted to run away from the convent, but that was out of guilt and not out of cowardice. After recovering Clumsy (who didn’t got far in the first place) Grumpy had to make it clear she wasn't angry at her in any way.

"She is always like 'clean your room or you won't get dessert', or 'don't run in the hallway or you will get hurt'," complained Clumsy with a angry-annoyed tone. "Who is she? My mom?"

Spicy, my daughter and I rolled our eyes at the same time in response.

Another funny story is about that time Clumsy helped Grumpy to smile. I know that sounds funny, my child, and it was funny, but for Grumpy it was something serious. Years of working too hard at the convent and wanting to proof her worth made Grumpy very tired and her face developed a grumpy expression all the time and she hadn't made the effort to make even a small smile to reassure people that things were fine. It's important to find your inner peace so the hardships of the world don't give you a bad case of burnout.

"Hey!" shouted Froggy Nun was staning in the entrance of the room. "Are you done? I am bored."

"Yeah, just give us a few minutes," answered Spicy Nun.

"Oh dear, I guess a small rest was all you needed to be fired up again." Noticed Sheep Nun, who was next to Froggy.

"Hey, are you all going somewhere?" asked Hungry Nun who suddenly appeared behind the Frog Sheep Duo.

"Guys, you are blocking the hallway." Complained the just now arriving Glasses Nun.

The Nunlets gather, Silene. Darkness is coming over us. No, Silene that was a joke, nothing bad will happen. At worst something very chaotic will occur. The Nunlets can be a rowdy bunch, usually not on purpose.

“We are going to the flower fields to play “hide and seek” together,” told Clumsy Glasses and Hungry. “Do you two want to come with us?”

“Sure,” agreed Hungry quickly. “I get us a light snack.”

“You heard it gals, we get enough food for an entire company,” joked Glasses Nun and the other Nuns reacted with laughter to that.

Yes, Silene you see right now how many ducks an ducklings gather around the Little Nuns. The ducks of this convent are always drawn to the nuns or their favorite nuns, especially if they are about to do something. You feel drawn to them as well, my beloved daughter? Not surprising. We can go with them if you want, we may encounter your older siblings along the way.

Sheep Nun noticed us two. “Oh, hi. I saw you earlier today, right? Do you want to accompany us?”

“Their names are Silene and Duckney, in case you don’t know,” informed Clumsy the other Nunlets. “Duckney told me her name and the name of her daughter.

“Your abilities in understanding the Duckish language surprise me every time,” admitted Spicy to Clumsy, probably not for the first time. “You really are the Duck Whisperer.”

Froggy came quickly close to Silene and me, squatting down before us. She presented my surprised daughter a frog headband. “Join the Ribbit Ribbit Gang!”

“Don’t be so aggressive, Froggy” warned Sheep Nun her friend. “Look, you scared her.”

My daughter indeed was shaking a bit, overwhelmed by Froggy’s personality. I put my wing on her back to calm her down. I furthermore said that she hasn’t to join the RRG if she doesn’t want to. If she wants to join any group or not shall be your own decision, Silene.

“Sorry,” apologized Froggy and put the frog headband away. “Didn’t want to scare you little duckling.” Her small Frog Owl landed on her head and hooted happily.

Clumsy brought a strange looking teddy from her room. “Don’t forget your toys!”

Oh, that teddy! It reminds me of something, Silene. Clumsy once gifted two flower hair pins to Grumpy, which became her most cherished property, you probably saw her wearing them and she always wears them. Some time later a weird looking teddy Grumpy made for Clumsy became the Little Nuns most cherished property in turn, though she had to get used to its strange appearance first. The teddy is most of the time in Clumsy’s room while the hairpins are easier to carry and Grumpy wears them always as I mentioned earlier. Their bond is strong…. Truly strong.

Glasses, Spicy, Sheep and Froggy also got some toys from their rooms while Hungry brought snacks before getting some of her own toys. “Is everybody ready?”

Well, we can- Where is the Chicken? Wait… You saw the chicken daughter?! She was behind Sheep Nun for a second? Not bad, no truly impressive! Congratulations daughter, spotting the chicken in time or at all is not easy! The chicken broke out from the henhouse a long time ago and was not recaptured so far. Spotting the chicken is possible but capturing impossible, even for the best among us. She probably ran the second she realized that she had been spotted.

"Let's go!" shouted Clumsy joyously.

The little nuns ran outside and we followed them to spend the rest of this beautiful afternoon playing with them. We were even followed by a good number ducks and duckling allied to every nun and the ones that hang out the most with Clumsy. Oh, I forgot to mention earliert that Clumsy's closest group of ducks aren't necessarily a special society of ducks like everyone else's group of ducks, but they pretend they have an organization for fun. Clumsy did attempt to name them the “Cute Clumsy Clan”, or CCC in the past, but the implications of that alliteration made people uncomfortable (because she spoke the abbreviation like three hard K’s instead of three soft C’s) and nobody has bothered to tell Clumsy why she should change that name. I don't know why everyone was upset about how the name was spoken out my child. Something about the color of the skin of humans? Anyway practically each duck is part of Clumsy’s unofficial group, some more, some less. Why? We love our Clumsy, that’s why.

"Hey, I have an idea for next week," whispered Spicy. "But we should only discuss it when Duckney isn't close by."
"I don't want to talk about any businesses right now I want to play!" said Clumsy, slightly annoyed.
"Hey look, I can lift 10 ducks and balance a football ball on my head!" boaste Hungry.
"I can heft more ducks than you!" proclaimed Froggy loudly.
"Of course you can, dear," said and supported Sheep, the Froggy Nun.
"You all are like little kids." said Glasses, the second youngest of the Little Nuns.

These are our Little Nuns, my child, and I am sure they will continue to do great and interesting things in the future. Now let's enjoy what remains of the day in company of all these friends that we have the good fortune of having met and made.

We are ducks Silene, we see through the eyes of Duckness. We see the Nuns through eyes of Duckness. They see us through eyes of Nunness. They are Nuns Silene, they see through the eyes of Nunness.

Since the Mother Superior renovated this Convent this is a sacred place for ducks, many were born here, others emigrated to this place, some ducks were brought by people who couldn’t care for them anymore, some ducks were gifted to this place and some ducks just appeared here but one thing stays constant: The ducks stay, we ducks stay, the ducks want to stay, we ducks want to stay, we ducks are happy here.

The Order of the Holy Duck revers the Holy Duck, a Duck which according to legend accompanied the Hebrews that were forced to walk the desert for 30 years, gave company to the people who sinned against god, company until they die, the duck hugging them in their final moments.

….
I apologize for this tangent Silene, I just wanted to tell you this story to say it revolves all around compassion here. We Ducks show compassion to the nuns and they show compassion to us. Compassion is important Silene, show compassion, accept compassion and teach compassion.

Be your best, Silene.

“Hey, be careful with the frisbee, Clumsy!”

“Sorry, Spicy!”

“Sheep, I want to recruit a bear into the Ribbit Ribbit Gang.“

“Froggy, NO!”

“How about a bear cub then?”

“That is even worse! The mama bear will be furious if you take one of her cubs away.”

“Okay, I… Maybe I don’t do any recruiting today. How about playing hide and seek with the gang members?”

“That sounds perfect Froggy, I play that with you and the others.”

“What song do you gals want to hear?”

“Play “Eat It” from Weird Al Yankovic, Glasses!”

“Predictable Hungry, very predictable. I will play it.“

You want to play hide-and-seek with Froggy first? Of course, my daughter. I am here to watch over you. Don’t try to be scared in case of Froggy finding you, her face can be very terrifying when it suddenly appears before you. She got me pretty good an she doesn’t even do it on purpose.

I sat back with the other parents and observed our ducklings and take a deserved break. My daughter, my sweet innocent youngest daughter, the youngest duck of the Convent. Part of my pride, like all my children.

This is a good place full of good people. I don’t ever want to leave, a worthy place to defend.

Oh, I talk to much… Better just to enjoy what I have. What we have. What the Order of the Holy Duck, the older Nuns, the Ducks, the other Animals and the Little Nuns.