Ursula's Confession
With no kin surviving and no priest to hear her, the lettered Ursula sets her sins down in writing, trusting God to see her repentance and grant pardon.
Her gravest sin was stealing the wonder-working statuette from Laslea's church as the pestilence erupted, believing it might spare her family — yet no relief came, and husband and children alike perished in agony.
She yearns to give the figurine back and purify her soul, dreading an eternity cut off from her loved ones — but time has run out.