38
Lindisfarne Monastery. January 30, AD 643
Thomas blew on his hands to warm them, the chill in the room stiffening his fingers. He looked around the scriptorium, at the rows of monks bent over their tables, their breath rising in mists above them, and not for the first time he wondered how they could produce such beautiful work with hands that were half-frozen.
Despite the cold, Thomas was glad to be there, helping Brother Donal, the head of the scriptorium. It was a good distraction from the roiled emotions that had plagued him since his return. Today he was cutting a pile of new quills from long goose feathers for the monks so that the work could continue uninterrupted if a quill broke while the monks were transcribing.
There were only small fires allowed in the scriptorium, which
