An interesting and well-written story. It stands alone, but could be a part of some great saga.
"It is I from the Sisterhood of St Jude." Obviously Maddy is a very well educated woman!
A nice point is having the Sisterhood dedicated to St Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.

"Quite a great deal" is really cumbersome. I love the "God's forgiveness comes at a price" (lol).

I love Maddy in her nun getup finding the locked door "Oh, for God's sake!" and "What do I look like, a nun?" (snort - tehehe)

It seems that this is an origin story for Maddy, but I think a lot of us struggle with the word limit. There are points where I'm not super clear on what is going on, but overall a good effort.

I must say Augie, this is a beautiful piece.

I really must give you kudos for writing a really believable 'grey' character with Maddy, and in every way she comes up in the story.

Very well done.
Wouldn't mind seeing more on this character and her future.

Damn. This did NOT go the where I expected it to go.
Augs, this may need a little clean up here or there, but this your writing of this character has a great deal of maturity and authenticity in it. And I love the name choices! Madeline - a tower, and Lester (for Leicester) - a fortification.

Your characters are so well developed for such a short piece. We really get to look inside their heads as the plot moves along. Great work!

An intriguing little piece, Augs. You've done an excellent job conveying Maddie's mood and history. I like the ambiguities and shades of grey through all the characters. There's a really beat-down vibe to the world that captures the downtrodden feeling of people in a war, and that exhaustion and overwhelmed feel really carries through the whole piece. I don't really have a strong sense of where the characters are going after this, but I suppose that's the point of trying to have an open ended ending. We know at least that Maddie will do something, so that gives the "what if" part of the brain some solid momentum.

That is amazing. Every single part of it. Please, please broaden this into a larger work. Renaissance "Fist of the North Star" with nuns is a thing the world needs.

Even as just a concept piece, I'd say this is very salable YA.