" Marie lets the infirmatrix dress her. Nest pulls Marie’s hands away from her face and says sternly, no no, oh prioress, there is no shame in this bodily release, that it is an expression of the humors, not unlike bloodletting, it is utterly natural, it has nothing to do with copulation. She will still meet her god a virgin. It’s simply that some of the nuns require such expression of the humors more than others. Some as often as once every two days, some once a year. Nest has often wondered that Marie might be one who required it rather frequently. There is sometimes, well, a wild look in Marie’s eye. She tells Marie to come back to the infirmary when she feels the need. Marie "

― Lauren Groff , Matrix