Death of Bernard of Clairvaux

An elderly man in his early 60s, gaunt and frail from prolonged illness, with sunken cheeks and a prominent nose. His wispy white hair is unevenly cropped in the monastic tonsure, and his pale skin is stretched thin over sharp bones. His hands, resting on the coarse woolen blanket, are skeletal with prominent veins.

A thin, middle-aged monk with wiry arms and calloused hands from years of preparing herbs. His face is deeply lined with worry and fatigue, his dark eyes sunken from sleepless vigils. A prominent vein pulses at his temple as he works.

A senior monk of Clairvaux Abbey, the Abbot's Assistant is a tall, gaunt man in his late fifties, with a deeply lined face that speaks of years of ascetic living and contemplation. His hands are long and delicate, accustomed to the meticulous work of scribing and administering sacraments. His eyes are pale, almost translucent in the dim infirmary light, reflecting both wisdom and weariness.

A slender youth of approximately 16 years, with delicate features still soft with childhood's roundness. His close-cropped brown hair reveals a tonsure in its earliest stages. Large, watery blue eyes dominate his pale face, reddened from silent weeping. His hands tremble slightly around the candle he holds.