Watch Out Empaths-Healing Can Get You Exiled!
(Crossing, Zoluren: Shorka 359)
The black-robed pirate enters the bar again. She no longer wears her veil, revealing an Elothean, a pale face framed by curly black hair. Around her waist she wears a red sash, around her head a red bandana.
"Baresh, Baresh…how many times I was healed by an Empath. Never once was that person burned and exiled for taking my wounds and allowing me to sail the ocean for another day.
"How often do we take Empaths for granted, Baresh? I do not remember the last time a healer was the center of any news story. And rightly so. Empaths do not commit mass murder, or create undead, or lead armies into battle. They heal, and they do their job well. They are too humble to try to steal the show.
"It’s apparent that none of the plaintiffs in this case were Empaths. No, just rich, upper class snots who don’t have anything else to do besides get an innocent healer in trouble. No one can see the fact that Jelantha is incredibly brave, willing to save a man’s life in battle, with arrows whizzing past her head, while she herself was unarmed and at anyone’s mercy. All they can see is that she saved a pirate. It seems that very few people in Elanthia can see, or even understand, the beauty and value of life in anyone, be it a healer, a pirate, or even that disgusting brute Drongol, who said under oath that he would kill any Empath that healed someone he didn’t like. Even his life has value.
"We of the Red Sash do not like blood on our hands, but sometimes we have no choice. Drongol…Nuich…Joubeyrt…Darkskye…and many others…they’d better watch their backs from now on. They can’t hide from us. When we want to get them, we will."
The stranger looks up towards the heavens, her eyes the color of gold lirums. She whispers: "Phelim, God of righteous vengeance, give us strength as we become weary of fighting this tireless battle. We know we shall triumph in the end." The stranger suddenly looks very tired. "Baresh…thank you for your time. I must be leaving now. Jelantha will be happier in the islands, anyway. Fewer justice-loving, self-righteous bastards. More pirates, more people grateful for her deeds. Baresh, since it doesn’t seem to matter, I shall give you my name now. Anyone who wishes to hunt me down may do as he or she likes. By attacking me, you will be attacking the entire Red Sash." She takes a deep breath. "I am Salzara R’chai, a Priestess of Phelim by profession."
With those words, the now-named pirate leaves, vanishing into the night.