An armored warrior, a Lancer of the Knights Templar is the first to take the stage among the mourners. The Knight puts a hand to his chest and dips his helmeted head. "Many may find the friendship between a Queen of the Savanite Empire and a Lancer such as myself to be strange, but who we were was not what mattered to us. Our hearts were the same.
"I am honored to have been given one final chance to say my farewells. I spoke to her as the Knights were evacuating what people we could from the city. It was then that she told me of her marriage and about her duty. I understand duty, having taken an oath myself that may some day take my own life … but she knew what needed to be done and what it would cost her.
"When I first met Third-Eye, it was here in the Savan. She was an angry and bitter woman who wanted to prove to the world that she was not the monster that so many looked upon her as. She and I formed a truce between one another so that I could find a sky island, and so that she could continue on her quest to prove herself worthy of the throne. I would be lying if I said that she and I became fast friends during that time. I feared her and she distrusted me. There were times when she tried to tempt me with power and I wanted to run screaming from her, because I feared her so much.
"But the Star has a way of offering miracles in strange little packages; and using evil against itself to beget the good. She met someone who had the same ambition, who had the same mind … and Third-Eye saw what would happen to her if she continued along her path. She was used by an evil witch who promised her power and then maimed her when her use was over. After my Vartan brothers managed to defeat the witch, Third-Vision spent the next morning crying in my arms, ashamed of what she was, and ready to change into something else.
"The Star provided teachers; it gave us two orphaned cubs that taught Third-Vision what it truly means to be responsible for another life. It introduced her to her sisters, and allowed her to mend many of the rifts between her and her family. By the end of it all, the bitter woman I knew was no more. In her place was a true Queen, one who knew the true weight of the crown upon her head, and the true love of the Star in her heart. Were it only that all leaders understood that, then the war that has ravaged Sinai would have never taken place.
"I will miss my sister, Third-Eye, Third-Vision, Priest-Queen, my dearest Jezebel… She credited me with her transformation, but it was through her that I learned so many lessons. I learned what strength truly is, and it is not about how many enemies one can slay in battle, or how many people you have at your command. It is about knowing when you must do what is right even when it hurts you and when you must swallow your pride and bend, even if that hurts even more. I learned what love truly was through her. Had it not been the lessons she taught me, I would have never been able to reconcile with my father. I would have never been able to truly love my children had she not been there at my side to help me learn.
"Goodbye, my sister, my dearest friend… and more things that words cannot express. I shall always try to live by the lessons we learned together, and I will always love you."
A skinny Skreek carefully steps forward – skinny, save for a small swell in her stomach that looks out of place on the rest of her scrawny frame. The rat looks around nervously before finally taking in a deep slow breath and speaking.
"Part of me feels that I have no right to be here. Most of you knew the Queen for years, months, weeks… I only knew her for one day. But that one day changed me and the rest of my life forever.
"She had just gotten married in Olympia, and was on her way to Abaddon. My cynical eyes first mistook her for a prostitute and her husband as her slave master. I wasn't capable of believing that a Savanite could experience the boundless joy that she showed, without selling something or having an ulterior motive. But at that time I couldn't believe anything was capable of that. It was easier for me to close myself up inside and hate than it was to see the love in the world.
"Everything changed in the Himaat. I'd spent some time with an Abaddonian Priest and heard about the Star. I'd read the book he showed me and although I felt that a lot of the philosophies were sound, I still felt that he was an idiot for putting his trust in something he couldn't see or touch and that wouldn't manifest itself in front of him in all its glory to prove that it existed. I'd also seen some of the darker religions Sinai has to offer. I've seen the followers of Dagh – four of my sisters were sacrificed in his name by a madman – and my eyes had seen other gods who had countless other atrocities done in their names.
"Why should I follow any god? I could take care of myself… and when I prayed to any gods that would listen to deliver me, none of them answered me. All of the times I asked for an explanation, I was told that it was either the will of the gods or that my faith wasn't strong enough. Because of that, I turned my back on every god that existed. I was just a rat, after all… What god would care about the fate of a filthy little rat like me?
"Still, the priest of the Star that I had spent time with impressed me by having a good heart. When I learned that there was another sect of his religion that believed in dealing with 'heretics' like I was with violence and disgust, I was both appalled that this man was a part of it and relieved to find that the Star was no better than any other religion I had discovered. But the Star was determined to at least make sure I saw what it truly was, before I turned my back upon it. And Jezebel was its ambassador to me, even if she didn't realize it.
"If it would be possible for two people to share the same life, the same soul… then Jezebel and I were easily each one of those chosen people. She was a shaman, she sold her family into slavery, she made deals with pirates and manipulated her slave master to her whims. I was a pirate of one of the most notorious ships that ever sailed the skies, I murdered people for the sheer pleasure of killing and eagerly leapt at the chance to spit on someone to make them feel more lowly than I, I made a deal with Dagh and almost allowed myself to be seduced by him, I sold slaves like meat animals and owned slaves of my own… one of which I bought with the original intention of making his life hell because of some imaginary fault I felt he'd done against me. We both had anger in our hearts, we both hated ourselves, and we both were looking for an answer to that one great question… 'Why?'
"There was one minuscule difference between the two of us, though. She had found the answer to that question and shared it with me – and what frightened me so much was that it made sense. She cried for me when I expected to be chastised, she told me that I mattered. Me… a Skreek that she had nothing to gain from. I had prided myself up until that point on the control I had in my life – the fact that I was tough as nails and I had locked my heart away so nobody could hurt it anymore. She embraced me and told me she loved me, told me that the Star loved me… and then showed me how all I had been doing was lying to myself. As the tears fell down her cheeks I realized how all I had managed to do was lie to myself about the pain that I felt in my heart. She let me know that all the strength I prided myself for having was a lie, and that it took a simple feather touch to knock me over and crush me.
"But she didn't crush me. She held out her hand to me and as the two of us knelt in the sand in the Himaat and she guided me to the path of the Star, all the time allowing me to lean on her for strength and comforting me despite the fact that I was more frightened than I had ever been in my entire life. She showed me how to forgive the world for its sins against me and let the anger that had been burning up my inside finally smolder away… and she also taught me how to forgive myself.
"There are those who do not believe in the Star… but I know it exists and I know that everything it promises will come true. It does not promise us a long and happy life, it does not promise us ease of life, and Jezebel herself knew that. But it does promise a power and a love that cannot be explained. Perhaps that is why the Star led me through the experience it did. When I was in Olympia, I was offered the choice to flee with my friends, or remain with a man being controlled by a dark wizard and an insane mob of people who sought to destroy us both. I felt hands around my neck and felt the touch of death on my shoulder… but I was not afraid. I was not angry. I cannot explain how my feelings were wiped away, but they were.
"The teeth of the evil were broken by the power of love. Even if I had died, that would not have changed. The man who I once saw as my sworn enemy and the embodiment of all that is evil is now my husband, and we love each other dearly. Our love has even grown to allow a third person to share it." The Skreek puts a hand to her slightly swollen stomach and smiles. "Me, a bitter old rat who hated the world and the gods and felt that every expression of love was nothing but someone with an ulterior motive… now a content mother-to-be married to the descendant of her darkest enemy and a faithful believer in the Star. I asked for a sign… and what I got was more of a miracle than any mage can ever hope to produce. Mages, nations, gods… all of them can control your life – but the Star's domain is the heart.
"I owe it all to a Savanite queen who cried in the sand with a rat one morning, not caring what the world thought about it all… and who wasn't afraid to share the light of the Star or the love in her heart. I believe that I have enough in common with Jezebel to know that when the end came for her, she was not afraid, and her only sorrow was knowing that she would leave us all behind when she went to be embraced by the Star. I know that she loved you all. I am sad that I only knew her for one day… but in a way, I knew her all of my life, and some day I will know her even deeper when the Star calls my name and I am able to join her.
"Until that day comes, I will continue to live my life dedicated to the Star. My baby will feel Jezebel's touch as well, as it is raised in the teachings she brought to me, and that light may carry on for generations to come. It only takes a small spark to start a flame, and her flame will burn on Sinai for a long time to come.
"Jezebel will only be truly dead when we stop loving her, or when we forget the love she had for us. I for one shall do all I can to keep her alive. It is my humble request that you try to do the same."
The Skreek looks around nervously and then bows. "I've said all that's in my heart. Thank you for allowing me a place here in this gathering." And with that she quietly rejoins the crowd, tears glittering in her eyes.
