It was an extremely hot day in Shastaan. The air was thick with salt and
the sky was so bright I had to squint my eyes to focus. The sun baked
down on a few fishermen not far from the docks. They were unloading a
large amount of fish from their nets. They all seemed happy, judging
from their jovial muttering and flamboyant body language. Curious of
their conversation I mind locked them. I sat on a rock freckled with
seagull guano and began to investigate their doings.

"Oh beloved Slyphe you have blessed us!" One of the five fishermen
danced with glee. "With this amount of fish I won't ave to fish for the
rest of the season! I can sit back and cut me ingrown toenails. By the
dark name of the underworld they are now green! That can't be good ye
know?"

"Ah! Durbin me friend, you sure got tat right! I knew offering m'lady
Slyphe all tat gold would pay off!" One of the thinner fishermen spat
out through a toothless maw. "Truly I ave never seen bounty tis big
since turty tree!" When this man spoke it sounded like he was farting.
Especially when he grew more and more excited.

"Bloem!" The older fisherman remarked to his companion as he wrestled a
fish from his net. "I have never seen bounty like this ever! And I have
been around long before thirty three." This particular fisherman was
rather fascinating. His beard was so long that he had to tie it around a
stick to keep it from getting in his way.

"Johannes and I have been unloading since the first ray of sunlight!" An
ugly one-eyed fisherman said smugly. "You boys have no idea. Once we
sell these fish to Shallam we will be rich men." This fisherman was by
far the most handsome out of the five. His skin was almost as scaly as
mine. He had huge yellow stains on his shirt, just under his armpits. I
could smell him from where I sat. He had a pungent, decaying, putrid,
stagnant stench. Rather like Bloodloch after a rainstorm. His features
were hardly recognizable. It looked as if he offended one of Lady
Slyphe's sharks face to face, and came off second best.

"I bet he gets all the female fisher woman." I jealously whispered to
myself.

"Mheh!" Johannes, a sickly looking fisherman laughed weakly. "This be
the forth cart I ave loaded. Kaap, we're gonna be rich!"

I sat watching them for a while, intrigued with their happiness. I took
out a piece of paper and began to sketch them. They were pathetic
humans, thin and sickly. Their bones were the only things holding their
skins on. Their skin for that matter was scarred, and dark from years in
the sun. Yet, for the first time in their whole miserable existences
they were happy.

"Yeah Johannes, we'll be rich!" Kaap gloated. "But what are we going to
do with all that gold?" I guessed that Kaap would do mankind a favor if
he spent his money on some sort of facial corrective magic. Purchasing a
glass eye would be the least he could do. Perhaps he could bathe and ask
a druid for those flowery smelling oils. Lavender or rosemarynot that I
would know about any flowery smelling things of course, I am manly and
extremely rugged.

"Good question!" Durbin, the fisherman with the ingrown toenails
pondered. "I think I should at least give my daughter most of the gold.
She so dearly wants to become a Luminary. Unfortunately she doesn't have
the gold to become a Shallam citizen. This would be the best gift a
father could give his daughter."

"Tat be a good, noble sacrifice me friend!" Bloem, the toothless
fisherman spluttered excitedly. "I tink tis gold comes as a present from
tee Gods temselves. I would buy me wife tee medicine she needs for her
spastic colon abnormalities. She would live in comfort for the rest of
her days. She is in severe pain tese days ye know? Once tat is sorted
out ten and only ten would I buy meself some falsified teet from
Ashtan." The other fisherman stared impassively at their friend, as if
they were still trying to work out what he just said.

"I am older and know more wiser things to do with my gold!" Pretorius
twirled the stick holding his beard. Which made me wonder, if he was so
older and wiser, why the heck did he have a Godsdamn sticking holding
his beard. The other fishermen gave him solemn looks. "I am going to
invest my gold in the moss commodity, I heard its value has fluctuated
lately, but I know that an influx in buyers will increase in the next
few months time. I expect it to double in value. With that sort of
interest rate I can die knowing my grandchildren will not be orphans on
Ashtan streets. We all know what happen to those poor kids!" The other
fishermen nodded at him, pretending they understood.

"Hrm." Johannes pondered. "I guess I would ave to be unselfish too. I
love insects and crawly things." He reached in his pants and pulled out
a small parasitic crab. I tried to hold in my food. "I heard Arinas is
in dire need of funding for his "Save the Rhino Beetle trust". I would
donate some sovereigns to his cause, as well as a few other charities.
Charities like "Give Grooks the right to vote", "Ban the Rajamalan fur
trade", "The clinic fund for teenage, cactus weed abusers", "Find Xon a
personality" and the HHH, "Help Horkval Husbands fund", (The female
Horkvals tend to get very abusive toward their male counterparts in
tested relationships, when intoxicated some females have even been known
to eat their mates after sexual intercourse. Barbaric!)."

"Very noble of you!" Kaap sighed. "I wanted to get drunk and buy a few
prostitutes for the evening, but I suppose I could spend my gold better.
I think with the gold I would get, I would be able to buy a bigger boat
and bigger nets so I could sail further and fish deeper. Thus standing a
better chance to get fish."
The other fishermen knew that Kaap would get drunk that evening and
contract some deadly STD virus. Kaap tended to get drunk a lot because
eventually he would fall into a stupor and obtain double vision, thus
making him think he had two eyes.


A tear ran down my Xoran cheek. Not because I was sad or anything, it
was the sun, burning my eyes. I am manly and rugged.

It was about then that I notice someone walking up a pathway toward the
fishermen. I judged from the disruption in my mind lock field that it
was another telepath. I studied this new visitor for a moment. It was in
fact another monk, and judging from the blank look in his face it was a
Sentaari monk. His lithe, leather armored form walked with clear
determination. Deadly precision was in his eyes. I was suddenly very
worried as I grew to understand the monk's intentions. This warrior of
balance was approaching the village with methodical equation, as if he
had done it this hundreds of times. He had his healing vials out, ready.
The kai pulsating around him was rippling with a strong energy. These
fishermen were in deep danger. They were about to meet death.

"What a waste." I cursed. "What a contradiction in their monk beliefs."

I scrambled around and ran to help the fishermen but the monk was closer
to them than I. I had to save them. I just had to. All their dreams and
ambitions were about to be flushed out. I screamed out to them. They
were so intent in protecting their fish from a few seagulls, that they
did not hear me. The monk went into a deadly stance. My heart sank. It
was Dragon stance, a stance that meant curtain death.

The monk launched himself at the surprised Bloem. He thrust out a kick
that hit the poor fisherman in the jaw and then two quick punches to the
side of his head. The fisherman still managed to stay on his feet, but
looked as if the next hit would finish him. The other fishermen screamed
and tried to defend their friend. A well-trained monk against a few
starving weak fisherman? This was going to be sad.

It was over in a few bloody seconds.

But not how I expected.

As the monk was about to finish poor Bloem, taking him to the
underworld. He froze, in mid air. He just went into a suspended state,
motionless.

All the fishermen blinked in unison.

Then they quickly grouped, attacked and killed the unmoving monk.

The fishermen looked at each other with relief. It did not take them
long to pack the rest of the fish and head off to Shallam. None spoke of
the incident that day ever again.

Ironically that monk had restored balance to Shastaan by doing nothing.
Thus proving that the Sentaari really do their jobs well, they do
nothing.

Durbin is now retired in a beach house in Delos, next to the Saer'ac
beach house. His daughter has just been promoted out of novicehood in
the Luminaries. They say she is the youngest to do so. Her future is
definitely made thanks to her father. He no longer suffers from ingrown
toenails and is an inspiration to those that have that problem.

Bloem is living quite happily now with his healthier wife. The smack in
the jaw from the monk actually improved his speech. He is now a citizen
of Shallam and a fine speaker in their politics too. He eventually
bought some wooden teeth from Ashtan and he is now known as the Blooming
Bloem "The Smile".

Johannes is now the head of many charity organizations, many of which
have done great changes in Aetolia as we know it. Xon is improving his
personality. They now have a law against any prejudices against Grooks
(except Ikne, you are still encouraged to kill him on sight), There is a
trauma unit in Ashtan for abused, limbless Horkvals and Arinas has
finally reintroduced the Rhino beetle to it's native land where is was
extinct for many years.

Pretorius, unfortunately, is not with us anymore. He did invest in moss
and the interest rate boomed by more than eighteen percent. He left
millions to his grandchildren, who are now very influential in Ashtan
affairs. He did not die of natural causes however. A few years after the
monk incident, a vampire came along and killed him and now uses his old
form as a ghast. Yet we all know that his spirit is in nirvana and he is
happy.

Kaap. Well Kaap never made it. He became a severe alcoholic and died in
the Crystal Leaf Inn a few weeks after from some strange virus that
caused his genitalia to shrivel up. His skeleton was recovered later by
some Bloodloch loyalists. He is now serving as an undead guardian in the
dark city.

When you visit Shastaan take a moment of silence to remember the fine
fisherman of that town. If you are a Sentaari monk, well, before you
ruthlessly take down a few of the Shastaan citizens, remember that you
might be disrupting the balance. Stop Bashing and start building.

Brings a tear to my eye.

May a huge flame warm your heart.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Slyphian, in the year 109 MA.