"My history? That spans quite a bit of time... let me see..." Leans back against the cavern wall and ponders, his face expressively showing various emotions as he recalls his distant past...

Speaking wistfully, he begins, "When I was very young, I was different from everyone else around me. I mean, I had many parents, where others had but one or two, and I had no parents, while everyone else had at least one, although many at the time were adopted. During my childhood, I never had a room of my own, nor a family of my own, but I had a place where I could stay, and many families with whom I was welcome, and of which I was, and was not, a member.

"I must have been a handful in years, when I first heard how I was found, an infant, lying amidst the wreckage of a caravan somewhere in the wilds near Arthe Dale, north of Crossing, south of Kaerna Village. Those who found me took me in, and yet, because of their own natures, many of them having their own needs to suddenly travel, and with my own condition, rather than stay with one, I was allowed to live amongst them all.

"I was an active child, very interested in life and the world about me, and those who raised me, well, I think that they were mainly rangers, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what guilds they might have belonged to. They knew a great deal about the wilds, living and farming and hunting and enjoying life in them, but they didn't do much in terms of what most people today think of as 'Guild activities'... They were people, and they were people who loved life. They didn't hesitate to end it, but by and large, they enjoyed watching it and living it.

"Those were good years, and I learned to appreciate the life about me, both the good and the bad, and more, to understand the different natures of all those whom I lived amongst. I think it was this upbringing, more than anything else, that steered me towards life as an Empath, for with so many points of view, how could I not see the harm done to oneself, when harming another?"

He sighs and smiles, then speaks a bit ruefully, "Mind you, I was a bit rambunctious when I was a youth, playing games with less feeling than I have now for creatures that I considered without sentience. For example, when I used to play with the other children a game we called 'Crack the whip', using a type of long thin snake that lived in the area, we used to grab it by the tail and fling it about, without a care for whether it was hurt in the process or not. Now, I would never do that. I'm always careful when flinging things about not to hurt them."

Grinning slightly, he stops and pauses for a bit, considering...

"Coming to The Crossing was the best and worst of my experiences, up to that point in my life. I came to The Crossing, knowing full well that I was destined for the life of an Empath. Nothing else would do, and I set out to find and join the Empath Guild, right away. Of course, the first thing that happened, when I joined, was that Annael stabbed me in the arm! What a shock that was! It was the first time I was ever hurt so badly that I needed an Empath. Fortunately, she was there, took care of me right away, and I became an Empath that day. I met many wonderful people in the Guild over the next couple of weeks, and so many of them that it would be hard to even attempt to list them all. It was Wheller Herbmaster who first took me on his Tours of Elanthia, taking me down to Leth Deriel for the first time - Shard was not yet accessible, nor even the area south of Leth Deriel - and later up north to Theren Keep. It was Philemon who first impressed upon me that an Empath could still learn and practice music, making of it a thing of beauty."

Tilrythran pauses a moment, wincing in memory, before saying with a grin, "Fortunately, I've mostly outgrown my early attempts to imitate true Bardic performances. I am an adept musician now, but my early attempts... Ohhh, they were really awful. They were so bad, I'm surprised I didn't go into Empathic Shock for inflicting harm on others when I played!" He laughs, briefly, before continuing.

He smiles wistfully, as he recalls, "I left the Empath Guild after about two weeks, going out into the fields to heal those in need when they needed it most, and I've never really looked back. I do spend some time healing others when I'm actually in the Guild building, but only if there is a need, and others are not present to help out. Generally speaking, I set out to be a Field Empath, and I've never regretted that course of action. I spent weeks swimming and climbing and foraging and listening to lessons in Arthe Dale, by what I will always recall as Phandra's Oak, since she and Damian spent so much time there. I remember listening to lessons upon lessons, on every subject I could get someone to teach me. And when I wasn't listening, I was teaching myself. In the old days, we Empaths were the real Teachers of the young in Elanthia. And it was in Arthe Dale that I grew to know she who would grace my life with her presence, my beloved wife, Elynden Starhold."

Tilrythran laughs quietly, a strange gleam in his eye, before he says with a chuckle, "But first, of course, she killed me."

Wincing as if someone were poking him in the side, hard, he chuckles once more, softly, before continuing. "Well, actually, we remember it somewhat differently, but she had had very little experience in opening boxes, at that time, and she was trying to open one that had an acid trap on it. She failed, and the acid was killing her. This was in the Empath Guild, and I jumped in to help, only to die in the process. However, I did manage to transfer enough before I died to save her." Smiling broadly, but wistfully, he concludes, "and that's how we first met."

"Well, time passed, and as I just said, we spent a great deal of time in Arthe Dale at Phandra's Tree, learning from others, from each other, and about each other. And as time passed, we grew closer and closer, until the day came that I decided I wanted to share my life with her."

He laughs again, nostalgically, before continuing. "Well, to make a long story short, I set up an elaborate scene to ask her the question, and as I was teaching her how to open boxes at the time, I put her engagement ring in a box that I had opened, then closed, which I mixed into a batch of boxes we were going to practice on. I then foraged dozens of wild roses, which I scattered about a veranda, near what is now one of the Estate Holder areas in The Crossing. She was so surprised when she found that ring, and I dropped to my knees and asked her to be my wife, that she said... well, she said a lot that day, but she didn't say yes. It was some weeks later that she suggested I ask again, down in our new home in Shard, which had been recently opened for travel to."

"That day in Hodierna's Solace, with Her Permission, when I and Elynden became married, is still the brightest day in my life, followed immediately afterwards by the births of our three children: Nyssah, Erythran, and Sofyia. And behind those shining moments, but only slightly, is every other day of my life with my beloved and our family.

"Today, as you may know, we now live on the mystical island of Aesry Surlaenis'a, the Place of the Ocean's Song, in a beautiful white limestone bungalow on the beach in a small cove near the docks. We are happy, and being Empaths, we share that happiness with all about us, making us even happier. May the future continue to grow ever brighter than the past."

With those words, Tilrythran Sefrentyr quickly braids up his long silver hair, and slips through an opening, heading back into the Caverns to see whom he can help.

Last Revised: 06/16/03