I had better start telling this tale! Some backstory is required here. I know, it's lengthy and there is no blood. Skip to the end of Part 1 if you wish. Anyhow, let's begin:
Part 1:
Sarah Dawn loved helping people. In fact, she was well known throughout the village of Oma-haa as one who showed great concern for the poor and their ailments. She was possessed of the gift of healing. Her older brother, Hal, had been the village doctor, inheriting the healing trade from their pater familias after his death. Hal was a very good doctor and greatly skilled in the arts of healing. His techniques, while controversial and not done in accordance with accepted medical practices of the day, consistently cured people who might otherwise had died. In fact, the sick and injured would often travel from surrounding towns and villages and seek out Hal instead of their own physicians who did not have Hal’s reputation as a healer. Because of this they lost reputation and income. This caused great displeasure among these men who were lesser physicians than the highly regarded Hal. They sought to discredit him and deprive him of his patients, but to no avail. His reputation was too sterling, his results too obvious for any to deny his great skills as a healer. Despite numerous petitions to the Oma-haa village council to have him forbidden to practice medicine, Hal maintained his proper and just reputation as a great and honorable physician of the People.
Since the deaths of their pater familias and mother (much too long a tale to tell here), Sarah would always accompany her brother as he made his rounds in the village. She was a precocious child, possessing a keen intelligence, quick wit, charm, and her mother’s delicate beauty. She became a very capable assistant to Hal. She helped him perform all the arts of a healer and soon possessed the full scope of his knowledge. She could even read -- a talent few women were capable of, much less possess. Sarah was so popular with the people of the village that she was warmly greeted as “little sister Sarah” when she accompanied her brother. By the time she had grown into full womanhood she was known simply as LittleSiss.
It was in the 693rd year of the sun-demon era (as far as anyone could calculate) that LittleSiss’ beloved brother Hal died while tending to plague victims. LittleSiss herself had also contracted the illness but survived. The village folk’s love for both Hal and LittleSiss was so great that they asked her if she would continue as their healer. Sarah -- LittleSiss -- was honored to do so, despite the fact that women were not permitted to perform occupations reserved to men. Healing, and just about everything else that required learning and intellect, were denied to women. In the present “enlightened” age, women were believed to be lesser beings than men, unable to resist the temptations of the witches and demons that had been visited upon the once-great nation of Am-er-ica.
Apparently, according to the ancient texts, nearly seven centuries ago there arose in Am-er-ica a woman of great powers who the People unwisely chose to be their leader. She was corruptible and practiced the dark arts of witchery – called “pol-i-tics”. She fell under the influence of her demonic evil ministers, known as the “Cab-i-net”. Heeding their advice, instead of that of the People, she led the great nation into a disastrous war that unleashed the horrible sun-demons over the land, destroying nearly everything and killing uncounted millions. The survivors, poisoned by the effects of the demons, barely clung to existence. Nearly 700 years later small populations had grown into thriving communities. Yet women were denied the rights of men. After all, it was a woman who had brought such great death and destruction upon the People in the first place! Women could not be trusted, men had decided hundred of years ago. They were too easily tempted by demons and did not possess the refined mental capacities of men to know true good from evil. It was true that women could be beautiful and charming in their own shallow way, but if allowed to be educated they would only again learn to practice the dark arts of bewitching the People with their detestable “pol-i-tics”. Hence, they had to be kept uneducated and held to basically child-rearing responsibilities in the home, or to menial occupations that required the limited intellectual skills. At all times they lived under the close supervision of their pater familias. Women who resisted their prescribed roles in society were risking their very lives. They could be imprisoned, tortured, or even put to death for defying the rule of men and practicing the dark arts. LittleSiss, by choosing to take on a man’s occupation, was putting herself at great peril, indeed! A woman acting out of place was a danger and had to be dealt with severely.
