Kaori Setsuka

Kaori Setsuka

Kaori Setsuka was originally born in Arafel. As a young boy he became a ward of Fal Sion, one of the fortress keeps guarding the Blightborder in Shienar. It was a common practise of alliance to keep the bonds between the Borderlands strong, and something Kaori took great pride in even though it was scary to leave his home. He was much younger than either of Lord Armendariz’s sons, still a wide-eyed boy when he witnessed Isabella Sedai make the foretelling about Vladamir, but he grew up entrenched in the mythical, awe-inspiring stories of the Fal Sion son who was destined to one day save thousands. Among the keep’s children it was common to assume the prophecy meant Vladamir would one day return — that it was Shienar’s people his Aes Sedai would save. He was idolised as a hero among them back then. Some would say he still is today.

Kaori grew up a warrior who enthusiastically venerated the most decorated heroes of the Borderlands, including Faider’s Skirmishers and Captain Miyakawa and her scouts. But his heart was always greatly tied to Fal Sion. It was no great surprise that as a grown man he chose to remain in service of the Keep under Lord Xavier and his wife Graciela. He further cemented the blood-ties by marrying a Shienaran woman, and in time starting his own family.

He became a decorated warrior in his own right. But the Blight was growing harder, the attacks more savage, and far more frequent. Messengers were dispatched south with increasing desperation, but no answer or aid ever came, not even from the royal messengers of Fal Moran. The south was utterly deaf to the plight and suffering of the people who protected them from the Blight’s spread. Finally, the Lady Graciela herself planned a journey to Tar Valon in order to personally beseech the Aes Sedai of the White Tower. Naturally, Vladamir’s name was once again whispered on hopeful lips, the memory of Isabella Sedai’s prophecy newly repeated amongst them, for a foretold warrior and his Aes Sedai would surely turn the tide. Kaori told the tale himself to his infant son. He promised the Light’s hero would soon return, so ardently did he believe it.

But soon after the Lady’s departure came the raid that claimed Kaori’s wife and child among its casualties, and for the first time in his life, Kaori’s faith not only wavered but shattered into a thousand pieces. He had been with Kenta, Xavier’s son, teaching the boy to spar when the warning bells rang out. He could not leave the Lord’s son, and by the time he fought his way to his family, it was too late.

An Aes Sedai did come soon after, but not the one they had been expecting, and nor did she come to help them. She was a Yellow, clinical and cold in her investigations concerning the state of the Blightborder. She told them Graciela had been sent away. That no aid was coming. And she did not even seem to know who Vladamir Armendariz was.

The Tower had forsaken them. Vladamir Armendariz had forsaken them. And Kaori had nothing left to live for.

Talin discovered Kaori on the verge of desertion. Da’mordero’mahdi were a solemn affair, and none could blame him the choice of walking into the Blight, even though the Keep needed every skilled warrior in its fold. She exploited his grief to her own ends, promising that with her he will see the Last Battle come to fruition, and the terrors of the Blight be ended for good. So Kaori did worse than end his life. Spent of honour, heavy of heart, he broke his oaths to Fal Sion and Lord Armendariz, and knelt his sword at an Aes Sedai’s feet instead.

Description

Kaori is tall and well built, dark of skin and eye. He still wears his hair in Arafellin double braids, though with the Shienaran shaved side-scalp. He is a quiet man, a little haunted. He does not speak of his past or how he ended up bonded to an Aes Sedai.