Caiso son of Willen

Caiso travels the Kag lands in an attempt to escape his responsibilities as Lord Caiso Andahl, Duke Willen's son and heir. Frequently a mercenary, occasionally a bard, he has a relaxed, friendly demeanour that he uses to mask his true intentions. He displays surprising fondness for naive but kind-hearted types like Luc and Kefier, perhaps because he sees how difficult it is to maintain such attitudes in the face of the ruthless, cold people they associate with.

Untitled Poem, Written During the Night of the Battle at Fort Oras
If I should fall here, cloaked in my own blood,''

The shards of sweat a jewelled necklace around my throat,''

As long as I can remember,''

Real or imagined, the sweetness of your voice,''

Then I think I would not mind at all.

The Gift
For over two hundred and twenty hours, 

I said my goodbyes. 

Given time like that, 

what should have felt like a dagger to the chest, 

sounded like a gift. 

Two hundred and twenty hours. 

A little over nine days. 

I washed his feet and dressed his wounds, 

and reminisced of quiet, sun-filled days, 

the yesteryears of our boyhood 

spiralling away from us into the realm of memories. 

Loss, creeping up like that, could be a gift. 

Loss, sudden loss, seems harder to bear. 

Cleaner, others say, but I did not know that, 

counting the hours, 

every passing moment bringing us closer to the end, 

the poison in my chest a reflection of my love. 

Like children learning to swim, we think we drown in sorrow, 

only to awaken on the shore to tempt the tides again. 

He dies in my arms. 

A gift. Others are not so lucky.