Returning BT Bio for Kerris Asech - No CC

[Arath Faringal]

DM Handle: claireducky

Contact Info: claire.lattner@gmail.com

Character Count: 1

 

Character Name: Kerris Asech

Nationality: New Braem in Andor

Age: 16 in the main timeline

Physical Characteristics: Reddish brown hair, serious grey eyes. He has a frown line between his eyes that frequently appears when he is deep in thought, which is often. Tall and lithe frame, wiry muscling that belies great strength, especially in his intact left arm. Right arm ends in a smooth stump a few inches above the elbow.

 

Personality: Quiet and introspective, he watches everything around him. He is a great observer of the interactions and small things that happen between people. This is a self-preservation mechanism, as it serves to let him know when he would be best off somewhere else. He is a loner and is afraid to let people get too close to him, lest he lose them too. He is confused about his true identity; he has never lain with anyone and is convinced that he loved Tyr, a childhood friend. It will take much soul searching for him to figure out this part of himself and where his interests truly lie.

 

Personal History:

 

 

“Hey, Tyr! Wait for me!” Kerris’ bare feet slapped the earth as he ran through the woods. Sunlight, filtered green by the lush foliage above his head, dappled his skin and hair. It was high summer in Andor, Kerris was eight years old today, and he was having the time of his life. His fists pumped furiously at his sides as he fought to catch up with his best friend. Tyr was almost twelve, and more solidly built compared to Kerris’ lithe frame. The combination of age, advanced knowledge of the world, and size made him almost a God in Kerris’ eyes.

 

Finally, Kerris caught up to the older boy. He was standing by a large oak, peering up into its boughs. Kerris caught his breath from the hard run while watching Tyr study the tree. After a time, Tyr nodded to himself, then flashed Kerris a reassuring grin. “This tree’ll do, Ker. Don’t you worry now, I told you that I would take you on your nameday to swing, and swing we will. See that bit of creeper?” Kerris looked above him where Tyr was pointing, and wanted to swallow hard against the sudden fear that crept up in him. The vine that Tyr was indicating was at a dizzying height above the ground. However, Kerris was not going to back out now. He was no longer a child, and he had been begging Tyr to take him along to do this for ages.

 

He carefully scrambled up the tree from branch to branch. Tyr helped pull him to a large limb that easily held both of them. Kerris looked uneasily at the ground some thirty feet below. A wave of vertigo washed over him and he felt Tyr’s strong arm shoot out to catch his shoulder and steady him. “None of that, now. Try to not look at the ground, Ker. I promised yer da’ that I wouldn’t let no harm come to you, so that means you need to listen to me and do as I tell you. Got it?” Kerris forced himself not to look at the ground and nodded. “Good, now watch what I do. I don’t feel like climbing back up this tree again so ye’ll only see it the once.”

 

Tyr let go of Kerris and moved out along the branch to where the strand of creeper hung close by. Kerris clung tight as he straddled the limb and watched. Tyr reached out with his left arm and caught hold of the vine. “Now Kerris, you need to pull up some of the slack before you swing, else you’ll never be able to get down from such a height on the vine. But don’t get too much slack, mind, or the jerk you’ll get when you push off might shake you loose and make you fall. Pull up about 3 spans, no more.” Tyr held the vine in his hands. He adjusted his grip and swung a leg over the limb so that he was sitting with both legs dangling into thin air. Tyr flashed Kerris that grin again, then suddenly straightened his body, letting himself slide off the edge of the branch. “I’m King of the World!” He shouted as he swung forward while clinging to the vine with hands and legs.

 

It looked amazingly fun-- swinging through the air, weightless, letting the vine carry you forward and back until the momentum was spent. Tyr had come to a standstill finally on the vine, and shimmied down the last ten feet or so of the creeper til he was standing. He called up to Kerris, “Ok, your turn now!” Kerris smiled and nodded uncertainly, then scooted out along the branch til he was at the same spot Tyr had been. Kerris reached out and grabbed the creeper, bringing up a couple of spans of slack. He took hold of the vine and wrapped it around his wrist and upper arm a couple of times; he didn’t have the confidence in his grip that Tyr did. Finally, Kerris swung his leg over the tree branch so he was no longer straddling it. “Go on, then!” Tyr called out from below him.

 

Kerris took a deep breath and yelled, “I’m King of the World!” He slid forward and off the branch. He felt an instant of joy and exhilaration, and then it all went wrong. Kerris felt an immense wrench as he reached the end of the slack in the vine; his legs and left arm slipped away from the vine like they were greased. His right arm protested under the strain as the momentum propelled him forward with the vine. When he reached the end of the upswing, his hand could take no more; he lost his grip and went sliding down the vine. The lengths wrapped around his arm cut into him, the vine burning and chewing his flesh relentlessly. Down he plummeted, along twenty feet of creeper. From somewhere, far away, he thought he heard someone screaming. It sounded strangely like his own voice.

 

He woke briefly; dappled sunlight shone down on his face. Tyr was at his side, doing something to his right arm. “What are you doing, Tyr?” Tyr turned those beautiful blue-green eyes on him and Kerris was startled to see fear in them. Tyr was never scared. “Keep quiet Kerris, I’ve got to bind your arm, it’s bleeding.” Kerris nodded sleepily and asked, “You won’t leave me, Tyr?” Tyr kept working furiously, getting the tourniquet in place. “Of course not, silly. I promised yer da’, remember? Promised him I would take care of you, and so I will.”

 

Kerris felt himself being lifted by Tyr’s strong arms and the motion of the older boy’s running lulled him to sleep. Tyr would take care of him; it would all be right as rainwater soon.

 

~~

 

Kerris lost his arm that day. The vine had shredded his flesh and cut down to the bone in the middle of his right bicep. From that point down, the arm was a ruin. The village Wise Woman managed to keep him alive long enough for an Aes Sedai to be brought up from Caemlyn. The Sedai saved his life, but the right arm was gone from a few inches above his elbow.

 

Kerris and Tyr remained closer than ever, and four years later Tyr left New Braem to join the Queen’s Guard in Caemlyn. Kerris was only twelve, and he begged for Tyr to let him come with him. “Sorry, Kerris. This is one place I can’t take you with me.” When word came several months later that Tyr had died in a crossbow training accident, Kerris was heartbroken. He had worshipped Tyr, loved him fiercely. He had lost his best friend.

 

The best efforts of Kerris’ parents and friends could not keep him from spiraling into depression. He couldn’t stand the sight of them, of the woods, of the old haunts he and Tyr had frequented. Kerris thought of leaving to join the Queen’s Guard himself, but they wouldn’t take one disabled as he is. The same was true of the Warders up in Tar Valon. Kerris felt worthless. He took up the practice of throwing knives with his left hand; it gave him a skill to pass the time. At the age of sixteen, he heard of the Dragon Reborn’s amnesty. Not able to take it anymore, he bid farewell to his parents and headed south to Caemlyn to enroll in the Lord Dragon’s lists.

 

After being turned away by a rather goat-brained officer in the Lord Dragon's Army, Kerris despaired of what to do next. Before he could contemplate long, he caught the attention of a man in a long, black coat. He gathered up Kerris and a handful of other men, bringing them through a hole in the air to a village.

 

Kerris soon learned that he had been brought for a reason-- he could channel saidin. The thought was daunting, but Kerris turned to the new challenge with the first optimism he had felt in months. He wondered if Tyr would have been proud of him.