CricketAndKestrel/Cast
Contents
Cricket and Kestrel
Major Characters
Pale Cricket: albino Twilight from Sijan. A seamstress specializing in funery vestments. She inherited the shop from her dead mother, who is a ghost. Her father died when she was young, and apparently passed right to Lethe. Lots of Craft, Occult, and Lore. Beautiful, kind of innocent. Strangely appealing. Unable to have children, and not a big believer in love.
Summer Kestrel: Bronze Faction Sidereal, Chosen of Journeys. Extremely handsome. Is a sub-secretary of the exchequer; dalliances are legendary for someone who is not from the Cerulean Lute. Understands lust and addiction, but has no clue when it comes to love, and is cynical about the idea. Golden brown skin, dark, wavy hair of a cropped length. Does his job without distaste or zeal. Is currently addicted to the dark embrace of the Goddess of Midnight. "Kestrel" is a general term for a bird of prey.
Sauda: Goddess of Midnight. Dark, gorgeous, sensual. Aware of her own desirability and mystery. Enjoys controlling the men she sleeps with. The opposite of Cricket. Sauda controls the Court of Hours, a subset of the Beaureau of Nature, and also works in the Violet Bier of Sorrows. An extremely jealous lover. Sauda is Swahili for "Dark Beauty." She can see anything that happens under cover of Night, and is very very very angry at both Kestrel AND Breath.
Sagacious Breath of the Heavens: AKA Breath-of-Heaven in less formal situations. Dark hair and beard, pale skin, piercing green eyes. Chosen of Secrets. Kestrel's immediate superior in the Bronze Faction, and his good friend. Is more interested in Kestrel's upward mobility in the Faction than he is himself; wants good things for his good friend. Dedicated to the cause. Someone Kestrel is easily influenced by and looks up to. Once involved with Sauda, much as Kestrel is now, when he was younger -- the relationship ended badly, and the result (unbeknownst to Breath) was Kamaria.
Minor Characters
Cricket's mother: A ghost in Sijan. Meddling but loving. Was an excellent seamstress in her day.
Still Sky: an herbalist; Cricket's best friend. Has a kind, sunny demeanor.
Cloud: Still Sky's boyfriend. Stubborn but well meaning.
Teirel Eventide: a rich man, indebted to Cricket. A genial, sharp-witted fellow.
Dust Moth: Teirel's wife; Tamsin's mother. Has been dead since before Teirel married her.
Asa: God of the Dawn. Loves Sauda, hates Breath-of-Heaven.
Villains of the Week
Five Tears of Forgiveness (Chapter 2): A gray-haired Chosen of Serenity, of the Bronze Faction. Her smiles are warm and frequent, but her eyes always have a touch of melancholy to them. She takes genuine pleasure in seeing others' joy, but seems to find little happiness within herself. Was once known as Five Tears of Happiness. Is a widow, old enough to have outlived her mortal husband. Cheated on said husband with Kestrel, but was forgiven. Still wears a silver wedding band. Believes the world is screwed up in some very fundamental ways, and is resigned to the idea that it can't be fixed; instead, she seeks to promote beauty. She is a craftsperson, making intricately-designed blades and ornaments of bone, ivory, stone, and glass.
Kamaria Breeze-of-Midnight (Chapter 5): Sauda's God-Blooded daughter. A woman of surpassing beauty, with pale skin and lustrous black hair. Stars glitter in her brown eyes. Has a verse in archaic Old Realm dialect tattooed on her chest, beginning at her collarbone and ending at her bellybutton. Her ankle-length hair is prehensile. Her name is Swahili for "Like the Moon."
Liuwen Mortwright (Chapter 5-6): A mortal thaumaturge, and a member of the Warden's Guild of Sijan. Kamaria's lover; completely in her thrall. Addicted to her charms, as well as the alchemical potions he uses to make himself "worthy" of her attentions. Killed by Shoat in Chapter 6.
Portentious Visitation (Chapter 3): An Outcaste Dragonblood bounty hunter. A sorcerer who specializes in working with ghosts and spirits. Occasionally takes contracts from the Wyld Hunt. Distinguished by the tattoo of Mela over his scalp. Visitation's long white braid forms Mela's tail. Presumed killed by Kestrel in Chapter 3.
Shoat of the Mire (Chapter 4-5-6+): A Dusk Caste Abyssal, whose dark plan is as yet unresolved. She came to Sijan in the guise of a homeless wanderer seeking her parents, and won her way into Cricket's heart. Undoubtedly, her plan is to get the powerful artifact that Cricket holds. She could very easily hang around as a 'sleeper villain' for a while -- getting deeper into their confidence, and perhaps helping them face a few other villains, before she goes into her own deal.
Extras
Orchid: A hapless suitor.
Unbroken Arrow: A murderer's ghost.
Lily: A plump young maid in the Eventides' employ. Nursemaid (previously surrogate mom) for baby Tamsin.
Tamsin Eventide: Teirel's baby daughter, about one year old.
