Ais
| Ais | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 by botanicaxu
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| Profession | Trackt | ||||||
| Residence | Kezare | ||||||
| Ethnicity | Kerztian | ||||||
| Nationality | Lossandin | ||||||
| Homeworld | Taldain | ||||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||||
“I serve only justice, Lokmlen, and justice belongs to the Sand Lord. ”
—Ais[1]
Ais is a senior trackt in Lossand on the Dayside of Taldain. She is married to Mellis and has one daughter, Melloni. She was raised in an orphanage.[2]
Personality & Appearance
Ais has a very serious, somber personality, though she reserves a softer side for her family. She cares deeply for her family and colleagues. Despite an eighteen-year relationship with Lady Heelis, Ais maintains an air of formality in the woman's presence. Her disposition seems weighed down by her inability to catch Sharezan, a fear for her family's safety at the hands of her enemies, and a sense of guilt at her lack of religious fervor.[3] Ais also harbors extreme emotions stemming from a deep internal conflict between her duty as a trackt, her Ker'Reen faith, and keeping her family safe. Most of the time she keeps these emotions suppressed.[4]
Ais has brown, shoulder length hair, dark eyes, and tan skin. She wears earrings and a Kerztian headpiece set with a blue gem. She wears the black uniform of a trackt, with a black cape marking her high rank. She wears a sword and zinkall when on duty.[1]
- Images of Ais
by Botanicaxu Portrait
by Julius Gopez On White Sand Volume 2 cover
by Fritz Casas On White Sand Volume 3 cover
History
Ais has been hunting the crime lord Sharezan in Kezare for some time. She believes that Sharezan's true identity is Nilto but has been unable to find any proof. A recent raid left many of her men dead or wounded.[5] This, paired with a threat directed at her family, left Ais discouraged.[3]
Lady Heelis ordered Ais to follow and spy on Kenton under the guise of offering protection.[3] Despite her hatred of sand mastery, her sense of duty compelled her to do all in her power to protect him from the assassins who were repeatedly sent after him, though she privately supported their ideals.[6][7] In an attempt to protect her family, Ais attempted to send them away from Kezare until she captured Sharezan, however her husband was not willing to leave.[8] While most of her attention was focused on protecting and spying on Kenton, Ais continued to direct the efforts to locate Sharezan through Tain, her second in command.[9]
After several failed attempts at apprehending Sharezan, Tain informed her that he had found him. Tain handed her a zinkall and asked her to join him on the raid. When Ais asked how he figured it out, Tain said that it was Lokmlen's confession that gave it away. When they arrived in the alleged hideout, Tain raised his zinkall to Ais' head and revealed himself to be Sharezan. A shocked Ais admitted her surprise at this revelation and that she had suspected Nilto. Ais tried to use the zinkall he gave her to kill him, but it puffed and failed. Sharezan laughed at the fact that she had trusted him when he gave her the weapon, but that if it had been Nilto she wouldn't have trusted the weapon. One of his men knocked Ais to the ground and, knowing that Ais had a raging emotional conflict inside her, Sharezan gloated to her about the "project" he had planned for her.[10]
Sharezan told Ais that, due to her work, his operation in Kezare had been fatally compromised and that he would soon be taking some time off, but he wanted to indulge in a hobby of his before he left. He told her that he had Lokmlen plant a firetrap in the orphanage in which Ais was raised and that he was also going to attack and hurt her family; she wouldn't have time to save both. Then, leaving her with this dilemma, he ran off after instructing his men to hold her for one minute and then let her go. When they released her, Ais ran into the streets in a panic, breathing erratically. She desperately searched for and found a trackt on the street and, between gasps, told him to go secure the orphanage. Then, out of breath, she stumbled to her house. When she neared the house she heard a loud banging sound coming from inside; in a panic and afraid of what she would find, she ran upstairs. When she got inside she saw Tain, holding a sword, being thrown through a wall by Kenton. Kenton told her that Mellis and Melloni were safe and that this "assassin" was about to kill them. Kenton then explained that he had come to ask her something about Raagent when he saw an armed man entering the house, assumed he was an assassin coming to kill him, and in sheer reflex lashed out with his sand. When Ais told him that this attacker was really Sharezan, Kenton moved to kill him; Ais stopped him, saying that Sharezan must face proper justice.[10]
After her run-in with Sharezan, Ais decided to leave the trackts, but Lady Judge Heelis asked her to remain a little while longer in order to attend Kenton's duel and she reluctantly agreed. After the duel, when the Taishin voted on whether to disband the Diem, Lady Judge Heelis gave her vote to Ais because she wanted Kenton to prove that he could win over even the people most firmly set against him. After some internal conflict, Ais decided to vote to maintain the Diem making the vote unanimous and saving the Diem.[2]
Trivia
- In the original, prose version of White Sand, Ais was male, and Mellis was his wife. This was changed to make the character more interesting.[11]
Notes
- ↑ a b White Sand chapter 4#
- ↑ a b White Sand chapter 18#
- ↑ a b c White Sand chapter 6#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 16#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 5#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 8#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 14#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 11#
- ↑ White Sand chapter 13#
- ↑ a b White Sand chapter 17#
- ↑ Legion Release Party
— Arcanum - 2018-09-19#