Rlain

Rlain
by ktep
Profession	Bridge Four
Ethnicity	Listener
Homeworld	Roshar

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Rlain (nicknamed Shen) is a Parshendi and member of Bridge Four. He is the only Parshendi who sided with the Alethi before the creation of the Everstorm. It is revealed that he was a spy for the Parshendi, using dullform to disguise himself as a parshman. He travelled between warcamps for three years before becoming part of Bridge Four.

Rlain was placed in Bridge Four as an experiment by Hashal, to see if parshmen could be trusted to run bridges. The members of Kaladin's crew violently distrusted the parshman, wanting to place him up at the front of the bridge to be hit with an arrow instead of a human bridgeman, but Kaladin refused, giving the parshman the name "Shen" and insisting that he was to be treated as a member of the crew. Rlain was upset by the crew's scavenging from dead Parshendi, and even more upset when Kaladin used Parshendi carapace as armour during a bridge run, to the point where he ended up being left behind on subsequent runs. He was retrieved from the Sadeas camp and brought with the rest of the bridgemen to the Kholin camp following Sadeas' betrayal and Bridge Four's rescue of Dalinar.

Rlain went back to Narak, and gained warform. He eventually defected from the Parshendi, realizing that the change in Eshonai had corrupted his people. Bridge Four accepted him back, and he helped in the strategy of attacking the Stormform Parshendi.

Notes

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