Arborn

Captain of the Kasari Rangers

Arborn first appears at Northbridge as Minalan crosses to parley with the gurvani envoys. He is the Captain of the Kasari Rangers, leader of the Endrenar outpost, and emissary of his Chief to the Alka Alon:

The tall, serious-looking Kasari ranger had his bow out and strung, but no arrow nocked. The signature green mottled cloak of his people was thrown back over his shoulder, exposing his business-like longsword and the raptor embroidered on his breast.

— Minalan, High Mage

Hundreds of his rangers have scoured the country north of the river in advance of the parley, withdrawing now to blinds and woodland positions. Arborn has the quiet, hyper-competent presence Minalan repeatedly notes:

I've learned to trust the man's judgment — I've never seen a better scout. Even among the Kasari.

— Minalan to Terleman, High Mage

The Bransei Plea

At Yule he rides into Sevendor unexpectedly with a plea: the Kasari need a great mage to escort the children of Bransei through the Penumbra to safety in distant Kasar. He impresses the entire castle by carrying himself like a knight without the chivalric trappings, drinking sparingly, declining a maid's offer to dance, conversing equally with lords and villeins. Pentandra, watching, falls hard for him.

The Object of Pentandra's Affection

Minalan is now openly trying to broker a path for Pentandra and Arborn:

He was the kind of man that makes every man in the room wants to aspire to be. Arborn was the kind of man who is utterly competent at everything he does, always in control, always acting with absolute certainty.

— Minalan, Journeymage

Unencumbered by title or lands, he nonetheless commanded universal respect among his own people. Unfortunately, in Pentandra's world that made him a pauper . . . which was one reason why Penny was so damn smitten with him. Money meant nothing to him. He wanted no lands to rule. He had no use for meaningless titles. His status derived from his complete competence alone.

— Minalan, Journeymage

The Kasari Quest and the Sacred Idol

Arborn rides into Sevendor to brief Pentandra and Minalan on a separate Kasari mission: an abandoned shrine deep beyond the Penumbra holds an ancient idol the Kasari elders need recovered before Sheruel reaches it. Magic has secured it; magic is needed to retrieve it.

Sir Tyndal and Sir Rondal? . . . Young? My dear, they will be the most senior of the company! This quest has been sanctioned by our elders, but it has been assigned to those who have attained proper rank.

— Arborn, Journeymage

The Kasari quest will become the Tyndal-and-Rondal subplot of Knights Magi/Shadowmage. Arborn organizes the route, scouts it personally, and warns the magi about the night-mists, sinkholes, cannibal tribes, ancient tombs, and predators they will face.

Marriage at the Sacred Waterfall

Pentandra completes the Kasari Rites of Marriage in the Kasar homeland and weds Arborn in front of a Trygg priestess at a sacred waterfall:

When Arborn had placed his kerchief around her neck and fastened it in the traditional Kasari ritual, claiming her as his bride, there had been no hint of doubt in her. She had enthusiastically and blissfully consented to wed him in front of the gods and Kasari animal spirits.

— Enchanter

The pairing scandalizes Pentandra's Remeran family: he is neither mage nor Narasi nobleman. Her father Orisorio is disappointed only that Arborn is not also gifted with rajira. Her mother is mortified.

Anguin's Master of Wood

Anguin, persuaded by Pentandra and Minalan, names Arborn Ducal Master of Wood for Alshar, the court office responsible for the duchy's vast forest resources. The post fits him perfectly: no one is better placed to oversee Alshari forests than a Kasari Ranger captain, and his Bransei-born rangers will become Anguin's Ducal Woodwards.

Master of Wood at Vorone

Arborn arrives in Vorone with the rest of the new ducal court. His office is technically in the stockyard near the stables — the Master of Wood is not high enough to occupy palace rooms — but in practice his Kasari rangers function as Pentandra's and Salgo's ground-level enforcers across the city.

His mother-in-law Amendra, when she finally has a Mirror conversation with Pentandra, is appalled but not hostile:

What does a tree warden need an office for, anyway?

— Lady Amendra, on her son-in-law, Court Wizard

While in Vorone Arborn captains a sub-rosa unit of Kasari and the “Wood Owls” (Pentandra's recruited counter-Brotherhood thugs) hunting the surviving Rat Brotherhood operatives in the back alleys. The combined force kills Bloodfinger and Opilio in a street fight and methodically eliminates the rest of the Rat operation in the city.

The Master of the Wood

The shadowy “Master of the Wood” that becomes folk legend in Vorone (and is later mistaken in Footwizard for an underground cult leader) is Pentandra's alias for Arborn's street-level operation against the slavers. The myth grows independently of the office.

Arborn is mostly offstage in this book but his Kasari are everywhere along the Penumbra borders, scouting and securing the routes Tyndal and Rondal use into Enultramar.

The Father of Triplets

Arborn and Pentandra have their first children — Kasari triplets, all surviving by Kasari magic and dedication. He is a stoic, present, hands-on father in the moments he is not deployed in the field.

His Kasari are key to Anguin's Tower security during the Olum Seheri planning council. Pentandra notes he is “out a-ranging in the north to Osbury” while she handles the council itself.

Arborn is now part of the Alshari court at Falas. The Tower of Sorcery is the household. Triplet toddlers are a daily reality. He is increasingly drawn into Anguin's anti-slavery campaign in the Shallow Sea and the post-Restoration cleanup of slaver networks.

At Anguin's wedding feast Minalan describes him in courtier dress for the first time: he “looked like a courtier, compared to how he usually dressed, but with his handsome features and his distinctive bearing he stood out from even the Wilderlords.”

Arborn's long-deployed Master of Wood role finally pays civil dividends. The Kasari rangers under his command are seeded across the Alshari forests as Ducal Woodwards, and his arrangement with Sir Asaleth at Otter's Point is becoming a settled cantonal model. He is on track to be elevated to Baron of Lotanz formally in the coming years.

Pentandra and the children move to Vorone with the rest of the court for an extended residence; Arborn moves with them despite his own duties needing him in the woods.

Baron of Lotanz

Arborn is now formally Baron of Lotanz, ruling the riverine Kasari frontier town that has grown around Otter's Point. With three hundred Kasari rangers garrisoned, Lotanz outgrows the original protected point and spreads across the river banks. Sir Asaleth, his vassal, has Pele Tower fortifications and Kasari-style cottage settlements running.

Arborn rides into Vanador with Pentandra to send Minalan off into the wastelands; he warns the party with a single understated line:

My people have made the journey many times. It is perilous, even for us. Be careful, my friend.

— Baron Arborn to Minalan, Footwizard

Arborn (now Baron of Lotanz and Master of the Wood) is in the field for most of Hedgemage. The slavers' counter-attacks against Pentandra and the children have become deadly serious; three attempts on the family have been countered, only one originating from Nemovorti. Pentandra describes the situation with reluctant admiration for Rardine's ability to put them down.

Arborn's Kasari secure the children (Daran, Anyalla, Mirleen) at remote estates whenever the political climate at Falas heats up.

Baron Arborn of Lotanz remains the Master of Wood for Alshar, his Kasari rangers integrated into the formal Ducal Woodward establishment. He is at home enough to attend Sevendori family gatherings and combine his and Pentandra's family with the children of Sire Cei and Lady Estret at Spellgarden.

Baron Arborn remains the Master of Wood and Pentandra's rock at Falas. Mentioned by Minalan as one of the trusted few he can hand things off to without worry: Arborn and Terleman and Azar and so many others.

Baron Arborn of Lotanz is now an established figure of the Alshari court, husband, father, and Master of Wood across an enormous duchy's forests. The Kasari Ranger captain who introduced himself with his bow strung and his cloak thrown back over his shoulder at Northbridge has become one of the senior magnates of the post-Restoration kingdom.