Kailin Anil (Kye-leen An-nill); Kai' Age: 17 Kai' was one of a few peasant children born in the village of Qail in the relatively isolated Iredean mountains. When she was six, she somehow aquired a high fever which rendered her blind. Kai's name is double-syllabled, which is quite common in the more developed countries but rather unusual for a peasant. It was a product of her father's love for stories and she is better known under the simpler, mono-syllabic "Kai'". Her mother died early in her life, but her father took care of her until a random disease struck the village, wiping out half the population, including him. Since then, she has stayed in the village under the care of Master Lien and her older brother Runan.
		Elei (E-lay) Elei is desperately lonely and carries a very old and terrible burden of guilt. Many years ago when she was much younger, she was sheltered and protected and very dearly loved. When suddenly ostracized and plunged into a harsh world, she withdrew into herself, blaming herself for what happened, terrified at the idea of what she could do, and trying desperately to keep herself under control. Elei remembers affection, but tries to avoid it in her dedication to one abstract goal, which she hopes will solve all her problems, cure her 'disease', and allow her to return to the life of old. There seems to be nothing she will not do to achieve it. It is wholly against culture for Elei to wear men's clothing, and she is frequently snubbed for it. However, she doesn't seem to want to take the risk of anything happening to show her skin.
		Runan Anil (Rue-narn An-nill); Rune Age: 20 Also bestowed with a double-syllabled name, Rune is three years older than his sister Kailin and terribly protective of her. Since their father's death from disease, he has had to work to provide for both of them. He's not hardly as naive as his sister, and has some deep-seated prejudices regarding gender roles.
		Daian Novinah (Die-arn Nov-veen-ah) Age: 25 Daian lived a rather sheltered life in Oslin, as the third in a series of six or seven children. Following an argument with his two elder brothers on the question of inheritance shortly after their father's death, he left for the capital to make his own fortune. He had finished his training and been serving for some years when half his new contingent was shipped off to another continent upon Elei's arrival. If it hadn't been for his habit of listening at doors, he might have spent the next forty years of his life guarding them. Daian is overall kind of a nice person. He has good intentions and is quite strongly loyal. Whether those intentions pave the way to hell or to heaven, he doesn't really know himself. He also has a bad case of Equinophobia. It's given him grief for most of his life.
		Vul'Re; 'Re Age: unknown. Approximate equivalent of early twenties. 'Re is a Very Big Fox... quite literally. He's actually rather young for his size, all things considered, and has a rather radically different outlook on the world from most of the others. Although he has been a little 'humanized' by Rune and Kai', particularly the latter, he still has a certain indifference toward other life, except for those of his own kind. His task, as was given by the 'shaman' of their oversized pack, was to find another reasonable animal of whatever species and to force Kai' to hand over her Gift to it. As the only way the foxes know of to transfer Gifts is through the death of the giver, his loyalties to her and Rune are somewhat suspect. Nonetheless, Kai' seems to show some affection for him. 'Re possesses the only known Gift to the foxes besides Kai's. He has the ability to join or link minds together and enable them to communicate. He was an important asset to the foxes because he was able to bypass the language barriers between species. When the shaman died and his pack split, he continued to follow the Gift Kai' carries south into more human lands.
		Alcarin Induah (Al-car-reen Inn-do-ah), High Lord Age: 35 The Lords and High Lords have a complicated power structure. At the top of the mutual hierarchy is the Oslinian High Lord, whose position Alcarin currently holds. When a High Lord dies childless, the major Lords of the area compete for the position. Generally, the Lord with the most land and influence becomes the next High Lord. Alcarin's bloodline has held the position for a long time, but his current unmarried and childless state does not bode well. Alcarin has known Elei for a long, long time. She used to visit Zuran occasionally during his father's reign, and got to know the royal family. Now that he has assumed the position of High Lord, he does what he can to help her out. For the most part, Alcarin is very intelligent and manages to run his domain well, although he tends to hold grudges. Due to the structure of power, however, his duties as Oslinian High Lord are mostly about keeping the other High Lords and his own Lords in check, so he has a keen interest in information. His influence is widespread and currently unrestricted.

Other Characters (in order of appearance)

Jaih (first appeared page 5) - The captain of Daian's platoon (double silver), led a crew of six men to the Iredean continent to search for anyone bearing the signature tattoos which mark the person as having a Gift. His title (captain) doesn't carry the same weight as one on Earth. The military equivalents are different. Captain is the second rank up from a common soldier, with the Oslinian High Lord at the top. Keinn (first appeared page 19) - Keinn works for Master Lien, who takes care of Kailin when her brother is working at the farm. He has developed a fairly reluctant friendship with her, and is to a certain extent responsible for her safety. Keinn can be a trifle absent-minded when it comes to things outside of his routine, but felt an enormous amount of guilt when she disappeared. Master Tai (first appeared page 23) - Owns the farm that Rune works on. Known as a hard man and a penny-pincher, but he runs the farm well. Ias (first appeared page 60) - Ias works on the farm with Rune and shares a room with him. Talva (first appeared page 67) - Talva is one of the common soldiers under Jaih, like Daian. While in the same platoon, Talva was among those deported to Iredea, while Daian was (supposed to be) reshuffled into another platoon. The Mother (first appeared page 78) - The Mother is not, in actual fact, anyone's mother. She's a respected leader among the foxes and also something along the lines of their shaman. While foxes are not pack animals by all rights, they congregated in this case because they'd finally found the Gift they'd been searching for again and were adamant upon getting it back. While the Mother is not actually blood kin to Re', she took the time to cultivate a close bond with him due to his being the only other known bearer of a catalyst. He actually does consider her somewhat akin to a mother in many ways. The Rat (appeared page 119) - No one will eat him, so his sad death was in vain. A moment of silence, please.