Kassaran Sestaudaer

Kassaran was born to Iwena and Sestau in the south Kían village of Batrar. He lived with his parents oblivious to the dangers of Tasa and his army of enslaved dragons. He had a happy childhood growing up. His father was a woodworker, mostly for construction and furniture. He would make little wooden animals for Kassaran which is where he first began to become interested in carving.   When Kassaran was four years old, a band of soldiers from Hefra came to the village and took most of the men from Batrar, including Sestau. While this was happening, Iwena told her son to run and hide in Ardenka Forest which surrounds the village as the soldiers may take the young boys to become soldiers themselves.   Kassaran ran and hid in the forest in a clearing with a large stone. The stone was warm so he curled against it and fell asleep for the night. Kassaran was woken in the morning by a loud cracking noise. The stone was actually the egg of a fire dragon and it was hatching. When Kassaran saw the hatchling he was terrified as he had heard stories of monsters in the forest which ate children like himself. This lead to Kassaran running away from the dragon, abandoning it.   Years later, Kassaran is nineteen. He works at Raus's farm on the outskirts of the village, helping to harvest the crops in the autumn. Raus owns one of the few horses in Batrar. Sometimes he lets Kassaran ride on it, despite it being a large working horse and not having a saddle.   Kassaran enjoys whittling in his spare time. He finds it relaxing and it helps him remember his father. He doesn't think that he is as good as his father so keeps practicing. He would like to learn how to become a woodworker like his father was but no one in Batrar can teach him how. In order to train, he would have to travel to Maedrim which would cost money his mother doesn't have and he would miss his mother.   There aren't many young people left in Batrar so Kassaran only really has one friend, Lagmund. He is one year older than Kassaran and they are very close. They spend most of their spare time together, talking about what they're up to and their hopes and dreams for the future.   Kassaran wishes that one day he could go to Maedrim and learn woodworking so he can reopen his father's workshop and have a proper job. Not only would this allow him to have a better job so he can earn more money, it would also decrease the chance of him being taken to serve in the army as he would have a proper trade so would be considered valuable as a worker.