Rakir Tanaka

Physical Description:
A near-giant, Rakir stands fully six and a half feet tall, and weighs nearly 270 pounds...none of it fat. He wears his light brown hair drawn back with the hadori of his people, and his blue eyes are surprisingly mild and gentle compared to the grim aura of violence that often seems to surround Warders. His features are fairly handsome, despite a somewhat bold chin and hawkish nose. He wears loose, comfortable clothes, but never ones that impede his movement, cut in the Shienaran style and usually in blue and silver. His sword is always at his hip or within an arm's reach. He is left-handed. His next nameday will be his fifty-first.

Personality:
Quiet competence is the best word to describe Rakir's nature. He speaks rarely unless spoken to, but then his replies are crisp and straightforward. He is not good at dissembling, and often speaks his mind in the starkest terms when questioned. The only exception is when speaking of Mariko...and then he will rather remain silent than tell a lie, unless absolutely necessary. Honorable to his bones, Rakir has never betrayed a friend, abandoned a soul in need, or left a wound unavenged.

History:
Mariko's oldest Warder, Rakir was born the second son of a minor Malkieri nobleman. Like many Borderland nobles, he served along the Blightborder, and some thought he had a knack for living on the edge. He was never as uncomfortable in the Blight as most men, and was even able to see some sort of twisted beauty in it, if not in the evil which had spawned it or which sprang from it. Given responsibility early, he was an officer when Mariko accompanied his unit on an expeditionary foray into the Blight. The two of them were among only five to return from that ill-fated journey, and their paths had locked. He left the Borderlands for her, resigning his commission, and his father merely nodded and acquiesced. He understood the nature of the White Tower. Rakir has been Bonded to Mariko for thirteen years, and while he does not share the relationship with her she has with Andru, in some ways he is still her closest Warder.
A Border-trained soldier, Rakir is skilled in a warrior's tools, but above all he prefers the sword. His own weapon is plain steel...but in Rakir's hands it becomes caged death, ready to be unloosed.

Hobbies/Notes:
Rakir is an avid stargazer, often spending late nights sitting his his windowsill staring at the sky, or flat on his back in the gardens. Other hobbies include identifying flowers and plants (he keeps a journal of interesting ones he has seen the world over), falconing, and flying Malkieri fighting-kites. His house emblem is a silver snowfox on a blue field.