Braileer Holdest
corporal
Braileer Holdest is a corporal in the Ironhorn Rams battalion of the Ossan Foreign Legion. He was apprenticed to an armorer's chef for three years learning to cook until the armorer's regular assistant got ill and died, so Braileer filled in and learned the new trade quickly. However, he was recruited before he finished his apprenticeship and only had a few weeks of combat training before being shipped off to war. He is eighteen-years old and has white Purnian skin. His hobbies are playing cards, playing the fiddle, and training rats to do simple tricks like steal coins. Although he understands he is a soldier, he cannot bring himself to kill, preferring his shield over his sword.
STORY
Braileer Holdest joins the Ironhorn Rams just as they leave Ossa for Grent and is assigned as Idrian Sepulki's new armorer. They meet while Idrian is digging Squeaks out from under the collapsed tower with his shield, which Braileer tells him not to do lest he ruin it. Idrian snaps back that his shield is meant to protect his battalion, so it is the right tool for the job. At first, Idrian questions his youth and inexperience, but Braileer insists that he can make all necessary field repairs for Idrian's sword, shield, and armor. Internally, Idrian decides he will dismiss Braileer as soon as possible, but the boy brings him a delicious meal he made from Laurent the quartermaster's scraps. Idrian later realizes he really likes Braileer's attentive and self-aware nature.
When a Grent Breacher rushes their battalion during down time, Idrian runs to intercept her, taking only his shield and sword. Braileer runs after him, gasping that Idrian cannot go without his armor, but Idrian simply says to try and stop him. After the battle, Idrian asks where his armorer is, only to discover that Braileer had been behind him the entire fight. He decides in that moment to not dismiss the young man.
During another skirmish, Braileer runs to stay by Idrian's side, guarding his flank despite the fact that he is terrified of being in the thick of the fighting. He does not use his sword either, only his buckler, which gets heavily smashed by enemy soldiers. Idrian is impressed by his enthusiasm. He tells Braileer to go find them some lunch, though he leaves before he can eat it in order to stop an approaching Grent glassdancer. He tells Braileer that he expects to find lunch and dinner prepared when he returns.
When the battalion sets up camp west of Ossa in the Copper Hills, Braileer and Idrian talk about death and friends. Braileer explains he has been spending much of his time with the engineers, though Mika Willaria scares him. He has also fallen in with a brother and sister pair named Halion and Steph. Idrian asks if Steph took Braileer under her wing, but he replies that Halion has. Braileer even suggests that Halion has a crush on him, which he guessed because Steph teases her brother whenever Braileer shows up. Idrian is glad Braileer found companionship, but he reminds the young man that people will inevitably die around him, so he should have fun but protect his heart. Braileer insists that he will try. Later that night, Grent dragoons attack their camp, and Braileer helps Idrian don his armor. Idrian then warns Braileer to keep his eyes on him but not to follow if he breaks rank. He then gives Braileer some wax to stop up his ears against the sound of grenades and artillery. As the fight leans in Grent's favor and the Ossan army retreats, Idrian reunites with Braileer in the commander's dugout, where they find Mika hard at work on an explosion meant to destroy any Grent dragoons who storm the hill to take control of the Ironhorns' abandoned artillery. They then all retreat as the hilltop explodes behind them.
When the Ossan army regroups outside of Fort Alameda, Idrian finds himself worrying about the flying glassdancer and its possible connection to Kerite's Drakes. Tadeas Grappo sends Braileer to go cheer Idrian up, so the young man brings his fiddle and begins to play a Marnish farmer's song. The song reminds Idrian of his childhood in Marn, which he gets emotional about. After telling Braileer he is a good man, Idrian sends him to play the fiddle to improve the morale of the other soldiers as well. The music snaps Idrian out of his downward spiral of doubt, and he commits to killing the flying glassdancer the next time he sees it.
To hunt the creature down, he forms a taskforce, including Braileer, Tilly Jorfax, Mika, and Squeaks. Using themselves as bait, they pretend to be a scouting party, covering Idrian's Breacher armor with a heavy cloak. When they find the creature's latest victims, a scouting party led by a glassdancer named Lorstel, Braileer gets sick to his stomach, but he manages to find the dead soldiers' horses behind the bend unharmed. When the flying glassdancer does show up, it cuts its way through several soldiers before seizing Braileer by his buckler and hauling him into the sky. Idrian watches in horror as the creature squeezes Braileer's throat. Luckily, Mika fires a grenade at the monster, driving it down far enough for Idrian to leap into the air and slice at it with his sword. Wounded, the flying glassdancer discards Braileer and flies away. Unfortunately, Braileer is severely injured, so Idrian carries him back to camp to the medical tent. However, Glory the surgeon refuses to operate on Braileer, stating that the godglass shortage means cureglass is reserved only for high ranking officers, glassdancers, and Breachers. Refusing to watch Braileer die in the Dying Club, Idrian bargains with Coordinator-Lieutenant Prosotsi by committing one more year of his life to the Ossan Foreign Legion in exchange for Braileer's surgery. Knowing how valuable Idrian is, Lieutenant Prosotsi agrees and applies the additional year to Idrian's debt marker. Glory then begins operating on Braileer. Idrian later thinks to himself that if Braileer lives, he will have no regrets.
