Seren Pedac

Seren Pedac [SAIR-en peh-DAK]Read for Pixels 2016 Interview As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 1:38:15 was a Letherii Acquitor, and the former lover of Hull Beddict. She was one of only seven Acquitors allowed in the Tiste Edur lands as designated by treaty.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.60
She maintained a modest residence in Letheras, not far from the grounds of the Azath Tower, but had not visited in six years, preferring to avoid a world where she felt clumsy and coarse.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.765Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.780Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.78 She had spent most of her life in the company of men and felt herself viewed with unease by other women. At the same time, she was frustrated to be excluded from the immediate bonds of friendship she observed develop between some men in her same circumstances.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.121
Tehol Beddict thought her highly intelligent.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.149 
She wore an umber cloak of fur, fur-lined gloves,Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.61-62 and at times leather armour and a helm.Midnight Tides, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.403Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.167 On her back she carried a pack.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.61 She was proficient with a sword.Midnight Tides, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.589-590
==History==
Seren Pedac was educated by the Shrouded Sisters of the Empty Throne at Temple Thurlas opposite the Small Canal in Letheras. But she was more notable for her record breaking number of punishments than her academic record. She spent more time in the Unlit Cell than her bedroom, and an affair with a priest resulted in his excommunication and death by his own hand. Seren's upbringing was one in which she was at war with childhood itself.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.162-163
For a time, she had a lover who was a Bluerose cavalry officer. He had taught her how to ride a horse, a skill relatively unknown in the Kingdom of Lether.Midnight Tides, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.576 She had first encountered Hull Beddict near High Fort where his self-imposed exile had left him little more than a scavenging animal. She was able to bring him partly back to his senses and the two became lovers. After the two went their separate ways, Seren wondered if Hull would ever forgive her for using him for her own purposes. Or if she would ever forgive herself.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.67 She was drawn to men in suffering.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.281
== In Midnight Tides ==
Seren Pedac was in the sixth year of a ten year contract with Buruk the Pale when the merchant journeyed to the Hiroth village of the Tiste Edur Warlock King Hannan Mosag.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.60 She was suspicious of Buruk's motives and suspected he carried secret instructions from someone of the Letherii Royal Household.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.63 On the road, they were unexpectedly joined by Hull Beddict with whom the Acquitor quietly speculated on Letherii motives for the coming Great Meeting with the Edur.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.63-66
Her time among the Hiroth was eventful. Buruk and Hull met privately with the Warlock King without her as was expected in her role as Acquitor.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.237-240 But Hull made no secret of his desire to provoke the Edur to war with Lether.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.163 Seren convinced the Edur noblewoman, Mayen, to welcome Buruk's Nerek servants to the village which inadvertantly consecrated the ground below them to their goddess, the Eres'al.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.222-223Midnight Tides, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.545 She also attended a portentous casting of the Tiles by Feather Witch.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.240-244 Before the day of the Great Meeting she was witness to return of the Sengar brothers from their mission to claim a sword from the ice fields. Rhulad Sengar, who had been killed on the quest, returned to life and pushed Hannan Mosag aside while declaring himself emperor of the Edur.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9Midnight Tides, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.343-344 Seren felt herself drawn to the pain in Trull Sengar's eyes.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.281
When the Letherii delegation arrived for the Great Meeting, the Edur were still in disarray. First Eunuch Nifadas pulled Seren Pedac aside to pick her brain for information.Midnight Tides, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.347-352 The Acquitor also prevented Prince Quillas Diskanar from arresting Hull.Midnight Tides, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.406 Emperor Rhulad dismissed the Letherii demands out of hand, sent the delegation home, and declared a state of war between the two nations. Rhulad also stripped Buruk of his servants and his goods and gave him and Seren three days to leave Edur lands by foot.Midnight Tides, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.409-410 
Buruk and Seren made haste for the Edur's mountain border while harassed by Shadow wraiths.Midnight Tides, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.409-410 An increasingly morose Buruk confessed to Seren that he was under pressure of blackmail and was in a hurry to make himself 'un-useful'.Midnight Tides, Chapter 15, UK MMPB p.550/551 The following day he and Seren arrived at Kraig's Landing where they witnessed a Letherii mage cadre launch a brutal attack on the Edur villages.Midnight Tides, Chapter 15, UK MMPB p.551-557 On the return to Trate, Buruk slipped Seren a sleeping drug. Just before she lost consciousness, he declared that she had always held his heart. Buruk then went home and hung himself in his bedroom where Seren later found him.Midnight Tides, Chapter 15, UK MMPB p.557-560
Seren drowned her guilt over Buruk's death in a local tavern where she met the Crimson Guardsman, Iron Bars. She turned down his offer to join his crew on a ship based in Letheras. She later awoke from a drunken stupor to discover she had been raped, her weapons and armour stolen, and the city invaded by Edur. Iron Bars returned in time to slay her attackers and the Crimson Guard mage, Corlo, took them from the city by warren.Midnight Tides, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.493-496/500-505 The group found themselves trapped in Kurald Galain surrounded by wraiths until Seren suggested bargaining with one for aid. The wraith, named Sandalath Drukorlat, showed them the exit in return for delivering her soul to oblivion. Once free, Seren broke down sobbing nearly overcome by the emotions of her attack while Iron Bars did his best to comfort her.Midnight Tides, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.508-512/515-516
The Acquitor guided the Guardsmen across the backroads of the kingdom to Letheras. Along the way, she learned from Corlo that she was a natural Mockra talent, despite the fact that warrens were unknown in Lether. All her life she had been using her talent unconsciously to manipulate her own emotions. Corlo guided her through a Mockra ritual to release all her grief and guilt at once.Midnight Tides, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.623-627
The group arrived in Letheras just as the last of the Letherii Army marched out to meet the Tiste Edur at Brans Keep and Seren Pedac said her farewells and returned to her home.Midnight Tides, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.654-655/665-666 After the Edur conquered the city, both Trull and Fear Sengar appeared on her doorstep. Fear sought a guide to escape the city and look for the trapped spirit of Father Shadow. Seren agreed and Trull, moved by his heart, offered her his sword on the threshold of her home, a symbol of betrothal among the Edur. Fraught with meaning, Seren accepted the blade only as a needed tool. After Trull departed, Seren and Fear were joined on their journey by Kettle, Wither, and a disguised Silchas Ruin, who had received her name from Iron Bars.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.761-766
== In Reaper's Gale ==
Seren Pedac travelled eastward with Silchas Ruin, Fear Sengar, Udinaas, Kettle, and Wither for months with Edur and Letherii hunters in pursuit, although Fear kept their ultimate destination to himself. The Acquitor attributed their survival to Ruin and his swords, although she grew to detest their keening. She had mixed feelings regarding Kettle, "hat[ing] children with secrets--especially ones with secrets they're not aware of", but tried to find the right questions for the girl to draw them out. Meanwhile, she saw that Fear fostered a murderous hatred for Udinaas, who he believed betrayed his brother, Rhulad. But she suspected his hatred was a manifestation of his own guilt over Rhulad's fate.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.40-46
She and Trull were reunited and she eventually carried his child.
== In Dust of Dreams ==
She was visited by Bugg who revealed that her son would play an important role in the years to come as the Knight of Shadow, a role he inherited from his father.
During Fiddler's reading of the Deck of Dragons, Bugg summoned Ursto Hoobutt and Pinosel, Elder Gods of beer and wine, to her home. They protected her unborn child from being ensnared by the chaotic forces released by the reading, but spontaneously combusted from the effort. Bugg noted they would "probably be back."
== In The Crippled God ==
Udinaas sought her out to help find a home for the displaced Bentract Imass from the Refugium.
==Quotes==
==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Letherii
Category:Mages
Category:Mockra mages
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