Khen

Khen is a singer on Roshar. Formerly a parshman in Alethkar, she takes Kaladin captive when he surrenders to her group. Later, she fights with Moash in the Siege of Kholinar.
== Appearance and Personality ==
Khen is a large, muscular singer with red and white marbled skin; she speaks with a deep voice in a clear Alethi accent. Her only carapace runs along her forearms and juts out at her temples. In workform, she wears a slave smock tied at her waist by a belt and leather sandals on her feet. Warform suits her.
She is passionate about her freedom to the extent that at first she is very willing to defend it by killing others. However, she gets frustrated with being given orders and being continuously oppressed by humans and Fused alike. She is outspoken about these beliefs. Eventually this prompts her to leave Kholinar to pursue her own life without being part of the singer army.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
Like most singers, Khen spends all of her life up until the first Everstorm in slaveform working as a parshman. Afterwards, she wears workform but struggles even to survive as part of a group of former parshmen traveling through the wilderness. She learns some basic survival skills from Kaladin and later learns to fight from Moash. Khen becomes more than capable at fighting, at least while wearing warform.
== History ==
Khen was a slave in Sadeas's princedom but escaped after the first Everstorm. She became part of a group of singers, including Sah and Ton, and they traveled to Revolar under the guidance of Yixli, a voidspren. While travelling, she and Sah played a card game. Along the way, the group took Kaladin captive when he submitted willingly. Kaladin freed himself from his bonds a few days later but stayed with the group and taught them how to survive while on the run. Khen cut herself with Kaladin's knife while cutting firewood, and Kaladin cleaned the cut and taught her how best to care for the wound to prevent attracting rotspren and infection. During an unexpected highstorm, Khen and her group took shelter in a lighteyes' stormbunker after Kaladin struck a deal with the man. When inside, Khen promised Kaladin that she would speak for him when they reached the gathering.
Once she reached Revolar, the group joined the Voidbringer army gathering to attack Kholinar. Khen spoke on Kaladin's behalf, but he left upon seeing the Fused, revealing himself as a human spy. Khen's group was punished for harboring him and put to work hauling lumber, where she met Moash. An overseer informed them they were building siege equipment for the assault on Kholinar and that Khen, Moash, and her group of singers would be fighting on the front line. Khen, angry with their situation, argued with Sah, stating that they were being unfairly treated by their own gods. She began to feel helpless, with no idea what to do. After Moash failed to convinced Leshwi to treat the group more favorably, he began training them in combat skills in preparation for the attack on Kholinar.
Khen witnessed Sah's death by Noromin during the battle in Kholinar and killed him in turn. She watched Moash kill Elhokar. After the Voidbringers won the battle, she was granted her freedom, but she decided to stay and help rebuild the city alongside Moash.
Ten months later, Khen told Moash she was leaving Kholinar, as she wanted to really live with her own mind and Passions and instead felt as if she'd just woken up and started killing. They discuss becoming "unchained" by giving negative emotions to Odium, but Khen saw that Moash was still chained to his emotions by Kaladin. Moash invited her to return and fight alongside him again if she ever did become unchained, ending their conversation.
== Relationships ==
=== Moash ===
Moash travels with Khen and her group from Revolar to Kholinar as slaves, where he earns some respect from them. When the Alethi man hears Khen's frustration at their treatment at the hands of the Fused, Moash speaks with Leshwi on their behalf, disappointed that the singers are not kinder to their own than the humans. Afterward, he trains them to fight with spears so that they will not be defenseless in the coming battle at Kholinar. They fight side by side in Kholinar Palace, and when Khen is granted freedom after their victory, she decided to stay and help rebuild in order to stay close to Moash. Later Moash receives the name "Vyre" from Leshwi, and Khen explains the meaning of the name to him. She doesn't approve of Moash's treating Jezrien's Honorblade with inferiority. When she decides to leave Kholinar, she feels she owes Moash an explanation, even though he does not expect one.
=== Sah ===
Among the group of singers that Khen travels with after escaping, her closest relationship is with Sah. Khen often includes Sah in her decision making, and expresses her frustrations to him regarding their treatment under the Fused. She is angered by Sah's lack of emotional response regarding their situation. When Sah is killed by Noromin, Khen avenges his death.
=== Kaladin ===
When Khen's party first captures Kaladin, she votes to kill him in fear that he would escape and lead other humans to them; she emphasizes that she would do the act herself if necessary. After Kaladin escapes and begins assisting her people, Khen's attitude towards Kaladin softens. As they weather the first highstorm in a bunker secured by the human, she promises that she will speak in his favor upon reaching Revolar. When they arrive, she insists that Kaladin is not their captive and explains that he wants to fight with the singers. Despite Kaladin's betrayal, Khen seems to harbor little anger towards him.
== Notes ==