Sister Kettle

**Sister Kettle** is a Sister of Discretion or Grey Sister of the convent of Sweet Mercy, skilled in espionage, stealth, and poison. She’s a Hunska prime with a touch of Marjal, and skilled at Shadow-Weaving.

## Appearance and Personality

Sister Kettle is a young woman with short black hair. She's generally very playful with an impish grin whenever she's around the novices, although somewhat nervous and hesitant with Abbess Glass. However on missions, she's single-minded and deadly-efficient.

## History

Sister Kettle was born Mai Tanner, middle daughter of a cobbler from Verity. She was given over to Sweet Mercy when her mother ran away with a sailor.

Kettle was a novice at the convent at the same time as Safira. The pair were lovers until Holy Class, when Sister Apple joined the convent. Kettle and Apple then fell in love, and during a jealous rage, Safira stabbed Kettle in the leg; she now walks with a slight limp. Safira was subsequently expelled from Sweet Mercy. As a novice, Kettle was extremely adept at Blade-Path, and still holds the record for any living nun at just 69 counts. She’s also one of the few nuns to have taken the Shield-Trial; spear and dagger.

### *Red Sister*

Sister Kettle doesn’t seem to teach any lessons at Sweet Mercy, and is often away on mysterious missions as a Grey Sister. While at the convent, she often does odd jobs, like teaching Nona Grey to read and write; she is later delighted when Nona visits the library to borrow a book. Otherwise, she amuses herself, such as helping her lover Sister Apple poison her students. Kettle takes a real liking for Nona. When High Priest Jacob puts Nona to the Shield-Trial, she tries to volunteer but Sister Apple won’t let her.

A Noi-Guin assassin infiltrates the convent shortly after Nona joins as a novice intent on killing her for Thuran Tacsis. Sister Kettle is one of the nuns Thread-Linked to her possessions, lest she comes back. One day Nona tries to use one of the assassin's daggers, which she kept, in Blade-Class. Kettle is draw to it, and using her Shadow-Weaving springs from nowhere, wrestling the knife from her. However, Nona explains that she found the dagger in her bed on the night of the assassin’s visit.

During the Ranging, where the Grey Class novices must trek across open country from Harran Fens to the Kring, Sister Kettle is tasked with following Nona lest something happen. Indeed, the Noi-Guin assassin tracks Nona, intent on finishing job she failed at. Sister Kettle and the Noi-Guin fight, and both are left wounded, with Kettle getting stabbed in the side with a poisoned dagger. Nona finds the mortally wounded Kettle. Although, the nun seems resigned to her fate, Nona insists that she use her Thread-Link with Sister Apple to call her for help.

### *Grey Sister*

Two years ago on the Ranging, Sister Apple eventually did arrive in time to find Kettle barely clinging to life. Together they diagnose the poison on the blade as Dark-Venom, a poison with only one cure, to be pushed into Shadow. The cure is forbidden by the Ancestor Church, but she reluctant agrees with the words, “*Poisoner, poison me*”.

Over the subsequent time, Kettle has been on a mission to the Scithrowl, where she tracked battle-queen Adama on her explorations of the tunnels beneath the black ice. However, she lost the party after seemingly encountering a Holothour.

One seven-day, Kettle is tasked as escort for Arabella, Nona, and Zole on their visit to Terra Mensis in Verity. However, at the bottom of the Vinery Stair they encounter a throng of pilgrims eager to see Zole, who is widely rumoured to be the Argatha. It causes Zole to panic and flee back to the convent. At the Mensis house, Ara and Nona go inside while Kettle waits in the garden. However Safira is inside disguised as a servant intent on kidnapping Zole. Kettle bursts in to confront her, and the two women fight. In the end, Safira threatens her with Grey Mustard poison and leaves, claiming that her patron Sherzal is the best hope for The Empire.

When the Inquisition descends on Sweet Mercy, Sister Kettle has to keep a low profile, since being pushed into Shadow is considered heresy. Inquisitor Pelter  eventually convicts Nona of breaking convent rules, and condemns her to death. However, Kettle manages to sneak Nona out of the convent. Before they part, Kettle tries to make a Shadow-Bond with Nona should she need her help, but it doesn’t work because Nona has lost her shadow. Instead, Nona somehow forms a Thread-Bond with her, something that should be impossible since Kettle isn’t Quantal. Eventually, Nona does get into trouble when the Noi-Guin track her down and imprison her in the Tetragode. Sister Kettle determines to rescue her.

Nearing the Tetragode, Sister Kettle is accosted by five Lightless. She kills most of them, but outnumbered, she eventually finds herself prone on the ground with the last attackers above her poised to strike. Suddenly, the man is killed from behind by Zole. Zole explains that she has been secretly following Kettle to help her save Nona, saying simply, “*She is my friend.*” Kettle and Zole come up with a plan to sneak into the Tetragode, with Kettle disguised as a Lightless with a prisoner, and Zole using Thread-Work to trick the guards. The plan works until they encounter a full Noi-Guin who Zole cannot manipulate. He is only one man, so Zole distracts the Lightless and kills him. Kettle and Zole then flee into the Tetragode, knowing his death will have raised an alarm. Eventually they split up, with Zole tasked with raising a distraction, so that Kettle can rescue Nona.

However, None makes a break to escape on her own. She killed the guards including a Noi-Guin but gets poisoned in the process. Kettle uses the Thread-Bond to somehow briefly swap bodies and cure her. When Zole puts her distraction into effect, the Tetragode descends into chaos with Noi-Guin and Lightless searching everywhere. They eventually corner Kettle, only for Nona to arrive having walked The Path and save her.

While Nona, Clera Ghomal and the injured Kettle are sneaking out of the Tetragode, Nona sense the Sweet Mercy Shipheart. Determined to reclaim the precious artifact, they force Clera to lead them into Sherzal's palace. There they encounter Yisht. A fight ensues, but Yisht's ability to predict her enemy proves to powerful. In the end, she holds Grey Mustard poison over a prone Kettle poised to kill her. However, Nona's determination to not leave her friend, forces the Demon Keot out of her and into Yisht. The Devils inside Yisht leave her writhing and incapable.

After patching themselves up, Sister Kettle convinces Nona not to go after the Shipheart, having seen what it did to Yisht. Instead they meet up with Abbess Glass and the others to help them escape Sherzal's palace. When Nona's friend Darla dies in her arms, it gives Nona the rage to reach for The Path again, and use the power to escape in a carriage.